Buying a used ASA 5505 online,should I be aware of anything ???

[Macbookguy2012]

I see some great deals on eBay,before pulling the trigger should I be concern of anything.Such as Serial number etc.. ? I never used the 5505 so this is all new to me.

Thanks

[Richard Burts]

I do not see the serial number being a concern. When you buy Cisco equipment like this you get the equipment as is. You would not have a maintenance contract on it, which means that software upgrades or changing licensed features would not be possible. As long as you are happy with the version of software that it has, and whatever feature licenses it has, then go for it.

HTH

Rick

[Macbookguy2012]

Oh I see,so it's like buying...Let's say a wireless router or something like it,plug & play ? Sorry for the questions it's my 1st time dealing with Cisco products.How would I be able to find out how many licences has it ?

Thanks

[Richard Burts]

In my experience plug & play has certain connotations about you connect it and it works. I would not say that about an ASA5505. There is certainly configuration work that needs to be done on the ASA5505 to get it to work in your network.

My comments were intended to be more like what you see is what you get. As far as licenses are concerned I would think that if the description on eBay did not already include information about licenses that you could ask the seller for that information.

And if this would be your first experience with Cisco products then concerns about software updates etc may not be immediate concerns for you.

HTH

Rick

[Macbookguy2012]

Thanks Rick

Yeah I understand,just asked about the S/N because ealier I saw in one of the auctions from a potential buyer asking the seller to provide the serial number.I can ask for the serial number,but I have no idea what to do with it LOL.

Maybe ask the serial number to find out how old the piece is ? I have no clue.

Thanks

[Richard Burts]

With some gear you might be able to use the S/N to find something of the history of the equipment. I am not aware of any public accessible lookup on Cisco S/N.

HTH

Rick

[Macbookguy2012]

Thanks for all the answers Rick.

[Macbookguy2012]

I see the prices on eBay very affordable around $200,comparing to $300+ on other sites,some authorized dealers sell that for over 1K,ouch too much for my blood.

I just want to verify before purchase,it didn't  just fall off a truck or something similar.

Thank you

[Macbookguy2012]

Nobody ?

[Richard Burts]

You had some questions and I gave it my best shot.

Perhaps someone one else will jump in with an opinion.

But I think that we have arrived at a point where we recognize that buying on eBay is a bit of a gamble. Many sellers on eBay are honest folk and have a reasonable good product at a good price. And some sellers are not.

So how much of a gambler are you?

HTH

Rick

[Leo Laohoo]

I agree with Rick.  E-Bay is a gamble.  One thing to be certain is this:  WARRANTY

I'm not just talking about if the unit fails, I'm talking about if the unit didn't live up to your expectation.

I also agree with Rick about the warranty to Cisco.  I mean you could get your ASA "inspected" so you can get service contract/warranty but that costs alot.

You want something cheap with warranty?  Try Cisco Refurbished.

One thing to be careful about ASA (Rick, feel free to chime in as this is already in your alley of knowledge) is whether or nt the unit is licensed, for example, high availability (HA).

[Richard Burts]

Leo

Thanks for jumping in with your opinion

I did raise the possible issue of licensing as something to explore before the sale is completed. And the seller should be able to provide details about the licensing of this ASA before the sale is completed.

HTH

Rick

[Macbookguy2012]

I found this article.Could help someone.

Scroll up

http://www.bradreese.com/blog/4-24-2012.htm#COMMENT

Not much help if you ask me,they only keep your stolen product info in the database. They should track the user's IP then get the person.

[sbjones13]

Though this thread is old it was not really answered adequately. Maybe someone will find the following useful. The ASA 5505s are all physically the same box. What separates them in terms of price is the IOS and the license. The IOS is not that big a deal but the license makes a big difference. The base license allows for 10 inside users and a couple of VLANs and has a restricted DMZ, does not allow for 2 ISPs and that sort of stuff. All boxes will provide basic license functionality. Addtional licenses offer more functionality like 50 to unlimited inside users, 20 VLANs, two ISPs, more VPN peers and the like. The license is what makes a box more valuable to those who need the features. A home lab for CCNA Security cert doesn't need 25 VPN peers and unlimited inside users. The license goes with the box and it assosciated with the serial number. You can't move the license to another box in the way you can the IOS. So the $200 boxes on ebay are usually base license modes; the $500 ones have security plus licenses with a lot of additional features enabled. Everything you need to know is in the show version which savvy Cisco types will post in the ebay listing. Most sellers have no clue and just say it came from a working environment. The boxes are pretty bullet proof but there are some version/serial numbers that had hardware problems due to Cisco using mulitple vendors for the chip on the motherboard. If the seller provides a show version you can rely on the box to work; if not you cannot be sure. The hardware problem usually results in the box booting all the way to - but not actually reaching the prompt.