ASDM Book 1: Cisco ASA Series General Operations ASDM

Configuration Guide, 7.14

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 CONTENTS

PREFACE About This Guide xlix

Document Objectives xlix
Related Documentation xlix
Document Conventions xlix
Communications, Services, and Additional Information li

PART I Getting Started with the ASA 53

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to the Cisco ASA 1

ASDM Requirements 1
ASDM Java Requirements 1
ASDM Compatibility Notes 2
Hardware and Software Compatibility 5
VPN Compatibility 5
New Features 5
New Features in ASA 9.14(2) 5
New Features in ASA 9.14(1.30) 6
New Features in ASDM 7.14(1.48) 6
New Features in ASAv 9.14(1.6) 6
New Features in ASA 9.14(1)/ASDM 7.14(1) 7
Firewall Functional Overview 10
Security Policy Overview 10
Permitting or Denying Traffic with Access Rules 10
Applying NAT 10
Protecting from IP Fragments 10
Applying HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP Filtering 10

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Applying Application Inspection 11

Sending Traffic to Supported Hardware or Software Modules 11
Applying QoS Policies 11
Applying Connection Limits and TCP Normalization 11
Enabling Threat Detection 11
Firewall Mode Overview 12
Stateful Inspection Overview 12
VPN Functional Overview 13
Security Context Overview 14
ASA Clustering Overview 14
Special, Deprecated, and Legacy Services 14

CHAPTER 2 Getting Started 17

Access the Console for the Command-Line Interface 17
Access the Appliance Console 17
Access the Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Console 18
Access the Firepower 1000 and 2100 Appliance Mode Console 20
Access the ASA Console on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 22
Access the Software Module Console 23
Access the ASA 5506W-X Wireless Access Point Console 24
Configure ASDM Access 24
Use the Factory Default Configuration for ASDM Access (Appliances, ASAv) 24
Customize ASDM Access 25
Start ASDM 27
Customize ASDM Operation 29
Install an Identity Certificate for ASDM 29
Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory 29
Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory in Windows 29
Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory in Mac OS 30
Factory Default Configurations 30
Restore the Factory Default Configuration 32
Restore the ASAv Deployment Configuration 34
ASA 5506-X Series Default Configuration 35
ASA 5508-X and 5516-X Default Configuration 37

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ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X Default Configuration 38

Firepower 1010 Default Configuration 38
Firepower 1100 Default Configuration 40
Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Default Configuration 41
Firepower 2100 Appliance Mode Default Configuration 43
Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis Default Configuration 44
ISA 3000 Default Configuration 45
ASAv Deployment Configuration 46
Set the Firepower 2100 to Appliance or Platform Mode 48
Get Started with the Configuration 50
Use the Command Line Interface Tool in ASDM 50
Use the Command Line Interface Tool 50
Show Commands Ignored by ASDM on the Device 51
Apply Configuration Changes to Connections 52

CHAPTER 3 ASDM Graphical User Interface 53

About the ASDM User Interface 53

Navigate the ASDM User Interface 56
Menus 57
File Menu 57
View Menu 58
Tools Menu 59
Wizards Menu 61
Window Menu 61
Help Menu 61
Toolbar 62
ASDM Assistant 63
Status Bar 64
Connection to Device 64
Device List 64
Common Buttons 65
Keyboard Shortcuts 66
Find Function in ASDM Panes 68
Find Function in Rule Lists 68

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Enable Extended Screen Reader Support 69

Organizational Folder 69
Home Pane (Single Mode and Context) 70
Device Dashboard Tab 70
Device Information Pane 71
Interface Status Pane 72
VPN Sessions Pane 72
Failover Status Pane 72
System Resources Status Pane 72
Traffic Status Pane 73
Latest ASDM Syslog Messages Pane 73
Firewall Dashboard Tab 74
Traffic Overview Pane 75
Top 10 Access Rules Pane 75
Top Usage Status Pane 75
Top Ten Protected Servers Under SYN Attack Pane 76
Top 200 Hosts Pane 76
Top Botnet Traffic Filter Hits Pane 76
Cluster Dashboard Tab 77
Cluster Firewall Dashboard Tab 78
Content Security Tab 79
Intrusion Prevention Tab 80
ASA CX Status Tab 82
ASA FirePower Status Tabs 82
Home Pane (System) 83
Define ASDM Preferences 84
Search with the ASDM Assistant 86
Enable History Metrics 87
Unsupported Commands 87
Ignored and View-Only Commands 87
Effects of Unsupported Commands 88
Discontinuous Subnet Masks Not Supported 88
Interactive User Commands Not Supported by the ASDM CLI Tool 89

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CHAPTER 4 Licenses: Product Authorization Key Licensing 91

About PAK Licenses 91

Preinstalled License 91
Permanent License 91
Time-Based Licenses 92
Time-Based License Activation Guidelines 92
How the Time-Based License Timer Works 92
How Permanent and Time-Based Licenses Combine 92
Stacking Time-Based Licenses 93
Time-Based License Expiration 94
License Notes 94
AnyConnect Plus and Apex Licenses 94
Other VPN License 95
Total VPN Sessions Combined, All Types 95

VPN Load Balancing 95

Legacy VPN Licenses 95
Encryption License 95
Carrier License 96
Total TLS Proxy Sessions 96
VLANs, Maximum 97
Botnet Traffic Filter License 97
IPS Module License 97
Shared AnyConnect Premium Licenses (AnyConnect 3 and Earlier) 97
Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses 97
Failover License Requirements and Exceptions 97
ASA Cluster License Requirements and Exceptions 99
How Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses Combine 99
Loss of Communication Between Failover or ASA Cluster Units 100
Upgrading Failover Pairs 101
No Payload Encryption Models 101
Licenses FAQ 101
Guidelines for PAK Licenses 102
Configure PAK Licenses 104

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Order License PAKs and Obtain an Activation Key 104

Obtain a Strong Encryption License 105
Activate or Deactivate Keys 107
Configure a Shared License (AnyConnect 3 and Earlier) 108
About Shared Licenses 109
About the Shared Licensing Server and Participants 109
Communication Issues Between Participant and Server 110
About the Shared Licensing Backup Server 110
Failover and Shared Licenses 111
Maximum Number of Participants 112
Configure the Shared Licensing Server 113
Configure the Shared Licensing Participant and the Optional Backup Server 113
Supported Feature Licenses Per Model 114
Licenses Per Model 114
ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X License Features 114
ASA 5506H-X License Features 115
ASA 5508-X License Features 116
ASA 5516-X License Features 117
ASA 5525-X License Features 118
ASA 5545-X License Features 119
ASA 5555-X License Features 120
ISA 3000 License Features 122
Monitoring PAK Licenses 123
Viewing Your Current License 123
Monitoring the Shared License 123
History for PAK Licenses 124

CHAPTER 5 Licenses: Smart Software Licensing (ASAv, ASA on Firepower) 133

About Smart Software Licensing 133
Smart Software Licensing for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 133
Smart Software Manager and Accounts 134
Offline Management 134
Permanent License Reservation 134
Satellite Server (Smart Software Manager On-Prem) 136

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Licenses and Devices Managed per Virtual Account 136

Evaluation License 136
About Licenses by Type 137
AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses 137
Other VPN License 137
Total VPN Sessions Combined, All Types 138

Encryption License 138

Carrier License 140
Total TLS Proxy Sessions 140
VLANs, Maximum 141
Botnet Traffic Filter License 141
Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses 141
Failover Licenses for the ASAv 141

Failover Licenses for the Firepower 1010 141

Failover Licenses for the Firepower 1100 142

Failover Licenses for the Firepower 2100 143

Failover Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 144
ASA Cluster Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 145
Prerequisites for Smart Software Licensing 146
Regular and Satellite Smart License Prerequisites 146
Permanent License Reservation Prerequisites 146
License PIDs 147
Guidelines for Smart Software Licensing 150
Defaults for Smart Software Licensing 150
ASAv: Configure Smart Software Licensing 151
ASAv: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing 151
ASAv: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing 154
ASAv: Configure Utility Mode and MSLA Smart Software Licensing 155
ASAv: Configure Permanent License Reservation 155
Install the ASAv Permanent License 155
(Optional) Return the ASAv Permanent License 157
(Optional) Deregister the ASAv (Regular and Satellite) 158
(Optional) Renew the ASAv ID Certificate or License Entitlement (Regular and Satellite) 158
Firepower 1000 and 2100: Configure Smart Software Licensing 159

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Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing 159

Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing 162
Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Permanent License Reservation 164
Install the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License 164
(Optional) Return the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License 167
(Optional) Deregister the Firepower 1000 or 2100 (Regular and Satellite) 168
(Optional) Renew the Firepower 1000 or 2100 ID Certificate or License Entitlement (Regular and
Satellite) 168
Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Smart Software Licensing 168
Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Pre-2.3.0 Satellite Smart Software Licensing 169
Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Smart Software Licensing 171
Licenses Per Model 172
ASAv 172

Firepower 1010 175

Firepower 1100 Series 175

Firepower 2100 Series 176
Firepower 4100 Series ASA Application 178
Firepower 9300 ASA Application 179
Monitoring Smart Software Licensing 180
Viewing Your Current License 180
Viewing Smart License Status 180
Viewing the UDI 180
Smart Software Manager Communication 181
Device Registration and Tokens 181
Periodic Communication with the License Authority 181
Out-of-Compliance State 182
Smart Call Home Infrastructure 182
Smart License Certificate Management 183
History for Smart Software Licensing 183

CHAPTER 6 Logical Devices for the Firepower 4100/9300 187

About Firepower Interfaces 187

Chassis Management Interface 187
Interface Types 188

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FXOS Interfaces vs. Application Interfaces 189

About Logical Devices 190
Standalone and Clustered Logical Devices 190
Requirements and Prerequisites for Hardware and Software Combinations 190
Guidelines and Limitations for Logical Devices 191
Guidelines and Limitations for Firepower Interfaces 191
General Guidelines and Limitations 192
Requirements and Prerequisites for High Availability 192
Configure Interfaces 192
Enable or Disable an Interface 193
Configure a Physical Interface 193
Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel) 194
Configure Logical Devices 196
Add a Standalone ASA 196
Add a High Availability Pair 198
Change an Interface on an ASA Logical Device 199
Connect to the Console of the Application 200
History for Logical Devices 202

CHAPTER 7 Transparent or Routed Firewall Mode 205

About the Firewall Mode 205

About Routed Firewall Mode 205
About Transparent Firewall Mode 205
Using the Transparent Firewall in Your Network 206
Management Interface 206
Passing Traffic For Routed-Mode Features 206
About Bridge Groups 207
Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) 207
Bridge Groups in Transparent Firewall Mode 207
Bridge Groups in Routed Firewall Mode 208
Passing Traffic Not Allowed in Routed Mode 209
Allowing Layer 3 Traffic 209
Allowed MAC Addresses 210
BPDU Handling 210

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MAC Address vs. Route Lookups 210

Unsupported Features for Bridge Groups in Transparent Mode 212
Unsupported Features for Bridge Groups in Routed Mode 212
Default Settings 214
Guidelines for Firewall Mode 214
Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode) 215
Examples for Firewall Mode 216
How Data Moves Through the ASA in Routed Firewall Mode 216
An Inside User Visits a Web Server 216
An Outside User Visits a Web Server on the DMZ 217
An Inside User Visits a Web Server on the DMZ 218
An Outside User Attempts to Access an Inside Host 219
A DMZ User Attempts to Access an Inside Host 220
How Data Moves Through the Transparent Firewall 221
An Inside User Visits a Web Server 222
An Inside User Visits a Web Server Using NAT 223
An Outside User Visits a Web Server on the Inside Network 225
An Outside User Attempts to Access an Inside Host 226
History for the Firewall Mode 227

CHAPTER 8 Startup Wizard 231

Access the Startup Wizard 231

Guidelines for the Startup Wizard 231
Startup Wizard Screens 231
Starting Point or Welcome 231
Basic Configuration 232
Interface Screens 232
Outside Interface Configuration (Routed Mode) 232
Outside Interface Configuration - PPPoE (Routed Mode, Single Mode) 232
Management IP Address Configuration (Transparent Mode) 232
Other Interfaces Configuration 232
Static Routes 232
DHCP Server 232
Address Translation (NAT/PAT) 233

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Administrative Access 233

IPS Basic Configuration 233
ASA CX Basic Configuration (ASA 5585-X) 233
ASA FirePOWER Basic Configuration 233
Time Zone and Clock Configuration 233
Auto Update Server (Single Mode) 233
Startup Wizard Summary 234
History for the Startup Wizard 234

PART II High Availability and Scalability 237

CHAPTER 9 Multiple Context Mode 239

About Security Contexts 239

Common Uses for Security Contexts 239
Context Configuration Files 240
Context Configurations 240
System Configuration 240
Admin Context Configuration 240
How the ASA Classifies Packets 240
Valid Classifier Criteria 240
Classification Examples 241
Cascading Security Contexts 243
Management Access to Security Contexts 244
System Administrator Access 244
Context Administrator Access 244
Management Interface Usage 244
About Resource Management 245
Resource Classes 245
Resource Limits 245
Default Class 246
Use Oversubscribed Resources 247
Use Unlimited Resources 247
About MAC Addresses 248
MAC Addresses in Multiple Context Mode 248

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Automatic MAC Addresses 248

VPN Support 249
Licensing for Multiple Context Mode 249
Prerequisites for Multiple Context Mode 250
Guidelines for Multiple Context Mode 250
Defaults for Multiple Context Mode 252
Configure Multiple Contexts 252
Enable or Disable Multiple Context Mode 252
Enable Multiple Context Mode 252
Restore Single Context Mode 254
Configure a Class for Resource Management 254
Configure a Security Context 258
Assign MAC Addresses to Context Interfaces Automatically 260
Change Between Contexts and the System Execution Space 260
Manage Security Contexts 261
Remove a Security Context 261
Change the Admin Context 262
Change the Security Context URL 262
Reload a Security Context 263
Reload by Clearing the Configuration 264
Reload by Removing and Re-adding the Context 264
Monitoring Security Contexts 264
Monitor Context Resource Usage 265

View Assigned MAC Addresses 266

View MAC Addresses in the System Configuration 266
View MAC Addresses Within a Context 267
History for Multiple Context Mode 267

CHAPTER 10 Failover for High Availability 273

About Failover 273

Failover Modes 273
Failover System Requirements 274
Hardware Requirements 274
Software Requirements 274

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License Requirements 275

Failover and Stateful Failover Links 275
Failover Link 275
Stateful Failover Link 276
Avoiding Interrupted Failover and Data Links 277
MAC Addresses and IP Addresses in Failover 279
Stateless and Stateful Failover 280
Stateless Failover 281
Stateful Failover 281
Bridge Group Requirements for Failover 283
Bridge Group Requirements for Appliances, ASAv 283

Failover Health Monitoring 283

Unit Health Monitoring 284
Interface Monitoring 284
Failover Times 285
Configuration Synchronization 287
Running Configuration Replication 287
File Replication 287
Command Replication 288
About Active/Standby Failover 289
Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Standby Status 289
Active Unit Determination at Startup 289
Failover Events 289
About Active/Active Failover 290
Active/Active Failover Overview 290
Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Standby Status for a Failover Group 291
Active Unit Determination for Failover Groups at Startup 291
Failover Events 291
Licensing for Failover 293
Guidelines for Failover 295
Defaults for Failover 296
Configure Active/Standby Failover 297
Configure Active/Active Failover 298
Configure Optional Failover Parameters 299

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Configure Failover Criteria and Other Settings 299

Configure Interface Monitoring and Standby Addresses 302
Configure Support for Asymmetrically Routed Packets (Active/Active Mode) 303
Manage Failover 305
Modify the Failover Setup 305
Force Failover 307
Disable Failover 308
Restore a Failed Unit 309
Re-Sync the Configuration 309
Monitoring Failover 309
Failover Messages 309
Failover Syslog Messages 310
Failover Debug Messages 310
SNMP Failover Traps 310
Monitoring Failover Status 310
System 310
Failover Group 1 and Failover Group 2 311

History for Failover 311

CHAPTER 11 Failover for High Availability in the Public Cloud 315

About Failover in the Public Cloud 315
About Active/Backup Failover 316
Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Backup Status 316
Failover Connection 316
Polling and Hello Messages 316
Active Unit Determination at Startup 317
Failover Events 317
Guidelines and Limitations 319
Licensing for Failover in the Public Cloud 320
Defaults for Failover in the Public Cloud 320
About ASAv High Availability in Microsoft Azure 320
About the Azure Service Principal 321
Configuration Requirements for ASAv High Availability in Azure 322
Configure Active/Backup Failover 323

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Configure Optional Failover Parameters 325

Configure Azure Route Tables 325
Manage Failover in the Public Cloud 326
Force Failover 326
Update Routes 326
Validate Azure Authentication 327
Monitor Failover in the Public Cloud 327
Failover Status 328
Failover Messages 328
History for Failover in the Public Cloud 329

CHAPTER 12 ASA Cluster 331

About ASA Clustering 331

How the ASA Cluster Fits into Your Network 331
Cluster Members 332
Bootstrap Configuration 332
Control and Data Unit Roles 332
Cluster Interfaces 332
Cluster Control Link 332
Configuration Replication 333
ASA Cluster Management 333
Management Network 333
Management Interface 333
Control Unit Management Vs. Data Unit Management 333
RSA Key Replication 334
ASDM Connection Certificate IP Address Mismatch 334
Inter-Site Clustering 334
Licenses for ASA Clustering 335
Requirements and Prerequisites for ASA Clustering 335
Guidelines for ASA Clustering 337
Configure ASA Clustering 342
Back Up Your Configurations (Recommended) 343
Cable the Units and Configure Interfaces 343
About Cluster Interfaces 343

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Cable the Cluster Units and Configure Upstream and Downstream Equipment 352
Configure the Cluster Interface Mode on the Control Unit 352
(Recommended; Required in Multiple Context Mode) Configure Interfaces on the Control Unit
355

Create or Join an ASA Cluster 360

Run the High Availability Wizard 360
Customize the Clustering Operation 364
Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters 364
Configure Interface Health Monitoring and Auto-Rejoin Settings 368
Configure the Cluster TCP Replication Delay 369
Configure Inter-Site Features 370
Manage Cluster Members 373
Add a New Data Unit from the Control Unit 373
Become an Inactive Member 374
Deactivate a Data Unit from the Control Unit 375
Rejoin the Cluster 375
Leave the Cluster 376
Change the Control Unit 377
Execute a Command Cluster-Wide 378
Monitoring the ASA Cluster 379
Monitoring Cluster Status 379
Capturing Packets Cluster-Wide 379
Monitoring Cluster Resources 379
Monitoring Cluster Traffic 379
Monitoring the Cluster Control Link 380
Monitoring Cluster Routing 380
Configuring Logging for Clustering 380
Examples for ASA Clustering 380
Sample ASA and Switch Configuration 380
ASA Configuration 381
Cisco IOS Switch Configuration 382
Firewall on a Stick 383
Traffic Segregation 386
Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby) 388

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OTV Configuration for Routed Mode Inter-Site Clustering 395

Examples for Inter-Site Clustering 397
Individual Interface Routed Mode North-South Inter-Site Example 397
Spanned EtherChannel Routed Mode Example with Site-Specific MAC and IP Addresses 398
Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode North-South Inter-Site Example 399
Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode East-West Inter-Site Example 400
Reference for Clustering 401
ASA Features and Clustering 401
Unsupported Features with Clustering 401
Centralized Features for Clustering 402
Features Applied to Individual Units 403
AAA for Network Access and Clustering 404
Connection Settings 404
FTP and Clustering 404
Identity Firewall and Clustering 404
Multicast Routing and Clustering 405
NAT and Clustering 405
Dynamic Routing and Clustering 406
SCTP and Clustering 408
SIP Inspection and Clustering 409
SNMP and Clustering 409
STUN and Clustering 409
Syslog and NetFlow and Clustering 409
Cisco TrustSec and Clustering 409
VPN and Clustering 409
Performance Scaling Factor 410
Control Unit Election 410
High Availability Within the ASA Cluster 410
Unit Health Monitoring 411
Interface Monitoring 411
Status After Failure 411
Rejoining the Cluster 412
Data Path Connection State Replication 412
How the ASA Cluster Manages Connections 413

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Connection Roles 413

New Connection Ownership 415
Sample Data Flow 415
Rebalancing New TCP Connections Across the Cluster 416
History for ASA Clustering 416

CHAPTER 13 ASA Cluster for the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 423

About Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 423

Bootstrap Configuration 424
Cluster Members 424
Master and Slave Unit Roles 424
Cluster Control Link 425
Size the Cluster Control Link 425
Cluster Control Link Redundancy 426
Cluster Control Link Reliability 426
Cluster Control Link Network 426
Cluster Interfaces 427
Connecting to a VSS or vPC 427
Configuration Replication 427
ASA Cluster Management 427
Management Network 427
Management Interface 427
Control Unit Management Vs. Data Unit Management 428
RSA Key Replication 428
ASDM Connection Certificate IP Address Mismatch 428
Spanned EtherChannels (Recommended) 428
Inter-Site Clustering 429
Requirements and Prerequisites for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 430
Licenses for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 431
Licenses for Distributed S2S VPN 432
Clustering Guidelines and Limitations 433
Configure Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis 437
FXOS: Add an ASA Cluster 438
Create an ASA Cluster 438

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Add More Cluster Members 444

ASA: Change the Firewall Mode and Context Mode 446
ASA: Configure Data Interfaces 446
ASA: Customize the Cluster Configuration 448
Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters 448
Configure Interface Health Monitoring and Auto-Rejoin Settings 451
Configure the Cluster TCP Replication Delay 452
Configure Inter-Site Features 453
Configure Distributed Site-to-Site VPN 456
FXOS: Remove a Cluster Unit 461
ASA: Manage Cluster Members 462
Become an Inactive Member 463
Deactivate a Data Unit from the Control Unit 463
Rejoin the Cluster 464
Change the Control Unit 465
Execute a Command Cluster-Wide 465
ASA: Monitoring the ASA Cluster on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis 467
Monitoring Cluster Status 467
Capturing Packets Cluster-Wide 467
Monitoring Cluster Resources 467
Monitoring Cluster Traffic 467
Monitoring the Cluster Control Link 468
Monitoring Cluster Routing 468
Monitoring Distributed S2S VPN 468
Configuring Logging for Clustering 468
Troubleshooting Distributed S2S VPN 469
Reference for Clustering 470
ASA Features and Clustering 470
Unsupported Features with Clustering 470
Centralized Features for Clustering 471
Features Applied to Individual Units 472
AAA for Network Access and Clustering 472
Connection Settings 472
FTP and Clustering 472

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Identity Firewall and Clustering 473

Multicast Routing and Clustering 473
NAT and Clustering 473
Dynamic Routing and Clustering 474
SCTP and Clustering 475
SIP Inspection and Clustering 475
SNMP and Clustering 475
STUN and Clustering 476
Syslog and NetFlow and Clustering 476
Cisco TrustSec and Clustering 476
VPN and Clustering on the FXOS Chassis 476
Performance Scaling Factor 477
Control Unit Election 477
High Availability Within the Cluster 477
Chassis-Application Monitoring 478
Unit Health Monitoring 478
Interface Monitoring 478
Decorator Application Monitoring 478
Status After Failure 479
Rejoining the Cluster 479
Data Path Connection State Replication 479
How the Cluster Manages Connections 480
Connection Roles 480
New Connection Ownership 482
Sample Data Flow 482
History for ASA Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 483

PART III Interfaces 489

CHAPTER 14 Basic Interface Configuration 491

About Basic Interface Configuration 491

Auto-MDI/MDIX Feature 491
Management Interface 492
Management Interface Overview 492

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Management Slot/Port Interface 492

Use Any Interface for Management-Only Traffic 493
Management Interface for Transparent Mode 493
No Support for Redundant Management Interfaces 494
Management Interface Characteristics for ASA Models 494
Guidelines for Basic Interface Configuration 494
Default Settings for Basic Interface Configuration 495
Enable the Physical Interface and Configure Ethernet Parameters 496
Enable Jumbo Frame Support (ASA Models) 497
Examples for Basic Interfaces 498
Physical Interface Parameters Example 498
Multiple Context Mode Example 498
History for Basic Interface Configuration 499

CHAPTER 15 Basic Interface Configuration for Firepower 1010 Switch Ports 501

About Firepower 1010 Switch Ports 501

Understanding Firepower 1010 Ports and Interfaces 501
Auto-MDI/MDIX Feature 502
Guidelines and Limitations for Firepower 1010 Switch Ports 502
Configure Switch Ports and Power Over Ethernet 504
Configure a VLAN Interface 504
Configure Switch Ports as Access Ports 504
Configure Switch Ports as Trunk Ports 505
Configure Power Over Ethernet 507
Monitoring Switch Ports 508
History for Switch Ports 508

CHAPTER 16 EtherChannel and Redundant Interfaces 509

About EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces 509

About Redundant Interfaces (ASA Platform Only) 509
Redundant Interface MAC Address 510
About EtherChannels 510
Channel Group Interfaces 510
Connecting to an EtherChannel on Another Device 510

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Link Aggregation Control Protocol 511

Load Balancing 512
EtherChannel MAC Address 512
Guidelines for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces 513
Default Settings for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces 515
Configure a Redundant Interface 515
Configure a Redundant Interface 515
Change the Active Interface 517
Configure an EtherChannel 517
Add Interfaces to the EtherChannel 517
Customize the EtherChannel 519
Examples for EtherChannel and Redundant Interfaces 521
History for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces 521

CHAPTER 17 VLAN Subinterfaces 523

About VLAN Subinterfaces 523
Licensing for VLAN Subinterfaces 523
Guidelines and Limitations for VLAN Subinterfaces 524
Default Settings for VLAN Subinterfaces 525
Configure VLAN Subinterfaces and 802.1Q Trunking 525
Examples for VLAN Subinterfaces 527
History for VLAN Subinterfaces 528

CHAPTER 18 VXLAN Interfaces 529

About VXLAN Interfaces 529

VXLAN Encapsulation 529
VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint 529
VTEP Source Interface 530
VNI Interfaces 530
VXLAN Packet Processing 530
Peer VTEPs 531
VXLAN Use Cases 531
VXLAN Bridge or Gateway Overview 531
VXLAN Bridge 532

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VXLAN Gateway (Routed Mode) 532

Router Between VXLAN Domains 532
Guidelines for VXLAN Interfaces 534
Default Settings for VXLAN Interfaces 534
Configure VXLAN Interfaces 534
Configure the VTEP Source Interface 535
Configure the VNI Interface 536
Examples for VXLAN Interfaces 536
Transparent VXLAN Gateway Example 537
VXLAN Routing Example 539
History for VXLAN Interfaces 540

CHAPTER 19 Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces 541

About Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces 541

Security Levels 541
Dual IP Stack (IPv4 and IPv6) 542
31-Bit Subnet Mask 542
31-Bit Subnet and Clustering 542
31-Bit Subnet and Failover 542
31-Bit Subnet and Management 543
31-Bit Subnet Unsupported Features 543
Guidelines and Limitations for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces 543
Configure Routed Mode Interfaces 545
Configure General Routed Mode Interface Parameters 545
Configure PPPoE 547
Configure Bridge Group Interfaces 548
Configure the Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) 548
Configure General Bridge Group Member Interface Parameters 550
Configure a Management Interface for Transparent Mode 551
Configure IPv6 Addressing 552
About IPv6 552
IPv6 Addressing 553
Modified EUI-64 Interface IDs 553
Configure the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client 553

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About IPv6 Prefix Delegation 553

Enable the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client 555
Configure a Global IPv6 Address 556
(Optional) Configure the Link-Local Addresses Automatically 558
(Optional) Configure the Link-Local Addresses Manually 559
Configure IPv6 Neighbor Discovery 560
View and Clear Dynamically Discovered Neighbors 562
Monitoring Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces 563
Interface Statistics and Information 563
DHCP Information 564
Static Route Tracking 564
PPPoE 564
Dynamic ACLs 565
Examples for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces 565
Transparent Mode Example with 2 Bridge Groups 565
Switched LAN Segment Example with 2 Bridge Groups 566
History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces 568

CHAPTER 20 Advanced Interface Configuration 573

About Advanced Interface Configuration 573

About MAC Addresses 573
Default MAC Addresses 573
Automatic MAC Addresses 574
About the MTU 575
Path MTU Discovery 575
Default MTU 575
MTU and Fragmentation 575
MTU and Jumbo Frames 576
About the TCP MSS 576
Default TCP MSS 576
Suggested Maximum TCP MSS Setting 576
Inter-Interface Communication 577
Intra-Interface Communication (Routed Firewall Mode) 577
Automatically Assign MAC Addresses in Multiple Context Mode 577

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Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS 578
Allow Same Security Level Communication 579
Monitoring the ARP and MAC Address Table 580
History for Advanced Interface Configuration 580

CHAPTER 21 Traffic Zones 583

About Traffic Zones 583

Non-Zoned Behavior 583
Why Use Zones? 583
Asymmetric Routing 584
Lost Route 584
Load Balancing 585
Per-Zone Connection and Routing Tables 586
ECMP Routing 586
Non-Zoned ECMP Support 586
Zoned ECMP Support 587
How Connections Are Load-Balanced 587
Falling Back to a Route in Another Zone 587
Interface-Based Security Policy 587
Supported Services for Traffic Zones 587
Security Levels 588
Primary and Current Interface for the Flow 588
Joining or Leaving a Zone 588
Intra-Zone Traffic 588
To- and From-the-Box Traffic 589
Overlapping IP Addresses Within a Zone 589
Prerequisites for Traffic Zones 589
Guidelines for Traffic Zones 590
Configure a Traffic Zone 592
Monitoring Traffic Zones 592
Zone Information 592
Zone Connections 593
Zone Routing 593
Example for Traffic Zones 594

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History for Traffic Zones 597

PART IV Basic Settings 599

CHAPTER 22 Basic Settings 601

Set the Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet Passwords 601
Set the Date and Time 602
Set the Date and Time Using an NTP Server 602
Set the Date and Time Manually 604
Configure Precision Time Protocol (ISA 3000) 605
Configure the Master Passphrase 606
Add or Change the Master Passphrase 607
Disable the Master Passphrase 608
Configure the DNS Server 608
Configure the Hardware Bypass and Dual Power Supply (Cisco ISA 3000) 610
Adjust ASP (Accelerated Security Path) Performance and Behavior 612
Choose a Rule Engine Transactional Commit Model 612
Enable ASP Load Balancing 613
Monitoring the DNS Cache 614
History for Basic Settings 615

CHAPTER 23 DHCP and DDNS Services 619

About DHCP and DDNS Services 619

About the DHCPv4 Server 619
DHCP Options 619
About the DHCPv6 Stateless Server 620
About the DHCP Relay Agent 620
DHCP Relay Server Support on VTI 620
Guidelines for DHCP and DDNS Services 621
Configure the DHCP Server 622
Enable the DHCPv4 Server 623
Configure Advanced DHCPv4 Options 624
Configure the DHCPv6 Stateless Server 625
Configure the DHCP Relay Agent 626

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Configure Dynamic DNS 628

Monitoring DHCP and DDNS Services 630
Monitoring DHCP Services 630
Monitoring DDNS Status 631
History for DHCP and DDNS Services 631

CHAPTER 24 Digital Certificates 635

About Digital Certificates 635

Public Key Cryptography 636
Certificate Scalability 636
Key Pairs 637
Trustpoints 637
Certificate Enrollment 637
Proxy for SCEP Requests 638
Revocation Checking 638
Supported CA Servers 638
CRLs 639
OCSP 640
Certificates and User Login Credentials 641
User Login Credentials 641
Certificates 641
Guidelines for Digital Certificates 642
Configure Digital Certificates 644
Configure Reference Identities 644
How to Set Up Specific Certificate Types 646
Identity Certificates 646
Add or Import an Identity Certificate 647
Export an Identity Certificate 650
Generate a Certificate Signing Request 651
Install Identity Certificates 651
CA Certificates 653
Add or Install a CA Certificate 653
Configure CA Certificates for Revocation 654
Configure CRL Retrieval Policy 654

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Configure CRL Retrieval Methods 655

Configure OCSP Rules 655
Configure Advanced CRL and OCSP Settings 656
CA Server Management 657
Code Signer Certificate 657
Import a Code Signer Certificate 657
Export a Code Signer Certificate 657
Set a Certificate Expiration Alert (for Identity or CA Certificates) 658
Monitoring Digital Certificates 659
History for Certificate Management 660

CHAPTER 25 ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table 663

About ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table 663

ARP Inspection for Bridge Group Traffic 663
MAC Address Table 664
Default Settings 664
Guidelines for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table 664
Configure ARP Inspection and Other ARP Parameters 665
Add a Static ARP Entry and Customize Other ARP Parameters 665
Enable ARP Inspection 666
Customize the MAC Address Table for Bridge Groups 667
Add a Static MAC Address for Bridge Groups 667
Disable MAC Address Learning 667
History for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table 668

PART V IP Routing 671

CHAPTER 26 Routing Overview 673

Path Determination 673

Supported Route Types 674
Static Versus Dynamic 674
Single-Path Versus Multipath 674
Flat Versus Hierarchical 674
Link-State Versus Distance Vector 675

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Supported Internet Protocols for Routing 675

Routing Table 676
How the Routing Table Is Populated 676
Administrative Distances for Routes 676
Backup Dynamic and Floating Static Routes 677
How Forwarding Decisions Are Made 678
Dynamic Routing and Failover 678
Dynamic Routing and Clustering 678
Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode 679
Dynamic Routing in Individual Interface Mode 679
Dynamic Routing in Multiple Context Mode 680
Route Resource Management 681
Routing Table for Management Traffic 681
Management Interface Identification 682
Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) Routing 682
Disable Proxy ARP Requests 683
Display the Routing Table 684
History for Route Overview 684

CHAPTER 27 Static and Default Routes 685

About Static and Default Routes 685

Default Route 685
Static Routes 685
Route to null0 Interface to Drop Unwanted Traffic 686
Route Priorities 686
Transparent Firewall Mode and Bridge Group Routes 686
Static Route Tracking 687
Guidelines for Static and Default Routes 687
Configure Default and Static Routes 688
Configure a Default Route 688
Configure a Static Route 689
Configure Static Route Tracking 690
Monitoring a Static or Default Route 691
Examples for Static or Default Routes 691

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History for Static and Default Routes 691

CHAPTER 28 Policy Based Routing 693

About Policy Based Routing 693

Why Use Policy Based Routing? 693
Equal-Access and Source-Sensitive Routing 694
Quality of Service 694
Cost Saving 694
Load Sharing 695
Implementation of PBR 695
Guidelines for Policy Based Routing 695
Configure Policy Based Routing 696
History for Policy Based Routing 698

CHAPTER 29 Route Maps 701

About Route Maps 701

Permit and Deny Clauses 702
Match and Set Clause Values 702
Guidelines for Route Maps 703
Define a Route Map 703
Customize a Route Map 705
Define a Route to Match a Specific Destination Address 705
Configure Prefix Rules 706
Configure Prefix Lists 707
Configure the Metric Values for a Route Action 707
Example for Route Maps 708
History for Route Maps 709

CHAPTER 30 Bidirectional Forwarding Detection Routing 711

About BFD Routing 711

BFD Asynchronous Mode and Echo Function 711
BFD Session Establishment 712
BFD Timer Negotiation 713
BFD Failure Detection 714

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BFD Deployment Scenarios 714

Guidelines for BFD Routing 714
Configure BFD 715
Create the BFD Template 715
Configure BFD Interfaces 717
Configure BFD Maps 717
History for BFD Routing 718

CHAPTER 31 BGP 719

About BGP 719

When to Use BGP 719
Routing Table Changes 719
BGP Path Selection 721
BGP Multipath 721
Guidelines for BGP 722
Configure BGP 723
Enable BGP 723
Define the Best Path for a BGP Routing Process 724
Configure Policy Lists 725
Configure AS Path Filters 726
Configure Community Rules 727
Configure IPv4 Address Family Settings 727
Configure IPv4 Family General Settings 728
Configure IPv4 Family Aggregate Address Settings 728
Configure IPv4 Family Filtering Settings 729
Configure IPv4 Family BGP Neighbor Settings 729
Configure IPv4 Network Settings 732
Configure IPv4 Redistribution Settings 733
Configure IPv4 Route Injection Settings 733
Configure IPv6 Address Family Settings 734
Configure IPv6 Family General Settings 734
Configure IPv6 Family Aggregate Address Settings 735
Configure IPv6 Family BGP Neighbor Settings 736
Configure IPv6 Network Settings 738

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Configure IPv6 Redistribution Settings 739

Configure IPv6 Route Injection Settings 739
Monitoring BGP 740
History for BGP 741

CHAPTER 32 OSPF 743

About OSPF 743
OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets 745
Prerequisites for OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets 745
About OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets 745
Implementation Differences Between OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 746
Guidelines for OSPF 746
Configure OSPFv2 748
Configure a Key Chain for Authentication 749
Configure OSPFv2 Router ID 751
Manually Configure OSPF Router-ID 751
Router ID Behaviour while Migrating 751

Customize OSPFv2 752

Redistribute Routes Into OSPFv2 752
Configure Route Summarization When Redistributing Routes Into OSPFv2 754
Add a Route Summary Address 754
Add or Edit an OSPF Summary Address 755
Configure Route Summarization Between OSPFv2 Areas 755
Configure OSPFv2 Interface Parameters 756
Configure OSPFv2 Area Parameters 759
Configure OSPFv2 Filter Rules 760
Configure an OSPFv2 NSSA 760
Configure an IP Address Pool for Clustering (OSPFv2 and OSPFv3) 761
Define Static OSPFv2 Neighbors 763
Configure Route Calculation Timers 764
Log Neighbors Going Up or Down 764
Configure a Key Chain for Authentication 765
Configure Filtering in OSPF 766
Configure a Virtual Link in OSPF 767

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Configure OSPFv3 769

Enable OSPFv3 769
Configure OSPFv3 Interface Parameters 769
Configure OSPFv3 Area Parameters 771
Configure a Virtual Link Neighbor 772
Configure OSPFv3 Passive Interfaces 773
Configure OSPFv3 Administrative Distance 773
Configure OSPFv3 Timers 774
Define Static OSPFv3 Neighbors 775
Send Syslog Messages 775
Suppress Syslog Messages 776
Calculate Summary Route Costs 776
Generate a Default External Route into an OSPFv3 Routing Domain 777
Configure an IPv6 Summary Prefix 777
Redistribute IPv6 Routes 778
Configure Graceful Restart 779
Configuring Graceful Restart for OSPFv2 779
Configure Cisco NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2 780
Configure IETF NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2 780
Configuring Graceful Restart for OSPFv3 781
Configuring Graceful Restart Wait Timer for OSPF 781
Remove the OSPFv2 Configuration 782
Remove the OSPFv3 Configuration 782
Example for OSPFv2 782
Examples for OSPFv3 784
Monitoring OSPF 786
History for OSPF 787

CHAPTER 33 IS-IS 789

About IS-IS 789

About NET 789
IS-IS Dynamic Hostname 790
IS-IS PDU Types 790
Operation of IS-IS on Multiaccess Circuits 791

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IS-IS Election of the Designated IS 792

IS-IS LSPDB Synchronization 793
IS-IS Shortest Path Calculation 794
IS-IS Shutdown Protocol 795
Prerequisites for IS-IS 795
Guidelines for IS-IS 795
Configure IS-IS 796
Enable IS-IS Routing Globally 796
Enable IS-IS Authentication 797
Configure IS-IS LSP 798
Configure IS-IS Summary Addresses 799
Configure IS-IS NET 801
Configure IS-IS Passive Interfaces 801
Configure IS-IS Interfaces 802
Configure IS-IS IPv4 Address Family 805
Configure IS-IS IPv6 Address Family 809
Monitoring IS-IS 811
History for IS-IS 811

CHAPTER 34 EIGRP 813

About EIGRP 813

Guidelines for EIGRP 814
Configure an EIGRP Process 815
Configure EIGRP 816
Enable EIGRP 816
Enable EIGRP Stub Routing 817
Customize EIGRP 818
Define a Network for an EIGRP Routing Process 818
Configure Interfaces for EIGRP 819
Configure Passive Interfaces 820
Configure the Summary Aggregate Addresses on Interfaces 820
Change the Interface Delay Value 821
Enable EIGRP Authentication on an Interface 822
Define an EIGRP Neighbor 823

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Redistribute Routes Into EIGRP 823

Filter Networks in EIGRP 825
Customize the EIGRP Hello Interval and Hold Time 826
Disable Automatic Route Summarization 827
Configure Default Information in EIGRP 828
Disable EIGRP Split Horizon 829
Restart the EIGRP Process 829
Monitoring for EIGRP 830
History for EIGRP 831

CHAPTER 35 Multicast Routing 833

About Multicast Routing 833
Stub Multicast Routing 833
PIM Multicast Routing 834
PIM Source Specific Multicast Support 834
PIM Bootstrap Router (BSR) 834
PIM Bootstrap Router (BSR) Terminology 835
Multicast Group Concept 835
Multicast Addresses 835
Clustering 836
Guidelines for Multicast Routing 836
Enable Multicast Routing 836
Customize Multicast Routing 837
Configure Stub Multicast Routing and Forward IGMP Messages 837
Configure a Static Multicast Route 838
Configure IGMP Features 839
Disable IGMP on an Interface 839
Configure IGMP Group Membership 839
Configure a Statically Joined IGMP Group 840
Control Access to Multicast Groups 840
Limit the Number of IGMP States on an Interface 841
Modify the Query Messages to Multicast Groups 842
Change the IGMP Version 842
Configure PIM Features 843

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Enable and Disable PIM on an Interface 843

Configure a Static Rendezvous Point Address 844
Configure the Designated Router Priority 844
Configure and Filter PIM Register Messages 845
Configure PIM Message Intervals 846
Configure a Route Tree 846
Configure a Multicast Group 847
Filter PIM Neighbors 847
Configure a Bidirectional Neighbor Filter 848
Configure the ASA as a Candidate BSR 849
Configure a Multicast Boundary 850
Monitoring for PIM 851
Example for Multicast Routing 851
History for Multicast Routing 853

PART VI AAA Servers and the Local Database 855

CHAPTER 36 AAA and the Local Database 857

About AAA and the Local Database 857

Authentication 857
Authorization 858
Accounting 858
Interaction Between Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting 858
AAA Servers and Server Groups 858
About the Local Database 860
Fallback Support 861
How Fallback Works with Multiple Servers in a Group 861
Guidelines for the Local Database 862
Add a User Account to the Local Database 862
Test Local Database Authentication and Authorization 863
Monitoring the Local Database 864
History for the Local Database 864

CHAPTER 37 RADIUS Servers for AAA 867

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About RADIUS Servers for AAA 867

Supported Authentication Methods 867
User Authorization of VPN Connections 868
Supported Sets of RADIUS Attributes 868
Supported RADIUS Authorization Attributes 868
Supported IETF RADIUS Authorization Attributes 882
RADIUS Accounting Disconnect Reason Codes 883
Guidelines for RADIUS Servers for AAA 884
Configure RADIUS Servers for AAA 884
Configure RADIUS Server Groups 885
Add a RADIUS Server to a Group 887
Add an Authentication Prompt 889
Test RADIUS Server Authentication and Authorization 889
Monitoring RADIUS Servers for AAA 890
History for RADIUS Servers for AAA 890

CHAPTER 38 TACACS+ Servers for AAA 893

About TACACS+ Servers for AAA 893

TACACS+ Attributes 893
Guidelines for TACACS+ Servers for AAA 895
Configure TACACS+ Servers 895
Configure TACACS+ Server Groups 895
Add a TACACS+ Server to a Group 896
Add an Authentication Prompt 897
Test TACACS+ Server Authentication and Authorization 898
Monitoring TACACS+ Servers for AAA 899
History for TACACS+ Servers for AAA 899

CHAPTER 39 LDAP Servers for AAA 901

About LDAP and the ASA 901

How Authentication Works with LDAP 901
LDAP Hierarchy 902
Search the LDAP Hierarchy 902
Bind to an LDAP Server 903

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LDAP Attribute Maps 904

Guidelines for LDAP Servers for AAA 904
Configure LDAP Servers for AAA 905
Configure LDAP Attribute Maps 905
Configure LDAP Server Groups 906
Add an LDAP Server to a Server Group 907

Test LDAP Server Authentication and Authorization 909

Monitoring LDAP Servers for AAA 909
History for LDAP Servers for AAA 910

CHAPTER 40 Kerberos Servers for AAA 911

Guidelines for Kerberos Servers for AAA 911

Configure Kerberos Servers for AAA 911
Configure Kerberos AAA Server Groups 911
Add Kerberos Servers to a Kerberos Server Group 912
Configure Kerberos Key Distribution Center Validation 913
Monitor Kerberos Servers for AAA 914
History for Kerberos Servers for AAA 915

CHAPTER 41 RSA SecurID Servers for AAA 917

About RSA SecurID Servers 917

Guidelines for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA 917
Configure RSA SecurID Servers for AAA 918
Configure RSA SecurID AAA Server Groups 918
Add RSA SecurID Servers to an SDI Server Group 918
Monitor RSA SecurID Servers for AAA 919
History for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA 920

PART VII System Administration 921

CHAPTER 42 Management Access 923

Configure Management Remote Access 923

Configure ASA Access for HTTPS (ASDM), Telnet, or SSH 923
Configure HTTPS (ASDM) Access 924

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Configure SSH Access 925

Configure Telnet Access 930
Configure HTTP Redirect for ASDM Access or Clientless SSL VPN 930
Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel 931
Configure Management Access for FXOS on Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Data Interfaces 932
Change the Console Timeout 933
Customize a CLI Prompt 934
Configure a Login Banner 935
Set a Management Session Quota 936
Configure AAA for System Administrators 937
Configure Management Authentication 937
About Management Authentication 937
Configure Authentication for CLI, ASDM, and enable command Access 939
Configure ASDM Certificate Authentication 940
Control CLI and ASDM Access with Management Authorization 941
Configure Command Authorization 943
About Command Authorization 943
Configure Local Command Authorization 944
Configure Commands on the TACACS+ Server 946
Configure TACACS+ Command Authorization 948
Configure a Password Policy for Local Database Users 949
Change Your Password 950
Enable and View the Login History 951
Configure Management Access Accounting 952
Recover from a Lockout 952
Monitoring Device Access 953
History for Management Access 954

CHAPTER 43 Software and Configurations 965

Upgrade the Software 965

Load an Image Using ROMMON 965
Upgrade the ROMMON Image (ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, and 5516-X, ISA 3000) 967
Recover and Load an Image for the ASA 5506W-X Wireless Access Point 968
Downgrade Your Software 969

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Guidelines and Limitations for Downgrading 969

Incompatible Configuration Removed After Downgrading 970
Downgrade the Firepower 1000 or 2100 in Appliance Mode 971
Downgrade the Firepower 2100 in Platform Mode 972
Downgrade the Firepower 4100/9300 972
Downgrade the ASA 5500-X or ISA 3000 973

Manage Files 974

Configure File Access 974
Configure the FTP Client Mode 974
Configure the ASA as a Secure Copy Server 975
Configure the ASA TFTP Client Path 976
Add Mount Points 977

Access the File Management Tool 978

Transfer Files 979
Transfer Files Between Local PC and Flash 979
Transfer Files Between Remote Server and Flash 979
Set the ASA Image, ASDM, and Startup Configuration 981
Back Up and Restore Configurations or Other Files 983
Perform a Complete System Backup or Restoration 983
Before You Begin Backup or Restore 983
Back Up the System 984
Restore the Backup 985
Save the Running Configuration to a TFTP Server 986
Schedule a System Restart 986
Configure Auto Update 987
About Auto Update 987
Auto Update Client or Server 987
Auto Update Benefits 987
Auto Update Server Support in Failover Configurations 988
Guidelines for Auto Update 989
Configure Communication with an Auto Update Server 990
Monitoring Auto Update 991
Monitoring the Auto Update Process 991
History for Software and Configurations 993

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CHAPTER 44 Response Automation for System Events 995

About the EEM 995

Supported Events 995
Actions on Event Manager Applets 996
Output Destinations 996
Guidelines for the EEM 996
Configure the EEM 997
Create an Event Manager Applet and Configure Events 997
Configure an Action and Destinations for Output from an Action 998
Run an Event Manager Applet 999
Track Memory Allocation and Memory Usage 999
Monitoring the EEM 1000
History for the EEM 1000

CHAPTER 45 Testing and Troubleshooting 1001

Recover Enable and Telnet Passwords 1001

Recover Passwords on the ASA 5500-X 1001
Recover Passwords on the ASA 5506-X, ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X 1003
Recover Passwords or Images on the ASAv 1004

Disable Password Recovery for ASA Hardware 1006

Configure and Run Captures with the Packet Capture Wizard 1006
Guidelines for Packet Capture 1009
Ingress Traffic Selector 1010
Egress Traffic Selector 1010
Buffers 1011
Summary 1011
Run Captures 1011
Save Captures 1012
vCPU Usage in the ASAv 1012

CPU Usage Example 1012

VMware CPU Usage Reporting 1013
ASAv and vCenter Graphs 1013
Test Your Configuration 1013

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Test Basic Connectivity: Pinging Addresses 1014

What You Can Test Using Ping 1014
Choosing Between ICMP and TCP Ping 1014
Enable ICMP 1014
Ping Hosts 1015
Test ASA Connectivity Systematically 1016
Trace Routes to Hosts 1018
Make the ASA Visible on Trace Routes 1019
Determine Packet Routes 1019
Using the Packet Tracer to Test Policy Configuration 1021
Monitoring Performance and System Resources 1022
Monitoring Performance 1022
Monitoring Memory Blocks 1022
Monitoring CPU 1023
Monitoring Memory 1023
Monitoring Per-Process CPU Usage 1024
Monitoring Connections 1024
History for Testing and Troubleshooting 1024

PART VIII Monitoring 1027

CHAPTER 46 Logging 1029

About Logging 1029

Logging in Multiple Context Mode 1030
Syslog Message Analysis 1030
Syslog Message Format 1030
Severity Levels 1031
Syslog Message Filtering 1032
Syslog Message Classes 1032
Sort Messages in the Log Viewers 1035
Custom Message Lists 1035
Clustering 1035
Guidelines for Logging 1036
Configure Logging 1037

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Enable Logging 1038

Configure an Output Destination 1038
Send Syslog Messages to an External Syslog Server 1038
Send Syslog Messages to the Internal Log Buffer 1041
Send Syslog Messages to an E-mail Address 1044
Send Syslog Messages to the Console Port 1045
Send Syslog Messages to a Telnet or SSH Session 1046
Configure Syslog Messages 1046
Configure Syslog Messaging 1046
Edit Syslog ID Settings 1047
Include a Device ID in Non-EMBLEM Formatted Syslog Messages 1048
Include the Date and Time in Syslog Messages 1048
Disable a Syslog Message 1048
Change the Severity Level of a Syslog Message 1049
Block Syslog Messages on a Standby Unit 1049
Include the Device ID in Non-EMBLEM Format Syslog Messages 1049
Create a Custom Event List 1050
Configure Logging Filters 1051
Apply Message Filters to a Logging Destination 1051
Apply Logging Filters 1051
Add or Edit a Syslog Message ID Filter 1052
Add or Edit a Message Class and Severity Filter 1052
Send All Syslog Messages in a Class to a Specified Output Destination 1053
Limit the Rate of Syslog Message Generation 1053
Assign or Change Rate Limits for Individual Syslog Messages 1054
Add or Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Message 1054
Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Severity Level 1055
Monitoring the Logs 1055
Filter Syslog Messages Through the Log Viewers 1055
Edit Filtering Settings 1057
Issue Certain Commands Using the Log Viewers 1057
History for Logging 1058

CHAPTER 47 SNMP 1063

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About SNMP 1063

SNMP Terminology 1063
SNMP Version 3 Overview 1064
Security Models 1064
SNMP Groups 1065
SNMP Users 1065
SNMP Hosts 1065
Implementation Differences Between the ASA and Cisco IOS Software 1065
SNMP Syslog Messaging 1065
Application Services and Third-Party Tools 1066
Guidelines for SNMP 1066
Configure SNMP 1068
Configure an SNMP Management Station 1068
Configure SNMP Traps 1069
Configure Parameters for SNMP Version 1 or 2c 1069
Configure Parameters for SNMP Version 3 1070

Configure a Group of Users 1071

Monitoring SNMP 1072
History for SNMP 1073

CHAPTER 48 Cisco Success Network and Telemetry Data 1079

About Cisco Success Network 1079

Supported Platforms and Required Configurations 1079

How Does ASA Telemetry Data Reach the SSE Cloud 1080
Enable or Disable Cisco Success Network 1080

View ASA Telemetry Data 1081

Cisco Success Network - Telemetry Data 1081

CHAPTER 49 Alarms for the Cisco ISA 3000 1089

About Alarms 1089

Alarm Input Interfaces 1090
Alarm Output Interface 1090
Defaults for Alarms 1091
Configure Alarms 1091

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Monitoring Alarms 1092

History for Alarms 1094

CHAPTER 50 Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home 1095

About Anonymous Reporting 1095

DNS Requirement 1096
About Smart Call Home 1096
Guidelines for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home 1097
Configure Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home 1098
Configure Anonymous Reporting 1098
Configure Smart Call Home 1098
Configure Auto Import of Trustpool Certificates 1101
Monitoring Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home 1102
History for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home 1103

PART IX Reference 1105

CHAPTER 51 Addresses, Protocols, and Ports 1107

IPv4 Addresses and Subnet Masks 1107

Classes 1107
Private Networks 1108
Subnet Masks 1108
Determine the Subnet Mask 1108
Determine the Address to Use with the Subnet Mask 1109
IPv6 Addresses 1111
IPv6 Address Format 1111
IPv6 Address Types 1112
Unicast Addresses 1112
Multicast Address 1114
Anycast Address 1115
Required Addresses 1115
IPv6 Address Prefixes 1116
Protocols and Applications 1116
TCP and UDP Ports 1117

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Local Ports and Protocols 1121

ICMP Types 1122

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 About This Guide
The following topics explain how to use this guide.
• Document Objectives, on page xlix
• Related Documentation, on page xlix
• Document Conventions, on page xlix
• Communications, Services, and Additional Information, on page li

Document Objectives
The purpose of this guide is to help you configure general operations for the Cisco ASA series using the
Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM). This guide does not cover every feature, but describes only the
most common configuration scenarios.
Throughout this guide, the term “ASA” applies generically to supported models, unless specified otherwise.

Note ASDM supports many ASA versions. The ASDM documentation and online help includes all of the latest
features supported by the ASA. If you are running an older version of ASA software, the documentation might
include features that are not supported in your version. Please refer to the feature history table for each chapter
to determine when features were added. For the minimum supported version of ASDM for each ASA version,
see Cisco ASA Series Compatibility.

Related Documentation
For more information, see Navigating the Cisco ASA Series Documentation at http://www.cisco.com/go/asadocs.

Document Conventions
This document adheres to the following text, display, and alert conventions.

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 About This Guide
About This Guide

Text Conventions

Convention Indication

boldface Commands, keywords, button labels, field names, and user-entered text appear
in boldface. For menu-based commands, the full path to the command is shown.

italic Variables, for which you supply values, are presented in an italic typeface.
Italic type is also used for document titles, and for general emphasis.

monospace Terminal sessions and information that the system displays appear in monospace
type.

{x | y | z} Required alternative keywords are grouped in braces and separated by vertical

bars.

[] Elements in square brackets are optional.

[x | y | z] Optional alternative keywords are grouped in square brackets and separated by

vertical bars.

[] Default responses to system prompts are also in square brackets.

<> Non-printing characters such as passwords are in angle brackets.

!, # An exclamation point (!) or a number sign (#) at the beginning of a line of code
indicates a comment line.

Reader Alerts
This document uses the following for reader alerts:

Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the manual.

Tip Means the following information will help you solve a problem.

Caution Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might do something that could result in equipment damage or
loss of data.

Timesaver Means the described action saves time. You can save time by performing the action described in the paragraph.

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 About This Guide
Communications, Services, and Additional Information

Warning Means reader be warned. In this situation, you might perform an action that could result in bodily
injury.

Communications, Services, and Additional Information

• To receive timely, relevant information from Cisco, sign up at Cisco Profile Manager.
• To get the business impact you’re looking for with the technologies that matter, visit Cisco Services.
• To submit a service request, visit Cisco Support.
• To discover and browse secure, validated enterprise-class apps, products, solutions and services, visit
Cisco Marketplace.
• To obtain general networking, training, and certification titles, visit Cisco Press.
• To find warranty information for a specific product or product family, access Cisco Warranty Finder.

Cisco Bug Search Tool

Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST) is a web-based tool that acts as a gateway to the Cisco bug tracking system
that maintains a comprehensive list of defects and vulnerabilities in Cisco products and software. BST provides
you with detailed defect information about your products and software.

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 About This Guide
Communications, Services, and Additional Information

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PA R T I
Getting Started with the ASA
• Introduction to the Cisco ASA, on page 1
• Getting Started, on page 17
• ASDM Graphical User Interface, on page 53
• Licenses: Product Authorization Key Licensing, on page 91
• Licenses: Smart Software Licensing (ASAv, ASA on Firepower), on page 133
• Logical Devices for the Firepower 4100/9300, on page 187
• Transparent or Routed Firewall Mode, on page 205
• Startup Wizard, on page 231
 CHAPTER 1
Introduction to the Cisco ASA
The Cisco ASA provides advanced stateful firewall and VPN concentrator functionality in one device as well
as integrated services with add-on modules. The ASA includes many advanced features, such as multiple
security contexts (similar to virtualized firewalls), clustering (combining multiple firewalls into a single
firewall), transparent (Layer 2) firewall or routed (Layer 3) firewall operation, advanced inspection engines,
IPsec VPN, SSL VPN, and clientless SSL VPN support, and many more features.

Note ASDM supports many ASA versions. The ASDM documentation and online help includes all of the latest
features supported by the ASA. If you are running an older version of ASA software, the documentation might
include features that are not supported in your version. Please refer to the feature history table for each chapter
to determine when features were added. For the minimum supported version of ASDM for each ASA version,
see Cisco ASA Compatibility. See also Special, Deprecated, and Legacy Services, on page 14.

• ASDM Requirements, on page 1

• Hardware and Software Compatibility, on page 5
• VPN Compatibility, on page 5
• New Features, on page 5
• Firewall Functional Overview, on page 10
• VPN Functional Overview, on page 13
• Security Context Overview, on page 14
• ASA Clustering Overview, on page 14
• Special, Deprecated, and Legacy Services, on page 14

ASDM Requirements
ASDM Java Requirements
You can install ASDM using Oracle JRE 8.0 (asdm-version.bin) or OpenJRE 1.8.x
(asdm-openjre-version.bin).

Note ASDM is not tested on Linux.

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ASDM Compatibility Notes

Table 1: ASA and ASA FirePOWER: ASDM Operating System and Browser Requirements

Operating System Browser Oracle JRE OpenJRE

Internet Firefox Safari Chrome

Explorer

• Microsoft Windows (English and Japanese): Yes Yes No Yes 8.0 1.8
support
• 10 (For SR 1809, see the workaround in Note No
CSCvp26795) support
for
•8 Windows
•7 7 32-bit

• Server 2016 and Server 2019 (ASA

management only; ASDM management of
the FirePOWER module is not supported.
You can alternatively use Firepower
Management Center to manage the
FirePOWER module when using ASDM for
ASA management.)
• Server 2012 R2
• Server 2012
• Server 2008

Apple OS X 10.4 and later No support Yes Yes Yes 8.0 1.8
(64-bit
version
only)

ASDM Compatibility Notes

The following table lists compatibility caveats for ASDM.

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ASDM Compatibility Notes

Conditions Notes

Requires Strong Encryption license ASDM requires an SSL connection to the ASA. You can request
(3DES/AES) on ASA a 3DES license from Cisco:
Note Smart licensing models allow 1. Go to www.cisco.com/go/license.
initial access with ASDM
without the Strong Encryption 2. Click Continue to Product License Registration.
license. 3. In the Licensing Portal, click Get Other Licenses next to the
text field.
4. Choose IPS, Crypto, Other... from the drop-down list.
5. Type ASA in to the Search by Keyword field.
6. Select Cisco ASA 3DES/AES License in the Product list,
and click Next.
7. Enter the serial number of the ASA, and follow the prompts
to request a 3DES/AES license for the ASA.

• Self-signed certificate or an untrusted When the ASA uses a self-signed certificate or an untrusted
certificate certificate, Firefox and Safari are unable to add security exceptions
when browsing using HTTPS over IPv6. See
• IPv6 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=633001. This caveat
• Firefox and Safari affects all SSL connections originating from Firefox or Safari to
the ASA (including ASDM connections). To avoid this caveat,
configure a proper certificate for the ASA that is issued by a
trusted certificate authority.

• SSL encryption on the ASA must If you change the SSL encryption on the ASA to exclude both
include both RC4-MD5 and RC4-MD5 and RC4-SHA1 algorithms (these algorithms are
RC4-SHA1 or disable SSL false start enabled by default), then Chrome cannot launch ASDM due to
in Chrome. the Chrome “SSL false start” feature. We suggest re-enabling one
of these algorithms (see the Configuration > Device
• Chrome Management > Advanced > SSL Settings pane); or you can
disable SSL false start in Chrome using the
--disable-ssl-false-start flag according to Run Chromium with
flags.

IE9 for servers For Internet Explorer 9.0 for servers, the “Do not save encrypted
pages to disk” option is enabled by default (See Tools > Internet
Options > Advanced). This option causes the initial ASDM
download to fail. Be sure to disable this option to allow ASDM
to download.

OS X On OS X, you may be prompted to install Java the first time you

run ASDM; follow the prompts as necessary. ASDM will launch
after the installation completes.

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ASDM Compatibility Notes

Conditions Notes

OS X 10.8 and later You need to allow ASDM to run because it is not signed with an
Apple Developer ID. If you do not change your security
preferences, you see an error screen.

1. To allow ASDM to run, right-click (or Ctrl-Click) the Cisco

ASDM-IDM Launcher icon, and choose Open.

2. You see a similar error screen; however, you can open ASDM
from this screen. Click Open. The ASDM-IDM Launcher
opens.

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Hardware and Software Compatibility

Conditions Notes

Windows 10 "This app can't run on your PC" error message.

When you install the ASDM Launcher, Windows 10 might replace
the ASDM shortcut target with the Windows Scripting Host path,
which causes this error. To fix the shortcut target:
1. Choose Start > Cisco ASDM-IDM Launcher, and right-click
the Cisco ASDM-IDM Launcher application.
2. Choose More > Open file location.
Windows opens the directory with the shortcut icon.
3. Right click the shortcut icon, and choose Properties.
4. Change the Target to:
C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe invisible.vbs run.bat
5. Click OK.

Hardware and Software Compatibility

For a complete list of supported hardware and software, see Cisco ASA Compatibility.

VPN Compatibility
See Supported VPN Platforms, Cisco ASA Series.

New Features
This section lists new features for each release.

Note New, changed, and deprecated syslog messages are listed in the syslog message guide.

New Features in ASA 9.14(2)

Released: November 9, 2020

Feature Description

SNMP Features

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New Features in ASA 9.14(1.30)

Feature Description

SNMP polling over site-to-site VPN For secure SNMP polling over a site-to-site VPN, include the IP address of the outside interface
in the crypto map access-list as part of the VPN configuration.

New Features in ASA 9.14(1.30)

Released: September 23, 2020

Feature Description

Licensing Features

ASAv100 permanent license The ASAv100 now supports permanent license reservation using product ID
reservation L-ASAV100SR-K9=. Note: Not all accounts are approved for permanent license reservation.

New Features in ASDM 7.14(1.48)

Released: April 30, 2020

Feature Description

Platform Features

Restore support for the ASA 5512-X, This ASDM release restores support for the ASA 5512-X, 5515-X, 5585-X, and ASASM
5515-X, 5585-X, and ASASM for when they are running 9.12 or earlier. The final ASA version for these models is 9.12. The
ASA 9.12 and earlier original 7.13(1) and 7.14(1) releases blocked backwards compatibility with these models; this
version has restored compatibility.

New Features in ASAv 9.14(1.6)

Released: April 30, 2020

Note This release is only supported on the ASAv.

Feature Description

Platform Features

ASAv100 platform The ASAv virtual platform has added the ASAv100, a high-end performance model that
provides 20 Gbps Firewall throughput levels. The ASAv100 is a subscription-based license,
available in terms of 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years.
The ASAv100 is supported on VMware ESXi and KVM only.

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New Features in ASA 9.14(1)/ASDM 7.14(1)

New Features in ASA 9.14(1)/ASDM 7.14(1)

Released: April 6, 2020

Feature Description

Platform Features

ASA for the Firepower 4112 We introduced the ASA for the Firepower 4112.
No modified screens.
Note Requires FXOS 2.8(1).

Firewall Features

Ability to see port numbers in show The show access-list command now has the numeric keyword. You can use this to view port
access-list output. numbers in the access control entries rather than names, for example, 80 instead of www.

The object-group icmp-type Although the command remains supported in this release, the object-group icmp-type
command is deprecated. command is deprecated and might be removed in a future release. Please change all ICMP-type
objects to service object groups (object-group service) and specify service icmp within the
object.

Kerberos Key Distribution Center You can import a keytab file from a Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC), and the system
(KDC) authentication. can authenticate that the Kerberos server is not being spoofed before using it to authenticate
users. To accomplish KDC authentication, you must set up a host/ASA_hostname service
principal name (SPN) on the Kerberos KDC, then export a keytab for that SPN. You then
must upload the keytab to the ASA, and configure the Kerberos AAA server group to validate
the KDC.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA
Kerberos, Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups
Add/Edit dialog box for Kerberos server groups.

High Availability and Scalability Features

Configuration sync to data units in The control unit now syncs configuration changes with data units in parallel by default.
parallel Formerly, synching occurred sequentially.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable parallel configuration
replicate check box

Messages for cluster join failure or New messages were added to the show cluster history command for when a cluster unit
eviction added to show cluster either fails to join the cluster or leaves the cluster.
history
New/Modified commands: show cluster history
No modified screens.

Interface Features

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New Features in ASA 9.14(1)/ASDM 7.14(1)

Feature Description

Speed auto-negotation can be You can now configure a Firepower 1100 or 2100 SFP interface to disable auto-negotiation.
disabled on 1GB fiber interfaces on For 10GB interfaces, you can configure the speed down to 1GB without auto-negotiation; you
the Firepower 1000 and 2100 cannot disable auto-negotiation for an interface with the speed set to 10GB.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Settings > Interfaces > Edit Interface >
Configure Hardware Properties > Speed

Administrative and Troubleshooting Features

New connection-data-rate The connection-data-rate command was introduced to provide an overview on data rate of
command individual connections on the ASA. When this command is enabled, per-flow data rate along
with the existing connection information are provided. This information helps to identify and
block unwanted connections with high data rates, thereby, ensuring an optimized CPU
utilization.
New/Modified commands: conn data-rate,show conn data-rate, show conn detail, clear
conn data-rate
No modified screens.

HTTPS idle timeout setting You can now set the idle timeout for all HTTPS connections to the ASA, including ASDM,
WebVPN, and other clients. Formerly, using the http server idle-timeout command, you
could only set the ASDM idle timeout. If you set both timeouts, the new command takes
precendence.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > Management Access >
ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH > HTTP Settings > Connection Idle Timeout check box.

New clear logging counter The show logging command provides statistics of messages logged for each logging category
command configured on the ASA. The clear logging counter command was introduced to clear the
logged counters and statistics.
New/Modified commands: clear logging counter
No modified screens.

Debug command changes for FXOS The debug fxos_parser command has been simplified to provide commonly-used
on the Firepower 1000 and 2100 in troubleshooting messages about FXOS. Other FXOS debug commands have been moved
Appliance mode under the debug menu fxos_parser command.
New/Modified commands: debug fxos_parser, debug menu fxos_parser
No modified screens.

show tech-support command The show ssl objects and show ssl errors command was added to the output of the show
enhanced tech-support command.
New/Modified commands: show tech-support
No modified screens.
Also in 9.12(4).

Monitoring Features

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New Features in ASA 9.14(1)/ASDM 7.14(1)

Feature Description

Net-SNMP version 5.7.2 Support The ASA is using Net-SNMP, a suite of applications used to implement SNMP v1, SNMP
v2c, and SNMP v3 using both IPv4 and IPv6.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > Management Access >
SNMP

SNMP OIDs and MIBs The ASA enhances support for the CISCO-REMOTE-ACCESS-MONITOR-MIB to track
rejected/failed authentications from RADIUS over SNMP. This feature implements three
SNMP OIDs:
• crasNumTotalFailures (total failures)
• crasNumSetupFailInsufResources (AAA and other internal failures)
• crasNumAbortedSessions (aborted sessions) objects

The ASA provides support for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Cipher Algorithm.
This feature implements the following SNMP OIDs:
• usmAesCfb128Protocol
• usmNoPrivProtocol

SNMPv3 Authentication You can now use SHA-256 HMAC for user authentication.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > Management Access >
SNMP

debug telemetry command. You can use the debug telemetry command, debug messages related to telemetry are displayed.
The debugs help to identify the cause for errors when generating the telemetry report.
No modified screens.

VPN Features

DHCP Relay Server Support on VTI You can now configure DHCP relay server to forward DHCP messages through VTI tunnel
interface.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Relay

IKEv2 Support for Multiple Peer You can now configure IKEv2 with multi-peer crypto map—when a peer in a tunnel goes
Crypto Map down, IKEv2 attempts to establish the SA with the next peer in the list.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Advanced > Crypto Maps >
Create / Edit IPsec Rule > Tunnel Policy (Crypto Map) - Basic

Username Options for Multiple In multiple certificate authentication, you can now specify from which certificate, first (machine
Certificate Authentication certificate) or second (user certificate), you want the attributes to be used for aaa authentication.
New/Modified screens:
• Connection Profile > Advanced > Authentication
• Connection Profile > Advanced > Secondary Authentication

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Firewall Functional Overview

Firewall Functional Overview

Firewalls protect inside networks from unauthorized access by users on an outside network. A firewall can
also protect inside networks from each other, for example, by keeping a human resources network separate
from a user network. If you have network resources that need to be available to an outside user, such as a web
or FTP server, you can place these resources on a separate network behind the firewall, called a
demilitarized zone (DMZ). The firewall allows limited access to the DMZ, but because the DMZ only includes
the public servers, an attack there only affects the servers and does not affect the other inside networks. You
can also control when inside users access outside networks (for example, access to the Internet), by allowing
only certain addresses out, by requiring authentication or authorization, or by coordinating with an external
URL filtering server.
When discussing networks connected to a firewall, the outside network is in front of the firewall, the inside
network is protected and behind the firewall, and a DMZ, while behind the firewall, allows limited access to
outside users. Because the ASA lets you configure many interfaces with varied security policies, including
many inside interfaces, many DMZs, and even many outside interfaces if desired, these terms are used in a
general sense only.

Security Policy Overview

A security policy determines which traffic is allowed to pass through the firewall to access another network.
By default, the ASA allows traffic to flow freely from an inside network (higher security level) to an outside
network (lower security level). You can apply actions to traffic to customize the security policy.

Permitting or Denying Traffic with Access Rules

You can apply access rules to limit traffic from inside to outside, or allow traffic from outside to inside. For
bridge group interfaces, you can also apply an EtherType access rule to allow non-IP traffic.

Applying NAT
Some of the benefits of NAT include the following:
• You can use private addresses on your inside networks. Private addresses are not routable on the Internet.
• NAT hides the local addresses from other networks, so attackers cannot learn the real address of a host.
• NAT can resolve IP routing problems by supporting overlapping IP addresses.

Protecting from IP Fragments

The ASA provides IP fragment protection. This feature performs full reassembly of all ICMP error messages
and virtual reassembly of the remaining IP fragments that are routed through the ASA. Fragments that fail
the security check are dropped and logged. Virtual reassembly cannot be disabled.

Applying HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP Filtering

Although you can use access lists to prevent outbound access to specific websites or FTP servers, configuring
and managing web usage this way is not practical because of the size and dynamic nature of the Internet.

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Applying Application Inspection

You can configure Cloud Web Security on the ASA, or install an ASA module that provides URL and other
filtering services, such as ASA CX or ASA FirePOWER. You can also use the ASA in conjunction with an
external product such as the Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA).

Applying Application Inspection

Inspection engines are required for services that embed IP addressing information in the user data packet or
that open secondary channels on dynamically assigned ports. These protocols require the ASA to do a deep
packet inspection.

Sending Traffic to Supported Hardware or Software Modules

Some ASA models allow you to configure software modules, or to insert hardware modules into the chassis,
to provide advanced services. These modules provide additional traffic inspection and can block traffic based
on your configured policies. You can send traffic to these modules to take advantage of these advanced
services.

Applying QoS Policies

Some network traffic, such as voice and streaming video, cannot tolerate long latency times. QoS is a network
feature that lets you give priority to these types of traffic. QoS refers to the capability of a network to provide
better service to selected network traffic.

Applying Connection Limits and TCP Normalization

You can limit TCP and UDP connections and embryonic connections. Limiting the number of connections
and embryonic connections protects you from a DoS attack. The ASA uses the embryonic limit to trigger
TCP Intercept, which protects inside systems from a DoS attack perpetrated by flooding an interface with
TCP SYN packets. An embryonic connection is a connection request that has not finished the necessary
handshake between source and destination.
TCP normalization is a feature consisting of advanced TCP connection settings designed to drop packets that
do not appear normal.

Enabling Threat Detection

You can configure scanning threat detection and basic threat detection, and also how to use statistics to analyze
threats.
Basic threat detection detects activity that might be related to an attack, such as a DoS attack, and automatically
sends a system log message.
A typical scanning attack consists of a host that tests the accessibility of every IP address in a subnet (by
scanning through many hosts in the subnet or sweeping through many ports in a host or subnet). The scanning
threat detection feature determines when a host is performing a scan. Unlike IPS scan detection that is based
on traffic signatures, the ASA scanning threat detection feature maintains an extensive database that contains
host statistics that can be analyzed for scanning activity.
The host database tracks suspicious activity such as connections with no return activity, access of closed
service ports, vulnerable TCP behaviors such as non-random IPID, and many more behaviors.
You can configure the ASA to send system log messages about an attacker or you can automatically shun the
host.

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Firewall Mode Overview

Firewall Mode Overview

The ASA runs in two different firewall modes:
• Routed
• Transparent

In routed mode, the ASA is considered to be a router hop in the network.

In transparent mode, the ASA acts like a “bump in the wire,” or a “stealth firewall,” and is not considered a
router hop. The ASA connects to the same network on its inside and outside interfaces in a "bridge group".
You might use a transparent firewall to simplify your network configuration. Transparent mode is also useful
if you want the firewall to be invisible to attackers. You can also use a transparent firewall for traffic that
would otherwise be blocked in routed mode. For example, a transparent firewall can allow multicast streams
using an EtherType access list.
Routed mode supports Integrated Routing and Bridging, so you can also configure bridge groups in routed
mode, and route between bridge groups and regular interfaces. In routed mode, you can replicate transparent
mode functionality; if you do not need multiple context mode or clustering, you might consider using routed
mode instead.

Stateful Inspection Overview

All traffic that goes through the ASA is inspected using the Adaptive Security Algorithm and either allowed
through or dropped. A simple packet filter can check for the correct source address, destination address, and
ports, but it does not check that the packet sequence or flags are correct. A filter also checks every packet
against the filter, which can be a slow process.

Note The TCP state bypass feature allows you to customize the packet flow.

A stateful firewall like the ASA, however, takes into consideration the state of a packet:
• Is this a new connection?
If it is a new connection, the ASA has to check the packet against access lists and perform other tasks to
determine if the packet is allowed or denied. To perform this check, the first packet of the session goes
through the “session management path,” and depending on the type of traffic, it might also pass through
the “control plane path.”
The session management path is responsible for the following tasks:
• Performing the access list checks
• Performing route lookups
• Allocating NAT translations (xlates)
• Establishing sessions in the “fast path”

The ASA creates forward and reverse flows in the fast path for TCP traffic; the ASA also creates
connection state information for connectionless protocols like UDP, ICMP (when you enable ICMP
inspection), so that they can also use the fast path.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
VPN Functional Overview

Note For other IP protocols, like SCTP, the ASA does not create reverse path flows.
As a result, ICMP error packets that refer to these connections are dropped.

Some packets that require Layer 7 inspection (the packet payload must be inspected or altered) are passed
on to the control plane path. Layer 7 inspection engines are required for protocols that have two or more
channels: a data channel, which uses well-known port numbers, and a control channel, which uses different
port numbers for each session. These protocols include FTP, H.323, and SNMP.
• Is this an established connection?
If the connection is already established, the ASA does not need to re-check packets; most matching
packets can go through the “fast” path in both directions. The fast path is responsible for the following
tasks:
• IP checksum verification
• Session lookup
• TCP sequence number check
• NAT translations based on existing sessions
• Layer 3 and Layer 4 header adjustments

Data packets for protocols that require Layer 7 inspection can also go through the fast path.
Some established session packets must continue to go through the session management path or the control
plane path. Packets that go through the session management path include HTTP packets that require
inspection or content filtering. Packets that go through the control plane path include the control packets
for protocols that require Layer 7 inspection.

VPN Functional Overview

A VPN is a secure connection across a TCP/IP network (such as the Internet) that appears as a private
connection. This secure connection is called a tunnel. The ASA uses tunneling protocols to negotiate security
parameters, create and manage tunnels, encapsulate packets, transmit or receive them through the tunnel, and
unencapsulate them. The ASA functions as a bidirectional tunnel endpoint: it can receive plain packets,
encapsulate them, and send them to the other end of the tunnel where they are unencapsulated and sent to
their final destination. It can also receive encapsulated packets, unencapsulate them, and send them to their
final destination. The ASA invokes various standard protocols to accomplish these functions.
The ASA performs the following functions:
• Establishes tunnels
• Negotiates tunnel parameters
• Authenticates users
• Assigns user addresses
• Encrypts and decrypts data

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Security Context Overview

• Manages security keys

• Manages data transfer across the tunnel
• Manages data transfer inbound and outbound as a tunnel endpoint or router

The ASA invokes various standard protocols to accomplish these functions.

Security Context Overview

You can partition a single ASA into multiple virtual devices, known as security contexts. Each context is an
independent device, with its own security policy, interfaces, and administrators. Multiple contexts are similar
to having multiple standalone devices. Many features are supported in multiple context mode, including
routing tables, firewall features, IPS, and management; however, some features are not supported. See the
feature chapters for more information.
In multiple context mode, the ASA includes a configuration for each context that identifies the security policy,
interfaces, and almost all the options you can configure on a standalone device. The system administrator
adds and manages contexts by configuring them in the system configuration, which, like a single mode
configuration, is the startup configuration. The system configuration identifies basic settings for the ASA.
The system configuration does not include any network interfaces or network settings for itself; rather, when
the system needs to access network resources (such as downloading the contexts from the server), it uses one
of the contexts that is designated as the admin context.
The admin context is just like any other context, except that when a user logs into the admin context, then
that user has system administrator rights and can access the system and all other contexts.

ASA Clustering Overview

ASA Clustering lets you group multiple ASAs together as a single logical device. A cluster provides all the
convenience of a single device (management, integration into a network) while achieving the increased
throughput and redundancy of multiple devices.
You perform all configuration (aside from the bootstrap configuration) on the control unit only; the configuration
is then replicated to the member units.

Special, Deprecated, and Legacy Services

For some services, documentation is located outside of the main configuration guides and online help.
Special Services Guides
Special services allow the ASA to interoperate with other Cisco products; for example, by providing a
security proxy for phone services (Unified Communications), or by providing Botnet traffic filtering in
conjunction with the dynamic database from the Cisco update server, or by providing WCCP services
for the Cisco Web Security Appliance. Some of these special services are covered in separate guides:
• Cisco ASA Botnet Traffic Filter Guide
• Cisco ASA NetFlow Implementation Guide

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Special, Deprecated, and Legacy Services

• Cisco ASA Unified Communications Guide

• Cisco ASA WCCP Traffic Redirection Guide
• SNMP Version 3 Tools Implementation Guide

Deprecated Services
For deprecated features, see the configuration guide for your ASA version. Similarly, for redesigned
features such as NAT between Version 8.2 and 8.3 or transparent mode interfaces between Version 8.3
and 8.4, refer to the configuration guide for your version. Although ASDM is backwards compatible
with previous ASA releases, the configuration guide and online help only cover the latest release.
Legacy Services Guide
Legacy services are still supported on the ASA, however there may be better alternative services that
you can use instead. Legacy services are covered in a separate guide:
Cisco ASA Legacy Feature Guide
This guide includes the following chapters:
• Configuring RIP
• AAA Rules for Network Access
• Using Protection Tools, which includes Preventing IP Spoofing (ip verify reverse-path), Configuring
the Fragment Size (fragment), Blocking Unwanted Connections (shun), Configuring TCP Options
(for ASDM), and Configuring IP Audit for Basic IPS Support (ip audit).
• Configuring Filtering Services

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Special, Deprecated, and Legacy Services

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 CHAPTER 2
Getting Started
This chapter describes how to get started with your Cisco ASA.
• Access the Console for the Command-Line Interface, on page 17
• Configure ASDM Access, on page 24
• Start ASDM, on page 27
• Customize ASDM Operation, on page 29
• Factory Default Configurations, on page 30
• Set the Firepower 2100 to Appliance or Platform Mode, on page 48
• Get Started with the Configuration, on page 50
• Use the Command Line Interface Tool in ASDM, on page 50
• Apply Configuration Changes to Connections, on page 52

Access the Console for the Command-Line Interface

In some cases, you may need to use the CLI to configure basic settings for ASDM access.
For initial configuration, access the CLI directly from the console port. Later, you can configure remote access
using Telnet or SSH according to #unique_39. If your system is already in multiple context mode, then
accessing the console port places you in the system execution space.

Note For ASAv console access, see the ASAv quick start guide.

Access the Appliance Console

Follow these steps to access the appliance console.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect a computer to the console port using the provided console cable, and connect to the console using a
terminal emulator set for 9600 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no flow control.
See the hardware guide for your ASA for more information about the console cable.

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Access the Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Console

Step 2 Press the Enter key to see the following prompt:

ciscoasa>

This prompt indicates that you are in user EXEC mode. Only basic commands are available from user EXEC
mode.

Step 3 Access privileged EXEC mode.

enable
You are prompted to change the password the first time you enter the enable command:
Example:

ciscoasa> enable
Password:
The enable password is not set. Please set it now.
Enter Password: ******
Repeat Password: ******
ciscoasa#

All non-configuration commands are available in privileged EXEC mode. You can also enter configuration
mode from privileged EXEC mode.
To exit privileged mode, enter the disable, exit, or quit command.

Step 4 Access global configuration mode.

configure terminal
Example:

ciscoasa# configure terminal

ciscoasa(config)#

You can begin to configure the ASA from global configuration mode. To exit global configuration mode,
enter the exit, quit, or end command.

Access the Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Console

The Firepower 2100 console port connects you to the FXOS CLI. From the FXOS CLI, you can then connect
to the ASA console, and back again. If you SSH to FXOS, you can also connect to the ASA CLI; a connection
from SSH is not a console connection, so you can have multiple ASA connections from an FXOS SSH
connection. Similarly, if you SSH to the ASA, you can connect to the FXOS CLI.

Before you begin

You can only have one console connection at a time. When you connect to the ASA console from the FXOS
console, this connection is a persistent console connection, not like a Telnet or SSH connection.

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Access the Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Console

Procedure

Step 1 Connect your management computer to the console port. The Firepower 2100 ships with a DB-9 to RJ-45
serial cable, so you will need a third party serial-to-USB cable to make the connection. Be sure to install any
necessary USB serial drivers for your operating system. Use the following serial settings:
• 9600 baud
• 8 data bits
• No parity
• 1 stop bit

You connect to the FXOS CLI. Enter the user credentials; by default, you can log in with the admin user and
the default password, Admin123.

Step 2 Connect to the ASA:

connect asa
Example:

firepower-2100# connect asa

Attaching to Diagnostic CLI ... Press 'Ctrl+a then d' to detach.
Type help or '?' for a list of available commands.
ciscoasa>

Step 3 Access privileged EXEC mode.

enable
You are prompted to change the password the first time you enter the enable command.
Example:

ciscoasa> enable
Password:
The enable password is not set. Please set it now.
Enter Password: ******
Repeat Password: ******
ciscoasa#

All non-configuration commands are available in privileged EXEC mode. You can also enter configuration
mode from privileged EXEC mode.
To exit privileged mode, enter the disable, exit, or quit command.

Step 4 Access global configuration mode.

configure terminal
Example:

ciscoasa# configure terminal

ciscoasa(config)#

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Access the Firepower 1000 and 2100 Appliance Mode Console

You can begin to configure the ASA from global configuration mode. To exit global configuration mode,
enter the exit, quit, or end command.

Step 5 To return to the FXOS console, enter Ctrl+a, d.

Step 6 If you SSH to the ASA (after you configure SSH access in the ASA), connect to the FXOS CLI.
connect fxos
You are prompted to authenticate for FXOS; use the default username: admin and password: Admin123. To
return to the ASA CLI, enter exit or type Ctrl-Shift-6, x.
Example:

ciscoasa# connect fxos

Connecting to fxos.
Connected to fxos. Escape character sequence is 'CTRL-^X'.

FXOS 2.2(2.32) kp2110

kp2110 login: admin

Password: Admin123
Last login: Sat Jan 23 16:20:16 UTC 2017 on pts/1
Successful login attempts for user 'admin' : 4
Cisco Firepower Extensible Operating System (FX-OS) Software

[…]

kp2110#
kp2110# exit
Remote card closed command session. Press any key to continue.
Connection with fxos terminated.
Type help or '?' for a list of available commands.
ciscoasa#

Access the Firepower 1000 and 2100 Appliance Mode Console

The Firepower 1000 and 2100 Appliance mode console port connects you to the ASA CLI (unlike the Firepower
2100 Platform mode console, which connects you to the FXOS CLI). From the ASA CLI, you can then connect
to the FXOS CLI using Telnet for troubleshooting purposes.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect your management computer to the console port. The Firepower 1000 ships with a USB A-to-B serial
cable. The Firepower 2100 ships with a DB-9 to RJ-45 serial cable, so you will need a third party serial-to-USB
cable to make the connection. Be sure to install any necessary USB serial drivers for your operating system
(see the Firepower 1010 hardware guide or Firepower 1100 hardware guide). Use the following serial settings:
• 9600 baud
• 8 data bits
• No parity
• 1 stop bit

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Access the Firepower 1000 and 2100 Appliance Mode Console

You connect to the ASA CLI. There are no user credentials required for console access by default.

Step 2 Access privileged EXEC mode.

enable
You are prompted to change the password the first time you enter the enable command.
Example:

ciscoasa> enable
Password:
The enable password is not set. Please set it now.
Enter Password: ******
Repeat Password: ******
ciscoasa#

The enable password that you set on the ASA is also the FXOS admin user password if the ASA fails to boot
up, and you enter FXOS failsafe mode.
All non-configuration commands are available in privileged EXEC mode. You can also enter configuration
mode from privileged EXEC mode.
To exit privileged EXEC mode, enter the disable, exit, or quit command.

Step 3 Access global configuration mode.

configure terminal
Example:

ciscoasa# configure terminal

ciscoasa(config)#

You can begin to configure the ASA from global configuration mode. To exit global configuration mode,
enter the exit, quit, or end command.

Step 4 (Optional) Connect to the FXOS CLI.

connect fxos [admin]
• admin—Provides admin-level access. Without this option, users have read-only access. Note that no
configuration commands are available even in admin mode.

You are not prompted for user credentials. The current ASA username is passed through to FXOS, and no
additional login is required. To return to the ASA CLI, enter exit or type Ctrl-Shift-6, x.
Within FXOS, you can view user activity using the scope security/show audit-logs command.
Example:

ciscoasa# connect fxos admin

Connecting to fxos.
Connected to fxos. Escape character sequence is 'CTRL-^X'.
firepower#
firepower# exit
Connection with FXOS terminated.
Type help or '?' for a list of available commands.

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Access the ASA Console on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

ciscoasa#

Access the ASA Console on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

For initial configuration, access the command-line interface by connecting to the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis
supervisor (either to the console port or remotely using Telnet or SSH) and then connecting to the ASA security
module.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor CLI (console or SSH), and then session to the ASA:
connect module slot {console | telnet}
The benefits of using a Telnet connection is that you can have multiple sessions to the module at the same
time, and the connection speed is faster.
The first time you access the module, you access the FXOS module CLI. You must then connect to the ASA
application.
connect asa
Example:

Firepower# connect module 1 console

Firepower-module1> connect asa

asa>

Step 2 Access privileged EXEC mode, which is the highest privilege level.
enable
You are prompted to change the password the first time you enter the enable command.
Example:

asa> enable
Password:
The enable password is not set. Please set it now.
Enter Password: ******
Repeat Password: ******
asa#

All non-configuration commands are available in privileged EXEC mode. You can also enter configuration
mode from privileged EXEC mode.
To exit privileged mode, enter the disable, exit, or quit command.

Step 3 Enter global configuration mode.

configure terminal

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Access the Software Module Console

Example:

asa# configure terminal

asa(config)#

To exit global configuration mode, enter the disable, exit, or quit command.

Step 4 Exit the application console to the FXOS module CLI by entering Ctrl-a, d
You might want to use the FXOS module CLI for troubleshooting purposes.

Step 5 Return to the supervisor level of the FXOS CLI.

Exit the console:
a) Enter ~
You exit to the Telnet application.
b) To exit the Telnet application, enter:
telnet>quit

Exit the Telnet session:

a) Enter Ctrl-], .

Access the Software Module Console

If you have a software module installed, such as the ASA FirePOWER module on the ASA 5506-X, you can
session to the module console.

Note You cannot access the hardware module CLI over the ASA backplane using the session command.

Procedure

From the ASA CLI, session to the module:

session {sfr | cxsc | ips} console
Example:

ciscoasa# session sfr console

Opening console session with module sfr.
Connected to module sfr. Escape character sequence is 'CTRL-^X'.

Cisco ASA SFR Boot Image 5.3.1

asasfr login: admin
Password: Admin123

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Access the ASA 5506W-X Wireless Access Point Console

Access the ASA 5506W-X Wireless Access Point Console

To access the wireless access point console, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 From the ASA CLI, session to the access point:

session wlan console
Example:

ciscoasa# session wlan console

opening console session with module wlan
connected to module wlan. Escape character sequence is ‘CTRL-^X’

ap>

Step 2 See the Cisco IOS Configuration Guide for Autonomous Aironet Access Points for information about the
access point CLI.

Configure ASDM Access

This section describes how to access ASDM with a default configuration and how to configure access if you
do not have a default configuration.

Use the Factory Default Configuration for ASDM Access (Appliances, ASAv)
With a factory default configuration, ASDM connectivity is pre-configured with default network settings.

Procedure

Connect to ASDM using the following interface and network settings:

• The management interface depends on your model:
• Firepower 1010—Management 1/1 (192.168.45.1), or inside Ethernet 1/2 through 1/8 (192.168.1.1).
Management hosts are limited to the 192.168.45.0/24 network, and inside hosts are limited to the
192.168.1.0/24 network.
• Firepower 1100 and 2100 in Appliance Mode—Inside Ethernet 1/2 (192.168.1.1), or Management
1/1 (from DHCP). Inside hosts are limited to the 192.168.1.0/24 network. Management hosts are
allowed from any network.
• Firepower 2100 in Platform Mode—Management 1/1 (192.168.45.1). Management hosts are limited
to the 192.168.45.0/24 network.

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Customize ASDM Access

• Firepower 4100/9300—The Management type interface and IP address of your choice defined when
you deployed. Management hosts are allowed from any network.
• ASA 5506-X, ASA 5506W-X—Inside GigabitEthernet 1/2 through 1/8, and wifi GigabitEthernet
1/9 (192.168.10.1). Inside hosts are limited to the 192.168.1.0/24 network, and wifi hosts are limited
to 192.168.10.0/24.
• ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X—Inside GigabitEthernet 1/2 (192.168.1.1). Inside hosts are limited
to the 192.168.1.0/24 network.
• ASA 5525-X and higher—Management 0/0 (192.168.1.1). Management hosts are limited to the
192.168.1.0/24 network.
• ASAv—Management 0/0 (set during deployment). Management hosts are limited to the management
network.
• ISA 3000—Management 1/1 (192.168.1.1). Management hosts are limited to the 192.168.1.0/24
network.

Note If you change to multiple context mode, you can access ASDM from the admin context using the
network settings above.

Related Topics
Factory Default Configurations, on page 30
Enable or Disable Multiple Context Mode, on page 252
Start ASDM, on page 27

Customize ASDM Access

Use this procedure if one or more of the following conditions applies:
• You do not have a factory default configuration
• You want to change to transparent firewall mode
• You want to change to multiple context mode

For routed, single mode, for quick and easy ASDM access, we recommend applying the factory default
configuration with the option to set your own management IP address. Use the procedure in this section only
if you have special needs such as setting transparent or multiple context mode, or if you have other configuration
that you need to preserve.

Note For the ASAv, you can configure transparent mode when you deploy, so this procedure is primarily useful
after you deploy if you need to clear your configuration, for example.

Procedure

Step 1 Access the CLI at the console port.

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Customize ASDM Access

Step 2 (Optional) Enable transparent firewall mode:

This command clears your configuration.
firewall transparent

Step 3 Configure the management interface:

interface interface_id
nameif name
security-level level
no shutdown
ip address ip_address mask

Example:

ciscoasa(config)# interface management 0/0

ciscoasa(config-if)# nameif management
ciscoasa(config-if)# security-level 100
ciscoasa(config-if)# no shutdown
ciscoasa(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

The security-level is a number between 1 and 100, where 100 is the most secure.

Step 4 (For directly-connected management hosts) Set the DHCP pool for the management network:

dhcpd address ip_address-ip_address interface_name

dhcpd enable interface_name

Example:

ciscoasa(config)# dhcpd address 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.254 management

ciscoasa(config)# dhcpd enable management

Make sure you do not include the interface address in the range.

Step 5 (For remote management hosts) Configure a route to the management hosts:
route management_ifc management_host_ip mask gateway_ip 1
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# route management 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.50 1

Step 6 Enable the HTTP server for ASDM:

http server enable

Step 7 Allow the management host(s) to access ASDM:

http ip_address mask interface_name
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 management

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Start ASDM

Step 8 Save the configuration:

write memory

Step 9 (Optional) Set the mode to multiple mode:

mode multiple
When prompted, confirm that you want to convert the existing configuration to be the admin context. You
are then prompted to reload the ASA.

Examples
The following configuration converts the firewall mode to transparent mode, configures the
Management 0/0 interface, and enables ASDM for a management host:

firewall transparent
interface management 0/0

ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

nameif management
security-level 100
no shutdown

dhcpd address 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.254 management

dhcpd enable management
http server enable
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 management

Related Topics
Restore the Factory Default Configuration, on page 32
Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode), on page 215
Access the Appliance Console, on page 17
Start ASDM, on page 27

Start ASDM
You can start ASDM using two methods:
• ASDM-IDM Launcher—The Launcher is an application downloaded from the ASA using a web browser
that you can use to connect to any ASA IP address. You do not need to re-download the launcher if you
want to connect to other ASAs.
• Java Web Start—For each ASA that you manage, you need to connect with a web browser and then save
or launch the Java Web Start application. You can optionally save the shortcut to your computer; however
you need separate shortcuts for each ASA IP address.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Start ASDM

Note If you use web start, clear the Java cache or you might lose changes to some pre-login policies such as Hostscan.
This problem does not occur if you use the launcher.

Within ASDM, you can choose a different ASA IP address to manage; the difference between the Launcher
and Java Web Start functionality rests primarily in how you initially connect to the ASA and launch ASDM.
This section describes how to connect to ASDM initially, and then launch ASDM using the Launcher or the
Java Web Start.
ASDM stores files in the local \Users\<user_id>\.asdm directory, including cache, log, and preferences, and
also in the Temp directory, including AnyConnect profiles.

Procedure

Step 1 On the computer that you specified as the ASDM client, enter the following URL:
https://asa_ip_address/admin
Note Be sure to specify https://, and not http:// or just the IP address (which defaults to HTTP); the ASA
does not automatically forward an HTTP request to HTTPS.

The ASDM launch page appears with the following buttons:

• Install ASDM Launcher and Run ASDM
• Run ASDM
• Run Startup Wizard

Step 2 To download the Launcher:

a) Click Install ASDM Launcher and Run ASDM.
b) Leave the username and password fields empty (for a new installation), and click OK. With no HTTPS
authentication configured, you can gain access to ASDM with no username and the enable password,
which is blank by default. When you enter the enable command at the CLI for the first time, you are
prompted to change the password; this behavior is not enforced when you log into ASDM. We suggest
that you change the enable password as soon as possible so that it does not remain blank; see Set the
Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet Passwords, on page 601. Note: If you enabled HTTPS
authentication, enter your username and associated password. Even without authentication, if you enter
a username and password at the login screen (instead of leaving the username blank), ASDM checks the
local database for a match.
c) Save the installer to your computer, and then start the installer. The ASDM-IDM Launcher opens
automatically after installation is complete.
d) Enter the management IP address, the same username and password (blank for a new installation), and
then click OK.
Step 3 To use Java Web Start:
a) Click Run ASDM or Run Startup Wizard.
b) Save the shortcut to your computer when prompted. You can optionally open it instead of saving it.
c) Start Java Web Start from the shortcut.

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Customize ASDM Operation

d) Accept any certificates according to the dialog boxes that appear. The Cisco ASDM-IDM Launcher
appears.
e) Leave the username and password fields empty (for a new installation), and click OK. With no HTTPS
authentication configured, you can gain access to ASDM with no username and the enable password,
which is blank by default. When you enter the enable command at the CLI for the first time, you are
prompted to change the password; this behavior is not enforced when you log into ASDM. We suggest
that you change the enable password as soon as possible so that it does not remain blank; see Set the
Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet Passwords, on page 601. Note: If you enabled HTTPS
authentication, enter your username and associated password. Even without authentication, if you enter
a username and password at the login screen (instead of leaving the username blank), ASDM checks the
local database for a match.

Customize ASDM Operation

You can install an identity certificate to successfully launch ASDM as well as increase the ASDM heap
memory so it can handle larger configurations.

Install an Identity Certificate for ASDM

When using Java 7 update 51 and later, the ASDM Launcher requires a trusted certificate. An easy approach
to fulfill the certificate requirements is to install a self-signed identity certificate. You can use Java Web Start
to launch ASDM until you install a certificate.
See the following document to install a self-signed identity certificate on the ASA for use with ASDM, and
to register the certificate with Java.
http://www.cisco.com/go/asdm-certificate

Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory

ASDM supports a maximum configuration size of 512 KB. If you exceed this amount you may experience
performance issues. For example, when you load the configuration, the status dialog box shows the percentage
of the configuration that is complete, yet with large configurations it stops incrementing and appears to suspend
operation, even though ASDM might still be processing the configuration. If this situation occurs, we
recommend that you consider increasing the ASDM system heap memory.

Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory in Windows

To increase the ASDM heap memory size, edit the run.bat file by performing the following procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 Go to the ASDM installation directory, for example C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco Systems\ASDM.
Step 2 Edit the run.bat file with any text editor.
Step 3 In the line that starts with “start javaw.exe”, change the argument prefixed with “-Xmx” to specify your desired
heap size. For example, change it to -Xmx768M for 768 MB or -Xmx1G for 1 GB.

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Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory in Mac OS

Step 4 Save the run.bat file.

Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory in Mac OS

To increase the ASDM heap memory size, edit the Info.plist file by performing the following procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 Right-click the Cisco ASDM-IDM icon, and choose Show Package Contents.
Step 2 In the Contents folder, double-click the Info.plist file. If you have Developer tools installed, it opens in the
Property List Editor. Otherwise, it opens in TextEdit.
Step 3 Under Java > VMOptions, change the string prefixed with “-Xmx” to specify your desired heap size. For
example, change it to -Xmx768M for 768 MB or -Xmx1G for 1 GB.

Step 4 If this file is locked, you see an error such as the following:

Step 5 Click Unlock and save the file.

If you do not see the Unlock dialog box, exit the editor, right-click the Cisco ASDM-IDM icon, choose Copy
Cisco ASDM-IDM, and paste it to a location where you have write permissions, such as the Desktop. Then
change the heap size from this copy.

Factory Default Configurations

The factory default configuration is the configuration applied by Cisco to new ASAs.

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Factory Default Configurations

• ASA 5506-X—The factory default configuration enables a functional inside/outside configuration. You
can manage the ASA using ASDM from the inside interfaces, which are placed in a bridge group using
Integrated Routing and Bridging.
• ASA 5508-X and 5516-X—The factory default configuration enables a functional inside/outside
configuration. You can manage the ASA using ASDM from the inside interface.
• ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X—The factory default configuration configures an interface for
management so that you can connect to it using ASDM, with which you can then complete your
configuration.
• Firepower 1010—The factory default configuration enables a functional inside/outside configuration.
You can manage the ASA using ASDM from either the management interface or the inside switch ports.
• Firepower 1100—The factory default configuration enables a functional inside/outside configuration.
You can manage the ASA using ASDM from either the management interface or the inside interface.
• Firepower 2100—Platform mode (the default):The factory default configuration enables a functional
inside/outside configuration. You can manage the ASA using the Firepower Chassis Manager and ASDM
from the management interface.
Appliance mode—If you change to appliance mode, the factory default configuration enables a functional
inside/outside configuration. You can manage the ASA using ASDM from either the management interface
or the inside interface.
• Firepower 4100/9300 chassis—When you deploy the standalone or cluster of ASAs, the factory default
configuration configures an interface for management so that you can connect to it using ASDM, with
which you can then complete your configuration.
• ASAv—Depending on your hypervisor, as part of deployment, the deployment configuration (the initial
virtual deployment settings) configures an interface for management so that you can connect to it using
ASDM, with which you can then complete your configuration. You can also configure failover IP
addresses. You can also apply a “factory default” configuration if desired.
• ISA 3000—The factory default configuration is an almost-complete transparent firewall mode
configuration with all inside and outside interfaces on the same network; you can connect to the
management interface with ASDM to set the IP address of your network. Hardware bypass is enabled
for two interface pairs, and all traffic is sent to the ASA FirePOWER module in Inline Tap Monitor-Only
Mode. This mode sends a duplicate stream of traffic to the ASA Firepower module for monitoring
purposes only.

For appliances, the factory default configuration is available only for routed firewall mode and single context
mode. For the ASAv and the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, you can choose transparent or routed mode at
deployment.

Note In addition to the image files and the (hidden) default configuration, the following folders and files are standard
in flash memory: log/, crypto_archive/, and coredumpinfo/coredump.cfg. The date on these files may not
match the date of the image files in flash memory. These files aid in potential troubleshooting; they do not
indicate that a failure has occurred.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Restore the Factory Default Configuration

Restore the Factory Default Configuration

This section describes how to restore the factory default configuration. Both CLI and ASDM procedures are
provided. For the ASAv, this procedure erases the deployment configuration and applies the same factory
default configuration as for the ASA 5525-X.

Note On the Firepower 4100/9300, restoring the factory default configuration simply erases the configuration; to
restore the default configuration, you must re-deploy the ASA from the supervisor.

Before you begin

This feature is available only in routed firewall mode; transparent mode does not support IP addresses for
interfaces. In addition, this feature is available only in single context mode; an ASA with a cleared configuration
does not have any defined contexts to configure automatically using this feature.

Procedure

Step 1 Restore the factory default configuration:

configure factory-default [ip_address [mask]]
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# configure factory-default 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0

Note This command does not clear the currently-set mode, Appliance or Platform, for the Firepower
2100.

If you specify the ip_address, then you set the inside or management interface IP address, depending on your
model, instead of using the default IP address. See the following model guidelines for which interface is set
by the ip_address option:
• Firepower 1010—Sets the management interface IP address.
• Firepower 1100—Sets the inside interface IP address.
• Firepower 2100 in Appliance mode—Sets the inside interface IP address.
• Firepower 2100 in Platform mode—Sets the management interface IP address.
• Firepower 4100/9300—No effect.
• ASAv—Sets the management interface IP address.
• ASA 5506-X—Sets the inside interface IP address.
• ASA 5508-X and 5516-X—Sets the inside interface IP address.
• ASA 5525-X, 5545-X, 5555-X—Sets the management interface IP address.
• ISA 3000—Sets the management interface IP address.

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Restore the Factory Default Configuration

The http command uses the subnet you specify. Similarly, the dhcpd address command range consists of
all available addresses higher than the IP address you specify. For example, if you specify 10.5.6.78 with a
subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, then the DHCP address range will be 10.5.6.79-10.5.6.254.
For the Firepower 1000, and the Firepower 2100 in Appliance mode: This command clears the boot system
command, if present, along with the rest of the configuration. This configuration change does not affect the
image at bootup: the currently-loaded image continues to be used.
For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode: This model does not use the boot system command; packages are
managed by FXOS.
For all other models: This command clears the boot system command, if present, along with the rest of the
configuration. The boot system command lets you boot from a specific image. The next time you reload the
ASA after restoring the factory configuration, it boots from the first image in internal flash memory; if you
do not have an image in internal flash memory, the ASA does not boot.
Example:

docs-bxb-asa3(config)# configure factory-default 10.86.203.151 255.255.254.0

Based on the management IP address and mask, the DHCP address
pool size is reduced to 103 from the platform limit 256

WARNING: The boot system configuration will be cleared.

The first image found in disk0:/ will be used to boot the
system on the next reload.
Verify there is a valid image on disk0:/ or the system will
not boot.

Begin to apply factory-default configuration:

Clear all configuration
WARNING: The new maximum-session limit will take effect after the running-config is saved
and the system boots next time. Command accepted
WARNING: Local user database is empty and there are still 'aaa' commands for 'LOCAL'.
Executing command: interface management0/0
Executing command: nameif management
INFO: Security level for "management" set to 0 by default.
Executing command: ip address 10.86.203.151 255.255.254.0
Executing command: security-level 100
Executing command: no shutdown
Executing command: exit
Executing command: http server enable
Executing command: http 10.86.202.0 255.255.254.0 management
Executing command: dhcpd address 10.86.203.152-10.86.203.254 management
Executing command: dhcpd enable management
Executing command: logging asdm informational
Factory-default configuration is completed
ciscoasa(config)#

Step 2 Save the default configuration to flash memory:

write memory
This command saves the running configuration to the default location for the startup configuration, even if
you previously configured the boot config command to set a different location; when the configuration was
cleared, this path was also cleared.

Step 3 (ASDM procedure.) In the main ASDM application window, do the following:
a) Choose File > Reset Device to the Factory Default Configuration.
The Reset Device to the Default Configuration dialog box appears.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Restore the ASAv Deployment Configuration

b) (Optional) Enter the Management IP address of the management or inside interface, instead of using
the default address.
See the previous CLI step for details about which interface IP is set per model.
c) (Optional) Choose the Management Subnet Mask from the drop-down list.
d) Click OK.
A confirmation dialog box appears.
Note For the Firepower 1000, and the Firepower 2100 in Appliance mode: This command clears the
location of the boot image, if present, along with the rest of the configuration. This configuration
change does not affect the image at bootup: the currently-loaded image continues to be used.
For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode: This model does not use the boot image location;
packages are managed by FXOS.
For all other models: This action also clears the location of the boot image, if present, along
with the rest of the configuration. The Configuration > Device Management > System
Image/Configuration > Boot Image/Configuration pane lets you boot from a specific image,
including an image on the external memory. The next time you reload the ASA after restoring
the factory configuration, it boots from the first image in internal flash memory; if you do not
have an image in internal flash memory, the ASA does not boot.

e) Click Yes.
f) After you restore the default configuration, save this configuration to internal flash memory. Choose File
> Save Running Configuration to Flash.
Choosing this option saves the running configuration to the default location for the startup configuration,
even if you have previously configured a different location. When the configuration was cleared, this path
was also cleared.

Restore the ASAv Deployment Configuration

This section describes how to restore the ASAv deployment (Day 0) configuration.

Procedure

Step 1 For failover, power off the standby unit.

To prevent the standby unit from becoming active, you must power it off. If you leave it on, when you erase
the active unit configuration, then the standby unit becomes active. When the former active unit reloads and
reconnects over the failover link, the old configuration will sync from the new active unit, wiping out the
deployment configuration you wanted.

Step 2 Restore the deployment configuration after you reload. For failover, enter this command on the active unit:
write erase

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 Getting Started with the ASA
ASA 5506-X Series Default Configuration

Note The ASAv boots the current running image, so you are not reverted to the original boot image. To
use the original boot image, see the boot image command.
Do not save the configuration.

Step 3 Reload the ASAv and load the deployment configuration:

reload

Step 4 For failover, power on the standby unit.

After the active unit reloads, power on the standby unit. The deployment configuration will sync to the standby
unit.

ASA 5506-X Series Default Configuration

The default factory configuration for the ASA 5506-X series configures the following:
• Integrated Routing and Bridging functionality—GigabitEthernet 1/2 through 1/8 belong to bridge group
1; Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) 1
• inside --> outside traffic flow—GigabitEthernet 1/1 (outside), BVI 1 (inside)
• outside IP address from DHCP, inside IP address—192.168.1.1
• (ASA 5506W-X) wifi <--> inside, wifi --> outside traffic flow—GigabitEthernet 1/9 (wifi)
• (ASA 5506W-X) wifi IP address—192.168.10.1
• DHCP for clients on inside and wifi. The access point itself and all its clients use the ASA as the DHCP
server.
• ASDM access—inside and wifi hosts allowed.
• NAT—Interface PAT for all traffic from inside, wifi, and management to outside.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

interface Management1/1
management-only
no nameif
no security-level
no ip address
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/1
nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/2
nameif inside_1
security-level 100
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/3
nameif inside_2

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 Getting Started with the ASA
ASA 5506-X Series Default Configuration

security-level 100
no shutdown
bridge-group 1
interface GigabitEthernet1/4
nameif inside_3
security-level 100
no shutdown
bridge-group 1
interface GigabitEthernet1/5
nameif inside_4
security-level 100
no shutdown
bridge-group 1
interface GigabitEthernet1/6
nameif inside_5
security-level 100
no shutdown
bridge-group 1
interface GigabitEthernet1/7
nameif inside_6
security-level 100
no shutdown
bridge-group 1
interface GigabitEthernet1/8
nameif inside_7
security-level 100
no shutdown
bridge-group 1
!
interface bvi 1
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
!
object network obj_any1
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_1,outside) dynamic interface
object network obj_any2
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_2,outside) dynamic interface
object network obj_any3
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_3,outside) dynamic interface
object network obj_any4
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_4,outside) dynamic interface
object network obj_any5
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_5,outside) dynamic interface
object network obj_any6
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_6,outside) dynamic interface
object network obj_any7
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (inside_7,outside) dynamic interface
!
same-security-traffic permit inter-interface
!
http server enable
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_1
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_2
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_3
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_4
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_5

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 Getting Started with the ASA
ASA 5508-X and 5516-X Default Configuration

http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_6

http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside_7
!
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd address 192.168.1.5-192.168.1.254 inside
dhcpd enable inside
!
logging asdm informational

For the ASA 5506W-X, the following commands are also included:

interface GigabitEthernet 1/9

security-level 100
nameif wifi
ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
object network obj_any_wifi
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (wifi,outside) dynamic interface
!
http 192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0 wifi
!
dhcpd address 192.168.10.2-192.168.10.254 wifi
dhcpd enable wifi

ASA 5508-X and 5516-X Default Configuration

The default factory configuration for the ASA 5508-X and 5516-X configures the following:
• inside --> outside traffic flow—GigabitEthernet 1/1 (outside), GigabitEthernet 1/2 (inside)
• outside IP address from DHCP
• inside IP address—192.168.1.1
• DHCP server on inside.
• Default route from outside DHCP
• Management 1/1 interface is Up, but otherwise unconfigured. The ASA FirePOWER module can then
use this interface to access the ASA inside network and use the inside interface as the gateway to the
Internet.
• ASDM access—inside hosts allowed.
• NAT—Interface PAT for all traffic from inside and management to outside.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

interface Management1/1
management-only
no nameif
no security-level
no ip address
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/1
nameif outside

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 Getting Started with the ASA
ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X Default Configuration

security-level 0
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/2
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
object network obj_any
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (any,outside) dynamic interface
!
http server enable
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside
!
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd address 192.168.1.5-192.168.1.254 inside
dhcpd enable inside
!
logging asdm informational

ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X Default Configuration

The default factory configuration for the ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X configures the following:
• Management interface—Management 0/0 (management).
• IP address—The management address is 192.168.1.1/24.
• DHCP server—Enabled for management hosts so that a computer connecting to the management interface
receives an address between 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.254.
• ASDM access—Management hosts allowed.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

interface management 0/0

ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
nameif management
security-level 100
no shutdown
!
asdm logging informational
asdm history enable
!
http server enable
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 management
!
dhcpd address 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.254 management
dhcpd enable management

Firepower 1010 Default Configuration

The default factory configuration for the Firepower 1010 configures the following:
• Hardware switch—Ethernet 1/2 through 1/8 belong to VLAN 1

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Firepower 1010 Default Configuration

• inside→outside traffic flow—Ethernet 1/1 (outside), VLAN1 (inside)

• management—Management 1/1 (management), IP address 192.168.45.1
• outside IP address from DHCP, inside IP address—192.168.1.1
• DHCP server on inside interface, management interface
• Default route from outside DHCP
• ASDM access—Management and inside hosts allowed. Management hosts are limited to the
192.168.45.0/24 network, and inside hosts are limited to the 192.168.1.0/24 network.
• NAT—Interface PAT for all traffic from inside to outside.
• DNS servers—OpenDNS servers are pre-configured.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

interface Vlan1
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
interface Management1/1
managment-only
nameif management
no shutdown
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.45.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface Ethernet1/1
nameif outside
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/2
no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
interface Ethernet1/3
no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
interface Ethernet1/4
no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
interface Ethernet1/5
no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
interface Ethernet1/6

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Firepower 1100 Default Configuration

no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
interface Ethernet1/7
no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
interface Ethernet1/8
no shutdown
switchport
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 1
!
object network obj_any
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (any,outside) dynamic interface
!
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd address 192.168.1.20-192.168.1.254 inside
dhcpd address 192.168.45.10-192.168.45.12 management
dhcpd enable inside
dhcpd enable management
!
http server enable
http 192.168.45.0 255.255.255.0 management
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside
!
dns domain-lookup outside
dns server-group DefaultDNS
name-server 208.67.222.222 outside
name-server 208.67.220.220 outside
!

Firepower 1100 Default Configuration

The default factory configuration for the Firepower 1100 configures the following:
• inside→outside traffic flow—Ethernet 1/1 (outside), Ethernet 1/2 (inside)
• outside IP address from DHCP, inside IP address—192.168.1.1
• management—Management 1/1 (management), IP address from DHCP
• DHCP server on inside interface
• Default routes from outside DHCP, management DHCP
• ASDM access—Management and inside hosts allowed. Inside hosts are limited to the 192.168.1.0/24
network.
• NAT—Interface PAT for all traffic from inside to outside.
• DNS servers—OpenDNS servers are pre-configured.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Default Configuration

interface Management1/1
management-only
nameif management
security-level 100
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/1
nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/2
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
object network obj_any
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (any,outside) dynamic interface
!
http server enable
http 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 management
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside
!
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd address 192.168.1.20-192.168.1.254 inside
dhcpd enable inside
!
dns domain-lookup outside
dns server-group DefaultDNS
name-server 208.67.222.222 outside
name-server 208.67.220.220 outside
!

Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Default Configuration

You can set the Firepower 2100 to run in Platform mode; Appliance mode is the default.

Note For pre-9.13(1) versions, Platform mode was the default and only option. If you upgrade from Platform mode,
this mode is maintained.

ASA Configuration
The default factory configuration for the ASA on the Firepower 2100 configures the following:
• inside→outside traffic flow—Ethernet 1/1 (outside), Ethernet 1/2 (inside)
• outside IP address from DHCP, inside IP address—192.168.1.1
• DHCP server on inside interface
• Default route from outside DHCP

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Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Default Configuration

• management—Management 1/1 (management), IP address 192.168.45.1

• ASDM access—Management hosts allowed.
• NAT—Interface PAT for all traffic from inside to outside.
• FXOS management traffic initiation—The FXOS chassis can initiate management traffic on the ASA
outside interface.
• DNS servers—OpenDNS servers are pre-configured.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

interface Management1/1
management-only
nameif management
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.45.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/1
nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/2
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
object network obj_any
subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (any,outside) dynamic interface
!
http server enable
http 192.168.45.0 255.255.255.0 management
!
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd address 192.168.1.20-192.168.1.254 inside
dhcpd enable inside
!
ip-client outside
!
dns domain-lookup outside
dns server-group DefaultDNS
name-server 208.67.222.222 outside
name-server 208.67.220.220 outside

FXOS Configuration
The default factory configuration for FXOS on the Firepower 2100 configures the following:
• Management 1/1—IP address 192.168.45.45
• Default gateway—ASA data interfaces
• Firepower Chassis Manager and SSH access—From the management network only.
• Default Username—admin, with the default password Admin123

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Firepower 2100 Appliance Mode Default Configuration

• DHCP server—Client IP address range 192.168.45.10-192.168.45.12

• NTP server—Cisco NTP servers: 0.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org, 1.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org,
2.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org
• DNS Servers—OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
• Ethernet 1/1 and Ethernet 1/2—Enabled

Firepower 2100 Appliance Mode Default Configuration

The Firepower 2100 runs in Appliance mode by default.

Note For pre-9.13(1) versions, Platform mode was the default and only option. If you upgrade from Platform mode,
Platform mode is maintained.

The default factory configuration for the Firepower 2100 in Appliance mode configures the following:
• inside→outside traffic flow—Ethernet 1/1 (outside), Ethernet 1/2 (inside)
• outside IP address from DHCP, inside IP address—192.168.1.1
• management IP address from DHCP—Management 1/1 (management)
• DHCP server on inside interface
• Default routes from outside DHCP, management DHCP
• ASDM access—Management and inside hosts allowed. Inside hosts are limited to the 192.168.1.0/24
network.
• NAT—Interface PAT for all traffic from inside to outside.
• DNS servers—OpenDNS servers are pre-configured.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

interface Management1/1
management-only
nameif management
security-level 100
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/1
nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/2
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!

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Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis Default Configuration

object network obj_any

subnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
nat (any,outside) dynamic interface
!
http server enable
http 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 management
http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 management
!
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd address 192.168.1.20-192.168.1.254 inside
dhcpd enable inside
!
dns domain-lookup outside
dns server-group DefaultDNS
name-server 208.67.222.222 outside
name-server 208.67.220.220 outside
!

Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis Default Configuration

When you deploy the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, you can pre-set many parameters that let
you connect to the Management interface using ASDM. A typical configuration includes the following settings:
• Management interface:
• Management type interface of your choice defined on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis supervisor
• Named “management”
• IP address of your choice
• Security level 0
• Management-only

• Default route through the management interface

• ASDM access—All hosts allowed.

The configuration for a standalone unit consists of the following commands. For additional configuration for
clustered units, see Create an ASA Cluster, on page 438.

interface <management_ifc>
management-only
ip address <ip_address> <mask>
ipv6 address <ipv6_address>
ipv6 enable
nameif management
security-level 0
no shutdown
!
http server enable
http 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 management
http ::/0 management
!
route management 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 <gateway_ip> 1
ipv6 route management ::/0 <gateway_ipv6>

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 Getting Started with the ASA
ISA 3000 Default Configuration

ISA 3000 Default Configuration

The default factory configuration for the ISA 3000 configures the following:
• Transparent firewall mode—A transparent firewall is a Layer 2 firewall that acts like a “bump in the
wire,” or a “stealth firewall,” and is not seen as a router hop to connected devices.
• 1 Bridge Virtual Interface—All member interfaces are in the same network (IP address not
pre-configured; you must set to match your network): GigabitEthernet 1/1 (outside1), GigabitEthernet
1/2 (inside1), GigabitEthernet 1/3 (outside2), GigabitEthernet 1/4 (inside2)
• All inside and outside interfaces can communicate with each other.
• Management 1/1 interface—192.168.1.1/24 for ASDM access.
• DHCP for clients on management.
• ASDM access—Management hosts allowed.
• Hardware bypass is enabled for the following interface pairs: GigabitEthernet 1/1 & 1/2; GigabitEthernet
1/3 & 1/4

Note When the ISA 3000 loses power and goes into hardware bypass mode, only the
above interface pairs can communicate; inside1 and inside2, and outside1 and
outside2 can no longer communicate. Any existing connections between these
interfaces will be lost. When the power comes back on, there is a brief connection
interruption as the ASA takes over the flows.

• ASA FirePOWER module—All traffic is sent to the module in Inline Tap Monitor-Only Mode. This
mode sends a duplicate stream of traffic to the ASA Firepower module for monitoring purposes only.
• Precision Time Protocol—PTP traffic is not sent to the FirePOWER module.

The configuration consists of the following commands:

firewall transparent

interface GigabitEthernet1/1
bridge-group 1
nameif outside1
security-level 0
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/2
bridge-group 1
nameif inside1
security-level 100
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/3
bridge-group 1
nameif outside2
security-level 0
no shutdown
interface GigabitEthernet1/4
bridge-group 1
nameif inside2
security-level 100

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 Getting Started with the ASA
ASAv Deployment Configuration

no shutdown
interface Management1/1
management-only
no shutdown
nameif management
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
interface BVI1
no ip address

access-list allowAll extended permit ip any any

access-group allowAll in interface outside1
access-group allowAll in interface outside2

same-security-traffic permit inter-interface

hardware-bypass GigabitEthernet 1/1-1/2

hardware-bypass GigabitEthernet 1/3-1/4

http server enable

http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 management

dhcpd address 192.168.1.5-192.168.1.254 management

dhcpd enable management

access-list sfrAccessList extended permit ip any any

class-map sfrclass
match access-list sfrAccessList
policy-map global_policy
class sfrclass
sfr fail-open monitor-only
service-policy global_policy global

ASAv Deployment Configuration

When you deploy the ASAv, you can pre-set many parameters that let you connect to the Management 0/0
interface using ASDM. A typical configuration includes the following settings:
• Routed or Transparent firewall mode
• Management 0/0 interface:
• Named “management”
• IP address or DHCP
• Security level 0

• Static route for the management host IP address (if it is not on the management subnet)
• HTTP server enabled or disabled
• HTTP access for the management host IP address
• (Optional) Failover link IP addresses for GigabitEthernet 0/8, and the Management 0/0 standby IP address
• DNS server
• Smart licensing ID token

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Getting Started with the ASA
ASAv Deployment Configuration

• Smart licensing Throughput Level and Standard Feature Tier

• (Optional) Smart Call Home HTTP Proxy URL and port
• (Optional) SSH management settings:
• Client IP addresses
• Local username and password
• Authentication required for SSH using the LOCAL database

• (Optional) REST API enabled or disabled

Note To successfully register the ASAv with the Cisco Licensing Authority, the ASAv requires Internet access.
You might need to perform additional configuration after deployment to achieve Internet access and successful
license registration.

See the following sample configuration for a standalone unit:

interface Management0/0
nameif management
security-level 0
ip address ip_address

no shutdown
http server enable
http managemment_host_IP mask management
route management management_host_IP mask gateway_ip 1
dns server-group DefaultDNS
name-server ip_address
call-home
http-proxy ip_address port port
license smart
feature tier standard
throughput level {100M | 1G | 2G}
license smart register idtoken id_token
aaa authentication ssh console LOCAL
username username password password
ssh source_IP_address mask management
rest-api image boot:/path
rest-api agent

See the following sample configuration for a primary unit in a failover pair:

nameif management
security-level 0
ip address ip_address standby standby_ip

no shutdown
route management management_host_IP mask gateway_ip 1
http server enable
http managemment_host_IP mask management
dns server-group DefaultDNS
name-server ip_address
call-home

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Set the Firepower 2100 to Appliance or Platform Mode

http-proxy ip_address port port

license smart
feature tier standard
throughput level {100M | 1G | 2G}
license smart register idtoken id_token
aaa authentication ssh console LOCAL
username username password password
ssh source_IP_address mask management
rest-api image boot:/path
rest-api agent
failover
failover lan unit primary
failover lan interface fover gigabitethernet0/8
failover link fover gigabitethernet0/8
failover interface ip fover primary_ip mask standby standby_ip

Set the Firepower 2100 to Appliance or Platform Mode

The Firepower 2100 runs an underlying operating system called the Firepower eXtensible Operating System
(FXOS). You can run the Firepower 2100 in the following modes:
• Appliance mode (the default)—Appliance mode lets you configure all settings in the ASA. Only advanced
troubleshooting commands are available from the FXOS CLI.
• Platform mode—When in Platform mode, you must configure basic operating parameters and hardware
interface settings in FXOS. These settings include enabling interfaces, establishing EtherChannels, NTP,
image management, and more. You can use the Firepower Chassis Manager web interface or FXOS CLI.
You can then configure your security policy in the ASA operating system using ASDM or the ASA CLI.

This procedure tells you how to change the mode. When you change the mode, the configuration is cleared
and you need to reload the system. The default configuration is applied upon reload. Note that the clear
configure all and configure factory-default commands do not clear the current mode.

Before you begin

You can only change the mode at the CLI.

Procedure

Step 1 (Optional) Back up your current configuration. See Back Up and Restore Configurations or Other Files, on
page 983.
Although there are slight differences between an Appliance mode configuration and a Platform mode
configuration, a copy of the old configuration can be a good starting point. For example, for Platform mode,
the NTP, DNS, and EtherChannel configuration is not part of the ASA configuration, so it will not be included
in your backup, but most other ASA settings are valid for both modes.

Step 2 View the current mode.

show fxos mode
Example:

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Getting Started with the ASA
Set the Firepower 2100 to Appliance or Platform Mode

ciscoasa(config)# show fxos mode

Mode is currently set to appliance

Step 3 Set the mode to Platform mode.

no fxos mode appliance
write memory
reload
After you set the mode, you need to save the configuration and reload the device. Prior to reloading, you can
set the mode back to the original value without any disruption.
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# no fxos mode appliance

Mode set to platform mode
WARNING: This command will take effect after the running-config is saved and the system has
been rebooted. Command accepted.
ciscoasa(config)# write memory
Building configuration...
Cryptochecksum: c0532471 648dc7c2 4f2b4175 1f162684

23736 bytes copied in 1.520 secs (23736 bytes/sec)

[OK]
ciscoasa(config)# reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm]

Step 4 Set the mode to Appliance mode.

fxos mode appliance
write memory
reload
After you set the mode, you need to save the configuration and reload the device. Prior to reloading, you can
set the mode back to the original value without any disruption.
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# fxos mode appliance

Mode set to appliance mode
WARNING: This command will take effect after the running-config is saved and the system has
been rebooted. Command accepted.
ciscoasa(config)# write memory
Building configuration...
Cryptochecksum: c0532471 648dc7c2 4f2b4175 1f162684

23736 bytes copied in 1.520 secs (23736 bytes/sec)

[OK]
ciscoasa(config)# reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm]

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Get Started with the Configuration

Get Started with the Configuration

To configure and monitor the ASA, perform the following steps.

Note ASDM supports up to a maximum of a 512 KB configuration. If you exceed this amount, you may experience
performance issues. See Increase the ASDM Configuration Memory, on page 29.

Procedure

Step 1 For initial configuration using the Startup Wizard, choose Wizards > Startup Wizard.
Step 2 To use the IPsec VPN Wizard to configure IPsec VPN connections, choose Wizards > IPsec VPN Wizard
and complete each screen that appears.
Step 3 To use the SSL VPN Wizard to configure SSL VPN connections, choose Wizards > SSL VPN Wizard and
complete each screen that appears.
Step 4 To configure high availability and scalability settings, choose Wizards > High Availability and Scalability
Wizard.
Step 5 To use the Packet Capture Wizard to configure packet capture, choose Wizards > Packet Capture Wizard.
Step 6 To display different colors and styles available in the ASDM GUI, choose View > Office Look and Feel.
Step 7 To configure features, click the Configuration button on the toolbar and then click one of the feature buttons
to display the associated configuration pane.
Note If the Configuration screen is blank, click Refresh on the toolbar to display the screen content.

Step 8 To monitor the ASA, click the Monitoring button on the toolbar and then click a feature button to display
the associated monitoring pane.

Use the Command Line Interface Tool in ASDM

This section tells how to enter commands using ASDM, and how to work with the CLI.

Use the Command Line Interface Tool

This feature provides a text-based tool for sending commands to the ASA and viewing the results.
The commands you can enter with the CLI tool depend on your user privileges. Review your privilege level
in the status bar at the bottom of the main ASDM application window to ensure that you have the required
privileges to execute privileged-level CLI commands.

Before you begin

• Commands entered via the ASDM CLI tool might function differently from those entered through a
terminal connection to the ASA.

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Show Commands Ignored by ASDM on the Device

• Command errors—If an error occurs because you entered an incorrect command, the incorrect command
is skipped and the remaining commands are processed. A message appears in the Response area to inform
you whether or not any error occurred, as well as other related information.
• Interactive commands—Interactive commands are not supported in the CLI tool. To use these commands
in ASDM, use the noconfirm keyword if available, as shown in the following command:

crypto key generate rsa modulus 1024 noconfirm

• Avoid conflicts with other administrators—Multiple administrative users can update the running
configuration of the ASA. Before using the ASDM CLI tool to make configuration changes, check for
other active administrative sessions. If more than one user is configuring the ASA at the same time, the
most recent changes take effect.
To view other administrative sessions that are currently active on the same ASA, choose Monitoring >
Properties > Device Access.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM application window, choose Tools > Command Line Interface.
The Command Line Interface dialog box appears.

Step 2 Choose the type of command (single line or multiple line) that you want, and then choose the command from
the drop-down list, or type it in the field provided.
Step 3 Click Send to execute the command.
Step 4 To enter a new command, click Clear Response, and then choose (or type) another command to execute.
Step 5 Check the Enable context-sensitive help (?) check box to provide context-sensitive help for this feature.
Uncheck this check box to disable the context-sensitive help.
Step 6 After you have closed the Command Line Interface dialog box, if you changed the configuration, click
Refresh to view the changes in ASDM.

Show Commands Ignored by ASDM on the Device

This feature lets you show the list of commands that ASDM does not support. Typically, ASDM ignores them.
ASDM does not change or remove these commands from your running configuration. See Unsupported
Commands, on page 87 for more information.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM application window, choose Tools > Show Commands Ignored by ASDM on Device.
Step 2 Click OK when you are done.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Apply Configuration Changes to Connections

Apply Configuration Changes to Connections

When you make security policy changes to the configuration, all new connections use the new security policy.
Existing connections continue to use the policy that was configured at the time of the connection establishment.
show command output for old connections reflect the old configuration, and in some cases will not include
data about the old connections.
For example, if you remove a QoS service-policy from an interface, then re-add a modified version, then the
show service-policy command only displays QoS counters associated with new connections that match the
new service policy; existing connections on the old policy no longer show in the command output.
To ensure that all connections use the new policy, you need to disconnect the current connections so that they
can reconnect using the new policy.
To disconnect connections, enter the following command:
• clear conn [all] [protocol {tcp | udp}] [address src_ip [-src_ip] [netmask mask]] [port src_port
[-src_port]] [address dest_ip [-dest_ip] [netmask mask]] [port dest_port [-dest_port]]
This command terminates connections in any state. See the show conn command to view all current
connections.
With no arguments, this command clears all through-the-box connections. To also clear to-the-box
connections (including your current management session), use the all keyword. To clear specific
connections based on the source IP address, destination IP address, port, and/or protocol, you can specify
the desired options.

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 CHAPTER 3
ASDM Graphical User Interface
This chapter describes how to use the ASDM user interface.
• About the ASDM User Interface, on page 53
• Navigate the ASDM User Interface, on page 56
• Menus, on page 57
• Toolbar, on page 62
• ASDM Assistant, on page 63
• Status Bar, on page 64
• Device List, on page 64
• Common Buttons, on page 65
• Keyboard Shortcuts, on page 66
• Find Function in ASDM Panes, on page 68
• Find Function in Rule Lists, on page 68
• Enable Extended Screen Reader Support, on page 69
• Organizational Folder, on page 69
• Home Pane (Single Mode and Context), on page 70
• Home Pane (System), on page 83
• Define ASDM Preferences, on page 84
• Search with the ASDM Assistant, on page 86
• Enable History Metrics, on page 87
• Unsupported Commands, on page 87

About the ASDM User Interface

The ASDM user interface is designed to provide easy access to the many features that the ASA supports. The
ASDM user interface includes the following elements:
• A menu bar that provides quick access to files, tools, wizards, and help. Many menu items also have
keyboard shortcuts.
• A toolbar that enables you to navigate ASDM. From the toolbar you can access the Home, Configuration,
and Monitoring panes. You can also get help and navigate between panes.
• A dockable left Navigation pane to move through the Configuration and Monitoring panes. You can
click one of the three buttons in the header to maximize or restore this pane, make it a floating pane that

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 Getting Started with the ASA
About the ASDM User Interface

you can move, hide it, or close it. To access the Configuration and Monitoring panes, you can do one
of the following:
• Click links on the left side of the application window in the left Navigation pane. The Content
pane then displays the path (for example, Configuration > Device Setup > Startup Wizard) in
the title bar of the selected pane.
• If you know the exact path, you can type it directly into the title bar of the Content pane on the
right side of the application window, without clicking any links in the left Navigation pane.

• A maximize and restore button in the right corner of the Content pane that lets you hide and show the
left Navigation pane.
• A dockable Device List pane with a list of devices that you can access through ASDM. You can click
one of the three buttons in the header to maximize or restore this pane, make it a floating pane that you
can move, hide it, or close it.
• A status bar that shows the time, connection status, user, memory status, running configuration status,
privilege level, and SSL status at the bottom of the application window.
• A left Navigation pane that shows various objects that you can use in the rules tables when you create
access rules, NAT rules, AAA rules, filter rules, and service rules. The tab titles within the pane change
according to the feature that you are viewing. In addition, the ASDM Assistant appears in this pane.

The following figure shows the elements of the ASDM user interface.

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Getting Started with the ASA
About the ASDM User Interface

Figure 1: ASDM User Interface

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 Menu Bar

2 Toolbar

3 Navigation Path

4 Search Field

5 Left Navigation Pane

6 Device List Pane

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Navigate the ASDM User Interface

GUI Element Description

7 Content Pane

8 Status Bar

Note Tool tips have been added for various parts of the GUI, including Wizards, the Configuration and Monitoring
panes, and the Status Bar. To view tool tips, hover your mouse over a specific user interface element, such
as an icon in the status bar.

Navigate the ASDM User Interface

To move efficiently throughout the ASDM user interface, you may use a combination of menus, the toolbar,
dockable panes, and the left and right Navigation panes, which are described in the previous section. The
available functions appear in a list of buttons below the Device List pane. An example list could include the
following function buttons:
• Device Setup
• Firewall
• Botnet Traffic Filter
• Remote Access VPN
• Site to Site VPN
• Device Management

The list of function buttons that appears is based on the licensed features that you have purchased. Click each
button to access the first pane in the selected function for either the Configuration view or the Monitoring
view. The function buttons are not available in the Home view.
To change the display of function buttons, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the drop-down list below the last function button to display a context menu.
Step 2 Choose one of the following options:
• Click Show More Buttons to show more buttons.
• Click Show Fewer Buttons to show fewer buttons.
• Click Add or Remove Buttons to add or remove buttons, then click the button to add or remove from
the list that appears.
• Choose Option to display the Option dialog box, which displays a list of the buttons in their current
order. Then choose one of the following:
• Click Move Up to move up a button in the list.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Menus

• Click Move Down to move down a button in the list.

• Click Reset to return the order of the items in the list to the default setting.

Step 3 Click OK to save your settings and close this dialog box.

Menus
You can access ASDM menus using the mouse or keyboard.

File Menu
The File menu lets you manage ASA configurations.

File Menu Item Description

Refresh ASDM with the Running Loads a copy of the running configuration into ASDM.
Configuration on the Device

Reset Device to the Factory Restores the configuration to the factory default.
Default Configuration

Show Running Configuration in Displays the current running configuration in a new window.
New Window

Save Running Configuration to Writes a copy of the running configuration to flash memory.
Flash

Save Running Configuration to Stores a copy of the current running configuration file on a TFTP server.
TFTP Server

Save Running Configuration to Sends a copy of the running configuration file on the primary unit to
Standby Unit the running configuration of a failover standby unit.

Save Internal Log Buffer to Flash Saves the internal log buffer to flash memory.

Deploy FirePOWER Changes Saves configuration changes made to ASA FirePOWER module policies
to the module. This option is available only if you install an ASA
FirePOWER module and manage it through ASDM.

Print Prints the current page. We recommend landscape page orientation when
you print rules. When you use Internet Explorer, permission to print
was already granted when you originally accepted the signed applet.

Clear ASDM Cache Removes local ASDM images. ASDM downloads images locally when
you connect to ASDM.

Clear ASDM Password Cache Removes the password cache if you have defined a new password and
still have a existing password that is different than the new password.

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View Menu

File Menu Item Description

Clear Internal Log Buffer Empties the syslog message buffer.

Exit Closes ASDM.

View Menu
The View menu lets you display various parts of the ASDM user interface. Certain items are dependent on
the current view. You cannot select items that cannot be displayed in the current view.

View Menu Item Description

Home Displays the Home view.

Configuration Displays the Configuration view.

Monitoring Displays the Monitoring view.

Device List Displays a list of devices in a dockable pane.

Navigation Shows and hides the display of the Navigation pane

in the Configuration and Monitoring views.

ASDM Assistant Searches and finds useful ASDM procedural help

about certain tasks.

Latest ASDM Syslog Messages Shows and hides the display of the Latest ASDM
Syslog Messages pane in the Home view. This pane
is only available in the Home view. If you do not have
sufficient memory to upgrade to the most current
release, syslog message %ASA-1-211004 is generated,
indicating what the installed memory is and what the
required memory is. This message reappears every
24 hours until the memory is upgraded.

Addresses Shows and hides the display of the Addresses pane.

The Addresses pane is only available for the Access
Rules, NAT Rules, Service Policy Rules, AAA
Rules, and Filter Rules panes in the Configuration
view.

Services Shows and hides the display of the Services pane.

The Services pane is only available for the Access
Rules, NAT Rules, Service Policy Rules, AAA
Rules, and Filter Rules panes in the Configuration
view.

Time Ranges Shows and hides the display of the Time Ranges
pane. The Time Ranges pane is only available for the
Access Rules, Service Policy Rules, AAA Rules,
and Filter Rules panes in the Configuration view.

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Tools Menu

View Menu Item Description

Select Next Pane Highlights the next pane shown in a multi-pane

display, for example, going from the Service Policies
Rules pane to the Address pane beside it.

Select Previous Pane Highlights the previous pane shown in multi-pane

displays.

Back Returns to the previous pane.

Forward Goes to the next pane previously visited.

Find in ASDM Locates an item for which you are searching, such as
a feature or the ASDM Assistant.

Reset Layout Returns the layout to the default configuration.

Office Look and Feel Changes the screen fonts and colors to the Microsoft
Office settings.

Tools Menu
The Tools menu provides you with the following series of tools to use in ASDM.

Tools Menu Item Description

Command Line Interface Sends commands to the ASA and view the results.

Show Commands Ignored by ASDM on Device Displays unsupported commands that have been
ignored by ASDM.

Packet Tracer Traces a packet from a specified source address and

interface to a destination. You can specify the protocol
and port of any type of data and view the lifespan of
a packet, with detailed information about actions taken
on it. See the firewall configuration guide for more
information.

Ping Verifies the configuration and operation of the ASA

and surrounding communications links, as well as
performs basic testing of other network devices. See
the firewall configuration guide for more information.

Traceroute Determines the route that packets will take to their

destination. See the firewall configuration guide for
more information.

File Management Views, moves, copies, and deletes files stored in flash
memory. You can also create a directory in flash
memory. You can also transfer files between various
file systems, including TFTP, flash memory, and your
local PC.

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Tools Menu

Tools Menu Item Description

Check for ASA/ASDM Updates Upgrades ASA software and ASDM software through
a wizard.

Upgrade Software from Local Computer Uploads an ASA image, ASDM image, or another
image on your PC to flash memory.

Downgrade Software Loads an older ASA image than the one you are
currently running.

Backup Configurations Backs up the ASA configuration, a Cisco Secure

Desktop image, and SSL VPN Client images and
profiles.

Restore Configurations Restores the ASA configuration, a Cisco Secure

Desktop image, and SSL VPN Client images and
profiles.

System Reload Restarts the ASDM and reload the saved configuration
into memory.

Administrator’s Alert to Clientless SSL VPN Users Enables an administrator to send an alert message to
clientless SSL VPN users. See the VPN configuration
guide for more information.

Migrate Network Object Group Members If you migrate to 8.3 or later, the ASA creates named
network objects to replace inline IP addresses in some
features. In addition to named objects, ASDM
automatically creates non-named objects for any
IP addresses used in the configuration. These
auto-created objects are identified by the IP address
only, do not have a name, and are not present as
named objects in the platform configuration.
When the ASA creates named objects as part of the
migration, the matching non-named ASDM-only
objects are replaced with the named objects. The only
exception are non-named objects in a network object
group. When the ASA creates named objects for IP
addresses that are inside a network object group,
ASDM retains the non-named objects as well, creating
duplicate objects in ASDM. Choose Tools > Migrate
Network Object Group Members to merge these
object.
See Cisco ASA 5500 Migration to Version 8.3 and
Later for more information.

Preferences Changes the behavior of specified ASDM functions

between sessions.

ASDM Java Console Shows the Java console.

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Wizards Menu

Wizards Menu
The Wizards menu lets you run a wizard to configure multiple features.

Wizards Menu Item Description

Startup Wizard Guides you, step-by-step, through the initial

configuration of the ASA.

VPN Wizards There are separate wizards for a variety of VPN

configurations. See the VPN configuration guide for
more information.

High Availability and Scalability Wizard Allows you to configure failover: VPN cluster load
balancing, or ASA clustering on the ASA.

Unified Communication Wizard Enables you to configure unified communication

features, such as an IP phone, on the ASA. See the
firewall configuration guide for more information.

ASDM Identity Certificate Wizard When using Java 7 update 51 and later, the ASDM
Launcher requires a trusted certificate. An easy
approach to fulfill the certificate requirements is to
install a self-signed identity certificate. You can use
Java Web Start to launch ASDM until you install a
certificate using this wizard. See
http://www.cisco.com/go/asdm-certificate for more
information.

Packet Capture Wizard Allows you to configure packet capture on the ASA.
The wizard runs one packet capture on each ingress
and egress interface. After you run the capture, you
can save it on your computer, and then examine and
analyze the capture with a packet analyzer.

Window Menu
The Window menu enables you to move between ASDM windows. The active window appears as the selected
window.

Help Menu
The Help menu provides links to online help, as well as information about ASDM and the ASA.

Help Menu Items Description

Help Topics Opens a new browser window to show the ASDM

online help. If you are managing an ASA FirePOWER
module in ASDM, this item is labeled ASDM Help
Topics.

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Toolbar

Help Menu Items Description

ASA FirePOWER Help Topics Opens a new browser window to show online help
for the ASA FirePOWER module. This item is
available only if you have installed the module and
are managing it in ASDM.

Help for Current Screen Opens context-sensitive help about the screen you are
viewing. Alternatively, you can also click the ? Help
button in the tool bar.

Release Notes Opens the most current version of the ASDM release
notes on Cisco.com. The release notes contain the
most current information about ASDM software and
hardware requirements, and the most current
information about changes in the software.

Cisco ASA Series Documentation Opens a document on Cisco.com that includes links
to all of the available product documentation.

ASDM Assistant Opens the ASDM Assistant, which lets you search
downloadable content from Cisco.com, with details
about performing certain tasks.

About Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Displays information about the ASA, including the
software version, hardware set, configuration file
loaded at startup, and software image loaded at startup.
This information is helpful in troubleshooting.

About Cisco ASDM Displays information about ASDM such as the

software version, hostname, privilege level, operating
system, device type, and Java version.

Toolbar
The Toolbar below the menus provides access to the Home view, Configuration view, and Monitoring view.
It also lets you choose between the system and security contexts in multiple context mode, and provides
navigation and other commonly used features.

Toolbar Button Description

Home Displays the Home pane, which lets you view important information about your
ASA such as the status of your interfaces, the version you are running, licensing
information, and performance. In multiple mode, the system does not have a
Home pane.

Configuration Configures the ASA. Click a function button in the left Navigation pane to
configure that function.

Monitoring Monitors the ASA. Click a function button in the left Navigation pane to monitor
various elements.

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ASDM Assistant

Toolbar Button Description

Save Saves the running configuration to the startup configuration for write-accessible
contexts only.
The button is replaced by the Deploy button if you have an ASA FirePOWER
module installed on the device and you are configuring it through ASDM.

Deploy If you have an ASA FirePOWER module installed on the device and you are
configuring it through ASDM, the Deploy button replaces the Save button and
contains the following options:
• Deploy FirePOWER Changes—Saves configuration changes made to
ASA FirePOWER module policies to the module.
• Save Running Configuration to Flash—Writes a copy of the ASA running
configuration to flash memory. This is equivalent to the Save button for
devices that do not include an ASA FirePOWER module.

Refresh Refreshes ASDM with the current running configuration, except for graphs in
any of the Monitoring panes.

Back Returns to the last pane of ASDM that you visited.

Forward Goes forward to the last pane of ASDM that you visited.

Help Shows context-sensitive help for the screen that is currently open.

Search Searches for a feature in ASDM. The Search function looks through the titles of
each pane and presents you with a list of matches, and gives you a hyperlink
directly to that pane. Click Back or Forward to switch quickly between two
different panes that you found.

ASDM Assistant
The ASDM Assistant lets you search and view useful ASDM procedural help about certain tasks. This feature
is available in routed and transparent modes, and in the single and system contexts.
ChooseView > ASDM Assistant > How Do I? or enter a search request from the Look For field in the menu
bar to access information. Choose How Do I? from the Find drop-down list to begin the search.
To use the ASDM Assistant, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose View > ASDM Assistant.

The ASDM Assistant pane appears.

Step 2 Enter the information that you want to find in the Search field, then click Go.
The requested information appears in the Search Results pane.

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Status Bar

Step 3 Click any links that appear in the Search Results and Features areas to obtain more details.

Status Bar
The Status Bar appears at the bottom of the ASDM window. The following table lists the areas shown from
left to right.

Area Description

Status The status of the configuration (for example, “Device

configuration loaded successfully.”)

Failover The status of the failover unit, either active or standby.

User Name The username of the ASDM user. If you logged in

without a username, the username is “admin.”

User Privilege The privilege of the ASDM user.

Commands Ignored by ASDM Click the icon to show a list of commands from your
configuration that ASDM did not process. These
commands will not be removed from the
configuration.

Connection to Device The ASDM connection status to the ASA.

Syslog Connection The syslog connection is up, and the ASA is being
monitored.

SSL Secure The connection to ASDM is secure because it uses

SSL.

Time The time that is set on the ASA.

Connection to Device
ASDM maintains a constant connection to the ASA to maintain up-to-date Monitoring and Home pane data.
This dialog box shows the status of the connection. When you make a configuration change, ASDM opens a
second connection for the duration of the configuration, and then closes it; however, this dialog box does not
represent the second connection.

Device List
The Device List is a dockable pane. You can click one of the three buttons in the header to maximize or restore
this pane, make it a floating pane that you can move, hide it, or close it. This pane is available in the Home,
Configuration, Monitoring, and System views. You can use this pane to switch to another device, and between
the System and contexts; however, that device must run the same version of ASDM that you are currently

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Common Buttons

running. To display the pane fully, you must have at least two devices listed. This pane is available in routed
and transparent modes, and in the single, multiple, and system contexts.
To use this pane to connect to another device, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Add to add another device to the list.

The Add Device dialog box appears.

Step 2 Enter the device name or IP address of the device, then click OK.
Step 3 Click Delete to remove a selected device from the list.
Step 4 Click Connect to connect to another device.
The Enter Network Password dialog box appears.

Step 5 Enter your username and password in the applicable fields, then click Login.

Common Buttons
Many ASDM panes include buttons that are listed in the following table. Click the applicable button to
complete the desired task:

Button Description

Apply Sends changes made in ASDM to the ASA and applies

them to the running configuration.

Save Writes a copy of the running configuration to flash

memory.

Reset Discards changes and reverts to the information

displayed before changes were made or the last time
that you clicked Refresh or Apply. After you click
Reset, click Refresh to make sure that information
from the current running configuration appears.

Restore Default Clears the selected settings and returns to the default
settings.

Cancel Discards changes and returns to the previous pane.

Enable Displays read-only statistics for a feature.

Close Closes an open dialog box.

Clear Remove information from a field, or remove a check

from a check box.

Back Returns to the previous pane.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Button Description

Forward Goes to the next pane.

Help Displays help for the selected pane or dialog box.

Keyboard Shortcuts
You can use the keyboard to navigate the ASDM user interface.
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts you can use to move across the three main areas of the ASDM
user interface.

Table 2: Keyboard Shortcuts Within the Main Window

To display the Windows/Linux MacOS

Home Pane Ctrl+H Shift+Command+H

Configuration Pane Ctrl+G Shift+Command+G

Monitoring Pane Ctrl+M Shift+Command+M

Help F1 Command+?

Back Alt+Left Arrow Command+[

Forward Alt+Rightarrow Command+]

Refresh the display F5 Command+R

Cut Ctrl+X Command+X

Copy Ctrl+C Command+C

Paste Ctrl+V Command+V

Save the configuration Ctrl+S Command+S

Popup menus Shift+F10 —

Close a secondary window Alt+F4 Command+W

Find Ctrl+F Command+F

Exit Alt+F4 Command+Q

Exit a table or text area Ctrl_Shift or Ctrl+Shift+Tab Ctril+Shift or Ctrl+Shift+Tab

The following table lists the keyboard shortcut you can use to navigate within a pane.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Table 3: Keyboard Shortcuts Within a Pane

To move the focus to the Press

Next field Tab

Previous field Shift+Tab

Next field when the focus is in a table Ctrl+Tab

Previous field when the focus is in a table Shift+Ctrl+Tab

Next tab (when a tab has the focus) Right Arrow

Previous tab (when a tab has the focus) Left Arrow

Next cell in a table Tab

Previous sell in a table Shift+Tab

Next pane (when multiple panes are displayed) F6

Previous pane (when multiple panes are displayed) Shift+F6

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts you can use with the Log Viewers.

Table 4: Keyboard Shortcuts for the Log Viewer

To Windows/Linux MacOS

Pause and Resume Real-Time Log Ctrl+U Command+

Viewer

Refresh Log Buffer Pane F5 Command+R

Clear Internal Log Buffer Ctrl+Delete Command+Delete

Copy Selected Log Entry Ctrl+C Command+C

Save Log Ctrl+S Command+S

Print Ctrl+P Command+P

Close a secondary window Alt+F4 Command+W

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts you can use to access menu items.

Table 5: Keyboard Shortcuts to Access Menu Items

To access the Windows/Linux

Menu Bar Alt

Next Menu Right Arrow

Previous Menu Left Arrow

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Find Function in ASDM Panes

To access the Windows/Linux

Next Menu Option Down Arrow

Previous Menu Option Up Arrow

Selected Menu Option Enter

Find Function in ASDM Panes

Some ASDM panes contain tables with many elements. To make it easier for you to search, highlight, and
then edit a particular entry, several ASDM panes have a find function that allows you to search on objects
within those panes.
To perform a search, you can type a phrase into the Find field to search on all columns within any given pane.
The phrase can contain the wild card characters “*” and “?”. The * matches one or more characters, and ?
matches one character. The up and down arrows to the right of the Find field locate the next (up) or previous
(down) occurrence of the phrase. Check the Match Case check box to find entries with the exact uppercase
and lowercase characters that you enter.
For example, entering B*ton-L* might return the following matches:

Boston-LA, Boston-Lisbon, Boston-London

Entering Bo?ton might return the following matches:

Boston, Bolton

Find Function in Rule Lists

Because ACLs and ACEs and other rules contain many elements of different types, the find function in the
any pane that displays rules allows for a more targeted search than the find function in other panes. This
includes access rules, service policy rules, the ACL Manager, and any other pane that lists ACL rules, and
also the NAT rules.
To find elements within the rule lists, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Find.

Step 2 Choose one of the following options in the Filter field from the drop-down list.
The items you can search on differ depending on the rule type, and correspond to the columns in the table.
Select Query if you want to create a complex search that uses more than one field.

Step 3 Unless you picked Query, in the second field, choose one of the following options from the drop-down list:
• is—Specifies an exact match to the search string. This is always the option for queries.

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Enable Extended Screen Reader Support

• contains—Specifies a match to any rule that includes, whether exactly or partially, your search string.

Step 4 In the third field, enter the string you want to find. Click ... to pick an object from a list. If you are using a
query, click Define Query.
If you search for an IP address, you can get matches to addresses that are in a network object or group, so
long as that object or group was created by ASDM. That is, the group name begins with DM_INLINE. The
find feature cannot find IP addresses within user-created objects.

Step 5 Click Filter to perform the search.

The view is updated to show only those rules that match. The rule numbers are maintained so that you can
see their absolute location within the rule list.

Step 6 Click Clear to remove the filter and see the complete list again.
Step 7 When you are finished, click the red x to close the find controls.

Enable Extended Screen Reader Support

By default, labels and descriptions are not included in tab order when you press the Tab key to navigate a
pane. Some screen readers, such as JAWS, only read screen objects that have the focus. You can include the
labels and descriptions in the tab order by enabling extended screen reader support.
To enable extended screen reader support, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Preferences.

The Preferences dialog box appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable screen reader support check box on the General tab.
Step 3 Click OK.
Step 4 Restart ASDM to activate screen reader support.

Organizational Folder
Some folders in the navigation pane for the configuration and monitoring views do not have associated
configuration or monitoring panes. These folders are used to organize related configuration and monitoring
tasks. Clicking these folders displays a list of sub-items in the right Navigation pane. You can click the name
of a sub-item to go to that item.

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Home Pane (Single Mode and Context)

Home Pane (Single Mode and Context)

The ASDM Home pane lets you view important information about your ASA. Status information in the Home
pane is updated every ten seconds. This pane usually has two tabs: Device Dashboard and Firewall Dashboard.
If you have hardware or software modules installed on the device, such as IPS, CX, or ASA FirePOWER
modules, there are separate tabs for those modules.

Device Dashboard Tab

The Device Dashboard tab lets you view, at a glance, important information about your ASA, such as the
status of your interfaces, the version you are running, licensing information, and performance.
The following figure shows the elements of the Device Dashboard tab.
Figure 2: Device Dashboard Tab

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 Device Information Pane, on page 71

2 Interface Status Pane, on page 72

3 VPN Sessions Pane, on page 72

4 Traffic Status Pane, on page 73

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Device Information Pane

GUI Element Description

5 System Resources Status Pane, on page 72

6 Traffic Status Pane, on page 73

— Device List, on page 64

— Latest ASDM Syslog Messages Pane, on page 73

Device Information Pane

The Device Information pane includes two tabs that show device information: General tab and License tab.
Under the General tab you have access to the Environment Status button, which provides an at-a-glance
view of the system health:

General Tab
This tab shows basic information about the ASA:
• Host name—Shows the hostname of the device.
• ASA version—Lists the version of ASA software that is running on the device.
• ASDM version—Lists the version of ASDM software that is running on the device.
• Firewall mode—Shows the firewall mode in which the device is running.
• Total flash—Displays the total RAM that is currently being used.
• ASA Cluster Role—When you enable clustering, shows the role of this unit, either Master or Slave.
• Device uptime—Shows the time in which the device has been operational since the latest software
upload.
• Context mode—Shows the context mode in which the device is running.
• Total Memory—Shows the DRAM installed on the ASA.
• Environment status—Shows the system health. View hardware statistics by clicking the plus sign (+)
to the right of the Environment Status label in the General tab. You can see how many power supplies
are installed, track the operational status of the fan and power supply modules, and track the temperatures
of the CPUs and the ambient temperature of the system.
In general, the Environment Status button provides an at-a-glance view of the system health. If all
monitored hardware components within the system are operating within normal ranges, the plus sign (+)
button shows OK in green. Conversely, if any one component within the hardware system is operating
outside of normal ranges, the plus sign (+) button turns into a red circle to show Critical status and to
indicate that a hardware component requires immediate attention.
See the hardware guide for your particular device for more information about specific hardware statistics.

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License Tab

Note If you do not have enough memory to upgrade to the most current release of the ASA, the Memory Insufficient
Warning dialog box appears. Follow the directions that appear in this dialog box to continue using the ASA
and ASDM in a supported manner. Click OK to close this dialog box.

License Tab
This tab shows a subset of licensed features. Click More Licenses to view detailed license information, or to
enter a new activation key; the Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Activation Key pane
appears.

Cluster Tab
This tab shows the cluster interface mode, as well as the cluster status

Virtual Resources Tab (ASAv)

This tab shows the virtual resources used by the ASAv, including the number of vCPUs, RAM, and whether
the ASAv is over- or under-provisioned.

Interface Status Pane

This pane shows the status of each interface. If you select an interface row, the input and output throughput
in Kbps displays below the table.

VPN Sessions Pane

This pane shows the VPN tunnel status. Click Details to go to the Monitoring > VPN > VPN Statistics >
Sessions pane.

