SM56 and NM (4 x 40G) module support on Firepower 9300?

[Sumanta Ghosh]

Hello Experts,

Existing FPR 9300 has below modules:-

SM24 with ASA SW and on-board 8 x 10GE optical ports. Can we add 2 x SM56 and 2 x FPR9K-NM-4X40G to same FPR 9300 chassis? Will it support that much backplane bandwidth with 40G modules? How much firewall throughput we can get in the firewall module SM56?

Can we put them into existing ASA cluster running on SM24 or we will have "2 x new firewalls" with 2 SM56? We have Nexus 3548-X switches for firewall clustering as per Cisco documentation.

Regards,

Sumanta.

[Sumanta Ghosh]

Hi @Marvin Rhoads 

Can you please assist?

Regards,

Sumanta.

[Marvin Rhoads]

You can add different module types in a chassis, but all modules in a given cluster must be identical.

So the new modules could only be used for new logical devices or device instances.

Please reference BRKSEC-3032 from Cisco Live for many more details.

[Sumanta Ghosh]

Hi Marvin,

Thanks. In existing chassis, 1 x SM-24 module is used, but during clustering, it also added "empty" modules in the cluster. So, do I need to reset everything and start from scratch? I guess only ASA config can be backed up and restored. The PDF does not describe ASA clustering in details.

Also, back plane physical connections are not explained much.

Regards,

Sumanta.

[Marvin Rhoads]

I'm not positive about the empty modules in the existing ASA cluster.You may need to backup the ASA config and start again with bootstrap. I'd recommend consulting with a Cisco TSA (technical solutions architect) or TAC first though as this is a pretty unusual use case.

Also, what FXOS release are you running? It was only with 2.6+ that we can mix logical devices in a chassis.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/firepower/fxos/fxos261/release/notes/fxos261_rn.html#id_113895

You might also find BRKSEC-3035 useful:

https://www.ciscolive.com/global/on-demand-library.html?search=brksec-3035#/session/1542224329879001ro1t

[Sumanta Ghosh]

Hi Marvin,

Thanks. Only issue is SM24 is end of sale, so we can't purchase anymore. Let me see what I find in the docs you shared.

FX-OS we can always upgrade.

Regards,

Sumanta.