ASA 5510 Software Upgrade Issues

[scott.briggs]

Hey Everyone,

One of my clients has an ASA 5510 running version 7.0(8) and ASDM 5.0(8). My question, to what versions of each software can I update the appliance to? Additionally, must I upgrade incrementally? i.e from 7.0 to 7.1 then to 7.2? I did find this article

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6120/products_configuration_example09186a008067e9f9.shtml

That states you must go from 5.0 to 5.1 to 5.2, but 5.1 and 5.2 do not appear to be on the download page. The earliest release I could find was 6.2. Can I update the ASA version all the way up to v8 and then update ASDM? Also, noob question, updating the software doesn't erase any of the configurations does it? This is a live firewall and downtime for reconfiguration isn't much of an option. Any help and direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[julomban · Accepted solution]

Hello Scott,

You can jump from 7.0(8) to 7.2.5 and then 8.2.5 if you want to. 8.2.5 is one of the most stable version I have seen so far, once you are in 8.x you can update the ASDM image to 6 or 7 (I prefer 7 since version 6 we are having problem with ASDM and latest java version).

The configuration will not be erase at all, it is saved on the flash of the ASA and startup config, anyway is always a recommendation to have a backup.

I strongly recommend you to have a maintenance window for this upgrade and test all connectivity after the upgrade.

Regards,

Juan Lombana

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[scott.briggs]

Juan,

That is great news and what I was hoping for. I will give it a try and hope for no problems. Assuming users can go without VPN for a day, I am gong to attempt this over a weekend. Thanks for the help!

[julomban]

Scott,

Your welcome! Good luck with the upgrade.

Regards,

Juan Lombana

[scott.briggs]

Juan,

One quick follow-up question...I read that some of the NAT cmds changed from the older version. Is there any validity to this? Will that require reconfiguration?

Thanks,

Scott

[julomban]

Scott,

Starting in 8.3 the NAT is different, has been re-design completely, prior version 8.3 the NAT is the same so if you are planning the upgrade to 8.2.5 the NAT is not going to change at all.

Hope it helps,

Juan Lombana

Please rate helpful posts.

[scott.briggs]

Got it.

Thanks for the help!

[Jouni Forss]

Hi,

The major changes to NAT configuration format comes with 8.3(1) software and any later version.

Heres a couple of documents about the new NAT configuration format.

• https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-31116
  • This is one that I wrote recently
• https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-9129
  • This is good if you need to compare the old and new NAT configuration format

- Jouni