Failover Status Pane

This pane shows the failover status.
Click Configure to start the High Availability and Scalability Wizard. After you have completed the wizard,
the failover configuration status (either Active/Active or Active/Standby) appears.
If failover is configured, click Details to open the Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status pane.

System Resources Status Pane

This pane shows CPU and memory usage statistics.

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Traffic Status Pane

Traffic Status Pane

This pane shows graphs for connections per second for all interfaces and for the traffic throughput of the
lowest security interface.
When your configuration contains multiple lowest security level interfaces, and any one of them is named
“outside,” then that interface is used for the traffic throughput graphs. Otherwise, ASDM picks the first
interface from the alphabetical list of lowest security level interfaces.

Latest ASDM Syslog Messages Pane

This pane shows the most recent system messages generated by the ASA, up to a maximum of 100 messages.
Click Enable Logging to enable logging if it is disabled.
The following figure shows the elements of the Latest ASDM Syslog Messages pane.
Figure 3: Latest ASDM Syslog Messages Pane

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 Drag the divider up or down to resize the pane.

2 Expands the pane. Click the double-square icon to

return the pane to the default size.

3 Makes a floating pane. Click the docked pane icon

to dock the pane.

4 Enables or disables Auto-hide. When Auto-hide is

enabled, move your cursor over the Latest ASDM
Syslog Messages button in the left, bottom corner and
the pane displays. Move your cursor away from the
pane, and it disappears.

5 Closes the pane. Choose View Latest ASDM Syslog

Messages to show the pane.

6 Click the green icon on the right-hand side to continue

updating the display of syslog messages.

7 Click the red icon on the right-hand side To stop

updating the display of syslog messages.

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Firewall Dashboard Tab

GUI Element Description

8 Click the filters icon on the right-hand side to open

the Logging Filters pane.

• Right-click an event and choose Clear Content to clear the current messages.
• Right-click an event and click Save Content to save the current messages to a file on your PC.
• Right-click an event and choose Copy to copy the current content.
• Right-click an event and choose Color Settings to change the background and foreground colors of
syslog messages according to their severity.

Firewall Dashboard Tab

The Firewall Dashboard tab lets you view important information about the traffic passing through your ASA.
This dashboard differs depending on whether you are in single context mode or multiple context mode. In
multiple context mode, the Firewall Dashboard is viewable within each context.
The following figure shows some of the elements of the Firewall Dashboard tab.
Figure 4: Firewall Dashboard Tab

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 Traffic Overview Pane, on page 75

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Traffic Overview Pane

GUI Element Description

2 Top 10 Access Rules Pane, on page 75

3 Top Usage Status Pane, on page 75

(not shown) Top Ten Protected Servers Under SYN Attack Pane,
on page 76

(not shown) Top 200 Hosts Pane, on page 76

(not shown) Top Botnet Traffic Filter Hits Pane, on page 76

Traffic Overview Pane

Enabled by default. If you disable basic threat detection (see the firewall configuration guide), then this area
includes an Enable button that lets you enable basic threat detection. The runtime statistics include the
following information, which is display-only:
• The number of connections and NAT translations.
• The rate of dropped packets per second caused by access list denials and application inspections.
• The rate of dropped packets per second that are identified as part of a scanning attack, or that are
incomplete sessions detected, such as TCP SYN attack detected or no data UDP session attack detected.

Top 10 Access Rules Pane

Enabled by default. If you disable threat detection statistics for access rules (see the firewall configuration
guide), then this area includes an Enable button that lets you enable statistics for access rules.
In the Table view, you can select a rule in the list and right-click the rule to display a popup menu item, Show
Rule. Choose this item to go to the Access Rules table and select that rule in this table.

Top Usage Status Pane

Disabled by default. This pane include the following four tabs:
• Top 10 Services—Threat Detection service
• Top 10 Sources—Threat Detection service
• Top 10 Destinations—Threat Detection service
• Top 10 Users—Identity Firewall service

The first three tabs—Top 10 Services, Top 10 Sources, and Top 10 Destinations—provide statistics for
threat detection services. Each tab includes an Enable button that let you enable each threat detection service.
You can enable them according to the firewall configuration guide.
The Top 10 Services Enable button enables statistics for both ports and protocols (both must be enabled for
the display). The Top 10 Sources and Top 10 Destinations Enable buttons enable statistics for hosts. The
top usage status statistics for hosts (sources and destinations), and ports and protocols are displayed.
The fourth tab for Top 10 Users provides statistics for the Identity Firewall service. The Identity Firewall
service provides access control based on users’ identities. You can configure access rules and security policies

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Top Ten Protected Servers Under SYN Attack Pane

based on user names and user groups name rather than through source IP addresses. The ASA provides this
service by accessing an IP-user mapping database.
The Top 10 Users tab displays data only when you have configured one of the following features:
• Identity Firewall service configuration, which includes configuring these additional components: Microsoft
Active Directory and Cisco Active Directory (AD) Agent. The Identity Firewall service is enabled using
the user-identity enable command (enabled by default) and the user-accounting statistics command.
• VPN configuration using a RADIUS server for authenticating, authorizing, or accounting VPN users.

Depending on which option you choose, the Top 10 Users tab shows statistics for received EPS packets, sent
EPS packets, and sent attacks for the top 10 users. For each user (displayed as domain\user_name), the tab
displays the average EPS packet, the current EPS packet, the trigger, and total events for that user.

Caution Enabling statistics can affect the ASA performance, depending on the type of statistics enabled. Enabling
statistics for hosts affects performance in a significant way; if you have a high traffic load, you might consider
enabling this type of statistics temporarily. Enabling statistics for ports, however, has a modest effect.

Top Ten Protected Servers Under SYN Attack Pane

Disabled by default. This area includes an Enable button that lets you enable the feature, or you can enable
it according to the firewall configuration guide. Statistics for the top ten protected servers under attack are
displayed.
For the average rate of attack, the ASA samples the data every 30 seconds over the rate interval (by default
30 minutes).
If there is more than one attacker, then “<various>” displays, followed by the last attacker IP address.
Click Detail to view statistics for all servers (up to 1000) instead of just 10 servers. You can also view history
sampling data. The ASA samples the number of attacks 60 times during the rate interval, so for the default
30-minute period, statistics are collected every 60 seconds.

Top 200 Hosts Pane

Disabled by default. Shows the top 200 hosts connected through the ASA. Each entry of a host contains the
IP address of the host and the number of connections initiated by the host, and is updated every 120 seconds.
Enter the hpm topnenable command to enable this display.

Top Botnet Traffic Filter Hits Pane

Disabled by default. This area includes links to configure the Botnet Traffic Filter. Reports of the top ten
botnet sites, ports, and infected hosts provide a snapshot of the data, and may not match the top ten items
since statistics started to be collected. If you right-click an IP address, you can invoke the whois tool to learn
more about the botnet site.
See the Botnet configuration guide for more information.

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Cluster Dashboard Tab

Cluster Dashboard Tab

When you enable ASA clustering and are connected to the master unit, the Cluster Dashboard tab shows a
summary of cluster membership and resource utilization.

• Cluster Members—Shows the names and basic information about the members comprising the cluster
(their management IP address, version, role in the cluster, and so on) and their health status (environment
status, health status, and resource utilization).

Note In multiple context mode, if you connect ASDM to the admin context, and then
change to a different context, the management IP address listed does not change
to show the current context management IP addresses; it continues to show the
admin context management IP addresses, including the main cluster IP address
to which ASDM is currently connected.

• System Resource Status—Shows resource utilization (CPU and memory) across the cluster and traffic
graphs, both cluster-wide and per-device.

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Cluster Firewall Dashboard Tab

• Traffic Status—Each tab has the following graphs.

• Connections Per Second tab:
Cluster Overall—Shows the connections per second throughout the cluster.
Per-Member Total—Shows the average connections per second for each member.
• Throughput tab:
Cluster Overall—Shows the aggregated egress throughput throughout the cluster.
Per-Member Throughput—Shows the member throughput, one line per member.
• Load Balancing tab:
Per-Member Percentage of Total Traffic—For each member, shows the percentage of total cluster
traffic that the member receives.
Per-Member Locally Processed Traffic—For each member, shows the percentage of traffic that
was processed locally.
• Control Link Usage tab:
Per-Member Receival Capacity Utilization—For each member, shows the usage of the transmittal
capacity.
Per-Member Transmittal Capacity Utilization—For each member, shows the usage of the receival
capacity.

Cluster Firewall Dashboard Tab

The Cluster Firewall Dashboard tab shows traffic overview and the “top N” statistics, similar to those shown
in the Firewall Dashboard, but aggregated across the whole cluster.

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Content Security Tab

Content Security Tab

The Content Security tab lets you view important information about the Content Security and Control (CSC)
SSM. This pane appears only if CSC software running on the CSC SSM is installed in the ASA.

Note If you have not completed the CSC Setup Wizard by choosing Configuration > Trend Micro Content
Security > CSC Setup, you cannot access the panes under Home > Content Security. Instead, a dialog box
appears and lets you access the CSC Setup Wizard directly from this location.

The following figure shows the elements of the Content Security tab.

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Intrusion Prevention Tab

Figure 5: Content Security Tab

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 CSC SSM Information pane.

2 Threat Summary pane. Shows aggregated data about

threats detected by the CSC SSM, including the
following threat types: Virus, Spyware, URL Filtered
or Blocked, Spam. Blocked, Files Blocked, and
Damage Control Services.

3 System Resources Status pane.

4 Email Scan pane. The graphs display data in

ten-second intervals.

5 Latest CSC Security Events pane.

Intrusion Prevention Tab

The Intrusion Prevention tab lets you view important information about IPS. This tab appears only when
you have an IPS module installed on the ASA.
To connect to the IPS module, perform the following steps:
1. Click the Intrusion Prevention tab.

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Intrusion Prevention Tab

The Connecting to IPS dialog box appears.

2. Enter the IP address, port, username and password. The default IP address and port is 192.168.1.2:443.
The default username and password is cisco and cisco.
3. Check the Save IPS login information on local host check box to save the login information on your local
PC.
4. Click Continue.

See the IPS quick start guide for more information about intrusion prevention.
The following figure shows the elements of the Health Dashboard tab, located on the Intrusion Prevention
tab.
Figure 6: Intrusion Prevention Tab (Health Dashboard)

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ASA CX Status Tab

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 Sensor Information pane.

2 Sensor Health pane.

3 CPU, Memory, and Load pane.

4 Interface Status pane.

5 Licensing pane.

ASA CX Status Tab

The ASA CX Status tab lets you view important information about the ASA CX module. This tab appears
only when you have an ASA CX module installed on the ASA.

ASA FirePower Status Tabs

The ASA FirePOWER Status tab lets you view information about the module. This includes module
information, such as the model, serial number, and software version, and module status, such as the application
name and status, data plane status, and overall status. If the module is registered to a FireSIGHT Management
Center, you can click the link to open the application and do further analysis and module configuration.
This tab appears only if you have an ASA FirePOWER module installed in the device.
If you are managing the ASA FirePOWER module with ASDM rather than FireSIGHT Management Center,
there are additional tabs:
• ASA FirePOWER Dashboard—The dashboard provides summary information about the software
running on the module, product updates, licensing, system load, disk usage, system time, and interface
status.

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Home Pane (System)

• ASA FirePOWER Reporting—The reporting page provides Top 10 dashboards for a wide variety of
module statistics, such as web categories, users, sources, and destinations for the traffic passing through
the module.

Home Pane (System)

The ASDM System Home pane lets you view important status information about your ASA. Many of the
details available in the ASDM System Home pane are available elsewhere in ASDM, but this pane shows
at-a-glance how your ASA is running. Status information in the System Home pane is updated every ten
seconds.
The following figure shows the elements of the System Home pane.
Figure 7: System Home Pane

Legend

GUI Element Description

1 System vs. Context selection.

2 Interface Status pane. Choose an interface to view

the total amount of traffic through the interface.

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Define ASDM Preferences

GUI Element Description

3 Connection Status pane.

4 CPU Status pane.

5 Memory Status pane.

Define ASDM Preferences

You can define the behavior of certain ASDM settings.
To change various settings in ASDM, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Preferences.

The Preferences dialog box appears, with three tabs: General, Rules Table, and Syslog.

Step 2 To define your settings, click one of these tabs: the General tab to specify general preferences; the Rules
Table tab to specify preferences for the Rules table; and the Syslog tab to specify the appearance of syslog
messages displayed in the Home pane and to enable the display of a warning message for NetFlow-related
syslog messages.
Step 3 On the General tab, specify the following:
• Check the Warn that configuration in ASDM is out of sync with the configuration in ASA check
box to be notified when the startup configuration and the running configuration are no longer in sync
with each other.
• Check the Show configuration restriction message to read-only user check box to display the following
message to a read-only user at startup. This option is checked by default.

“You are not allowed to modify the ASA configuration,

because you do not have sufficient privileges.”

• Check the Show configuration restriction message on a slave unit in an ASA cluster check box to
display a configuration restriction message to a user connected to a slave unit.
• Check the Confirm before exiting ASDM check box to display a prompt when you try to close ASDM
to confirm that you want to exit. This option is checked by default.
• Check the Enable screen reader support (requires ASDM restart) check box to enable screen readers
to work. You must restart ASDM to enable this option.
• Check the Warn of insufficient ASA memory when ASDM loads check box to receive notification
when the minimum amount of ASA memory is insufficient to run complete functionality in the ASDM
application. ASDM displays the memory warning in a text banner message at bootup, displays a message
in the title bar text in ASDM, and sends a syslog alert once every 24 hours.
• In the Communications area:

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• Check the Preview commands before sending them to the device check box to view CLI commands
generated by ASDM.
• Check the Enable cumulative (batch) CLI delivery check box to send multiple commands in a
single group to the ASA.
• In the Minimum Configuration Sending Timeout field, enter the minimum amount of time in
seconds for a configuration to send a timeout message. The default is 60 seconds.
• For the System in multiple context mode, in the Graph User time interval in System Context
field, enter the amount of time between updates for the graphs on the Home pane, between 1 and
40 seconds. The default is 10 seconds.

• In the Logging area:

• Check the Enable logging to the ASDM Java console check box to configure Java logging.
• Set the severity level by choosing a Logging Level from the drop-down list.

• In the Packet Capture Wizard area, to display captured packets, enter the name of the Network Sniffer
Application or click Browse to find it in the file system.
• In the SFR Location Wizard area, specify the location to install ASA FirePOWER module local
management files. You must have read/write privileges to the configured location.

Step 4 On the Rules Table tab, specify the following:

• Display settings let you change the way rules appear in the Rules table.
• Check the Auto-expand network and service object groups with specified prefix check box to
display the network and service object groups automatically expanded based on the Auto-Expand
Prefix setting.
• Enter the prefix of the network and service object groups to expand automatically when displayed
in the Auto-Expand Prefix field.
• Check the Show members of network and service object groups check box to display members
of network and service object groups and the group name in the Rules table. If the check box is not
checked, only the group name is displayed.
• Enter the number of network and service object groups to display in the Limit Members To field.
When the object group members are displayed, then only the first n members are displayed.
• Check the Show all actions for service policy rules check box to display all actions in the Rules
table. When unchecked, a summary appears.

• Deployment settings let you configure the behavior of the ASA when deploying changes to the Rules
table.
• Check the Issue “clear xlate” command when deploying access lists check box to clear the NAT
table when deploying new access lists. This setting ensures the access lists that are configured on
the ASA are applied to all translated addresses.

• Access Rule Hit Count Settings let you configure the frequency for which the hit counts are updated in
the Access Rules table. Hit counts are applicable for explicit rules only. No hit count will be displayed
for implicit rules in the Access Rules table.

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Search with the ASDM Assistant

• Check the Update access rule hit counts automatically check box to have the hit counts
automatically updated in the Access Rules table.
• Specify the frequency in seconds in which the hit count column is updated in the Access Rules table.
Valid values are 10 - 86400 seconds.

Step 5 On the Syslog tab, specify the following:

• In the Syslog Colors area, you can customize the message display by configuring background or
foreground colors for messages at each severity level. The Severity column lists each severity level by
name and number. To change the background color or foreground color for messages at a specified
severity level, click the corresponding column. The Pick a Color dialog box appears. Click one of the
following tabs:
• Choose a color from the palette on the Swatches tab and click OK.
• Specify the H, S, and B settings on the HSB tab, and click OK.
• Specify the Red, Green, and Blue settings on the RGB tab, and click OK.

• Check the Warn to disable redundant syslog messages when NetFlow action is first applied to the
global service policy rule check box in the NetFlow area to enable the display of a warning message
to disable redundant syslog messages.

Step 6 After you have specified settings on these three tabs, click OK to save your settings and close the Preferences
dialog box.
Note Each time that you check or uncheck a preferences setting, the change is saved to the .conf file and
becomes available to all the other ASDM sessions running on the workstation at the time. You must
restart ASDM for all changes to take effect.

Search with the ASDM Assistant

The ASDM Assistant tool lets you search and view useful ASDM procedural help about certain tasks.
Choose View > ASDM Assistant > How Do I? to access information, or enter a search request from the
Look For field in the menu bar. Choose How Do I? From the Find drop-down list to begin the search.
To view the ASDM Assistant, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose View > ASDM Assistant.

The ASDM Assistant pane appears.

Step 2 Enter the information that you want to find in the Search field, and click Go.
The requested information appears in the Search Results pane.

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Enable History Metrics

Step 3 Click any links that appear in the Search Results and Features sections to obtain more details.

Enable History Metrics

The History Metrics pane lets you configure the ASA to keep a history of various statistics, which ASDM
can display on any graph/table. If you do not enable history metrics, you can only monitor statistics in real
time. Enabling history metrics lets you view statistics graphs from the last 10 minutes, 60 minutes, 12 hours,
and 5 days.
To configure history metrics, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > History Metrics.
The History Metrics pane appears.

Step 2 Check the ASDM History Metrics check box to enable history metrics, then click Apply.

Unsupported Commands
ASDM supports almost all commands available for the ASA, but ASDM ignores some commands in an
existing configuration. Most of these commands can remain in your configuration; see Tools > Show
Commands Ignored by ASDM on Device for more information.

Ignored and View-Only Commands

The following table lists commands that ASDM supports in the configuration when added through the CLI,
but that cannot be added or edited in ASDM. If ASDM ignores the command, it does not appear in the ASDM
GUI at all. If the command is view-only, then it appears in the GUI, but you cannot edit it.

Table 6: List of Unsupported Commands

Unsupported Commands ASDM Behavior

capture Ignored.

coredump Ignored. This can be configured only using the CLI.

crypto engine large-mod-accel Ignored.

dhcp-server (tunnel-group name ASDM only allows one setting for all DHCP servers.
general-attributes)

eject Unsupported.

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Effects of Unsupported Commands

Unsupported Commands ASDM Behavior

established Ignored.

failover timeout Ignored.

fips Ignored.

nat-assigned-to-public-ip Ignored.

pager Ignored.

pim accept-register route-map Ignored. You can configure only the list option using ASDM.

service-policy global Ignored if it uses a match access-list class. For example:

access-list myacl extended permit ip any any

class-map mycm
match access-list myacl
policy-map mypm
class mycm
inspect ftp
service-policy mypm global

set metric Ignored.

sysopt nodnsalias Ignored.

sysopt uauth allow-http-cache Ignored.

terminal Ignored.

threat-detection rate Ignored.

Effects of Unsupported Commands

If ASDM loads an existing running configuration and finds other unsupported commands, ASDM operation
is unaffected. Choose Tools > Show Commands Ignored by ASDM on Device to view the unsupported
commands.

Discontinuous Subnet Masks Not Supported

ASDM does not support discontinuous subnet masks such as 255.255.0.255. For example, you cannot use the
following:

ip address inside 192.168.2.1 255.255.0.255

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Interactive User Commands Not Supported by the ASDM CLI Tool

Interactive User Commands Not Supported by the ASDM CLI Tool

The ASDM CLI tool does not support interactive user commands. If you enter a CLI command that requires
interactive confirmation, ASDM prompts you to enter “[yes/no]” but does not recognize your input. ASDM
then times out waiting for your response.
For example:
1. Choose Tools > Command Line Interface.
2. Enter the crypto key generate rsa command.
ASDM generates the default 1024-bit RSA key.
3. Enter the crypto key generate rsa command again.
Instead of regenerating the RSA keys by overwriting the previous one, ASDM displays the following
error:

Do you really want to replace them? [yes/no]:WARNING: You already have

RSA ke0000000000000$A key
Input line must be less than 16 characters in length.

%Please answer 'yes' or 'no'.

Do you really want to replace them [yes/no]:

%ERROR: Timed out waiting for a response.

ERROR: Failed to create new RSA keys names <Default-RSA-key>

Workaround:
• You can configure most commands that require user interaction by means of the ASDM panes.
• For CLI commands that have a noconfirm option, use this option when entering the CLI command. For
example:

crypto key generate rsa noconfirm

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 CHAPTER 4
Licenses: Product Authorization Key Licensing
A license specifies the options that are enabled on a given Cisco ASA. This document describes product
authorization key (PAK) licenses for all physical ASAs. For the ASAv, see Licenses: Smart Software Licensing
(ASAv, ASA on Firepower), on page 133.
• About PAK Licenses, on page 91
• Guidelines for PAK Licenses, on page 102
• Configure PAK Licenses, on page 104
• Configure a Shared License (AnyConnect 3 and Earlier), on page 108
• Supported Feature Licenses Per Model, on page 114
• Monitoring PAK Licenses, on page 123
• History for PAK Licenses, on page 124

About PAK Licenses

A license specifies the options that are enabled on a given ASA. It is represented by an activation key that is
a 160-bit (5 32-bit words or 20 bytes) value. This value encodes the serial number (an 11 character string)
and the enabled features.

Preinstalled License
By default, your ASA ships with a license already installed. This license might be the Base License, to which
you want to add more licenses, or it might already have all of your licenses installed, depending on what you
ordered and what your vendor installed for you.
Related Topics
Monitoring PAK Licenses, on page 123

Permanent License
You can have one permanent activation key installed. The permanent activation key includes all licensed
features in a single key. If you also install time-based licenses, the ASA combines the permanent and time-based
licenses into a running license.
Related Topics
How Permanent and Time-Based Licenses Combine, on page 92

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Time-Based Licenses

Time-Based Licenses
In addition to permanent licenses, you can purchase time-based licenses or receive an evaluation license that
has a time-limit. For example, you might buy a time-based AnyConnect Premium license to handle short-term
surges in the number of concurrent SSL VPN users, or you might order a Botnet Traffic Filter time-based
license that is valid for 1 year.

Note The ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X do not support time-based licenses.

Time-Based License Activation Guidelines

• You can install multiple time-based licenses, including multiple licenses for the same feature. However,
only one time-based license per feature can be active at a time. The inactive license remains installed,
and ready for use. For example, if you install a 1000-session AnyConnect Premium license, and a
2500-session AnyConnect Premium license, then only one of these licenses can be active.
• If you activate an evaluation license that has multiple features in the key, then you cannot also activate
another time-based license for one of the included features. For example, if an evaluation license includes
the Botnet Traffic Filter and a 1000-session AnyConnect Premium license, you cannot also activate a
standalone time-based 2500-session AnyConnect Premium license.

How the Time-Based License Timer Works

• The timer for the time-based license starts counting down when you activate it on the ASA.
• If you stop using the time-based license before it times out, then the timer halts. The timer only starts
again when you reactivate the time-based license.
• If the time-based license is active, and you shut down the ASA, then the timer stops counting down. The
time-based license only counts down when the ASA is running. The system clock setting does not affect
the license; only ASA uptime counts towards the license duration.

How Permanent and Time-Based Licenses Combine

When you activate a time-based license, then features from both permanent and time-based licenses combine
to form the running license. How the permanent and time-based licenses combine depends on the type of
license. The following table lists the combination rules for each feature license.

Note Even when the permanent license is used, if the time-based license is active, it continues to count down.

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Stacking Time-Based Licenses

Table 7: Time-Based License Combination Rules

Time-Based Feature Combined License Rule

AnyConnect Premium Sessions The higher value is used, either time-based or

permanent. For example, if the permanent license is
1000 sessions, and the time-based license is 2500
sessions, then 2500 sessions are enabled. Typically,
you will not install a time-based license that has less
capability than the permanent license, but if you do
so, then the permanent license is used.

Unified Communications Proxy Sessions The time-based license sessions are added to the
permanent sessions, up to the platform limit. For
example, if the permanent license is 2500 sessions,
and the time-based license is 1000 sessions, then 3500
sessions are enabled for as long as the time-based
license is active.

Security Contexts The time-based license contexts are added to the

permanent contexts, up to the platform limit. For
example, if the permanent license is 10 contexts, and
the time-based license is 20 contexts, then 30 contexts
are enabled for as long as the time-based license is
active.

Botnet Traffic Filter There is no permanent Botnet Traffic Filter license

available; the time-based license is used.

All Others The higher value is used, either time-based or

permanent. For licenses that have a status of enabled
or disabled, then the license with the enabled status
is used. For licenses with numerical tiers, the higher
value is used. Typically, you will not install a
time-based license that has less capability than the
permanent license, but if you do so, then the
permanent license is used.

Related Topics
Monitoring PAK Licenses, on page 123

Stacking Time-Based Licenses

In many cases, you might need to renew your time-based license and have a seamless transition from the old
license to the new one. For features that are only available with a time-based license, it is especially important
that the license not expire before you can apply the new license. The ASA allows you to stack time-based
licenses so that you do not have to worry about the license expiring or about losing time on your licenses
because you installed the new one early.
When you install an identical time-based license as one already installed, then the licenses are combined, and
the duration equals the combined duration.
For example:

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Time-Based License Expiration

1. You install a 52-week Botnet Traffic Filter license, and use the license for 25 weeks (27 weeks remain).
2. You then purchase another 52-week Botnet Traffic Filter license. When you install the second license,
the licenses combine to have a duration of 79 weeks (52 weeks plus 27 weeks).

Similarly:
1. You install an 8-week 1000-session AnyConnect Premium license, and use it for 2 weeks (6 weeks remain).
2. You then install another 8-week 1000-session license, and the licenses combine to be 1000-sessions for
14 weeks (8 weeks plus 6 weeks).

If the licenses are not identical (for example, a 1000-session AnyConnect Premium license vs. a 2500-session
license), then the licenses are not combined. Because only one time-based license per feature can be active,
only one of the licenses can be active.
Although non-identical licenses do not combine, when the current license expires, the ASA automatically
activates an installed license of the same feature if available.
Related Topics
Activate or Deactivate Keys, on page 107
Time-Based License Expiration, on page 94

Time-Based License Expiration

When the current license for a feature expires, the ASA automatically activates an installed license of the
same feature if available. If there are no other time-based licenses available for the feature, then the permanent
license is used.
If you have more than one additional time-based license installed for a feature, then the ASA uses the first
license it finds; which license is used is not user-configurable and depends on internal operations. If you prefer
to use a different time-based license than the one the ASA activated, then you must manually activate the
license you prefer.
For example, you have a time-based 2500-session AnyConnect Premium license (active), a time-based
1000-session AnyConnect Premium license (inactive), and a permanent 500-session AnyConnect Premium
license. While the 2500-session license expires, the ASA activates the 1000-session license. After the
1000-session license expires, the ASA uses the 500-session permanent license.
Related Topics
Activate or Deactivate Keys, on page 107

License Notes
The following sections include additional information about licenses.

AnyConnect Plus and Apex Licenses

The AnyConnect Plus or Apex license is a multi-use license that you can apply to multiple ASAs, all of which
share a user pool as specified by the license. See https://www.cisco.com/go/license, and assign the PAK
separately to each ASA. When you apply the resulting activation key to an ASA, it toggles on the VPN features
to the maximum allowed, but the actual number of unique users across all ASAs sharing the license should
not exceed the license limit. For more information, see:

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Other VPN License

• Cisco AnyConnect Ordering Guide

• AnyConnect Licensing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Note The AnyConnect Apex license is required for multiple context mode. Moreover, in multiple context mode,
this license must be applied to each unit in a failover pair; the license is not aggregated.

Other VPN License

Other VPN sessions include the following VPN types:
• IPsec remote access VPN using IKEv1
• IPsec site-to-site VPN using IKEv1
• IPsec site-to-site VPN using IKEv2

This license is included in the Base license.

Total VPN Sessions Combined, All Types

• Although the maximum VPN sessions add up to more than the maximum VPN AnyConnect and Other
VPN sessions, the combined sessions should not exceed the VPN session limit. If you exceed the maximum
VPN sessions, you can overload the ASA, so be sure to size your network appropriately.
• If you start a clientless SSL VPN session and then start an AnyConnect client session from the portal, 1
session is used in total. However, if you start the AnyConnect client first (from a standalone client, for
example) and then log into the clientless SSL VPN portal, then 2 sessions are used.

VPN Load Balancing

VPN load balancing requires a Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) License.

Legacy VPN Licenses

Refer to the Supplemental end User License Agreement for AnyConnect for all relevant information on
licensing.

Note The AnyConnect Apex license is required for multiple context mode; you cannot use the default or legacy
license.

Encryption License
The DES license cannot be disabled. If you have the 3DES license installed, DES is still available. To prevent
the use of DES when you want to only use strong encryption, be sure to configure any relevant commands to
use only strong encryption.

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Carrier License

Carrier License
The Carrier license enables the following inspection features:
• Diameter
• GTP/GPRS
• SCTP

Total TLS Proxy Sessions

Each TLS proxy session for Encrypted Voice Inspection is counted against the TLS license limit.
Other applications that use TLS proxy sessions do not count toward the TLS limit, for example, Mobility
Advantage Proxy (which does not require a license).
Some applications might use multiple sessions for a connection. For example, if you configure a phone with
a primary and backup Cisco Unified Communications Manager, there are 2 TLS proxy connections.
You independently set the TLS proxy limit using the tls-proxy maximum-sessions command or in ASDM,
using the Configuration > Firewall > Unified Communications > TLS Proxy pane. To view the limits of
your model, enter the tls-proxy maximum-sessions ? command. When you apply a TLS proxy license that
is higher than the default TLS proxy limit, the ASA automatically sets the TLS proxy limit to match the
license. The TLS proxy limit takes precedence over the license limit; if you set the TLS proxy limit to be less
than the license, then you cannot use all of the sessions in your license.

Note For license part numbers ending in “K8” (for example, licenses under 250 users), TLS proxy sessions are
limited to 1000. For license part numbers ending in “K9” (for example, licenses 250 users or larger), the
TLS proxy limit depends on the configuration, up to the model limit. K8 and K9 refer to whether the license
is restricted for export: K8 is unrestricted, and K9 is restricted.
If you clear the configuration (using the clear configure all command, for example), then the TLS proxy
limit is set to the default for your model; if this default is lower than the license limit, then you see an error
message to use the tls-proxy maximum-sessions command to raise the limit again (in ASDM, use the TLS
Proxy pane). If you use failover and enter the write standby command or in ASDM, use File > Save Running
Configuration to Standby Unit on the primary unit to force a configuration synchronization, the clear
configure all command is generated on the secondary unit automatically, so you may see the warning message
on the secondary unit. Because the configuration synchronization restores the TLS proxy limit set on the
primary unit, you can ignore the warning.

You might also use SRTP encryption sessions for your connections:
• For K8 licenses, SRTP sessions are limited to 250.
• For K9 licenses, there is no limit.

Note Only calls that require encryption/decryption for media are counted toward the SRTP limit; if passthrough is
set for the call, even if both legs are SRTP, they do not count toward the limit.

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VLANs, Maximum

VLANs, Maximum
For an interface to count against the VLAN limit, you must assign a VLAN to it.

Botnet Traffic Filter License

Requires a Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) License to download the dynamic database.

IPS Module License

The IPS module license lets you run the IPS software module on the ASA. You also need the IPS signature
subscription on the IPS side.
See the following guidelines:
• To buy the IPS signature subscription you need to have the ASA with IPS pre-installed (the part number
must include “IPS”, for example ASA5515-IPS-K9); you cannot buy the IPS signature subscription for
a non-IPS part number ASA.
• For failover, you need the IPS signature subscription on both units; this subscription is not shared in
failover, because it is not an ASA license.
• For failover, the IPS signature subscription requires a unique IPS module license per unit. Like other
ASA licenses, the IPS module license is technically shared in the failover cluster license. However,
because of the IPS signature subscription requirements, you must buy a separate IPS module license for
each unit in failover.

Shared AnyConnect Premium Licenses (AnyConnect 3 and Earlier)

Note The shared license feature on the ASA is not supported with AnyConnect 4 and later licensing. AnyConnect
licenses are shared and no longer require a shared server or participant license.

A shared license lets you purchase a large number of AnyConnect Premium sessions and share the sessions
as needed among a group of ASAs by configuring one of the ASAs as a shared licensing server, and the rest
as shared licensing participants.

Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses

With some exceptions, failover and cluster units do not require the same license on each unit. For earlier
versions, see the licensing document for your version.

Failover License Requirements and Exceptions

Failover units do not require the same license on each unit. If you have licenses on both units, they combine
into a single running failover cluster license. There are some exceptions to this rule. See the following table
for precise licensing requirements for failover.

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Model License Requirement

ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X • Active/Standby—Security Plus License.

• Active/Active—No Support.

Note Each unit must have the same encryption license.

ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X • Base License.

Note • Each unit must have the same encryption license.

• In multiple context mode, each unit must have the
the same AnyConnect Apex license.
• Each unit must have the same IPS module license.
You also need the IPS signature subscription on
the IPS side for both units. See the following
guidelines:
• To buy the IPS signature subscription you
need to have the ASA with IPS pre-installed
(the part number must include “IPS”, for
example ASA5525-IPS-K9); you cannot buy
the IPS signature subscription for a non-IPS
part number ASA.
• You need the IPS signature subscription on
both units; this subscription is not shared in
failover, because it is not an ASA license.
• The IPS signature subscription requires a
unique IPS module license per unit. Like
other ASA licenses, the IPS module license
is technically shared in the failover cluster
license. However, because of the IPS
signature subscription requirements, you
must buy a separate IPS module license for
each unit in.

ASAv See Failover Licenses for the ASAv, on page 141.

Firepower 1010 Security Plus License. See Failover Licenses for the Firepower
1010, on page 141.

Firepower 1100 See Failover Licenses for the Firepower 1100, on page 142.

Firepower 2100 See Failover Licenses for the Firepower 2100, on page 143.

Firepower 4100/9300 See Failover Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300
Chassis, on page 144.

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ASA Cluster License Requirements and Exceptions

Model License Requirement

All other models Base License or Standard License.

Note • Each unit must have the same encryption license.
• In multiple context mode, each unit must have the
the same AnyConnect Apex license.

Note A valid permanent key is required; in rare instances, your PAK authentication key can be removed. If your
key consists of all 0’s, then you need to reinstall a valid authentication key before failover can be enabled.

ASA Cluster License Requirements and Exceptions

Cluster units do not require the same license on each unit. Typically, you buy a license only for the control
unit; data units inherit the control unit license. If you have licenses on multiple units, they combine into a
single running ASA cluster license.
There are exceptions to this rule. See the following table for precise licensing requirements for clustering.

Model License Requirement

ASA 5516-X Base license, supports 2 units.

Note Each unit must have the same encryption license.

ASA 5525-X, ASA 5545-X, ASA 5555-X Base License, supports 2 units.
Note Each unit must have the same encryption license.

Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis See ASA Cluster Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower
4100/9300 Chassis, on page 145.

All other models No support.

How Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses Combine

For failover pairs or ASA clusters, the licenses on each unit are combined into a single running cluster license.
If you buy separate licenses for each unit, then the combined license uses the following rules:
• For licenses that have numerical tiers, such as the number of sessions, the values from each unit’s licenses
are combined up to the platform limit. If all licenses in use are time-based, then the licenses count down
simultaneously.
For example, for failover:
• You have two ASAs with 10 TLS Proxy sessions installed on each; the licenses will be combined
for a total of 20 TLS Proxy sessions.

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Loss of Communication Between Failover or ASA Cluster Units

• You have an ASA 5545-X with 1000 TLS Proxy sessions, and another with 2000 sessions; because
the platform limit is 2000, the combined license allows 2000 TLS Proxy sessions.
• You have two ASA 5545-X ASAs, one with 20 contexts and the other with 10 contexts; the combined
license allows 30 contexts. For Active/Active failover, the contexts are divided between the two
units. One unit can use 18 contexts and the other unit can use 12 contexts, for example, for a total
of 30.

For example, for ASA clustering:

• You have 2 ASA 5516-X ASAs with the default 2 contexts. Because the platform limit is 5, the
combined license allows a maximum of 4 contexts. Therefore, you can configure up to 4 contexts
on the primary unit; each secondary unit will also have 4 contexts through configuration replication.
• You have four ASA 5516-X ASAs, three units with 5 contexts each, and one unit with the default
2 contexts. Because the platform limit is 5, the licenses will be combined for a total of 5 contexts.
Therefore, you can configure up to 5 contexts on the primary unit; each secondary unit will also
have 5 contexts through configuration replication.

• For licenses that have a status of enabled or disabled, then the license with the enabled status is used.
• For time-based licenses that are enabled or disabled (and do not have numerical tiers), the duration is
the combined duration of all licenses. The primary/control unit counts down its license first, and when
it expires, the secondary/data unit(s) start counting down its license, and so on. This rule also applies to
Active/Active failover and ASA clustering, even though all units are actively operating.
For example, if you have 48 weeks left on the Botnet Traffic Filter license on two units, then the combined
duration is 96 weeks.

Related Topics
Monitoring PAK Licenses, on page 123

Loss of Communication Between Failover or ASA Cluster Units

If the units lose communication for more than 30 days, then each unit reverts to the license installed locally.
During the 30-day grace period, the combined running license continues to be used by all units.
If you restore communication during the 30-day grace period, then for time-based licenses, the time elapsed
is subtracted from the primary/control license; if the primary/control license becomes expired, only then does
the secondary/data license start to count down.
If you do not restore communication during the 30-day period, then for time-based licenses, time is subtracted
from all unit licenses, if installed. They are treated as separate licenses and do not benefit from the combined
license. The time elapsed includes the 30-day grace period.
For example:
1. You have a 52-week Botnet Traffic Filter license installed on two units. The combined running license
allows a total duration of 104 weeks.
2. The units operate as a failover unit/ASA cluster for 10 weeks, leaving 94 weeks on the combined license
(42 weeks on the primary/control, and 52 weeks on the secondary/data).
3. If the units lose communication (for example the primary/control unit fails), the secondary/data unit
continues to use the combined license, and continues to count down from 94 weeks.

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Upgrading Failover Pairs

4. The time-based license behavior depends on when communication is restored:

• Within 30 days—The time elapsed is subtracted from the primary/control unit license. In this case,
communication is restored after 4 weeks. Therefore, 4 weeks are subtracted from the primary/control
license leaving 90 weeks combined (38 weeks on the primary, and 52 weeks on the secondary).
• After 30 days—The time elapsed is subtracted from both units. In this case, communication is restored
after 6 weeks. Therefore, 6 weeks are subtracted from both the primary/control and secondary/data
licenses, leaving 84 weeks combined (36 weeks on the primary/control, and 46 weeks on the
secondary/data).

Upgrading Failover Pairs

Because failover pairs do not require the same license on both units, you can apply new licenses to each unit
without any downtime. If you apply a permanent license that requires a reload, then you can fail over to the
other unit while you reload. If both units require reloading, then you can reload them separately so that you
have no downtime.
Related Topics
Activate or Deactivate Keys, on page 107

No Payload Encryption Models

You can purchase some models with No Payload Encryption. For export to some countries, payload encryption
cannot be enabled on the Cisco ASA series. The ASA software senses a No Payload Encryption model, and
disables the following features:
• Unified Communications
• VPN

You can still install the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license for use with management connections. For
example, you can use ASDM HTTPS/SSL, SSHv2, Telnet and SNMPv3. You can also download the dynamic
database for the Botnet Traffic Filter (which uses SSL).
When you view the license, VPN and Unified Communications licenses will not be listed.
Related Topics
Monitoring PAK Licenses, on page 123

Licenses FAQ
Can I activate multiple time-based licenses, for example, AnyConnect Premium and Botnet Traffic
Filter?
Yes. You can use one time-based license per feature at a time.
Can I “stack” time-based licenses so that when the time limit runs out, it will automatically use the next
license?
Yes. For identical licenses, the time limit is combined when you install multiple time-based licenses. For
non-identical licenses (for example, a 1000-session AnyConnect Premium license and a 2500-session
license), the ASA automatically activates the next time-based license it finds for the feature.

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Guidelines for PAK Licenses

Can I install a new permanent license while maintaining an active time-based license?
Yes. Activating a permanent license does not affect time-based licenses.
For failover, can I use a shared licensing server as the primary unit, and the shared licensing backup
server as the secondary unit?
No. The secondary unit has the same running license as the primary unit; in the case of the shared licensing
server, they require a server license. The backup server requires a participant license. The backup server
can be in a separate failover pair of two backup servers.
Do I need to buy the same licenses for the secondary unit in a failover pair?
No. Starting with Version 8.3(1), you do not have to have matching licenses on both units. Typically,
you buy a license only for the primary unit; the secondary unit inherits the primary license when it
becomes active. In the case where you also have a separate license on the secondary unit (for example,
if you purchased matching licenses for pre-8.3 software), the licenses are combined into a running failover
cluster license, up to the model limits.
Can I use a time-based or permanent AnyConnect Premium license in addition to a shared AnyConnect
Premium license?
Yes. The shared license is used only after the sessions from the locally installed license (time-based or
permanent) are used up.

Note On the shared licensing server, the permanent AnyConnect Premium license is not used; you can however
use a time-based license at the same time as the shared licensing server license. In this case, the time-based
license sessions are available for local AnyConnect Premium sessions only; they cannot be added to the
shared licensing pool for use by participants.

Guidelines for PAK Licenses

Context Mode Guidelines
In multiple context mode, apply the activation key in the system execution space.

Failover Guidelines
See Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses, on page 97.

Model Guidelines
• Smart Licensing is supported on the ASAv only.
• Shared licenses are not supported on the ASAv, ASA 5506-X, ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X.
• The ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X do not support time-based licenses.

Upgrade and Downgrade Guidelines

Your activation key remains compatible if you upgrade to the latest version from any previous version.
However, you might have issues if you want to maintain downgrade capability:

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• Downgrading to Version 8.1 or earlier—After you upgrade, if you activate additional feature licenses
that were introduced before 8.2, then the activation key continues to be compatible with earlier versions
if you downgrade. However if you activate feature licenses that were introduced in 8.2 or later, then the
activation key is not backwards compatible. If you have an incompatible license key, then see the following
guidelines:
• If you previously entered an activation key in an earlier version, then the ASA uses that key (without
any of the new licenses you activated in Version 8.2 or later).
• If you have a new system and do not have an earlier activation key, then you need to request a new
activation key compatible with the earlier version.

• Downgrading to Version 8.2 or earlier—Version 8.3 introduced more robust time-based key usage as
well as failover license changes:
• If you have more than one time-based activation key active, when you downgrade, only the most
recently activated time-based key can be active. Any other keys are made inactive. If the last
time-based license is for a feature introduced in 8.3, then that license still remains the active license
even though it cannot be used in earlier versions. Reenter the permanent key or a valid time-based
key.
• If you have mismatched licenses on a failover pair, then downgrading will disable failover. Even
if the keys are matching, the license used will no longer be a combined license.
• If you have one time-based license installed, but it is for a feature introduced in 8.3, then after you
downgrade, that time-based license remains active. You need to reenter the permanent key to disable
the time-based license.

Additional Guidelines
• The activation key is not stored in your configuration file; it is stored as a hidden file in flash memory.
• The activation key is tied to the serial number of the device. Feature licenses cannot be transferred
between devices (except in the case of a hardware failure). If you have to replace your device due to a
hardware failure, and it is covered by Cisco TAC, contact the Cisco Licensing Team to have your existing
license transferred to the new serial number. The Cisco Licensing Team will ask for the Product
Authorization Key reference number and existing serial number.
• The serial number used for licensing is the one seen on the Activation Key page. This serial number is
different from the chassis serial number printed on the outside of your hardware. The chassis serial
number is used for technical support, but not for licensing.
• Once purchased, you cannot return a license for a refund or for an upgraded license.
• On a single unit, you cannot add two separate licenses for the same feature together; for example, if you
purchase a 25-session SSL VPN license, and later purchase a 50-session license, you cannot use 75
sessions; you can use a maximum of 50 sessions. (You may be able to purchase a larger license at an
upgrade price, for example from 25 sessions to 75 sessions; this kind of upgrade should be distinguished
from adding two separate licenses together).
• Although you can activate all license types, some features are incompatible with each other. In the case
of the AnyConnect Essentials license, the license is incompatible with the following licenses: AnyConnect
Premium license, shared AnyConnect Premium license, and Advanced Endpoint Assessment license.
By default, if you install the AnyConnect Essentials license (if it is available for your model), it is used

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Configure PAK Licenses

instead of the above licenses. You can disable the AnyConnect Essentials license in the configuration to
restore use of the other licenses using the Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Network (Client)
Access > Advanced > AnyConnect Essentials pane.

Configure PAK Licenses

This section describes how to obtain an activation key and how to active it. You can also deactivate a key.

Order License PAKs and Obtain an Activation Key

To install a license on the ASA, you need Product Authorization Keys, which you can then register with
Cisco.com to obtain an activation key. You can then enter the activation key on the ASA. You need a separate
Product Authorization Key for each feature license. The PAKs are combined to give you a single activation
key. You may have received all of your license PAKs in the box with your device. The ASA has the Base or
Security Plus license pre-installed, along with the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if you qualify for
its use. If you need to manually request the Strong Encryption license (which is free), see
http://www.cisco.com/go/license.

Before you begin

When you purchase 1 or more licenses for the device, you manage them in the Cisco Smart Software Manager:
https://software.cisco.com/#module/SmartLicensing
If you do not yet have an account, set up a new account. The Smart Software Manager lets you create a master
account for your organization.

Procedure

Step 1 To purchase additional licenses, see http://www.cisco.com/go/ccw. See the following AnyConnect ordering
guide and FAQ:
• Cisco AnyConnect Ordering Guide
• AnyConnect Licensing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

After you order a license, you will then receive an email with a Product Authorization Key (PAK). For the
AnyConnect licenses, you receive a multi-use PAK that you can apply to multiple ASAs that use the same
pool of user sessions. The PAK email can take several days in some cases.
The ASA FirePOWER module uses a separate licensing mechanism from the ASA. See the quick start guide
for your model for more information.

Step 2 Obtain the serial number for your ASA by choosing Configuration > Device Management > Licensing
> Activation Key (in multiple context mode, view the serial number in the System execution space).
The serial number used for licensing is different from the chassis serial number printed on the outside of your
hardware. The chassis serial number is used for technical support, but not for licensing.

Step 3 To obtain the activation key, go to the following licensing website:

http://www.cisco.com/go/license

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Step 4 Enter the following information, when prompted:

• Product Authorization Key (if you have multiple keys, enter one of the keys first. You have to enter each
key as a separate process.)
• The serial number of your ASA
• Your e-mail address

An activation key is automatically generated and sent to the e-mail address that you provide. This key includes
all features you have registered so far for permanent licenses. For time-based licenses, each license has a
separate activation key.

Step 5 If you have additional Product Authorization Keys, repeat the process for each Product Authorization Key.
After you enter all of the Product Authorization Keys, the final activation key provided includes all of the
permanent features you registered.
Step 6 Install the activation key according to Activate or Deactivate Keys, on page 107.

Obtain a Strong Encryption License

To use ASDM (and many other features), you need to install the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license. If
your ASA did not come with the Strong Encryption license pre-installed, you can request one for free. You
must qualify for a Strong Encryption license based on your country.

Procedure

Step 1 Obtain the serial number for your ASA by entering the following command:
show version | grep Serial
This serial number is different from the chassis serial number printed on the outside of your hardware. The
chassis serial number is used for technical support, but not for licensing.

Step 2 See https://www.cisco.com/go/license, and click Get Other Licenses.

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Figure 8: Get Other Licenses

Step 3 Choose IPS, Crypto, Other.

Figure 9: IPS, Crypto, Other

Step 4 In the Search by Keyword field, enter asa, and select Cisco ASA 3DES/AES License.
Figure 10: Cisco ASA 3DES/AES License

Step 5 Select your Smart Account, Virtual Account, enter the ASA Serial Number, and click Next.

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Activate or Deactivate Keys

Figure 11: Smart Account, Virtual Account, and Serial Number

Step 6 Your Send To email address and End User name are auto-filled; enter additional email addresses if needed.
Check the I Agree check box, and click Submit.
Figure 12: Submit

Step 7 You will then receive an email with the activation key, but you can also download the key right away from
the Manage > Licenses area.
Step 8 Apply the activation key according to Activate or Deactivate Keys, on page 107.

Activate or Deactivate Keys

This section describes how to enter a new activation key, and how to activate and deactivate time-based keys.

Before you begin

• If you are already in multiple context mode, enter the activation key in the system execution space.
• Some permanent licenses require you to reload the ASA after you activate them. The following table
lists the licenses that require reloading.

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Table 8: Permanent License Reloading Requirements

Model License Action Requiring Reload

All models Downgrading the Encryption license.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management, and then choose the Licensing > Activation Key or
Licensing Activation Key pane, depending on your model.
Step 2 To enter a new activation key, either permanent or time-based, enter the new activation key in the New
Activation Key field.
The key is a five-element hexadecimal string with one space between each element. The leading 0x specifier
is optional; all values are assumed to be hexadecimal. For example:

ASA0xd11b3d48 0xa80a4c0a 0x48e0fd1c 0xb0443480 0x843fc490

You can install one permanent key, and multiple time-based keys. If you enter a new permanent key, it
overwrites the already installed one. If you enter a new time-based key, then it is active by default and displays
in the Time-based License Keys Installed table. The last time-based key that you activate for a given feature
is the active one.

Step 3 To activate or deactivate an installed time-based key, choose the key in the Time-based License Keys Installed
table, and click either Activate or Deactivate.
You can only have one time-based key active for each feature.

Step 4 Click Update Activation Key.

Some permanent licenses require you to reload the ASA after entering the new activation key. You will be
prompted to reload if it is required.

Related Topics
Time-Based Licenses, on page 92

Configure a Shared License (AnyConnect 3 and Earlier)

Note The shared license feature on the ASA is not supported with AnyConnect 4 and later licensing. AnyConnect
licenses are shared and no longer require a shared server or participant license.

This section describes how to configure the shared licensing server and participants.

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About Shared Licenses

About Shared Licenses

A shared license lets you purchase a large number of AnyConnect Premium sessions and share the sessions
as needed among a group of ASAs by configuring one of the ASAs as a shared licensing server, and the rest
as shared licensing participants.

About the Shared Licensing Server and Participants

The following steps describe how shared licenses operate:
1. Decide which ASA should be the shared licensing server, and purchase the shared licensing server license
using that device serial number.
2. Decide which ASAs should be shared licensing participants, including the shared licensing backup server,
and obtain a shared licensing participant license for each device, using each device serial number.
3. (Optional) Designate a second ASA as a shared licensing backup server. You can only specify one backup
server.

Note The shared licensing backup server only needs a participant license.

4. Configure a shared secret on the shared licensing server; any participants with the shared secret can use
the shared license.
5. When you configure the ASA as a participant, it registers with the shared licensing server by sending
information about itself, including the local license and model information.

Note The participant needs to be able to communicate with the server over the IP network; it does not have to be
on the same subnet.

6. The shared licensing server responds with information about how often the participant should poll the
server.
7. When a participant uses up the sessions of the local license, it sends a request to the shared licensing
server for additional sessions in 50-session increments.
8. The shared licensing server responds with a shared license. The total sessions used by a participant cannot
exceed the maximum sessions for the platform model.

Note The shared licensing server can also participate in the shared license pool. It does not need a participant license
as well as the server license to participate.

a. If there are not enough sessions left in the shared license pool for the participant, then the server
responds with as many sessions as available.
b. The participant continues to send refresh messages requesting more sessions until the server can
adequately fulfill the request.

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Communication Issues Between Participant and Server

9. When the load is reduced on a participant, it sends a message to the server to release the shared sessions.

Note The ASA uses SSL between the server and participant to encrypt all communications.

Communication Issues Between Participant and Server

See the following guidelines for communication issues between the participant and server:
• If a participant fails to send a refresh after 3 times the refresh interval, then the server releases the sessions
back into the shared license pool.
• If the participant cannot reach the license server to send the refresh, then the participant can continue to
use the shared license it received from the server for up to 24 hours.
• If the participant is still not able to communicate with a license server after 24 hours, then the participant
releases the shared license, even if it still needs the sessions. The participant leaves existing connections
established, but cannot accept new connections beyond the license limit.
• If a participant reconnects with the server before 24 hours expires, but after the server expired the
participant sessions, then the participant needs to send a new request for the sessions; the server responds
with as many sessions as can be reassigned to that participant.

About the Shared Licensing Backup Server

The shared licensing backup server must register successfully with the main shared licensing server before it
can take on the backup role. When it registers, the main shared licensing server syncs server settings as well
as the shared license information with the backup, including a list of registered participants and the current
license usage. The main server and backup server sync the data at 10 second intervals. After the initial sync,
the backup server can successfully perform backup duties, even after a reload.
When the main server goes down, the backup server takes over server operation. The backup server can operate
for up to 30 continuous days, after which the backup server stops issuing sessions to participants, and existing
sessions time out. Be sure to reinstate the main server within that 30-day period. Critical-level syslog messages
are sent at 15 days, and again at 30 days.
When the main server comes back up, it syncs with the backup server, and then takes over server operation.
When the backup server is not active, it acts as a regular participant of the main shared licensing server.

Note When you first launch the main shared licensing server, the backup server can only operate independently for
5 days. The operational limit increases day-by-day, until 30 days is reached. Also, if the main server later
goes down for any length of time, the backup server operational limit decrements day-by-day. When the main
server comes back up, the backup server starts to increment again day-by-day. For example, if the main server
is down for 20 days, with the backup server active during that time, then the backup server will only have a
10-day limit left over. The backup server “recharges” up to the maximum 30 days after 20 more days as an
inactive backup. This recharging function is implemented to discourage misuse of the shared license.

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Failover and Shared Licenses

This section describes how shared licenses interact with failover.

Failover and Shared License Servers

This section describes how the main server and backup server interact with failover. Because the shared
licensing server is also performing normal duties as the ASA, including performing functions such as being
a VPN gateway and firewall, then you might need to configure failover for the main and backup shared
licensing servers for increased reliability.

Note The backup server mechanism is separate from, but compatible with, failover.
Shared licenses are supported only in single context mode, so Active/Active failover is not supported.

For Active/Standby failover, the primary unit acts as the main shared licensing server, and the standby unit
acts as the main shared licensing server after failover. The standby unit does not act as the backup shared
licensing server. Instead, you can have a second pair of units acting as the backup server, if desired.
For example, you have a network with 2 failover pairs. Pair #1 includes the main licensing server. Pair #2
includes the backup server. When the primary unit from Pair #1 goes down, the standby unit immediately
becomes the new main licensing server. The backup server from Pair #2 never gets used. Only if both units
in Pair #1 go down does the backup server in Pair #2 come into use as the shared licensing server. If Pair #1
remains down, and the primary unit in Pair #2 goes down, then the standby unit in Pair #2 comes into use as
the shared licensing server (see the following figure).

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Figure 13: Failover and Shared License Servers

The standby backup server shares the same operating limits as the primary backup server; if the standby unit
becomes active, it continues counting down where the primary unit left off.
Related Topics
About the Shared Licensing Backup Server, on page 110

Failover and Shared License Participants

For participant pairs, both units register with the shared licensing server using separate participant IDs. The
active unit syncs its participant ID with the standby unit. The standby unit uses this ID to generate a transfer
request when it switches to the active role. This transfer request is used to move the shared sessions from the
previously active unit to the new active unit.

Maximum Number of Participants

The ASA does not limit the number of participants for the shared license; however, a very large shared network
could potentially affect the performance on the licensing server. In this case, you can increase the delay
between participant refreshes, or you can create two shared networks.

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Configure the Shared Licensing Server

This section describes how to configure the ASA to be a shared licensing server.

Before you begin

The server must have a shared licensing server key.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the Configuration > Device Management > Licenses > Shared SSL VPN Licenses pane.
Step 2 In the Shared Secret field, enter the shared secret as a string between 4 and 128 ASCII characters.
Any participant with this secret can use the license server.

Step 3 (Optional) In the TCP IP Port field, enter the port on which the server listens for SSL connections from
participants, between 1 and 65535.
The default is TCP port 50554.

Step 4 (Optional) In the Refresh interval field, enter the refresh interval between 10 and 300 seconds.
This value is provided to participants to set how often they should communicate with the server. The default
is 30 seconds.

Step 5 In the Interfaces that serve shared licenses area, check the Shares Licenses check box for any interfaces
on which participants contact the server.
Step 6 (Optional) To identify a backup server, in the Optional backup shared SSL VPN license server area:
a) In the Backup server IP address field, enter the backup server IP address.
b) In the Primary backup server serial number field, enter the backup server serial number.
c) If the backup server is part of a failover pair, identify the standby unit serial number in the Secondary
backup server serial number field.
You can only identify 1 backup server and its optional standby unit.

Step 7 Click Apply.

Configure the Shared Licensing Participant and the Optional Backup Server
This section configures a shared licensing participant to communicate with the shared licensing server. This
section also describes how you can optionally configure the participant as the backup server.

Before you begin

The participant must have a shared licensing participant key.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the Configuration > Device Management > Licenses > Shared SSL VPN Licenses pane.

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Step 2 In the Shared Secret field, enter the shared secret as a string between 4 and 128 ASCII characters.
Step 3 (Optional) In the TCP IP Port field, enter the port on which to communicate with the server using SSL, between
1 and 65535.
The default is TCP port 50554.

Step 4 (Optional) To identify the participant as the backup server, in the Select backup role of participant area:
a) Click the Backup Server radio button.
b) Check the Shares Licenses check box for any interfaces on which participants contact the backup server.
Step 5 Click Apply.

Supported Feature Licenses Per Model

This section describes the licenses available for each model as well as important notes about licenses.

Licenses Per Model

This section lists the feature licenses available for each model:
Items that are in italics are separate, optional licenses that can replace the Base (or Security Plus, and so on)
license version. You can mix and match optional licenses.

Note Some features are incompatible with each other. See the individual feature chapters for compatibility
information.
If you have a No Payload Encryption model, then some of the features below are not supported. See No
Payload Encryption Models, on page 101 for a list of unsupported features.

For detailed information about licenses, see License Notes, on page 94.

ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X.

Licenses Base License Security Plus License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet No support No Support

Traffic
Filter

Firewall 20,000 50,000

Conns,
Concurrent

Carrier No Support No Support

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ASA 5506H-X License Features

Licenses Base License Security Plus License

Total 160 160

TLS
Proxy
Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex
peers license: 50 maximum license: 50 maximum

Other 10 50
VPN
Peers

Total 50 50
VPN
Peers,
combined
all types

VPN No support No support

Load
Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES) Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover No support Active/Standby

Security No support No support

Contexts

Clustering No Support No Support

VLANs, 5 30
Maximum

ASA 5506H-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5506H-X.

Licenses Base License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic No Support

Filter

Firewall Conns, 50,000

Concurrent

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ASA 5508-X License Features

Licenses Base License

Carrier No Support

Total UC Proxy 160

Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Plus 50
or Apex license
(purchased
separately),
maximum
premium peers

Total VPN Peers, 50

combined all
types

Other VPN Peers 50

VPN Load Enabled

Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover Active/Standby or Active/Active

Security Contexts No Support

Clustering No Support

VLANs, 30
Maximum

ASA 5508-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5508-X.

Licenses Base License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic No Support

Filter

Firewall Conns, 100,000

Concurrent

Carrier No Support

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ASA 5516-X License Features

Licenses Base License

Total TLS Proxy 320

Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex license: 100 maximum

peers

Total VPN Peers, 100

combined all
types

Other VPN Peers 100

VPN Load Enabled

Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover Active/Standby or Active/Active

Security Contexts 2 Optional licenses: 5

Clustering No Support

VLANs, 50
Maximum

ASA 5516-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5516-X.

Licenses Base License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic No Support

Filter

Firewall Conns, 250,000

Concurrent

Carrier No Support

Total TLS Proxy 1000

Sessions

VPN Licenses

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ASA 5525-X License Features

Licenses Base License

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex license: 300 maximum

peers

Other VPN Peers 300

Total VPN Peers, 300

combined all
types

VPN Load Enabled

Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover Active/Standby or Active/Active

Security Contexts 2 Optional licenses: 5

Clustering 2

VLANs, 150
Maximum

ASA 5525-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5525-X.

Licenses Base License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Disabled Optional Time-based license: Available

Traffic
Filter

Firewall 500,000
Conns,
Concurrent

Carrier Disabled Optional license: Available

Total 2 Optional licenses: 24 50 100 250 500 750 1000

TLS
Proxy
Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex license: 750 maximum

peers

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ASA 5545-X License Features

Licenses Base License

Other 750
VPN
Peers

Total 750
VPN
Peers,
combined
all types

VPN Enabled
Load
Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Optional license: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover Active/Standby or Active/Active

Security 2 Optional licenses: 5 10 20

Contexts

Clustering 2

IPS Disabled Optional license: Available

Module

VLANs, 200
Maximum

ASA 5545-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5545-X.

Licenses Base License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Disabled Optional Time-based license: Available

Traffic
Filter

Firewall 750,000
Conns,
Concurrent

Carrier Disabled Optional license: Available

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ASA 5555-X License Features

Licenses Base License

Total 2 Optional licenses: 24 50 100 250 500 750 1000 2000

TLS
Proxy
Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex license: 2500 maximum

peers

Other 2500
VPN
Peers

Total 2500
VPN
Peers,
combined
all types

VPN Enabled
Load
Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Optional license: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover Active/Standby or Active/Active

Security 2 Optional licenses: 5 10 20 50

Contexts

Clustering 2

IPS Disabled Optional license: Available

Module

VLANs, 300
Maximum

ASA 5555-X License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ASA 5555-X.

Licenses Base License

Firewall Licenses

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Licenses Base License

Botnet Disabled Optional Time-based license: Available

Traffic
Filter

Firewall 1,000,000
Conns,
Concurrent

Carrier Disabled Optional license: Available

Total 2 Optional licenses:

TLS
Proxy 24 50 100 250 500 750 1000 2000 3000
Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex license: 5000 maximum

peers

Other 5000
VPN
Peers

Total 5000
VPN
Peers,
combined
all types

VPN Enabled
Load
Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Optional license: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover Active/Standby or Active/Active

Security 2 Optional licenses: 5 10 20 50 100

Contexts

Clustering 2

IPS Disabled Optional license: Available

Module

VLANs, 500
Maximum

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ISA 3000 License Features

ISA 3000 License Features

The following table shows the licensed features for the ISA 3000.

Licenses Base License Security Plus License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet No support No Support

Traffic
Filter

Firewall 20,000 50,000

Conns,
Concurrent

Carrier No Support No Support

Total 160 160

TLS
Proxy
Sessions

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex Disabled Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex
peers license: 25 maximum license: 25 maximum

Other 10 50
VPN
Peers

Total 25 50
VPN
Peers,
combined
all types

VPN No support No support

Load
Balancing

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES) Base (DES) Opt. lic.: Strong (3DES/AES)

Failover No support Active/Standby

Security No support No Support

Contexts

Clustering No Support No Support

VLANs, 5 25
Maximum

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 Getting Started with the ASA
Monitoring PAK Licenses

Monitoring PAK Licenses

This section describes how to view license information.

Viewing Your Current License

This section describes how to view your current license, and for time-based activation keys, how much time
the license has left.

Before you begin

If you have a No Payload Encryption model, then you view the license, VPN and Unified Communications
licenses will not be listed. See No Payload Encryption Models, on page 101 for more information.

Procedure

Step 1 To view the running license, which is a combination of the permanent license and any active time-based
licenses, choose the Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Activation Key pane and view
the Running Licenses area.
In multiple context mode, view the activation key in the System execution space by choosing the Configuration
> Device Management > Activation Key pane.
For a failover pair, the running license shown is the combined license from the primary and secondary units.
See How Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses Combine, on page 99 for more information. For time-based
licenses with numerical values (the duration is not combined), the License Duration column displays the
shortest time-based license from either the primary or secondary unit; when that license expires, the license
duration from the other unit displays.

Step 2 (Optional) To view time-based license details, such as the features included in the license and the duration,
in the Time-Based License Keys Installed area, choose a license key, and then click Show License Details.
Step 3 (Optional) For a failover unit, to view the license installed on this unit (and not the combined license from
both primary and secondary units), in the Running Licenses area, click Show information of license specifically
purchased for this device alone.

Monitoring the Shared License

To monitor the shared license, choose Monitoring > VPN > Clientless SSL VPN > Shared Licenses.

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History for PAK Licenses

History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Increased Connections and VLANs 7.0(5) Increased the following limits:

• ASA5510 Base license connections
from 32000 to 5000; VLANs from 0
to 10.
• ASA5510 Security Plus license
connections from 64000 to 130000;
VLANs from 10 to 25.
• ASA5520 connections from 130000
to 280000; VLANs from 25 to 100.
• ASA5540 connections from 280000
to 400000; VLANs from 100 to 200.

SSL VPN Licenses 7.1(1) SSL VPN licenses were introduced.

Increased SSL VPN Licenses 7.2(1) A 5000-user SSL VPN license was
introduced for the ASA 5550 and above.

Increased interfaces for the Base license on 7.2(2) For the Base license on the ASA 5510, the
the ASA 5510 maximum number of interfaces was
increased from 3 plus a management
interface to unlimited interfaces.

Increased VLANs 7.2(2) The maximum number of VLANs for the

Security Plus license on the ASA 5505 was
increased from 5 (3 fully functional; 1
failover; one restricted to a backup
interface) to 20 fully functional interfaces.
In addition, the number of trunk ports was
increased from 1 to 8. Now there are 20
fully functional interfaces, you do not need
to use the backup interface command to
cripple a backup ISP interface; you can use
a fully functional interface for it. The
backup interface command is still useful
for an Easy VPN configuration.
VLAN limits were also increased for the
ASA 5510 (from 10 to 50 for the Base
license, and from 25 to 100 for the Security
Plus license), the ASA 5520 (from 100 to
150), the ASA 5550 (from 200 to 250).

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Gigabit Ethernet Support for the ASA 5510 7.2(3) The ASA 5510 now supports Gigabit
Security Plus License Ethernet (1000 Mbps) for the Ethernet 0/0
and 0/1 ports with the Security Plus license.
In the Base license, they continue to be used
as Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) ports. Ethernet
0/2, 0/3, and 0/4 remain as Fast Ethernet
ports for both licenses.
Note The interface names remain
Ethernet 0/0 and Ethernet 0/1.

Advanced Endpoint Assessment License 8.0(2) The Advanced Endpoint Assessment license
was introduced. As a condition for the
completion of a Cisco AnyConnect or
clientless SSL VPN connections, the remote
computer scans for a greatly expanded
collection of antivirus and antispyware
applications, firewalls, operating systems,
and associated updates. It also scans for any
registry entries, filenames, and process
names that you specify. It sends the scan
results to the ASA. The ASA uses both the
user login credentials and the computer scan
results to assign a Dynamic Access Policy
(DAP).
With an Advanced Endpoint Assessment
License, you can enhance Host Scan by
configuring an attempt to update
noncompliant computers to meet version
requirements.
Cisco can provide timely updates to the list
of applications and versions that Host Scan
supports in a package that is separate from
Cisco Secure Desktop.

VPN Load Balancing for the ASA 5510 8.0(2) VPN load balancing is now supported on
the ASA 5510 Security Plus license.

AnyConnect for Mobile License 8.0(3) The AnyConnect for Mobile license was
introduced. It lets Windows mobile devices
connect to the ASA using the AnyConnect
client.

Time-based Licenses 8.0(4)/8.1(2) Support for time-based licenses was

introduced.

Increased VLANs for the ASA 5580 8.1(2) The number of VLANs supported on the
ASA 5580 are increased from 100 to 250.

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Unified Communications Proxy Sessions 8.0(4) The UC Proxy sessions license was
license introduced. Phone Proxy, Presence
Federation Proxy, and Encrypted Voice
Inspection applications use TLS proxy
sessions for their connections. Each TLS
proxy session is counted against the UC
license limit. All of these applications are
licensed under the UC Proxy umbrella, and
can be mixed and matched.
This feature is not available in Version 8.1.

Botnet Traffic Filter License 8.2(1) The Botnet Traffic Filter license was
introduced. The Botnet Traffic Filter
protects against malware network activity
by tracking connections to known bad
domains and IP addresses.

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

AnyConnect Essentials License 8.2(1) The AnyConnect Essentials License was

introduced. This license enables
AnyConnect VPN client access to the ASA.
This license does not support browser-based
SSL VPN access or Cisco Secure Desktop.
For these features, activate an AnyConnect
Premium license instead of the AnyConnect
Essentials license.
Note With the AnyConnect Essentials
license, VPN users can use a
Web browser to log in, and
download and start
(WebLaunch) the AnyConnect
client.

The AnyConnect client software offers the

same set of client features, whether it is
enabled by this license or an AnyConnect
Premium license.
The AnyConnect Essentials license cannot
be active at the same time as the following
licenses on a given ASA: AnyConnect
Premium license (all types) or the
Advanced Endpoint Assessment license.
You can, however, run AnyConnect
Essentials and AnyConnect Premium
licenses on different ASAs in the same
network.
By default, the ASA uses the AnyConnect
Essentials license, but you can disable it to
use other licenses by using the
Configuration > Remote Access VPN >
Network (Client) Access > Advanced >
AnyConnect Essentials pane.

SSL VPN license changed to AnyConnect 8.2(1) The SSL VPN license name was changed
Premium SSL VPN Edition license to the AnyConnect Premium SSL VPN
Edition license.

Shared Licenses for SSL VPN 8.2(1) Shared licenses for SSL VPN were
introduced. Multiple ASAs can share a pool
of SSL VPN sessions on an as-needed
basis.

Mobility Proxy application no longer 8.2(2) The Mobility Proxy no longer requires the
requires Unified Communications Proxy UC Proxy license.
license

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

10 GE I/O license for the ASA 5585-X with 8.2(3) We introduced the 10 GE I/O license for
SSP-20 the ASA 5585-X with SSP-20 to enable
10-Gigabit Ethernet speeds for the fiber
ports. The SSP-60 supports 10-Gigabit
Ethernet speeds by default.
Note The ASA 5585-X is not
supported in 8.3(x).

10 GE I/O license for the ASA 5585-X with 8.2(4) We introduced the 10 GE I/O license for
SSP-10 the ASA 5585-X with SSP-10 to enable
10-Gigabit Ethernet speeds for the fiber
ports. The SSP-40 supports 10-Gigabit
Ethernet speeds by default.
Note The ASA 5585-X is not
supported in 8.3(x).

Non-identical failover licenses 8.3(1) Failover licenses no longer need to be

identical on each unit. The license used for
both units is the combined license from the
primary and secondary units.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Licensing > Activation Key.

Stackable time-based licenses 8.3(1) Time-based licenses are now stackable. In

many cases, you might need to renew your
time-based license and have a seamless
transition from the old license to the new
one. For features that are only available
with a time-based license, it is especially
important that the license not expire before
you can apply the new license. The ASA
allows you to stack time-based licenses so
that you do not have to worry about the
license expiring or about losing time on
your licenses because you installed the new
one early.

Intercompany Media Engine License 8.3(1) The IME license was introduced.

Multiple time-based licenses active at the 8.3(1) You can now install multiple time-based
same time licenses, and have one license per feature
active at a time.
The following screen was modified:
Configuration > Device Management >
Licensing > Activation Key.

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Discrete activation and deactivation of 8.3(1) You can now activate or deactivate
time-based licenses. time-based licenses using a command.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Licensing > Activation Key.

AnyConnect Premium SSL VPN Edition 8.3(1) The AnyConnect Premium SSL VPN
license changed to AnyConnect Premium Edition license name was changed to the
SSL VPN license AnyConnect Premium SSL VPN license.

No Payload Encryption image for export 8.3(2) If you install the No Payload Encryption
software on the ASA 5505 through 5550,
then you disable Unified Communications,
strong encryption VPN, and strong
encryption management protocols.
Note This special image is only
supported in 8.3(x); for No
Payload Encryption support in
8.4(1) and later, you need to
purchase a special hardware
version of the ASA.

Increased contexts for the ASA 5550, 5580, 8.4(1) For the ASA 5550 and ASA 5585-X with
and 5585-X SSP-10, the maximum contexts was
increased from 50 to 100. For the ASA
5580 and 5585-X with SSP-20 and higher,
the maximum was increased from 50 to
250.

Increased VLANs for the ASA 5580 and 8.4(1) For the ASA 5580 and 5585-X, the
5585-X maximum VLANs was increased from 250
to 1024.

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Increased connections for the ASA 5580 8.4(1) We increased the firewall connection limits:
and 5585-X
• ASA 5580-20—1,000,000 to
2,000,000.
• ASA 5580-40—2,000,000 to
4,000,000.
• ASA 5585-X with SSP-10: 750,000
to 1,000,000.
• ASA 5585-X with SSP-20: 1,000,000
to 2,000,000.
• ASA 5585-X with SSP-40: 2,000,000
to 4,000,000.
• ASA 5585-X with SSP-60: 2,000,000
to 10,000,000.

AnyConnect Premium SSL VPN license 8.4(1) The AnyConnect Premium SSL VPN
changed to AnyConnect Premium license license name was changed to the
AnyConnect Premium license. The license
information display was changed from
“SSL VPN Peers” to “AnyConnect
Premium Peers.”

Increased AnyConnect VPN sessions for 8.4(1) The AnyConnect VPN session limit was
the ASA 5580 increased from 5,000 to 10,000.

Increased Other VPN sessions for the ASA 8.4(1) The other VPN session limit was increased
5580 from 5,000 to 10,000.

IPsec remote access VPN using IKEv2 8.4(1) IPsec remote access VPN using IKEv2 was
added to the AnyConnect Essentials and
AnyConnect Premium licenses.
Note The following limitation exists
in our support for IKEv2 on the
ASA: We currently do not
support duplicate security
associations.

IKEv2 site-to-site sessions were added to

the Other VPN license (formerly IPsec
VPN). The Other VPN license is included
in the Base license.

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

No Payload Encryption hardware for export 8.4(1) For models available with No Payload
Encryption (for example, the ASA 5585-X),
the ASA software disables Unified
Communications and VPN features, making
the ASA available for export to certain
countries.

Dual SSPs for SSP-20 and SSP-40 8.4(2) For SSP-40 and SSP-60, you can use two
SSPs of the same level in the same chassis.
Mixed-level SSPs are not supported (for
example, an SSP-40 with an SSP-60 is not
supported). Each SSP acts as an
independent device, with separate
configurations and management. You can
use the two SSPs as a failover pair if
desired. When using two SSPs in the
chassis, VPN is not supported; note,
however, that VPN has not been disabled.

IPS Module license for the ASA 5512-X 8.6(1) The IPS SSP software module on the ASA
through ASA 5555-X 5512-X, ASA 5515-X, ASA 5525-X, ASA
5545-X, and ASA 5555-X requires the IPS
module license.

Clustering license for the ASA 5580 and 9.0(1) A clustering license was added for the ASA
ASA 5585-X. 5580 and ASA 5585-X.

Support for VPN on the ASASM 9.0(1) The ASASM now supports all VPN
features.

Unified communications support on the 9.0(1) The ASASM now supports all Unified
ASASM Communications features.

ASA 5585-X Dual SSP support for the 9.0(1) The ASA 5585-X now supports dual SSPs
SSP-10 and SSP-20 (in addition to the using all SSP models (you can use two
SSP-40 and SSP-60); VPN support for Dual SSPs of the same level in the same chassis).
SSPs VPN is now supported when using dual
SSPs.

ASA 5500-X support for clustering 9.1(4) The ASA 5512-X, ASA 5515-X, ASA
5525-X, ASA 5545-X, and ASA 5555-X
now support 2-unit clusters. Clustering for
2 units is enabled by default in the base
license; for the ASA 5512-X, you need the
Security Plus license.

Support for 16 cluster members for the 9.2(1) The ASA 5585-X now supports 16-unit
ASA 5585-X clusters.

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History for PAK Licenses

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

ASAv4 and ASAv30 Standard and 9.2(1) The ASAv was introduced with a simple
Premium model licenses introduced licensing scheme: ASAv4 and ASAv30
permanent licenses in Standard or Premium
levels. No add-on licenses are available.

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 CHAPTER 5
Licenses: Smart Software Licensing (ASAv, ASA
on Firepower)
Cisco Smart Software Licensing lets you purchase and manage a pool of licenses centrally. Unlike product
authorization key (PAK) licenses, smart licenses are not tied to a specific serial number. You can easily deploy
or retire ASAs without having to manage each unit’s license key. Smart Software Licensing also lets you see
your license usage and needs at a glance.

Note Smart Software Licensing is only supported on the ASAv and ASA Firepower chassis. Other models use PAK
licenses. See About PAK Licenses, on page 91.
For more information about Smart Licensing features and behaviors per platform, see Smart Enabled Product
Families.

• About Smart Software Licensing, on page 133

• Prerequisites for Smart Software Licensing, on page 146
• Guidelines for Smart Software Licensing, on page 150
• Defaults for Smart Software Licensing, on page 150
• ASAv: Configure Smart Software Licensing, on page 151
• Firepower 1000 and 2100: Configure Smart Software Licensing, on page 159
• Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Smart Software Licensing, on page 168
• Licenses Per Model, on page 172
• Monitoring Smart Software Licensing, on page 180
• Smart Software Manager Communication, on page 181
• History for Smart Software Licensing, on page 183

About Smart Software Licensing

This section describes how Smart Software Licensing works.

Smart Software Licensing for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis
For the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, Smart Software Licensing configuration is split between
the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor and the ASA.

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Smart Software Manager and Accounts

• Firepower 4100/9300 chassis—Configure all Smart Software Licensing infrastructure on the chassis,
including parameters for communicating with the License Authority. The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis
itself does not require any licenses to operate.

Note Inter-chassis clustering requires that you enable the same Smart Licensing method
on each chassis in the cluster.

• ASA Application—Configure all license entitlements in the ASA.

Smart Software Manager and Accounts

When you purchase 1 or more licenses for the device, you manage them in the Cisco Smart Software Manager:
https://software.cisco.com/#module/SmartLicensing
The Smart Software Manager lets you create a master account for your organization.

Note If you do not yet have an account, click the link to set up a new account. The Smart Software Manager lets
you create a master account for your organization.

By default, your licenses are assigned to the Default Virtual Account under your master account. As the
account administrator, you can optionally create additional virtual accounts; for example, you can create
accounts for regions, departments, or subsidiaries. Multiple virtual accounts let you more easily manage large
numbers of licenses and devices.

Offline Management
If your devices do not have internet access, and cannot register with the License Authority, you can configure
offline licensing.

Permanent License Reservation

If your devices cannot access the internet for security reasons, you can optionally request permanent licenses
for each ASA. Permanent licenses do not require periodic access to the License Authority. Like PAK licenses,
you will purchase a license and install the license key for the ASA. Unlike a PAK license, you obtain and
manage the licenses with the Smart Software Manager. You can easily switch between regular smart licensing
mode and permanent license reservation mode.
ASAv Permanent License Reservation
You can obtain an entitlement-specific license that enables all features: Standard tier; maximum throughput
for your entitlement; Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if your account qualifies; and AnyConnect client
capabilities enabled to the platform maximum, contingent on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that
enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on
page 137).
• 100 Mbps Entitlement
• 1 Gbps Entitlement

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Permanent License Reservation

• 2 Gbps Entitlement
• 10 Gbps Entitlement
• 20 Gbps Entitlement

You must choose the entitlement level that you want to use during ASAv deployment. That entitlement level
determines the license you request. If you later want to change the entitlement level of a unit, you will have
to return the current license and request a new license at the correct entitlement level. To change the model
of an already deployed ASAv, from the hypervisor you can change the vCPUs and DRAM settings to match
the new entitlement requirements; see the ASAv quick start guide for these values.
If you stop using a license, you must return the license by generating a return code on the ASAv, and then
entering that code into the Smart Software Manager. Make sure you follow the return process correctly so
you do not pay for unused licenses.
Permanent license reservation is not supported for the Azure hypervisor.
Firepower 1000 Permanent License Reservation
You can obtain a license that enables all features: Standard tier; Security Plus (Firepower 1010); maximum
Security Contexts (Firepower 1100); Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if your account qualifies; and
AnyConnect client capabilities enabled to the platform maximum, contingent on your purchase of an
AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And
VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
You also need to request the entitlements in the ASA configuration so that the ASA allows their use.
If you stop using a license, you must return the license by generating a return code on the ASA, and then
entering that code into the Smart Software Manager. Make sure you follow the return process correctly so
you do not pay for unused licenses.
Firepower 2100 Permanent License Reservation
You can obtain a license that enables all features: Standard tier; maximum Security Contexts; Strong Encryption
(3DES/AES) license if your account qualifies; and AnyConnect client capabilities enabled to the platform
maximum, contingent on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect
(see AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137) You also need to request
the entitlements in the ASA configuration so that the ASA allows their use.
If you stop using a license, you must return the license by generating a return code on the ASA, and then
entering that code into the Smart Software Manager. Make sure you follow the return process correctly so
you do not pay for unused licenses.
Firepower 4100/9300 chassis Permanent License Reservation
You can obtain a license that enables all features: Standard tier; maximum Security Contexts; Carrier license;
Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if your account qualifies; and AnyConnect client capabilities enabled
to the platform maximum, contingent on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to
use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137). The
license is managed on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, but you also need to request the entitlements in the
ASA configuration so that the ASA allows their use.
If you stop using a license, you must return the license by generating a return code on the Firepower 4100/9300
chassis, and then entering that code into the Smart Software Manager. Make sure you follow the return process
correctly so you do not pay for unused licenses.

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Satellite Server (Smart Software Manager On-Prem)

Satellite Server (Smart Software Manager On-Prem)

If your devices cannot access the internet for security reasons, you can optionally install a local Smart Software
Manager satellite (also known as On-Prem) server as a virtual machine (VM). The satellite provides a subset
of Smart Software Manager functionality, and allows you to provide essential licensing services for all your
local devices. Only the satellite needs to connect periodically to the main License Authority to sync your
license usage. You can sync on a schedule or you can sync manually.
You can perform the following functions on the satellite server:
• Activate or register a license
• View your company's licenses
• Transfer licenses between company entities

For more information, see Smart Software Manager satellite.

Licenses and Devices Managed per Virtual Account

Licenses and devices are managed per virtual account: only that virtual account’s devices can use the licenses
assigned to the account. If you need additional licenses, you can transfer an unused license from another
virtual account. You can also transfer devices between virtual accounts.
For the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis—Only the chassis registers as a device, while the ASA
applications in the chassis request their own licenses. For example, for a Firepower 9300 chassis with 3 security
modules, the chassis counts as one device, but the modules use 3 separate licenses.

Evaluation License
ASAv
The ASAv does not support an evaluation mode. Before the ASAv registers with the Licensing Authority, it
operates in a severely rate-limited state.

Firepower 1000
Before the Firepower 1000 registers with the Licensing Authority, it operates for 90 days (total usage) in
evaluation mode. Only default entitlements are enabled. When this period ends, the Firepower 1000 becomes
out-of-compliance.

Note You cannot receive an evaluation license for Strong Encryption (3DES/AES); you must register with the
License Authority to receive the export-compliance token that enables the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES)
license.

Firepower 2100
Before the Firepower 2100 registers with the Licensing Authority, it operates for 90 days (total usage) in
evaluation mode. Only default entitlements are enabled. When this period ends, the Firepower 2100 becomes
out-of-compliance.

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About Licenses by Type

Note You cannot receive an evaluation license for Strong Encryption (3DES/AES); you must register with the
License Authority to receive the export-compliance token that enables the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES)
license.

Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supports two types of evaluation license:
• Chassis-level evaluation mode—Before the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis registers with the Licensing
Authority, it operates for 90 days (total usage) in evaluation mode. The ASA cannot request specific
entitlements in this mode; only default entitlements are enabled. When this period ends, the Firepower
4100/9300 chassis becomes out-of-compliance.
• Entitlement-based evaluation mode—After the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis registers with the Licensing
Authority, you can obtain time-based evaluation licenses that can be assigned to the ASA. In the ASA,
you request entitlements as usual. When the time-based license expires, you need to either renew the
time-based license or obtain a permanent license.

Note You cannot receive an evaluation license for Strong Encryption (3DES/AES); you must register with the
License Authority and obtain a permanent license to receive the export-compliance token that enables the
Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license.

About Licenses by Type

The following sections include additional information about licenses by type.

AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses

The AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, or VPN Only license is a multi-use license that you can apply to
multiple ASAs, all of which share a user pool as specified by the license. Devices that use Smart Licensing
do not require any AnyConnect license to be physically applied to the actual platform. The same licenses must
still be purchased, and you must still link the Contract number to your Cisco.com ID for SW Center access
and technical support. For more information, see:
• Cisco AnyConnect Ordering Guide
• AnyConnect Licensing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Other VPN License

Other VPN sessions include the following VPN types:
• IPsec remote access VPN using IKEv1
• IPsec site-to-site VPN using IKEv1
• IPsec site-to-site VPN using IKEv2

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Total VPN Sessions Combined, All Types

This license is included in the Base license.

Total VPN Sessions Combined, All Types

• Although the maximum VPN sessions add up to more than the maximum VPN AnyConnect and Other
VPN sessions, the combined sessions should not exceed the VPN session limit. If you exceed the maximum
VPN sessions, you can overload the ASA, so be sure to size your network appropriately.
• If you start a clientless SSL VPN session and then start an AnyConnect client session from the portal, 1
session is used in total. However, if you start the AnyConnect client first (from a standalone client, for
example) and then log into the clientless SSL VPN portal, then 2 sessions are used.

Encryption License

Strong Encryption: ASAv

Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) is available for management connections before you connect to the License
Authority or Satellite server, so you can launch ASDM and connect to the License Authority. For
through-the-box traffic, throughput is severely limited until you connect to the License Authority and obtain
the Strong Encryption license.
When you request the registration token for the ASAv from your Smart Software Licensing account, check
the Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check box so that
the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is applied (your account must be qualified for its use). If the ASAv
becomes out-of-compliance later, as long as the export compliance token was successfully applied, the ASAv
will retain the license and not revert to the rate-limited state. The license is removed if you re-register the
ASAv, and export compliance is disabled, or if you restore the ASAv to factory default settings.
If you initially register the ASAv without strong encryption and later add strong encryption, then you must
reload the ASAv for the new license to take effect.
For permanent license reservation licenses, the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is enabled if your
account qualifies for its use.
For pre-2.3.0 Satellite server versions, you must manually request the Strong Encryption license in the ASA
configuration (the export compliance token is not supported); in this case, if the ASAv becomes
out-of-compliance, throughput is severely limited.

Strong Encryption: Firepower 1000 and Firepower 2100 in Appliance Mode

The ASA includes 3DES capability by default for management access only, so you can connect to the License
Authority and also use ASDM immediately. You can also use SSH and SCP if you later configure SSH access
on the ASA. Other features that require strong encryption (such as VPN) must have the Strong Encryption
license enabled, which requires you to first register to the License Authority.

Note If you attempt to configure any features that can use strong encryption before you have the license—even if
you only configure weak encryption—then your HTTPS connection will be dropped on that interface, and
you cannot reconnect. The exception to this rule is if you are connected to a management-only interface, such
as Management 1/1. SSH is not affected. If you lose your HTTPS connection, you can connect to the console
port to reconfigure the ASA, connect to a management-only interface, or connect to an interface not configured
for a strong encryption feature.

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Encryption License

When you request the registration token for the ASA from your Smart Software Licensing account, check the
Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check box so that the
Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is applied (your account must be qualified for its use). If the ASA
becomes out-of-compliance later, as long as the export compliance token was successfully applied, the ASA
will continue to allow through the box traffic. Even if you re-register the ASA, and export compliance is
disabled, the license remains enabled. The license is removed if you restore the ASA to factory default settings.
If you initially register the ASA without strong encryption and later add strong encryption, then you must
reload the ASA for the new license to take effect.
For permanent license reservation licenses, the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is enabled if your
account qualifies for its use.
For pre-2.3.0 Satellite server versions, you must manually request the Strong Encryption license in the ASA
configuration (the export compliance token is not supported); in this case, if the ASA becomes
out-of-compliance, through-traffic will not be allowed.

Strong Encryption: Firepower 2100 in Platform Mode

Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) is available for management connections before you connect to the License
Authority or Satellite server so you can launch ASDM. Note that ASDM access is only available on
management-only interfaces with the default encryption. Through the box traffic is not allowed until you
connect and obtain the Strong Encryption license.
When you request the registration token for the ASA from your Smart Software Licensing account, check the
Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check box so that the
Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is applied (your account must be qualified for its use). If the ASA
becomes out-of-compliance later, as long as the export compliance token was successfully applied, the ASA
will continue to allow through the box traffic. Even if you re-register the ASA, and export compliance is
disabled, the license remains enabled. The license is removed if you restore the ASA to factory default settings.
If you initially register the ASA without strong encryption and later add strong encryption, then you must
reload the ASA for the new license to take effect.
For permanent license reservation licenses, the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is enabled if your
account qualifies for its use.
For pre-2.3.0 Satellite server versions, you must manually request the Strong Encryption license in the ASA
configuration (the export compliance token is not supported); in this case, if the ASA becomes
out-of-compliance, through-traffic will not be allowed.

Strong Encryption: Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

When you request the registration token for the Firepower chassis from your Smart Software Licensing
account, check the Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check
box so that the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is applied (your account must be qualified for its use).
When the ASA is deployed as a logical device, it inherits the Strong Encryption license from the chassis, so
you can launch ASDM and use other features for through traffic immediately. If the ASA becomes
out-of-compliance later, as long as the export compliance token was successfully applied, the ASA will
continue to allow through the box traffic. The license is removed if you re-register the chassis, and export
compliance is disabled, or if you restore the chassis to factory default settings.
If you initially register the chassis without strong encryption and later add strong encryption, then you must
reload the ASA application for the new license to take effect.

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Carrier License

For permanent license reservation licenses, the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is enabled if your
account qualifies for its use.
For pre-2.3.0 Satellite server versions that do not support the export-compliance token: You must manually
request the Strong Encryption license in the ASA configuration using the CLI because ASDM requires 3DES.
If the ASA becomes out-of-compliance, neither management traffic nor through-traffic requiring this license
will be allowed.

DES: All Models

The DES license cannot be disabled. If you have the 3DES license installed, DES is still available. To prevent
the use of DES when you want to only use strong encryption, be sure to configure any relevant commands to
use only strong encryption.

Carrier License
The Carrier license enables the following inspection features:
• Diameter
• GTP/GPRS
• SCTP

Total TLS Proxy Sessions

Each TLS proxy session for Encrypted Voice Inspection is counted against the TLS license limit.
Other applications that use TLS proxy sessions do not count toward the TLS limit, for example, Mobility
Advantage Proxy (which does not require a license).
Some applications might use multiple sessions for a connection. For example, if you configure a phone with
a primary and backup Cisco Unified Communications Manager, there are 2 TLS proxy connections.
You independently set the TLS proxy limit using the tls-proxy maximum-sessions command or in ASDM,
using the Configuration > Firewall > Unified Communications > TLS Proxy pane. To view the limits of
your model, enter the tls-proxy maximum-sessions ? command. When you apply a TLS proxy license that
is higher than the default TLS proxy limit, the ASA automatically sets the TLS proxy limit to match the
license. The TLS proxy limit takes precedence over the license limit; if you set the TLS proxy limit to be less
than the license, then you cannot use all of the sessions in your license.

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VLANs, Maximum

Note For license part numbers ending in “K8” (for example, licenses under 250 users), TLS proxy sessions are
limited to 1000. For license part numbers ending in “K9” (for example, licenses 250 users or larger), the
TLS proxy limit depends on the configuration, up to the model limit. K8 and K9 refer to whether the license
is restricted for export: K8 is unrestricted, and K9 is restricted.
If you clear the configuration (using the clear configure all command, for example), then the TLS proxy
limit is set to the default for your model; if this default is lower than the license limit, then you see an error
message to use the tls-proxy maximum-sessions command to raise the limit again (in ASDM, use the TLS
Proxy pane). If you use failover and enter the write standby command or in ASDM, use File > Save Running
Configuration to Standby Unit on the primary unit to force a configuration synchronization, the clear
configure all command is generated on the secondary unit automatically, so you may see the warning message
on the secondary unit. Because the configuration synchronization restores the TLS proxy limit set on the
primary unit, you can ignore the warning.

You might also use SRTP encryption sessions for your connections:
• For K8 licenses, SRTP sessions are limited to 250.
• For K9 licenses, there is no limit.

Note Only calls that require encryption/decryption for media are counted toward the SRTP limit; if passthrough is
set for the call, even if both legs are SRTP, they do not count toward the limit.

VLANs, Maximum
For an interface to count against the VLAN limit, you must assign a VLAN to it.

Botnet Traffic Filter License

Requires a Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) License to download the dynamic database.

Failover or ASA Cluster Licenses

Failover Licenses for the ASAv
The standby unit requires the same model license as the primary unit.

Failover Licenses for the Firepower 1010

Each Firepower 1010 must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. Both units require you
to enable the Standard license and the Security Plus license before you can configure failover.
Typically, you do not also need to enable the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license in the ASA,
because both units should have obtained the Strong Encryption token when you registered the units. When
using the registration token, both units must have the same encryption level.
If you need to enable the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license in the ASA (for example, for a
pre-2.3.0 Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite deployment or for tracking purposes), enable it on the active

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unit after you enable failover. The configuration is replicated to the standby unit, but the standby unit does
not use the configuration; it remains in a cached state. Only the active unit requests the license from the server.
The license is aggregated into a single failover license that is shared by the failover pair, and this aggregated
license is also cached on the standby unit to be used if it becomes the active unit in the future. After a failover,
the new active unit continues to use the aggregated license. It uses the cached license configuration to re-request
the entitlement from the server. When the old active unit rejoins the pair as a standby unit, it releases the
license entitlement. Before the standby unit releases the entitlement, the new active unit's license might be in
a non-compliant state if there are no available licenses in the account. The failover pair can use the aggregated
license for 30 days, but if it is still non-compliant after the grace period, and you are not using the Strong
Encryption token, then you will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring the Strong
Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license; operation is otherwise unaffected. The new active unit sends an
entitlement authorization renewal request every 35 seconds until the license is compliant. If you disband the
failover pair, then the active unit releases the entitlements, and both units retain the licensing configuration
in a cached state. To re-activate licensing, you need to clear the configuration on each unit, and re-configure
it.

Failover Licenses for the Firepower 1100

Each Firepower 1100 must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. There is no extra cost
for secondary units. For permanent license reservation, you must purchase separate licenses for each chassis.
The Strong Encryption license is automatically enabled for qualified customers when you apply the registration
token. When using the token, each ASA must have the same encryption license. For the optional Strong
Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license enabled in the ASA configuration, see below.
For Active/Standby failover, you can only configure smart licensing on the active unit. For Active/Active
failover, you can only configure smart licensing on the unit with failover group 1 as active. The configuration
is replicated to the standby unit, but the standby unit does not use the configuration; it remains in a cached
state. Only the active unit requests the licenses from the server. The licenses are aggregated into a single
failover license that is shared by the failover pair, and this aggregated license is also cached on the standby
unit to be used if it becomes the active unit in the future. Each license type is managed as follows:
• Standard—Although only the active unit requests this license from the server, the standby unit has the
Standard license enabled by default; it does not need to register with the server to use it.
• Context—Only the active unit requests this license. However, the Standard license includes 2 contexts
by default and is present on both units. The value from each unit’s Standard license plus the value of the
Context license on the active unit are combined up to the platform limit. For example:
• The Standard license includes 2 contexts; for two Firepower 1120 units, these licenses add up to 4
contexts. You configure a 3-Context license on the active unit in an Active/Standby pair. Therefore,
the aggregated failover license includes 7 contexts. However, because the platform limit for one
unit is 5, the combined license allows a maximum of 5 contexts only. In this case, you might only
configure the active Context license to be 1 context.
• The Standard license includes 2 contexts; for two Firepower 1140 units, these licenses add up to 4
contexts. You configure a 4-Context license on the primary unit in an Active/Active pair. Therefore,
the aggregated failover license includes 8 contexts. One unit can use 5 contexts and the other unit
can use 3 contexts, for example, for a total of 8. Because the platform limit for one unit is 10, the
combined license allows a maximum of 10 contexts; the 8 contexts are within the limit.

• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) (for a pre-2.3.0 Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite deployment, or
for tracking purposes)—Only the active unit requests this license, and both units can use it due to license
aggregation.

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After a failover, the new active unit continues to use the aggregated license. It uses the cached license
configuration to re-request the entitlement from the server. When the old active unit rejoins the pair as a
standby unit, it releases the license entitlement. Before the standby unit releases the entitlement, the new active
unit's license might be in a non-compliant state if there are no available licenses in the account. The failover
pair can use the aggregated license for 30 days, but if it is still non-compliant after the grace period, you will
not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses (i.e. add an extra context);
operation is otherwise unaffected. The new active unit sends an entitlement authorization renewal request
every 35 seconds until the license is compliant. If you disband the failover pair, then the active unit releases
the entitlements, and both units retain the licensing configuration in a cached state. To re-activate licensing,
you need to clear the configuration on each unit, and re-configure it.

Failover Licenses for the Firepower 2100

Each Firepower 2100 must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. There is no extra cost
for secondary units. For permanent license reservation, you must purchase separate licenses for each chassis.
The Strong Encryption license is automatically enabled for qualified customers when you apply the registration
token. When using the token, each ASA must have the same encryption license. For the optional Strong
Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license enabled in the ASA configuration, see below.
For Active/Standby failover, you can only configure smart licensing on the active unit. For Active/Active
failover, you can only configure smart licensing on the unit with failover group 1 as active. The configuration
is replicated to the standby unit, but the standby unit does not use the configuration; it remains in a cached
state. Only the active unit requests the licenses from the server. The licenses are aggregated into a single
failover license that is shared by the failover pair, and this aggregated license is also cached on the standby
unit to be used if it becomes the active unit in the future. Each license type is managed as follows:
• Standard—Although only the active unit requests this license from the server, the standby unit has the
Standard license enabled by default; it does not need to register with the server to use it.
• Context—Only the active unit requests this license. However, the Standard license includes 2 contexts
by default and is present on both units. The value from each unit’s Standard license plus the value of the
Context license on the active unit are combined up to the platform limit. For example:
• The Standard license includes 2 contexts; for two Firepower 2130 units, these licenses add up to 4
contexts. You configure a 30-Context license on the active unit in an Active/Standby pair. Therefore,
the aggregated failover license includes 34 contexts. However, because the platform limit for one
unit is 30, the combined license allows a maximum of 30 contexts only. In this case, you might only
configure the active Context license to be 25 contexts.
• The Standard license includes 2 contexts; for two Firepower 2130 units, these licenses add up to 4
contexts. You configure a 10-Context license on the primary unit in an Active/Active pair. Therefore,
the aggregated failover license includes 14 contexts. One unit can use 9 contexts and the other unit
can use 5 contexts, for example, for a total of 14. Because the platform limit for one unit is 30, the
combined license allows a maximum of 30 contexts; the 14 contexts are within the limit.

• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) (for a pre-2.3.0 Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite deployment, or
for tracking purposes)—Only the active unit requests this license, and both units can use it due to license
aggregation.

After a failover, the new active unit continues to use the aggregated license. It uses the cached license
configuration to re-request the entitlement from the server. When the old active unit rejoins the pair as a
standby unit, it releases the license entitlement. Before the standby unit releases the entitlement, the new active
unit's license might be in a non-compliant state if there are no available licenses in the account. The failover

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pair can use the aggregated license for 30 days, but if it is still non-compliant after the grace period, you will
not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses (i.e. add an extra context);
operation is otherwise unaffected. The new active unit sends an entitlement authorization renewal request
every 35 seconds until the license is compliant. If you disband the failover pair, then the active unit releases
the entitlements, and both units retain the licensing configuration in a cached state. To re-activate licensing,
you need to clear the configuration on each unit, and re-configure it.

Failover Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

Each Firepower 4100/9300 chassis must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. There is
no extra cost for secondary units. For permanent license reservation, you must purchase separate licenses for
each chassis.
The Strong Encryption license is automatically enabled for qualified customers when you apply the registration
token. When using the token, each chassis must have the same encryption license. For the optional Strong
Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license enabled in the ASA configuration, see below.
In the ASA license configuration for Active/Standby failover, you can only configure smart licensing on the
active unit. For Active/Active failover, you can only configure smart licensing on the unit with failover group
1 as active. The configuration is replicated to the standby unit, but the standby unit does not use the
configuration; it remains in a cached state. Only the active unit requests the licenses from the server. The
licenses are aggregated into a single failover license that is shared by the failover pair, and this aggregated
license is also cached on the standby unit to be used if it becomes the active unit in the future. Each license
type is managed as follows:
• Standard—Although only the active unit requests this license from the server, the standby unit has the
Standard license enabled by default; it does not need to register with the server to use it.
• Context—Only the active unit requests this license. However, the Standard license includes 10 contexts
by default and is present on both units. The value from each unit’s Standard license plus the value of the
Context license on the active unit are combined up to the platform limit. For example:
• The Standard license includes 10 contexts; for 2 units, these licenses add up to 20 contexts. You
configure a 250-Context license on the active unit in an Active/Standby pair. Therefore, the
aggregated failover license includes 270 contexts. However, because the platform limit for one unit
is 250, the combined license allows a maximum of 250 contexts only. In this case, you should only
configure the active Context license to be 230 contexts.
• The Standard license includes 10 contexts; for 2 units, these licenses add up to 20 contexts. You
configure a 10-Context license on the primary unit in an Active/Active pair. Therefore, the aggregated
failover license includes 30 contexts. One unit can use 17 contexts and the other unit can use 13
contexts, for example, for a total of 30. Because the platform limit for one unit is 250, the combined
license allows a maximum of 250 contexts; the 30 contexts are within the limit.

• Carrier—Only the active requests this license, and both units can use it due to license aggregation.
• Strong Encryption (3DES) (for a pre-2.3.0 Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite deployment, or for
tracking purposes)—Only the active unit requests this license, and both units can use it due to license
aggregation.

After a failover, the new active unit continues to use the aggregated license. It uses the cached license
configuration to re-request the entitlement from the server. When the old active unit rejoins the pair as a
standby unit, it releases the license entitlement. Before the standby unit releases the entitlement, the new active
unit's license might be in a non-compliant state if there are no available licenses in the account. The failover

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pair can use the aggregated license for 30 days, but if it is still non-compliant after the grace period, you will
not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses; operation is otherwise
unaffected. The new active unit sends an entitlement authorization renewal request every 35 seconds until the
license is compliant. If you disband the failover pair, then the active unit releases the entitlements, and both
units retain the licensing configuration in a cached state. To re-activate licensing, you need to clear the
configuration on each unit, and re-configure it.

ASA Cluster Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis
The clustering feature itself does not require any licenses. To use Strong Encryption and other optional licenses,
each Firepower 4100/9300 chassis must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. There is
no extra cost for data units. For permanent license reservation, you must purchase separate licenses for each
chassis.
The Strong Encryption license is automatically enabled for qualified customers when you apply the registration
token. When using the token, each chassis must have the same encryption license. For the optional Strong
Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license enabled in the ASA configuration, see below.
In the ASA license configuration, you can only configure smart licensing on the control unit. The configuration
is replicated to the data units, but for some licenses, they do not use the configuration; it remains in a cached
state, and only the control unit requests the license. The licenses are aggregated into a single cluster license
that is shared by the cluster units, and this aggregated license is also cached on the data units to be used if one
of them becomes the control unit in the future. Each license type is managed as follows:
• Standard—Only the control unit requests the Standard license from the server. Because the data units
have the Standard license enabled by default, they do not need to register with the server to use it.
• Context—Only the control unit requests the Context license from the server. The Standard license includes
10 contexts by default and is present on all cluster members. The value from each unit’s Standard license
plus the value of the Context license on the control unit are combined up to the platform limit in an
aggregated cluster license. For example:
• You have 6 Firepower 9300 modules in the cluster. The Standard license includes 10 contexts; for
6 units, these licenses add up to 60 contexts. You configure an additional 20-Context license on the
control unit. Therefore, the aggregated cluster license includes 80 contexts. Because the platform
limit for one module is 250, the combined license allows a maximum of 250 contexts; the 80 contexts
are within the limit. Therefore, you can configure up to 80 contexts on the control unit; each data
unit will also have 80 contexts through configuration replication.
• You have 3 Firepower 4110 units in the cluster. The Standard license includes 10 contexts; for 3
units, these licenses add up to 30 contexts. You configure an additional 250-Context license on the
control unit. Therefore, the aggregated cluster license includes 280 contexts. Because the platform
limit for one unit is 250, the combined license allows a maximum of 250 contexts; the 280 contexts
are over the limit. Therefore, you can only configure up to 250 contexts on the control unit; each
data unit will also have 250 contexts through configuration replication. In this case, you should only
configure the control unit Context license to be 220 contexts.

• Carrier—Required for Distributed S2S VPN. This license is a per-unit entitlement, and each unit requests
its own license from the server. This license configuration is replicated to the data units.
• Strong Encryption (3DES) (for pre-2.3.0 Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite deployment, or for
tracking purposes)—This license is a per-unit entitlement, and each unit requests its own license from
the server.

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If a new control unit is elected, the new control unit continues to use the aggregated license. It also uses the
cached license configuration to re-request the control unit license. When the old control unit rejoins the cluster
as a data unit, it releases the control unit license entitlement. Before the data unit releases the license, the
control unit's license might be in a non-compliant state if there are no available licenses in the account. The
retained license is valid for 30 days, but if it is still non-compliant after the grace period, you will not be able
to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses; operation is otherwise unaffected. The
new active unit sends an entitlement authorization renewal request every 12 hours until the license is compliant.
You should refrain from making configuration changes until the license requests are completely processed.
If a unit leaves the cluster, the cached control configuration is removed, while the per-unit entitlements are
retained. In particular, you would need to re-request the Context license on non-cluster units.

Prerequisites for Smart Software Licensing

Regular and Satellite Smart License Prerequisites
ASAv, Firepower 1000, Firepower 2100
• Ensure internet access, or HTTP proxy access, or satellite server access from the device.
• Configure a DNS server so the device can resolve the name of the License Authority.
• Set the clock for the device. On the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode, you set the clock in FXOS.
• Create a master account on the Cisco Smart Software Manager:
https://software.cisco.com/#module/SmartLicensing
If you do not yet have an account, click the link to set up a new account. The Smart Software Manager
lets you create a master account for your organization.

Firepower 4100/9300
Configure the Smart Software Licensing infrastructure on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis before you
configure the ASA licensing entitlements.

Permanent License Reservation Prerequisites

• Create a master account on the Cisco Smart Software Manager:
https://software.cisco.com/#module/SmartLicensing
If you do not yet have an account, click the link to set up a new account. The Smart Software Manager
lets you create a master account for your organization. Even though the ASA does need internet
connectivity to the Smart Licensing server for permanent license reservation, the Smart Software Manager
is used to manage your permanent licenses.
• Obtain support for permanent license reservation from the licensing team. You must provide a justification
for using permanent license reservation. If your account is not approved, then you cannot purchase and
apply permanent licenses.

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License PIDs

• Purchase special permanent licenses (see License PIDs, on page 147). If you do not have the correct
license in your account, then when you try to reserve a license on the ASA, you will see an error message
similar to: "The licenses cannot be reserved because the Virtual Account does not contain a sufficient
surplus of the following perpetual licenses: 1 - Firepower 4100 ASA PERM UNIV(perpetual)."
• The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES)
license if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum,
contingent on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see
AnyConnect Plus, AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• ASAv: Permanent license reservation is not supported for the Azure hypervisor.

License PIDs
When you bought your device from Cisco or a reseller, your licenses should have been linked to your Smart
Software License account. However, if you need to add licenses yourself, use the Find Products and Solutions
search field on the Cisco Commerce Workspace. Search for the following license Product IDs (PIDs).
Figure 14: License Search

ASAv PIDs
ASAv Regular and Satellite Smart Licensing PIDs:
• ASAv5—L-ASAV5S-K9=
• ASAv10—L-ASAV10S-K9=
• ASAv30—L-ASAV30S-K9=
• ASAv50—L-ASAV50S-K9=
• ASAv100—L-ASAV100S-1Y=
• ASAv100—L-ASAV100S-3Y=
• ASAv100—L-ASAV100S-5Y=

Note The ASAv100 is a subscription-based license, available in terms of 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years.

ASAv Permanent License Reservation PIDs:

The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license
if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum, contingent

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on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus,
AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• ASAv5—L-ASAV5SR-K9=
• ASAv10—L-ASAV10SR-K9=
• ASAv30—L-ASAV30SR-K9=
• ASAv50—L-ASAV50SR-K9=
• ASAv100—L-ASAV100SR-K9=

Firepower 1010 PIDs

Firepower 1010 Regular and Satellite Smart Licensing PIDs:
• Standard license—L-FPR1000-ASA=. The Standard license is free, but you still need to add it to your
Smart Software Licensing account.
• Security Plus license—L-FPR1010-SEC-PL=. The Security Plus license enables failover.
• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license—L-FPR1K-ENC-K9=. This license is free. Although this license
is not generally rquired (for example, ASAs that use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require
this license), you should still add it to your account for tracking purposes.

Firepower 1010 Permanent License Reservation PID:

The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license
if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum, contingent
on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus,
AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• L-FPR1K-ASA-BPU=

Firepower 1100 PIDs

Firepower 1100 Regular and Satellite Smart Licensing PIDs:
• Standard license—L-FPR1000-ASA=. The Standard license is free, but you still need to add it to your
Smart Software Licensing account.
• 5 context license—L-FPR1K-ASASC-5=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to meet
your needs.
• 10 context license—L-FPR1K-ASASC-10=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to meet
your needs.
• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license—L-FPR1K-ENC-K9=. This license is free. Although this license
is not generally rquired (for example, ASAs that use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require
this license), you should still add it to your account for tracking purposes.

Firepower 1100 Permanent License Reservation PID:

The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license
if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum, contingent

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on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus,
AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• L-FPR1K-ASA-BPU=

Firepower 2100 PIDs

Firepower 2100 Regular and Satellite Smart Licensing PIDs:
• Standard license—L-FPR2100-ASA=. The Standard license is free, but you still need to add it to your
Smart Software Licensing account.
• 5 context license—L-FPR2K-ASASC-5=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to meet
your needs.
• 10 context license—L-FPR2K-ASASC-10=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to meet
your needs.
• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license—L-FPR2K-ENC-K9=. This license is free. Although this license
is not generally rquired (for example, ASAs that use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require
this license), you should still add it to your account for tracking purposes.

Firepower 2100 Permanent License Reservation PID:

The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license
if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum, contingent
on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus,
AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• L-FPR2K-ASA-BPU=

Firepower 4100 PIDs

Firepower 4100 Regular and Satellite Smart Licensing PIDs:
• Standard license—L-FPR4100-ASA=. The Standard license is free, but you still need to add it to your
Smart Software Licensing account.
• 10 context license—L-FPR4K-ASASC-10=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to meet
your needs.
• 230 context license—L-FPR4K-ASASC-230=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to
meet your needs.
• 250 context license—L-FPR4K-ASASC-250=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to
meet your needs.
• Carrier (Diameter, GTP/GPRS, SCTP)—L-FPR4K-ASA-CAR=
• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license—L-FPR4K-ENC-K9=. This license is free. Although this license
is not generally rquired (for example, ASAs that use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require
this license), you should still add it to your account for tracking purposes.

Firepower 4100 Permanent License Reservation PID:

The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license
if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum, contingent

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on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus,
AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• L-FPR4K-ASA-BPU=

Firepower 9300 PIDs

Firepower 9300 Regular and Satellite Smart Licensing PIDs:
• Standard license—L-F9K-ASA=. The Standard license is free, but you still need to add it to your Smart
Software Licensing account.
• 10 context license—L-F9K-ASA-SC-10=. Context licenses are additive; buy multiple licenses to meet
your needs.
• Carrier (Diameter, GTP/GPRS, SCTP)—L-F9K-ASA-CAR=
• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license—L-F9K-ASA-ENCR-K9=. This license is free. Although this
license is not generally rquired (for example, ASAs that use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0)
require this license), you should still add it to your account for tracking purposes.

Firepower 9300 Permanent License Reservation PIDs:

The permanent license includes all available features, including the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license
if your account qualifies. AnyConnect client capabilities are also enabled to the platform maximum, contingent
on your purchase of an AnyConnect license that enables the right to use AnyConnect (see AnyConnect Plus,
AnyConnect Apex, And VPN Only Licenses, on page 137).
• L-FPR9K-ASA-BPU=

Guidelines for Smart Software Licensing

• Only Smart Software Licensing is supported. For older software on the ASAv, if you upgrade an existing
PAK-licensed ASAv, then the previously installed activation key will be ignored, but retained on the
device. If you downgrade the ASAv, the activation key will be reinstated.
• For permanent license reservation, you must return the license before you decommission the device. If
you do not officially return the license, the license remains in a used state and cannot be reused for a new
device.

Defaults for Smart Software Licensing

ASAv
• The ASAv default configuration includes a Smart Call Home profile called “License” that specifies the
URL for the Licensing Authority.
• When you deploy the ASAv, you set the feature tier and throughput level. Only the standard level is
available at this time. For permanent license reservation, you do not need to set these parameters. When
you enable permanent license reservation, these commands are removed from the configuration.

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• Also during deployment, you can optionally configure an HTTP proxy.

Firepower 1000 and 2100

The Firepower 1000 and 2100 default configuration includes a Smart Call Home profile called “License” that
specifies the URL for the Licensing Authority.

ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

There is no default configuration. You must manually enable the standard license tier and other optional
licenses.

ASAv: Configure Smart Software Licensing

This section describes how to configure Smart Software Licensing for the ASAv. Choose one of the following
methods:

Procedure

Step 1 ASAv: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing, on page 151.

Step 2 ASAv: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing, on page 154.
Step 3 ASAv: Configure Utility Mode and MSLA Smart Software Licensing, on page 155
Step 4 ASAv: Configure Permanent License Reservation, on page 155.

ASAv: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing

When you deploy the ASAv, you can pre-configure the device and include a registration token so it registers
with the License Authority and enables Smart Software Licensing. If you need to change your HTTP proxy
server, license entitlement, or register the ASAv (for example, if you did not include the ID token in the Day0
configuration), perform this task.

Note You may have pre-configured the HTTP proxy and license entitlements when you deployed your ASAv. You
may also have included the registration token with your Day0 configuration when you deployed the ASAv;
if so, you do not need to re-register using this procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 In the Smart Software Manager (Cisco Smart Software Manager), request and copy a registration token for
the virtual account to which you want to add this device.
a) Click Inventory.

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Figure 15: Inventory

b) On the General tab, click New Token.

Figure 16: New Token

c) On the Create Registration Token dialog box enter the following settings, and then click Create Token:
• Description
• Expire After—Cisco recommends 30 days.
• Allow export-controlled functionaility on the products registered with this token—Enables the
export-compliance flag.

Figure 17: Create Registration Token

The token is added to your inventory.

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d) Click the arrow icon to the right of the token to open the Token dialog box so you can copy the token ID
to your clipboard. Keep this token ready for later in the procedure when you need to register the ASA.
Figure 18: View Token

Figure 19: Copy Token

Step 2 (Optional) Specify the HTTP Proxy URL.

If your network uses an HTTP proxy for Internet access, you must configure the proxy address for Smart
Software Licensing. This proxy is also used for Smart Call Home in general.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home.
b) Check Enable HTTP Proxy.
c) Enter the proxy IP address and port in the Proxy server and Proxy port fields. For example, enter port
443 for an HTTPS server.
d) Click Apply.
Step 3 Configure the license entitlements.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
b) Check Enable Smart license configuration.
c) From the Feature Tier drop-down menu, choose Standard.
Only the standard tier is available.
d) From the Throughput Level drop-down menu, choose 100M, 1G, 2G, 10G, 20G.
Note Do not check the Enable strong-encryption protocol check box. This setting is only for
pre-2.3.0 satellite servers.

e) Click Apply.
Step 4 Register the ASAv with the License Authority.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.

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b) Click Register.
c) Enter the registration token in the ID Token field.
d) (Optional) Click the Force registration checkbox to register an ASAv that is already registered, but that
might be out of sync with the License Authority.
For example, use Force registration if the ASAv was accidentally removed from the Smart Software
Manager.
e) Click Register.
The ASAv attempts to register with the License Authority and request authorization for the configured
license entitlements.

ASAv: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing

This procedure applies for an ASAv using a satellite Smart Software Licensing server.

Before you begin

Download the Smart Software Manager satellite OVA file from Cisco.com and install and configure it on a
VMwareESXi server. For more information, see Smart Software Manager satellite.

Procedure

Step 1 Request a registration token on the satellite server.

Step 2 (Optional) In ASDM, specify the HTTP Proxy URL.
If your network uses an HTTP proxy for Internet access, you must configure the proxy address for Smart
Software Licensing. This proxy is also used for Smart Call Home in general.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home.
b) Check Enable HTTP Proxy.
c) Enter the proxy IP address and port in the Proxy server and Proxy port fields. For example, enter port
443 for an HTTPS server.
d) Click Apply.
Step 3 Change the license server URL to go to the satellite server.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home.
b) In the Configure Subscription Profiles area, edit the License profile.
c) In the Deliver Subscriptions Using HTTP transport area, select the Subscribers URL, and click Edit.
d) Change the Subscribers URL to the following value, and click OK:
https://satellite_ip_address/Transportgateway/services/DeviceRequestHandler
e) Click OK, and then click Apply.
Step 4 Register the ASA with the License Authority.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
b) Click Register.
c) Enter the registration token in the ID Token field.

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d) (Optional) Click the Force registration checkbox to register an ASA that is already registered, but that
might be out of sync with the License Authority.
For example, use Force registration if the ASA was accidentally removed from the Smart Software
Manager.
e) Click Register.
The ASA registers with the License Authority and requests authorization for the configured license
entitlements. The License Authority also applies the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if your
account allows. Choose Monitoring > Properties > Smart License to check the license status.

ASAv: Configure Utility Mode and MSLA Smart Software Licensing

This procedure applies to an ASAv in Smart Licensing Utility mode that is enrolled in a Managed Service
License Agreement (MSLA) program. In Utility mode, the Smart Agent keeps track of the usage of licensing
entitlements in units of time. The Smart Agent sends license usage reports to a licensing satellite or server
every four hours. The usage reports are forwarded to a billing server and the customer is sent a monthly bill
for their license usage.

Before you begin

Download the Smart Software Manager satellite OVA file from Cisco.com and install and configure it on a
VMware ESXi server. For more information, see Smart Software Manager satellite.

ASAv: Configure Permanent License Reservation

You can assign a permanent license to an ASAv. This section also describes how to return a license if you
retire the ASAv or change model tiers and need a new license.

Procedure

Step 1 Install the ASAv Permanent License, on page 155

Step 2 (Optional) (Optional) Return the ASAv Permanent License, on page 157

Install the ASAv Permanent License

For ASAvs that do not have Internet access, you can request a permanent license from the Smart Software
Manager.

Note For permanent license reservation, you must return the license before you decommission the ASAv. If you
do not officially return the license, the license remains in a used state and cannot be reused for a new ASAv.
See (Optional) Return the ASAv Permanent License, on page 157.

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Install the ASAv Permanent License

Note If you clear your configuration after you install the permanent license (for example using write erase), then
you only need to reenable permanent license reservation using the license smart reservation command
without any arguments as shown in step 1; you do not need to complete the rest of this procedure.

Before you begin

• Purchase permanent licenses so they are available in the Smart Software Manager. Not all accounts are
approved for permanent license reservation. Make sure you have approval from Cisco for this feature
before you attempt to configure it.
• You must request a permanent license after the ASAv starts up; you cannot install a permanent license
as part of the Day 0 configuration.

Procedure

Step 1 At the ASAv CLI, enable permanent license reservation:

license smart reservation
Example:

ciscoasa (config)# license smart reservation

ciscoasa (config)#

The following commands are removed:

license smart
feature tier standard
throughput level {100M | 1G | 2G | 10G | 20G}

To use regular smart licensing, use the no form of this command, and re-enter the above commands. Other
Smart Call Home configuration remains intact but unused, so you do not need to re-enter those commands.

Step 2 Request the license code to enter in the Smart Software Manager:
license smart reservation request universal
Example:

ciscoasa# license smart reservation request universal

Enter this request code in the Cisco Smart Software Manager portal:
ABP:ASAv,S:9AU5ET6UQHD{A8ug5/1jRDaSp3w8uGlfeQ{53C13E
ciscoasa#

You must choose the model level (ASAv5/ASAv10/ASAv30/ASAv50) that you want to use during ASAv
deployment. That model level determines the license you request. If you later want to change the model level
of a unit, you will have to return the current license and request a new license at the correct model level. To
change the model of an already deployed ASAv, from the hypervisor you can change the vCPUs and DRAM
settings to match the new model requirements; see the ASAv quick start guide for these values. To view your
current model, use the show vm command.

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(Optional) Return the ASAv Permanent License

If you re-enter this command, then the same code is displayed, even after a reload. If you have not yet entered
this code into the Smart Software Manager and want to cancel the request, enter:
license smart reservation cancel
If you disable permanent license reservation, then any pending requests are canceled. If you already entered
the code into the Smart Software Manager, then you must complete this procedure to apply the license to the
ASAv, after which point you can return the license if desired. See (Optional) Return the ASAv Permanent
License, on page 157.

Step 3 Go to the Smart Software Manager Inventory screen, and click the Licenses tab:
https://software.cisco.com/#SmartLicensing-Inventory
The Licenses tab displays all existing licenses related to your account, both regular and permanent.

Step 4 Click License Reservation, and type the ASAv code into the box. Click Reserve License.
The Smart Software Manager generates an authorization code. You can download the code or copy it to the
clipboard. At this point, the license is now in use according to the Smart Software Manager.
If you do not see the License Reservation button, then your account is not authorized for permanent license
reservation. In this case, you should disable permanent license reservation and re-enter the regular smart
license commands.

Step 5 On the ASAv, enter the authorization code:

license smart reservation install code
Example:

ciscoasa# license smart reservation install AAu3431rGRS00Ig5HQl2vpzg{MEYCIQCBw$

ciscoasa#

Your ASAv is now fully licensed.

(Optional) Return the ASAv Permanent License

If you no longer need a permanent license (for example, you are retiring an ASAv or changing its model level
so it needs a new license), you must officially return the license to the Smart Software Manager using this
procedure. If you do not follow all steps, then the license stays in a used state and cannot easily be freed up
for use elsewhere.

Procedure

Step 1 On the ASAv, generate a return code:

license smart reservation return
Example:

ciscoasa# license smart reservation return

Enter this return code in the Cisco Smart Software Manager portal:
Au3431rGRS00Ig5HQl2vpcg{uXiTRfVrp7M/zDpirLwYCaq8oSv60yZJuFDVBS2QliQ=

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(Optional) Deregister the ASAv (Regular and Satellite)

The ASAv immediately becomes unlicensed and moves to the Evaluation state. If you need to view this code
again, re-enter this command. Note that if you request a new permanent license (license smart reservation
request universal) or change the ASAv model level (by powering down and changing the vCPUs/RAM),
then you cannot re-display this code. Be sure to capture the code to complete the return.

Step 2 View the ASAv universal device identifier (UDI) so you can find this ASAv instance in the Smart Software
Manager:
show license udi
Example:

ciscoasa# show license udi

UDI: PID:ASAv,SN:9AHV3KJBEKE
ciscoasa#

Step 3 Go to the Smart Software Manager Inventory screen, and click the Product Instances tab:
https://software.cisco.com/#SmartLicensing-Inventory
The Product Instances tab displays all licensed products by the UDI.

Step 4 Find the ASAv you want to unlicense, choose Actions > Remove, and type the ASAv return code into the
box. Click Remove Product Instance.
The permanent license is returned to the available pool.

(Optional) Deregister the ASAv (Regular and Satellite)

Deregistering the ASAv removes the ASAv from your account. All license entitlements and certificates on
the ASAv are removed. You might want to deregister to free up a license for a new ASAv. Alternatively, you
can remove the ASAv from the Smart Software Manager.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
Step 2 Click Unregister.
The ASAv then reloads.

(Optional) Renew the ASAv ID Certificate or License Entitlement (Regular and

Satellite)
By default, the ID certificate is automatically renewed every 6 months, and the license entitlement is renewed
every 30 days. You might want to manually renew the registration for either of these items if you have a
limited window for Internet access, or if you make any licensing changes in the Smart Software Manager, for
example.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
Step 2 To renew the ID certificate, click Renew ID Certificate.
Step 3 To renew the license entitlement, click Renew Authorization.

Firepower 1000 and 2100: Configure Smart Software Licensing

This section describes how to configure Smart Software Licensing for the Firepower 2100. Choose one of
the following methods:

Procedure

Step 1 Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing, on page 159.
You can also (Optional) Deregister the Firepower 1000 or 2100 (Regular and Satellite), on page 168 or
(Optional) Renew the Firepower 1000 or 2100 ID Certificate or License Entitlement (Regular and Satellite),
on page 168.

Step 2 Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing, on page 162.
You can also (Optional) Deregister the Firepower 1000 or 2100 (Regular and Satellite), on page 168 or
(Optional) Renew the Firepower 1000 or 2100 ID Certificate or License Entitlement (Regular and Satellite),
on page 168.

Step 3 Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Permanent License Reservation, on page 164.

Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing

This procedure applies for an ASA using the License Authority.

Procedure

Step 1 In the Smart Software Manager (Cisco Smart Software Manager), request and copy a registration token for
the virtual account to which you want to add this device.
a) Click Inventory.
Figure 20: Inventory

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b) On the General tab, click New Token.

Figure 21: New Token

c) On the Create Registration Token dialog box enter the following settings, and then click Create Token:
• Description
• Expire After—Cisco recommends 30 days.
• Allow export-controlled functionaility on the products registered with this token—Enables the
export-compliance flag.

Figure 22: Create Registration Token

The token is added to your inventory.

d) Click the arrow icon to the right of the token to open the Token dialog box so you can copy the token ID
to your clipboard. Keep this token ready for later in the procedure when you need to register the ASA.

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Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Regular Smart Software Licensing

Figure 23: View Token

Figure 24: Copy Token

Step 2 (Optional) In ASDM, specify the HTTP Proxy URL.

If your network uses an HTTP proxy for Internet access, you must configure the proxy address for Smart
Software Licensing. This proxy is also used for Smart Call Home in general.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home.
b) Check Enable HTTP Proxy.
c) Enter the proxy IP address and port in the Proxy server and Proxy port fields. For example, enter port
443 for an HTTPS server.
d) Click Apply.
Step 3 Configure the license entitlements.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
b) Check Enable Smart license configuration.
c) From the Feature Tier drop-down menu, choose Standard.
Only the standard tier is available.
d) (Optional) (Firepower 1010) Check Enable Security Plus.
The Security Plus tier enables Active/Standby failover.
e) (Optional) For the Context license, enter the number of contexts.
Note This license is not supported for the Firepower 1010.

By default, the ASA supports 2 contexts, so you should request the number of contexts you want minus
the 2 default contexts. The maximum number of contexts depends on your model:
• Firepower 1120—5 contexts

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• Firepower 1140—10 contexts

• Firepower 1150—15 contexts

• Firepower 2110—25 contexts

• Firepower 2120—25 contexts
• Firepower 2130—30 contexts
• Firepower 2140—40 contexts

For example, to use the maximum of 25 contexts on the Firepower 2110, enter 23 for the number of
contexts; this value is added to the default of 2.
f) (Optional) The Enable strong-encryption protocol is generally not required; for example, ASAs that
use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require this license, but you can check this box if you know
you need to, or if you want to track usage of this license in your account.
g) Click Apply.
Step 4 Register the ASA with the License Authority.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
b) Click Register.
c) Enter the registration token in the ID Token field.
d) (Optional) Click the Force registration checkbox to register an ASA that is already registered, but that
might be out of sync with the License Authority.
For example, use Force registration if the ASA was accidentally removed from the Smart Software
Manager.
e) Click Register.
The ASA registers with the License Authority and requests authorization for the configured license
entitlements. The License Authority also applies the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if your
account allows. Choose Monitoring > Properties > Smart License to check the license status.

Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing

This procedure applies for an ASA using a satellite Smart Software Licensing server.

Before you begin

Download the Smart Software Manager satellite OVA file from Cisco.com and install and configure it on a
VMwareESXi server. For more information, see Smart Software Manager satellite.

Procedure

Step 1 Request a registration token on the satellite server.

Step 2 (Optional) In ASDM, specify the HTTP Proxy URL.

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Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Satellite Smart Software Licensing

If your network uses an HTTP proxy for Internet access, you must configure the proxy address for Smart
Software Licensing. This proxy is also used for Smart Call Home in general.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home.
b) Check Enable HTTP Proxy.
c) Enter the proxy IP address and port in the Proxy server and Proxy port fields. For example, enter port
443 for an HTTPS server.
d) Click Apply.
Step 3 Change the license server URL to go to the satellite server.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home.
b) In the Configure Subscription Profiles area, edit the License profile.
c) In the Deliver Subscriptions Using HTTP transport area, select the Subscribers URL, and click Edit.
d) Change the Subscribers URL to the following value, and click OK:
https://satellite_ip_address/Transportgateway/services/DeviceRequestHandler
e) Click OK, and then click Apply.
Step 4 Configure the license entitlements.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
b) Check Enable Smart license configuration.
c) From the Feature Tier drop-down menu, choose Standard.
Only the standard tier is available.
d) (Optional) (Firepower 1010) Check Enable Security Plus.
The Security Plus tier enables Active/Standby failover.
e) (Optional) For the Context license, enter the number of contexts.
Note This license is not supported for the Firepower 1010.

By default, the ASA supports 2 contexts, so you should request the number of contexts you want minus
the 2 default contexts. The maximum number of contexts depends on your model:
• Firepower 1120—5 contexts
• Firepower 1140—10 contexts
• Firepower 1150—15 contexts

• Firepower 2110—25 contexts

• Firepower 2120—25 contexts
• Firepower 2130—30 contexts
• Firepower 2140—40 contexts

For example, to use the maximum of 25 contexts on the Firepower 2110, enter 23 for the number of
contexts; this value is added to the default of 2.
f) (Optional) The Enable strong-encryption protocol is generally not required; for example, ASAs that
use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require this license, but you can check this box if you know
you need to, or if you want to track usage of this license in your account.

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g) Click Apply.
Step 5 Register the ASA with the License Authority.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
b) Click Register.
c) Enter the registration token in the ID Token field.
d) (Optional) Click the Force registration checkbox to register an ASA that is already registered, but that
might be out of sync with the License Authority.
For example, use Force registration if the ASA was accidentally removed from the Smart Software
Manager.
e) Click Register.
The ASA registers with the License Authority and requests authorization for the configured license
entitlements. The License Authority also applies the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license if your
account allows. Choose Monitoring > Properties > Smart License to check the license status.

Firepower 1000 or 2100: Configure Permanent License Reservation

You can assign a permanent license to a Firepower 1000 or 2100. This section also describes how to return
a license if you retire the ASA.

Procedure

Step 1 Install the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License, on page 164.
Step 2 (Optional) (Optional) Return the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License, on page 167.

Install the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License

For ASAs that do not have internet access, you can request a permanent license from the Smart Software
Manager. The permanent license enables all features: Standard tier with maximum Security Contexts.

Note For permanent license reservation, you must return the license before you decommission the ASA. If you do
not officially return the license, the license remains in a used state and cannot be reused for a new ASA. See
(Optional) Return the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License, on page 167.

Before you begin

Purchase permanent licenses so they are available in the Smart Software Manager. Not all accounts are
approved for permanent license reservation. Make sure you have approval from Cisco for this feature before
you attempt to configure it.

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Install the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License

Procedure

Step 1 At the ASA CLI, enable permanent license reservation:

license smart reservation
Example:

ciscoasa (config)# license smart reservation

ciscoasa (config)#

Step 2 Request the license code to enter in the Smart Software Manager:
license smart reservation request universal
Example:

ciscoasa# license smart reservation request universal

Enter this request code in the Cisco Smart Software Manager portal:
BB-ZFPR-2140:JAD200802RR-AzKmHcc71-2A
ciscoasa#

If you re-enter this command, then the same code is displayed, even after a reload. If you have not yet entered
this code into the Smart Software Manager and want to cancel the request, enter:
license smart reservation cancel
If you disable permanent license reservation, then any pending requests are canceled. If you already entered
the code into the Smart Software Manager, then you must complete this procedure to apply the license to the
ASA, after which point you can return the license if desired. See (Optional) Return the Firepower 1000 or
2100 Permanent License, on page 167.

Step 3 Go to the Smart Software Manager Inventory screen, and click the Licenses tab:
https://software.cisco.com/#SmartLicensing-Inventory
The Licenses tab displays all existing licenses related to your account, both regular and permanent.

Step 4 Click License Reservation, and type the ASA code into the box. Click Reserve License.
The Smart Software Manager generates an authorization code. You can download the code or copy it to the
clipboard. At this point, the license is now in use according to the Smart Software Manager.
If you do not see the License Reservation button, then your account is not authorized for permanent license
reservation. In this case, you should disable permanent license reservation and re-enter the regular smart
license commands.

Step 5 On the ASA, enter the authorization code:

license smart reservation install code
Example:

ciscoasa# license smart reservation install AAu3431rGRS00Ig5HQl2vpzg{MEYCIQCBw$

ciscoasa#

Step 6 Request license entitlements on the ASA.

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Install the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License

You need to request the entitlements in the ASA configuration so that the ASA allows their use.
a) Enter license smart configuration mode:
license smart
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# license smart

ciscoasa(config-smart-lic)#

b) Set the feature tier:

feature tier standard
Only the standard tier is available. A tier license is a prerequisite for adding other feature licenses.
c) Request the security context license.
feature context number
Note This license is not supported for the Firepower 1010.

By default, the ASA supports 2 contexts, so you should request the number of contexts you want minus
the 2 default contexts. The maximum number of contexts depends on your model:
• Firepower 1120—5 contexts
• Firepower 1140—10 contexts
• Firepower 1150—15 contexts

• Firepower 2110—25 contexts

• Firepower 2120—25 contexts
• Firepower 2130—30 contexts
• Firepower 2140—40 contexts

For example, to use the maximum of 25 contexts on the Firepower 2110, enter 23 for the number of
contexts; this value is added to the default of 2.
Example:

ciscoasa(config-smart-lic)# feature context 18

d) (Firepower 1010) Request the Security Plus license to enable Active/Standby Failover.
feature security-plus
Example:

ciscoasa(config-smart-lic)# feature security-plus

e) (Optional) The Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is generally not required; for example, ASAs that
use older Satellite Server versions (pre-2.3.0) require this license, but you can enable this feature if you
know you need to, or if you want to track usage of this license in your account.

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(Optional) Return the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License

feature strong-encryption
Example:

ciscoasa(config-smart-lic)# feature strong-encryption

(Optional) Return the Firepower 1000 or 2100 Permanent License

If you no longer need a permanent license (for example, you are retiring an ASA), you must officially return
the license to the Smart Software Manager using this procedure. If you do not follow all steps, then the license
stays in a used state and cannot easily be freed up for use elsewhere.

Procedure

Step 1 On the ASA, generate a return code:

license smart reservation return
Example:

ciscoasa# license smart reservation return

Enter this return code in the Cisco Smart Software Manager portal:
Au3431rGRS00Ig5HQl2vpcg{uXiTRfVrp7M/zDpirLwYCaq8oSv60yZJuFDVBS2QliQ=

The ASA immediately becomes unlicensed and moves to the Evaluation state. If you need to view this code
again, re-enter this command. Note that if you request a new permanent license (license smart reservation
request universal), then you cannot re-display this code. Be sure to capture the code to complete the return.

Step 2 View the ASA universal device identifier (UDI) so you can find this ASA instance in the Smart Software
Manager:
show license udi
Example:

ciscoasa# show license udi

UDI: PID:FPR-2140,SN:JAD200802RR
ciscoasa#

Step 3 Go to the Smart Software Manager Inventory screen, and click the Product Instances tab:
https://software.cisco.com/#SmartLicensing-Inventory
The Product Instances tab displays all licensed products by the UDI.

Step 4 Find the ASA you want to unlicense, choose Actions > Remove, and type the ASA return code into the box.
Click Remove Product Instance.
The permanent license is returned to the available pool.

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(Optional) Deregister the Firepower 1000 or 2100 (Regular and Satellite)

(Optional) Deregister the Firepower 1000 or 2100 (Regular and Satellite)

Deregistering the ASA removes the ASA from your account. All license entitlements and certificates on the
ASA are removed. You might want to deregister to free up a license for a new ASA. Alternatively, you can
remove the ASA from the Smart Software Manager.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
Step 2 Click Unregister.

(Optional) Renew the Firepower 1000 or 2100 ID Certificate or License

Entitlement (Regular and Satellite)
By default, the ID certificate is automatically renewed every 6 months, and the license entitlement is renewed
every 30 days. You might want to manually renew the registration for either of these items if you have a
limited window for internet access, or if you make any licensing changes in the Smart Software Manager, for
example.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
Step 2 To renew the ID certificate, click Renew ID Certificate.
Step 3 To renew the license entitlement, click Renew Authorization.

Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Smart Software Licensing

This section describes how to configure Smart Software Licensing for the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.

Procedure

Step 1 Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Pre-2.3.0 Satellite Smart Software Licensing, on page 169.For a chassis using
a pre-2.3.0 satellite server, you must initally configure ASA licensing at the CLI; see the FXOS configuration
guide to pre-configure license communication.
Step 2 Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Smart Software Licensing, on page 171

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Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Pre-2.3.0 Satellite Smart Software Licensing

For a chassis using a pre-2.3.0 satellite server, you must initally configure ASA licensing at the CLI; see the
FXOS configuration guide to pre-configure license communication..

Note For pre-2.3.0 Smart Software Manager satellite users: The Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license is not
enabled by default so you cannot use ASDM to configure your ASA until you request the Strong Encryption
license using the ASA CLI. Other strong encryption features are also not available until you do so, including
VPN.

Before you begin

For an ASA cluster, you need to access the control unit for configuration. Check the Firepower Chassis
Manager to see which unit is the control unit. You can also check from the ASA CLI, as shown in this
procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis CLI (console or SSH), and then session to the ASA:

connect module slot console

connect asa

Example:

Firepower> connect module 1 console

Firepower-module1> connect asa

asa>

The next time you connect to the ASA console, you go directly to the ASA; you do not need to enter connect
asa again.
For an ASA cluster, you only need to access the control unit for license configuration and other configuration.
Typically, the control unit is in slot 1, so you should connect to that module first.

Step 2 At the ASA CLI, enter global configuration mode. By default, the enable password is blank, but you are
prompted to change the password the first time you enter the enable command.

enable
configure terminal

Example:

asa> enable
Password:
The enable password is not set. Please set it now.
Enter Password: ******
Repeat Password: ******

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asa# configure terminal

asa(config)#

Step 3 If required, for an ASA cluster confirm that this unit is the control unit:
show cluster info
Example:

asa(config)# show cluster info

Cluster stbu: On
This is "unit-1-1" in state SLAVE
ID : 0
Version : 9.5(2)
Serial No.: P3000000025
CCL IP : 127.2.1.1
CCL MAC : 000b.fcf8.c192
Last join : 17:08:59 UTC Sep 26 2015
Last leave: N/A
Other members in the cluster:
Unit "unit-1-2" in state SLAVE
ID : 1
Version : 9.5(2)
Serial No.: P3000000001
CCL IP : 127.2.1.2
CCL MAC : 000b.fcf8.c162
Last join : 19:13:11 UTC Sep 23 2015
Last leave: N/A
Unit "unit-1-3" in state MASTER
ID : 2
Version : 9.5(2)
Serial No.: JAB0815R0JY
CCL IP : 127.2.1.3
CCL MAC : 000f.f775.541e
Last join : 19:13:20 UTC Sep 23 2015
Last leave: N/A

If a different unit is the control unit, exit the connection and connect to the correct unit. See below for
information about exiting the connection.

Step 4 Enter license smart configuration mode:

license smart
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# license smart

ciscoasa(config-smart-lic)#

Step 5 Set the feature tier:

feature tier standard
Only the standard tier is available. A tier license is a prerequisite for adding other feature licenses.

Step 6 Request one or more of the following features:

• Carrier (GTP/GPRS, Diameter, and SCTP inspection)
feature carrier

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• Security Contexts
feature context <1-248>
For Permanent License Reservation, you can specify the maximum contexts (248).
• Strong Encryption (3DES/AES)
feature strong-encryption

Step 7 To exit the ASA console, enter ~ at the prompt to exit to the Telnet application. Enter quit to exit back to the
supervisor CLI.

Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Smart Software Licensing

This procedure applies for a chassis using the License Authority, for post-2.3.0 Satellite server users, or for
Permanent License Reservation; see the FXOS configuration guide to pre-configure licensing communication.
For pre-2.3.0 Satellite servers, you must initially configure licensing at the CLI. Satellite server Version 2.3.0
and later supports the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) export-compliance token, so you can run ASDM before
you request other license entitlements.
For Permanent License Reservation, the license enables all features: Standard tier with maximum Security
Contexts and the Carrier license. However, for the ASA to "know" to use these features, you need to enable
them on the ASA.

Note For pre-2.3.0 satellite server users, see Firepower 4100/9300: Configure Pre-2.3.0 Satellite Smart Software
Licensing, on page 169 to configure licensing at the CLI.

Before you begin

For an ASA cluster, you need to access the primary unit for configuration. Check the Firepower Chassis
Manager to see which unit is the primary.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing.
Step 2 From the Feature Tier drop-down menu, choose Standard.
Only the standard tier is available.

Step 3 For pre-2.3.0 satellite server users only: Do not disable the Strong Encryption license; it is required for
ASDM access.
Step 4 (Optional) Check Carrier.
Step 5 (Optional) From the Context drop-down menu, choose the number of contexts you want.
For Permanent License Reservation, you can specify the maximum contexts (248).

Step 6 Click Apply.

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Licenses Per Model

Step 7 Quit ASDM and relaunch it.

When you change licenses, you need to relaunch ASDM to show updated screens.

Licenses Per Model

This section lists the license entitlements available for the ASAv and Firepower 4100/9300 chassis ASA
security module.

ASAv
Any ASAv license can be used on any supported ASAv vCPU/memory configuration. This allows ASAv
customers to run on a wide variety of VM resource footprints. This also increases the number of supported
AWS and Azure instances types. When configuring the ASAv VM, the maximum supported number of vCPUs
is 8 (16 for ASAv100 on VMware and KVM); and the maximum supported memory is 64GB RAM.

Important The minimum memory requirement for the ASAv is 2GB. If your current ASAv runs with less than 2GB of
memory, you cannot upgrade to 9.13(1) or greater from an earlier version without increasing the memory of
your ASAv VM. You can also redeploy a new ASAv VM with the latest version.
When deploying an ASAv with more than 1 vCPU, the minimum memory requirement for the ASAv is 4GB.

Flexible Licensing Guidelines

• Session limits for licensed features and unlicensed platform capabilities are set based on the amount of
VM memory.
• Session limits for AnyConnect and TLS proxy will be determined by the ASAv platform entitlement;
session limits are no longer associated with an ASAv model type (ASAv5/10/30/50/100).
Session limits have a minimum memory requirement; in cases where the VM memory is below the
minimum requirement, the session limits will be set for the maximum number supported by the amount
of memory.
• Firewall connections, concurrent, and VLANs are platform limits based on the ASAv memory.
• There are no entitlement restrictions; any entitlement can run on any combination of vCPU (up to 8 or
16 for ASAv100 on VMware and KVM) and memory (up to 64GB).
• There are no changes to existing entitlements; the entitlement SKU and display name will continue to
include the model number (ASAv5/10/30/50/100).
• The entitlement sets the maximum throughput via a rate limiter.
• There is no change to customer ordering process.

Licenses Flexible License

Firewall Licenses

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ASAv

Licenses Flexible License

Botnet Traffic Filter Enabled

Carrier Enabled

Total TLS Proxy Sessions 100 Mbps Entitlement: 500

1 Gbps Entitlement: 500
2 Gbps Entitlement: 1000
10 Gbps Entitlement: 10,000
20 Gbps Entitlement: 20,000

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect peers 100 Mbps Entitlement: 50

1 Gbps Entitlement: 250
2 Gbps Entitlement: 750
10 Gbps Entitlement: 10,000
20 Gbps Entitlement: 20,000

Other VPN Peers 100 Mbps Entitlement: 50

1 Gbps Entitlement: 250
2 Gbps Entitlement: 1000
10 Gbps Entitlement: 10,000
20 Gbps Entitlement: 20,000

Total VPN Peers, combined all 100 Mbps Entitlement: 50

types
1 Gbps Entitlement: 250
2 Gbps Entitlement: 1000
10 Gbps Entitlement: 10,000
20 Gbps Entitlement: 20,000

General Licenses

Throughput Level ASAv STD 100M — 100 Mbps

ASAv STD 1G — 1 Gbps
ASAv STD 2G — 2 Gbps
ASAv STD 10G — 10 Gbps
ASAv STD 20G — 20 Gbps

Encryption Base (DES) or Strong (3DES/AES), depending on the account's export

compliance setting

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ASAv

Licenses Flexible License

Failover Active/Standby

Security Contexts No support

Clustering No support

vCPUs, RAM The maximum supported number of vCPUs is 8 (16 for ASAv100 on
VMware and KVM); and the maximum supported memory is 64GB
RAM. You can deploy any ASAv entitlement level with any combination
of vCPU and memory.
• The minimum memory requirement for the ASAv is 2GB.
• When deploying an ASAv with more than 1 vCPU, the minimum
memory requirement for the ASAv is 4GB.
• Platform limits are enforced by the amount of memory required.
• Session limits depend on the type of entitlement deployed, and are
enforced by the minimum memory requirement.
• 100 Mbps Entitlement: 2 GB to 7.9 GB
• 1 Gbps Entitlement: 2 GB to 7.9 GB
• 2 Gbps Entitlement: 8 GB to 15.9 GB
• 10 Gbps Entitlement: 16 GB to 31.9 GB
• 20 Gbps Entitlement: 32 GB to 64 GB

Platform Limits
Firewall connections, concurrent and VLANs are platform limits based on the ASAv memory.

Note We limit the firewall connections to 100 when the ASAv is in an unlicensed state. Once licensed with any
entitlement, the connections go to the platform limit. The minimum memory requirement for the ASAv is
2GB.

Table 9: Platform Limits

ASAv Memory Firewall Conns, Concurrent VLANs

2 GB to 7.9 GB 100,000 50

8 GB to 15.9 GB 500,000 200

16 GB to 31.9 GB 2,000,000 1024

32 GB to 64 GB 4,000,000 1024

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Firepower 1010

Firepower 1010
The following table shows the licensed features for the Firepower 1010.

Licenses Standard License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic Filter No Support.

Firewall Conns, Concurrent 100,000

Carrier No support. Although SCTP inspection maps are not supported, SCTP
stateful inspection using ACLs is supported.

Total TLS Proxy Sessions 4,000

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect peers Unlicensed Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex

license, Maximums: 75

Other VPN Peers 75

Total VPN Peers, combined all 75

types

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) or Strong (3DES/AES), depending on the account's export

compliance setting

Security Plus (failover) Disabled Optional

Security Contexts No support.

Clustering No support.

VLANs, Maximum 60

Firepower 1100 Series

The following table shows the licensed features for the Firepower 1100 series.

Licenses Standard License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic Filter No Support.

Firewall Conns, Concurrent Firepower 1120: 200,000

Firepower 1140: 400,000
Firepower 1150: 600,000

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Firepower 2100 Series

Licenses Standard License

Carrier No support. Although SCTP inspection maps are not supported, SCTP
stateful inspection using ACLs is supported.

Total TLS Proxy Sessions Firepower 1120: 4,000

Firepower 1140: 8,000
Firepower 1150: 8,000

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect peers Unlicensed Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex

license, Maximums:
Firepower 1120: 150
Firepower 1140: 400
Firepower 1150: 800

Other VPN Peers Firepower 1120: 150

Firepower 1140: 400
Firepower 1150: 800

Total VPN Peers, combined all Firepower 1120: 150

types
Firepower 1140: 400
Firepower 1150: 800

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) or Strong (3DES/AES), depending on the account's export

compliance setting

Security Contexts 2 Optional License, Maximums:

Firepower 1120: 5
Firepower 1140: 5
Firepower 1150: 25

Clustering No support.

VLANs, Maximum 1024

Firepower 2100 Series

The following table shows the licensed features for the Firepower 2100 series.

Licenses Standard License

Firewall Licenses

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Firepower 2100 Series

Licenses Standard License

Botnet Traffic Filter No Support.

Firewall Conns, Concurrent Firepower 2110: 1,000,000

Firepower 2120: 1,500,000
Firepower 2130: 2,000,000
Firepower 2140: 3,000,000

Carrier No support. Although SCTP inspection maps are not supported, SCTP
stateful inspection using ACLs is supported.

Total TLS Proxy Sessions Firepower 2110: 4,000

Firepower 2120: 8,000
Firepower 2130: 8,000
Firepower 2140: 10,000

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect peers Unlicensed Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex

license, Maximums:
Firepower 2110: 1,500
Firepower 2120: 3,500
Firepower 2130: 7,500
Firepower 2140: 10,000

Other VPN Peers Firepower 2110: 1,500

Firepower 2120: 3,500
Firepower 2130: 7,500
Firepower 2140: 10,000

Total VPN Peers, combined all Firepower 2110: 1,500

types
Firepower 2120: 3,500
Firepower 2130: 7,500
Firepower 2140: 10,000

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) or Strong (3DES/AES), depending on the account's export

compliance setting

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Firepower 4100 Series ASA Application

Licenses Standard License

Security Contexts 2 Optional License, Maximums in

increments of 5 or 10:
Firepower 2110: 25
Firepower 2120: 25
Firepower 2130: 30
Firepower 2140: 40

Clustering No support.

VLANs, Maximum 1024

Firepower 4100 Series ASA Application

The following table shows the licensed features for the Firepower 4100 series ASA application.

Licenses Standard License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic Filter No Support.

Firewall Conns, Concurrent Firepower 4110: 10,000,000

Firepower 4112: 10,000,000
Firepower 4115: 15,000,000
Firepower 4120: 15,000,000
Firepower 4125: 25,000,000
Firepower 4140: 25,000,000
Firepower 4145: 40,000,000
Firepower 4150: 35,000,000

Carrier Disabled Optional License: Carrier

Total TLS Proxy Sessions Firepower 4110: 10,000

All others: 15,000

VPN Licenses

AnyConnect peers Unlicensed Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex

license:
Firepower 4110: 10,000
All others: 20,000

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Firepower 9300 ASA Application

Licenses Standard License

Other VPN Peers Firepower 4110: 10,000

All others: 20,000

Total VPN Peers, combined all Firepower 4110: 10,000

types
All others: 20,000

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) or Strong (3DES/AES), depending on the account's export

compliance setting

Security Contexts 10 Optional License: Maximum of 250,

in increments of 10

Clustering Enabled

VLANs, Maximum 1024

Firepower 9300 ASA Application

The following table shows the licensed features for the Firepower 9300 ASA application.

Licenses Standard License

Firewall Licenses

Botnet Traffic Filter No Support.

Firewall Conns, Concurrent Firepower 9300 SM-56: 60,000,000, up to 70,000,000 for a chassis with
3 modules
Firepower 9300 SM-48: 60,000,000, up to 70,000,000 for a chassis with
3 modules
Firepower 9300 SM-44: 60,000,000, up to 70,000,000 for a chassis with
3 modules
Firepower 9300 SM-40: 60,000,000, up to 70,000,000 for a chassis with
3 modules
Firepower 9300 SM-36: 60,000,000, up to 70,000,000 for a chassis with
3 modules
Firepower 9300 SM-24: 55,000,000, up to 70,000,000 for a chassis with
3 modules

Carrier Disabled Optional License: Carrier

Total TLS Proxy Sessions 15,000

VPN Licenses

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Monitoring Smart Software Licensing

Licenses Standard License

AnyConnect peers Unlicensed Optional AnyConnect Plus or Apex

license: 20,000 maximum

Other VPN Peers 20,000

Total VPN Peers, combined all 20,000

types

General Licenses

Encryption Base (DES) or Strong (3DES/AES), depending on the account's export

compliance setting

Security Contexts 10 Optional License: Maximum of 250,

in increments of 10

Clustering Enabled

VLANs, Maximum 1024

Monitoring Smart Software Licensing

You can monitor the license features, status, and certificate, as well as enable debug messages.

Viewing Your Current License

See the followingscreen for viewing your license:
• Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing pane and view the Effective
Running Licenses area.

Viewing Smart License Status

See the following commands for viewing license status:
• Monitoring > Properties > Smart License
Displays the state of Smart Software Licensing, Smart Agent version, UDI information, Smart Agent
state, global compliance status, the entitlements status, licensing certificate information, and scheduled
Smart Agent tasks.

Viewing the UDI

See the following command to view the universal product identifier (UDI):
show license udi
The following example shows the UDI for the ASAv:

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Smart Software Manager Communication

ciscoasa# show license udi

UDI: PID:ASAv,SN:9AHV3KJBEKE
ciscoasa#

Smart Software Manager Communication

This section describes how your device communicates with the Smart Software Manager.

Device Registration and Tokens

For each virtual account, you can create a registration token. This token is valid for 30 days by default. Enter
this token ID plus entitlement levels when you deploy each device, or when you register an existing device.
You can create a new token if an existing token is expired.

Note Firepower 4100/9300 chassis—Device registration is configured in the chassis, not on the ASA logical device.

At startup after deployment, or after you manually configure these parameters on an existing device, the device
registers with the Cisco License Authority. When the device registers with the token, the License Authority
issues an ID certificate for communication between the device and the License Authority. This certificate is
valid for 1 year, although it will be renewed every 6 months.

Periodic Communication with the License Authority

The device communicates with the License Authority every 30 days. If you make changes in the Smart Software
Manager, you can refresh the authorization on the device so the change takes place immediately. Or you can
wait for the device to communicate as scheduled.
You can optionally configure an HTTP proxy.

ASAv
The ASAv must have internet access either directly or through an HTTP proxy at least every 90 days. Normal
license communication occurs every 30 days, but with the grace period, your device will stay compliant for
up to 90 days without calling home. After the grace period, you should contact the Licensing Authority, or
your ASAv will be out-of-compliance.

Firepower 1000
The Firepower 1000 must have internet access either directly or through an HTTP proxy at least every 90
days. Normal license communication occurs every 30 days, but with the grace period, your device will operate
for up to 90 days without calling home. After the grace period, you must contact the Licensing Authority, or
you will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses; operation is otherwise
unaffected.

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Out-of-Compliance State

Firepower 2100
The Firepower 2100 must have internet access either directly or through an HTTP proxy at least every 90
days. Normal license communication occurs every 30 days, but with the grace period, your device will operate
for up to 90 days without calling home. After the grace period, you must contact the Licensing Authority, or
you will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses; operation is otherwise
unaffected.

Firepower 4100/9300
The Firepower 4100/9300 must have internet access either directly or through an HTTP proxy at least every
90 days. Normal license communication occurs every 30 days, but with the grace period, your device will
operate for up to 90 days without calling home. After the grace period, you must contact the Licensing
Authority, or you will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses; operation
is otherwise unaffected.

Out-of-Compliance State
The device can become out of compliance in the following situations:
• Over-utilization—When the device uses unavailable licenses.
• License expiration—When a time-based license expires.
• Lack of communication—When the device cannot reach the Licensing Authority for re-authorization.

To verify whether your account is in, or approaching, an Out-of-Compliance state, you must compare the
entitlements currently in use by your device against those in your Smart Account.
In an out-of-compliance state, the device might be limited, depending on the model:
• ASAv—The ASAv is not affected.
• Firepower 1000—You will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special
licenses, but operation is otherwise unaffected. For example, existing contexts over the Standard license
limit can continue to run, and you can modify their configuration, but you will not be able to add a new
context.
• Firepower 2100—You will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special
licenses, but operation is otherwise unaffected. For example, existing contexts over the Standard license
limit can continue to run, and you can modify their configuration, but you will not be able to add a new
context.
• Firepower 4100/9300—You will not be able to make configuration changes to features requiring special
licenses, but operation is otherwise unaffected. For example, existing contexts over the Standard license
limit can continue to run, and you can modify their configuration, but you will not be able to add a new
context.

Smart Call Home Infrastructure

By default, a Smart Call Home profile exists in the configuration that specifies the URL for the Licensing
Authority. You cannot remove this profile. Note that the only configurable option for the License profile is
the destination address URL for the License Authority. Unless directed by Cisco TAC, you should not change
the License Authority URL.

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Smart License Certificate Management

Note For the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, Smart Call Home for licensing is configured in the Firepower 4100/9300
chassis supervisor, not on the ASA.

You cannot disable Smart Call Home for Smart Software Licensing. For example, even if you disable Smart
Call Home using the no service call-home command, Smart Software Licensing is not disabled.
Other Smart Call Home functions are not turned on unless you specifically configure them.

