Been using it as a AnyConnect VPN solution for over a year now
We setup an EC2 instance to act as an AnyConnect VPN gateway, to be able to access our various IP addresses in AWS and even resources in our office because the office has an ipsec link to AWS. And yeah, it's been working great/solid for a little over a year now. We have about 15 remote employees who anyconnect vpn into it regularly. We don't set the default route to go out through the vpn though, because AWS charges for network traffic, but we route all our private IP's and a small handful of public IP addresses through the vpn tunnel and it's been stable.
Does what it's supposed to do
What do you like best about the product?
Easy to use and customer support is quick and efficient.
What do you dislike about the product?
I have not had any negative experiences with Cisco at this time.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We are a large company with vast network connections, this has made navigating through systems must faster.
We need help to upgrade to the version of the ASA OS that currently is on version 7.16 and an upgrade to version 9.14(2)8 is required
We request your important support to review the causistry of updating the VPN services found in AWS, we have 6 C5xlarge with images of Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Virtual - PAYG which we require to upgrade to the version of the ASA OS that currently is on version 7.16 and an upgrade to version 9.14(2)8 is required
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Cisco AnyConnect package is missing
We have subscribed "Cisco Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv) - Standard Package" from AWS Marketplace and launched new machine but we are unable to retrieve the Cisco ASAv license so that we can contact Cisco. Basically we need "Cisco AnyConnect Package 2.5 or later".
When we try to log a case with cisco it asked for login but we have purchased this aws marketplace. We don't have any login id for cisco ASAv which we have taken from aws.
Someone please help.
Not available in your Geo Location
I'm in Canada and I can't use this? Seriously? This seems like a extremely short sighted decision to limit this subscription.
Incomplete Steps - Unable to Download AnyConnect Software
I am a new Cisco customer, and want to use the standard package for testing purposes. I do not need it to be active all the time and that is I why selected this option.
However, I have not been able to download the AnyConnect software to test RA-VPN. It asks me for a contract and I do not have one.
I just do not know how to get it. Very frustrating. I have opened a case with Cisco but they do not seem to know what to do either.
Disappointing performance.
We are running asav9-13-1-7 on c5.2xlarge and we are not happy with the value. As we are using the appliance for SSLVPN, we primarily need to scale in terms of concurrent users. The "box" looked very promising by its featureset (10G interfaces and 10K concurrent users supported) at launch but in reality the setup seems to only scale to appr 1500 users (Cloudwatch metrics show instance cpu flat around 90% with only 1200 users and 2Gpbs of total VPN traffic).
Is there a way to improve somewhat (would also be good to have a performance prediction by Cisco) via implementing support for c5.4xlarge instance?
Performance-wise, it is top-notch. However, it is a bit tough to navigate and see what is going on.
For the AWS version, Cisco is our primary use. We have our own appliances and products, which are indicated as Cisco ASA. So, we test these product against Cisco ASA using different types of rules for new cases. During the test process, we make sure the integration works.
We have been using the solution for two years.
How has it helped my organization?
Right now, it serves a purpose and has everything that we need. Performance-wise, it is top-notch.
What is most valuable?
It is a comprehensive suite and complete package. We have the following with the product:
* Interest point detection
* Firewall stuff
* VPN
* It's configurable.
* It guards with its own threat intelligence.
We find that virtual instances are helpful because they are easy to use on AWS Marketplace, as they are On Demand. We have a lot of traffic on AWS. Therefore, to monitor the traffic rather than using on-premise, we use virtual instances of Cisco ASA. This is pretty easy to use and we receive value off of it.
What needs improvement?
Cisco ASA should be easier to use. It is a bit tough to navigate and see what is going on. While I like the UI and dashboards of Cisco ASA, if you compare them to Palo Alto or Fortinet, they have much richer UIs. An analyst (or anyone) can see them, and say, "I have got all these important pointers on my dashboard." However, with Cisco ASA, we need to dig into many things and go to many views to see what is actually there.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable. We put a good amount of stress on it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Especially for the AWS version, we can spin up multiple instances and do load-balancing.
We have 15 to 20 Cisco ASA switches with a couple of physical appliances and twelve machines. Our team is using four to five machines.
How is customer service and technical support?
It is all self-guided, and we were already using the physical appliances. Therefore, we knew how to use the product.
What was our ROI?
