FIrePower Evaluation Period License

[mdsubrunjamil]

Hi All, 

I heard that there is a 90 day evaluation copy of FTD you can get from Cisco. But look like when I tried to access Demo License Section with my Cisco ID it is giving some error related to my id is not associated with required service contract something like that.

So question is , Is evaluation copy is available to Public or still that needs some sort of permission ?

2nd is if Evaluation Copy is not avaialble to Public then buying Hardware Firewall like ( i.e Cisco ASA 5512 ) will help me to get into FirePower world ?

3rd is is there any way I can buy service contract only designated for downloading IOS Software ?

Subrun

[Marvin Rhoads]

An FTD appliance (hardware-based or virtual) does come with a 90 day evaluation license. You are right that Cisco requires a cisco.com userid entitlement association to download the virtual appliance but if you contact your local partner or Cisco account manager they can get you a copy of the software for trial use / learning purposes. If you are just a general public user then you might have a bit harder time as Cisco really doesn't target that population for trial licenses.

The entry level you can purchase is either an FTDv or an ASA 5506 appliance with FTD. If you purchase the FTDv you will get entitlement to download and run the software. However there is a LOT of free training material to help learn the product without having one at home or in your office. Check out Cisco Live on-demand sessions, labminutes.com and network-node.com for starters.

Smartnet (support contract) for FTDv is software-only support as the product is software-only. Hardware appliances don't generally have a software-only support option.

[farhad4uk]

I have been trying very hard to buy couple virtual license to run the lab on my lab, but Cisco is making sure that there is no way for you to get a eval version or real thing. Your partners are not interested to get you a eval version and they don'e seem to be interested in selling you a pair of virtual one either. They want to make sure that you take service agreement so that they can charge arms and legs for it. Really crazy setup.

Kind regards.

F. Fatahiany.

[Marvin Rhoads]

Sorry to hear about your experience with your local partners. My company regularly helps out its customers with evaluations as needed.

If you're asking as an individual I could see you would have problems as Cisco isn't setup for retail individual-level sales. However small to large enterprises should be able to get evaluation copies either via their partner or their Cisco SE (systems engineer) if they have one.

[farhad4uk]

Hi Marvin;

Thank you for the assistance, I have a small company I use it for taking contract works for different companies. I just needed couple of evaluation ASA Firepower to set up a lab, may be I can win some contracts.

[johnlloyd_13]

hi,

you can activate the FMC (you can VM this) free 90 day eval license instead under System > Licenses > Smart Licenses > Evaluation Mode.

[farhad4uk]

Hi; Thanks for replying, but the system will not let me download the image to be able to get that far.

Can you help please?

P.S. Do you know how much is the virtual license for a lab please?

Kind regards.

Fereidoun.

[farhad4uk]

I wonder if I can install it on pair of 5510. After all it is just a software running on the firewall.

[Marvin Rhoads]

You cannot install the Firepower service module on the ASA 5510 (or any non-X 5500 series model). The module requires the multicore CPU and SSD storage. Neither is present on those models.

[farhad4uk]

Yes buying real 5512 from ebay will do the job, but there is no more room in my lab in the garage. I have more than 50 nodes and it is becoming like a comms room. Would be nice to use the virtualised version for a change. Less electric bill too. 

[Ramakrishnan V]

Hi All,

I am planning to buy EVE-NG lab from 3rd part lab service provider to do some testing for fresh deployment. My Cloud lab provider told that, Cisco FMC/FTD comes with 60 days trail, but when I check in software download from cisco site, there is no option for 60 days trial. Some one throw some lights on it. I would prefer to go by 3rd party lab provider where I can setup with heterogenous instead Cisco homogenus vendor otherwise I would take Cisco Lab. Your swift reply and insights much appreciated. 

Regards,

Ram

[Marvin Rhoads]

It is not a special image or downlaod. When you install FMC, the initial setup from the GUI asks you if you want to use a purchased license (requires a token from your Smart Account) or an Evaluation license. If you choose evaluation, to token or Smart Account registration is required.