Smart License Certificate Management

The ASA automatically creates a trustpoint containing the certificate of the CA that issued the Smart Call
Home server certificate. To avoid service interruption if the issuing hierarchy of the server certificate changes,
configure the Automatic Import area of the Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Certificate
Management > Trusted Certificate Pool > Edit Trusted Certificate Pool Policy screen to enable the
automatic update of the trustpool bundle at periodic intervals.
The server certificate received from a Smart License Server must contain "ServAuth" in the Extended Key
Usage field. This check will be done on non self-signed certificates only; self-signed certificates do not provide
any value in this field.

History for Smart Software Licensing

Feature Name Platform Description
Releases

ASAv100 permanent license reservation 9.14(1.30) The ASAv100 now supports permanent license reservation using product
ID L-ASAV100SR-K9=. Note: Not all accounts are approved for
permanent license reservation.

ASAv MSLA Support 9.13(1) The ASAv supports Cisco's Managed Service License Agreement (MSLA)
program, which is a software licensing and consumption framework
designed for Cisco customers and partners who offer managed software
services to third parties.
MSLA is a new form of Smart Licensing where the licensing Smart Agent
keeps track of the usage of licensing entitlements in units of time.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management >
Licensing > Smart Licensing.

ASAv Flexible Licensing 9.13(1) Flexible Licensing is a new form of Smart Licensing where any ASAv
license now can be used on any supported ASAv vCPU/memory
configuration. Session limits for AnyConnect and TLS proxy will be
determined by the ASAv platform entitlement installed rather than a
platform limit tied to a model type.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management >
Licensing > Smart Licensing.

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History for Smart Software Licensing

Feature Name Platform Description

Releases

Licensing changes for failover pairs on the 9.7(1) Only the active unit requests the license entitlements. Previously, both
Firepower 4100/9300 chassis units requested license entitlements. Supported with FXOS 2.1.1.

Permanent License Reservation for the 9.6(2) Due to an update to the Smart Agent (to 1.6.4), the request and
ASAv Short String enhancement authorization codes now use shorter strings.
We did not modify any screens.

Satellite Server support for the ASAv 9.6(2) If your devices cannot access the internet for security reasons, you can
optionally install a local Smart Software Manager satellite server as a
virtual machine (VM).
We did not modify any screens.

Permanent License Reservation for the 9.6(2) For highly secure environments where communication with the Cisco
ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis Smart Software Manager is not allowed, you can request a permanent
license for the ASA on the Firepower 9300 and Firepower 4100. All
available license entitlements are included in the permanent license,
including the Standard Tier, Strong Encryption (if qualified), Security
Contexts, and Carrier licenses. Requires FXOS 2.0.1.
All configuration is performed on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis; no
configuration is required on the ASA.

Permanent License Reservation for the 9.5(2.200) For highly secure environments where communication with the Cisco
ASAv Smart Software Manager is not allowed, you can request a permanent
9.6(2)
license for the ASAv. In 9.6(2), we also added support for this feature
for the ASAv on Amazon Web Services. This feature is not supported
for Microsoft Azure.
We introduced the following commands: license smart reservation,
license smart reservation cancel, license smart reservation install,
license smart reservation request universal, license smart reservation
return
No ASDM support.

Smart Agent Upgrade to v1.6 9.5(2.200) The smart agent was upgraded from Version 1.1 to Version 1.6. This
upgrade supports permanent license reservation and also supports setting
9.6(2)
the Strong Encryption (3DES/AES) license entitlement according to the
permission set in your license account.
Note If you downgrade from Version 9.5(2.200), the ASAv does
not retain the licensing registration state. You need to
re-register with the Configuration > Device Management >
Licensing > Smart Licensing page with the Force
registration option; obtain the ID token from the Smart
Software Manager.

We did not change any screens.

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History for Smart Software Licensing

Feature Name Platform Description

Releases

Strong Encryption (3DES) license 9.5(2.1) For regular Cisco Smart Software Manager users, the Strong Encryption
automatically applied for the ASA on the license is automatically enabled for qualified customers when you apply
Firepower 9300 the registration token on the Firepower 9300.
Note If you are using the Smart Software Manager satellite
deployment, to use ASDM and other strong encryption
features, after you deploy the ASA you must enable the Strong
Encryption (3DES) license using the ASA CLI.

This feature requires FXOS 1.1.3.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device
Management > Licensing > Smart License

Validation of the Smart Call Home/Smart 9.5(2) Smart licensing uses the Smart Call Home infrastructure. When the ASA
Licensing certificate if the issuing hierarchy first configures Smart Call Home anonymous reporting in the background,
of the server certificate changes it automatically creates a trustpoint containing the certificate of the CA
that issued the Smart Call Home server certificate. The ASA now supports
validation of the certificate if the issuing hierarchy of the server certificate
changes; you can enable the automatic update of the trustpool bundle at
periodic intervals.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Remote Access
VPN > Certificate Management > Trusted Certificate Pool > Edit
Trusted Certificate Pool Policy

New Carrier license 9.5(2) The new Carrier license replaces the existing GTP/GPRS license, and
also includes support for SCTP and Diameter inspection. For the ASA
on the Firepower 9300, the feature mobile-sp command will
automatically migrate to the feature carrier command.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device
Management > Licensing > Smart License

Cisco Smart Software Licensing for the 9.4(1.150) We introduced Smart Software Licensing for the ASA on the Firepower
ASA on the Firepower 9300 9300.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device
Management > Licensing > Smart License

Cisco Smart Software Licensing for the 9.3(2) Smart Software Licensing lets you purchase and manage a pool of
ASAv licenses. Unlike PAK licenses, smart licenses are not tied to a specific
serial number. You can easily deploy or retire ASAvs without having to
manage each unit’s license key. Smart Software Licensing also lets you
see your license usage and needs at a glance.
We introduced or modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart License
Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call-Home Monitoring
> Properties > Smart License

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Logical Devices for the Firepower 4100/9300
The Firepower 4100/9300 is a flexible security platform on which you can install one or more logical devices.
This chapter describes basic interface configuration and how to add a standalone or High Availability logical
device using the Firepower Chassis Manager. To add a clustered logical device, see ASA Cluster for the
Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis, on page 423. To use the FXOS CLI, see the FXOS CLI configuration guide.
For more advanced FXOS procedures and troubleshooting, see the FXOS configuration guide.
• About Firepower Interfaces, on page 187
• About Logical Devices, on page 190
• Requirements and Prerequisites for Hardware and Software Combinations, on page 190
• Guidelines and Limitations for Logical Devices, on page 191
• Configure Interfaces, on page 192
• Configure Logical Devices, on page 196
• History for Logical Devices, on page 202

About Firepower Interfaces

The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supports physical interfaces and EtherChannel (port-channel) interfaces.
EtherChannel interfaces can include up to 16 member interfaces of the same type.

Chassis Management Interface

The chassis management interface is used for management of the FXOS Chassis by SSH or Firepower Chassis
Manager. This interface appears at the top of the Interfaces tab as MGMT, and you can only enable or disable
this interface on the Interfaces tab. This interface is separate from the mgmt-type interface that you assign
to the logical devices for application management.
To configure parameters for this interface, you must configure them from the CLI. To view information about
this interface in the FXOS CLI, connect to local management and show the management port:
Firepower # connect local-mgmt
Firepower(local-mgmt) # show mgmt-port
Note that the chassis management interface remains up even if the physical cable or SFP module are unplugged,
or if the mgmt-port shut command is performed.

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Interface Types

Note The chassis management interface does not support jumbo frames.

Interface Types
Each interface can be one of the following types:
• Data—Use for regular data. Data interfaces cannot be shared between logical devices, and logical devices
cannot communicate over the backplane to other logical devices. For traffic on Data interfaces, all traffic
must exit the chassis on one interface and return on another interface to reach another logical device.
• Data-sharing—Use for regular data. Only supported with container instances, these data interfaces can
be shared by one or more logical devices/container instances (FTD-using-FMC only).
• Mgmt—Use to manage application instances. These interfaces can be shared by one or more logical
devices to access external hosts; logical devices cannot communicate over this interface with other logical
devices that share the interface. You can only assign one management interface per logical device. For
ASA: You can later enable management from a data interface; but you must assign a Management
interface to the logical device even if you don't intend to use it after you enable data management. For
information about the separate chassis management interface, see Chassis Management Interface, on
page 187.
• Firepower-eventing—Use as a secondary management interface for FTD-using-FMC devices.
• Cluster—Use as the cluster control link for a clustered logical device. By default, the cluster control link
is automatically created on Port-channel 48. The Cluster type is only supported on EtherChannel interfaces.

See the following table for interface type support for FTD and ASA applications in standalone and cluster
deployments.

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FXOS Interfaces vs. Application Interfaces

Table 10: Interface Type Support

Application Data Data: Data-Sharing Data-Sharing: Mgmt Firepower-Eventing Cluster Cluster:

Subinterface Subinterface (EtherChannel Subinterface
only)

FTD Standalone Yes — — — Yes Yes — —

Native
Instance

Standalone Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes — —

Container
Instance

Cluster Yes — — — Yes Yes Yes —

Native
(EtherChannel
Instance
only for
inter-chassis
cluster)

Cluster Yes — — — Yes Yes Yes Yes

Container
(EtherChannel
Instance
only for
inter-chassis
cluster)

ASA Standalone Yes — — — Yes — Yes —

Native
Instance

Cluster Yes — — — Yes — Yes —

Native
(EtherChannel
Instance
only for
inter-chassis
cluster)

FXOS Interfaces vs. Application Interfaces

The Firepower 4100/9300 manages the basic Ethernet settings of physical interfaces and EtherChannel
(port-channel) interfaces. Within the application, you configure higher level settings. For example, you can
only create EtherChannels in FXOS; but you can assign an IP address to the EtherChannel within the application.
The following sections describe the interaction between FXOS and the application for interfaces.

VLAN Subinterfaces
For all logical devices, you can create VLAN subinterfaces within the application.

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About Logical Devices

Independent Interface States in the Chassis and in the Application

You can administratively enable and disable interfaces in both the chassis and in the application. For an
interface to be operational, the interface must be enabled in both operating systems. Because the interface
state is controlled independently, you may have a mismatch between the chassis and application.

About Logical Devices

A logical device lets you run one application instance (either ASA or Firepower Threat Defense) and also one
optional decorator application (Radware DefensePro) to form a service chain .
When you add a logical device, you also define the application instance type and version, assign interfaces,
and configure bootstrap settings that are pushed to the application configuration.

Note For the Firepower 9300, you can install different application types (ASA and FTD) on separate modules in
the chassis. You can also run different versions of an application instance type on separate modules.

Standalone and Clustered Logical Devices

You can add the following logical device types:
• Standalone—A standalone logical device operates as a standalone unit or as a unit in a High Availability
pair.
• Cluster—A clustered logical device lets you group multiple units together, providing all the convenience
of a single device (management, integration into a network) while achieving the increased throughput
and redundancy of multiple devices. Multiple module devices, like the Firepower 9300, support
intra-chassis clustering. For the Firepower 9300, all three modules must participate in the cluster, for
both native and container instances.

Requirements and Prerequisites for Hardware and Software

Combinations
The Firepower 4100/9300 supports multiple models, security modules, application types, and high availability
and scalability features. See the following requirements for allowed combinations.

Firepower 9300 Requirements

The Firepower 9300 includes 3 security module slots and multiple types of security modules. See the following
requirements:
• Security Module Types—You can install modules of different types in the Firepower 9300. For example,
you can install the SM-36 as module 1, SM-40 as module 2, and SM-44 as module 3.
• Native and Container instances—When you install a container instance on a security module, that module
can only support other container instances. A native instance uses all of the resources for a module, so
you can only install a single native instance on a module. You can use native instances on some modules,

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Guidelines and Limitations for Logical Devices

and container instances on the other module. For example, you can install a native instance on module
1 and module 2, but container instances on module 3.
• Clustering—All security modules in the cluster, whether it is intra-chassis or inter-chassis, must be the
same type. You can have different quantities of installed security modules in each chassis, although all
modules present in the chassis must belong to the cluster including any empty slots. For example, you
can install 2 SM-36s in chassis 1, and 3 SM-36s in chassis 2. You cannot use clustering if you install 1
SM-24 and 2 SM-36s in the same chassis.
• High Availability—High Availability is only supported between same-type modules on the Firepower
9300. However, the two chassis can include mixed modules. For example, each chassis has an SM-36,
SM-40, and SM-44. You can create High Availability pairs between the SM-36 modules, between the
SM-40 modules, and between the SM-44 modules.
• ASA and FTD application types—You can install different application types on separate modules in the
chassis. For example, you can install ASA on module 1 and module 2, and FTD on module 3.
• ASA or FTD versions—You can run different versions of an application instance type on separate
modules, or as separate container instances on the same module. For example, you can install FTD 6.3
on module 1, FTD 6.4 on module 2, and FTD 6.5 on module 3.

Firepower 4100 Requirements

The Firepower 4100 comes in multiple models. See the following requirements:
• Native and Container instances—When you install a container instance on a Firepower 4100, that device
can only support other container instances. A native instance uses all of the resources for a device, so
you can only install a single native instance on the device.
• Clustering—All chassis in the cluster must be the same model.
• High Availability—High Availability is only supported between same-type models.
• ASA and FTD application types—The Firepower 4100 can only run a single application type.

Guidelines and Limitations for Logical Devices

See the following sections for guidelines and limitations.

Guidelines and Limitations for Firepower Interfaces

Default MAC Addresses
Default MAC address assignments depend on the type of interface.
• Physical interfaces—The physical interface uses the burned-in MAC address.
• EtherChannels—For an EtherChannel, all interfaces that are part of the channel group share the same
MAC address. This feature makes the EtherChannel transparent to network applications and users,
because they only see the one logical connection; they have no knowledge of the individual links. The
port-channel interface uses a unique MAC address from a pool; interface membership does not affect
the MAC address.

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General Guidelines and Limitations

General Guidelines and Limitations

Firewall Mode
You can set the firewall mode to routed or transparent in the bootstrap configuration for the FTD and ASA.

High Availability
• Configure high availability within the application configuration.
• You can use any data interfaces as the failover and state links. Data-sharing interfaces are not supported.

Multi-Instance and Context Mode

• Multiple context mode is only supported on the ASA.
• Enable multiple context mode in the ASA after you deploy.

Requirements and Prerequisites for High Availability

• The two units in a High Availability Failover configuration must:
• Be on a separate chassis; intra-chassis High Availability for the Firepower 9300 is not supported.
• Be the same model.
• Have the same interfaces assigned to the High Availability logical devices.
• Have the same number and types of interfaces. All interfaces must be preconfigured in FXOS
identically before you enable High Availability.

• High Availability is only supported between same-type modules on the Firepower 9300; but the two
chassis can include mixed modules. For example, each chassis has an SM-36, SM-40, and SM-44. You
can create High Availability pairs between the SM-36 modules, between the SM-40 modules, and between
the SM-44 modules.
• For other High Availability system requirements, see Failover System Requirements, on page 274.

Configure Interfaces
By default, physical interfaces are disabled. You can enable interfaces, add EtherChannels, and edit interface
properties.

Note If you remove an interface in FXOS (for example, if you remove a network module, remove an EtherChannel,
or reassign an interface to an EtherChannel), then the ASA configuration retains the original commands so
that you can make any necessary adjustments; removing an interface from the configuration can have wide
effects. You can manually remove the old interface configuration in the ASA OS.

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Enable or Disable an Interface

Enable or Disable an Interface

You can change the Admin State of each interface to be enabled or disabled. By default, physical interfaces
are disabled.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Interfaces to open the Interfaces page.

The Interfaces page shows a visual representation of the currently installed interfaces at the top of the page
and provides a listing of the installed interfaces in the table below.

Step 2 To enable the interface, click the disabled Slider disabled ( ) so that it changes to the enabled Slider
enabled ( ).
Click Yes to confirm the change. The corresponding interface in the visual representation changes from gray
to green.

Step 3 To disable the interface, click the enbled Slider enabled ( ) so that it changes to the disabled Slider
disabled ( ).
Click Yes to confirm the change. The corresponding interface in the visual representation changes from green
to gray.

Configure a Physical Interface

You can physically enable and disable interfaces, as well as set the interface speed and duplex. To use an
interface, it must be physically enabled in FXOS and logically enabled in the application.

Before you begin

• Interfaces that are already a member of an EtherChannel cannot be modified individually. Be sure to
configure settings before you add it to the EtherChannel.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Interfaces to open the Interfaces page.

The All Interfaces page shows a visual representation of the currently installed interfaces at the top of the
page and provides a listing of the installed interfaces in the table below.

Step 2 Click Edit in the row for the interface you want to edit to open the Edit Interface dialog box.
Step 3 To enable the interface, check the Enable check box. To disable the interface, uncheck the Enable check
box.
Step 4 Choose the interface Type:
See Interface Types, on page 188 for details about interface type usage.

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Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel)

• Data
• Mgmt
• Cluster—Do not choose the Cluster type; by default, the cluster control link is automatically created
on Port-channel 48.

Step 5 (Optional) Choose the speed of the interface from the Speed drop-down list.
Step 6 (Optional) If your interface supports Auto Negotiation, click the Yes or No radio button.
Step 7 (Optional) Choose the duplex of the interface from the Duplex drop-down list.
Step 8 Click OK.

Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel)

An EtherChannel (also known as a port channel) can include up to 16 member interfaces of the same media
type and capacity, and must be set to the same speed and duplex. The media type can be either RJ-45 or SFP;
SFPs of different types (copper and fiber) can be mixed. You cannot mix interface capacities (for example
1GB and 10GB interfaces) by setting the speed to be lower on the larger-capacity interface. The Link
Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) aggregates interfaces by exchanging the Link Aggregation Control
Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) between two network devices.
You can configure each physical Data interface in an EtherChannel to be:
• Active—Sends and receives LACP updates. An active EtherChannel can establish connectivity with
either an active or a passive EtherChannel. You should use the active mode unless you need to minimize
the amount of LACP traffic.
• On—The EtherChannel is always on, and LACP is not used. An “on” EtherChannel can only establish
a connection with another “on” EtherChannel.

Note It may take up to three minutes for an EtherChannel to come up to an operational state if you change its mode
from On to Active or from Active to On.

Non-data interfaces only support active mode.

LACP coordinates the automatic addition and deletion of links to the EtherChannel without user intervention.
It also handles misconfigurations and checks that both ends of member interfaces are connected to the correct
channel group. “On” mode cannot use standby interfaces in the channel group when an interface goes down,
and the connectivity and configurations are not checked.
When the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis creates an EtherChannel, the EtherChannel stays in a Suspended
state for Active LACP mode or a Down state for On LACP mode until you assign it to a logical device, even
if the physical link is up. The EtherChannel will be brought out of this Suspended state in the following
situations:
• The EtherChannel is added as a data or management interface for a standalone logical device
• The EtherChannel is added as a management interface or cluster control link for a logical device that is
part of a cluster

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• The EtherChannel is added as a data interface for a logical device that is part of a cluster and at least one
unit has joined the cluster

Note that the EtherChannel does not come up until you assign it to a logical device. If the EtherChannel is
removed from the logical device or the logical device is deleted, the EtherChannel will revert to a Suspended
or Down state.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Interfaces to open the Interfaces page.

The All Interfaces page shows a visual representation of the currently installed interfaces at the top of the
page and provides a listing of the installed interfaces in the table below.

Step 2 Click Add Port Channel above the interfaces table to open the Add Port Channel dialog box.
Step 3 Enter an ID for the port channel in the Port Channel ID field. Valid values are between 1 and 47.
Port-channel 48 is reserved for the cluster control link when you deploy a clustered logical device. If you do
not want to use Port-channel 48 for the cluster control link, you can delete it and configure a Cluster type
EtherChannel with a different ID.You can add multiple Cluster type EtherChannels and add VLAN subinterfaces
for use with multi-instance clustering. For intra-chassis clustering, do not assign any interfaces to the Cluster
EtherChannel.

Step 4 To enable the port channel, check the Enable check box. To disable the port channel, uncheck the Enable
check box.
Step 5 Choose the interface Type:
See Interface Types, on page 188 for details about interface type usage.
• Data
• Mgmt
• Cluster

Step 6 Set the required Admin Speed for the member interfaces from the drop-down list.
If you add a member interface that is not at the specified speed, it will not successfully join the port channel.

Step 7 For Data interfaces, choose the LACP port-channel Mode, Active or On.
For non-Data interfaces, the mode is always active.

Step 8 Set the required Admin Duplex for the member interfaces, Full Duplex or Half Duplex.
If you add a member interface that is configured with the specified duplex, it will not successfully join the
port channel.

Step 9 To add an interface to the port channel, select the interface in the Available Interface list and click Add
Interface to move the interface to the Member ID list.
You can add up to 16 member interfaces of the same media type and capacity. The member interfaces must
be set to the same speed and duplex, and must match the speed and duplex that you configured for this port
channel. The media type can be either RJ-45 or SFP; SFPs of different types (copper and fiber) can be mixed.

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You cannot mix interface capacities (for example 1GB and 10GB interfaces) by setting the speed to be lower
on the larger-capacity interface.
Tip You can add multiple interfaces at one time. To select multiple individual interfaces, click on the
desired interfaces while holding down the Ctrl key. To select a range of interfaces, select the first
interface in the range, and then, while holding down the Shift key, click to select the last interface
in the range.

Step 10 To remove an interface from the port channel, click the Delete button to the right of the interface in the Member
ID list.
Step 11 Click OK.

Configure Logical Devices

Add a standalone logical device or a High Availability pair on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.
For clustering, see #unique_284.

Add a Standalone ASA

Standalone logical devices work either alone or in a High Availability pair. On the Firepower 9300 with
multiple security modules, you can deploy either a cluster or standalone devices. The cluster must use all
modules, so you cannot mix and match a 2-module cluster plus a single standalone device, for example.
You can deploy a routed or transparent firewall mode ASA from the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.
For multiple context mode, you must first deploy the logical device, and then enable multiple context mode
in the ASA application.

Before you begin

• Download the application image you want to use for the logical device from Cisco.com, and then upload
that image to the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.

Note For the Firepower 9300, you can install different application types (ASA and
FTD) on separate modules in the chassis. You can also run different versions of
an application instance type on separate modules.

• Configure a management interface to use with the logical device. The management interface is required.
Note that this management interface is not the same as the chassis management port that is used only for
chassis management (and that appears at the top of the Interfaces tab as MGMT).
• Gather the following information:
• Interface IDs for this device
• Management interface IP address and network mask
• Gateway IP address

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Logical Devices.

Step 2 Click Add > Standalone, and set the following parameters:

a) Provide a Device Name.

This name is used by the chassis supervisor to configure management settings and to assign interfaces; it
is not the device name used in the application configuration.
b) For the Template, choose Cisco: Adaptive Security Appliance.
c) Choose the Image Version.
d) Click OK.
You see the Provisioning - device name window.

Step 3 Expand the Data Ports area, and click each port that you want to assign to the device.
You can only assign data interfaces that you previously enabled on the Interfaces page. You will later enable
and configure these interfaces on the ASA, including setting the IP addresses.

Step 4 Click the device icon in the center of the screen.

A dialog box appears where you can configure initial bootstrap settings. These settings are meant for initial
deployment only, or for disaster recovery. For normal operation, you can later change most values in the
application CLI configuration.

Step 5 On the General Information page, complete the following:

a) (For the Firepower 9300) Under Security Module Selection click the security module that you want to
use for this logical device.
b) Choose the Management Interface.
This interface is used to manage the logical device. This interface is separate from the chassis management
port.
c) Choose the management interface Address Type: IPv4 only, IPv6 only, or IPv4 and IPv6.
d) Configure the Management IP address.
Set a unique IP address for this interface.
e) Enter a Network Mask or Prefix Length.
f) Enter a Network Gateway address.
Step 6 Click the Settings tab.

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Step 7 Choose the Firewall Mode: Routed or Transparent.

In routed mode, the ASA is considered to be a router hop in the network. Each interface that you want to route
between is on a different subnet. A transparent firewall, on the other hand, is a Layer 2 firewall that acts like
a “bump in the wire,” or a “stealth firewall,” and is not seen as a router hop to connected devices.
The firewall mode is only set at initial deployment. If you re-apply the bootstrap settings, this setting is not
used.

Step 8 Enter and confirm a Password for the admin user and for the enable password.
The pre-configured ASA admin user/password and enable password is useful for password recovery; if you
have FXOS access, you can reset the admin user password/enable password if you forget it.

Step 9 Click OK to close the configuration dialog box.

Step 10 Click Save.
The chassis deploys the logical device by downloading the specified software version and pushing the bootstrap
configuration and management interface settings to the application instance. Check the Logical Devices page
for the status of the new logical device. When the logical device shows its Status as online, you can start
configuring the security policy in the application.

Step 11 See the ASA configuration guide to start configuring your security policy.

Add a High Availability Pair

ASA High Availability (also known as failover) is configured within the application, not in FXOS. However,
to prepare your chassis for high availability, see the following steps.

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Before you begin

See Failover System Requirements, on page 274.

Procedure

Step 1 Allocate the same interfaces to each logical device.

Step 2 Allocate 1 or 2 data interfaces for the failover and state link(s).
These interfaces exchange high availability traffic between the 2 chassis. We recommend that you use a 10
GB data interface for a combined failover and state link. If you have available interfaces, you can use separate
failover and state links; the state link requires the most bandwidth. You cannot use the management-type
interface for the failover or state link. We recommend that you use a switch between the chassis, with no other
device on the same network segment as the failover interfaces.

Step 3 Enable High Availability on the logical devices. See Failover for High Availability, on page 273.
Step 4 If you need to make interface changes after you enable High Availability, perform the changes on the standby
unit first, and then perform the changes on the active unit.
Note For the ASA, if you remove an interface in FXOS (for example, if you remove a network module,
remove an EtherChannel, or reassign an interface to an EtherChannel), then the ASA configuration
retains the original commands so that you can make any necessary adjustments; removing an interface
from the configuration can have wide effects. You can manually remove the old interface
configuration in the ASA OS.

Change an Interface on an ASA Logical Device

You can allocate, unallocate, or replace a management interface on an ASA logical device. ASDM discovers
the new interfaces automatically.
Adding a new interface, or deleting an unused interface has minimal impact on the ASA configuration.
However, if you remove an allocated interface in FXOS (for example, if you remove a network module,
remove an EtherChannel, or reassign an allocated interface to an EtherChannel), and the interface is used in
your security policy, removal will impact the ASA configuration. In this case, the ASA configuration retains
the original commands so that you can make any necessary adjustments. You can manually remove the old
interface configuration in the ASA OS.

Note You can edit the membership of an allocated EtherChannel without impacting the logical device.

Before you begin

• Configure your interfaces and add any EtherChannels according to Configure a Physical Interface, on
page 193 and Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel), on page 194.
• If you want to add an already-allocated interface to an EtherChannel (for example, all interfaces are
allocated by default to a cluster), you need to unallocate the interface from the logical device first, then

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Connect to the Console of the Application

add the interface to the EtherChannel. For a new EtherChannel, you can then allocate the EtherChannel
to the device.
• If you want to replace the management interface with a management EtherChannel, then you need to
create the EtherChannel with at least 1 unallocated data member interface, and then replace the current
management interface with the EtherChannel. After the ASA reloads (management interface changes
cause a reload), you can add the (now unallocated) management interface to the EtherChannel as well.
• For clustering or failover, make sure you add or remove the interface on all units. We recommend that
you make the interface changes on the data/standby unit(s) first, and then on the control/active unit. New
interfaces are added in an administratively down state, so they do not affect interface monitoring.

Procedure

Step 1 In the Firepower Chassis Manager, choose Logical Devices.

Step 2 Click the Edit icon at the top right to edit the logical device.
Step 3 Unallocate a data interface by de-selecting the interface in the Data Ports area.
Step 4 Allocate a new data interface by selecting the interface in the Data Ports area.
Step 5 Replace the management interface:
For this type of interface, the device reloads after you save your changes.
a) Click the device icon in the center of the page.
b) On the General/Cluster Information tab, choose the new Management Interface from the drop-down
list.
c) Click OK.
Step 6 Click Save.

Connect to the Console of the Application

Use the following procedure to connect to the console of the application.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the module CLI using a console connection or a Telnet connection.
connect module slot_number {console | telnet}
To connect to the security engine of a device that does not support multiple security modules, always use 1
as the slot_number.
The benefits of using a Telnet connection is that you can have multiple sessions to the module at the same
time, and the connection speed is faster.
Example:

Firepower# connect module 1 console

Telnet escape character is '~'.
Trying 127.5.1.1...

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Connected to 127.5.1.1.
Escape character is '~'.

CISCO Serial Over LAN:

Close Network Connection to Exit

Firepower-module1>

Step 2 Connect to the application console.

connect asa name
To view the instance names, enter the command without a name.
Example:

Firepower-module1> connect asa asa1

Connecting to asa(asa1) console... hit Ctrl + A + D to return to bootCLI
[...]
asa>

Step 3 Exit the application console to the FXOS module CLI.

• ASA—Enter Ctrl-a, d

Step 4 Return to the supervisor level of the FXOS CLI.

Exit the console:
a) Enter ~
You exit to the Telnet application.
b) To exit the Telnet application, enter:
telnet>quit

Exit the Telnet session:

a) Enter Ctrl-], .

Example
The following example connects to an ASA on security module 1 and then exits back to the supervisor
level of the FXOS CLI.
Firepower# connect module 1 console
Telnet escape character is '~'.
Trying 127.5.1.1...
Connected to 127.5.1.1.
Escape character is '~'.

CISCO Serial Over LAN:

Close Network Connection to Exit

Firepower-module1>connect asa asa1

asa> ~
telnet> quit

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History for Logical Devices

Connection closed.
Firepower#

History for Logical Devices

Feature Version Details

ASA for the Firepower 4112 9.14(1) We introduced the Firepower 4112.
Note Requires FXOS 2.8.1.

Firepower 9300 SM-56 support 9.12.2 We introduced the SM-56 security module.
Note Requires FXOS 2.6.1.157.

ASA for the Firepower 4115, 4125, and 9.12(1) We introduced the Firepower 4115, 4125,
4145 and 4145.
Note Requires FXOS 2.6.1.

Firepower 9300 SM-40 and SM-48 support 9.12.1 We introduced the SM-40 and SM-48
security modules.
Note Requires FXOS 2.6.1.

Support for ASA and FTD on separate 9.12.1 You can now deploy ASA and FTD logical
modules of the same Firepower 9300 devices on the same Firepower 9300.
Note Requires FXOS 2.6.1.

Cluster control link customizable IP 9.10.1 By default, the cluster control link uses the
Address for the Firepower 4100/9300 127.2.0.0/16 network. You can now set the
network when you deploy the cluster in
FXOS. The chassis auto-generates the
cluster control link interface IP address for
each unit based on the chassis ID and slot
ID: 127.2.chassis_id.slot_id. However,
some networking deployments do not allow
127.2.0.0/16 traffic to pass. Therefore, you
can now set a custom /16 subnet for the
cluster control link in FXOS except for
loopback (127.0.0.0/8) and multicast
(224.0.0.0/4) addresses.
Note Requires FXOS 2.4.1.

New/modified Firepower Chassis Manager

screens:
Logical Devices > Add Device > Cluster
Information > CCL Subnet IP field

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Feature Version Details

Support for data EtherChannels in On mode 9.10.1 You can now set data and data-sharing
EtherChannels to either Active LACP mode
or to On mode. Other types of
EtherChannels only support Active mode.
Note Requires FXOS 2.4.1.

New/Modified Firepower Chassis Manager

screens:
Interfaces > All Interfaces > Edit Port
Channel > Mode

Inter-site clustering improvement for the 9.7(1) You can now configure the site ID for each
ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis Firepower 4100/9300 chassis when you
deploy the ASA cluster. Previously, you
had to configure the site ID within the ASA
application; this new feature eases initial
deployment. Note that you can no longer
set the site ID within the ASA
configuration. Also, for best compatibility
with inter-site clustering, we recommend
that you upgrade to ASA 9.7(1) and FXOS
2.1.1, which includes several improvements
to stability and performance.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability > ASA
Cluster > Cluster Configuration

Support for the Firepower 4100 series 9.6(1) With FXOS 1.1.4, the ASA supports
inter-chassis clustering on the Firepower
4100 series.
We did not modify any screens.

Inter-chassis clustering for 6 modules, and 9.5(2.1) With FXOS 1.1.3, you can now enable
inter-site clustering for the Firepower 9300 inter-chassis, and by extension inter-site
ASA application clustering. You can include up to 6 modules
in up to 6 chassis.
We did not modify any screens.

Intra-chassis ASA Clustering for the 9.4(1.150) You can cluster up to 3 security modules
Firepower 9300 within the Firepower 9300 chassis. All
modules in the chassis must belong to the
cluster.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability > ASA
Cluster Replication

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 CHAPTER 7
Transparent or Routed Firewall Mode
This chapter describes how to set the firewall mode to routed or transparent, as well as how the firewall works
in each firewall mode.
You can set the firewall mode independently for each context in multiple context mode.
• About the Firewall Mode, on page 205
• Default Settings, on page 214
• Guidelines for Firewall Mode, on page 214
• Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode), on page 215
• Examples for Firewall Mode, on page 216
• History for the Firewall Mode, on page 227

About the Firewall Mode

The ASA supports two firewall modes: Routed Firewall mode and Transparent Firewall mode.

About Routed Firewall Mode

In routed mode, the ASA is considered to be a router hop in the network. Each interface that you want to route
between is on a different subnet. You can share Layer 3 interfaces between contexts.
With Integrated Routing and Bridging, you can use a "bridge group" where you group together multiple
interfaces on a network, and the ASA uses bridging techniques to pass traffic between the interfaces. Each
bridge group includes a Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) to which you assign an IP address on the network.
The ASA routes between BVIs and regular routed interfaces. If you do not need multiple context mode or
clustering or EtherChannel or redundant or VNI member interfaces, you might consider using routed mode
instead of transparent mode. In routed mode, you can have one or more isolated bridge groups like in transparent
mode, but also have normal routed interfaces as well for a mixed deployment.

About Transparent Firewall Mode

Traditionally, a firewall is a routed hop and acts as a default gateway for hosts that connect to one of its
screened subnets. A transparent firewall, on the other hand, is a Layer 2 firewall that acts like a “bump in the
wire,” or a “stealth firewall,” and is not seen as a router hop to connected devices. However, like any other
firewall, access control between interfaces is controlled, and all of the usual firewall checks are in place.

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Using the Transparent Firewall in Your Network

Layer 2 connectivity is achieved by using a "bridge group" where you group together the inside and outside
interfaces for a network, and the ASA uses bridging techniques to pass traffic between the interfaces. Each
bridge group includes a Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) to which you assign an IP address on the network.
You can have multiple bridge groups for multiple networks. In transparent mode, these bridge groups cannot
communicate with each other.

Using the Transparent Firewall in Your Network

The ASA connects the same network between its interfaces. Because the firewall is not a routed hop, you can
easily introduce a transparent firewall into an existing network.
The following figure shows a typical transparent firewall network where the outside devices are on the same
subnet as the inside devices. The inside router and hosts appear to be directly connected to the outside router.
Figure 25: Transparent Firewall Network

Management Interface
In addition to each Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) IP address, you can add a separate Management slot/port
interface that is not part of any bridge group, and that allows only management traffic to the ASA. For more
information, see Management Interface, on page 492.

Passing Traffic For Routed-Mode Features

For features that are not directly supported on the transparent firewall, you can allow traffic to pass through
so that upstream and downstream routers can support the functionality. For example, by using an access rule,
you can allow DHCP traffic (instead of the unsupported DHCP relay feature) or multicast traffic such as that
created by IP/TV. You can also establish routing protocol adjacencies through a transparent firewall; you can
allow OSPF, RIP, EIGRP, or BGP traffic through based on an access rule. Likewise, protocols like HSRP or
VRRP can pass through the ASA.

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About Bridge Groups

About Bridge Groups

A bridge group is a group of interfaces that the ASA bridges instead of routes. Bridge groups are supported
in both transparent and routed firewall mode. Like any other firewall interfaces, access control between
interfaces is controlled, and all of the usual firewall checks are in place.

Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI)

Each bridge group includes a Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI). The ASA uses the BVI IP address as the source
address for packets originating from the bridge group. The BVI IP address must be on the same subnet as the
bridge group member interfaces. The BVI does not support traffic on secondary networks; only traffic on the
same network as the BVI IP address is supported.
In transparent mode: Only bridge group member interfaces are named and can be used with interface-based
features.
In routed mode: The BVI acts as the gateway between the bridge group and other routed interfaces. To route
between bridge groups/routed interfaces, you must name the BVI. For some interface-based features, you can
use the BVI itself:
• Access rules—You can configure access rules for both bridge group member interfaces and for the BVI;
for inbound rules, the member interface is checked first. For outbound rules, the BVI is checked first.
• DHCPv4 server—Only the BVI supports the DHCPv4 server configuration.
• Static routes—You can configure static routes for the BVI; you cannot configure static routes for the
member interfaces.
• Syslog server and other traffic sourced from the ASA—When specifying a syslog server (or SNMP
server, or other service where the traffic is sourced from the ASA), you can specify either the BVI or a
member interface.

If you do not name the BVI in routed mode, then the ASA does not route bridge group traffic. This configuration
replicates transparent firewall mode for the bridge group. If you do not need multiple context mode or clustering
or EtherChannel or redundant or VNI member interfaces, you might consider using routed mode instead. In
routed mode, you can have one or more isolated bridge groups like in transparent mode, but also have normal
routed interfaces as well for a mixed deployment.

Bridge Groups in Transparent Firewall Mode

Bridge group traffic is isolated from other bridge groups; traffic is not routed to another bridge group within
the ASA, and traffic must exit the ASA before it is routed by an external router back to another bridge group
in the ASA. Although the bridging functions are separate for each bridge group, many other functions are
shared between all bridge groups. For example, all bridge groups share a syslog server or AAA server
configuration. For complete security policy separation, use security contexts with one bridge group in each
context.
You can include multiple interfaces per bridge group. See Guidelines for Firewall Mode, on page 214 for the
exact number of bridge groups and interfaces supported. If you use more than 2 interfaces per bridge group,
you can control communication between multiple segments on the same network, and not just between inside
and outside. For example, if you have three inside segments that you do not want to communicate with each
other, you can put each segment on a separate interface, and only allow them to communicate with the outside
interface. Or you can customize the access rules between interfaces to allow only as much access as desired.
The following figure shows two networks connected to the ASA, which has two bridge groups.

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Bridge Groups in Routed Firewall Mode

Figure 26: Transparent Firewall Network with Two Bridge Groups

Bridge Groups in Routed Firewall Mode

Bridge group traffic can be routed to other bridge groups or routed interfaces. You can choose to isolate bridge
group traffic by not assigning a name to the BVI interface for the bridge group. If you name the BVI, then
the BVI participates in routing like any other regular interface.
One use for a bridge group in routed mode is to use extra interfaces on the ASA instead of an external switch.
For example, the default configuration for some devices include an outside interface as a regular interface,
and then all other interfaces assigned to the inside bridge group. Because the purpose of this bridge group is
to replace an external switch, you need to configure an access policy so all bridge group interfaces can freely
communicate. For example, as in the default configuration, set all the interfaces to the same security level,
and then enable same-security interface communication; no access rule is required.

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Passing Traffic Not Allowed in Routed Mode

Figure 27: Routed Firewall Network with an Inside Bridge Group and an Outside Routed Interface

Passing Traffic Not Allowed in Routed Mode

In routed mode, some types of traffic cannot pass through the ASA even if you allow it in an access rule. The
bridge group, however, can allow almost any traffic through using either an access rule (for IP traffic) or an
EtherType rule (for non-IP traffic):
• IP traffic—In routed firewall mode, broadcast and multicast traffic is blocked even if you allow it in an
access rule, including unsupported dynamic routing protocols and DHCP (unless you configure DHCP
relay). Within a bridge group, you can allow this traffic with an access rule.
• Non-IP traffic—AppleTalk, IPX, BPDUs, and MPLS, for example, can be configured to go through
using an EtherType rule.

Note The bridge group does not pass CDP packets packets, or any packets that do not have a valid EtherType greater
than or equal to 0x600. An exception is made for BPDUs and IS-IS, which are supported.

Allowing Layer 3 Traffic

• Unicast IPv4 and IPv6 traffic is allowed through the bridge group automatically from a higher security
interface to a lower security interface, without an access rule.
• For Layer 3 traffic traveling from a low to a high security interface, an access rule is required on the low
security interface.
• ARPs are allowed through the bridge group in both directions without an access rule. ARP traffic can
be controlled by ARP inspection.

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Allowed MAC Addresses

• IPv6 neighbor discovery and router solicitation packets can be passed using access rules.
• Broadcast and multicast traffic can be passed using access rules.

Allowed MAC Addresses

The following destination MAC addresses are allowed through the bridge group if allowed by your access
policy (see Allowing Layer 3 Traffic, on page 209). Any MAC address not on this list is dropped.
• TRUE broadcast destination MAC address equal to FFFF.FFFF.FFFF
• IPv4 multicast MAC addresses from 0100.5E00.0000 to 0100.5EFE.FFFF
• IPv6 multicast MAC addresses from 3333.0000.0000 to 3333.FFFF.FFFF
• BPDU multicast address equal to 0100.0CCC.CCCD
• AppleTalk multicast MAC addresses from 0900.0700.0000 to 0900.07FF.FFFF

BPDU Handling
To prevent loops using the Spanning Tree Protocol, BPDUs are passed by default. To block BPDUs, you need
to configure an EtherType rule to deny them. You can also block BPDUs on the external switches. For example,
you can block BPDUs on the switch if members of the same bridge group are connected to switch ports in
different VLANs. In this case, BPDUs from one VLAN will be visible in the other VLAN, which can cause
Spanning Tree Root Bridge election process problems.
If you are using failover, you might want to block BPDUs to prevent the switch port from going into a blocking
state when the topology changes. See Bridge Group Requirements for Failover, on page 283 for more
information.

MAC Address vs. Route Lookups

For traffic within a bridge group, the outgoing interface of a packet is determined by performing a destination
MAC address lookup instead of a route lookup.
Route lookups, however, are necessary for the following situations:
• Traffic originating on the ASA—Add a default/static route on the ASA for traffic destined for a remote
network where a syslog server, for example, is located.
• Voice over IP (VoIP) and TFTP traffic with inspection enabled, and the endpoint is at least one hop
away—Add a static route on the ASA for traffic destined for the remote endpoint so that secondary
connections are successful. The ASA creates a temporary "pinhole" in the access control policy to allow
the secondary connection; and because the connection might use a different set of IP addresses than the
primary connection, the ASA needs to perform a route lookup to install the pinhole on the correct interface.
Affected applications include:
• CTIQBE
• GTP
• H.323
• MGCP
• RTSP

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• SIP
• Skinny (SCCP)
• SQL*Net
• SunRPC
• TFTP

• Traffic at least one hop away for which the ASA performs NAT—Configure a static route on the ASA
for traffic destined for the remote network. You also need a static route on the upstream router for traffic
destined for the mapped addresses to be sent to the ASA.
This routing requirement is also true for embedded IP addresses for VoIP and DNS with inspection and
NAT enabled, and the embedded IP addresses are at least one hop away. The ASA needs to identify the
correct egress interface so it can perform the translation.
Figure 28: NAT Example: NAT within a Bridge Group

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Unsupported Features for Bridge Groups in Transparent Mode

Unsupported Features for Bridge Groups in Transparent Mode

The following table lists the features are not supported in bridge groups in transparent mode.

Table 11: Unsupported Features in Transparent Mode

Feature Description

Dynamic DNS —

DHCPv6 stateless server Only the DHCPv4 server is supported on bridge group
member interfaces.

DHCP relay The transparent firewall can act as a DHCPv4 server,

but it does not support DHCP relay. DHCP relay is
not required because you can allow DHCP traffic to
pass through using two access rules: one that allows
DCHP requests from the inside interface to the
outside, and one that allows the replies from the server
in the other direction.

Dynamic routing protocols You can, however, add static routes for traffic
originating on the ASA for bridge group member
interfaces. You can also allow dynamic routing
protocols through the ASA using an access rule.

Multicast IP routing You can allow multicast traffic through the ASA by
allowing it in an access rule.

QoS —

VPN termination for through traffic The transparent firewall supports site-to-site VPN
tunnels for management connections only on bridge
group member interfaces. It does not terminate VPN
connections for traffic through the ASA. You can pass
VPN traffic through the ASA using an access rule,
but it does not terminate non-management
connections. Clientless SSL VPN is also not
supported.

Unified Communications —

Unsupported Features for Bridge Groups in Routed Mode

The following table lists the features are not supported in bridge groups in routed mode.

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Table 12: Unsupported Features in Routed Mode

Feature Description

EtherChannel or VNI member interfaces Only physical interfaces, redundant interfaces, and
subinterfaces are supported as bridge group member
interfaces.
Management interfaces are also not supported.

Clustering Bridge groups are not supported in clustering.

Dynamic DNS —

DHCPv6 stateless server Only the DHCPv4 server is supported on BVIs.

DHCP relay The routed firewall can act as a DHCPv4 server, but
it does not support DHCP relay on BVIs or bridge
group member interfaces.

Dynamic routing protocols You can, however, add static routes for BVIs. You
can also allow dynamic routing protocols through the
ASA using an access rule. Non-bridge group interfaces
support dynamic routing.

Multicast IP routing You can allow multicast traffic through the ASA by
allowing it in an access rule. Non-bridge group
interfaces support multicast routing.

Multiple Context Mode Bridge groups are not supported in multiple context
mode.

QoS Non-bridge group interfaces support QoS.

VPN termination for through traffic You cannot terminate a VPN connection on the BVI.
Non-bridge group interfaces support VPN.
Bridge group member interfaces support site-to-site
VPN tunnels for management connections only. It
does not terminate VPN connections for traffic
through the ASA. You can pass VPN traffic through
the bridge group using an access rule, but it does not
terminate non-management connections. Clientless
SSL VPN is also not supported.

Unified Communications Non-bridge group interfaces support Unified

Communications.

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Default Settings

Default Settings
Default Mode
The default mode is routed mode.

Bridge Group Defaults

By default, all ARP packets are passed within the bridge group.

Guidelines for Firewall Mode

Context Mode Guidelines
Set the firewall mode per context.

Model Guidelines
• For the ASAv50, bridge groups are not supported in either transparent or routed mode.
• For the Firepower 2100 series, bridge groups are not supported in routed mode.

Bridge Group Guidelines (Transparent and Routed Mode)

• You can create up to 250 bridge groups, with 64 interfaces per bridge group.
• Each directly-connected network must be on the same subnet.
• The ASA does not support traffic on secondary networks; only traffic on the same network as the BVI
IP address is supported.
• For IPv4, an IP address for the BVI is required for each bridge group for both management traffic and
for traffic to pass through the ASA. IPv6 addresses are supported, but not required for the BVI.
• You can only configure IPv6 addresses manually.
• The BVI IP address must be on the same subnet as the connected network. You cannot set the subnet to
a host subnet (255.255.255.255).
• Management interfaces are not supported as bridge group members.
• For the Firepower 1010, you cannot mix logical VLAN interfaces and physical firewall interfaces in the
same bridge group.
• In transparent mode, you must use at least 1 bridge group; data interfaces must belong to a bridge group.
• In transparent mode, do not specify the BVI IP address as the default gateway for connected devices;
devices need to specify the router on the other side of the ASA as the default gateway.
• In transparent mode, the default route, which is required to provide a return path for management traffic,
is only applied to management traffic from one bridge group network. This is because the default route
specifies an interface in the bridge group as well as the router IP address on the bridge group network,

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Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode)

and you can only define one default route. If you have management traffic from more than one bridge
group network, you need to specify a regular static route that identifies the network from which you
expect management traffic.
• In transparent mode, PPPoE is not supported for the Management interface.
• In routed mode, to route between bridge groups and other routed interfaces, you must name the BVI.
• In routed mode, ASA-defined EtherChannel and VNI interfaces are not supported as bridge group
members. EtherChannels on the Firepower 4100/9300 can be bridge group members.
• Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) echo packets are not allowed through the ASA when using
bridge group members. If there are two neighbors on either side of the ASA running BFD, then the ASA
will drop BFD echo packets because they have the same source and destination IP address and appear
to be part of a LAND attack.

Additional Guidelines and Limitations

• When you change firewall modes, the ASA clears the running configuration because many commands
are not supported for both modes. The startup configuration remains unchanged. If you reload without
saving, then the startup configuration is loaded, and the mode reverts back to the original setting. See
Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode), on page 215 for information about backing up your configuration
file.
• If you download a text configuration to the ASA that changes the mode with the firewall transparent
command, be sure to put the command at the top of the configuration; the ASA changes the mode as
soon as it reads the command and then continues reading the configuration you downloaded. If the
command appears later in the configuration, the ASA clears all the preceding lines in the configuration.

Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode)

This section describes how to change the firewall mode using the CLI. For single mode and for the currently
connected context in multiple mode (typically the admin context), you cannot change the mode in ASDM.
For other multiple mode contexts, you can set the mode in ASDM for each context; see Configure a Security
Context, on page 258.

Note We recommend that you set the firewall mode before you perform any other configuration because changing
the firewall mode clears the running configuration.

Before you begin

When you change modes, the ASA clears the running configuration (see Guidelines for Firewall Mode, on
page 214 for more information).
• If you already have a populated configuration, be sure to back up your configuration before changing
the mode; you can use this backup for reference when creating your new configuration.
• Use the CLI at the console port to change the mode. If you use any other type of session, including the
ASDM Command Line Interface tool or SSH, you will be disconnected when the configuration is cleared,
and you will have to reconnect to the ASA using the console port in any case.

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Examples for Firewall Mode

• Set the mode within the context.

Note To set the firewall mode to transparent and also configure ASDM management access after the configuration
is cleared, see Configure ASDM Access, on page 24.

Procedure

Set the firewall mode to transparent:

firewall transparent
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# firewall transparent

To change the mode to routed, enter the no firewall transparent command.

Note You are not prompted to confirm the firewall mode change; the change occurs immediately.

Examples for Firewall Mode

This section includes examples of how traffic moves through the ASA in the routed and transparent firewall
mode.

How Data Moves Through the ASA in Routed Firewall Mode

The following sections describe how data moves through the ASA in routed firewall mode in multiple scenarios.

An Inside User Visits a Web Server

The following figure shows an inside user accessing an outside web server.

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An Outside User Visits a Web Server on the DMZ

Figure 29: Inside to Outside

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. The user on the inside network requests a web page from www.example.com.
2. The ASA receives the packet and because it is a new session, it verifies that the packet is allowed according
to the terms of the security policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet to a context.
3. The ASA translates the real address (10.1.2.27) to the mapped address 209.165.201.10, which is on the
outside interface subnet.
The mapped address could be on any subnet, but routing is simplified when it is on the outside interface
subnet.
4. The ASA then records that a session is established and forwards the packet from the outside interface.
5. When www.example.com responds to the request, the packet goes through the ASA, and because the
session is already established, the packet bypasses the many lookups associated with a new connection.
The ASA performs NAT by untranslating the global destination address to the local user address, 10.1.2.27.
6. The ASA forwards the packet to the inside user.

An Outside User Visits a Web Server on the DMZ

The following figure shows an outside user accessing the DMZ web server.

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An Inside User Visits a Web Server on the DMZ

Figure 30: Outside to DMZ

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. A user on the outside network requests a web page from the DMZ web server using the mapped address
of 209.165.201.3, which is on the outside interface subnet.
2. The ASA receives the packet and untranslates the mapped address to the real address 10.1.1.3.
3. Because it is a new session, the ASA verifies that the packet is allowed according to the terms of the
security policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet to a context.
4. The ASA then adds a session entry to the fast path and forwards the packet from the DMZ interface.
5. When the DMZ web server responds to the request, the packet goes through the ASA and because the
session is already established, the packet bypasses the many lookups associated with a new connection.
The ASA performs NAT by translating the real address to 209.165.201.3.
6. The ASA forwards the packet to the outside user.

An Inside User Visits a Web Server on the DMZ

The following figure shows an inside user accessing the DMZ web server.

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An Outside User Attempts to Access an Inside Host

Figure 31: Inside to DMZ

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. A user on the inside network requests a web page from the DMZ web server using the destination address
of 10.1.1.3.
2. The ASA receives the packet and because it is a new session, the ASA verifies that the packet is allowed
according to the terms of the security policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet to a context.
3. The ASA then records that a session is established and forwards the packet out of the DMZ interface.
4. When the DMZ web server responds to the request, the packet goes through the fast path, which lets the
packet bypass the many lookups associated with a new connection.
5. The ASA forwards the packet to the inside user.

An Outside User Attempts to Access an Inside Host

The following figure shows an outside user attempting to access the inside network.

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A DMZ User Attempts to Access an Inside Host

Figure 32: Outside to Inside

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. A user on the outside network attempts to reach an inside host (assuming the host has a routable IP address).
If the inside network uses private addresses, no outside user can reach the inside network without NAT.
The outside user might attempt to reach an inside user by using an existing NAT session.
2. The ASA receives the packet and because it is a new session, it verifies if the packet is allowed according
to the security policy.
3. The packet is denied, and the ASA drops the packet and logs the connection attempt.
If the outside user is attempting to attack the inside network, the ASA employs many technologies to
determine if a packet is valid for an already established session.

A DMZ User Attempts to Access an Inside Host

The following figure shows a user in the DMZ attempting to access the inside network.

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How Data Moves Through the Transparent Firewall

Figure 33: DMZ to Inside

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. A user on the DMZ network attempts to reach an inside host. Because the DMZ does not have to route
the traffic on the Internet, the private addressing scheme does not prevent routing.
2. The ASA receives the packet and because it is a new session, it verifies if the packet is allowed according
to the security policy.
The packet is denied, and the ASA drops the packet and logs the connection attempt.

How Data Moves Through the Transparent Firewall

The following figure shows a typical transparent firewall implementation with an inside network that contains
a public web server. The ASA has an access rule so that the inside users can access Internet resources. Another
access rule lets the outside users access only the web server on the inside network.

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An Inside User Visits a Web Server

Figure 34: Typical Transparent Firewall Data Path

The following sections describe how data moves through the ASA.

An Inside User Visits a Web Server

The following figure shows an inside user accessing an outside web server.

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An Inside User Visits a Web Server Using NAT

Figure 35: Inside to Outside

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. The user on the inside network requests a web page from www.example.com.
2. The ASA receives the packet and adds the source MAC address to the MAC address table, if required.
Because it is a new session, it verifies that the packet is allowed according to the terms of the security
policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet to a context.
3. The ASA records that a session is established.
4. If the destination MAC address is in its table, the ASA forwards the packet out of the outside interface.
The destination MAC address is that of the upstream router, 209.165.201.2.
If the destination MAC address is not in the ASA table, it attempts to discover the MAC address by sending
an ARP request or a ping. The first packet is dropped.
5. The web server responds to the request; because the session is already established, the packet bypasses
the many lookups associated with a new connection.
6. The ASA forwards the packet to the inside user.

An Inside User Visits a Web Server Using NAT

The following figure shows an inside user accessing an outside web server.

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An Inside User Visits a Web Server Using NAT

Figure 36: Inside to Outside with NAT

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. The user on the inside network requests a web page from www.example.com.
2. The ASA receives the packet and adds the source MAC address to the MAC address table, if required.
Because it is a new session, it verifies that the packet is allowed according to the terms of the security
policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet according to a unique interface.
3. The ASA translates the real address (10.1.2.27) to the mapped address 209.165.201.10.
Because the mapped address is not on the same network as the outside interface, then be sure the upstream
router has a static route to the mapped network that points to the ASA.
4. The ASA then records that a session is established and forwards the packet from the outside interface.
5. If the destination MAC address is in its table, the ASA forwards the packet out of the outside interface.
The destination MAC address is that of the upstream router, 10.1.2.1.
If the destination MAC address is not in the ASA table, then it attempts to discover the MAC address by
sending an ARP request and a ping. The first packet is dropped.
6. The web server responds to the request; because the session is already established, the packet bypasses
the many lookups associated with a new connection.
7. The ASA performs NAT by untranslating the mapped address to the real address, 10.1.2.27.

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An Outside User Visits a Web Server on the Inside Network

An Outside User Visits a Web Server on the Inside Network

The following figure shows an outside user accessing the inside web server.
Figure 37: Outside to Inside

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. A user on the outside network requests a web page from the inside web server.
2. The ASA receives the packet and adds the source MAC address to the MAC address table, if required.
Because it is a new session, it verifies that the packet is allowed according to the terms of the security
policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet to a context.
3. The ASA records that a session is established.
4. If the destination MAC address is in its table, the ASA forwards the packet out of the inside interface.
The destination MAC address is that of the downstream router, 209.165.201.1.
If the destination MAC address is not in the ASA table, then it attempts to discover the MAC address by
sending an ARP request and a ping. The first packet is dropped.
5. The web server responds to the request; because the session is already established, the packet bypasses
the many lookups associated with a new connection.

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An Outside User Attempts to Access an Inside Host

6. The ASA forwards the packet to the outside user.

An Outside User Attempts to Access an Inside Host

The following figure shows an outside user attempting to access a host on the inside network.
Figure 38: Outside to Inside

The following steps describe how data moves through the ASA:
1. A user on the outside network attempts to reach an inside host.
2. The ASA receives the packet and adds the source MAC address to the MAC address table, if required.
Because it is a new session, it verifies if the packet is allowed according to the terms of the security policy.
For multiple context mode, the ASA first classifies the packet to a context.
3. The packet is denied because there is no access rule permitting the outside host, and the ASA drops the
packet.
4. If the outside user is attempting to attack the inside network, the ASA employs many technologies to
determine if a packet is valid for an already established session.

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History for the Firewall Mode

History for the Firewall Mode

Table 13: Feature History for Firewall Mode

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Transparent Firewall Mode 7.0(1) A transparent firewall is a Layer 2 firewall

that acts like a “bump in the wire,” or a
“stealth firewall,” and is not seen as a router
hop to connected devices.
We introduced the following commands:
firewall transparent, show firewall.
You cannot set the firewall mode in ASDM;
you must use the command-line interface.

Transparent firewall bridge groups 8.4(1) If you do not want the overhead of security
contexts, or want to maximize your use of
security contexts, you can group interfaces
together in a bridge group, and then
configure multiple bridge groups, one for
each network. Bridge group traffic is
isolated from other bridge groups. You can
configure up to 8 bridge groups in single
mode or per context in multiple mode, with
4 interfaces maximum per bridge group.
Note Although you can configure
multiple bridge groups on the
ASA 5505, the restriction of 2
data interfaces in transparent
mode on the ASA 5505 means
you can only effectively use 1
bridge group.

We modified or introduced the following

screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces Configuration >
Device Setup > Interface Settings >
Interfaces > Add/Edit Bridge Group
Interface Configuration > Device Setup >
Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface

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History for the Firewall Mode

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Mixed firewall mode support in multiple 8.5(1)/9.0(1) You can set the firewall mode
context mode independently for each security context in
multiple context mode, so some can run in
transparent mode while others run in routed
mode.
We modified the following command:
firewall transparent.
For single mode, you cannot set the firewall
mode in ASDM; you must use the
command-line interface.
For multiple mode, we modified the
following screen: Configuration > Context
Management > Security Contexts.

Transparent mode bridge group maximum 9.3(1) The bridge group maximum was increased
increased to 250 from 8 to 250 bridge groups. You can
configure up to 250 bridge groups in single
mode or per context in multiple mode, with
4 interfaces maximum per bridge group.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces Configuration >
Device Setup > Interface Settings >
Interfaces > Add/Edit Bridge Group
Interface Configuration > Device Setup >
Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface

Transparent mode maximum interfaces per 9.6(2) The maximum interfaces per bridge group
bridge group increased to 64 was increased from 4 to 64.
We did not modify any screens.

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History for the Firewall Mode

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Integrated Routing and Bridging 9.7(1) Integrated Routing and Bridging provides
the ability to route between a bridge group
and a routed interface. A bridge group is a
group of interfaces that the ASA bridges
instead of routes. The ASA is not a true
bridge in that the ASA continues to act as
a firewall: access control between interfaces
is controlled, and all of the usual firewall
checks are in place. Previously, you could
only configure bridge groups in transparent
firewall mode, where you cannot route
between bridge groups. This feature lets
you configure bridge groups in routed
firewall mode, and to route between bridge
groups and between a bridge group and a
routed interface. The bridge group
participates in routing by using a Bridge
Virtual Interface (BVI) to act as a gateway
for the bridge group. Integrated Routing
and Bridging provides an alternative to
using an external Layer 2 switch if you have
extra interfaces on the ASA to assign to the
bridge group. In routed mode, the BVI can
be a named interface and can participate
separately from member interfaces in some
features, such as access rules and DHCP
server.
The following features that are supported
in transparent mode are not supported in
routed mode: multiple context mode, ASA
clustering. The following features are also
not supported on BVIs: dynamic routing
and multicast routing.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup >
Routing > Static Routes
Configuration > Device Management >
DHCP > DHCP Server
Configuration > Firewall > Access Rules
Configuration > Firewall > EtherType
Rules

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History for the Firewall Mode

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Support for transparent mode deployment 9.10(1) You can now specify transparent or routed
for a Firepower 4100/9300 ASA logical mode when you deploy the ASA on a
device Firepower 4100/9300.
New/modified Firepower Chassis Manager
screens:
Logical Devices > Add Device > Settings
New/Modified options: Firewall Mode
drop-down list

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 CHAPTER 8
Startup Wizard
This chapter describes the ASDM Startup Wizard, which guides you through the initial configuration of the
Cisco ASA and helps you define basic settings.
• Access the Startup Wizard, on page 231
• Guidelines for the Startup Wizard, on page 231
• Startup Wizard Screens, on page 231
• History for the Startup Wizard, on page 234

Access the Startup Wizard

To access the Startup Wizard, choose one of the following options:
• Wizards > Startup Wizard.
• Configuration > Device Setup > Startup Wizard, then click Launch Startup Wizard.

Guidelines for the Startup Wizard

Context Mode Guidelines
The Startup Wizard is not supported in the system context.

Startup Wizard Screens

The actual sequence of screens is determined by your specified configuration selections. Each screen is
available for all modes or models unless otherwise noted.

Starting Point or Welcome

• Click the Modify existing configuration radio button to change the existing configuration.
• Click the Reset configuration to factory defaults radio button to set the configuration to the factory
default values.

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Basic Configuration

• Check the Configure the IP address of the management interface check box to configure the IP
address and subnet mask of the Management 0/0 interface to be different from the default value
(192.168.1.1).

Note If you reset the configuration to factory defaults, you cannot undo these changes
by clicking Cancel or by closing this screen.

In multiple context mode, this screen does not include any parameters.

Basic Configuration
Set the hostname, domain name, and enable password in this screen.

Interface Screens
The interface screens depend on the mode and model selected.

Outside Interface Configuration (Routed Mode)

• Configure the IP address of the outside interface (the interface with the lowest security level).
• Configure the IPv6 address.

Outside Interface Configuration - PPPoE (Routed Mode, Single Mode)

Configure the PPPoE settings for the outside interface.

Management IP Address Configuration (Transparent Mode)

For IPv4, a management IP address is required for each bridge group for both management traffic and for
traffic to pass through the ASA. This screen sets the IP address for BVI 1.

Other Interfaces Configuration

Configure parameters for other interfaces.

Static Routes
Configure static routes.

DHCP Server
Configure the DHCP server.

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Address Translation (NAT/PAT)

Address Translation (NAT/PAT)

Configures NAT or PAT for inside addresses (the interface with the highest security level) when accessing
the outside (the interface with the lowest security level). See the firewall configuration guide for more
information.

Administrative Access
• Configure ASDM, Telnet, or SSH access.
• Check the Enable HTTP server for HTTPS/ASDM access check box to enable a secure connection
to an HTTP server to access ASDM.
• Check the Enable ASDM history metrics check box.

IPS Basic Configuration

In single context mode, use the Startup Wizard in ASDM to configure basic IPS network configuration. These
settings are saved to the IPS configuration, not the ASA configuration. See the IPS quick start guide for more
information.

ASA CX Basic Configuration (ASA 5585-X)

You can use the Startup Wizard in ASDM to configure the ASA CX management address and Auth Proxy
Port. These settings are saved to the ASA CX configuration, not the ASA configuration. You will also need
to set additional network settings at the ASA CX CLI. See the ASA CX quick start guide for information
about this screen.

ASA FirePOWER Basic Configuration

You can use the Startup Wizard in ASDM to configure the ASA FirePOWER management address information
and accept the end user license agreement (EULA). These settings are saved to the ASA FirePOWER
configuration, not the ASA configuration. You will also need to configure some settings in the ASA
FirePOWER CLI. For more information, see the chapter on the ASA FirePOWER module in the firewall
configuration guide.

Time Zone and Clock Configuration

Configure the clock parameters.

Auto Update Server (Single Mode)

Follow these guidelines to configure an Auto-Update Server:
• Configure an auto update server by checking the Enable Auto Update Server for ASA check box.
• Check the Enable Signature and Engine Updates from Cisco.com check box if you have an IPS
module. Set the following additional parameters:

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Startup Wizard Summary

• Enter your Cisco.com username and password, then confirm the password.
• Enter the start time in hh:mm:ss format, using a 24-hour clock.

Startup Wizard Summary

This screen summarizes all of the configuration settings that you have made for the ASA.
• Click Back to change any of the settings in previous screens.
• Choose one of the following:
• If you ran the Startup Wizard directly from a browser, when you click Finish, the configuration
settings that you created through the wizard are sent to the ASA and saved in flash memory
automatically.
• If you ran the Startup Wizard from within ASDM, you must explicitly save the configuration in
flash memory by choosing File > Save Running Configuration to Flash.

History for the Startup Wizard

Table 14: History for the Startup Wizard

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Startup Wizard 7.0(1) This wizard was introduced.

We introduced the Wizards > Startup
Wizard screen.

ASA IPS Configuration 8.4(1) For the ASA IPS module, the IPS Basic
Configuration screen was added to the
startup wizard. Signature updates for the
IPS module were also added to the Auto
Update screen. The Time Zone and Clock
Configuration screen was added to ensure
the clock is set on the ASA; the IPS module
gets its clock from the ASA.
We introduced or modified the following
screens:
Wizards > Startup Wizard > IPS Basic
Configuration
Wizards > Startup Wizard > Auto
Update
Wizards > Startup Wizard > Time Zone
and Clock Configuration

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 Getting Started with the ASA
History for the Startup Wizard

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

ASA CX Configuration 9.1(1) For the ASA CX module, the ASA CX

Basic Configuration screen was added to
the startup wizard.
We introduced the following screens:
Wizards > Startup Wizard > ASA CX
Basic Configuration

ASA FirePOWER Configuration 9.2(2.4) For the ASA FirePOWER module, the ASA
FirePOWER Basic Configuration screen
was added to the startup wizard.
We introduced the following screens:
Wizards > Startup Wizard > ASA
FirePOWER Basic Configuration

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History for the Startup Wizard

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PA R T II
High Availability and Scalability
• Multiple Context Mode, on page 239
• Failover for High Availability, on page 273
• Failover for High Availability in the Public Cloud, on page 315
• ASA Cluster, on page 331
• ASA Cluster for the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis, on page 423
 CHAPTER 9
Multiple Context Mode
This chapter describes how to configure multiple security contexts on the Cisco ASA.
• About Security Contexts, on page 239
• Licensing for Multiple Context Mode, on page 249
• Prerequisites for Multiple Context Mode, on page 250
• Guidelines for Multiple Context Mode, on page 250
• Defaults for Multiple Context Mode, on page 252
• Configure Multiple Contexts, on page 252
• Change Between Contexts and the System Execution Space, on page 260
• Manage Security Contexts, on page 261
• Monitoring Security Contexts, on page 264
• History for Multiple Context Mode, on page 267

About Security Contexts

You can partition a single ASA into multiple virtual devices, known as security contexts. Each context acts
as an independent device, with its own security policy, interfaces, and administrators. Multiple contexts are
similar to having multiple standalone devices. For unsupported features in multiple context mode, see Guidelines
for Multiple Context Mode, on page 250.
This section provides an overview of security contexts.

Common Uses for Security Contexts

You might want to use multiple security contexts in the following situations:
• You are a service provider and want to sell security services to many customers. By enabling multiple
security contexts on the ASA, you can implement a cost-effective, space-saving solution that keeps all
customer traffic separate and secure, and also eases configuration.
• You are a large enterprise or a college campus and want to keep departments completely separate.
• You are an enterprise that wants to provide distinct security policies to different departments.
• You have any network that requires more than one ASA.

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Context Configuration Files

Context Configuration Files

This section describes how the ASA implements multiple context mode configurations.

Context Configurations
For each context, the ASA includes a configuration that identifies the security policy, interfaces, and all the
options you can configure on a standalone device. You can store context configurations in flash memory, or
you can download them from a TFTP, FTP, or HTTP(S) server.

System Configuration
The system administrator adds and manages contexts by configuring each context configuration location,
allocated interfaces, and other context operating parameters in the system configuration, which, like a single
mode configuration, is the startup configuration. The system configuration identifies basic settings for the
ASA. The system configuration does not include any network interfaces or network settings for itself; rather,
when the system needs to access network resources (such as downloading the contexts from the server), it
uses one of the contexts that is designated as the admin context. The system configuration does include a
specialized failover interface for failover traffic only.

Admin Context Configuration

The admin context is just like any other context, except that when a user logs in to the admin context, then
that user has system administrator rights and can access the system and all other contexts. The admin context
is not restricted in any way, and can be used as a regular context. However, because logging into the admin
context grants you administrator privileges over all contexts, you might need to restrict access to the admin
context to appropriate users. The admin context must reside on flash memory, and not remotely.
If your system is already in multiple context mode, or if you convert from single mode, the admin context is
created automatically as a file on the internal flash memory called admin.cfg. This context is named “admin.”
If you do not want to use admin.cfg as the admin context, you can change the admin context.

How the ASA Classifies Packets

Each packet that enters the ASA must be classified, so that the ASA can determine to which context to send
a packet.

Note If the destination MAC address is a multicast or broadcast MAC address, the packet is duplicated and delivered
to each context.

Valid Classifier Criteria

This section describes the criteria used by the classifier.

Note For management traffic destined for an interface, the interface IP address is used for classification.
The routing table is not used for packet classification.

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Unique Interfaces

Unique Interfaces
If only one context is associated with the ingress interface, the ASA classifies the packet into that context. In
transparent firewall mode, unique interfaces for contexts are required, so this method is used to classify packets
at all times.

Unique MAC Addresses

If multiple contexts share an interface, then the classifier uses unique MAC addresses assigned to the interface
in each context. An upstream router cannot route directly to a context without unique MAC addresses. You
can enable auto-generation of MAC addresses. You can also set the MAC addresses manually when you
configure each interface.

NAT Configuration
If you do not enable use of unique MAC addresses, then the ASA uses the mapped addresses in your NAT
configuration to classify packets. We recommend using MAC addresses instead of NAT, so that traffic
classification can occur regardless of the completeness of the NAT configuration.

Classification Examples
The following figure shows multiple contexts sharing an outside interface. The classifier assigns the packet
to Context B because Context B includes the MAC address to which the router sends the packet.
Figure 39: Packet Classification with a Shared Interface Using MAC Addresses

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Classification Examples

Note that all new incoming traffic must be classified, even from inside networks. The following figure shows
a host on the Context B inside network accessing the Internet. The classifier assigns the packet to Context B
because the ingress interface is Gigabit Ethernet 0/1.3, which is assigned to Context B.
Figure 40: Incoming Traffic from Inside Networks

For transparent firewalls, you must use unique interfaces. The following figure shows a packet destined to a
host on the Context B inside network from the Internet. The classifier assigns the packet to Context B because
the ingress interface is Gigabit Ethernet 1/0.3, which is assigned to Context B.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Cascading Security Contexts

Figure 41: Transparent Firewall Contexts

Cascading Security Contexts

Placing a context directly in front of another context is called cascading contexts; the outside interface of one
context is the same interface as the inside interface of another context. You might want to cascade contexts
if you want to simplify the configuration of some contexts by configuring shared parameters in the top context.

Note Cascading contexts requires unique MAC addresses for each context interface. Because of the limitations of
classifying packets on shared interfaces without MAC addresses, we do not recommend using cascading
contexts without unique MAC addresses.

The following figure shows a gateway context with two contexts behind the gateway.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Management Access to Security Contexts

Figure 42: Cascading Contexts

Management Access to Security Contexts

The ASA provides system administrator access in multiple context mode as well as access for individual
context administrators.

System Administrator Access

You can access the ASA as a system administrator in two ways:
• Access the ASA console.
From the console, you access the system execution space, which means that any commands you enter
affect only the system configuration or the running of the system (for run-time commands).
• Access the admin context using Telnet, SSH, or ASDM.

As the system administrator, you can access all contexts.

The system execution space does not support any AAA commands, but you can configure its own enable
password, as well as usernames in the local database to provide individual logins.

Context Administrator Access

You can access a context using Telnet, SSH, or ASDM. If you log in to a non-admin context, you can only
access the configuration for that context. You can provide individual logins to the context.

Management Interface Usage

The Management interface is a separate interface just for management traffic.

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About Resource Management

In routed firewall mode, you can share the Management interface across all contexts.
In transparent firewall mode, the Management interface is special. In addition to the maximum allowed
through-traffic interfaces, you can also use the Management interface as a separate management-only interface.
However, in multiple context mode, you cannot share any interfaces across transparent contexts. You can
instead use subinterfaces of the Management interface, and assign one to each context. However, only Firepower
models allow subinterfaces on the Management interface. For ASA models, you must use a data interface or
a subinterface of a data interface, and add it to a bridge group within the context.
For the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis transparent context, neither the Management interface nor subinterface
retains its special status. In this case, you must treat it as a data interface, and add it to a bridge group. (Note
that in single context mode, the Management interface does retain its special status.)
Another consideration about transparent mode: when you enable multiple context mode, all configured
interfaces are automatically assigned to the Admin context. For example, if your default configuration includes
the Management interface, then that interface will be assigned to the Admin context. One option is to leave
the main interface allocated to the Admin context and manage it using the native VLAN, and then use
subinterfaces to manage each context. Keep in mind that if you make the Admin context transparent, its IP
address will be removed; you have to assign it to a bridge group and assign the IP address to the BVI.

About Resource Management

By default, all security contexts have unlimited access to the resources of the ASA, except where maximum
limits per context are enforced; the only exception is VPN resources, which are disabled by default. If you
find that one or more contexts use too many resources, and they cause other contexts to be denied connections,
for example, then you can configure resource management to limit the use of resources per context. For VPN
resources, you must configure resource management to allow any VPN tunnels.

Resource Classes
The ASA manages resources by assigning contexts to resource classes. Each context uses the resource limits
set by the class. To use the settings of a class, assign the context to the class when you define the context. All
contexts belong to the default class if they are not assigned to another class; you do not have to actively assign
a context to default. You can only assign a context to one resource class. The exception to this rule is that
limits that are undefined in the member class are inherited from the default class; so in effect, a context could
be a member of default plus another class.

Resource Limits
You can set the limit for individual resources as a percentage (if there is a hard system limit) or as an absolute
value.
For most resources, the ASA does not set aside a portion of the resources for each context assigned to the
class; rather, the ASA sets the maximum limit for a context. If you oversubscribe resources, or allow some
resources to be unlimited, a few contexts can “use up” those resources, potentially affecting service to other
contexts. The exception is VPN resource types, which you cannot oversubscribe, so the resources assigned
to each context are guaranteed. To accommodate temporary bursts of VPN sessions beyond the amount
assigned, the ASA supports a “burst” VPN resource type, which is equal to the remaining unassigned VPN
sessions. The burst sessions can be oversubscribed, and are available to contexts on a first-come, first-served
basis.

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Default Class

Default Class
All contexts belong to the default class if they are not assigned to another class; you do not have to actively
assign a context to the default class.
If a context belongs to a class other than the default class, those class settings always override the default class
settings. However, if the other class has any settings that are not defined, then the member context uses the
default class for those limits. For example, if you create a class with a 2 percent limit for all concurrent
connections, but no other limits, then all other limits are inherited from the default class. Conversely, if you
create a class with a limit for all resources, the class uses no settings from the default class.
For most resources, the default class provides unlimited access to resources for all contexts, except for the
following limits:
• Telnet sessions—5 sessions. (The maximum per context.)
• SSH sessions—5 sessions. (The maximum per context.)
• ASDM sessions—5 sessions. (The maximum per context.)
• IPsec sessions—5 sessions. (The maximum per context.)
• MAC addresses—65,535 entries. (The maximum for the system.)
• AnyConnect peers—0 sessions. (You must manually configure the class to allow any AnyConnect peers.)
• VPN site-to-site tunnels—0 sessions. (You must manually configure the class to allow any VPN sessions.)
• HTTPS sessions—6 sessions. (The maximum per context.)

The following figure shows the relationship between the default class and other classes. Contexts A and C
belong to classes with some limits set; other limits are inherited from the default class. Context B inherits no
limits from default because all limits are set in its class, the Gold class. Context D was not assigned to a class,
and is by default a member of the default class.
Figure 43: Resource Classes

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Use Oversubscribed Resources

Use Oversubscribed Resources

You can oversubscribe the ASA by assigning more than 100 percent of a resource across all contexts (with
the exception of non-burst VPN resources). For example, you can set the Bronze class to limit connections
to 20 percent per context, and then assign 10 contexts to the class for a total of 200 percent. If contexts
concurrently use more than the system limit, then each context gets less than the 20 percent you intended.
Figure 44: Resource Oversubscription

Use Unlimited Resources

The ASA lets you assign unlimited access to one or more resources in a class, instead of a percentage or
absolute number. When a resource is unlimited, contexts can use as much of the resource as the system has
available. For example, Context A, B, and C are in the Silver Class, which limits each class member to 1
percent of the connections, for a total of 3 percent; but the three contexts are currently only using 2 percent
combined. Gold Class has unlimited access to connections. The contexts in the Gold Class can use more than
the 97 percent of “unassigned” connections; they can also use the 1 percent of connections not currently in
use by Context A, B, and C, even if that means that Context A, B, and C are unable to reach their 3 percent
combined limit. Setting unlimited access is similar to oversubscribing the ASA, except that you have less
control over how much you oversubscribe the system.
Figure 45: Unlimited Resources

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About MAC Addresses

About MAC Addresses

You can manually assign MAC addresses to override the default. For multiple context mode, you can
automatically generate unique MAC addresses (for all interfaces assigned to a context) and single context
mode (for subinterfaces)..

Note You might want to assign unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces defined on the ASA, because they use the
same burned-in MAC address of the parent interface. For example, your service provider might perform access
control based on the MAC address. Also, because IPv6 link-local addresses are generated based on the MAC
address, assigning unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces allows for unique IPv6 link-local addresses, which
can avoid traffic disruption in certain instances on the ASA.

MAC Addresses in Multiple Context Mode

The MAC address is used to classify packets within a context. If you share an interface, but do not have unique
MAC addresses for the interface in each context, then other classification methods are attempted that might
not provide full coverage.
To allow contexts to share interfaces, you should enable auto-generation of virtual MAC addresses to each
shared context interface.

Automatic MAC Addresses

In multiple context mode, auto-generation assigns unique MAC addresses to all interfaces assigned to a
context.
If you manually assign a MAC address and also enable auto-generation, then the manually assigned MAC
address is used. If you later remove the manual MAC address, the auto-generated address is used, if enabled.
In the rare circumstance that the generated MAC address conflicts with another private MAC address in your
network, you can manually set the MAC address for the interface.
Because auto-generated addresses (when using a prefix) start with A2, you cannot start manual MAC addresses
with A2 if you also want to use auto-generation.
The ASA generates the MAC address using the following format:
A2xx.yyzz.zzzz
Where xx.yy is a user-defined prefix or an autogenerated prefix based on the last two bytes of the interface
MAC address, and zz.zzzz is an internal counter generated by the ASA. For the standby MAC address, the
address is identical except that the internal counter is increased by 1.
For an example of how the prefix is used, if you set a prefix of 77, then the ASA converts 77 into the
hexadecimal value 004D (yyxx). When used in the MAC address, the prefix is reversed (xxyy) to match the
ASA native form:
A24D.00zz.zzzz
For a prefix of 1009 (03F1), the MAC address is:
A2F1.03zz.zzzz

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VPN Support

Note The MAC address format without a prefix is a legacy version. See the mac-address auto command in the
command reference for more information about the legacy format.

VPN Support
For VPN resources, you must configure resource management to allow any VPN tunnels.
You can use site-to-site VPN in multiple context mode.
For remote access VPN, you must use AnyConnect 3.x and later for SSL VPN and IKEv2 protocol. You can
customize flash storage per context for AnyConnect images and customizations, as well as using shared flash
memory across all contexts. For unsupported features, see Guidelines for Multiple Context Mode, on page
250. For a detailed list of supported VPN features per ASA release, see History for Multiple Context Mode,
on page 267.

Note The AnyConnect Apex license is required for multiple context mode; you cannot use the default or legacy
license.

Licensing for Multiple Context Mode

Model License Requirement

ASA 5506-X No support.

ASA 5508-X Security Plus License: 2 contexts.

Optional license: 5 contexts.

ASA 5516-X Security Plus License: 2 contexts.

Optional license: 5 contexts.

ASA 5525-X Base License: 2 contexts.

Optional licenses: 5, 10, or 20 contexts.

ASA 5545-X Base License: 2 contexts.

Optional licenses: 5, 10, 20, or 50 contexts.

ASA 5555-X Base License: 2 contexts.

Optional licenses: 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 contexts.

Firepower 1010 No support.

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Prerequisites for Multiple Context Mode

Model License Requirement

Firepower 1100 Base License: 2 contexts.

Optional License, Maximums:
Firepower 1120: 5
Firepower 1140: 5
Firepower 1150: 25

Firepower 2100 Base License: 2 contexts.

Optional License, Maximums in increments of 5 or 10:
Firepower 2110: 25
Firepower 2120: 25
Firepower 2130: 30
Firepower 2140: 40

Firepower 4100 Base License: 10 contexts.

Optional licenses: up to 250 contexts, in increments of 10.

Firepower 9300 Base License: 10 contexts.

Optional licenses: up to 250 contexts, in increments of 10.

ISA 3000 No support.

ASAv No support.

Note The AnyConnect Apex license is required for multiple context mode; you cannot use the default or legacy
license.

Prerequisites for Multiple Context Mode

After you are in multiple context mode, connect tothe admin context to access the system configuration. You
cannot configure the system from a non-admin context. By default, after you enable multiple context mode,
you can connect to the admin context by using the default management IP address.

Guidelines for Multiple Context Mode

Failover
Active/Active mode failover is only supported in multiple context mode.

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Guidelines for Multiple Context Mode

IPv6
Cross-context IPv6 routing is not supported.

Unsupported Features
Multiple context mode does not support the following features:
• RIP
• OSPFv3. (OSPFv2 is supported.)
• Multicast routing
• Threat Detection
• Unified Communications
• QoS
• Static route tracking

Multiple context mode does not currently support the following features for remote access VPN:
• Clientless SSL VPN
• AnyConnect 2.x and earlier
• IKEv1
• WebLaunch
• VLAN Mapping
• HostScan
• VPN load balancing
• Customization
• L2TP/IPsec

Additional Guidelines
• The context mode (single or multiple) is not stored in the configuration file, even though it does endure
reboots. If you need to copy your configuration to another device, set the mode on the new device to
match.
• If you store context configurations in the root directory of flash memory, on some models you might run
out of room in that directory, even though there is available memory. In this case, create a subdirectory
for your configuration files. Background: some models use the FAT 16 file system for internal flash
memory, and if you do not use 8.3-compliant short names, or use uppercase characters, then fewer than
512 files and folders can be stored because the file system uses up slots to store long file names (see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/120138/en-us).

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Defaults for Multiple Context Mode

Defaults for Multiple Context Mode

• By default, the ASA is in single context mode.
• See Default Class, on page 246.

Configure Multiple Contexts

Procedure

Step 1 Enable or Disable Multiple Context Mode, on page 252.

Step 2 (Optional) Configure a Class for Resource Management, on page 254.
Note For VPN support, you must configure VPN resources in a resource class; the default class does not
allow VPN.

Step 3 Configure interfaces in the system execution space.

• ASA 5500-X, Firepower 1100, Firepower 2100 in Appliance mode—Basic Interface Configuration, on
page 491.
• Firepower 2100 in Platform mode—See the getting started guide.
• Firepower 4100/9300—Logical Devices for the Firepower 4100/9300, on page 187

Step 4 Configure a Security Context, on page 258.

Step 5 (Optional) Assign MAC Addresses to Context Interfaces Automatically, on page 260.
Step 6 Complete interface configuration in the context. See Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 541.

Enable or Disable Multiple Context Mode

Your ASA might already be configured for multiple security contexts depending on how you ordered it from
Cisco. If you need to convert from single mode to multiple mode, follow the procedures in this section.
ASDM supports changing modes from single to multiple mode if you use the High Availability and Scalability
Wizard and you enable Active/Active failover. See Failover for High Availability, on page 273 for more
information. If you do not want to use Active/Active failover or want to change back to single mode, you
must change modes using the CLI; because changing modes requires confirmation, you cannot use the
Command Line Interface tool. This section describes changing modes at the CLI.

Enable Multiple Context Mode

When you convert from single mode to multiple mode, the ASA converts the running configuration into two
files: a new startup configuration that comprises the system configuration, and admin.cfg that comprises the
admin context (in the root directory of the internal flash memory). The original running configuration is saved

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Enable Multiple Context Mode

as old_running.cfg (in the root directory of the internal flash memory). The original startup configuration is
not saved. The ASA automatically adds an entry for the admin context to the system configuration with the
name “admin.”

Before you begin

Back up your startup configuration if it differs from the running configuration. When you convert from single
mode to multiple mode, the ASA converts the running configuration into two files. The original startup
configuration is not saved. See Manage Files, on page 974.

Procedure

Change to multiple context mode.

mode multiple
Example:
You are prompted to change the mode and convert the configuration, and then the system reloads.
Note You will have to regenerate the RSA key pair in the Admin context before you can reestablish an
SSH connection. From the console, enter the crypto key generate rsa modulus command. See
Configure SSH Access, on page 925 for more information.

Example:

ciscoasa(config)# mode multiple

WARNING: This command will change the behavior of the device
WARNING: This command will initiate a Reboot
Proceed with change mode? [confirm]
Convert the system configuration? [confirm]
!
The old running configuration file will be written to flash

Converting the configuration - this may take several minutes for a large configuration

The admin context configuration will be written to flash

The new running configuration file was written to flash

Security context mode: multiple
ciscoasa(config)#

***
*** --- START GRACEFUL SHUTDOWN ---
***
*** Message to all terminals:
***
*** change mode
Shutting down isakmp
Shutting down webvpn
Shutting down License Controller
Shutting down File system

***
*** --- SHUTDOWN NOW ---
***

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Restore Single Context Mode

*** Message to all terminals:

***
*** change mode

Restore Single Context Mode

To copy the old running configuration to the startup configuration and to change the mode to single mode,
perform the following steps.

Before you begin

Perform this procedure in the system execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 Copy the backup version of your original running configuration to the current startup configuration:
copy disk0:old_running.cfg startup-config
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# copy disk0:old_running.cfg startup-config

Step 2 Set the mode to single mode:

mode single
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# mode single

You are prompted to reboot the ASA.

Configure a Class for Resource Management

To configure a class in the system configuration, perform the following steps. You can change the value of a
particular resource limit by reentering the command with a new value.

Before you begin

• Perform this procedure in the system execution space.
• The following table lists the resource types and the limits.

Note If the System Limit is N/A, then you cannot set a percentage of the resource
because there is no hard system limit for the resource.

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Table 15: Resource Names and Limits

Minimum and
Maximum Number
Resource Name Rate or Concurrent per Context System Limit Description

ASDM Sessions Concurrent 1 minimum 200 ASDM management sessions.

5 maximum ASDM sessions use two HTTPS
connections: one for monitoring that is
always present, and one for making
configuration changes that is present
only when you make changes. For
example, the system limit of 200 ASDM
sessions represents a limit of
400 HTTPS sessions.

Connections Concurrent or Rate N/A Concurrent connections: See TCP or UDP connections between any
Supported Feature Licenses two hosts, including connections
Conns/sec
Per Model, on page 114 for between one host and multiple other
the connection limit available hosts.
for your model.
Note Syslog messages are
Rate: N/A generated for whichever
limit is lower, xlates or
conns. For example, if you
set the xlates limit to 7 and
the conns to 9, then the ASA
only generates syslog
message 321001 (“Resource
'xlates' limit of 7 reached for
context 'ctx1'”) and not
321002 (“Resource 'conn
rate' limit of 5 reached for
context 'ctx1'”).

Hosts Concurrent N/A N/A Hosts that can connect through the ASA.

Inspects/sec Rate N/A N/A Application inspections per second.

MAC Entries Concurrent N/A 65,535 For transparent firewall mode, the
number of MAC addresses allowed in
the MAC address table.

Routes Concurrent N/A N/A Dynamic routes.

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Minimum and
Maximum Number
Resource Name Rate or Concurrent per Context System Limit Description

AnyConnect Burst Concurrent N/A The AnyConnect Premium The number of AnyConnect sessions
Peers for your model minus allowed beyond the amount assigned to
the sum of the sessions a context with AnyConnect. For
assigned to all contexts for example, if your model supports 5000
AnyConnect. peers, and you assign 4000 peers across
all contexts with AnyConnect, then the
remaining 1000 sessions are available
for AnyConnect Burst. Unlike
AnyConnect, which guarantees the
sessions to the context, AnyConnect
Burst can be oversubscribed; the burst
pool is available to all contexts on a
first-come, first-served basis.

AnyConnect Concurrent N/A See Supported Feature AnyConnect peers. You cannot
Licenses Per Model, on page oversubscribe this resource; all context
114 for the AnyConnect assignments combined cannot exceed
Premium Peers available for the model limit. The peers you assign
your model. for this resource are guaranteed to the
context.

Other VPN Burst Concurrent N/A The Other VPN session The number of site-to-site VPN sessions
amount for your model minus allowed beyond the amount assigned to
the sum of the sessions a context with Other VPN. For example,
assigned to all contexts for if your model supports 5000 sessions,
Other VPN. and you assign 4000 sessions across all
contexts with Other VPN, then the
remaining 1000 sessions are available
for Other VPN Burst. Unlike Other
VPN, which guarantees the sessions to
the context, Other VPN Burst can be
oversubscribed; the burst pool is
available to all contexts on a first-come,
first-served basis.

Other VPN Concurrent N/A See Supported Feature Site-to-site VPN sessions. You cannot
Licenses Per Model, on page oversubscribe this resource; all context
114 for the Other VPN assignments combined cannot exceed
sessions available for your the model limit. The sessions you assign
model. for this resource are guaranteed to the
context.

IKEv1 SAs In Concurrent N/A A percentage of the Other Incoming IKEv1 SA negotiations, as a
Negotiation (percentage only) VPN sessions assigned to this percentage of the context Other VPN
context. See the Other VPN limit.
resources to assign sessions
to the context.

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Minimum and
Maximum Number
Resource Name Rate or Concurrent per Context System Limit Description

SSH Concurrent 1 minimum 100 SSH sessions.

5 maximum

Storage MB The maximum The maximum depends on Storage limit of context directory in
depends on your your specified flash memory MB.
specified flash drive
memory drive

Syslogs/sec Rate N/A N/A Syslog messages per second.

Telnet Concurrent 1 minimum 100 Telnet sessions.

5 maximum

Xlates Concurrent N/A N/A Network address translations.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Context Management > Resource Class, and click Add.
The Add Resource Class dialog box appears.
Step 3 Enter a class name up to 20 characters in length, in the Resource Class field.
Step 4 In the Count Limited Resources area, set the concurrent limits for resources,.
See the preceding table for a description of each resource type.
For resources that do not have a system limit, you cannot set the percentage; you can only set an absolute
value. If you do not set a limit, the limit is inherited from the default class. If the default class does not set a
limit, then the resource is unlimited, or the system limit if available. For most resources, 0 sets the limit to
unlimited. For VPN types, 0 sets the limit none.
Note If you also set the Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Management
Session Quota within a context to set the maximum administrative sessions (SSH, etc.), then the
lower value will be used.

Step 5 In the Rate Limited Resources area, set the rate limit for resources.
See the preceding table for a description of each resource type.
If you do not set a limit, the limit is inherited from the default class. If the default class does not set a limit,
then it is unlimited by default. 0 sets the limit to unlimited.

Step 6 Click OK.

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Configure a Security Context

The security context definition in the system configuration identifies the context name, configuration file
URL, interfaces that a context can use, and other settings.

Before you begin

• Perform this procedure in the system execution space.
• Configure interfaces. For transparent mode contexts, you cannot share interfaces between contexts, so
you might want to use subinterfaces. To plan for Management interface usage, see Management Interface
Usage, on page 244.
• ASA 5500-X, Firepower 1100, Firepower 2100 in Appliance mode—Basic Interface Configuration,
on page 491.
• Firepower 2100 in Platform mode—See the getting started guide.
• Firepower 4100/9300—Logical Devices for the Firepower 4100/9300, on page 187

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts, and click Add.
The Add Context dialog box appears.

Step 3 In the Security Context field, enter the context name as a string up to 32 characters long.
This name is case sensitive, so you can have two contexts named “customerA” and “CustomerA,” for example.
“System” or “Null” (in upper or lower case letters) are reserved names, and cannot be used.

Step 4 In the Interface Allocation area, click the Add button to assign an interface to the context.
a) From the Interfaces > Physical Interface drop-down list, choose an interface.
You can assign the main interface, in which case you leave the subinterface ID blank, or you can assign
a subinterface or a range of subinterfaces associated with this interface. In transparent firewall mode, only
interfaces that have not been allocated to other contexts are shown. If the main interface was already
assigned to another context, then you must choose a subinterface.
b) (Optional) In the Interfaces > Subinterface Range drop-down list, choose a subinterface ID.
For a range of subinterface IDs, choose the ending ID in the second drop-down list, if available.
In transparent firewall mode, only subinterfaces that have not been allocated to other contexts are shown.
c) (Optional) In the Aliased Names area, check Use Aliased Name in Context to set an aliased name for
this interface to be used in the context configuration instead of the interface ID.
• In the Name field, set the aliased name.
An aliased name must start with a letter, end with a letter, and have as interior characters only letters,
digits, or an underscore. This field lets you specify a name that ends with a letter or underscore; to
add an optional digit after the name, set the digit in the Range field.

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• (Optional) In the Range field, set the numeric suffix for the aliased name.
If you have a range of subinterfaces, you can enter a range of digits to be appended to the name.

d) (Optional)Check Show Hardware Properties in Context to enable context users to see physical interface
properties even if you set an aliased name.
e) Click OK to return to the Add Context dialog box.
Step 5 (Optional) In the IPS Sensor Allocation area, assign a sensor to the context if you use IPS virtual sensors.
For detailed information about IPS and virtual sensors, see the IPS quick start guide.

Step 6 (Optional) In the Resource Assignment area, choose a class name from the Resource Class drop-down list
to assign this context to a resource class.
You can add or edit a resource class directly from this area.

Step 7 From the Config URL drop-down list, choose a file system type. In the field, identify the URL for the context
configuration location.
For example, the combined URL for FTP has the following format:
ftp://server.example.com/configs/admin.cfg

Step 8 (Optional) Click Login to set the username and password for external file systems.
Step 9 (Optional) From the Failover Group drop-down list, choose the group name to set the failover group for
Active/Active failover.
Step 10 (Optional) For Cloud Web Security, click Enable to enable Web Security inspection in this context. To
override the license set in the system configuration, enter a license in the License field.
Step 11 (Optional) In the Description field, add a description.
Step 12 (Optional) In the Storage URL Assignment area, you can allow each context to use flash memory to store
VPN packages, such as AnyConnect, as well as providing storage for AnyConnect and clientless SSL VPN
portal customizations. For example, if you are using multiple context mode to configure an AnyConnect
profile with Dynamic Access Policies, you must plan for context specific private and shared storage. Each
context can use a private storage space as well as a shared read-only storage space. Note: Make sure the target
directory is already present on the specified disk using Tools > File Management.
a) Check the Configure private storage assignment check box, and from the Select drop-down list, choose
the private storage directory. You can specify one private storage space per context. You can
read/write/delete from this directory within the context (as well as from the system execution space).
Under the specified path, the ASA creates a sub-directory named after the context. For example, for
contextA if you specify disk1:/private-storage for the path, then the ASA creates a sub-directory for this
context at disk1:/private-storage/contextA/. You can also optionally name the path within the context
by entering a name in the is mapped to field so that the file system is not exposed to context administrators.
For example, if you specify the mapped name as context, then from within the context, this directory is
called context:. To control how much disk space is allowed per context, see Configure a Class for Resource
Management, on page 254.
b) Check the Configure shared storage assignment check box, and from the Select drop-down list, choose
the shared storage directory. You can specify one read-only shared storage space per context, but you
can create multiple shared directories. To reduce duplication of common large files that can be shared
among all contexts, such as AnyConnect packages, you can use the shared storage space. The ASA does
not create context sub-directories for this storage space because it is a shared space for multiple contexts.
Only the system execution space can write and delete from the shared directory.
Step 13 Click OK to return to the Security Contexts pane.

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Step 14 (Optional) Select the context, and click Change Firewall Mode to set the firewall mode to transparent.
If this is a new context, there is no configuration to erase. Click Change Mode to change to transparent
firewall mode.
If this is an existing context, then be sure to back up the configuration before you change the mode.
Note You cannot change the mode of the currently connected context in ASDM (typically the admin
context); see Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode), on page 215 to set the mode at the command
line.

Step 15 (Optional) To customize auto-generation of MAC addresses, see Assign MAC Addresses to Context Interfaces
Automatically, on page 260.
Step 16 (Optional) Check the Specify the maximum number of TLS Proxy sessions that the ASA needs to support
check box, to specify the maximum TLS Proxy sessions for the device. For more information about TLS
proxy, see the firewall configuration guide.

Assign MAC Addresses to Context Interfaces Automatically

This section describes how to configure auto-generation of MAC addresses. The MAC address is used to
classify packets within a context.

Before you begin

• When you configure a name for the interface in a context, the new MAC address is generated immediately.
If you enable this feature after you configure context interfaces, then MAC addresses are generated for
all interfaces immediately after you enable it. If you disable this feature, the MAC address for each
interface reverts to the default MAC address. For example, subinterfaces of GigabitEthernet 0/1 revert
to using the MAC address of GigabitEthernet 0/1.
• In the rare circumstance that the generated MAC address conflicts with another private MAC address in
your network, you can manually set the MAC address for the interface within the context.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts, and check Mac-Address auto. If
you do not enter a prefix, then the ASA autogenerates the prefix based on the last two bytes of the interface.
Step 3 (Optional) Check the Prefix check box, and in the field, enter a decimal value between 0 and 65535.
This prefix is converted to a four-digit hexadecimal number, and used as part of the MAC address.

Change Between Contexts and the System Execution Space

If you log in to the system execution space (or the admin context), you can change between contexts and
perform configuration and monitoring tasks within each context. The running configuration that you edit in

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a configuration mode depends on your location. When you are in the system execution space, the running
configuration consists only of the system configuration; when you are in a context, the running configuration
consists only of that context.

Procedure

Step 1 In the Device List pane, double-click System under the active device IP address, to configure the System.
Step 2 In the Device List pane, double-click the context name under the active device IP address, to configure a
context.

Manage Security Contexts

This section describes how to manage security contexts.

Remove a Security Context

You cannot remove the current admin context.

Note If you use failover, there is a delay between when you remove the context on the active unit and when the
context is removed on the standby unit.

Before you begin

Perform this procedure in the system execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts.
Step 3 Select the context you want to delete, and click Delete.
The Delete Context dialog box appears.

Step 4 If you might want to re-add this context later, and want to keep the configuration file for future use, uncheck
the Also delete config URL file from the disk check box.
If you want to delete the configuration file, then leave the check box checked.

Step 5 Click Yes.

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Change the Admin Context

Change the Admin Context

The system configuration does not include any network interfaces or network settings for itself; rather, when
the system needs to access network resources (such as downloading the contexts from the server), it uses one
of the contexts that is designated as the admin context.
The admin context is just like any other context, except that when a user logs in to the admin context, then
that user has system administrator rights and can access the system and all other contexts. The admin context
is not restricted in any way, and can be used as a regular context. However, because logging into the admin
context grants you administrator privileges over all contexts, you might need to restrict access to the admin
context to appropriate users.

Note For ASDM, you cannot change the admin context within ASDM because your ASDM session would disconnect.
You can perform this procedure using the Command Line Interface tool noting that you will have to reconnect
to the new admin context.

Before you begin

• You can set any context to be the admin context, as long as the configuration file is stored in the internal
flash memory.
• Perform this procedure in the system execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Tools > Command Line Interface.
The Command Line Interface dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the following command:

admin-context context_name

Step 4 Click Send.

Any remote management sessions, such as Telnet, SSH, or HTTPS (ASDM), that are connected to the admin
context are terminated. You must reconnect to the new admin context.
Note A few system configuration commands, including ntp server, identify an interface name that belongs
to the admin context. If you change the admin context, and that interface name does not exist in the
new admin context, be sure to update any system commands that refer to the interface.

Change the Security Context URL

This section describes how to change the context URL.

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Reload a Security Context

Before you begin

• You cannot change the security context URL without reloading the configuration from the new URL.
The ASA merges the new configuration with the current running configuration.
• Reentering the same URL also merges the saved configuration with the running configuration.
• A merge adds any new commands from the new configuration to the running configuration.
• If the configurations are the same, no changes occur.
• If commands conflict or if commands affect the running of the context, then the effect of the merge
depends on the command. You might get errors, or you might have unexpected results. If the running
configuration is blank (for example, if the server was unavailable and the configuration was never
downloaded), then the new configuration is used.

• If you do not want to merge the configurations, you can clear the running configuration, which disrupts
any communications through the context, and then reload the configuration from the new URL.
• Perform this procedure in the system execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts.
Step 3 Select the context you want to edit, and click Edit.
The Edit Context dialog box appears.

Step 4 Enter a new URL in the Config URL field, and click OK.
The system immediately loads the context so that it is running.

Reload a Security Context

You can reload the context in two ways:
• Clear the running configuration and then import the startup configuration.
This action clears most attributes associated with the context, such as connections and NAT tables.
• Remove the context from the system configuration.
This action clears additional attributes, such as memory allocation, which might be useful for
troubleshooting. However, to add the context back to the system requires you to respecify the URL and
interfaces.

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Reload by Clearing the Configuration

Procedure

Step 1 In the Device List pane, double-click the context name under the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Tools > Command Line Interface.
The Command Line Interface dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the following command:

clear configure all

Step 4 Click Send.

The context configuration is cleared.

Step 5 Choose Tools > Command Line Interface again.

The Command Line Interface dialog box appears.

Step 6 Enter the following command:

copy startup-config running-config

Step 7 Click Send.

The ASA reloads the configuration. The ASA copies the configuration from the URL specified in the system
configuration. You cannot change the URL from within a context.

Reload by Removing and Re-adding the Context

To reload the context by removing the context and then re-adding it, perform the steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Remove a Security Context, on page 261. Be sure to uncheck the Also delete config URL file from the disk
check box.
Step 2 Configure a Security Context, on page 258

Monitoring Security Contexts

This section describes how to view and monitor context information.

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Monitor Context Resource Usage

Monitor Context Resource Usage

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under the active
device IP address.
Step 2 Click the Monitoring button on the toolbar.
Step 3 Click Context Resource Usage.
Click each resource type to view the resource usage for all contexts:
• ASDM/Telnet/SSH—Shows the usage of ASDM, Telnet, and SSH connections.
• Context—Shows the name of each context.
For each access method, see the following usage statistics:
• Existing Connections (#)—Shows the number of existing connections.
• Existing Connections (%)—Shows the connections used by this context as a percentage of the total
number of connections used by all contexts.
• Peak Connections (#)—Shows the peak number of connections since the statistics were last cleared,
either using the clear resource usage command or because the device rebooted.

• Routes—Shows the usage of dynamic routes.

• Context—Shows the name of each context.
• Existing Connections (#)—Shows the number of existing connections.
• Existing Connections (%)—Shows the connections used by this context as a percentage of the total
number of connections used by all contexts.
• Peak Connections (#)—Shows the peak number of connections since the statistics were last cleared,
either using the clear resource usage command or because the device rebooted.

• Xlates—Shows the usage of network address translations.

• Context—Shows the name of each context.
• Xlates (#)—Shows the number of current xlates.
• Xlates (%)—Shows the xlates used by this context as a percentage of the total number of xlates
used by all contexts.
• Peak (#)—Shows the peak number of xlates since the statistics were last cleared, either using the
clear resource usage command or because the device rebooted.

• NATs—Shows the number of NAT rules.

• Context—Shows the name of each context.
• NATs (#)—Shows the current number of NAT rules.

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• NATs (%)—Shows the NAT rules used by this context as a percentage of the total number of NAT
rules used by all contexts.
• Peak NATs (#)—Shows the peak number of NAT rules since the statistics were last cleared, either
using the clear resource usage command or because the device rebooted.

• Syslogs—Shows the rate of system log messages.

• Context—Shows the name of each context.
• Syslog Rate (#/sec)—Shows the current rate of system log messages.
• Syslog Rate (%)—Shows the system log messages generated by this context as a percentage of the
total number of system log messages generated by all contexts.
• Peak Syslog Rate (#/sec)—Shows the peak rate of system log messages since the statistics were
last cleared, either using the clear resource usage command or because the device rebooted.

• VPN—Shows the usage of VPN site-to-site tunnels.

• Context—Shows the name of each context.
• VPN Connections—Shows usage of guaranteed VPN sessions.
• VPN Burst Connections—Shows usage of burst VPN sessions.
• Existing (#)—Shows the number of existing tunnels.
• Peak (#)—Shows the peak number of tunnels since the statistics were last cleared, either using
the clear resource usage command or because the device rebooted.

Step 4 Click Refresh to refresh the view.

View Assigned MAC Addresses

You can view auto-generated MAC addresses within the system configuration or within the context.

View MAC Addresses in the System Configuration

This section describes how to view MAC addresses in the system configuration.

Before you begin

If you manually assign a MAC address to an interface, but also have auto-generation enabled, the auto-generated
address continues to show in the configuration even though the manual MAC address is the one that is in use.
If you later remove the manual MAC address, the auto-generated one shown will be used.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

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Step 2 Choose Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts, and view the Primary MAC and
Secondary MAC columns.

View MAC Addresses Within a Context

This section describes how to view MAC addresses within a context.

Procedure

Step 1 If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Interfaces, and view the MAC Address address column.
This table shows the MAC address in use; if you manually assign a MAC address and also have auto-generation
enabled, then you can only view the unused auto-generated address from within the system configuration.

History for Multiple Context Mode

Table 16: History for Multiple Context Mode

Feature Name Platform Feature Information

Releases

Multiple security contexts 7.0(1) Multiple context mode was introduced.

We introduced the following screens: Configuration > Context Management.

Automatic MAC address assignment 7.2(1) Automatic assignment of MAC address to context interfaces was introduced.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Security
Contexts.

Resource management 7.2(1) Resource management was introduced.

We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Resource
Management.

Virtual sensors for IPS 8.0(2) The AIP SSM running IPS software Version 6.0 and above can run multiple virtual
sensors, which means you can configure multiple security policies on the AIP SSM.
You can assign each context or single mode ASA to one or more virtual sensors, or
you can assign multiple security contexts to the same virtual sensor.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Security
Contexts.

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History for Multiple Context Mode

Feature Name Platform Feature Information

Releases

Automatic MAC address assignment 8.0(5)/8.2(2) The MAC address format was changed to use a prefix, to use a fixed starting value
enhancements (A2), and to use a different scheme for the primary and secondary unit MAC addresses
in a failover pair. The MAC addresses are also now persistent across reloads. The
command parser now checks if auto-generation is enabled; if you want to also
manually assign a MAC address, you cannot start the manual MAC address with A2.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Security
Contexts.

Maximum contexts increased for the 8.4(1) The maximum security contexts for the ASA 5550 was increased from 50 to 100.
ASA 5550 and 5580 The maximum for the ASA 5580 was increased from 50 to 250.

Automatic MAC address assignment 8.5(1) Automatic MAC address assignment is now enabled by default.
enabled by default
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Security
Contexts.

Automatic generation of a MAC 8.6(1) In multiple context mode, the ASA now converts the automatic MAC address
address prefix generation configuration to use a default prefix. The ASA auto-generates the prefix
based on the last two bytes of the interface (ASA 5500-X) or backplane (ASASM)
MAC address. This conversion happens automatically when you reload, or if you
reenable MAC address generation. The prefix method of generation provides many
benefits, including a better guarantee of unique MAC addresses on a segment. If you
want to change the prefix, you can reconfigure the feature with a custom prefix. The
legacy method of MAC address generation is no longer available.
Note To maintain hitless upgrade for failover pairs, the ASA does not convert
the MAC address method in an existing configuration upon a reload if
failover is enabled. However, we strongly recommend that you manually
change to the prefix method of generation when using failover, especially
for the ASASM. Without the prefix method, ASASMs installed in different
slot numbers experience a MAC address change upon failover, and can
experience traffic interruption. After upgrading, to use the prefix method
of MAC address generation, reenable MAC address generation to use the
default prefix.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Security
Contexts

Automatic MAC address assignment 9.0(1) Automatic MAC address assignment is now disabled by default except for the
disabled by default on all models ASASM.
except for the ASASM
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Security
Contexts.

Dynamic routing in Security Contexts 9.0(1) EIGRP and OSPFv2 dynamic routing protocols are now supported in multiple context
mode. OSPFv3, RIP, and multicast routing are not supported.

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History for Multiple Context Mode

Feature Name Platform Feature Information

Releases

New resource type for routing table 9.0(1) A new resource type, routes, was created to set the maximum number of routing table
entries entries in each context.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Resource
Class > Add Resource Class

Site-to-Site VPN in multiple context 9.0(1) Site-to-site VPN tunnels are now supported in multiple context mode.
mode

New resource type for site-to-site 9.0(1) New resource types, vpn other and vpn burst other, were created to set the maximum
VPN tunnels number of site-to-site VPN tunnels in each context.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Resource
Class > Add Resource Class

New resource type for IKEv1 SA 9.1(2) New resource type, ikev1 in-negotiation, was created to set the maximum percentage
negotiations of IKEv1 SA negotiations in each context to prevent overwhelming the CPU and
crypto engines. Under certain conditions (large certificates, CRL checking), you
might want to restrict this resource.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management > Resource
Class > Add Resource Class

Support for Remote Access VPN in 9.5(2) You can now use the following remote access features in multiple context mode:
multiple context mode
• AnyConnect 3.x and later (SSL VPN only; no IKEv2 support)
• Centralized AnyConnect image configuration
• AnyConnect image upgrade
• Context Resource Management for AnyConnect connections

Note The AnyConnect Apex license is required for multiple context mode; you
cannot use the default or legacy license.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Context Management >

Resource Class > Add Resource Class

Pre-fill/Username-from-cert feature 9.6(2) AnyConnect SSL support is extended, allowing pre-fill/username-from-certificate

for multiple context mode feature CLIs, previously available only in single mode, to be enabled in multiple
context mode as well.
We did not modify any screens.

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History for Multiple Context Mode

Feature Name Platform Feature Information

Releases

Flash Virtualization for Remote 9.6(2) Remote access VPN in multiple context mode now supports flash virtualization. Each
Access VPN context can have a private storage space and a shared storage place based on the total
flash that is available:
• Private storage—Store files associated only with that user and specific to the
content that you want for that user.
• Shared storage—Upload files to this space and have it accessible to any user
context for read/write access once you enable it.

We modified the following screens: Configuration > Context Management >

Resource Class > Add Resource Class
Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts

AnyConnect client profiles supported 9.6(2) AnyConnect client profiles are supported in multi-context devices. To add a new
in multi-context devices profile using ASDM, you must have the AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client release
4.2.00748 or 4.3.03013 and later.

Stateful failover for AnyConnect 9.6(2) Stateful failover is now supported for AnyConnect connections in multiple context
connections in multiple context mode mode.
We did not modify any screens.

Remote Access VPN Dynamic Access 9.6(2) You can now configure DAP per context in multiple context mode.
Policy (DAP) is supported in multiple
We did not modify any screens.
context mode

Remote Access VPN CoA (Change 9.6(2) You can now configure CoA per context in multiple context mode.
of Authorization) is supported in
We did not modify any screens.
multiple context mode

Remote Access VPN localization is 9.6(2) Localization is supported globally. There is only one set of localization files that are
supported in multiple context mode shared across different contexts.
We did not modify any screens.

Remote Access VPN for IKEv2 is 9.9(2) You can configure Remote Access VPN in multiple context mode for IKEv2.
supported in multiple context mode

Configurable limitation of admin 9.12(1) You can configure the maximum number of aggregate, per user, and per-protocol
sessions administrative sessions. Formerly, you could configure only the aggregate number
of sessions. This feature does not affect console sessions. Note that in multiple context
mode, you cannot configure the number of HTTPS sessions, where the maximum is
fixed at 5 sessions. The quota management-session command is also no longer
accepted in the system configuration, and is instead available in the context
configuration. The maximum aggregate sessions is now 15; if you configured 0
(unlimited) or 16+, then when you upgrade, the value is changed to 15.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > Management
Access > Management Session Quota

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History for Multiple Context Mode

Feature Name Platform Feature Information

Releases

HTTPS resource management 9.12(1) You can now set the maximum number of non-ASDM HTTPS sessions in a resource
class. By default, the limit is set to 6 per context, the maximum. You can use up to
100 HTTPS sesssions across all contexts.
New/Modified commands: limit-resource http
No ASDM support.

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 CHAPTER 10
Failover for High Availability
This chapter describes how to configure Active/Standby or Active/Active failover to accomplish high availability
of the Cisco ASA.
• About Failover, on page 273
• Licensing for Failover, on page 293
• Guidelines for Failover, on page 295
• Defaults for Failover, on page 296
• Configure Active/Standby Failover, on page 297
• Configure Active/Active Failover, on page 298
• Configure Optional Failover Parameters, on page 299
• Manage Failover, on page 305
• Monitoring Failover, on page 309
• History for Failover, on page 311

About Failover
Configuring failover requires two identical ASAs connected to each other through a dedicated failover link
and, optionally, a state link. The health of the active units and interfaces is monitored to determine whether
they meet the specific failover conditions. If those conditions are met, failover occurs.

Failover Modes
The ASA supports two failover modes, Active/Active failover and Active/Standby failover. Each failover
mode has its own method for determining and performing failover.
• In Active/Standby failover, one device functions as the Active unit and passes traffic. The second device,
designated as the Standby unit, does not actively pass traffic. When a failover occurs, the Active unit
fails over to the Standby unit, which then becomes Active. You can use Active/Standby failover for
ASAs in single or multiple context mode.
• In an Active/Active failover configuration, both ASAs can pass network traffic. Active/Active failover
is only available to ASAs in multiple context mode. In Active/Active failover, you divide the security
contexts on the ASA into 2 failover groups. A failover group is simply a logical group of one or more
security contexts. One group is assigned to be Active on the primary ASA, and the other group is assigned
to be active on the Secondary ASA. When a failover occurs, it occurs at the failover group level.

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Failover System Requirements

Both failover modes support stateful or stateless failover.

Failover System Requirements

This section describes the hardware, software, and license requirements for ASAs in a Failover configuration.

Hardware Requirements
The two units in a Failover configuration must:
• Be the same model. In addition, for container instances, they must use the same resource profile attributes.
For the Firepower 9300, High Availability is only supported between same-type modules; but the two
chassis can include mixed modules. For example, each chassis has an SM-36 and SM-44. You can create
High Availability pairs between the SM-36 modules and between the SM-44 modules.
• Have the same number and types of interfaces.
For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode and Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, all interfaces must be
preconfigured in FXOS identically before you enable Failover. If you change the interfaces after you
enable Failover, make the interface changes in FXOS on the Standby unit, and then make the same
changes on the Active unit. If you remove an interface in FXOS (for example, if you remove a network
module, remove an EtherChannel, or reassign an interface to an EtherChannel), then the ASA configuration
retains the original commands so that you can make any necessary adjustments; removing an interface
from the configuration can have wide effects. You can manually remove the old interface configuration
in the ASA OS.
• Have the same modules installed (if any).
• Have the same RAM installed.

If you are using units with different flash memory sizes in your Failover configuration, make sure the unit
with the smaller flash memory has enough space to accommodate the software image files and the configuration
files. If it does not, configuration synchronization from the unit with the larger flash memory to the unit with
the smaller flash memory will fail.

Software Requirements
The two units in a Failover configuration must:
• Be in the same context mode (single or multiple).
• For single mode: Be in the same firewall mode (routed or transparent).
In multiple context mode, the firewall mode is set at the context-level, and you can use mixed modes.
• Have the same major (first number) and minor (second number) software version. However, you can
temporarily use different versions of the software during an upgrade process; for example, you can
upgrade one unit from Version 8.3(1) to Version 8.3(2) and have failover remain active. We recommend
upgrading both units to the same version to ensure long-term compatibility.
• Have the same AnyConnect images. If the failover pair has mismatched images when a hitless upgrade
is performed, then the clientless SSL VPN connection terminates in the final reboot step of the upgrade
process, the database shows an orphaned session, and the IP pool shows that the IP address assigned to
the client is “in use.”

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License Requirements

• Be in the same FIPS mode.

• (Firepower 4100/9300) Have the same flow offload mode, either both enabled or both disabled.

License Requirements
The two units in a failover configuration do not need to have identical licenses; the licenses combine to make
a failover cluster license.

Failover and Stateful Failover Links

The failover link and the optional stateful failover link are dedicated connections between the two units. Cisco
recommends to use the same interface between two devices in a failover link or a stateful failover link. For
example, in a failover link, if you have used eth0 in device 1, use the same interface (eth0) in device 2 as well.

Caution All information sent over the failover and state links is sent in clear text unless you secure the communication
with an IPsec tunnel or a failover key. If the ASA is used to terminate VPN tunnels, this information includes
any usernames, passwords and preshared keys used for establishing the tunnels. Transmitting this sensitive
data in clear text could pose a significant security risk. We recommend securing the failover communication
with an IPsec tunnel or a failover key if you are using the ASA to terminate VPN tunnels.

Failover Link
The two units in a failover pair constantly communicate over a failover link to determine the operating status
of each unit.

Failover Link Data

The following information is communicated over the failover link:
• The unit state (active or standby)
• Hello messages (keep-alives)
• Network link status
• MAC address exchange
• Configuration replication and synchronization

Interface for the Failover Link

You can use an unused data interface (physical, subinterface, redundant, or EtherChannel) as the failover link;
however, you cannot specify an interface that is currently configured with a name. The failover link interface
is not configured as a normal networking interface; it exists for failover communication only. This interface
can only be used for the failover link (and also for the state link). For most models, you cannot use a
management interface for failover unless explicitly described below.
The ASA does not support sharing interfaces between user data and the failover link. You also cannot use
separate subinterfaces on the same parent for the failover link and for data.
See the following guidelines for the failover link:

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Connecting the Failover Link

• 5506-X through 5555-X—You cannot use the Management interface as the failover link; you must use
a data interface. The only exception is for the 5506H-X, where you can use the management interface
as the failover link.
• 5506H-X—You can use the Management 1/1 interface as the failover link. If you configure it for failover,
you must reload the device for the change to take effect. In this case, you cannot also use the ASA
Firepower module, because it requires the Management interface for management purposes.
• Firepower 4100/9300—We recommend that you use a 10 GB data interface for the combined failover
and state link. You cannot use the management-type interface for the failover link.
• All other models—1 GB interface is large enough for a combined failover and state link.

For a redundant interface used as the failover link, see the following benefits for added redundancy:
• When a failover unit boots up, it alternates between the member interfaces to detect an active unit.
• If a failover unit stops receiving keepalive messages from its peer on one of the member interfaces, it
switches to the other member interface.

For an EtherChannel used as the failover link, to prevent out-of-order packets, only one interface in the
EtherChannel is used. If that interface fails, then the next interface in the EtherChannel is used. You cannot
alter the EtherChannel configuration while it is in use as a failover link.

Connecting the Failover Link

Connect the failover link in one of the following two ways:
• Using a switch, with no other device on the same network segment (broadcast domain or VLAN) as the
failover interfaces of the ASA.
• Using an Ethernet cable to connect the units directly, without the need for an external switch.

If you do not use a switch between the units, if the interface fails, the link is brought down on both peers. This
condition may hamper troubleshooting efforts because you cannot easily determine which unit has the failed
interface and caused the link to come down.
The ASA supports Auto-MDI/MDIX on its copper Ethernet ports, so you can either use a crossover cable or
a straight-through cable. If you use a straight-through cable, the interface automatically detects the cable and
swaps one of the transmit/receive pairs to MDIX.

Stateful Failover Link

To use Stateful Failover, you must configure a Stateful Failover link (also known as the state link) to pass
connection state information.

Shared with the Failover Link

Sharing a failover link is the best way to conserve interfaces. However, you must consider a dedicated interface
for the state link and failover link, if you have a large configuration and a high traffic network.

Dedicated Interface
You can use a dedicated data interface (physical, redundant, or EtherChannel) for the state link. See Interface
for the Failover Link, on page 275 for requirements for a dedicated state link, and Connecting the Failover
Link, on page 276 for information about connecting the state link as well.

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Avoiding Interrupted Failover and Data Links

For optimum performance when using long distance failover, the latency for the state link should be less than
10 milliseconds and no more than 250 milliseconds. If latency is more than 10 milliseconds, some performance
degradation occurs due to retransmission of failover messages.

Avoiding Interrupted Failover and Data Links

We recommend that failover links and data interfaces travel through different paths to decrease the chance
that all interfaces fail at the same time. If the failover link is down, the ASA can use the data interfaces to
determine if a failover is required. Subsequently, the failover operation is suspended until the health of the
failover link is restored.
See the following connection scenarios to design a resilient failover network.

Scenario 1—Not Recommended

If a single switch or a set of switches are used to connect both failover and data interfaces between two ASAs,
then when a switch or inter-switch-link is down, both ASAs become active. Therefore, the following two
connection methods shown in the following figures are NOT recommended.
Figure 46: Connecting with a Single Switch—Not Recommended

Figure 47: Connecting with a Double-Switch—Not Recommended

Scenario 2—Recommended
We recommend that failover links NOT use the same switch as the data interfaces. Instead, use a different
switch or use a direct cable to connect the failover link, as shown in the following figures.
Figure 48: Connecting with a Different Switch

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Figure 49: Connecting with a Cable

Scenario 3—Recommended
If the ASA data interfaces are connected to more than one set of switches, then a failover link can be connected
to one of the switches, preferably the switch on the secure (inside) side of network, as shown in the following
figure.
Figure 50: Connecting with a Secure Switch

Scenario 4—Recommended
The most reliable failover configurations use a redundant interface on the failover link, as shown in the
following figures.
Figure 51: Connecting with Redundant Interfaces

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MAC Addresses and IP Addresses in Failover

Figure 52: Connecting with Inter-switch Links

MAC Addresses and IP Addresses in Failover

When you configure your interfaces, you can specify an active IP address and a standby IP address on the
same network. Generally, when a failover occurs, the new active unit takes over the active IP addresses and
MAC addresses. Because network devices see no change in the MAC to IP address pairing, no ARP entries
change or time out anywhere on the network.

Note Although recommended, the standby address is not required. Without a standby IP address, the active unit
cannot perform network tests to check the standby interface health; it can only track the link state. You also
cannot connect to the standby unit on that interface for management purposes.

The IP address and MAC address for the state link do not change at failover.

Active/Standby IP Addresses and MAC Addresses

For Active/Standby Failover, see the following for IP address and MAC address usage during a failover event:
1. The active unit always uses the primary unit's IP addresses and MAC addresses.
2. When the active unit fails over, the standby unit assumes the IP addresses and MAC addresses of the
failed unit and begins passing traffic.
3. When the failed unit comes back online, it is now in a standby state and takes over the standby IP addresses
and MAC addresses.

However, if the secondary unit boots without detecting the primary unit, then the secondary unit becomes the
active unit and uses its own MAC addresses, because it does not know the primary unit MAC addresses. When
the primary unit becomes available, the secondary (active) unit changes the MAC addresses to those of the

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Stateless and Stateful Failover

primary unit, which can cause an interruption in your network traffic. Similarly, if you swap out the primary
unit with new hardware, a new MAC address is used.
Virtual MAC addresses guard against this disruption, because the active MAC addresses are known to the
secondary unit at startup, and remain the same in the case of new primary unit hardware. If you do not configure
virtual MAC addresses, you might need to clear the ARP tables on connected routers to restore traffic flow.
The ASA does not send gratuitous ARPs for static NAT addresses when the MAC address changes, so
connected routers do not learn of the MAC address change for these addresses.

Active/Active IP Addresses and MAC Addresses

For Active/Active failover, see the following for IP address and MAC address usage during a failover event:
1. The primary unit autogenerates active and standby MAC addresses for all interfaces in failover group 1
and 2 contexts. You can also manually configure the MAC addresses if necessary, for example, if there
are MAC address conflicts.
2. Each unit uses the active IP addresses and MAC addresses for its active failover group, and the standby
addresses for its standby failover group. For example, the primary unit is active for failover group 1, so
it uses the active addresses for contexts in failover group 1. It is standby for the contexts in failover group
2, where it uses the standby addresses.
3. When a unit fails over, the other unit assumes the active IP addresses and MAC addresses of the failed
failover group and begins passing traffic.
4. When the failed unit comes back online, and you enabled the preempt option, it resumes the failover
group.

Virtual MAC Addresses

The ASA has multiple methods to configure virtual MAC addresses. We recommend using only one method.
If you set the MAC address using multiple methods, the MAC address used depends on many variables, and
might not be predictable. Manual methods include the interface mode mac-address command, the failover
mac address command, and for Active/Active failover, the failover group mode mac address command, in
addition to autogeneration methods described below.
In multiple context mode, you can configure the ASA to generate virtual active and standby MAC addresses
automatically for shared interfaces, and these assignments are synced to the secondary unit (see the mac-address
auto command). For non-shared interfaces, you can manually set the MAC addresses for Active/Standby
mode (Active/Active mode autogenerates MAC addresses for all interfaces).
For Active/Active failover, virtual MAC addresses are always used, either with default values or with values
you can set per interface.

Stateless and Stateful Failover

The ASA supports two types of failover, stateless and stateful for both the Active/Standby and Active/Active
modes.

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Stateless Failover

Note Some configuration elements for clientless SSL VPN (such as bookmarks and customization) use the VPN
failover subsystem, which is part of Stateful Failover. You must use Stateful Failover to synchronize these
elements between the members of the failover pair. Stateless failover is not recommended for clientless SSL
VPN.

Stateless Failover
When a failover occurs, all active connections are dropped. Clients need to reestablish connections when the
new active unit takes over.

Note Some configuration elements for clientless SSL VPN (such as bookmarks and customization) use the VPN
failover subsystem, which is part of Stateful Failover. You must use Stateful Failover to synchronize these
elements between the members of the failover pair. Stateless (regular) failover is not recommended for clientless
SSL VPN.

Stateful Failover
When Stateful Failover is enabled, the active unit continually passes per-connection state information to the
standby unit, or in Active/Active failover, between the active and standby failover groups. After a failover
occurs, the same connection information is available at the new active unit. Supported end-user applications
are not required to reconnect to keep the same communication session.

Supported Features
For Stateful Failover, the following state information is passed to the standby ASA:
• NAT translation table.
• TCP and UDP connections and states. Other types of IP protocols, and ICMP, are not parsed by the active
unit, because they get established on the new active unit when a new packet arrives.
• The HTTP connection table (unless you enable HTTP replication).
• The HTTP connection states (if HTTP replication is enabled)—By default, the ASA does not replicate
HTTP session information when Stateful Failover is enabled. We suggest that you enable HTTP replication.
• SCTP connection states. However, SCTP inspection stateful failover is best effort. During failover, if
any SACK packets are lost, the new active unit will drop all other out of order packets in the queue until
the missing packet is received.
• The ARP table
• The Layer 2 bridge table (for bridge groups)
• The ISAKMP and IPsec SA table
• GTP PDP connection database
• SIP signaling sessions and pin holes.

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Unsupported Features

• ICMP connection state—ICMP connection replication is enabled only if the respective interface is
assigned to an asymmetric routing group.
• Static and dynamic routing tables—Stateful Failover participates in dynamic routing protocols, like OSPF
and EIGRP, so routes that are learned through dynamic routing protocols on the active unit are maintained
in a Routing Information Base (RIB) table on the standby unit. Upon a failover event, packets travel
normally with minimal disruption to traffic because the active secondary unit initially has rules that
mirror the primary unit. Immediately after failover, the re-convergence timer starts on the newly active
unit. Then the epoch number for the RIB table increments. During re-convergence, OSPF and EIGRP
routes become updated with a new epoch number. Once the timer is expired, stale route entries (determined
by the epoch number) are removed from the table. The RIB then contains the newest routing protocol
forwarding information on the newly active unit.

Note Routes are synchronized only for link-up or link-down events on an active unit.
If the link goes up or down on the standby unit, dynamic routes sent from the
active unit may be lost. This is normal, expected behavior.

• DHCP Server—DHCP address leases are not replicated. However, a DHCP server configured on an
interface will send a ping to make sure an address is not being used before granting the address to a
DHCP client, so there is no impact to the service. State information is not relevant for DHCP relay or
DDNS.
• Cisco IP SoftPhone sessions—If a failover occurs during an active Cisco IP SoftPhone session, the call
remains active because the call session state information is replicated to the standby unit. When the call
is terminated, the IP SoftPhone client loses connection with the Cisco Call Manager. This connection
loss occurs because there is no session information for the CTIQBE hangup message on the standby unit.
When the IP SoftPhone client does not receive a response back from the Call Manager within a certain
time period, it considers the Call Manager unreachable and unregisters itself.
• RA VPN—Remote access VPN end users do not have to reauthenticate or reconnect the VPN session
after a failover. However, applications operating over the VPN connection could lose packets during the
failover process and not recover from the packet loss.

Unsupported Features
For Stateful Failover, the following state information is not passed to the standby ASA:
• The user authentication (uauth) table
• TCP state bypass connections
• Multicast routing.
• State information for modules, such as the ASA FirePOWER module.
• Selected clientless SSL VPN features:
• Smart Tunnels
• Port Forwarding
• Plugins
• Java Applets

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Bridge Group Requirements for Failover

• IPv6 clientless or Anyconnect sessions

• Citrix authentication (Citrix users must reauthenticate after failover)

Bridge Group Requirements for Failover

There are special considerations for failover when using bridge groups.

Bridge Group Requirements for Appliances, ASAv

When the active unit fails over to the standby unit, the connected switch port running Spanning Tree Protocol
(STP) can go into a blocking state for 30 to 50 seconds when it senses the topology change. To avoid traffic
loss while the port is in a blocking state, you can configure one of the following workarounds depending on
the switch port mode:
• Access mode—Enable the STP PortFast feature on the switch:

interface interface_id
spanning-tree portfast

The PortFast feature immediately transitions the port into STP forwarding mode upon linkup. The port
still participates in STP. So if the port is to be a part of the loop, the port eventually transitions into STP
blocking mode.
• Trunk mode—Block BPDUs on the ASA on a bridge group's member interfaces with an EtherType
access rule.

access-list id ethertype deny bpdu

access-group id in interface name1
access-group id in interface name2

Blocking BPDUs disables STP on the switch. Be sure not to have any loops involving the ASA in your
network layout.

If neither of the above options are possible, then you can use one of the following less desirable workarounds
that impacts failover functionality or STP stability:
• Disable interface monitoring.
• Increase interface holdtime to a high value that will allow STP to converge before the ASAs fail over.
• Decrease STP timers to allow STP to converge faster than the interface holdtime.

Failover Health Monitoring

The ASA monitors each unit for overall health and for interface health. This section includes information
about how the ASA performs tests to determine the state of each unit.

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Unit Health Monitoring

Unit Health Monitoring

The ASA determines the health of the other unit by monitoring the failover link with hello messages. When
a unit does not receive three consecutive hello messages on the failover link, the unit sends LANTEST messages
on each data interface, including the failover link, to validate whether or not the peer is responsive. For the
Firepower 9300 and 4100 series, you can enable Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) monitoring, which
is more reliable than hello messages. The action that the ASA takes depends on the response from the other
unit. See the following possible actions:
• If the ASA receives a response on the failover link, then it does not fail over.
• If the ASA does not receive a response on the failover link, but it does receive a response on a data
interface, then the unit does not failover. The failover link is marked as failed. You should restore the
failover link as soon as possible because the unit cannot fail over to the standby while the failover link
is down.
• If the ASA does not receive a response on any interface, then the standby unit switches to active mode
and classifies the other unit as failed.

Interface Monitoring
You can monitor up to 1025 interfaces (in multiple context mode, divided between all contexts). You should
monitor important interfaces. For example in multiple context mode, you might configure one context to
monitor a shared interface: because the interface is shared, all contexts benefit from the monitoring.
When a unit does not receive hello messages on a monitored interface for 15 seconds (the default), it runs
interface tests. (To change the period, see Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > Failover > Criteria > Failover Poll Times.) If one of the interface tests fails for an interface,
but this same interface on the other unit continues to successfully pass traffic, then the interface is considered
to be failed, and the ASA stops running tests.
If the threshold you define for the number of failed interfaces is met (see Configuration > Device
Management > High Availability and Scalability > Failover > Criteria > Interface Policy), and the
active unit has more failed interfaces than the standby unit, then a failover occurs. If an interface fails on both
units, then both interfaces go into the “Unknown” state and do not count towards the failover limit defined
by failover interface policy.
An interface becomes operational again if it receives any traffic. A failed ASA returns to standby mode if the
interface failure threshold is no longer met.
If you have an ASA FirePOWER module, then the ASA also monitors the health of the module over the
backplane interface. Failure of the module is considered a unit failure and will trigger failover. This setting
is configurable.
If an interface has IPv4 and IPv6 addresses configured on it, the ASA uses the IPv4 addresses to perform the
health monitoring. If an interface has only IPv6 addresses configured on it, then the ASA uses IPv6 neighbor
discovery instead of ARP to perform the health monitoring tests. For the broadcast ping test, the ASA uses
the IPv6 all nodes address (FE02::1).

Note If a failed unit does not recover and you believe it should not be failed, you can reset the state by entering the
failover reset command. If the failover condition persists, however, the unit will fail again.

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Interface Tests

Interface Tests
The ASA uses the following interface tests. The duration of each test is approximately 1.5 seconds by default,
or 1/16 of the failover interface holdtime(see Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > Failover > Criteria > Failover Poll Times).
1. Link Up/Down test—A test of the interface status. If the Link Up/Down test indicates that the interface
is down, then the ASA considers it failed, and testing stops. If the status is Up, then the ASA performs
the Network Activity test.
2. Network Activity test—A received network activity test. At the start of the test, each unit clears its received
packet count for its interfaces. As soon as a unit receives any eligible packets during the test, then the
interface is considered operational. If both units receive traffic, then testing stops. If one unit receives
traffic and the other unit does not, then the interface on the unit that does not receive traffic is considered
failed, and testing stops. If neither unit receives traffic, then the ASA starts the ARP test.
3. ARP test—A test for successful ARP replies. Each unit sends a single ARP request for the IP address in
the most recent entry in its ARP table. If the unit receives an ARP reply or other network traffic during
the test, then the interface is considered operational. If the unit does not receive an ARP reply, then the
ASA sends a single ARP request for the IP address in the next entry in the ARP table. If the unit receives
an ARP reply or other network traffic during the test, then the interface is considered operational. If both
units receive traffic, then testing stops. If one unit receives traffic, and the other unit does not, then the
interface on the unit that does not receive traffic is considered failed, and testing stops. If neither unit
receives traffic, then the ASA starts the Broadcast Ping test.
4. Broadcast Ping test—A test for successful ping replies. Each unit sends a broadcast ping, and then counts
all received packets. If the unit receives any packets during the test, then the interface is considered
operational. If both units receive traffic, then testing stops. If one unit receives traffic, and the other unit
does not, then the interface on the unit that does not receive traffic is considered failed, and testing stops.
If neither unit receives traffic, then testing starts over again with the ARP test. If both units continue to
receive no traffic from the ARP and Broadcast Ping tests, then these tests will continue running in
perpetuity.

Interface Status
Monitored interfaces can have the following status:
• Unknown—Initial status. This status can also mean the status cannot be determined.
• Normal—The interface is receiving traffic.
• Testing—Hello messages are not heard on the interface for five poll times.
• Link Down—The interface or VLAN is administratively down.
• No Link—The physical link for the interface is down.
• Failed—No traffic is received on the interface, yet traffic is heard on the peer interface.

Failover Times
The following events trigger failover in a Firepower high availability pair:
• More than 50% of the Snort instances on the active unit are down.
• Disk space on the active unit is more than 90% full.

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• The no failover active command is run on the active unit or the failover active command is run on the
standby unit.
• The active unit has more failed interfaces than the standby unit.
• Interface failure on the active device exceeds the threshold configured.
By default, failure of a single interface causes failover. You can change the default value by configuring
a threshold for the number of interfaces or a percentage of monitored interfaces that must fail for the
failover to occur. If the threshold breaches on the active device, failover occurs. If the threshold breaches
on the standby device, the unit moves to Fail state.
To change the default failover criteria, enter the following command in global configuration mode:

Table 17:

Command Purpose

failover interface-policy num [%] Changes the default failover criteria.

hostname (config)# failover When specifying a specific number of interfaces,
interface-policy 20% the num argument can be from 1 to 250.
When specifying a percentage of interfaces, the
num argument can be from 1 to 100.

Note If you manually fail over using the CLI or ASDM, or you reload the ASA, the failover starts immediately and
is not subject to the timers listed below.

Table 18: ASA

Failover Condition Minimum Default Maximum

Active unit loses power, 800 milliseconds 15 seconds 45 seconds

hardware goes down, or the
software reloads or crashes.
When any of these occur, the
monitored interfaces or failover
link do not receives any hello
message.

Active unit main board interface 500 milliseconds 5 seconds 15 seconds

link down.

Active unit 4GE module 2 seconds 5 seconds 15 seconds

interface link down.

Active unit FirePOWER module 2 seconds 2 seconds 2 seconds

fails.

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Configuration Synchronization

Failover Condition Minimum Default Maximum

Active unit interface up, but 5 seconds 25 seconds 75 seconds

connection problem causes
interface testing.

Configuration Synchronization
Failover includes various types of configuration synchronization.

Running Configuration Replication

Running configuration replication occurs when any one or both of the devices in the failover pair boot.
In Active/Standby failover, configurations are always synchronized from the active unit to the standby unit.
In Active/Active failover, whichever unit boots second obtains the running configuration from the unit that
boots first, regardless of the primary or secondary designation of the booting unit. After both units are up,
commands entered in the system execution space are replicated from the unit on which failover group 1 is in
the active state.
When the standby/second unit completes its initial startup, it clears its running configuration (except for the
failover commands needed to communicate with the active unit), and the active unit sends its entire
configuration to the standby/second unit. When the replication starts, the ASA console on the active unit
displays the message “Beginning configuration replication: Sending to mate,” and when it is complete, the
ASA displays the message “End Configuration Replication to mate.” Depending on the size of the configuration,
replication can take from a few seconds to several minutes.
On the unit receiving the configuration, the configuration exists only in running memory. You should save
the configuration to flash memory. For example, in Active/Active failover, enter the write memory all
command in the system execution space on the unit that has failover group 1 in the active state. The command
is replicated to the peer unit, which proceeds to write its configuration to flash memory.

Note During replication, commands entered on the unit sending the configuration may not replicate properly to the
peer unit, and commands entered on the unit receiving the configuration may be overwritten by the configuration
being received. Avoid entering commands on either unit in the failover pair during the configuration replication
process.

File Replication
Configuration syncing does not replicate the following files and configuration components, so you must copy
these files manually so they match:
• AnyConnect images
• CSD images
• AnyConnect profiles

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Command Replication

The ASA uses a cached file for the AnyConnect client profile stored in cache:/stc/profiles, and not the
file stored in the flash file system. To replicate the AnyConnect client profile to the standby unit, perform
one of the following:
• Enter the write standby command on the active unit.
• Reapply the profile on the active unit.
• Reload the standby unit.

• Local Certificate Authorities (CAs)

• ASA images
• ASDM images

Command Replication
After startup, commands that you enter on the active unit are immediately replicated on the standby unit.You
do not have to save the active configuration to flash memory to replicate the commands.
In Active/Active failover,changes entered in the system execution space are replicated from the unit on which
failover group 1 is in the active state.
Failure to enter the changes on the appropriate unit for command replication to occur causes the configurations
to be out of synchronization. Those changes may be lost the next time the initial configuration synchronization
occurs.
The following commands are replicated to the standby ASA:
• All configuration commands except for mode, firewall, and failover lan unit
• copy running-config startup-config
• delete
• mkdir
• rename
• rmdir
• write memory

The following commands are not replicated to the standby ASA:

• All forms of the copy command except for copy running-config startup-config
• All forms of the write command except for write memory
• debug
• failover lan unit
• firewall
• show
• terminal pager and pager

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About Active/Standby Failover

About Active/Standby Failover

Active/Standby failover lets you use a standby ASA to take over the functionality of a failed unit. When the
active unit fails, the standby unit becomes the active unit.

Note For multiple context mode, the ASA can fail over the entire unit (including all contexts) but cannot fail over
individual contexts separately.

Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Standby Status

The main differences between the two units in a failover pair are related to which unit is active and which
unit is standby, namely which IP addresses to use and which unit actively passes traffic.
However, a few differences exist between the units based on which unit is primary (as specified in the
configuration) and which unit is secondary:
• The primary unit always becomes the active unit if both units start up at the same time (and are of equal
operational health).
• The primary unit MAC addresses are always coupled with the active IP addresses. The exception to this
rule occurs when the secondary unit becomes active and cannot obtain the primary unit MAC addresses
over the failover link. In this case, the secondary unit MAC addresses are used.

Active Unit Determination at Startup

The active unit is determined by the following:
• If a unit boots and detects a peer already running as active, it becomes the standby unit.
• If a unit boots and does not detect a peer, it becomes the active unit.
• If both units boot simultaneously, then the primary unit becomes the active unit, and the secondary unit
becomes the standby unit.

Failover Events
In Active/Standby failover, failover occurs on a unit basis. Even on systems running in multiple context mode,
you cannot fail over individual or groups of contexts.
The following table shows the failover action for each failure event. For each failure event, the table shows
the failover policy (failover or no failover), the action taken by the active unit, the action taken by the standby
unit, and any special notes about the failover condition and actions.

Table 19: Failover Events

Failure Event Policy Active Unit Action Standby Unit Action Notes

Active unit failed (power Failover n/a Become active No hello messages are
or hardware) received on any
Mark active as failed
monitored interface or the
failover link.

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Failure Event Policy Active Unit Action Standby Unit Action Notes

Formerly active unit No failover Become standby No action None.

recovers

Standby unit failed No failover Mark standby as failed n/a When the standby unit is
(power or hardware) marked as failed, then the
active unit does not
attempt to fail over, even
if the interface failure
threshold is surpassed.

Failover link failed No failover Mark failover link as Mark failover link as You should restore the
during operation failed failed failover link as soon as
possible because the unit
cannot fail over to the
standby unit while the
failover link is down.

Failover link failed at No failover Become active Become active If the failover link is
startup down at startup, both
Mark failover link as Mark failover link as
units become active.
failed failed

State link failed No failover No action No action State information

becomes out of date, and
sessions are terminated if
a failover occurs.

Interface failure on active Failover Mark active as failed Become active None.
unit above threshold

Interface failure on No failover No action Mark standby as failed When the standby unit is
standby unit above marked as failed, then the
threshold active unit does not
attempt to fail over even
if the interface failure
threshold is surpassed.

About Active/Active Failover

This section describes Active/Active failover.

Active/Active Failover Overview

In an Active/Active failover configuration, both ASAs can pass network traffic. Active/Active failover is only
available to ASAs in multiple context mode. In Active/Active failover, you divide the security contexts on
the ASA into a maximum of 2 failover groups.
A failover group is simply a logical group of one or more security contexts. You can assign failover group to
be active on the primary ASA, and failover group 2 to be active on the secondary ASA. When a failover
occurs, it occurs at the failover group level. For example, depending on interface failure patterns, it is possible

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Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Standby Status for a Failover Group

for failover group 1 to fail over to the secondary ASA, and subsequently failover group 2 to fail over to the
primary ASA. This event could occur if the interfaces in failover group 1 are down on the primary ASA but
up on the secondary ASA, while the interfaces in failover group 2 are down on the secondary ASA but up on
the primary ASA.
The admin context is always a member of failover group 1. Any unassigned security contexts are also members
of failover group 1 by default. If you want Active/Active failover, but are otherwise uninterested in multiple
contexts, the simplest configuration would be to add one additional context and assign it to failover group 2.

Note When configuring Active/Active failover, make sure that the combined traffic for both units is within the
capacity of each unit.

Note You can assign both failover groups to one ASA if desired, but then you are not taking advantage of having
two active ASAs.

Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Standby Status for a Failover Group

As in Active/Standby failover, one unit in an Active/Active failover pair is designated the primary unit, and
the other unit the secondary unit. Unlike Active/Standby failover, this designation does not indicate which
unit becomes active when both units start simultaneously. Instead, the primary/secondary designation does
two things:
• The primary unit provides the running configuration to the pair when they boot simultaneously.
• Each failover group in the configuration is configured with a primary or secondary unit preference. When
used with preemption, this preference ensures that the failover group runs on the correct unit after it starts
up. Without preemption, both groups run on the first unit to boot up.

Active Unit Determination for Failover Groups at Startup

The unit on which a failover group becomes active is determined as follows:
• When a unit boots while the peer unit is not available, both failover groups become active on the unit.
• When a unit boots while the peer unit is active (with both failover groups in the active state), the failover
groups remain in the active state on the active unit regardless of the primary or secondary preference of
the failover group until one of the following occurs:
• A failover occurs.
• A failover is manually forced.
• A preemption for the failover group is configured, which causes the failover group to automatically
become active on the preferred unit when the unit becomes available.

Failover Events
In an Active/Active failover configuration, failover occurs on a failover group basis, not a system basis. For
example, if you designate both failover groups as Active on the primary unit, and failover group 1 fails, then

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Failover Events

failover group 2 remains Active on the primary unit while failover group 1 becomes active on the secondary
unit.
Because a failover group can contain multiple contexts, and each context can contain multiple interfaces, it
is possible for all interfaces in a single context to fail without causing the associated failover group to fail.
The following table shows the failover action for each failure event. For each failure event, the policy (whether
or not failover occurs), actions for the active failover group, and actions for the standby failover group are
given.

Table 20: Failover Events

Failure Event Policy Active Group Action Standby Group Action Notes

A unit experiences a Failover Become standby Become active When a unit in a failover
power or software failure pair fails, any active
Mark as failed Mark active as failed
failover groups on that
unit are marked as failed
and become active on the
peer unit.

Interface failure on active Failover Mark active group as Become active None.
failover group above failed
threshold

Interface failure on No failover No action Mark standby group as When the standby
standby failover group failed failover group is marked
above threshold as failed, the active
failover group does not
attempt to fail over, even
if the interface failure
threshold is surpassed.

Formerly active failover No failover No action No action Unless failover group

group recovers preemption is configured,
the failover groups
remain active on their
current unit.

Failover link failed at No failover Become active Become active If the failover link is
startup down at startup, both
failover groups on both
units become active.

State link failed No failover No action No action State information

becomes out of date, and
sessions are terminated if
a failover occurs.

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Licensing for Failover

Failure Event Policy Active Group Action Standby Group Action Notes

Failover link failed No failover n/a n/a Each unit marks the
during operation failover link as failed.
You should restore the
failover link as soon as
possible because the unit
cannot fail over to the
standby unit while the
failover link is down.

Licensing for Failover

Failover units do not require the same license on each unit. If you have licenses on both units, they combine
into a single running failover cluster license. There are some exceptions to this rule. See the following table
for precise licensing requirements for failover.

Model License Requirement

ASA 5506-X and ASA 5506W-X • Active/Standby—Security Plus License.

• Active/Active—No Support.

Note Each unit must have the same encryption license.

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Model License Requirement

ASA 5525-X through ASA 5555-X • Base License.

Note • Each unit must have the same encryption license.

• In multiple context mode, each unit must have the
the same AnyConnect Apex license.
• Each unit must have the same IPS module license.
You also need the IPS signature subscription on
the IPS side for both units. See the following
guidelines:
• To buy the IPS signature subscription you
need to have the ASA with IPS pre-installed
(the part number must include “IPS”, for
example ASA5525-IPS-K9); you cannot buy
the IPS signature subscription for a non-IPS
part number ASA.
• You need the IPS signature subscription on
both units; this subscription is not shared in
failover, because it is not an ASA license.
• The IPS signature subscription requires a
unique IPS module license per unit. Like
other ASA licenses, the IPS module license
is technically shared in the failover cluster
license. However, because of the IPS
signature subscription requirements, you
must buy a separate IPS module license for
each unit in.

ASAv See Failover Licenses for the ASAv, on page 141.

Firepower 1010 Security Plus License. See Failover Licenses for the Firepower
1010, on page 141.

Firepower 1100 See Failover Licenses for the Firepower 1100, on page 142.

Firepower 2100 See Failover Licenses for the Firepower 2100, on page 143.

Firepower 4100/9300 See Failover Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300
Chassis, on page 144.

All other models Base License or Standard License.

Note • Each unit must have the same encryption license.
• In multiple context mode, each unit must have the
the same AnyConnect Apex license.

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Guidelines for Failover

Note A valid permanent key is required; in rare instances, your PAK authentication key can be removed. If your
key consists of all 0’s, then you need to reinstall a valid authentication key before failover can be enabled.

Guidelines for Failover

Context Mode
• Active/Active mode is supported only in multiple context mode.
• For multiple context mode, perform all steps in the system execution space unless otherwise noted.

Model Support
• ASA 5506W-X—You must disable interface monitoring for the internal GigabitEthernet 1/9 interface.
These interfaces will not be able to communicate to perform the default interface monitoring checks,
resulting in a switch from active to standby and back again because of expected interface communication
failures.
• Firepower 1010:
• You should not use the switch port functionality when using Failover. Because the switch ports
operate in hardware, they continue to pass traffic on both the active and the standby units. Failover
is designed to prevent traffic from passing through the standby unit, but this feature does not extend
to switch ports. In a normal Failover network setup, active switch ports on both units will lead to
network loops. We suggest that you use external switches for any switching capability. Note that
VLAN interfaces can be monitored by failover, while switch ports cannot. Theoretically, you can
put a single switch port on a VLAN and successfully use Failover, but a simpler setup is to use
physical firewall interfaces instead.
• You can only use a firewall interface as the failover link.

• Firepower 9300—We recommend that you use inter-chassis Failover for the best redundancy.
• The ASAv on public cloud networks such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are not supported
with Failover because Layer 2 connectivity is required. See Failover for High Availability in the Public
Cloud, on page 315.
• The ASA FirePOWER module does not support failover directly; when the ASA fails over, any existing
ASA FirePOWER flows are transferred to the new ASA. The ASA FirePOWER module in the new ASA
begins inspecting the traffic from that point forward; old inspection states are not transferred.
You are responsible for maintaining consistent policies on the ASA FirePOWER modules in the
high-availability ASA pair to ensure consistent failover behavior.

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Defaults for Failover

Note Create the failover pair before you configure the ASA FirePOWER modules. If
the modules are already configured on both devices, clear the interface
configuration on the standby device before creating the failover pair. From the
CLI on the standby device, enter the clear configure interface command.

ASAv Failover for High Availability

When creating a failover pair with the ASAv, it is necessary to add the data interfaces to each ASAv in the
same order. If the exact same interfaces are added to each ASAv, but in different order, errors may be presented
at the ASAv Console. Failover functionality may also be affected

Additional Guidelines
• When the active unit fails over to the standby unit, the connected switch port running Spanning Tree
Protocol (STP) can go into a blocking state for 30 to 50 seconds when it senses the topology change. To
avoid traffic loss while the port is in a blocking state, you can enable the STP PortFast feature on the
switch:
interface interface_id spanning-tree portfast
This workaround applies to switches connected to both routed mode and bridge group interfaces. The
PortFast feature immediately transitions the port into STP forwarding mode upon linkup. The port still
participates in STP. So if the port is to be a part of the loop, the port eventually transitions into STP
blocking mode.
• Configuring port security on the switch(es) connected to the ASA failover pair can cause communication
problems when a failover event occurs. This problem occurs when a secure MAC address configured or
learned on one secure port moves to another secure port, a violation is flagged by the switch port security
feature.
• You can monitor up to 1025 interfaces on a unit, across all contexts.
• For Active/Standby Failover and a VPN IPsec tunnel, you cannot monitor both the active and standby
units using SNMP over the VPN tunnel. The standby unit does not have an active VPN tunnel, and will
drop traffic destined for the NMS. You can instead use SNMPv3 with encryption so the IPsec tunnel is
not required.
• For Active/Active failover, no two interfaces in the same context should be configured in the same ASR
group.
• For Active/Active failover, you can define a maximum of two failover groups.
• For Active/Active failover, when removing failover groups, you must remove failover group 1 last.
Failover group1 always contains the admin context. Any context not assigned to a failover group defaults
to failover group 1. You cannot remove a failover group that has contexts explicitly assigned to it.

Defaults for Failover

By default, the failover policy consists of the following:

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• No HTTP replication in Stateful Failover.

• A single interface failure causes failover.
• The interface poll time is 5 seconds.
• The interface hold time is 25 seconds.
• The unit poll time is 1 second.
• The unit hold time is 15 seconds.
• Virtual MAC addresses are disabled in multiple context mode.
• Monitoring on all physical interfaces.

Configure Active/Standby Failover

To configure Active/Standby failover, configure basic failover settings on both the primary and secondary
units. All other configuration occurs only on the primary unit, and is then synched to the secondary unit.
The High Availability and Scalability Wizard guides you through a step-by-step process of creating an
Active/Standby failover configuration.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Wizards > High Availability and Scalability. See select wizard guidelines in the following steps.
Step 2 On the Failover Peer Connectivity and Compatibility screen, enter the IP address of the peer unit. This
address must be an interface that has ASDM access enabled on it.
By default, the peer address is assigned to be the standby address for the ASDM management interface.
Step 3 On the LAN Link Configuration screen:
• Interface—The interface can be a data physical interface, subinterface, redundant interface, or
EtherChannel interface ID.On the Firepower 1010, the interface is a firewall interface ID; you cannot
specify a switch port ID or VLAN ID. For the ASA 5506H-X only, you can specify the Management
1/1 interface as the failover link. If you do so, you must save the configuration, and then reload the device.
You then cannot use this interface for failover and also use the ASA Firepower module; the module
requires the interface for management, and you can only use it for one function. For the Firepower
4100/9300, you can use any data-type interface.
• Active IP Address—This IP address should be on an unused subnet. This subnet can be 31-bits
(255.255.255.254) with only two IP addresses. 169.254.0.0/16 and fd00:0:0:*::/64 are internally used
subnets, and you cannot use them for the failover or state links.
• Standby IP Address—This IP address must be on the same network as the active IP address.
• (Optional) Communications Encryption—Encrypt communications on the failover link. Note: Instead
of a Secret Key, we recommend using an IPsec preshared key, which you can configure after you exit
the wizard (see Modify the Failover Setup, on page 305).

Step 4 On the State Link Configuration screen, if you choose another interface for Stateful Failover:

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• Active IP Address—This IP address should be on an unused subnet, different from the failover link.
This subnet can be 31-bits (255.255.255.254) with only two IP addresses. 169.254.0.0/16 and
fd00:0:0:*::/64 are internally used subnets, and you cannot use them for the failover or state links.
• Standby IP Address—This IP address must be on the same network as the active IP address.

Step 5 After you click Finish, the wizard shows the Waiting for Config Sync screen.
After the specified time period is over, the wizard sends the failover configuration to the secondary unit, and
you see an information screen showing that failover configuration is complete.
• If you do not know if failover is already enabled on the secondary unit, then wait for the specified period.
• If you know failover is already enabled, click Skip configuring peer.
• If you know the secondary unit is not yet failover-enabled, click Stop waiting xx more seconds, and the
failover bootstrap configuration is sent to the secondary unit immediately.

Configure Active/Active Failover

This section tells how to configure Active/Active failover.
The High Availability and Scalability Wizard guides you through a step-by-step process of creating an
Active/Active failover configuration.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Wizards > High Availability and Scalability. See select wizard guidelines in the following steps.
Step 2 In the Failover Peer Connectivity and Compatibility Check screen, the peer IP address must be an interface
that has ASDM access enabled on it.
By default, the peer address is assigned to be the standby address for the interface to which ASDM is connected.

