5510 OS Upgrade

[smwilson704]

Hello and thank you for your time reading this,

I currently have a 5510 running Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software Version 8.2(5) & Device Manager Version 6.4(5)

I would like to upgrade the software to the most reliable version available.  What is the newest version available you recommend and can I upgrade straight to that version or do i need to upgrade incrementally?

If I've posted this in the wrong group I would be grateful for any assistance pointing me in the right direction.

Thank you

[Marvin Rhoads]

Can you tell us how much memory in on your 5510? ("show inventory" or look at ASDM home page).

Upgrading to 8.3+ requires an upgrade in memory on older ASAs.

The current recommended version from Cisco for that platform is 9.1(6). The recommended upgrade path is via interim steps as moving past 8.2 introduced some syntax and command changes that must be considered carefully to make your upgrade successful. You can stay on 8.2(5), possibly loading the latest interim build (build 57 as of this posting). that would address bug fixes only and be an easy path.

No matter which ASA software you decide to upgrade to, you can and should move to the current ASDM - version 7.4(2) is the latest as of right now. It's compatible with ASA software as far back as 8.0.

Note that ASA software post-9.1 will not be developed for those devices as they are end of sales for almost 2 years now.

[smwilson704]

Here is what the ASA shows...

Hardware:   ASA5510, 1024 MB RAM, CPU Pentium 4 Celeron 1599 MHz
Internal ATA Compact Flash, 256MB
BIOS Flash Firmware Hub @ 0xffe00000, 1024KB

[Marvin Rhoads]

OK - so you have 1 GB and can thus upgrade to 8.3+ if you choose to do so.

[smwilson704]

You recommend me going any higher than 8.3+?

[Marvin Rhoads]

If you're not very conversant with the ASA (and aren't inclined to use this as a learning opportunity), I'd just upgrade to the current 8.2 interim release for the latest bug fixes in that code base.

If you go to the trouble to move beyond 8.2 (where the NAT and access-list syntax changes were introduced) then I would go all the way to 9.1(6).

It would be at a 2-step upgrade (to 8.4(6) first and then to 9.1(6) as directed in the 9.1 Release Notes) with some checking and possible remediation-by-hand as the configuration parser doesn't always adjust the syntax correctly when letting the system do it automatically.

[smwilson704]

Marvin,  can't tell you how much I appreciate your advise.   Thank you so much for your time, I am very grateful.

[Marvin Rhoads]

You're welcome.

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