Upgrading ASA 5520 IOS

[DEENA VERAPPAN]

Hi All,

Hoping to get some incite, on users expereince when upgrading the IOS on a ASA 5520. We are currently running asa 803, and will be upgrading to asa841. Has anyone gone through this kind of upgrading and have u had any challeneges, or words of wisdom.

Thanks

Deena

[robert.falconer]

There are a few things to keep in mind.

Make sure the upgrade path you want is supported. You may need to have an intermediate upgrade before getting to the final version you want.

Version 8.3 and higher has different memory requirements. I believe it's recommended to have 2GB to run 8.3 and above.

A lot of commands and methodolgies changed starting in 8.3. A couple of really major changes are the way NAT is done and the way access lists are created. Make sure you understand the changes so you can effectively manage the device moving forward.

[Todd Pula]

Including a link to the 8.4 release notes which details the additional memory requirements as mentioned above...

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/docs/security/asa/asa84/release/notes/asarn84.html

[DEENA VERAPPAN]

Thanks Bob, just upgraded the DRAM to 2GB, and currently flash is at 256MB. It seems that the ASDM has to be upgraded as well. from our current 6.2(1) version to 6.4(1). I'm just trying to cover all my bases here before diving into what apepars to be a major upgrade. The driving force behind this upgrade is to be able to capture netflow traffic/stats.

[DEENA VERAPPAN]

Thanks Todd, that was a very informative link.