Step 3 In the Security Context Configuration screen, if you converted to multiple context mode as part of the
wizard, you will only see the admin context. You can add other contexts after you exit the wizard.
Step 4 On the LAN Link Configuration screen:
• Interface—The interface can be a data physical interface, subinterface, redundant interface, or
EtherChannel interface ID. For the ASA 5506H-X only, you can specify the Management 1/1 interface
as the failover link. If you do so, you must save the configuration, and then reload the device. You then
cannot use this interface for failover and also use the ASA Firepower module; the module requires the
interface for management, and you can only use it for one function. For the Firepower 4100/9300, you
can use any data-type interface.
• Active IP Address—This IP address should be on an unused subnet. This subnet can be 31-bits
(255.255.255.254) with only two IP addresses. 169.254.0.0/16 and fd00:0:0:*::/64 are internally used
subnets, and you cannot use them for the failover or state links.
• Standby IP Address—This IP address must be on the same network as the active IP address.

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• (Optional) Communications Encryption—Encrypt communications on the failover link. Note: Instead

of a Secret Key, we recommend using an IPsec preshared key, which you can configure after you exit
the wizard (see Modify the Failover Setup, on page 305).

Step 5 On the State Link Configuration screen, if you choose another interface for Stateful Failover:
• Active IP Address—This IP address should be on an unused subnet, different from the failover link.
This subnet can be 31-bits (255.255.255.254) with only two IP addresses. 169.254.0.0/16 and
fd00:0:0:*::/64 are internally used subnets, and you cannot use them for the failover or state links.
• Standby IP Address—This IP address must be on the same network as the active IP address.

Step 6 After you click Finish, the wizard shows the Waiting for Config Sync screen.
After the specified time period is over, the wizard sends the failover configuration to the secondary unit, and
you see an information screen showing that failover configuration is complete.
• If you do not know if failover is already enabled on the secondary unit, then wait for the specified period.
• If you know failover is already enabled, click Skip configuring peer.
• If you know the secondary unit is not yet failover-enabled, click Stop waiting xx more seconds, and the
failover bootstrap configuration is sent to the secondary unit immediately.

Configure Optional Failover Parameters

You can customize failover settings as desired.

Configure Failover Criteria and Other Settings

See Defaults for Failover, on page 296 for the default settings for many parameters that you can change in this
section. For Active/Active mode, you set most criteria per failover group. This section includes enabling
HTTP replication per failover group for Active/Active mode; to configure HTTP replication for Active/Standby
mode, see Modify the Failover Setup, on page 305.

Before you begin

• Configure these settings in the system execution space in multiple context mode.
• For Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) for unit health monitoring, see the following limitations:
• Firepower 9300 and 4100 only.
• Active/Standby only.
• Routed mode only

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > Failover.
Step 2 Disable the ability to make any configuration changes directly on the standby unit or context: on the Setup
tab check the Disable configuration changes on the standby unit check box.
By default, configurations on the standby unit/context are allowed with a warning message.

Step 3 Under BFD Health Check, click Manage to define a BFD template to be used for failover health detection.
The regular unit monitoring can cause false alarms when CPU usage is high. The BFD method is distributed,
so high CPU does not affect its operation.
The Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BFD > Template page opens. Click Add to create a single
hop template; multi-hop is not supported. For the interval settings, you can specify milliseconds; microseconds
are not supported. For template details, see Create the BFD Template, on page 715.

Step 4 Click the Criteria tab.

Step 5 Configure the unit poll times:
In the Failover Poll Times area:
• Unit Failover—The amount of time between hello messages among units. The range is between 1 and
15 seconds or between 200 and 999 milliseconds.
• Unit Hold Time—Sets the time during which a unit must receive a hello message on the failover link,
or else the unit begins the testing process for peer failure. The range is between 1and 45 seconds or
between 800 and 999 milliseconds. You cannot enter a value that is less than 3 times the polltime.

Note Other settings on this pane apply only to Active/Standby mode. In Active/Active mode, you must
configure the rest of the parameters per failover group.

Step 6 (Active/Active mode only) Click the Active/Active tab, then choose a failover group and click Edit.
Step 7 (Active/Active mode only) Change the preferred role of the failover group when used with preemption: click
either Primary or Secondary.
If you used the wizard, failover group 1 is assigned to the primary unit, and failover group 2 is assigned to
the secondary unit. If you want a non-standard configuration, you can specify different unit preferences if
desired. These settings are only used in conjunction with the preempt setting. Both failover groups become
active on the unit that boots first (even if it seems like they boot simultaneously, one unit becomes active
first), despite the primary or secondary setting for the group.

Step 8 (Active/Active mode only) Configure failover group preemption: check the Preempt after booting with
optional delay of check box.
Both failover groups become active on the unit that boots first (even if it seems like they boot simultaneously,
one unit becomes active first), despite the primary or secondary setting for the group.
You can enter an optional delay value, which specifies the number of seconds the failover group remains
active on the current unit before automatically becoming active on the designated unit. Valid values are from
1 to 1200.
If you manually fail over, the Peempt option is ignored.
Note If Stateful Failover is enabled, the preemption is delayed until the connections are replicated from
the unit on which the failover group is currently active.

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Step 9 Configure the Interface Policy:

• Number of failed interfaces that triggers failover—Define a specific number of interfaces that must
fail to trigger failover, from 1 to 250. When the number of failed monitored interfaces exceeds the value
you specify, the ASA fails over.
• Percentage of failed interfaces that triggers failover—Define a percentage of configured interfaces
that must fail to trigger failover. When the number of failed monitored interfaces exceeds the percentage
you set, the ASA fails over.

Note Do not use the Use system failover interface policy option. You can only set the policy per group
at this time.

Step 10 (Active/Standby mode) Configure interface poll times:

In the Failover Poll Time area:
• Monitored Interfaces—Specifies the interface polltime: how long to wait between sending hello packets
to the peer. The range is between 1and 15 seconds or 500 to 999 milliseconds. The default is 5 seconds.
• Link State—By default, each ASA in a failover pair checks the link state of its interfaces every 500
msec. You can customize the polltime; for example, if you set the polltime to 300 msec, the ASA can
detect an interface failure and trigger failover faster. The range is between 300 and 799 milliseconds.
• Interface Hold Time—Sets the time (as a calculation) between the last-received hello message from
the peer unit and the commencement of interface tests to determine the health of the interface. It also
sets the duration of each interface test as holdtime/16. Valid values are from 5 to 75 seconds. The default
is 5 times the polltime. You cannot enter a holdtime value that is less than five times the polltime.
To calculate the time before starting interface tests (y):
a. x = (holdtime/polltime)/2, rounded to the nearest integer. (.4 and down rounds down; .5 and up rounds
up.)
b. y = x*polltime

For example, if you use the default holdtime of 25 and polltime of 5, then y = 15 seconds.

For Active/Active mode, configure interface poll times on the Add/Edit Failover Group dialog box.

Step 11 (Active/Active mode only) Enable HTTP replication: check the Enable HTTP replication check box.
See Modify the Failover Setup, on page 305 section for the session replication rate.
Note Because of a delay when deleting HTTP flows from the standby unit when using failover, the show
conn count output might show different numbers on the active unit vs. the standby unit; if you wait
several seconds and re-issue the command, you will see the same count on both units.

Step 12 Configure virtual MAC addresses:

• Active/Standby mode—click the MAC Addresses tab, and click Add.
The Add/Edit Interface MAC Address dialog box appears.
• Active/Active mode—Go to the bottom of the Active/Active tab.

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You can also set the MAC address using other methods, but we recommend using only one method. If you
set the MAC address using multiple methods, the MAC address used depends on many variables, and might
not be predictable.
a) Choose an interface from the Physical Interface drop-down list.
b) In the Active MAC Address field, type the new MAC address for the active interface.
c) In the Standby MAC Address field, type the new MAC address for the standby interface.
d) Click OK. (Active/Active mode only) Click OK again.
Step 13 Click Apply.

Configure Interface Monitoring and Standby Addresses

By default, monitoring is enabled on all physical interfaces, or for the Firepower 1010, all VLAN interfaces,
and on any hardware or software modules installed on the ASA, such as the ASA FirePOWER module.
Firepower 1010 switch ports are not elegible for interface monitoring.
You might want to exclude interfaces attached to less critical networks from affecting your failover policy.
You can monitor up to 1025 interfaces on a unit (across all contexts in multiple context mode).
If you did not configure the standby IP addresses in the wizard, you can configure them manually.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, configure interfaces within each context.

Procedure

Step 1 In single mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability > Failover >
Interfaces.
In multiple context mode, within a context choose Configuration > Device Management > Failover >
Interfaces

A list of configured interfaces appears as well as any installed hardware or software modules, such as the
ASA FirePOWER module. The Monitored column displays whether or not an interface is monitored as part
of your failover criteria. If it is monitored, a check appears in the Monitored check box.

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If you do not want a hardware or software module failure to trigger failover, you can disable module monitoring.
The IP address for each interface appears in the Active IP Address column. If configured, the standby IP
address for the interface appears in the Standby IP Address column. The failover link and state link do not
display IP address; you cannot change those addresses from this tab.

Step 2 To disable monitoring of a listed interface, uncheck the Monitored check box for the interface.
Step 3 To enable monitoring of a listed interface, check the Monitored check box for the interface.
Step 4 For each interface that does not have a standby IP address, double-click the Standby IP Address field and
enter an IP address into the field.
If you use a 31-bit subnet mask for point-to-point connections, do not configure a standby IP address.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Configure Support for Asymmetrically Routed Packets (Active/Active Mode)

When running in Active/Active failover, a unit might receive a return packet for a connection that originated
through its peer unit. Because the ASA that receives the packet does not have any connection information for
the packet, the packet is dropped. This drop most commonly occurs when the two ASAs in an Active/Active
failover pair are connected to different service providers and the outbound connection does not use a NAT
address.
You can prevent the return packets from being dropped by allowing asymmetrically routed packets. To do
so, you assign the similar interfaces on each ASA to the same ASR group. For example, both ASAs connect
to the inside network on the inside interface, but connect to separate ISPs on the outside interface. On the
primary unit, assign the active context outside interface to ASR group 1; on the secondary unit, assign the
active context outside interface to the same ASR group 1. When the primary unit outside interface receives
a packet for which it has no session information, it checks the session information for the other interfaces in
standby contexts that are in the same group; in this case, ASR group 1. If it does not find a match, the packet
is dropped. If it finds a match, then one of the following actions occurs:
• If the incoming traffic originated on a peer unit, some or all of the layer 2 header is rewritten and the
packet is redirected to the other unit. This redirection continues as long as the session is active.
• If the incoming traffic originated on a different interface on the same unit, some or all of the layer 2
header is rewritten and the packet is reinjected into the stream.

Note This feature does not provide asymmetric routing; it restores asymmetrically routed packets to the correct
interface.

The following figure shows an example of an asymmetrically routed packet.

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Figure 53: ASR Example

1. An outbound session passes through the ASA with the active SecAppA context. It exits interface outside
ISP-A (192.168.1.1).
2. Because of asymmetric routing configured somewhere upstream, the return traffic comes back through
the interface outsideISP-B (192.168.2.2) on the ASA with the active SecAppB context.
3. Normally the return traffic would be dropped because there is no session information for the traffic on
interface 192.168.2.2. However, the interface is configured as part of ASR group 1. The unit looks for
the session on any other interface configured with the same ASR group ID.
4. The session information is found on interface outsideISP-A (192.168.1.2), which is in the standby state
on the unit with SecAppB. Stateful Failover replicated the session information from SecAppA to SecAppB.
5. Instead of being dropped, the layer 2 header is rewritten with information for interface 192.168.1.1 and
the traffic is redirected out of the interface 192.168.1.2, where it can then return through the interface on
the unit from which it originated (192.168.1.1 on SecAppA). This forwarding continues as needed until
the session ends.

Before you begin

• Stateful Failover—Passes state information for sessions on interfaces in the active failover group to the
standby failover group.
• Replication HTTP—HTTP session state information is not passed to the standby failover group, and
therefore is not present on the standby interface. For the ASA to be able to re-route asymmetrically routed
HTTP packets, you need to replicate the HTTP state information.
• Perform this procedure within each active context on the primary and secondary units.

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• You cannot configure both ASR groups and traffic zones within a context. If you configure a zone in a
context, none of the context interfaces can be part of an ASR group.

Procedure

Step 1 On the primary unit active context, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ASR Groups.
Step 2 For the interface that receives asymmetrically routed packets, choose an ASR Group ID from the drop-down
list.
Step 3 Click Apply to save your changes to the running configuration.
Step 4 Connect ASDM to the secondary unit, and choose the active context similar to the primary unit context.
Step 5 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ASR Groups.
Step 6 For the similar interface on this unit, choose the same ASR Group ID.
Step 7 Click Apply to save your changes to the running configuration.

Manage Failover
This section describes how to manage Failover units after you enable Failover, including how to change the
Failover setup and how to force failover from one unit to another.

Modify the Failover Setup

If you do not use the wizard, or want to change a setting, you can configure the failover setup manually. This
section also includes the following options that are not included in the wizard, so you must configure them
manually:
• IPsec preshared key for encrypting failover traffic
• HTTP replication rate
• HTTP replication (Active/Standby mode)

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the System execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 In single mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Setup.
In multiple context mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Failover > Setup in the System
execution space.

Step 2 Check the Enable Failover check box.

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Note Failover is not actually enabled until you apply your changes to the device.

Step 3 To encrypt communications on the failover and state links, use one of the following options:
• IPsec Preshared Key (preferred)—The preshared key is used by IKEv2 to establish IPsec LAN-to-LAN
tunnels on the failover links between the failover units. Note: failover LAN-to-LAN tunnels do not count
against the IPsec (Other VPN) license.
• Secret Key—Enter the secret key used to encrypt failover communication. If you leave this field blank,
failover communication, including any passwords or keys in the configuration that are sent during
command replication, will be in clear text.
Use 32 hexadecimal character key—To use a 32-hexadecimal key for the secret key, check this check
box.

Step 4 In the LAN Failover area, set the following parameters for the failover link:
• Interface—Choose the interface to use for the failover link. Failover requires a dedicated interface,
however you can share the interface with Stateful Failover.
Only unconfigured interfaces or subinterfaces are displayed in this list and can be selected as the failover
link. Once you specify an interface as the failover link, you cannot edit that interface in the Configuration >
Interfaces pane.
• Logical Name—Specify the logical name of the interface used for failover communication, such as
“failover”. This name is informational.
• Active IP—Specify the active IP address for the interface. The IP address can be either an IPv4 or an
IPv6 address. This IP address should be on an unused subnet.
• Standby IP—Specify the standby IP address for the interface, on the same subnet as the active IP address.
• Subnet Mask—Specify the subnet mask.
• Preferred Role—Select Primary or Secondary to specify whether the preferred role for this ASA is
as the primary or secondary unit.

Step 5 (Optional) Configure the state link by doing the following:

• Interface—Choose the interface to use for the state link. You can choose an unconfigured interface or
subinterface, the failover link, or the --Use Named-- option.
Note We recommend that you use two separate, dedicated interfaces for the failover link and the
state link.

If you choose an unconfigured interface or subinterface, you must supply the Active IP, Subnet Mask,
Logical Name, and Standby IP for the interface.
If you choose the failover link, you do not need to specify the Active IP, Subnet Mask, Logical Name,
and Standby IP values; the values specified for the failover link are used.
If you choose the --Use Named-- option, the Logical Name field becomes a drop-down list of named
interfaces. Choose the interface from this list. The Active IP, Subnet Mask/Prefix Length, and Standby
IP values do not need to be specified. The values specified for the interface are used.
• Logical Name—Specify the logical name of the interface used for state communication, such as “state”.
This name is informational.

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• Active IP—Specify the active IP address for the interface. The IP address can be either an IPv4 or an
IPv6 address. This IP address should be on an unused subnet, different from the failover link.
• Standby IP—Specify the standby IP address for the interface, on the same subnet as the active IP address.
• Subnet Mask—Specify the subnet mask.
• (Optional, Active/Standby only) Enable HTTP Replication—This option enables Stateful Failover to
copy active HTTP sessions to the standby firewall. If you do not allow HTTP replication, then HTTP
connections are disconnected in the event of a failover. In Active/Active mode, set the HTTP replication
per failover group.
Note Because of a delay when deleting HTTP flows from the standby unit when using failover, the
show conn count output might show different numbers on the active unit vs. the standby unit;
if you wait several seconds and re-issue the command, you will see the same count on both
units.

Step 6 In the Replication area, set the session replication rate in connections per second. The minimum and maximum
rates are determined by your model. The default is the maximum rate. To use the default, check the Use
Default check box.
Step 7 Click Apply.
The configuration is saved to the device.

Step 8 If you are enabling failover, you see a dialog box to configure the failover peer.
• Click No if you want to connect to the failover peer later and configure the matching settings manually.
• Click Yes to let ASDM automatically configure the relevant failover settings on the failover peer. Provide
the peer IP address in the Peer IP Address field.

Force Failover
To force the standby unit to become active, perform the following procedure.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the System execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 To force failover at the unit level:

a) Choose the screen depending on your context mode:
• In single context mode choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status.
• In multiple context mode, in the System choose Monitoring > Failover > System.

b) Click one of the following buttons:

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• Click Make Active to make the unit this unit.

• Click Make Standby to make the other unit the active unit.

Step 2 (Active/Active mode only) To force failover at the failover group level:
a) In the System choose Monitoring > Failover > Failover Group #, where # is the number of the failover
group you want to control.
b) Click one of the following buttons
• Click Make Active to make the failover group active on this unit.
• Click Make Standby to make the failover group active on the other unit.

Disable Failover
Disabling failover on one or both units causes the active and standby state of each unit to be maintained until
you reload. For an Active/Active failover pair, the failover groups remain in the active state on whichever
unit they are active, no matter which unit they are configured to prefer.
See the following characteristics when you disable failover:
• The standby unit/context remains in standby mode so that both units do not start passing traffic (this is
called a pseudo-standby state).
• The standby unit/context continues to use its standby IP addresses even though it is no longer connected
to an active unit/context.
• The standby unit/context continues to listen for a connection on the failover link. If failover is re-enabled
on the active unit/context, then the standby unit/context resumes ordinary standby status after
re-synchronizing the rest of its configuration.
• Do not enable failover manually on the standby unit to make it active; instead see Force Failover, on
page 307. If you enable failover on the standby unit, you will see a MAC address conflict that can disrupt
IPv6 traffic.
• To truly disable failover, save the no failover configuration to the startup configuration, and then reload.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 In single mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Setup.
In multiple context mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Failover > Setup in the System
execution space.

Step 2 Uncheck the Enable Failover check box.

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Step 3 Click Apply.

Step 4 To completely disable failover, save the configuration and reload:
a) Click the Save button.
b) Choose Tools > System Reload and reload the ASA.

Restore a Failed Unit

To restore a failed unit to an unfailed state, perform the following procedure.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the System execution space.

Procedure

Step 1 To restore failover at the unit level:

a) Choose the screen depending on your context mode:
• In single context mode choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status.
• In multiple context mode, in the System choose Monitoring > Failover > System.

b) Click Reset Failover.

Step 2 (Active/Active mode only) To reset failover at the failover group level:
a) In the System choose Monitoring > Failover > Failover Group #, where # is the number of the failover
group you want to control.
b) Click Reset Failover.

Re-Sync the Configuration

Replicated commands are stored in the running configuration. To save replicated commands to the flash
memory on the standby unit, choose File > Save Running Configuration to Flash.

Monitoring Failover
This section lets you monitor the Failover status.

Failover Messages
When a failover occurs, both ASAs send out system messages.

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Failover Syslog Messages

The ASA issues a number of syslog messages related to failover at priority level 2, which indicates a critical
condition. To view these messages, see the syslog messages guide. The ranges of message IDs associated
with failover are: 101xxx, 102xxx, 103xxx, 104xxx, 105xxx, 210xxx, 311xxx, 709xxx, 727xxx. For example,
105032 and 105043 indicate a problem with the failover link.

Note During failover, the ASA logically shuts down and then brings up interfaces, generating syslog messages
411001 and 411002. This is normal activity.

Failover Debug Messages

To see debug messages, enter the debug fover command. See the command reference for more information.

Note Because debugging output is assigned high priority in the CPU process, it can drastically affect system
performance. For this reason, use the debug fover commands only to troubleshoot specific problems or during
troubleshooting sessions with Cisco TAC.

SNMP Failover Traps

To receive SNMP syslog traps for failover, configure the SNMP agent to send SNMP traps to SNMP
management stations, define a syslog host, and compile the Cisco syslog MIB into your SNMP management
station.

Monitoring Failover Status

Note After a failover event, you should either re-launch ASDM or switch to another device in the Devices pane
and then come back to the original ASA to continue monitoring the device. This action is necessary because
the monitoring connection is not re-established when ASDM is disconnected from and then reconnected to
the device.

Choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover to monitor Active/Standby failover.

Use the following screens in the Monitoring > Properties > Failover area to monitor Active/Active failover.

System
The System pane displays the failover state of the system. You can also control the failover state of the system
by:
• Toggling the active/standby state of the device.
• Resetting a failed device.
• Reloading the standby unit.

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Failover Group 1 and Failover Group 2

Fields
Failover state of the system—Display only. Displays the failover state of the ASA. The information shown
is the same output you would receive from the show failover command. Refer to the command reference for
more information about the displayed output.
The following actions are available on the System pane:
• Make Active—Click this button to make the ASA the active unit in an active/standby configuration. In
an active/active configuration, clicking this button causes both failover groups to become active on the
ASA.
• Make Standby—Click this button to make the ASA the standby unit in an active/standby pair. In an
active/active configuration, clicking this button causes both failover groups to go to the standby state on
the ASA.
• Reset Failover—Click this button to reset a system from the failed state to the standby state. You cannot
reset a system to the active state. Clicking this button on the active unit resets the standby unit.
• Reload Standby—Click this button to force the standby unit to reload.
• Refresh—Click this button to refresh the status information in the Failover state of the system field.

Failover Group 1 and Failover Group 2

The Failover Group 1 and Failover Group 2 panes display the failover state of the selected group.You can
also control the failover state of the group by toggling the active/standby state of the group or by resetting a
failed group.

Fields
Failover state of Group[x]—Display only. Displays the failover state of the selected failover group. The
information shown is the same as the output you would receive from the show failover group command.
You can perform the following actions from this pane:
• Make Active—Click this button to make the failover group active unit on the ASA.
• Make Standby—Click this button to force the failover group into the standby state on the ASA.
• Reset Failover—Click this button to reset a system from the failed state to the standby state. You cannot
reset a system to the active state. Clicking this button on the active unit resets the standby unit.
• Refresh—Click this button to refresh the status information in the Failover state of the system field.

History for Failover

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Active/Standby failover 7.0(1) This feature was introduced.

Active/Active failover 7.0(1) This feature was introduced.

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History for Failover

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Support for a hex value for the failover key 7.0(4) You can now specify a hex value for
failover link encryption.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability > Failover > Setup.

Support for the master passphrase for the 8.3(1) The failover key now supports the master
failover key passphrase, which encrypts the shared key
in the running and startup configuration. If
you are copying the shared secret from one
ASA to another, for example from the more
system:running-config command, you can
successfully copy and paste the encrypted
shared key.
Note The failover key shared secret
shows as ***** in show
running-config output; this
obscured key is not copyable.

There were no ASDM changes.

IPv6 support for failover added. 8.2(2) We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability > Failover > Setup
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability > Failover > Interfaces

Change to failover group unit preference 9.0(1) Earlier software versions allowed
during "simultaneous" bootup. “simultaneous” boot up so that the failover
groups did not require the preempt
command to become active on the preferred
unit. However, this functionality has now
changed so that both failover groups
become active on the first unit to boot up.

Support for IPsec LAN-to-LAN tunnels to 9.1(2) Instead of using the proprietary encryption
encrypt failover and state link for the failover key, you can now use an
communications IPsec LAN-to-LAN tunnel for failover and
state link encryption.
Note Failover LAN-to-LAN tunnels
do not count against the IPsec
(Other VPN) license.

We modified the following screen:

Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability > Failover > Setup.

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History for Failover

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Disable health monitoring of a hardware 9.3(1) By default, the ASA monitors the health of
module an installed hardware module such as the
ASA FirePOWER module. If you do not
want a hardware module failure to trigger
failover, you can disable module
monitoring.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Interfaces.

Lock configuration changes on the standby 9.3(2) You can now lock configuration changes
unit or standby context in a failover pair on the standby unit (Active/Standby
failover) or the standby context
(Active/Active failover) so you cannot
make changes on the standby unit outside
normal configuration syncing.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Setup.

Enable use of the Management 1/1 interface 9.5(1) On the ASA 5506H only, you can now
as the failover link on the ASA 5506H configure the Management 1/1 interface as
the failover link. This feature lets you use
all other interfaces on the device as data
interfaces. Note that if you use this feature,
you cannot use the ASA Firepower module,
which requires the Management 1/1
interface to remain as a regular management
interface.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Setup

Carrier Grade NAT enhancements now 9.5(2) For carrier-grade or large-scale PAT, you
supported in failover and ASA clustering can allocate a block of ports for each host,
rather than have NAT allocate one port
translation at a time (see RFC 6888). This
feature is now supported in failover and
ASA cluster deployments.
We did not modify any screens.

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History for Failover

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Improved sync time for dynamic ACLs 9.6(2) When you use AnyConnect on a failover
from AnyConnect when using pair, then the sync time for the associated
Active/Standby failover dynamic ACLs (dACLs) to the standby unit
is now improved. Previously, with large
dACLs, the sync time could take hours
during which time the standby unit is busy
syncing instead of providing high
availability backup.
We did not modify any screens.

Stateful failover for AnyConnect 9.6(2) Stateful failover is now supported for
connections in multiple context mode AnyConnect connections in multiple
context mode.
We did not modify any screens.

Interface link state monitoring polling for 9.7(1) By default, each ASA in a failover pair
failover now configurable for faster checks the link state of its interfaces every
detection 500 msec. You can now configure the
polling interval, between 300 msec and 799
msec; for example, if you set the polltime
to 300 msec, the ASA can detect an
interface failure and trigger failover faster.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Criteria

Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) 9.7(1) You can enable Bidirectional Forwarding
support for Active/Standby failover health Detection (BFD) for the failover health
monitoring on the Firepower 9300 and 4100 check between two units of an
Active/Standby pair on the Firepower 9300
and 4100. Using BFD for the health check
is more reliable than the default health
check method and uses less CPU.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
High Availability and Scalability >
Failover > Setup

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Failover for High Availability in the Public Cloud
This chapter describes how to configure Active/Backup failover to accomplish high availability of the Cisco
ASAv in a public cloud environment, such as Microsoft Azure.
• About Failover in the Public Cloud, on page 315
• Licensing for Failover in the Public Cloud, on page 320
• Defaults for Failover in the Public Cloud, on page 320
• About ASAv High Availability in Microsoft Azure, on page 320
• Configure Active/Backup Failover, on page 323
• Configure Optional Failover Parameters, on page 325
• Manage Failover in the Public Cloud, on page 326
• Monitor Failover in the Public Cloud, on page 327
• History for Failover in the Public Cloud, on page 329

About Failover in the Public Cloud

To ensure redundancy, you can deploy the ASAv in a public cloud environment in an Active/Backup high
availability (HA) configuration. HA in the public cloud implements a stateless Active/Backup solution that
allows for a failure of the active ASAv to trigger an automatic failover of the system to the backup ASAv.
The following list describes the primary components in the HA public cloud solution:
• Active ASAv—The ASAv in the HA pair that is set up to handle the firewall traffic for the HA peers.
• Backup ASAv—The ASAv in the HA pair that is not handling firewall traffic and takes over as the
active ASAv in the event of an active ASAv failure. It is referred to as a Backup rather than a Standby
because it is does not take on the identify of its peer in the event of a failover.
• HA Agent—A lightweight process that runs on the ASAv and determines the HA role (active/backup)
of an ASAv, detects failures of its HA peer, and performs actions based on its HA role.

On the physical ASA and the non-public cloud virtual ASA, the system handles failover conditions using
gratuitous ARP requests where the backup ASA sends out a gratuitous ARP indicating it is now associated
with the active IP and MAC addresses. Most public cloud environments do not allow broadcast traffic of this
nature. For this reason, an HA configuration in the public cloud requires ongoing connections be restarted
when failover happens.

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About Active/Backup Failover

The health of the active unit is monitored by the backup unit to determine if specific failover conditions are
met. If those conditions are met, failover occurs. The failover time can vary from a few seconds to over a
minute depending on the responsiveness of the public cloud infrastructure.

About Active/Backup Failover

In Active/Backup failover, one unit is the active unit. It passes traffic. The backup unit does not actively pass
traffic or exchange any configuration information with the active unit. Active/Backup failover lets you use a
backup ASAv device to take over the functionality of a failed unit. When the active unit fails, it changes to
the backup state while the backup unit changes to the active state.

Primary/Secondary Roles and Active/Backup Status

When setting up Active/Backup failover, you configure one unit to be primary and the other as secondary.
At this point, the two units act as two separate devices for device and policy configuration, as well as for
events, dashboards, reports, and health monitoring.
The main differences between the two units in a failover pair are related to which unit is active and which
unit is backup, namely which unit actively passes traffic. Although both units are capable of passing traffic,
only the primary unit responds to Load Balancer probes and programs any configured routes to use it as a
route destination. The backup unit's primary function is to monitor the health of the primary unit. The primary
unit always becomes the active unit if both units start up at the same time (and are of equal operational health).

Failover Connection
The backup ASAv monitors the health of the active ASAv using a failover connection established over TCP:
• The active ASAv acts as a connection server by opening a listen port.
• The backup ASAv connects to the active ASAv using connect port.
• Typically the listen port and the connect port are the same, unless your configuration requires some type
of network address translation between the ASAv units.

The state of the failover connection detects the failure of the active ASAv. When the backup ASAv sees the
failover connection come down, it considers the active ASAv as failed. Similarly, if the backup ASAv does
not receive a response to a keepalive message sent to the active unit, it considers the active ASAv as failed

Related Topics

Polling and Hello Messages

The backup ASAv sends Hello messages over the failover connection to the active ASAv and expects a Hello
Response in return. Message timing uses a polling interval, the time period between the receipt of a Hello
Response by the backup ASAv unit and the sending of the next Hello message. The receipt of the response
is enforced by a receive timeout, called the hold time. If the receipt of the Hello Response times out, the active
ASAv is considered to have failed.
The polling and hold time intervals are configurable parameters; see Configure Active/Backup Failover, on
page 323.

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Active Unit Determination at Startup

Active Unit Determination at Startup

The active unit is determined by the following:
• If a unit boots and detects a peer already running as active, it becomes the backup unit.
• If a unit boots and does not detect a peer, it becomes the active unit.
• If both units boot simultaneously, then the primary unit becomes the active unit, and the secondary unit
becomes the backup unit.

Failover Events
In Active/Backup failover, failover occurs on a unit basis. The following table shows the failover action for
each failure event. For each failure event, the table shows the failover policy (failover or no failover), the
action taken by the active unit, the action taken by the backup unit, and any special notes about the failover
condition and actions.

Table 21: Failover Events

Failure Event Policy Active Action Backup Action Notes

Backup unit sees a Failover n/a Become active This is the standard
failover connection close failover use case.
Mark active as failed

Active unit sees a No failover Mark backup as failed n/a Failover to an inactive
failover connection close unit should never occur.

Active unit sees a TCP No failover Mark backup as failed No action Failover should not occur
timeout on failover link if the active unit is not
getting a reponse from
the backup unit.

Backup unit sees a TCP Failover n/a Become active The backup unit assumes
timeout on failover link that the active unit is
Mark active as failed
unable to continue
Try to send failover operation and takes over.
command to active unit
In case the active unit is
still up, but fails to send
a response in time, the
backup unit sends the
failover command to the
active unit.

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Failover Events

Failure Event Policy Active Action Backup Action Notes

Active Authentication No failover No action No action Because the backup unit

failed is changing the route
tables, it is the only unit
that needs to be
authenticated to Azure.
It does not matter if the
active unit is
authenticated to Azure or
not.

Backup Authentication No failover Mark backup as No action Failover cannot happen

failed unauthenticated if the backup unit is not
authenticated to Azure.

Active unit initiates Failover Become backup Become active The active unit initiates
intentional failover failover by closing the
Failover Link
Connection.
The backup unit sees the
connection close and
becomes the active unit.

Backup unit initiates Failover Become backup Become active The backup unit initiates
intentional failover failover by sending a
failover message to the
active unit.
When the active unit sees
the message, it closes the
connection and becomes
the backup unit.
The backup unit sees the
connection close and
becomes the active unit.

Formerly active unit No failover Become backup Mark mate as backup Failover should not occur
recovers unless absolutely
necessary.

Active unit sees failover Failover Become backup Become active Can occur if a manual
message from backup failover was initiated by
unit a user; or the backup unit
saw the TCP timeout, but
the active unit is able to
receive messages from
the backup unit.

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Guidelines and Limitations

Guidelines and Limitations

This section includes the guidelines and limitations for this feature.

ASAv Failover for High Availability in the Public Cloud

To ensure redundancy, you can deploy the ASAv in a public cloud environment in an Active/Backup high
availability (HA) configuration.
• Supported only on the Microsoft Azure public cloud, using the Standard D3_v2 instance.
• Implements a stateless Active/Backup solution that allows for a failure of the active ASAv to trigger an
automatic failover of the system to the backup ASAv.

Limitations
• Failover is on the order of seconds rather than milliseconds.
• The HA role determination and the ability to participate as an HA unit depends on TCP connectivity
between HA peers and between an HA unit and the Azure infrastructure. There are several situations
where an ASAv will not be able participate as an HA unit:
• The inability to establish a failover connection to its HA peer.
• The inability to retrieve an authentication token from Azure.
• The inability to authenticate with Azure.

• There is no synching of the configuration from the Active unit to the Backup unit. Each unit must be
configured individually with similar configurations for handling failover traffic.
• Failover route-table limitations
With respect to route-tables for HA in the public cloud:
• You can configure a maximum of 16 route-tables.
• Within a route-table, you can configure a maximum of 64 routes.

In each case the system alerts you when you have reached the limit, with the recommendation to remove
a route-table or route and retry.
• No ASDM support.
• No IPSec Remote Access VPN support.

Note See the Cisco Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv) Quick Start Guide
for information about supported VPN topologies in the public cloud.

• ASAv Virtual Machine instances must be in the same availability set. If you are a current ASAv user in
Azure, you will not be able to upgrade to HA from an existing deployment. You have to delete your
instance and deploy the ASAv 4 NIC HA offering from the Azure Marketplace.

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Licensing for Failover in the Public Cloud

Licensing for Failover in the Public Cloud

The ASAv uses Cisco Smart Software Licensing. A smart license is required for regular operation. Each
ASAv must be licensed independently with an ASAv platform license. Until you install a license, throughput
is limited to 100 Kbps so you can perform preliminary connectivity tests. See the Cisco ASA Series Feature
Licenses page to find precise licensing requirements for ASAv.

Defaults for Failover in the Public Cloud

By default, the failover policy consists of the following:
• Stateless failover only.
• Each unit must be configured individually with similar configurations for handling failover traffic.
• The failover TCP control port number is 44442.
• The Azure Load Balancer health probe port number is 44441.
• The unit poll time is 5 seconds.
• The unit hold time is 15 seconds.

About ASAv High Availability in Microsoft Azure

The following figure shows a high-level view of an ASAv HA deployment in Azure. A protected workload
sits behind two ASAv instances in an Active/Backup failover configuration. An Azure Load Balancer probes
both of the ASAv units using a three-way TCP handshake. The active ASAv completes the three way handshake
indicating that it is healthy, while the backup ASAv intentionally does not respond. By not responding to the
Load Balancer, the backup ASAv appears unhealthy to the Load Balancer, which in turn does not send traffic
to it.
On failover, the active ASAv stops responding to the Load Balancer probes and the backup ASAv starts
responding, causing all new connections to be sent to the backup ASAv. The backup ASAv sends API requests
to the Azure Fabric to modify the route table, redirecting traffic from the active unit to the backup unit. At
this point, the backup ASAv becomes the active unit and the active unit becomes the backup unit or is offline,
depending on the reason for the failover.

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About the Azure Service Principal

Figure 54: ASAv HA Deployment in Azure

To be able to automatically make API calls to modify Azure route tables, the ASAv HA units need to have
Azure Active Directory credentials. Azure employs the concept of a Service Principal which, in simple terms,
is a service account. A Service Principal allows you to provision an account with only enough permissions
and scope to run a task within a predefined set of Azure resources.
There are two steps to enable your ASAv HA deployment to manage your Azure subscription using a Service
Principal:
1. Create an Azure Active Directory application and Service Principal; see About the Azure Service Principal,
on page 321.
2. Configure the ASAv instances to authenticate with Azure using a Service Principal; see Configure
Active/Backup Failover, on page 323.

Related Topics
See the Azure documentation for more informaion about the Load Balancer.

About the Azure Service Principal

When you have an application that needs to access or modify Azure resources, such as route tables, you must
set up an Azure Active Directory (AD) application and assign the required permissions to it. This approach
is preferable to running the application under your own credentials because:
• You can assign permissions to the application identity that are different than your own permissions.
Typically, these permissions are restricted to exactly what the application needs to do.
• You do not have to change the application's credentials if your responsibilities change.
• You can use a certificate to automate authentication when executing an unattended script.

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Configuration Requirements for ASAv High Availability in Azure

When you register an Azure AD application in the Azure portal, two objects are created in your Azure AD
tenant: an application object, and a service principal object.
• Application object—An Azure AD application is defined by its one and only application object, which
resides in the Azure AD tenant where the application was registered, known as the application's "home"
tenant.
• Service principal object—The service principal object defines the policy and permissions for an
application's use in a specific tenant, providing the basis for a security principal to represent the application
at run-time.

Azure provides instructions on how to create an Azure AD application and service principal in the Azure
Resource Manager Documentation. See the following topics for complete instructions:
• Use portal to create an Azure Active Directory application and service principal that can access resources
• Use Azure PowerShell to create a service principal to access resource

Note After you set up the service principal, obtain the Directory ID, Application ID, and Secret key. These are
required to configure Azure authentication credentials; see Configure Active/Backup Failover, on page 323.

Configuration Requirements for ASAv High Availability in Azure

To deploy a configuration similar to the one described in Figure 54: ASAv HA Deployment in Azure, on page
321 you need the following :
• Azure Authentication information (see About the Azure Service Principal, on page 321):
• Directory ID
• Application ID
• Secret key

• Azure route information (see Configure Azure Route Tables, on page 325):
• Azure Subscription ID
• Route table resource group
• Table names
• Address prefix
• Next hop address

• ASA configuration (see Configure Active/Backup Failover, on page 323, Defaults for Failover in the
Public Cloud, on page 320):
• Active/Backup IP addresses
• HA Agent communication port
• Load Balancer probe port

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• Polling intervals

Note Configure basic failover settings on both the primary and secondary units. There is no synching of configuration
from the primary unit to the secondary unit. Each unit must be configured individually with similar
configurations for handling failover traffic.

Configure Active/Backup Failover

To configure Active/Backup failover, configure basic failover settings on both the primary and secondary
units. There is no synching of configuration from the primary unit to the secondary unit. Each unit must be
configured individually with similar configurations for handling failover traffic.

Before you begin

• Deploy your ASAv HA pair in an Azure Availability Set.
• Have your Azure environment information available, including your Azure Subscription ID and Azure
authentication credentials for the Service Principal.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > Failover.
Step 2 On the Cloud tab, check the Unit check box to expand the Failover Unit drop-down options.
Step 3 From the Failover Unit drop-down menu, choose primary.
The primary unit will assume the active HA role when both HA units come up at the same time.

Step 4 (Optional) Check the Port check box to expand the Control and Probe fields.
a) Enter a valid TCP control port in the Control field; or keep the default, port 44442.
The control port establishes the TCP failover connection established between the active ASAv and the
backup ASAv.
b) Enter a valid TCP probe port in the Probe field; or keep the default, port 44441.
The probe port is the TCP port used as the destination port for Azure Load Balancer probes.

Step 5 (Optional) Check the Time check box to expand the Poll Time and Hold Time fields.
a) Enter a valid time (in seconds) in the Poll Time field; or keep the default, 5 seconds.
The poll time range is between 1 and 15 seconds. With a faster poll time, the ASA can detect failure and
trigger failover faster. However, faster detection can cause unnecessary switchovers when the network is
temporarily congested.
b) Enter a valid time (in seconds) in the Hold Time field; or keep the default, 15 seconds.

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The hold time determines how long it takes from the time a hello packet is missed to when the unit is
marked as failed. The hold time range is between 3 and 60 seconds.You cannot enter a holdtime value
that is less than 3 times the unit poll time.

Step 6 Check the Peer check box to expand the Peer IP-Address and Peer Port fields.
a) Enter the IP address used to establish a TCP failover control connection to the HA peer in the Peer
IP-Address field.
b) (Optional) Enter a valid TCP control port in the Peer Port field; or keep the default, port 44442..
The peer port establishes the TCP failover connection established between the active ASAv and the backup
ASAv.

Step 7 Check the Authentication check box to expand the Application-id, Directory-id, and Key fields.
You can configure authentication credentials for an Azure Service Principal that allows your ASAv HA peers
to access or modify Azure resources, such as route tables. Service Principals allow you to provision an Azure
account that possesses the minimum permissions to perform a task within a predefined set of Azure resources.
In the case of ASAv HA, it is limited to the permissions needed to modify user-defined routes; see About the
Azure Service Principal, on page 321.
a) Enter the Azure application ID for the Azure Service Principal in the Application-id field.
You need this application ID when you request an access key from the Azure infrastructure.
b) Enter the Azure directory ID for the Azure Service Principal in the Directory-id field.
You need this directory ID when you request an access key from the Azure infrastructure.
c) Enter the Azure secret key for the Azure Service Principal in the Key field.
You need this secret key when requesting an access key from the Azure infrastructure. If the Encrypt
field is checked, the secret key is encrypted in the running configuration.

Step 8 Check the Subscription check box to expand the Sub-id field.
This is the Subscription ID for the account to which the route tables that require updating belong.

Step 9 Check the Enable Cloud Failover check box.

Step 10 Click Apply.
Failover is not actually enabled until you apply your changes to the device.

Step 11 If you know the secondary unit is not yet failover-enabled, connect to the secondary ASAv from the Device
List, or start a new ASDM session using the IP address of the ASAv: https://asa_ip_address/admin.
Step 12 Repeat steps 1 through 10 to configure Active/Backup failover on the secondary unit.
There is no synching of configuration from the primary unit to the secondary unit. Each unit must be configured
individually with similar configurations for handling failover traffic.
Failover is not actually enabled until you apply your changes to the device.

What to do next
Configure additional parameters as needed:

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Configure Optional Failover Parameters

• Configure Azure route information; see Configure Azure Route Tables, on page 325.

Configure Optional Failover Parameters

You can customize failover settings as necessary.

Configure Azure Route Tables

The route table configuration consists of information about Azure user-defined routes that need to be updated
when an ASAv assumes the active role. On failover, you want to direct internal routes to the active unit, which
uses the configured route table information to automatically direct the routes to itself.

Note You need to configure any Azure route table information on both the active and backup units.

Before you begin

• Configure these settings on both the primary and secondary units. There is no synching of configuration
from the primary unit to the secondary unit.
• Have your Azure environment information available, including your Azure Subscription ID and Azure
authentication credentials for the Service Principal.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > Failover.
Step 2 Click the Route-Table tab and click Add.
a) In the Route Table Name field, enter a name for the route table.
You can configure up to 16 route tables. Alternately, you can edit or delete entries to the Route Table list.
b) (Optional) In the Sub-id field, enter an Azure Subscription ID.
You can update user-defined routes in more than one Azure subscription by specifying the corresponding
Azure Subscription ID here. If you enter the Route Table Name without specifying an Azure Subscription
ID, the global parameter is used.
Note You enter the Azure Subscription ID when you configure Active/Backup failover from
Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > Failover; see
Configure Active/Backup Failover, on page 323.

Step 3 Click Route-Table-Mode. You can add, edit, or delete route entries to the route tables.
Step 4 Click Add.
Enter the following values for Azure user-defined routes:
a) From the Route Table drop-down list, choose a route table.

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Manage Failover in the Public Cloud

b) In the Azure Resource Group field, enter the name of the Azure Resource Group that contains the Azure
route table.
c) In the Route Name field, enter a unique name for the route.
d) In the Prefix Address/Mask field, enter the IP address prefix in CIDR notation.
e) In the Next Hop Address field, enter the next-hop address. This is an interface IP address on the ASAv.
Note You can configure up to 64 routes.

Step 5 Click Apply to save your changes.

Manage Failover in the Public Cloud

This section describes how to manage Failover units in the Cloud after you enable failover, including how to
change to force failover from one unit to another.

Force Failover
To force the standby unit to become active, perform the following command.

Before you begin

Use this command in the system execution space in single context mode.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status.

Step 2 To force failover at the unit level, click one of the following buttons:
• Click Make Active to make this unit the active unit.
• Click Make Standby to make this unit the standby unit.

Update Routes
If the state of the routes in Azure is inconsistent with the ASAv in the active role, you can force route updates
on the ASAv:

Before you begin

Use this command in the system execution space in single context mode.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status.

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Validate Azure Authentication

Step 2 Click Update Route.

This command is only valid on the ASAv in the active role. If authentication fails the output will be Route
changes failed.

Validate Azure Authentication

For a successful ASAv HA deployment in Azure, the Service Principal configuration must be complete and
accurate. Without proper Azure authorization, the ASAv units will be unable to access resources to handle
failover and to perform route updates. You can test your failover configuration to detect errors related to the
following elements of your Azure Service Principal:
• Directory ID
• Application ID
• Authentication Key

Before you begin

Use this command in the system execution space in single context mode.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status.

Step 2 Click Test Authentication.
If authentication fails the command output will be Authentication Failed.

If the Directory ID or Application ID is not configured properly, Azure will not recognize the resource
addressed in the REST request to obtain an authentication token. The event history for this condition entry
will read:
Error Connection - Unexpected status in response to access token request: Bad Request

If the Directory ID or Application ID are correct, but the authentication key is not configured properly, Azure
will not grant permission to generate the authentication token. The event history for this condition entry will
read:
Error Connection - Unexpected status in response to access token request: Unauthorized

Monitor Failover in the Public Cloud

This section explains how you monitor the failover status.

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Failover Status

Failover Status

Note After a failover event you should either re-launch ASDM or switch to another device in the Devices pane and
then come back to the original ASA to continue monitoring the device. This action is necessary because the
monitoring connection does not become re-established when ASDM is disconnected from and then reconnected
to the device.

• Choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > Status and click Failover Status to monitor
Active/Backup failover status.
• Choose Monitoring > Properties > Failover > History to display failover event history with a timestamp,
severity level, event type, and event text.

Failover Messages
Failover Syslog Messages
The ASA issues a number of syslog messages related to failover at priority level 2, which indicates a critical
condition. To view these messages, see the syslog messages guide. Syslog messages are in the ranges of
1045xx and 1055xx.

Note During failover, the ASA logically shuts down and then brings up interfaces, generating syslog messages.
This is normal activity.

The following are sample syslogs generated during a switchover:

%ASA-3-105509: (Primary) Error sending Hello message to peer unit 10.22.3.5, error: Unknown
error
%ASA-1-104500: (Primary) Switching to ACTIVE - switch reason: Unable to send message to
Active unit
%ASA-5-105522: (Primary) Updating route-table wc-rt-inside
%ASA-5-105523: (Primary) Updated route-table wc-rt-inside
%ASA-5-105522: (Primary) Updating route-table wc-rt-outside
%ASA-5-105523: (Primary) Updated route-table wc-rt-outside
%ASA-5-105542: (Primary) Enabling load balancer probe responses
%ASA-5-105503: (Primary) Internal state changed from Backup to Active no peer
%ASA-5-105520: (Primary) Responding to Azure Load Balancer probes

Each syslog related to a Public Cloud deployment is prefaced with the unit role: (Primary) or (Secondary).

Failover Debug Messages

To see debug messages, enter the debug fover command. See the command reference for more information.

Note Because debugging output is assigned high priority in the CPU process, it can drastically affect system
performance. For this reason, use the debug fover commands only to troubleshoot specific problems or during
troubleshooting sessions with Cisco TAC.

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History for Failover in the Public Cloud

SNMP Failover Traps

To receive SNMP syslog traps for failover, configure the SNMP agent to send SNMP traps to SNMP
management stations, define a syslog host, and compile the Cisco syslog MIB into your SNMP management
station.

History for Failover in the Public Cloud

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Active/Backup failover on Microsoft Azure 7.9(1) This feature was introduced.

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 CHAPTER 12
ASA Cluster
Clustering lets you group multiple ASAs together as a single logical device. A cluster provides all the
convenience of a single device (management, integration into a network) while achieving the increased
throughput and redundancy of multiple devices.

Note Some features are not supported when using clustering. See Unsupported Features with Clustering, on page
401.

• About ASA Clustering, on page 331

• Licenses for ASA Clustering, on page 335
• Requirements and Prerequisites for ASA Clustering, on page 335
• Guidelines for ASA Clustering, on page 337
• Configure ASA Clustering, on page 342
• Manage Cluster Members, on page 373
• Monitoring the ASA Cluster, on page 379
• Examples for ASA Clustering, on page 380
• Reference for Clustering, on page 401
• History for ASA Clustering, on page 416

About ASA Clustering

This section describes the clustering architecture and how it works.

How the ASA Cluster Fits into Your Network

The cluster consists of multiple ASAs acting as a single unit. To act as a cluster, the ASAs need the following
infrastructure:
• Isolated, high-speed backplane network for intra-cluster communication, known as the cluster control
link.
• Management access to each ASA for configuration and monitoring.

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Cluster Members

When you place the cluster in your network, the upstream and downstream routers need to be able to
load-balance the data coming to and from the cluster using one of the following methods:
• Spanned EtherChannel (Recommended)—Interfaces on multiple members of the cluster are grouped
into a single EtherChannel; the EtherChannel performs load balancing between units.
• Policy-Based Routing (Routed firewall mode only)—The upstream and downstream routers perform
load balancing between units using route maps and ACLs.
• Equal-Cost Multi-Path Routing (Routed firewall mode only)—The upstream and downstream routers
perform load balancing between units using equal cost static or dynamic routes.

Cluster Members
Cluster members work together to accomplish the sharing of the security policy and traffic flows. This section
describes the nature of each member role.

Bootstrap Configuration
On each device, you configure a minimal bootstrap configuration including the cluster name, cluster control
link interface, and other cluster settings. The first unit on which you enable clustering typically becomes the
control unit. When you enable clustering on subsequent units, they join the cluster as data units.

Control and Data Unit Roles

One member of the cluster is the control unit. The control unit is determined by the priority setting in the
bootstrap configuration; the priority is set between 1 and 100, where 1 is the highest priority. All other members
are data units. Typically, when you first create a cluster, the first unit you add becomes the control unit simply
because it is the only unit in the cluster so far.
You must perform all configuration (aside from the bootstrap configuration) on the control unit only; the
configuration is then replicated to the data units. In the case of physical assets, such as interfaces, the
configuration of the control unit is mirrored on all data units. For example, if you configure GigabitEthernet
0/1 as the inside interface and GigabitEthernet 0/0 as the outside interface, then these interfaces are also used
on the data units as inside and outside interfaces.
Some features do not scale in a cluster, and the control unit handles all traffic for those features.

Cluster Interfaces
You can configure data interfaces as either Spanned EtherChannels or as Individual interfaces. All data
interfaces in the cluster must be one type only. See About Cluster Interfaces, on page 343 for more information.

Cluster Control Link

Each unit must dedicate at least one hardware interface as the cluster control link. See About the Cluster
Control Link, on page 343 for more information.

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Configuration Replication
All units in the cluster share a single configuration. You can only make configuration changes on the control
unit, and changes are automatically synced to all other units in the cluster.

ASA Cluster Management

One of the benefits of using ASA clustering is the ease of management. This section describes how to manage
the cluster.

Management Network
We recommend connecting all units to a single management network. This network is separate from the cluster
control link.

Management Interface
For the management interface, we recommend using one of the dedicated management interfaces. You can
configure the management interfaces as Individual interfaces (for both routed and transparent modes) or as a
Spanned EtherChannel interface.
We recommend using Individual interfaces for management, even if you use Spanned EtherChannels for your
data interfaces. Individual interfaces let you connect directly to each unit if necessary, while a Spanned
EtherChannel interface only allows remote connection to the current control unit.

Note If you use Spanned EtherChannel interface mode, and configure the management interface as an Individual
interface, you cannot enable dynamic routing for the management interface. You must use a static route.

For an Individual interface, the Main cluster IP address is a fixed address for the cluster that always belongs
to the current control unit. For each interface, you also configure a range of addresses so that each unit,
including the current control unit, can use a Local address from the range. The Main cluster IP address provides
consistent management access to an address; when a control unit changes, the Main cluster IP address moves
to the new control unit, so management of the cluster continues seamlessly. The Local IP address is used for
routing, and is also useful for troubleshooting.
For example, you can manage the cluster by connecting to the Main cluster IP address, which is always
attached to the current control unit. To manage an individual member, you can connect to the Local IP address.
For outbound management traffic such as TFTP or syslog, each unit, including the control unit, uses the Local
IP address to connect to the server.
For a Spanned EtherChannel interface, you can only configure one IP address, and that IP address is always
attached to the control unit. You cannot connect directly to a data unit using the EtherChannel interface; we
recommend configuring the management interface as an Individual interface so that you can connect to each
unit. Note that you can use a device-local EtherChannel for management.

Control Unit Management Vs. Data Unit Management

All management and monitoring can take place on the control unit. From the control unit, you can check
runtime statistics, resource usage, or other monitoring information of all units. You can also issue a command
to all units in the cluster, and replicate the console messages from data units to the control unit.

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RSA Key Replication

You can monitor data units directly if desired. Although also available from the control unit, you can perform
file management on data units (including backing up the configuration and updating images). The following
functions are not available from the control unit:
• Monitoring per-unit cluster-specific statistics.
• Syslog monitoring per unit (except for syslogs sent to the console when console replication is enabled).
• SNMP
• NetFlow

RSA Key Replication

When you create an RSA key on the control unit, the key is replicated to all data units. If you have an SSH
session to the Main cluster IP address, you will be disconnected if the control unit fails. The new control unit
uses the same key for SSH connections, so that you do not need to update the cached SSH host key when you
reconnect to the new control unit.

ASDM Connection Certificate IP Address Mismatch

By default, a self-signed certificate is used for the ASDM connection based on the Local IP address. If you
connect to the Main cluster IP address using ASDM, then a warning message about a mismatched IP address
might appear because the certificate uses the Local IP address, and not the Main cluster IP address. You can
ignore the message and establish the ASDM connection. However, to avoid this type of warning, you can
enroll a certificate that contains the Main cluster IP address and all the Local IP addresses from the IP address
pool. You can then use this certificate for each cluster member. See https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/
security/asdm/identity-cert/cert-install.html for more information.

Inter-Site Clustering
For inter-site installations, you can take advantage of ASA clustering as long as you follow the recommended
guidelines.
You can configure each cluster chassis to belong to a separate site ID.
Site IDs work with site-specific MAC addresses and IP addresses. Packets egressing the cluster use a
site-specific MAC address and IP address, while packets received by the cluster use a global MAC address
and IP address. This feature prevents the switches from learning the same global MAC address from both
sites on two different ports, which causes MAC flapping; instead, they only learn the site MAC address.
Site-specific MAC addresses and IP address are supported for routed mode using Spanned EtherChannels
only.
Site IDs are also used to enable flow mobility using LISP inspection, director localization to improve
performance and reduce round-trip time latency for inter-site clustering for data centers, and site redundancy
for connections where a backup owner of a traffic flow is always at a different site from the owner.
See the following sections for more information about inter-site clustering:
• Sizing the Data Center Interconnect—Requirements and Prerequisites for ASA Clustering, on page 335
• Inter-Site Guidelines—Guidelines for ASA Clustering, on page 337
• Configure Cluster Flow Mobility—Configure Cluster Flow Mobility, on page 370
• Enable Director Localization—Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters, on page 364

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• Enable Site Redundancy—Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters, on page 364

• Inter-Site Examples—Examples for Inter-Site Clustering, on page 397

Licenses for ASA Clustering

Cluster units do not require the same license on each unit. Typically, you buy a license only for the control
unit; data units inherit the control unit license. If you have licenses on multiple units, they combine into a
single running ASA cluster license.
There are exceptions to this rule. See the following table for precise licensing requirements for clustering.

Model License Requirement

ASA 5516-X Base license, supports 2 units.

Note Each unit must have the same encryption license.

ASA 5525-X, ASA 5545-X, ASA 5555-X Base License, supports 2 units.
Note Each unit must have the same encryption license.

Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis See ASA Cluster Licenses for the ASA on the Firepower
4100/9300 Chassis, on page 145.

All other models No support.

Requirements and Prerequisites for ASA Clustering

Model Requirements
• ASA 5516-X—Maximum 2 units
• ASA 5525-X, 5545-X, and 5555-X—Maximum 2 units
• ASA FirePOWER module—The ASA FirePOWER module does not support clustering directly, but you
can use these modules in a cluster. You are responsible for maintaining consistent policies on the ASA
FirePOWER modules in the cluster.

Note Create the cluster before you configure the ASA FirePOWER modules. If the
modules are already configured on the data units, clear the interface configuration
on the devices before adding them to the cluster. From the CLI, enter the clear
configure interface command.

ASA Hardware and Software Requirements

All units in a cluster:

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• Must be the same model with the same DRAM. You do not have to have the same amount of flash
memory.
• Must run the identical software except at the time of an image upgrade. Hitless upgrade is supported.
• Must be in the same security context mode, single or multiple.
• (Single context mode) Must be in the same firewall mode, routed or transparent.
• New cluster members must use the same SSL encryption setting (the ssl encryption command) as the
control unit for initial cluster control link communication before configuration replication.
• Must have the same cluster, encryption and.

Switch Requirements
• Be sure to complete the switch configuration before you configure clustering on the ASAs.
• For a list of supported switches, see Cisco ASA Compatibility.

ASA Requirements
• Provide each unit with a unique IP address before you join them to the management network.
• See the Getting Started chapter for more information about connecting to the ASA and setting the
management IP address.
• Except for the IP address used by the control unit (typically the first unit you add to the cluster),
these management IP addresses are for temporary use only.
• After a data unit joins the cluster, its management interface configuration is replaced by the one
replicated from the control unit.

• To use jumbo frames on the cluster control link (recommended), you must enable Jumbo Frame
Reservation before you enable clustering.

Sizing the Data Center Interconnect for Inter-Site Clustering

You should reserve bandwidth on the data center interconnect (DCI) for cluster control link traffic equivalent
to the following calculation:

If the number of members differs at each site, use the larger number for your calculation. The minimum
bandwidth for the DCI should not be less than the size of the cluster control link for one member.
For example:
• For 4 members at 2 sites:
• 4 cluster members total
• 2 members at each site
• 5 Gbps cluster control link per member

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Reserved DCI bandwidth = 5 Gbps (2/2 x 5 Gbps).

• For 6 members at 3 sites, the size increases:
• 6 cluster members total
• 3 members at site 1, 2 members at site 2, and 1 member at site 3
• 10 Gbps cluster control link per member

Reserved DCI bandwidth = 15 Gbps (3/2 x 10 Gbps).

• For 2 members at 2 sites:
• 2 cluster members total
• 1 member at each site
• 10 Gbps cluster control link per member

Reserved DCI bandwidth = 10 Gbps (1/2 x 10 Gbps = 5 Gbps; but the minimum bandwidth should not
be less than the size of the cluster control link (10 Gbps)).

Other Requirements
We recommend using a terminal server to access all cluster member unit console ports. For initial setup, and
ongoing management (for example, when a unit goes down), a terminal server is useful for remote management.

Guidelines for ASA Clustering

Context Mode
The mode must match on each member unit.

Firewall Mode
For single mode, the firewall mode must match on all units.

Failover
Failover is not supported with clustering.

IPv6
The cluster control link is only supported using IPv4.

Switches
• Make sure connected switches match the MTU for both cluster data interfaces and the cluster control
link interface. You should configure the cluster control link interface MTU to be at least 100 bytes higher
than the data interface MTU, so make sure to configure the cluster control link connecting switch
appropriately. Because the cluster control link traffic includes data packet forwarding, the cluster control
link needs to accommodate the entire size of a data packet plus cluster traffic overhead.

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• For Cisco IOS XR systems, if you want to set a non-default MTU, set the IOS interface MTU to be 14
bytes higher than the cluster device MTU. Otherwise, OSPF adjacency peering attempts may fail unless
the mtu-ignore option is used. Note that the cluster device MTU should match the IOS IPv4 MTU. This
adjustment is not required for Cisco Catalyst and Cisco Nexus switches.
• On the switch(es) for the cluster control link interfaces, you can optionally enable Spanning Tree PortFast
on the switch ports connected to the cluster unit to speed up the join process for new units.
• On the switch, we recommend that you use one of the following EtherChannel load-balancing algorithms:
source-dest-ip or source-dest-ip-port (see the Cisco Nexus OS and Cisco IOS port-channel load-balance
command). Do not use a vlan keyword in the load-balance algorithm because it can cause unevenly
distributed traffic to the devices in a cluster. Do not change the load-balancing algorithm from the default
on the cluster device.
• If you change the load-balancing algorithm of the EtherChannel on the switch, the EtherChannel interface
on the switch temporarily stops forwarding traffic, and the Spanning Tree Protocol restarts. There will
be a delay before traffic starts flowing again.
• Some switches do not support dynamic port priority with LACP (active and standby links). You can
disable dynamic port priority to provide better compatibility with Spanned EtherChannels.
• Switches on the cluster control link path should not verify the L4 checksum. Redirected traffic over the
cluster control link does not have a correct L4 checksum. Switches that verify the L4 checksum could
cause traffic to be dropped.
• Port-channel bundling downtime should not exceed the configured keepalive interval.
• On Supervisor 2T EtherChannels, the default hash distribution algorithm is adaptive. To avoid asymmetric
traffic in a VSS design, change the hash algorithm on the port-channel connected to the cluster device
to fixed:
router(config)# port-channel id hash-distribution fixed
Do not change the algorithm globally; you may want to take advantage of the adaptive algorithm for the
VSS peer link.

• You should disable the LACP Graceful Convergence feature on all cluster-facing EtherChannel interfaces
for Cisco Nexus switches.

EtherChannels
• In Catalyst 3750-X Cisco IOS software versions earlier than 15.1(1)S2, the cluster unit did not support
connecting an EtherChannel to a switch stack. With default switch settings, if the cluster unit EtherChannel
is connected cross stack, and if the control unit switch is powered down, then the EtherChannel connected
to the remaining switch will not come up. To improve compatibility, set the stack-mac persistent timer
command to a large enough value to account for reload time; for example, 8 minutes or 0 for indefinite.
Or, you can upgrade to more a more stable switch software version, such as 15.1(1)S2.
• Spanned vs. Device-Local EtherChannel Configuration—Be sure to configure the switch appropriately
for Spanned EtherChannels vs. Device-local EtherChannels.
• Spanned EtherChannels—For cluster unit Spanned EtherChannels, which span across all members
of the cluster, the interfaces are combined into a single EtherChannel on the switch. Make sure each
interface is in the same channel group on the switch.

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• Device-local EtherChannels—For cluster unit Device-local EtherChannels including any

EtherChannels configured for the cluster control link, be sure to configure discrete EtherChannels
on the switch; do not combine multiple cluster unit EtherChannels into one EtherChannel on the
switch.

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Inter-Site Guidelines
See the following guidelines for inter-site clustering:
• Supports inter-site clustering in the following interface and firewall modes:

Interface Mode Firewall Mode

Routed Transparent

Individual Interface Yes N/A

Spanned EtherChannel Yes Yes

• For individual interface mode, when using ECMP towards a multicast Rendezvous Point (RP), we
recommend that you use a static route for the RP IP address using the Main cluster IP address as the next
hop. This static route prevents sending unicast PIM register packets to data units. If a data unit receives
a PIM register packet, then the packet is dropped, and the multicast stream cannot be registered.

• The cluster control link latency must be less than 20 ms round-trip time (RTT).

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• The cluster control link must be reliable, with no out-of-order or dropped packets; for example, you
should use a dedicated link.
• Do not configure connection rebalancing; you do not want connections rebalanced to cluster members
at a different site.
• The ASA does not encrypt forwarded data traffic on the cluster control link because it is a dedicated link,
even when used on a Data Center Interconnect (DCI). If you use Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV),
or are otherwise extending the cluster control link outside of the local administrative domain, you can
configure encryption on your border routers such as 802.1AE MacSec over OTV.
• The cluster implementation does not differentiate between members at multiple sites for incoming
connections; therefore, connection roles for a given connection may span across sites. This is expected
behavior. However, if you enable director localization, the local director role is always chosen from the
same site as the connection owner (according to site ID). Also, the local director chooses a new owner
at the same site if the original owner fails (Note: if the traffic is asymmetric across sites, and there is
continuous traffic from the remote site after the original owner fails, then a unit from the remote site
might become the new owner if it receives a data packet within the re-hosting window.).
• For director localization, the following traffic types do not support localization: NAT or PAT traffic;
SCTP-inspected traffic; Fragmentation owner query.
• For transparent mode, if the cluster is placed between a pair of inside and outside routers (AKA
North-South insertion), you must ensure that both inside routers share a MAC address, and also that both
outside routers share a MAC address. When a cluster member at site 1 forwards a connection to a member
at site 2, the destination MAC address is preserved. The packet will only reach the router at site 2 if the
MAC address is the same as the router at site 1.
• For transparent mode, if the cluster is placed between data networks and the gateway router at each site
for firewalling between internal networks (AKA East-West insertion), then each gateway router should
use a First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP) such as HSRP to provide identical virtual IP and MAC
address destinations at each site. The data VLANs are extended across the sites using Overlay Transport
Virtualization (OTV), or something similar. You need to create filters to prevent traffic that is destined
to the local gateway router from being sent over the DCI to the other site. If the gateway router becomes
unreachable at one site, you need to remove any filters so traffic can successfully reach the other site’s
gateway.
• For transparent mode, if the cluster is connected to an HSRP router, you must add the router HSRP MAC
address as a static MAC address table entry on the ASA (see Add a Static MAC Address for Bridge
Groups, on page 667). When adjacent routers use HSRP, traffic destined to the HSRP IP address will be
sent to the HSRP MAC Address, but return traffic will be sourced from the MAC address of a particular
router's interface in the HSRP pair. Therefore, the ASA MAC address table is typically only updated
when the ASA ARP table entry for the HSRP IP address expires, and the ASA sends an ARP request
and receives a reply. Because the ASA’s ARP table entries expire after 14400 seconds by default, but
the MAC address table entry expires after 300 seconds by default, a static MAC address entry is required
to avoid MAC address table expiration traffic drops.
• For routed mode using Spanned EtherChannel, configure site-specific MAC addresses. Extend the data
VLANs across the sites using OTV, or something similar. You need to create filters to prevent traffic
that is destined to the global MAC address from being sent over the DCI to the other site. If the cluster
becomes unreachable at one site, you need to remove any filters so traffic can successfully reach the
other site’s cluster units. Dynamic routing is not supported when an inter-site cluster acts as the first hop
router for an extended segment.

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Additional Guidelines
• When significant topology changes occur (such as adding or removing an EtherChannel interface, enabling
or disabling an interface on the ASA or the switch, adding an additional switch to form a VSS or vPC)
you should disable the health check feature and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled interfaces.
When the topology change is complete, and the configuration change is synced to all units, you can
re-enable the interface health check feature.
• When adding a unit to an existing cluster, or when reloading a unit, there will be a temporary, limited
packet/connection drop; this is expected behavior. In some cases, the dropped packets can hang your
connection; for example, dropping a FIN/ACK packet for an FTP connection will make the FTP client
hang. In this case, you need to reestablish the FTP connection.
• If you use a Windows 2003 server connected to a Spanned EtherChannel, when the syslog server port
is down and the server does not throttle ICMP error messages, then large numbers of ICMP messages
are sent back to the ASA cluster. These messages can result in some units of the ASA cluster experiencing
high CPU, which can affect performance. We recommend that you throttle ICMP error messages.
• We do not support VXLAN in Individual Interface mode. Only Spanned EtherChannel mode supports
VXLAN.
• We do not support IS-IS in Spanned EtherChannel mode. Only Individual Interface mode supports IS-IS.
• It takes time to replicate changes to all the units in a cluster. If you make a large change, for example,
adding an access control rule that uses object groups (which, when deployed, are broken out into multiple
rules), the time needed to complete the change can exceed the timeout for the cluster units to respond
with a success message. If this happens, you might see a "failed to replicate command" message. You
can ignore the message.

Defaults for ASA Clustering

• When using Spanned EtherChannels, the cLACP system ID is auto-generated and the system priority is
1 by default.
• The cluster health check feature is enabled by default with the holdtime of 3 seconds. Interface health
monitoring is enabled on all interfaces by default.
• The cluster auto-rejoin feature for a failed cluster control link is unlimited attempts every 5 minutes.
• The cluster auto-rejoin feature for a failed data interface is 3 attempts every 5 minutes, with the increasing
interval set to 2.
• Connection rebalancing is disabled by default. If you enable connection rebalancing, the default time
between load information exchanges is 5 seconds.
• Connection replication delay of 5 seconds is enabled by default for HTTP traffic.

Configure ASA Clustering

To configure clustering, perform the following tasks.

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Back Up Your Configurations (Recommended)

Note To enable or disable clustering, you must use a console connection (for CLI) or an ASDM connection.

Back Up Your Configurations (Recommended)

When you enable clustering on a secondary unit, the current configuration is replaced with one synced from
the primary unit. If you ever want to leave the cluster entirely, it may be useful to have a backup configuration
with a usable management interface configuration.

Before you begin

Perform a backup on each unit.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Backup Configurations.

Step 2 Back up at least the running configuration. See Back Up and Restore Configurations or Other Files, on page
983 for a detailed procedure.

Cable the Units and Configure Interfaces

Before configuring clustering, cable the cluster control link network, management network, and data networks.
Then configure your interfaces.

About Cluster Interfaces

You can configure data interfaces as either Spanned EtherChannels or as Individual interfaces. All data
interfaces in the cluster must be one type only. Each unit must also dedicate at least one hardware interface
as the cluster control link.

About the Cluster Control Link

Each unit must dedicate at least one hardware interface as the cluster control link.

Cluster Control Link Traffic Overview

Cluster control link traffic includes both control and data traffic.
Control traffic includes:
• Control unit election.
• Configuration replication.
• Health monitoring.

Data traffic includes:

• State replication.

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• Connection ownership queries and data packet forwarding.

Cluster Control Link Interfaces and Network

You can use any data interface(s) for the cluster control link, with the following exceptions:
• You cannot use a VLAN subinterface as the cluster control link.
• You cannot use a Management x/x interface as the cluster control link, either alone or as an EtherChannel.

You can use an EtherChannel or redundant interface.

Each cluster control link has an IP address on the same subnet. This subnet should be isolated from all other
traffic, and should include only the ASA cluster control link interfaces.
For a 2-member cluster, do not directly-connect the cluster control link from one ASA to the other ASA. If
you directly connect the interfaces, then when one unit fails, the cluster control link fails, and thus the remaining
healthy unit fails. If you connect the cluster control link through a switch, then the cluster control link remains
up for the healthy unit.

Size the Cluster Control Link

If possible, you should size the cluster control link to match the expected throughput of each chassis so the
cluster-control link can handle the worst-case scenarios.
Cluster control link traffic is comprised mainly of state update and forwarded packets. The amount of traffic
at any given time on the cluster control link varies. The amount of forwarded traffic depends on the
load-balancing efficacy or whether there is a lot of traffic for centralized features. For example:
• NAT results in poor load balancing of connections, and the need to rebalance all returning traffic to the
correct units.
• AAA for network access is a centralized feature, so all traffic is forwarded to the control unit.
• When membership changes, the cluster needs to rebalance a large number of connections, thus temporarily
using a large amount of cluster control link bandwidth.

A higher-bandwidth cluster control link helps the cluster to converge faster when there are membership changes
and prevents throughput bottlenecks.

Note If your cluster has large amounts of asymmetric (rebalanced) traffic, then you should increase the cluster
control link size.

Cluster Control Link Redundancy

We recommend using an EtherChannel for the cluster control link, so that you can pass traffic on multiple
links in the EtherChannel while still achieving redundancy.
The following diagram shows how to use an EtherChannel as a cluster control link in a Virtual Switching
System (VSS) or Virtual Port Channel (vPC) environment. All links in the EtherChannel are active. When
the switch is part of a VSS or vPC, then you can connect ASA interfaces within the same EtherChannel to
separate switches in the VSS or vPC. The switch interfaces are members of the same EtherChannel port-channel
interface, because the separate switches act like a single switch. Note that this EtherChannel is device-local,
not a Spanned EtherChannel.

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Cluster Control Link Reliability

To ensure cluster control link functionality, be sure the round-trip time (RTT) between units is less than 20
ms. This maximum latency enhances compatibility with cluster members installed at different geographical
sites. To check your latency, perform a ping on the cluster control link between units.
The cluster control link must be reliable, with no out-of-order or dropped packets; for example, for inter-site
deployment, you should use a dedicated link.

Cluster Control Link Failure

If the cluster control link line protocol goes down for a unit, then clustering is disabled; data interfaces are
shut down. After you fix the cluster control link, you must manually rejoin the cluster by re-enabling clustering.

Note When the ASA becomes inactive, all data interfaces are shut down; only the management-only interface can
send and receive traffic. The management interface remains up using the IP address the unit received from
the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still inactive in the cluster, the management interface
is not accessible (because it then uses the Main IP address, which is the same as the control unit). You must
use the console port for any further configuration.

Spanned EtherChannels (Recommended)

You can group one or more interfaces per chassis into an EtherChannel that spans all chassis in the cluster.
The EtherChannel aggregates the traffic across all the available active interfaces in the channel. A Spanned
EtherChannel can be configured in both routed and transparent firewall modes. In routed mode, the
EtherChannel is configured as a routed interface with a single IP address. In transparent mode, the IP address
is assigned to the BVI, not to the bridge group member interface. The EtherChannel inherently provides load
balancing as part of basic operation.

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Spanned EtherChannel Benefits

The EtherChannel method of load-balancing is recommended over other methods for the following benefits:
• Faster failure discovery.
• Faster convergence time. Individual interfaces rely on routing protocols to load-balance traffic, and
routing protocols often have slow convergence during a link failure.
• Ease of configuration.

Guidelines for Maximum Throughput

To achieve maximum throughput, we recommend the following:
• Use a load balancing hash algorithm that is “symmetric,” meaning that packets from both directions will
have the same hash, and will be sent to the same ASA in the Spanned EtherChannel. We recommend
using the source and destination IP address (the default) or the source and destination port as the hashing
algorithm.
• Use the same type of line cards when connecting the ASAs to the switch so that hashing algorithms
applied to all packets are the same.

Load Balancing
The EtherChannel link is selected using a proprietary hash algorithm, based on source or destination IP
addresses and TCP and UDP port numbers.

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EtherChannel Redundancy

Note On the ASA, do not change the load-balancing algorithm from the default. On the switch, we recommend
that you use one of the following algorithms: source-dest-ip or source-dest-ip-port (see the Cisco Nexus
OS or Cisco IOS port-channel load-balance command). Do not use a vlan keyword in the load-balance
algorithm because it can cause unevenly distributed traffic to the ASAs in a cluster.

The number of links in the EtherChannel affects load balancing.

Symmetric load balancing is not always possible. If you configure NAT, then forward and return packets will
have different IP addresses and/or ports. Return traffic will be sent to a different unit based on the hash, and
the cluster will have to redirect most returning traffic to the correct unit.

EtherChannel Redundancy
The EtherChannel has built-in redundancy. It monitors the line protocol status of all links. If one link fails,
traffic is re-balanced between remaining links. If all links in the EtherChannel fail on a particular unit, but
other units are still active, then the unit is removed from the cluster.

Connecting to a VSS or vPC

You can include multiple interfaces per ASA in the Spanned EtherChannel. Multiple interfaces per ASA are
especially useful for connecting to both switches in a VSS or vPC.
Depending on your switches, you can configure up to 32 active links in the spanned EtherChannel. This feature
requires both switches in the vPC to support EtherChannels with 16 active links each (for example the Cisco
Nexus 7000 with F2-Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module).
For switches that support 8 active links in the EtherChannel, you can configure up to 16 active links in the
spanned EtherChannel when connecting to two switches in a VSS/vPC.
If you want to use more than 8 active links in a spanned EtherChannel, you cannot also have standby links;
the support for 9 to 32 active links requires you to disable cLACP dynamic port priority that allows the use
of standby links. You can still use 8 active links and 8 standby links if desired, for example, when connecting
to a single switch.
The following figure shows a 32 active link spanned EtherChannel in an 8-ASA cluster and a 16-ASA cluster.

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Connecting to a VSS or vPC

The following figure shows a 16 active link spanned EtherChannel in a 4-ASA cluster and an 8-ASA cluster.

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Connecting to a VSS or vPC

The following figure shows a traditional 8 active/8 standby link spanned EtherChannel in a 4-ASA cluster
and an 8-ASA cluster. The active links are shown as solid lines, while the inactive links are dotted. cLACP
load-balancing can automatically choose the best 8 links to be active in the EtherChannel. As shown, cLACP
helps achieve load balancing at the link level.

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Individual Interfaces (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

Individual Interfaces (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

Individual interfaces are normal routed interfaces, each with their own Local IP address. Because interface
configuration must be configured only on the control unit, the interface configuration lets you set a pool of
IP addresses to be used for a given interface on the cluster members, including one for the control unit. The
Main cluster IP address is a fixed address for the cluster that always belongs to the current control unit. The
Main cluster IP address is a data unit IP address for the control unit; the Local IP address is always the control
unit address for routing. The Main cluster IP address provides consistent management access to an address;
when a control unit changes, the Main cluster IP address moves to the new control unit, so management of
the cluster continues seamlessly. Load balancing, however, must be configured separately on the upstream
switch in this case.

Note We recommend Spanned EtherChannels instead of Individual interfaces because Individual interfaces rely
on routing protocols to load-balance traffic, and routing protocols often have slow convergence during a link
failure.

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Policy-Based Routing (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

Policy-Based Routing (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

When using Individual interfaces, each ASA interface maintains its own IP address and MAC address. One
method of load balancing is Policy-Based Routing (PBR).
We recommend this method if you are already using PBR, and want to take advantage of your existing
infrastructure. This method might offer additional tuning options vs. Spanned EtherChannel as well.
PBR makes routing decisions based on a route map and ACL. You must manually divide traffic between all
ASAs in a cluster. Because PBR is static, it may not achieve the optimum load balancing result at all times.
To achieve the best performance, we recommend that you configure the PBR policy so that forward and return
packets of a connection are directed to the same physical ASA. For example, if you have a Cisco router,
redundancy can be achieved by using Cisco IOS PBR with Object Tracking. Cisco IOS Object Tracking
monitors each ASA using ICMP ping. PBR can then enable or disable route maps based on reachability of a
particular ASA. See the following URLs for more details:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/data-center-virtualization/intelligent-traffic-director/index.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6599/products_white_paper09186a00800a4409.shtml

Note If you use this method of load-balancing, you can use a device-local EtherChannel as an Individual interface.

Equal-Cost Multi-Path Routing (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

When using Individual interfaces, each ASA interface maintains its own IP address and MAC address. One
method of load balancing is Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing.
We recommend this method if you are already using ECMP, and want to take advantage of your existing
infrastructure. This method might offer additional tuning options vs. Spanned EtherChannel as well.

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Nexus Intelligent Traffic Director (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

ECMP routing can forward packets over multiple “best paths” that tie for top place in the routing metric. Like
EtherChannel, a hash of source and destination IP addresses and/or source and destination ports can be used
to send a packet to one of the next hops. If you use static routes for ECMP routing, then an ASA failure can
cause problems; the route continues to be used, and traffic to the failed ASA will be lost. If you use static
routes, be sure to use a static route monitoring feature such as Object Tracking. We recommend using dynamic
routing protocols to add and remove routes, in which case, you must configure each ASA to participate in
dynamic routing.

Note If you use this method of load-balancing, you can use a device-local EtherChannel as an Individual interface.

Nexus Intelligent Traffic Director (Routed Firewall Mode Only)

When using Individual interfaces, each ASA interface maintains its own IP address and MAC address.
Intelligent Traffic Director (ITD) is a high-speed hardware load-balancing solution for Nexus 5000, 6000,
7000, and 9000 switch series. In addition to fully covering the functional capabilities of traditional PBR, it
offers a simplified configuration workflow and multiple additional features for a more granular load distribution.
ITD supports IP stickiness, consistent hashing for bi-directional flow symmetry, virtual IP addressing, health
monitoring, sophisticated failure handling policies with N+M redundancy, weighted load-balancing, and
application IP SLA probes including DNS. Due to the dynamic nature of load-balancing, it achieves a more
even traffic distribution across all cluster members as compared to PBR. In order to achieve bi-directional
flow symmetry, we recommend configuring ITD such that forward and return packets of a connection are
directed to the same physical ASA. See the following URL for more details:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/data-center-virtualization/intelligent-traffic-director/index.html

Cable the Cluster Units and Configure Upstream and Downstream Equipment
Before configuring clustering, cable the cluster control link network, management network, and data networks.

Procedure

Cable the cluster control link network, management network, and data networks.
Note At a minimum, an active cluster control link network is required before you configure the units to
join the cluster.

You should also configure the upstream and downstream equipment. For example, if you use EtherChannels,
then you should configure the upstream and downstream equipment for the EtherChannels.

Configure the Cluster Interface Mode on the Control Unit

You can only configure one type of interface for clustering: Spanned EtherChannels or Individual interfaces;
you cannot mix interface types in a cluster.

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Configure the Cluster Interface Mode on the Control Unit

Note If you do not add data units from the control unit, you must set the interface mode manually on all units
according to this section, not just the control unit; if you add secondaries from the control unit, ASDM sets
the interface mode automatically on the data unit.

Before you begin

• You can always configure the management-only interface as an Individual interface (recommended),
even in Spanned EtherChannel mode. The management interface can be an Individual interface even in
transparent firewall mode.
• In Spanned EtherChannel mode, if you configure the management interface as an Individual interface,
you cannot enable dynamic routing for the management interface. You must use a static route.
• In multiple context mode, you must choose one interface type for all contexts. For example, if you have
a mix of transparent and routed mode contexts, you must use Spanned EtherChannel mode for all contexts
because that is the only interface type allowed for transparent mode.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM on the control unit, choose Tools > Command Line Interface.Show any incompatible configuration
so that you can force the interface mode and fix your configuration later; the mode is not changed with this
command:
cluster interface-mode {individual | spanned} check-details
Example:

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Caution After you set the interface mode, you can continue to connect to the interface; however, if you reload
the ASA before you configure your management interface to comply with clustering requirements
(for example, adding a cluster IP pool), you will not be able to reconnect because cluster-incompatible
interface configuration is removed. In that case, you will have to connect to the console port to fix
the interface configuration.

Step 2 Set the interface mode for clustering:

cluster interface-mode {individual | spanned} force
Example:

There is no default setting; you must explicitly choose the mode. If you have not set the mode, you cannot
enable clustering.
The force option changes the mode without checking your configuration for incompatible settings. You need
to manually fix any configuration issues after you change the mode. Because any interface configuration can
only be fixed after you set the mode, we recommend using the force option so that you can at least start from
the existing configuration. You can re-run the check-details option after you set the mode for more guidance.
Without the force option, if there is any incompatible configuration, you are prompted to clear your
configuration and reload, thus requiring you to connect to the console port to reconfigure your management
access. If your configuration is compatible (rare), the mode is changed and the configuration is preserved. If
you do not want to clear your configuration, you can exit the command by typing n.
To remove the interface mode, enter the no cluster interface-mode command.

Step 3 Quit ASDM and reload. ASDM needs to be restarted to correctly account for the cluster interface mode. After
you reload, you see the ASA Cluster tab on the home page:

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(Recommended; Required in Multiple Context Mode) Configure Interfaces on the Control Unit

(Recommended; Required in Multiple Context Mode) Configure Interfaces on the Control Unit
You must modify any interface that is currently configured with an IP address to be cluster-ready before you
enable clustering. At a minimum, you must modify the management interface to which ASDM is currently
connected. For other interfaces, you can configure them before or after you enable clustering; we recommend
pre-configuring all of your interfaces so that the complete configuration is synced to new cluster members.
In multiple context mode, you must use the procedures in this section to fix existing interfaces or to configure
new interfaces. However, in single mode, you can skip this section and configure common interface parameters
within the High Availability and Scalability wizard (see Run the High Availability Wizard, on page 360). Note
that advanced interface settings such as creating EtherChannels for Individual interfaces are not available in
the wizard.
This section describes how to configure interfaces to be compatible with clustering. You can configure data
interfaces as either Spanned EtherChannels or as Individual interfaces. Each method uses a different
load-balancing mechanism. You cannot configure both types in the same configuration, with the exception
of the management interface, which can be an Individual interface even in Spanned EtherChannel mode.

Configure Individual Interfaces (Recommended for the Management Interface)

Individual interfaces are normal routed interfaces, each with their own IP address taken from a pool of IP
addresses. The Main cluster IP address is a fixed address for the cluster that always belongs to the current
primary unit.
In Spanned EtherChannel mode, we recommend configuring the management interface as an Individual
interface. Individual management interfaces let you connect directly to each unit if necessary, while a Spanned
EtherChannel interface only allows connection to the current primary unit.

Before you begin

• Except for the management-only interface, you must be in Individual interface mode.
• For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in each context. If you are not already in the context
configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under the
active device IP address.
• Individual interfaces require you to configure load balancing on neighbor devices. External load balancing
is not required for the management interface.
• (Optional) Configure the interface as a device-local EtherChannel interface, a redundant interface, and/or
configure subinterfaces.
• For an EtherChannel, this EtherChannel is local to the unit, and is not a Spanned EtherChannel.

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• Management-only interfaces cannot be redundant interfaces.

• If you are connecting remotely to the management interface using ASDM, the current IP address of
prospective secondary units are for temporary use.
• Each member will be assigned an IP address from the cluster IP pool defined on the primary unit.
• The cluster IP pool cannot include addresses already in use on the network, including prospective
secondary IP addresses.
For example:
1. You configure the primary unit to use 10.1.1.1.
2. Other units use 10.1.1.2, 10.1.1.3, and 10.1.1.4.
3. When you configure the cluster IP pool on the primary unit, you cannot include the .2, .3, or .4
addresses in the pool, because they are in use.
4. Instead, you need to use other IP addresses on the network, such as .5, .6, .7, and .8.

Note The pool needs as many addresses as there are members of the cluster, including
the primary unit; the original .1 address is the main cluster IP address that belongs
to the current primary unit.

5. After you join the cluster, the old, temporary addresses are relinquished and can be used
elsewhere.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
Step 2 Choose the interface row, and click Edit. Set the interface parameters. See the following guidelines:
• (Required for a management interface in Spanned EtherChannel mode) Dedicate this interface to
management only—Sets an interface to management-only mode so that it does not pass through traffic.
By default, Management type interfaces are configured as management-only. In transparent mode, this
command is always enabled for a Management type interface.
• Use Static IP—DHCP and PPPoE are not supported.

Step 3 To add the IPv4 cluster IP pool, MAC address pool, and site-specific MAC addresses, click the Advanced
tab and set ASA Cluster area parameters.
a) Create a cluster IP pool by clicking the ... button next to the IP Address Pool field. The valid range shown
is determined by the Main IP address you set on the General tab.
b) Click Add.
c) Configure a range of addresses that does not include the Main cluster IP address, and that does not include
any addresses currently in-use on your network. You should make the range large enough for the size of
the cluster, for example, 8 addresses.

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d) Click OK to create the new pool.

e) Select the new pool you created, and click Assign, and then click OK.
The pool name appears in the IP Address Pool field.
f) (Optional) (Optional) Configure a MAC Address Pool if you want to manually configure MAC addresses.
Step 4 To configure an IPv6 address, click the IPv6 tab.
a) Check the Enable IPv6 check box.
b) In the Interface IPv6 Addresses area, click Add.
The Enable address autoconfiguration option is not supported.
The Add IPv6 Address for Interface dialog box appears.
c) In the Address/Prefix Length field, enter the global IPv6 address and the IPv6 prefix length. For example,
2001:0DB8::BA98:0:3210/48.
d) Click the ... button to configure the cluster IP pool.
e) Click Add.

f) Configure the starting IP address (network prefix), prefix length, and number of addresses in the pool.
g) Click OK to create the new pool.
h) Select the new pool you created, and click Assign, and then click OK.
The pool appears in the ASA Cluster IP Pool field.
i) Click OK.
Step 5 Click OK to return to the Interfaces pane.
Step 6 Click Apply.

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Configure Spanned EtherChannels

Configure Spanned EtherChannels

A Spanned EtherChannel spans all ASAs in the cluster, and provides load balancing as part of the EtherChannel
operation.

Before you begin

• You must be in Spanned EtherChannel interface mode.
• For multiple context mode, start this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the
active device IP address.
• For transparent mode, configure the bridge group. See Configure the Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI), on
page 548.
• Do not specify the maximum and minimum links in the EtherChannel—We recommend that you do not
specify the maximum and minimum links in the EtherChannel on either the ASA or the switch. If you
need to use them, note the following:
• The maximum links set on the ASA is the total number of active ports for the whole cluster. Be
sure the maximum links value configured on the switch is not larger than the ASA value.
• The minimum links set on the ASA is the minimum active ports to bring up a port-channel interface
per unit. On the switch, the minimum links is the minimum links across the cluster, so this value
will not match the ASA value.

• Do not change the load-balancing algorithm from the default. On the switch, we recommend that you
use one of the following algorithms: source-dest-ip or source-dest-ip-port (see the Cisco Nexus OS
and Cisco IOS port-channel load-balance command). Do not use a vlan keyword in the load-balance
algorithm because it can cause unevenly distributed traffic to the ASAs in a cluster.
• When using Spanned EtherChannels, the port-channel interface will not come up until clustering is fully
enabled. This requirement prevents traffic from being forwarded to a unit that is not an active unit in the
cluster.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management
> Interfaces pane.

Step 2 Choose Add > EtherChannel Interface.

The Add EtherChannel Interface dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enable the following:

• Port Channel ID
• Span EtherChannel across the ASA cluster

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• Enable Interface (checked by default)

• Members in Group—In the Members in Group list, you need to add at least one interface. Multiple
interfaces in the EtherChannel per unit are useful for connecting to switches in a VSS or vPC. Keep in
mind that by default, a spanned EtherChannel can have only 8 active interfaces out of 16 maximum
across all members in the cluster; the remaining 8 interfaces are on standby in case of link failure. To
use more than 8 active interfaces (but no standby interfaces), disable dynamic port priority. When you
disable dynamic port priority, you can use up to 32 active links across the cluster. For example, for a
cluster of 16 ASAs, you can use a maximum of 2 interfaces on each ASA, for a total of 32 interfaces in
the spanned EtherChannel.
Make sure all interfaces are the same type and speed. The first interface you add determines the type and
speed of the EtherChannel. Any non-matching interfaces you add will be put into a suspended state.
ASDM does not prevent you from adding non-matching interfaces.

The rest of the fields on this screen are described later in this procedure.

Step 4 (Optional) To override the media type, duplex, speed, and pause frames for flow control for all member
interfaces, click Configure Hardware Properties. This method provides a shortcut to set these parameters
because these parameters must match for all interfaces in the channel group.
Click OK to accept the Hardware Properties changes.

Step 5 To configure the MAC address and optional parameters, click the Advanced tab.
• In the MAC Address Cloning area, set a manual global MAC address for the EtherChannel. Do not set
the Standby MAC Address; it is ignored. You must configure a MAC address for a Spanned EtherChannel
to avoid potential network connectivity problems. With a manually-configured MAC address, the MAC
address stays with the current control unit. If you do not configure a MAC address, then if the control
unit changes, the new control unit uses a new MAC address for the interface, which can cause a temporary
network outage.
In multiple context mode, if you share an interface between contexts, you should instead enable
auto-generation of MAC addresses so you do not need to set the MAC address manually. Note that you
must manually configure the MAC address using this command for non-shared interfaces.
• (Routed mode) In the ASA Cluster area, for inter-site clustering set Site specific MAC Addresses and
IP addresses for a site by clicking Add and specifying a MAC address and IP address for the site ID (1
through 8). Repeat for up to 8 sites. The site-specific IP addresses must be on the same subnet as the
global IP address. The site-specific MAC address and IP address used by a unit depends on the site ID
you specify in each unit’s bootstrap configuration.
• (Optional) If you are connecting the ASA to two switches in a VSS or vPC, then you should enable VSS
load balancing by checking the Enable load balancing between switch pairs in VSS or vPC mode
check box. This feature ensures that the physical link connections between the ASAs to the VSS (or vPC)
pair are balanced.
In the Member Interface Configuration area, you must then identify to which switch a given interface
is connected, 1 or 2.

Note We recommend that you do not set the Minimum Active Members and the Maximum Active
Members.

Step 6 (Optional) Configure VLAN subinterfaces on this EtherChannel. The rest of this procedure applies to the
subinterfaces.

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Step 7 (Multiple context mode) Before you complete this procedure, you need to allocate interfaces to contexts.
a) Click OK to accept your changes.
b) Allocate interfaces.
c) Change to the context that you want to configure: in the Device List pane, double-click the context name
under the active device IP address.
d) Choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane, select the port-channel
interface that you want to customize, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears.

Step 8 Click the General tab.

Step 9 (Transparent Mode) From the Bridge Group drop-down list, choose the bridge group to which you want to
assign this interface.
Step 10 In the Interface Name field, enter a name up to 48 characters in length.
Step 11 In the Security level field, enter a level between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest).
Step 12 (Routed Mode) For an IPv4 address, click the Use Static IP radio button and enter the IP address and mask.
DHCP and PPPoE are not supported. For point-to-point connections, you can specify a 31-bit subnet mask
(255.255.255.254). In this case, no IP addresses are reserved for the network or broadcast addresses. For
transparent mode, you configure the IP address for the bridge group interface, not the EtherChannel interface.
Step 13 (Routed Mode) To configure an IPv6 address, click the IPv6 tab.
For transparent mode, you configure the IP address for the bridge group interface, not the EtherChannel
interface.
a) Check the Enable IPv6 check box.
b) In the Interface IPv6 Addresses area, click Add.
The Add IPv6 Address for Interface dialog box appears.
Note The Enable address autoconfiguration option is not supported.

c) In the Address/Prefix Length field, enter the global IPv6 address and the IPv6 prefix length. For example,
2001:DB8::BA98:0:3210/64.
d) (Optional) To use the Modified EUI-64 interface ID as the host address, check the EUI-64 check box. In
this case, just enter the prefix in the Address/Prefix Length field.
e) Click OK.
Step 14 Click OK to return to the Interfaces screen.
Step 15 Click Apply.

Create or Join an ASA Cluster

Each unit in the cluster requires a bootstrap configuration to join the cluster.

Run the High Availability Wizard

Each unit in the cluster requires a bootstrap configuration to join the cluster. Run the High Availability and
Scalability wizard on one unit (that will become the control unit) to create the cluster, and then add data units
to it.

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Note For the control unit, if you want to change the default of the cLACP system ID and priority, you cannot use
the wizard; you must configure the cluster manually.

Before you begin

• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
• We suggest setting the cluster control link MTU to the maximum 9198 which requires you to enable
jumbo frame reservation on each unit before continuing with this procedure. Jumbo frame reservation
requires a reload of the ASA.
• The interfaces you intend to use for the cluster control link interface must be in an up state on the connected
switch.
• When you add a unit to a running cluster, you may see temporary, limited packet/connection drops; this
is expected behavior.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Wizards > High Availability and Scalability Wizard. See select wizard guidelines in the following
steps.
Step 2 On the Interfaces screen, you cannot create new EtherChannels from this screen (except for the cluster control
link).
Step 3 On the ASA Cluster Configuration screen, configure bootstrap settings including:
• Member Priority—Sets the priority of this unit for control unit elections, between 1 and 100, where 1
is the highest priority.
• (Routed mode; Spanned EtherChannel mode) Site Index—If you use inter-site clustering, set the site
ID for this unit so it uses a site-specific MAC address, between 1 and 8.
• (Optional) Shared Key—Sets an encryption key for control traffic on the cluster control link. The shared
secret is an ASCII string from 1 to 63 characters. The shared secret is used to generate the encryption
key. This parameter does not affect datapath traffic, including connection state update and forwarded
packets, which are always sent in the clear. You must configure this parameter if you also enable the
password encryption service.
• (Optional) Enable connection rebalancing for TCP traffic across all the ASAs in the cluster—Enables
connection rebalancing. This parameter is disabled by default. If enabled, ASAs in a cluster exchange
load information periodically, and offload new connections from more loaded devices to less loaded
devices. The frequency, between 1 and 360 seconds, specifies how often the load information is exchanged.
This parameter is not part of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the
data units.
Note Do not configure connection rebalancing for inter-site topologies; you do not want connections
rebalanced to cluster members at a different site.

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• (Optional) Enable health monitoring of this device within the cluster—Enables the cluster unit health
check feature. To determine unit health, the ASA cluster units send heartbeat messages on the cluster
control link to other units. If a unit does not receive any heartbeat messages from a peer unit within the
holdtime period, the peer unit is considered unresponsive or dead.
Note When any topology changes occur (such as adding or removing a data interface, enabling or
disabling an interface on the ASA or the switch, adding an additional switch to form a VSS or
vPC) you must disable the health check and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled
interfaces. When the topology change is complete, and the configuration change is synced to
all units, you can re-enable the health check.

• Time to Wait Before Device Considered Failed—This value determines the amount of time
between unit keepalive status messages, between .3 and 45 seconds; The default is 3 seconds.
• (Optional) Broadcast keepalive messages to all EtherChannel cluster control link ports for
VSS/vPC support—If you configure the cluster control link as an EtherChannel (recommended),
and it is connected to a VSS or vPC pair, then you might need to enable this option. For some
switches, when one unit in the VSS/vPC is shutting down or booting up, EtherChannel member
interfaces connected to that switch may appear to be Up to the ASA, but they are not passing traffic
on the switch side. The ASA can be erroneously removed from the cluster if you set the ASA
holdtime timeout to a low value (such as .8 seconds), and the ASA sends heartbeat messages on
one of these EtherChannel interfaces. When you enable this option, the ASA floods the heartbeat
messages on all EtherChannel interfaces in the cluster control link to ensure that at least one of the
switches can receive them.

• (Optional) Replicate console output—Enables console replication from data units to the control unit.
This feature is disabled by default. The ASA may print out some messages directly to the console for
certain critical events. If you enable console replication, data units send the console messages to the
control unit so that you only need to monitor one console port for the cluster. This parameter is not part
of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.
• Cluster Control Link—Specifies the cluster control link interface.
• MTU—Specifies the maximum transmission unit for the cluster control link interface to be at least
100 bytes higher than the highest MTU of the data interfaces, between 1400 and 9198 bytes. The
default MTU is 1500 bytes. If you already enabled jumbo frame reservation, we suggest setting the
MTU to the maximum. Because the cluster control link traffic includes data packet forwarding, the
cluster control link needs to accommodate the entire size of a data packet plus cluster traffic overhead.
For example, because the maximum MTU is 9198 bytes, then the highest data interface MTU can
be 9098, while the cluster control link can be set to 9198. Note: If you have not pre-enabled jumbo
frame reservation, you should quit the wizard, enable jumbo frames, and then restart this procedure.

Step 4 On the Interfaces for Health Monitoring screen, you can exempt some interfaces from monitoring for failure.
You might want to disable health monitoring of non-essential interfaces, for example, the management
interface. To exempt a hardware module such as the ASA Firepower module from monitoring, check the
Exempt Service Module from Cluster health monitoring check box.
Note When any topology changes occur (such as adding or removing a data interface, enabling or disabling
an interface on the ASA or the switch, adding an additional switch to form a VSS or vPC) you must
disable the health check and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled interfaces. When the
topology change is complete, and the configuration change is synced to all units, you can re-enable
the health check.

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Step 5 On the Interface Auto Rejoin settings screen, customize the auto-rejoin settings in case of an interface or
cluster control link failure. For each type, you can set the following:
• Maximum Rejoin Attempts—Define the number of attempts at rejoining the cluster by setting Unlimited
or a value between 0 and 65535. 0 disables auto-rejoining. The default value is Unlimited for the
cluster-interface and 3 for the data-interface.
• Rejoin Interval—Define the interval duration in minutes between rejoin attempts by setting the interval
between 2 and 60. The default value is 5 minutes. The maximum total time that the unit attempts to rejoin
the cluster is limited to 14400 minutes (10 days) from the time of last failure.
• Interval Variation—Define if the interval duration increases by setting the interval variation between
1 and 3: 1 (no change); 2 (2 x the previous duration), or 3 (3 x the previous duration). For example, if
you set the interval duration to 5 minutes, and set the variation to 2, then the first attempt is after 5
minutes; the 2nd attempt is 10 minutes (2 x 5); the 3rd attempt 20 minutes (2 x 10), and so on. The default
value is 1 for the cluster-interface and 2 for the data-interface.

Step 6 Click Finish.

Step 7 The ASA scans the running configuration for incompatible commands for features that are not supported with
clustering, including commands that may be present in the default configuration. Click OK to delete the
incompatible commands. If you click Cancel, then clustering is not enabled.
After a period of time while ASDM enables clustering and reconnects to the ASA, the Information screen
appears confirming that the ASA was added to the cluster.
Note In some cases, there might be an error when joining the cluster after you finish the wizard. If ASDM
was disconnected, ASDM will not receive any subsequent errors from the ASA. If clustering remains
disabled after you reconnect ASDM, you should connect to the ASA console port to determine the
exact error condition that disabled clustering; for example, the cluster control link might be down.

Step 8 To add a data unit, click Yes.

If you are re-running the wizard from the control unit, you can add data units by choosing the Add another
member to the cluster option when you first start the wizard.

Step 9 In the Deployment Options area, choose one of the following Deploy By options:
• Sending CLI commands to the remote unit now—Send the bootstrap configuration to the data unit
(temporary) management IP address. Enter the data unit management IP address, username, and password.
• Copying generated CLI commands to paste on the remote unit manually—Generates the commands
so that you can cut and paste them at the data unit CLI or using the CLI tool in ASDM. In the Commands
to Deploy box, select and copy the generated commands for later use.

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Customize the Clustering Operation

Customize the Clustering Operation

You can customize clustering health monitoring, TCP connection replication delay, flow mobility and other
optimizations.
Perform these procedures on the control unit.

Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters

You can customize cluster settings on the control unit. If you do not use the wizard to add a unit to the cluster,
you can configure the cluster parameters manually. If you already enabled clustering, you can edit some cluster
parameters; others that cannot be edited while clustering is enabled are grayed out. This procedure also includes
advanced parameters that are not included in the wizard.

Before you begin

• Pre-configure the cluster control link interfaces on each unit before joining the cluster. For a single
interface, you must enable it; do not configure any other settings. For an EtherChannel interface, enable
it and set the EtherChannel mode to On.
• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space on the control unit.
If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane,
double-click System under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
If your device is already in the cluster, and is the control unit, then this pane is on the Cluster Configuration
tab.

Step 2 Check the Configure ASA cluster settings check box.

If you uncheck the check box, the settings are erased. Do not check Participate in ASA cluster until after
you have set all your parameters.

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Note After you enable clustering, do not uncheck the Configure ASA cluster settings check box without
understanding the consequences. This action clears all cluster configuration, and also shuts down
all interfaces including the management interface to which ASDM is connected. To restore
connectivity in this case, you need to access the CLI at the console port.

Step 3 Configure the following bootstrap parameters:

• Cluster Name—Names the cluster. The name must be an ASCII string from 1 to 38 characters. You can
only configure one cluster per unit. All members of the cluster must use the same name.
• Member Name—Names this member of the cluster with a unique ASCII string from 1 to 38 characters.
• Member Priority—Sets the priority of this unit for control unit elections, between 1 and 100, where 1
is the highest priority.
• Site Index—If you use inter-site clustering, set the site ID for this unit so it uses a site-specific MAC
address, between 1 and 8.
• (Optional) Site Periodic GARP—The ASA generates gratuitous ARP (GARP) packets to keep the
switching infrastructure up to date: the highest priority member at each site periodically generates GARP
traffic for the global MAC/IP addresses. GARP is enabled by default when you set the site ID for each
unit and the site MAC and IP address for each Spanned EtherChannel. Set the GARP interval between
1 and 1000000 seconds. The default is 290 seconds.
When using per-site MAC and IP addresses, packets sourced from the cluster use a site-specific MAC
address and IP address, while packets received by the cluster use a global MAC address and IP address.
If traffic is not generated from the global MAC address periodically, you could experience a MAC address
timeout on your switches for the global MAC address. After a timeout, traffic destined for the global
MAC address will be flooded across the entire switching infrastructure, which can cause performance
and security concerns.
• (Optional) Shared Key—Sets an encryption key for control traffic on the cluster control link. The shared
secret is an ASCII string from 1 to 63 characters. The shared secret is used to generate the encryption
key. This parameter does not affect datapath traffic, including connection state update and forwarded
packets, which are always sent in the clear. You must configure this parameter if you also enable the
password encryption service.
• (Optional) Enable connection rebalancing for TCP traffic across all the ASAs in the cluster—Enables
connection rebalancing. This parameter is disabled by default. If enabled, ASAs in a cluster exchange
load information periodically, and offload new connections from more loaded devices to less loaded
devices. The frequency, between 1 and 360 seconds, specifies how often the load information is exchanged.
This parameter is not part of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the
data units.
• Enable cluster load monitor—You can monitor the traffic load for cluster members, including total
connection count, CPU and memory usage, and buffer drops. If the load is too high, you can choose to
manually disable clustering on the unit if the remaining units can handle the load, or adjust the load
balancing on the external switch. This feature is enabled by default. For example, for inter-chassis
clustering on the Firepower 9300 with 3 security modules in each chassis, if 2 security modules in a
chassis leave the cluster, then the same amount of traffic to the chassis will be sent to the remaining
module and potentially overwhelm it. You can periodically monitor the traffic load. If the load is too
high, you can choose to manually disable clustering on the unit.
Set the following values:

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• Time Interval—Sets the time in seconds between monitoring messages, between 10 and 360
seconds. The default is 20 seconds.
• Number of Intervals—Sets the number of intervals for which the ASA maintains data, between 1
and 60. The default is 30.

See Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Load-Monitoring to view the traffic load.
• (Optional) Enable health monitoring of this device within the cluster—Enables the cluster unit health
check feature, and determines the amount of time between unit heartbeat status messages, between .3
and 45 seconds; The default is 3 seconds. Note: When you are adding new units to the cluster, and making
topology changes on the ASA or the switch, you should disable this feature temporarily until the cluster
is complete, and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled interfaces (Configuration > Device
Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Interface Health
Monitoring). You can re-enable this feature after cluster and topology changes are complete. To determine
unit health, the ASA cluster units send heartbeat messages on the cluster control link to other units. If a
unit does not receive any heartbeat messages from a peer unit within the holdtime period, the peer unit
is considered unresponsive or dead.
• (Optional) Broadcast keepalive messages to all EtherChannel cluster control link ports for
VSS/vPC support—If you configure the cluster control link as an EtherChannel (recommended),
and it is connected to a VSS or vPC pair, then you might need to enable this option. For some
switches, when one unit in the VSS/vPC is shutting down or booting up, EtherChannel member
interfaces connected to that switch may appear to be Up to the ASA, but they are not passing traffic
on the switch side. The ASA can be erroneously removed from the cluster if you set the ASA
holdtime timeout to a low value (such as .8 seconds), and the ASA sends heartbeat messages on
one of these EtherChannel interfaces. When you enable this option, the ASA floods the heartbeat
messages on all EtherChannel interfaces in the cluster control link to ensure that at least one of the
switches can receive them.

• (Optional) Debounce Time—Configures the debounce time before the ASA considers an interface to
be failed and the unit is removed from the cluster. This feature allows for faster detection of interface
failures. Note that configuring a lower debounce time increases the chances of false-positives. When an
interface status update occurs, the ASA waits the number of milliseconds specified before marking the
interface as failed and the unit is removed from the cluster. In the case of an EtherChannel that transitions
from a down state to an up state (for example, the switch reloaded, or the switch enabled an EtherChannel),
a longer debounce time can prevent the interface from appearing to be failed on a cluster unit just because
another cluster unit was faster at bundling the ports. The default debounce time is 500 ms, with a range
of 300 ms to 9 seconds.
• (Optional) Replicate console output—Enables console replication from data units to the control unit.
This feature is disabled by default. The ASA may print out some messages directly to the console for
certain critical events. If you enable console replication, data units send the console messages to the
control unit so that you only need to monitor one console port for the cluster. This parameter is not part
of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.
• (Optional) Enable Clustering Flow Mobility. See Configure LISP Inspection, on page 371.
• (Optional) Enable Director Localization for inter-DC cluster—To improve performance and reduce
round-trip time latency for inter-site clustering for data centers, you can enable director localization.
New connections are typically load-balanced and owned by cluster members within a given site. However,
the ASA assigns the Director role to a member at any site. Director localization enables additional Director
roles: a Local Director at the same site as the Owner, and a Global Director that can be at any site. Keeping
the Owner and Director at the same site improves performance. Also, if the original Owner fails, the

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Local Director will choose a new connection Owner at the same site. The Global Director is used if a
cluster member receives packets for a connection that is owned on a different site.
• (Optional) Site Redundancy—To protect flows from a site failure, you can enable site redundancy. If
the connection backup owner is at the same site as the owner, then an additional backup owner will be
chosen from another site to protect flows from a site failure. Director localization and site redundancy
are separate features; you can configure one or the other, or configure both.
• (Optional) Enable config sync acceleration—When a data unit has the same configuration as the control
unit, it will skip syncing the configuration and will join faster. This feature is enabled by default. This
feature is configured on each unit, and is not replicated from the control unit to the data unit.
Note Some configuration commands are not compatible with accelerated cluster joining; if these
commands are present on the unit, even if accelerated cluster joining is enabled, configuration
syncing will always occur. You must remove the incompatible configuration for accelerated
cluster joining to work. Use the show cluster info unit-join-acceleration incompatible-config
to view incompatible configuration.

• Enable parallel configuration replicate—Enable the control unit to sync configuration changes with
data units in parallel. Otherwise, synching occurs sequentially, and can take more time.
• Cluster Control Link—Specifies the cluster control link interface. This interface cannot have a name
configured; available interfaces are shown in the drop-down list.
• Interface—Specifies the interface ID, preferably an EtherChannel. Subinterfaces and Management
type interfaces are not allowed.
• IP Address—Specifies an IPv4 address for the IP address; IPv6 is not supported for this interface.
• Subnet Mask—Specifies the subnet mask.
• MTU—Specifies the maximum transmission unit for the cluster control link interface to be at least
100 bytes higher than the highest MTU of the data interfaces, between 1400 and 9198 bytes. The
default MTU is 1500 bytes. Because the cluster control link traffic includes data packet forwarding,
the cluster control link needs to accommodate the entire size of a data packet plus cluster traffic
overhead. We suggest setting the cluster control link MTU to the maximum, which requires you to
enable jumbo frame reservation. Jumbo frame reservation requires a reload of the ASA. For example,
because the maximum MTU is 9198 bytes, then the highest data interface MTU can be 9098, while
the cluster control link can be set to 9198.

• (Optional) Cluster LACP—When using Spanned EtherChannels, the ASA uses cLACP to negotiate the
EtherChannel with the neighbor switch. ASAs in a cluster collaborate in cLACP negotiation so that they
appear as a single (virtual) device to the switch.
• Enable static port priority—Disables dynamic port priority in LACP. Some switches do not
support dynamic port priority, so this parameter improves switch compatibility. Moreover, it enables
support of more than 8 active spanned EtherChannel members, up to 32 members. Without this
parameter, only 8 active members and 8 standby members are supported. If you enable this parameter,
then you cannot use any standby members; all members are active. This parameter is not part of the
bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.
• Virtual System MAC Address—Sets the cLACP system ID, which is in the format of a MAC
address. All ASAs use the same system ID: auto-generated by the control unit (the default) and
replicated to all secondaries; or manually specified in the form H.H.H, where H is a 16-bit
hexadecimal digit. For example, the MAC address 00-0C-F1-42-4C-DE is entered as

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000C.F142.4CDE. This parameter is not part of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from
the control unit to the data units. However, you can only change this value if you disable clustering.
• System Priority—Sets the system priority, between 1 and 65535. The priority is used to decide
which unit is in charge of making a bundling decision. By default, the ASA uses priority 1, which
is the highest priority. The priority needs to be higher than the priority on the switch. This parameter
is not part of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.
However, you can only change this value if you disable clustering.

Step 4 Check the Participate in ASA cluster check box to join the cluster.
Step 5 Click Apply.

Configure Interface Health Monitoring and Auto-Rejoin Settings

You might want to disable health monitoring of non-essential interfaces, for example, the management
interface. You can monitor any port-channel ID, redundant ID, or single physical interface ID, or the software
or hardware module, such as the ASA Firepower module. Health monitoring is not performed on VLAN
subinterfaces or virtual interfaces such as VNIs or BVIs. You cannot configure monitoring for the cluster
control link; it is always monitored.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Interface Health Monitoring.
Step 2 In the Monitored Interfaces box, select an interface, and click Add to move it to the Unmonitored Interfaces
box.
Interface status messages detect link failure. If all physical ports for a given logical interface fail on a particular
unit, but there are active ports under the same logical interface on other units, then the unit is removed from
the cluster. If a unit does not receive interface status messages within the holdtime, then the amount of time
before the ASA removes a member from the cluster depends on the type of interface and whether the unit is
an established member or is joining the cluster. Health check is enabled by default for all interfaces.
You might want to disable health monitoring of non-essential interfaces, for example, the management
interface. You can specify any port-channel ID, redundant ID, or single physical interface ID. Health monitoring
is not performed on VLAN subinterfaces or virtual interfaces such as VNIs or BVIs. You cannot configure
monitoring for the cluster control link; it is always monitored.
When any topology changes occur (such as adding or removing a data interface, enabling or disabling an
interface on the ASA or the switch, or adding an additional switch to form a VSS or vPC) you should disable
the health check feature (Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability >
ASA Cluster) and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled interfaces. When the topology change
is complete, and the configuration change is synced to all units, you can re-enable the health check feature.

Step 3 (Optional) Check the Exempt Service Module from Cluster Health Monitoring check box to exempt a
hardware or software module such as the ASA FirePOWER module.
Step 4 Click the Auto Rejoin tab to customize the auto-rejoin settings in case of an interface, system, or cluster
control link failure. For each type, click Edit to set the following:

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• Maximum Rejoin Attempts—Define the number of attempts at rejoining the cluster by setting Unlimited
or a value between 0 and 65535. 0 disables auto-rejoining. The default value is Unlimited for the
cluster-interface and 3 for the data-interface and system.
• Rejoin Interval—Define the interval duration in minutes between rejoin attempts by setting the interval
between 2 and 60. The default value is 5 minutes. The maximum total time that the unit attempts to rejoin
the cluster is limited to 14400 minutes (10 days) from the time of last failure.
• Interval Variation—Define if the interval duration increases by setting the interval variation between
1 and 3: 1 (no change); 2 (2 x the previous duration), or 3 (3 x the previous duration). For example, if
you set the interval duration to 5 minutes, and set the variation to 2, then the first attempt is after 5
minutes; the 2nd attempt is 10 minutes (2 x 5); the 3rd attempt 20 minutes (2 x 10), and so on. The default
value is 1 for the cluster-interface and 2 for the data-interface and system.

Click Restore Defaults to restore the default settings.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Configure the Cluster TCP Replication Delay

Enable the cluster replication delay for TCP connections to help eliminate the “unnecessary work” related to
short-lived flows by delaying the director/backup flow creation. Note that if a unit fails before the
director/backup flow is created, then those flows cannot be recovered. Similarly, if traffic is rebalanced to a
different unit before the flow is created, then the flow cannot be recovered. You should not enable the TCP
replication delay for traffic on which you disable TCP randomization.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster
Replication.
Step 2 Click Add and set the following values:
• Replication delay—Set the seconds between 1 and 15.
• HTTP—Set the delay for all HTTP traffic. This setting is enabled by default for 5 seconds for the
Firepower 4100/9300 chassis only.
• Source Criteria
• Source—Set the source IP address.
• Service—(Optional) Set the source port. Typically you set either the source or the destination port,
but not both.

• Destination Criteria
• Source—Set the destination IP address.
• Service—(Optional) Set the destination port. Typically you set either the source or the destination
port, but not both.

Step 3 Click OK.

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Step 4 Click Apply.

Configure Inter-Site Features

For inter-site clustering, you can customize your configuration to enhance redundancy and stability.

Configure Cluster Flow Mobility

You can inspect LISP traffic to enable flow mobility when a server moves between sites.

About LISP Inspection

You can inspect LISP traffic to enable flow mobility between sites.

About LISP
Data center virtual machine mobility such as VMware VMotion enables servers to migrate between data
centers while maintaining connections to clients. To support such data center server mobility, routers need to
be able to update the ingress route towards the server when it moves. Cisco Locator/ID Separation Protocol
(LISP) architecture separates the device identity, or endpoint identifier (EID), from its location, or routing
locator (RLOC), into two different numbering spaces, making server migration transparent to clients. For
example, when a server moves to a new site and a client sends traffic to the server, the router redirects traffic
to the new location.
LISP requires routers and servers in certain roles, such as the LISP egress tunnel router (ETR), ingress tunnel
router (ITR), first hop routers, map resolver (MR), and map server (MS). When the first hop router for the
server senses that the server is connected to a different router, it updates all of the other routers and databases
so that the ITR connected to the client can intercept, encapsulate, and send traffic to the new server location.

ASA LISP Support

The ASA does not run LISP itself; it can, however, inspect LISP traffic for location changes and then use this
information for seamless clustering operation. Without LISP integration, when a server moves to a new site,
traffic comes to an ASA cluster member at the new site instead of to the original flow owner. The new ASA
forwards traffic to the ASA at the old site, and then the old ASA has to send traffic back to the new site to
reach the server. This traffic flow is sub-optimal and is known as “tromboning” or “hair-pinning.”
With LISP integration, the ASA cluster members can inspect LISP traffic passing between the first hop router
and the ETR or ITR, and can then change the flow owner to be at the new site.

LISP Guidelines
• The ASA cluster members must reside between the first hop router and the ITR or ETR for the site. The
ASA cluster itself cannot be the first hop router for an extended segment.
• Only fully-distributed flows are supported; centralized flows, semi-distributed flows, or flows belonging
to individual units are not moved to new owners. Semi-distributed flows include applications, such as
SIP, where all child flows are owned by the same ASA that owns the parent flow.
• The cluster only moves Layer 3 and 4 flow states; some application data might be lost.
• For short-lived flows or non-business-critical flows, moving the owner may not be worthwhile. You can
control the types of traffic that are supported with this feature when you configure the inspection policy,
and should limit flow mobility to essential traffic.

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ASA LISP Implementation

This feature includes several inter-related configurations (all of which are described in this chapter):
1. (Optional) Limit inspected EIDs based on the host or server IP address—The first hop router might send
EID-notify messages for hosts or networks the ASA cluster is not involved with, so you can limit the
EIDs to only those servers or networks relevant to your cluster. For example, if the cluster is only involved
with 2 sites, but LISP is running on 3 sites, you should only include EIDs for the 2 sites involved with
the cluster.
2. LISP traffic inspection—The ASA inspects LISP traffic on UDP port 4342 for the EID-notify message
sent between the first hop router and the ITR or ETR. The ASA maintains an EID table that correlates
the EID and the site ID. For example, you should inspect LISP traffic with a source IP address of the first
hop router and a destination address of the ITR or ETR. Note that LISP traffic is not assigned a director,
and LISP traffic itself does not participate in cluster state sharing.
3. Service Policy to enable flow mobility on specified traffic—You should enable flow mobility on
business-critical traffic. For example, you can limit flow mobility to only HTTPS traffic, and/or to traffic
to specific servers.
4. Site IDs—The ASA uses the site ID for each cluster unit to determine the new owner.
5. Cluster-level configuration to enable flow mobility—You must also enable flow mobility at the cluster
level. This on/off toggle lets you easily enable or disable flow mobility for a particular class of traffic or
applications.

Configure LISP Inspection

You can inspect LISP traffic to enable flow mobility when a server moves between sites.

Before you begin

• Assign each cluster unit to a site ID according to Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters, on page 364.
• LISP traffic is not included in the default-inspection-traffic class, so you must configure a separate class
for LISP traffic as part of this procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 (Optional) Configure a LISP inspection map to limit inspected EIDs based on IP address, and to configure
the LISP pre-shared key:
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Objects > Inspect Maps > LISP.
b) Click Add to add a new map.
c) Enter a name (up to 40 characters) and description.
d) For the Allowed-EID access-list, click Manage.
The ACL Manager opens.
The first hop router or ITR/ETR might send EID-notify messages for hosts or networks the ASA cluster
is not involved with, so you can limit the EIDs to only those servers or networks relevant to your cluster.
For example, if the cluster is only involved with 2 sites, but LISP is running on 3 sites, you should only
include EIDs for the 2 sites involved with the cluster.

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e) Add an ACL with at least one ACE according to the firewall configuration guide.
f) If necessary, enter the Validation Key.
If you copied an encrypted key, click the Encrypted radio button.
g) Click OK.
Step 2 Add a service policy rule to configure LISP inspection:
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules.
b) Click Add.
c) On the Service Policy page, apply the rule to an interface or globally.
If you have an existing service policy you want to use, add a rule to that policy. By default, the ASA
includes a global policy called global_policy. You can also create one service policy per interface if you
do not want to apply the policy globally. LISP inspection is applied to traffic bidirectionally so you do
not need to apply the service policy on both the source and destination interfaces; all traffic that enters or
exits the interface to which you apply the rule is affected if the traffic matches the class for both directions.
d) On the Traffic Classification Criteria page, click Create a new traffic class, and under Traffic Match
Criteria, check Source and Destination IP Address (uses ACL).
e) Click Next.
f) Specify the traffic you want to inspect. You should specify traffic between the first hop router and the
ITR or ETR on UDP port 4342. Both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are accepted.
g) Click Next.
h) On the Rule Actions wizard page or tab, select the Protocol Inspection tab.
i) Check the LISP check box,.
j) (Optional) Click Configure to choose the inspection map you created.
k) Click Finish to save the service policy rule.
Step 3 Add a service policy rule to enable Flow Mobility for critical traffic:
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules.
b) Click Add.
c) On the Service Policy page, choose the same service policy you used for LISP inspection.
d) On the Traffic Classification Criteria page, click Create a new traffic class, and under Traffic Match
Criteria, check Source and Destination IP Address (uses ACL).
e) Click Next.
f) Specify the business critical traffic that you want to re-assign to the most optimal site when servers change
sites. For example, you can limit flow mobility to only HTTPS traffic, and/or to traffic to specific servers.
Both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are accepted.
g) Click Next.
h) On the Rule Actions wizard page or tab, select the Cluster tab.
i) Check the Enable Cluster flow-mobility triggered by LISP EID messages check box.
j) Click Finish to save the service policy rule.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Configuration, and check the Enable Clustering flow mobility check box.
Step 5 Click Apply.

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Manage Cluster Members

After you deploy the cluster, you can change the configuration and manage cluster members.

Add a New Data Unit from the Control Unit

You can add additional secondaries to the cluster from the control unit. You can also add secondaries using
the High Availability and Scalability wizard. Adding a data unit from the control unit has the benefit of
configuring the cluster control link and setting the cluster interface mode on each data unit you add.
You can alternatively log into the data unit and configure clustering directly on the unit. However, after you
enable clustering, your ASDM session will be disconnected, and you will have to reconnect.

Before you begin

• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
• If you want to send the bootstrap configuration over the management network, be sure the data unit has
an accessible IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Members.
Step 2 Click Add.
Step 3 Configure the following parameters:
• Member Name—Names this member of the cluster with a unique ASCII string from 1 to 38 characters.
• Member Priority—Sets the priority of this unit for control unit elections, between 1 and 100, where 1
is the highest priority.
• Cluster Control Link > IP Address—Specifies a unique IP address for this member for the cluster
control link, on the same network as the control unit cluster control link.
• In the Deployment Options area, choose one of the following Deploy By options:
• Sending CLI commands to the remote unit now—Send the bootstrap configuration to the data
unit (temporary) management IP address. Enter the data unit management IP address, username,
and password.
• Copying generated CLI commands to paste on the remote unit manually—Generates the
commands so that you can cut and paste them at the data unit CLI or using the CLI tool in ASDM.
In the Commands to Deploy box, select and copy the generated commands for later use.

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Step 4 Click OK, then Apply.

Become an Inactive Member

To become an inactive member of the cluster, disable clustering on the unit while leaving the clustering
configuration intact.

Note When an ASA becomes inactive (either manually or through a health check failure), all data interfaces are
shut down; only the management-only interface can send and receive traffic. To resume traffic flow, re-enable
clustering; or you can remove the unit altogether from the cluster. The management interface remains up using
the IP address the unit received from the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still inactive
in the cluster (for example, you saved the configuration with clustering disabled), then the management
interface is disabled. You must use the console port for any further configuration.

Before you begin

• For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Configuration.
Step 2 Uncheck the Participate in ASA cluster check box.
Note Do not uncheck the Configure ASA cluster settings check box; this action clears all cluster
configuration, and also shuts down all interfaces including the management interface to which
ASDM is connected. To restore connectivity in this case, you need to access the CLI at the console
port.

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Deactivate a Data Unit from the Control Unit

Step 3 Click Apply.

Deactivate a Data Unit from the Control Unit

To deactivate a data unit, perform the following steps.

Note When an ASA becomes inactive, all data interfaces are shut down; only the management-only interface can
send and receive traffic. To resume traffic flow, re-enable clustering. The management interface remains up
using the IP address the unit received from the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still
inactive in the cluster (for example, if you saved the configuration with clustering disabled), the management
interface is disabled. You must use the console port for any further configuration.

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
Step 2 Select the data unit that you want to remove, and click Delete.
The data unit bootstrap configuration remains intact, so that you can later re-add the data unit without losing
your configuration.

Step 3 Click Apply.

Rejoin the Cluster

If a unit was removed from the cluster, for example for a failed interface or if you manually deactivated a
member, you must manually rejoin the cluster.

Before you begin

• You must use the console port to reenable clustering. Other interfaces are shut down. The exception is
if you manually disabled clustering in ASDM, then you can reenable clustering in ASDM if you did not
save the configuration and reload. After reloading, the management interface is disabled, so console
access is the only method to reenable clustering.
• For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
• Make sure the failure is resolved before you try to rejoin the cluster.

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Leave the Cluster

Procedure

Step 1 If you still have ASDM access, you can reenable clustering in ASDM by connecting ASDM to the unit you
want to reenable.
You cannot reenable clustering for a data unit from the control unit unless you add it as a new member.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
b) Check the Participate in ASA cluster check box.
c) Click Apply.
Step 2 If you cannot use ASDM: At the console, enter cluster configuration mode:
cluster group name
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# cluster group pod1

Step 3 Enable clustering.

enable

Leave the Cluster

If you want to leave the cluster altogether, you need to remove the entire cluster bootstrap configuration.
Because the current configuration on each member is the same (synced from the primary unit), leaving the
cluster also means either restoring a pre-clustering configuration from backup, or clearing your configuration
and starting over to avoid IP address conflicts.

Before you begin

You must use the console port; when you remove the cluster configuration, all interfaces are shut down,
including the management interface and cluster control link.

Procedure

Step 1 For a secondary unit, disable clustering:

cluster group cluster_name

no enable

Example:

ciscoasa(config)# cluster group cluster1

ciscoasa(cfg-cluster)# no enable

You cannot make configuration changes while clustering is enabled on a secondary unit.

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Change the Control Unit

Step 2 Clear the cluster configuration:

clear configure cluster
The ASA shuts down all interfaces including the management interface and cluster control link.

Step 3 Disable cluster interface mode:

no cluster interface-mode
The mode is not stored in the configuration and must be reset manually.

Step 4 If you have a backup configuration, copy the backup configuration to the running configuration:
copy backup_cfg running-config
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# copy backup_cluster.cfg running-config

Source filename [backup_cluster.cfg]?

Destination filename [running-config]?

ciscoasa(config)#

Step 5 Save the configuration to startup:

write memory

Step 6 If you do not have a backup configuration, reconfigure management access. Be sure to change the interface
IP addresses, and restore the correct hostname, for example.

Change the Control Unit

Caution The best method to change the control unit is to disable clustering on the control unit, wait for a new control
election, and then re-enable clustering. If you must specify the exact unit you want to become the control unit,
use the procedure in this section. Note, however, that for centralized features, if you force a control unit change
using this procedure, then all connections are dropped, and you have to re-establish the connections on the
new control unit.

To change the control unit, perform the following steps.

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the active
device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary.

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Execute a Command Cluster-Wide

Step 2 From the drop-down list, choose a data unit to become master, and click the button to make it the control unit.
Step 3 You are prompted to confirm the control unit change. Click Yes.
Step 4 Quit ASDM, and reconnect using the Main cluster IP address.

Execute a Command Cluster-Wide

To send a command to all members in the cluster, or to a specific member, perform the following steps.
Sending a show command to all members collects all output and displays it on the console of the current unit.
Other commands, such as capture and copy, can also take advantage of cluster-wide execution.

Before you begin

Perform this procedure at the Command Line Interface tool: choose Tools > Command Line Interface.

Procedure

Send a command to all members, or if you specify the unit name, a specific member:
cluster exec [unit unit_name] command
Example:

ciscoasa# cluster exec show xlate

To view member names, enter cluster exec unit ? (to see all names except the current unit), or enter the show
cluster info command.

Examples
To copy the same capture file from all units in the cluster at the same time to a TFTP server, enter
the following command on the control unit:

ciscoasa# cluster exec copy /pcap capture: tftp://10.1.1.56/capture1.pcap

Multiple PCAP files, one from each unit, are copied to the TFTP server. The destination capture file
name is automatically attached with the unit name, such as capture1_asa1.pcap, capture1_asa2.pcap,
and so on. In this example, asa1 and asa2 are cluster unit names.
The following sample output for the cluster exec show port-channel summary command shows
EtherChannel information for each member in the cluster:

ciscoasa# cluster exec show port-channel summary

master(LOCAL):***********************************************************
Number of channel-groups in use: 2
Group Port-channel Protocol Span-cluster Ports
------+-------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------
1 Po1 LACP Yes Gi0/0(P)

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Monitoring the ASA Cluster

2 Po2 LACP Yes Gi0/1(P)

slave:******************************************************************
Number of channel-groups in use: 2
Group Port-channel Protocol Span-cluster Ports
------+-------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------
1 Po1 LACP Yes Gi0/0(P)
2 Po2 LACP Yes Gi0/1(P)

Monitoring the ASA Cluster

You can monitor and troubleshoot cluster status and connections.

Monitoring Cluster Status

See the following screens for monitoring cluster status:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary
This pane shows cluster information about the unit to which you are connected, as well as other units in
the cluster. You can also change the primary unit from this pane.
• Cluster Dashboard
On the home page on the primary unit, you can monitor the cluster using the Cluster Dashboard and the
Cluster Firewall Dashboard.

Capturing Packets Cluster-Wide

See the following screen for capturing packets in a cluster:
Wizards > Packet Capture Wizard
To support cluster-wide troubleshooting, you can enable capture of cluster-specific traffic on the control unit,
which is then automatically enabled on all of the data units in the cluster.

Monitoring Cluster Resources

See the following screens for monitoring cluster resources:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > System Resources Graphs > CPU
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the CPU utilization across the cluster members.
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > System Resources Graphs > Memory. This pane lets you create graphs
or tables showing the Free Memory and Used Memory across the cluster members.

Monitoring Cluster Traffic

See the following screens for monitoring cluster traffic:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Traffic Graphs > Connections.

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Monitoring the Cluster Control Link

This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the Connections across the cluster members.
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Traffic Graphs > Throughput.
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the traffic throughput across the cluster members.
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Load-Monitoring
This section includes the Load Monitor-Information and Load-Monitor Details panes. Load
Monitor-Information shows the traffic load for cluster members for the last interval and also the average
over total number of intervals configured (30 by default). Use the Load-Monitor Details pane to view
the value for each measure at each interval.

Monitoring the Cluster Control Link

See the following screen for monitoring cluster status:
Monitoring > Properties > System Resources Graphs > Cluster Control Link.
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the cluster control link Receival and Transmittal capacity
utilization.

Monitoring Cluster Routing

See the following screen for cluster routing:
• Monitoring > Routing > LISP-EID Table
Shows the ASA EID table showing EIDs and site IDs.

Configuring Logging for Clustering

See the followingscreen for configuring logging for clustering:
Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup
Each unit in the cluster generates syslog messages independently. You can generate syslog messages with
identical or different device IDs to make messages appear to come from the same or different units in the
cluster.

Examples for ASA Clustering

These examples include all cluster-related ASA configuration for typical deployments.

Sample ASA and Switch Configuration

The following sample configurations connect the following interfaces between the ASA and the switch:

ASA Interface Switch Interface

GigabitEthernet 0/2 GigabitEthernet 1/0/15

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ASA Configuration

ASA Interface Switch Interface

GigabitEthernet 0/3 GigabitEthernet 1/0/16

GigabitEthernet 0/4 GigabitEthernet 1/0/17

GigabitEthernet 0/5 GigabitEthernet 1/0/18

ASA Configuration

Interface Mode on Each Unit

cluster interface-mode spanned force

ASA1 Control Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface GigabitEthernet0/0
channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
!
interface Port-channel1
description Clustering Interface
!
cluster group Moya
local-unit A
cluster-interface Port-channel1 ip 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.0
priority 10
key emphyri0
enable noconfirm

ASA2 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface GigabitEthernet0/0
channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
!
interface Port-channel1
description Clustering Interface
!
cluster group Moya
local-unit B
cluster-interface Port-channel1 ip 10.0.0.2 255.255.255.0
priority 11
key emphyri0
enable as-slave

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Cisco IOS Switch Configuration

Control Unit Interface Configuration

ip local pool mgmt-pool 10.53.195.231-10.53.195.232

interface GigabitEthernet0/2
channel-group 10 mode active
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/3
channel-group 10 mode active
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/4
channel-group 11 mode active
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/5
channel-group 11 mode active
no shutdown
!
interface Management0/0
management-only
nameif management
ip address 10.53.195.230 cluster-pool mgmt-pool
security-level 100
no shutdown
!
interface Port-channel10
port-channel span-cluster
mac-address aaaa.bbbb.cccc
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 209.165.200.225 255.255.255.224
!
interface Port-channel11
port-channel span-cluster
mac-address aaaa.dddd.cccc
nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.224

Cisco IOS Switch Configuration

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/15
switchport access vlan 201
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast
channel-group 10 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/16
switchport access vlan 201
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast
channel-group 10 mode active
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/17
switchport access vlan 401
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast
channel-group 11 mode active
!

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Firewall on a Stick

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/18
switchport access vlan 401
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast
channel-group 11 mode active

interface Port-channel10
switchport access vlan 201
switchport mode access

interface Port-channel11
switchport access vlan 401
switchport mode access

Firewall on a Stick

Data traffic from different security domains are associated with different VLANs, for example, VLAN 10 for
the inside network and VLAN 20 for the outside network. Each ASA has a single physical port connected to
the external switch or router. Trunking is enabled so that all packets on the physical link are 802.1q
encapsulated. The ASA is the firewall between VLAN 10 and VLAN 20.

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When using Spanned EtherChannels, all data links are grouped into one EtherChannel on the switch side. If
an ASA becomes unavailable, the switch will rebalance traffic between the remaining units.

Interface Mode on Each Unit

cluster interface-mode spanned force

ASA1 Control Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

no shutdown
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa1
cluster-interface tengigabitethernet0/8 ip 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
priority 1
key chuntheunavoidable
enable noconfirm

ASA2 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

no shutdown
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa2
cluster-interface tengigabitethernet0/8 ip 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
priority 2
key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

ASA3 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

no shutdown
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa3
cluster-interface tengigabitethernet0/8 ip 192.168.1.3 255.255.255.0
priority 3
key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

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Control Unit Interface Configuration

ip local pool mgmt 10.1.1.2-10.1.1.9

ipv6 local pool mgmtipv6 2001:DB8::1002/64 8
interface management 0/0

nameif management
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 cluster-pool mgmt
ipv6 address 2001:DB8::1001/32 cluster-pool mgmtipv6
security-level 100
management-only
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/9

channel-group 2 mode active

no shutdown
interface port-channel 2
port-channel span-cluster
interface port-channel 2.10
vlan 10
nameif inside
ip address 10.10.10.5 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 2001:DB8:1::5/64
mac-address 000C.F142.4CDE
interface port-channel 2.20
vlan 20
nameif outside
ip address 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.224
ipv6 address 2001:DB8:2::8/64
mac-address 000C.F142.5CDE

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Traffic Segregation

Traffic Segregation

You may prefer physical separation of traffic between the inside and outside network.
As shown in the diagram above, there is one Spanned EtherChannel on the left side that connects to the inside
switch, and the other on the right side to outside switch. You can also create VLAN subinterfaces on each
EtherChannel if desired.

Interface Mode on Each Unit

cluster interface-mode spanned force

ASA1 Control Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

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Traffic Segregation

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa1
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
priority 1
key chuntheunavoidable
enable noconfirm

ASA2 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa2
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
priority 2
key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

ASA3 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa3
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.3 255.255.255.0
priority 3
key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

Control Unit Interface Configuration

ip local pool mgmt 10.1.1.2-10.1.1.9

ipv6 local pool mgmtipv6 2001:DB8::1002/64 8

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Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

interface management 0/0

nameif management
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 cluster-pool mgmt
ipv6 address 2001:DB8::1001/32 cluster-pool mgmtipv6
security-level 100
management-only
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

channel-group 2 mode active

no shutdown
interface port-channel 2
port-channel span-cluster
nameif inside
ip address 10.10.10.5 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 2001:DB8:1::5/64
mac-address 000C.F142.4CDE

interface tengigabitethernet 0/9

channel-group 3 mode active

no shutdown
interface port-channel 3
port-channel span-cluster
nameif outside
ip address 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.224
ipv6 address 2001:DB8:2::8/64
mac-address 000C.F142.5CDE

Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

The maximum number of active ports in a traditional EtherChannel is limited to 8 from the switch side. If
you have an 8-ASA cluster, and you allocate 2 ports per unit to the EtherChannel, for a total of 16 ports total,
then 8 of them have to be in standby mode. The ASA uses LACP to negotiate which links should be active
or standby. If you enable multi-switch EtherChannel using VSS or vPC, you can achieve inter-switch
redundancy. On the ASA, all physical ports are ordered first by the slot number then by the port number. In
the following figure, the lower ordered port is the “control” port (for example, GigabitEthernet 0/0), and the
other one is the “data” port (for example, GigabitEthernet 0/1). You must guarantee symmetry in the hardware
connection: all control links must terminate on one switch, and all data links must terminate on another switch
if VSS/vPC is used. The following diagram shows what happens when the total number of links grows as
more units join the cluster:

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Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

The principle is to first maximize the number of active ports in the channel, and secondly keep the number
of active control ports and the number of active data ports in balance. Note that when a 5th unit joins the
cluster, traffic is not balanced evenly between all units.
Link or device failure is handled with the same principle. You may end up with a less-than-perfect load
balancing situation. The following figure shows a 4-unit cluster with a single link failure on one of the units.

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Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

There could be multiple EtherChannels configured in the network. The following diagram shows an
EtherChannel on the inside and one on the outside. An ASA is removed from the cluster if both control and
data links in one EtherChannel fail. This prevents the ASA from receiving traffic from the outside network
when it has already lost connectivity to the inside network.

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Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

Interface Mode on Each Unit

cluster interface-mode spanned force

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Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

ASA1 Control Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/9

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa1
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
priority 1
key chuntheunavoidable
enable noconfirm

ASA2 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/9

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa2
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
priority 2

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Spanned EtherChannel with Backup Links (Traditional 8 Active/8 Standby)

key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

ASA3 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/9

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa3
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.3 255.255.255.0
priority 3
key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

ASA4 Data Unit Bootstrap Configuration

interface tengigabitethernet 0/6

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/7

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/8

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 0/9

channel-group 1 mode on
no shutdown
interface port-channel 1
description CCL

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cluster group cluster1

local-unit asa4
cluster-interface port-channel1 ip 192.168.1.4 255.255.255.0
priority 4
key chuntheunavoidable
enable as-slave

Control Unit Interface Configuration

ip local pool mgmt 10.1.1.2-10.1.1.9

interface management 0/0

channel-group 2 mode active

no shutdown

interface management 0/1

channel-group 2 mode active

no shutdown
interface port-channel 2
nameif management
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 cluster-pool mgmt
security-level 100
management-only

interface tengigabitethernet 1/6

channel-group 3 mode active vss-id 1

no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 1/7

channel-group 3 mode active vss-id 2

no shutdown
interface port-channel 3
port-channel span-cluster vss-load-balance
nameif inside
ip address 10.10.10.5 255.255.255.0
mac-address 000C.F142.4CDE

interface tengigabitethernet 1/8

channel-group 4 mode active vss-id 1

no shutdown

interface tengigabitethernet 1/9

channel-group 4 mode active vss-id 2

no shutdown
interface port-channel 4
port-channel span-cluster vss-load-balance
nameif outside
ip address 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.224
mac-address 000C.F142.5CDE

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OTV Configuration for Routed Mode Inter-Site Clustering

OTV Configuration for Routed Mode Inter-Site Clustering

The success of inter-site clustering for routed mode with Spanned EtherChannels depends on the proper
configuration and monitoring of OTV. OTV plays a major role by forwarding the packets across the DCI.
OTV forwards unicast packets across the DCI only when it learns the MAC address in its forwarding table.
If the MAC address is not learned in the OTV forwarding table, it will drop the unicast packets.

Sample OTV Configuration

//Sample OTV config:

//3151 – Inside VLAN, 3152 – Outside VLAN, 202 – CCL VLAN
//aaaa.1111.1234 – ASA inside interface global vMAC
//0050.56A8.3D22 – Server MAC

feature ospf
feature otv

mac access-list ALL_MACs

10 permit any any
mac access-list HSRP_VMAC
10 permit aaaa.1111.1234 0000.0000.0000 any
20 permit aaaa.2222.1234 0000.0000.0000 any
30 permit any aaaa.1111.1234 0000.0000.0000
40 permit any aaaa.2222.1234 0000.0000.0000
vlan access-map Local 10
match mac address HSRP_VMAC
action drop
vlan access-map Local 20
match mac address ALL_MACs
action forward
vlan filter Local vlan-list 3151-3152

//To block global MAC with ARP inspection:

arp access-list HSRP_VMAC_ARP
10 deny aaaa.1111.1234 0000.0000.0000 any
20 deny aaaa.2222.1234 0000.0000.0000 any
30 deny any aaaa.1111.1234 0000.0000.0000
40 deny any aaaa.2222.1234 0000.0000.0000
50 permit ip any mac
ip arp inspection filter HSRP_VMAC_ARP 3151-3152

no ip igmp snooping optimise-multicast-flood

vlan 1,202,1111,2222,3151-3152

otv site-vlan 2222

mac-list GMAC_DENY seq 10 deny aaaa.aaaa.aaaa ffff.ffff.ffff
mac-list GMAC_DENY seq 20 deny aaaa.bbbb.bbbb ffff.ffff.ffff
mac-list GMAC_DENY seq 30 permit 0000.0000.0000 0000.0000.0000
route-map stop-GMAC permit 10
match mac-list GMAC_DENY

interface Overlay1
otv join-interface Ethernet8/1
otv control-group 239.1.1.1
otv data-group 232.1.1.0/28
otv extend-vlan 202, 3151
otv arp-nd timeout 60
no shutdown

interface Ethernet8/1

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OTV Configuration for Routed Mode Inter-Site Clustering

description uplink_to_OTV_cloud
mtu 9198
ip address 10.4.0.18/24
ip igmp version 3
no shutdown

interface Ethernet8/2

interface Ethernet8/3
description back_to_default_vdc_e6/39
switchport
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 202,2222,3151-3152
mac packet-classify
no shutdown

otv-isis default
vpn Overlay1
redistribute filter route-map stop-GMAC
otv site-identifier 0x2
//OTV flood not required for ARP inspection:
otv flood mac 0050.56A8.3D22 vlan 3151

OTV Filter Modifications Required Because of Site Failure

If a site goes down, the filters need to be removed from OTV because you do not want to block the global
MAC address anymore. There are some additional configurations required.
You need to add a static entry for the ASA global MAC address on the OTV switch in the site that is functional.
This entry will let the OTV at the other end add these entries on the overlay interface. This step is required
because if the server and client already have the ARP entry for the ASA, which is the case for existing
connections, then they will not send the ARP again. Therefore, OTV will not get a chance to learn the ASA
global MAC address in its forwarding table. Because OTV does not have the global MAC address in its
forwarding table, and per OTV design it will not flood unicast packets over the overlay interface, then it will
drop the unicast packets to the global MAC address from the server, and the existing connections will break.

//OTV filter configs when one of the sites is down

mac-list GMAC_A seq 10 permit 0000.0000.0000 0000.0000.0000

route-map a-GMAC permit 10
match mac-list GMAC_A

otv-isis default
vpn Overlay1
redistribute filter route-map a-GMAC

no vlan filter Local vlan-list 3151

//For ARP inspection, allow global MAC:

arp access-list HSRP_VMAC_ARP_Allow
50 permit ip any mac
ip arp inspection filter HSRP_VMAC_ARP_Allow 3151-3152

mac address-table static aaaa.1111.1234 vlan 3151 interface Ethernet8/3

//Static entry required only in the OTV in the functioning Site

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When the other site is restored, you need to add the filters back again and remove this static entry on the OTV.
It is very important to clear the dynamic MAC address table on both the OTVs to clear the overlay entry for
the global MAC address.

MAC Address Table Clearing

When a site goes down, and a static entry for the global MAC address is added to OTV, you need to let the
other OTV learn the global MAC address on the overlay interface. After the other site comes up, these entries
should be cleared. Make sure to clear the mac address table to make sure OTV does not have these entries in
its forwarding table.

cluster-N7k6-OTV# show mac address-table

Legend:
* - primary entry, G - Gateway MAC, (R) - Routed MAC, O - Overlay MAC
age - seconds since last seen,+ - primary entry using vPC Peer-Link,
(T) - True, (F) - False
VLAN MAC Address Type age Secure NTFY Ports/SWID.SSID.LID
---------+-----------------+--------+---------+------+----+------------------
G - d867.d900.2e42 static - F F sup-eth1(R)
O 202 885a.92f6.44a5 dynamic - F F Overlay1
* 202 885a.92f6.4b8f dynamic 5 F F Eth8/3
O 3151 0050.5660.9412 dynamic - F F Overlay1
* 3151 aaaa.1111.1234 dynamic 50 F F Eth8/3

OTV ARP Cache Monitoring

OTV maintains an ARP cache to proxy ARP for IP addresses that it learned across the OTV interface.

cluster-N7k6-OTV# show otv arp-nd-cache

OTV ARP/ND L3->L2 Address Mapping Cache

Overlay Interface Overlay1

VLAN MAC Address Layer-3 Address Age Expires In
3151 0050.5660.9412 10.0.0.2 1w0d 00:00:31
cluster-N7k6-OTV#

Examples for Inter-Site Clustering

The following examples show supported cluster deployments.

Individual Interface Routed Mode North-South Inter-Site Example

The following example shows 2 ASA cluster members at each of 2 data centers placed between inside and
outside routers (North-South insertion). The cluster members are connected by the cluster control link over
the DCI. The inside and outside routers at each data center use OSPF and PBR or ECMP to load balance the
traffic between cluster members. By assigning a higher cost route across the DCI, traffic stays within each
data center unless all ASA cluster members at a given site go down. In the event of a failure of all cluster
members at one site, traffic goes from each router over the DCI to the ASA cluster members at the other site.

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Spanned EtherChannel Routed Mode Example with Site-Specific MAC and IP Addresses

Spanned EtherChannel Routed Mode Example with Site-Specific MAC and IP Addresses
The following example shows 2 cluster members at each of 2 data centers placed between the gateway router
and an inside network at each site (East-West insertion). The cluster members are connected by the cluster
control link over the DCI. The cluster members at each site connect to the local switches using spanned
EtherChannels for both the inside and outside networks. Each EtherChannel is spanned across all chassis in
the cluster.
The data VLANs are extended between the sites using Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) (or something
similar). You must add filters blocking the global MAC address to prevent traffic from traversing the DCI to
the other site when the traffic is destined for the cluster. If the cluster units at one site become unreachable,
you must remove the filters so traffic can be sent to the other site’s cluster units. You should use VACLs to
filter the global MAC address.For some switches, such as Nexus with the F3-series line card, you must also
use ARP inspection to block ARP packets from the global MAC address. ARP inspection requires you to set
both the site MAC address and the site IP address on the ASA. If you only configure the site MAC address
be sure to disable ARP inspection. See OTV Configuration for Routed Mode Inter-Site Clustering, on page
395 for more information.
The cluster acts as the gateway for the inside networks. The global virtual MAC, which is shared across all
cluster units, is used only to receive packets. Outgoing packets use a site-specific MAC address from each
DC cluster. This feature prevents the switches from learning the same global MAC address from both sites
on two different ports, which causes MAC flapping; instead, they only learn the site MAC address.
In this scenario:

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Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode North-South Inter-Site Example

• All egress packets sent from the cluster use the site MAC address and are localized at the data center.
• All ingress packets to the cluster are sent using the global MAC address, so they can be received by any
of the units at both sites; filters at the OTV localize the traffic within the data center.

For a sample OTV configuration and best practices, see OTV Configuration for Routed Mode Inter-Site
Clustering, on page 395.

Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode North-South Inter-Site Example

The following example shows 2 cluster members at each of 2 data centers placed between inside and outside
routers (North-South insertion). The cluster members are connected by the cluster control link over the DCI.
The cluster members at each site connect to the local switches using spanned EtherChannels for the inside
and outside. Each EtherChannel is spanned across all chassis in the cluster.
The inside and outside routers at each data center use OSPF, which is passed through the transparent ASAs.
Unlike MACs, router IPs are unique on all routers. By assigning a higher cost route across the DCI, traffic
stays within each data center unless all cluster members at a given site go down. The lower cost route through
the ASAs must traverse the same bridge group at each site for the cluster to maintain asymmetric connections.

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Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode East-West Inter-Site Example

In the event of a failure of all cluster members at one site, traffic goes from each router over the DCI to the
cluster members at the other site.
The implementation of the switches at each site can include:
• Inter-site VSS/vPC—In this scenario, you install one switch at Data Center 1, and the other at Data Center
2. One option is for the cluster units at each Data Center to only connect to the local switch, while the
VSS/vPC traffic goes across the DCI. In this case, connections are for the most part kept local to each
datacenter. You can optionally connect each unit to both switches across the DCI if the DCI can handle
the extra traffic. In this case, traffic is distributed across the data centers, so it is essential for the DCI to
be very robust.
• Local VSS/vPC at each site—For better switch redundancy, you can install 2 separate VSS/vPC pairs at
each site. In this case, although the cluster units still have a spanned EtherChannel with Data Center 1
chassis connected only to both local switches, and Data Center 2 chassis connected to those local switches,
the spanned EtherChannel is essentially “split.” Each local VSS/vPC sees the spanned EtherChannel as
a site-local EtherChannel.

Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode East-West Inter-Site Example

The following example shows 2 cluster members at each of 2 data centers placed between the gateway router
and two inside networks at each site, the App network and the DB network (East-West insertion). The cluster
members are connected by the cluster control link over the DCI. The cluster members at each site connect to

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Reference for Clustering

the local switches using spanned EtherChannels for both the App and DB networks on the inside and outside.
Each EtherChannel is spanned across all chassis in the cluster.
The gateway router at each site uses an FHRP such as HSRP to provide the same destination virtual MAC
and IP addresses at each site. A good practice to avoid unintended MAC address flapping is to statically add
the gateway routers real MAC addresses to the ASA MAC address table. Without these entries, if the gateway
at site 1 communicates with the gateway at site 2, that traffic might pass through the ASA and attempt to reach
site 2 from the inside interface and cause problems. The data VLANs are extended between the sites using
Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) (or something similar). You must add filters to prevent traffic from
traversing the DCI to the other site when the traffic is destined for the gateway router. If the gateway router
at one site becomes unreachable, you must remove the filters so traffic can be sent to the other site’s gateway
router.

See Spanned EtherChannel Transparent Mode North-South Inter-Site Example, on page 399 for information
about vPC/VSS options.

Reference for Clustering

This section includes more information about how clustering operates.

ASA Features and Clustering

Some ASA features are not supported with ASA clustering, and some are only supported on the control unit.
Other features might have caveats for proper usage.

Unsupported Features with Clustering

These features cannot be configured with clustering enabled, and the commands will be rejected.

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Centralized Features for Clustering

• Unified Communication features that rely on TLS Proxy

• Remote access VPN (SSL VPN and IPsec VPN)
• The following application inspections:
• CTIQBE
• H323, H225, and RAS
• IPsec passthrough
• MGCP
• MMP
• RTSP
• SCCP (Skinny)
• WAAS
• WCCP

• Botnet Traffic Filter

• Auto Update Server
• DHCP client, server, and proxy. DHCP relay is supported.
• VPN load balancing
• Failover
• ASA CX module
• Integrated Routing and Bridging
• FIPS mode

Centralized Features for Clustering

The following features are only supported on the control unit, and are not scaled for the cluster. For example,
you have a cluster of eight units (5516-X). The Other VPN license allows a maximum of 300 site-to-site IPsec
tunnels for one ASA 5516-X. For the entire cluster of eight units, you can only use 300 tunnels; the feature
does not scale.

Note Traffic for centralized features is forwarded from member units to the control unit over the cluster control
link.
If you use the rebalancing feature, traffic for centralized features may be rebalanced to non-control units before
the traffic is classified as a centralized feature; if this occurs, the traffic is then sent back to the control unit.
For centralized features, if the control unit fails, all connections are dropped, and you have to re-establish the
connections on the new control unit.

• Site-to-site VPN

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Features Applied to Individual Units

• The following application inspections:

• DCERPC
• ESMTP
• IM
• NetBIOS
• PPTP
• RADIUS
• RSH
• SNMP
• SQLNET
• SUNRPC
• TFTP
• XDMCP

• Dynamic routing (Spanned EtherChannel mode only)

• Multicast routing (Individual interface mode only)
• Static route tracking
• IGMP multicast control plane protocol processing (data plane forwarding is distributed across the cluster)
• PIM multicast control plane protocol processing (data plane forwarding is distributed across the cluster)
• Authentication and Authorization for network access. Accounting is decentralized.
• Filtering Services

Features Applied to Individual Units

These features are applied to each ASA unit, instead of the cluster as a whole or to the control unit.
• QoS—The QoS policy is synced across the cluster as part of configuration replication. However, the
policy is enforced on each unit independently. For example, if you configure policing on output, then
the conform rate and conform burst values are enforced on traffic exiting a particular ASA. In a cluster
with 3 units and with traffic evenly distributed, the conform rate actually becomes 3 times the rate for
the cluster.
• Threat detection—Threat detection works on each unit independently; for example, the top statistics is
unit-specific. Port scanning detection, for example, does not work because scanning traffic will be
load-balanced between all units, and one unit will not see all traffic.
• Resource management—Resource management in multiple context mode is enforced separately on each
unit based on local usage.

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AAA for Network Access and Clustering

• LISP traffic—LISP traffic on UDP port 4342 is inspected by each receiving unit, but is not assigned a
director. Each unit adds to the EID table that is shared across the cluster, but the LISP traffic itself does
not participate in cluster state sharing.

• ASA Firepower module—There is no configuration sync or state sharing between ASA Firepower
modules. You are responsible for maintaining consistent policies on the ASA Firepower modules in the
cluster using Firepower Management Center. Do not use different ASA-interface-based zone definitions
for devices in the cluster.
• ASA IPS module—There is no configuration sync or state sharing between IPS modules. Some IPS
signatures require IPS to keep the state across multiple connections. For example, the port scanning
signature is used when the IPS module detects that someone is opening many connections to one server
but with different ports. In clustering, those connections will be balanced between multiple ASA devices,
each of which has its own IPS module. Because these IPS modules do not share state information, the
cluster may not be able to detect port scanning as a result.

AAA for Network Access and Clustering

AAA for network access consists of three components: authentication, authorization, and accounting.
Authentication and authorization are implemented as centralized features on the clustering control unit with
replication of the data structures to the cluster data units. If a control unit is elected, the new control unit will
have all the information it needs to continue uninterrupted operation of the established authenticated users
and their associated authorizations. Idle and absolute timeouts for user authentications are preserved when a
control unit change occurs.
Accounting is implemented as a distributed feature in a cluster. Accounting is done on a per-flow basis, so
the cluster unit owning a flow will send accounting start and stop messages to the AAA server when accounting
is configured for a flow.

Connection Settings
Connection limits are enforced cluster-wide (see Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy page). Each
unit has an estimate of the cluster-wide counter values based on broadcast messages. Due to efficiency
considerations, the configured connection limit across the cluster might not be enforced exactly at the limit
number. Each unit may overestimate or underestimate the cluster-wide counter value at any given time.
However, the information will get updated over time in a load-balanced cluster.

