Upgrade path for ASA 5.2 to 8.0

[mlaman]

We just bought a company and need to upgrade the ASA5520 to a version 8.0.3 on the old ASA from version 5.2, is there an interim upgrade required or can we go directly to 8.0.3? I saw documents say you have to go from 5.1 to 5.2 and 7.1 to 7.2 first but nothing about 5.2 and going to a later ASA version.

[acomiskey]

5.2 is the ASDM version. That's why you won't find info on going from 5.2 to 8.x.

If you have ASDM 5.2 you probably have ASA version 7.2. Verify this by doing a "show version".

[ajagadee]

Hi,

I think you are referring to two images here. One is the image for the ASA itself (7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0) and the other for ASDM (5.1, 5.2, etc).

1. Below is the release notes for 8.0 code. Depending upon what version of code you are running on the ASA, it is recommended that upgrade in steps. That is, 7.0 to 7.1, 7.1 to 7.2 and then 7.2 to 8.0.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa80/release/notes/asarn80.html

You must upgrade or downgrade from Version 7.2.(x) to Version 8.0(2) and vice versa, because older versions of the ASA images do not recognize new ASDM images, and new ASA images do not recognize old ASDM images.

You could leap frog and just from 7.0 to 8.0 directly and I have seen it work. Its just not recommended. Also, by doing this, you may lose per-version upgrade/downgrade capability.

2. Below is the release notes for the various version of the ASDM (Management Software) and depending upon the version and ASA Chassis you are planning to upgrade, refer the release notes for upgrade instructions.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6121/prod_release_notes_list.html

Regards,

Arul

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