Upgrade plain old ASA5512X's and ASA5515X's to FirePower

[james.brunner]

Hi all,

I think this may have been done to death but I can't find a complete answer just to be 100% sure.

I have a mix of  ASA5515X and 5512X units around the world that were not purchased as FirePower bundles. They are missing the SSD and control/protection licences. All the rest of our units are ASA5555-FPWR-BUN's running FirePower through a central FMC which work like a dream.

If I want to upgrade the 5512X/5515X's to FirePower, I think I can either:

1. Purchase the ASA55XX-FP-UPG kits or;
2. Purchase an SSD and CTRL-LIC for each unit (ASA5500X-SSD120= and ASA55XX-CTRL-LIC).

Of course then you need the term licences as per site requirements but as a basic layer either of the above should get the ball rolling? If that's ok, what the cost differential? As an alternative, I read that the ASA's can be touchy about non-branded SSDs and the Micron M550 drives seem to be unavailable from other channels ;)

Thanks in advance....

JB.

[Collin Clark · Accepted solution]

JB- 

IMO the upgrade kit is the way to go (and is what Cisco suggests). Per the ordering guide-

Cisco ASA FirePOWER Services Upgrade (UPG) SKUs (include hardware, services subscriptions, and Management Center) offer a convenient mechanism for ordering Cisco ASA with FirePOWER services in an upgrade scenario where there is a Cisco ASA deployment already.

You'll save a ton of time and frustration. HTH

[james.brunner]

We took the easy option and went for the ASA5512/15-FP-UPG kits as you recommended. At least we know what we're getting then!

JB.