FTP and Clustering

• If FTP data channel and control channel flows are owned by different cluster members, then the data
channel owner will periodically send idle timeout updates to the control channel owner and update the
idle timeout value. However, if the control flow owner is reloaded, and the control flow is re-hosted, the
parent/child flow relationship will not longer be maintained; the control flow idle timeout will not be
updated.
• If you use AAA for FTP access, then the control channel flow is centralized on the control unit.

Identity Firewall and Clustering

Only the control unit retrieves the user-group from the AD and the user-ip mapping from the AD agent. The
control unit then populates the user information to data units, and data units can make a match decision for
user identity based on the security policy.

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Multicast Routing and Clustering

Multicast Routing and Clustering

Multicast routing behaves differently depending on the interface mode.

Multicast Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

In Spanned EtherChannel mode, the control unit handles all multicast routing packets and data packets until
fast-path forwarding is established. After the connection is established, each data unit can forward multicast
data packets.

Multicast Routing in Individual Interface Mode

In Individual interface mode, units do not act independently with multicast. All data and routing packets are
processed and forwarded by the control unit, thus avoiding packet replication.

NAT and Clustering

NAT can affect the overall throughput of the cluster. Inbound and outbound NAT packets can be sent to
different ASAs in the cluster, because the load balancing algorithm relies on IP addresses and ports, and NAT
causes inbound and outbound packets to have different IP addresses and/or ports. When a packet arrives at
the ASA that is not the NAT owner, it is forwarded over the cluster control link to the owner, causing large
amounts of traffic on the cluster control link. Note that the receiving unit does not create a forwarding flow
to the owner, because the NAT owner may not end up creating a connection for the packet depending on the
results of security and policy checks.
If you still want to use NAT in clustering, then consider the following guidelines:
• No Proxy ARP—For Individual interfaces, a proxy ARP reply is never sent for mapped addresses. This
prevents the adjacent router from maintaining a peer relationship with an ASA that may no longer be in
the cluster. The upstream router needs a static route or PBR with Object Tracking for the mapped addresses
that points to the Main cluster IP address. This is not an issue for a Spanned EtherChannel, because there
is only one IP address associated with the cluster interface.
• No interface PAT on an Individual interface—Interface PAT is not supported for Individual interfaces.

• PAT with Port Block Allocation—See the following guidelines for this feature:
• Maximum-per-host limit is not a cluster-wide limit, and is enforced on each unit individually. Thus,
in a 3-node cluster with the maximum-per-host limit configured as 1, if the traffic from a host is
load-balanced across all 3 units, then it can get allocated 3 blocks with 1 in each unit.
• Port blocks created on the backup unit from the backup pools are not accounted for when enforcing
the maximum-per-host limit.
• When a PAT IP address owner goes down, the backup unit will own the PAT IP address,
corresponding port blocks, and xlates. If it runs out of ports on its normal PAT address, it can use
the address that it took over to service new requests. As the connections eventually time out, the
blocks get freed.
• On-the-fly PAT rule modifications, where the PAT pool is modified with a completely new range
of IP addresses, will result in xlate backup creation failures for the xlate backup requests that were
still in transit while the new pool became effective. This behavior is not specific to the port block
allocation feature, and is a transient PAT pool issue seen only in cluster deployments where the
pool is distributed and traffic is load-balanced across the cluster units.

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Dynamic Routing and Clustering

• NAT pool address distribution for dynamic PAT—The control unit evenly pre-distributes addresses
across the cluster. If a member receives a connection and they have no addresses assigned, then the
connection is forwarded to the control unit for PAT. If a cluster member leaves the cluster (due to failure),
a backup member will get the PAT IP address, and if the backup exhausts its normal PAT IP address, it
can make use of the new address. Make sure to include at least as many NAT addresses as there are units
in the cluster, plus at least one extra address, to ensure that each unit receives an address, and that a failed
unit can get a new address if its old address is in use by the member that took over the address. Use the
show nat pool cluster command to see the address allocations.
• Reusing a PAT pool in multiple rules—To use the same PAT pool in multiple rules, you must be careful
about the interface selection in the rules. You must either use specific interfaces in all rules, or "any" in
all rules. You cannot mix specific interfaces and "any" across the rules, or the system might not be able
to match return traffic to the right node in the cluster. Using unique PAT pools per rule is the most reliable
option.
• No round-robin—Round-robin for a PAT pool is not supported with clustering.
• Dynamic NAT xlates managed by the control unit—The control unit maintains and replicates the xlate
table to data units. When a data unit receives a connection that requires dynamic NAT, and the xlate is
not in the table, it requests the xlate from the control unit. The data unit owns the connection.
• Stale xlates—The xlate idle time on the connection owner does not get updated. Thus, the idle time might
exceed the idle timeout. An idle timer value higher than the configured timeout with a refcnt of 0 is an
indication of a stale xlate.
• Per-session PAT feature—Although not exclusive to clustering, the per-session PAT feature improves
the scalability of PAT and, for clustering, allows each data unit to own PAT connections; by contrast,
multi-session PAT connections have to be forwarded to and owned by the control unit. By default, all
TCP traffic and UDP DNS traffic use a per-session PAT xlate, whereas ICMP and all other UDP traffic
uses multi-session. You can configure per-session NAT rules to change these defaults for TCP and UDP,
but you cannot configure per-session PAT for ICMP. For traffic that benefits from multi-session PAT,
such as H.323, SIP, or Skinny, you can disable per-session PAT for the associated TCP ports (the UDP
ports for those H.323 and SIP are already multi-session by default). For more information about per-session
PAT, see the firewall configuration guide.
• No static PAT for the following inspections—
• FTP
• PPTP
• RSH
• SQLNET
• TFTP
• XDMCP
• SIP

Dynamic Routing and Clustering

This section describes how to use dynamic routing with clustering.

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Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

Note IS-IS is not supported in Spanned EtherChannel mode.

In Spanned EtherChannel mode: The routing process only runs on the control unit, and routes are learned
through the control unit and replicated to data units. If a routing packet arrives at a data unit, it is redirected
to the control unit.
Figure 55: Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

After the data unit learn the routes from the control unit, each unit makes forwarding decisions independently.
The OSPF LSA database is not synchronized from the control unit to data units. If there is a control unit
switchover, the neighboring router will detect a restart; the switchover is not transparent. The OSPF process
picks an IP address as its router ID. Although not required, you can assign a static router ID to ensure a
consistent router ID is used across the cluster. See the OSPF Non-Stop Forwarding feature to address the
interruption.

Dynamic Routing in Individual Interface Mode

In Individual interface mode, each unit runs the routing protocol as a standalone router, and routes are learned
by each unit independently.

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SCTP and Clustering

Figure 56: Dynamic Routing in Individual Interface Mode

In the above diagram, Router A learns that there are 4 equal-cost paths to Router B, each through an ASA.
ECMP is used to load balance traffic between the 4 paths. Each ASA picks a different router ID when talking
to external routers.
You must configure a cluster pool for the router ID so that each unit has a separate router ID.
EIGRP does not form neighbor relationships with cluster peers in individual interface mode.

Note If the cluster has multiple adjacencies to the same router for redundancy purposes, asymmetric routing can
lead to unacceptable traffic loss. To avoid asymmetric routing, group all of these ASA interfaces into the same
traffic zone. See Configure a Traffic Zone, on page 592.

SCTP and Clustering

An SCTP association can be created on any unit (due to load balancing); its multi-homing connections must
reside on the same unit.

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SIP Inspection and Clustering

SIP Inspection and Clustering

A control flow can be created on any unit (due to load balancing); its child data flows must reside on the same
unit.
TLS Proxy configuration is not supported.

SNMP and Clustering

An SNMP agent polls each individual ASA by its Local IP address. You cannot poll consolidated data for
the cluster.
You should always use the Local address, and not the Main cluster IP address for SNMP polling. If the SNMP
agent polls the Main cluster IP address, if a new control unit is elected, the poll to the new control unit will
fail.

STUN and Clustering

STUN inspection is supported in failover and cluster modes, as pinholes are replicated. However, the transaction
ID is not replicated among units. In the case where a unit fails after receiving a STUN Request and another
unit received the STUN Response, the STUN Response will be dropped.

Syslog and NetFlow and Clustering

• Syslog—Each unit in the cluster generates its own syslog messages. You can configure logging so that
each unit uses either the same or a different device ID in the syslog message header field. For example,
the hostname configuration is replicated and shared by all units in the cluster. If you configure logging
to use the hostname as the device ID, syslog messages generated by all units look as if they come from
a single unit. If you configure logging to use the local-unit name that is assigned in the cluster bootstrap
configuration as the device ID, syslog messages look as if they come from different units.
• NetFlow—Each unit in the cluster generates its own NetFlow stream. The NetFlow collector can only
treat each ASA as a separate NetFlow exporter.

Cisco TrustSec and Clustering

Only the control unit learns security group tag (SGT) information. The control unit then populates the SGT
to data units, and data units can make a match decision for SGT based on the security policy.

VPN and Clustering

Site-to-site VPN is a centralized feature; only the control unit supports VPN connections. Distributed site-to-site
VPN clustering is supported. Search for High Availability options in this pdf for details.

Note Remote access VPN is not supported with clustering.

VPN functionality is limited to the control unit and does not take advantage of the cluster high availability
capabilities. If the control unit fails, all existing VPN connections are lost, and VPN users will see a disruption
in service. When a new control unit is elected, you must reestablish the VPN connections.

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Performance Scaling Factor

When you connect a VPN tunnel to a Spanned EtherChannel address, connections are automatically forwarded
to the control unit. For connections to an Individual interface when using PBR or ECMP, you must always
connect to the Main cluster IP address, not a Local address.
VPN-related keys and certificates are replicated to all units.

Performance Scaling Factor

When you combine multiple units into a cluster, you can expect a performance of approximately:
• 70% of the combined throughput
• 60% of maximum connections
• 50% of connections per second

Control Unit Election

Members of the cluster communicate over the cluster control link to elect a control unit as follows:
1. When you enable clustering for a unit (or when it first starts up with clustering already enabled), it
broadcasts an election request every 3 seconds.
2. Any other units with a higher priority respond to the election request; the priority is set between 1 and
100, where 1 is the highest priority.
3. If after 45 seconds, a unit does not receive a response from another unit with a higher priority, then it
becomes the control unit.

Note If multiple units tie for the highest priority, the cluster unit name and then the serial number is used to determine
the control unit.

4. If a unit later joins the cluster with a higher priority, it does not automatically become the control unit;
the existing control unit always remains as the control unit unless it stops responding, at which point a
new control unit is elected.
5. In a "split brain" scenario when there are temporarily multiple control units, then the unit with highest
priority retains the role while the other units return to data unit roles.

Note You can manually force a unit to become the control unit. For centralized features, if you force a control unit
change, then all connections are dropped, and you have to re-establish the connections on the new control
unit.

High Availability Within the ASA Cluster

ASA Clustering provides high availability by monitoring unit and interface health and by replicating connection
states between units.

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Unit Health Monitoring

Unit Health Monitoring

Each unit periodically sends a broadcast heartbeat packet over the cluster control link. If the control unit does
not receive any heartbeat packets or other packets from a data unit within the configurable timeout period,
then the control unit removes the data unit from the cluster. If the data units do not receive packets from the
control unit, then a new control unit is elected from the remaining members.
If units cannot reach each other over the cluster control link because of a network failure and not because a
unit has actually failed, then the cluster may go into a "split brain" scenario where isolated data units will
elect their own control units. For example, if a router fails between two cluster locations, then the original
control unit at location 1 will remove the location 2 data units from the cluster. Meanwhile, the units at location
2 will elect their own control unit and form their own cluster. Note that asymmetric traffic may fail in this
scenario. After the cluster control link is restored, then the control unit that has the higher priority will keep
the control unit’s role. See Control Unit Election, on page 410 for more information.

Interface Monitoring
Each unit monitors the link status of all named hardware interfaces in use, and reports status changes to the
control unit.
• Spanned EtherChannel—Uses cluster Link Aggregation Control Protocol (cLACP). Each unit monitors
the link status and the cLACP protocol messages to determine if the port is still active in the EtherChannel.
The status is reported to the control unit.
• Individual interfaces (Routed mode only)—Each unit self-monitors its interfaces and reports interface
status to the control unit.

When you enable health monitoring, all physical interfaces (including the main EtherChannel and redundant
interface types) are monitored by default; you can optionally disable monitoring per interface. Only named
interfaces can be monitored. For example, the named EtherChannel must fail to be considered failed, which
means all member ports of an EtherChannel must fail to trigger cluster removal (depending on your minimum
port bundling setting).
A unit is removed from the cluster if its monitored interfaces fail. The amount of time before the ASA removes
a member from the cluster depends on the type of interface and whether the unit is an established member or
is joining the cluster. For EtherChannels (spanned or not), if the interface is down on an established member,
then the ASA removes the member after 9 seconds. The ASA does not monitor interfaces for the first 90
seconds that a unit joins the cluster. Interface status changes during this time will not cause the ASA to be
removed from the cluster. For non-EtherChannels, the unit is removed after 500 ms, regardless of the member
state.

Status After Failure

When a unit in the cluster fails, the connections hosted by that unit are seamlessly transferred to other units;
state information for traffic flows is shared over the control unit's cluster control link.
If the control unit fails, then another member of the cluster with the highest priority (lowest number) becomes
the control unit.
The ASA automatically tries to rejoin the cluster, depending on the failure event.

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Rejoining the Cluster

Note When the ASA becomes inactive and fails to automatically rejoin the cluster, all data interfaces are shut down;
only the management-only interface can send and receive traffic. The management interface remains up using
the IP address the unit received from the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still inactive
in the cluster, the management interface is disabled. You must use the console port for any further configuration.

Rejoining the Cluster

After a cluster member is removed from the cluster, how it can rejoin the cluster depends on why it was
removed:
• Failed cluster control link when initially joining—After you resolve the problem with the cluster control
link, you must manually rejoin the cluster by re-enabling clustering.
• Failed cluster control link after joining the cluster—The ASA automatically tries to rejoin every 5 minutes,
indefinitely. This behavior is configurable.
• Failed data interface—The ASA automatically tries to rejoin at 5 minutes, then at 10 minutes, and finally
at 20 minutes. If the join is not successful after 20 minutes, then the ASA disables clustering. After you
resolve the problem with the data interface, you have to manually enable clustering. This behavior is
configurable.
• Failed ASA FirePOWER software module—After you resolve the problem with the module, you must
manually enable clustering.
• Failed unit—If the unit was removed from the cluster because of a unit health check failure, then rejoining
the cluster depends on the source of the failure. For example, a temporary power failure means the unit
will rejoin the cluster when it starts up again as long as the cluster control link is up and clustering is still
enabled. The ASA attempts to rejoin the cluster every 5 seconds.
• Internal error—Internal failures include: application sync timeout; inconsistent application statuses; and
so on. A unit will attempt to rejoin the cluster automatically at the following intervals: 5 minutes, 10
minutes, and then 20 minutes. This behavior is configurable.

See Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters, on page 364.

Data Path Connection State Replication

Every connection has one owner and at least one backup owner in the cluster. The backup owner does not
take over the connection in the event of a failure; instead, it stores TCP/UDP state information, so that the
connection can be seamlessly transferred to a new owner in case of a failure. The backup owner is usually
also the director.
Some traffic requires state information above the TCP or UDP layer. See the following table for clustering
support or lack of support for this kind of traffic.

Table 22: Features Replicated Across the Cluster

Traffic State Support Notes

Up time Yes Keeps track of the system up time.

ARP Table Yes —

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How the ASA Cluster Manages Connections

Traffic State Support Notes

MAC address table Yes —

User Identity Yes Includes AAA rules (uauth) and

identity firewall.

IPv6 Neighbor database Yes —

Dynamic routing Yes —

SNMP Engine ID No —

Centralized VPN (Site-to-Site) No VPN sessions will be disconnected

if the control unit fails.

Distributed VPN (Site-to-Site) Yes Backup session becomes the active

session, then a new backup session
is created.

How the ASA Cluster Manages Connections

Connections can be load-balanced to multiple members of the cluster. Connection roles determine how
connections are handled in both normal operation and in a high availability situation.

Connection Roles
See the following roles defined for each connection:
• Owner—Usually, the unit that initially receives the connection. The owner maintains the TCP state and
processes packets. A connection has only one owner. If the original owner fails, then when new units
receive packets from the connection, the director chooses a new owner from those units.
• Backup owner—The unit that stores TCP/UDP state information received from the owner, so that the
connection can be seamlessly transferred to a new owner in case of a failure. The backup owner does
not take over the connection in the event of a failure. If the owner becomes unavailable, then the first
unit to receive packets from the connection (based on load balancing) contacts the backup owner for the
relevant state information so it can become the new owner.
As long as the director (see below) is not the same unit as the owner, then the director is also the backup
owner. If the owner chooses itself as the director, then a separate backup owner is chosen.
For inter-chassis clustering on the Firepower 9300, which can include up to 3 cluster units in one chassis,
if the backup owner is on the same chassis as the owner, then an additional backup owner will be chosen
from another chassis to protect flows from a chassis failure.
If you enable director localization for inter-site clustering, then there are two backup owner roles: the
local backup and the global backup. The owner always chooses a local backup at the same site as itself
(based on site ID). The global backup can be at any site, and might even be the same unit as the local
backup. The owner sends connection state information to both backups.
If you enable site redundancy, and the backup owner is at the same site as the owner, then an additional
backup owner will be chosen from another site to protect flows from a site failure. Chassis backup and
site backup are independent, so in some cases a flow will have both a chassis backup and a site backup.

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Connection Roles

• Director—The unit that handles owner lookup requests from forwarders. When the owner receives a new
connection, it chooses a director based on a hash of the source/destination IP address and ports, and sends
a message to the director to register the new connection. If packets arrive at any unit other than the owner,
the unit queries the director about which unit is the owner so it can forward the packets. A connection
has only one director. If a director fails, the owner chooses a new director.
As long as the director is not the same unit as the owner, then the director is also the backup owner (see
above). If the owner chooses itself as the director, then a separate backup owner is chosen.
If you enable director localization for inter-site clustering, then there are two director roles: the local
director and the global director. The owner always chooses a local director at the same site as itself (based
on site ID). The global director can be at any site, and might even be the same unit as the local director.
If the original owner fails, then the local director chooses a new connection owner at the same site.
• Forwarder—A unit that forwards packets to the owner. If a forwarder receives a packet for a connection
it does not own, it queries the director for the owner, and then establishes a flow to the owner for any
other packets it receives for this connection. The director can also be a forwarder. If you enable director
localization, then the forwarder always queries the local director. The forwarder only queries the global
director if the local director does not know the owner, for example, if a cluster member receives packets
for a connection that is owned on a different site. Note that if a forwarder receives the SYN-ACK packet,
it can derive the owner directly from a SYN cookie in the packet, so it does not need to query the director.
(If you disable TCP sequence randomization, the SYN cookie is not used; a query to the director is
required.) For short-lived flows such as DNS and ICMP, instead of querying, the forwarder immediately
sends the packet to the director, which then sends them to the owner. A connection can have multiple
forwarders; the most efficient throughput is achieved by a good load-balancing method where there are
no forwarders and all packets of a connection are received by the owner.
• Fragment Owner—For fragmented packets, cluster units that receive a fragment determine a fragment
owner using a hash of the fragment source IP address, destination IP address, and the packet ID. All
fragments are then forwarded to the fragment owner over the cluster control link. Fragments may be
load-balanced to different cluster units, because only the first fragment includes the 5-tuple used in the
switch load balance hash. Other fragments do not contain the source and destination ports and may be
load-balanced to other cluster units. The fragment owner temporarily reassembles the packet so it can
determine the director based on a hash of the source/destination IP address and ports. If it is a new
connection, the fragment owner will register to be the connection owner. If it is an existing connection,
the fragment owner forwards all fragments to the provided connection owner over the cluster control
link. The connection owner will then reassemble all fragments.

When a connection uses Port Address Translation (PAT), then the PAT type (per-session or multi-session)
influences which member of the cluster becomes the owner of a new connection:
• Per-session PAT—The owner is the unit that receives the initial packet in the connection.
By default, TCP and DNS UDP traffic use per-session PAT.
• Multi-session PAT—The owner is always the control unit. If a multi-session PAT connection is initially
received by a data unit, then the data unit forwards the connection to the control unit.
By default, UDP (except for DNS UDP) and ICMP traffic use multi-session PAT, so these connections
are always owned by the control unit.

You can change the per-session PAT defaults for TCP and UDP so connections for these protocols are handled
per-session or multi-session depending on the configuration. For ICMP, you cannot change from the default
multi-session PAT. For more information about per-session PAT, see the firewall configuration guide.

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New Connection Ownership

New Connection Ownership

When a new connection is directed to a member of the cluster via load balancing, that unit owns both directions
of the connection. If any connection packets arrive at a different unit, they are forwarded to the owner unit
over the cluster control link. For best performance, proper external load balancing is required for both directions
of a flow to arrive at the same unit, and for flows to be distributed evenly between units. If a reverse flow
arrives at a different unit, it is redirected back to the original unit.

Sample Data Flow

The following example shows the establishment of a new connection.

1. The SYN packet originates from the client and is delivered to one ASA (based on the load balancing
method), which becomes the owner. The owner creates a flow, encodes owner information into a SYN
cookie, and forwards the packet to the server.
2. The SYN-ACK packet originates from the server and is delivered to a different ASA (based on the load
balancing method). This ASA is the forwarder.
3. Because the forwarder does not own the connection, it decodes owner information from the SYN cookie,
creates a forwarding flow to the owner, and forwards the SYN-ACK to the owner.
4. The owner sends a state update to the director, and forwards the SYN-ACK to the client.
5. The director receives the state update from the owner, creates a flow to the owner, and records the TCP
state information as well as the owner. The director acts as the backup owner for the connection.
6. Any subsequent packets delivered to the forwarder will be forwarded to the owner.
7. If packets are delivered to any additional units, it will query the director for the owner and establish a
flow.
8. Any state change for the flow results in a state update from the owner to the director.

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Rebalancing New TCP Connections Across the Cluster

Rebalancing New TCP Connections Across the Cluster

If the load balancing capabilities of the upstream or downstream routers result in unbalanced flow distribution,
you can configure overloaded units to redirect new TCP flows to other units. No existing flows will be moved
to other units.

History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Configuration sync to 9.14(1) The control unit now syncs configuration changes with data units in parallel by default. Formerly,
data units in parallel synching occurred sequentially.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable parallel configuration replicate
check box

Messages for cluster join 9.14(1) New messages were added to the show cluster history command for when a cluster unit either
failure or eviction added fails to join the cluster or leaves the cluster.
to show cluster history
New/Modified commands: show cluster history
New/Modified screens: none.

Initiator and responder 9.13(1) If you enable Dead Connection Detection (DCD), you can use the show conn detail command
information for Dead to get information about the initiator and responder. Dead Connection Detection allows you to
Connection Detection maintain an inactive connection, and the show conn output tells you how often the endpoints
(DCD), and DCD support have been probed. In addition, DCD is now supported in a cluster.
in a cluster.
New/Modified screens: none.

Monitor the traffic load 9.13(1) You can now monitor the traffic load for cluster members, including total connection count,
for a cluster CPU and memory usage, and buffer drops. If the load is too high, you can choose to manually
disable clustering on the unit if the remaining units can handle the load, or adjust the load
balancing on the external switch. This feature is enabled by default.
New/Modified screens:
• Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA
Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable Cluster Load Monitor check box
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Load-Monitoring

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History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Accelerated cluster 9.13(1) When a data unit has the same configuration as the control unit, it will skip syncing the
joining configuration and will join faster. This feature is enabled by default. This feature is configured
on each unit, and is not replicated from the control unit to the data unit.
Note Some configuration commands are not compatible with accelerated cluster joining;
if these commands are present on the unit, even if accelerated cluster joining is enabled,
configuration syncing will always occur. You must remove the incompatible
configuration for accelerated cluster joining to work. Use the show cluster info
unit-join-acceleration incompatible-config to view incompatible configuration.

New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable config sync acceleration check
box

Per-site gratuitous ARP 9.12(1) The ASA now generates gratuitous ARP (GARP) packets to keep the switching infrastructure
for clustering up to date: the highest priority member at each site periodically generates GARP traffic for the
global MAC/IP addresses. When using per-site MAC and IP addresses, packets sourced from
the cluster use a site-specific MAC address and IP address, while packets received by the cluster
use a global MAC address and IP address. If traffic is not generated from the global MAC address
periodically, you could experience a MAC address timeout on your switches for the global MAC
address. After a timeout, traffic destined for the global MAC address will be flooded across the
entire switching infrastructure, which can cause performance and security concerns. GARP is
enabled by default when you set the site ID for each unit and the site MAC address for each
Spanned EtherChannel.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Site Periodic GARP field

Cluster interface 9.10(1) When an interface status update occurs, the ASA waits the number of milliseconds specified in
debounce time now the health-check monitor-interface debounce-time command or the ASDM Configuration >
applies to interfaces Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster screen before marking
changing from a down the interface as failed and the unit is removed from the cluster. This feature now applies to
state to an up state interfaces changing from a down state to an up state. For example, in the case of an EtherChannel
that transitions from a down state to an up state (for example, the switch reloaded, or the switch
enabled an EtherChannel), a longer debounce time can prevent the interface from appearing to
be failed on a cluster unit just because another cluster unit was faster at bundling the ports.
We did not modify any screens.

Automatically rejoin the 9.9(2) Formerly, many error conditions caused a cluster unit to be removed from the cluster, and you
cluster after an internal were required to manually rejoin the cluster after resolving the issue. Now, a unit will attempt
failure to rejoin the cluster automatically at the following intervals by default: 5 minutes, 10 minutes,
and then 20 minutes. These values are configurable. Internal failures include: application sync
timeout; inconsistent application statuses; and so on.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Auto Rejoin

Show transport related 9.9(2) You can now view per-unit cluster reliable transport buffer usage so you can identify packet
statistics for cluster drop issues when the buffer is full in the control plane.
reliable transport protocol
New or modified command: show cluster info transport cp detail
messages

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History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Configurable debounce 9.9(2) You can now configure the debounce time before the ASA considers an interface to be failed,
time to mark an interface and the unit is removed from the cluster on the ASA 5500-X series. This feature allows for faster
as failed for the ASA detection of interface failures. Note that configuring a lower debounce time increases the chances
5000-X series of false-positives. When an interface status update occurs, the ASA waits the number of
milliseconds specified before marking the interface as failed and the unit is removed from the
cluster. The default debounce time is 500 ms, with a range of 300 ms to 9 seconds. This feature
was previously available for the Firepower 4100/9300.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster

Inter-site redundancy for 9.9(1) Inter-site redundancy ensures that a backup owner for a traffic flow will always be at the other
clustering site from the owner. This feature guards against site failure.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster

Improved cluster unit 9.8(1) You can now configure a lower holdtime for the unit health check: .3 seconds minimum. The
health-check failure previous minimum was .8 seconds. This feature changes the unit health check messaging scheme
detection to heartbeats in the data plane from keepalives in the control plane. Using heartbeats improves
the reliability and the responsiveness of clustering by not being susceptible to control plane CPU
hogging and scheduling delays. Note that configuring a lower holdtime increases cluster control
link messaging activity. We suggest that you analyze your network before you configure a low
holdtime; for example, make sure a ping from one unit to another over the cluster control link
returns within the holdtime/3, because there will be three heartbeat messages during one holdtime
interval. If you downgrade your ASA software after setting the hold time to .3 - .7, this setting
will revert to the default of 3 seconds because the new setting is unsupported.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster

Director localization: 9.7(1) To improve performance and keep traffic within a site for inter-site clustering for data centers,
inter-site clustering you can enable director localization. New connections are typically load-balanced and owned
improvement for data by cluster members within a given site. However, the ASA assigns the director role to a member
centers at any site. Director localization enables additional director roles: a local director at the same
site as the owner, and a global director that can be at any site. Keeping the owner and director
at the same site improves performance. Also, if the original owner fails, the local director chooses
a new connection owner at the same site. The global director is used if a cluster member receives
packets for a connection that is owned on a different site.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration

Support for site-specific 9.6(1) For inter-site clustering in routed mode with Spanned EtherChannels, you can now configure
IP addresses in Routed, site-specific IP addresess in addition to site-specific MAC addresses. The addition of site IP
Spanned EtherChannel addresses allows you to use ARP inspection on the Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV)
mode devices to prevent ARP responses from the global MAC address from traveling over the Data
Center Interconnect (DCI), which can cause routing problems. ARP inspection is required for
some switches that cannot use VACLs to filter MAC addresses.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings >
Interfaces > Add/Edit EtherChannel Interface > Advanced

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History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

ASA 5516-X support for 9.5(2) The ASA 5516-X now supports 2-unit clusters. Clustering for 2 units is enabled by default in
clustering the base license.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

LISP Inspection for 9.5(2) Cisco Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP) architecture separates the device identity from its
Inter-Site Flow Mobility location into two different numbering spaces, making server migration transparent to clients.
The ASA can inspect LISP traffic for location changes and then use this information for seamless
clustering operation; the ASA cluster members inspect LISP traffic passing between the first
hop router and the egress tunnel router (ETR) or ingress tunnel router (ITR), and then change
the flow owner to be at the new site.
We introduced or modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Configuration
Configuration > Firewall > Objects > Inspect Maps > LISP
Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules > Protocol Inspection
Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules > Cluster
Monitoring > Routing > LISP-EID Table

Carrier Grade NAT 9.5(2) For carrier-grade or large-scale PAT, you can allocate a block of ports for each host, rather than
enhancements now have NAT allocate one port translation at a time (see RFC 6888). This feature is now supported
supported in failover and in failover and ASA cluster deployments.
ASA clustering
We did not modify any screens.

Configurable level for 9.5(2) By default, all levels of clustering events are included in the trace buffer, including many low
clustering trace entries level events. To limit the trace to higher level events, you can set the minimum trace level for
the cluster.
We did not modify any screens.

Site-specific MAC 9.5(1) You can now use inter-site clustering for Spanned EtherChannels in routed mode. To avoid MAC
addresses for inter-site address flapping, configure a site ID for each cluster member so that a site-specific MAC address
clustering support for for each interface can be shared among a site’s units.
Spanned EtherChannel in
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
Routed firewall mode
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration

ASA cluster 9.5(1) You can now customize the auto-rejoin behavior when an interface or the cluster control link
customization of the fails.
auto-rejoin behavior
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
when an interface or the
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Auto Rejoin
cluster control link fails

The ASA cluster supports 9.5(1) The ASA cluster now supports GTPv1 and GTPv2 inspection.
GTPv1 and GTPv2
We did not modify any screens.

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History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Disable health 9.5(1) By default when using clustering, the ASA monitors the health of an installed hardware module
monitoring of a hardware such as the ASA FirePOWER module. If you do not want a hardware module failure to trigger
module in ASA failover, you can disable module monitoring.
clustering
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Interface Health Monitoring

Cluster replication delay 9.5(1) This feature helps eliminate the “unnecessary work” related to short-lived flows by delaying the
for TCP connections director/backup flow creation.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster Replication

Enable and disable ASA 9.4(1) You can now enable or disable health monitoring per interface. Health monitoring is enabled by
cluster health monitoring default on all port-channel, redundant, and single physical interfaces. Health monitoring is not
per interface performed on VLAN subinterfaces or virtual interfaces such as VNIs or BVIs. You cannot
configure monitoring for the cluster control link; it is always monitored. You might want to
disable health monitoring of non-essential interfaces, for example, the management interface.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Interface Health Monitoring.

ASA clustering support 9.4(1) You can now configure DHCP relay on the ASA cluster. Client DHCP requests are load-balanced
for DHCP relay to the cluster members using a hash of the client MAC address. DHCP client and server functions
are still not supported.
We did not modify any screens.

SIP inspection support in 9.4(1) You can now configure SIP inspection on the ASA cluster. A control flow can be created on any
ASA clustering unit (due to load balancing), but its child data flows must reside on the same unit. TLS Proxy
configuration is not supported.
We did not modify any screens.

Inter-site deployment in 9.3(2) You can now deploy a cluster in transparent mode between inside networks and the gateway
transparent mode with router at each site (AKA East-West insertion), and extend the inside VLANs between sites. We
the ASA cluster recommend using Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV), but you can use any method that
firewalling between ensures that the overlapping MAC Addresses and IP addresses of the gateway router do not leak
inside networks between sites. Use a First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP) such as HSRP to provide the same
virtual MAC and IP addresses to the gateway routers.

BGP support for ASA 9.3(1) We added support for BGP with ASA clustering.
clustering
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4
Family > General.

Support for cluster 9.2(1) You can now place cluster members at different geographical locations when using Spanned
members at different EtherChannel mode in transparent firewall mode. Inter-site clustering with spanned EtherChannels
geographical locations in routed firewall mode is not supported.
(inter-site) for transparent
We did not modify any ASDM screens.
mode

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History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Static LACP port priority 9.2(1) Some switches do not support dynamic port priority with LACP (active and standby links). You
support for clustering can now disable dynamic port priority to provide better compatibility with spanned EtherChannels.
You should also follow these guidelines:
• Network elements on the cluster control link path should not verify the L4 checksum.
Redirected traffic over the cluster control link does not have a correct L4 checksum. Switches
that verify the L4 checksum could cause traffic to be dropped.
• Port-channel bundling downtime should not exceed the configured keepalive interval.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster.

Support for 32 active 9.2(1) ASA EtherChannels now support up to 16 active links. With spanned EtherChannels, that
links in a spanned functionality is extended to support up to 32 active links across the cluster when used with two
EtherChannel switches in a vPC and when you disable dynamic port priority. The switches must support
EtherChannels with 16 active links, for example, the Cisco Nexus 7000 with F2-Series 10 Gigabit
Ethernet Module.
For switches in a VSS or vPC that support 8 active links, you can now configure 16 active links
in the spanned EtherChannel (8 connected to each switch). Previously, the spanned EtherChannel
only supported 8 active links and 8 standby links, even for use with a VSS/vPC.
Note If you want to use more than 8 active links in a spanned EtherChannel, you cannot
also have standby links; the support for 9 to 32 active links requires you to disable
cLACP dynamic port priority that allows the use of standby links.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster.

Support for 16 cluster 9.2(1) The ASA 5585-X now supports 16-unit clusters.
members for the ASA
We did not modify any screens.
5585-X

ASA 5500-X support for 9.1(4) The ASA 5512-X, ASA 5515-X, ASA 5525-X, ASA 5545-X, and ASA 5555-X now support
clustering 2-unit clusters. Clustering for 2 units is enabled by default in the base license; for the ASA
5512-X, you need the Security Plus license.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Improved VSS and vPC 9.1(4) If you configure the cluster control link as an EtherChannel (recommended), and it is connected
support for health check to a VSS or vPC pair, you can now increase stability with health check monitoring. For some
monitoring switches, such as the Cisco Nexus 5000, when one unit in the VSS/vPC is shutting down or
booting up, EtherChannel member interfaces connected to that switch may appear to be Up to
the ASA, but they are not passing traffic on the switch side. The ASA can be erroneously removed
from the cluster if you set the ASA holdtime timeout to a low value (such as .8 seconds), and
the ASA sends keepalive messages on one of these EtherChannel interfaces. When you enable
the VSS/vPC health check feature, the ASA floods the keepalive messages on all EtherChannel
interfaces in the cluster control link to ensure that at least one of the switches can receive them.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster.

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 High Availability and Scalability
History for ASA Clustering

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Support for cluster 9.1(4) You can now place cluster members at different geographical locations when using Individual
members at different Interface mode.
geographical locations
We did not modify any ASDM screens.
(inter-site); Individual
Interface mode only

ASA Clustering for the 9.0(1) ASA Clustering lets you group up to 8 ASAs together as a single logical device. A cluster provides
ASA 5580 and 5585-X all the convenience of a single device (management, integration into a network) while achieving
the increased throughput and redundancy of multiple devices. ASA clustering is supported for
the ASA 5580 and the ASA 5585-X; all units in a cluster must be the same model with the same
hardware specifications. See the configuration guide for a list of unsupported features when
clustering is enabled.
We introduced or modified the following screens:

Home > Device Dashboard

Home > Cluster Dashboard
Home > Cluster Firewall Dashboard
Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Address Pools > MAC Address Pools
Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster
Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup > Advanced
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit Interface >
Advanced
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit Interface > IPv6
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit EtherChannel
Interface > Advanced
Configuration > Firewall > Advanced > Per-Session NAT Rules
Monitoring > ASA Cluster
Monitoring > Properties > System Resources Graphs > Cluster Control Link
Tools > Preferences > General
Tools > System Reload
Tools > Upgrade Software from Local Computer
Wizards > High Availability and Scalability Wizard
Wizards > Packet Capture Wizard
Wizards > Startup Wizard

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 CHAPTER 13
ASA Cluster for the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis
Clustering lets you group multiple Firepower 4100/9300 chassis ASAs together as a single logical device.
The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis series includes the Firepower 9300 and Firepower 4100 series. A cluster
provides all the convenience of a single device (management, integration into a network) while achieving the
increased throughput and redundancy of multiple devices.

Note Some features are not supported when using clustering. See Unsupported Features with Clustering, on page
470.

• About Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis, on page 423

• Requirements and Prerequisites for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis, on page 430
• Licenses for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis, on page 431
• Clustering Guidelines and Limitations, on page 433
• Configure Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis, on page 437
• FXOS: Remove a Cluster Unit, on page 461
• ASA: Manage Cluster Members, on page 462
• ASA: Monitoring the ASA Cluster on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, on page 467
• Troubleshooting Distributed S2S VPN, on page 469
• Reference for Clustering, on page 470
• History for ASA Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300, on page 483

About Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

The cluster consists of multiple devices acting as a single logical unit. When you deploy a cluster on the
Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, it does the following:
• Creates a cluster-control link (by default, port-channel 48) for unit-to-unit communication.
For intra-chassis clustering (Firepower 9300 only), this link utilizes the Firepower 9300 backplane for
cluster communications.
For inter-chassis clustering, you need to manually assign physical interface(s) to this EtherChannel for
communications between chassis.
• Creates the cluster bootstrap configuration within the application.

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Bootstrap Configuration

When you deploy the cluster, the chassis supervisor pushes a minimal bootstrap configuration to each
unit that includes the cluster name, cluster control link interface, and other cluster settings. Some parts
of the bootstrap configuration may be user-configurable within the application if you want to customize
your clustering environment.
• Assigns data interfaces to the cluster as Spanned interfaces.
For intra-chassis clustering, spanned interfaces are not limited to EtherChannels, like it is for inter-chassis
clustering.The Firepower 9300 supervisor uses EtherChannel technology internally to load-balance traffic
to multiple modules on a shared interface, so any data interface type works for Spanned mode. For
inter-chassis clustering, you must use Spanned EtherChannels for all data interfaces.

Note Individual interfaces are not supported, with the exception of a management
interface.

• Assigns a management interface to all units in the cluster.

The following sections provide more detail about clustering concepts and implementation. See also Reference
for Clustering, on page 470.

Bootstrap Configuration
When you deploy the cluster, the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor pushes a minimal bootstrap
configuration to each unit that includes the cluster name, cluster control link interface, and other cluster
settings. Some parts of the bootstrap configuration are user-configurable if you want to customize your
clustering environment.

Cluster Members
Cluster members work together to accomplish the sharing of the security policy and traffic flows.
One member of the cluster is the control unit. The control unit is determined automatically. All other members
are data units.
You must perform all configuration on the control unit only; the configuration is then replicated to the data
units.
Some features do not scale in a cluster, and the control unit handles all traffic for those features. See Centralized
Features for Clustering, on page 471.

Master and Slave Unit Roles

One member of the cluster is the master unit. The master unit is determined automatically. All other members
are slave units.
You must perform all configuration on the master unit only; the configuration is then replicated to the slave
units.
Some features do not scale in a cluster, and the master unit handles all traffic for those features. See Centralized
Features for Clustering, on page 471.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Cluster Control Link

Cluster Control Link

The cluster-control link is an EtherChannel (port-channel 48) for unit-to-unit communication. For intra-chassis
clustering, this link utilizes the Firepower 9300 backplane for cluster communications. For inter-chassis
clustering, you need to manually assign physical interface(s) to this EtherChannel on the Firepower 4100/9300
chassis for communications between chassis.
For a 2-chassis inter-chassis cluster, do not directly-connect the cluster control link from one chassis to the
other chassis. If you directly connect the interfaces, then when one unit fails, the cluster control link fails, and
thus the remaining healthy unit fails. If you connect the cluster control link through a switch, then the cluster
control link remains up for the healthy unit.
Cluster control link traffic includes both control and data traffic.
Control traffic includes:
• Control unit election.
• Configuration replication.
• Health monitoring.

Data traffic includes:

• State replication.
• Connection ownership queries and data packet forwarding.

Size the Cluster Control Link

If possible, you should size the cluster control link to match the expected throughput of each chassis so the
cluster-control link can handle the worst-case scenarios.
Cluster control link traffic is comprised mainly of state update and forwarded packets. The amount of traffic
at any given time on the cluster control link varies. The amount of forwarded traffic depends on the
load-balancing efficacy or whether there is a lot of traffic for centralized features. For example:
• NAT results in poor load balancing of connections, and the need to rebalance all returning traffic to the
correct units.
• AAA for network access is a centralized feature, so all traffic is forwarded to the control unit.
• When membership changes, the cluster needs to rebalance a large number of connections, thus temporarily
using a large amount of cluster control link bandwidth.

A higher-bandwidth cluster control link helps the cluster to converge faster when there are membership changes
and prevents throughput bottlenecks.

Note If your cluster has large amounts of asymmetric (rebalanced) traffic, then you should increase the cluster
control link size.

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Cluster Control Link Redundancy

Cluster Control Link Redundancy

We recommend using an EtherChannel for the cluster control link, so that you can pass traffic on multiple
links in the EtherChannel while still achieving redundancy.
The following diagram shows how to use an EtherChannel as a cluster control link in a Virtual Switching
System (VSS) or Virtual Port Channel (vPC) environment. All links in the EtherChannel are active. When
the switch is part of a VSS or vPC, then you can connect ASA interfaces within the same EtherChannel to
separate switches in the VSS or vPC. The switch interfaces are members of the same EtherChannel port-channel
interface, because the separate switches act like a single switch. Note that this EtherChannel is device-local,
not a Spanned EtherChannel.

Cluster Control Link Reliability

To ensure cluster control link functionality, be sure the round-trip time (RTT) between units is less than 20
ms. This maximum latency enhances compatibility with cluster members installed at different geographical
sites. To check your latency, perform a ping on the cluster control link between units.
The cluster control link must be reliable, with no out-of-order or dropped packets; for example, for inter-site
deployment, you should use a dedicated link.

Cluster Control Link Network

The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis auto-generates the cluster control link interface IP address for each unit
based on the chassis ID and slot ID: 127.2.chassis_id.slot_id.You can customize this IP address when you
deploy the cluster. The cluster control link network cannot include any routers between units; only Layer 2
switching is allowed. For inter-site traffic, Cisco recommends using Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV).

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Cluster Interfaces

Cluster Interfaces
For intra-chassis clustering, you can assign both physical interfaces or EtherChannels (also known as port
channels) to the cluster. Interfaces assigned to the cluster are Spanned interfaces that load-balance traffic
across all members of the cluster.
For inter-chassis clustering, you can only assign data EtherChannels to the cluster. These Spanned
EtherChannels include the same member interfaces on each chassis; on the upstream switch, all of these
interfaces are included in a single EtherChannel, so the switch does not know that it is connected to multiple
devices.
Individual interfaces are not supported, with the exception of a management interface.

Connecting to a VSS or vPC

We recommend connecting EtherChannels to a VSS or vPC to provide redundancy for your interfaces.

Configuration Replication
All units in the cluster share a single configuration. You can only make configuration changes on the control
unit, and changes are automatically synced to all other units in the cluster.

ASA Cluster Management

One of the benefits of using ASA clustering is the ease of management. This section describes how to manage
the cluster.

Management Network
We recommend connecting all units to a single management network. This network is separate from the cluster
control link.

Management Interface
You must assign a Management type interface to the cluster. This interface is a special individual interface
as opposed to a Spanned interface. The management interface lets you connect directly to each unit.
The Main cluster IP address is a fixed address for the cluster that always belongs to the current control unit.
You also configure a range of addresses so that each unit, including the current control unit, can use a Local
address from the range. The Main cluster IP address provides consistent management access to an address;
when a control unit changes, the Main cluster IP address moves to the new control unit, so management of
the cluster continues seamlessly.
For example, you can manage the cluster by connecting to the Main cluster IP address, which is always
attached to the current control unit. To manage an individual member, you can connect to the Local IP address.
For outbound management traffic such as TFTP or syslog, each unit, including the control unit, uses the Local
IP address to connect to the server.

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Control Unit Management Vs. Data Unit Management

Control Unit Management Vs. Data Unit Management

All management and monitoring can take place on the control unit. From the control unit, you can check
runtime statistics, resource usage, or other monitoring information of all units. You can also issue a command
to all units in the cluster, and replicate the console messages from data units to the control unit.
You can monitor data units directly if desired. Although also available from the control unit, you can perform
file management on data units (including backing up the configuration and updating images). The following
functions are not available from the control unit:
• Monitoring per-unit cluster-specific statistics.
• Syslog monitoring per unit (except for syslogs sent to the console when console replication is enabled).
• SNMP
• NetFlow

RSA Key Replication

When you create an RSA key on the control unit, the key is replicated to all data units. If you have an SSH
session to the Main cluster IP address, you will be disconnected if the control unit fails. The new control unit
uses the same key for SSH connections, so that you do not need to update the cached SSH host key when you
reconnect to the new control unit.

ASDM Connection Certificate IP Address Mismatch

By default, a self-signed certificate is used for the ASDM connection based on the Local IP address. If you
connect to the Main cluster IP address using ASDM, then a warning message about a mismatched IP address
might appear because the certificate uses the Local IP address, and not the Main cluster IP address. You can
ignore the message and establish the ASDM connection. However, to avoid this type of warning, you can
enroll a certificate that contains the Main cluster IP address and all the Local IP addresses from the IP address
pool. You can then use this certificate for each cluster member. See https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/
security/asdm/identity-cert/cert-install.html for more information.

Spanned EtherChannels (Recommended)

You can group one or more interfaces per chassis into an EtherChannel that spans all chassis in the cluster.
The EtherChannel aggregates the traffic across all the available active interfaces in the channel. A Spanned
EtherChannel can be configured in both routed and transparent firewall modes. In routed mode, the
EtherChannel is configured as a routed interface with a single IP address. In transparent mode, the IP address
is assigned to the BVI, not to the bridge group member interface. The EtherChannel inherently provides load
balancing as part of basic operation.

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Inter-Site Clustering

Inter-Site Clustering
For inter-site installations, you can take advantage of ASA clustering as long as you follow the recommended
guidelines.
You can configure each cluster chassis to belong to a separate site ID.
Site IDs work with site-specific MAC addresses and IP addresses. Packets egressing the cluster use a
site-specific MAC address and IP address, while packets received by the cluster use a global MAC address
and IP address. This feature prevents the switches from learning the same global MAC address from both
sites on two different ports, which causes MAC flapping; instead, they only learn the site MAC address.
Site-specific MAC addresses and IP address are supported for routed mode using Spanned EtherChannels
only.
Site IDs are also used to enable flow mobility using LISP inspection, director localization to improve
performance and reduce round-trip time latency for inter-site clustering for data centers, and site redundancy
for connections where a backup owner of a traffic flow is always at a different site from the owner.
See the following sections for more information about inter-site clustering:
• Sizing the Data Center Interconnect—Requirements and Prerequisites for Clustering on the Firepower
4100/9300 Chassis, on page 430
• Inter-Site Guidelines—Clustering Guidelines and Limitations, on page 433
• Configure Cluster Flow Mobility—Configure Cluster Flow Mobility, on page 453
• Enable Director Localization—Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters, on page 448

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Requirements and Prerequisites for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

• Enable Site Redundancy—Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters, on page 448

Requirements and Prerequisites for Clustering on the Firepower

4100/9300 Chassis
Maximum Clustering Units Per Model
• Firepower 4100—16 chassis
• Firepower 9300—16 modules. For example, you can use 1 module in 16 chassis, or 2 modules in 8
chassis, or any combination that provides a maximum of 16 modules.

Hardware and Software Requirements for Inter-Chassis Clustering

All chassis in a cluster:
• For the Firepower 4100 series: All chassis must be the same model. For the Firepower 9300: All security
modules must be the same type. For example, if you use clustering, all modules in the Firepower 9300
must be SM-40s. You can have different quantities of installed security modules in each chassis, although
all modules present in the chassis must belong to the cluster including any empty slots.
• Must run the identical FXOS software except at the time of an image upgrade.
• Must include the same interface configuration for interfaces you assign to the cluster, such as the same
Management interface, EtherChannels, active interfaces, speed and duplex, and so on. You can use
different network module types on the chassis as long as the capacity matches for the same interface IDs
and interfaces can successfully bundle in the same spanned EtherChannel. Note that all data interfaces
must be EtherChannels in inter-chassis clustering. If you change the interfaces in FXOS after you enable
clustering (by adding or removing interface modules, or configuring EtherChannels, for example), then
perform the same changes on each chassis, starting with the data units, and ending with the control unit.
Note that if you remove an interface in FXOS, the ASA configuration retains the related commands so
that you can make any necessary adjustments; removing an interface from the configuration can have
wide effects. You can manually remove the old interface configuration.
• Must use the same NTP server. Do not set the time manually.
• ASA: Each FXOS chassis must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. There is no
extra cost for data units. For permanent license reservation, you must purchase separate licenses for each
chassis. For Firepower Threat Defense, all licensing is handled by the Firepower Management Center.

Switch Requirements
• Be sure to complete the switch configuration and successfully connect all the EtherChannels from the
chassis to the switch(es) before you configure clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.
• For supported switch characteristics, see Cisco FXOS Compatibility.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Licenses for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

Sizing the Data Center Interconnect for Inter-Site Clustering

You should reserve bandwidth on the data center interconnect (DCI) for cluster control link traffic equivalent
to the following calculation:

If the number of members differs at each site, use the larger number for your calculation. The minimum
bandwidth for the DCI should not be less than the size of the cluster control link for one member.
For example:
• For 4 members at 2 sites:
• 4 cluster members total
• 2 members at each site
• 5 Gbps cluster control link per member

Reserved DCI bandwidth = 5 Gbps (2/2 x 5 Gbps).

• For 6 members at 3 sites, the size increases:
• 6 cluster members total
• 3 members at site 1, 2 members at site 2, and 1 member at site 3
• 10 Gbps cluster control link per member

Reserved DCI bandwidth = 15 Gbps (3/2 x 10 Gbps).

• For 2 members at 2 sites:
• 2 cluster members total
• 1 member at each site
• 10 Gbps cluster control link per member

Reserved DCI bandwidth = 10 Gbps (1/2 x 10 Gbps = 5 Gbps; but the minimum bandwidth should not
be less than the size of the cluster control link (10 Gbps)).

Licenses for Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

The clustering feature itself does not require any licenses. To use Strong Encryption and other optional licenses,
each Firepower 4100/9300 chassis must be registered with the License Authority or satellite server. There is
no extra cost for data units. For permanent license reservation, you must purchase separate licenses for each
chassis.
The Strong Encryption license is automatically enabled for qualified customers when you apply the registration
token. When using the token, each chassis must have the same encryption license. For the optional Strong
Encryption (3DES/AES) feature license enabled in the ASA configuration, see below.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Licenses for Distributed S2S VPN

In the ASA license configuration, you can only configure smart licensing on the control unit. The configuration
is replicated to the data units, but for some licenses, they do not use the configuration; it remains in a cached
state, and only the control unit requests the license. The licenses are aggregated into a single cluster license
that is shared by the cluster units, and this aggregated license is also cached on the data units to be used if one
of them becomes the control unit in the future. Each license type is managed as follows:
• Standard—Only the control unit requests the Standard license from the server. Because the data units
have the Standard license enabled by default, they do not need to register with the server to use it.
• Context—Only the control unit requests the Context license from the server. The Standard license includes
10 contexts by default and is present on all cluster members. The value from each unit’s Standard license
plus the value of the Context license on the control unit are combined up to the platform limit in an
aggregated cluster license. For example:
• You have 6 Firepower 9300 modules in the cluster. The Standard license includes 10 contexts; for
6 units, these licenses add up to 60 contexts. You configure an additional 20-Context license on the
control unit. Therefore, the aggregated cluster license includes 80 contexts. Because the platform
limit for one module is 250, the combined license allows a maximum of 250 contexts; the 80 contexts
are within the limit. Therefore, you can configure up to 80 contexts on the control unit; each data
unit will also have 80 contexts through configuration replication.
• You have 3 Firepower 4110 units in the cluster. The Standard license includes 10 contexts; for 3
units, these licenses add up to 30 contexts. You configure an additional 250-Context license on the
control unit. Therefore, the aggregated cluster license includes 280 contexts. Because the platform
limit for one unit is 250, the combined license allows a maximum of 250 contexts; the 280 contexts
are over the limit. Therefore, you can only configure up to 250 contexts on the control unit; each
data unit will also have 250 contexts through configuration replication. In this case, you should only
configure the control unit Context license to be 220 contexts.

• Carrier—Required for Distributed S2S VPN. This license is a per-unit entitlement, and each unit requests
its own license from the server. This license configuration is replicated to the data units.
• Strong Encryption (3DES) (for pre-2.3.0 Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite deployment, or for
tracking purposes)—This license is a per-unit entitlement, and each unit requests its own license from
the server.

If a new control unit is elected, the new control unit continues to use the aggregated license. It also uses the
cached license configuration to re-request the control unit license. When the old control unit rejoins the cluster
as a data unit, it releases the control unit license entitlement. Before the data unit releases the license, the
control unit's license might be in a non-compliant state if there are no available licenses in the account. The
retained license is valid for 30 days, but if it is still non-compliant after the grace period, you will not be able
to make configuration changes to features requiring special licenses; operation is otherwise unaffected. The
new active unit sends an entitlement authorization renewal request every 12 hours until the license is compliant.
You should refrain from making configuration changes until the license requests are completely processed.
If a unit leaves the cluster, the cached control configuration is removed, while the per-unit entitlements are
retained. In particular, you would need to re-request the Context license on non-cluster units.

Licenses for Distributed S2S VPN

A Carrier license is required for Distributed S2S VPN, on each member of the cluster.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Clustering Guidelines and Limitations

Each VPN connection requires two Other VPN licensed sessions (the Other VPN license is part of the Base
license), one for the active session and one for the backup session. The maximum VPN session capacity of
the cluster can be no more than half of the licensed capacity due to using two licenses for each session.

Clustering Guidelines and Limitations

Switches for Inter-Chassis Clustering
• Make sure connected switches match the MTU for both cluster data interfaces and the cluster control
link interface. You should configure the cluster control link interface MTU to be at least 100 bytes higher
than the data interface MTU, so make sure to configure the cluster control link connecting switch
appropriately. Because the cluster control link traffic includes data packet forwarding, the cluster control
link needs to accommodate the entire size of a data packet plus cluster traffic overhead.
• For Cisco IOS XR systems, if you want to set a non-default MTU, set the IOS interface MTU to be 14
bytes higher than the cluster device MTU. Otherwise, OSPF adjacency peering attempts may fail unless
the mtu-ignore option is used. Note that the cluster device MTU should match the IOS IPv4 MTU. This
adjustment is not required for Cisco Catalyst and Cisco Nexus switches.
• On the switch(es) for the cluster control link interfaces, you can optionally enable Spanning Tree PortFast
on the switch ports connected to the cluster unit to speed up the join process for new units.
• On the switch, we recommend that you use one of the following EtherChannel load-balancing algorithms:
source-dest-ip or source-dest-ip-port (see the Cisco Nexus OS and Cisco IOS port-channel load-balance
command). Do not use a vlan keyword in the load-balance algorithm because it can cause unevenly
distributed traffic to the devices in a cluster. Do not change the load-balancing algorithm from the default
on the cluster device.
• If you change the load-balancing algorithm of the EtherChannel on the switch, the EtherChannel interface
on the switch temporarily stops forwarding traffic, and the Spanning Tree Protocol restarts. There will
be a delay before traffic starts flowing again.
• Some switches do not support dynamic port priority with LACP (active and standby links). You can
disable dynamic port priority to provide better compatibility with Spanned EtherChannels.
• Switches on the cluster control link path should not verify the L4 checksum. Redirected traffic over the
cluster control link does not have a correct L4 checksum. Switches that verify the L4 checksum could
cause traffic to be dropped.
• Port-channel bundling downtime should not exceed the configured keepalive interval.
• On Supervisor 2T EtherChannels, the default hash distribution algorithm is adaptive. To avoid asymmetric
traffic in a VSS design, change the hash algorithm on the port-channel connected to the cluster device
to fixed:
router(config)# port-channel id hash-distribution fixed
Do not change the algorithm globally; you may want to take advantage of the adaptive algorithm for the
VSS peer link.

• Unlike ASA hardware clusters, Firepower 4100/9300 clusters support LACP graceful convergence. So
for the Firepower platform, you can leave LACP graceful convergence enabled on connected Cisco
Nexus switches.

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 High Availability and Scalability
Clustering Guidelines and Limitations

• When you see slow bundling of a Spanned EtherChannel on the switch, you can enable LACP rate fast
for an individual interface on the switch. FXOS EtherChannels have the LACP rate set to fast by default.
Note that some switches, such as the Nexus series, do not support LACP rate fast when performing
in-service software upgrades (ISSUs), so we do not recommend using ISSUs with clustering.

EtherChannels for Inter-Chassis Clustering

• In Catalyst 3750-X Cisco IOS software versions earlier than 15.1(1)S2, the cluster unit did not support
connecting an EtherChannel to a switch stack. With default switch settings, if the cluster unit EtherChannel
is connected cross stack, and if the control unit switch is powered down, then the EtherChannel connected
to the remaining switch will not come up. To improve compatibility, set the stack-mac persistent timer
command to a large enough value to account for reload time; for example, 8 minutes or 0 for indefinite.
Or, you can upgrade to more a more stable switch software version, such as 15.1(1)S2.
• Spanned vs. Device-Local EtherChannel Configuration—Be sure to configure the switch appropriately
for Spanned EtherChannels vs. Device-local EtherChannels.
• Spanned EtherChannels—For cluster unit Spanned EtherChannels, which span across all members
of the cluster, the interfaces are combined into a single EtherChannel on the switch. Make sure each
interface is in the same channel group on the switch.

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High Availability and Scalability
Clustering Guidelines and Limitations

• Device-local EtherChannels—For cluster unit Device-local EtherChannels including any

EtherChannels configured for the cluster control link, be sure to configure discrete EtherChannels
on the switch; do not combine multiple cluster unit EtherChannels into one EtherChannel on the
switch.

Inter-Site Clustering
See the following guidelines for inter-site clustering:
• The cluster control link latency must be less than 20 ms round-trip time (RTT).
• The cluster control link must be reliable, with no out-of-order or dropped packets; for example, you
should use a dedicated link.
• Do not configure connection rebalancing; you do not want connections rebalanced to cluster members
at a different site.
• The ASA does not encrypt forwarded data traffic on the cluster control link because it is a dedicated link,
even when used on a Data Center Interconnect (DCI). If you use Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV),
or are otherwise extending the cluster control link outside of the local administrative domain, you can
configure encryption on your border routers such as 802.1AE MacSec over OTV.

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Clustering Guidelines and Limitations

• The cluster implementation does not differentiate between members at multiple sites for incoming
connections; therefore, connection roles for a given connection may span across sites. This is expected
behavior. However, if you enable director localization, the local director role is always chosen from the
same site as the connection owner (according to site ID). Also, the local director chooses a new owner
at the same site if the original owner fails (Note: if the traffic is asymmetric across sites, and there is
continuous traffic from the remote site after the original owner fails, then a unit from the remote site
might become the new owner if it receives a data packet within the re-hosting window.).
• For director localization, the following traffic types do not support localization: NAT or PAT traffic;
SCTP-inspected traffic; Fragmentation owner query.
• For transparent mode, if the cluster is placed between a pair of inside and outside routers (AKA
North-South insertion), you must ensure that both inside routers share a MAC address, and also that both
outside routers share a MAC address. When a cluster member at site 1 forwards a connection to a member
at site 2, the destination MAC address is preserved. The packet will only reach the router at site 2 if the
MAC address is the same as the router at site 1.
• For transparent mode, if the cluster is placed between data networks and the gateway router at each site
for firewalling between internal networks (AKA East-West insertion), then each gateway router should
use a First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP) such as HSRP to provide identical virtual IP and MAC
address destinations at each site. The data VLANs are extended across the sites using Overlay Transport
Virtualization (OTV), or something similar. You need to create filters to prevent traffic that is destined
to the local gateway router from being sent over the DCI to the other site. If the gateway router becomes
unreachable at one site, you need to remove any filters so traffic can successfully reach the other site’s
gateway.
• For transparent mode, if the cluster is connected to an HSRP router, you must add the router HSRP MAC
address as a static MAC address table entry on the ASA (see Add a Static MAC Address for Bridge
Groups, on page 667). When adjacent routers use HSRP, traffic destined to the HSRP IP address will be
sent to the HSRP MAC Address, but return traffic will be sourced from the MAC address of a particular
router's interface in the HSRP pair. Therefore, the ASA MAC address table is typically only updated
when the ASA ARP table entry for the HSRP IP address expires, and the ASA sends an ARP request
and receives a reply. Because the ASA’s ARP table entries expire after 14400 seconds by default, but
the MAC address table entry expires after 300 seconds by default, a static MAC address entry is required
to avoid MAC address table expiration traffic drops.
• For routed mode using Spanned EtherChannel, configure site-specific MAC addresses. Extend the data
VLANs across the sites using OTV, or something similar. You need to create filters to prevent traffic
that is destined to the global MAC address from being sent over the DCI to the other site. If the cluster
becomes unreachable at one site, you need to remove any filters so traffic can successfully reach the
other site’s cluster units. Dynamic routing is not supported when an inter-site cluster acts as the first hop
router for an extended segment.

Additional Guidelines
• When significant topology changes occur (such as adding or removing an EtherChannel interface, enabling
or disabling an interface on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis or the switch, adding an additional switch
to form a VSS or vPC) you should disable the health check feature, and also disable interface monitoring
for the disabled interfaces . When the topology change is complete, and the configuration change is
synced to all units, you can re-enable the health check feature.
• When adding a unit to an existing cluster, or when reloading a unit, there will be a temporary, limited
packet/connection drop; this is expected behavior. In some cases, the dropped packets can hang

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connections; for example, dropping a FIN/ACK packet for an FTP connection will make the FTP client
hang. In this case, you need to reestablish the FTP connection.
• If you use a Windows 2003 server connected to a Spanned EtherChannel interface, when the syslog
server port is down, and the server does not throttle ICMP error messages, then large numbers of ICMP
messages are sent back to the cluster. These messages can result in some units of the cluster experiencing
high CPU, which can affect performance. We recommend that you throttle ICMP error messages.
• We recommend connecting EtherChannels to a VSS or vPC for redundancy.
• Within a chassis, you cannot cluster some security modules and run other security modules in standalone
mode; you must include all security modules in the cluster.

Defaults
• The cluster health check feature is enabled by default with the holdtime of 3 seconds. Interface health
monitoring is enabled on all interfaces by default.
• Connection rebalancing is disabled by default. If you enable connection rebalancing, the default time
between load information exchanges is 5 seconds.
• The cluster auto-rejoin feature for a failed cluster control link is set to unlimited attempts every 5 minutes.
• The cluster auto-rejoin feature for a failed data interface is set to 3 attempts every 5 minutes, with the
increasing interval set to 2.
• Connection replication delay of 5 seconds is enabled by default for HTTP traffic.

Configure Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300 Chassis

You can easily deploy the cluster from the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor. All initial configuration
is automatically generated for each unit. This section describes the default bootstrap configuration and optional
customization you can perform on the ASA. This section also describes how to manage cluster members from
within the ASA. You can also manage cluster membership from the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis. See the
Firepower 4100/9300 chassis documentation for more information.

Procedure

Step 1 FXOS: Add an ASA Cluster, on page 438

Step 2 ASA: Change the Firewall Mode and Context Mode, on page 446
Step 3 ASA: Configure Data Interfaces, on page 446
Step 4 ASA: Customize the Cluster Configuration, on page 448
Step 5 ASA: Manage Cluster Members, on page 462

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FXOS: Add an ASA Cluster

FXOS: Add an ASA Cluster

You can add a single Firepower 9300 chassis as an intra-chassis cluster, or add multiple chassis for inter-chassis
clustering. For inter-chassis clustering, you must configure each chassis separately. Add the cluster on one
chassis; you can then copy the bootstrap configuration from the first chassis to the next chassis for ease of
deployment

Create an ASA Cluster

Set the scope to the image version.
You can easily deploy the cluster from the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor. All initial configuration
is automatically generated for each unit.
For inter-chassis clustering, you must configure each chassis separately. Deploy the cluster on one chassis;
you can then copy the bootstrap configuration from the first chassis to the next chassis for ease of deployment.
In a Firepower 9300 chassis, you must enable clustering for all 3 module slots, even if you do not have a
module installed. If you do not configure all 3 modules, the cluster will not come up.
For multiple context mode, you must first deploy the logical device, and then enable multiple context mode
in the ASA application.
When you deploy a cluster, the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor configures each ASA application
with the following bootstrap configuration. You can later modify parts of the bootstrap configuration from
the ASA, if desired (shown in Bold text).

interface Port-channel48
description Clustering Interface
cluster group <service_type_name>
key <secret>
local-unit unit-<chassis#-module#>
site-id <number>
cluster-interface port-channel48 ip 127.2.<chassis#>.<module#> 255.255.255.0
priority <auto>
health-check holdtime 3
health-check data-interface auto-rejoin 3 5 2
health-check cluster-interface auto-rejoin unlimited 5 1
enable

ip local pool cluster_ipv4_pool <ip_address>-<ip_address> mask <mask>

interface <management_ifc>
management-only individual
nameif management
security-level 0
ip address <ip_address> <mask> cluster-pool cluster_ipv4_pool
no shutdown

http server enable

http 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 management
route management <management_host_ip> <mask> <gateway_ip> 1

Note The local-unit name can only be changed if you disable clustering.

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Before you begin

• Download the application image you want to use for the logical device from Cisco.com, and then upload
that image to the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.
• Gather the following information:
• Management interface ID, IP address, and network mask
• Gateway IP address

Procedure

Step 1 Configure interfaces.

a) Add at least one Data type interface or EtherChannel (also known as a port-channel) before you deploy
the cluster. See Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel), on page 194 or Configure a Physical Interface, on
page 193.
For inter-chassis clustering, all data interfaces must be Spanned EtherChannels with at least one member
interface. Add the same EtherChannels on each chassis. Combine the member interfaces from all cluster
units into a single EtherChannel on the switch. See Clustering Guidelines and Limitations, on page 433
for more information about EtherChannels for inter-chassis clustering.
b) Add a Management type interface or EtherChannel. See Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel), on page
194 or Configure a Physical Interface, on page 193.
The management interface is required. Note that this management interface is not the same as the chassis
management interface that is used only for chassis management (in FXOS, you might see the chassis
management interface displayed as MGMT, management0, or other similar names).
For inter-chassis clustering, add the same Management interface on each chassis.
c) For inter-chassis clustering, add a member interface to the cluster control link EtherChannel (by default,
port-channel 48). See Add an EtherChannel (Port Channel), on page 194.
Do not add a member interface for intra-chassis clustering. If you add a member, the chassis assumes this
cluster will be inter-chassis, and will only allow you to use Spanned EtherChannels, for example.
On the Interfaces tab, the port-channel 48 cluster type interface shows the Operation State as failed if
it does not include any member interfaces. For intra-chassis clustering, this EtherChannel does not require
any member interfaces, and you can ignore this Operational State.
Add the same member interfaces on each chassis. The cluster control link is a device-local EtherChannel
on each chassis. Use separate EtherChannels on the switch per device. See Clustering Guidelines and
Limitations, on page 433 for more information about EtherChannels for inter-chassis clustering.

Step 2 Choose Logical Devices.

Step 3 Click Add > Cluster, and set the following parameters:

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a) Choose I want to: > Create New Cluster

b) Provide a Device Name.
This name is used internally by the chassis supervisor to configure management settings and to assign
interfaces; it is not the device name used in the application configuration.
c) For the Template, choose Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance.
d) Choose the Image Version.
e) For the Instance Type, only the Native type is supported.
f) Click OK.
You see the Provisioning - device name window.

Step 4 Choose the interfaces you want to assign to this cluster.

All valid interfaces are assigned by default. If you defined multiple Cluster type interfaces, deselect all but
one.

Step 5 Click the device icon in the center of the screen.

A dialog box appears where you can configure initial bootstrap settings. These settings are meant for initial
deployment only, or for disaster recovery. For normal operation, you can later change most values in the
application CLI configuration.

Step 6 On the Cluster Information page, complete the following.

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a) For inter-chassis clustering, in the Chassis ID field, enter a chassis ID. Each chassis in the cluster must
use a unique ID.
This field only appears if you added a member interface to cluster control link Port-Channel 48.
b) For inter-site clustering, in the Site ID field, enter the site ID for this chassis between 1 and 8.
c) In the Cluster Key field, configure an authentication key for control traffic on the cluster control link.
The shared secret is an ASCII string from 1 to 63 characters. The shared secret is used to generate the
key. This option does not affect datapath traffic, including connection state update and forwarded packets,
which are always sent in the clear.
d) Set the Cluster Group Name, which is the cluster group name in the logical device configuration.
The name must be an ASCII string from 1 to 38 characters.
e) Choose the Management Interface.

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This interface is used to manage the logical device. This interface is separate from the chassis management
port.
f) Choose the Address Type for the management interface.
This information is used to configure a management interface in the ASA configuration. Set the following
information:
• Management IP Pool—Configure a pool of Local IP addresses, one of which will be assigned to
each cluster unit for the interface, by entering the starting and ending addresses separated by a hyphen.
Include at least as many addresses as there are units in the cluster. Note that for the Firepower 9300,
you must include 3 addresses per chassis, even if you do not have all module slots filled. If you plan
to expand the cluster, include additional addresses. The Virtual IP address (known as the Main cluster
IP address) that belongs to the current control unit is not a part of this pool; be sure to reserve an IP
address on the same network for the Main cluster IP address. You can use IPv4 and/or IPv6 addresses.
• Network Mask or Prefix Length
• Network Gateway
• Virtual IP address—Set the management IP address of the current control unit. This IP address
must be on the same network as the cluster pool addresses, but not be part of the pool.

Step 7 On the Settings page, complte the following.

a) From the Firewall Mode drop-down list, choose Transparent or Routed.

In routed mode, the FTD is considered to be a router hop in the network. Each interface that you want to
route between is on a different subnet. A transparent firewall, on the other hand, is a Layer 2 firewall that
acts like a “bump in the wire,” or a “stealth firewall,” and is not seen as a router hop to connected devices.
The firewall mode is only set at initial deployment. If you re-apply the bootstrap settings, this setting is
not used.
b) Enter and confirm a Password for the admin user and for the enable password.
The pre-configured ASA admin user is useful for password recovery; if you have FXOS access, you can
reset the admin user password if you forget it.

Step 8 Click OK to close the configuration dialog box.

Step 9 Click Save.
The chassis deploys the logical device by downloading the specified software version and pushing the bootstrap
configuration and management interface settings to the application instance. Check the Logical Devices page
for the status of the new logical device. When the logical device shows its Status as online, you can add the
remaining cluster chassis, or for intra-chassis clusteringstart configuring the cluster in the application. You

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may see the "Security module not responding" status as part of the process; this status is normal and is
temporary.

Step 10 For inter-chassis clustering, add the next chassis to the cluster:
a) On the first chassis Firepower Chassis Manager, click the Show Configuration icon at the top right; copy
the displayed cluster configuration.
b) Connect to the Firepower Chassis Manager on the next chassis, and add a logical device according to this
procedure.
c) Choose I want to: > Join an Existing Cluster.
d) Click OK.
e) In the Copy Cluster Details box, paste in the cluster configuration from the first chassis, and click OK.
f) Click the device icon in the center of the screen. The cluster information is mostly pre-filled, but you must
change the following settings:
• Chassis ID—Enter a unique chassis ID.
• Site ID—Enter the correct site ID.
• Cluster Key—(Not prefilled) Enter the same cluster key.

Click OK.
g) Click Save.
The chassis deploys the logical device by downloading the specified software version and pushing the
bootstrap configuration and management interface settings to the application instance. Check the Logical
Devices page for each cluster member for the status of the new logical device. When the logical device
for each cluster member shows its Status as online, you can start configuring the cluster in the application.
You may see the "Security module not responding" status as part of the process; this status is normal and
is temporary.

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Step 11 Connect to the control unit ASA to customize your clustering configuration.

Add More Cluster Members

Add or replace an ASA cluster member.

Note This procedure only applies to adding or replacing a chassis; if you are adding or replacing a module to a
Firepower 9300 where clustering is already enabled, the module will be added automatically.

Before you begin

• Make sure your existing cluster has enough IP addresses in the management IP address pool for this new
member. If not, you need to edit the existing cluster bootstrap configuration on each chassis before you
add this new member. This change causes a restart of the logical device.
• The interface configuration must be the same on the new chassis. You can export and import FXOS
chassis configuration to make this process easier.
• For multiple context mode, enable multiple context mode in the ASA application on the first cluster
member; additional cluster members will inherit the multiple context mode configuration automatically.

Procedure

Step 1 On an existing cluster chassis Firepower Chassis Manager, choose Logical Devices to open the Logical
Devices page.

Step 2 Click the Show Configuration icon ( ) at the top right; copy the displayed cluster configuration.
Step 3 Connect to the Firepower Chassis Manager on the new chassis, and click Add > Cluster.

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Step 4 Choose I want to: > Join Existing Cluster

Step 5 For the Device Name, provide a name for the logical device.
Step 6 Click OK.
Step 7 In the Copy Cluster Details box, paste in the cluster configuration from the first chassis, and click OK.
Step 8 Click the device icon in the center of the screen. The cluster information is mostly pre-filled, but you must
change the following settings:
• Chassis ID—Enter a unique chassis ID.
• Site ID—Enter the correct site ID.
• Cluster Key—(Not prefilled) Enter the same cluster key.

Click OK.

Step 9 Click Save.

The chassis deploys the logical device by downloading the specified software version and pushing the bootstrap
configuration and management interface settings to the application instance. Check the Logical Devices page
for each cluster member for the status of the new logical device. When the logical device for each cluster
member shows its Status as online, you can start configuring the cluster in the application. You may see the
"Security module not responding" status as part of the process; this status is normal and is temporary.

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ASA: Change the Firewall Mode and Context Mode

By default, the FXOS chassis deploys a cluster in routed firewall mode, and single context mode.
• Change the firewall mode— To change the mode after you depoy, change the mode on the control unit;
the mode is automatically changed on all data units to match. See Set the Firewall Mode (Single Mode),
on page 215. In multiple context mode, you set the firewall mode per context. See Configure a Security
Context, on page 258.
• Change to multiple context mode—To change to multiple context mode after you deploy, change the
mode on the control unit; the mode is automatically changed on all data units to match. See Enable
Multiple Context Mode, on page 252.

ASA: Configure Data Interfaces

This procedure configures basic parameters for each data interface that you assigned to the cluster when you
deployed it in FXOS. For inter-chassis clustering, data interfaces are always Spanned EtherChannel interfaces.

Note The management interface was pre-configured when you deployed the cluster. You can also change the
management interface parameters in ASA, but this procedure focuses on data interfaces. The management
interface is an individual interface, as opposed to a Spanned interface. See Management Interface, on page
427 for more information.

Before you begin

• For multiple context mode, start this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the
active device IP address.
• For transparent mode, configure the bridge group. See Configure the Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI), on
page 548.
• When using Spanned EtherChannels for inter-chassis clustering, the port-channel interface will not come
up until clustering is fully enabled. This requirement prevents traffic from being forwarded to a unit that
is not an active unit in the cluster.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management
> Interfaces pane.

Step 2 Select the interface, and click Edit.

The Edit Interface dialog box appears.

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Step 3 Set the following:

• (For EtherChannels) MIO Port-channel ID—Enter the same ID used in FXOS.
• Enable Interface (checked by default)

The rest of the fields on this screen are described later in this procedure.

Step 4 To configure the MAC address and optional parameters, click the Advanced tab.
• In the MAC Address Cloning area, set a manual global MAC address for the EtherChannel. Do not set
the Standby MAC Address; it is ignored. You must configure a MAC address for a Spanned EtherChannel
to avoid potential network connectivity problems. With a manually-configured MAC address, the MAC
address stays with the current control unit. If you do not configure a MAC address, then if the control
unit changes, the new control unit uses a new MAC address for the interface, which can cause a temporary
network outage.
In multiple context mode, if you share an interface between contexts, you should instead enable
auto-generation of MAC addresses so you do not need to set the MAC address manually. Note that you
must manually configure the MAC address using this command for non-shared interfaces.
• In the ASA Cluster area, for inter-site clustering set Site specific MAC Addresses, and for routed mode,
the IP addresses for a site by clicking Add and specifying a MAC address and IP address for the site ID
(1 through 8). Repeat for up to 8 sites. The site-specific IP addresses must be on the same subnet as the
global IP address. The site-specific MAC address and IP address used by a unit depends on the site ID
you specify in each unit’s bootstrap configuration.

Step 5 (Optional) Configure VLAN subinterfaces on this EtherChannel. The rest of this procedure applies to the
subinterfaces.
Step 6 (Multiple context mode) Before you complete this procedure, you need to allocate interfaces to contexts.
a) Click OK to accept your changes.
b) Allocate interfaces.
c) Change to the context that you want to configure: in the Device List pane, double-click the context name
under the active device IP address.
d) Choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane, select the port-channel
interface that you want to customize, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears.

Step 7 Click the General tab.

Step 8 (Transparent Mode) From the Bridge Group drop-down list, choose the bridge group to which you want to
assign this interface.
Step 9 In the Interface Name field, enter a name up to 48 characters in length.
Step 10 In the Security level field, enter a level between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest).
Step 11 (Routed Mode) For an IPv4 address, click the Use Static IP radio button and enter the IP address and mask.
DHCP and PPPoE are not supported. For point-to-point connections, you can specify a 31-bit subnet mask
(255.255.255.254). In this case, no IP addresses are reserved for the network or broadcast addresses. For
transparent mode, you configure the IP address for the bridge group interface, not the EtherChannel interface.
Step 12 (Routed Mode) To configure an IPv6 address, click the IPv6 tab.
For transparent mode, you configure the IP address for the bridge group interface, not the EtherChannel
interface.

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a) Check the Enable IPv6 check box.

b) In the Interface IPv6 Addresses area, click Add.
The Add IPv6 Address for Interface dialog box appears.
Note The Enable address autoconfiguration option is not supported.

c) In the Address/Prefix Length field, enter the global IPv6 address and the IPv6 prefix length. For example,
2001:DB8::BA98:0:3210/64.
d) (Optional) To use the Modified EUI-64 interface ID as the host address, check the EUI-64 check box. In
this case, just enter the prefix in the Address/Prefix Length field.
e) Click OK.
Step 13 Click OK to return to the Interfaces screen.
Step 14 Click Apply.

ASA: Customize the Cluster Configuration

If you want to change bootstrap settings after you deploy the cluster or configure additional options, such as
clustering health monitoring, TCP connection replication delay, flow mobility, and other optimizations, you
can do so on the control unit.

Configure Basic ASA Cluster Parameters

You can customize cluster settings on the control unit.

Before you begin

• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space on the control unit.
If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane,
double-click System under the active device IP address.
• The local-unit Member Name and several other options can only be set on the FXOS chassis, or they
can only be changed on the ASA if you disable clustering, so they are not included in the following
procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
Step 2 (Optional) Configure the following optional parameters:
• Site Periodic GARP—The ASA generates gratuitous ARP (GARP) packets to keep the switching
infrastructure up to date: the highest priority member at each site periodically generates GARP traffic
for the global MAC/IP addresses. GARP is enabled by default when you set the site ID for each unit and
the site MAC and IP address for each Spanned EtherChannel. Set the GARP interval between 1 and
1000000 seconds. The default is 290 seconds.
When using per-site MAC and IP addresses, packets sourced from the cluster use a site-specific MAC
address and IP address, while packets received by the cluster use a global MAC address and IP address.
If traffic is not generated from the global MAC address periodically, you could experience a MAC address

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timeout on your switches for the global MAC address. After a timeout, traffic destined for the global
MAC address will be flooded across the entire switching infrastructure, which can cause performance
and security concerns.
• Enable connection rebalancing for TCP traffic across all the ASAs in the cluster—Enables connection
rebalancing. This parameter is disabled by default. If enabled, ASAs in a cluster exchange load information
periodically, and offload new connections from more loaded devices to less loaded devices. The frequency,
between 1 and 360 seconds, specifies how often the load information is exchanged. This parameter is
not part of the bootstrap configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.
• Enable cluster load monitor—You can monitor the traffic load for cluster members, including total
connection count, CPU and memory usage, and buffer drops. If the load is too high, you can choose to
manually disable clustering on the unit if the remaining units can handle the load, or adjust the load
balancing on the external switch. This feature is enabled by default. For example, for inter-chassis
clustering on the Firepower 9300 with 3 security modules in each chassis, if 2 security modules in a
chassis leave the cluster, then the same amount of traffic to the chassis will be sent to the remaining
module and potentially overwhelm it. You can periodically monitor the traffic load. If the load is too
high, you can choose to manually disable clustering on the unit.
Set the following values:
• Time Interval—Sets the time in seconds between monitoring messages, between 10 and 360
seconds. The default is 20 seconds.
• Number of Intervals—Sets the number of intervals for which the ASA maintains data, between 1
and 60. The default is 30.

See Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Load-Monitoring to view the traffic load.
• Enable health monitoring of this device within the cluster—Enables the cluster unit health check
feature, and determines the amount of time between unit heartbeat status messages, between .3 and 45
seconds; The default is 3 seconds. Note: When you are adding new units to the cluster, and making
topology changes on the ASA or the switch, you should disable this feature temporarily until the cluster
is complete, and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled interfaces (Configuration > Device
Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Interface Health
Monitoring). You can re-enable this feature after cluster and topology changes are complete. To determine
unit health, the ASA cluster units send heartbeat messages on the cluster control link to other units. If a
unit does not receive any heartbeat messages from a peer unit within the holdtime period, the peer unit
is considered unresponsive or dead.
• Debounce Time—Configures the debounce time before the ASA considers an interface to be failed and
the unit is removed from the cluster. This feature allows for faster detection of interface failures. Note
that configuring a lower debounce time increases the chances of false-positives. When an interface status
update occurs, the ASA waits the number of milliseconds specified before marking the interface as failed
and the unit is removed from the cluster. In the case of an EtherChannel that transitions from a down
state to an up state (for example, the switch reloaded, or the switch enabled an EtherChannel), a longer
debounce time can prevent the interface from appearing to be failed on a cluster unit just because another
cluster unit was faster at bundling the ports. The default debounce time is 500 ms, with a range of 300
ms to 9 seconds.
• Replicate console output—Enables console replication from data units to the control unit. This feature
is disabled by default. The ASA may print out some messages directly to the console for certain critical
events. If you enable console replication, data units send the console messages to the control unit so that
you only need to monitor one console port for the cluster. This parameter is not part of the bootstrap
configuration, and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.

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• Enable Clustering Flow Mobility. See Configure LISP Inspection, on page 454.
• Enable Director Localization for inter-DC cluster—To improve performance and reduce round-trip
time latency for inter-site clustering for data centers, you can enable director localization. New connections
are typically load-balanced and owned by cluster members within a given site. However, the ASA assigns
the Director role to a member at any site. Director localization enables additional Director roles: a Local
Director at the same site as the Owner, and a Global Director that can be at any site. Keeping the Owner
and Director at the same site improves performance. Also, if the original Owner fails, the Local Director
will choose a new connection Owner at the same site. The Global Director is used if a cluster member
receives packets for a connection that is owned on a different site.
• Site Redundancy—To protect flows from a site failure, you can enable site redundancy. If the connection
backup owner is at the same site as the owner, then an additional backup owner will be chosen from
another site to protect flows from a site failure. Director localization and site redundancy are separate
features; you can configure one or the other, or configure both.
• Enable config sync acceleration—When a data unit has the same configuration as the control unit, it
will skip syncing the configuration and will join faster. This feature is enabled by default. This feature
is configured on each unit, and is not replicated from the control unit to the data unit.
Note Some configuration commands are not compatible with accelerated cluster joining; if these
commands are present on the unit, even if accelerated cluster joining is enabled, configuration
syncing will always occur. You must remove the incompatible configuration for accelerated
cluster joining to work. Use the show cluster info unit-join-acceleration incompatible-config
to view incompatible configuration.

• Enable parallel configuration replicate—Enable the control unit to sync configuration changes with
data units in parallel. Otherwise, synching occurs sequentially, and can take more time.

Step 3 In the Cluster Control Link area, you can configue the cluster control link MTU. Other options in this area
cannot be configured on the ASA.
• MTU—Specify the maximum transmission unit for the cluster control link interface to be at least 100
bytes higher than the highest MTU of the data interfaces. We suggest setting the MTU to the maximum
of 9184; the minimum value is 1400 bytes. Because the cluster control link traffic includes data packet
forwarding, the cluster control link needs to accommodate the entire size of a data packet plus cluster
traffic overhead.
For example, because the maximum MTU is 9184, then the highest data interface MTU can be 9084,
while the cluster control link can be set to 9184.

Step 4 (Optional) In the Cluster LACP area, you can enable static port priority. The ASA uses cLACP to negotiate
the EtherChannel with the neighbor switch. ASAs in a cluster collaborate in cLACP negotiation so that they
appear as a single (virtual) device to the switch. Other options in this area cannot be configured on the ASA
without disabling clustering.
• Enable static port priority—Disables dynamic port priority in LACP. Some switches do not support
dynamic port priority, so this parameter improves switch compatibility. Moreover, it enables support of
more than 8 active spanned EtherChannel members, up to 32 members. Without this parameter, only 8
active members and 8 standby members are supported. If you enable this parameter, then you cannot use
any standby members; all members are active. This parameter is not part of the bootstrap configuration,
and is replicated from the control unit to the data units.

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Step 5 (Optional) (Firepower 9300 only) In the Parallel Join of Units Per Chassis area, you can ensure that the
security modules in a chassis join the cluster simultaneously, so that traffic is evenly distributed between the
modules. If a module joins very much in advance of other modules, it can receive more traffic than desired,
because the other modules cannot yet share the load.
• Minimum Units Required to Join—Specifies the minimum number of modules in the same chassis
required to be ready before a module can join the cluster, between 1 and 3. The default is 1, meaning
that a module will not wait for other modules to be ready before it joins the cluster. If you set the value
to 3, for example, then each module will wait the maximum delay time or until all 3 modules are ready
before joining the cluster. All 3 modules will request to join the cluster roughly simultaneously, and will
all start receiving traffic around the same time.
• Maximum Join Delay—Specifies the maximum delay time in minutes before a module stops waiting
for other modules to be ready before it joins the cluster, between 0 and 30 minutes. The default is 0,
meaning the module will not wait for other modules to be ready before it joins the cluster. If you set the
mimimum units to 1, then this value must be 0. If you set the mimimum units to 2 or 3, then this value
must be 1 or more. This timer is per module, but when the first module joins the cluster, then all other
module timers end, and the remaining modules join the cluster.

For example, you set the minimum units to 3, and the maximum delay to 5 minutes. When module 1 comes
up, it starts its 5 minute timer. Module 2 comes up 2 minutes later and starts its 5 minute timer. Module 3
comes up 1 minute later, therefore all modules will now join the cluster at the 4 minute mark; they will not
wait for the timers to complete. If module 3 never comes up, then Module 1 will join the cluster at the end of
its 5 minute timer, and Module 2 will also join, even though its timer still has 2 minutes remaining; it will not
wait for its timer to complete.

Step 6 Click Apply.

Configure Interface Health Monitoring and Auto-Rejoin Settings

You might want to disable health monitoring of non-essential interfaces, for example, the management
interface. You can monitor any port-channel ID or single physical interface ID. Health monitoring is not
performed on VLAN subinterfaces or virtual interfaces such as VNIs or BVIs. You cannot configure monitoring
for the cluster control link; it is always monitored.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Interface Health Monitoring.
Step 2 Select an interface in the Monitored Interfaces box, and click Add to move it to the Unmonitored Interfaces
box.
Interface status messages detect link failure. If all physical ports for a given logical interface fail on a particular
unit, but there are active ports under the same logical interface on other units, then the unit is removed from
the cluster. If a unit does not receive interface status messages within the holdtime, then the amount of time
before the ASA removes a member from the cluster depends on the type of interface and whether the unit is
an established member or is joining the cluster. Health check is enabled by default for all interfaces.
You might want to disable health monitoring of non-essential interfaces, for example, the management
interface. You can specify any port-channel ID or single physical interface ID. Health monitoring is not

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performed on VLAN subinterfaces or virtual interfaces such as VNIs or BVIs. You cannot configure monitoring
for the cluster control link; it is always monitored.
When any topology changes occur (such as adding or removing a data interface, enabling or disabling an
interface on the ASA, Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, or the switch, or adding an additional switch to form a
VSS or vPC) you should disable the health check feature (Configuration > Device Management > High
Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster) and also disable interface monitoring for the disabled interfaces.
When the topology change is complete, and the configuration change is synced to all units, you can re-enable
the health check feature.

Step 3 Click the Auto Rejoin tab to customize the auto-rejoin settings in case of an interface, system, or cluster
control link failure. For each type, click Edit to set the following:
• Maximum Rejoin Attempts—Define the number of attempts at rejoining the cluster by setting Unlimited
or a value between 0 and 65535. 0 disables auto-rejoining. The default value is Unlimited for the
cluster-interface and 3 for the data-interface and system.
• Rejoin Interval—Define the interval duration in minutes between rejoin attempts by setting the interval
between 2 and 60. The default value is 5 minutes. The maximum total time that the unit attempts to rejoin
the cluster is limited to 14400 minutes (10 days) from the time of last failure.
• Interval Variation—Define if the interval duration increases by setting the interval variation between
1 and 3: 1 (no change); 2 (2 x the previous duration), or 3 (3 x the previous duration). For example, if
you set the interval duration to 5 minutes, and set the variation to 2, then the first attempt is after 5
minutes; the 2nd attempt is 10 minutes (2 x 5); the 3rd attempt 20 minutes (2 x 10), and so on. The default
value is 1 for the cluster-interface and 2 for the data-interface and system.

Click Restore Defaults to restore the default settings.

Step 4 Click Apply.

Configure the Cluster TCP Replication Delay

Enable the cluster replication delay for TCP connections to help eliminate the “unnecessary work” related to
short-lived flows by delaying the director/backup flow creation. Note that if a unit fails before the
director/backup flow is created, then those flows cannot be recovered. Similarly, if traffic is rebalanced to a
different unit before the flow is created, then the flow cannot be recovered. You should not enable the TCP
replication delay for traffic on which you disable TCP randomization.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster
Replication.
Step 2 Click Add and set the following values:
• Replication delay—Set the seconds between 1 and 15.
• HTTP—Set the delay for all HTTP traffic. This setting is enabled by default for 5 seconds.
• Source Criteria
• Source—Set the source IP address.

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• Service—(Optional) Set the source port. Typically you set either the source or the destination port,
but not both.

• Destination Criteria
• Source—Set the destination IP address.
• Service—(Optional) Set the destination port. Typically you set either the source or the destination
port, but not both.

Step 3 Click OK.

Step 4 Click Apply.

Configure Inter-Site Features

For inter-site clustering, you can customize your configuration to enhance redundancy and stability.

Configure Cluster Flow Mobility

You can inspect LISP traffic to enable flow mobility when a server moves between sites.

About LISP Inspection

You can inspect LISP traffic to enable flow mobility between sites.
About LISP
Data center virtual machine mobility such as VMware VMotion enables servers to migrate between data
centers while maintaining connections to clients. To support such data center server mobility, routers need to
be able to update the ingress route towards the server when it moves. Cisco Locator/ID Separation Protocol
(LISP) architecture separates the device identity, or endpoint identifier (EID), from its location, or routing
locator (RLOC), into two different numbering spaces, making server migration transparent to clients. For
example, when a server moves to a new site and a client sends traffic to the server, the router redirects traffic
to the new location.
LISP requires routers and servers in certain roles, such as the LISP egress tunnel router (ETR), ingress tunnel
router (ITR), first hop routers, map resolver (MR), and map server (MS). When the first hop router for the
server senses that the server is connected to a different router, it updates all of the other routers and databases
so that the ITR connected to the client can intercept, encapsulate, and send traffic to the new server location.
ASA LISP Support
The ASA does not run LISP itself; it can, however, inspect LISP traffic for location changes and then use this
information for seamless clustering operation. Without LISP integration, when a server moves to a new site,
traffic comes to an ASA cluster member at the new site instead of to the original flow owner. The new ASA
forwards traffic to the ASA at the old site, and then the old ASA has to send traffic back to the new site to
reach the server. This traffic flow is sub-optimal and is known as “tromboning” or “hair-pinning.”
With LISP integration, the ASA cluster members can inspect LISP traffic passing between the first hop router
and the ETR or ITR, and can then change the flow owner to be at the new site.
LISP Guidelines
• The ASA cluster members must reside between the first hop router and the ITR or ETR for the site. The
ASA cluster itself cannot be the first hop router for an extended segment.

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• Only fully-distributed flows are supported; centralized flows, semi-distributed flows, or flows belonging
to individual units are not moved to new owners. Semi-distributed flows include applications, such as
SIP, where all child flows are owned by the same ASA that owns the parent flow.
• The cluster only moves Layer 3 and 4 flow states; some application data might be lost.
• For short-lived flows or non-business-critical flows, moving the owner may not be worthwhile. You can
control the types of traffic that are supported with this feature when you configure the inspection policy,
and should limit flow mobility to essential traffic.

ASA LISP Implementation

This feature includes several inter-related configurations (all of which are described in this chapter):
1. (Optional) Limit inspected EIDs based on the host or server IP address—The first hop router might send
EID-notify messages for hosts or networks the ASA cluster is not involved with, so you can limit the
EIDs to only those servers or networks relevant to your cluster. For example, if the cluster is only involved
with 2 sites, but LISP is running on 3 sites, you should only include EIDs for the 2 sites involved with
the cluster.
2. LISP traffic inspection—The ASA inspects LISP traffic on UDP port 4342 for the EID-notify message
sent between the first hop router and the ITR or ETR. The ASA maintains an EID table that correlates
the EID and the site ID. For example, you should inspect LISP traffic with a source IP address of the first
hop router and a destination address of the ITR or ETR. Note that LISP traffic is not assigned a director,
and LISP traffic itself does not participate in cluster state sharing.
3. Service Policy to enable flow mobility on specified traffic—You should enable flow mobility on
business-critical traffic. For example, you can limit flow mobility to only HTTPS traffic, and/or to traffic
to specific servers.
4. Site IDs—The ASA uses the site ID for each cluster unit to determine the new owner.
5. Cluster-level configuration to enable flow mobility—You must also enable flow mobility at the cluster
level. This on/off toggle lets you easily enable or disable flow mobility for a particular class of traffic or
applications.

Configure LISP Inspection

You can inspect LISP traffic to enable flow mobility when a server moves between sites.

Before you begin

• Set the site ID for the chassis on Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor.
• LISP traffic is not included in the default-inspection-traffic class, so you must configure a separate class
for LISP traffic as part of this procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 (Optional) Configure a LISP inspection map to limit inspected EIDs based on IP address, and to configure
the LISP pre-shared key:
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Objects > Inspect Maps > LISP.
b) Click Add to add a new map.

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c) Enter a name (up to 40 characters) and description.

d) For the Allowed-EID access-list, click Manage.
The ACL Manager opens.
The first hop router or ITR/ETR might send EID-notify messages for hosts or networks the ASA cluster
is not involved with, so you can limit the EIDs to only those servers or networks relevant to your cluster.
For example, if the cluster is only involved with 2 sites, but LISP is running on 3 sites, you should only
include EIDs for the 2 sites involved with the cluster.
e) Add an ACL with at least one ACE according to the firewall configuration guide.
f) If necessary, enter the Validation Key.
If you copied an encrypted key, click the Encrypted radio button.
g) Click OK.
Step 2 Add a service policy rule to configure LISP inspection:
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules.
b) Click Add.
c) On the Service Policy page, apply the rule to an interface or globally.
If you have an existing service policy you want to use, add a rule to that policy. By default, the ASA
includes a global policy called global_policy. You can also create one service policy per interface if you
do not want to apply the policy globally. LISP inspection is applied to traffic bidirectionally so you do
not need to apply the service policy on both the source and destination interfaces; all traffic that enters or
exits the interface to which you apply the rule is affected if the traffic matches the class for both directions.
d) On the Traffic Classification Criteria page, click Create a new traffic class, and under Traffic Match
Criteria, check Source and Destination IP Address (uses ACL).
e) Click Next.
f) Specify the traffic you want to inspect. You should specify traffic between the first hop router and the
ITR or ETR on UDP port 4342. Both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are accepted.
g) Click Next.
h) On the Rule Actions wizard page or tab, select the Protocol Inspection tab.
i) Check the LISP check box,.
j) (Optional) Click Configure to choose the inspection map you created.
k) Click Finish to save the service policy rule.
Step 3 Add a service policy rule to enable Flow Mobility for critical traffic:
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules.
b) Click Add.
c) On the Service Policy page, choose the same service policy you used for LISP inspection.
d) On the Traffic Classification Criteria page, click Create a new traffic class, and under Traffic Match
Criteria, check Source and Destination IP Address (uses ACL).
e) Click Next.
f) Specify the business critical traffic that you want to re-assign to the most optimal site when servers change
sites. For example, you can limit flow mobility to only HTTPS traffic, and/or to traffic to specific servers.
Both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are accepted.
g) Click Next.
h) On the Rule Actions wizard page or tab, select the Cluster tab.
i) Check the Enable Cluster flow-mobility triggered by LISP EID messages check box.

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j) Click Finish to save the service policy rule.

Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Configuration, and check the Enable Clustering flow mobility check box.
Step 5 Click Apply.

Configure Distributed Site-to-Site VPN

By default, the ASA cluster uses Centralized Site-to-Site VPN mode. To take advantage of the scalability of
clustering, you can enable Distributed Site-to-Site VPN mode. In this mode, S2S IPsec IKEv2 VPN connections
are distributed across members of an ASA cluster. Distributing VPN connections across the members of a
cluster allows both the capacity and throughput of the cluster to be fully utilized, significantly scaling VPN
support beyond Centralized VPN capabilities.

About Distributed Site-to-Site VPN

Distributed VPN Connection Roles

When running in Distributed VPN mode the following roles are assigned to the cluster members:
• Active Session Owner—The unit that initially receives the connection, or that has transitioned a backup
session to an active session. The owner maintains state and processes packets for the complete session,
including the IKE and IPsec tunnels and all traffic associated with them.
• Backup Session Owner—The unit that is handling the backup session for an existing active session.
Depending on the backup strategy chosen, this may be a unit in the same chassis as the active session
owner, or a unit in another chassis. If the active session owner fails, the backup session owner becomes
the active session owner, and a new backup session is established on a different unit.
• Forwarder—If traffic associated with a VPN session is sent to a unit that does not own the VPN session,
that unit will use the Cluster Control Link (CCL) to forward the traffic to the member which owns the
VPN session
• Orchestrator—The orchestrator (always the control unit of the cluster) is responsible for calculating
which sessions will move and where to when executing an Active Session Redistribution (ASR). It sends
a request to the owner member X to move N sessions to member Y. Member X will respond back to the
orchestrator when complete, specifying how many sessions it was able to move.

Distributed VPN Session Characteristics

Distributed S2S VPN Sessions have the following characteristics. Otherwise, VPN connections behave as
they normally do if not on an ASA cluster.
• VPN sessions are distributed across the cluster at the session level. Meaning the same cluster member
handles the IKE and IPsec tunnels, and all their traffic, for a VPN connection. If VPN session traffic is
sent to a cluster member that does not own that VPN session, traffic is forwarded to the cluster member
that owns the VPN session.
• VPN sessions have a Session ID that is unique across the cluster. Using the session ID, traffic is validated,
forwarding decisions are made, and IKE negotiation is completed.

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• In an S2S VPN hub and spoke configuration, when clients connect through the ASA cluster (called
hair-pinning), the session traffic flowing in and the session traffic flowing out may be on different cluster
members.
• You can require that the backup session to be allocated on a security module in another chassis; this
provides protection against chassis failure. Or, you can choose to allocate backup sessions on any node
in the cluster; this provides protection against node failure only. When there are two chassis in the cluster,
remote-chassis backup is strongly recommended.
• Only IKEv2 IPsec S2S VPN is supported in Distributed S2S VPN mode, IKEv1 is not. IKEv1 S2S is
supported in centralized VPN mode.
• Each security module supports up to 6K VPN sessions for a maximum of approximately 36K sessions
across 6 members. The actual number of sessions supported on a cluster member is determined by platform
capacity, allocated licenses, and per context resource allocation. When utilization is close to the limit,
there may be cases where session creation fails, even though the maximum capacity has not been reached
on each cluster unit. This is because active session allocation is determined by external switching, and
backup session allocation is determined by an internal cluster algorithm. Customers are encouraged to
size their utilization accordingly and allow room for uneven distribution.

Distributed VPN Handling of Cluster Events

Table 23:

Event Distributed VPN

Member failure For all active sessions on this failed member, the backup sessions (on another member)
become active and backup sessions are reallocated on another unit according to the
backup strategy.

Chassis failure When a remote-chassis backup strategy is being used, for all active sessions on the
failed chassis, the backup sessions (on a member in the other chassis) become active.
When the units are replaced, backup sessions for these now active sessions will be
reallocated on members in the replaced chassis.
When a flat backup strategy is being used, if both the active and backup sessions are
on the failed chassis, the connection will drop. All active sessions with backup sessions
on a member in the other chassis, fallback to these sessions. New backup sessions will
be allocated on another member in the surviving chassis.

Inactivate a cluster For all active sessions on the cluster member being inactivated, backup sessions (on
member another member) become active and reallocate backup sessions on another unit
according to the backup strategy.

Cluster member join If the VPN cluster mode is not set to distributed, the control unit will request a mode
change.
If, or once the VPN mode is compatible, the cluster member will be assigned active
and backup sessions in the flow of normal operations.

Unsupported Inspections
The following types of inspections are not supported or are disabled in Distributed S2S VPN mode:

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• CTIQBE
• DCERPC
• H323, H225, and RAS
• IPsec pass-through
• MGCP
• MMP
• NetBIOS
• PPTP
• RADIUS
• RSH
• RTSP
• SCCP (Skinny)
• SUNRPC
• TFTP
• WAAS
• WCCP
• XDMCP

IPsec IKEv2 Modifications

IKEv2 is modified while in Distributed S2S VPN mode in the following ways:
• An identity is used in place of IP/port tuples. This allows for proper forwarding decisions on the packets,
and cleanup of previous connections that may be on other cluster members.
• The (SPI) identifiers that identify a single IKEv2 session are locally generated, random 8-byte values
that are unique across the cluster. An SPI embeds a time stamp and a cluster member ID. Upon receipt
of an IKE negotiation packet, if the time stamp or cluster member ID check fails, the packet is dropped
and a message is logged indicating the reason.
• IKEv2 processing has been modified to prevent NAT-T negotiations from failing by being split across
cluster members. A new ASP classify domain, cluster_isakmp_redirect, and rules are added when IKEv2
is enabled on an interface.

Model Support
The only device supported for Distributed VPN is the Firepower 9300. Distributed VPN supports a maximum
of 6 modules on up to 2 chassis. You can have different quantities of installed security modules in each chassis,
although we recommend an equal distribution.
Inter-site clustering is not supported.

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Firewall Mode
Distributed S2S VPN is supported in routed mode only.

Context Mode
Distributed S2S VPN operates in both single and multiple context modes. However, in multiple context mode,
active session redistribution is done at the system level, not at the context level. This prevents an active session
associated with a context from moving to a cluster member that contains active sessions associated with a
different context, unknowingly creating an unsupportable load.

High Availability
The following capabilities provide resiliency against single failure of a security module or chassis:
• VPN Sessions that are backed up on another security module in the cluster, on any chassis, withstand
security module failures.
• VPN Sessions that are backed up on another chassis withstand chassis failures.
• The control unit can change without losing VPN S2S sessions.

If an additional failure occurs before the cluster has stabilized, connections may be lost if the both active and
backup sessions are on the failed units.
All attempts are made to ensure no sessions are lost when a member leaves the cluster in a graceful manner
such as disabling the VPN cluster mode, reloading a cluster member, and other anticipated chassis changes.
During these types of operations, sessions will not be lost as long as the cluster is given time to re-establish
session backups between operations. If a graceful exit is triggered on the last cluster member, it will gracefully
tear down existing sessions.

Dynamic PAT
Is not available while in Distributed VPN mode.

CMPv2
The CMPv2 ID certificate and key pairs are synchronized across the cluster members. However, only the
control unit in the cluster automatically renews and rekeys the CMPv2 certificate. The control unit synchronizes
these new ID certificates and keys to all cluster members on a renewal. In this way, all members in the cluster
utilize the CMPv2 certificates for authentication, and also any member is capable of taking over as the control
unit.

Enable Distributed S2S VPN

Enable Distributed Site-to-Site VPN to take advantage of the scalability of clustering for VPN sessions.

Note Changing the VPN mode between centralized and distributed causes all existing sessions to be torn down.
Changing the backup mode is dynamic and will not terminate sessions.

Before you begin

• You must have a Carrier License configured on all members of the cluster.

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• Your S2S VPN configuration must be set.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
Step 2 In the VPN Cluster Mode area, choose the VPN Mode for the cluster, Centralized or Distributed.
Step 3 Choose the Backup Distribution Mode, Flat or Remote-chassis.
In flat backup mode, standby sessions are established on any other cluster member. This will protect users
from blade failures, however, chassis failure protection is not guaranteed.
In remote-chassis backup mode standby sessions are established on a member of another chassis in the cluster.
This will protect users from both blade failures and chassis failures.
If remote-chassis is configured in a single chassis environment (intentionally configured or the result of a
failure), no backups will be created until another chassis joins.

Redistribute Distributed S2S VPN Sessions

Active Session Redistribution (ASR) redistributes the active VPN session load across the cluster members.
Due to the dynamic nature of beginning and ending sessions, ASR is a best effort balancing of the sessions
across all cluster members. Repeated redistribution actions will optimize the balance.
Redistribution can be run at any time, should be run after any topology change in the cluster, and is
recommended after a new member joins the cluster. The goal of redistribution is to creat a stable VPN cluster.
A stable VPN cluster has an almost equal number of active and backup sessions across the nodes.
To move a session, the backup session becomes the active one and another node is selected to host a new
backup session. Moving sessions is dependent on the location of the active session's backup and the number
of active sessions already on that particular backup node. If the backup session node is unable to host the
active session for some reason, the original node remains owner of the session.
In multiple-context mode, active session redistribution is done at the system level, not the individual context
level. It is not done at the context level because an active session in one context could be moved a member
that contains many more active sessions in a different context, creating more load on that cluster member.

Before you begin

• Enable system logs if you would like to monitor redistribution activity.
• This procedure must be carried out on the control unit of the cluster.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > ASA Cluster > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary > VPN Cluster Summary to view
how active and backup sessions are distributed across the cluster.
Depending on the number of sessions to redistribute and the load on the cluster, this may take some time.
Syslogs containing the following phrases (and other system details not shown here) are provided as redistribution
activity occurs:

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Syslog Phrase Notes

VPN session redistribution started Control unit only
Sent request to move number sessions from orig-member-name to Control unit only
dest-member-name

Failed to send session redistribution message to member-name Control unit only

Received request to move number sessions from orig-member-name Data unit only
to dest-member-name
Moved number sessions to member-name The number of active sessions moved
to the named cluster.
Failed to receive session move response from dest-member-name Control unit only
VPN session completed Control unit only
Cluster topology change detected. VPN session redistribution
aborted.

Step 2 Click Re-Distribute.

Step 3 Refresh the Monitoring > ASA Cluster > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary > VPN Cluster Summary to
see the results of the redistribution activity.
If your redistribution was successful, and there has been no substantial system or session activity, your system
will be balanced and this action is complete.
Otherwise, repeat the redistribution process to obtain a balanced and stable system.

FXOS: Remove a Cluster Unit

The following sections describe how to remove units temporarily or permanently from the cluster.

Temporary Removal
A cluster unit will be automatically removed from the cluster due to a hardware or network failure, for example.
This removal is temporary until the conditions are rectified, and it can rejoin the cluster. You can also manually
disable clustering.
To check whether a device is currently in the cluster, check the cluster status on the Firepower Chassis Manager
Logical Devices page:

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• Disable clustering in the application—You can disable clustering using the application CLI. Enter the
cluster remove unit name command to remove any unit other than the one you are logged into. The
bootstrap configuration remains intact, as well as the last configuration synced from the control unit, so
you can later re-add the unit without losing your configuration. If you enter this command on a data unit
to remove the control unit, a new control unit is elected.
When a device becomes inactive, all data interfaces are shut down; only the Management interface can
send and receive traffic. To resume traffic flow, re-enable clustering. The Management interface remains
up using the IP address the unit received from the bootstrap configuration. However if you reload, and
the unit is still inactive in the cluster (for example, you saved the configuration with clustering disabled),
the Management interface is disabled.
To reenable clustering, on the ASA enter cluster group name and then enable.
• Disable the application instance—In Firepower Chassis Manager on the Logical Devices page, click the
Slider enabled ( ). You can later reenable it using the Slider disabled ( ).
• Shut down the security module/engine—In Firepower Chassis Manager on the Security Module/Engine
page, click the Power Off icon.
• Shut down the chassis—In Firepower Chassis Manager on the Overview page, click the Shut Down
icon.

Permanent Removal
You can permanently remove a cluster member using the following methods.
• Delete the logical device—In Firepower Chassis Manager on the Logical Devices page, click the Delete
( ). You can then deploy a standalone logical device, a new cluster, or even add a new logical device
to the same cluster.
• Remove the chassis or security module from service—If you remove a device from service, you can add
replacement hardware as a new member of the cluster.

ASA: Manage Cluster Members

After you deploy the cluster, you can change the configuration and manage cluster members.

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Become an Inactive Member

Become an Inactive Member

To become an inactive member of the cluster, disable clustering on the unit while leaving the clustering
configuration intact.

Note When an ASA becomes inactive (either manually or through a health check failure), all data interfaces are
shut down; only the management-only interface can send and receive traffic. To resume traffic flow, re-enable
clustering; or you can remove the unit altogether from the cluster. The management interface remains up using
the IP address the unit received from the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still inactive
in the cluster (for example, you saved the configuration with clustering disabled), then the management
interface is disabled. You must use the console port for any further configuration.

Before you begin

• For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Configuration.
Step 2 Uncheck the Participate in ASA cluster check box.
Note Do not uncheck the Configure ASA cluster settings check box; this action clears all cluster
configuration, and also shuts down all interfaces including the management interface to which
ASDM is connected. To restore connectivity in this case, you need to access the CLI at the console
port.

Step 3 Click Apply.

Deactivate a Data Unit from the Control Unit

To deactivate a data unit, perform the following steps.

Note When an ASA becomes inactive, all data interfaces are shut down; only the management-only interface can
send and receive traffic. To resume traffic flow, re-enable clustering. The management interface remains up
using the IP address the unit received from the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still
inactive in the cluster (for example, if you saved the configuration with clustering disabled), the management
interface is disabled. You must use the console port for any further configuration.

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Rejoin the Cluster

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
Step 2 Select the data unit that you want to remove, and click Delete.
The data unit bootstrap configuration remains intact, so that you can later re-add the data unit without losing
your configuration.

Step 3 Click Apply.

Rejoin the Cluster

If a unit was removed from the cluster, for example for a failed interface or if you manually deactivated a
member, you must manually rejoin the cluster.

Before you begin

• You must use the console port to reenable clustering. Other interfaces are shut down. The exception is
if you manually disabled clustering in ASDM, then you can reenable clustering in ASDM if you did not
save the configuration and reload. After reloading, the management interface is disabled, so console
access is the only method to reenable clustering.
• For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
• Make sure the failure is resolved before you try to rejoin the cluster.

Procedure

Step 1 If you still have ASDM access, you can reenable clustering in ASDM by connecting ASDM to the unit you
want to reenable.
You cannot reenable clustering for a data unit from the control unit unless you add it as a new member.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster.
b) Check the Participate in ASA cluster check box.
c) Click Apply.
Step 2 If you cannot use ASDM: At the console, enter cluster configuration mode:
cluster group name
Example:

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Change the Control Unit

ciscoasa(config)# cluster group pod1

Step 3 Enable clustering.

enable

Change the Control Unit

Caution The best method to change the control unit is to disable clustering on the control unit, wait for a new control
election, and then re-enable clustering. If you must specify the exact unit you want to become the control unit,
use the procedure in this section. Note, however, that for centralized features, if you force a control unit change
using this procedure, then all connections are dropped, and you have to re-establish the connections on the
new control unit.

To change the control unit, perform the following steps.

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, perform this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the active
device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary.

Step 2 From the drop-down list, choose a data unit to become master, and click the button to make it the control unit.
Step 3 You are prompted to confirm the control unit change. Click Yes.
Step 4 Quit ASDM, and reconnect using the Main cluster IP address.

Execute a Command Cluster-Wide

To send a command to all members in the cluster, or to a specific member, perform the following steps.
Sending a show command to all members collects all output and displays it on the console of the current unit.
(Note that alternatively there are show commands that you can enter on the control unit to view cluster-wide
statistics.) Other commands, such as capture and copy, can also take advantage of cluster-wide execution.

Before you begin

Perform this procedure at the Command Line Interface tool: choose Tools > Command Line Interface.

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Execute a Command Cluster-Wide

Procedure

Send a command to all members, or if you specify the unit name, a specific member:
cluster exec [unit unit_name] command
Example:

cluster exec show xlate

To view member names, enter cluster exec unit ? (to see all names except the current unit), or enter the show
cluster info command.

Examples
To copy the same capture file from all units in the cluster at the same time to a TFTP server, enter
the following command on the control unit:

cluster exec copy /pcap capture: tftp://10.1.1.56/capture1.pcap

Multiple PCAP files, one from each unit, are copied to the TFTP server. The destination capture file
name is automatically attached with the unit name, such as capture1_asa1.pcap, capture1_asa2.pcap,
and so on. In this example, asa1 and asa2 are cluster unit names.
The following sample output for the cluster exec show memory command shows memory information
for each member in the cluster:

cluster exec show memory

unit-1-1(LOCAL):******************************************************
Free memory: 108724634538 bytes (92%)
Used memory: 9410087158 bytes ( 8%)
------------- ------------------
Total memory: 118111600640 bytes (100%)

unit-1-3:*************************************************************
Free memory: 108749922170 bytes (92%)
Used memory: 9371097334 bytes ( 8%)
------------- ------------------
Total memory: 118111600640 bytes (100%)

unit-1-2:*************************************************************
Free memory: 108426753537 bytes (92%)
Used memory: 9697869087 bytes ( 8%)
------------- ------------------
Total memory: 118111600640 bytes (100%)

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ASA: Monitoring the ASA Cluster on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis

ASA: Monitoring the ASA Cluster on the Firepower 4100/9300

chassis
You can monitor and troubleshoot cluster status and connections.

Monitoring Cluster Status

See the following screens for monitoring cluster status:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary
This pane shows cluster information about the unit to which you are connected, as well as other units in
the cluster. You can also change the primary unit from this pane.
• Cluster Dashboard
On the home page on the primary unit, you can monitor the cluster using the Cluster Dashboard and the
Cluster Firewall Dashboard.

Capturing Packets Cluster-Wide

See the following screen for capturing packets in a cluster:
Wizards > Packet Capture Wizard
To support cluster-wide troubleshooting, you can enable capture of cluster-specific traffic on the control unit,
which is then automatically enabled on all of the data units in the cluster.

Monitoring Cluster Resources

See the following screens for monitoring cluster resources:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > System Resources Graphs > CPU
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the CPU utilization across the cluster members.
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > System Resources Graphs > Memory.
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the Free Memory and Used Memory across the cluster
members.

Monitoring Cluster Traffic

See the following screens for monitoring cluster traffic:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Traffic Graphs > Connections.
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the Connections across the cluster members.
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Traffic Graphs > Throughput.
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the traffic throughput across the cluster members.

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Monitoring the Cluster Control Link

• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Load-Monitoring

This section includes the Load Monitor-Information and Load-Monitor Details panes. Load
Monitor-Information shows the traffic load for cluster members for the last interval and also the average
over total number of intervals configured (30 by default). Use the Load-Monitor Details pane to view
the value for each measure at each interval.

Monitoring the Cluster Control Link

See the following screen for monitoring cluster status:
Monitoring > Properties > System Resources Graphs > Cluster Control Link.
This pane lets you create graphs or tables showing the cluster control link Receival and Transmittal capacity
utilization.

Monitoring Cluster Routing

See the following screen for cluster routing:
• Monitoring > Routing > LISP-EID Table
Shows the ASA EID table showing EIDs and site IDs.

Monitoring Distributed S2S VPN

See the following screens for monitoring VPN cluster status:
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > ASA Cluster > Cluster Summary > VPN Cluster Summary
Displays the distribution of the session across the cluster and provides you with the ability to re-distribute
the sessions.
• Monitoring > VPN > VPN Statistics > Sessions
Both control and data cluster units are listed. Click any member for details.

Configuring Logging for Clustering

See the followingscreen for configuring logging for clustering:
Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup
Each unit in the cluster generates syslog messages independently. You can generate syslog messages with
identical or different device IDs to make messages appear to come from the same or different units in the
cluster.

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Troubleshooting Distributed S2S VPN

Troubleshooting Distributed S2S VPN

Distributed VPN Notifications
You will be notified with messages containing the identified phrases when the following error situations occur
on a cluster running distributed VPN:

Situation Notification

If an existing or joining cluster data unit is not in New cluster member (member-name) rejected due to vpn
distributed VPN mode when attempting to join the mode mismatch.
cluster:
and
Master (control-name) rejects enrollment request from
unit (unit-name) for the reason: the vpn mode
capabilities are not compatible with the master
configuration

If licensing is not properly configured on a cluster ERROR: Master requested cluster vpn-mode change to
member for Distributed VPN: distributed. Unable to change mode due to missing
Carrier License.

If the time stamp or member ID is invalid in the SPI Expired SPI received
of a received IKEv2 packet:
or
Corrupted SPI detected

If the cluster is unable to create a backup session: Failed to create the backup for an IKEv2 session.

IKEv2 Initial Contact (IC) processing error: IKEv2 Negotiation aborted due to ERROR: Stale backup
session found on backup

Redistribution problems: Failed to send session redistribution message to

member-name
Failed to receive session move response from
member-name (master only)

If the topology changes during redistribution of the Cluster topology change detected. VPN session
sessions: redistribution aborted.

You may be encountering one of the following situations:

• L2L VPN sessions are being distributed to only one of the chassis in a cluster when the N7K Switch is
configured with L4port as a load balancing algorithm using the port-channel load-balance src-dst
l4port command. . An example of the cluster session allocation looks like below:

SSP-Cluster/slave(cfg-cluster)# show cluster vpn-sessiondb distribution

Member 0 (unit-1-3): active: 0
Member 1 (unit-2-2): active: 13295; backups at: 0(2536), 2(2769), 3(2495), 4(2835),
5(2660)

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Reference for Clustering

Member 2 (unit-2-3): active: 12174; backups at: 0(2074), 1(2687), 3(2207), 4(3084),
5(2122)
Member 3 (unit-2-1): active: 13416; backups at: 0(2419), 1(3013), 2(2712), 4(2771),
5(2501)
Member 4 (unit-1-1): active: 0
Member 5 (unit-1-2): active: 0

Since L2L IKEv2 VPN uses port 500 for both source and destination ports, IKE packets are only sent to
one of the links in the port channel connected between the N7K and the chassis.
Change the N7K load balancing algorithm to IP and L4 port using the port-channel load-balance src-dst
ip-l4port. Then the IKE packets are sent to all the links and thus both Firepower9300 chassis.
For a more immediate adjustment, on the control unit of the ASA cluster execute: cluster redistribute
vpn-sessiondb to redistribute active VPN sessions to the cluster members of the other chassis.

Reference for Clustering

This section includes more information about how clustering operates.

ASA Features and Clustering

Some ASA features are not supported with ASA clustering, and some are only supported on the control unit.
Other features might have caveats for proper usage.

Unsupported Features with Clustering

These features cannot be configured with clustering enabled, and the commands will be rejected.
• Unified Communication features that rely on TLS Proxy
• Remote access VPN (SSL VPN and IPsec VPN)
• IS-IS routing
• The following application inspections:
• CTIQBE
• H323, H225, and RAS
• IPsec passthrough
• MGCP
• MMP
• RTSP
• SCCP (Skinny)
• WAAS
• WCCP

• Botnet Traffic Filter

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Centralized Features for Clustering

• Auto Update Server

• DHCP client, server, and proxy. DHCP relay is supported.
• VPN load balancing
• Failover
• Integrated Routing and Bridging
• Dead Connection Detection (DCD)
• FIPS mode

Centralized Features for Clustering

The following features are only supported on the control unit, and are not scaled for the cluster.

Note Traffic for centralized features is forwarded from member units to the control unit over the cluster control
link.
If you use the rebalancing feature, traffic for centralized features may be rebalanced to non-control units before
the traffic is classified as a centralized feature; if this occurs, the traffic is then sent back to the control unit.
For centralized features, if the control unit fails, all connections are dropped, and you have to re-establish the
connections on the new control unit.

• The following application inspections:

• DCERPC
• NetBIOS
• PPTP
• RADIUS
• RSH
• SUNRPC
• TFTP
• XDMCP

• Dynamic routing
• Static route tracking
• IGMP multicast control plane protocol processing (data plane forwarding is distributed across the cluster)
• PIM multicast control plane protocol processing (data plane forwarding is distributed across the cluster)
• Authentication and Authorization for network access. Accounting is decentralized.
• Filtering Services
• Site-to-site IKEv1/IKEv2 VPN

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Features Applied to Individual Units

In centralized mode, VPN connections are established with the control unit of the cluster only. This is
the default mode for VPN clustering. Site-to-site VPN can also be deployed in Distributed VPN Mode,
where S2S IKEv2 VPN connections are distributed across members.

Features Applied to Individual Units

These features are applied to each ASA unit, instead of the cluster as a whole or to the control unit.
• QoS—The QoS policy is synced across the cluster as part of configuration replication. However, the
policy is enforced on each unit independently. For example, if you configure policing on output, then
the conform rate and conform burst values are enforced on traffic exiting a particular ASA. In a cluster
with 3 units and with traffic evenly distributed, the conform rate actually becomes 3 times the rate for
the cluster.
• Threat detection—Threat detection works on each unit independently; for example, the top statistics is
unit-specific. Port scanning detection, for example, does not work because scanning traffic will be
load-balanced between all units, and one unit will not see all traffic.
• Resource management—Resource management in multiple context mode is enforced separately on each
unit based on local usage.
• LISP traffic—LISP traffic on UDP port 4342 is inspected by each receiving unit, but is not assigned a
director. Each unit adds to the EID table that is shared across the cluster, but the LISP traffic itself does
not participate in cluster state sharing.

AAA for Network Access and Clustering

AAA for network access consists of three components: authentication, authorization, and accounting.
Authentication and authorization are implemented as centralized features on the clustering control unit with
replication of the data structures to the cluster data units. If a control unit is elected, the new control unit will
have all the information it needs to continue uninterrupted operation of the established authenticated users
and their associated authorizations. Idle and absolute timeouts for user authentications are preserved when a
control unit change occurs.
Accounting is implemented as a distributed feature in a cluster. Accounting is done on a per-flow basis, so
the cluster unit owning a flow will send accounting start and stop messages to the AAA server when accounting
is configured for a flow.

Connection Settings
Connection limits are enforced cluster-wide (see Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy page). Each
unit has an estimate of the cluster-wide counter values based on broadcast messages. Due to efficiency
considerations, the configured connection limit across the cluster might not be enforced exactly at the limit
number. Each unit may overestimate or underestimate the cluster-wide counter value at any given time.
However, the information will get updated over time in a load-balanced cluster.

FTP and Clustering

• If FTP data channel and control channel flows are owned by different cluster members, then the data
channel owner will periodically send idle timeout updates to the control channel owner and update the
idle timeout value. However, if the control flow owner is reloaded, and the control flow is re-hosted, the
parent/child flow relationship will not longer be maintained; the control flow idle timeout will not be
updated.

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Identity Firewall and Clustering

• If you use AAA for FTP access, then the control channel flow is centralized on the control unit.

Identity Firewall and Clustering

Only the control unit retrieves the user-group from the AD and the user-ip mapping from the AD agent. The
control unit then populates the user information to data units, and data units can make a match decision for
user identity based on the security policy.

Multicast Routing and Clustering

The control unit handles all multicast routing packets and data packets until fast-path forwarding is established.
After the connection is established, each data unit can forward multicast data packets.

NAT and Clustering

NAT can affect the overall throughput of the cluster. Inbound and outbound NAT packets can be sent to
different ASAs in the cluster, because the load balancing algorithm relies on IP addresses and ports, and NAT
causes inbound and outbound packets to have different IP addresses and/or ports. When a packet arrives at
the ASA that is not the NAT owner, it is forwarded over the cluster control link to the owner, causing large
amounts of traffic on the cluster control link. Note that the receiving unit does not create a forwarding flow
to the owner, because the NAT owner may not end up creating a connection for the packet depending on the
results of security and policy checks.
If you still want to use NAT in clustering, then consider the following guidelines:
• PAT with Port Block Allocation—See the following guidelines for this feature:
• Maximum-per-host limit is not a cluster-wide limit, and is enforced on each unit individually. Thus,
in a 3-node cluster with the maximum-per-host limit configured as 1, if the traffic from a host is
load-balanced across all 3 units, then it can get allocated 3 blocks with 1 in each unit.
• Port blocks created on the backup unit from the backup pools are not accounted for when enforcing
the maximum-per-host limit.
• When a PAT IP address owner goes down, the backup unit will own the PAT IP address,
corresponding port blocks, and xlates. If it runs out of ports on its normal PAT address, it can use
the address that it took over to service new requests. As the connections eventually time out, the
blocks get freed.
• On-the-fly PAT rule modifications, where the PAT pool is modified with a completely new range
of IP addresses, will result in xlate backup creation failures for the xlate backup requests that were
still in transit while the new pool became effective. This behavior is not specific to the port block
allocation feature, and is a transient PAT pool issue seen only in cluster deployments where the
pool is distributed and traffic is load-balanced across the cluster units.

• NAT pool address distribution for dynamic PAT—The control unit evenly pre-distributes addresses
across the cluster. If a member receives a connection and they have no addresses assigned, then the
connection is forwarded to the control unit for PAT. If a cluster member leaves the cluster (due to failure),
a backup member will get the PAT IP address, and if the backup exhausts its normal PAT IP address, it
can make use of the new address. Make sure to include at least as many NAT addresses as there are units
in the cluster, plus at least one extra address, to ensure that each unit receives an address, and that a failed
unit can get a new address if its old address is in use by the member that took over the address. Use the
show nat pool cluster command to see the address allocations.

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Dynamic Routing and Clustering

• Reusing a PAT pool in multiple rules—To use the same PAT pool in multiple rules, you must be careful
about the interface selection in the rules. You must either use specific interfaces in all rules, or "any" in
all rules. You cannot mix specific interfaces and "any" across the rules, or the system might not be able
to match return traffic to the right node in the cluster. Using unique PAT pools per rule is the most reliable
option.
• No round-robin—Round-robin for a PAT pool is not supported with clustering.
• Dynamic NAT xlates managed by the control unit—The control unit maintains and replicates the xlate
table to data units. When a data unit receives a connection that requires dynamic NAT, and the xlate is
not in the table, it requests the xlate from the control unit. The data unit owns the connection.
• Stale xlates—The xlate idle time on the connection owner does not get updated. Thus, the idle time might
exceed the idle timeout. An idle timer value higher than the configured timeout with a refcnt of 0 is an
indication of a stale xlate.
• Per-session PAT feature—Although not exclusive to clustering, the per-session PAT feature improves
the scalability of PAT and, for clustering, allows each data unit to own PAT connections; by contrast,
multi-session PAT connections have to be forwarded to and owned by the control unit. By default, all
TCP traffic and UDP DNS traffic use a per-session PAT xlate, whereas ICMP and all other UDP traffic
uses multi-session. You can configure per-session NAT rules to change these defaults for TCP and UDP,
but you cannot configure per-session PAT for ICMP. For traffic that benefits from multi-session PAT,
such as H.323, SIP, or Skinny, you can disable per-session PAT for the associated TCP ports (the UDP
ports for those H.323 and SIP are already multi-session by default). For more information about per-session
PAT, see the firewall configuration guide.
• No static PAT for the following inspections—
• FTP
• PPTP
• RSH
• SQLNET
• TFTP
• XDMCP
• SIP

Dynamic Routing and Clustering

The routing process only runs on the control unit, and routes are learned through the control unit and replicated
to secondaries. If a routing packet arrives at a data unit, it is redirected to the control unit.

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 High Availability and Scalability
SCTP and Clustering

Figure 57: Dynamic Routing

After the data units learn the routes from the control unit, each unit makes forwarding decisions independently.
The OSPF LSA database is not synchronized from the control unit to data units. If there is a control unit
switchover, the neighboring router will detect a restart; the switchover is not transparent. The OSPF process
picks an IP address as its router ID. Although not required, you can assign a static router ID to ensure a
consistent router ID is used across the cluster. See the OSPF Non-Stop Forwarding feature to address the
interruption.

SCTP and Clustering

An SCTP association can be created on any unit (due to load balancing); its multi-homing connections must
reside on the same unit.

SIP Inspection and Clustering

A control flow can be created on any unit (due to load balancing); its child data flows must reside on the same
unit.
TLS Proxy configuration is not supported.

SNMP and Clustering

An SNMP agent polls each individual ASA by its Local IP address. You cannot poll consolidated data for
the cluster.
You should always use the Local address, and not the Main cluster IP address for SNMP polling. If the SNMP
agent polls the Main cluster IP address, if a new control unit is elected, the poll to the new control unit will
fail.

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STUN and Clustering

STUN and Clustering

STUN inspection is supported in failover and cluster modes, as pinholes are replicated. However, the transaction
ID is not replicated among units. In the case where a unit fails after receiving a STUN Request and another
unit received the STUN Response, the STUN Response will be dropped.

Syslog and NetFlow and Clustering

• Syslog—Each unit in the cluster generates its own syslog messages. You can configure logging so that
each unit uses either the same or a different device ID in the syslog message header field. For example,
the hostname configuration is replicated and shared by all units in the cluster. If you configure logging
to use the hostname as the device ID, syslog messages generated by all units look as if they come from
a single unit. If you configure logging to use the local-unit name that is assigned in the cluster bootstrap
configuration as the device ID, syslog messages look as if they come from different units.
• NetFlow—Each unit in the cluster generates its own NetFlow stream. The NetFlow collector can only
treat each ASA as a separate NetFlow exporter.

Cisco TrustSec and Clustering

Only the control unit learns security group tag (SGT) information. The control unit then populates the SGT
to data units, and data units can make a match decision for SGT based on the security policy.

VPN and Clustering on the FXOS Chassis

An ASA FXOS Cluster supports one of two mutually exclusive modes for S2S VPN, centralized or distributed:
• Centralized VPN Mode. The default mode. In centralized mode, VPN connections are established with
the control unit of the cluster only.
VPN functionality is limited to the control unit and does not take advantage of the cluster high availability
capabilities. If the control unit fails, all existing VPN connections are lost, and VPN connected users see
a disruption in service. When a new control unit is elected, you must reestablish the VPN connections.
When you connect a VPN tunnel to a Spanned interface address, connections are automatically forwarded
to the control unit. VPN-related keys and certificates are replicated to all units.
• Distributed VPN Mode. In this mode, S2S IPsec IKEv2 VPN connections are distributed across members
of an ASA cluster providing scalability. Distributing VPN connections across the members of a cluster
allows both the capacity and throughput of the cluster to be fully utilized, significantly scaling VPN
support beyond Centralized VPN capabilities.

Note Centralized VPN clustering mode supports S2S IKEv1 and S2S IKEv2.
Distributed VPN clustering mode supports S2S IKEv2 only.
Distributed VPN clustering mode is supported on the Firepower 9300 only.
Remote access VPN is not supported in centralized or distributed VPN clustering mode.

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Performance Scaling Factor

Performance Scaling Factor

When you combine multiple units into a cluster, you can expect the total cluster performance to be
approximately:
• 80% of the combined TCP or CPS throughput
• 90% of the combined UDP throughput
• 60% of the combined Ethernet MIX (EMIX) throughput, depending on the traffic mix.

For example, for TCP throughput, the Firepower 9300 with 3 SM-44 modules can handle approximately 135
Gbps of real world firewall traffic when running alone. For 2 chassis, the maximum combined throughput
will be approximately 80% of 270 Gbps (2 chassis x 135 Gbps): 216 Gbps.

Control Unit Election

Members of the cluster communicate over the cluster control link to elect a control unit as follows:
1. When you deploy the cluster, each unit broadcasts an election request every 3 seconds.
2. Any other units with a higher priority respond to the election request; the priority is set when you deploy
the cluster and is not configurable.
3. If after 45 seconds, a unit does not receive a response from another unit with a higher priority, then it
becomes the control unit.

Note If multiple units tie for the highest priority, the cluster unit name and then the serial number is used to determine
the control unit.

4. If a unit later joins the cluster with a higher priority, it does not automatically become the control unit;
the existing control unit always remains as the control unit unless it stops responding, at which point a
new control unit is elected.
5. In a "split brain" scenario when there are temporarily multiple control units, then the unit with highest
priority retains the role while the other units return to data unit roles.

Note You can manually force a unit to become the control unit. For centralized features, if you force a control unit
change, then all connections are dropped, and you have to re-establish the connections on the new control
unit.

High Availability Within the Cluster

Clustering provides high availability by monitoring chassis, unit, and interface health and by replicating
connection states between units.

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Chassis-Application Monitoring

Chassis-Application Monitoring
Chassis-application health monitoring is always enabled. The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor checks
the ASA application periodically (every second). If the ASA is up and cannot communicate with the Firepower
4100/9300 chassis supervisor for 3 seconds, the ASA generates a syslog message and leaves the cluster.
If the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis supervisor cannot communicate with the application after 45 seconds, it
reloads the ASA. If the ASA cannot communicate with the supervisor, it removes itself from the cluster.

Unit Health Monitoring

Each unit periodically sends a broadcast keepaliveheartbeat packet over the cluster control link. If the control
unit does not receive any keepaliveheartbeat packets or other packets from a data unit within the configurable
timeout period, then the control unit removes the data unit from the cluster. If the data units do not receive
packets from the control unit, then a new control unit is elected from the remaining members.
If units cannot reach each other over the cluster control link because of a network failure and not because a
unit has actually failed, then the cluster may go into a "split brain" scenario where isolated data units will
elect their own control units. For example, if a router fails between two cluster locations, then the original
control unit at location 1 will remove the location 2 data units from the cluster. Meanwhile, the units at location
2 will elect their own control unit and form their own cluster. Note that asymmetric traffic may fail in this
scenario. After the cluster control link is restored, then the control unit that has the higher priority will keep
the control unit’s role. See Control Unit Election, on page 477 for more information.

Interface Monitoring
Each unit monitors the link status of all hardware interfaces in use, and reports status changes to the control
unit. For inter-chassis clustering, Spanned EtherChannels use the cluster Link Aggregation Control Protocol
(cLACP). Each chassis monitors the link status and the cLACP protocol messages to determine if the port is
still active in the EtherChannel, and informs the ASA application if the interface is down. When you enable
health monitoring, all physical interfaces are monitored by default (including the main EtherChannel for
EtherChannel interfaces). Only named interfaces that are in an Up state can be monitored. For example, all
member ports of an EtherChannel must fail before a named EtherChannel is removed from the cluster
(depending on your minimum port bundling setting). You can optionally disable monitoring per interface.
If a monitored interface fails on a particular unit, but it is active on other units, then the unit is removed from
the cluster. The amount of time before the ASA removes a member from the cluster depends on whether the
unit is an established member or is joining the cluster. The ASA does not monitor interfaces for the first 90
seconds that a unit joins the cluster. Interface status changes during this time will not cause the ASA to be
removed from the cluster. For an established member, the unit is removed after 500 ms.
For inter-chassis clustering, if you add or delete an EtherChannel from the cluster, interface health-monitoring
is suspended for 95 seconds to ensure that you have time to make the changes on each chassis.

Decorator Application Monitoring

When you install a decorator application on an interface, such as the Radware DefensePro application, then
both the ASA and the decorator application must be operational to remain in the cluster. The unit does not
join the cluster until both applications are operational. Once in the cluster, the unit monitors the decorator
application health every 3 seconds. If the decorator application is down, the unit is removed from the cluster.

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Status After Failure

Status After Failure

When a unit in the cluster fails, the connections hosted by that unit are seamlessly transferred to other units;
state information for traffic flows is shared over the control unit's cluster control link.
If the control unit fails, then another member of the cluster with the highest priority (lowest number) becomes
the control unit.
The ASA automatically tries to rejoin the cluster, depending on the failure event.

Note When the ASA becomes inactive and fails to automatically rejoin the cluster, all data interfaces are shut down;
only the management-only interface can send and receive traffic. The management interface remains up using
the IP address the unit received from the cluster IP pool. However if you reload, and the unit is still inactive
in the cluster, the management interface is disabled. You must use the console port for any further configuration.

Rejoining the Cluster

After a cluster member is removed from the cluster, how it can rejoin the cluster depends on why it was
removed:
• Failed cluster control link when initially joining—After you resolve the problem with the cluster control
link, you must manually rejoin the cluster by re-enabling clustering.
• Failed cluster control link after joining the cluster—The ASA automatically tries to rejoin every 5 minutes,
indefinitely. This behavior is configurable.
• Failed data interface—The ASA automatically tries to rejoin at 5 minutes, then at 10 minutes, and finally
at 20 minutes. If the join is not successful after 20 minutes, then the ASA disables clustering. After you
resolve the problem with the data interface, you have to manually enable clustering.This behavior is
configurable.
• Failed unit—If the unit was removed from the cluster because of a unit health check failure, then rejoining
the cluster depends on the source of the failure. For example, a temporary power failure means the unit
will rejoin the cluster when it starts up again as long as the cluster control link is up. The unit attempts
to rejoin the cluster every 5 seconds.
• Failed Chassis-Application Communication—When the ASA detects that the chassis-application health
has recovered, the ASA tries to rejoin the cluster automatically.
• Failed decorator application—The ASA rejoins the cluster when it senses that the decorator application
is back up.
• Internal error—Internal failures include: application sync timeout; inconsistent application statuses; and
so on. A unit will attempt to rejoin the cluster automatically at the following intervals: 5 minutes, 10
minutes, and then 20 minutes. This behavior is configurable.

Data Path Connection State Replication

Every connection has one owner and at least one backup owner in the cluster. The backup owner does not
take over the connection in the event of a failure; instead, it stores TCP/UDP state information, so that the
connection can be seamlessly transferred to a new owner in case of a failure. The backup owner is usually
also the director.

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How the Cluster Manages Connections

Some traffic requires state information above the TCP or UDP layer. See the following table for clustering
support or lack of support for this kind of traffic.

Table 24: Features Replicated Across the Cluster

Traffic State Support Notes

Up time Yes Keeps track of the system up time.

ARP Table Yes —

MAC address table Yes —

User Identity Yes Includes AAA rules (uauth) and

identity firewall.

IPv6 Neighbor database Yes —

Dynamic routing Yes —

SNMP Engine ID No —

Centralized VPN (Site-to-Site) No VPN sessions will be disconnected

if the control unit fails.

Distributed VPN (Site-to-Site) Yes Backup session becomes the active

session, then a new backup session
is created.

How the Cluster Manages Connections

Connections can be load-balanced to multiple members of the cluster. Connection roles determine how
connections are handled in both normal operation and in a high availability situation.

Connection Roles
See the following roles defined for each connection:
• Owner—Usually, the unit that initially receives the connection. The owner maintains the TCP state and
processes packets. A connection has only one owner. If the original owner fails, then when new units
receive packets from the connection, the director chooses a new owner from those units.
• Backup owner—The unit that stores TCP/UDP state information received from the owner, so that the
connection can be seamlessly transferred to a new owner in case of a failure. The backup owner does
not take over the connection in the event of a failure. If the owner becomes unavailable, then the first
unit to receive packets from the connection (based on load balancing) contacts the backup owner for the
relevant state information so it can become the new owner.
As long as the director (see below) is not the same unit as the owner, then the director is also the backup
owner. If the owner chooses itself as the director, then a separate backup owner is chosen.
For inter-chassis clustering on the Firepower 9300, which can include up to 3 cluster units in one chassis,
if the backup owner is on the same chassis as the owner, then an additional backup owner will be chosen
from another chassis to protect flows from a chassis failure.

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Connection Roles

If you enable director localization for inter-site clustering, then there are two backup owner roles: the
local backup and the global backup. The owner always chooses a local backup at the same site as itself
(based on site ID). The global backup can be at any site, and might even be the same unit as the local
backup. The owner sends connection state information to both backups.
If you enable site redundancy, and the backup owner is at the same site as the owner, then an additional
backup owner will be chosen from another site to protect flows from a site failure. Chassis backup and
site backup are independent, so in some cases a flow will have both a chassis backup and a site backup.
• Director—The unit that handles owner lookup requests from forwarders. When the owner receives a new
connection, it chooses a director based on a hash of the source/destination IP address and ports, and sends
a message to the director to register the new connection. If packets arrive at any unit other than the owner,
the unit queries the director about which unit is the owner so it can forward the packets. A connection
has only one director. If a director fails, the owner chooses a new director.
As long as the director is not the same unit as the owner, then the director is also the backup owner (see
above). If the owner chooses itself as the director, then a separate backup owner is chosen.
If you enable director localization for inter-site clustering, then there are two director roles: the local
director and the global director. The owner always chooses a local director at the same site as itself (based
on site ID). The global director can be at any site, and might even be the same unit as the local director.
If the original owner fails, then the local director chooses a new connection owner at the same site.
• Forwarder—A unit that forwards packets to the owner. If a forwarder receives a packet for a connection
it does not own, it queries the director for the owner, and then establishes a flow to the owner for any
other packets it receives for this connection. The director can also be a forwarder. If you enable director
localization, then the forwarder always queries the local director. The forwarder only queries the global
director if the local director does not know the owner, for example, if a cluster member receives packets
for a connection that is owned on a different site. Note that if a forwarder receives the SYN-ACK packet,
it can derive the owner directly from a SYN cookie in the packet, so it does not need to query the director.
(If you disable TCP sequence randomization, the SYN cookie is not used; a query to the director is
required.) For short-lived flows such as DNS and ICMP, instead of querying, the forwarder immediately
sends the packet to the director, which then sends them to the owner. A connection can have multiple
forwarders; the most efficient throughput is achieved by a good load-balancing method where there are
no forwarders and all packets of a connection are received by the owner.
• Fragment Owner—For fragmented packets, cluster units that receive a fragment determine a fragment
owner using a hash of the fragment source IP address, destination IP address, and the packet ID. All
fragments are then forwarded to the fragment owner over the cluster control link. Fragments may be
load-balanced to different cluster units, because only the first fragment includes the 5-tuple used in the
switch load balance hash. Other fragments do not contain the source and destination ports and may be
load-balanced to other cluster units. The fragment owner temporarily reassembles the packet so it can
determine the director based on a hash of the source/destination IP address and ports. If it is a new
connection, the fragment owner will register to be the connection owner. If it is an existing connection,
the fragment owner forwards all fragments to the provided connection owner over the cluster control
link. The connection owner will then reassemble all fragments.

When a connection uses Port Address Translation (PAT), then the PAT type (per-session or multi-session)
influences which member of the cluster becomes the owner of a new connection:
• Per-session PAT—The owner is the unit that receives the initial packet in the connection.
By default, TCP and DNS UDP traffic use per-session PAT.

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New Connection Ownership

• Multi-session PAT—The owner is always the control unit. If a multi-session PAT connection is initially
received by a data unit, then the data unit forwards the connection to the control unit.
By default, UDP (except for DNS UDP) and ICMP traffic use multi-session PAT, so these connections
are always owned by the control unit.

You can change the per-session PAT defaults for TCP and UDP so connections for these protocols are handled
per-session or multi-session depending on the configuration. For ICMP, you cannot change from the default
multi-session PAT. For more information about per-session PAT, see the firewall configuration guide.

New Connection Ownership

When a new connection is directed to a member of the cluster via load balancing, that unit owns both directions
of the connection. If any connection packets arrive at a different unit, they are forwarded to the owner unit
over the cluster control link. If a reverse flow arrives at a different unit, it is redirected back to the original
unit.

Sample Data Flow

The following example shows the establishment of a new connection.

1. The SYN packet originates from the client and is delivered to one ASA (based on the load balancing
method), which becomes the owner. The owner creates a flow, encodes owner information into a SYN
cookie, and forwards the packet to the server.
2. The SYN-ACK packet originates from the server and is delivered to a different ASA (based on the load
balancing method). This ASA is the forwarder.
3. Because the forwarder does not own the connection, it decodes owner information from the SYN cookie,
creates a forwarding flow to the owner, and forwards the SYN-ACK to the owner.
4. The owner sends a state update to the director, and forwards the SYN-ACK to the client.

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5. The director receives the state update from the owner, creates a flow to the owner, and records the TCP
state information as well as the owner. The director acts as the backup owner for the connection.
6. Any subsequent packets delivered to the forwarder will be forwarded to the owner.
7. If packets are delivered to any additional units, it will query the director for the owner and establish a
flow.
8. Any state change for the flow results in a state update from the owner to the director.

History for ASA Clustering on the Firepower 4100/9300

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Configuration sync to 9.14(1) The control unit now syncs configuration changes with data units in parallel by default. Formerly,
data units in parallel synching occurred sequentially.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable parallel configuration replicate
check box

Messages for cluster join 9.14(1) New messages were added to the show cluster history command for when a cluster unit either
failure or eviction added fails to join the cluster or leaves the cluster.
to show cluster history
New/Modified commands: show cluster history
New/Modified screens: none.

Initiator and responder 9.13(1) If you enable Dead Connection Detection (DCD), you can use the show conn detail command
information for Dead to get information about the initiator and responder. Dead Connection Detection allows you to
Connection Detection maintain an inactive connection, and the show conn output tells you how often the endpoints
(DCD), and DCD support have been probed. In addition, DCD is now supported in a cluster.
in a cluster.
No modified screens.

Monitor the traffic load 9.13(1) You can now monitor the traffic load for cluster members, including total connection count,
for a cluster CPU and memory usage, and buffer drops. If the load is too high, you can choose to manually
disable clustering on the unit if the remaining units can handle the load, or adjust the load
balancing on the external switch. This feature is enabled by default.
New/Modified screens:
• Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA
Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable Cluster Load Monitor check box
• Monitoring > ASA Cluster > Cluster Load-Monitoring

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Feature Name Version Feature Information

Accelerated cluster 9.13(1) When a data unit has the same configuration as the control unit, it will skip syncing the
joining configuration and will join faster. This feature is enabled by default. This feature is configured
on each unit, and is not replicated from the control unit to the data unit.
Note Some configuration commands are not compatible with accelerated cluster joining;
if these commands are present on the unit, even if accelerated cluster joining is enabled,
configuration syncing will always occur. You must remove the incompatible
configuration for accelerated cluster joining to work. Use the show cluster info
unit-join-acceleration incompatible-config to view incompatible configuration.

New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Enable config sync acceleration check
box

Per-site gratuitous ARP 9.12(1) The ASA now generates gratuitous ARP (GARP) packets to keep the switching infrastructure
for clustering up to date: the highest priority member at each site periodically generates GARP traffic for the
global MAC/IP addresses. When using per-site MAC and IP addresses, packets sourced from
the cluster use a site-specific MAC address and IP address, while packets received by the cluster
use a global MAC address and IP address. If traffic is not generated from the global MAC address
periodically, you could experience a MAC address timeout on your switches for the global MAC
address. After a timeout, traffic destined for the global MAC address will be flooded across the
entire switching infrastructure, which can cause performance and security concerns. GARP is
enabled by default when you set the site ID for each unit and the site MAC address for each
Spanned EtherChannel.
New/Modified screens: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration > Site Periodic GARP field

Parallel cluster joining of 9.10(1) For the Firepower 9300, this feature ensures that the security modules in a chassis join the cluster
units per Firepower 9300 simultaneously, so that traffic is evenly distributed between the modules. If a module joins very
chassis much in advance of other modules, it can receive more traffic than desired, because the other
modules cannot yet share the load.
New/modified screens:
Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster
New/Modified options: Parallel Join of Units Per Chassis area

Cluster control link 9.10(1) By default, the cluster control link uses the 127.2.0.0/16 network. You can now set the network
customizable IP Address when you deploy the cluster in FXOS. The chassis auto-generates the cluster control link interface
for the Firepower IP address for each unit based on the chassis ID and slot ID: 127.2.chassis_id.slot_id. However,
4100/9300 some networking deployments do not allow 127.2.0.0/16 traffic to pass. Therefore, you can now
set a custom /16 subnet for the cluster control link in FXOS except for loopback (127.0.0.0/8)
and multicast (224.0.0.0/4) addresses.
New/modified Firepower Chassis Manager screens:
Logical Devices > Add Device > Cluster Information
New/Modified options: CCL Subnet IP field

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Feature Name Version Feature Information

Cluster interface 9.10(1) When an interface status update occurs, the ASA waits the number of milliseconds specified in
debounce time now the health-check monitor-interface debounce-time command or the ASDM Configuration >
applies to interfaces Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster screen before marking
changing from a down the interface as failed and the unit is removed from the cluster. This feature now applies to
state to an up state interfaces changing from a down state to an up state. For example, in the case of an EtherChannel
that transitions from a down state to an up state (for example, the switch reloaded, or the switch
enabled an EtherChannel), a longer debounce time can prevent the interface from appearing to
be failed on a cluster unit just because another cluster unit was faster at bundling the ports.
We did not modify any screens.

Automatically rejoin the 9.9(2) Formerly, many error conditions caused a cluster unit to be removed from the cluster, and you
cluster after an internal were required to manually rejoin the cluster after resolving the issue. Now, a unit will attempt
failure to rejoin the cluster automatically at the following intervals by default: 5 minutes, 10 minutes,
and then 20 minutes. These values are configurable. Internal failures include: application sync
timeout; inconsistent application statuses; and so on.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster > Auto Rejoin

Show transport related 9.9(2) You can now view per-unit cluster reliable transport buffer usage so you can identify packet
statistics for cluster drop issues when the buffer is full in the control plane.
reliable transport protocol
New or modified command: show cluster info transport cp detail
messages

cluster remove unit 9.9(1) The cluster remove unit command now removes a unit from the cluster until you manually
command behavior reenable clustering or reload, similar to the no enable command. Previously, if you redeployed
matches no enable the bootstrap configuration from FXOS, clustering would be reenabled. Now, the disabled status
behavior persists even in the case of a bootstrap configuration redeployment. Reloading the ASA, however,
will reenable clustering.
New/Modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster

Improved chassis health 9.9(1) You can now configure a lower holdtime for the chassis health check: 100 ms. The previous
check failure detection minimum was 300 ms. Note that the minimum combined time (interval x retry-count) cannot
for the Firepower chassis be less than 600 ms.
New or modified command: app-agent heartbeat interval
No ASDM support.

Inter-site redundancy for 9.9(1) Inter-site redundancy ensures that a backup owner for a traffic flow will always be at the other
clustering site from the owner. This feature guards against site failure.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster

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Feature Name Version Feature Information

Distributed Site-to-Site 9.9(1) An ASA cluster on the Firepower 9300 supports Site-to-Site VPN in distributed mode. Distributed
VPN with clustering on mode provides the ability to have many Site-to-Site IPsec IKEv2 VPN connections distributed
the Firepower 9300 across members of an ASA cluster, not just on the control unit (as in centralized mode). This
significantly scales VPN support beyond Centralized VPN capabilities and provides high
availability. Distributed S2S VPN runs on a cluster of up to two chassis, each containing up to
three modules (six total cluster members), each module supporting up to 6K active sessions (12K
total), for a maximum of approximately 36K active sessions (72K total).
New or modified screens:
Monitoring > ASA Cluster > ASA Cluster > VPN Cluster Summary
Monitoring > VPN > VPN Statistics > Sessions
Configuration > Device Management > High Availablility and Scalability > ASA Cluster
Wizards > Site-to-Site
Monitoring > VPN > VPN Statistics > Sessions
Monitoring > ASA Cluster > ASA Cluster > VPN Cluster Summary
Monitoring > ASA Cluster > ASA Cluster > System Resource Graphs > CPU/Memory
Monitoring > Logging > Real-Time Log Viewer

Improved cluster unit 9.8(1) You can now configure a lower holdtime for the unit health check: .3 seconds minimum. The
health-check failure previous minimum was .8 seconds. This feature changes the unit health check messaging scheme
detection to heartbeats in the data plane from keepalives in the control plane. Using heartbeats improves
the reliability and the responsiveness of clustering by not being susceptible to control plane CPU
hogging and scheduling delays. Note that configuring a lower holdtime increases cluster control
link messaging activity. We suggest that you analyze your network before you configure a low
holdtime; for example, make sure a ping from one unit to another over the cluster control link
returns within the holdtime/3, because there will be three heartbeat messages during one holdtime
interval. If you downgrade your ASA software after setting the hold time to .3 - .7, this setting
will revert to the default of 3 seconds because the new setting is unsupported.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster

Configurable debounce 9.8(1) You can now configure the debounce time before the ASA considers an interface to be failed,
time to mark an interface and the unit is removed from the cluster. This feature allows for faster detection of interface
as failed for the failures. Note that configuring a lower debounce time increases the chances of false-positives.
Firepower 4100/9300 When an interface status update occurs, the ASA waits the number of milliseconds specified
chassis before marking the interface as failed and the unit is removed from the cluster. The default
debounce time is 500 ms, with a range of 300 ms to 9 seconds.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and
Scalability > ASA Cluster

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Feature Name Version Feature Information

Inter-site clustering 9.7(1) You can now configure the site ID for each Firepower 4100/9300 chassis when you deploy the
improvement for the ASA cluster. Previously, you had to configure the site ID within the ASA application; this new
ASA on the Firepower feature eases initial deployment. Note that you can no longer set the site ID within the ASA
4100/9300 chassis configuration. Also, for best compatibility with inter-site clustering, we recommend that you
upgrade to ASA 9.7(1) and FXOS 2.1.1, which includes several improvements to stability and
performance.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration

Director localization: 9.7(1) To improve performance and keep traffic within a site for inter-site clustering for data centers,
inter-site clustering you can enable director localization. New connections are typically load-balanced and owned
improvement for data by cluster members within a given site. However, the ASA assigns the director role to a member
centers at any site. Director localization enables additional director roles: a local director at the same
site as the owner, and a global director that can be at any site. Keeping the owner and director
at the same site improves performance. Also, if the original owner fails, the local director chooses
a new connection owner at the same site. The global director is used if a cluster member receives
packets for a connection that is owned on a different site.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > Cluster Configuration

Support for 16 chassis for 9.6(2) You can now add up to 16 chassis to the cluster for the Firepower 4100 series.
the Firepower 4100 series
We did not modify any screens.

Support for the 9.6(1) With FXOS 1.1.4, the ASA supports inter-chassis clustering on the Firepower 4100 series for
Firepower 4100 series up to 6 chassis.
We did not modify any screens.

Support for site-specific 9.6(1) For inter-site clustering in routed mode with Spanned EtherChannels, you can now configure
IP addresses in Routed, site-specific IP addresess in addition to site-specific MAC addresses. The addition of site IP
Spanned EtherChannel addresses allows you to use ARP inspection on the Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV)
mode devices to prevent ARP responses from the global MAC address from traveling over the Data
Center Interconnect (DCI), which can cause routing problems. ARP inspection is required for
some switches that cannot use VACLs to filter MAC addresses.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings >
Interfaces > Add/Edit EtherChannel Interface > Advanced

Inter-chassis clustering 9.5(2.1) With FXOS 1.1.3, you can now enable inter-chassis, and by extension inter-site clustering. You
for 16 modules, and can include up to 16 modules. For example, you can use 1 module in 16 chassis, or 2 modules
inter-site clustering for in 8 chassis, or any combination that provides a maximum of 16 modules.
the Firepower 9300 ASA
We did not modify any screens.
application

Site-specific MAC 9.5(2) You can now use inter-site clustering for Spanned EtherChannels in routed mode. To avoid MAC
addresses for inter-site address flapping, configure a site ID for each cluster member so that a site-specific MAC address
clustering support for for each interface can be shared among a site’s units.
Spanned EtherChannel in
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
Routed firewall mode
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Cluster Configuration

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Feature Name Version Feature Information

ASA cluster 9.5(2) You can now customize the auto-rejoin behavior when an interface or the cluster control link
customization of the fails.
auto-rejoin behavior
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
when an interface or the
and Scalability > ASA Cluster > Auto Rejoin
cluster control link fails

The ASA cluster supports 9.5(2) The ASA cluster now supports GTPv1 and GTPv2 inspection.
GTPv1 and GTPv2
We did not modify any screens.

