ASA 5520 8.2 licensing

[bapatsubodh]

Hi,

If we are having 8.2 code running on the 5520 ASA in active / failover mode. Do we need duplicate licenses for failover appliances also for VPN,SSL etc?

If we have 8.3 code then what is the licensing difference.

Thanks

Subodh

[Mohammad Alhyari]

with 8.2 two the two license need to be exactly matching on the two failover units .

8.3 and later , you need to have the license on the primary unit only:

In Version 8.3(1) and later, failover units do not  require the same license on each unit. For earlier versions, see the  licensing document for your version.

Failover License Requirements

•Failover units do not require the same license on each unit.

Older versions of adaptive security appliance software required that the  licenses match on each unit. Starting with Version 8.3(1), you no  longer need to install identical licenses. Typically, you buy a license  only for the primary unit; for Active/Standby failover, the secondary  unit inherits the primary license when it becomes active. If you have  licenses on both units, they combine into a single running failover  cluster license.

•For  the ASA 5505 and 5510 adaptive security appliances, both units require  the Security Plus license; the Base license does not support failover,  so you cannot enable failover on a standby unit that only has the Base  license.

for more info please visit this link :

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa83/license_standalone/license_management/license.html#wp1455081

cheers .

[bapatsubodh]

Hi Alhyari,

Thanks for immediate reply. What if we downgrade the code from 8.3 to 8.2? Do we need to purchse seperate licenses for 8.2 version.

Also what is the way to find out what were the licenses on original 8.3 code that is shipped?

Is it possible to reload the ASA with 8.3 code which is available in flash memory and then use show ver command to see the licenses?

Or the licenses are entered separately after you have booted with 8.3 code?

Thakns

Subodh

[Maykol Rojas]

If you dowgrade, then yes, you will need to purchase two licenses, one from the active and one for the standby, if you are in 8.3, you only need to purchase 1.

Another thing is that if you already applied the activation key on the units, wether if you are in 8.3 or 8.4 the features will remain there as the activation key is stored on flash.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[bapatsubodh]

Hi

Thanks for help. Now if we need to go back to 8.3 code from 8.2.

After upgrade is done. (Copy 8.3 code in flash and set the boot path tot his file. Then reload the device.)

"For the first time 8.3 will convert the exisitng configuration to new syntax that 8.3 uses"  is this true.

Also if already two ASA are in failover can this be done with minimum downtime.

Thanks

Subodh

[Maykol Rojas · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes, once you do the upgrade to 8.3, the configuration should migrate automatically. For Zero downtime upgrade on failover pairs, please refer to the following guide...

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa80/configuration/guide/mswlicfg.html#wp1053398

Thanks!

Mike

[varrao]

Yes, I agree with Mike, but whenever you are upgrading to version 8.3 you should have some downtime and i would suggest you follow this doc always while migrating to the code:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-12690

and this as well:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa83/upgrading/migrating.html

If you follow this, it would have minimum downtime.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Varun