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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 Great for Telecommuters, a couple shortcomings Mar 08, 2009
By John E. Heyer
Pros:
* Very stable. Many home and even business grade Firewalls will occasionally start acting up and have to be rebooted, but the ASA is completely solid.
* 8 port switch w/ 2 PoE ports is great for things like IP Phones and Wireless Access Points.
* AnyConnect SSL VPN with 2 client licenses included is a great value. This lets me access my home network from work, despite them requiring a proxy server.
* Supports Spanning Tree and Rapid Spanning Tree, allowing you to build redundant uplinks to STP compatible switches.
* 256 MB RAM and 128 MB of flash is plenty of Memory for future software.
* Tons of VPN options - Straight IPSec, DMVPN, L2TP, SSL, AnyConnect, etc. The IPSec VPN is support on the iPhone, so it's pretty cool to be able to access my home network from my phone.
Cons:
* High learning curve, especially if you don't have previous experience with Cisco PIX or routers. Even using the Java-based ASDM, it can take a few hours of training to find your way. Also, ASDM is not compatible with the latest version of Java (you'll get an 'unconnected sockets' message).
* Only supports 1 internal VLAN with default license. This is fine for most setups, but disappointing since the Cisco routers will do at least 2 VLANs. It prevents, for example, having separate VLANs for voice and wireless, or creating a DMZ.
* No built-in Wireless option. Check out the 870 or 1800 routers if this is important. Adding a Wireless AP is easy though, especially with the PoE ports.
* No support for DHCP reservations. I like to configure Servers and Printers this way, and can't find any good reason Cisco wouldn't support it like they do on their routers and Layer 3 switches.
Summary - A great value as a SOHO Firewall and VPN Appliance. The ASA 5505 is priced the same as the PIX 501 was, but adds 2 PoE ports and SSL VPN Capabilities. The biggest drawbacks I can see are the high learning curve, no built-in Wireless, and lack of DHCP reservations. Before purchasing, you'll probably want to take a look at the 870 series routers since they may be a better choice depending on your requirements.
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Great home or branch office firewall - with a learning curve Jan 07, 2011
By Eric R Torbenson
I'm using this device in my home network, replacing a Linksys WRT54G. It's great, and packs the functionality of 3 expensive pieces of gear into one box (fully-functional switch, low-end router and VPN concentrator/firewall.) The best next-level comparison would be something like the Cisco 891 integrated services router, which is about triple the cost. I thought I'd write this to balance out some of the very negative reviews and clear up some confusion.
PROS:
- Single-box solution that's a big step up from the Linksys devices
- 8 10/100 switchports, 2 with PoE in case you happen to have IP phones or switches that support that standard
- Supports a subset of routing features that other IOS-based Cisco routers use
- Tons of VPN options, allowing you to set up site-to-site or client-based connections to the network
- Basic config out of the box is extremely simple, and the unit ships with a sinple NAT-and-DHCP style setup tailored for use with broadband providers
- If you don't like the command line, Cisco ships a reasonably good Java-based GUI that also lets you pull statistics from the device
- Excellent throughput, solid performance so far. New models ship with 512 MB of flash to accomodate the new firmware and GUI packages.
CONS:
- Unless you purchase or have access to a maintenance contract (SMARTnet) from Cisco, you're not entitled to software upgrades or warranty support. Once you buy this from a reseller, you'll get access to the Cisco support site to get what you need. Same goes for hardware -- 90-day warranty without a contract, so make sure you unbox it and burn it in right away to sniff out DOA devices!
- Lacks a 1000BaseT port for the uplink - the Cisco 891 is the next step up that has this if you're lucky enough to have Metro Ethernet-level connectivity
- This Is Not A Linksys SOHO Router! Unless you're familiar with Cisco gear, the IOS command line and the way you configure a Cisco device, it can be a challenge to set anything up beyond the basics. The GUI is OK, and the CLI is not very hard to learn once you read the manual and get used to the way Cisco thinks w.r.t IOS configuation statements. Just don't expect plug-and-play the same way you would for a device you purchase from Best Buy, and spend a little time getting used to it.
- Many features are locked out via a software license. Cisco is very smart and sells the base device at a low price point. If you want full DMZ support (>2 fully connected VLANs) and VLAN trunking, you need to upgrade to the Security Plus license, which costs as much as the initial hardware investment. :-) The same applies if you want to increase the number of VPN users, the type of VPN clients supported, and other advanced features. Just keep this in mind if you want to have a DMZ accessible from both the inside and outside interfaces or have to funnel more than one VLAN over a single WAN link (think data/IP phones.)
TIP: For those who aren't familiar with the Cisco IOS or want a really quick-start configuration, I found a great guide that will (a) get you going, (b) illustrate the multi-layer configuration process for those unfamiliar with IOS, and (c) give you an idea of what the ASA's capabilities are: http://atc.go0se.com/?p=747
Overall, I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a more capable firewall and router for home, doesn't mind the lack of gigabit Ethernet, and is willing to invest the time needed to get it working properly.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Awesome firewall on a budget Aug 15, 2008
By R. Lindfield
I've used everything from ipchains on a bsd server, to sonicwall, to netscreen, to the ASA. The ASA is very powerful, and features a friendly intuitive interface for new users (ASDM).
The integrated switch and power-over-ethernet ports are a great bonus.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Very good product May 15, 2008
By A. Villate
"Alex"
This is a very good product. An enterprise class firewall. But beware, some Cisco IOS or Cisco ASDM is required. I work with Cisco products in a daily basis and I bought one of this from Amazon and now my Internet speed is as advertise by my ISP (10Mbps). The two POE ports are very handy. SSL VPN is very stable also. Only drawback is that does not have DDNS.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Cisco provided the best customer service I've ever had! Aug 25, 2011
By DavidPaul Doyle
"The Voice for Love"
I'm adding this review because I was very nervous about buying this product because somebody had previously commented that they received absolutely no customer service from Cisco. I bought the product, and like other people, I couldn't figure it out. It was just over my head. You really do need to be a network engineer or very network savvy to configure this firewall. However, I called up Cisco Customer Service and they were incredible! Seriously, I had to configure the firewall for a PBX server. I gave the Cisco customer service guy all of the requirements that the PBX company required, in terms of all of the port forwarding and configuration etc., and the Cisco engineer literally logged into the firewall and configure the entire thing for me! I was blown away. I thought I was going to have to hire somebody to do it, and he just did it for me. I'm totally happy. Everything is working perfectly now. Pretty amazing in my opinion. I just called the regular tech support phone number on their website. If you need this powerful of a firewall and don't know what you're doing, in my experience, Cisco will take care of you.
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