Cluster replication delay 9.5(2) This feature helps eliminate the “unnecessary work” related to short-lived flows by delaying the
for TCP connections director/backup flow creation.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster Replication

LISP Inspection for 9.5(2) Cisco Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP) architecture separates the device identity from its
Inter-Site Flow Mobility location into two different numbering spaces, making server migration transparent to clients.
The ASA can inspect LISP traffic for location changes and then use this information for seamless
clustering operation; the ASA cluster members inspect LISP traffic passing between the first
hop router and the egress tunnel router (ETR) or ingress tunnel router (ITR), and then change
the flow owner to be at the new site.
We introduced or modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management > High Availability and Scalability > ASA Cluster >
Cluster Configuration
Configuration > Firewall > Objects > Inspect Maps > LISP
Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules > Protocol Inspection
Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules > Cluster
Monitoring > Routing > LISP-EID Table

Carrier Grade NAT 9.5(2) For carrier-grade or large-scale PAT, you can allocate a block of ports for each host, rather than
enhancements now have NAT allocate one port translation at a time (see RFC 6888). This feature is now supported
supported in failover and in failover and ASA cluster deployments.
ASA clustering
We did not modify any screens.

Configurable level for 9.5(2) By default, all levels of clustering events are included in the trace buffer, including many low
clustering trace entries level events. To limit the trace to higher level events, you can set the minimum trace level for
the cluster.
We did not modify any screens.

Intra-chassis ASA 9.4(1.150) You can cluster up to 3 security modules within the Firepower 9300 chassis. All modules in the
Clustering for the chassis must belong to the cluster.
Firepower 9300
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > High Availability
and Scalability > ASA Cluster Replication

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Interfaces
• Basic Interface Configuration, on page 491
• Basic Interface Configuration for Firepower 1010 Switch Ports, on page 501
• EtherChannel and Redundant Interfaces, on page 509
• VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 523
• VXLAN Interfaces, on page 529
• Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 541
• Advanced Interface Configuration, on page 573
• Traffic Zones, on page 583
 CHAPTER 14
Basic Interface Configuration
This chapter includes basic interface configuration including Ethernet settings and Jumbo frame configuration.

Note For multiple context mode, complete all tasks in this section in the system execution space. If you are not
already in the system execution space, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

Note For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode and Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, you configure basic interface
settings in the FXOS operating system. See the configuration or getting started guide for your chassis for
more information.

• About Basic Interface Configuration, on page 491

• Guidelines for Basic Interface Configuration, on page 494
• Default Settings for Basic Interface Configuration, on page 495
• Enable the Physical Interface and Configure Ethernet Parameters, on page 496
• Enable Jumbo Frame Support (ASA Models), on page 497
• Examples for Basic Interfaces, on page 498
• History for Basic Interface Configuration, on page 499

About Basic Interface Configuration

This section describes interface features and special interfaces.

Auto-MDI/MDIX Feature
For RJ-45 interfaces, the default auto-negotiation setting also includes the Auto-MDI/MDIX feature.
Auto-MDI/MDIX eliminates the need for crossover cabling by performing an internal crossover when a
straight cable is detected during the auto-negotiation phase. Either the speed or duplex must be set to
auto-negotiate to enable Auto-MDI/MDIX for the interface. If you explicitly set both the speed and duplex
to a fixed value, thus disabling auto-negotiation for both settings, then Auto-MDI/MDIX is also disabled. For
Gigabit Ethernet, when the speed and duplex are set to 1000 and full, then the interface always auto-negotiates;
therefore Auto-MDI/MDIX is always enabled and you cannot disable it.

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Management Interface

Management Interface
The management interface, depending on your model, is a separate interface just for management traffic.

Management Interface Overview

You can manage the ASA by connecting to:
• Any through-traffic interface
• A dedicated Management Slot/Port interface (if available for your model)

You may need to configure management access to the interface according to Management Access, on page
923.

Management Slot/Port Interface

The following table shows the Management interfaces per model.

Table 25: Management Interfaces Per Model

Configurable for Subinterfaces

Model Management 0/0 Management 0/1 Management 1/0 Management 1/1 Through Traffic Allowed

Firepower 1000 — — — Yes Yes Yes

Firepower 2100 — — — Yes — Yes

Note Technically,
you can
enable
through
traffic;
however,
the
throughput
of this
interface is
not
adequate
for data
operations.

Firepower N/A — — — — Yes

4100/9300
The interface ID
depends on the
physical
mgmt-type
interface that you
assigned to the
ASA logical
device

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Use Any Interface for Management-Only Traffic

Configurable for Subinterfaces

Model Management 0/0 Management 0/1 Management 1/0 Management 1/1 Through Traffic Allowed

ASA 5506-X — — — Yes — —

ASA 5508-X — — — Yes — —

ASA 5516-X — — — Yes — —

ASA 5525-X Yes — — — — —

ASA 5545-X Yes — — — — —

ASA 5555-X Yes — — — — —

ISA 3000 — — — Yes — —

ASAv Yes — — — Yes —

Note If you installed a module, then the module management interface(s) provides management access for the
module only. For models with software modules, the software module uses the same physical Management
interface as the ASA.

Use Any Interface for Management-Only Traffic

You can use any interface as a dedicated management-only interface by configuring it for management traffic,
including an EtherChannel interface.

Management Interface for Transparent Mode

In transparent firewall mode, in addition to the maximum allowed through-traffic interfaces, you can also use
the Management interface (either the physical interface, a subinterface (if supported for your model)) as a
separate management-only interface. You cannot use any other interface types as Management interfaces. For
the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, the management interface ID depends on the mgmt-type interface that you
assigned to the ASA logical device.
In multiple context mode, you cannot share any interfaces, including the Management interface, across contexts.
To provide management per context on Firepower models, you can create subinterfaces of the Management
interface and allocate a Management subinterface to each context. However, ASA models do not allow
subinterfaces on the Management interface, so per-context management for these models requires you to
connect to a data interface. For the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, the management interface and its subinterfaces
are not recognized as specially-allowed management interfaces within the contexts; you must treat a
management subinterface as a data interface in this case and add it to a BVI.
The management interface is not part of a normal bridge group. Note that for operational purposes, it is part
of a non-configurable bridge group.

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No Support for Redundant Management Interfaces

Note In transparent firewall mode, the management interface updates the MAC address table in the same manner
as a data interface; therefore you should not connect both a management and a data interface to the same
switch unless you configure one of the switch ports as a routed port (by default Catalyst switches share a
MAC address for all VLAN switch ports). Otherwise, if traffic arrives on the management interface from the
physically-connected switch, then the ASA updates the MAC address table to use the management interface
to access the switch, instead of the data interface. This action causes a temporary traffic interruption; the ASA
will not re-update the MAC address table for packets from the switch to the data interface for at least 30
seconds for security reasons.

No Support for Redundant Management Interfaces

Redundant interfaces do not support Management slot/port interfaces as members. You can, however, set a
redundant interface comprised of non-Management interfaces as management-only.

Management Interface Characteristics for ASA Models

The Management interface for ASA 5500-X models has the following characteristics:
• No through traffic support
• No subinterface support
• No priority queue support
• No multicast MAC support
• The software module shares the Management interface. Separate MAC addresses and IP addresses are
supported for the ASA and module. You must perform configuration of the module IP address within
the module operating system. However, physical characteristics (such as enabling the interface) are
configured on the ASA.

Guidelines for Basic Interface Configuration

Transparent Firewall Mode
For multiple context, transparent mode, each context must use different interfaces; you cannot share an interface
across contexts.

Failover
You cannot share a failover or state interface with a data interface.

Additional Guidelines
Some management-related services are not available until a non-management interface is enabled, and the
the ASA achieves a “System Ready” state. The ASA generates the following syslog message when it is in a
“System Ready” state:

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Default Settings for Basic Interface Configuration

%ASA-6-199002: Startup completed. Beginning operation.

Default Settings for Basic Interface Configuration

This section lists default settings for interfaces if you do not have a factory default configuration.

Default State of Interfaces

The default state of an interface depends on the type and the context mode.
In multiple context mode, all allocated interfaces are enabled by default, no matter what the state of the
interface is in the system execution space. However, for traffic to pass through the interface, the interface also
has to be enabled in the system execution space. If you shut down an interface in the system execution space,
then that interface is down in all contexts that share it.
In single mode or in the system execution space, interfaces have the following default states:
• Physical interfaces—Disabled.
• Redundant Interfaces—Enabled. However, for traffic to pass through the redundant interface, the member
physical interfaces must also be enabled.
• VLAN subinterfaces—Enabled. However, for traffic to pass through the subinterface, the physical
interface must also be enabled.
• VXLAN VNI interfaces—Enabled.
• EtherChannel port-channel interfaces (ASA models)—Enabled. However, for traffic to pass through the
EtherChannel, the channel group physical interfaces must also be enabled.
• EtherChannel port-channel interfaces (Firepower models)—Disabled.

Note For the Firepower 4100/9300, you can administratively enable and disable interfaces in both the chassis and
on the ASA. For an interface to be operational, the interface must be enabled in both operating systems.
Because the interface state is controlled independently, you may have a mismatch between the chassis and
the ASA.

Default Speed and Duplex

• By default, the speed and duplex for copper (RJ-45) interfaces are set to auto-negotiate.

Default Connector Type

Some models include two connector types: copper RJ-45 and fiber SFP. RJ-45 is the default. You can configure
the ASA to use the fiber SFP connectors.

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Enable the Physical Interface and Configure Ethernet Parameters

Default MAC Addresses

By default, the physical interface uses the burned-in MAC address, and all subinterfaces of a physical interface
use the same burned-in MAC address.

Enable the Physical Interface and Configure Ethernet

Parameters
This section describes how to:
• Enable the physical interface
• Set a specific speed and duplex (if available)
• Enable pause frames for flow control

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management
> Interfaces pane.

By default, all physical interfaces are listed.

Step 2 Click a physical interface that you want to configure, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears.
Note In single mode, this procedure only covers a subset of the parameters on the Edit Interface dialog
box. Note that in multiple context mode, before you complete your interface configuration, you
need to allocate interfaces to contexts.

Step 3 To enable the interface, check the Enable Interface check box.
Step 4 To add a description, enter text in the Description field.
The description can be up to 240 characters on a single line, without carriage returns. In the case of a failover
or state link, the description is fixed as “LAN Failover Interface,” “STATE Failover Interface,” or “LAN/STATE
Failover Interface,” for example. You cannot edit this description. The fixed description overwrites any
description you enter here if you make this interface a failover or state link.

Step 5 (Optional) To set the media type, duplex, speed, and enable pause frames for flow control, click Configure
Hardware Properties.

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Enable Jumbo Frame Support (ASA Models)

a) To set the duplex for RJ-45 interfaces, choose Full, Half, or Auto, depending on the interface type, from
the Duplex drop-down list.
Note The duplex setting for an EtherChannel interface must be Full or Auto.

b) To set the speed, choose a value from the Speed drop-down list.
The speeds available depend on the interface type. For SFP interfaces, you can set the speed to Negotiate
or Nonegotiate. Negotiate (the default) enables link negotiation, which exchanges flow-control parameters
and remote fault information. Nonegotiate does not negotiate link parameters. For RJ-45 interfaces, the
default auto-negotiation setting also includes the Auto-MDI/MDIX feature.
c) To enable pause (XOFF) frames for flow control on Gigabit and Ten Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, check
the Enable Pause Frame check box.
If you have a traffic burst, dropped packets can occur if the burst exceeds the buffering capacity of the
FIFO buffer on the NIC and the receive ring buffers. Enabling pause frames for flow control can alleviate
this issue. Pause (XOFF) and XON frames are generated automatically by the NIC hardware based on
the FIFO buffer usage. A pause frame is sent when the buffer usage exceeds the high-water mark. The
default high_water value is 128 KB (10 GigabitEthernet) and 24 KB (1 GigabitEthernet); you can set it
between 0 and 511 (10 GigabitEthernet) or 0 and 47 KB (1 GigabitEthernet). After a pause is sent, an
XON frame can be sent when the buffer usage is reduced below the low-water mark. By default, the
low_water value is 64 KB (10 GigabitEthernet) and 16 KB (1 GigabitEthernet); you can set it between 0
and 511 (10 GigabitEthernet) or 0 and 47 KB (1 GigabitEthernet). The link partner can resume traffic
after receiving an XON, or after the XOFF expires, as controlled by the timer value in the pause frame.
The default pause_time value is 26624; you can set it between 0 and 65535. If the buffer usage is
consistently above the high-water mark, pause frames are sent repeatedly, controlled by the pause refresh
threshold value.
To change the default values for the Low Watermark, High Watermark, and Pause Time, uncheck the
Use Default Values check box.
Note Only flow control frames defined in 802.3x are supported. Priority-based flow control is not
supported.

d) Click OK to accept the Hardware Properties changes.

Step 6 Click OK to accept the Interface changes.

Enable Jumbo Frame Support (ASA Models)

A jumbo frame is an Ethernet packet larger than the standard maximum of 1518 bytes (including Layer 2
header and VLAN header), up to 9216 bytes. You can enable support for jumbo frames for all interfaces by
increasing the amount of memory to process Ethernet frames. Assigning more memory for jumbo frames
might limit the maximum use of other features, such as ACLs. Note that the ASA MTU sets the payload size
not including the Layer 2 (14 bytes) and VLAN header (4 bytes), so the maximum MTU is 9198, depending
on your model.

Note This procedure only applies to ASA hardware models. Firepower models support jumbo frames by default.

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Examples for Basic Interfaces

Before you begin

• In multiple context mode, set this option in the system execution space.
• Changes in this setting require you to reload the ASA.
• Be sure to set the MTU for each interface that needs to transmit jumbo frames to a higher value than the
default 1500; for example, set the value to 9198. In multiple context mode, set the MTU within each
context.
• Be sure to adjust the TCP MSS, either to disable it for non-IPsec traffic, or to increase it in accord with
the MTU.

Procedure

Depending on your context mode:

• Multiple mode—To enable jumbo frame support, choose Configuration > Context Management >
Interfaces, and click the Enable jumbo frame support check box.
• Single mode—Setting the MTU larger than 1500 bytes automatically enables jumbo frames. To manually
enable or disable this setting, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces,
and click the Enable jumbo frame support check box.

Examples for Basic Interfaces

See the following configuration examples.

Physical Interface Parameters Example

The following example configures parameters for the physical interface in single mode:

interface gigabitethernet 0/1

speed 1000
duplex full
no shutdown

Multiple Context Mode Example

The following example configures interface parameters in multiple context mode for the system configuration,
and allocates the gigabitethernet 0/1.1 subinterface to contextA:

interface gigabitethernet 0/1

speed 1000
duplex full
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 0/1.1

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History for Basic Interface Configuration

vlan 101
context contextA
allocate-interface gigabitethernet 0/1.1

History for Basic Interface Configuration

Table 26: History for Interfaces

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Speed auto-negotation can be disabled on 9.14(1) You can now configure a Firepower 1100
SFP interfaces on the Firepower 1100 and or 2100 SFP interface to disable
2100 auto-negotiation. For 10GB interfaces, you
can configure the speed down to 1GB
without auto-negotiation; you cannot
disable auto-negotiation for an interface
with the speed set to 10GB.
New/Modified screens: Configuration >
Device Settings > Interfaces > Edit
Interface > Configure Hardware
Properties > Speed

Through traffic support on the Management 9.6(2) You can now allow through traffic on the
0/0 interface for the ASAv Management 0/0 interface on the ASAv.
Previously, only the ASAv on Microsoft
Azure supported through traffic; now all
ASAvs support through traffic. You can
optionally configure this interface to be
management-only, but it is not configured
by default.

Support for Pause Frames for Flow Control 8.2(5)/8.4(2) You can now enable pause (XOFF) frames
on Gigabit Ethernet Interfaces for flow control for Gigabit Ethernet
interfaces on all models.
We modified the following screens: (Single
Mode) Configuration > Device Setup >
Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface > General (Multiple Mode,
System)
Configuration > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface.

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History for Basic Interface Configuration

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Support for Pause Frames for Flow Control 8.2(2) You can now enable pause (XOFF) frames
on the ASA 5580 Ten Gigabit Ethernet for flow control.
Interfaces
This feature is also supported on the ASA
5585-X.
We modified the following screens: (Single
Mode) Configuration > Device Setup >
Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface > General (Multiple Mode,
System)
Configuration > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface.

Jumbo packet support for the ASA 5580 8.1(1) The Cisco ASA 5580 supports jumbo
frames. A jumbo frame is an Ethernet
packet larger than the standard maximum
of 1518 bytes (including Layer 2 header
and FCS), up to 9216 bytes. You can enable
support for jumbo frames for all interfaces
by increasing the amount of memory to
process Ethernet frames. Assigning more
memory for jumbo frames might limit the
maximum use of other features, such as
ACLs.
This feature is also supported on the ASA
5585-X.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit Interface
> Advanced.

Gigabit Ethernet Support for the ASA 5510 7.2(3) The ASA 5510 now supports GE (Gigabit
Security Plus License Ethernet) for port 0 and 1 with the Security
Plus license. If you upgrade the license
from Base to Security Plus, the capacity of
the external Ethernet0/0 and Ethernet0/1
ports increases from the original FE (Fast
Ethernet) (100 Mbps) to GE (1000 Mbps).
The interface names will remain Ethernet
0/0 and Ethernet 0/1.

Increased interfaces for the Base license on 7.2(2) For the Base license on the ASA 5510, the
the ASA 5510 maximum number of interfaces was
increased from 3 plus a management
interface to unlimited interfaces.

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 CHAPTER 15
Basic Interface Configuration for Firepower 1010
Switch Ports
You can configure each Firepower 1010 interface to run as a regular firewall interface or as a Layer 2 hardware
switch port. This chapter includes tasks for starting your switch port configuration, including enabling or
disabling the switch mode and creating VLAN interfaces and assigning them to switch ports. This chapter
also describes how to customize Power over Ethernet (PoE) on supported interfaces.
• About Firepower 1010 Switch Ports, on page 501
• Guidelines and Limitations for Firepower 1010 Switch Ports, on page 502
• Configure Switch Ports and Power Over Ethernet, on page 504
• Monitoring Switch Ports, on page 508
• History for Switch Ports, on page 508

About Firepower 1010 Switch Ports

This section describes the switch ports of the Firepower 1010.

Understanding Firepower 1010 Ports and Interfaces

Ports and Interfaces
For each physical Firepower 1010 interface, you can set its operation as a firewall interface or as a switch
port. See the following information about physical interface and port types as well as logical VLAN interfaces
to which you assign switch ports:
• Physical firewall interface—In routed mode, these interfaces forward traffic between networks at Layer
3, using the configured security policy to apply firewall and VPN services. In transparent mode, these
interfaces are bridge group members that forward traffic between the interfaces on the same network at
Layer 2, using the configured security policy to apply firewall services. In routed mode, you can also
use Integrated Routing and Bridging with some interfaces as bridge group members and others as Layer
3 interfaces. By default, the Ethernet 1/1 interface is configured as a firewall interface.
• Physical switch port—Switch ports forward traffic at Layer 2, using the switching function in hardware.
Switch ports on the same VLAN can communicate with each other using hardware switching, and traffic
is not subject to the ASA security policy. Access ports accept only untagged traffic, and you can assign
them to a single VLAN. Trunk ports accept untagged and tagged traffic, and can belong to more than

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Auto-MDI/MDIX Feature

one VLAN. By default, Ethernet 1/2 through 1/8 are configured as access switch ports on VLAN 1.You
cannot configure the Management interface as a switch port.
• Logical VLAN interface—These interfaces operate the same as physical firewall interfaces, with the
exception being that you cannot create subinterfaces, redundant interfaces, or EtherChannel interfaces.
When a switch port needs to communicate with another network, then the ASA applies the security policy
to the VLAN interface and routes to another logical VLAN interface or firewall interface. You can even
use Integrated Routing and Bridging with VLAN interfaces as bridge group members. Traffic between
switch ports on the same VLAN are not subject to the ASA security policy, but traffic between VLANs
in a bridge group are subject to the security policy, so you may choose to layer bridge groups and switch
ports to enforce the security policy between certain segments.

Power Over Ethernet

Ethernet 1/7 and Ethernet 1/8 support Power over Ethernet+ (PoE+).

Auto-MDI/MDIX Feature
For all Firepower 1010 interfaces, the default auto-negotiation setting also includes the Auto-MDI/MDIX
feature. Auto-MDI/MDIX eliminates the need for crossover cabling by performing an internal crossover when
a straight cable is detected during the auto-negotiation phase. Either the speed or duplex must be set to
auto-negotiate to enable Auto-MDI/MDIX for the interface. If you explicitly set both the speed and duplex
to a fixed value, thus disabling auto-negotiation for both settings, then Auto-MDI/MDIX is also disabled.
When the speed and duplex are set to 1000 and full, then the interface always auto-negotiates; therefore
Auto-MDI/MDIX is always enabled and you cannot disable it.

Guidelines and Limitations for Firepower 1010 Switch Ports

Context Mode
The Firepower 1010 does not support multiple context mode.

Failover and Clustering

• No cluster support.
• Active/Standby failover support only.
• You should not use the switch port functionality when using Failover. Because the switch ports operate
in hardware, they continue to pass traffic on both the active and the standby units. Failover is designed
to prevent traffic from passing through the standby unit, but this feature does not extend to switch ports.
In a normal Failover network setup, active switch ports on both units will lead to network loops. We
suggest that you use external switches for any switching capability. Note that VLAN interfaces can be
monitored by failover, while switch ports cannot. Theoretically, you can put a single switch port on a
VLAN and successfully use Failover, but a simpler setup is to use physical firewall interfaces instead.
• You can only use a firewall interface as the failover link.

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Guidelines and Limitations for Firepower 1010 Switch Ports

Logical VLAN Interfaces

• You can create up to 60 VLAN interfaces.
• If you also use VLAN subinterfaces on a firewall interface, you cannot use the same VLAN ID as for a
logical VLAN interface.
• MAC Addresses:
• Routed firewall mode—All VLAN interfaces share a MAC address. Ensure that any connected
switches can support this scenario. If the connected switches require unique MAC addresses, you
can manually assign MAC addresses. See Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP
MSS, on page 578.
• Transparent firewall mode—Each VLAN interface has a unique MAC address. You can override
the generated MAC addresses if desired by manually assigning MAC addresses. See Configure the
Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578.

Bridge Groups
You cannot mix logical VLAN interfaces and physical firewall interfaces in the same bridge group.

VLAN Interface and Switch Port Unsupported Features

VLAN interfaces and switch ports do not support:
• Dynamic routing
• Multicast routing
• Policy based routing
• Equal-Cost Multi-Path routing (ECMP)
• VXLAN
• EtherChannels
• Redundant Interfaces; the Firepower 1010 does not support redundant interfaces for any interface type.
• Failover and state link
• Traffic zones
• Security group tagging (SGT)

Other Guidelines and Limitiations

• You can configure a maximum of 60 named interfaces on the Firepower 1010.
• You cannot configure the Management interface as a switch port.

Default Settings
• Ethernet 1/1 is a firewall interface.
• Ethernet 1/2 through Ethernet 1/8 are switch ports assigned to VLAN 1.

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Configure Switch Ports and Power Over Ethernet

• Default Speed and Duplex—By default, the speed and duplex are set to auto-negotiate.

Configure Switch Ports and Power Over Ethernet

To configure switch ports and PoE, complete the following tasks.

Configure a VLAN Interface

This section describes how to configure VLAN interfaces for use with associated switch ports.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces, and choose Add > VLAN Interface.
Step 2 In the VLAN ID field, enter the VLAN ID for this interface, between 1 and 4070, excluding IDs in the range
3968 to 4047, which are reserved for internal use.
Step 3 (Optional) In the Block Traffic From this Interface to drop-down list, choose the VLAN to which this
VLAN interface cannot initiate traffic.
For example, you have one VLAN assigned to the outside for internet access, one VLAN assigned to an inside
business network, and a third VLAN assigned to your home network. The home network does not need to
access the business network, so you can use the Block Traffic From this Interface to option on the home
VLAN; the business network can access the home network, but the home network cannot access the business
network.

Step 4 Click OK.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Configure Switch Ports as Access Ports

To assign a switch port to a single VLAN, configure it as an access port. Access ports accept only untagged
traffic. By default, Ethernet1/2 through Ethernet 1/8 switch ports are enabled and assigned to VLAN 1.

Note The Firepower 1010 does not support Spanning Tree Protocol for loop detection in the network. Therefore
you must ensure that any connection with the ASA does not end up in a network loop.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces, select the interface you want to
edit, and click Edit.
Step 2 Click Switch Port.

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Configure Switch Ports as Trunk Ports

Step 3 Check the Configure an interface to be a Switch Port check box.

Step 4 (Optional) Check the Set this switch port as protected check box to prevent the switch port from
communicating with other protected switch ports on the same VLAN.
You might want to prevent switch ports from communicating with each other if: the devices on those switch
ports are primarily accessed from other VLANs; you do not need to allow intra-VLAN access; and you want
to isolate the devices from each other in case of infection or other security breach. For example, if you have
a DMZ that hosts three web servers, you can isolate the web servers from each other if you apply the Set this
switch port as protected option to each switch port. The inside and outside networks can both communicate
with all three web servers, and vice versa, but the web servers cannot communicate with each other.

Step 5 For the Port Mode, click the Access radio button.
Step 6 Enter the Access VLAN ID associated with this switch port, between 1 and 4070.
The default is VLAN 1.

Step 7 Click General.

Step 8 Check Enable Interface.
Note Other fields on the General page, such as the Interface Name, are not applicable to switch ports.

Step 9 (Optional) Set hardware properties.

a) Click Configure Hardware Properties.
b) Choose the Duplex.
The default is Auto.
c) Choose the Speed.
The default is Auto.
d) Click OK.
Step 10 Click OK.
Step 11 Click Apply.

Configure Switch Ports as Trunk Ports

This procedure describes how to create a trunk port that can carry multiple VLANs using 802.1Q tagging.
Trunk ports accept untagged and tagged traffic. Traffic on allowed VLANs pass through the trunk port
unchanged.

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Configure Switch Ports as Trunk Ports

When the trunk receives untagged traffic, it tags it to the native VLAN ID so that the ASA can forward the
traffic to the correct switch ports, or can route it to another firewall interface. When the ASA sends native
VLAN ID traffic out of the trunk port, it removes the VLAN tag. Be sure to set the same native VLAN on
the trunk port on the other switch so that the untagged traffic will be tagged to the same VLAN.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces, select the interface you want to
edit, and click Edit.
Step 2 Click Switch Port.

Step 3 Check the Configure an interface to be a Switch Port check box.

Step 4 (Optional) Check the Set this switch port as protected check box to prevent the switch port from
communicating with other protected switch ports on the same VLAN.
You might want to prevent switch ports from communicating with each other if: the devices on those switch
ports are primarily accessed from other VLANs; you do not need to allow intra-VLAN access; and you want
to isolate the devices from each other in case of infection or other security breach. For example, if you have
a DMZ that hosts three web servers, you can isolate the web servers from each other if you apply the Set this
switch port as protected option to each switch port. The inside and outside networks can both communicate
with all three web servers, and vice versa, but the web servers cannot communicate with each other.

Step 5 For the Port Mode, click the Trunk radio button.
Step 6 Enter the Trunk Native VLAN ID, between 1 and 4070. The default is VLAN 1.
Each port can only have one native VLAN, but every port can have either the same or a different native VLAN.

Step 7 Enter the Trunk Allowed VLAN IDs associated with this switch port, separated by commas, between 1 and
4070.
If you include the native VLAN in this field, it is ignored; the trunk port always removes the VLAN tagging
when sending native VLAN traffic out of the port. Moreover, it will not receive traffic that still has native
VLAN tagging.

Step 8 Click General.

Step 9 Check Enable Interface.
Note Other fields on the General page, such as the Interface Name, are not applicable to switch ports.

Step 10 (Optional) Set hardware properties.

a) Click Configure Hardware Properties.

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Configure Power Over Ethernet

b) Choose the Duplex.

The default is Auto.
c) Choose the Speed.
The default is Auto.
d) Click OK.
Step 11 Click OK.
Step 12 Click Apply.

Configure Power Over Ethernet

Ethernet 1/7 and Ethernet 1/8 support Power over Ethernet (PoE) for devices such as IP phones or wireless
access points. The Firepower 1010 supports both IEEE 802.3af (PoE) and 802.3at (PoE+). PoE+ uses Link
Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) to negotiate the power level. PoE+ can deliver up to 30 watts to a powered
device. Power is only supplied when needed.
If you shut down the interface, then you disable power to the device.
PoE is enabled by default on Ethernet 1/7 and Ethernet 1/8. This procedure describes how to disable and
enable PoE and how to set optional parameters.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces, select the interface you want to
edit (either Ethernet 1/7 or 1/8), and click Edit.
Step 2 Click Power Over Ethernet.

Step 3 Check Enabled.

Step 4 Click the Consumption Mode: Configure or Auto radio button.
• Auto—Delivers power automatically to the powered device using a wattage appropriate to the class of
the powered device. The Firepower 1010 uses LLDP to further negotiate the correct wattage.
• Configure—Manually specifies the wattage in milliwatts in the Consumption Wattage field, from 4000
to 30000. Use this option if you want to set the watts manually and disable LLDP negotiation.

Step 5 Click OK.

Step 6 Click Apply.

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Monitoring Switch Ports

Step 7 Choose Monitor > Interfaces > Power Over Ethernet to view the current PoE+ status.

Monitoring Switch Ports

• Monitoring > Interfaces > ARP Table
Displays the ARP table, including static and dynamic entries. The ARP table includes entries that map
a MAC address to an IP address for a given interface.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > MAC Address Table
Shows the static and dynamic MAC address entries.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > Interface Graphs
Shows interface statistics in graph or table form.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > L2 Switching
Shows the VLAN–to–switch port association and the static and dynamic MAC address entries.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > Power Over Ethernet
Shows the PoE+ status.

History for Switch Ports

Table 27: History for Switch Ports

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Firepower 1010 hardware 9.13(1) The Firepower 1010 supports setting each Ethernet interface to be a switch port or a firewall
switch support interface.
New/Modified screens:
• Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Edit > Switch Port
• Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add VLAN Interface
• Monitoring > Interfaces > L2 Switching

Firepower 1010 PoE+ 9.13(1) The Firepower 1010 supports Power over Ethernet+ (PoE+) on Ethernet 1/7 and Ethernet 1/8.
support on Ethernet 1/7
New/Modified screens:
and Ethernet 1/8
• Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Edit > Power Over
Ethernet
• Monitoring > Interfaces > Power Over Ethernet

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EtherChannel and Redundant Interfaces
This chapter tells how to configure EtherChannels and redundant interfaces.

Note For multiple context mode, complete all tasks in this section in the system execution space. If you are not
already in the system execution space, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.
For ASA cluster interfaces, which have special requirements, see ASA Cluster, on page 331.

Note For Firepower 2100 in Platform mode and Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, EtherChannel interfaces are configured
in the FXOS operating system. Redundant interfaces are not supported. See the configuration or getting started
guide for your chassis for more information.

• About EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces, on page 509

• Guidelines for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces, on page 513
• Default Settings for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces, on page 515
• Configure a Redundant Interface, on page 515
• Configure an EtherChannel, on page 517
• Examples for EtherChannel and Redundant Interfaces, on page 521
• History for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces, on page 521

About EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces

This section describes EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces.

About Redundant Interfaces (ASA Platform Only)

A logical redundant interface consists of a pair of physical interfaces: an active and a standby interface. When
the active interface fails, the standby interface becomes active and starts passing traffic. You can configure a
redundant interface to increase the ASA reliability. This feature is separate from device-level failover, but
you can configure redundant interfaces as well as device-level failover if desired.
You can configure up to 8 redundant interface pairs.

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Redundant Interface MAC Address

The redundant interface uses the MAC address of the first physical interface that you add. If you change the
order of the member interfaces in the configuration, then the MAC address changes to match the MAC address
of the interface that is now listed first. Alternatively, you can assign a manual MAC address to the redundant
interface, which is used regardless of the member interface MAC addresses. When the active interface fails
over to the standby, the same MAC address is maintained so that traffic is not disrupted.
Related Topics
Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578
Configure Multiple Contexts, on page 252

About EtherChannels
An 802.3ad EtherChannel is a logical interface (called a port-channel interface) consisting of a bundle of
individual Ethernet links (a channel group) so that you increase the bandwidth for a single network. A port
channel interface is used in the same way as a physical interface when you configure interface-related features.
You can configure up to 48 EtherChannels, depending on how many interfaces your model supports.

Channel Group Interfaces

Each channel group can have up to 16 active interfaces, except for the Firepower 1000 or 2100, which supports
8 active interfaces. For switches that support only 8 active interfaces, you can assign up to 16 interfaces to a
channel group: while only 8 interfaces can be active, the remaining interfaces can act as standby links in case
of interface failure. For 16 active interfaces, be sure that your switch supports the feature (for example, the
Cisco Nexus 7000 with F2-Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module).
All interfaces in the channel group must be the same type and speed. The first interface added to the channel
group determines the correct type and speed.
The EtherChannel aggregates the traffic across all the available active interfaces in the channel. The interface
is selected using a proprietary hash algorithm, based on source or destination MAC addresses, IP addresses,
TCP and UDP port numbers and VLAN numbers.

Connecting to an EtherChannel on Another Device

The device to which you connect the ASA EtherChannel must also support 802.3ad EtherChannels; for
example, you can connect to the Catalyst 6500 switch or the Cisco Nexus 7000.
When the switch is part of a Virtual Switching System (VSS) or Virtual Port Channel (vPC), then you can
connect ASA interfaces within the same EtherChannel to separate switches in the VSS/vPC. The switch
interfaces are members of the same EtherChannel port-channel interface, because the separate switches act
like a single switch.

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Link Aggregation Control Protocol

Figure 58: Connecting to a VSS/vPC

Note If the ASA is in transparent firewall mode, and you place the ASA between two sets of VSS/vPC switches,
then be sure to disable Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) on any switch ports connected to the ASA with
an EtherChannel. If you enable UDLD, then a switch port may receive UDLD packets sourced from both
switches in the other VSS/vPC pair. The receiving switch will place the receiving interface in a down state
with the reason "UDLD Neighbor mismatch".

If you use the ASA in an Active/Standby failover deployment, then you need to create separate EtherChannels
on the switches in the VSS/vPC, one for each ASA. On each ASA, a single EtherChannel connects to both
switches. Even if you could group all switch interfaces into a single EtherChannel connecting to both ASA
(in this case, the EtherChannel will not be established because of the separate ASA system IDs), a single
EtherChannel would not be desirable because you do not want traffic sent to the standby ASA.
Figure 59: Active/Standby Failover and VSS/vPC

Link Aggregation Control Protocol

The Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) aggregates interfaces by exchanging the Link Aggregation
Control Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) between two network devices.
You can configure each physical interface in an EtherChannel to be:

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Load Balancing

• Active—Sends and receives LACP updates. An active EtherChannel can establish connectivity with
either an active or a passive EtherChannel. You should use the active mode unless you need to minimize
the amount of LACP traffic.
• Passive—Receives LACP updates. A passive EtherChannel can only establish connectivity with an active
EtherChannel. Not supported on Firepower hardware models.
• On—The EtherChannel is always on, and LACP is not used. An “on” EtherChannel can only establish
a connection with another “on” EtherChannel.

LACP coordinates the automatic addition and deletion of links to the EtherChannel without user intervention.
It also handles misconfigurations and checks that both ends of member interfaces are connected to the correct
channel group. “On” mode cannot use standby interfaces in the channel group when an interface goes down,
and the connectivity and configurations are not checked.

Load Balancing
The ASA distributes packets to the interfaces in the EtherChannel by hashing the source and destination IP
address of the packet (this criteria is configurable). The resulting hash is divided by the number of active links
in a modulo operation where the resulting remainder determines which interface owns the flow. All packets
with a hash_value mod active_links result of 0 go to the first interface in the EtherChannel, packets with a
result of 1 go to the second interface, packets with a result of 2 go to the third interface, and so on. For example,
if you have 15 active links, then the modulo operation provides values from 0 to 14. For 6 active links, the
values are 0 to 5, and so on.
For a spanned EtherChannel in clustering, load balancing occurs on a per ASA basis. For example, if you
have 32 active interfaces in the spanned EtherChannel across 8 ASAs, with 4 interfaces per ASA in the
EtherChannel, then load balancing only occurs across the 4 interfaces on the ASA.
If an active interface goes down and is not replaced by a standby interface, then traffic is rebalanced between
the remaining links. The failure is masked from both Spanning Tree at Layer 2 and the routing table at Layer
3, so the switchover is transparent to other network devices.
Related Topics
Customize the EtherChannel, on page 519

EtherChannel MAC Address

All interfaces that are part of the channel group share the same MAC address. This feature makes the
EtherChannel transparent to network applications and users, because they only see the one logical connection;
they have no knowledge of the individual links.
The port-channel interface uses the lowest numbered channel group interface MAC address as the port-channel
MAC address. Alternatively you can manually configure a MAC address for the port-channel interface. In
multiple context mode, you can automatically assign unique MAC addresses to shared interfaces, including
an EtherChannel port interface. We recommend manually, or in multiple context mode for shared interfaces,
automatically configuring a unique MAC address in case the group channel interface membership changes.
If you remove the interface that was providing the port-channel MAC address, then the port-channel MAC
address changes to the next lowest numbered interface, thus causing traffic disruption.

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Guidelines for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces

Bridge Group
In routed mode, ASA-defined EtherChannels are not supported as bridge group members. EtherChannels on
the Firepower 4100/9300 can be bridge group members.

Failover
• When you use a redundant or EtherChannel interface as a Failover link, it must be pre-configured on
both units in the Failover pair; you cannot configure it on the primary unit and expect it to replicate to
the secondary unit because the Failover link itself is required for replication.
• If you use a redundant or EtherChannel interface for the state link, no special configuration is required;
the configuration can replicate from the primary unit as normal. For the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis,
all interfaces, including EtherChannels, need to be pre-configured on both units.
• You can monitor redundant or EtherChannel interfaces for Failover. When an active member interface
fails over to a standby interface, this activity does not cause the redundant or EtherChannel interface to
appear to be failed when being monitored for device-level Failover. Only when all physical interfaces
fail does the redundant or EtherChannel interface appear to be failed (for an EtherChannel interface, the
number of member interfaces allowed to fail is configurable).
• If you use an EtherChannel interface for a Failover or state link, then to prevent out-of-order packets,
only one interface in the EtherChannel is used. If that interface fails, then the next interface in the
EtherChannel is used. You cannot alter the EtherChannel configuration while it is in use as a Failover
link. To alter the configuration, you need to temporarily disable Failover, which prevents Failover from
occurring for the duration.

Model Support
• You cannot add EtherChannels in ASA for the Firepower 2100 in platform mode, Firepower 4100/9300,
or the ASAv. The Firepower 4100/9300 supports EtherChannels, but you must perform all hardware
configuration of EtherChannels in FXOS on the chassis.
• Redundant interfaces are only supported on the ASA 5500-X platform; they are not supported on the
Firepower 1000, Firepower 2100, Firepower 4100/9300, and ASAv.
• You cannot use Firepower 1010 switch ports or VLAN interfaces in EtherChannels.

Clustering
• To configure a spanned EtherChannel or an individual cluster interface, see the clustering chapter.

General Redundant Interface Guidelines

• You can configure up to 8 redundant interface pairs.
• All ASA configuration refers to the logical redundant interface instead of the member physical interfaces.
• You cannot use a redundant interface as part of an EtherChannel, nor can you use an EtherChannel as
part of a redundant interface. You cannot use the same physical interfaces in a redundant interface and

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an EtherChannel interface. You can, however, configure both types on the ASA if they do not use the
same physical interfaces.
• If you shut down the active interface, then the standby interface becomes active.
• Redundant interfaces do not support Management slot/port interfaces as members. You can, however,
set a redundant interface comprised of non-Management interfaces as management-only.

General EtherChannel Guidelines

• You can configure up to 48 EtherChannels, depending on how many interfaces are available on your
model.
• Each channel group can have up to 16 active interfaces, except for the Firepower 1000 or 2100, which
supports 8 active interfaces. For switches that support only 8 active interfaces, you can assign up to 16
interfaces to a channel group: while only 8 interfaces can be active, the remaining interfaces can act as
standby links in case of interface failure. For 16 active interfaces, be sure that your switch supports the
feature (for example, the Cisco Nexus 7000 with F2-Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module).
• All interfaces in the channel group must be the same media type and capacity, and must be set to the
same speed and duplex. The media type can be either RJ-45 or SFP; SFPs of different types (copper and
fiber) can be mixed. You cannot mix interface capacities (for example 1GB and 10GB interfaces) by
setting the speed to be lower on the larger-capacity interface.
• The device to which you connect the ASA EtherChannel must also support 802.3ad EtherChannels.
• The ASA does not support LACPDUs that are VLAN-tagged. If you enable native VLAN tagging on
the neighboring switch using the Cisco IOS vlan dot1Q tag native command, then the ASA will drop
the tagged LACPDUs. Be sure to disable native VLAN tagging on the neighboring switch. In multiple
context mode, these messages are not included in a packet capture, so that you cannot diagnose the issue
easily.
• ASA 5500-X models, Firepower 1000, and Firepower 2100 (in both Appliance mode and Platform mode)
do not support LACP rate fast; LACP always uses the normal rate. This setting is not configurable. Note
that the Firepower 4100/9300, which configures EtherChannels in FXOS, has the LACP rate set to fast
by default; on these platforms, the rate is configurable.
• In Cisco IOS software versions earlier than 15.1(1)S2, the ASA did not support connecting an
EtherChannel to a switch stack. With default switch settings, if the ASA EtherChannel is connected cross
stack, and if the primary switch is powered down, then the EtherChannel connected to the remaining
switch will not come up. To improve compatibility, set the stack-mac persistent timer command to a
large enough value to account for reload time; for example, 8 minutes or 0 for indefinite. Or, you can
upgrade to more a more stable switch software version, such as 15.1(1)S2.
• All ASA configuration refers to the logical EtherChannel interface instead of the member physical
interfaces.
• You cannot use a redundant interface as part of an EtherChannel, nor can you use an EtherChannel as
part of a redundant interface. You cannot use the same physical interfaces in a redundant interface and
an EtherChannel interface. You can, however, configure both types on the ASA if they do not use the
same physical interfaces.

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Default Settings for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces

This section lists default settings for interfaces if you do not have a factory default configuration.

Default State of Interfaces

The default state of an interface depends on the type and the context mode.
In multiple context mode, all allocated interfaces are enabled by default, no matter what the state of the
interface is in the system execution space. However, for traffic to pass through the interface, the interface also
has to be enabled in the system execution space. If you shut down an interface in the system execution space,
then that interface is down in all contexts that share it.
In single mode or in the system execution space, interfaces have the following default states:
• Physical interfaces—Disabled.
• Redundant Interfaces—Enabled. However, for traffic to pass through the redundant interface, the member
physical interfaces must also be enabled.
• EtherChannel port-channel interfaces—Enabled. However, for traffic to pass through the EtherChannel,
the channel group physical interfaces must also be enabled.

Configure a Redundant Interface

A logical redundant interface consists of a pair of physical interfaces: an active and a standby interface. When
the active interface fails, the standby interface becomes active and starts passing traffic. You can configure a
redundant interface to increase the ASA reliability. This feature is separate from device-level failover, but
you can configure redundant interfaces as well as failover if desired.
This section describes how to configure redundant interfaces.

Configure a Redundant Interface

This section describes how to create a redundant interface. By default, redundant interfaces are enabled.

Before you begin

• You can configure up to 8 redundant interface pairs.
• Redundant interface delay values are configurable, but by default the ASA inherits the default delay
values based on the physical type of its member interfaces.
• Both member interfaces must be of the same physical type. For example, both must be GigabitEthernet.
• You cannot add a physical interface to the redundant interface if you configured a name for it. You must
first remove the name in the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

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Caution If you are using a physical interface already in your configuration, removing the name will clear any
configuration that refers to the interface.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management >
Interfaces pane.

Step 2 Choose Add > Redundant Interface.

The Add Redundant Interface dialog box appears.
Note In single mode, this procedure only covers a subset of the parameters on the Edit Redundant Interface
dialog box. Note that in multiple context mode, before you complete your interface configuration,
you need to allocate interfaces to contexts. See Configure Multiple Contexts, on page 252.

Step 3 In the Redundant ID field, enter an integer between 1 and 8.

Step 4 From the Primary Interface drop-down list, choose the physical interface you want to be primary.
Be sure to pick an interface that does not have a subinterface and that has not already been allocated to a
context. Redundant interfaces do not support Management slot/port interfaces as members.

Step 5 From the Secondary Interface drop-down list, choose the physical interface you want to be secondary.
Step 6 If the interface is not already enabled, check the Enable Interface check box.
The interface is enabled by default.

Step 7 To add a description, enter text in the Description field.

The description can be up to 240 characters on a single line, without carriage returns. For multiple context
mode, the system description is independent of the context description. In the case of a failover or state link,
the description is fixed as “LAN Failover Interface,” “STATE Failover Interface,” or “LAN/STATE Failover
Interface,” for example. You cannot edit this description. The fixed description overwrites any description
you enter here if you make this interface a failover or state link.

Step 8 Click OK.

You return to the Interfaces pane. The member interfaces now show a lock to the left of the interface ID
showing that only basic parameters can be configured for it. The redundant interface is added to the table.

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Change the Active Interface

By default, the active interface is the first interface listed in the configuration, if it is available.

Procedure

Step 1 To view which interface is active, enter the following command in the Tools > Command Line Interface
tool:
show interface redundant number detail | grep Member
Example:

show interface redundant1 detail | grep Member

Members GigabitEthernet0/3(Active), GigabitEthernet0/2

Step 2 Change the active interface:

redundant-interface redundant number active-member physical_interface
The redundantnumber argument is the redundant interface ID, such as redundant1.
The physical_interface is the member interface ID that you want to be active.

Configure an EtherChannel
This section describes how to create an EtherChannel port-channel interface, assign interfaces to the
EtherChannel, and customize the EtherChannel.

Add Interfaces to the EtherChannel

This section describes how to create an EtherChannel port-channel interface and assign interfaces to the
EtherChannel. By default, port-channel interfaces are enabled.

Before you begin

• You can configure up to 48 EtherChannels, depending on how many interfaces your model has.
• Each channel group can have up to 16 active interfaces, except for the Firepower 1000 or 2100, which
supports 8 active interfaces. For switches that support only 8 active interfaces, you can assign up to 16
interfaces to a channel group: while only eight interfaces can be active, the remaining interfaces can act
as standby links in case of interface failure.
• To configure a spanned EtherChannel for clustering, see the clustering chapter instead of this procedure.
• All interfaces in the channel group must be the same media type and capacity, and must be set to the
same speed and duplex. The media type can be either RJ-45 or SFP; SFPs of different types (copper and
fiber) can be mixed. You cannot mix interface capacities (for example 1GB and 10GB interfaces) by
setting the speed to be lower on the larger-capacity interface..

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• You cannot add a physical interface to the channel group if you configured a name for it. You must first
remove the name in the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

Caution If you are using a physical interface already in your configuration, removing the name will clear any
configuration that refers to the interface.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management >
Interfaces pane.

Step 2 Choose Add > EtherChannel Interface.

The Add EtherChannel Interface dialog box appears.
Note In single mode, this procedure only covers a subset of the parameters on the Edit EtherChannel
Interface dialog box. Note that in multiple context mode, before you complete your interface
configuration, you need to allocate interfaces to contexts. See Configure Multiple Contexts, on page
252.

Step 3 In the Port Channel ID field, enter a number between 1 and 48 (1 and 8 for the Firepower 1010).
Step 4 In the Available Physical Interface area, click an interface and then click Add to move it to the Members
in Group area.
In transparent mode, if you create a channel group with multiple Management interfaces, then you can use
this EtherChannel as the management-only interface.
Note If you want to set the EtherChannel mode to On, then you must include only one interface initially.
After you complete this procedure, edit the member interface, and set the mode to On. Apply your
changes, then edit the EtherChannel to add more member interfaces.

Step 5 Repeat for each interface you want to add to the channel group.
Make sure all interfaces are the same type and speed. The first interface you add determines the type and
speed of the EtherChannel. Any non-matching interfaces you add will be put into a suspended state. ASDM
does not prevent you from adding non-matching interfaces.

Step 6 Click OK.

You return to the Interfaces pane. The member interfaces now show a lock to the left of the interface ID
showing that only basic parameters can be configured for it. The EtherChannel interface is added to the table.

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Step 7 Click Apply. All member interfaces are enabled automatically.

Related Topics
Link Aggregation Control Protocol, on page 511
Customize the EtherChannel, on page 519

Customize the EtherChannel

This section describes how to set the maximum number of interfaces in the EtherChannel, the minimum
number of operating interfaces for the EtherChannel to be active, the load balancing algorithm, and other
optional parameters.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management >
Interfaces pane.

Step 2 Click the port-channel interface you want to customize, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears.

Step 3 To override the media type, duplex, speed, and pause frames for flow control for all member interfaces, click
Configure Hardware Properties. This method provides a shortcut to set these parameters because these
parameters must match for all interfaces in the channel group.
Step 4 (Optional; ASA 5500-X models only) To customize the EtherChannel, click the Advanced tab.
a) In the EtherChannel area, from the Minimum drop-down list, choose the minimum number of active
interfaces required for the EtherChannel to be active, between 1 and 16. The default is 1.
b) From the Maximum drop-down list, choose the maximum number of active interfaces allowed in the
EtherChannel, between 1 and 16. The default is 16. If your switch does not support 16 active interfaces,
be sure to set this command to 8 or fewer.
c) From the Load Balance drop-down list, select the criteria used to load balance the packets across the
group channel interfaces. By default, the ASA balances the packet load on interfaces according to the
source and destination IP address of the packet. If you want to change the properties on which the packet
is categorized, choose a different set of criteria. For example, if your traffic is biased heavily towards the
same source and destination IP addresses, then the traffic assignment to interfaces in the EtherChannel
will be unbalanced. Changing to a different algorithm can result in more evenly distributed traffic. For
more information about load balancing, see Load Balancing, on page 512.
d) For Secure Group Tagging settings, see the firewall configuration guide.
e) For ASA Cluster settings, see (Recommended; Required in Multiple Context Mode) Configure Interfaces
on the Control Unit, on page 355.
Step 5 Click OK.

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You return to the Interfaces pane.

Step 6 To set the mode and priority for a physical interface in the channel group:
a) Click the physical interface in the Interfaces table, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears.
b) Click the Advanced tab.
c) In the EtherChannel area, from the Mode drop down list, choose Active, Passive, or On. We recommend
using Active mode (the default).
d) (Optional; ASA 5500-X models only) In the LACP Port Priority field, set the port priority between 1
and 65535. The default is 32768. The higher the number, the lower the priority. The ASA uses this setting
to decide which interfaces are active and which are standby if you assign more interfaces than can be
used. If the port priority setting is the same for all interfaces, then the priority is determined by the interface
ID (slot/port). The lowest interface ID is the highest priority. For example, GigabitEthernet 0/0 is a higher
priority than GigabitEthernet 0/1.
If you want to prioritize an interface to be active even though it has a higher interface ID, then set this
command to have a lower value. For example, to make GigabitEthernet 1/3 active before GigabitEthernet
0/7, then make the priority value be 12345 on the 1/3 interface vs. the default 32768 on the 0/7 interface.
If the device at the other end of the EtherChannel has conflicting port priorities, the system priority is
used to determine which port priorities to use. See Step 9 to set the system priority.

Step 7 Click OK.

You return to the Interfaces pane.

Step 8 Click Apply.

Step 9 (Optional; ASA 5500-X models only) To set the LACP system priority, perform the following steps. If the
device at the other end of the EtherChannel has conflicting port priorities, the system priority is used to
determine which port priorities to use. See Step 6d for more information.
a) Depending on your context mode:
• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > EtherChannel pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context
Management > EtherChannel pane.

b) In the LACP System Priority field, enter a priority between 1 and 65535.
The default is 32768.

Related Topics
Load Balancing, on page 512
Add Interfaces to the EtherChannel, on page 517

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Examples for EtherChannel and Redundant Interfaces

The following example configures three interfaces as part of an EtherChannel. It also sets the system priority
to be a higher priority, and GigabitEthernet 0/2 to be a higher priority than the other interfaces in case more
than eight interfaces are assigned to the EtherChannel.

lacp system-priority 1234

interface GigabitEthernet0/0
channel-group 1 mode active
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
channel-group 1 mode active
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
lacp port-priority 1234
channel-group 1 mode passive
interface Port-channel1
lacp max-bundle 4
port-channel min-bundle 2
port-channel load-balance dst-ip

History for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces

Table 28: History for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Redundant interfaces 8.0(2) A logical redundant interface pairs an active

and a standby physical interface. When the
active interface fails, the standby interface
becomes active and starts passing traffic.
You can configure a redundant interface to
increase the ASA reliability. This feature
is separate from device-level failover, but
you can configure redundant interfaces as
well as failover if desired. You can
configure up to eight redundant interface
pairs.

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History for EtherChannels and Redundant Interfaces

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

EtherChannel support 8.4(1) You can configure up to 48 802.3ad

EtherChannels of eight active interfaces
each.
We modified or introduced the following
screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
EtherChannel Interface
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit Interface
Configuration > Device Setup >
EtherChannel
Note EtherChannel is not supported
on the ASA 5505.

Support for 16 active links in an 9.2(1) You can now configure up to 16 active links
EtherChannel in an EtherChannel. Previously, you could
have 8 active links and 8 standby links. Be
sure that your switch can support 16 active
links (for example the Cisco Nexus 7000
with F2-Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Module).
Note If you upgrade from an earlier
ASA version, the maximum
active interfaces is set to 8 for
compatibility purposes.

We modified the following screen:

Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
EtherChannel Interface > Advanced.

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 CHAPTER 17
VLAN Subinterfaces
This chapter tells how to configure VLAN subinterfaces.

Note For multiple context mode, complete all tasks in this section in the system execution space. If you are not
already in the system execution space, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

• About VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 523

• Licensing for VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 523
• Guidelines and Limitations for VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 524
• Default Settings for VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 525
• Configure VLAN Subinterfaces and 802.1Q Trunking, on page 525
• Examples for VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 527
• History for VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 528

About VLAN Subinterfaces

VLAN subinterfaces let you divide a physical, redundant, or EtherChannel interface into multiple logical
interfaces that are tagged with different VLAN IDs. An interface with one or more VLAN subinterfaces is
automatically configured as an 802.1Q trunk. Because VLANs allow you to keep traffic separate on a given
physical interface, you can increase the number of interfaces available to your network without adding
additional physical interfaces or ASAs. This feature is particularly useful in multiple context mode so that
you can assign unique interfaces to each context.
You can configure a primary VLAN, as well as one or more secondary VLANs. When the ASA receives
traffic on the secondary VLANs, it maps it to the primary VLAN.

Licensing for VLAN Subinterfaces

Model License Requirement

Firepower 1010 Standard License: 60

Firepower 1120 Standard License: 512

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Guidelines and Limitations for VLAN Subinterfaces

Model License Requirement

Firepower 1140, 1150 Standard License: 1024

Firepower 2100 Standard License: 1024

Firepower 4100 Standard License: 1024

Firepower 9300 Standard License: 1024

ASAv Throughput capability:

100 Mbps: 25
1 Gbps: 50
2 Gbps: 200
10 Gbps: 1024

ASA 5506-X Base License: 5

ASA 5506W-X Security Plus License: 30
ASA 5506H-X

ASA 5508-X Base License: 50

ASA 5516-X Base License: 50

ASA 5525-X Base License: 200

ASA 5545-X Base License: 300

ASA 5555-X Base License: 500

ISA 3000 Base License: 5

Security Plus License: 100

Note For an interface to count against the VLAN limit, you must assign a VLAN to it.

Guidelines and Limitations for VLAN Subinterfaces

Model Support
• Firepower 1010—VLAN subinterfaces are not supported on switch ports or VLAN interfaces.
• For ASA models, you cannot configure subinterfaces on the Management interface. See Management
Slot/Port Interface, on page 492 for subinterface support.

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Additional Guidelines
• Preventing untagged packets on the physical interface—If you use subinterfaces, you typically do not
also want the physical interface to pass traffic, because the physical interface passes untagged packets.
This property is also true for the active physical interface in a redundant interface pair and for EtherChannel
links. Because the physical, redundant, or EtherChannel interface must be enabled for the subinterface
to pass traffic, ensure that the physical, redundant, or EtherChannel interface does not pass traffic by not
configuring a name for the interface. If you want to let the physical, redundant, or EtherChannel interface
pass untagged packets, you can configure the name as usual.
• All subinterfaces on the same parent interface must be either bridge group members or routed interfaces;
you cannot mix and match.
• The ASA does not support the Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), so you must configure the connected
switch port to trunk unconditionally.
• You might want to assign unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces defined on the ASA, because they use
the same burned-in MAC address of the parent interface. For example, your service provider might
perform access control based on the MAC address. Also, because IPv6 link-local addresses are generated
based on the MAC address, assigning unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces allows for unique IPv6
link-local addresses, which can avoid traffic disruption in certain instances on the ASA.You can
automatically generate unique MAC addresses; see Automatically Assign MAC Addresses in Multiple
Context Mode, on page 577.

Default Settings for VLAN Subinterfaces

This section lists default settings for interfaces if you do not have a factory default configuration.

Default State of Interfaces

The default state of an interface depends on the type and the context mode.
In multiple context mode, all allocated interfaces are enabled by default, no matter what the state of the
interface is in the system execution space. However, for traffic to pass through the interface, the interface also
has to be enabled in the system execution space. If you shut down an interface in the system execution space,
then that interface is down in all contexts that share it.
In single mode or in the system execution space, interfaces have the following default states:
• Physical interfaces—Disabled.
• VLAN subinterfaces—Enabled. However, for traffic to pass through the subinterface, the physical
interface must also be enabled.

Configure VLAN Subinterfaces and 802.1Q Trunking

Add a VLAN subinterface to a physical, redundant, or EtherChannel interface.

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Configure VLAN Subinterfaces and 802.1Q Trunking

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already in
the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.
• For multiple mode in the System execution space, choose the Configuration > Context Management
> Interfaces pane.

Step 2 Choose Add > Interface.

The Add Interface dialog box appears.
Note In single mode, this procedure only covers a subset of the parameters on the Edit Interface dialog
box; to configure other parameters, see Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 541. Note
that in multiple context mode, before you complete your interface configuration, you need to allocate
interfaces to contexts. See Configure Multiple Contexts, on page 252.

Step 3 From the Hardware Port drop-down list, choose the physical, redundant, or port-channel interface to which
you want to add the subinterface.
Step 4 If the interface is not already enabled, check the Enable Interface check box.
The interface is enabled by default.

Step 5 In the VLAN ID field, enter the VLAN ID between 1 and 4094.
Some VLAN IDs might be reserved on connected switches, so check the switch documentation for more
information. For multiple context mode, you can only set the VLAN in the system configuration.

Step 6 In the Secondary VLAN ID field, enter one or more VLAN IDs separated by spaces, commas, or dashes (for
a contiguous range).
When the ASA receives traffic on the secondary VLANs, it maps the traffic to the primary VLAN.

Step 7 In the Subinterface ID field, enter the subinterface ID as an integer between 1 and 4294967293.
The number of subinterfaces allowed depends on your platform. You cannot change the ID after you set it.

Step 8 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for this interface.
The description can be up to 240 characters on a single line, without carriage returns. For multiple context
mode, the system description is independent of the context description. In the case of a failover or state link,
the description is fixed as “LAN Failover Interface,” “STATE Failover Interface,” or “LAN/STATE Failover
Interface,” for example. You cannot edit this description. The fixed description overwrites any description
you enter here if you make this interface a failover or state link.

Step 9 Click OK.

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Examples for VLAN Subinterfaces

You return to the Interfaces pane.

Related Topics
Licensing for VLAN Subinterfaces, on page 523

Examples for VLAN Subinterfaces

The following example configures parameters for a subinterface in single mode:

interface gigabitethernet 0/1

no nameif
no security-level
no ip address
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 0/1.1
vlan 101
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.6.6 255.255.255.0
no shutdown

The following example shows how VLAN mapping works with the Catalyst 6500. Consult the Catalyst 6500
configuration guide on how to connect nodes to PVLANS.

ASA Configuration

interface GigabitEthernet1/1
description Connected to Switch GigabitEthernet1/5
no nameif
no security-level
no ip address
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/1.70
vlan 70 secondary 71 72
nameif vlan_map1
security-level 50
ip address 10.11.1.2 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/2
nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address 172.16.171.31 255.255.255.0
no shutdown

Catalyst 6500 Configuration

vlan 70
private-vlan primary
private-vlan association 71-72
!
vlan 71
private-vlan community
!
vlan 72
private-vlan isolated

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!
interface GigabitEthernet1/5
description Connected to ASA GigabitEthernet1/1
switchport
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk allowed vlan 70-72
switchport mode trunk
!

History for VLAN Subinterfaces

Table 29: History for VLAN Subinterfaces

Feature Name Version Feature Information

Increased VLANs 7.0(5) Increased the following limits:

• ASA5510 Base license VLANs from 0 to 10.
• ASA5510 Security Plus license VLANs from 10 to 25.
• ASA5520 VLANs from 25 to 100.
• ASA5540 VLANs from 100 to 200.

Increased VLANs 7.2(2) VLAN limits were increased for the ASA 5510 (from 10 to 50 for the Base license,
and from 25 to 100 for the Security Plus license), the ASA 5520 (from 100 to 150),
the ASA 5550 (from 200 to 250).

Increased VLANs for the ASA 5580 8.1(2) The number of VLANs supported on the ASA 5580 are increased from 100 to 250.

Support to map a Secondary VLANs 9.5(2) You can now configure one or more secondary VLANs for a subinterface. When the
to a Primary VLAN ASA receives traffic on the secondary VLANs, it maps it to the primary VLAN.
We modified the following screens: Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add Interface >
General

Increased VLANs for the ISA 3000 9.13(1) The maximum VLANs for the ISA 3000 with the Security Plus license increased
from 25 to 100.

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 CHAPTER 18
VXLAN Interfaces
This chapter tells how to configure Virtual eXtensible LAN (VXLAN) interfaces. VXLANs act as Layer 2
virtual networks over Layer 3 physical networks to stretch Layer 2 networks.
• About VXLAN Interfaces, on page 529
• Guidelines for VXLAN Interfaces, on page 534
• Default Settings for VXLAN Interfaces, on page 534
• Configure VXLAN Interfaces, on page 534
• Examples for VXLAN Interfaces, on page 536
• History for VXLAN Interfaces, on page 540

About VXLAN Interfaces

VXLAN provides the same Ethernet Layer 2 network services as VLAN does, but with greater extensibility
and flexibility. Compared to VLAN, VXLAN offers the following benefits:
• Flexible placement of multitenant segments throughout the data center.
• Higher scalability to address more Layer 2 segments: up to 16 million VXLAN segments.

This section describes how VXLAN works. For detailed information, see RFC 7348.

VXLAN Encapsulation
VXLAN is a Layer 2 overlay scheme on a Layer 3 network. It uses MAC Address-in-User Datagram Protocol
(MAC-in-UDP) encapsulation. The original Layer 2 frame has a VXLAN header added and is then placed in
a UDP-IP packet.

VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint

VXLAN tunnel endpoint (VTEP) devices perform VXLAN encapsulation and decapsulation. Each VTEP
has two interface types: one or more virtual interfaces called VXLAN Network Identifier (VNI) interfaces to
which you apply your security policy, and a regular interface called the VTEP source interface that tunnels
the VNI interfaces between VTEPs. The VTEP source interface is attached to the transport IP network for
VTEP-to-VTEP communication.

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VTEP Source Interface

The following figure shows two ASAs and Virtual Server 2 acting as VTEPs across a Layer 3 network,
extending the VNI 1, 2, and 3 networks between sites. The ASAs act as bridges or gateways between VXLAN
and non-VXLAN networks.

The underlying IP network between VTEPs is independent of the VXLAN overlay. Encapsulated packets are
routed based on the outer IP address header, which has the initiating VTEP as the source IP address and the
terminating VTEP as the destination IP address. The destination IP address can be a multicast group when
the remote VTEP is not known. The destination port is UDP port 4789 by default (user configurable).

VTEP Source Interface

The VTEP source interface is a regular ASA interface (physical, redundant, EtherChannel, or even VLAN)
with which you plan to associate all VNI interfaces. You can configure one VTEP source interface per
ASA/security context.
The VTEP source interface can be devoted wholly to VXLAN traffic, although it is not restricted to that use.
If desired, you can use the interface for regular traffic and apply a security policy to the interface for that
traffic. For VXLAN traffic, however, all security policy must be applied to the VNI interfaces. The VTEP
interface serves as a physical port only.
In transparent firewall mode, the VTEP source interface is not part of a BVI, and you do configure an IP
address for it, similar to the way the management interface is treated.

VNI Interfaces
VNI interfaces are similar to VLAN interfaces: they are virtual interfaces that keep network traffic separated
on a given physical interface by using tagging. You apply your security policy directly to each VNI interface.
All VNI interfaces are associated with the same VTEP interface.

VXLAN Packet Processing

Traffic entering and exiting the VTEP source interface is subject to VXLAN processing, specifically
encapsulation or decapsulation.
Encapsulation processing includes the following tasks:
• The VTEP source interface encapsulates the inner MAC frame with the VXLAN header.
• The UDP checksum field is set to zero.

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Peer VTEPs

• The Outer frame source IP is set to the VTEP interface IP.

• The Outer frame destination IP is decided by a remote VTEP IP lookup.

Decapsulation; the ASA only decapsulates a VXLAN packet if:

• It is a UDP packet with the destination port set to 4789 (this value is user configurable).
• The ingress interface is the VTEP source interface.
• The ingress interface IP address is the same as the destination IP address.
• The VXLAN packet format is compliant with the standard.

Peer VTEPs
When the ASA sends a packet to a device behind a peer VTEP, the ASA needs two important pieces of
information:
• The destination MAC address of the remote device
• The destination IP address of the peer VTEP

There are two ways in which the ASA can find this information:
• A single peer VTEP IP address can be statically configured on the ASA.
You cannot manually define multiple peers.
The ASA then sends a VXLAN-encapsulated ARP broadcast to the VTEP to learn the end node MAC
address.
• A multicast group can be configured on each VNI interface (or on the VTEP as a whole).
The ASA sends a VXLAN-encapsulated ARP broadcast packet within an IP multicast packet through
the VTEP source interface. The response to this ARP request enables the ASA to learn both the remote
VTEP IP address along with the destination MAC address of the remote end node.

The ASA maintains a mapping of destination MAC addresses to remote VTEP IP addresses for the VNI
interfaces.

VXLAN Use Cases

This section describes the use cases for implementing VXLAN on the ASA.

VXLAN Bridge or Gateway Overview

Each ASA VTEP acts as a bridge or gateway between end nodes such as VMs, servers, and PCs and the
VXLAN overlay network. For incoming frames received with VXLAN encapsulation over the VTEP source
interface, the ASA strips out the VXLAN header and forwards it to a physical interface connected to a
non-VXLAN network based on the destination MAC address of the inner Ethernet frame.
The ASA always processes VXLAN packets; it does not just forward VXLAN packets untouched between
two other VTEPs.

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VXLAN Bridge
When you use a bridge group (transparent firewall mode, or optionally routed mode), the ASA can serve as
a VXLAN bridge between a (remote) VXLAN segment and a local segment where both are in the same
network. In this case, one member of the bridge group is a regular interface while the other member is a VNI
interface.

VXLAN Gateway (Routed Mode)

The ASA can serve as a router between VXLAN and non-VXLAN domains, connecting devices on different
networks.

Router Between VXLAN Domains

With a VXLAN-stretched Layer 2 domain, a VM can point to an ASA as its gateway while the ASA is not
on the same rack, or even when the ASA is far away over the Layer 3 network.

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Router Between VXLAN Domains

See the following notes about this scenario:

1. For packets from VM3 to VM1, the destination MAC address is the ASA MAC address, because the ASA
is the default gateway.
2. The VTEP source interface on Virtual Server 2 receives packets from VM3, then encapsulates the packets
with VNI 3’s VXLAN tag and sends them to the ASA.
3. When the ASA receives the packets, it decapsulates the packets to get the inner frames.
4. The ASA uses the inner frames for route lookup, then finds that the destination is on VNI 2. If it does not
already have a mapping for VM1, the ASA sends an encapsulated ARP broadcast on the multicast group
IP on VNI 2.

Note The ASA must use dynamic VTEP peer discovery because it has multiple VTEP peers in this scenario.

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Guidelines for VXLAN Interfaces

5. The ASA encapsulates the packets again with the VXLAN tag for VNI 2 and sends the packets to Virtual
Server 1. Before encapsulation, the ASA changes the inner frame destination MAC address to be the MAC
of VM1 (multicast-encapsulated ARP might be needed for the ASA to learn the VM1 MAC address).
6. When Virtual Server 1 receives the VXLAN packets, it decapsulates the packets and delivers the inner
frames to VM1.

Guidelines for VXLAN Interfaces

IPv6
• The VNI interface supports IPv6 traffic, but the VTEP source interface IP address only supports IPv4.
• IPv6 OSPF interface settings are not supported.

Clustering
ASA clustering does not support VXLAN in Individual Interface mode. Only Spanned EtherChannel mode
supports VXLAN.

Routing
• Only static routing or Policy Based Routing is supported on the VNI interface; dynamic routing protocols
are not supported.

MTU
If the source interface MTU is less than 1554 bytes, then the ASA automatically raises the MTU to 1554
bytes. In this case, the entire Ethernet datagram is being encapsulated, so the new packet is larger and requires
a larger MTU. If the MTU used by other devices is larger, then you should set the source interface MTU to
be the network MTU + 54 bytes. This MTU requires you to enable jumbo frame reservation; see Enable Jumbo
Frame Support (ASA Models), on page 497.

Model Guidelines
Firepower 1010 switch ports and VLAN interfaces are not supported as VTEP interfaces.

Default Settings for VXLAN Interfaces

VNI interfaces are enabled by default.

Configure VXLAN Interfaces

To configure VXLAN, perform the following steps.

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Procedure

Step 1 Configure the VTEP Source Interface, on page 535.

Step 2 Configure the VNI Interface, on page 536

Configure the VTEP Source Interface

You can configure one VTEP source interface per ASA or per security context. The VTEP is defined as a
Network Virtualization Endpoint (NVE); VXLAN VTEP is the only supported NVE at this time.

Before you begin

For multiple context mode, complete the tasks in this section in the context execution space. In the Configuration
> Device List pane, double-click the context name under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces, and edit the interface you want
to use for the VTEP source interface.
Step 2 (Transparent Mode) Check the VTEP Source Interface check box.
This setting lets you configure an IP address for the interface. This command is optional for routed mode
where this setting restricts traffic to VXLAN only on this interface.

Step 3 Configure the source interface name and IPv4 address, and click OK.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > VXLAN.
Step 5 (Optional) Enter a VXLAN Destination Port value if you want to change from the default 4789.
In multiple context mode, configure this setting in the System execution space.

Step 6 Check the Enable Network Virtualization Endpoint encapsulation using VXLAN check box.
Step 7 Choose the VTEP Tunnel Interface from the drop-down list.
Note If the VTEP interface MTU is less than 1554 bytes, then the ASA automatically raises the MTU to
1554 bytes.

Step 8 (Optional) Check the Configure Packet Recipient check box.

• (Multiple context mode; Optional for single mode) Enter the Specify Peer VTEP IP Address to manually
specify the peer VTEP IP address
If you specify the peer IP address, you cannot use multicast group discovery. Multicast is not supported
in multiple context mode, so manual configuration is the only option. You can only specify one peer for
the VTEP.
• (Single mode only) Enter the Multicast traffic to default multicast address to specify a default multicast
group for all associated VNI interfaces.

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If you do not configure the multicast group per VNI interface, then this group is used. If you configure
a group at the VNI interface level, then that group overrides this setting.

Step 9 Click Apply.

Configure the VNI Interface

Add a VNI interface, associate it with the VTEP source interface, and configure basic interface parameters.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces, and click Add > VNI
Interface.
Step 2 Enter the VNI ID, between 1 and 10000.
This ID is just an internal interface identifier.

Step 3 Enter the VNI Segment ID, between 1 and 16777215.

The segment ID is used for VXLAN tagging.

Step 4 (Transparent Mode) Choose the Bridge Group to which you want to assign this interface.
See Configure Bridge Group Interfaces, on page 548 to configure the BVI interface and associate regular
interfaces to this bridge group.

Step 5 Enter the Interface Name.

The name is a text string up to 48 characters, and is not case-sensitive. You can change the name by reentering
this command with a new value.

Step 6 Enter the Security Level, between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest). See Security Levels, on page 541.
Step 7 (Single Mode) Enter the Multicast Group IP Address.
If you do not set the multicast group for the VNI interface, the default group from the VTEP source interface
configuration is used, if available. If you manually set a VTEP peer IP for the VTEP source interface, you
cannot specify a multicast group for the VNI interface. Multicast is not supported in multiple context mode.

Step 8 Check the NVE Mapped to VTEP Interface check box.

This setting associates the VNI interface with the VTEP source interface.

Step 9 Check the Enable Interface check box. This setting is enabled by default.
Step 10 (Routed Mode) In the IP Address area, configure an IPv4 address. To configure IPv6, click the IPv6 tab.
Step 11 Click OK, and then Apply.

Examples for VXLAN Interfaces

See the following configuration examples for VXLAN.

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Transparent VXLAN Gateway Example

See the following description of this example:

• The outside interface on GigabitEthernet 0/0 is used as the VTEP source interface, and it is connected
to the Layer 3 network.
• The insidevm100 VLAN subinterface on GigabitEthernet 0/1.100 is connected to the 10.10.10.0/24
network, on which VM3 resides. When VM3 communicates with VM1 (not shown; both have
10.10.10.0/24 IP addresses), the ASA uses VXLAN tag 6000.
• The insidevm200 VLAN subinterface on GigabitEthernet 0/1.200 is connected to the 10.20.20.0/24
network, on which VM2 resides. When VM2 communicates with VM4 (not shown; both have
10.20.20.0/24 IP addresses), the ASA uses VXLAN tag 8000.
• The insidepc interface on GigabitEthernet 0/2 is connected to the 10.30.30.0/24 network on which a few
PCs reside. When those PCs communicate with VMs/PCs (not shown) behind a remote VTEP that belongs
to same network (all have 10.30.30.0/24 IP addresses), the ASA uses VXLAN tag 10000.

ASA Configuration

firewall transparent
vxlan port 8427
!
interface gigabitethernet0/0
nve-only
nameif outside
ip address 192.168.1.30 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
nve 1
encapsulation vxlan
source-interface outside
!
interface vni1
segment-id 6000
nameif vxlan6000
security-level 0
bridge-group 1

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vtep-nve 1
mcast-group 235.0.0.100
!
interface vni2
segment-id 8000
nameif vxlan8000
security-level 0
bridge-group 2
vtep-nve 1
mcast-group 236.0.0.100
!
interface vni3
segment-id 10000
nameif vxlan10000
security-level 0
bridge-group 3
vtep-nve 1
mcast-group 236.0.0.100
!
interface gigabitethernet0/1.100
nameif insidevm100
security-level 100
bridge-group 1
!
interface gigabitethernet0/1.200
nameif insidevm200
security-level 100
bridge-group 2
!
interface gigabitethernet0/2
nameif insidepc
security-level 100
bridge-group 3
!
interface bvi 1
ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface bvi 2
ip address 10.20.20.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface bvi 3
ip address 10.30.30.1 255.255.255.0

Notes
• For VNI interfaces vni1 and vni2, the inner VLAN tag is removed during encapsulation.
• VNI interfaces vni2 and vni3 share the same multicast IP address for encapsulated ARP over multicast.
This sharing is allowed.
• The ASA bridges the VXLAN traffic to non-VXLAN-supported interfaces based on the above BVIs and
bridge group configurations. For each of the stretched Layer 2 network segments (10.10.10.0/24,
10.20.20.0/24 and 10.30.30.0/24), the ASA serves as a bridge.
• It is allowed to have more than one VNI or more than one regular interface (VLAN or just physical
interface) in a bridge group. The forwarding or association between VXLAN segment ID to the VLAN
ID (or a physical interface) is decided by the destination MAC address and which interface connects to
the destination.

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VXLAN Routing Example

• The VTEP source-interface is a Layer 3 interface in transparent firewall mode indicated by nve-only in
the interface configuration. The VTEP source interface is not a BVI interface or a management interface,
but it has an IP address and uses the routing table.

VXLAN Routing Example

See the following description of this example:

• VM1 (10.10.10.10) is hosted on Virtual Server 1, and VM2 (10.20.20.20) is hosted on Virtual Server 2.
• The default gateway for VM1 is the ASA, which is not in the same pod as Virtual Server 1, but VM1 is
not aware of it. VM1 only knows that its default gateway IP address is 10.10.10.1. Similarly, VM2 only
knows that its default gateway IP address is 10.20.20.1.
• The VTEP-supported hypervisors on Virtual Server 1 and 2 are able to communicate with the ASA over
the same subnet or through a Layer 3 network (not shown; in which case, the ASA and uplinks of virtual
servers have different network addresses).
• VM1’s packet will be encapsulated by its hypervisor’s VTEP and sent to its default gateway over VXLAN
tunneling.
• When VM1 sends a packet to VM2, the packet will be sent through default gateway 10.10.10.1 from its
perspective. Virtual Server1 knows 10.10.10.1 is not local, so the VTEP encapsulates the packet over
VXLAN and sends it to ASA’s VTEP.
• On the ASA, the packet is decapsulated. The VXLAN segment ID is learned during decapsulation. The
ASA then re-injects the inner frame to the corresponding VNI interface (vni1) based on the VXLAN
segment ID. The ASA then conducts a route lookup and sends the inner packet through another VNI
interface, vni2. All egressing packets through vni2 are encapsulated with VXLAN segment 8000 and
sent through the VTEP to outside.
• Eventually the encapsulated packet is received by the VTEP of Virtual Server 2, which decapsulates it
and forwards it to VM2.

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History for VXLAN Interfaces

ASA Configuration

interface gigabitethernet0/0
nameif outside
ip address 192.168.1.30 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
!
nve 1
encapsulation vxlan
source-interface outside
default-mcast-group 235.0.0.100
!
interface vni1
segment-id 6000
nameif vxlan6000
security-level 0
vtep-nve 1
ip address 10.20.20.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface vni2
segment-id 8000
nameif vxlan8000
security-level 0
vtep-nve 1
ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0
!

History for VXLAN Interfaces

Table 30: History for VXLAN Interfaces

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

VXLAN support 9.4(1) VXLAN support was added, including

VXLAN tunnel endpoint (VTEP) support.
You can define one VTEP source interface
per ASA or security context.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add > VNI
Interface
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > VXLAN

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Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces
This chapter includes tasks to complete the interface configuration for all models in routed or transparent
firewall mode.

Note For multiple context mode, complete the tasks in this section in the context execution space. In the Configuration
> Device List pane, double-click the context name under the active device IP address.

• About Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 541

• Guidelines and Limitations for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 543
• Configure Routed Mode Interfaces, on page 545
• Configure Bridge Group Interfaces, on page 548
• Configure IPv6 Addressing, on page 552
• Monitoring Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 563
• Examples for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 565
• History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces, on page 568

About Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

The ASA supports two types of interfaces: routed and bridged.
Each Layer 3 routed interface requires an IP address on a unique subnet.
Bridged interfaces belong to a bridge group, and all interfaces are on the same network. The bridge group is
represented by a Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) that has an IP address on the bridge network. Routed mode
supports both routed and bridged interfaces, and you can route between routed interfaces and BVIs. Transparent
firewall mode only supports bridge group and BVI interfaces.

Security Levels
Each interface must have a security level from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest), including bridge group member
interfaces. For example, you should assign your most secure network, such as the inside host network, to level
100. While the outside network connected to the Internet can be level 0. Other networks, such as DMZs can
be in between. You can assign interfaces to the same security level.

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Dual IP Stack (IPv4 and IPv6)

Whether you assign a security level to a BVI depends on the firewall mode. In transparent mode, the BVI
interface does not have a security level because it does not participate in routing between interfaces. In routed
mode, BVI interfaces have a security level if you choose to route between the BVIs and other interfaces. For
routed mode, the security level on a bridge group member interface only applies for communication within
the bridge group. Similarly, the BVI security level only applies for inter-BVI/Layer 3 interface communication.
The level controls the following behavior:
• Network access—By default, there is an implicit permit from a higher security interface to a lower
security interface (outbound). Hosts on the higher security interface can access any host on a lower
security interface. You can limit access by applying an ACL to the interface.
If you enable communication for same-security interfaces, there is an implicit permit for interfaces to
access other interfaces on the same security level or lower.
• Inspection engines—Some application inspection engines are dependent on the security level. For
same-security interfaces, inspection engines apply to traffic in either direction.
• NetBIOS inspection engine—Applied only for outbound connections.
• SQL*Net inspection engine—If a control connection for the SQL*Net (formerly OraServ) port
exists between a pair of hosts, then only an inbound data connection is permitted through the ASA.

Dual IP Stack (IPv4 and IPv6)

The ASA supports both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses on an interface. Make sure you configure a default route for
both IPv4 and IPv6.

31-Bit Subnet Mask

For routed interfaces, you can configure an IP address on a 31-bit subnet for point-to-point connections. The
31-bit subnet includes only 2 addresses; normally, the first and last address in the subnet is reserved for the
network and broadcast, so a 2-address subnet is not usable. However, if you have a point-to-point connection
and do not need network or broadcast addresses, a 31-bit subnet is a useful way to preserve addresses in IPv4.
For example, the failover link between 2 ASAs only requires 2 addresses; any packet that is transmitted by
one end of the link is always received by the other, and broadcasting is unnecessary. You can also have a
directly-connected management station running SNMP or Syslog.

31-Bit Subnet and Clustering

You can use a 31-bit subnet mask in Spanned clustering mode, excluding the management interface and the
Cluster Control Link.
You cannot use a 31-bit subnet mask in Individual clustering mode on any interface.

31-Bit Subnet and Failover

For failover, when you use a 31-bit subnet for the ASA interface IP address, you cannot configure a standby
IP address for the interface because there are not enough addresses. Normally, an interface for failover should
have a standby IP address so the active unit can perform interface tests to ensure standby interface health.
Without a standby IP address, the ASA cannot perform any network tests; only the link state can be tracked.

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31-Bit Subnet and Management

For the failover and optional separate state link, which are point-to-point connections, you can also use a
31-bit subnet.

31-Bit Subnet and Management

If you have a directly-connected management station, you can use a point-to-point connection for SSH or
HTTP on the ASA, or for SNMP or Syslog on the management station.

31-Bit Subnet Unsupported Features

The following features do not support the 31-Bit subnet:
• BVI interfaces for bridge groups—The bridge group requires at least 3 host addresses: the BVI, and two
hosts connected to two bridge group member interfaces. you must use a /29 subnet or smaller.
• Multicast Routing

Guidelines and Limitations for Routed and Transparent Mode

Interfaces
Context Mode
• In multiple context mode, you can only configure context interfaces that you already assigned to the
context in the system configuration according to Configure Multiple Contexts, on page 252.
• PPPoE is not supported in multiple context mode.
• For multiple context mode in transparent mode, each context must use different interfaces; you cannot
share an interface across contexts.
• For multiple context mode in transparent mode, each context typically uses a different subnet. You can
use overlapping subnets, but your network topology requires router and NAT configuration to make it
possible from a routing standpoint.
• DHCPv6 and prefix delegation options are not supported with multiple context mode.
• In routed firewall mode, bridge group interfaces are not supported in multiple context mode.

Failover
• Do not configure failover links with the procedures in this chapter. See the Failover chapter for more
information.
• When you use Failover, you must set the IP address and standby address for data interfaces manually;
DHCP and PPPoE are not supported.

IPv6
• IPv6 is supported on all interfaces.
• You can only configure IPv6 addresses manually in transparent mode.

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Guidelines and Limitations for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

• The ASA does not support IPv6 anycast addresses.

• DHCPv6 and prefix delegation options are not supported with multiple context mode, transparent mode,
or clustering.

Model Guidelines
• For the ASAv50, bridge groups are not supported in either transparent or routed mode.
• For the Firepower 2100 series, bridge groups are not supported in routed mode.

Transparent Mode and Bridge Group Guidelines

• You can create up to 250 bridge groups, with 64 interfaces per bridge group.
• Each directly-connected network must be on the same subnet.
• The ASA does not support traffic on secondary networks; only traffic on the same network as the BVI
IP address is supported.
• For IPv4, an IP address for the BVI is required for each bridge group for both management traffic and
for traffic to pass through the ASA. IPv6 addresses are supported, but not required for the BVI.
• You can only configure IPv6 addresses manually.
• The BVI IP address must be on the same subnet as the connected network. You cannot set the subnet to
a host subnet (255.255.255.255).
• Management interfaces are not supported as bridge group members.
• For the Firepower 1010, you cannot mix logical VLAN interfaces and physical firewall interfaces in the
same bridge group.
• In transparent mode, you must use at least 1 bridge group; data interfaces must belong to a bridge group.
• In transparent mode, do not specify the BVI IP address as the default gateway for connected devices;
devices need to specify the router on the other side of the ASA as the default gateway.
• In transparent mode, the default route, which is required to provide a return path for management traffic,
is only applied to management traffic from one bridge group network. This is because the default route
specifies an interface in the bridge group as well as the router IP address on the bridge group network,
and you can only define one default route. If you have management traffic from more than one bridge
group network, you need to specify a regular static route that identifies the network from which you
expect management traffic.
• In transparent mode, PPPoE is not supported for the Management interface.
• In routed mode, to route between bridge groups and other routed interfaces, you must name the BVI.
• In routed mode, ASA-defined EtherChannel and VNI interfaces are not supported as bridge group
members. EtherChannels on the Firepower 4100/9300 can be bridge group members.
• Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) echo packets are not allowed through the ASA when using
bridge group members. If there are two neighbors on either side of the ASA running BFD, then the ASA
will drop BFD echo packets because they have the same source and destination IP address and appear
to be part of a LAND attack.

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Default Security Level

The default security level is 0. If you name an interface “inside,” and you do not set the security level explicitly,
then the ASA sets the security level to 100.

Note If you change the security level of an interface, and you do not want to wait for existing connections to time
out before the new security information is used, you can clear the connections using the clear conn command.

Additional Guidelines and Requirements

• The ASA supports only one 802.1Q header in a packet and does not support multiple headers (known
as Q-in-Q support).

Configure Routed Mode Interfaces

To configure routed mode interfaces, perform the following steps.

Configure General Routed Mode Interface Parameters

This procedure describes how to set the name, security level, IPv4 address, and other options.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the system
to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Choose the interface row, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.
Note For the Firepower 1010, you cannot configure switch ports as routed mode interfaces.

Step 3 In the Interface Name field, enter a name up to 48 characters in length.

Step 4 In the Security level field, enter a level between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest).
Step 5 (Optional) To set this interface as a management-only interface, check the Dedicate this interface to
management-only check box.
Through traffic is not accepted on a management-only interface.
Note The Channel Group field is read-only and indicates if the interface is part of an EtherChannel.

Step 6 If the interface is not already enabled, check the Enable Interface check box.
Step 7 To set the IP address, use one of the following options.

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Note For failover and clustering, you must set the IP address manually; DHCP and PPPoE are not
supported.

• To set the IP address manually, click the Use Static IP radio button and enter the IP address and mask.
For failover, set the standby IP addresses on the Configuration > Device Management > High
Availability > Failover > Interfaces tab. If you do not set the standby IP address, the active unit cannot
monitor the standby interface using network tests; it can only track the link state.
For point-to-point connections, you can specify a 31-bit subnet mask (255.255.255.254). In this case, no
IP addresses are reserved for the network or broadcast addresses. You cannot set the standby IP address
in this case.
• To obtain an IP address from a DHCP server, click the Obtain Address via DHCP radio button.
a. To force a MAC address to be stored inside a DHCP request packet for option 61, click the Use
MAC Address radio button.
Some ISPs expect option 61 to be the interface MAC address. If the MAC address is not included
in the DHCP request packet, then an IP address will not be assigned.
b. To use a generated string for option 61, click Use “Cisco-<MAC>-<interface_name>-<host>”.
c. (Optional) To obtain the default route from the DHCP server, check Obtain Default Route Using
DHCP.
d. (Optional) To assign an administrative distance to the learned route, enter a value between 1 and 255
in the DHCP Learned Route Metric field. If this field is left blank, the administrative distance for
the learned routes is 1.
e. (Optional) To enable tracking for DHCP-learned routes, check Enable Tracking for DHCP Learned
Routes. Set the following values:
Track ID—A unique identifier for the route tracking process. Valid values are from 1 to 500.
Track IP Address—Enter the IP address of the target being tracked. Typically, this would be the
IP address of the next hop gateway for the route, but it could be any network object available off of
that interface.
Note Route tracking is only available in single, routed mode.

SLA ID—A unique identifier for the SLA monitoring process. Valid values are from 1 to 2147483647.
Monitor Options—Click this button to open the Route Monitoring Options dialog box. In the
Route Monitoring Options dialog box you can configure the parameters of the tracked object
monitoring process.
f. (Optional) To set the broadcast flag to 1 in the DHCP packet header when the DHCP client sends a
discover requesting an IP address, check Enable DHCP Broadcast flag for DHCP request and
discover messages.
The DHCP server listens to this broadcast flag and broadcasts the reply packet if the flag is set to 1.
g. (Optional) To renew the lease, click Renew DHCP Lease.

• (Single mode only) To obtain an IP address using PPPoE, check Use PPPoE.
a. In the Group Name field, specify a group name.
b. In the PPPoE Username field, specify the username provided by your ISP.

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c. In the PPPoE Password field, specify the password provided by your ISP.
d. In the Confirm Password field, retype the password.
e. For PPP authentication, click either the PAP, CHAP, or MSCHAP radio button.
PAP passes cleartext username and password during authentication and is not secure. With CHAP,
the client returns the encrypted [challenge plus password], with a cleartext username in response to
the server challenge. CHAP is more secure than PAP, but it does not encrypt data. MSCHAP is
similar to CHAP but is more secure because the server stores and compares only encrypted passwords
rather than cleartext passwords as in CHAP. MSCHAP also generates a key for data encryption by
MPPE.
f. (Optional) To store the username and password in flash memory, check the Store Username and
Password in Local Flash check box.
The ASA stores the username and password in a special location of NVRAM. If an Auto Update
Server sends a clear configure command to the ASA, and the connection is then interrupted, the
ASA can read the username and password from NVRAM and re-authenticate to the Access
Concentrator.
g. (Optional) To display the PPPoE IP Address and Route Settings dialog box where you can choose
addressing and tracking options, click IP Address and Route Settings.

Step 8 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for this interface.
The description can be up to 240 characters on a single line, without carriage returns. In the case of a failover
or state link, the description is fixed as “LAN Failover Interface,” “STATE Failover Interface,” or “LAN/STATE
Failover Interface,” for example. You cannot edit this description. The fixed description overwrites any
description you enter here if you make this interface a failover or state link.

Step 9 Click OK.

Related Topics
Configure IPv6 Addressing, on page 552
Enable the Physical Interface and Configure Ethernet Parameters, on page 496
Configure PPPoE, on page 547

Configure PPPoE
If the interface is connected to a DSL, cable modem, or other connection to your ISP, and your ISP uses
PPPoE to provide your IP address, configure the following parameters.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Interfaces > Add/Edit Interface > General, and then click PPPoE IP Address
and Route Settings.
Step 2 In the IP Address area, choose one of the following:
• Obtain IP Address using PPP—Dynamically configure the IP address.
• Specify an IP Address—Manually configure the IP address.

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Step 3 In the Route Settings Area, configure the following:

• Obtain default route using PPPoE—Set the default routes when the PPPoE client has not yet established
a connection. When using this option, you cannot have a statically defined route in the configuration.
• PPPoE learned route metric—Assign an administrative distance to the learned route. Valid values are
from 1 to 255. If this field is left blank, the administrative distance for the learned routes is 1.
• Enable tracking—Enable route tracking for PPPoE-learned routes. Route tracking is only available in
single, routed mode.
• Primary Track—Configure the primary PPPoE route tracking.
• Track ID—A unique identifier for the route tracking process. Valid values are from 1 to 500.
• Track IP Address—Enter the IP address of the target being tracked. Typically, this would be the IP
address of the next hop gateway for the route, but it could be any network object available off of that
interface.
• SLA ID—A unique identifier for the SLA monitoring process. Valid values are from 1 to 2147483647.
• Monitor Options—Click this button to open the Route Monitoring Options dialog box. In the Route
Monitoring Options dialog box you can configure the parameters of the tracked object monitoring
process.
• Secondary Track—Configure the secondary PPPoE route tracking.
• Secondary Track ID—A unique identifier for the route tracking process. Valid values are from 1 to
500.

Step 4 Click OK.

Configure Bridge Group Interfaces

A bridge group is a group of interfaces that the ASA bridges instead of routes. Bridge groups are supported
in both transparent and routed firewall mode. For more information about bridge groups, see About Bridge
Groups, on page 207.
To configure bridge groups and associated interfaces, perform these steps.

Configure the Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI)

Each bridge group requires a BVI for which you configure an IP address. The ASA uses this IP address as
the source address for packets originating from the bridge group. The BVI IP address must be on the same
subnet as the connected network. For IPv4 traffic, the BVI IP address is required to pass any traffic. For IPv6
traffic, you must, at a minimum, configure the link-local addresses to pass traffic, but a global management
address is recommended for full functionality, including remote management and other management operations.
For routed mode, if you provide a name for the BVI, then the BVI participates in routing. Without a name,
the bridge group remains isolated as in transparent firewall mode.
Some models include a bridge group and BVI in the default configuration. You can create additional bridge
groups and BVIs and reassign member interfaces between the groups.

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Note For a separate management interface in transparent mode (for supported models), a non-configurable bridge
group (ID 301) is automatically added to your configuration. This bridge group is not included in the bridge
group limit.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Interfaces, and then choose Add > Bridge Group Interface.
Step 2 In the Bridge Group ID field, enter the bridge group ID between 1 and 250.
You will later assign physical interfaces to this bridge group number.

Step 3 (Routed Mode) In the Interface Name field, enter a name up to 48 characters in length.
You must name the BVI if you want to route traffic outside the bridge group members, for example, to the
outside interface or to members of other bridge groups.

Step 4 (Routed Mode) In the Security level field, enter a level between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest).
Step 5 (Transparent Mode) Set the IP address.
a) In the IP Address field, enter the IPv4 address.
b) In the Subnet Mask field, enter the subnet mask or choose one from the menu.
Do not assign a host address (/32 or 255.255.255.255) to the transparent firewall. Also, do not use other
subnets that contain fewer than 3 host addresses (one each for the upstream router, downstream router,
and transparent firewall) such as a /30 subnet (255.255.255.252). The ASA drops all ARP packets to or
from the first and last addresses in a subnet. For example, if you use a /30 subnet and assign a reserved
address from that subnet to the upstream router, then the ASA drops the ARP request from the downstream
router to the upstream router.

Step 6 (Routed Mode) To set the IP address, use one of the following options.
For failover and clustering, you must set the IP address manually; DHCP is not supported.
• To set the IP address manually, click the Use Static IP radio button and enter the IP address and mask.
• To obtain an IP address from a DHCP server, click the Obtain Address via DHCP radio button.
a. To force a MAC address to be stored inside a DHCP request packet for option 61, click the Use
MAC Address radio button.
Some ISPs expect option 61 to be the interface MAC address. If the MAC address is not included
in the DHCP request packet, then an IP address will not be assigned.
b. To use a generated string for option 61, click Use “Cisco-<MAC>-<interface_name>-<host>”.
c. (Optional) To obtain the default route from the DHCP server, check Obtain Default Route Using
DHCP.
d. (Optional) To set the broadcast flag to 1 in the DHCP packet header when the DHCP client sends a
discover requesting an IP address, check Enable DHCP Broadcast flag for DHCP request and
discover messages.
The DHCP server listens to this broadcast flag and broadcasts the reply packet if the flag is set to 1.

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e. (Optional) To renew the lease, click Renew DHCP Lease.

Step 7 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for this bridge group.
Step 8 Click OK.
A Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) is added to the interface table, along with the physical and subinterfaces.

Configure General Bridge Group Member Interface Parameters

This procedure describes how to set the name, security level, and bridge group for each bridge group member
interface.

Before you begin

• The same bridge group can include different types of interfaces: physical interfaces, VLAN subinterfaces,
VNI interfaces, EtherChannels, and redundant interfaces. The Management interface is not supported.
In routed mode, EtherChannels and VNIs are not supported.
• In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the
system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context
name under the active device IP address.
• For transparent mode, do not use this procedure for Management interfaces; see Configure a Management
Interface for Transparent Mode, on page 551 to configure the Management interface.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
BVIs appear in the table alongside physical interfaces, subinterfaces, redundant interfaces, and EtherChannel
port-channel interfaces. In multiple context mode, only interfaces that were assigned to the context in the
System execution space appear in the table.

Step 2 Choose the row for a non-BVI interface, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.
Note For the Firepower 1010, you cannot configure switch ports as bridge group members.
You cannot mix logical VLAN interfaces and physical router interfaces in the same bridge group.

Note In routed mode, the port-channel and vni interfaces are not supported as bridge group members.

Step 3 In the Bridge Group drop-down menu, choose the bridge group to which you want to assign this interface.
Step 4 In the Interface Name field, enter a name up to 48 characters in length.
Step 5 In the Security level field, enter a level between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest).
Step 6 If the interface is not already enabled, check the Enable Interface check box.
Note The Channel Group field is read-only and indicates if the interface is part of an EtherChannel.

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Step 7 (Optional) If you install a module, and you want to demonstrate the module functionality on a non-production
ASA, check the Forward traffic to the ASA module for inspection and reporting check box. See the
module chapter or quick start guide for more information.
Step 8 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for this interface.
The description can be up to 240 characters on a single line, without carriage returns. In the case of a failover
or state link, the description is fixed as “LAN Failover Interface,” “STATE Failover Interface,” or “LAN/STATE
Failover Interface,” for example. You cannot edit this description. The fixed description overwrites any
description you enter here if you make this interface a failover or state link.

Step 9 Click OK.

Related Topics
Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578

Configure a Management Interface for Transparent Mode

In transparent firewall mode, all interfaces must belong to a bridge group. The only exception is the Management
interface (either the physical interface, a subinterface (if supported for your model), or an EtherChannel
interface comprised of Management interfaces (if you have multiple Management interfaces)) which you can
configure as a separate management interface; for the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, the management interface
ID depends on the mgmt-type interface that you assigned to the ASA logical device. You cannot use any other
interface types as management interfaces. You can configure one management interface in single mode or
per context. For more information see Management Interface for Transparent Mode, on page 493.

Before you begin

• Do not assign this interface to a bridge group; a non-configurable bridge group (ID 301) is automatically
added to your configuration. This bridge group is not included in the bridge group limit.
• For the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, the management interface ID depends on the mgmt-type interface
that you assigned to the ASA logical device.
• In multiple context mode, you cannot share any interfaces, including the Management interface, across
contexts. You must connect to a data interface.
• In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the
system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context
name under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Choose the row for a Management interface, subinterface, or EtherChannel port-channel interface comprised
of Management interfaces, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.
For the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis, the management interface ID depends on the mgmt-type interface
(individual or EtherChannel) that you assigned to the ASA logical device.

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Step 3 In the Bridge Group drop-down menu, leave the default --None--. You cannot assign a management interface
to a bridge group.
Step 4 In the Interface Name field, enter a name up to 48 characters in length.
Step 5 In the Security level field, enter a level between 0 (lowest) and 100 (highest).
Note The Dedicate this interface to management only check box is enabled by default and is
non-configurable.

Step 6 If the interface is not already enabled, check the Enable Interface check box.
Step 7 To set the IP address, use one of the following options.
Note For use with failover, you must set the IP address and standby address manually; DHCP is not
supported. Set the standby IP addresses on the Configuration > Device Management > High
Availability > Failover > Interfaces tab.

• To set the IP address manually, click the Use Static IP radio button and enter the IP address and mask.
• To obtain an IP address from a DHCP server, click the Obtain Address via DHCP radio button.
• To force a MAC address to be stored inside a DHCP request packet for option 61, click the Use
MAC Address radio button.
Some ISPs expect option 61 to be the interface MAC address. If the MAC address is not included
in the DHCP request packet, then an IP address will not be assigned.
• To use a generated string for option 61, click Use “Cisco-<MAC>-<interface_name>-<host>”.
• (Optional) To obtain the default route from the DHCP server, check Obtain Default Route Using
DHCP.
• (Optional) To set the broadcast flag to 1 in the DHCP packet header when the DHCP client sends
a discover requesting an IP address, check Enable DHCP Broadcast flag for DHCP request and
discover messages.
The DHCP server listens to this broadcast flag and broadcasts the reply packet if the flag is set to
1.
• (Optional) To renew the lease, click Renew DHCP Lease.

Step 8 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for this interface.
The description can be up to 240 characters on a single line, without carriage returns.

Step 9 Click OK.

Configure IPv6 Addressing

This section describes how to configure IPv6 addressing.

About IPv6
This section includes information about IPv6.

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IPv6 Addressing
You can configure two types of unicast addresses for IPv6:
• Global—The global address is a public address that you can use on the public network. For a bridge
group, this address needs to be configured for the BVI, and not per member interface. You can also
configure a global IPv6 address for the management interface in transparent mode.
• Link-local—The link-local address is a private address that you can only use on the directly-connected
network. Routers do not forward packets using link-local addresses; they are only for communication
on a particular physical network segment. They can be used for address configuration or for the Neighbor
Discovery functions such as address resolution. In a bridge group, only member interfaces have link-local
addresses; the BVI does not have a link-local address.

At a minimum, you need to configure a link-local address for IPv6 to operate. If you configure a global address,
a link-local address is automatically configured on the interface, so you do not also need to specifically
configure a link-local address. For bridge group member interfaces, when you configure the global address
on the BVI, the ASA automatically generates link-local addresses for member interfaces. If you do not configure
a global address, then you need to configure the link-local address, either automatically or manually.

Modified EUI-64 Interface IDs

RFC 3513: Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Addressing Architecture requires that the interface identifier
portion of all unicast IPv6 addresses, except those that start with binary value 000, be 64 bits long and be
constructed in Modified EUI-64 format. The ASA can enforce this requirement for hosts attached to the local
link.
When this feature is enabled on an interface, the source addresses of IPv6 packets received on that interface
are verified against the source MAC addresses to ensure that the interface identifiers use the Modified EUI-64
format. If the IPv6 packets do not use the Modified EUI-64 format for the interface identifier, the packets are
dropped and the following system log message is generated:

325003: EUI-64 source address check failed.

The address format verification is only performed when a flow is created. Packets from an existing flow are
not checked. Additionally, the address verification can only be performed for hosts on the local link.

Configure the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client

The ASA can act as a DHPCv6 Prefix Delegation client so that the client interface, for example the outside
interface connected to a cable modem, can receive one or more IPv6 prefixes that the ASA can then subnet
and assign to its inside interfaces.

About IPv6 Prefix Delegation

The ASA can act as a DHPCv6 Prefix Delegation client so that the client interface, for example the outside
interface connected to a cable modem, can receive one or more IPv6 prefixes that the ASA can then subnet
and assign to its inside interfaces. Hosts connected to the inside interfaces can then use StateLess Address
Auto Configuration (SLAAC) to obtain global IPv6 addresses. Note that the inside ASA interfaces do not in
turn act as Prefix Delegation servers; the ASA can only provide global IP addresses to SLAAC clients. For
example, if a router is connected to the ASA, it can act as a SLAAC client to obtain its IP address. But if you

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want to use a subnet of the delegated prefix for the networks behind the router, you must manually configure
those addresses on the router's inside interfaces.
The ASA includes a light DHCPv6 server so the ASA can provide information such as the DNS server and
domain name to SLAAC clients when they send Information Request (IR) packets to the ASA. The ASA only
accepts IR packets, and does not assign addresses to the clients.

IPv6 Prefix Delegation /64 Subnet Example

The following example shows the ASA receiving an IP address on the outside interface using the DHCPv6
address client. It also gets a delegated prefix using the DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation client. The ASA subnets
the delegated prefix into /64 networks and assigns global IPv6 addresses to its inside interfaces dynamically
using the delegated prefix plus a manually configured subnet (::0, ::1, or ::2) and IPv6 address (0:0:0:1) per
interface. SLAAC clients connected to those inside interfaces obtain IPv6 addresses on each /64 subnet.

IPv6 Prefix Delegation /62 Subnet Example

The following example shows the ASA subnetting the prefix into 4 /62 subnets: 2001:DB8:ABCD:1230::/62,
2001:DB8:ABCD:1234::/62, 2001:DB8:ABCD:1238::/62, and 2001:DB8:ABCD:123C::/62. The ASA uses
one of 4 available /64 subnets on 2001:DB8:ABCD:1230::/62 for its inside network (::0). You can then
manually use additional /62 subnets for downstream routers. The router shown uses 3 of 4 available /64 subnets
on 2001:DB8:ABCD:1234::/62 for its inside interfaces (::4, ::5, and ::6). In this case, the inside router interfaces
cannot dynamically obtain the delegated prefix, so you need to view the delegated prefix on the ASA, and
then use that prefix for your router configuration. Usually, ISPs delegate the same prefix to a given client
when the lease expires, but if the ASA receives a new prefix, you will have to modify the router configuration
to use the new prefix.

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Enable the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client

Enable the DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation client on one or more interfaces. The ASA obtains one or more IPv6
prefixes that it can subnet and assign to inside networks. Typically, the interface on which you enable the
prefix delegation client obtains its IP address using the DHCPv6 address client; only other ASA interfaces
use addresses derived from the delegated prefix.

Before you begin

• This feature is only supported in routed firewall mode.
• This feature is not supported in multiple context mode.
• This feature is not supported in clustering.
• You cannot configure this feature on a management-only interface.
• When you use Prefix Delegation, you must set the ASA IPv6 neighbor discovery router advertisement
interval to be much lower than the preferred lifetime of the prefix assigned by the DHCPv6 Server to
prevent IPv6 traffic interruption. For example, if the DHCPv6 server sets the preferred Prefix Delegation
lifetime to 300 seconds, you should set the ASA RA interval to be 150 seconds. To set the preferred
lifetime, use the show ipv6 general-prefix command. To set the ASA RA interval, see Configure IPv6
Neighbor Discovery, on page 560; the default is 200 seconds.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Choose an interface, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.

Step 3 Click the IPv6 tab.

Step 4 In the Interface IPv6 DHCP area, click the Client Prefix Delegation Name radio button, and enter the prefix
name.
Step 5 (Optional) In the Prefix Hint field, provide one or more hints about the delegated prefix you want to receive.
Typically you want to request a particular prefix length, such as ::/60, or if you have received a particular
prefix before and want to ensure you get it again when the lease expires, you can enter the whole prefix as
the hint (2001:DB8:ABCD:1230::/60). If you enter multiple hints (different prefixes or lengths), then it is up
to the DHCP server which hint to honor, or whether to honor the hint at all.

Step 6 Click OK.

You return to the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.

Step 7 Click Apply.

Step 8 See Configure a Global IPv6 Address, on page 556 to assign a subnet of the prefix as the global IP address for
an ASA interface.
Step 9 (Optional) See Configure the DHCPv6 Stateless Server, on page 625 to provide domain-name and server
parameters to SLAAC clients.
Step 10 (Optional) See Configure IPv6 Network Settings, on page 738 to advertise the prefix(es) with BGP.

Configure a Global IPv6 Address

To configure a global IPv6 address for any routed mode interface and for the transparent or routed mode BVI,
perform the following steps.
DHCPv6 and prefix delegation options are not supported with multiple context mode.

Note Configuring the global address automatically configures the link-local address, so you do not need to configure
it separately. For bridge groups, configuring the global address on the BVI automatically configures link-local
addresses on all member interfaces.
For subinterfaces, we recommend that you also set the MAC address manually, because they use the same
burned-in MAC address of the parent interface. IPv6 link-local addresses are generated based on the MAC
address, so assigning unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces allows for unique IPv6 link-local addresses,
which can avoid traffic disruption in certain instances on the ASA. See Configure the Manual MAC Address,
MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578.

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Before you begin

• In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the
system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context
name under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Choose an interface, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.
In transparent mode or for a bridge group in routed mode, select a BVI. For transparent mode, you can also
select a management-only interface.

Step 3 Click the IPv6 tab.

Step 4 Check the Enable IPv6 check box.
Step 5 (Optional) To enforce the use of Modified EUI-64 format interface identifiers in IPv6 addresses on a local
link, check the Enforce EUI-64 check box.
Step 6 (Routed interface) Configure the global IPv6 address using one of the following methods.
• Stateless autoconfiguration—In the Interface IPv6 Addresses area, check the Enable address
autoconfiguration check box.
Enabling stateless autconfiguration on the interface configures IPv6 addresses based upon prefixes
received in Router Advertisement messages. A link-local address, based on the Modified EUI-64 interface
ID, is automatically generated for the interface when stateless autoconfiguration is enabled.
Note Although RFC 4862 specifies that hosts configured for stateless autoconfiguration do not send
Router Advertisement messages, the ASA does send Router Advertisement messages in this
case. Check the Suppress RA check box to suppress messages.
If you want to install a default route, choose DHCP or Ignore from the drop-down menu.
DHCP specifies the ASA only uses a default route from Router Advertisements that come
from a trusted source (in other words, from the same server that provided the IPv6 address).
Ignore specifies that Router Advertisements can be sourced from another network, which can
be a riskier method.

• Manual configuration—To manually configure a global IPv6 address:

a. In the Interface IPv6 Addresses area, click Add.
The Add IPv6 Address for Interface dialog box appears.
b. In the Address/Prefix Length field, the value you enter depends on the method you want to use:
• Full global address—If you want to manually enter the entire address, enter the full address plus
the prefix length.
• Modified EUI 64 format—Enter the IPv6 prefix and length, and then check the EUI 64 check
box to generate the interface ID using the Modified EUI-64 format. For example,
2001:0DB8::BA98:0:3210/48 (full address) or 2001:0DB8::/48 (prefix, with EUI 64 checked).

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• Delegated Prefix—To derive the IPv6 prefix from the delegated prefix, enter the IPv6 address
and length. Then enter the prefix name that you configured for the DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation
client (See Enable the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client, on page 555) in the Prefix Name field,
and click Add.
Typically, the delegated prefix will be /60 or smaller so you can subnet to multiple /64 networks.
/64 is the supported subnet length if you want to support SLAAC for connected clients. You
should specify an address that completes the /60 subnet, for example ::1:0:0:0:1. Enter :: before
the address in case the prefix is smaller than /60. For example, if the delegated prefix is
2001:DB8:1234:5670::/60, then the global IP address assigned to this interface is
2001:DB8:1234:5671::1/64. The prefix that is advertised in router advertisements is
2001:DB8:1234:5671::/64. In this example, if the prefix is smaller than /60, the remaining bits
of the prefix will be 0's as indicated by the leading ::. For example, if the prefix is
2001:DB8:1234::/48, then the IPv6 address will be 2001:DB8:1234::1:0:0:0:1/64.

c. Click OK.

• Obtain an address using DHCPv6:

a. In the Interface IPv6 DHCP area, check the Enable DHCP check box.
b. (Optional) Check the Enable Default check box to obtain a default route from Router Advertisements.

Step 7 (BVI interface) Manually assign a global address to the BVI. For a management interface in Transparent
mode, use this method as well.
a) In the Interface IPv6 Addresses area, click Add.
The Add IPv6 Address for Interface dialog box appears.
b) In the Address/Prefix Length field, enter the full global IPv6 address along with the IPv6 prefix length.
c) Click OK.
Step 8 Click OK.
You return to the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.

(Optional) Configure the Link-Local Addresses Automatically

If you do not want to configure a global address, and only need to configure a link-local address, you have
the option of generating the link-local addresses based on the interface MAC addresses (Modified EUI-64
format. Because MAC addresses use 48 bits, additional bits must be inserted to fill the 64 bits required for
the interface ID.)
To automatically configure the link-local addresses for an interface, perform the following steps.

Before you begin

Supported in routed mode only.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Select an interface, and click Edit.
For bridge groups in routed mode, choose the BVI.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.

Step 3 Click the IPv6 tab.

Step 4 In the IPv6 configuration area, check the Enable IPv6 check box.
This option enables IPv6 and automatically generates the link-local address using the Modified EUI-64
interface ID based on the interface MAC address.
For bridge groups in routed mode, enabling IPv6 for the BVI generates link-local addresses for all member
interfaces.

Step 5 Click OK.

(Optional) Configure the Link-Local Addresses Manually

If you do not want to configure a global address, and only need to configure a link-local address, you have
the option of manually defining the link-local address. Note that we recommend automatically assigning the
link-local address based on the Modified EUI-64 format. For example, if other devices enforce the use of the
Modified EUI-64 format, then a manually-assigned link-local address may cause packets to be dropped.
To assign a link-local address to an interface, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Select an interface, and click Edit.
For bridge groups, choose a bridge group member interface.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.

Step 3 Click the IPv6 tab.

Step 4 (Optional) To enforce the use of Modified EUI-64 format interface identifiers in IPv6 addresses on a local
link, check the Enforce EUI-64 check box.
Step 5 To set the link-local address, enter an address in the Link-local address field.
A link-local address should start with FE8, FE9, FEA, or FEB, for example fe80::20d:88ff:feee:6a82. See
IPv6 Addresses, on page 1111 for more information about IPv6 addressing.

Step 6 Click OK.

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Configure IPv6 Neighbor Discovery

The IPv6 neighbor discovery process uses ICMPv6 messages and solicited-node multicast addresses to
determine the link-layer address of a neighbor on the same network (local link), verify the readability of a
neighbor, and keep track of neighboring routers.
Nodes (hosts) use neighbor discovery to determine the link-layer addresses for neighbors known to reside on
attached links and to quickly purge cached values that become invalid. Hosts also use neighbor discovery to
find neighboring routers that are willing to forward packets on their behalf. In addition, nodes use the protocol
to actively keep track of which neighbors are reachable and which are not, and to detect changed link-layer
addresses. When a router or the path to a router fails, a host actively searches for functioning alternates.
•

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Choose the IPv6 interface on which to configure IPv6 neighbor settings, and click Edit.
Step 3 Click the IPv6 tab.
Step 4 Enter the number of allowed DAD Attempts.
Values range from 0 to 600. A 0 value disables DAD processing on the specified interface. The default is 1
message.
DAD ensures the uniqueness of new unicast IPv6 addresses before they are assigned, and ensures that duplicate
IPv6 addresses are detected in the network on a link basis. The ASA uses neighbor solicitation messages to
perform DAD.
When a duplicate address is identified, the state of the address is set to DUPLICATE, the address is not used,
and the following error message is generated:

325002: Duplicate address ipv6_address/MAC_address on interface

If the duplicate address is the link-local address of the interface, the processing of IPv6 packets is disabled
on the interface. If the duplicate address is a global address, the address is not used.

Step 5 Enter the NS Interval in milliseconds to set the interval between IPv6 neighbor solicitation retransmissions.
Valid values for the value argument range from 1000 to 3600000 milliseconds.
Neighbor solicitation messages (ICMPv6 Type 135) are sent on the local link by nodes attempting to discover
the link-layer addresses of other nodes on the local link. After receiving a neighbor solicitation message, the
destination node replies by sending a neighbor advertisement message (ICPMv6 Type 136) on the local link.
After the source node receives the neighbor advertisement, the source node and destination node can
communicate. Neighbor solicitation messages are also used to verify the reachability of a neighbor after the
link-layer address of a neighbor is identified. When a node wants to verifying the reachability of a neighbor,
the destination address in a neighbor solicitation message is the unicast address of the neighbor.
Neighbor advertisement messages are also sent when there is a change in the link-layer address of a node on
a local link.

Step 6 Enter the Reachable Time in seconds to set how long a remote IPv6 node is reachable.

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Set the reachable time between 0 to 3600000 milliseconds. When you set the time to 0, then the reachable
time is sent as undetermined. It is up to the receiving devices to set and track the reachable time value.
The neighbor reachable time enables detecting unavailable neighbors. Shorter configured times enable detecting
unavailable neighbors more quickly, however, shorter times consume more IPv6 network bandwidth and
processing resources in all IPv6 network devices. Very short configured times are not recommended in normal
IPv6 operation.

Step 7 Enter the RA Lifetime in seconds to set the length of time that nodes on the local link consider the ASA as
the default router on the link.
Values range from 0 to 9000 seconds. Entering 0 indicates that the ASA should not be considered a default
router on the selected interface.

Step 8 Check the Suppress RA check box to suppress router advertisements.

Router advertisement messages (ICMPv6 Type 134) are automatically sent in response to router solicitation
messages (ICMPv6 Type 133). Router solicitation messages are sent by hosts at system startup so that the
host can immediately autoconfigure without needing to wait for the next scheduled router advertisement
message.
You may want to disable these messages on any interface for which you do not want the ASA to supply the
IPv6 prefix (for example, the outside interface).
Enabling this option causes the ASA to appear as a regular IPv6 neighbor on the link and not as an IPv6 router.

Step 9 Enter the RA Interval to set the interval between IPv6 router advertisement transmissions.
Valid values range from 3 to 1800 seconds. The default is 200 seconds.
To add a router advertisement transmission interval value in milliseconds instead, check the RA Interval in
Milliseconds check box, and enter a value from 500 to 1800000.

Step 10 Check the Hosts should use DHCP for address config check box to inform IPv6 autoconfiguration clients
that they should use DHCPv6 to obtain addresses, in addition to the derived stateless autoconfiguration address.
This option sets the Managed Address Config flag in the IPv6 router advertisement packet.

Step 11 Check the Hosts should use DHCP for non-address config check box to inform IPv6 autoconfiguration
clients that they should use DHCPv6 to obtain additional information from DHCPv6, such as the DNS server
address.
This option sets the Other Address Config flag in the IPv6 router advertisement packet.

Step 12 Configure which IPv6 prefixes are included in IPv6 router advertisements.
a) In the Interface IPv6 Prefixes area, click Add.
b) Enter the Address/Prefix Length or check the Default check box to use the default prefix.
c) Check the No Auto-Configuration check box to force hosts to configure the IPv6 address manually.
Hosts on the local link with the specified prefix cannot use IPv6 autoconfiguration.
d) Check the No Advertisements check box to disable prefix advertisement.
e) Check the Off Link check box to configure the specified prefix as off-link. The prefix will be advertised
with the L-bit clear. The prefix will not be inserted into the routing table as a Connected prefix.
f) In the Prefix Lifetime area, specify a Lifetime Duration or Lifetime Expiration Date.
After the preferred lifetime expires, the address goes into a deprecated state; while an address is in a
deprecated state, its use is discouraged, but not strictly forbidden. After the valid lifetime expires, the

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address becomes invalid and cannot be used. The valid lifetime must be greater than or equal to the
preferred lifetime.
• Lifetime Duration—Values range from 0 to 4294967295. The default valid lifetime is 2592000 (30
days). The default preferred lifetime is 604800 (7 days). The maximum value represents infinity.
• Lifetime Expiration Date—Choose a valid and preferred month and day from the drop-down lists,
and then enter a time in hh:mm format.

g) Click OK to save your settings.

Step 13 Click OK.
Step 14 Configure a static IPv6 neighbor.
The following guidelines and limitations apply for configuring a static IPv6 neighbor:
• This feature is similar to adding a static ARP entry. If an entry for the specified IPv6 address already
exists in the neighbor discovery cache—learned through the IPv6 neighbor discovery process—the entry
is automatically converted to a static entry. These entries are stored in the configuration when the copy
command is used to store the configuration.
• Static entries in the IPv6 neighbor discovery cache are not modified by the neighbor discovery process.
• The ICMP syslogs generated are caused by a regular refresh of IPv6 neighbor entries. The ASA default
timer for IPv6 neighbor entry is 30 seconds, so the ASA would generate ICMPv6 neighbor discovery
and response packets about every 30 seconds. If the ASA has both failover LAN and state interfaces
configured with IPv6 addresses, then every 30 seconds, ICMPv6 neighbor discovery and response packets
will be generated by both ASAs for both configured and link-local IPv6 addresses. In addition, each
packet will generate several syslogs (ICMP connection and local-host creation or teardown), so it may
appear that constant ICMP syslogs are being generated. The refresh time for IPV6 neighbor entry is
configurable on the regular data interface, but not configurable on the failover interface. However, the
CPU impact for this ICMP neighbor discovery traffic is minimal.

See also View and Clear Dynamically Discovered Neighbors, on page 562.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Cache.
b) Click Add.
The Add IPv6 Static Neighbor dialog box appears.
c) From the Interface Name drop-down list, choose an interface on which to add the neighbor.
d) In the IP Address field, enter the IPv6 address that corresponds to the local data-link address, or click
the ellipsis (...) to browse for an address.
e) In the MAC address field, enter the local data-line (hardware) MAC address.
f) Click OK.
Step 15 Click Apply to save the running configuration.

View and Clear Dynamically Discovered Neighbors

When a host or node communicates with a neighbor, the neighbor is added to the neighbor discovery cache.
The neighbor is removed from the cache when there is no longer any communication with that neighbor.

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To view dynamically discovered neighbors and clear these neighbors from the IPv6 neighbor discovery cache,
perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Interfaces > IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Cache.
You can view all static and dynamically discovered neighbors from the IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Cache pane.

Step 2 To clear all dynamically discovered neighbors from the cache, click Clear Dynamic Neighbor Entries.
The dynamically discovered neighbor is removed from the cache.
Note This procedure clears only dynamically discovered neighbors from the cache; it does not clear static
neighbors.

Monitoring Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

You can monitor interface statistics, status, PPPoE, and more.

Note For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode and the Firepower 4100/9300, some statistics are not shown using
the ASA commands. You must view more detailed interface statistics using FXOS commands. These commands
are also useful for the Firepower 1000 and 2100 in Appliance moce.
• /eth-uplink/fabric# show interface
• /eth-uplink/fabric# show port-channel
• /eth-uplink/fabric/interface# show stats

For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode, see also the following FXOS connect local-mgmt commands:
• (local-mgmt)# show portmanager counters
• (local-mgmt)# show lacp
• (local-mgmt)# show portchannel

See the FXOS troubleshooting guide for more information.

Interface Statistics and Information

• Monitoring > Interfaces > Interface Graphs
Lets you view interface statistics in graph or table form. If an interface is shared among contexts, the
ASA shows only statistics for the current context. The number of statistics shown for a subinterface is
a subset of the number of statistics shown for a physical interface.

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DHCP Information

• Monitoring > Interfaces > Interface Graphs > Graph/Table

Shows a graph for the selected statistics. The Graph window can show up to four graphs and tables at a
time. By default, the graph or table displays the real-time statistics. If you enable History Metrics, you
can view statistics for past time periods.

DHCP Information
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > DHCP Client Lease Information.
This screen displays configured DHCP client IP addresses.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Client PD Statistics
This screen shows DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation client statistics and shows the output of the number of
messages sent and received.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Client Statistics
This screen shows DHCPv6 client statistics and shows the output of the number of messages sent and
received.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Interface Statistics
This screen displays DHCPv6 information for all interfaces. If the interface is configured for DHCPv6
stateless server configuration (see Configure the DHCPv6 Stateless Server, on page 625), this screen lists
the DHCPv6 pool that is being used by the server. If the interface has DHCPv6 address client or Prefix
Delegation client configuration, this screen shows the state of each client and the values received from
the server. This screen also shows message statistics for the DHCP server or client.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP HA Statistics
This screen shows the transaction statistics between failover units, including how many times the DUID
information was synced between the units.

Static Route Tracking

• Monitoring > Interfaces > interface connection > Track Status
Displays information about the tracked object.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > interface connection > Monitoring Statistics
Displays statistics for the SLA monitoring process.

PPPoE
• Monitoring > Interfaces > PPPoE Client > PPPoE Client Lease Information
Displays information about current PPPoE connections.

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Dynamic ACLs

Dynamic ACLs
Monitoring > Interfaces > Dynamic ACLs
Shows a table of the Dynamic ACLs, which are functionally identical to the user-configured ACLs except
that they are created, activated and deleted automatically by the ASA. These ACLs do not show up in the
configuration and are only visible in this table. They are identified by the “(dynamic)” keyword in the ACL
header.

Examples for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

Transparent Mode Example with 2 Bridge Groups
The following example for transparent mode includes two bridge groups of three interfaces each, plus a
management-only interface:

interface gigabitethernet 0/0

nameif inside1
security-level 100
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 0/1
nameif outside1
security-level 0
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 0/2
nameif dmz1
security-level 50
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
interface bvi 1
ip address 10.1.3.1 255.255.255.0 standby 10.1.3.2

interface gigabitethernet 1/0

nameif inside2
security-level 100
bridge-group 2
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 1/1
nameif outside2
security-level 0
bridge-group 2
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 1/2
nameif dmz2
security-level 50
bridge-group 2
no shutdown
interface bvi 2
ip address 10.3.5.8 255.255.255.0 standby 10.3.5.9

interface management 0/0

nameif mgmt
security-level 100
ip address 10.2.1.1 255.255.255.0 standby 10.2.1.2

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Switched LAN Segment Example with 2 Bridge Groups

no shutdown

Switched LAN Segment Example with 2 Bridge Groups

The following example configures 2 bridge groups with 3 interfaces each and one regular routed interface for
outside. Bridge group 1 is inside and bridge group 2 is dmz with public web servers. The bridge group member
interfaces can communicate freely within the bridge group because each member is at the same security level,
and we enabled same security communication. Although the inside member security level is 100 and the dmz
member security level is also 100, these security levels do not apply to inter-BVI communications; only the
BVI security levels affect inter-BVI traffic. The security levels of the BVIs and outside (100, 50, and 0)
implicitly permit traffic from inside to dmz and inside to outside; and from dmz to outside. An access rule is
applied to outside to allow traffic to the servers on dmz.

interface gigabitethernet 1/1

nameif outside
security-level 0
ip address dhcp setroute
no shutdown
!
interface gigabitethernet 1/2
nameif inside1
security-level 100
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 1/3
nameif inside2
security-level 100
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 1/4

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Switched LAN Segment Example with 2 Bridge Groups

nameif inside3
security-level 100
bridge-group 1
no shutdown
!
interface bvi 1
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface gigabitethernet 1/5
nameif dmz1
security-level 100
bridge-group 2
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 1/6
nameif dmz2
security-level 100
bridge-group 2
no shutdown
interface gigabitethernet 1/7
nameif dmz3
security-level 100
bridge-group 2
no shutdown
!
interface bvi 2
nameif dmz
security-level 50
ip address 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.224
!
same-security-traffic permit inter-interface
!
# Assigns IP addresses to inside hosts
dhcpd address 10.10.10.2-10.10.10.200 inside
dhcpd enable inside
!
# Applies interface PAT for inside traffic going outside
nat (inside1,outside) source dynamic any interface
nat (inside2,outside) source dynamic any interface
nat (inside3,outside) source dynamic any interface
!
# Allows outside traffic to each server for specific applications
object network server1
host 209.165.201.2
object network server2
host 209.165.201.3
object network server3
host 209.165.201.4
!
# Defines mail services allowed on server3
object-group service MAIL
service-object tcp destination eq pop3
service-object tcp destination eq imap4
service-object tcp destination eq smtp
!
# Allows access from outside to servers on the DMZ
access-list SERVERS extended permit tcp any object server1 eq www
access-list SERVERS extended permit tcp any object server2 eq ftp
access-list SERVERS extended permit tcp any object server3 object-group MAIL
access-group SERVERS in interface outside

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History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

IPv6 Neighbor Discovery 7.0(1) We introduced this feature.

We introduced the following screens:
Monitoring > Interfaces > IPv6 Neighbor
Discovery Cache. Configuration > Device
Management > Advanced > IPv6 Neighbor
Discovery Cache. Configuration > Device
Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces >
IPv6.

IPv6 support for transparent mode 8.2(1) IPv6 support was introduced for transparent
firewall mode.

Bridge groups for transparent mode 8.4(1) If you do not want the overhead of security
contexts, or want to maximize your use of
security contexts, you can group interfaces
together in a bridge group, and then
configure multiple bridge groups, one for
each network. Bridge group traffic is
isolated from other bridge groups. You can
configure up to eight bridge groups of four
interfaces each in single mode or per
context.
We modified or introduced the following
screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit Bridge
Group Interface
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface

Address Config Flags for IPv6 DHCP 9.0(1) We modified the following screen:
Relay Configuration > Device Setup > Interfaces
> IPv6.

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History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Transparent mode bridge group maximum 9.3(1) The bridge group maximum was increased
increased to 250 from 8 to 250 bridge groups. You can
configure up to 250 bridge groups in single
mode or per context in multiple mode, with
4 interfaces maximum per bridge group.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit Bridge
Group Interface
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface

Transparent mode maximum interfaces per 9.6(2) The maximum interfaces per bridge group
bridge group increased to 64 was increased from 4 to 64.
We did not modify any screens.

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History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

IPv6 DHCP 9.6(2) The ASA now supports the following

features for IPv6 addressing:
• DHCPv6 Address client—The ASA
obtains an IPv6 global address and
optional default route from the
DHCPv6 server.
• DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation
client—The ASA obtains delegated
prefix(es) from a DHCPv6 server. The
ASA can then use these prefixes to
configure other ASA interface
addresess so that StateLess Address
Auto Configuration (SLAAC) clients
can autoconfigure IPv6 addresses on
the same network.
• BGP router advertisement for
delegated prefixes
• DHCPv6 stateless server—The ASA
provides other information such as the
domain name to SLAAC clients when
they send Information Request (IR)
packets to the ASA. The ASA only
accepts IR packets, and does not
assign addresses to the clients.

We added or modified the following

screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add Interface >
IPv6
Configuration > Device Management >
DHCP > DHCP Pool
Configuration > Device Setup >
Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family >
Networks
Monitoring > interfaces > DHCP

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History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Integrated Routing and Bridging 9.7(1) Integrated Routing and Bridging provides
the ability to route between a bridge group
and a routed interface. A bridge group is a
group of interfaces that the ASA bridges
instead of routes. The ASA is not a true
bridge in that the ASA continues to act as
a firewall: access control between interfaces
is controlled, and all of the usual firewall
checks are in place. Previously, you could
only configure bridge groups in transparent
firewall mode, where you cannot route
between bridge groups. This feature lets
you configure bridge groups in routed
firewall mode, and to route between bridge
groups and between a bridge group and a
routed interface. The bridge group
participates in routing by using a Bridge
Virtual Interface (BVI) to act as a gateway
for the bridge group. Integrated Routing
and Bridging provides an alternative to
using an external Layer 2 switch if you have
extra interfaces on the ASA to assign to the
bridge group. In routed mode, the BVI can
be a named interface and can participate
separately from member interfaces in some
features, such as access rules and DHCP
server.
The following features that are supported
in transparent mode are not supported in
routed mode: multiple context mode, ASA
clustering. The following features are also
not supported on BVIs: dynamic routing
and multicast routing.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup >
Routing > Static Routes
Configuration > Device Management >
DHCP > DHCP Server
Configuration > Firewall > Access Rules
Configuration > Firewall > EtherType
Rules

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History for Routed and Transparent Mode Interfaces

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

31-bit Subnet Mask 9.7(1) For routed interfaces, you can configure an
IP address on a 31-bit subnet for
point-to-point connections. The 31-bit
subnet includes only 2 addresses; normally,
the first and last address in the subnet is
reserved for the network and broadcast, so
a 2-address subnet is not usable. However,
if you have a point-to-point connection and
do not need network or broadcast addresses,
a 31-bit subnet is a useful way to preserve
addresses in IPv4. For example, the failover
link between 2 ASAs only requires 2
addresses; any packet that is transmitted by
one end of the link is always received by
the other, and broadcasting is unnecessary.
You can also have a directly-connected
management station running SNMP or
Syslog. This feature is not supported with
BVIs for bridge groups or multicast routing.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add Interface >
General

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 CHAPTER 20
Advanced Interface Configuration
This chapter describes how to configure MAC addresses for interfaces, how to set the maximum transmission
unit (MTU), and set the TCP maximum segment size (TCP MSS), and how to allow same security level
communication. Setting the correct MTU and maximum TCP segment size is essential for the best network
performance.
• About Advanced Interface Configuration, on page 573
• Automatically Assign MAC Addresses in Multiple Context Mode, on page 577
• Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578
• Allow Same Security Level Communication, on page 579
• Monitoring the ARP and MAC Address Table, on page 580
• History for Advanced Interface Configuration, on page 580

About Advanced Interface Configuration

This section describes advanced interface settings.

About MAC Addresses

You can manually assign MAC addresses to override the default. For multiple context mode, you can
automatically generate unique MAC addresses (for all interfaces assigned to a context) and single context
mode (for subinterfaces)..

Note You might want to assign unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces defined on the ASA, because they use the
same burned-in MAC address of the parent interface. For example, your service provider might perform access
control based on the MAC address. Also, because IPv6 link-local addresses are generated based on the MAC
address, assigning unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces allows for unique IPv6 link-local addresses, which
can avoid traffic disruption in certain instances on the ASA.

Default MAC Addresses

Default MAC address assignments depend on the type of interface.
• Physical interfaces—The physical interface uses the burned-in MAC address.

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Automatic MAC Addresses

• VLAN interfaces (Firepower 1010)—Routed firewall mode: All VLAN interfaces share a MAC address.
Ensure that any connected switches can support this scenario. If the connected switches require unique
MAC addresses, you can manually assign MAC addresses. See Configure the Manual MAC Address,
MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578.
Transparent firewall mode: Each VLAN interface has a unique MAC address. You can override the
generated MAC addresses if desired by manually assigning MAC addresses. See Configure the Manual
MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS, on page 578.
• Redundant interfaces—A redundant interface uses the MAC address of the first physical interface that
you add. If you change the order of the member interfaces in the configuration, then the MAC address
changes to match the MAC address of the interface that is now listed first. If you assign a MAC address
to the redundant interface, then it is used regardless of the member interface MAC addresses.
• EtherChannels (Firepower Models)—For an EtherChannel, all interfaces that are part of the channel
group share the same MAC address. This feature makes the EtherChannel transparent to network
applications and users, because they only see the one logical connection; they have no knowledge of the
individual links. The port-channel interface uses a unique MAC address from a pool; interface membership
does not affect the MAC address.
• EtherChannels (ASA Models)—The port-channel interface uses the lowest-numbered channel group
interface MAC address as the port-channel MAC address. Alternatively you can configure a MAC address
for the port-channel interface. We recommend configuring a unique MAC address in case the group
channel interface membership changes. If you remove the interface that was providing the port-channel
MAC address, then the port-channel MAC address changes to the next lowest numbered interface, thus
causing traffic disruption.
• Subinterfaces—All subinterfaces of a physical interface use the same burned-in MAC address. You
might want to assign unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces. For example, your service provider might
perform access control based on the MAC address. Also, because IPv6 link-local addresses are generated
based on the MAC address, assigning unique MAC addresses to subinterfaces allows for unique IPv6
link-local addresses, which can avoid traffic disruption in certain instances on the ASA.

Automatic MAC Addresses

In multiple context mode, auto-generation assigns unique MAC addresses to all interfaces assigned to a
context.
If you manually assign a MAC address and also enable auto-generation, then the manually assigned MAC
address is used. If you later remove the manual MAC address, the auto-generated address is used, if enabled.
In the rare circumstance that the generated MAC address conflicts with another private MAC address in your
network, you can manually set the MAC address for the interface.
Because auto-generated addresses (when using a prefix) start with A2, you cannot start manual MAC addresses
with A2 if you also want to use auto-generation.
The ASA generates the MAC address using the following format:
A2xx.yyzz.zzzz
Where xx.yy is a user-defined prefix or an autogenerated prefix based on the last two bytes of the interface
MAC address, and zz.zzzz is an internal counter generated by the ASA. For the standby MAC address, the
address is identical except that the internal counter is increased by 1.

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About the MTU

For an example of how the prefix is used, if you set a prefix of 77, then the ASA converts 77 into the
hexadecimal value 004D (yyxx). When used in the MAC address, the prefix is reversed (xxyy) to match the
ASA native form:
A24D.00zz.zzzz
For a prefix of 1009 (03F1), the MAC address is:
A2F1.03zz.zzzz

Note The MAC address format without a prefix is a legacy version. See the mac-address auto command in the
command reference for more information about the legacy format.

About the MTU

The MTU specifies the maximum frame payload size that the ASA can transmit on a given Ethernet interface.
The MTU value is the frame size without Ethernet headers, VLAN tagging, or other overhead. For example,
when you set the MTU to 1500, the expected frame size is 1518 bytes including the headers, or 1522 when
using VLAN. Do not set the MTU value higher to accommodate these headers.
For VXLAN, the entire Ethernet datagram is being encapsulated, so the new IP packet is larger and requires
a larger MTU: you should set the ASA VTEP source interface MTU to be the network MTU + 54 bytes.

Path MTU Discovery

The ASA supports Path MTU Discovery (as defined in RFC 1191), which lets all devices in a network path
between two hosts coordinate the MTU so they can standardize on the lowest MTU in the path.

Default MTU
The default MTU on the ASA is 1500 bytes. This value does not include the 18-22 bytes for the Ethernet
header, VLAN tagging, or other overhead.
When you enable VXLAN on the VTEP source interface, if the MTU is less than 1554 bytes, then the ASA
automatically raises the MTU to 1554 bytes. In this case, the entire Ethernet datagram is being encapsulated,
so the new packet is larger and requires a larger MTU. In general, you should set the ASA source interface
MTU to be the network MTU + 54 bytes.

MTU and Fragmentation

For IPv4, if an outgoing IP packet is larger than the specified MTU, it is fragmented into 2 or more frames.
Fragments are reassembled at the destination (and sometimes at intermediate hops), and fragmentation can
cause performance degradation. For IPv6, packets are typically not allowed to be fragmented at all. Therefore,
your IP packets should fit within the MTU size to avoid fragmentation.
For TCP packets, the endpoints typically use their MTU to determine the TCP maximum segment size (MTU
- 40, for example). If additional TCP headers are added along the way, for example for site-to-site VPN
tunnels, then the TCP MSS might need to be adjusted down by the tunneling entity. See About the TCP MSS,
on page 576.
For UDP or ICMP, the application should take the MTU into account to avoid fragmentation.

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MTU and Jumbo Frames

Note The ASA can receive frames larger than the configured MTU as long as there is room in memory.

MTU and Jumbo Frames

A larger MTU lets you send larger packets. Larger packets might be more efficient for your network. See the
following guidelines:
• Matching MTUs on the traffic path—We recommend that you set the MTU on all ASA interfaces and
other device interfaces along the traffic path to be the same. Matching MTUs prevents intermediate
devices from fragmenting the packets.
• Accommodating jumbo frames—You can set the MTU up to 9198 bytes when you enable jumbo frames.
The maximum is 9000 for the ASAv and 9184 for the ASA on the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis.

About the TCP MSS

The TCP maximum segment size (MSS) is the size of the TCP payload before any TCP and IP headers are
added. UDP packets are not affected. The client and the server exchange TCP MSS values during the three-way
handshake when establishing the connection.
You can set the TCP MSS on the ASA for through traffic; by default, the maximum TCP MSS is set to 1380
bytes. This setting is useful when the ASA needs to add to the size of the packet for IPsec VPN encapsulation.
However, for non-IPsec endpoints, you should disable the maximum TCP MSS on the ASA.
If you set a maximum TCP MSS, if either endpoint of a connection requests a TCP MSS that is larger than
the value set on the ASA, then the ASA overwrites the TCP MSS in the request packet with the ASA maximum.
If the host or server does not request a TCP MSS, then the ASA assumes the RFC 793-default value of 536
bytes (IPv4) or 1220 bytes (IPv6), but does not modify the packet. For example, you leave the default MTU
as 1500 bytes. A host requests an MSS of 1500 minus the TCP and IP header length, which sets the MSS to
1460. If the ASA maximum TCP MSS is 1380 (the default), then the ASA changes the MSS value in the TCP
request packet to 1380. The server then sends packets with 1380-byte payloads. The ASA can then add up to
120 bytes of headers to the packet and still fit in the MTU size of 1500.
You can also configure the minimum TCP MSS; if a host or server requests a very small TCP MSS, the ASA
can adjust the value up. By default, the minimum TCP MSS is not enabled.
For to-the-box traffic, including for SSL VPN connections, this setting does not apply. The ASA uses the
MTU to derive the TCP MSS: MTU - 40 (IPv4) or MTU - 60 (IPv6).

Default TCP MSS

By default, the maximum TCP MSS on the ASA is 1380 bytes. This default accommodates IPv4 IPsec VPN
connections where the headers can equal up to 120 bytes; this value fits within the default MTU of 1500 bytes.

Suggested Maximum TCP MSS Setting

The default TCP MSS assumes the ASA acts as an IPv4 IPsec VPN endpoint and has an MTU of 1500. When
the ASA acts as an IPv4 IPsec VPN endpoint, it needs to accommodate up to 120 bytes for TCP and IP headers.
If you change the MTU value, use IPv6, or do not use the ASA as an IPsec VPN endpoint, then you should
change the TCP MSS setting. See the following guidelines:

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Inter-Interface Communication

• Normal traffic—Disable the TCP MSS limit and accept the value established between connection
endpoints. Because connection endpoints typically derive the TCP MSS from the MTU, non-IPsec packets
usually fit this TCP MSS.
• IPv4 IPsec endpoint traffic—Set the maximum TCP MSS to the MTU - 120. For example, if you use
jumbo frames and set the MTU to 9000, then you need to set the TCP MSS to 8880 to take advantage
of the new MTU.
• IPv6 IPsec endpoint traffic—Set the maximum TCP MSS to the MTU - 140.

Inter-Interface Communication
Allowing interfaces on the same security level to communicate with each other provides the following benefits:
• You can configure more than 101 communicating interfaces.
If you use different levels for each interface and do not assign any interfaces to the same security level,
you can configure only one interface per level (0 to 100).
• You want traffic to flow freely between all same security interfaces without ACLs.

If you enable same security interface communication, you can still configure interfaces at different security
levels as usual.

Intra-Interface Communication (Routed Firewall Mode)

Intra-interface communication might be useful for VPN traffic that enters an interface, but is then routed out
the same interface. The VPN traffic might be unencrypted in this case, or it might be reencrypted for another
VPN connection. For example, if you have a hub and spoke VPN network, where the ASA is the hub, and
remote VPN networks are spokes, for one spoke to communicate with another spoke, traffic must go into the
ASA and then out again to the other spoke.

Note All traffic allowed by this feature is still subject to firewall rules. Be careful not to create an asymmetric
routing situation that can cause return traffic not to traverse the ASA.

AutomaticallyAssignMACAddressesinMultipleContextMode
This section describes how to configure auto-generation of MAC addresses. For multiple context mode, this
feature assigns unique MAC addresses to all interface types that are assigned to a context.

Before you begin

• When you configure a name for the interface, the new MAC address is generated immediately. If you
enable this feature after you configure interfaces, then MAC addresses are generated for all interfaces
immediately after you enable it. If you disable this feature, the MAC address for each interface reverts
to the default MAC address. For example, subinterfaces of GigabitEthernet 0/1 revert to using the MAC
address of GigabitEthernet 0/1.

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Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS

• In the rare circumstance that the generated MAC address conflicts with another private MAC address in
your network, you can manually set the MAC address for the interface.
• For multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution space. If you are not already
in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click System under
the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Complete the following steps in the System.

a) Choose Configuration > Context Management > Security Contexts.
b) Check Mac-Address auto.
c) (Optional) Check the Prefix check box, and in the field, enter a decimal value between 0 and 65535.
This prefix is converted to a four-digit hexadecimal number, and used as part of the MAC address. If you
do not enter a prefix, then the ASA autogenerates the prefix based on the last two bytes of the interface
MAC address.

Step 2 Click Apply.

Configure the Manual MAC Address, MTU, and TCP MSS

Before you begin
• In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the
system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context
name under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 2 Choose the interface row, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.

Step 3 Click the Advanced tab.

Step 4 To set the MTU or to enable jumbo frame support (supported models only), enter the value in the MTU field,
between 300 and 9198 bytes (9000 for the ASAv and 9188 for the Firepower 4100/9300 chassis).
The default is 1500 bytes.
Note When you set the MTU for a redundant or port-channel interface, the ASA applies the setting to all
member interfaces.

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Allow Same Security Level Communication

• For models that support jumbo frames in single mode—If you enter a value for any interface that is
greater than 1500, then you enable jumbo frame support automatically for all interfaces. If you set the
MTU for all interfaces back to a value under 1500, then jumbo frame support is disabled.
• For models that support jumbo frames in multiple mode—If you enter a value for any interface that is
greater than 1500, then be sure to enable jumbo frame support in the system configuration. See Enable
Jumbo Frame Support (ASA Models), on page 497.
Note Enabling or disabling jumbo frame support requires you to reload the ASA.

Step 5 To manually assign a MAC address to this interface, enter a MAC address in the Active Mac Address field
in H.H.H format, where H is a 16-bit hexadecimal digit.
For example, the MAC address 00-0C-F1-42-4C-DE would be entered as 000C.F142.4CDE. The first two
bytes of a manual MAC address cannot be A2 if you also want to use auto-generated MAC addresses.

Step 6 If you use failover, enter the standby MAC address in the Standby Mac Address field. If the active unit fails
over and the standby unit becomes active, the new active unit starts using the active MAC addresses to minimize
network disruption, while the old active unit uses the standby address.
Step 7 To set the TCP MSS, choose Configuration > Firewall > Advanced > TCP Options. Set the following
options:
• Force Maximum Segment Size for TCP—Sets the maximum TCP segment size in bytes, between 48
and any maximum number. The default value is 1380 bytes. You can disable this feature by setting the
bytes to 0.
• Force Minimum Segment Size for TCP—Overrides the maximum segment size to be no less than the
number of bytes you set, between 48 and any maximum number. This feature is disabled by default (set
to 0).

Step 8 For Secure Group Tagging settings, see the firewall configuration guide.
Step 9 For ASA Cluster settings, see (Recommended; Required in Multiple Context Mode) Configure Interfaces on
the Control Unit, on page 355.

Allow Same Security Level Communication

By default, interfaces on the same security level cannot communicate with each other, and packets cannot
enter and exit the same interface. This section describes how to enable inter-interface communication when
interfaces are on the same security level, and how to enable intra-interface communication.

Procedure

Step 1 To enable interfaces on the same security level to communicate with each other, from the Configuration >
Interfaces pane, check Enable traffic between two or more interfaces which are configured with same
security level.
Step 2 To enable communication between hosts connected to the same interface, check Enable traffic between two
or more hosts connected to the same interface.

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Monitoring the ARP and MAC Address Table

Monitoring the ARP and MAC Address Table

• Monitoring > Interfaces > ARP Table
Displays the ARP table, including static and dynamic entries. The ARP table includes entries that map
a MAC address to an IP address for a given interface.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > MAC Address Table
Shows the static and dynamic MAC address entries.

History for Advanced Interface Configuration

Table 31: History for Advanced Interface Configuration

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Maximum MTU is now 9198 bytes 9.1(6), 9.2(1) The maximum MTU that the ASA can use
is 9198 bytes (check for your model’s exact
limit at the CLI help). This value does not
include the Layer 2 header. Formerly, the
ASA let you specify the maximum MTU
as 65535 bytes, which was inaccurate and
could cause problems. If your MTU was
set to a value higher than 9198, then the
MTU is automatically lowered when you
upgrade. In some cases, this MTU change
can cause an MTU mismatch; be sure to set
any connecting equipment to use the new
MTU value.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Edit Interface >
Advanced

Increased MTU size for the ASA on the 9.6(2) You can set the maximum MTU to 9184
Firepower 4100/9300 chassis bytes on the Firepower 4100 and 9300;
formerly, the maximum was 9000 bytes.
This MTU is supported with FXOS 2.0.1.68
and later.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Advanced

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History for Advanced Interface Configuration

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Unique MAC address generation for single 9.8(3), 9.8(4), 9.9(2) You can now enable unique MAC address
context mode generation for VLAN subinterfaces in
single context mode. Normally,
subinterfaces share the same MAC address
with the main interface. Because IPv6
link-local addresses are generated based on
the MAC address, this feature allows for
unique IPv6 link-local addresses.
New or modified command: mac-address
auto
No ASDM support.

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 CHAPTER 21
Traffic Zones
You can assign multiple interfaces to a traffic zone, which lets traffic from an existing flow exit or enter the
ASA on any interface within the zone. This capability allows Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing on the
ASA as well as external load balancing of traffic to the ASA across multiple interfaces.
• About Traffic Zones, on page 583
• Prerequisites for Traffic Zones, on page 589
• Guidelines for Traffic Zones, on page 590
• Configure a Traffic Zone, on page 592
• Monitoring Traffic Zones, on page 592
• Example for Traffic Zones, on page 594
• History for Traffic Zones, on page 597

About Traffic Zones

This section describes how you should use traffic zones in your network.

Non-Zoned Behavior
The Adaptive Security Algorithm takes into consideration the state of a packet when deciding to permit or
deny the traffic. One of the enforced parameters for the flow is that traffic enters and exits the same interface.
Any traffic for an existing flow that enters a different interface is dropped by the ASA.
Traffic zones let you group multiple interfaces together so that traffic entering or exiting any interface in the
zone fulfills the Adaptive Security Algorithm security checks.
Related Topics
Stateful Inspection Overview, on page 12

Why Use Zones?

You can use zones to accommodate several routing scenarios.

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Asymmetric Routing

Asymmetric Routing
In the following scenario, a connection was established between an inside host and an outside host through
ISP 1 on the Outside1 interface. Due to asymmetric routing on the destination network, return traffic arrived
from ISP 2 on the Outside2 interface.

Non-Zoned Problem: The ASA maintains the connection tables on a per-interface basis. When the returning
traffic arrives at Outside2, it will not match the connection table and will be dropped. For an ASA cluster,
asymmetric routing when the cluster has multiple adjacencies to the same router can lead to unacceptible
traffic loss.
Zoned Solution: The ASA maintains connection tables on a per-zone basis. If you group Outside1 and
Outside2 into a zone, then when the returning traffic arrives at Outside2, it will match the per-zone connection
table, and the connection will be allowed.

Lost Route
In the following scenario, a connection was established between an inside host and an outside host through
ISP 1 on the Outside1 interface. Due to a lost or moved route between Outside1 and ISP 1, traffic needs to
take a different route through ISP 2.

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Non-Zoned Problem: The connection between the inside and outside host will be deleted; a new connection
must be established using a new next-best route. For UDP, the new route will be used after a single packet
drop, but for TCP, a new connection has to be reestablished.
Zoned Solution: The ASA detects the lost route and switches the flow to the new path through ISP 2. Traffic
will be seamlessly forwarded without any packet drops.

Load Balancing
In the following scenario, a connection was established between an inside host and an outside host through
ISP 1 on the Outside1 interface. A second connection was established through an equal cost route through
ISP 2 on Outside2.

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Non-Zoned Problem: Load-balancing across interfaces is not possible; you can only load-balance with equal
cost routes on one interface.
Zoned Solution: The ASA load-balances connections across up to eight equal cost routes on all the interfaces
in the zone.

Per-Zone Connection and Routing Tables

The ASA maintains a per-zone connection table so that traffic can arrive on any of the zone interfaces. The
ASA also maintains a per-zone routing table for ECMP support.

ECMP Routing
The ASA supports Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing.

Non-Zoned ECMP Support

Without zones, you can have up to 8 equal cost static or dynamic routes per interface. For example, you can
configure three default routes on the outside interface that specify different gateways:

route outside 0 0 10.1.1.2

route outside 0 0 10.1.1.3
route outside 0 0 10.1.1.4

In this case, traffic is load-balanced on the outside interface between 10.1.1.2, 10.1.1.3, and 10.1.1.4. Traffic
is distributed among the specified gateways based on an algorithm that hashes the source and destination IP
addresses.

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Zoned ECMP Support

ECMP is not supported across multiple interfaces, so you cannot define a route to the same destination on a
different interface. The following route is disallowed when configured with any of the routes above:

route outside2 0 0 10.2.1.1

Zoned ECMP Support

With zones, you can have up to 8 equal cost static or dynamic routes across up to 8 interfaces within a zone.
For example, you can configure three default routes across three interfaces in the zone:

route outside1 0 0 10.1.1.2

route outside2 0 0 10.2.1.2
route outside3 0 0 10.3.1.2

Similarly, your dynamic routing protocol can automatically configure equal cost routes. The ASA load-balances
traffic across the interfaces with a more robust load balancing mechanism.
When a route is lost, the ASA seamlessly moves the flow to a different route.

How Connections Are Load-Balanced

The ASA load balances connections across equal cost routes using a hash made from the packet 6-tuple (source
and destination IP address, source and destination port, protocol, and ingress interface). Unless the route is
lost, a connection will stay on the chosen interface for its duration.
Packets within a connection are not load-balanced across routes; a connection uses a single route unless that
route is lost.
The ASA does not consider the interface bandwidth or other parameters when load balancing. You should
make sure all interfaces within the same zone have the same characteristics such as MTU, bandwidth, and so
on.
The load-balancing algorithm is not user configurable.

Falling Back to a Route in Another Zone

When a route is lost on an interface, if there are no other routes available within the zone, then the ASA will
use a route from a different interface/zone. If this backup route is used, then you may experience packet drops
as with non-zoned routing support.

Interface-Based Security Policy

Zones allow traffic to and from any interface in the zone, but the security policy itself (access rules, NAT,
and so on) is still applied per interface, not per zone. If you configure the same security policy for all interfaces
within the zone, then you can successfully implement ECMP and load balancing for that traffic. For more
information about required parallel interface configuration, see Prerequisites for Traffic Zones, on page 589.

Supported Services for Traffic Zones

The following services are supported with zones:
• Access Rules

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Security Levels

• NAT
• Service Rules, except for QoS traffic policing.
• Routing

You can also configure to- and from-the-box services listed in To- and From-the-Box Traffic, on page 589,
although full zoned support is not available.
Do not configure other services (such as VPN or Botnet Traffic Filter) for interfaces in a traffic zone; they
may not function or scale as expected.

Note For detailed information about how to configure the security policy, see Prerequisites for Traffic Zones, on
page 589.

Security Levels
The first interface that you add to a zone determines the security level of the zone. All additional interfaces
must have the same security level. To change the security level for interfaces in a zone, you must remove all
but one interface, and then change the security levels, and re-add the interfaces.

Primary and Current Interface for the Flow

Each connection flow is built based on the initial ingress and egress interfaces. These interfaces are the primary
interfaces.
If a new egress interface is used because of route changes or asymmetric routing, then the new interfaces are
the current interfaces.

Joining or Leaving a Zone

When you assign an interface to a zone, any connections on that interface are deleted. The connections must
be reestablished.
If you remove an interface from a zone, any connections that have the interface as the primary interface are
deleted. The connections must be reestablished. If the interface is the current interface, the ASA moves the
connections back to the primary interface. The zone route table is also refreshed.

Intra-Zone Traffic
To allow traffic to enter one interface and exit another in the same zone, enable Configuration > Device
Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Enable traffic between two or more hosts connected to the
same interface, which allows traffic to enter and exit the same interface, as well as Configuration > Device
Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Enable traffic between two or more interfaces which are
configured with same security level, which allows traffic between same-security interfaces. Otherwise, a
flow cannot be routed between two interfaces in the same zone.

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To- and From-the-Box Traffic

To- and From-the-Box Traffic

• You cannot add management-only or management-access interfaces to a zone.
• For management traffic on regular interfaces in a zone, only asymmetric routing on existing flows is
supported; there is no ECMP support.
• You can configure a management service on only one zone interface, but to take advantage of asymmetric
routing support, you need to configure it on all interfaces. Even when the configurations are parallel on
all interfaces, ECMP is not supported.
• The ASA supports the following to- and from-the-box services in a zone:
• Telnet
• SSH
• HTTPS
• SNMP
• Syslog

Overlapping IP Addresses Within a Zone

For non-zoned interfaces, the ASA supports overlapping IP address networks on interfaces so long as you
configure NAT properly. However, overlapping networks are not supported on interfaces in the same zone.

Prerequisites for Traffic Zones

• Configure all interface parameters including the name, IP address, and security level. Note that the
security level must match for all interfaces in the zone. You should plan to group together like interfaces
in terms of bandwidth and other Layer 2 properties.
• Configure the following services to match on all zone interfaces:
• Access Rules—Apply the same access rule to all zone member interfaces, or use a global access
rule.
For example:

access-list ZONE1 extended permit tcp any host WEBSERVER1 eq 80

access-group ZONE1 in interface outside1
access-group ZONE1 in interface outside2
access-group ZONE1 in interface outside3

• NAT—Configure the same NAT policy on all member interfaces of the zone or use a global NAT
rule (in other words, use “any” to represent the zone interfaces in the NAT rule).
Interface PAT is not supported.
For example:

object network WEBSERVER1

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host 10.9.9.9 255.255.255.255

nat (inside,any) static 209.165.201.9

Note When you use interface-specific NAT and PAT pools, the ASA cannot switch
connections over in case of the original interface failure.
If you use interface-specific PAT pools, multiple connections from the same host
might load-balance to different interfaces and use different mapped IP addresses.
Internet services that use multiple concurrent connections may not work correctly
in this case.