Our individual release cycle has been quicker because the entire development and testing environment has been automated because of these virtual instances. It has aligned our development workflow. This is where we have seen the ROI increase.
For example, if you are working with a physical appliance, then you need to have a dedicated lab administrator to work with it, even to test a simple use case. This takes time because we would need to frequently reset that appliance and load all the data. It is no longer like that.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Purchasing from the AWS Marketplace was easy. It was just point and click.
It is pay-as-you-go, so it much cheaper than buying in the plants.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also checked Fortinet and Palo Alto, their AWS versions.
When compared products, Cisco ASA is easy on AWS. We received a trial version. It is easy to setup and evaluate.
We also already had Cisco products. This provided a tighter integration with what we already had. Since most of our traffic stays in AWS, it made sense to use AWS Cisco ASAv.
What other advice do I have?
Once you deploy a virtual database or virtual machine for any product, like Cisco. The first thing to do with your data is test it. So, you need to be prepared with the test that you want to test before you deploy the instances. Because after deploying instances, you wait and see what the data come back with, how to configure it, and review what doesn't work. Therefore, you need to do some background homework before starting, such as what type of data you need to put into it, how to test it, and will the system process it.
We have used both the on-premise and AWS version. We started using AWS in the past six to seven months. Prior to that, we used the on-premise version. The AWS version is better as it is quick to spin up and configure. Also, with AWS, everything is preset, and it is more flexible.
Keeps costs low and provides granular control using appliances familiar to the team
Whatever you have that’s potentially public-facing, you need to protect it. As our technology moves to the cloud, so our need for security transfers from physical appliances to virtual ones. This is the classic Cisco ASA device, virtualised.
How has it helped my organization?
Ease of spinning one up: The hourly charge has made demos and testing better because it’s a truer representation of a real-life situation.
It has allowed us to reduce costs and to make sure we provide rounded, secure products to customers.
What is most valuable?
Top features:
* Easy to deploy for staff to use VPNs
* Ease of setup
* Integrated threat defence
* Great flow-based inspection device
* Easy ACLs
* Failover support
* Each virtual appliance is separate so you get great granular control
* Has own memory allocation
* Multiple types of devices: 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps
* License control
* SSH or RESTful API
What needs improvement?
We didn’t find any huge issues. Obviously, there are always vulnerabilities that come up and there was one in early 2018 but this was patched with software updates.
Admin rights need to be given out carefully as they give overarching control to all devices - but that’s the same for everything.
How was the initial setup?
We went with this solution via the AWS Marketplace because it’s been made so easy to use an ASAv on AWS with simple drop downs to set it up. Our demo machines were also in AWS so we wanted a one-stop shop where we could spin them up or down as needed and configure the ASAv before it was launched.
What other advice do I have?
Almost all IT staff have used, or can easily learn how to use, the Cisco ASA appliance because it’s been around for years and is so popular (with good reason). For us, we stuck with what we know. It was an easy sell to get it signed off by higher-ups as they’d also heard of the ASA device from their time in IT.
It provides the transparency of a single UI to ensure security
Our primary use case is security.
How has it helped my organization?
From a security perspective, we are getting assurance with the respect to the the infrastructure which is getting built or the threats which are emanating from the Internet. With these, we can obtain the visibility that we need to know where we need to improve.
What is most valuable?
The transparency of the single UI to ensure security. A product has to be simple so that an administrator can use it.
What needs improvement?
The artificial intelligence and machine learning (behavioral based threat detection), which I can this will be coming out in another year, these are what we need now.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is alright.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is not an issue.
How is customer service and technical support?
Its technical support is the main reason why we selected the product.
How was the initial setup?
The integration and configuration are transparent and easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are partners with Cisco. They are always one call away, which is good. They know how to keep their customers happy.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated VMware Virtual Networking and Check Point.
We chose Cisco because of the support and their roadmap for the changing technology landscape is good. Therefore, it is always better to be partnered with them.
What other advice do I have?
When you are going to select a product, don't look at the cost, but at the functionality. Also, look at the stability. These days, the startups will show a new function or functionality, but when looking for a partner, make sure the company is sustainability for the new four years? Do they have the funding?
We have a large ecosystem system: Symantec, McAfee, Splunk, Check Point firewalls, Cisco firewalls and IPS IDS from Cisco. They integrate and work well together. Cisco has been security leader for the last 20 years, so the products are quite stable working in sync.
