CSM 3 -> 4 upgrade - disk space requirements

[bgl-group]

We need to upgrade our csm server from v3 to v4 and looking at the server requirements on the cisco website caused our server admins to have a fit.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps5739/ps6498/product_bulletin_c25-586395.html

The line that causes them the most concern is the disk space requirements. Bearing in mind that we are running 13 firewalls and the same number of IPS sensors do we really have to have 2tb of storage. As we run a VM environment the chances of getting that are slim to nil.

What have people found is a realistic requirement for storage - I am only interested in keeping log files for 3 months as the firewall logs are written into a qradar applicance directly.

I can get the cpu and memory without issues but the disk space is a sticking point....

Also does it have to run on 2008 server or can it run on 2003 instead.

Thanks in advance

Giles Cooper

[Scott Fringer · Accepted solution]

Giles;

  The specifications you reference are guidance for best performance - the disk space is noticeably larger due to the new event monitor component added in CSM 4.0.

  The minimum system requirements are outlined in the deployment guide found here:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/security_management/cisco_security_manager/security_manager/4.0/deployment/guide/cmsdg40.html#wp43544

  Highlights indicate that you need a minimum of 10 GBs of free HDD space and that Windows Server 2003 is supported.

  I hope this helps clarify your questions.

Scott

[bgl-group]

That is good news. We won't be using the event manager as we have a dedicated applicance doing that

for us. So a nice small VM will do the job.

Management have now bought it so I have a couple of weeks of memory upgrades on firewalls before I get near the software.

I think I will build it on a new server as the current one has some 'quirks' such as a 30 minute reboot time.

Thanks

Giles