• Service Rules—Use the global service policy, or assign the same policy to each interface in a zone.
QoS traffic policing is not supported.
For example:

service-policy outside_policy interface outside1

service-policy outside_policy interface outside2
service-policy outside_policy interface outside3

Note For VoIP inspections, zone load balancing can cause increased out-of-order
packets. This situation can occur because later packets might reach the ASA
before earlier packets that take a different path. Symptoms of out-of-order packets
include:
• Higher memory utilization at intermediate nodes (firewall and IDS) and the
receiving end nodes if queuing is used.
• Poor video or voice quality.

To mitigate these effects, we recommend that you use IP addresses only for load
distribution for VoIP traffic.

• Configure routing with ECMP zone capabilities in mind.

Guidelines for Traffic Zones

Firewall Mode
Supported in routed firewall mode only. Does not support transparent firewall mode or bridge group interfaces
in routed mode.

Failover
• You cannot add the failover or state link to a zone.

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• In Active/Active failover mode, you can assign an interface in each context to an asymmetrical routing
(ASR) group. This service allows traffic returning on a similar interface on the peer unit to be restored
to the original unit. You cannot configure both ASR groups and traffic zones within a context. If you
configure a zone in a context, none of the context interfaces can be part of an ASR group. See Configure
Support for Asymmetrically Routed Packets (Active/Active Mode), on page 303 for more information
about ASR groups.
• Only the primary interfaces for each connection are replicated to the standby unit; current interfaces are
not replicated. If the standby unit becomes active, it will assign a new current interface if necessary.

Clustering
• You cannot add the cluster control link to a zone.

Model Guidelines
You cannot add Firepower 1010 switch ports and VLAN interfaces to a zone.

Additional Guidelines
• You can create a maximum of 256 zones.
• You can add the following types of interfaces to a zone:
• Physical
• VLAN
• EtherChannel
• Redundant

• You cannot add the following types of interfaces:

• Management-only
• Management-access
• Failover or state link
• Cluster control link
• Member interfaces in an EtherChannel or redundant interface
• VNI; also, if a regular data interface is marked as nve-only, it cannot be a member of a zone.
• BVI, or bridge group member interfaces.

• An interface can be a member of only one zone.

• You can include up to 8 interfaces per zone.
• For ECMP, you can add up to 8 equal cost routes per zone, across all zone interfaces. You can also
configure multiple routes on a single interface as part of the 8 route limit.
• When you add an interface to a zone, all static routes for those interfaces are removed.

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• You cannot enable DHCP Relay on an interface in a zone.

• The ASA does not support fragmented packet reassembly for fragments that are load-balanced to separate
interfaces; those fragments will be dropped.
• PIM/IGMP Multicast routing is not supported on interfaces in a zone.

Configure a Traffic Zone

Configure a named zone, and assign interfaces to the zone.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Zones, and click Add.
You can alternately assign an interface to a zone from the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings
> Interfaces > Add Interface dialog box.

Step 2 Name the zone with a name up to 48 characters in length.

Step 3 Add one or more interfaces to the Member area. Ensure all interfaces have the same security level.
Step 4 Click Apply.

Monitoring Traffic Zones

This section describes how to monitor traffic zones.

Zone Information
• show zone [name]
Shows zone ID, context, security level, and members.
See the following output for the show zone command:

ciscoasa# show zone outside-zone

Zone: zone-outside id: 2

Security-level: 0
Context: test-ctx
Zone Member(s) : 2
outside1 GigabitEthernet0/0
outside2 GigabitEthernet0/1

• show nameif zone

Shows the interface names and zone names.
See the following output for the show nameif zone command:

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ciscoasa# show nameif zone

Interface Name zone-name Security
GigabitEthernet0/0 inside-1 inside-zone 100
GigabitEthernet0/1.21 inside inside-zone 100
GigabitEthernet0/1.31 4 0
GigabitEthernet0/2 outside outside-zone 0
Management0/0 lan 0

Zone Connections
• show conn [long | detail] [zone zone_name [zone zone_name] [...]]
The show conn zone command displays connections for a zone. The long and detail keywords show
the primary interface on which the connection was built and the current interface used to forward the
traffic.
See the following output for the show conn long zone command:

ciscoasa# show conn long zone zone-inside zone zone-outside

TCP outside-zone:outside1(outside2): 10.122.122.1:1080

inside-zone:inside1(inside2): 10.121.121.1:34254, idle 0:00:02, bytes 10, flags UO

• show asp table zone

Shows the accelerated security path tables for debugging purposes.
• show local-host [zone zone_name [zone zone_name] [...]]
Shows the network states of local hosts within a zone.
See the following output for the show local-host zone command. The primary interface is listed first,
and the current interface is in parentheses.

ciscoasa# show local-host zone outside-zone

Zone:outside-zone: 4 active, 5 maximum active, 0 denied

local host: <10.122.122.1>,
TCP flow count/limit = 3/unlimited
TCP embryonic count to host = 0
TCP intercept watermark = unlimited
UDP flow count/limit = 0/unlimited

Conn:
TCP outside-zone:outside1(outside2): 10.122.122.1:1080
inside-zone:inside1(inside2): 10.121.121.1:34254, idle 0:00:02, bytes 10, flags UO

Zone Routing
• show route zone
Shows the routes for zone interfaces.
See the following output for the show route zone command:

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ciscoasa# show route zone

Codes: C - connected, S - static, I - IGRP, R - RIP, M - mobile, B - BGP

D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area
N1 - OSPF NSSA external type 1, N2 - OSPF NSSA external type 2
E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2, E - EGP
i - IS-IS, L1 - IS-IS level-1, L2 - IS-IS level-2, ia - IS-IS inter area
* - candidate default, U - per-user static route, o - ODR
P - periodic downloaded static route

Gateway of last resort is not set

S 192.168.105.1 255.255.255.255 [1/0] via 172.16.1.1, outside-zone:outside1

C 192.168.212.0 255.255.255.0 is directly connected, lan-zone:inside,
C 172.16.1.0 255.255.255.0 is directly connected, wan-zone:outside2
S 10.5.5.0 255.255.255.0 [1/0] via 172.16.1.1, wan-zone:outside2
O 10.2.2.1 255.255.255.255 [110/11] via 192.168.212.3, 2:09:24, lan-zone:inside
O 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.255 [110/11] via 192.168.212.2, 2:09:24, lan-zone:inside

• show asp table routing

Shows the accelerated security path tables for debugging purposes, and shows the zone associated with
each route.
See the following output for the show asp table routing command:

ciscoasa# show asp table routing

route table timestamp: 60
in 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 identity
in 10.1.0.1 255.255.255.255 identity
in 10.2.0.1 255.255.255.255 identity
in 10.6.6.4 255.255.255.255 identity
in 10.4.4.4 255.255.255.255 via 10.4.0.10 (unresolved, timestamp: 49)
in 172.0.0.67 255.255.255.255 identity
in 172.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 wan-zone:outside2
in 10.85.43.0 255.255.255.0 via 10.4.0.3 (unresolved, timestamp: 50)
in 10.85.45.0 255.255.255.0 via 10.4.0.20 (unresolved, timestamp: 51)
in 192.168.0.0 255.255.255.0 mgmt
in 192.168.1.0 255.255.0.0 lan-zone:inside
out 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 mgmt
out 172.0.0.67 255.255.255.255 mgmt
out 172.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 mgmt
out 10.4.0.0 240.0.0.0 mgmt
out 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 lan-zone:inside
out 10.1.0.1 255.255.255.255 lan-zone:inside
out 10.2.0.0 255.255.0.0 lan-zone:inside
out 10.4.0.0 240.0.0.0 lan-zone:inside

Example for Traffic Zones

The following example assigns 4 VLAN interfaces to the outside zone, and configures 4 equal cost default
routes. PAT is configured for the inside interface, and a web server is available on a DMZ interface using
static NAT.

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interface gigabitethernet0/0
no shutdown
description outside switch 1
interface gigabitethernet0/1
no shutdown
description outside switch 2

interface gigabitethernet0/2
no shutdown
description inside switch

zone outside

interface gigabitethernet0/0.101
vlan 101
nameif outside1
security-level 0
ip address 209.165.200.225 255.255.255.224
zone-member outside
no shutdown

interface gigabitethernet0/0.102
vlan 102
nameif outside2
security-level 0
ip address 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.224
zone-member outside
no shutdown

interface gigabitethernet0/1.201
vlan 201
nameif outside3
security-level 0
ip address 198.51.100.1 255.255.255.0
zone-member outside
no shutdown

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interface gigabitethernet0/1.202
vlan 202
nameif outside4
security-level 0
ip address 203.0.113.1 255.255.255.0
zone-member outside
no shutdown

interface gigabitethernet0/2.301
vlan 301
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 192.168.9.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown

interface gigabitethernet0/2.302
vlan 302
nameif dmz
security-level 50
ip address 10.3.5.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown

# Static NAT for DMZ web server on any destination interface

object network WEBSERVER
host 10.3.5.9 255.255.255.255
nat (dmz,any) static 209.165.202.129 dns

# Dynamic PAT for inside network on any destination interface

object network INSIDE
subnet 192.168.9.0 255.255.255.0
nat (inside,any) dynamic 209.165.202.130

# Global access rule for DMZ web server

access-list WEB-SERVER extended permit tcp any host WEBSERVER eq 80
access-group WEB-SERVER global

# 4 equal cost default routes for outside interfaces

route outside1 0 0 209.165.200.230
route outside2 0 0 209.165.201.10
route outside3 0 0 198.51.100.99
route outside4 0 0 203.0.113.87
# Static routes for NAT addresses - see redistribute static command
route dmz 209.165.202.129 255.255.255.255 10.3.5.99
route inside 209.165.202.130 255.255.255.255 192.168.9.99

# The global service policy

class-map inspection_default
match default-inspection-traffic
policy-map type inspect dns preset_dns_map
parameters
message-length maximum client auto
message-length maximum 512
dns-guard
protocol-enforcement
nat-rewrite
policy-map global_policy
class inspection_default
inspect dns preset_dns_map
inspect ftp
inspect h323 h225 _default_h323_map
inspect h323 ras _default_h323_map
inspect ip-options _default_ip_options_map
inspect netbios
inspect rsh

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inspect rtsp
inspect skinny
inspect esmtp _default_esmtp_map
inspect sqlnet
inspect sunrpc
inspect tftp
inspect sip
inspect xdmcp
service-policy global_policy global

History for Traffic Zones

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Traffic Zones 9.3(2) You can group interfaces together into a

traffic zone to accomplish traffic load
balancing (using Equal Cost Multi-Path
(ECMP) routing), route redundancy, and
asymmetric routing across multiple
interfaces.
Note You cannot apply a security
policy to a named zone; the
security policy is
interface-based. When interfaces
in a zone are configured with the
same access rule, NAT, and
service policy, then
load-balancing and asymmetric
routing operate correctly.

We introduced or modified the following

screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Parameters > Zones
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Parameters > Interfaces.

clear local-host command 9.14(1) The clear local-host command and all of
its attributes and keywords were deprecated.
They will be removed in a future release.

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PA R T IV
Basic Settings
• Basic Settings, on page 601
• DHCP and DDNS Services, on page 619
• Digital Certificates, on page 635
• ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table, on page 663
 CHAPTER 22
Basic Settings
This chapter describes how to configure basic settings on the ASA that are typically required for a functioning
configuration.
• Set the Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet Passwords, on page 601
• Set the Date and Time, on page 602
• Configure the Master Passphrase, on page 606
• Configure the DNS Server, on page 608
• Configure the Hardware Bypass and Dual Power Supply (Cisco ISA 3000), on page 610
• Adjust ASP (Accelerated Security Path) Performance and Behavior, on page 612
• Monitoring the DNS Cache, on page 614
• History for Basic Settings, on page 615

Set the Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet
Passwords
To set the hostname, domain name, and the enable and Telnet passwords, perform the following steps.

Before you begin

Before you set the hostname, domain name, and the enable and Telnet passwords, check the following
requirements:
• In multiple context mode, you can configure the hostname and domain name in both the system and
context execution spaces.
• For the enable and Telnet passwords, set them in each context; they are not available in the system.
• To change from the system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane,
double-click the context name under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Device Name/Password.

Step 2 Enter the hostname. The default hostname is “ciscoasa.”

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The hostname appears in the command line prompt, and if you establish sessions to multiple devices, the
hostname helps you keep track of where you enter commands. The hostname is also used in syslog messages.
For multiple context mode, the hostname that you set in the system execution space appears in the command
line prompt for all contexts. The hostname that you optionally set within a context does not appear in the
command line; it can be used for a banner.

Step 3 Enter the domain name. The default domain name is default.domain.invalid.
The ASA appends the domain name as a suffix to unqualified names. For example, if you set the domain
name to “example.com” and specify a syslog server by the unqualified name of “jupiter,” then the ASA
qualifies the name to “jupiter.example.com.”

Step 4 Change the privileged mode (enable) password. The default password is blank, but you are prompted to change
it the first time you enter the enable command at the CLI.
The enable password lets you enter privileged EXEC mode if you do not configure enable authentication.
The enable password also lets you log into ASDM with a blank username if you do not configure HTTP
authentication. ASDM does not enforce the enable password change like CLI access does.
a) Check the Change the privileged mode password check box.
b) Enter the new password, and then confirm the new password. Set a case-sensitive password of 3 to 127
characters long. It can be any combination of ASCII printable characters (character codes 32-126), with
the exception of spaces and the question mark.
You cannot reset the password to a blank value.

Step 5 Set the login password for Telnet access. There is no default password.
The login password is used for Telnet access when you do not configure Telnet authentication.
a) Check the Change the password to access the console of the security appliance check box.
b) Enter the old password (for a new ASA, leave this field blank), new password, then confirm the new
password. The password can be up to 16 characters long. It can be any combination of ASCII printable
characters (character codes 32-126), with the exception of spaces and the question mark.
Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

Set the Date and Time

Note Do not set the date and time for the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode, 4100, or 9300; the ASA receives these
settings from the chassis.

Set the Date and Time Using an NTP Server

NTP is used to implement a hierarchical system of servers that provide a precisely synchronized time among
network systems. This kind of accuracy is required for time-sensitive operations, such as validating CRLs,
which include a precise time stamp. You can configure multiple NTP servers. The ASA chooses the server
with the lowest stratum—a measure of how reliable the data is.

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Time derived from an NTP server overrides any time set manually.
The ASA supports NTPv4.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, you can set the time in the system configuration only.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > System Time > NTP.

Step 2 Click Add to display the Add NTP Server Configuration dialog box.
Step 3 Enter the NTP server IPv4 or IPv6 IP Address.
You cannot enter a hostname for the server; the ASA does not support DNS lookup for the NTP server.

Step 4 (Optional) Check the Preferred check box to set this server as a preferred server.
NTP uses an algorithm to determine which server is the most accurate and synchronizes to it. If servers are
of similar accuracy, then the preferred server is used. However, if a server is significantly more accurate than
the preferred one, the ASA uses the more accurate one.

Step 5 (Optional) Choose the Interface from the drop-down list.

This setting specifies the outgoing interface for NTP packets. If the interface is blank, then the ASA uses the
default admin context interface according to the management routing table.

Step 6 (Optional) Configure NTP authentication.

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a) Enter a Key Number between 1 and 4294967295, or choose an existing key number from the drop-down
list if you previously created a key for another NTP server that you want to reuse.
This setting specifies the key ID for this authentication key, which enables you to use authentication to
communicate with the NTP server. The NTP server packets must also use this key ID.
b) Check the Trusted check box.
c) Enter the Key Value, which is a string up to 32 characters long, and then re-enter the key value.
d) Choose a Key Algorithm from the drop-down list.
e) Click OK.
Step 7 Check the Enable NTP authentication check box to turn on NTP authentication.
Step 8 Click Apply to save your changes.

Set the Date and Time Manually

To set the date and time manually, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, you can set the time in the system configuration only.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > System Time > Clock.
Step 2 Choose the time zone from the drop-down list. This setting specifies the time zone as GMT plus or minus the
appropriate number of hours. If you select the Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time, or Pacific Time
zone, then the time adjusts automatically for daylight savings time, from 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in
March to 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.
Note Changing the time zone on the ASA may drop the connection to intelligent SSMs.

Step 3 Click the Date drop-down list to display a calendar. Then find the correct date using the following methods:
• Click the name of the month to display a list of months, then click the desired month. The calendar
updates to that month.
• Click the year to change the year. Use the up and down arrows to scroll through the years, or enter a year
in the entry field.
• Click the arrows to the right and left of the month and year to scroll the calendar forward and backward
one month at a time.
• Click a day on the calendar to set the date.

Step 4 Enter the time manually in hours, minutes, and seconds.

Step 5 Click Update Display Time to update the time shown in the bottom right corner of the ASDM pane. The
current time updates automatically every ten seconds.

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Configure Precision Time Protocol (ISA 3000)

Configure Precision Time Protocol (ISA 3000)

The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a time-synchronization protocol developed to synchronize the clocks
of various devices in a packet-based network. These device clocks are generally of varying precision and
stability. The protocol is designed specifically for industrial, networked measurement and control systems,
and is optimal for use in distributed systems because it requires minimal bandwidth and little processing
overhead.
A PTP system is a distributed, networked system consisting of a combination of PTP and non-PTP devices.
PTP devices include ordinary clocks, boundary clocks and transparent clocks. Non-PTP devices include
network switches, routers and other infrastructure devices.
You can configure the ASA device to be a transparent clock. The ASA device does not synchronize its clock
with the PTP clocks. The ASA device will use the PTP default profile, as defined on the PTP clocks.
When you configure the PTP devices, you define a domain number for the devices that are meant to function
together.Thus, you can configure multiple PTP domains, and then configure each non-PTP device to use the
PTP clocks for one specific domain.

Note We added the following commands to the ASA default configuration to ensure that PTP traffic is not sent to
the ASA FirePOWER module for inspection. If you have an existing deployment, you need to manually add
these commands:
object-group service bypass_sfr_inspect
service-object udp destination range 319 320
access-list sfrAccessList extended deny object-group bypass_sfr_inspect any any

Before you begin

• This feature is only available on the Cisco ISA 3000 appliance.
• Use of PTP is supported in single-context mode only.
• Cisco PTP supports multicast PTP messages only.
• PTP is enabled on all ISA 3000 interfaces in transparent mode by default. In routed mode, you must add
the necessary configuration to ensure that the PTP packets are allowed to flow through the device.
• PTP is available only for IPv4 networks, not for IPv6 networks.
• PTP configuration is supported on physical Ethernet interfaces, whether stand-alone or bridge group
members. It is not supported on:
• Management interface.
• Sub-interfaces, channel groups, BVIs or any other virtual interfaces.

• PTP flows on VLAN sub-interfaces are supported, assuming the appropriate PTP configuration is present
on the parent interface.
• You must ensure that PTP packets are allowed to flow through the device. In Transparent Firewall mode,
the access-list configuration to allow PTP traffic is configured by default. PTP traffic is identified by
UDP ports 319 and 320, and destination IP address 224.0.1.129, so in Routed Firewall mode any ACL
that allows this traffic should be acceptable.

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• In Routed Firewall mode, you must also enable multicast-routing for PTP multicast groups:
• Enter the global configuration mode command multicast-routing.
• And for each interface that is not a bridge group member, and on which PTP is enabled, enter the
interface configuration command igmp join-group 224.0.1.129 to statically enable PTP multicast
group membership. This command is not supported or needed for bridge group members.

Procedure

Step 1 Select Configuration > Device Management > PTP.

Step 2 Enter the Domain value.
This is the domain number for all ports on the device. Packets received on a different domain are treated like
regular multicast packets and will not undergo any PTP processing. This value can be from zero to 255; the
default value is zero. Enter the domain number that is configured on the PTP devices in your network.

Step 3 (Optional) Select Enable End-to-End Transparent Clock Mode to enable End-to-End Transparent mode
on all PTP-enabled interfaces.
A transparent clock is a clock which compensates for its delays by measuring the residence times and updating
the correctionField in the PTP packet.

Step 4 Enable PTP on one or more device interfaces by selecting an interface and clicking Enable or Disable.
Enable PTP on each interface through which the system can contact a PTP clock in the configured domain.

Step 5 Click Apply.

What to do next
You can choose Monitoring > Properties > PTP to view PTP clock and interface/port information.

Configure the Master Passphrase

The master passphrase allows you to securely store plain text passwords in encrypted format and provides a
key that is used to universally encrypt or mask all passwords, without changing any functionality. Features
that use the master passphrase include the following:
• OSPF
• EIGRP
• VPN load balancing
• VPN (remote access and site-to-site)
• Failover
• AAA servers
• Logging

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• Shared licenses

Add or Change the Master Passphrase

To add or change the master passphrase, perform the following steps.

Before you begin

• This procedure will only be accepted in a secure session, for example by console, SSH, or ASDM via
HTTPS.
• If failover is enabled but no failover shared key is set, an error message appears if you change the master
passphrase, informing you that you must enter a failover shared key to protect the master passphrase
changes from being sent as plain text.
Choose Configuration > Device Management > High Availability > Failover, enter any character in
the Shared Key field or 32 hexadecimal numbers (0-9A-Fa-f) if a failover hexadecimal key is selected,
except a backspace. Then click Apply.
• Enabling or changing password encryption in Active/Standby failover causes a write standby, which
replicates the active configuration to the standby unit. Without this replication, the encrypted passwords
on the standby unit will differ even though they use the same passphrase; configuration replication ensures
that the configurations are the same. For Active/Active failover, you must manually enter write standby.
A write standby can cause traffic interruption in Active/Active mode, because the configuration is
cleared on the secondary unit before the new configuration is synced. You should make all contexts
active on the primary ASA using the failover active group 1 and failover active group 2 commands,
enter write standby, and then restore the group 2 contexts to the secondary unit using the no failover
active group 2 command.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options:

• In single context mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Master Passphrase.
• In multiple context mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Device Administration >
Master Passphrase.

Step 2 Check the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) password encryption check box.
If no master passphrase is in effect, a warning message appears when you click Apply. You can click OK or
Cancel to continue.
If you later disable password encryption, all existing encrypted passwords are left unchanged, and as long as
the master passphrase exists, the encrypted passwords will be decrypted, as required by the application.

Step 3 Check the Change the encryption master passphrase check box to enable you to enter and confirm your
new master passphrases. By default, they are disabled.
Your new master passphrase must be between 8 and 128 characters long.
If you are changing an existing passphrase, you must enter the old passphrase before you can enter a new one.

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Disable the Master Passphrase

Leave the New and Confirm master passphrase fields blank to delete the master passphrase.

Step 4 Click Apply.

Disable the Master Passphrase

Disabling the master passphrase reverts encrypted passwords into plain text passwords. Removing the passphrase
might be useful if you downgrade to a previous software version that does not support encrypted passwords.

Before you begin

• You must know the current master passphrase to disable it.
• This procedure works only in a secure session; that is, by Telnet, SSH, or ASDM via HTTPS.
To disable the master passphrase, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options:

• In single context mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Master Passphrase.
• In multiple context mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Device Administration >
Master Passphrase.

Step 2 Check the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) password encryption check box.
If no master passphrase is in effect, a warning statement appears when you click Apply. Click OK or Cancel
to continue.

Step 3 Check the Change the encryption master passphrase check box.
Step 4 Enter the old master passphrase in the Old master passphrase field. You must provide the old master
passphrase to disable it.
Step 5 Leave the New master passphrase and the Confirm master passphrase fields empty.
Step 6 Click Apply.

Configure the DNS Server

You need to configure DNS servers so that the ASA can resolve host names to IP addresses. You also must
configure DNS servers to use fully qualified domain names (FQDN) network objects in access rules.
Some ASA features require use of a DNS server to access external servers by domain name; for example, the
Botnet Traffic Filter feature requires a DNS server to access the dynamic database server and to resolve entries
in the static database. Other features, such as the ping or traceroute command, let you enter a name that you
want to ping or traceroute, and the ASA can resolve the name by communicating with a DNS server. Many
SSL VPN and certificate commands also support names.

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Configure the DNS Server

Note The ASA has limited support for using the DNS server, depending on the feature.

Before you begin

Make sure that you configure the appropriate routing and access rules for any interface on which you enable
DNS domain lookup so you can reach the DNS server.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > DNS > DNS Client.
Step 2 Choose one of the following options in the DNS Setup area:
• Configure one DNS server group—This option defines the servers in the DefaultDNS group.
• Configure multiple DNS server groups—With this option, you should still configure the DefaultDNS
group, which is the only one used for FQDN network object name resolution. Keep DefaultDNS as the
active group. But you can also create additional groups for use in remote access SSL VPN group policies.
Even if you configure the DefaultDNS group only, you must select this option if you want to alter the
timeout and other characteristics used with the group.

Step 3 If you select Configure one DNS server group, configure the servers in the DefaultDNS group.
a) In Primary DNS Server, enter the IP address of the DNS server that should be used whenever it is
available. For this server and each secondary server, optionally specify the interface_name through which
the ASA communicates with the server. If you do not specify the interface, the ASA checks the data
routing table; if there are no matches, it then checks the management-only routing table.
b) Click Add to add secondary DNS servers.
You can add up to six DNS servers. The ASA tries each DNS server in order until it receives a response.
Use the Move Up/Move Down buttons to put the servers in priority order.
c) Enter a DNS domain name appended to the hostname if it is not fully-qualified.
Step 4 If you select Configure multiple DNS server groups, define the server group properties.
a) Click Add to create a new group, or select a group and click Edit.
The DefaultDNS group is always listed.
b) Configure the group properties.
• Server IP Address to Add, Source Interface—Enter the IP address of a DNS server and click
Add>>. For each server, optionally specify the interface_name through which the ASA communicates
with the server. If you do not specify the interface, the ASA checks the management-only routing
table; if there are no matches, it then checks the data routing table.
You can add up to six DNS servers. The ASA tries each DNS server in order until it receives a
response. Use the Move Up/Move Down buttons to put the servers in priority order.
• Timeout—The number of seconds, from 1 to 30, to wait before trying the next DNS server. The
default is 2 seconds. Each time the ASA retries the list of servers, this timeout doubles.
• Retries—The number of times, from 0 to 10, to retry the list of DNS servers when the ASA does
not receive a response.

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• Expire Entry Timer (DefaultDNS or active group only)—The number of minutes after a DNS entry
expires (that is, the TTL has passed) that the entry is removed from the DNS lookup table. Removing
an entry requires that the table be recompiled, so frequent removals can increase the processing load
on the device. Because some DNS entries can have very short TTL (as short as three seconds), you
can use this setting to virtually extend the TTL. The default is 1 minute (that is, the entry is removed
one minute after the TTL has passed). The range is 1 to 65535 minutes. This option is used when
resolving FQDN network objects only.
• Poll Timer (DefaultDNS or active group only)—The time, in minutes, of the polling cycle used to
resolve FQDN network/host objects to IP addresses. FQDN objects are resolved only if they are used
in a firewall policy. The timer determines the maximum time between resolutions; the DNS entry's
time-to-live (TTL) value is also used to determine when to update to IP address resolution, so
individual FQDNs might be resolved more frequently than the polling cycle. The default is 240 (four
hours). The range is 1 to 65535 minutes.
• Domain Name—The domain name appended to the hostname if it is not fully-qualified.

c) Click OK.
d) If you have multiple groups, you can change the one used for DNS requests by selecting it and clicking
Set Active.
Step 5 Ensure that at DNS lookup is enabled on at least one interface. In the DNS Lookup interface list, below the
DNS server group table, click in the DNS Enabled column and select True to enable lookup on the interface.
If you do not enable DNS lookup on an interface, then the DNS server Source Interface or the interface found
using the routing table cannot be used.

Step 6 (Optional) Check the Enable DNS Guard on all interfaces check box to enforce one DNS response per
query.
You can also set DNS Guard when configuring DNS inspection. For a given interface, the DNS Guard setting
configured in DNS inspection takes precedence over this global setting. By default, DNS inspection is enabled
on all interfaces with DNS Guard enabled.

Step 7 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure the Hardware Bypass and Dual Power Supply (Cisco

ISA 3000)
You can enable the hardware bypass so that traffic continues to flow between an interface pair during a power
outage. Supported interface pairs are copper GigabitEthernet 1/1 & 1/2; and GigabitEthernet 1/3 & 1/4. When
the hardware bypass is active, no firewall functions are in place, so make sure you understand the risks of
allowing traffic through. See the following hardware bypass guidelines:
• This feature is only available on the Cisco ISA 3000 appliance.
• If you have a fiber Ethernet model, only the copper Ethernet pair (GigabitEthernet 1/1 & 1/2) supports
hardware bypass.

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• When the ISA 3000 loses power and goes into hardware bypass mode, only the supported interface pairs
can communicate; when using the default configuration, inside1 <---> inside2, and outside1 <---> outside2
can no longer communicate. Any existing connections between these interfaces will be lost.
• We suggest that you disable TCP sequence randomization (as described in this procedure). If randomization
is enabled (the default), then when the hardware bypass is activated, TCP sessions will need to be
re-established. By default, the ISA 3000 rewrites the initial sequence number (ISN) of TCP connections
passing through it to a random number. When the hardware bypass is activated, the ISA 3000 is no longer
in the data path and does not translate the sequence numbers; the receiving client receives an unexpected
sequence number and drops the connection. Even with TCP sequence randomization disabled, some TCP
connections will have to be re-established because of the link that is temporarily down during the
switchover.
• Cisco TrustSec connections on hardware bypass interfaces are dropped when hardware bypass is activated.
When the ISA 3000 powers on and hardware bypass is deactivated, the connections are renegotiated.
• When the hardware bypass is deactivated, and traffic resumes going through the ISA 3000 data path,
some existing TCP sessions need to be re-established because of the link that is temporarily down during
the switchover.
• When hardware bypass is active, the Ethernet PHYs are disconnected, so the ASA is unable to determine
the interface status. Interfaces may appear to be in a down state.

For dual power supplies in the ISA 3000, you can establish dual power supplies as the expected configuration
in the ASA OS. If one power supply fails, the ASA issues an alarm. By default, the ASA expects a single
power supply and won't issue an alarm as long as it includes one working power supply.

Before you begin

• You must attach the hardware bypass interfaces to access ports on the switch. Do not attach them to trunk
ports.

Procedure

Step 1 To configure hardware bypass, choose Configuration > Device Management > Hardware Bypass.
Step 2 Configure the hardware bypass to activate for each interface pair by checking the Enable Bypass during
Power Down check box.
Step 3 (Optional) Configure each interface pair to remain in hardware bypass mode after the power comes back and
the appliance boots up by checking the Stay in Bypass after Power Up check box.
When the hardware bypass is deactivated, there is a brief connection interruption as the ASA takes over the
flows. In this case, you need to manually turn off the hardware bypass when you are ready; this option lets
you control when the brief interruption occurs.

Step 4 For an interface pair, manually activate or deactivate the hardware bypass by checking the Bypass Immediately
check box.
Step 5 (Optional) Configure the hardware bypass to remain active until after the ASA FirePOWER module boots
up by checking the Stay in Bypass Mode until after the ASA Firepower Module Boots Up check box.
You must enable hardware bypass without the Stay in Bypass after Power Up option for the boot delay to
operate. Without this option, the hardware bypass is likely to become inactive before the ASA FirePOWER

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module finishes booting up. This scenario can cause traffic to be dropped if you configured the module to
fail-close, for example.

Step 6 Click Apply.

Step 7 Disable TCP randomization. This example shows how to disable randomization for all traffic by adding the
setting to the default configuration.
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy.
b) Select the sfrclass rule, and click Edit.
c) Click Rule Actions, and then click Connection Settings.
d) Uncheck the Randomize Sequence Number check box.
e) Click OK, and then Apply.
Step 8 To establish dual power supplies as the expected configuration, choose Configuration > Device Management >
Power Supply, check the Enable Redundant Power Supply check box, and click Apply.
This screen also shows the available power supplies.

Adjust ASP (Accelerated Security Path) Performance and

Behavior
The ASP is an implementation layer that puts your policies and configurations into action. It is not of direct
interest except during troubleshooting with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center. However, there are a few
behaviors related to performance and reliability that you can adjust.

Choose a Rule Engine Transactional Commit Model

By default, when you change a rule-based policy (such as access rules), the changes become effective
immediately. However, this immediacy comes with a slight cost in performance. The performance cost is
more noticeable for very large rule lists in a high connections-per-second environment, for example, when
you change a policy with 25,000 rules while the ASA is handling 18,000 connections per second.
The performance is affected because the rule engine compiles rules to enable faster rule lookup. By default,
the system also searches uncompiled rules when evaluating a connection attempt so that new rules can be
applied; because the rules are not compiled, the search takes longer.
You can change this behavior so that the rule engine uses a transactional model when implementing rule
changes, continuing to use the old rules until the new rules are compiled and ready for use. With the
transactional model, performance should not drop during the rule compilation. The following table clarifies
the behavioral difference.

Model Before Compilation During Compilation After Compilation

Default Matches old rules. Match new rules. Matches new rules.
(The rate for connections
per second decreases.)

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Model Before Compilation During Compilation After Compilation

Transactional Matches old rules. Match old rules. Matches new rules.
(The rate for connections
per second is unaffected.)

An additional benefit of the transactional model is that, when replacing an ACL on an interface, there is no
gap between deleting the old ACL and applying the new one. This feature reduces the chances that acceptable
connections may be dropped during the operation.

Tip If you enable the transactional model for a rule type, syslogs to mark the beginning and the end of the
compilation are generated. These syslogs are numbered 780001 through 780004.

Use the following procedure to enable the transactional commit model for the rule engine.

Procedure

Choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Rule Engine and select the desired options:
• Access group—Access rules applied globally or to interfaces.
• NAT—Network address translation rules.

Enable ASP Load Balancing

The ASP load balancing mechanism helps avoid the following issues:
• Overruns caused by sporadic traffic spikes on flows
• Overruns caused by bulk flows oversubscribing specific interface receive rings
• Overruns caused by relatively heavily overloaded interface receive rings, in which a single core cannot
sustain the load.

ASP load balancing allows multiple cores to work simultaneously on packets that were received from a single
interface receive ring. If the system drops packets, and the show cpu command output is far less than 100%,
then this feature may help your throughput if the packets belong to many unrelated connections.

Note ASP load balancing is disabled on the ASAv. With the integration of DPDK (Dataplane Development Kit)
into the ASAv’s accelerated security path (ASP), the ASAv shows better performance with this feature disabled.

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Procedure

Step 1 To enable the automatic switching on and off of ASP load balancing, choose Configuration > Device
Management > Advanced > ASP Load Balancing, and check the Dynamically enable or disable ASP
load balancing based on traffic monitoring check box .
Step 2 To manually enable or disable ASP load balancing, check or uncheck the Enable ASP load balancing check
box.
When you manually enable ASP load balancing, it is enabled until you manually disable it, even if you also
have the Dynamic option enabled. Manually disabling ASP load balancing applies only if you manually
enabled ASP load blancing. If you also enabled the Dynamic option, then the system reverts to automatically
enabling or disabling ASP load balancing.

Monitoring the DNS Cache

The ASA provides a local cache of DNS information from external DNS queries that are sent for certain
clientless SSL VPN and certificate commands. Each DNS translation request is first looked for in the local
cache. If the local cache has the information, the resulting IP address is returned. If the local cache can not
resolve the request, a DNS query is sent to the various DNS servers that have been configured. If an external
DNS server resolves the request, the resulting IP address is stored in the local cache with its corresponding
hostname.
See the following command for monitoring the DNS cache:
• show dns-hosts
This command shows the DNS cache, which includes dynamically learned entries from a DNS server
as well as manually entered name and IP addresses using the name command.

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History for Basic Settings

History for Basic Settings

Feature Name Platform Description
Releases

Additional NTP 9.13(1) Formerly, only MD5 was supported for NTP authentication. The ASA now supports the following
authentication algorithms algorithms:
• MD5
• SHA-1
• SHA-256
• SHA-512
• AES-CMAC

New/Modified screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > System Time > NTP > Add button > Add NTP Server
Configuration dialog box > Key Algorithm drop-down list

NTP support on IPv6 9.12(1) You can now specify an IPv6 address for the NTP server.
New/Modified screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > System Time > NTP > Add button > Add NTP Server
Configuration dialog box

enable password change 9.12(1) The default enable password is blank. When you try to access privileged EXEC mode on the
now required on login ASA, you are now required to change the password to a value of 3 to 127 characters. You cannot
keep it blank. The no enable password command is no longer supported.
At the CLI, you can access privileged EXEC mode using the enable command, the login command
(with a user at privilege level 2+), or an SSH or Telnet session when you enable aaa authorization
exec auto-enable. All of these methods require you to set the enable password.
This password change requirement is not enforced for ASDM logins. In ASDM, by default you
can log in without a username and with the enable password.
No modified screens.

ASP load balancing is 9.10(1) With the recent integration of DPDK (Dataplane Development Kit) into the ASAv’s accelerated
disabled on the ASAv security path (ASP), the ASAv shows better performance with this feature disabled.

Automatic ASP load 9.8(1) Formerly, you could only manually enable and disable ASP load balancing.
balancing now supported
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > ASP
for the ASAv
Load Balancing

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Feature Name Platform Description

Releases

PBKDF2 hashing for all 9.7(1) Local username and enable passwords of all lengths are stored in the configuration using a
local username and PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2) hash. Previously, passwords 32 characters
enable passwords and shorter used the MD5-based hashing method. Already existing passwords continue to use
the MD5-based hash unless you enter a new password. See the "Software and Configurations"
chapter in the General Operations Configuration Guide for downgrading guidelines.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Device Name/Password > Enable Password
Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > User Accounts > Add/Edit User
Account > Identity

Dual power supply 9.6(1) For dual power supplies in the ISA 3000, you can establish dual power supplies as the expected
support for the ISA 3000 configuration in the ASA OS. If one power supply fails, the ASA issues an alarm. By default,
the ASA expects a single power supply and won't issue an alarm as long as it includes one
working power supply.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > Power Supply

Longer password support 9.6(1) You can now create local username and enable passwords up to 127 characters (the former
for local username and limit was 32). When you create a password longer than 32 characters, it is stored in the
enable passwords (up to configuration using a PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2) hash. Shorter
127 characters) passwords continue to use the MD5-based hashing method.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Device Name/Password > Enable Password
Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > User Accounts > Add/Edit User
Account > Identity

ISA 3000 hardware 9.4(1.225) The ISA 3000 supports a hardware bypass function to allow traffic to continue flowing through
bypass the appliance when there is a loss of power.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > Hardware Bypass
This feature is not available in Version 9.5(1).

Automatic ASP Load 9.3(2) You can now enable automatic switching on and off of the ASP load balancing feature.
Balancing
Note The automatic feature is not supported on the ASAv; only manual enabling and
disabling is supported.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > ASP
Load Balancing

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History for Basic Settings

Feature Name Platform Description

Releases

Removal of the default 9.0(2)/9.1(2) To improve security for management access to the ASA, the default login password for Telnet
Telnet password was removed; you must manually set the password before you can log in using Telnet.
Note The login password is only used for Telnet if you do not configure Telnet user
authentication.

Previously, when you cleared the password, the ASA restored the default of “cisco.” Now when
you clear the password, the password is removed.
The login password is also used for Telnet sessions from the switch to the ASASM (see the
session command). For initial ASASM access, you must use the service-module session
command, until you set a login password.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Password Encryption 8.4(1) We modified the show password encryption command.

Visibility

Master Passphrase 8.3(1) We introduced this feature. The master passphrase allows you to securely store plain text
passwords in encrypted format and provides a key that is used to universally encrypt or mask
all passwords, without changing any functionality.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Master Passphrase
Configuration > Device Management > Device Administration > Master Passphrase

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 CHAPTER 23
DHCP and DDNS Services
This chapter describes how to configure the DHCP server or DHCP relay as well as dynamic DNS (DDNS)
update methods.
• About DHCP and DDNS Services, on page 619
• Guidelines for DHCP and DDNS Services, on page 621
• Configure the DHCP Server, on page 622
• Configure the DHCP Relay Agent, on page 626
• Configure Dynamic DNS, on page 628
• Monitoring DHCP and DDNS Services, on page 630
• History for DHCP and DDNS Services, on page 631

About DHCP and DDNS Services

The following topics describe the DHCP server, DHCP relay agent, and DDNS update.

About the DHCPv4 Server

DHCP provides network configuration parameters, such as IP addresses, to DHCP clients. The ASA can
provide a DHCP server to DHCP clients attached to ASA interfaces. The DHCP server provides network
configuration parameters directly to DHCP clients.
An IPv4 DHCP client uses a broadcast rather than a multicast address to reach the server. The DHCP client
listens for messages on UDP port 68; the DHCP server listens for messages on UDP port 67.

DHCP Options
DHCP provides a framework for passing configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP network. The
configuration parameters are carried in tagged items that are stored in the Options field of the DHCP message
and the data are also called options. Vendor information is also stored in Options, and all of the vendor
information extensions can be used as DHCP options.
For example, Cisco IP Phones download their configuration from a TFTP server. When a Cisco IP Phone
starts, if it does not have both the IP address and TFTP server IP address preconfigured, it sends a request
with option 150 or 66 to the DHCP server to obtain this information.
• DHCP option 150 provides the IP addresses of a list of TFTP servers.

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About the DHCPv6 Stateless Server

• DHCP option 66 gives the IP address or the hostname of a single TFTP server.
• DHCP option 3 sets the default route.

A single request might include both options 150 and 66. In this case, the ASA DHCP server provides values
for both options in the response if they are already configured on the ASA.
You can use advanced DHCP options to provide DNS, WINS, and domain name parameters to DHCP clients;
DHCP option 15 is used for the DNS domain suffix.You can also use the DHCP automatic configuration
setting to obtain these values or define them manually. When you use more than one method to define this
information, it is passed to DHCP clients in the following sequence:
1. Manually configured settings.
2. Advanced DHCP options settings.
3. DHCP automatic configuration settings.

For example, you can manually define the domain name that you want the DHCP clients to receive and then
enable DHCP automatic configuration. Although DHCP automatic configuration discovers the domain together
with the DNS and WINS servers, the manually defined domain name is passed to DHCP clients with the
discovered DNS and WINS server names, because the domain name discovered by the DHCP automatic
configuration process is superseded by the manually defined domain name.

About the DHCPv6 Stateless Server

For clients that use StateLess Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) in conjunction with the Prefix Delegation
feature (Enable the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client, on page 555), you can configure the ASA to provide
information such as the DNS server or domain name when they send Information Request (IR) packets to the
ASA. The ASA only accepts IR packets, and does not assign addresses to the clients.

About the DHCP Relay Agent

You can configure a DHCP relay agent to forward DHCP requests received on an interface to one or more
DHCP servers. DHCP clients use UDP broadcasts to send their initial DHCPDISCOVER messages because
they do not have information about the network to which they are attached. If the client is on a network
segment that does not include a server, UDP broadcasts normally are not forwarded by the ASA because it
does not forward broadcast traffic. The DHCP relay agent lets you configure the interface of the ASA that is
receiving the broadcasts to forward DHCP requests to a DHCP server on another interface.

DHCP Relay Server Support on VTI

You can configure DHCP relay agent on an ASA interface to receive and forward DHCP messages between
a DHCP client and a DHCP server. However, a DHCP relay server to forward messages through a logical
interface was not supported.
Following figure shows the DISCOVER process of the DHCP Client and DHCP Server using DHCP relay
over VTI VPN. The DHCP relay agent, configured on VTI interface of ASA Site 1, receives DHCPDISCOVER
packet from the DHCP Client and sends the packet through the VTI tunnel. ASA Site 2 forwards the
DHCPDISCOVER packet to the DHCP Server. The DHCP Server replies with a DHCPOFFER to ASA Site
2. ASA Site 2 forwards it to DHCP relay (ASA Site1), which forwards it to the DHCP Client.

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Guidelines for DHCP and DDNS Services

Figure 60: DHCP Relay Server over VTI

The same procedure is followed for a DHCPREQUEST and DHCPACK/NACK requirements.

Guidelines for DHCP and DDNS Services

This section includes guidelines and limitations that you should check before configuring DHCP and DDNS
services.

Context Mode
• DHCPv6 stateless server is not supported in multiple context mode.

Firewall Mode
• DHCP Relay is not supported in transparent firewall mode or in routed mode on the BVI or bridge group
member interface.
• DHCP Server is supported in transparent firewall mode on a bridge group member interface. In routed
mode, the DHCP server is supported on the BVI interface, not the bridge group member interface. The
BVI must have a name for the DHCP server to operate.
• DDNS is not supported in transparent firewall mode or in routed mode on the BVI or bridge group
member interface.
• DHCPv6 stateless server is not supported in transparent firewall mode or in routed mode on the BVI or
bridge group member interface.

Clustering
• DHCPv6 stateless server is not supported with clustering.

IPv6
Supports IPv6 for DHCP stateless server and DHCP Relay.

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Configure the DHCP Server

DHCPv4 Server
• The maximum available DHCP pool is 256 addresses.
• You can configure only one DHCP server on each interface. Each interface can have its own pool of
addresses to use. However the other DHCP settings, such as DNS servers, domain name, options, ping
timeout, and WINS servers, are configured globally and used by the DHCP server on all interfaces.
• You cannot configure an interface as a DHCP client if that interface also has DHCP server enabled; you
must use a static IP address.
• You cannot configure both a DHCP server and DHCP relay on the same device, even if you want to
enable them on different interfaces; you can only configure one type of service.
• You can reserve a DHCP address for an interface. The ASA assigns a specific address from the address
pool to a DHCP client based on the client's MAC address.
• ASA does not support QIP DHCP servers for use with the DHCP proxy service.
• The DHCP server does not support BOOTP requests.

DHCPv6 Server
The DHCPv6 Stateless server cannot be configured on an interface where the DHCPv6 address, Prefix
Delegation client, or DHCPv6 relay is configured.

DHCP Relay
• You can configure a maximum of 10 DHCPv4 relay servers in single mode and per context, global and
interface-specific servers combined, with a maximum of 4 servers per interface.
• You can configure a maximum of 10 DHCPv6 relay servers in single mode and per context.
Interface-specific servers for IPv6 are not supported.
• You cannot configure both a DHCP server and DHCP relay on the same device, even if you want to
enable them on different interfaces; you can only configure one type of service.
• DHCP relay services are not available in transparent firewall mode or in routed mode on the BVI or
bridge group member interface. You can, however, allow DHCP traffic through using an access rule. To
allow DHCP requests and replies through the ASA, you need to configure two access rules, one that
allows DCHP requests from the inside interface to the outside (UDP destination port 67), and one that
allows the replies from the server in the other direction (UDP destination port 68).
• For IPv4, clients must be directly-connected to the ASA and cannot send requests through another relay
agent or a router. For IPv6, the ASA supports packets from another relay server.
• The DHCP clients must be on different interfaces from the DHCP servers to which the ASA relays
requests.
• You cannot enable DHCP Relay on an interface in a traffic zone.

Configure the DHCP Server

This section describes how to configure a DHCP server provided by the ASA.

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Enable the DHCPv4 Server

Procedure

Step 1 Enable the DHCPv4 Server, on page 623.

Step 2 Configure Advanced DHCPv4 Options, on page 624.
Step 3 Configure the DHCPv6 Stateless Server, on page 625.

Enable the DHCPv4 Server

To enable the DHCP server on an ASA interface, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Server.
Step 2 Choose an interface, then click Edit.
In transparent mode, choose a bridge group member interface. In routed mode, choose a routed interface or
a BVI; do not choose the bridge group member interface.
a) Check the Enable DHCP Server check box to enable the DHCP server on the selected interface.
b) Enter the range of IP addresses from lowest to highest that is used by the DHCP server in the DHCP
Address Pool field. The range of IP addresses must be on the same subnet as the selected interface and
cannot include the IP address of the interface itself.
c) Set the following in the Optional Parameters area:
• The DNS servers (1 and 2) configured for the interface.
• The WINS servers (primary and secondary) configured for the interface.
• The domain name of the interface.
• The time in milliseconds that the ASA will wait for an ICMP ping response on the interface.
• The duration of time that the DHCP server configured on the interface allows DHCP clients to use
an assigned IP address.
• The interface on a DHCP client that provides DNS, WINS, and domain name information for automatic
configuration if the ASA is acting as a DHCP client on a specified interface (usually outside).
• Click Advanced to display the Advanced DHCP Options dialog box to configure more DHCP
options. See Configure Advanced DHCPv4 Options, on page 624 for more information.

d) Check the Update DNS Clients check box in the Dynamic Settings for DHCP Server area to specify
that in addition to the default action of updating the client PTR resource records, the selected DHCP server
should also perform the following update actions:
• Check the Update Both Records check box to specify that the DHCP server should update both the
A and PTR RRs.
• Check the Override Client Settings check box to specify that DHCP server actions should override
any update actions requested by the DHCP client.

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Configure Advanced DHCPv4 Options

e) Click OK to close the Edit DHCP Server dialog box.

Step 3 (Optional) (Routed mode) Check the Enable Auto-configuration from interface check box in the Global
DHCP Options area below the DHCP Server table to enable DHCP auto configuration only if the ASA is
acting as a DHCP client on a specified interface (usually outside).
DHCP auto configuration enables the DHCP Server to provide DHCP clients with DNS server, domain name,
and WINS server information obtained from a DHCP client that is running on the specified interface. If
information obtained through auto configuration is also specified manually in the Global DHCP Options
area, the manually specified information takes precedence over the discovered information.

Step 4 Choose the auto-configuration interface from the drop-down list.

Step 5 Check the Allow VPN override check box to override the interface DHCP or PPPoE client WINS parameter
with the VPN client parameter.
Step 6 Enter the IP address of the primary DNS server for a DHCP client in the DNS Server 1 field.
Step 7 Enter the IP address of the alternate DNS server for a DHCP client in the DNS Server 2 field.
Step 8 Enter the DNS domain name for DHCP clients (for example, example.com) in the Domain Name field.
Step 9 Enter the amount of time, in seconds, in the Lease Length field that the client may use its allocated IP address
before the lease expires. Valid values range from 300 to 1048575 seconds. The default value is 3600 seconds
(1 hour).
Step 10 Enter the IP address of the primary WINS server for a DHCP client in the Primary WINS Server field.
Step 11 Enter the IP address of the alternate WINS server for a DHCP client in the Secondary WINS Server field.
Step 12 To avoid address conflicts, the ASA sends two ICMP ping packets to an address before assigning that address
to a DHCP client. enter the amount of time, in milliseconds, in the Ping Timeout field that the ASA waits to
time out a DHCP ping attempt. Valid values range from 10 to 10000 milliseconds. The default value is 50
milliseconds.
Step 13 Click Advanced to display the Configuring Advanced DHCP Options dialog box to specify additional
DHCP options and their parameters. For more information, see Configure Advanced DHCPv4 Options, on
page 624.
Step 14 You configure the DDNS update settings for the DHCP server in the Dynamic DNS Settings for DHCP
Server area. Check the Update DNS Clients check box to specify that, in addition to the default action of
updating the client PTR resource records, the selected DHCP server should also perform the following update
actions:
• Check the Update Both Records check box to specify that the DHCP server should update both the A
and PTR RRs.
• Check the Override Client Settings check box to specify that the DHCP server actions should override
any update actions requested by the DHCP client.

Step 15 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure Advanced DHCPv4 Options

The ASA supports the DHCP options listed in RFC 2132, RFC 2562, and RFC 5510 to send information. All
DHCP options (1 through 255) are supported except for 1, 12, 50–54, 58–59, 61, 67, and 82.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Server, then click Advanced.
Step 2 Choose the option code from the drop-down list.
Step 3 Choose the options that you want to configure. Some options are standard. For standard options, the option
name is shown in parentheses after the option number and the option parameters are limited to those supported
by the option. For all other options, only the option number is shown and you must choose the appropriate
parameters to supply with the option. For example, if you choose DHCP Option 2 (Time Offset), you can
only enter a hexadecimal value for the option. For all other DHCP options, all of the option value types are
available and you must choose the appropriate one.
Step 4 Specify the type of information that the option returns to the DHCP client in the Option Data area. For
standard DHCP options, only the supported option value type is available. For all other DHCP options, all of
the option value types are available. Click Add to add the option to the DHCP option list. Click Delete to
remove the option from the DHCP option list.
• Click IP Address to indicate that an IP address is returned to the DHCP client. You can specify up to
two IP addresses. IP Address 1 and IP Address 2 indicate an IP address in dotted-decimal notation.
Note The name of the associated IP address fields can change based on the DHCP option that you
chose. For example, if you choose DHCP Option 3 (Router), the fields names change to Router
1 and Router 2.

• Click ASCII to specify that an ASCII value is returned to the DHCP client. Enter an ASCII character
string in the Data field. The string cannot include spaces.
Note The name of the associated Data field can change based on the DHCP option that you chose.
For example, if you choose DHCP Option 14 (Merit Dump File), the associated Data field
names change to File Name.

• Click Hex to specify that a hexadecimal value is returned to the DHCP client. Enter a hexadecimal string
with an even number of digits and no spaces in the Data field. You do not need to use a 0x prefix.
Note The name of the associated Data field can change based on the DHCP option you chose. For
example, if you choose DHCP Option 2 (Time Offset), the associated Data field becomes the
Offset field.

Step 5 Click OK to close the Advanced DHCP Options dialog box.

Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure the DHCPv6 Stateless Server

For clients that use StateLess Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) in conjunction with the Prefix Delegation
feature (Enable the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client, on page 555), you can configure the ASA to provide
information such as the DNS server or domain name when they send Information Request (IR) packets to the
ASA. The ASA only accepts IR packets, and does not assign addresses to the clients.

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Configure the DHCP Relay Agent

Before you begin

This feature is only supported in single, routed mode. This feature is not supported in clustering.

Procedure

Step 1 Configure the IPv6 DHCP pool that contains the information you want the DHCPv6 server to provide:
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Pool, and click Add.
b) In the DHCP Pool Name field, enter a name.
c) For each parameter on each tab, either check the Import check box or manually enter a value in the field
and click Add.
The Import option uses one or more parameters that the ASA obtained from the DHCPv6 server on the
Prefix Delegation client interface. You can mix and match manually-configured parameters with imported
parameters; however, you cannot configure the same parameter manually and also specify Import.
d) Click OK, and then Apply.
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces.
Step 3 Choose an interface, and click Edit.
The Edit Interface dialog box appears with the General tab selected.

Step 4 Click the IPv6 tab.

Step 5 In the Interface IPv6 DHCP area, click the Server DHCP Pool Name radio button, and enter the IPv6 DHCP
pool name.
Step 6 Check the Hosts should use DHCP for non-address config check box to set the Other Address Config flag
in the IPv6 router advertisement packet.
This flag informs IPv6 autoconfiguration clients that they should use DHCPv6 to obtain additional information
from DHCPv6, such as the DNS server address.

Step 7 Click OK.

You return to the Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces pane.

Step 8 Click Apply.

Configure the DHCP Relay Agent

When a DHCP request enters an interface, the DHCP servers to which the ASA relays the request depends
on your configuration. You may configure the following types of servers:
• Interface-specific DHCP servers—When a DHCP request enters a particular interface, then the ASA
relays the request only to the interface-specific servers.
• Global DHCP servers—When a DHCP request enters an interface that does not have interface-specific
servers configured, the ASA relays the request to all global servers. If the interface has interface-specific
servers, then the global servers are not used.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Relay.
Step 2 Check the check boxes for the services you want for each interface in the DHCP Relay Agent area.
• IPv4 > DHCP Relay Enabled.
• IPv4 > Set Route— Changes the default gateway address in the DHCP message from the server to that
of the ASA interface that is closest to the DHCP client, which relayed the original DHCP request. This
action allows the client to set its default route to point to the ASA even if the DHCP server specifies a
different router. If there is no default router option in the packet, the ASA adds one containing the interface
address.
• IPv6 > DHCP Relay Enabled.
• Trusted Interface—Specifies a DHCP client interface that you want to trust. You can configure interfaces
as trusted interfaces to preserve DHCP Option 82. DHCP Option 82 is used by downstream switches
and routers for DHCP snooping and IP Source Guard. Normally, if the ASA DHCP relay agent receives
a DHCP packet with Option 82 already set, but the giaddr field (which specifies the DHCP relay agent
address that is set by the relay agent before it forwards the packet to the server) is set to 0, then the ASA
will drop that packet by default. You can now preserve Option 82 and forward the packet by identifying
an interface as a trusted interface. You can alternatively trust all interfaces by checking the Set dhcp
relay information as trusted on all interfaces check box.

Step 3 Add one or more DHCP servers to which DHCP requests are relayed in the Global DHCP Relay Servers
area,
a) Click Add. The Add Global DHCP Relay Server dialog box appears.
b) Enter the IPv4 or IPv6 address of the DHCP server in the DHCP Server field.
c) Choose the interface to which the specified DHCP server is attached from the Interface drop-down list.
d) Click OK.
The newly added global DHCP relay server appears in the Global DHCP Relay Servers list.

Step 4 (Optional) In the IPv4 Timeout field, enter the amount of time, in seconds, allowed for DHCPv4 address
handling. Valid values range from 1 to 3600 seconds. The default value is 60 seconds.
Step 5 (Optional) In the IPv6 Timeout field, enter the amount of time, in seconds, allowed for DHCPv6 address
handling. Valid values range from 1 to 3600 seconds. The default value is 60 seconds.
Step 6 In the DHCP Relay Interface Servers area, add one or more interface-specific DHCP servers to which DHCP
requests on a given interface are relayed:
a) Click Add. The Add DHCP Relay Server dialog box appears.
b) From the Interface drop-down list, choose the interface connected to the DHCP clients. Note that you
do not specify the egress interface for the requests, as for a Global DHCP Server; instead, the ASA uses
the routing table to determine the egress interface.
c) In the Server to field, enter the IPv4 address of the DHCP server, and click Add. The server is added to
the right-hand list. Add up to 4 servers, if available out of the overall maximum. IPv6 is not supported
for interface-specific servers.
d) Click OK.
The newly added interface DHCP relay servers appear in the DHCP Relay Interface Servers list.

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Step 7 To configure all interfaces as trusted interfaces, check the Set dhcp relay information as trusted on all
interfaces check box. You can alternatively trust individual interfaces.
Step 8 Click Apply to save your settings.

Configure Dynamic DNS

When an interface uses DHCP IP addressing, the assigned IP address can change when the DHCP lease is
renewed. When the interface needs to be reachable using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), the IP
address change can cause the DNS server resource records (RRs) to become stale. Dynamic DNS (DDNS)
provides a mechanism to update DNS RRs whenever the IP address or hostname changes. You can also use
DDNS for static or PPPoE IP addressing.
DDNS updates the following RRs on the DNS server: the A RR includes the name-to-IP address mapping,
while the PTR RR maps addresses to names.
The ASA supports the DDNS update method is defined by RFC 2136. It does not support the Web update
method. With this method, the ASA and the DHCP server use DNS requests to update the DNS RRs. The
ASA or DHCP server sends a DNS request to its local DNS server for information about the hostname and,
based on the response, determines the main DNS server that owns the RRs. The ASA or DHCP server then
sends an update request directly to the main DNS server. See the following typical scenarios.
• The ASA updates the A RR, and the DHCP server updates the PTR RR.
Typically, the ASA "owns" the A RR, while the DHCP server "owns" the PTR RR, so both entities need
to request updates separately. When the IP address or hostname changes, the ASA sends a DHCP request
to the DHCP server to inform it that it needs to request a PTR RR update.
• The DHCP server updates both the A and PTR RR.
Use this scenario if the ASA does not have the authority to update the A RR. When the IP address or
hostname changes, the ASA sends a DHCP request to the DHCP server to inform it that it needs to request
an A and PTR RR update.

You can configure different ownership depending on your security needs and the requirements of the main
DNS server. For example, for a static address, the ASA should own the updates for both records.

Note DDNS is not supported on the BVI or bridge group member interfaces.

Before you begin

• Configure a DNS server on Configuration > Device Management > DNS > DNS Client. See
Configure the DNS Server, on page 608.
• Configure the device hostname and domain name on Configuration > Device Setup > Device
Name/Password. See Set the Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet Passwords, on page
601. If you do not specify the hostname per interface, then the device hostname is used. If you do not
specify an FQDN, then for static or PPPoE IP addressing, the system domain name or the DNS server
domain name is appended to the hostname.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > DNS > Dynamic DNS.
Step 2 Configure a DDNS update method to enable DNS requests from the ASA.
You do not need to configure a DDNS update method if the DHCP server will perform all requests.
a) In the Update Methods area, click Add.
b) Specify a Name for this method.
c) (Optional) Configure the Update Interval between DNS requests. By default when all values are set to
0, update requests are sent whenever the IP address or hostname changes. To send requests regularly, set
the Days (0-364), Hours, Minutes, and Seconds.
d) Under Records to Update, specify the standard DDNS records that you want the ASA to update.
This setting only affects the records you want to update directly from the ASA; to determine the records
you want the DHCP server to update, configure the DHCP client settings per interface or globally. See
Step Step 3, on page 629.
• Both (PTR and A records)—Sets the ASA to update both A and PTR RRs. Use this option for
static or PPPoE IP addressing.
• A records only—Sets the ASA to update the A RR only. Use this option if you want the DHCP
server to update the PTR RR.

e) Click OK.
f) Assign this method to the interface in Step Step 3, on page 629.
Step 3 Configure interface settings for DDNS, including setting the update method, DHCP client settings, and the
hostname for this interface.
a) In the Dynamic DNS Interface Settings area, click Add.
b) Choose the Interface from the drop-down list.
c) Choose the Method Name that you created in the Update Methods area.
You do not need to assign a method if you want the DHCP server to perform all updates.
d) Set the Hostname for this interface.
If you do not set the hostname, the device hostname is used. If you do not specify an FQDN, then the
system domain name or the default domain from the DNS server group is appended (for static or PPPoE
IP addressing) or the domain name from the DHCP server is appended (for DHCP IP addressing).
e) Configure the DHCP Server Record Updates to determine which records you want the DHCP server
to update.
The ASA sends DHCP client requests to the DHCP server. Note that the DHCP server must also be
configured to support DDNS. The server can be configured to honor the client requests, or it can override
the client (in which case, it will reply to the client so the client does not also try to perform updates that
the server is performing). Even if the client does not request DDNS updates, the DHCP server can be
configured to send updates anyway.
For static or PPPoE IP addressing, these settings are ignored.
Note You can also set these values globally for all interfaces on the main Dynamic DNS page. The
per-interface settings take precedence over the global settings.

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Monitoring DHCP and DDNS Services

• Default (PTR Records)—Requests that the DHCP server perform the PTR RR update. This setting
works in conjunction with a DDNS update method with A Records enabled.
• Both (PTR Records and A Records)—Requests that the DHCP server perform both A and PTR
RR updates. This setting does not require a DDNS update method to be associated with the interface.
• None—Requests the DHCP server not to perform updates. This setting works in conjunction with a
DDNS update method with Both A and PTR Records enabled.

f) Click OK.
Step 4 Click Apply to save your changes, or click Reset to discard them and enter new ones.

Monitoring DHCP and DDNS Services

This section includes the procedures to monitor both DHCP and DDNS services.

Monitoring DHCP Services

• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > DHCP Client Lease Information.
This pane displays configured DHCP client IP addresses.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > DHCP Server Table
This pane displays configured dynamic DHCP client IP addresses.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > DHCP Statistics
This pane displays DHCPv4 message types, counters, values, directions, messages received, and messages
sent.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Relay Statistics
This pane displays DHCPv6 Relay message types, counters, values, directions, messages received, and
messages sent.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Relay Binding
This pane displays DHCPv6 Relay bindings.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Interface Statistics
This screen displays DHCPv6 information for all interfaces. If the interface is configured for DHCPv6
stateless server configuration (see Configure the DHCPv6 Stateless Server, on page 625), this screen lists
the DHCPv6 pool that is being used by the server. If the interface has DHCPv6 address client or Prefix
Delegation client configuration, this screen shows the state of each client and the values received from
the server. This screen also shows message statistics for the DHCP server or client.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP HA Statistics
This screen shows the transaction statistics between failover units, including how many times the DUID
information was synced between the units.
• Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Server Statistics

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Monitoring DDNS Status

This screen shows the DHCPv6 stateless server statistics.

Monitoring DDNS Status

See the following command for monitoring DDNS status. Enter the commands on Tools > Command Line
Interface.
• show ddns update {interface if_name | method [name]}
This command shows the DDNS update status.
The following example show details about the DDNS update method:

ciscoasa# show ddns update method ddns1

Dynamic DNS Update Method: ddns1

IETF standardized Dynamic DNS 'A' record update

The following example shows information about the DDNS interface:

ciscoasa# show ddns update interface outside

Dynamic DNS Update on outside:

Update Method Name Update Destination
test not available

History for DHCP and DDNS Services

Feature Name Platform Description
Releases

DHCP Relay Server 9.14(1) ASA supports VTI interfaces to be configured as DHCP relay server connecting interfaces.
Support on VTI
We modified the following screen to select a VTI interface for DHCP relay:
Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Relay > DHCP Relay Interface
Servers

DHCP reservation 9.13(1) ASA supports DHCP reservation. The DHCP server assigns a static IP address from the defined
address pool to a DHCP client based on the client's MAC address.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

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History for DHCP and DDNS Services

Feature Name Platform Description

Releases

IPv6 DHCP 9.6(2) The ASA now supports the following features for IPv6 addressing:
• DHCPv6 Address client—The ASA obtains an IPv6 global address and optional default
route from the DHCPv6 server.
• DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation client—The ASA obtains delegated prefix(es) from a DHCPv6
server. The ASA can then use these prefixes to configure other ASA interface addresess so
that StateLess Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) clients can autoconfigure IPv6
addresses on the same network.
• BGP router advertisement for delegated prefixes
• DHCPv6 stateless server—The ASA provides other information such as the domain name
to SLAAC clients when they send Information Request (IR) packets to the ASA. The ASA
only accepts IR packets, and does not assign addresses to the clients.

We added or modified the following screens:

Configuration > Device Setup > Interface Settings > Interfaces > Add Interface > IPv6
Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Pool
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family > Networks
Monitoring > interfaces > DHCP

DHCPv6 monitoring 9.4(1) You can now monitor DHCP statistics for IPv6 and DHCP bindings for IPv6.
We introduced the following screens: DHCPv6 monitoring
Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP > IPV6 DHCP Statistics, Monitoring > Interfaces > DHCP >
IPV6 DHCP Binding.

DHCP Relay server 9.2(4)/ If the ASA DHCP relay server receives a reply from an incorrect DHCP server, it now verifies
validates the DHCP 9.3(3) that the reply is from the correct server before acting on the reply. We did not introduce or modify
Server identifier for any commands. We did not modify any ASDM screens.
replies
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

DHCP rebind function 9.1(4) During the DHCP rebind phase, the client now tries to rebind to other DHCP servers in the tunnel
group list. Before this release, the client did not rebind to an alternate server when the DHCP
lease fails to renew.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

DHCP trusted interfaces 9.1(2) You can now configure interfaces as trusted interfaces to preserve DHCP Option 82. DHCP
Option 82 is used by downstream switches and routers for DHCP snooping and IP Source Guard.
Normally, if the ASA DHCP relay agent receives a DHCP packet with Option 82 already set,
but the giaddr field (which specifies the DHCP relay agent address that is set by the relay agent
before it forwards the packet to the server) is set to 0, then the ASA will drop that packet by
default. You can now preserve Option 82 and forward the packet by identifying an interface as
a trusted interface.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP
Relay.

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History for DHCP and DDNS Services

Feature Name Platform Description

Releases

DHCP relay servers per 9.1(2) You can now configure DHCP relay servers per-interface, so requests that enter a given interface
interface (IPv4 only) are relayed only to servers specified for that interface. IPv6 is not supported for per-interface
DHCP relay.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP
Relay.

DHCP relay for IPv6 9.0(1) DHCP relay support for IPv6 was added.
(DHCPv6)
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP
Relay.

DDNS 7.0(1) We introduced this feature.

We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management> DNS > DNS Client. Configuration > Device Management
> DNS > Dynamic DNS.

DHCP 7.0(1) The ASA can provide a DHCP server or DHCP relay services to DHCP clients attached to ASA
interfaces.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management > DHCP > DHCP Relay. Configuration > Device
Management > DHCP > DHCP Server.

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History for DHCP and DDNS Services

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 CHAPTER 24
Digital Certificates
This chapter describes how to configure digital certificates.
• About Digital Certificates, on page 635
• Guidelines for Digital Certificates, on page 642
• Configure Digital Certificates, on page 644
• How to Set Up Specific Certificate Types, on page 646
• Set a Certificate Expiration Alert (for Identity or CA Certificates), on page 658
• Monitoring Digital Certificates, on page 659
• History for Certificate Management, on page 660

About Digital Certificates

Digital certificates provide digital identification for authentication. A digital certificate includes information
that identifies a device or user, such as the name, serial number, company, department, or IP address. CAs
are responsible for managing certificate requests and issuing digital certificates. CAs are trusted authorities
that “sign” certificates to verify their authenticity, thereby guaranteeing the identity of the device or user.
A digital certificate also includes a copy of the public key for the user or device. A CA can be a trusted third
party, such as VeriSign, or a private (in-house) CA that you establish within your organization. CAs issue
digital certificates in the context of a PKI, which uses public-key or private-key encryption to ensure security.
For authentication using digital certificates, at least one identity certificate and its issuing CA certificate must
exist on an ASA. This configuration allows multiple identities, roots, and certificate hierarchies. The ASA
evaluates third-party certificates against CRLs, also called authority revocation lists, all the way from the
identity certificate up the chain of subordinate certificate authorities.
Descriptions of several different types of available digital certificates follow:
• A CA certificate is used to sign other certificates. It is self-signed and called a root certificate. A certificate
that is issued by another CA certificate is called a subordinate certificate.
• CAs also issue identity certificates, which are certificates for specific systems or hosts.
• Code-signer certificates are special certificates that are used to create digital signatures to sign code, with
the signed code itself revealing the certificate origin.

The local CA integrates an independent certificate authority feature on the ASA, deploys certificates, and
provides secure revocation checking of issued certificates. The local CA provides a secure, configurable,
in-house authority for certificate authentication with user enrollment through a website login page.

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Public Key Cryptography

Note CA certificates and identity certificates apply to both site-to-site VPN connections and remote access VPN
connections. Procedures in this document refer to remote access VPN use in the ASDM GUI.

Tip For an example of a scenario that includes certificate configuration and load balancing, see the following
URL: https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-5964.

Public Key Cryptography

Digital signatures, enabled by public key cryptography, provide a way to authenticate devices and users. In
public key cryptography, such as the RSA encryption system, each user has a key pair containing both a public
and a private key. The keys act as complements, and anything encrypted with one of the keys can be decrypted
with the other.
In simple terms, a signature is formed when data is encrypted with a private key. The signature is attached to
the data and sent to the receiver. The receiver applies the public key of the sender to the data. If the signature
sent with the data matches the result of applying the public key to the data, the validity of the message is
established.
This process relies on the receiver having a copy of the public key of the sender and a high degree of certainty
that this key belongs to the sender, not to someone pretending to be the sender.
Obtaining the public key of a sender is normally handled externally or through an operation performed at
installation. For example, most web browsers are configured with the root certificates of several CAs by
default. For VPN, the IKE protocol, a component of IPsec, can use digital signatures to authenticate peer
devices before setting up security associations.

Certificate Scalability
Without digital certificates, you must manually configure each IPsec peer for each peer with which it
communicates; as a result, each new peer that you add to a network would require a configuration change on
each peer with which it needs to communicate securely.
When you use digital certificates, each peer is enrolled with a CA. When two peers try to communicate, they
exchange certificates and digitally sign data to authenticate each other. When a new peer is added to the
network, you enroll that peer with a CA and none of the other peers need modification. When the new peer
attempts an IPsec connection, certificates are automatically exchanged and the peer can be authenticated.
With a CA, a peer authenticates itself to the remote peer by sending a certificate to the remote peer and
performing some public key cryptography. Each peer sends its unique certificate, which was issued by the
CA. This process works because each certificate encapsulates the public key for the associated peer, each
certificate is authenticated by the CA, and all participating peers recognize the CA as an authenticating
authority. The process is called IKE with an RSA signature.
The peer can continue sending its certificate for multiple IPsec sessions, and to multiple IPsec peers, until the
certificate expires. When its certificate expires, the peer administrator must obtain a new one from the CA.
CAs can also revoke certificates for peers that no longer participate in IPsec. Revoked certificates are not
recognized as valid by other peers. Revoked certificates are listed in a CRL, which each peer may check before
accepting a certificate from another peer.

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Key Pairs

Some CAs have an RA as part of their implementation. An RA is a server that acts as a proxy for the CA, so
that CA functions can continue when the CA is unavailable.

Key Pairs
Key pairs are RSA or Elliptic Curve Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) keys, which have the following
characteristics:
• RSA keys can be used for SSH or SSL.
• SCEP enrollment supports the certification of RSA keys.
• The maximum RSA key size is 4096, and the default is 2048.
• The maximum ECDSA key length is 521, and the default is 384.
• You can generate a general purpose RSA key pair, used for both signing and encryption, or you can
generate separate RSA key pairs for each purpose. Separate signing and encryption keys help to reduce
exposure of the keys, because SSL uses a key for encryption but not signing. However, IKE uses a key
for signing but not encryption. By using separate keys for each, exposure of the keys is minimized.

Trustpoints
Trustpoints let you manage and track CAs and certificates. A trustpoint is a representation of a CA or identity
pair. A trustpoint includes the identity of the CA, CA-specific configuration parameters, and an association
with one, enrolled identity certificate.
After you have defined a trustpoint, you can reference it by name in commands requiring that you specify a
CA. You can configure many trustpoints.

Note If the Cisco ASA has multiple trustpoints that share the same CA, only one of these trustpoints sharing the
CA can be used to validate user certificates. To control which trustpoint sharing a CA is used for validation
of user certificates issued by that CA, use the support-user-cert-validation command.

For automatic enrollment, a trustpoint must be configured with an enrollment URL, and the CA that the
trustpoint represents must be available on the network and must support SCEP.
You can export and import the keypair and issued certificates associated with a trustpoint in PKCS12 format.
This format is useful to manually duplicate a trustpoint configuration on a different ASA.

Certificate Enrollment
The ASA needs a CA certificate for each trustpoint and one or two certificates for itself, depending upon the
configuration of the keys used by the trustpoint. If the trustpoint uses separate RSA keys for signing and
encryption, the ASA needs two certificates, one for each purpose. In other key configurations, only one
certificate is needed.
The ASA supports automatic enrollment with SCEP and with manual enrollment, which lets you paste a
base-64-encoded certificate directly into the terminal. For site-to-site VPNs, you must enroll each ASA. For
remote access VPNs, you must enroll each ASA and each remote access VPN client.

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Proxy for SCEP Requests

Proxy for SCEP Requests

The ASA can proxy SCEP requests between AnyConnect and a third-party CA. The CA only needs to be
accessible to the ASA if it is acting as the proxy. For the ASA to provide this service, the user must authenticate
using any of the methods supported by AAA before the ASA sends an enrollment request. You can also use
host scan and dynamic access policies to enforce rules of eligibility to enroll.
The ASA supports this feature only with an AnyConnect SSL or IKEv2 VPN session. It supports all
SCEP-compliant CAs, including Cisco IOS CS, Windows Server 2003 CA, and Windows Server 2008 CA.
Clientless (browser-based) access does not support SCEP proxy, although WebLaunch—clientless-initiated
AnyConnect—does support it.
The ASA does not support polling for certificates.
The ASA supports load balancing for this feature.

Revocation Checking
When a certificate is issued, it is valid for a fixed period of time. Sometimes a CA revokes a certificate before
this time period expires; for example, because of security concerns or a change of name or association. CAs
periodically issue a signed list of revoked certificates. Enabling revocation checking forces the ASA to check
that the CA has not revoked a certificate each time that it uses the certificate for authentication.
When you enable revocation checking, the ASA checks certificate revocation status during the PKI certificate
validation process, which can use either CRL checking, OCSP, or both. OCSP is only used when the first
method returns an error (for example, indicating that the server is unavailable).
With CRL checking, the ASA retrieves, parses, and caches CRLs, which provide a complete list of revoked
(and unrevoked) certificates with their certificate serial numbers. The ASA evaluates certificates according
to CRLs, also called authority revocation lists, from the identity certificate up the chain of subordinate certificate
authorities.
OCSP offers a more scalable method of checking revocation status in that it localizes certificate status through
a validation authority, which it queries for status of a specific certificate.

Supported CA Servers
The ASA supports the following CA servers:
Cisco IOS CS, ASA Local CA, and third-party X.509 compliant CA vendors including, but not limited to:
• Baltimore Technologies
• Entrust
• Digicert
• Geotrust
• GoDaddy
• iPlanet/Netscape
• Microsoft Certificate Services
• RSA Keon
• Thawte

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CRLs

• VeriSign

CRLs
CRLs provide the ASA with one way of determining whether a certificate that is within its valid time range
has been revoked by the issuing CA. CRL configuration is part of configuration of a trustpoint.
You can configure the ASA to make CRL checks mandatory when authenticating a certificate by using the
revocation-check crl command. You can also make the CRL check optional by using the revocation-check
crl none command, which allows the certificate authentication to succeed when the CA is unavailable to
provide updated CRL data.

Note The revocation-check crl none was removed.

The ASA can retrieve CRLs from CAs using HTTP, SCEP, or LDAP. CRLs retrieved for each trustpoint are
cached for a configurable amount of time for each trustpoint.
When the ASA has cached a CRL for longer than the amount of time it is configured to cache CRLs, the ASA
considers the CRL too old to be reliable, or “stale.” The ASA tries to retrieve a newer version of the CRL the
next time that a certificate authentication requires a check of the stale CRL.
You could receive a revocation check failure for a user connection/certificate if you exceed the CRL size limit
of 16 MB.
The ASA caches CRLs for an amount of time determined by the following two factors:
• The number of minutes specified with the cache-time command. The default value is 60 minutes.
• The NextUpdate field in the CRLs retrieved, which may be absent from CRLs. You control whether the
ASA requires and uses the NextUpdate field with the enforcenextupdate command.

The ASA uses these two factors in the following ways:

• If the NextUpdate field is not required, the ASA marks CRLs as stale after the length of time defined by
the cache-time command.
• If the NextUpdate field is required, the ASA marks CRLs as stale at the sooner of the two times specified
by the cache-time command and the NextUpdate field. For example, if the cache-time command is set
to 100 minutes and the NextUpdate field specifies that the next update is 70 minutes away, the ASA
marks CRLs as stale in 70 minutes.

If the ASA has insufficient memory to store all CRLs cached for a given trustpoint, it deletes the least recently
used CRL to make room for a newly retrieved CRL. Large CRLs require significant computational overhead
to parse them. Hence, for better performance, use many CRLs of smaller size rather than few large CRLs, or
preferably, use OCSP.
See the following the cache sizes:
• Single context mode—128 MB
• Multiple context mode—16 MB per context

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OCSP

OCSP
OCSP provides the ASA with a way of determining whether a certificate that is within its valid time range
has been revoked by the issuing CA. OCSP configuration is part of trustpoint configuration.
OCSP localizes certificate status on a validation authority (an OCSP server, also called the responder) which
the ASA queries for the status of a specific certificate. This method provides better scalability and more
up-to-date revocation status than does CRL checking, and helps organizations with large PKI installations
deploy and expand secure networks.

Note The ASA allows a five-second time skew for OCSP responses.

You can configure the ASA to make OCSP checks mandatory when authenticating a certificate by using the
revocation-check ocsp command. You can also make the OCSP check optional by using the revocation-check
ocsp none command, which allows the certificate authentication to succeed when the validation authority is
unavailable to provide updated OCSP data.

Note The revocation-check ocsp none was removed.

OCSP provides three ways to define the OCSP server URL. The ASA uses these servers in the following
order:
1. The OCSP URL defined in a match certificate override rule by using the match certificate command).
2. The OCSP URL configured by using the ocsp url command.
3. The AIA field of the client certificate.

Note To configure a trustpoint to validate a self-signed OCSP responder certificate, you import the self-signed
responder certificate into its own trustpoint as a trusted CA certificate. Then you configure the match certificate
command in the client certificate validating trustpoint to use the trustpoint that includes the self-signed OCSP
responder certificate to validate the responder certificate. Use the same procedure for configuring validating
responder certificates external to the validation path of the client certificate.
The OCSP server (responder) certificate usually signs the OCSP response. After receiving the response, the
ASA tries to verify the responder certificate. The CA normally sets the lifetime of the OCSP responder
certificate to a relatively short period to minimize the chance of being compromised. The CA usually also
includes an ocsp-no-check extension in the responder certificate, which indicates that this certificate does not
need revocation status checking. However, if this extension is not present, the ASA tries to check revocation
status using the same method specified in the trustpoint. If the responder certificate is not verifiable, revocation
checks fail. To avoid this possibility, use the revocation-check none command to configure the responder
certificate validating trustpoint, and use the revocation-check ocsp command to configure the client certificate.

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Certificates and User Login Credentials

Certificates and User Login Credentials

The following section describes the different methods of using certificates and user login credentials (username
and password) for authentication and authorization. These methods apply to IPsec, AnyConnect, and Clientless
SSL VPN.
In all cases, LDAP authorization does not use the password as a credential. RADIUS authorization uses either
a common password for all users or the username as a password.

User Login Credentials

The default method for authentication and authorization uses the user login credentials.
• Authentication
• Enabled by the authentication server group setting in the tunnel group (also called ASDM Connection
Profile)
• Uses the username and password as credentials

• Authorization
• Enabled by the authorization server group setting in the tunnel group (also called ASDM Connection
Profile)
• Uses the username as a credential

Certificates
If user digital certificates are configured, the ASA first validates the certificate. It does not, however, use any
of the DNs from certificates as a username for the authentication.
If both authentication and authorization are enabled, the ASA uses the user login credentials for both user
authentication and authorization.
• Authentication
• Enabled by the authentication server group setting
• Uses the username and password as credentials

• Authorization
• Enabled by the authorization server group setting
• Uses the username as a credential

If authentication is disabled and authorization is enabled, the ASA uses the primary DN field for authorization.
• Authentication
• DISABLED (set to None) by the authentication server group setting
• No credentials used

• Authorization

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• Enabled by the authorization server group setting

• Uses the username value of the certificate primary DN field as a credential

Note If the primary DN field is not present in the certificate, the ASA uses the secondary DN field value as the
username for the authorization request.

For example, consider a user certificate that includes the following Subject DN fields and values:

Cn=anyuser,OU=sales;O=XYZCorporation;L=boston;S=mass;C=us;[email protected]

If the Primary DN = EA (E-mail Address) and the Secondary DN = CN (Common Name), then the username
used in the authorization request would be [email protected].

Guidelines for Digital Certificates

This section includes guidelines and limitations that you should check before configuring digital certificates.

Context Mode Guidelines

• Supported in single context mode only for third-party CAs.

Failover Guidelines
• Does not support replicating sessions in Stateful Failover.
• Does not support failover for local CAs.

IPv6 Guidelines
Does not support IPv6.

Local CA Certificates
• Make sure that the ASA is configured correctly to support certificates. An incorrectly configured ASA
can cause enrollment to fail or request a certificate that includes inaccurate information.
• Make sure that the hostname and domain name of the ASA are configured correctly. To view the currently
configured hostname and domain name, enter the show running-config command.
• Make sure that the ASA clock is set accurately before configuring the CA. Certificates have a date and
time that they become valid and expire. When the ASA enrolls with a CA and obtains a certificate, the
ASA checks that the current time is within the valid range for the certificate. If it is outside that range,
enrollment fails.
• Thirty days before the local CA certificate expires, a rollover replacement certificate is generated, and
a syslog message informs the administrator that it is time for local CA rollover. The new local CA
certificate must be imported onto all necessary devices before the current certificate expires. If the

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administrator does not respond by installing the rollover certificate as the new local CA certificate,
validations may fail.
• The local CA certificate rolls over automatically after expiration using the same keypair. The rollover
certificate is available for export in base 64 format.
The following example shows a base 64 encoded local CA certificate:

MIIXlwIBAzCCF1EGCSqGSIb3DQEHAaCCF0IEghc+MIIXOjCCFzYGCSqGSIb3DQEHBqCCFycwghcjAgEAMIIXHA
YJKoZIhvcNAQcBMBsGCiqGSIb3DQEMAQMwDQQIjph4SxJoyTgCAQGAghbw3v4bFy+GGG2dJnB4OLphsUM+IG3S
DOiDwZG9n1SvtMieoxd7Hxknxbum06JDrujWKtHBIqkrm+td34qlNE1iGeP2YC94/NQ2z+4kS+uZzwcRhl1KEZ
TS1E4L0fSaC3uMTxJq2NUHYWmoc8pi4CIeLj3h7VVMy6qbx2AC8I+q57+QG5vG5l5Hi5imwtYfaWwPEdPQxaWZ
PrzoG1J8BFqdPa1jBGhAzzuSmElm3j/2dQ3Atro1G9nIsRHgV39fcBgwz4fEabHG7/Vanb+fj81d5nlOiJjDYY
bP86tvbZ2yOVZR6aKFVI0b2AfCr6PbwfC9U8Z/aF3BCyM2sN2xPJrXva94CaYrqyotZdAkSYA5KWScyEcgdqmu
BeGDKOncTknfgy0XM+fG5rb3qAXy1GkjyFI5Bm9Do6RUROoG1DSrQrKeq/hj….

END OF CERTIFICATE

SCEP Proxy Support

• Ensure that the ASA and the Cisco ISE Policy Service Nodes are synchronized using the same NTP
server.
• AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client 3.0 or later must be running at the endpoint.
• The authentication method, configured in the connection profile for your group policy, must be set to
use both AAA and certificate authentication.
• An SSL port must be open for IKEv2 VPN connections.
• The CA must be in auto-grant mode.

Additional Guidelines
• For ASAs that are configured as CA servers or clients, limit the validity period of the certificate to less
than the recommended end date of 03:14:08 UTC, January 19, 2038. This guideline also applies to
imported certificates from third-party vendors.
• The ASA establishes LDAP/SSL connection only if one of the following certification criteria is satisfied:
• The LDAP server certificate is trusted (exists in a trustpoint or the ASA trustpool) and is valid.
• A CA certificate from servers issuing chain is trusted (exists in a trustpoint or the ASA trustpool)
and all subordinate CA certificates in the chain are complete and valid.

• When a certificate enrollment is completed, the ASA stores a PKCS12 file containing the user's keypair
and certificate chain, which requires about 2 KB of flash memory or disk space per enrollment. The
actual amount of disk space depends on the configured RSA key size and certificate fields. Keep this
guideline in mind when adding a large number of pending certificate enrollments on an ASA with a
limited amount of available flash memory, because these PKCS12 files are stored in flash memory for
the duration of the configured enrollment retrieval timeout. We recommend using a key size of at least
2048.
• You should configure the ASA to use an identity certificate to protect ASDM traffic and HTTPS traffic
to the management interface. Identity certificates that are automatically generated with SCEP are

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regenerated after each reboot, so make sure that you manually install your own identity certificates. For
an example of this procedure that applies only to SSL, see the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6120/products_configuration_example09186a00809fcf91.shtml.
• The ASA and the AnyConnect clients can only validate certificates in which the X520Serialnumber field
(the serial number in the Subject Name) is in PrintableString format. If the serial number format uses
encoding such as UTF8, the certificate authorization will fail.
• Use only valid characters and values for certificate parameters when you import them on the ASA.
• To use a wildcard (*) symbol, make sure that you use encoding on the CA server that allows this character
in the string value. Although RFC 5280 recommends using either a UTF8String or PrintableString, you
should use UTF8String because PrintableString does not recognize the wildcard as a valid character. The
ASA rejects the imported certificate if an invalid character or value is found during the import. For
example:

ERROR: Failed to parse or verify imported certificate ciscoasa(config)# Read 162*H÷ytes

as CA certificate:0U0= \Ivr"phÕV°3é¼þ0 CRYPTO_PKI(make trustedCerts list)
CERT-C: E ../cert-c/source/certlist.c(302): Error #711h
CRYPTO_PKI: Failed to verify the ID certificate using the CA certificate in trustpoint
mm.
CERT-C: E ../cert-c/source/p7contnt.c(169): Error #703h
crypto_certc_pkcs7_extract_certs_and_crls failed (1795):
crypto_certc_pkcs7_extract_certs_and_crls failed
CRYPTO_PKI: status = 1795: failed to verify or insert the cert into storage

Configure Digital Certificates

The following topics explain how to configure digital certificates.

Configure Reference Identities

When the ASA is acting as a TLS client, it supports rules for verification of an application server's identity
as defined in RFC 6125. This RFC specifies procedures for representing the reference identities (configured
on the ASA) and verifying them against the presented identities (sent from the application server). If the
presented identity cannot be matched against the configured reference identity, the connection is not established
and an error is logged.
The server presents its identity by including one or more identifiers in the server certificate presented to the
ASA while establishing the connection. Reference identities are configured on the ASA, to be compared to
the identity presented in a server certificate during connection establishment. These identifiers are specific
instances of the four identifier types specified in RFC 6125. The four identifier types are:
• CN_ID: A Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) in a certificate subject field that contains only one
attribute-type-and-value pair of type Common Name (CN), where the value matches the overall form of
a domain name. The CN value cannot be free text. A CN-ID reference identifier does not identify an
application service.
• DNS-ID: A subjectAltName entry of type dNSName. This is a DNS domain name. A DNS-ID reference
identifier does not identify an application service.

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• SRV-ID: A subjectAltName entry of type otherName whose name form is SRVName as defined in RFC
4985. A SRV-ID identifier may contain both a domain name and an application service type. For example,
a SRV-ID of “_imaps.example.net” would be split into a DNS domain name portion of “example.net”
and an application service type portion of “imaps.”
• URI-ID: A subjectAltName entry of type uniformResourceIdentifier whose value includes both (i) a
“scheme” and (ii) a “host” component (or its equivalent) that matches the “reg-name” rule specified in
RFC 3986. A URI-ID identifier must contain the DNS domain name, not the IP address, and not just the
hostname. For example, a URI-ID of “sip:voice.example.edu” would be split into a DNS domain name
portion of “voice.example.edu” and an application service type of “sip.”

A reference identity is created when configuring one with a previously unused name. Once a reference identity
has been created, the four identifier types and their associated values can be added or deleted from the reference
identity. The reference identifiers MAY contain information identifying the application service and MUST
contain information identifying the DNS domain name.

Before you begin

• Reference identities are used when connecting to the Syslog Server and the Smart Licensing server only.
No other ASA SSL client mode connections currently support the configuration or use of reference
identities.
• ASA implements all the rules for matching the identifiers described in RFC 6125 except for pinned
certificates and fallback for interactive clients.
• Ability to pin certificates is not implemented. Therefore, No Match Found, Pinned Certificate
will not occur. Also, a user will not be given the opportunity to pin a certificate if a match is not found
since our implementation is not an interactive client.

Procedure

Step 1 Go to Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Advanced > Reference Identity.
Configured Reference Identities are listed. You may Add a new one, choose and Edit an existing one, or
choose and Delete an existing one. A reference identity that is in use, cannot be deleted.

Step 2 Create or modify the reference-ids by choosing Add or Edit.

Use this Add or Edit Reference Identity dialog box to choose and specify your reference ids.
• Multiple reference-ids of any type may be added to the reference identity.
• You cannot modify the name once it is set, delete and re-create a reference identity to change the name.

What to do next
Use the reference identity when configuring the Syslog and the Smart Call Home server connections.

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How to Set Up Specific Certificate Types

How to Set Up Specific Certificate Types

After you have established trusted certificates, you can begin other fundamental tasks such as establishing
identity certificates or more advanced configurations such as establishing local CA or code signing certificates.

Before you begin

Read about digital certificate information and establish trusted certificates. CA certificates with no private
key are used by all VPN protocols and webvpn, and are configured in trustpoints to validate incoming client
certificates. Similarly, a trustpool is a list of trusted certificates used by webvpn features to validate proxied
connections to https servers and to validate the smart-call-home certificate.

Procedure

Step 1 An identity certificate is a certificate that is configured on the ASA along with a corresponding private key.
It is used for outbound encryption or for signature generation when enabling SSL and IPsec services on the
ASA and is obtained through trustpoint enrollment. To configure identity certificates, refer to Identity
Certificates, on page 646.
Step 2 A local CA allows VPN clients to enroll for certificates directly from the ASA. This advanced configuration
converts the ASA into a CA. To configure CAs, refer to CA Certificates, on page 653.
Step 3 If you are planning to use identity certificates as part of the webvpn java code signing feature, refer to Code
Signer Certificate, on page 657.

What to do next
Set up a certificate expiration alert or monitor digital certificates and certificate management history.

Identity Certificates
An identity certificate can be used to authenticate VPN access through the ASA.
In the Identity Certificates Authentication pane, you can perform the following tasks:
• Add or Import an Identity Certificate, on page 647.
• Enable CMPv2 Enrollments as a Request from a CA
• Display details of an identity certificate.
• Delete an existing identity certificate.
• Export an Identity Certificate, on page 650.
• Set certificate expiration alerts.
• Enroll for an identity certificate with Entrust Generate a Certificate Signing Request, on page 651.

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Add or Import an Identity Certificate

Add or Import an Identity Certificate

To add or import a new identity certificate configuration, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Certificate Management > Identity Certificates.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add Identity Certificate dialog box appears, with the selected trustpoint name displayed at the top.

Step 3 Click the Import the identity certificate from a file (PKCS12 format with Certificate(s) + Private Key)
radio button to import an identity certificate from an existing file.
Step 4 Enter the passphrase used to decrypt the PKCS12 file.
Step 5 Enter the path name of the file, or click Browse to display the Import ID Certificate File dialog box. Find
the certificate file, then click Import ID Certificate File.
Step 6 Click the Add a new identity certificate radio button to add a new identity certificate.
Step 7 Click New to display the Add Key Pair dialog box.
Step 8 Choose the RSA or ECDSA key type.
Step 9 Click the Use default keypair name radio button to use the default key pair name.
Step 10 Click the Enter a new key pair name radio button, then enter the new name.
Step 11 Choose the modulus size from the drop-down list. If you are not sure of the modulus size, consult Entrust.
Step 12 Choose the key pair usage by clicking the General purpose radio button (default) or Special radio button.
When you choose the Special radio button, the ASA generates two key pairs, one for signature use and one
for encryption use. This selection indicates that two certificates are required for the corresponding identity.
Step 13 Click Generate Now to create new key pairs, then click Show to display the Key Pair Details dialog box,
which includes the following display-only information:
• The name of the key pair whose public key is to be certified.
• The time of day and the date when the key pair is generated.
• The usage of an RSA key pair.
• The modulus size (bits) of the key pairs: 512, 768, 1024, 2048, and 4096. The default is 1024.
• The key data, which includes the specific key data in text format.

Step 14 Click OK when you are done.

Step 15 Choose a certificate subject DN to form the DN in the identity certificate. then click Select to display the
Certificate Subject DN dialog box.
Step 16 Choose one or more DN attributes that you want to add from the drop-down list, enter a value, then click
Add. Available X.500 attributes for the Certificate Subject DN are the following:
• Common Name (CN)
• Department (OU)
• Company Name (O)
• Country (C)

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• State/Province (ST)
• Location (L)
• E-mail Address (EA)

Step 17 Click OK when you are done.

Step 18 Check the Generate self-signed certificate check box to create self-signed certificates.
Step 19 Check the Act as local certificate authority and issue dynamic certificates to TLS proxy check box to
have the identity certificate act as the local CA.
Step 20 Click Advanced to establish additional identity certificate settings.
The Advanced Options dialog box appears, with the following three tabs: Certificate Parameters, Enrollment
Mode, and SCEP Challenge Password.
Note Enrollment mode settings and the SCEP challenge password are not available for self-signed
certificates.

Step 21 Click the Certificate Parameters tab, then enter the following information:
• The FQDN, an unambiguous domain name, to indicate the position of the node in the DNS tree hierarchy.
• The e-mail address associated with the identity certificate.
• The ASA IP address on the network in four-part, dotted-decimal notation.
• Check the Include serial number of the device check box to add the ASA serial number to the certificate
parameters.

Step 22 Click the Enrollment Mode tab, then enter the following information:
• Choose the enrollment method by clicking the Request by manual enrollment radio button or the
Request from a CA radio button. When choosing Request from a CA to enable CMPV2 enrollments,
refer to Enable CMPv2 Enrollments as a Request from a CA , on page 649.
• The enrollment URL of the certificate to be automatically installed through SCEP.
• The maximum number of minutes allowed to retry installing an identity certificate. The default is one
minute.
• The maximum number of retries allowed for installing an identity certificate. The default is zero, which
indicates an unlimited number of retries within the retry period.

Step 23 Click the SCEP Challenge Password tab, then enter the following information:
• The SCEP password
• The SCEP password confirmation

Step 24 Click OK when you are done.

Step 25 Check the Enable CA flag in basic constraints extension if this certificate should be able to sign other
certificates.
The basic constraints extension identifies whether the subject of the certificate is a Certificate Authority (CA),
in which case the certificate can be used to sign other certificates. The CA flag is part of this extension. The

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presence of these items in a certificate indicates that the certificate’s public key can be used to validate
certificate signatures. There is no harm in leaving this option selected.

Step 26 Click Add Certificate in the Add Identity Certificate dialog box.
The new identity certificate appears in the Identity Certificates list.

Step 27 Click Apply to save the new identity certificate configuration.

Step 28 Click Show Details to display the Certificate Details dialog box, which includes the following three
display-only tabs:
• The General tab displays the values for type, serial number, status, usage, public key type, CRL
distribution point, the times within which the certificate is valid, and associated trust points. The values
apply to both available and pending status.
• The Issued to tab displays the X.500 fields of the subject DN or certificate owner and their values. The
values apply only to available status.
• The Issued by tab displays the X.500 fields of the entity granting the certificate. The values apply only
to available status.

Step 29 To remove an identity certificate configuration, select it, then click Delete.
Note After you delete a certificate configuration, it cannot be restored. To recreate the deleted certificate,
click Add to reenter all of the certificate configuration information.

Enable CMPv2 Enrollments as a Request from a CA

To be positioned as a Security Gateway device in wireless LTE networks, ASA supports some certificate
management functions using the Certificate Management Protocol (CMPv2). Using CMPv2 for enrollment
of ASA device certificates, you can perform manual enrollment, for the first and secondary certificate from
the CMPv2-enabled CA, or manual certificate updates, for replacement of a previously issued certificate using
the same key pair. The received certificates are stored outside of the conventional configuration and are used
in certificate-enabled IPsec configurations.

Note You will not have the full CMPv2 functionality on the ASA.

An initial request establishes trust with the CA and obtains the first certificate. A CA certificate must be
preconfigured in a trustpoint. Authentication occurs when you acknowledge the fingerprint of the certificate
that is being installed.
After clicking Request from a CA on the Enrollment Mode tab of the Advanced Options window, complete
the following steps specific for CMPv2 enrollments:

Before you begin

Follow the steps in Add or Import an Identity Certificate, on page 647.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose CMP as the enrollment protocol and enter the CMP URL in the http:// area.
Step 2 To automatically generate new keypairs for all CMP manual and automatic enrollments, choose either RSA
or EDCSA.
If you choose RSA, choose a value from the Modulus drop-down menu. If you choose EDCSA, choose a
value from the elliptic-curve drop-down menu.

Step 3 (Optional) Click Regenerate the key pair to generate a key pair while renewing the certificate or prior to
building the enrollment request.
Step 4 Click Shared Key and enter a value provided out of band by the CA. This value is used by the CA and ASA
to confirm the authenticity and integrity of the messages that they exchange.
Step 5 Click Signing Trustpoint and enter the name of the trustpoint which contains a previously-issued device
certificate used to sign the CMP enrollment request.
These options are only available when the trustpoint enrollment protocol is set to CMP. When a CMP trustpoint,
the shared secret or the signing certificate can be specified, but not both.

Step 6 Click Browse Certificate to specify the CA certificate.

Step 7 (Optional) Click the Auto Enroll checkbox to trigger auto-enroll of CMPv2.
Step 8 At the Auto Enroll Lifetime field, enter the percentage of the absolute lifetime of the certificate after which
auto-enroll will be necessary.
Step 9 Click Auto Enroll Regenerate Key to generate a new key while renewing the certificate.

Export an Identity Certificate

To export an identity certificate, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Export to display the Export Certificate dialog box.

Step 2 Enter the name of the PKCS12 format file to use in exporting the certificate configuration. Alternatively, click
Browse to display the Export ID Certificate File dialog box to find the file to which you want to export the
certificate configuration.
Step 3 Choose the certificate format by clicking the PKCS12 Format radio button or the PEM Format radio button.
Step 4 Enter the passphrase used to encrypt the PKCS12 file for export.
Step 5 Confirm the encryption passphrase.
Step 6 Click Export Certificate to export the certificate configuration.
An information dialog box appears, informing you that the certificate configuration file has been successfully
exported to the location that you specified.

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Generate a Certificate Signing Request

Generate a Certificate Signing Request

To generate a certificate signing request to send to Entrust, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Enroll ASA SSL VPN with Entrust to display the Generate Certificate Signing Request dialog box.
Step 2 Perform the following steps in the Key Pair area:
a) Choose one of the configured key pairs from the drop-down list.
b) Click Show to display the Key Details dialog box, which provides information about the selected key
pair, including date and time generated, usage (general or special purpose), modulus size, and key data.
c) Click OK when you are done.
d) Click New to display the Add Key Pair dialog box. When you generate the key pair, you can send it to
the ASA or save it to a file.
Step 3 Enter the following information in the Certificate Subject DN area:
a) The FQDN or IP address of the ASA.
b) The name of the company.
c) The two-letter country code.
Step 4 Perform the following steps in the Optional Parameters area:
a) Click Select to display the Additional DN Attributes dialog box.
b) Choose the attribute to add from the drop-down list, then enter a value.
c) Click Add to add each attribute to the attribute table.
d) Click Delete to remove an attribute from the attribute table.
e) Click OK when you are done.
The added attributes appear in the Additional DN Attributes field.

Step 5 Enter additional fully qualified domain name information if the CA requires it.
Step 6 Click Generate Request to generate the certificate signing request, which you can then send to Entrust, or
save to a file and send later.
The Enroll with Entrust dialog box appears, with the CSR displayed.

Step 7 Complete the enrollment process by clicking the request a certificate from Entrust link. Then copy and
paste the CSR provided and submit it through the Entrust web form, provided at http://www.entrust.net/cisco/.
Alternatively, to enroll at a later time, save the generated CSR to a file, then click the enroll with Entrust
link on the Identity Certificates pane.
Step 8 Entrust issues a certificate after verifying the authenticity of your request. which may take several days. You
then need to install the certificate by selecting the pending request in the Identity Certificate pane and clicking
Install.
Step 9 Click Close to close the Enroll with Entrust dialog box.

Install Identity Certificates

To install a new identity certificate, perform the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 Click Addin the Identity Certificates pane to display the Add Identity Certificate dialog box.
Step 2 Click the Add a new identity certificate radio button.
Step 3 Change the key pair or create a new key pair. A key pair is required.
Step 4 Enter the certificate subject DN information, then click Select to display the Certificate Subject DN dialog
box.
Step 5 Specify all of the subject DN attributes required by the CA involved, then click OK to close the Certificate
Subject DN dialog box.
Step 6 In the Add Identity Certificate dialog box, click Advanced to display the Advanced Options dialog box.
Step 7 To continue, see Steps 17 through 23 of the Add or Import an Identity Certificate, on page 647.
Step 8 In the Add Identity Certificate dialog box, click Add Certificate.
The Identity Certificate Request dialog box appears.

Step 9 Enter the CSR file name of type, text, such as c:\verisign-csr.txt, then click OK.
Step 10 Send the CSR text file to the CA. Alternatively, you can paste the text file into the CSR enrollment page on
the CA website.
Step 11 When the CA returns the identity certificate to you, go to the Identity Certificates pane, select the pending
certificate entry, then click Install.
The Install Identity Certificate dialog box appears.

Step 12 Choose one of the following options by clicking the applicable radio button:
• Install from a file.
Alternatively, click Browse to search for the file.
• Paste the certificate data in base-64 format.
Paste the copied certificate data into the area provided.

Step 13 Click Install Certificate.

Step 14 Click Apply to save the newly installed certificate with the ASA configuration.
Step 15 To show detailed information about the selected identity certificate, click Show Details to display the
Certificate Details dialog box, which includes the following three display-only tabs:
The General tab displays the values for type, serial number, status, usage, public key type, CRL distribution
point, the times within which the certificate is valid, and associated trustpoints. The values apply to both
available and pending status.
The Issued to tab displays the X.500 fields of the subject DN or certificate owner and their values. The values
apply only to available status.
The Issued by tab displays the X.500 fields of the entity granting the certificate. The values apply only to
available status.

Step 16 To remove a code signer certificate configuration, select it, and then click Delete.

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CA Certificates

Note After you delete a certificate configuration, it cannot be restored. To recreate the deleted certificate,
click Import to reenter all of the certificate configuration information.

CA Certificates
This page is where you manage CA certificates. The following topics explain what you can do.

Add or Install a CA Certificate

To add or install a CA certificate, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Certificate Management > CA Certificates.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Install Certificate dialog box appears.

Step 3 Click the Install from a file radio button to add a certificate configuration from an existing file (this is the
default setting).
Step 4 Enter the path and file name, or click Browse to search for the file. Then click Install Certificate.
Step 5 The Certificate Installation dialog box appears with a confirmation message indicating that the certificate
was successfully installed. Click OK to close this dialog box.
Step 6 Click the Paste certificate in PEM format radio button to enroll manually.
Step 7 Copy and paste the PEM format (base64 or hexadecimal) certificate into the area provided, then click Install
Certificate.
Step 8 The Certificate Installation dialog box appears with a confirmation message indicating that the certificate
was successfully installed. Click OK to close this dialog box.
Step 9 Click the Use SCEP radio button to enroll automatically. The ASA contacts the CA using SCEP, obtains the
certificates, and installs them on the device. To use SCEP, you must enroll with a CA that supports SCEP,
and you must enroll via the Internet. Automatic enrollment using SCEP requires that you provide the following
information:
• The path and file name of the certificate to be automatically installed.
• The maximum number of minutes to retry certificate installation. The default is one minute.
• The number of retries for installing a certificate. The default is zero, which indicates unlimited retries
within the retry period.

Step 10 Click More Options to display additional configuration options for new and existing certificates.
The Configuration Options for CA Certificates pane appears.

Step 11 To change an existing CA certificate configuration, select it, then click Edit.
Step 12 To remove a CA certificate configuration, select it, then click Delete.

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Note After you delete a certificate configuration, it cannot be restored. To recreate the deleted certificate,
click Add to reenter all of the certificate configuration information.

Step 13 Click Show Details to display the Certificate Details dialog box, which includes the following three
display-only tabs:
• The General tab displays the values for type, serial number, status, usage, public key type, CRL
distribution point, the times within which the certificate is valid, and associated trust points. The values
apply to both available and pending status.
• The Issued to tab displays the X.500 fields of the subject DN or certificate owner and their values. The
values apply only to available status.
• The Issued by tab displays the X.500 fields of the entity granting the certificate. The values apply only
to available status.

Configure CA Certificates for Revocation

To configure CA certificates for revocation, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Certificate Management > CA Certificates > Add to
display the Install Certificates dialog box. Then click More Options.
Step 2 Click the Revocation Check tab.
Step 3 Click the Do not check certificates for revocation radio button to disable revocation checking of certificates.
Step 4 Click the Check certificates for revocation radio button to select one or more revocation checking methods
(CRL or OCSP).
Step 5 Click Add to move a revocation method to the right and make it available. Click Move Up or Move Down
to change the method order.
The methods you choose are implemented in the order in which you add them. If a method returns an error,
the next revocation checking method activates.

Step 6 Check the Consider certificate valid if revocation checking returns errors check box to ignore revocation
checking errors during certificate validation.
Step 7 Click OK to close the Revocation Check tab.

Configure CRL Retrieval Policy

To configure the CRL retrieval policy, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Certificate Management > CA Certificates > Add to
display the Install Certificates dialog box. Then click More Options.

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Step 2 Check the Use CRL Distribution Point from the certificate check box to direct revocation checking to the
CRL distribution point from the certificate being checked.
Step 3 Check the Use Static URLs configured below check box to list specific URLs to be used for CRL retrieval.
The URLs you select are implemented in the order in which you add them. If an error occurs with the specified
URL, the next URL in order is taken.
Step 4 Click Add in the Static Configuration area.
The Add Static URL dialog box appears.

Step 5 Enter the static URL to use for distributing the CRLs, then click OK.
The URL that you entered appears in the Static URLs list.

Step 6 Click OK to close this dialog box.

Configure CRL Retrieval Methods

To configure CRL retrieval methods, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Certificate Management > CA Certificates > Add to
display the Install Certificates dialog box. Then click More Options.
Step 2 Click the CRL Retrieval Methods tab in the Configuration Options for CA Certificates pane.
Step 3 Choose one of the following three retrieval methods:
• To enable LDAP for CRL retrieval, check the Enable Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
check box. With LDAP, CRL retrieval starts an LDAP session by connecting to a named LDAP server,
accessed by a password. The connection is on TCP port 389 by default. Enter the following required
parameters:
• Name
• Password
• Confirm Password
• Default Server (server name)
• Default Port (389)

• To enable HTTP for CRL retrieval, check the Enable HTTP check box.

Step 4 Click OK to close this tab.

Configure OCSP Rules

To configure OCSP rules for obtaining revocation status of an X.509 digital certificate, perform the following
steps.

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Before you begin

Make sure that you have configured a certificate map before you try to add OCSP rules. If a certificate map
has not been configured, an error message appears.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Certificate Management > CA Certificates > Add to
display the Install Certificates dialog box. Then click More Options.
Step 2 Click the OCSP Rules tab in the Configuration Options for CA Certificates pane.
Step 3 Choose the certificate map to match to this OCSP rule. Certificate maps match user permissions to specific
fields in a certificate. The name of the CA that the ASA uses to validate responder certificates appears in the
Certificate field. The priority number for the rule appears in the Index field. The URL of the OCSP server
for this certificate appears in the URL field.
Step 4 Click Add.
The Add OCSP Rule dialog box appears.

Step 5 Choose the certificate map to use from the drop-down list.
Step 6 Choose the certificate to use from the drop-down list.
Step 7 Enter the priority number for the rule.
Step 8 Enter the URL of the OCSP server for this certificate.
Step 9 When you are done, click OK to close this dialog box.
The newly added OCSP rule appears in the list.

Step 10 Click OK to close this tab.

Configure Advanced CRL and OCSP Settings

To configure additional CRL and OCSP settings, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Certificate Management > CA Certificates > Add to
display the Install Certificates dialog box. Then click More Options.
Step 2 Click the Advanced tab in the Configuration Options for CA Certificates pane.
Step 3 Enter the number of minutes between cache refreshes in the CRL Options area. The default is 60 minutes.
The range is 1-1440 minutes. To avoid having to retrieve the same CRL from a CA repeatedly, the ASA can
store retrieved CRLs locally, which is called CRL caching. The CRL cache capacity varies by platform and
is cumulative across all contexts. If an attempt to cache a newly retrieved CRL would exceed its storage limits,
the ASA removes the least recently used CRL until more space becomes available.
Step 4 Check the Enforce next CRL update check box to require valid CRLs to have a Next Update value that has
not expired. Uncheck the Enforce next CRL update check box to let valid CRLs with no Next Update value
or a Next Update value that has expired.
Step 5 Enter the URL for the OCSP server in the OCSP Options area. The ASA uses OCSP servers according to
the following order:

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a) OCSP URL in a match certificate override rule

b) OCSP URL configured in the selected OCSP Options attribute
c) AIA field of a user certificate
Step 6 By default, the Disable nonce extension check box is checked, which cryptographically binds requests with
responses to avoid replay attacks. This process works by matching the extension in the request to that in the
response, ensuring that they are the same. Uncheck the Disable nonce extension check box if the OCSP
server you are using sends pregenerated responses that do not include this matching nonce extension.
Step 7 Choose one of the following options in the Other Options area:
• Check the Accept certificates issued by this CA check box to indicate that the ASA should accept
certificates from the specified CA.
• Check the Accept certificates issued by the subordinate CAs of this CA check box to indicate that
the ASA should accept certificates from the subordinate CA.

Step 8 Click OK to close this tab, then click Apply to save your configuration changes.

CA Server Management

Code Signer Certificate

Import a Code Signer Certificate
To import a code signer certificate, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the Code Signer pane, click Import to display the Import Certificate dialog box.
Step 2 Enter the passphrase used to decrypt the PKCS12-format file.
Step 3 Enter the name of the file to import, or click Browse to display the Import ID Certificate File dialog box
and search for the file.
Step 4 Select the file to import and click Import ID Certificate File.
The selected certificate file appears in the Import Certificate dialog box.

Step 5 Click Import Certificate.

The imported certificate appears in the Code Signer pane.

Step 6 Click Apply to save the newly imported code signer certificate configuration.

Export a Code Signer Certificate

To export a code signer certificate, perform the following steps:

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Set a Certificate Expiration Alert (for Identity or CA Certificates)

Procedure

Step 1 In the Code Signer pane, click Export to display the Export Certificate dialog box.
Step 2 Enter the name of the PKCS12 format file to use in exporting the certificate configuration.
Step 3 In the Certificate Format area, to use the public key cryptography standard, which can be base64 encoded
or in hexadecimal format, click the PKCS12 format radio button. Otherwise, click the PEM format radio
button.
Step 4 Click Browse to display the Export ID Certificate File dialog box to find the file to which you want to export
the certificate configuration.
Step 5 Select the file and click Export ID Certificate File.
The selected certificate file appears in the Export Certificate dialog box.

Step 6 Enter the passphrase used to decrypt the PKCS12 format file for export.
Step 7 Confirm the decryption passphrase.
Step 8 Click Export Certificate to export the certificate configuration.

Set a Certificate Expiration Alert (for Identity or CA Certificates)

ASA checks all the CA and ID certificates in the trust points for expiration once every 24 hours. If a certificate
is nearing expiration, a syslog will be issued as an alert.
In addition to the renewal reminder, if an already expired certificate is found in the configuration, a syslog is
generated once every day to rectify the configuration by either renewing the certificate or removing the expired
certificate.
For example, assume that the expiration alerts are configured to begin at 60 days and repeat every 6 days after
that. If the ASA is rebooted at 40 days, an alert is sent on that day, and the next alert is sent on the 36th day.

Note Expiration checking is not done on trust pool certificates. The Local CA trust point is treated as a regular
trustpoint for expiration checking too.

Procedure

Step 1 Browse to Configuration > Device Management > Certificate Management > Identity Certificate/CA
Certificate.
Step 2 Check the Enable Certificate Expiration Alert check box.
Step 3 Fill in the desired number of days:
• Send the first alert before—Configure the number of days (1 to 90) before expiration at which the first
alert will go out.
• Repeat the alert for—Configure the alert frequency (1 to 14 days) if the certificate is not renewed. By
default, the first alert is sent 60 days prior to expiration and once every week after until the certificate is

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renewed and removed. Additionally, an alert is sent on the day of the expiration and once every day after
that, and irrespective of the alert configuration, an alert is sent every day during the last week of expiration.

Monitoring Digital Certificates

See the following commands for monitoring digital certificate status:
• Monitoring > Properties > CRL
This pane shows CRL details.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

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History for Certificate Management

Table 32: History for Certificate Management

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Certificate management 7.0(1) Digital certificates (including CA

certificates, identity certificates, and code
signer certificates) provide digital
identification for authentication. A digital
certificate includes information that
identifies a device or user, such as the
name, serial number, company, department,
or IP address. CAs are trusted authorities
that “sign” certificates to verify their
authenticity, thereby guaranteeing the
identity of the device or user. CAs issue
digital certificates in the context of a PKI,
which uses public-key or private-key
encryption to ensure security.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Remote Access VPN >
Certificate Management Configuration >
Site-to-Site VPN > Certificate
Management.
We introduced or modified the following
screens:
Configuration > Firewall > Advanced >
Certificate Management > CA Certificates
Configuration > Device Management >
Certificate Management > CA Certificates.

Certificate management 7.2(1)

Certificate management 8.0(2)

SCEP proxy 8.4(1) We introduced this feature, which provides

secure deployment of device certificates
from third-party CAs.

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History for Certificate Management

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Reference Identities 9.6(2) TLS client processing now supports rules

for verification of a server identity defined
in RFC 6125, Section 6. Identity
verification will be done during PKI
validation for TLS connections to the
Syslog Server and the Smart Licensing
server only. If the presented identity cannot
be matched against the configured reference
identity, the connection is not established.
We modifed the following screens:
Configuration > Remote Access VPN >
Advanced Configuration > Device
Management > Logging > Syslog Servers
> Add/Edit Configuration > Device
Management > Smart Call Home

Local CA Server 9.12(1) To make the FQDN of the enrollment URL

configurable instead of using the ASA's
configured FQDN, a new CLI option is
introduced. This new option is added to the
smpt mode of crypto ca server.
We deprecated Local CA Server and will
be removing in a later release—When ASA
is configured as local CA server, it is
enabled to issue digital certificates, publish
Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs), and
securely revoke issued certificates. This
feature has become obsolete and hence the
crypto ca server command is deprecated.

Local CA Server 9.13(1) We removed the local ca server support.

Thus, the crypto ca server command and
its subcommands are removed.
We removed the following commands:
crypto ca server and all of its
subcommands.

Modifications to the CRL Distribution Point 9.13(1) The static CDP URL configuration
commands commands are removed and moved to the
match certificate command.
New/Modified screens: Configuration >
Device Management > Certificate
Management > CA Certificates

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

CRL cache size increased 9.13(1) To prevent failure of large CRL downloads,
the cache size was increased, and the limit
on the number of entries in an individual
CRL was removed.
• Increased the total CRL cache size to
16 MB per context for multi-context
mode.
• Increased the total CRL cache size to
128 MB for single-context mode.

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ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table
This chapter describes how to customize the MAC address table and configure ARP Inspection for bridge
groups.
• About ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table, on page 663
• Default Settings, on page 664
• Guidelines for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table, on page 664
• Configure ARP Inspection and Other ARP Parameters, on page 665
• Customize the MAC Address Table for Bridge Groups, on page 667
• History for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table, on page 668

About ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table

For interfaces in a bridge group, ARP inspection prevents a “man-in-the-middle” attack. You can also customize
other ARP settings. You can customize the MAC address table for bridge groups, including adding a static
ARP entry to guard against MAC spoofing.

ARP Inspection for Bridge Group Traffic

By default, all ARP packets are allowed between bridge group members. You can control the flow of ARP
packets by enabling ARP inspection.
ARP inspection prevents malicious users from impersonating other hosts or routers (known as ARP spoofing).
ARP spoofing can enable a “man-in-the-middle” attack. For example, a host sends an ARP request to the
gateway router; the gateway router responds with the gateway router MAC address. The attacker, however,
sends another ARP response to the host with the attacker MAC address instead of the router MAC address.
The attacker can now intercept all the host traffic before forwarding it on to the router.
ARP inspection ensures that an attacker cannot send an ARP response with the attacker MAC address, so
long as the correct MAC address and the associated IP address are in the static ARP table.
When you enable ARP inspection, the ASA compares the MAC address, IP address, and source interface in
all ARP packets to static entries in the ARP table, and takes the following actions:
• If the IP address, MAC address, and source interface match an ARP entry, the packet is passed through.
• If there is a mismatch between the MAC address, the IP address, or the interface, then the ASA drops
the packet.

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• If the ARP packet does not match any entries in the static ARP table, then you can set the ASA to either
forward the packet out all interfaces (flood), or to drop the packet.

Note The dedicated Management interface never floods packets even if this parameter
is set to flood.

MAC Address Table

When you use bridge groups, the ASA learns and builds a MAC address table in a similar way as a normal
bridge or switch: when a device sends a packet through the bridge group, the ASA adds the MAC address to
its table. The table associates the MAC address with the source interface so that the ASA knows to send any
packets addressed to the device out the correct interface. Because traffic between bridge group members is
subject to the ASA security policy, if the destination MAC address of a packet is not in the table, the ASA
does not flood the original packet on all interfaces as a normal bridge does. Instead, it generates the following
packets for directly-connected devices or for remote devices:
• Packets for directly-connected devices—The ASA generates an ARP request for the destination IP
address, so that it can learn which interface receives the ARP response.
• Packets for remote devices—The ASA generates a ping to the destination IP address so that it can learn
which interface receives the ping reply.

The original packet is dropped.

Default Settings
• If you enable ARP inspection, the default setting is to flood non-matching packets.
• The default timeout value for dynamic MAC address table entries is 5 minutes.
• By default, each interface automatically learns the MAC addresses of entering traffic, and the ASA adds
corresponding entries to the MAC address table.

Note ASA generates a reset packet to reset a connection that is denied by a stateful
inspection engine. Here, the destination MAC address of the packet is not
determined based on the ARP table lookup but instead it is taken directly from
the packets (connections) that are being denied.

Guidelines for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table

• ARP inspection is only supported for bridge groups.
• MAC address table configuration is only supported for bridge groups.

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Configure ARP Inspection and Other ARP Parameters

Configure ARP Inspection and Other ARP Parameters

For bridge groups, you can enable ARP inspection. You can also configure other ARP parameters for both
bridge groups and for routed mode interfaces.

Procedure

Step 1 Add static ARP entries according to Add a Static ARP Entry and Customize Other ARP Parameters, on page
665. ARP inspection compares ARP packets with static ARP entries in the ARP table, so static ARP entries
are required for this feature. You can also configure other ARP parameters.
Step 2 Enable ARP inspection according to Enable ARP Inspection, on page 666.

Add a Static ARP Entry and Customize Other ARP Parameters

By default for bridge groups, all ARP packets are allowed between bridge group member interfaces. You can
control the flow of ARP packets by enabling ARP inspection. ARP inspection compares ARP packets with
static ARP entries in the ARP table.
For routed interfaces, you can enter static ARP entries, but normally dynamic entries are sufficient. For routed
interfaces, the ARP table is used to deliver packets to directly-connected hosts. Although senders identify a
packet destination by an IP address, the actual delivery of the packet on Ethernet relies on the Ethernet MAC
address. When a router or host wants to deliver a packet on a directly connected network, it sends an ARP
request asking for the MAC address associated with the IP address, and then delivers the packet to the MAC
address according to the ARP response. The host or router keeps an ARP table so it does not have to send
ARP requests for every packet it needs to deliver. The ARP table is dynamically updated whenever ARP
responses are sent on the network, and if an entry is not used for a period of time, it times out. If an entry is
incorrect (for example, the MAC address changes for a given IP address), the entry needs to time out before
it can be updated with the new information.
For transparent mode, the ASA only uses dynamic ARP entries in the ARP table for traffic to and from the
ASA, such as management traffic.
You can also set the ARP timeout and other ARP behavior.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > ARP > ARP Static Table.
Step 2 Click Add to add a static ARP entry.
The Add ARP Static Configuration dialog box appears.
a) Choose the interface attached to the host network, from the Interface drop-down list.
b) Enter the IP address of the host, in the IP Address field.
c) Enter the MAC address of the host, in the MAC Address field; for example, 00e0.1e4e.3d8b.
d) Check the Proxy ARP check box, to perform proxy ARP for this address.

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If the ASA receives an ARP request for the specified IP address, then it responds with the specified MAC
address.
e) Click OK.
Step 3 Enter a value in the ARP Timeout field, to set the ARP timeout for dynamic ARP entries.
This field sets the amount of time before the ASA rebuilds the ARP table, between 60 to 4294967 seconds.
The default is 14400 seconds. Rebuilding the ARP table automatically updates new host information and
removes old host information. You might want to reduce the timeout because the host information changes
frequently.

Step 4 To allow non-connected subnets, check the Allow non-connected subnets check box. The ASA ARP cache
only contains entries from directly-connected subnets by default. You can enable the ARP cache to also include
non-directly-connected subnets. We do not recommend enabling this feature unless you know the security
risks. This feature could facilitate denial of service (DoS) attack against the ASA; a user on any interface
could send out many ARP replies and overload the ASA ARP table with false entries.
You may want to use this feature if you use:
• Secondary subnets.
• Proxy ARP on adjacent routes for traffic forwarding.

Step 5 Enter a value in the ARP Rate-Limit field to control the number of ARP packets per second on all interfaces.
Enter a value between 10 and 32768. The default value depends on your ASA model. You can customize this
value to prevent an ARP storm attack.

Step 6 Click Apply.

Enable ARP Inspection

This section describes how to enable ARP inspection for bridge groups.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > ARP > ARP Inspection pane.
Step 2 Choose the interface row on which you want to enable ARP inspection, and click Edit.
The Edit ARP Inspection dialog box appears.

Step 3 Check the Enable ARP Inspection check box, to enable ARP inspection.
Step 4 (Optional) Check the Flood ARP Packets check box, to flood non-matching ARP packets.
By default, packets that do not match any element of a static ARP entry are flooded out all interfaces except
the originating interface. If there is a mismatch between the MAC address, the IP address, or the interface,
then the ASA drops the packet.
If you uncheck this check box, all non-matching packets are dropped, which restricts ARP through the ASA
to only static entries.

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Note The Management 0/0 or 0/1 interface or subinterface, if present, never floods packets even if this
parameter is set to flood.

Step 5 Click OK, and then Apply.

Customize the MAC Address Table for Bridge Groups

This section describes how you can customize the MAC address table for bridge groups.

Add a Static MAC Address for Bridge Groups

Normally, MAC addresses are added to the MAC address table dynamically as traffic from a particular MAC
address enters an interface. You can add static MAC addresses to the MAC address table. One benefit to
adding static entries is to guard against MAC spoofing. If a client with the same MAC address as a static entry
attempts to send traffic to an interface that does not match the static entry, then the ASA drops the traffic and
generates a system message. When you add a static ARP entry (see Add a Static ARP Entry and Customize
Other ARP Parameters, on page 665), a static MAC address entry is automatically added to the MAC address
table.
To add a static MAC address to the MAC address table, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the Configuration > Device Setup > Bridging > MAC Address Table pane.
Step 2 (Optional) Enter a value in the Dynamic Entry Timeout field, to set the time a MAC address entry stays in
the MAC address table before timing out.
This value is between 5 and 720 minutes (12 hours). 5 minutes is the default.

Step 3 Click Add.

The Add MAC Address Entry dialog box appears.

Step 4 Choose the source interface associated with the MAC address, from the Interface Name drop-down list.
Step 5 Enter the MAC address, in the MAC Address field.
Step 6 Click OK, and then Apply.

Disable MAC Address Learning

By default, each interface automatically learns the MAC addresses of entering traffic, and the ASA adds
corresponding entries to the MAC address table. You can disable MAC address learning if desired, however,
unless you statically add MAC addresses to the table, no traffic can pass through the ASA.
To disable MAC address learning, perform the following steps:

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History for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Bridging > MAC Learning .
Step 2 To disable MAC learning, choose an interface row, and click Disable.
Step 3 To reenable MAC learning, click Enable.
Step 4 Click Apply.

History for ARP Inspection and the MAC Address Table

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

ARP inspection 7.0(1) ARP inspection compares the MAC

address, IP address, and source interface in
all ARP packets to static entries in the ARP
table. This feature is available for
Transparent Firewall Mode, and for
interfaces in a bridge group in both
Transparent and Routed modes starting in
9.7(1).
We introduced the following commands:
arp, arp-inspection, and show
arp-inspection.

MAC address table 7.0(1) You might want to customize the MAC
address table for transparent mode, and for
interfaces in a bridge group in both
Transparent and Routed modes starting in
9.7(1).
We introduced the following commands:
mac-address-table static,
mac-address-table aging-time, mac-learn
disable, and show mac-address-table.

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Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

ARP cache additions for non-connected 8.4(5)/9.1(2) The ASA ARP cache only contains entries
subnets from directly-connected subnets by default.
You can now enable the ARP cache to also
include non-directly-connected subnets. We
do not recommend enabling this feature
unless you know the security risks. This
feature could facilitate denial of service
(DoS) attack against the ASA; a user on
any interface could send out many ARP
replies and overload the ASA ARP table
with false entries.
You may want to use this feature if you use:
• Secondary subnets.
• Proxy ARP on adjacent routes for
traffic forwarding.

We modified the following screen:

Configuration > Device Management >
Advanced > ARP > ARP Static Table.

Customizable ARP rate limiting 9.6(2) You can set the maximum number of ARP
packets allowed per second. The default
value depends on your ASA model. You
can customize this value to prevent an ARP
storm attack.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management
> Advanced > ARP > ARP Static
Table

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Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Integrated Routing and Bridging 9.7(1) Integrated Routing and Bridging provides
the ability to route between a bridge group
and a routed interface. A bridge group is a
group of interfaces that the ASA bridges
instead of routes. The ASA is not a true
bridge in that the ASA continues to act as
a firewall: access control between interfaces
is controlled, and all of the usual firewall
checks are in place. Previously, you could
only configure bridge groups in transparent
firewall mode, where you cannot route
between bridge groups. This feature lets
you configure bridge groups in routed
firewall mode, and to route between bridge
groups and between a bridge group and a
routed interface. The bridge group
participates in routing by using a Bridge
Virtual Interface (BVI) to act as a gateway
for the bridge group. Integrated Routing
and Bridging provides an alternative to
using an external Layer 2 switch if you have
extra interfaces on the ASA to assign to the
bridge group. In routed mode, the BVI can
be a named interface and can participate
separately from member interfaces in some
features, such as access rules and DHCP
server.
The following features that are supported
in transparent mode are not supported in
routed mode: multiple context mode, ASA
clustering. The following features are also
not supported on BVIs: dynamic routing
and multicast routing.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces
Configuration > Device Setup >
Routing > Static Routes
Configuration > Device Management >
DHCP > DHCP Server
Configuration > Firewall > Access Rules
Configuration > Firewall > EtherType
Rules

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IP Routing
• Routing Overview, on page 673
• Static and Default Routes, on page 685
• Policy Based Routing, on page 693
• Route Maps, on page 701
• Bidirectional Forwarding Detection Routing, on page 711
• BGP, on page 719
• OSPF, on page 743
• IS-IS, on page 789
• EIGRP, on page 813
• Multicast Routing, on page 833
 CHAPTER 26
Routing Overview
This chapter describes how routing behaves within the ASA.
• Path Determination, on page 673
• Supported Route Types, on page 674
• Supported Internet Protocols for Routing, on page 675
• Routing Table, on page 676
• Routing Table for Management Traffic, on page 681
• Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) Routing, on page 682
• Disable Proxy ARP Requests, on page 683
• Display the Routing Table, on page 684
• History for Route Overview, on page 684

Path Determination
Routing protocols use metrics to evaluate what path will be the best for a packet to travel. A metric is a standard
of measurement, such as path bandwidth, that is used by routing algorithms to determine the optimal path to
a destination. To aid the process of path determination, routing algorithms initialize and maintain routing
tables, which include route information. Route information varies depending on the routing algorithm used.
Routing algorithms fill routing tables with a variety of information. Destination or next hop associations tell
a router that a particular destination can be reached optimally by sending the packet to a particular router
representing the next hop on the way to the final destination. When a router receives an incoming packet, it
checks the destination address and attempts to associate this address with a next hop.
Routing tables also can include other information, such as data about the desirability of a path. Routers compare
metrics to determine optimal routes, and these metrics differ depending on the design of the routing algorithm
used.
Routers communicate with one another and maintain their routing tables through the transmission of a variety
of messages. The routing update message is one such message that generally consists of all or a portion of a
routing table. By analyzing routing updates from all other routers, a router can build a detailed picture of
network topology. A link-state advertisement, another example of a message sent between routers, informs
other routers of the state of the sender links. Link information also can be used to build a complete picture of
network topology to enable routers to determine optimal routes to network destinations.

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Supported Route Types

Note Asymmetric routing is only supported for Active/Active failover in multiple context mode.

Supported Route Types

There are several route types that a router can use. The ASA uses the following route types:
• Static Versus Dynamic
• Single-Path Versus Multipath
• Flat Versus Hierarchical
• Link-State Versus Distance Vector

Static Versus Dynamic

Static routing algorithms are actually table mappings established by the network administrator. These mappings
do not change unless the network administrator alters them. Algorithms that use static routes are simple to
design and work well in environments where network traffic is relatively predictable and where network
design is relatively simple.
Because static routing systems cannot react to network changes, they generally are considered unsuitable for
large, constantly changing networks. Most of the dominant routing algorithms are dynamic routing algorithms,
which adjust to changing network circumstances by analyzing incoming routing update messages. If the
message indicates that a network change has occurred, the routing software recalculates routes and sends out
new routing update messages. These messages permeate the network, stimulating routers to rerun their
algorithms and change their routing tables accordingly.
Dynamic routing algorithms can be supplemented with static routes where appropriate. A router of last resort
(a default route for a router to which all unroutable packets are sent), for example, can be designated to act
as a repository for all unroutable packets, ensuring that all messages are at least handled in some way.

Single-Path Versus Multipath

Some sophisticated routing protocols support multiple paths to the same destination. Unlike single-path
algorithms, these multipath algorithms permit traffic multiplexing over multiple lines. The advantages of
multipath algorithms are substantially better throughput and reliability, which is generally called load sharing.

Flat Versus Hierarchical

Some routing algorithms operate in a flat space, while others use routing hierarchies. In a flat routing system,
the routers are peers of all others. In a hierarchical routing system, some routers form what amounts to a
routing backbone. Packets from non-backbone routers travel to the backbone routers, where they are sent
through the backbone until they reach the general area of the destination. At this point, they travel from the
last backbone router through one or more non-backbone routers to the final destination.
Routing systems often designate logical groups of nodes, called domains, autonomous systems, or areas. In
hierarchical systems, some routers in a domain can communicate with routers in other domains, while others

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Link-State Versus Distance Vector

can communicate only with routers within their domain. In very large networks, additional hierarchical levels
may exist, with routers at the highest hierarchical level forming the routing backbone.
The primary advantage of hierarchical routing is that it mimics the organization of most companies and
therefore supports their traffic patterns well. Most network communication occurs within small company
groups (domains). Because intradomain routers need to know only about other routers within their domain,
their routing algorithms can be simplified, and, depending on the routing algorithm being used, routing update
traffic can be reduced accordingly.

Link-State Versus Distance Vector

Link-state algorithms (also known as shortest path first algorithms) flood routing information to all nodes in
the internetwork. Each router, however, sends only the portion of the routing table that describes the state of
its own links. In link-state algorithms, each router builds a picture of the entire network in its routing tables.
Distance vector algorithms (also known as Bellman-Ford algorithms) call for each router to send all or some
portion of its routing table, but only to its neighbors. In essence, link-state algorithms send small updates
everywhere, while distance vector algorithms send larger updates only to neighboring routers. Distance vector
algorithms know only about their neighbors. Typically, link-state algorithms are used in conjunction with
OSPF routing protocols.

Supported Internet Protocols for Routing

The ASA supports several Internet protocols for routing. Each protocol is briefly described in this section.
• Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
EIGRP is a Cisco proprietary protocol that provides compatibility and seamless interoperation with IGRP
routers. An automatic-redistribution mechanism allows IGRP routes to be imported into Enhanced IGRP,
and vice versa, so it is possible to add Enhanced IGRP gradually into an existing IGRP network.
• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
OSPF is a routing protocol developed for Internet Protocol (IP) networks by the interior gateway protocol
(IGP) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). OSPF uses a link-state algorithm
to build and calculate the shortest path to all known destinations. Each router in an OSPF area includes
an identical link-state database, which is a list of each of the router usable interfaces and reachable
neighbors.
• Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
RIP is a distance-vector protocol that uses hop count as its metric. RIP is widely used for routing traffic
in the global Internet and is an interior gateway protocol (IGP), which means that it performs routing
within a single autonomous system.
• Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
BGP is an interautonomous system routing protocol. BGP is used to exchange routing information for
the Internet and is the protocol used between Internet service providers (ISP). Customers connect to ISPs,
and ISPs use BGP to exchange customer and ISP routes. When BGP is used between autonomous systems
(AS), the protocol is referred to as External BGP (EBGP). If a service provider is using BGP to exchange
routes within an AS, then the protocol is referred to as Interior BGP (IBGP).
• Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS)

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Routing Table

IS-IS is a link state Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP). Link-state protocols are characterized by the
propagation of the information required to build a complete network connectivity map on each participating
router. That map is then used to calculate the shortest path to destinations.

Routing Table
The ASA uses separate routing tables for data traffic (through-the-device) and for management traffic
(from-the-device). This section decribes how the routing tables work. For information about the management
routing table, see also Routing Table for Management Traffic, on page 681.

How the Routing Table Is Populated

The ASA routing table can be populated by statically defined routes, directly connected routes, and routes
discovered by the dynamic routing protocols. Because the ASA can run multiple routing protocols in addition
to having static and connected routes in the routing table, it is possible that the same route is discovered or
entered in more than one manner. When two routes to the same destination are put into the routing table, the
one that remains in the routing table is determined as follows:
• If the two routes have different network prefix lengths (network masks), then both routes are considered
unique and are entered into the routing table. The packet forwarding logic then determines which of the
two to use.
For example, if the RIP and OSPF processes discovered the following routes:
• RIP: 192.168.32.0/24
• OSPF: 192.168.32.0/19

Even though OSPF routes have the better administrative distance, both routes are installed in the routing
table because each of these routes has a different prefix length (subnet mask). They are considered
different destinations and the packet forwarding logic determines which route to use.
• If the ASA learns about multiple paths to the same destination from a single routing protocol, such as
RIP, the route with the better metric (as determined by the routing protocol) is entered into the routing
table.
Metrics are values associated with specific routes, ranking them from most preferred to least preferred.
The parameters used to determine the metrics differ for different routing protocols. The path with the
lowest metric is selected as the optimal path and installed in the routing table. If there are multiple paths
to the same destination with equal metrics, load balancing is done on these equal cost paths.
• If the ASA learns about a destination from more than one routing protocol, the administrative distances
of the routes are compared, and the routes with lower administrative distance are entered into the routing
table.

Administrative Distances for Routes

You can change the administrative distances for routes discovered by or redistributed into a routing protocol.
If two routes from two different routing protocols have the same administrative distance, then the route with
the lower default administrative distance is entered into the routing table. In the case of EIGRP and OSPF
routes, if the EIGRP route and the OSPF route have the same administrative distance, then the EIGRP route
is chosen by default.

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Backup Dynamic and Floating Static Routes

Administrative distance is a route parameter that the ASA uses to select the best path when there are two or
more different routes to the same destination from two different routing protocols. Because the routing protocols
have metrics based on algorithms that are different from the other protocols, it is not always possible to
determine the best path for two routes to the same destination that were generated by different routing protocols.
Each routing protocol is prioritized using an administrative distance value. The following table shows the
default administrative distance values for the routing protocols supported by the ASA.

Table 33: Default Administrative Distance for Supported Routing Protocols

Route Source Default Administrative Distance

Connected interface 0

Static route 1

EIGRP Summary Route 5

External BGP 20

Internal EIGRP 90

OSPF 110

IS-IS 115

RIP 120

EIGRP external route 170

Internal and local BGP 200

Unknown 255

The smaller the administrative distance value, the more preference is given to the protocol. For example, if
the ASA receives a route to a certain network from both an OSPF routing process (default administrative
distance - 110) and a RIP routing process (default administrative distance - 120), the ASA chooses the OSPF
route because OSPF has a higher preference. In this case, the router adds the OSPF version of the route to the
routing table.
In this example, if the source of the OSPF-derived route was lost (for example, due to a power shutdown),
the ASA would then use the RIP-derived route until the OSPF-derived route reappears.
The administrative distance is a local setting. For example, if you change the administrative distance of routes
obtained through OSPF, that change would only affect the routing table for the ASA on which the command
was entered. The administrative distance is not advertised in routing updates.
Administrative distance does not affect the routing process. The routing processes only advertise the routes
that have been discovered by the routing process or redistributed into the routing process. For example, the
RIP routing process advertises RIP routes, even if routes discovered by the OSPF routing process are used in
the routing table.

Backup Dynamic and Floating Static Routes

A backup route is registered when the initial attempt to install the route in the routing table fails because
another route was installed instead. If the route that was installed in the routing table fails, the routing table

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How Forwarding Decisions Are Made

maintenance process calls each routing protocol process that has registered a backup route and requests them
to reinstall the route in the routing table. If there are multiple protocols with registered backup routes for the
failed route, the preferred route is chosen based on administrative distance.
Because of this process, you can create floating static routes that are installed in the routing table when the
route discovered by a dynamic routing protocol fails. A floating static route is simply a static route configured
with a greater administrative distance than the dynamic routing protocols running on the ASA. When the
corresponding route discovered by a dynamic routing process fails, the static route is installed in the routing
table.

How Forwarding Decisions Are Made

Forwarding decisions are made as follows:
• If the destination does not match an entry in the routing table, the packet is forwarded through the interface
specified for the default route. If a default route has not been configured, the packet is discarded.
• If the destination matches a single entry in the routing table, the packet is forwarded through the interface
associated with that route.
• If the destination matches more than one entry in the routing table, then the packet is forwarded out of
the interface associated with the route that has the longer network prefix length.

For example, a packet destined for 192.168.32.1 arrives on an interface with the following routes in the routing
table:
• 192.168.32.0/24 gateway 10.1.1.2
• 192.168.32.0/19 gateway 10.1.1.3

In this case, a packet destined to 192.168.32.1 is directed toward 10.1.1.2, because 192.168.32.1 falls within
the 192.168.32.0/24 network. It also falls within the other route in the routing table, but 192.168.32.0/24 has
the longest prefix within the routing table (24 bits verses 19 bits). Longer prefixes are always preferred over
shorter ones when forwarding a packet.

Note Existing connections continue to use their established interfaces even if a new similar connection would result
in different behavior due to a change in routes.

Dynamic Routing and Failover

Dynamic routes are synchronized on the standby unit when the routing table changes on the active unit. This
means that all additions, deletions, or changes on the active unit are immediately propagated to the standby
unit. If the standby unit becomes active in an active/standby ready Failover pair, it will already have an identical
routing table as that of the former active unit because routes are synchronized as a part of the Failover bulk
synchronization and continuous replication processes.

Dynamic Routing and Clustering

This section describes how to use dynamic routing with clustering.

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Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

Note IS-IS is not supported in Spanned EtherChannel mode.

In Spanned EtherChannel mode: The routing process only runs on the control unit, and routes are learned
through the control unit and replicated to data units. If a routing packet arrives at a data unit, it is redirected
to the control unit.
Figure 61: Dynamic Routing in Spanned EtherChannel Mode

After the data unit learn the routes from the control unit, each unit makes forwarding decisions independently.
The OSPF LSA database is not synchronized from the control unit to data units. If there is a control unit
switchover, the neighboring router will detect a restart; the switchover is not transparent. The OSPF process
picks an IP address as its router ID. Although not required, you can assign a static router ID to ensure a
consistent router ID is used across the cluster. See the OSPF Non-Stop Forwarding feature to address the
interruption.

Dynamic Routing in Individual Interface Mode

In Individual interface mode, each unit runs the routing protocol as a standalone router, and routes are learned
by each unit independently.

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Dynamic Routing in Multiple Context Mode

Figure 62: Dynamic Routing in Individual Interface Mode

In the above diagram, Router A learns that there are 4 equal-cost paths to Router B, each through an ASA.
ECMP is used to load balance traffic between the 4 paths. Each ASA picks a different router ID when talking
to external routers.
You must configure a cluster pool for the router ID so that each unit has a separate router ID.
EIGRP does not form neighbor relationships with cluster peers in individual interface mode.

Note If the cluster has multiple adjacencies to the same router for redundancy purposes, asymmetric routing can
lead to unacceptable traffic loss. To avoid asymmetric routing, group all of these ASA interfaces into the same
traffic zone. See Configure a Traffic Zone, on page 592.

Dynamic Routing in Multiple Context Mode

In multiple context mode, each context maintains a separate routing table and routing protocol databases. This
enables you to configure OSPFv2 and EIGRP independently in each context. You can configure EIGRP in
some contexts and OSPFv2 in the same or different contexts. In mixed context mode, you can enable any of
the dynamic routing protocols in contexts that are in routed mode. RIP and OSPFv3 are not supported in
multiple context mode.

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Route Resource Management

The following table lists the attributes for EIGRP, OSPFv2, route maps used for distributing routes into
OSPFv2 and EIGRP processes, and prefix lists used in OSPFv2 to filter the routing updates entering or leaving
an area when they are used in multiple context mode:

EIGRP OSPFv2 Route Maps and Prefix Lists

One instance is supported per Two instances are supported per N/A
context. context.

It is disabled in the system context. N/A

Two contexts may use the same or Two contexts may use the same or N/A
different autonomous system different area IDs.
numbers.

Shared interfaces in two contexts Shared interfaces in two contexts N/A

may have multiple EIGRP may have multiple OSPF instances
instances running on them. running on them.

The interaction of EIGRP instances The interaction of OSPFv2 N/A

across shared interfaces is instances across shared interfaces
supported. is supported.

All CLIs that are available in single mode are also available in multiple context mode.

Each CLI has an effect only in the context in which it is used.

Route Resource Management

A resource class called routes specifies the maximum number of routing table entries that can exist in a context.
This resolves the problem of one context affecting the available routing table entries in another context and
also allows you greater control over the maximum route entries per context.
Because there is no definitive system limit, you can only specify an absolute value for this resource limit; you
may not use a percentage limit. Also, there are no minimum and maximum limits per context, so the default
class does not change. If you add a new route for any of the static or dynamic routing protocols (connected,
static, OSPF, EIGRP, and RIP) in a context and the resource limit for that context is exhausted, then the route
addition fails and a syslog message is generated.

Routing Table for Management Traffic

As a standard security practice, it is often necessary to segregate and isolate Management traffic from data
traffic. To achieve this isolation, the ASA uses a separate routing table for management-only traffic vs. data
traffic. Separate routing tables means that you can create separate default routes for data and management as
well.
Through-the-device traffic always uses the data routing table.
From-the-device traffic, depending on the type, uses either the management routing table or the data routing
table by default. If a match is not found in the default routing table, it checks the other routing table.
Management table from-the-device traffic includes features that open a remote file using HTTP, SCP, TFTP,
the copy command, Smart Call Home, trustpoint, trustpool, and so on.

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Data table from-the-device traffic includes all other features like ping, DNS, DHCP, and so on.
If you need from-the-box traffic to go out an interface that isn't in its default routing table, then you might
need to specify that interface when you configure it, rather than relying on the fall back to the other table. The
ASA checks the correct routing table for routes for that interface. For example, if you need a ping to go out
a management-only interface, then specify the interface in the ping function. Otherwise, if there is a default
route in the data routing table, then it will match the default route and never fall back to the management
routing table.
The management routing table supports dynamic routing separate from the data interface routing table. A
given dynamic routing process must run on either the management-only interface or the data interface; you
cannot mix both types. When upgrading from an earlier release without the separate management routing
table, if you have a mix of data and management interfaces using the same dynamic routing process,
management interfaces will be dropped.
Management-only interfaces include any Management x/x interfaces as well as any interfaces that you have
configured to be management-only.

Note If you configure the management-access feature that allows management access to an interface other than the
one from which you entered the ASA when using VPN, then due to routing considerations with the separate
management and data routing tables, the VPN termination interface and the management access interface
need to be the same type: both need to be management-only interfaces or regular data interfaces.

Management Interface Identification

An interface configured with management-only is considered a management interface.
In the following configuration, both the interfaces GigabitEthernet0/0 and Management0/0 are considered as
management interfaces.
a/admin(config-if)# show running-config int g0/0
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/0
management-only
nameif inside
security-level 100
ip address 10.10.10.123 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 123::123/64
a/admin(config-if)# show running-config int m0/0
!
interface Management0/0
management-only
nameif mgmt
security-level 0
ip address 10.106.167.118 255.255.255.0
a/admin(config-if)#

Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) Routing

The ASA supports Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing.
You can have up to 8 equal cost static or dynamic routes per interface. For example, you can configure multiple
default routes on the outside interface that specify different gateways.

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Disable Proxy ARP Requests

route for 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 through outside to 10.1.1.2

route for 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 through outside to 10.1.1.3
route for 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 through outside to 10.1.1.4

In this case, traffic is load-balanced on the outside interface between 10.1.1.2, 10.1.1.3, and 10.1.1.4. Traffic
is distributed among the specified gateways based on an algorithm that hashes the source and destination IP
addresses, incoming interface, protocol, source and destination ports.

ECMP Across Multiple Interfaces Using Traffic Zones

If you configure traffic zones to contain a group of interfaces, you can have up to 8 equal cost static or dynamic
routes across up to 8 interfaces within each zone. For example, you can configure multiple default routes
across three interfaces in the zone:

route for 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 through outside1 to 10.1.1.2

route for 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 through outside2 to 10.2.1.2
route for 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 through outside3 to 10.3.1.2

Similarly, your dynamic routing protocol can automatically configure equal cost routes. The ASA load-balances
traffic across the interfaces with a more robust load balancing mechanism.
When a route is lost, the device seamlessly moves the flow to a different route.

Disable Proxy ARP Requests

When a host sends IP traffic to another device on the same Ethernet network, the host needs to know the MAC
address of the device. ARP is a Layer 2 protocol that resolves an IP address to a MAC address. A host sends
an ARP request asking “Who is this IP address?” The device owning the IP address replies, “I own that IP
address; here is my MAC address.”
Proxy ARP is used when a device responds to an ARP request with its own MAC address, even though the
device does not own the IP address. The ASA uses proxy ARP when you configure NAT and specify a mapped
address that is on the same network as the ASA interface. The only way traffic can reach the hosts is if the
ASA uses proxy ARP to claim that the MAC address is assigned to destination mapped addresses.
Under rare circumstances, you might want to disable proxy ARP for NAT addresses.
If you have a VPN client address pool that overlaps with an existing network, the ASA by default sends proxy
ARP requests on all interfaces. If you have another interface that is on the same Layer 2 domain, it will see
the ARP requests and will answer with the MAC address of its interface. The result of this is that the return
traffic of the VPN clients towards the internal hosts will go to the wrong interface and will get dropped. In
this case, you need to disable proxy ARP requests for the interface on which you do not want them.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Proxy ARP/Neighbor Discovery.
The Interface field lists the interface names. The Enabled field shows whether or not proxy ARP/Neighbor
Discovery is enabled (Yes) or disabled (No) for NAT global addresses.

Step 2 To enable proxy ARP/Neighbor Discovery for the selected interface, click Enable. By default, proxy
ARP/Neighbor discovery is enabled for all interfaces.

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Display the Routing Table

Step 3 To disable proxy ARP/Neighbor Discovery for the selected interface, click Disable.
Step 4 Click Apply to save your settings to the running configuration.

Display the Routing Table

To show all routes in ASDM that are in the routing table, choose Monitoring > Routing > Routes. Each
row represents one route.

History for Route Overview

Table 34: History for Route Overview

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Routing Table for Management 9.5(1) To segregate and isolate,

Interface management traffic from data
traffic, a separate routing table is
added for management traffic.
Separate routing tables, for
management and data respectively,
are created for both IPv4 and IPv6,
for each context, of the ASA.
Further, for each context of the
ASA, two extra routing tables are
added in both the RIB and FIB.
We updated the following screens:

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Static and Default Routes
This chapter describes how to configure static and default routes on the Cisco ASA.
• About Static and Default Routes, on page 685
• Guidelines for Static and Default Routes, on page 687
• Configure Default and Static Routes, on page 688
• Monitoring a Static or Default Route, on page 691
• Examples for Static or Default Routes, on page 691
• History for Static and Default Routes, on page 691

About Static and Default Routes

To route traffic to a non-connected host or network, you must define a route to the host or network, either
using static or dynamic routing. Generally, you must configure at least one static route: a default route for all
traffic that is not routed by other means to a default network gateway, typically the next hop router.

Default Route
The simplest option is to configure a default static route to send all traffic to an upstream router, relying on
the router to route the traffic for you. A default route identifies the gateway IP address to which the ASA
sends all IP packets for which it does not have a learned or static route. A default static route is simply a static
route with 0.0.0.0/0 (IPv4) or ::/0 (IPv6) as the destination IP address.
You should always define a default route.
Because the ASA uses separate routing tables for data traffic and for management traffic, you can optionally
configure a default route for data traffic and another default route for management traffic. Note that
from-the-device traffic uses either the management or data routing table by default depending on the type (see
Routing Table for Management Traffic, on page 681), but will fall back to the other routing table if a route is
not found. Default routes will always match traffic, and will prevent a fall back to the other routing table. In
this case, you must specify the interface you want to use for egress traffic if that interface is not in the default
routing table.

Static Routes
You might want to use static routes in the following cases:

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Route to null0 Interface to Drop Unwanted Traffic

• Your networks use an unsupported router discovery protocol.

• Your network is small and you can easily manage static routes.
• You do not want the traffic or CPU overhead associated with routing protocols.
• In some cases, a default route is not enough. The default gateway might not be able to reach the destination
network, so you must also configure more specific static routes. For example, if the default gateway is
outside, then the default route cannot direct traffic to any inside networks that are not directly connected
to the ASA.
• You are using a feature that does not support dynamic routing protocols.

Route to null0 Interface to Drop Unwanted Traffic

Access rules let you filter packets based on the information contained in their headers. A static route to the
null0 interface is a complementary solution to access rules. You can use a null0 route to forward unwanted
or undesirable traffic so the traffic is dropped.
Static null0 routes have a favorable performance profile. You can also use static null0 routes to prevent routing
loops. BGP can leverage the static null0 route for Remotely Triggered Black Hole routing.

Route Priorities
• Routes that identify a specific destination take precedence over the default route.
• When multiple routes exist to the same destination (either static or dynamic), then the administrative
distance for the route determines priority. Static routes are set to 1, so they typically are the highest
priority routes.
• When you have multiple static routes to the same destination with the same administrative distance, see
Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) Routing, on page 682.
• For traffic emerging from a tunnel with the Tunneled option, this route overrides any other configured
or learned default routes.

Transparent Firewall Mode and Bridge Group Routes

For traffic that originates on the ASA and is destined through a bridge group member interface for a non-directly
connected network, you need to configure either a default route or static routes so the ASA knows out of
which bridge group member interface to send traffic. Traffic that originates on the ASA might include
communications to a syslog server or SNMP server. If you have servers that cannot all be reached through a
single default route, then you must configure static routes. For transparent mode, you cannot specify the BVI
as the gateway interface; only member interfaces can be used. For bridge groups in routed mode, you must
specify the BVI in a static route; you cannot specify a member interface. See MAC Address vs. Route Lookups,
on page 210 for more information.

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Static Route Tracking

One of the problems with static routes is that there is no inherent mechanism for determining if the route is
up or down. They remain in the routing table even if the next hop gateway becomes unavailable. Static routes
are only removed from the routing table if the associated interface on the ASA goes down.
The static route tracking feature provides a method for tracking the availability of a static route and installing
a backup route if the primary route should fail. For example, you can define a default route to an ISP gateway
and a backup default route to a secondary ISP in case the primary ISP becomes unavailable.
The ASA implements static route tracking by associating a static route with a monitoring target host on the
destination network that the ASA monitors using ICMP echo requests. If an echo reply is not received within
a specified time period, the host is considered down, and the associated route is removed from the routing
table. An untracked backup route with a higher metric is used in place of the removed route.
When selecting a monitoring target, you need to make sure that it can respond to ICMP echo requests. The
target can be any network object that you choose, but you should consider using the following:
• The ISP gateway (for dual ISP support) address
• The next hop gateway address (if you are concerned about the availability of the gateway)
• A server on the target network, such as a syslog server, that the ASA needs to communicate with
• A persistent network object on the destination network

Note A PC that may be shut down at night is not a good choice.

You can configure static route tracking for statically defined routes or default routes obtained through DHCP
or PPPoE. You can only enable PPPoE clients on multiple interfaces with route tracking configured.

Guidelines for Static and Default Routes

Firewall Mode and Bridge Groups
• In transparent mode, static routes must use the bridge group member interface as the gateway; you cannot
specify the BVI.
• In routed mode, you must specify the BVI as the gateway; you cannot specify the member interface.
• Static route tracking is not supported for bridge group member interfaces or on the BVI.

IPv6
• Static route tracking is not supported for IPv6.

Clustering and Multiple Context Mode

• In clustering, static route tracking is only supported on the primary unit.
• Static route tracking is not supported in multiple context mode.

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Configure Default and Static Routes

At a minimum, you should configure a default route. You may need to configure static routes as well. In this
section we will configure a default route, configure a static route and track a static route.

Configure a Default Route

A default route is simply a static route with 0.0.0.0/0 as the destination IP address. You should always have
a default route, either configured manually with this procedure, or derived from a DHCP server or other
routing protocol.

