Details about the 7.X track for Cisco FTDs?

[hoffa2000]

Greetings

I just learned from our Cisco partner ASA5508-Xs and ASA5516-Xs are being EOLed which in my particular case causes alot of teeth grinding since I replaced our fleet just two years ago and in these times will have a tough going in the next budget round.

I might cool down but at the moment I'm pissed enough to consider switching brand altogether since there has been a few  stability issues over the years that made me hesitant towards the FTD platform.

Now, I hear there is some 7.x FTD build coming soon, we're currently at 6.6.1 and I quite frankly would like to know if 7.x worth sticking around for? A switch will not happen until 2022 for us anyway but knowing there is some rewrite done to the FTDs is something I'll take into account and I don't mean "SASE leverager" or some gimmick like that but if there is some actual rewrite done. For example will the ASA code disappear or do I still have to do Flexconfig and "system support diagnostic" to troubleshoot low level connectivity issues?

Regards

Fredrik

[Marvin Rhoads]

ASA 5508-X and 5516-X hardware EoX announcement was just this February. So they will be supported for 5 more years - until 2026

7.0 was just announced publicly at the RSA conference this week.

https://blogs.cisco.com/security/network-redefining-network-security

Details will be included in the release notes and associated documentation once the actual software is released in the coming weeks.

Architecturally the LINA subsystem ("ASA code") isn't going away just yet - and may not for a very long time. Every new release of FTD has lessened the number of things that require use of Flexconfig. 7.0 will continue that trend.

[hoffa2000]

I agree. The EOL notice states there will be hardware support for a while now but the notice also states feature licenses will ot be sold after fall 2021.

/Fredrik