Before you begin

See the following guidelines for the Tunneled option:
• Do not enable unicast RPF on the egress interface of a tunneled route, because this setting causes the
session to fail.
• Do not enable TCP intercept on the egress interface of the tunneled route, because this setting causes the
session to fail.
• Do not use the VoIP inspection engines (CTIQBE, H.323, GTP, MGCP, RTSP, SIP, SKINNY), the DNS
inspection engine, or the DCE RPC inspection engine with tunneled routes, because these inspection
engines ignore the tunneled route.
• You cannot define more than one default route with the tunneled option.
• ECMP for tunneled traffic is not supported.
• Tunneled routes are not supported for bridge groups, which do not support VPN termination for through
traffic.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Static Routes, and click Add.
Step 2 Choose the IP Address Type, IPv4 or IPv6.
Step 3 Choose the Interface through which you want to send the traffic.
For transparent mode, specify a bridge group member interface name. For routed mode with bridge groups,
specify the BVI name.

Step 4 For the Network, type any4 or any6, depending on the type.
Step 5 Enter the Gateway IP where you want to send the traffic.
Step 6 Set the Metric to set the administrative distance for the route.
The default is 1. Administrative distance is a parameter used to compare routes among different routing
protocols. The default administrative distance for static routes is 1, giving it precedence over routes discovered
by dynamic routing protocols but not directly connect routes. The default administrative distance for routes
discovered by OSPF is 110. If a static route has the same administrative distance as a dynamic route, the static
routes take precedence. Connected routes always take precedence over static or dynamically discovered routes.

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Configure a Static Route

Step 7 (Optional) In the Options area, set the following:

• Tunneled—You can define a separate default route for VPN traffic if you want your VPN traffic to use
a different default route than your non VPN traffic. For example, traffic incoming from VPN connections
can be easily directed towards internal networks, while traffic from internal networks can be directed
towards the outside. When you create a default route with the tunneled option, all traffic from a tunnel
terminating on the ASA that cannot be routed using learned or static routes, is sent to this route. This
option is not supported for bridge groups.
• Tracked—(IPv4 only) For information about tracking routes, see Configure Static Route Tracking, on
page 690.

Step 8 Click OK.

Configure a Static Route

A static route defines where to send traffic for specific destination networks.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Static Routes, and click Add.
Step 2 Choose the IP Address Type, IPv4 or IPv6.
Step 3 Choose the Interface through which you want to send the traffic.
To drop unwanted traffic, choose the Null0 interface. For transparent mode, specify a bridge group member
interface name. For routed mode with bridge groups, specify the BVI name.

Step 4 For the Network, enter the destination network for which you want to route traffic.
Step 5 Enter the Gateway IP where you want to send the traffic.
Step 6 Set the Metric to set the administrative distance for the route.
The default is 1. Administrative distance is a parameter used to compare routes among different routing
protocols. The default administrative distance for static routes is 1, giving it precedence over routes discovered
by dynamic routing protocols but not directly connect routes. The default administrative distance for routes
discovered by OSPF is 110. If a static route has the same administrative distance as a dynamic route, the static
routes take precedence. Connected routes always take precedence over static or dynamically discovered routes.

Step 7 (Optional) In the Options area, set the following:

• Tunneled—You can define a separate default route for VPN traffic if you want your VPN traffic to use
a different default route than your non VPN traffic. For example, traffic incoming from VPN connections
can be easily directed towards internal networks, while traffic from internal networks can be directed
towards the outside. When you create a default route with the tunneled option, all traffic from a tunnel
terminating on the ASA that cannot be routed using learned or static routes, is sent to this route.
• Tracked—(IPv4 only) For information about tracking routes, see Configure Static Route Tracking, on
page 690.

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Step 8 Click OK.

Configure Static Route Tracking

To configure static route tracking, complete the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Static Routes and add or edit a static route according
to Configure a Static Route, on page 689.
Step 2 Click the Tracked radio button in the Options area.
Step 3 In the Track ID field, enter a unique identifier for the route tracking process.
Step 4 In the Track IP Address/DNS Name field, enter the IP address or hostname of the target being tracked.
Typically, this would be the IP address of the next hop gateway for the route, but it could be any network
object available from that interface.
Step 5 In the SLA ID field, enter a unique identifier for the SLA monitoring process.
Step 6 (Optional) Click Monitoring Options.
The Route Monitoring Options dialog box appears. From here, change the following tracking object
monitoring properties:
• Frequency—Sets how often, in seconds, the ASA should test for the presence of the tracking target.
Valid values range from 1 to 604800 seconds. The default value is 60 seconds.
• Threshold—Sets the amount of time, in milliseconds, that indicates an over-threshold event. This value
cannot be more than the timeout value.
• Timeout—Sets the amount of time, in milliseconds, that the route monitoring operation should wait for
a response from the request packets. Valid values range from 0 to 604800000 milliseconds. The default
value is 5000 milliseconds.
• Data Size—Sets the size of data payload to use in the echo request packets. The default value is 28.
Valid values range from 0 to 16384.
Note This setting specifies the size of the payload only; it does not specify the size of the entire
packet.

• ToS—Sets a value for the type of service byte in the IP header of the echo request. Valid values are from
0 to 255. The default value is 0.
• Number of Packets—Sets the number of echo requests to send for each test. Valid values range from
1 to 100. The default value is 1.

Click OK.

Step 7 Click OK to save your route, and then click Apply.

The monitoring process begins as soon as you apply the tracked route.
Step 8 Create an untracked backup route.

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Monitoring a Static or Default Route

The backup route is a static route to the same destination as the tracked route, but through a different interface
or gateway. You must assign this route a higher administrative distance (metric) than your tracked route.

Monitoring a Static or Default Route

• Monitoring > Routing > Routes.
In the Routes pane, each row represents one route. You can filter by IPv4 connections, IPv6 connections,
or both. The routing information includes the protocol, the route type, the destination IP address, the
netmask or prefix length, the gateway IP address, the interface through which the route is connected, and
the administrative distance.

Examples for Static or Default Routes

The following example shows how to create a static route that sends all traffic destined for 10.1.1.0/24 to the
router 10.1.2.45, which is connected to the inside interface, defines three equal cost static routes that direct
traffic to three different gateways on the dmz interface, and adds a default route for tunneled traffic and one
for regular traffic.

route inside 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 10.1.2.45

route dmz 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.1
route dmz 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.2
route dmz 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.3
route outside 0 0 209.165.201.1
route inside 0 0 10.1.2.45 tunneled

History for Static and Default Routes

Table 35: Feature History for Static and Default Routes

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Static Route Tracking 7.2(1) The static route tracking feature provides
a method for tracking the availability of a
static route and installing a backup route if
the primary route should fail.
We introduced or modified the following
screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> Static Routes > Add Static Route
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> Static Routes > Add Static Route >
Route Monitoring Options

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History for Static and Default Routes

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Static null0 route to drop traffic 9.2(1) Sending traffic to a null0 interface results
in dropping the packets destined to the
specified network. This feature is useful in
configuring Remotely Triggered Black Hole
(RTBH) for BGP.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> Static Routes > Add Static Route

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Policy Based Routing
This chapter describes how to configure the Cisco ASA to support policy based routing (PBR). The following
sections describe policy based routing, guidelines for PBR, and configuration for PBR.
• About Policy Based Routing, on page 693
• Guidelines for Policy Based Routing, on page 695
• Configure Policy Based Routing, on page 696
• History for Policy Based Routing, on page 698

About Policy Based Routing

Traditional routing is destination-based, meaning packets are routed based on destination IP address. However,
it is difficult to change the routing of specific traffic in a destination-based routing system. With Policy Based
Routing (PBR), you can define routing based on criteria other than destination network—PBR lets you route
traffic based on source address, source port, destination address, destination port, protocol, or a combination
of these.
Policy Based Routing:
• Lets you provide Quality of Service (QoS) to differentiated traffic.
• Lets you distribute interactive and batch traffic across low-bandwidth, low-cost permanent paths and
high-bandwidth, high-cost switched paths.
• Allows Internet service providers and other organizations to route traffic originating from various sets
of users through well-defined Internet connections.

Policy Based Routing can implement QoS by classifying and marking traffic at the network edge, and then
using PBR throughout the network to route marked traffic along a specific path. This permits routing of packets
originating from different sources to different networks, even when the destinations are the same, and it can
be useful when interconnecting several private networks.

Why Use Policy Based Routing?

Consider a company that has two links between locations: one a high-bandwidth, low-delay expensive link,
and the other a low-bandwidth, higher-delay, less-expensive link. While using traditional routing protocols,
the higher-bandwidth link would get most, if not all, of the traffic sent across it based on the metric savings
obtained by the bandwidth and/or delay (using EIGRP or OSPF) characteristics of the link. PBR allows you

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Equal-Access and Source-Sensitive Routing

to route higher priority traffic over the high-bandwidth/low-delay link, while sending all other traffic over the
low-bandwidth/high-delay link.
Some applications of policy based routing are:

Equal-Access and Source-Sensitive Routing

In this topology, traffic from HR network & Mgmt network can be configured to go through ISP1 and traffic
from Eng network can be configured to go through ISP2. Thus, policy based routing enables the network
administrators to provide equal-access and source-sensitive routing, as shown here.

Quality of Service
By tagging packets with policy based routing, network administrators can classify the network traffic at the
perimeter of the network for various classes of service and then implementing those classes of service in the
core of the network using priority, custom or weighted fair queuing (as shown in the figure below). This setup
improves network performance by eliminating the need to classify the traffic explicitly at each WAN interface
in the core of backbone network.

Cost Saving
An organization can direct the bulk traffic associated with a specific activity to use a higher-bandwidth
high-cost link for a short time and continues basic connectivity over a lower-bandwidth low-cost link for
interactive traffic by defining the topology, as show here.

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Load Sharing

Load Sharing
In addition to the dynamic load-sharing capabilities offered by ECMP load balancing, network administrators
can now implement policies to distribute traffic among multiple paths based on the traffic characteristics.
As an example, in the topology depicted in the Equal-Access Source Sensitive Routing scenario, an
administrator can configure policy based routing to load share the traffic from HR network through ISP1 and
traffic from Eng network through ISP2.

Implementation of PBR
The ASA uses ACLs to match traffic and then perform routing actions on the traffic. Specifically, you configure
a route map that specifies an ACL for matching, and then you specify one or more actions for that traffic.
Finally, you associate the route map with an interface where you want to apply PBR on all incoming traffic

Guidelines for Policy Based Routing

Firewall Mode
Supported only in routed firewall mode. Transparent firewall mode is not supported.

Per-flow Routing
Since the ASA performs routing on a per-flow basis, policy routing is applied on the first packet and the
resulting routing decision is stored in the flow created for the packet. All subsequent packets belonging to the
same connection simply match this flow and are routed appropriately.

PBR Policies Not Applied for Output Route Look-up

Policy Based Routing is an ingress-only feature; that is, it is applied only to the first packet of a new incoming
connection, at which time the egress interface for the forward leg of the connection is selected. Note that PBR
will not be triggered if the incoming packet belongs to an existing connection, or if NAT is applied.

Clustering
• Clustering is supported.
• In a cluster scenario, without static or dynamic routes, with ip-verify-reverse path enabled, asymmetric
traffic may get dropped. So disabling ip-verify-reverse path is recommended.

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IPv6 Support
IPv6 is supported

Additional Guidelines
All existing route map related configuration restrictions and limitations will be carried forward.

Configure Policy Based Routing

A route map is comprised of one or more route-map statements. Each statement has a sequence number, as
well as a permit or deny clause. Each route-map statement contains match and set commands. The match
command denotes the match criteria to be applied on the packet. The set command denotes the action to be
taken on the packet.
• When a route map is configured with both IPv4 and IPv6 match/set clauses or when a unified ACL
matching IPv4 and IPv6 traffic is used, the set actions will be applied based on destination IP version.
• When multiple next-hops or interfaces are configured as a set action, all options are evaluated one after
the other until a valid usable option is found. No load balancing will be done among the configured
multiple options.
• The verify-availability option is not supported in multiple context mode.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, configure one or more standard or extended ACLs to identify traffic on which you want to perform
Policy Based Routing. See Configuration > Firewall > Advanced > ACL Manager .
Step 2 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Route Maps, and click Add.
The Add Route Map dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the route map name and sequence number. You will use this same name for optional additional route
map statements. The sequence number is the order in which the ASA assesses the route maps.
Step 4 Click Deny or Permit.
The ACL also includes its own permit and deny statements. For Permit/Permit matches between the route
map and the ACL, the Policy Based Routing processing continues. For Permit/Deny matches, processing ends
for this route map, and other route maps are checked. If the result is still Permit/Deny, then the regular routing
table is used. For Deny/Deny matches, the Policy Based Routing processing continues.

Step 5 Click the Match Clause tab to identify the ACLs you created.
In the IPv4 section, choose Access List from the drop-down menu, and then select one or more standard or
extended ACLs from the dialog box.
If you use a standard ACL, matching is done on the destination address only. If you use an extended ACL,
you can match on source, destination, or both.
Use the IPv4 section for both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs. For the extended ACL, you can specify IPv4, IPv6, Identity
Firewall, or Cisco TrustSec parameters. For complete syntax, see the ASA command reference.

Step 6 Click the Policy Based Routing tab to define policy for traffic flows.

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Check one or more of the following set actions to perform for the matching traffic flows:
• Set PBR next hop address—For IPv4 and IPv6, you can configure multiple next-hop IP addresses in
which case they are evaluated in the specified order until a valid routable next-hop IP address is found.
The configured next-hops should be directly connected; otherwise the set action will not be applied.
• Set default next-hop IP address—For IPv4 and IPv6, if the normal route lookup fails for matching
traffic, then the ASA forwards the traffic using this specified next-hop IP address.
• Recursively find and set next-hop IP address—Both the next-hop address and the default next-hop
address require that the next-hop be found on a directly connected subnet. With this option, the next-hop
address does not need to be directly connected. Instead a recursive lookup is performed on the next-hop
address, and matching traffic is forwarded to the next-hop used by that route entry according to the
routing path in use on the router.
• Configure Next Hop Verifiability—Verify if the next IPv4 hops of a route map are available. You can
configure an SLA monitor tracking object to verify the reachability of the next-hop. Click Add to add
next-hop IP address entries, and specify the following information.
• Sequence Number—Entries are assessed in order using the sequence number.
• IP Address—Enter the next hop IP address.
• Tracking Object ID—Enter a valid ID.

• Set interfaces—This option configures the interface through which the matching traffic is forwarded.
You can configure multiple interfaces, in which case they are evaluated in the specified order until a
valid interface is found. When you specify null0, all traffic matching the route map will be dropped.
There must be a route for the destination that can be routed through the specified interface (either static
or dynamic).
• Set null0 interface as the default interface—If a normal route lookup fails, the ASA forwards the
traffic null0, and the traffic will be dropped.
• Set do-not-fragment bit to either 1or 0—Select the appropriate radio button.
• Set differential service code point (DSCP) value in QoS bits—Select a value from the IPv4 or IPv6
drop-down list.

Step 7 Click OK, and then click Apply.

Step 8 To remove an existing PBR route map, select it in the Route Maps list and then click Delete.

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History for Policy Based Routing

History for Policy Based Routing

Table 36: History for Route Maps

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Policy based routing 9.4(1) Policy Based Routing (PBR) is a

mechanism by which traffic is routed
through specific paths with a specified QoS
using ACLs. ACLs let traffic be classified
based on the content of the packet’s Layer
3 and Layer 4 headers. This solution lets
administrators provide QoS to differentiated
traffic, distribute interactive and batch
traffic among low-bandwidth, low-cost
permanent paths and high-bandwidth,
high-cost switched paths, and allows
Internet service providers and other
organizations to route traffic originating
from various sets of users through
well-defined Internet connections.
We updated the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Route Maps > Policy Based Routing,
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Interface Settings > Interfaces

IPv6 support for Policy Based Routing 9.5(1) IPv6 addresses are now supported for
Policy Based Routing.
We modified the following screens:

Configuration > Device Setup > Routing

> Route Maps > Add Route Map > Policy
Based Routing
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> Route Maps > Add Route Maps >
Match Clause

VXLAN support for Policy Based Routing 9.5(1) You can now enable Policy Based Routing
on a VNI interface.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Interface
Settings > Interfaces > Add/Edit
Interface > General

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History for Policy Based Routing

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Policy Based Routing support for Identity 9.5(1) You can configure Identity Firewall and
Firewall and Cisco Trustsec Cisco TrustSec and then use Identity
Firewall and Cisco TrustSec ACLs in
Policy Based Routing route maps.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> Route Maps > Add Route Maps >
Match Clause

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 CHAPTER 29
Route Maps
This chapter describes how to configure and customize route-maps, for Cisco ASA.
• About Route Maps, on page 701
• Guidelines for Route Maps, on page 703
• Define a Route Map, on page 703
• Customize a Route Map, on page 705
• Example for Route Maps, on page 708
• History for Route Maps, on page 709

About Route Maps

Route maps are used when redistributing routes into an OSPF, RIP, EIGRP or BGP routing process. They are
also used when generating a default route into an OSPF routing process. A route map defines which of the
routes from the specified routing protocol are allowed to be redistributed into the target routing process.
Route maps have many features in common with widely known ACLs. These are some of the traits common
to both:
• They are an ordered sequence of individual statements, and each has a permit or deny result. Evaluation
of an ACL or a route map consists of a list scan, in a predetermined order, and an evaluation of the criteria
of each statement that matches. A list scan is aborted once the first statement match is found and an
action associated with the statement match is performed.
• They are generic mechanisms. Criteria matches and match interpretation are dictated by the way that
they are applied and the feature that uses them. The same route map applied to different features might
be interpreted differently.

These are some of the differences between route maps and ACLs:
• Route maps are more flexible than ACLs and can verify routes based on criteria which ACLs can not
verify. For example, a route map can verify if the type of route is internal.
• Each ACL ends with an implicit deny statement, by design convention. If the end of a route map is
reached during matching attempts, the result depends on the specific application of the route map. Route
maps that are applied to redistribution behave the same way as ACLs: if the route does not match any
clause in a route map then the route redistribution is denied, as if the route map contained a deny statement
at the end.

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Permit and Deny Clauses

Permit and Deny Clauses

Route maps can have permit and deny clauses. The deny clause rejects route matches from redistribution.
You can use an ACL as the matching criterion in the route map. Because ACLs also have permit and deny
clauses, the following rules apply when a packet matches the ACL:
• ACL permit + route map permit: routes are redistributed.
• ACL permit + route map deny: routes are not redistributed.
• ACL deny + route map permit or deny: the route map clause is not matched, and the next route-map
clause is evaluated.

Match and Set Clause Values

Each route map clause has two types of values:
• A match value selects routes to which this clause should be applied.
• A set value modifies information that will be redistributed into the target protocol.

For each route that is being redistributed, the router first evaluates the match criteria of a clause in the route
map. If the match criteria succeeds, then the route is redistributed or rejected as dictated by the permit or deny
clause, and some of its attributes might be modified by the values set from the set commands. If the match
criteria fail, then this clause is not applicable to the route, and the software proceeds to evaluate the route
against the next clause in the route map. Scanning of the route map continues until a clause is found that
matches the route or until the end of the route map is reached.
A match or set value in each clause can be missed or repeated several times, if one of these conditions exists:
• If several match entries are present in a clause, all must succeed for a given route in order for that route
to match the clause (in other words, the logical AND algorithm is applied for multiple match commands).
• If a match entry refers to several objects in one entry, either of them should match (the logical OR
algorithm is applied).
• If a match entry is not present, all routes match the clause.
• If a set entry is not present in a route map permit clause, then the route is redistributed without modification
of its current attributes.

Note Do not configure a set entry in a route map deny clause because the deny clause prohibits route
redistribution—there is no information to modify.

A route map clause without a match or set entry does perform an action. An empty permit clause allows a
redistribution of the remaining routes without modification. An empty deny clause does not allow a
redistribution of other routes (this is the default action if a route map is completely scanned, but no explicit
match is found).

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Guidelines for Route Maps

Guidelines for Route Maps

Firewall Mode
Supported only in routed firewall mode. Transparent firewall mode is not supported.

Additional Guidelines
Route maps do not support ACLs that include a user, user group, or fully qualified domain name objects.

Define a Route Map

You must define a route map when specifying which of the routes from the specified routing protocol are
allowed to be redistributed into the target routing process. In ASDM, you can define a route map by adding,
editing, or deleting a route map name, sequence number, or redistribution.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Route Maps.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add Route Map or Edit Route Map dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the route map name and sequence number. The route map name is the name that you assign to a particular
route. The sequence number is the order in which you add or delete the route map entries into the ASA.
Note If you are editing an existing route map, the fields for Route Map name and sequence number are
already filled in.

Step 4 To reject route matches from redistribution, click Deny. If you use an ACL in a route map Deny clause, routes
that are permitted by the ACL are not redistributed. To allow route matches for redistribution. click Permit.
If you use an ACL in a route map Permit clause, routes that are permitted by the ACL are redistributed.
In addition, if you use an ACL in a route map Permit or Deny clause, and the ACL denies a route, then the
route map clause match is not found and the next route map clause is evaluated.

Step 5 Click the Match Clause tab to choose routes to which this clause should be applied, and set the following
parameters:
• Check the Match first hop interface of route check box to enable or disable matching the first hop
interface of a route or to match any routes with the specified next hop interface. If you specify more than
one interface, then the route can match either interface.
• Enter the interface name in the Interface field, or click the ellipses to display the Browse Interface
dialog box.
• Choose one or more interfaces, click Interface, then click OK.

• In the IPv4 and IPv6 sections, do one or more of the following:

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• Check the Match Address check box to enable or disable the Match address of a route or match
packet.
• Check the Match Next Hop check box to enable or disable the Match next hop address of a route.
• Check the Match Route Source check box to enable or disable the Match advertising source address
of the route.
• Choose Access List to Prefix List from the drop-down list to match the IP address.
• According to the previous selection, click the ellipses to display the Browse Access List or Browse
Prefix List dialog box.
• Choose the ACL or prefix list that you want.

• Check the Match metric of route check box to enable or disable matching the metric of a route.
• In the Metric Value field, type the metric values. You can enter multiple values, separated by
commas. This setting allows you to match any routes that have a specified metric. The metric value
can range from 0 to 4294967295.

• Check the Match Route Type check box to enable or disable matching of the route type. Valid route
types are External1, External2, Internal, Local, NSSA-External1, and NSSA-External2. When enabled,
you can choose more than one route type from the list.

Step 6 Click the Set Clause tab to modify the following information, which will be redistributed to the target protocol:
• Check the Set Metric Clause check box to enable or disable the metric value for the destination routing
protocol, and type the value in the Value field.
• Check the Set Metric Type check box to enable or disable the type of metric for the destination routing
protocol, and choose the metric type from the drop-down list.

Step 7 Click the BGP Match Clause tab to choose routes to which this clause should be applied, and set the following
parameters:
• Check the Match AS path access lists check box to enable matching the BGP autonomous system path
access list with the specified path access list. If you specify more than one path access list, then the route
can match either path access list.
• Check the Match Community check box to enable matching the BGP community with the specified
community. If you specify more than one community, then the route can match either community. Any
route that does not match at least one Match community will not be advertised for outbound route maps.
• Check the Match the specified community exactly check box to enable matching the BGP community
exactly with the specified community.

• Check the Match Policy list check box to configure a route map to evaluate and process a BGP policy.
If you specify more than one policy list, then the route can process either policy list.

Step 8 Click the BGP Set Clause tab to modify the following information, which will be redistributed to the BGP
protocol:
• Check the Set AS Path check box to modify an autonomous system path for BGP routes.

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• Check the Prepend AS path check box to prepend an arbitrary autonomous system path string to
BGP routes. Usually the local AS number is prepended multiple times, increasing the autonomous
system path length. If you specify more than one AS path number then the route can prepend either
AS numbers.
• Check the Prepend Last AS to the AS Path check box to prepend the AS path with the last AS
number. Enter a value for the AS number from 1 to 10.
• Check the Convert route tag into AS Path check box to convert the tag of a route into an autonomous
system path.

• Check the Set Community check box to set the BGP communities attributes.
• Click Specify Community to enter a community number, if applicable. Valid values are from 1 to
4294967200, internet, no-advertise and no-export.
• Check Add to the existing communities to add the community to the already existing communities.
• Click None to remove the community attribute from the prefixes that pass the route map.

• Check the Set local preference check box to specify a preference value for the autonomous system path.
• Check the Set weight check box to specify the BGP weight for the routing table. Enter a value between
0 and 65535.
• Check the Set origin check box to specify the BGP origin code. Valid values are Local IGP and Incomplete.
• Check the Set next hop check box to specify the output address of packets that fulfill the match clause
of a route map.
• Click Specify IP address to enter the IP address of the next hop to which packets are output. It need
not be an adjacent router. If you specify more than one IP address then the packets can output at
either IP address.
• Click Use peer address to set the next hop to be the BGP peer address.

Step 9 Click OK.

Customize a Route Map

This section describes how to customize the route map.

Define a Route to Match a Specific Destination Address

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Route Maps.
Step 2 Click Add.

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Configure Prefix Rules

The Add Route Map dialog box appears. From this dialog box you can assign or choose the route map name,
the sequence number and its redistribution access (that is, permit or deny). Route map entries are read in order.
You can identify the order using the sequence number, or the ASA uses the order in which you add the entries.

Step 3 Click the Match Clause tab to choose routes to which this clause should be applied, and set the following
parameters:
• Check the Match first hop interface of route check box to enable or disable matching the first hop
interface of a route or to match any routes with the specified next hop interface. If you specify more than
one interface, then the route can match either interface.
• Enter the interface name in the Interface field, or click the ellipses to display the Browse Interface
dialog box.
• Choose the interface type (inside or outside), click Selected Interface, then click OK.
• Check the Match IP Address check box to enable or disable the Match address of a route or match
packet.
• Check the Match Next Hop check box to enable or disable the Match next hop address of a route.
• Check the Match Route Source check box to enable or disable the Match advertising source address
of the route.
• Choose Access List to Prefix List from the drop-down list to match the IP address.
• According to the previous selection, click the ellipses to display the Browse Access List or Browse
Prefix List dialog box.
• Choose the ACL or prefix list that you want.

• Check the Match metric of route check box to enable or disable matching the metric of a route.
• In the Metric Value field, type the metric values. You can enter multiple values, separated by
commas. This setting allows you to match any routes that have a specified metric. The metric value
can range from 0 to 4294967295.

• Check the Match Route Type check box to enable or disable matching of the route type. Valid route
types are External1, External2, Internal, Local, NSSA-External1, and NSSA-External2. When enabled,
you can choose more than one route type from the list.

Configure Prefix Rules

Note You must configure a prefix list before you may configure a prefix rule.

To configure prefix rules, perform the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > IPv4 Prefix Rules or IPv6 Prefix Rules.
Step 2 Click Add and choose Add Prefix Rule.
The Add Prefix Rule dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can add a sequence number, select an
IP version- IPv4 or IPv6, specify a prefix for the network, its redistribution access (that is, permit or deny)
and the minimum and maximum prefix length.

Step 3 Enter an optional Sequence Number or accept the default value.

Step 4 Specify the Prefix number in the format of IP address/mask length.
Step 5 Click the Permit or Deny radio button to indicate the redistribution access.
Step 6 Enter the optional Minimum length and Maximum length.
Step 7 Click OK when you are done.
The new or revised prefix rule appears in the list.

Step 8 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure Prefix Lists

ABR type 3 LSA filtering extends the capability of an ABR that is running OSPF to filter type 3 LSAs between
different OSPF areas. Once a prefix list is configured, only the specified prefixes are sent from one OSPF
area to another OSPF area. All other prefixes are restricted to their OSPF area. You can apply this type of
area filtering to traffic going into or coming out of an OSPF area, or to both the incoming and outgoing traffic
for that area.
When multiple entries of a prefix list match a given prefix, the entry with the lowest sequence number is used.
For efficiency, you may want to put the most common matches or denials near the top of the list by manually
assigning them a lower sequence number. By default, sequence numbers are automatically generated in
increments of 5, beginning with 5.
To add prefix lists, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > IPv4 Prefix Rules or IPv6 Prefix Rules.
Step 2 Click Add > Add Prefix List.
The Add Prefix List dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the prefix name and description, then click OK.

Configure the Metric Values for a Route Action

To configure the metric value for a route action, perform the following steps:

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Example for Route Maps

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Route Maps.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add Route Map or Edit Route Map dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can assign or select
the route map name, the sequence number and its redistribution access (that is, permit or deny). Route map
entries are read in order. You can identify the order using the sequence number, or the ASA uses the order in
which you add route map entries.

Step 3 Click the Set Clause tab to modify the following information, which will be redistributed to the target protocol:
• Check the Set Metric Clause check box to enable or disable the metric value for the destination routing
protocol, and enter the value in the Value field.
• Check the Set Metric Type check box to enable or disable the type of metric for the destination routing
protocol, and choose the metric type from the drop-down list.

Example for Route Maps

The following example shows how to redistribute routes with a hop count equal to 1 into OSPF.
1. In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Route Maps.
2. Click Add.
3. Enter 1-to-2 in the Route Map Name field.
4. Enter the routing sequence number in the Sequence Number field.
5. Click the Permit radio button.
By default, this tab is on top.
6. Click the Match Clause tab.
7. Check the Match Metric of Route check box and type 1 for the metric value.
8. Click the Set Clause tab.
9. Check the Set Metric Value check box, and type 5 for the metric value.
10. Check the Set Metric-Type check box, and choose Type-1.

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History for Route Maps

Table 37: Feature History for Route Maps

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Route maps 7.0(1) We introduced this feature.

We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Route Maps.

Enhanced support for static and dynamic 8.0(2) Enhanced support for dynamic and static
route maps route maps was added.

Dynamic Routing in Multiple Context 9.0(1) Route maps are supported in multiple
Mode context mode.

Support for BGP 9.2(1) We introduced this feature.

We updated the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Route Maps with 2 additional tabs BGP
match clause and BGP set clause.

IPv6 support for Prefix Rule 9.3.2 We introduced this feature.

We updated the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup >
Routing > IPv4 Prefix Rules and IPv6
Prefix Rules

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 CHAPTER 30
Bidirectional Forwarding Detection Routing
This chapter describes how to configure the ASA to use the Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) routing
protocol.
• About BFD Routing, on page 711
• Guidelines for BFD Routing, on page 714
• Configure BFD, on page 715
• History for BFD Routing, on page 718

About BFD Routing

BFD is a detection protocol designed to provide fast forwarding path failure detection times for all media
types, encapsulations, topologies, and routing protocols. BFD operates in a unicast, point-to-point mode on
top of any data protocol being forwarded between two systems. Packets are carried in the payload of the
encapsulating protocol appropriate for the media and the network.
BFD provides a consistent failure detection method for network administrators in addition to fast forwarding
path failure detection. Because the network administrator can use BFD to detect forwarding path failures at
a uniform rate, rather than the variable rates for different routing protocol hello mechanisms, network profiling
and planning are easier and reconvergence time is consistent and predictable.

BFD Asynchronous Mode and Echo Function

BFD can operate in asynchronous mode with or without the echo function enabled.
Asynchronous Mode
In asynchronous mode, the systems periodically send BFD control packets to one another, and if a number
of those packets in a row are not received by the other system, the session is declared to be down. Pure
asynchronous mode (without the Echo function) is useful because it requires half as many packets to
achieve a particular detection time as the Echo function requires.
BFD Echo Function
The BFD echo function sends echo packets from the forwarding engine to the directly-connected single-hop
BFD neighbor. The echo packets are sent by the forwarding engine and forwarded back along the same
path to perform detection. The BFD session at the other end does not participate in the actual forwarding
of the echo packets. Because the echo function and the forwarding engine are responsible for the detection
process, the number of BFD control packets that are sent out between BFD neighbors is reduced. And

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also because the forwarding engine is testing the forwarding path on the remote neighbor system without
involving the remote system, the inter-packet delay variance is improved. This results in quicker failure
detection times.
When the echo function is enabled, BFD can use the slow timer to slow down the asynchronous session
and reduce the number of BFD control packets that are sent between BFD neighbors, which reduces
processing overhead while at the same time delivering faster failure detection.

Note The echo function is not supported for IPv4 multi-hop or IPv6 single-hop BFD neighbors.

You can enable BFD at the interface and routing protocol levels. You must configure BFD on both systems
(BFD peers). After you enable BFD on the interfaces and at the router level for the appropriate routing
protocols, a BFD session is created, BFD timers are negotiated, and the BFD peers begin to send BFD control
packets to each other at the negotiated level.

BFD Session Establishment

The following example shows the ASA and a neighboring router running Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).
At the time when both devices come up, there is no BFD session established between them.
Figure 63: Established BFD Session

After BGP identifies its BGP neighbor, it bootstraps the BFD process with the IP address of the neighbor.
BFD does not discover its peers dynamically. It relies on the configured routing protocols to tell it which IP
addresses to use and which peer relationships to form.
The BFD on the router and the BFD on the ASA form a BFD control packet and start sending the packets to
each other at a one-second interval until the BFD session is established. The initial control packets from either
system are very similar, for example, the Vers, Diag, H, D, P, and F bits are all set to zero, and the State is
set to Down. The My Discriminator field is set to a value that is unique on the transmitting device. The Your
Discriminator field is set to zero because the BFD session has not yet been established. The TX and RX timers
are set to the values found in the configuration of the device.

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BFD Timer Negotiation

After the remote BFD device receives a BFD control packet during the session initiation phase, it copies the
value of the My Discriminator field into its own Your Discriminator field and the transition from Down state
to Init state and then eventually to Up state occurs. Once both systems see their own Discriminators in each
other's control packets, the session is officially established.
The following illustration shows the established BFD connection.
Figure 64: BGP With No BFD Session Established

BFD Timer Negotiation

BFD devices must negotiate the BFD timers to control and synchronize the send rate of BFD control packets.
A device needs to ensure the following before it can negotiate a BFD timer:
• That its peer device saw the packet containing the proposed timers of the local device
• That it never sends BFD control packets faster than the peer is configured to receive them
• That the peer never sends BFD control packets faster than the local system is configured to receive them

The setting of the Your Discriminator field and the H bit are sufficient to let the local device that the remote
device has seen its packets during the initial timer exchange. After receiving a BFD control packet, each
system takes the Required Min RX Interval and compares it to its own Desired Min TX Interval, and then
takes the greater (slower) of the two values and uses it as the transmission rate for its BFD packets. The slower
of the two systems determines the transmission rate.
When these timers have been negotiated, they can be renegotiated at any time during the session without
causing a session reset. The device that changes its timers sets the P bit on all subsequent BFD control packets
until it receives a BFD control packet with the F bit set from the remote system. This exchange of bits guards
against packets that might otherwise be lost in transit.

Note The setting of the F bit by the remote system does not mean that it accepts the newly proposed timers. It
indicates that the remote system has seen the packets in which the timers were changed.

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BFD Failure Detection

BFD Failure Detection

When the BFD session and timers have been negotiated, the BFD peers send BFD control packets to each
other at the negotiated interval. These control packets act as a heartbeat that is very similar to IGP Hello
protocol except that the rate is more accelerated.
As long as each BFD peer receives a BFD control packet within the configured detection interval (Required
Minimum RX Interval), the BFD session stays up and any routing protocol associated with BFD maintains
its adjacencies. If a BFD peer does not receive a control packet within this interval, it informs any clients
participating in that BFD session about the failure. The routing protocol determines the appropriate response
to that information. The typical response is to terminate the routing protocol peering session and reconverge
and thus bypass a failed peer.
Each time a BFD peer successfully receives a BFD control packet in a BFD session, the detection timer for
that session is reset to zero. Thus the failure detection is dependent on received packets and NOT when the
receiver last transmitted a packet.

BFD Deployment Scenarios

The following describes how BFD operates in these specific scenarios.
Failover
In a failover scenario, BFD sessions are established and maintained between the active unit and the
neighbor unit. Standby units do not maintain any BFD sessions with the neighbors. When a failover
happens, the new active unit must initiate session establishment with the neighbor because session
information is not synched between active and standby units.
For a graceful restart/NSF scenario, the client (BGP IPv4/IPv6) is responsible for notifying its neighbor
about the event. When the neighbor receives the information, it keeps the RIB table until failover is
complete. During failover, the BFD and the BGP sessions go down on the device. When the failover is
complete, a new BFD session between the neighbors is established when the BGP session comes up.
Spanned EtherChannel and L2 Cluster
In a Spanned EtherChannel cluster scenario, the BFD session is established and maintained between the
primary unit and its neighbor. Subordinate units do not maintain any BFD sessions with the neighbors.
If a BFD packet is routed to the subordinate unit because of load balancing on the switch, the subordinate
unit must forward this packet to the primary unit through the cluster link. When a cluster switchover
happens, the new primary unit must initiate session establishment with the neighbor because session
information is not synched between primary and subordinate units.
Individual Interface Mode and L3 Cluster
In an individual interface mode cluster scenario, individual units maintain their BFD sessions with their
neighbors.

Guidelines for BFD Routing

Context Mode Guidelines
Supported in single and multiple context modes.

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Firewall Mode Guidelines

Supported in routed firewall mode; support for standalone, failover, and cluster modes. BFD is not supported
on failover and cluster interfaces. In clustering this feature is only supported on the primary unit. BFD is not
supported in transparent mode.

IPv6 Guidelines
Echo mode is not supported for IPv6.

Additional Guidelines
BGP IPv4 and BGP IPv6 protocol are supported.
OSPFv2, OSPFv3, IS-IS, and EiGRP protocols are not supported.
BFD for Static Routes is not supported.
BFD on Transfer and Tunnel is not supported.

Configure BFD
This section describes how to enable and configure the BFD routing process on your system.

Procedure

Step 1 Create the BFD Template, on page 715.

Step 2 Configure BFD Interfaces, on page 717.
Step 3 Configure BFD Maps, on page 717.

Create the BFD Template

This section describes the steps required to create a BFD template and enter BFD configuration mode.
The BFD template specifies a set of BFD interval values. BFD interval values as configured in the BFD
template are not specific to a single interface. You can also configure authentication for single-hop and
multi-hop sessions. You can enable Echo on single-hop only.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BFD > Template.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
Use the Add BFD Template dialog box to create a new BFD template. Use the Edit BFD Template dialog
box to change existing parameters.

Step 3 On the Template tab, configure the following:

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• Template Name—The name of this BFD template. You must assign a name in order to configure the
rest of the parameters in the template. The template name cannot have spaces.
• Configuration Mode—Select single-hop or multi-hop from the drop-down list.
• Enable Echo—(Optional) Enables Echo for the single-hop template.

If the Echo function is not negotiated, BFD control packets are sent at a high rate to meet the detection time.
If the Echo function is negotiated, BFD control packets are sent at a slower, negotiated rate and self-directed
echo packets are sent at a high rate, We recommend that you use Echo mode if possible.

Step 4 On the Interval tab, configure the following:

a) From the Interval Type drop-down list, select None, Both, Microseconds, or Milliseconds.
b) If you selected Both, configure the following options:
• Multiplier Values—The value used to compute the hold down time. Specifies the number of
consecutive BFD control packets that must be missed from a BFD peer before BFD declares that the
peer is unavailable and the Layer 3 BFD peer is informed of the failure. The range is 3 to 50. The
default is 3.
• Both Transmit and Receive Values—The minimum transmit and receive interval capability. The
range is 50 to 999 milliseconds.

c) If you selected Microseconds, you can click the Both radio button and configure the following:
• Multiplier Values—The value used to compute the hold down time. Specifies the number of
consecutive BFD control packets that must be missed from a BFD peer before BFD declares that the
peer is unavailable and the Layer 3 BFD peer is informed of the failure. The range is 3 to 50. The
default is 3.
• Minimum Transmit Values—The minimum transmit interval capability. The range is 50,000 to
999,000 microseconds.
• Minimum Receive Values—The minimum receive interval capability. The range is 50,000 to 999,000
microseconds.

d) If you selected Milliseconds, configure the following:

• Multiplier Values—Specifies the number of consecutive BFD control packets that must be missed
from a BFD peer before BFD declares that the peer is unavailable and the Layer 3 BFD peer is
informed of the failure. The range is 3 to 50.
• Minimum Transmit Values—The minimum transmit interval capability. The range is 50 to 999
milliseconds.
• Minimum Receive Values—The minimum receive interval capability. The range is 50 to 999
milliseconds.

Step 5 On the Authentication tab, configure the following:

• Authentication Type—Select NONE, md5, meticulous-sha-1, meticulous-md5, or sha-1 from the
drop-down list,

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• Key Value—The authentication string that must be sent and received in the packets using the routing
protocol being authenticated. The valid value is a string containing 1 to 17 uppercase and lowercase
alphanumeric characters, except that the first character CANNOT be a number.
• Key ID—The shared key ID that matches the key value.

Step 6 Click OK.

Step 7 Click Apply to save the BFD template configuration.

Configure BFD Interfaces

You can bind a BFD template to an interface, configure the baseline BFD session parameters per interface,
and enable echo mode per interface.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BFD > Interface.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
Use the Add Interface dialog box to configure a new BFD interface. Use the Edit Interface dialog box to
change existing parameters.

Step 3 From the Interface drop-down list, select the interface you want to configure with BFD.
Step 4 Check the Template Name check box, and choose a BFD template from the drop-down list.
Step 5 Configure the following BFD intervals:
• Minimum Transmit Values— The minimum transmit interval capability. The range is 50 to 999
milliseconds.
• Minimum Receive Values— The minimum receive interval capability. The range is 50 to 999
milliseconds.
• Multiplier— Specifies the number of consecutive BFD control packets that must be missed from a BFD
peer before BFD declares that the peer is unavailable and the Layer 3 BFD peer is informed of the failure.
The range is 3 to 50.

Step 6 (Optional) Check the Echo check box if you want to have Echo mode on this interface. You can only enable
Echo on single-hop templates.
Step 7 Click OK.

Configure BFD Maps

You can create a BFD map containing destinations that you can associate with a multi-hop template. You
must have a multi-hop BFD template already configured.

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Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BFD > Map.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
Use the Add Map dialog box to configure a new BFD map. Use the Edit Map dialog box to change existing
parameters.

Step 3 From the Template Name drop-down list, select a BFD template.
Step 4 Configure the following BFD intervals:
• Minimum Transmit Values—The minimum transmit interval capability. The range is 50 to 999
milliseconds.
• Minimum Receive Values— The minimum receive interval capability. The range is 50 to 999
milliseconds.
• Multiplier—Specifies the number of consecutive BFD control packets that must be missed from a BFD
peer before BFD declares that the peer is unavailable and the Layer 3 BFD peer is informed of the failure.
The range is 3 to 50.

Step 5 Click OK.

History for BFD Routing

Table 38: Feature History for BFD Routing

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

BFD routing support 9.6(2) The ASA now supports the BFD routing
protocol. Support was added for configuring
BFD templates, interfaces, and maps.
Support for BGP routing protocol to use
BFD was also added.
We added or modified the following
screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> BFD > Template
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> BFD > Interface
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> BFD > Map
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> BGP > IPv6 Family > Neighbor

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BGP
This chapter describes how to configure the Cisco ASA to route data, perform authentication, and redistribute
routing information using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).
• About BGP, on page 719
• Guidelines for BGP, on page 722
• Configure BGP, on page 723
• Monitoring BGP, on page 740
• History for BGP, on page 741

About BGP
BGP is an inter and intra autonomous system routing protocol. An autonomous system is a network or group
of networks under a common administration and with common routing policies. BGP is used to exchange
routing information for the Internet and is the protocol used between Internet service providers (ISP).

When to Use BGP

Customer networks, such as universities and corporations, usually employ an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP)
such as OSPF for the exchange of routing information within their networks. Customers connect to ISPs, and
ISPs use BGP to exchange customer and ISP routes. When BGP is used between autonomous systems (AS),
the protocol is referred to as External BGP (EBGP). If a service provider is using BGP to exchange routes
within an AS, then the protocol is referred to as Interior BGP (IBGP).
BGP can also be used for carrying routing information for IPv6 prefix over IPv6 networks.

Note When a BGPv6 device joins the cluster, it generates a soft traceback when logging level 7 is enabled.

Routing Table Changes

BGP neighbors exchange full routing information when the TCP connection between neighbors is first
established. When changes to the routing table are detected, the BGP routers send to their neighbors only
those routes that have changed. BGP routers do not send periodic routing updates, and BGP routing updates
advertise only the optimal path to a destination network.

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Note AS loop detection is done by scanning the full AS path (as specified in the AS_PATH attribute), and checking
that the AS number of the local system does not appear in the AS path. By default, EBGP advertises the
learned routes to the same peer to prevent additional CPU cycles on the ASA in performing loop checks and
to avoid delays in the existing outgoing update tasks.

Routes learned via BGP have properties that are used to determine the best route to a destination, when multiple
paths exist to a particular destination. These properties are referred to as BGP attributes and are used in the
route selection process:
• Weight—This is a Cisco-defined attribute that is local to a router. The weight attribute is not advertised
to neighboring routers. If the router learns about more than one route to the same destination, the route
with the highest weight is preferred.
• Local preference—The local preference attribute is used to select an exit point from the local AS. Unlike
the weight attribute, the local preference attribute is propagated throughout the local AS. If there are
multiple exit points from the AS, the exit point with the highest local preference attribute is used as an
exit point for a specific route.
• Multi-exit discriminator—The multi-exit discriminator (MED) or metric attribute is used as a suggestion
to an external AS regarding the preferred route into the AS that is advertising the metric. It is referred
to as a suggestion because the external AS that is receiving the MEDs may also be using other BGP
attributes for route selection. The route with the lower MED metric is preferred.
• Origin—The origin attribute indicates how BGP learned about a particular route. The origin attribute
can have one of three possible values and is used in route selection.
• IGP—The route is interior to the originating AS. This value is set when the network router
configuration command is used to inject the route into BGP.
• EGP—The route is learned via the Exterior Border Gateway Protocol (EBGP).
• Incomplete—The origin of the route is unknown or learned in some other way. An origin of
incomplete occurs when a route is redistributed into BGP.

• AS_path—When a route advertisement passes through an autonomous system, the AS number is added
to an ordered list of AS numbers that the route advertisement has traversed. Only the route with the
shortest AS_path list is installed in the IP routing table.
• Next hop—The EBGP next-hop attribute is the IP address that is used to reach the advertising router.
For EBGP peers, the next-hop address is the IP address of the connection between the peers. For IBGP,
the EBGP next-hop address is carried into the local AS.
• Community—The community attribute provides a way of grouping destinations, called communities, to
which routing decisions (such as acceptance, preference, and redistribution) can be applied. Route maps
are used to set the community attribute. The predefined community attributes are as follows:
• no-export—Do not advertise this route to EBGP peers.
• no-advertise—Do not advertise this route to any peer.
• internet—Advertise this route to the Internet community; all routers in the network belong to it.

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BGP Path Selection

BGP may receive multiple advertisements for the same route from different sources. BGP selects only one
path as the best path. When this path is selected, BGP puts the selected path in the IP routing table and
propagates the path to its neighbors. BGP uses the following criteria, in the order presented, to select a path
for a destination:
• If the path specifies a next hop that is inaccessible, drop the update.
• Prefer the path with the largest weight.
• If the weights are the same, prefer the path with the largest local preference.
• If the local preferences are the same, prefer the path that was originated by BGP running on this router.
• If no route was originated, prefer the route that has the shortest AS_path.
• If all paths have the same AS_path length, prefer the path with the lowest origin type (where IGP is lower
than EGP, and EGP is lower than incomplete).
• If the origin codes are the same, prefer the path with the lowest MED attribute.
• If the paths have the same MED, prefer the external path over the internal path.
• If the paths are still the same, prefer the path through the closest IGP neighbor.
• Determine if multiple paths require installation in the routing table for BGP Multipath, on page 721.
• If both paths are external, prefer the path that was received first (the oldest one).
• Prefer the path with the lowest IP address, as specified by the BGP router ID.
• If the originator or router ID is the same for multiple paths, prefer the path with the minimum cluster list
length.
• Prefer the path that comes from the lowest neighbor address.

BGP Multipath
BGP Multipath allows installation into the IP routing table of multiple equal-cost BGP paths to the same
destination prefix. Traffic to the destination prefix is then shared across all installed paths.
These paths are installed in the table together with the best path for load-sharing. BGP Multipath does not
affect best-path selection. For example, a router still designates one of the paths as the best path, according
to the algorithm, and advertises this best path to its BGP peers.
In order to be candidates for multipath, paths to the same destination need to have these characteristics equal
to the best-path characteristics:
• Weight
• Local preference
• AS-PATH length
• Origin code
• Multi Exit Discriminator (MED)
• One of these:

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• Neighboring AS or sub-AS (before the addition of the BGP Multipaths)

• AS-PATH (after the addition of the BGP Multipaths)

Some BGP Multipath features put additional requirements on multipath candidates:

• The path should be learned from an external or confederation-external neighbor (eBGP).
• The IGP metric to the BGP next hop should be equal to the best-path IGP metric.

These are the additional requirements for internal BGP (iBGP) multipath candidates:
• The path should be learned from an internal neighbor (iBGP).
• The IGP metric to the BGP next hop should be equal to the best-path IGP metric, unless the router is
configured for unequal-cost iBGP multipath.

BGP inserts up to n most recently received paths from multipath candidates into the IP routing table, where
n is the number of routes to install to the routing table, as specified when you configure BGP Multipath. The
default value, when multipath is disabled, is 1.
For unequal-cost load balancing, you can also use BGP Link Bandwidth.

Note The equivalent next-hop-self is performed on the best path that is selected among eBGP multipaths before it
is forwarded to internal peers.

Guidelines for BGP

Context Mode Guidelines
Supported in single and multiple context mode.

Firewall Mode Guidelines

Does not support transparent firewall mode. BGP is supported only in routed mode.

IPv6 Guidelines
Supports IPv6. Graceful restart is not supported for IPv6 address family.

Additional Guidelines
• The system does not add route entry for the IP address received over PPPoE in the CP route table. BGP
always looks into CP route table for initiating the TCP session, hence BGP does not form TCP session.
Thus, BGP over PPPoE is not supported.
• To avoid adjacency flaps due to route updates being dropped if the route update is larger than the minimum
MTU on the link, ensure that you configure the same MTU on the interfaces on both sides of the link.

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Configure BGP
This section describes how to enable and configure the BGP process on your system.

Procedure

Step 1 Enable BGP, on page 723.

Step 2 Define the Best Path for a BGP Routing Process, on page 724.
Step 3 Configure Policy Lists, on page 725.
Step 4 Configure AS Path Filters, on page 726.
Step 5 Configure Community Rules, on page 727.
Step 6 Configure IPv4 Address Family Settings, on page 727.
Step 7 Configure IPv6 Address Family Settings, on page 734.

Enable BGP
This section describes the steps required to enable BGP routing, establish a BGP routing process and configure
general BGP parameters.

Procedure

Step 1 For single-mode, in ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > General.
Note For multi-mode, in ASDM choose Configuration > Context Management > BGP. After enabling
BGP, switch to a security context and enable BGP by choosing
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > General.

Step 2 Check the Enable BGP Routing check box.

Step 3 In the AS Number field, enter the autonomous system (AS) number for the BGP process. The AS number
internally includes multiple autonomous numbers. The AS number can be from 1 to 4294967295 or from 1.0
to XX.YY.
Step 4 (Optional) Check the Limit the number of AS numbers in the AS_PATH attribute of received routes
check box to restrict the number of AS numbers in AS_PATH attribute to a specific number. Valid values
are from 1 to 254.
Step 5 (Optional) Check the Log neighbor changes check box to enable logging of BGP neighbor changes (up or
down) and resets. This helps in troubleshooting network connectivity problems and measuring network
stability.
Step 6 (Optional) Check the Use TCP path MTU discovery check box to use the Path MTU Discovery technique to
determine the maximum transmission unit (MTU) size on the network path between two IP hosts. This avoids
IP fragmentation.
Step 7 (Optional) Check the Enable fast external failover check box to reset the external BGP session immediately
upon link failure.

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Step 8 (Optional) Check the Enforce that first AS is peer’s AS for EBGP routes check box to discard incoming
updates received from external BGP peers that do not list their AS number as the first segment in the AS_PATH
attribute. This prevents a mis-configured or unauthorized peer from misdirecting traffic by advertising a route
as if it was sourced from another autonomous system.
Step 9 (Optional) Check the Use dot notation for AS numbers check box to split the full binary 4-byte AS number
into two words of 16 bits each, separated by a dot. AS numbers from 0-65553 are represented as decimal
numbers and AS numbers larger than 65535 are represented using the dot notation.
Step 10 Specify the timer information in the Neighbor timers area:
a) In the Keepalive interval field, enter the time interval for which the BGP neighbor remains active after
not sending a keepalive message. At the end of this keepalive interval, the BGP peer is declared dead, if
no messages are sent. The default value is 60 seconds.
b) In the Hold Time field, enter the time interval for which the BGP neighbor remains active while a BGP
connection is being initiated and configured.The default values is 180 seconds.
c) (Optional) In the Min. Hold Time field, enter the minimum time interval for which the he BGP neighbor
remains active while a BGP connection is being initiated and configured. Specify a value from 0 to 65535.
Step 11 (Optional) In the Non Stop Forwarding section do the following:
a) Check the Enable Graceful Restart check box to enable ASA peers to avoid a routing flap following a
switchover.
b) In the Restart Time field, enter the time duration that ASA peers will wait to delete stale routes before a
BGP open message is received. The default value is 120 seconds. Valid values are between 1 and 3600
seconds.
c) In the Stale Path Time field, enter the time duration that the ASA will wait before deleting stale routes
after an end of record (EOR) message is received from the restarting ASA. The default value is 360
seconds. Valid values are between 1 and 3600 seconds.
Step 12 Click OK.
Step 13 Click Apply.

Define the Best Path for a BGP Routing Process

This section describes the steps required to configure the BGP best path. For more information on the best
path, see BGP Path Selection, on page 721.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > Best Path.
The Best Path configuration pane appears.

Step 2 In the Default Local Preference field, specify a value between 0 and 4294967295. The default value is 100.
Higher values indicate higher preference. This preference is sent to all routers and access servers in the local
autonomous system.
Step 3 Check the Allow comparing MED from different neighbors check box to allow the comparison of Multi Exit
Discriminator (MED) for paths from neighbors in different autonomous systems.

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Step 4 Check the Compare router-id for identical EBGP paths check box to compare similar paths received from
external BGP peers during the best path selection process and switch the best path to the route with the lowest
router ID.
Step 5 Check the Pick the best MED path among paths advertised from the neighboring AS check box to enable
MED comparison among paths learned from confederation peers.add a new network entry. The comparison
between MEDs is made only if no external autonomous systems are there in the path.
Step 6 Check the Treat missing MED as the least preferred one check box to consider the missing MED attribute as
having a value of infinity, making this path the least desirable; therefore, a path with a missing MED is least
preferred.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 Click Apply.

Configure Policy Lists

When a policy list is referenced within a route map, all of the match statements within the policy list are
evaluated and processed. Two or more policy lists can be configured with a route map. A policy list can also
coexist with any other preexisting match and set statements that are configured within the same route map
but outside of the policy list. This section describes the steps required to configure policy lists.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > Policy Lists.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add Policy List dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can add a policy list name, its redistribution
access (that is, permit or deny), match interfaces, specify IP addresses, match the AS path, match community
names list, match metrices, and match tag numbers.

Step 3 In the Policy List Name field, enter a name for the policy list.
Step 4 Click the Permit or Deny radio button to indicate the redistribution access.
Step 5 Check the Match Interfaces check box to distribute routes that have their next hop out of one of the interfaces
specified and do one of the following:
• In the Interface field, enter the interface name.
• In the Interface field, click the ellipses to manually browse and locate the interface. Choose one or more
interfaces, click Interface, then click OK.

Step 6 In the Specify IP area, configure the following:

a) Check the Match Address check box to redistribute any routes that have a destination network number
address that is permitted by a standard access list or prefix list, and performs policy routing on packets.
Specify an access list / prefix list or click the ellipses to manually browse and locate an access list. Choose
one or more access lists, click Access List, then click OK.
b) Check the Match Next Hop check box to redistribute any routes that have a next hop router address passed
by one of the access lists or prefix lists specified.
Specify an access list/ prefix list or click the ellipses to manually browse and locate an access list. Choose
one or more access lists, click Access List, then click OK.

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c) Check the Match Route Source check box to redistribute routes that have been advertised by routers and
access servers at the address specified by the access lists or prefix list.
Specify an access list/ prefix list or click the ellipses to manually browse and locate an access list. Choose
one or more access lists, click Access List, then click OK.

Step 7 Check the Match AS Path check box to match a BGP autonomous system path.
Specify an AS path filter or click the ellipses to manually browse and locate the AS Path Filter. Choose one
or more AS Path Filters, click AS Path Filter, then click OK.

Step 8 Check the Match Community Names List check box to match a BGP community.
a) Specify a community rule or click the ellipses to manually browse and locate the community rules.Choose
one or more community rules, click Community Rules, then click OK.
b) Check the Match the specified community exactly check box to match a specific BGP community.
Step 9 Check the Match Metrices check box to redistribute routes with the metric specified. If you specify more
than one metric, the routes can be matched with either metric.
Step 10 Check the Match Tag Numbers check box to redistribute routes in the routing table that match the specified
tags. If you specify more than one tag number, routes can be matched with either metric.
Step 11 Click OK.
Step 12 Click Apply.

Configure AS Path Filters

An AS path filter allows you to filter the routing update message by using access lists and look at the individual
prefixes within an update message. If a prefix within the update message matches the filter criteria then that
individual prefix is filtered out or accepted depending on what action the filter entry has been configured to
carry out. This section describes the steps required to configure AS path filters.

Note The as-path access-lists are not the same as the regular firewall ACLs.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > AS Path Filters.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add Filter dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can add a filter name, its redistribution access
(that is, permit or deny), and regular expression.

Step 3 In the Name field, enter a name for the AS Path Filter.
Step 4 Click the Permit or Deny radio button to indicate the redistribution access.
Step 5 Specify the regular expression. ClickBuild to build regular expression.
Step 6 Click Test to test if a regular expression matches a string of your choice.
Step 7 ClickOK.

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Step 8 Click Apply.

Configure Community Rules

A community is a group of destinations that share some common attribute. You can use community lists to
create groups of communities to use in a match clause of a route map. Just like an access list, a series of
community lists can be created. Statements are checked until a match is found. As soon as one statement is
satisfied, the test is concluded. This section describes the steps required to configure community rules.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > Community Rules > .
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add Community Rule dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can add a rule name, rule type, its
redistribution access (that is, permit or deny) and specific communities.

Step 3 In the Rule Name field, enter a name for the community rule.
Step 4 Click Standard or Expanded radio button to indicate the community rule type.
Step 5 Click Permit or Deny radio button to indicate the redistribution access.
Step 6 To add Standard Community Rules:
a) In the Communities field, specify a community number. Valid values are from 1 to 4294967200.
b) (Optional) Check the Internet (well-known community) check box to specify the Internet community.
Routes with this community are advertised to all peers (internal and external).
c) (Optional) Check the Do not advertise to any peers (well-known community) check box to specify the
no-advertise community. Routes with this community are not advertised to any peer (internal or external).
d) (Optional) Check the Do not export to next AS (well-known community) check box to specify the no-export
community. Routes with this community are advertised to only peers in the same autonomous system or
to only other sub-autonomous systems within a confederation. These routes are not advertised to external
peers.
Step 7 To add expanded community rules:
a) In theRegular Expression field, enter a regular expression. Alternately, Click Build to build regular
expression.
b) Click Test to examine if the regular expression built, matches a string of your choice.
Step 8 Click OK.
Step 9 Click Apply.

Configure IPv4 Address Family Settings

The IPv4 settings for BGP can be set up from the IPv4 family option within the BGP configuration setup.
The IPv4 family section includes subsections for General settings, Aggregate address settings, Filtering settings
and Neighbor settings. Each of these subsections enable you to customize parameters specific to the IPv4
family.

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Configure IPv4 Family General Settings

This section describes the steps required to configure the general IPv4 settings.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family.
Step 2 Click General.
The General IPv4 family BGP parameters configuration pane is displayed.

Step 3 Specify External, Internal and Local distances in the Administrative Distances area.
Step 4 Choose a route map name from the Learned Routes Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add and configure
route maps.
Step 5 (Optional) Check theGenerate Default Route check box to configure a BGP routing process to distribute a
default route (network 0.0.0.0).
Step 6 (Optional) Check the Summarize subnet routes into network-level routes check box to configure automatic
summarization of subnet routes into network-level routes.
Step 7 (Optional) Check the Advertise inactive routes check box to advertise routes that are not installed in the
routing information base (RIB).
Step 8 (Optional) Check the Redistribute iBGP into an IGP check box to configure iBGP redistribution into an
interior gateway protocol (IGP), such as IS-IS or OSPF.
Step 9 (Optional) Enter a scanning interval (in seconds) for BGP routers for next-hop validation in the Scanning
Interval field. Valid values are from 5 to 60 seconds.
Step 10 (Optional) Check the Enable address tracking check box to enable BGP next hop address tracking. Specify
the delay interval between checks on updated next-hop routes installed in the routing table in the Delay
Interval field.
Step 11 (Optional) Specify the maximum number of parallel internal Border Gateway Protocol (iBGP) routes that can
be installed in a routing table in the Number of paths field and check the iBGP multipaths check box.
Step 12 ClickApply .

Configure IPv4 Family Aggregate Address Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the aggregation of specific routes into one route.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family.
Step 2 Click Aggregate Address.
The Aggregate Address parameters configuration pane is displayed.

Step 3 ClickAdd .
The Add Aggregate Address pane is displayed.

Step 4 Specify a network object in the Network field.

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Step 5 Check the Generate autonomous system set path information check box to generate autonomous system
set path information.
Step 6 Check the Filters all more- specific routes from the updates check box to filter all more-specific routes
from updates.
Step 7 Choose a route-map from the Attribute Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add or configure a route map.
Step 8 Choose a route-map from the Advertise Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add or configure a route.
Step 9 Choose a route-map from the Suppress Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add or configure a route.
Step 10 Click OK.
Step 11 Specify a value for the aggregate timer (in seconds) in the Aggregate Timer field. Valid values are 0 or any
value between 6 and 60.
Step 12 Click Apply.

Configure IPv4 Family Filtering Settings

This section describes the steps required to filter routes or networks received in incoming BGP updates.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family.
Step 2 Click Filtering.
The Define filters for BGP updates pane is displayed.

Step 3 Click Add.

The Add Filter pane is displayed.

Step 4 Choose a direction from the Direction drop-down list. The direction will specify if the filter should be applied
to inbound updates or outbound updates.
Step 5 Choose a standard access list from the Access List drop-down list. Click Manage to add a new ACL.
Step 6 For outbound filters, you can optionally specify what types of route are distributed.
a) Choose an option from the Protocol drop-down list.
You can choose a routing protocol, such as BGP, EIGRP, OSPF, or RIP.
Choose Connected to filter on peers and networks learned through connected routes.
Choose Static to filter on peers and networks learned through static routes.
b) If you chose BGP, EIGRP, or OSPF, also choose the Process ID for that protocol.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 Click Apply.

Configure IPv4 Family BGP Neighbor Settings

This section describes the steps required to define BGP neighbors and neighbor settings.

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Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup >Routing BGP > IPv4 Family.
Step 2 Click Neighbor.
Step 3 Click Add.
Step 4 ClickGeneral in the left pane.
Step 5 Enter a BGP neighbor IP address in the IP Address field. This IP address is added to the BGP neighbor table.
Step 6 Enter the autonomous system to which the BGP neighbor belongs in the Remote AS field.
Step 7 (Optional) Enter a description for the BGP neighbor in theDescription field.
Step 8 (Optional) Check the Shutdown neighbor administratively check box to disable a neighbor or peer group.
Step 9 (Optional) Check theEnable address family check box to enable communication with the BGP neighbor.
Step 10 (Optional) Check the Global Restart Functionality for this peer check box to enable or disable the Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP) graceful restart capability for a ASA neighbor or peer group.
Step 11 ClickFiltering in the left pane.
Step 12 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing access control list in the Filter routes using an access
list area, to distribute BGP neighbor information. Click Manage to add an ACL and ACEs as required.
Step 13 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing route maps in the Filter routes using a route map
area, to apply a route map to incoming or outgoing routes. Click Manage to configure a route map.
Step 14 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing prefix list in the Filter routes using a prefix list area,
to distribute BGP neighbor information. Click Manage to configure prefix lists.
Step 15 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing AS path filter in the Filter routes using AS path filter
area, to distribute BGP neighbor information. ClickManage to configure AS path filters.
Step 16 (Optional) Check the Limit the number of prefixes allowed from the neighbor check box to control the
number of prefixes that can be received from a neighbor.
• Enter the maximum number of prefixes allowed from a specific neighbor in the Maximum prefixes
field.
• Enter the percentage (of maximum) at which the router starts to generate a warning message in the
Threshold level field. Valid values are integers between 1 to 100. The default value is 75.
• (Optional) Check the Control prefixes received from a peer check box to specify additional controls
for the prefixes received from a peer. Do one of the following:
• Click Terminate peering when prefix limit is exceeded to stop the BGP neighbor when the prefix
limit is reached. Specify the interval after which the BGP neighbor will restart in the Restart interval
field.
• Click Give only warning message when prefix limit is exceeded to generate a log message when
the maximum prefix limit is exceeded. Here, the BGP neighbor will not be terminated.

Step 17 Click Routes in the left pane.

Step 18 Enter the minimum interval (in seconds) between the sending of BGP routing updates in the Advertisement
Interval field.
Step 19 (Optional) Check the Generate Default route check box to allow the local router to send the default route
0.0.0.0 to a neighbor to use as a default route.

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• Choose the route map that allows the route 0.0.0.0 to be injected conditionally from the Route map
drop-down list. Click Manage to add and configure a route map.

Step 20 (Optional) To add conditionally advertised routes do the following:

a) ClickAdd in the Conditionally Advertised Routes section.
b) Choose the route map that will be advertised from the Advertise Map drop-down list, if the conditions of
the exist map or the non-exist map are met.
c) Do one of the following:
• ClickExist Map and choose a route map. This route map will be compared with the routes in the
BGP table, to determine whether or not the advertise map route is advertised.
• Click Non-exist Map and choose a route map. This route map will be compared with the routes in
the BGP table, to determine whether or not the advertise map route is advertised.

d) Click Ok.
Step 21 (Optional) Check the Remove private autonomous system (AS) numbers from outbound routing updates
check box to exclude the private AS numbers from being advertised on outbound routes.
Step 22 Click Timers in the left pane.
Step 23 (Optional) Check the Set timers for the BGP peer check box to set the keepalive frequency, hold time and
minimum hold time.
• Enter the frequency (in seconds) with which the ASA sends keepalive messages to the neighbor, in the
Keepalive frequency field. Valid values are between 0 and 65535. The default value is 60 seconds.
• Enter the interval (in seconds) after not receiving a keepalive message that the ASA declares a peer dead,
in the Hold time field. The default value is 180 seconds.
• (Optional) Enter the minimum interval (in seconds) after not receiving a keepalive message that the ASA
declares a peer dead, in the Min Hold time field.

Step 24 Click Advanced in the left pane.

Step 25 (Optional) Check the Enable Authentication check box to enable MD5 authentication on a TCP connection
between two BGP peers.
• Choose an encryption type from the Encryption Type drop-down list.
• Enter a password in the Password field. Reenter the password in theConfirm Password field.
Note The password is case-sensitive and can be up to 25 characters long, when the service
password-encryption command is enabled and up to 81 characters long, when the service
password-encryption command is not enabled. The first character cannot be a number. The
string can contain any alphanumeric characters, including spaces.You cannot specify a password
in the format number-space-anything. The space after the number can cause authentication to
fail.

Step 26 (Optional) Check the Send Community Attribute to this neighbor check box.
Step 27 (Optional) Check theUse ASA as next hop for neighbor check box to configure the router as the next-hop
for a BGP speaking neighbor or peer group.
Step 28 Do one of the following:

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• Click Allow connections with neighbor that is not directly connected to accept and attempt BGP
connections to external peers residing on networks that are not directly connected.
• (Optional) Enter the time-to-live in the TTL hops field. Valid values are between 1 and 255.
• (Optional) Check theDisable connection verification check box to disable connection verification
to establish an eBGP peering session with a single-hop peer that uses a loopback interface.

• Click Limit number of TTL hops to neighbor to enable you to secure a BGP peering session.
• Enter the maximum number of hops that separate eBGP peers in the TTL hops field. Valid values
are between 1 and 254.

Step 29 (Optional) Enter a weight for the BGP neighbor connection in the Weight field.
Step 30 Choose the BGP version that the ASA will accept from the BGP version drop-down list.
Note The version can be set to 2 to force the software to use only Version 2 with the specified neighbor.
The default is to use Version 4 and dynamically negotiate down to Version 2 if requested.

Step 31 (Optional) Check the TCP Path MTU Discovery check box to enable a TCP transport session for a BGP
session.
Step 32 Choose the TCP connection mode from the TCP transport mode drop-down list.
Step 33 Click Migration in the left pane
Step 34 (Optional) Check theCustomize the AS number for routes received from the neighbor check box to customize
the AS_PATH attribute for routes received from an eBGP neighbor.
• Enter the local autonomous system number in theLocal AS Number field. Valid values are between 1
and 65535.
• (Optional) Check the Do not prepend local AS number for routes received from neighbor check box.
The local AS number will not be prepended to any routes received from eBGP peer.
• (Optional) Check the Replace real AS number with local AS numbern routes received from neighbor
check box. The AS number from the local routing process is not prepended.
• (Optional) Check the Accept either real AS number or local AS number in routes received from
neighbor check box.

Step 35 Click OK.

Step 36 Click Apply.

Configure IPv4 Network Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the networks to be advertised by the BGP routing process.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family.
Step 2 Click Networks.

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The Define networks to be advertised by the BGP routing process configuration pane appears.

Step 3 Click Add.

The Add Network pane is displayed.

Step 4 Specify the network that BGP will advertise in theAddress field.
Step 5 (Optional) Choose a network or subnetwork mask from the Netmask drop-down list.
Step 6 Choose a route map that should be examined to filter the networks to be advertised from the Route Map
drop-down list. Click Manage to configure or add a route map.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 Click Apply.

Configure IPv4 Redistribution Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the conditions for redistributing routes from another routing
domain into BGP.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family > .
Step 2 Click Redistribution.
The Redistribution pane is displayed.

Step 3 ClickAdd .
The Add Redistribution pane is displayed.

Step 4 Choose the protocol from which you want to redistribute routes into the BGP domain from the Source Protocol
drop-down list.
Step 5 Choose a process ID for the source protocol from the Process ID drop-down list.
Step 6 (Optional) Enter a metric for the redistributed route in theMetric field.
Step 7 Choose a route map that should be examined to filter the networks to be redistributed from the Route Map
drop-down list. Click Manage to configure or add a route map.
Step 8 Check one or more of theInternal , External and NSSA External Match check boxes to redistribute routes
from an OSPF network.
This step is only applicable for redistribution from OSPF networks.

Step 9 Click OK.

Step 10 ClickApply .

Configure IPv4 Route Injection Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the routes to be conditionally injected into the BGP routing
table.

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Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family > .
Step 2 Click Route Injection.
The Route Injection pane is displayed.

Step 3 ClickAdd .
The Add Conditionally injected route pane is displayed.

Step 4 Choose the route map that specifies the prefixes to inject into the local BGP routing table from the Inject
Map drop-down list.
Step 5 Choose the route map containing the prefixes that the BGP speaker will track from the Exist Map drop-down
list.
Step 6 Check the Injected routes will inherit the attributes of the aggregate route check box to configure the
injected route to inherit attributes of the aggregate route.
Step 7 ClickOK .
Step 8 Click Apply.

Configure IPv6 Address Family Settings

The IPv6 settings for BGP can be set up from the IPv6 family option within the BGP configuration setup.
The IPv6 family section includes subsections for General settings, Aggregate address settings and Neighbor
settings. Each of these subsections enable you to customize parameters specific to the IPv6 family.
This section describes how to customize the BGP IPv6 family settings.

Configure IPv6 Family General Settings

This section describes the steps required to configure the general IPv6 settings.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family.
Step 2 Click General.
The general IPv6 family BGP parameters configuration pane is displayed.

Step 3 Specify external, internal and local distances in the Administrative Route Distances area.
Step 4 (Optional) Check theGenerate Default Route check box to configure a BGP routing process to distribute a
default route (network 0.0.0.0).
Step 5 (Optional) Check the Advertise inactive routes check box to advertise routes that are not installed in the
routing information base (RIB).
Step 6 (Optional) Check the Redistribute iBGP into an IGP check box to configure iBGP redistribution into an
interior gateway protocol (IGP), such as IS-IS or OSPF.

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Step 7 (Optional) Enter a scanning interval (in seconds) for BGP routers for next-hop validation in theScanning
Interval field. Valid values are from 5 to 60 seconds.
Step 8 (Optional) Specify the maximum number of Border Gateway Protocol routes that can be installed in a routing
table in the Number of paths field.
Step 9 (Optional) Check theIBGP multipaths check box and specify the maximum number of parallel internal
Border Gateway Protocol (iBGP) routes that can be installed in a routing table in theNumber of paths field.
Step 10 Click Apply.

Configure IPv6 Family Aggregate Address Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the aggregation of specific routes into one route.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family.
Step 2 Click Aggregate Address.
The Aggregate Address parameters configuration pane is displayed.

Step 3 ClickAdd .
The Add Aggregate Address pane is displayed.

Step 4 Specify an IPv6 address in theIPv6/Address Mask field. Alternately, browse to add a network object.
Step 5 Check the Generate autonomous system set path information check box to generate autonomous system
set path information. The path advertised for this route will be an AS_SET consisting of all elements contained
in all paths that are being summarized.
Note Do not use this form of the aggregate-address command when aggregating many paths, because
this route must be continually withdrawn and updated as autonomous system path reachability
information for the summarized routes changes.

Step 6 Check theFilters all more- specific routes from the updates check box to filter all more-specific routes
from updates. This not only creates the aggregate route but also suppresses advertisements of more-specific
routes to all neighbors.
Step 7 Choose a route-map from the Attribute Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add or configure a route map.
This allows attributes of the aggregate route to be changed.
Step 8 Choose a route-map from theAdvertise Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add or configure a route. This
selects specific routes that will be used to build different components of the aggregate route.
Step 9 Choose a route-map from the Suppress Map drop-down list. Click Manage to add or configure a route. This
creates the aggregate route but suppresses advertisement of specified routes.
Step 10 ClickOK .
Step 11 Specify a value for the aggregate timer (in seconds) in the Aggregate Timer field. Valid values are 0 or any
value between 6 and 60. This specifies the interval at which the routes will be aggregated. The default value
is 30 seconds.
Step 12 ClickApply .

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Configure IPv6 Family BGP Neighbor Settings

This section describes the steps required to define BGP neighbors and neighbor settings.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, chooseConfiguration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family.
Step 2 ClickNeighbor .
Step 3 ClickAdd .
Step 4 ClickGeneral in the left pane.
Step 5 Enter a BGP neighbor IPv6 address in theIPv6 Address field. This IPv6 address is added to the BGP neighbor
table.
Step 6 Enter the autonomous system to which the BGP neighbor belongs in the Remote AS field.
Step 7 (Optional) Enter a description for the BGP neighbor in the Description field.
Step 8 (Optional) Check the Shutdown neighbor administratively check box to disable a neighbor or peer group.
Step 9 (Optional) Check the Enable address family check box to enable communication with the BGP neighbor.
Step 10 Click Filtering in the left pane.
Step 11 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing route maps in the Filter routes using a route map
area, to apply a route map to incoming or outgoing routes. Click Manage to configure a route map.
Step 12 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing prefix list in the Filter routes using a prefix list
area, to distribute BGP neighbor information. Click Manage to configure prefix lists.
Step 13 (Optional) Choose the appropriate incoming or outgoing AS path filter in the Filter routes using AS path
filter area, to distribute BGP neighbor information. Click Manageto configure AS path filters.
Step 14 (Optional) Check the Limit the number of prefixes allowed from the neighbor check box to control the
number of prefixes that can be received from a neighbor.
Step 15 Enter the maximum number of prefixes allowed from a specific neighbor in the Maximum prefixes field.
Step 16 Enter the percentage (of maximum) at which the router starts to generate a warning message in the Threshold
level field. Valid values are integers between 1 to 100. The default value is 75.
Step 17 (Optional) Check the Control prefixes received from a peer check box to specify additional controls for the
prefixes received from a peer. Do one of the following:
• Click Terminate peering when prefix limit is exceeded to stop the BGP neighbor when the prefix limit
is reached. Specify the interval after which the BGP neighbor will restart in the Restart interval field.
• Click Give only warning message when prefix limit is exceeded to generate a log message when the
maximum prefix limit is exceeded. Here, the BGP neighbor will not be terminated.

Step 18 Click Routesin the left pane.

Step 19 Enter the minimum interval (in seconds) between the sending of BGP routing updates in the Advertisement
Intervalfield.
Step 20 (Optional) Check the Generate Default routecheck box to allow the local router to send the default route
0.0.0.0 to a neighbor to use as a default route.
Step 21 Choose the route map that allows the route 0.0.0.0 to be injected conditionally from the Route map drop-down
list. Click Manage to add and configure a route map.
Step 22 (Optional) To add conditionally advertised routes do the following:
a) Click Add in the Conditionally Advertised Routes section.

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b) Choose the route map that will be advertised from the Advertise Map drop-down list, if the conditions
of the exist map or the non-exist map are met.
c) Do one of the following:
• Click Exist Map and choose a route map. This route map will be compared with the routes in the
BGP table, to determine whether or not the advertise map route is advertised.
• Click Non-exist Map and choose a route map. This route map will be compared with the routes in
the BGP table, to determine whether or not the advertise map route is advertised.
d) Click Ok.
Step 23 (Optional) Check the Remove private autonomous system (AS) numbers from outbound routing updates
check box to exclude the private AS numbers from being advertised on outbound routes.
Step 24 Click Timers in the left pane.
Step 25 (Optional) Check the Set timers for the BGP peer check box to set the keepalive frequency, hold time and
minimum hold time.
Step 26 Enter the frequency (in seconds) with which the ASA sends keepalive messages to the neighbor in the Keepalive
frequency field. Valid values are between 0 and 65535. The default value is 60 seconds.
Step 27 Enter the interval (in seconds) after not receiving a keepalive message that the ASA declares a peer dead, in
theHold time field. The default value is 180 seconds.
Step 28 (Optional) Enter the minimum interval (in seconds) after not receiving a keepalive message that the ASA
declares a peer dead, in the Min Hold time field.
Step 29 Click Advanced in the left pane.
Step 30 (Optional) Check theEnable Authentication check box to enable MD5 authentication on a TCP connection
between two BGP peers.
Step 31 Choose an encryption type from the Encryption Type drop-down list.
Step 32 Enter a password in the Password field. Reenter the password in the Confirm Password field.
Note The password is case-sensitive and can be up to 25 characters long, when the service
password-encryption command is enabled and up to 81 characters long, when the service
password-encryption command is not enabled. The first character cannot be a number. The string
can contain any alphanumeric characters, including spaces. You cannot specify a password in the
format number-space-anything. The space after the number can cause authentication to fail.

Step 33 (Optional) Check the Send Community Attribute to this neighbor check box.
Step 34 (Optional) Check the Use ASA as next hop for neighbor check box to configure the router as the next-hop
for a BGP speaking neighbor or peer group.
Step 35 Do one of the following:
• Click Allow connections with neighbor that is not directly connected to accept and attempt BGP
connections to external peers residing on networks that are not directly connected.
• (Optional) Enter the time-to-live in the TTL hops field. Valid values are between 1 and 255.
• (Optional) Check theDisable connection verification check box to disable connection verification
to establish an eBGP peering session with a single-hop peer that uses a loopback interface.
• Click Limit number of TTL hops to neighbor to enable you to secure a BGP peering session. Enter
the maximum number of hops that separate eBGP peers in the TTL hops field. Valid values are between
1 and 254

Step 36 (Optional) Enter a weight for the BGP neighbor connection in the Weight field.

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Configure IPv6 Network Settings

Step 37 Choose the BGP version that the ASA will accept from the BGP version drop-down list.
Note The version can be set to 2 to force the software to use only Version 2 with the specified neighbor.
The default is to use Version 4 and dynamically negotiate down to Version 2 if requested.

Step 38 (Optional) Check the TCP Path MTU Discovery check box to enable a TCP transport session for a BGP
session.
Step 39 Choose the TCP connection mode from the TCP transport mode drop-down list.
Step 40 ClickMigration in the left pane
Step 41 (Optional) Check the Customize the AS number for routes received from the neighbor check box to
customize the AS_PATH attribute for routes received from an eBGP neighbor.
• Enter the local autonomous system number in the Local AS Number field. Valid values are between 1
and 65535.
• (Optional) Check the Do not prepend local AS number for routes received from neighbor check box.
The local AS number will not be prepended to any routes received from eBGP peer.
• (Optional) Check the Replace real AS number with local AS number in routes received from neighbor
check box. The AS number from the local routing process is not prepended.
• (Optional) Check the Accept either real AS number or local AS number in routes received from neighbor
check box.

Step 42 Click OK.

Step 43 ClickApply .

Configure IPv6 Network Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the networks to be advertised by the BGP routing process.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family.
Step 2 Click Networks.
The Define the networks to be advertised by the BGP routing process configuration pane appears.

Step 3 Click Add.

The Add Network pane is displayed.

Step 4 (Optional) In the Prefix Name field, specify the prefix name for the DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation client (see
Enable the IPv6 Prefix Delegation Client, on page 555).
Step 5 In theIPv6 Address/mask field, specify the network that BGP will advertise.
If you specify the Prefix Name, enter the subnet prefix and mask; the advertised network consists of the
delegated prefix + the subnet prefix.

Step 6 Choose a route map that should be examined to filter the networks to be advertised from the Route Map
drop-down list. Optionally, click Manage to configure or add a route map.

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Configure IPv6 Redistribution Settings

Step 7 Click OK.

Step 8 ClickApply .

Configure IPv6 Redistribution Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the conditions for redistributing routes from another routing
domain into BGP.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family.
Step 2 Click Redistribution.
Step 3 Click Add.
The Add Redistribution pane is displayed.

Step 4 In the Source Protocol drop-down list, choose the protocol from which you want to redistribute routes into
the BGP domain.
Step 5 In the Process ID drop-down list, choose a process ID for the source protocol. This is available only for OSPF
source protocol.
Step 6 (Optional) In the Metric field, enter a metric for the redistributed route.
Step 7 In the Route Map drop-down list, choose a route map that should be examined to filter the networks to be
redistributed. Click Manage to configure or add a route map.
Step 8 Check one or more of the Match check-boxes -Internal, External 1, External 2, NSSA External 1, and NSSA
External 2 check boxes to redistribute routes from an OSPF network.
This step is only applicable for redistribution from OSPF networks.

Step 9 Click OK.

Step 10 Click Apply.

Configure IPv6 Route Injection Settings

This section describes the steps required to define the routes to be conditionally injected into the BGP routing
table.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family.
Step 2 Click Route Injection.
Step 3 ClickAdd .
The Add Conditionally injected route pane is displayed.

Step 4 In the Inject Map drop-down list, choose the route map that specifies the prefixes to inject into the local BGP
routing table.

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Monitoring BGP

Step 5 In the Exist Map drop-down list, choose the route map containing the prefixes that the BGP speaker will
track.
Step 6 Check the Injected routes will inherit the attributes of the aggregate route check box to configure the
injected route to inherit attributes of the aggregate route.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 ClickApply.

Monitoring BGP
You can use the following commands to monitor the BGP routing process. For examples and descriptions of
the command output, see the command reference. Additionally, you can disable the logging of neighbor
change messages and neighbor warning messages.
To monitor various BGP routing statistics, enter one of the following commands:

Note To disable BGP Log messages, enter the no bgp log-neighbor-changes command in the router configuration
mode. This disables the logging of neighbor change messages. Enter this command in router configuration
mode for the BGP routing process. By default, neighbor changes are logged.

• Monitoring > Routing > BGP Neighbors

Each row represents one BGP neighbor. For each neighbor, the list includes the IP address, the AS
number, the router ID, the state (active, idle and so on), the uptime, graceful restart capability, the restart
time and the stalepath time.
• Monitoring > Routing > BGP Routes
Each row represents one BGP route. For each route, the list includes the status code, IP address, the next
hop address, the route metric, the local preference values, the weight and the path.

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History for BGP

History for BGP

Table 39: Feature History for BGP

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

BGP Support 9.2(1) Support was added for routing data,

performing authentication, and
redistributing and monitoring routing
information using the Border Gateway
Protocol.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
BGP Monitoring > Routing > BGP
Neighbors, Monitoring > Routing > BGP
Routes
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Static Routes> Add > Add Static Route
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Route Maps> Add > Add Route Map

BGP support for ASA clustering 9.3(1) We added support for L2 and L3 clustering.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
BGP > IPv4 Family > General

BGP support for nonstop forwarding 9.3(1) We added support for Nonstop Forwarding.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
BGP > General, Configuration > Device
Setup > Routing > BGP > IPv4 Family >
Neighbor, Monitoring > Routing > BGP
Neighbors

BGP support for advertised maps 9.3(1) We added support for BGPv4 advertised
map.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
BGP > IPv4 Family > Neighbor > Add
BGP Neighbor > Routes

BGP support for IPv6 9.3(2) We added support for IPv6.

We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
BGP > IPv6 Family

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History for BGP

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

IPv6 network advertisement for delegated 9.6(2) The ASA now supports the DHCPv6 Prefix
prefixes Delegation client. The ASA obtains
delegated prefix(es) from a DHCPv6 server.
The ASA can then use these prefixes to
configure other ASA interface addresess so
that StateLess Address Auto Configuration
(SLAAC) clients can autoconfigure IPv6
addresses on the same network. You can
configure the BGP router to advertise these
prefixes.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup >
Routing > BGP > IPv6 Family >
Networks

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 CHAPTER 32
OSPF
This chapter describes how to configure the Cisco ASA to route data, perform authentication, and redistribute
routing information using the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol.
• About OSPF, on page 743
• Guidelines for OSPF, on page 746
• Configure OSPFv2, on page 748
• Configure OSPFv2 Router ID, on page 751
• Customize OSPFv2, on page 752
• Configure OSPFv3, on page 769
• Configure Graceful Restart, on page 779
• Example for OSPFv2, on page 782
• Examples for OSPFv3, on page 784
• Monitoring OSPF, on page 786
• History for OSPF, on page 787

About OSPF
OSPF is an interior gateway routing protocol that uses link states rather than distance vectors for path selection.
OSPF propagates link-state advertisements rather than routing table updates. Because only LSAs are exchanged
instead of the entire routing tables, OSPF networks converge more quickly than RIP networks.
OSPF uses a link-state algorithm to build and calculate the shortest path to all known destinations. Each router
in an OSPF area contains an identical link-state database, which is a list of each of the router usable interfaces
and reachable neighbors.
The advantages of OSPF over RIP include the following:
• OSPF link-state database updates are sent less frequently than RIP updates, and the link-state database
is updated instantly, rather than gradually, as stale information is timed out.
• Routing decisions are based on cost, which is an indication of the overhead required to send packets
across a certain interface. The ASA calculates the cost of an interface based on link bandwidth rather
than the number of hops to the destination. The cost can be configured to specify preferred paths.

The disadvantage of shortest path first algorithms is that they require a lot of CPU cycles and memory.
The ASA can run two processes of OSPF protocol simultaneously on different sets of interfaces. You might
want to run two processes if you have interfaces that use the same IP addresses (NAT allows these interfaces

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About OSPF

to coexist, but OSPF does not allow overlapping addresses). Or you might want to run one process on the
inside and another on the outside, and redistribute a subset of routes between the two processes. Similarly,
you might need to segregate private addresses from public addresses.
You can redistribute routes into an OSPF routing process from another OSPF routing process, a RIP routing
process, or from static and connected routes configured on OSPF-enabled interfaces.
The ASA supports the following OSPF features:
• Intra-area, inter-area, and external (Type I and Type II) routes.
• Virtual links.
• LSA flooding.
• Authentication to OSPF packets (both password and MD5 authentication).
• Configuring the ASA as a designated router or a designated backup router. The ASA also can be set up
as an ABR.
• Stub areas and not-so-stubby areas.
• Area boundary router Type 3 LSA filtering.

OSPF supports MD5 and clear text neighbor authentication. Authentication should be used with all routing
protocols when possible because route redistribution between OSPF and other protocols (such as RIP) can
potentially be used by attackers to subvert routing information.
If NAT is used, if OSPF is operating on public and private areas, and if address filtering is required, then you
need to run two OSPF processes—one process for the public areas and one for the private areas.
A router that has interfaces in multiple areas is called an Area Border Router (ABR). A router that acts as a
gateway to redistribute traffic between routers using OSPF and routers using other routing protocols is called
an Autonomous System Boundary Router (ASBR).
An ABR uses LSAs to send information about available routes to other OSPF routers. Using ABR Type 3
LSA filtering, you can have separate private and public areas with the ASA acting as an ABR. Type 3 LSAs
(inter-area routes) can be filtered from one area to other, which allows you to use NAT and OSPF together
without advertising private networks.

Note Only Type 3 LSAs can be filtered. If you configure the ASA as an ASBR in a private network, it will send
Type 5 LSAs describing private networks, which will get flooded to the entire AS, including public areas.

If NAT is employed but OSPF is only running in public areas, then routes to public networks can be redistributed
inside the private network, either as default or Type 5 AS external LSAs. However, you need to configure
static routes for the private networks protected by the ASA. Also, you should not mix public and private
networks on the same ASA interface.
You can have two OSPF routing processes, one RIP routing process, and one EIGRP routing process running
on the ASA at the same time.

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OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets

OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets

The OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets feature provides a way to configure the sending of hello packets in
intervals less than one second. Such a configuration would result in faster convergence in an Open Shortest
Path First (OSPF) network.

Prerequisites for OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets

OSPF must be configured in the network already or configured at the same time as the OSPF Support for Fast
Hello Packets feature.

About OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets

The key concepts related to OSPF support for fast hello packets and the benefits of OSPF Fast Hello Packets
are described below:

OSPF Hello Interval and Dead Interval

OSPF hello packets are packets that an OSPF process sends to its OSPF neighbors to maintain connectivity
with those neighbors. The hello packets are sent at a configurable interval (in seconds). The defaults are 10
seconds for an Ethernet link and 30 seconds for a non broadcast link. Hello packets include a list of all neighbors
for which a hello packet has been received within the dead interval. The dead interval is also a configurable
interval (in seconds), and defaults to four times the value of the hello interval. The value of all hello intervals
must be the same within a network. Likewise, the value of all dead intervals must be the same within a network.
These two intervals work together to maintain connectivity by indicating that the link is operational. If a router
does not receive a hello packet from a neighbor within the dead interval, it will declare that neighbor to be
down.

OSPF Fast Hello Packets

OSPF fast hello packets refer to hello packets being sent at intervals of less than 1 second. To understand fast
hello packets, you should already understand the relationship between OSPF hello packets and the dead
interval. See OSPF Hello Interval and Dead Interval, on page 745.
OSPF fast hello packets are achieved by using the ospf dead-interval command. The dead interval is set to 1
second, and the hello-multiplier value is set to the number of hello packets you want sent during that 1 second,
thus providing subsecond or "fast" hello packets.
When fast hello packets are configured on the interface, the hello interval advertised in the hello packets that
are sent out this interface is set to 0. The hello interval in the hello packets received over this interface is
ignored.
The dead interval must be consistent on a segment, whether it is set to 1 second (for fast hello packets) or set
to any other value. The hello multiplier need not be the same for the entire segment as long as at least one
hello packet is sent within the dead interval.

Benefits of OSPF Fast Hello Packets

The benefit of the OSPF Fast Hello Packets feature is that your OSPF network will experience faster
convergence time than it would without fast hello packets. This feature allows you to detect lost neighbors
within 1 second. It is especially useful in LAN segments, where neighbor loss might not be detected by the
Open System Interconnection (OSI) physical layer and data-link layer.

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Implementation Differences Between OSPFv2 and OSPFv3

Implementation Differences Between OSPFv2 and OSPFv3

OSPFv3 is not backward compatible with OSPFv2. To use OSPF to route both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic, you
must run both OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 at the same time. They coexist with each other, but do not interact with
each other.
The additional features that OSPFv3 provides include the following:
• Protocol processing per link.
• Removal of addressing semantics.
• Addition of flooding scope.
• Support for multiple instances per link.
• Use of the IPv6 link-local address for neighbor discovery and other features.
• LSAs expressed as prefix and prefix length.
• Addition of two LSA types.
• Handling of unknown LSA types.
• Authentication support using the IPsec ESP standard for OSPFv3 routing protocol traffic, as specified
by RFC-4552.

Guidelines for OSPF

Context Mode Guidelines
OSPFv2 supports single and multiple context mode.
• OSPFv2 instances cannot form adjacencies with each other across shared interfaces because, by default,
inter-context exchange of multicast traffic is not supported across shared interfaces. However, you can
use the static neighbor configuration under OSPFv2 process configuration under OSPFv2 process to
bring up OSPFv2 neighbourship on a shared interface.
• Inter-context OSPFv2 on separate interfaces is supported.

OSPFv3 supports single mode only.

Key Chain Authentication Guidelines

OSPFv2 supports key chain authentication on both single and multiple mode, both in physical and virtual
modes. However, in multiple mode, you can configure the key chain only in context mode.
• The rotating keys are applicable only for OSPFv2 protocol. OSPF area authentication with key chain is
not supported.
• The existing MD5 authentication without time range in OSPFv2 is still supported along with new rotating
keys.
• Though the platform supports SHA1 and MD5 cryptographic algorithms, only MD5 cryptographic
algorithm is used for authentication.

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Guidelines for OSPF

Firewall Mode Guidelines

OSPF supports routed firewall mode only. OSPF does not support transparent firewall mode.

Failover Guidelines
OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 support Stateful Failover.

IPv6 Guidelines
• OSPFv2 does not support IPv6.
• OSPFv3 supports IPv6.
• OSPFv3 uses IPv6 for authentication.
• The ASA installs OSPFv3 routes into the IPv6 RIB, provided it is the best route.
• OSPFv3 packets can be filtered out using IPv6 ACLs in the capture command.

OSPFv3 Hello Packets and GRE

Typically, OSPF traffic does not pass through GRE tunnel. When OSPFv3 on IPv6 is encapsulated inside
GRE, the IPv6 header validation for security check such as Multicast Destination fails. The packet is dropped
due to the implicit security check validation, as this packet has destination IPv6 multicast.
You may define a pre-filter rule to bypass GRE traffic. However, with pre-filter rule, inner packets would not
be interrogated by the inspection engine.

Clustering Guidelines
• OSPFv3 encryption is not supported. An error message appears if you try to configure OSPFv3 encryption
in a clustering environment.
• In Spanned interface mode, dynamic routing is not supported on management-only interfaces.
• In Individual interface mode, make sure that you establish the control and data units as either OSPFv2
or OSPFv3 neighbors.
• In Individual interface mode, OSPFv2 adjacencies can only be established between two contexts on a
shared interface on the control unit. Configuring static neighbors is supported only on point-to point-links;
therefore, only one neighbor statement is allowed on an interface.
• When a control role change occurs in the cluster, the following behavior occurs:
• In spanned interface mode, the router process is active only on the control unit and is in a suspended
state on the data units. Each cluster unit has the same router ID because the configuration has been
synchronized from the control unit. As a result, a neighboring router does not notice any change in
the router ID of the cluster during a role change.
• In individual interface mode, the router process is active on all the individual cluster units. Each
cluster unit chooses its own distinct router ID from the configured cluster pool. A control role change
in the cluster does not change the routing topology in any way.

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Configure OSPFv2

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and OSPF Guidelines

When a MPLS-configured router sends Link State (LS) update packets containing opaque Type-10 link-state
advertisements (LSAs) that include an MPLS header, authentication fails and the appliance silently drops the
update packets, rather than acknowledging them. Eventually the peer router will terminate the neighbor
relationship because it has not received any acknowledgments.
Disable the opaque capability on the ASA to ensure that the neighbor relationship remains stable:
router ospf process_ID_number
no nsf ietf helper
no capability opaque

Route Redistribution Guidelines

Redistribution of route maps with IPv4 or IPv6 prefix list on OSPFv2 or OSPFv3 is not supported. Use
connected routes on OSPF for redistribution.

Additional Guidelines
• OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 support multiple instances on an interface.
• OSPFv3 supports encryption through ESP headers in a non-clustered environment.
• OSPFv3 supports Non-Payload Encryption.
• OSPFv2 supports Cisco NSF Graceful Restart and IETF NSF Graceful Restart mechanisms as defined
in RFCs 4811, 4812 & 3623 respectively.
• OSPFv3 supports Graceful Restart mechanism as defined in RFC 5187.
• There is a limit to the number of intra area (type 1) routes that can be distributed. For these routes, a
single type-1 LSA contains all prefixes. Because the system has a limit of 35 KB for packet size, 3000
routes result in a packet that exceeds the limit. Consider 2900 type 1 routes to be the maximum number
supported.
• To avoid adjacency flaps due to route updates being dropped if the route update is larger than the minimum
MTU on the link, ensure that you configure the same MTU on the interfaces on both sides of the link.

Configure OSPFv2
This section describes how to enable an OSPFv2 process on the ASA.
After you enable OSPFv2, you need to define a route map. For more information, see Define a Route Map,
on page 703. Then you generate a default route. For more information, see Configure a Static Route, on page
689.
After you have defined a route map for the OSPFv2 process, you can customize it for your particular needs,
To learn how to customize the OSPFv2 process on the ASA, see Customize OSPFv2, on page 752.
To enable OSPFv2, you need to create an OSPFv2 routing process, specify the range of IP addresses associated
with the routing process, then assign area IDs associated with that range of IP addresses.
You can enable up to two OSPFv2 process instances. Each OSPFv2 process has its own associated areas and
networks.
To enable OSPFv2, perform the following steps:

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Configure a Key Chain for Authentication

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
In the OSPF Setup pane, you can enable OSPF processes, configure OSPF areas and networks, and define
OSPF route summarization.

Step 2 The three tabs in ASDM used to enable OSPF are as follows:
• The Process Instances tab allows you to enable up to two OSPF process instances for each context. Single
context mode and multiple context mode are both supported. After you check the Enable Each OSPF
Process check box, you can enter a unique identifier numeric identifier for that OSPF process. This
process ID is used internally and does not need to match the OSPF process ID on any other OSPF devices;
valid values range from 1 to 65535. Each OSPF process has its own associated areas and networks.
If you click Advanced, the Edit OSPF Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears. From here, you
can configure the Router ID, cluster IP address pools in Spanned EtherChannel or Individual Interface
clustering, Adjacency Changes, Administrative Route Distances, Timers, and Default Information
Originate settings for each OSPF process.
• The Area/Networks tab allows you to display the areas and the networks that they include for each OSPF
process on the ASA. From this tab you can display the area ID, the area type, and the type of authentication
set for the area. To add or edit the OSPF area or network, see Configure OSPFv2 Area Parameters, on
page 759 for more information.
• The Route Summarization tab allows you to configure an ABR. In OSPF, an ABR will advertise networks
in one area into another area. If the network numbers in an area are assigned in a way so that they are
contiguous, you can configure the ABR to advertise a summary route that includes all the individual
networks within the area that fall into the specified range. See Configure Route Summarization Between
OSPFv2 Areas, on page 755 for more information.

Configure a Key Chain for Authentication

To enhance data security and protection of devices, you can enable rotating keys for authenticating IGP peers.
The rotating keys prevent any malicious user from guessing the keys used for routing protocol authentication
and thereby protecting the network from advertising incorrect routes and redirecting traffic. Changing the
keys frequently reduces the risk of them eventually being guessed. When configuring authentication for routing
protocols that provide key chains, configure the keys in a key chain to have overlapping lifetimes. This helps
to prevent loss of key-secured communication due to absence of an active key. If the key lifetime expires and
no active keys are found, OSPF uses the last valid key to maintain the adjacency with the peers.
This section describes how to create a key chain for OSPF peer authentication. This section also covers steps
to add or edit the key chain attributes. After configuring a key chain object, you can use it in defining the
OSPFv2 authentication for an interface and for a virtual link. Use the same authentication type (MD5 or Key
Chain) and key ID for the peers to establish a successful adjacency. To learn how to define authentication for
an interface, see Configure OSPFv2 Interface Parameters, on page 756; for a virtual link, see Configure a
Virtual Link in OSPF, on page 767.
To configure a key chain, perform the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Key Chain .
Step 2 In the Configure Key Chain section, click Add.
Step 3 Enter the key chain name in the Add Key Chain dialog box, and click Ok.
The created key chain name is listed in the Configure Key Chain grid.

Step 4 Select the key chain name from the Configure Key Chain section, and in the Configure Key section, click
Add. To edit an existing key, seclect the key name and click Edit.
The Add Key or Edit Keydialog box appears, depending on the action that you have selected.

Step 5 Specify the key identifier in the Key ID field.

The key id value can be between 0 and 255. Use the value 0 only when you want to signal an invalid key.
Note You cannot edit a saved key id.

Step 6 From the Cryptographic Algorithm drop-down, choose MD5. MD5 is the only algorithm supported for
authenticating the key chain.
Step 7 Select the encryption type by clicking the Plain Text or Encrypted radio button, and then enter the password
in the Authentication Key field.
• The password can be of a maximum length of 80 characters.
• The passwords cannot be a single digit nor those starting with a digit followed by a white space. For
example, "0 pass" or "1" are invalid.

Step 8 Provide the lifetime values in the Accept Lifetime and Send Lifetime fields:
You can specify the time interval for the device to accept/send the key during key exchange with another
device. The end time can be the duration, the absolute time when the accept/send lifetime ends, or never
expires.
Following are the validation rules for the start and end values:
• Start lifetime cannot be null when the end lifetime is specified.
• The start lifetime for accept or send lifetime must be earlier than the end lifetime.

Step 9 To save the key chain attibutes, click Ok. In the Key Chain page, click Appy.

What to do next
You can now apply the configured key chain to define the OSPFv2 authentication for an interface and for
virtual link.
• Configure OSPFv2 Interface Parameters, on page 756
• Configure a Virtual Link in OSPF, on page 767

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Configure OSPFv2 Router ID

Configure OSPFv2 Router ID

The OSPF Router-ID is used to identify a specific device within an OSPF database. No two routers in an
OSPF system can have the same router-id.
If a router-id is not configured manually in the OSPF routing process the router will automatically configure
a router-id determined from the highest IP address of an active interface. When configuring a router-id, the
neighbors will not be updated automatically until that router has failed or the OSPF process has been cleared
and the neighbor relationship has been re-established.

Manually Configure OSPF Router-ID

This section describes how to manually configure router-id in OSPFv2 process on the ASA.

Procedure

Step 1 To use a fixed router ID, use the router-id command.

router-id ip-address
Example:

ciscoasa(config-router)# router-id 193.168.3.3

Step 2 To revert to the previous OSPF router ID behavior, use the no router-id command.
no router-id ip-address
Example:

ciscoasa(config-router)# no router-id 193.168.3.3

Router ID Behaviour while Migrating

While migrating OSPF configuration from one ASA , say ASA 1 to another ASA, say ASA 2, the following
router id selection behaviour is observed:
1. ASA 2 does not use any IP address for OSPF router-id when all interfaces are in shutdown mode. The
possibilities for configuring router-id when all interfaces are in "admin down" state or shutdown mode
are:
• If ASA 2 does not have any router-id configured before, you would see this message:
%OSPF: Router process 1 is not running, please configure a router-id

After the first interface is brought up, ASA 2 will take IP address of this interface as router id.
• If ASA 2 had router-id configured before and all interfaces were in "admin down" state when "no
router-id" command was issued, ASA 2 will use old router id. ASA 2 uses the old router id, even if

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IP addresses on the interface that is brought up is changed, until "clear ospf process" command is
issued.

2. ASA 2 uses new router id, when ASA 2 had router-id configured before and at least one of interfaces
were not in "admin down" state or shutdown mode when "no router-id" command was issued. ASA 2 will
use new router id from the IP address of the interfaces even when interfaces are in "down/down" state.

Customize OSPFv2
This section explains how to customize the OSPFv2 processes.

Redistribute Routes Into OSPFv2

The ASA can control the redistribution of routes between OSPFv2 routing processes.

Note If you want to redistribute a route by defining which of the routes from the specified routing protocol are
allowed to be redistributed into the target routing process, you must first generate a default route. See Configure
a Static Route, on page 689, and then define a route map according to Define a Route Map, on page 703.

To redistribute static, connected, RIP, or OSPFv2 routes into an OSPFv2 process, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Redistribution.
The Redistribution pane displays the rules for redistributing routes from one routing process into an OSPF
routing process. You can redistribute routes discovered by RIP and OSPF into the EIGRP routing process.
You can also redistribute static and connected routes into the EIGRP routing process. You do not need to
redistribute static or connected routes if they fall within the range of a network that has been configured
through the Setup > Networks tab.

Step 2 Click Add or Edit.

Alternatively, double-clicking a table entry in the Redistribution pane (if any) opens the Add/Edit OSPF
Redistribution Entry dialog box for the selected entry.
Note All steps that follow are optional.

The Add/Edit OSPF Redistribution Entry dialog box lets you add a new redistribution rule or edit an existing
redistribution rule in the Redistribution table. Some of the redistribution rule information cannot be changed
when you are editing an existing redistribution rule.

Step 3 Choose the OSPF process associated with the route redistribution entry. If you are editing an existing
redistribution rule, you cannot change this setting.
Step 4 Choose the source protocol from which the routes are being redistributed. You can choose one of the following
options:
• Static—Redistributes static routes to the OSPF routing process.

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• Connected—Redistributes connected routes (routes established automatically by virtue of having IP

address enabled on the interface) to the OSPF routing process. Connected routes are redistributed as
external to the AS.
• OSPF—Redistributes routes from another OSPF routing process. Choose the OSPF process ID from the
list. If you choose this protocol, the Match options on this dialog box become visible. These options are
not available when redistributing static, connected, RIP, or EIGRP routes. Skip to Step 5.
• RIP—Redistributes routes from the RIP routing process.
• BGP— Redistribute routes from the BGP routing process.
• EIGRP—Redistributes routes from the EIGRP routing process. Choose the autonomous system number
of the EIGRP routing process from the list.

Step 5 If you have chosen OSPF for the source protocol, choose the conditions used for redistributing routes from
another OSPF routing process into the selected OSPF routing process. These options are not available when
redistributing static, connected, RIP, or EIGRP routes. The routes must match the selected condition to be
redistributed. You can choose one or more of the following match conditions:
• Internal—The route is internal to a specific AS.
• External 1—Routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPF as Type 1
external routes.
• External 2—Routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPF as Type 2
external routes.
• NSSA External 1—Routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPF as
Type 2 NSSA routes.
• NSSA External 2—Routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPF as
Type 2 NSSA routes.

Step 6 In the Metric Value field, enter the metric value for the routes being redistributed. Valid values range from
1 to 16777214.
When redistributing from one OSPF process to another OSPF process on the same device, the metric will be
carried through from one process to the other if no metric value is specified. When redistributing other processes
to an OSPF process, the default metric is 20 when no metric value is specified.

Step 7 Choose one of the following options for the Metric Type.
• If the metric is a Type 1 external route, choose 1.
• If the metric is a Type 2 external route, choose 2.

Step 8 Enter the tag value in the Tag Value field.

The tag value is a 32-bit decimal value attached to each external route that is not used by OSPF itself, but
may be used to communicate information between ASBRs. Valid values range from 0 to 4294967295.

Step 9 Check the Use Subnets check box to enable the redistribution of subnetted routes. Uncheck this check box
to cause only routes that are not subnetted to be redistributed.
Step 10 Choose the name of the route map to apply to the redistribution entry from the Route Map drop-down list.
Step 11 If you need to add or configure a route map, click Manage.

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The Configure Route Map dialog box appears.

Step 12 Click Add or Edit to define which of the routes from the specified routing protocol are allowed to be
redistributed into the target routing process. For more information, see Define a Route Map, on page 703.
Step 13 Click OK.

Configure Route Summarization When Redistributing Routes Into OSPFv2

When routes from other protocols are redistributed into OSPF, each route is advertised individually in an
external LSA. However, you can configure the ASA to advertise a single route for all the redistributed routes
that are included for a specified network address and mask. This configuration decreases the size of the OSPF
link-state database.
Routes that match the specified IP address mask pair can be suppressed. The tag value can be used as a match
value for controlling redistribution through route maps.

Add a Route Summary Address

The Summary Address pane displays information about the summary addresses configured for each OSPF
routing process.
Routes learned from other routing protocols can be summarized. The metric used to advertise the summary
is the smallest metric of all the more specific routes. Summary routes help reduce the size of the routing table.
Using summary routes for OSPF causes an OSPF ASBR to advertise one external route as an aggregate for
all redistributed routes that are covered by the address. Only routes from other routing protocols that are being
redistributed into OSPF can be summarized.

Note OSPF does not support summary-address 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0.

To configure the software advertisement on one summary route for all redistributed routes included for a
network address and mask, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM home page, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Summary
Address.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add OSPF Summary Address Entry dialog box appears. You can add new entries to existing entries in
the Summary Address table. Some of the summary address information cannot be changed when editing an
existing entry.

Step 3 Choose the specified OSPF Process ID associated with the summary address from the OSPF Process drop-down
list. You cannot change this information when editing an existing entry.
Step 4 Enter the IP address of the summary address in the IP Address field. You cannot change this information
when editing an existing entry.

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Step 5 Choose the network mask for the summary address from theNetmask drop-down list. You cannot change this
information when editing an existing entry.
Step 6 Check the Advertise check box to advertise the summary route. Uncheck this check box to suppress routes
that fall under the summary address. By default, this check box is checked.
The Tag value displays a 32-bit decimal value that is attached to each external route. This value is not used
by OSPF itself, but may be used to communicate information between ASBRs.

Step 7 Click OK.

Add or Edit an OSPF Summary Address

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Route Summarization tab.
The Add/Edit a Route Summarization Entry dialog box appears.
The Add/Edit a Route Summarization Entry dialog box allows you to add new entries to or modify existing
entries in the Summary Address table. Some of the summary address information cannot be changed when
editing an existing entry.

Step 3 Choose the specified OSPF Process ID associated with the summary address from the OSPF Process drop-down
list. You cannot change this information when editing an existing entry.
Step 4 Enter the IP address of the summary address in the IP Address field. You cannot change this information
when editing an existing entry.
Step 5 Enter the network mask for the summary address from the Netmask drop-down list. You cannot change this
information when editing an existing entry.
Step 6 Check the Advertise check box to advertise the summary route. Uncheck this check box to suppress routes
that fall under the summary address. By default, this check box is checked.

Configure Route Summarization Between OSPFv2 Areas

Route summarization is the consolidation of advertised addresses. This feature causes a single summary route
to be advertised to other areas by an area boundary router. In OSPF, an area boundary router advertises
networks in one area into another area. If the network numbers in an area are assigned in a way so that they
are contiguous, you can configure the area boundary router to advertise a summary route that includes all the
individual networks within the area that fall into the specified range.
To define an address range for route summarization, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Route Summarization tab.

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The Add/Edit a Route Summarization Entry dialog box appears.

The Add/Edit a Route Summarization Entry dialog box allows you to add new entries to or modify existing
entries in the Summary Address table. Some of the summary address information cannot be changed when
editing an existing entry.

Step 3 Enter the OSPF Area ID in the Area ID field. You cannot change this information when editing an existing
entry.
Step 4 Enter the IP address of the summary address in the IP Address field. You cannot change this information
when editing an existing entry.

Configure OSPFv2 Interface Parameters

You can change some interface-specific OSPFv2 parameters, if necessary. You are not required to change
any of these parameters, but the following interface parameters must be consistent across all routers in an
attached network: the Hello interval, the Dead interval, and the Authentication key. If you configure any of
these parameters, be sure that the configurations for all routers on your network have compatible values.
In ASDM, the Interface pane lets you configure interface-specific OSPF routing properties, such as OSPF
message authentication and properties. There are two tabs that help you configure interfaces in OSPF:
• The Authentication tab displays the OSPF authentication information for the ASA interfaces.
• The Properties tab displays the OSPF properties defined for each interface in a table format.

To configure OSPFv2 interface parameters, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click the Authentication tab to display the authentication information for the ASA interfaces. Double-clicking
a row in the table opens the Edit OSPF Authentication Interface dialog box for the selected interface.
Step 2 Click Edit.
The Edit OSPF Authentication Interface dialog box appears. The Edit OSPF Interface Authentication dialog
box lets you configure the OSPF authentication type and parameters for the selected interface.
Step 3 Choose the Authentication type by clicking the relevant radio button:
• No authentication to disable OSPF authentication.
• Area authentication, if defined (Default) to use the authentication type specified for the area. See
Configure OSPFv2 Area Parameters, on page 759 for information about configuring area authentication.
Area authentication is disabled by default. Therefore, unless you have previously specified an area
authentication type, interfaces set to area authentication have authentication disabled until you configure
this setting.
• Password authentication to use clear text password authentication (not recommended where security
is a concern).
• MD5 authentication to use MD5 authentication.
• Key chain authentication to use key chain authentication (recommended). See Configure a Key Chain
for Authentication, on page 749 for information about configuring key chain for authentication.

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Step 4 If you have chosen password authentication, in the Authentication Password area, enter the password:
a) In the Enter Password field, type a text string of up to eight characters.
b) In the Re-enter Password field, retype the password.
Step 5 If you have chosen Key chain authentication, enter the key chain name in the Enter Key chain name field.
Step 6 Choose the settings for MD5 IDs and keys in the ID area, which includes the settings for entering the MD5
keys and parameters when MD5 authentication is enabled. All devices on the interface using OSPF
authentication must use the same MD5 key and ID.
a) In the Key ID field, enter a numerical key identifier. Valid values range from 1 to 255. The Key ID displays
for the selected interface.
b) In the Key field, enter an alphanumeric character string of up to 16 bytes. The key displays for the selected
interface.
c) Click Add or Delete to add or delete the specified MD5 key to the MD5 ID and Key table.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 Click the Properties tab.
Step 9 Choose the interface that you want to edit. Double-clicking a row in the table opens the Properties tab dialog
box for the selected interface.
Step 10 Click Edit.
The Edit OSPF Interface Properties dialog box appears. The Interface field displays the name of the interface
for which you are configuring OSPF properties. You cannot edit this field.
Step 11 Check or uncheck the Broadcast check box to specify that the interface is a broadcast interface.
By default, this check box is checked for Ethernet interfaces. Uncheck this check box to designate the interface
as a point-to-point, nonbroadcast interface. Specifying an interface as point-to-point, nonbroadcast lets you
transmit OSPF routes over VPN tunnels.
When an interface is configured as point-to-point, non-broadcast, the following restrictions apply:
• You can define only one neighbor for the interface.
• You need to manually configure the neighbor. See Define Static OSPFv2 Neighbors, on page 763 for
more information.
• You need to define a static route pointing to the crypto endpoint. See Configure a Static Route, on page
689 for more information.
• If OSPF over a tunnel is running on the interface, regular OSPF with an upstream router cannot be run
on the same interface.
• You should bind the crypto map to the interface before specifying the OSPF neighbor to ensure that the
OSPF updates are passed through the VPN tunnel. If you bind the crypto map to the interface after
specifying the OSPF neighbor, use the clear local-host all command to clear OSPF connections so that
the OSPF adjacencies can be established over the VPN tunnel.

Step 12 Configure the following options:

• Enter a value in the Cost field, which determines the cost of sending a packet through the interface. The
default value is 10.
• In the Priority field, enter the OSPF router priority value.

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When two routers connect to a network, both attempt to become the designated router. The device with
the higher router priority becomes the designated router. If there is a tie, the router with the higher router
ID becomes the designated router.
Valid values for this setting range from 0 to 255. The default value is 1. Entering 0 for this setting makes
the router ineligible to become the designated router or backup designated router. This setting does not
apply to interfaces that are configured as point-to-point, nonbroadcast interfaces.
• Check or uncheck the MTU Ignore check box.
OSPF checks whether neighbors are using the same MTU on a common interface. This check is performed
when neighbors exchange DBD packets. If the receiving MTU in the DBD packet is higher than the IP
MTU configured on the incoming interface, OSPF adjacency will not be established.
• Check or uncheck the Database filter check box.
Use this setting to filter the outgoing LSA interface during synchronization and flooding. By default,
OSPF floods new LSAs over all interfaces in the same area, except the interface on which the LSA
arrives. In a fully meshed topology, this flooding can waste bandwidth and lead to excessive link and
CPU usage. Checking this check box prevents OSPF flooding of the LSA on the selected interface.

Step 13 (Optional) Click Advanced to display the Edit OSPF Advanced Interface Properties dialog box, which lets
you change the values for the OSPF hello interval, retransmit interval, transmit delay, and dead interval.
Typically, you only need to change these values from the defaults if you are experiencing OSPF problems on
your network.
Step 14 In the Intervals section, enter values for the following:
• The Hello Interval, which specifies the interval, in seconds, between hello packets sent on an interface.
The smaller the hello interval, the faster topological changes are detected, but more traffic is sent on the
interface. This value must be the same for all routers and access servers on a specific interface. Valid
values range from 1 to 8192 seconds. The default value is 10 seconds.
• The Retransmit Interval, which specifies the time, in seconds, between LSA retransmissions for adjacencies
belonging to the interface. When a router sends an LSA to its neighbor, it keeps the LSA until it receives
the acknowledgement message. If the router receives no acknowledgement, it will resend the LSA. Be
conservative when setting this value, or needless retransmission can result. The value should be larger
for serial lines and virtual links. Valid values range from 1 to 8192 seconds. The default value is 5 seconds.
• The Transmit Delay, which specifies the estimated time, in seconds, required to send an LSA packet on
the interface. LSAs in the update packet have their ages increased by the amount specified by this field
before transmission. If the delay is not added before transmission over a link, the time in which the LSA
propagates over the link is not considered. The value assigned should take into account the transmission
and propagation delays for the interface. This setting has more significance on very low-speed links.
Valid values range from 1 to 8192 seconds. The default value is 1 second.

Step 15 In the Detecting Lost Neighbors section, do one of the following:

• Click Configure interval within which hello packets are not received before the router declares the
neighbor to be down. In the Dead Interval field, specify the interval, in seconds, in which no hello packets
are received, causing neighbors to declare a router down. Valid values range from 1 to 8192 seconds.
The default value of this setting is four times the interval that was set in the Hello Interval field.

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• Click Send fast hello packets within 1 seconds dead interval. In the Hello multiplier field, specify the
number of hello packets to be sent per second. Valid values are between 3 and 20.

Configure OSPFv2 Area Parameters

You can configure several OSPF area parameters. These area parameters (shown in the following task list)
include setting authentication, defining stub areas, and assigning specific costs to the default summary route.
Authentication provides password-based protection against unauthorized access to an area.
Stub areas are areas into which information on external routes is not sent. Instead, there is a default external
route generated by the ABR into the stub area for destinations outside the autonomous system. To take
advantage of the OSPF stub area support, default routing must be used in the stub area.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Area/Networks tab.
The Add OSPF Area dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose one of the following Area Type options:

• Normal to make the area a standard OSPF area. This option is selected by default when you first create
an area.
• Stub to make the area a stub area. Stub areas do not have any routers or areas beyond it. Stub areas
prevent AS External LSAs (Type 5 LSAs) from being flooded into the stub area. When you create a stub
area, you have the option of preventing summary LSAs (Types 3 and 4) from being flooded into the area
by unchecking the Summary check box.
• Summary to prevent LSAs from being sent into the stub area when the area being defined is a stub area,
uncheck this check box. By default, this check box is checked for stub areas.
• NSSA to make the area a not-so-stubby area. NSSAs accept Type 7 LSAs. When you create the NSSA,
you have the option of preventing summary LSAs from being flooded into the area by unchecking the
Summary check box. You can also disable route redistribution by unchecking the Redistribute check
box and checking the Default Information Originate check box.

Step 4 Enter the IP address in the IP Address field of the network or host to be added to the area. Use 0.0.0.0 with a
netmask of 0.0.0.0 to create the default area. You can only enter 0.0.0.0 in one area.
Step 5 Enter the network mask in the Network Mask field for the IP address or host to be added to the area. If adding
a host, choose the 255.255.255.255 mask.
Step 6 Choose the OSPF Authentication type from the following options:
• None to disable OSPF area authentication. This is the default setting.
• Password to provide a clears text password for area authentication, which is not recommended where
security is a concern.
• MD5 to allow MD5 authentication.

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Step 7 Enter a value in the Default Cost field to specify a default cost for the OSPF area.
Valid values range from 0 to 65535. The default value is 1.

Step 8 Click OK.

Configure OSPFv2 Filter Rules

Use the following procedure to filter routes or networks received or transmitted in OSPF updates.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Filter Rules.
Step 2 Click Add.
Step 3 Select the OSPF process ID in OSPF AS.
Step 4 Choose a standard access list from the Access List drop-down list. Click Manage to add a new ACL.
Step 5 Choose a direction from the Direction drop-down list. The direction will specify if the filter should be applied
to inbound updates or outbound updates.
Step 6 For inbound filters, you can optionally specify an interface to limit the filter to updates received on that
interface.
Step 7 For outbound filters, you can optionally specify what types of route are distributed.
a) Choose an option from the Protocol drop-down list.
You can choose a routing protocol, such as BGP, EIGRP, OSPF, or RIP.
Choose Connected to filter on peers and networks learned through connected routes.
Choose Static to filter on peers and networks learned through static routes.
b) If you chose BGP, EIGRP, or OSPF, also choose the Process ID for that protocol.
Step 8 Click OK.
Step 9 Click Apply.

Configure an OSPFv2 NSSA

The OSPFv2 implementation of an NSSA is similar to an OSPFv2 stub area. NSSA does not flood Type 5
external LSAs from the core into the area, but it can import autonomous system external routes in a limited
way within the area.
NSSA imports Type 7 autonomous system external routes within an NSSA area by redistribution. These Type
7 LSAs are translated into Type 5 LSAs by NSSA ABRs, which are flooded throughout the whole routing
domain. Summarization and filtering are supported during the translation.
You can simplify administration if you are an ISP or a network administrator that must connect a central site
using OSPFv2 to a remote site that is using a different routing protocol with NSSA.

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Before the implementation of NSSA, the connection between the corporate site border router and the remote
router could not be run as an OSPFv2 stub area because routes for the remote site could not be redistributed
into the stub area, and two routing protocols needed to be maintained. A simple protocol such as RIP was
usually run and handled the redistribution. With NSSA, you can extend OSPFv2 to cover the remote connection
by defining the area between the corporate router and the remote router as an NSSA.
Before you use this feature, consider these guidelines:
• You can set a Type 7 default route that can be used to reach external destinations. When configured, the
router generates a Type 7 default into the NSSA or the NSSA area boundary router.
• Every router within the same area must agree that the area is NSSA; otherwise, the routers cannot
communicate with each other.

Procedure

Step 1 From the main ASDM home page, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Area/Networks tab.
Step 3 Click Add.
The Add OSPF Area dialog box appears.

Step 4 Click the NSSA radio button in the Area Type area.
Choose this option to make the area a not-so-stubby area. NSSAs accept Type 7 LSAs. When you create the
NSSA, you have the option of preventing summary LSAs from being flooded into the area by unchecking the
Summary check box. You can also disable route redistribution by unchecking the Redistribute check box and
checking the Default Information Originate check box.

Step 5 Enter the IP address in the IP Address field of the network or host to be added to the area. Use 0.0.0.0 with a
netmask of 0.0.0.0 to create the default area. You can only enter 0.0.0.0 in one area.
Step 6 Enter the network mask in the Network Mask field for the IP address or host to be added to the area. If adding
a host, choose the 255.255.255.255 mask.
Step 7 In the Authentication area, click the None radio button to disable OSPF area authentication.
Step 8 Enter a value in the Default Cost field to specify a default cost for the OSPF area.
Valid values range from 0 to 65535. The default value is 1.

Step 9 Click OK.

Configure an IP Address Pool for Clustering (OSPFv2 and OSPFv3)

You can assign a range of IPv4 addresses for the router ID cluster pool if you are using Individual Interface
clustering.
To assign a range of IPv4 addresses for the router ID cluster pool in Individual Interface for OSPFv2, perform
the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 From the main ASDM home page, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPF process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPF Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

Step 4 Click the Cluster Pool radio button. If you are using clustering, then you do not need to specify an IP address
pool for the router ID (that is, leave the field blank). If you do not enter an IP address pool, then the ASA uses
the automatically generated router ID.
Step 5 Enter the name of the IP address pool, or click the ellipses to display the Select IP Address Pool dialog box.
Step 6 Double-click an existing IP address pool name to add it to the Assign field. Alternatively, click Add to create
a new IP address pool.
The Add IPv4 Pool dialog box appears.

Step 7 Enter the new IP address pool name in the Name field.
Step 8 Enter the starting IP address or click the ellipses to display the Browse Starting IP Address dialog box.
Step 9 Double-click an entry to add it to the Starting IP Address field, then click OK.
Step 10 Enter the ending IP address or click the ellipses to display the Browse Ending IP Address dialog box
Step 11 Double-click an entry to add it to the Ending IP Address field, then click OK
Step 12 Choose the subnet mask from the drop-down list, then click OK.
The new IP address pool appears in the Select IP Address Pool list.

Step 13 Double-click the new IP address pool name to add it to the Assign field, then click OK.
The new IP address pool name appears in the Cluster Pool field of the Edit OSPF Process Advanced Properties
dialog box.

Step 14 Click OK.

Step 15 If you want to change the newly added IP address pool settings, click Edit.
The Edit IPv4 Pool dialog box appears.

Step 16 Repeat Steps 4 through 14.

Note You cannot edit or delete an existing IP address pool that has been assigned and is already being
used by one or more connection profiles.

Step 17 Click OK.

Step 18 To assign a range of IPv4 addresses for the router ID cluster pool in Individual Interface clustering for OSPFv3,
perform the following steps:
a) From the main ASDM home page, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 >
Setup.
b) Click the Process Instances tab.
c) Choose the OSPF process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

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d) Choose the Cluster Pool option from the Router ID drop-down list. If you do not need to specify an IP
address pool for the router ID, choose the Automatic option. If you do not configure an IP address pool,
then the ASA uses the automatically generated router ID.
e) Enter the IP address pool name. Alternatively, click the ellipses to display the Select IP Address Pool
dialog box.
f) Double-click an existing IP address pool name to add it to the Assign field. Alternatively, click Add to
create a new IP address pool.
The Add IPv4 Pool dialog box appears.
g) Enter the new IP address pool name in the Name field.
h) Enter the starting IP address or click the ellipses to display the Browse Starting IP Address dialog box.
i) Double-click an entry to add it to the Starting IP Address field, then click OK.
j) Enter the ending IP address or click the ellipses to display the Browse Ending IP Address dialog box.
k) Double-click an entry to add it to the Ending IP Address field, then click OK.
l) Choose the subnet mask from the drop-down list, then click OK.
The new IP address pool appears in the Select IP Address Pool list.
m) Double-click the new IP address pool name to add it to the Assign field, then click OK.
The new IP address pool name appears in the Cluster Pool field of the Edit OSPF Process Advanced
Properties dialog box.
n) Click OK.
o) If you want to change the newly added cluster pool settings, click Edit.
The Edit IPv4 Pool dialog box appears.
p) Repeat Steps 4 through 14.
Note You cannot edit or delete an existing IP address pool that has been assigned and is already being
used by another OSPFv3 process.

q) Click OK.

Define Static OSPFv2 Neighbors

You need to define static OSPFv2 neighbors to advertise OSPFv2 routes over a point-to-point, non-broadcast
network. This feature lets you broadcast OSPFv2 advertisements across an existing VPN connection without
having to encapsulate the advertisements in a GRE tunnel.
Before you begin, you must create a static route to the OSPFv2 neighbor. See Configure a Static Route, on
page 689 for more information about creating static routes.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Static
Neighbor.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.

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The Add/Edit OSPF Neighbor Entry dialog box appears. This dialog box lets you define a new static neighbor
or change information for an existing static neighbor. You must define a static neighbor for each point-to-point,
nonbroadcast interface. Note the following restrictions:
• You cannot define the same static neighbor for two different OSPF processes.
• You need to define a static route for each static neighbor.

Step 3 From the OSPF Process drop-down list, choose the OSPF process associated with the static neighbor. If you
are editing an existing static neighbor, you cannot change this value.
Step 4 In the Neighbor field, enter the IP address of the static neighbor.
Step 5 In theInterface field, choose the interface associated with the static neighbor. If you are editing an existing
static neighbor, you cannot change this value.
Step 6 Click OK.

Configure Route Calculation Timers

You can configure the delay time between when OSPFv2 receives a topology change and when it starts an
SPF calculation. You also can configure the hold time between two consecutive SPF calculations.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPF process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPF Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

Step 4 The Timers area allows you to modify the settings that are used to configure LSA pacing and SPF calculation
timers. In the Timers area, enter the following values:
• The Initial SPF Delay, specifies the time (in milliseconds) between when OSPF receives a topology
change and when the SPF calculation starts. Valid values range from 0 to 600000 milliseconds.
• The Minimum SPF Hold Time, specifies the hold time (in milliseconds)between consecutive SPF
calculations.Valid values range from 0 to 600000 milliseconds.
• The Maximum SPF Wait Time, specifies the maximum wait time between two consecutive SPF
calculations. Valid values range from 0 to 600000 milliseconds.

Step 5 Click OK.

Log Neighbors Going Up or Down

By default, a syslog message is generated when an OSPFv2 neighbor goes up or down.

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Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Click Advanced.
The Edit OSPF Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

Step 4 The Adjacency Changes area includes settings that define the adjacency changes that cause syslog messages
to be sent. In the Adjacency Changes area, enter the following values:
• Check the Log Adjacency Changes check box to cause the ASA to send a syslog message whenever
an OSPFv2 neighbor goes up or down. This setting is checked by default.
• Check the Log Adjacency Changes Detail check box to cause the ASA to send a syslog message
whenever any state change occurs, not just when a neighbor goes up or down. This setting is unchecked
by default.

Step 5 Click OK.

Note Logging must be enabled for the neighbor up or down messages to be sent.

Configure a Key Chain for Authentication

To enhance data security and protection of devices, you can enable rotating keys for authenticating IGP peers.
The rotating keys prevent any malicious user from guessing the keys used for routing protocol authentication
and thereby protecting the network from advertising incorrect routes and redirecting traffic. Changing the
keys frequently reduces the risk of them eventually being guessed. When configuring authentication for routing
protocols that provide key chains, configure the keys in a key chain to have overlapping lifetimes. This helps
to prevent loss of key-secured communication due to absence of an active key. If the key lifetime expires and
no active keys are found, OSPF uses the last valid key to maintain the adjacency with the peers.
This section describes how to create a key chain for OSPF peer authentication. This section also covers steps
to add or edit the key chain attributes. After configuring a key chain object, you can use it in defining the
OSPFv2 authentication for an interface and for a virtual link. Use the same authentication type (MD5 or Key
Chain) and key ID for the peers to establish a successful adjacency. To learn how to define authentication for
an interface, see Configure OSPFv2 Interface Parameters, on page 756; for a virtual link, see Configure a
Virtual Link in OSPF, on page 767.
To configure a key chain, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Key Chain .
Step 2 In the Configure Key Chain section, click Add.
Step 3 Enter the key chain name in the Add Key Chain dialog box, and click Ok.
The created key chain name is listed in the Configure Key Chain grid.

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Step 4 Select the key chain name from the Configure Key Chain section, and in the Configure Key section, click
Add. To edit an existing key, seclect the key name and click Edit.
The Add Key or Edit Keydialog box appears, depending on the action that you have selected.

Step 5 Specify the key identifier in the Key ID field.

The key id value can be between 0 and 255. Use the value 0 only when you want to signal an invalid key.
Note You cannot edit a saved key id.

Step 6 From the Cryptographic Algorithm drop-down, choose MD5. MD5 is the only algorithm supported for
authenticating the key chain.
Step 7 Select the encryption type by clicking the Plain Text or Encrypted radio button, and then enter the password
in the Authentication Key field.
• The password can be of a maximum length of 80 characters.
• The passwords cannot be a single digit nor those starting with a digit followed by a white space. For
example, "0 pass" or "1" are invalid.

Step 8 Provide the lifetime values in the Accept Lifetime and Send Lifetime fields:
You can specify the time interval for the device to accept/send the key during key exchange with another
device. The end time can be the duration, the absolute time when the accept/send lifetime ends, or never
expires.
Following are the validation rules for the start and end values:
• Start lifetime cannot be null when the end lifetime is specified.
• The start lifetime for accept or send lifetime must be earlier than the end lifetime.

Step 9 To save the key chain attibutes, click Ok. In the Key Chain page, click Appy.

What to do next
You can now apply the configured key chain to define the OSPFv2 authentication for an interface and for
virtual link.
• Configure OSPFv2 Interface Parameters, on page 756
• Configure a Virtual Link in OSPF, on page 767

Configure Filtering in OSPF

The Filtering pane displays the ABR Type 3 LSA filters that have been configured for each OSPF process.
ABR Type 3 LSA filters allow only specified prefixes to be sent from one area to another area and restrict all
other prefixes. This type of area filtering can be applied out of a specific OSPF area, into a specific OSPF
area, or into and out of the same OSPF areas at the same time.
OSPF ABR Type 3 LSA filtering improves your control of route distribution between OSPF areas.

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Note Only Type 3 LSAs that originate from an ABR are filtered.

To configure filtering in OSPF, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Filtering.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit OSPF Filtering Entry dialog box lets you add new filters to the Filter table or modify an
existing filter. Some of the filtering information cannot be changed when you edit an existing filter.

Step 3 Choose the OSPF process that is associated with the filter entry from the OSPF Process drop-down list.
Step 4 Choose the Area ID that is associated with the filter entry from the Area ID drop-down list. If you are editing
an existing filter entry, you cannot modify this setting.
Step 5 Choose a prefix list from the Prefix List drop-down list.
Step 6 Choose the traffic direction being filtered from the Traffic Direction drop-down list.
Choose Inbound to filter LSAs coming into an OSPF area, or Outbound to filter LSAs coming out of an OSPF
area. If you are editing an existing filter entry, you cannot modify this setting.

Step 7 Click Manage to display the Configure Prefix Lists dialog box, from which you can add, edit, or delete prefix
lists and prefix rules. For more information, see Configure Prefix Lists, on page 707 and the Configure the
Metric Values for a Route Action, on page 707.
Step 8 Click OK.

Configure a Virtual Link in OSPF

If you add an area to an OSPF network, and it is not possible to connect the area directly to the backbone area,
you need to create a virtual link. A virtual link connects two OSPF devices that have a common area, called
the transit area. One of the OSPF devices must be connected to the backbone area.
To define new virtual links or change the properties of existing virtual links, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Virtual Link.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit OSPF Virtual Link dialog box appears, which allows you to define new virtual links or
change the properties of existing virtual links.

Step 3 Choose the OSPF process ID that is associated with the virtual link from the OSPF Process drop-down list.
If you are editing an existing virtual link entry, you cannot modify this setting.
Step 4 Choose the Area ID that is associated with the virtual link from the Area ID drop-down list.

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Choose the area shared by the neighbor OSPF devices. The selected area cannot be an NSSA or a Stub area.
If you are editing an existing virtual link entry, you cannot modify this setting.

Step 5 In the Peer Router ID field, enter the router ID of the virtual link neighbor.
If you are editing an existing virtual link entry, you cannot modify this setting.

Step 6 Click Advanced to edit advanced virtual link properties,

The Advanced OSPF Virtual Link Properties dialog box appears. You can configure the OSPF properties for
the virtual link in this area. These properties include authentication and packet interval settings.

Step 7 In the Authentication area, choose the Authentication type by clicking the radio button next to one of the
following options:
• No authentication to disable OSPF authentication.
• Password authentication to use clear text password authentication (not recommended where security
is a concern).
• MD5 authentication to use MD5 authentication.
• Key chain authentication to use key chain authentication (recommended). See Configure a Key Chain
for Authentication, on page 749 for information about configuring key chain for authentication.

Step 8 In the Authentication Password area, enter and re-enter a password when password authentication is enabled.
Passwords must be a text string of up to 8 characters.
Step 9 In the MD5 IDs and Key area, enter the MD5 keys and parameters when MD5 authentication is enabled. All
devices on the interface using OSPF authentication must use the same MD5 key and ID. Specify the following
settings:
a) In the Key IDfield, enter a numerical key identifier. Valid values range from 1 to 255. The Key ID displays
for the selected interface.
b) In the Key field, enter an alphanumeric character string of up to 16 bytes. The Key ID displays for the
selected interface.
c) Click Add or Delete to add or delete the specified MD5 key to the MD5 ID and Key table.
Step 10 In the Interval area, specify the interval timing for the packet by choosing from the following options:
• Hello Interval to specify the interval, in seconds, between hello packets sent on an interface. The smaller
the hello interval, the faster topological changes are detected, but the more traffic is sent on the interface.
This value must be the same for all routers and access servers on a specific interface. Valid values range
from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default value is 10 seconds.
• Retransmit Interval to specify the time, in seconds, between LSA retransmissions for adjacencies
belonging to the interface. When a router sends an LSA to its neighbor, it keeps the LSA until it receives
the acknowledgement message. If the router receives no acknowledgement, it will resend the LSA. Be
conservative when setting this value, or needless retransmission can result. The value should be larger
for serial lines and virtual links. Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default value is 5
seconds.
• Transmit Delay to specify the estimated time, in seconds, required to send an LSA packet on the interface.
LSAs in the update packet have their ages increased by the amount specified by this field before
transmission. If the delay is not added before transmission over a link, the time in which the LSA
propagates over the link is not considered. The value assigned should take into account the transmission

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and propagation delays for the interface. This setting has more significance on very low-speed links.
Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default value is 1 second.
• Dead Interval to specify the interval, in seconds, in which no hello packets are received, causing neighbors
to declare a router down. Valid values range from 1 to 65535. The default value of this field is four times
the interval set by the Hello Interval field.

Step 11 Click OK.

Configure OSPFv3
This section describes the tasks involved in configuring an OSPFv3 routing process.

Enable OSPFv3
To enable OSPFv3, you need to create an OSPFv3 routing process, create an area for OSPFv3, enable an
interface for OSPFv3, then redistribute the route into the targeted OSPFv3 routing processes.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 On the Process Instances tab, check the Enable OSPFv3 Process check box. You can enable up to two OSPF
process instances. Only single context mode is supported.
Step 3 Enter a process ID in the Process ID field. The ID can be any positive integer.
Step 4 Click Apply to save your changes.
Step 5 To continue, see Configure OSPFv3 Area Parameters, on page 771.

Configure OSPFv3 Interface Parameters

You can change certain interface-specific OSPFv3 parameters, if necessary. You are not required to change
any of these parameters, but the following interface parameters must be consistent across all routers in an
attached network: the hello interval and the dead interval. If you configure any of these parameters, be sure
that the configurations for all routers on your network have compatible values.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Interfaces.
Step 2 Click the Authentication tab.
Step 3 To specify the authentication parameters for an interface, select the interface and click Edit.
The Edit OSPFv3 Interface Authentication dialog box appears.

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Step 4 Choose the authentication type from the Authentication Type drop-down list. The available options are Area,
Interface, and None. The None option indicates that no authentication is used.
Step 5 Choose the authentication algorithm from the Authentication Algorithm drop-down list. Supported values are
SHA-1 and MD5.
Step 6 Enter the authentication key in the Authentication Key field. When MD5 authentication is used, the key must
be 32 hexadecimal digits (16 bytes) long. When SHA-1 authentication is used, the key must be 40 hexadecimal
digits (20 bytes) long.
Step 7 Choose the encryption algorithm from the Encryption Algorithm drop-down list. Supported values are
AES-CDC, 3DES, and DES. The NULL entry indicates no encryption.
Step 8 Enter the encryption key in the Encryption Key field.
Step 9 Click OK.
Step 10 Click the Properties tab.
Step 11 Select the interface whose properties you want to modify, and click Edit.
The Edit OSPFv3 Interface Properties dialog box appears.
Step 12 Check the Enable OSPFv3 on this interface check box.
Step 13 Choose the process ID from the drop-down list.
Step 14 Choose the area ID from the drop-down list.
Step 15 (Optional) Specify the area instance ID to be assigned to the interface. An interface can have only one OSPFv3
area. You can use the same area on multiple interfaces, and each interface can use a different area instance
ID.
Step 16 Choose the network type from the drop-down list. Supported options are Default, Broadcast, and Point-to-Point.
Step 17 Enter the cost of sending a packet on an interface in the Cost field.
Step 18 Enter the router priority, which helps determine the designated router for a network. in the Priority field. Valid
values range from 0 to 255.
Step 19 Check the Disable MTU mismatch detection check box to disable the OSPF MTU mismatch detection when
DBD packets are received. OSPF MTU mismatch detection is enabled by default.
Step 20 Check the Filter outgoing link state advertisements check box to filter outgoing LSAs to an OSPFv3
interface. All outgoing LSAs are flooded to the interface by default.
Step 21 In the Timers area, in the Dead Interval field, enter the time period in seconds for which hello packets must
not be seen before neighbors indicate that the router is down. The value must be the same for all nodes on the
network and can range from 1 to 65535.
Step 22 In the Hello Interval field, enter the interval in seconds between hello packets sent on the interface. The value
must be the same for all nodes on a specific network and can range from 1 to 65535. The default interval is
10 seconds for Ethernet interfaces and 30 seconds for non-broadcast interfaces.
Step 23 In the Retransmit Interval field, enter the time in seconds between LSA retransmissions for adjacencies that
belong to the interface. The time must be greater than the expected round-trip delay between any two routers
on the attached network. Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default is 5 seconds.
Step 24 In the Transmit Delay field, enter the estimated time in seconds to send a link-state update packet on the
interface. Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default is 1 second.
Step 25 Click OK.
Step 26 Click Apply to save your changes.

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Configure OSPFv3 Area Parameters

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Areas tab.
Step 3 To add a new area, click Add. To modify an existing area, click Edit. To remove a selected area, click Delete.
The Add OSPFv3 Area dialog box or Edit OSPFv3 Area dialog box appears.

Step 4 From the OSPFv3 Process ID drop-down list, choose the process ID.
Step 5 Enter the area ID, which specifies the area for which routes are to be summarized, in the Area ID field.
Step 6 Choose the area type from the Area Type drop-down list. Available options are Normal, NSSA, and Stub.
Step 7 To allow the sending of summary LSAs into the area, check the Allow sending of summary LSAs into the
area check box.
Step 8 To allow redistribution to import routes to normal and not so stubby areas, check the Redistribution imports
routes to normal and NSSA areas check box.
Step 9 To generate a default external route into an OSPFv3 routing domain, check the Default information originate
check box.
Step 10 Enter the metric used for generating the default route in the Metric field. The default value is 10. Valid metric
values range from 0 to 16777214.
Step 11 Choose the metric type from the Metric Type drop-down list. The metric type is the external link type that is
associated with the default route that is advertised into the OSPFv3 routing domain. The available options
are 1 for a Type 1 external route or 2 for a Type 2 external route.
Step 12 Enter the cost in the Default Cost field.
Step 13 Click OK.
Step 14 Click the Route Summarization tab.
Step 15 To specify a new range for consolidating and summarizing routes, click Add. To modify an existing range
for consolidating and summarizing routes, click Edit.
The Add Route Summarization dialog box or Edit Route Summarization dialog box appears.
Step 16 Choose the process ID from the Process ID drop-down list.
Step 17 Choose the area ID from the Area ID drop-down list.
Step 18 Enter the IPv6 prefix and prefix length in the IPv6 Prefix/Prefix Length field.
Step 19 (Optional) Enter the metric or cost for the summary route, which is used during OSPF SPF calculations to
determine the shortest paths to the destination. Valid values range from 0 to 16777215.
Step 20 Check the Advertised check box to set the address range status to advertised and generate a Type 3 summary
LSA.
Step 21 Click OK.
Step 22 To continue, see Configure a Virtual Link Neighbor, on page 772.

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Configure a Virtual Link Neighbor

To configure a virtual link neighbor, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Virtual
Link.
Step 2 To add a new virtual link neighbor, click Add. To modify an existing virtual link neighbor, click Edit. To
remove a selected virtual link neighbor, click Delete.
The Add Virtual Link dialog box or Edit Virtual Link dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the process ID from the Process ID drop-down list.

Step 4 Choose the area ID from the Area ID drop-down list.
Step 5 Enter the peer router ID (that is, the IP address) in the Peer Router ID field.
Step 6 (Optional) Enter the time-to-live (TTL) security hop count on a virtual link in the TTL Security field. The
hop count value can range from 1 to 254.
Step 7 In the Timers area, enter the time in seconds that hello packets are not seen before a neighbor indicates that
the router is down in the Dead Interval field. The dead interval is an unsigned integer. The default is four
times the hello interval, or 40 seconds. The value must be the same for all routers and access servers that are
attached to a common network. Valid values range from 1 to 8192.
Step 8 Enter the time in seconds between the hello packets that are sent on an interface in the Hello Interval field.
The hello interval is an unsigned integer that is to be advertised in the hello packets. The value must be the
same for all routers and access servers that are attached to a common network. Valid values range from 1 to
8192. The default is 10.
Step 9 Enter the time in seconds between LSA retransmissions for adjacencies that belong to the interface in the
Retransmit Interval field. The retransmit interval is the expected round-trip delay between any two routers on
the attached network. The value must be greater than the expected round-trip delay, and can range from 1 to
8192. The default is 5.
Step 10 Enter the estimated time in seconds that is required to send a link-state update packet on the interface in the
Transmit Delay field. The integer value must be greater than zero. LSAs in the update packet have their own
ages incremented by this amount before transmission. The range of values can be from 1 to 8192. The default
is 1.
Step 11 In the Authentication area, check the Enable Authentication check box to enable authentication.
Step 12 Enter the security policy index, which must be a number from 256 to 4294967295, in the Security Policy
Index field.
Step 13 Choose the authentication algorithm from the Authentication Algorithm drop-down list. Supported values are
SHA-1 and MD5. When MD5 authentication is used, the key must be 32 hexadecimal digits (16 bytes) long.
When SHA-1 authentication is used, the key must be 40 hexadecimal digits (20 bytes) long.
Step 14 Enter the authentication key in the Authentication Key field. The key must include 32 hexadecimal characters.
Step 15 Choose the encryption algorithm from the Encryption Algorithm drop-down list. Supported values are
AES-CDC, 3DES, and DES. The NULL entry indicates no encryption.
Step 16 Enter the encryption key in the Encryption Key field.
Step 17 Click OK.

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Step 18 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure OSPFv3 Passive Interfaces

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPFv3 process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

Step 4 The Passive Interfaces area allows you to enable passive OSPFv3 routing on an interface. Passive routing
assists in controlling the advertisement of OSPFv3 routing information and disables the sending and receiving
of OSPFv3 routing updates on an interface. In the Passive Interfaces area, choose the following settings:
• Check the Global passive check box to make all of the interfaces listed in the table passive. Uncheck
individual interfaces to make them non-passive.
• Uncheck the Global passive check box to make all of the interfaces non-passive. Check individual
interfaces to make them passive.

Step 5 Click OK.

Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure OSPFv3 Administrative Distance

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPF process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.
The Administrative Route Distances area allows you to modify the settings that were used to configure
administrative route distances. The administrative route distance is an integer from 10 to 254. In the
Administrative Route Distances area, enter the following values:
• The Inter Area, which specifies the inter-area routes for OSPV for IPv6 routes.
• The Intra Area, which specifies the intra-area routes for OSPF for IPv6 routes.
• The External, which specifies the external type 5 and type 7 routes for OSPF for IP6 routes.

Step 4 Click OK.

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Step 5 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure OSPFv3 Timers

You can set LSA arrival, LSA pacing, and throttling timers for OSPFv3.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPFv3 process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.
Step 4 The Timers area allows you to modify the settings that are used to configure LSA arrival, LSA pacing, LSA
retransmission, LSA throttle, and SPF throttle times. In the Timers area, enter the following values:
• The LSA Arrival, which specifies the minimum delay in milliseconds that must pass between acceptance
of the same LSA arriving from neighbors. The range is from 0 to 6000,000 milliseconds. The default is
1000 milliseconds.
• The LSA Flood Pacing, which specifies the time in milliseconds at which LSAs in the flooding queue
are paced in between updates. The configurable range is from 5 to 100 milliseconds. The default value
is 33 milliseconds.
• The LSA Group Pacing, which specifies the interval in seconds at which LSAs are collected into a group
and refreshed, check summed, or aged. Valid values range from 10 to 1800. The default value is 240.
• The LSA Retransmission Pacing, which specifies the time in milliseconds at which LSAs in the
retransmission queue are paced. The configurable range is from 5 to 200 milliseconds. The default value
is 66 milliseconds.
• The LSA Throttle Initial, which specifies the delay in milliseconds to generate the first occurrence of
the LSA. The default value is 0 milliseconds.
• The LSA Throttle Min Hold, which specifies the minimum delay in milliseconds to originate the same
LSA. The default value is 5000 milliseconds.
• The LSA Throttle Max Wait, which specifies the maximum delay in milliseconds to originate the same
LSA. The default value is 5000 milliseconds.
Note For LSA throttling, if the minimum or maximum time is less than the first occurrence value,
then OSPFv3 automatically corrects to the first occurrence value. Similarly, if the maximum
delay specified is less than the minimum delay, then OSPFv3 automatically corrects to the
minimum delay value.

• The SPF Throttle Initial, specifies the delay in milliseconds to receive a change to the SPF calculation.
The default value is 5000 milliseconds.
• The SPF Throttle Min Hold, which specifies the delay in milliseconds between the first and second SPF
calculations. The default value is 10000 milliseconds.

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• The SPF Throttle Max Wait, which specifies the maximum wait time in milliseconds for SPF calculations.
The default value is 10000 milliseconds.
Note For SPF throttling, if the minimum or maximum time is less than the first occurrence value,
then OSPFv3 automatically corrects to the first occurrence value. Similarly, if the maximum
delay specified is less than the minimum delay, then OSPFv3 automatically corrects to the
minimum delay value.

Step 5 Click OK.

Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

Define Static OSPFv3 Neighbors

You need to define static OSPFv3 neighbors to advertise OSPF routes over a point-to-point, non-broadcast
network. This feature lets you broadcast OSPFv3 advertisements across an existing VPN connection without
having to encapsulate the advertisements in a GRE tunnel.
Before you begin, you must create a static route to the OSPFv3 neighbor. See Configure a Static Route, on
page 689 for more information about creating static routes.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Static
Neighbor.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit Static Neighbor dialog box appears. This dialog box lets you define a new static neighbor
or change information for an existing static neighbor. You must define a static neighbor for each point-to-point,
nonbroadcast interface. Note the following restrictions:
• You cannot define the same static neighbor for two different OSPFv3 processes.
• You need to define a static route for each static neighbor.

Step 3 From the Interface drop-down list, choose the interface associated with the static neighbor. If you are editing
an existing static neighbor, you cannot change this value.
Step 4 In the Link-local Address field, enter the IPv6 address of the static neighbor.
Step 5 (Optional) In the Priority field, enter the priority level.
Step 6 (Optional) In the Poll Interval field, enter the poll interval in seconds.
Step 7 Click OK.

Send Syslog Messages

Configure the router to send a syslog message when an OSPFv3 neighbor goes up or down.

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Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPF process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.
The Adjacency Changes area allows you to modify the settings for sending syslog messages when an OSPFv3
neighbor goes up or down. In the Adjacency Changes area, do the following:
• To send a syslog message when an OSPFv3 neighbor goes up or down, check the Log Adjacency
Changes check box.
• To sends a syslog message for each state, not only when an OSPFv3 neighbor goes up or down, check
the Include Details check box.

Step 4 Click OK.

Step 5 Click Apply to save your changes.

Suppress Syslog Messages

To suppress the sending of syslog messages when the route receives unsupported LSA Type 6 multicast OSPF
(MOSPF) packets, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPFv3 process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

Step 4 Check the Ignore LSA MOSPF check box, then click OK.

Calculate Summary Route Costs

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPF process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

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Step 4 Check the RFC1583 Compatible check box, then click OK.

Generate a Default External Route into an OSPFv3 Routing Domain

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Click the Process Instances tab.
Step 3 Choose the OSPFv3 process that you want to edit, then click Advanced.
The Edit OSPFv3 Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.
Step 4 In the Default Information Originate Area, do the following:
a) Check the Enable check box to enable the OSPFv3 routing process.
b) Check the Always advertise check box to always advertise the default route, whether or not one exists.
c) Enter the metric used for generating the default route in the Metric field. Valid metric values range from
0 to 16777214. The default value is 10.
d) From the Metric Type drop-down list, choose the external link type that is associated with the default
route that is advertised into the OSPFv3 routing domain. Valid values are the following:
• 1—Type 1 external route
• 2—Type 2 external route
The default is the Type 2 external route.
e) From the Route Map drop-down list, choose the routing process that generates the default route if the
route map is satisfied.
Step 5 Click OK.
Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure an IPv6 Summary Prefix

Procedure

Step 1 In the ASDM main window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Summary
Prefix.
Step 2 To add a new summary prefix, click Add. To modify an existing summary prefix, click Edit. To remove a
summary prefix, click Delete.
The Add Summary Prefix dialog box or Edit Summary Prefix dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the process ID from the Process ID drop-down list.

Step 4 Enter the IPv6 prefix and prefix length in the IPv6 Prefix/Prefix Length field.

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Step 5 Check the Advertise check box to advertise routes that match the specified prefix and mask pair. Uncheck
this check box to suppress routes that match the specified prefix and mask pair.
Step 6 Enter the tag value that you can use as a match value for controlling redistribution through route maps in the
Tag field.
Step 7 Click OK.
Step 8 Click Apply to save your changes.

Redistribute IPv6 Routes

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 >
Redistribution.
Step 2 To add new parameters for redistributing connected routes into an OSPFv3 process, click Add. To modify
existing parameters for redistributing connected routes into an OSPFv3 process, click Edit. To remove a
selected set of parameters, click Delete.
The Add Redistribution dialog box or Edit Redistribution dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the process ID from the Process ID drop-down list.

Step 4 Choose the source protocol from which routes are being redistributed from the Source Protocol drop-down
list. The supported protocols are connected, static, and OSPF.
Step 5 Enter the metric value in the Metric field. When redistributing routes from one OSPF process into another
OSPF process on the same router, the metric is carried through from one process to the other if no metric
value is specified. When redistributing other processes into an OSPF process, the default metric is 20 when
no metric value is specified.
Step 6 Choose the metric type from the Metric Type drop-down list. The available options are None, 1, and 2.
Step 7 (Optional) Enter the tag value in the Tag field. This parameter specifies the 32-bit decimal value attached to
each external route, which may be used to communicate information between ASBRs. If none is specified,
then the remote autonomous system number is used for routes from BGP and EGP. For other protocols, zero
is used. Valid values are from 0 to 4294967295.
Step 8 Choose the route map from the Route Map drop-down list to check for filtering the importing of routes from
the source routing protocol to the current routing protocol. If this parameter is not specified, all routes are
redistributed. If this parameter is specified, but no route map tags are listed, no routes are imported.
Step 9 To include connected routes in the redistribution, check the Include connected check box.
Step 10 Check the Match check box to redistribute routes into other routing domains, then check one of the following
check boxes:
• Internal for routes that are internal to a specific autonomous system
• External 1 for routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPFv3 as Type
1 external routes
• External 2 for routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPFv3 as Type
2 external routes

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• NSSA External 1 for routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPFv3
in an NSSA for IPv6 as Type 1 external routes
• NSSA External 2 for routes that are external to the autonomous system, but are imported into OSPFv3
in an NSSA for IPv6 as Type 2 external routes

Step 11 Click OK.

Step 12 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure Graceful Restart

The ASA may experience some known failure situations, that should not affect packet forwarding across the
switching platform. The Non-Stop Forwarding (NSF) capability allows data forwarding to continue along
known routes, while the routing protocol information is being restored. This capability is useful when there
is a component failure (i.e., active unit crash with standby unit taking over in failover (HA) mode, control
unit crash with data unit elected as new control unit in cluster mode), or when there is a scheduled hitless
software upgrade.
Graceful restart is supported on both OSPFv2 and OSPFv3. You can configure graceful restart on OSPFv2
by using either using NSF Cisco (RFC 4811 and RFC 4812) or NSF IETF (RFC 3623). You can configure
graceful restart on OSPFv3 using graceful-restart (RFC 5187).
Configuring the NSF graceful-restart feature involves two steps; configuring capabilities and configuring a
device as NSF-capable or NSF-aware. A NSF-capable device can indicate its own restart activities to neighbors
and a NSF-aware device can help a restarting neighbor.
A device can be configured as NSF-capable or NSF-aware, depending on some conditions:
• A device can be configured as NSF-aware irrespective of the mode in which it is.
• A device has to be in either Failover or Spanned Etherchannel (L2) cluster mode to be configured as
NSF-capable.
• For a device to be either NSF-aware or NSF-capable, it should be configured with the capability of
handling opaque Link State Advertisements (LSAs)/ Link Local Signaling (LLS) block as required.

Note When fast hellos are configured for OSPFv2, graceful restart does not occur when the active unit reloads and
the standby unit becomes active. This is because the time taken for the role change is more than the configured
dead interval.

Configuring Graceful Restart for OSPFv2

There are two graceful restart mechanisms for OSPFv2, Cisco NSF and IETF NSF. Only one of these graceful
restart mechanisms can be configured at a time for an ospf instance. An NSF-aware device can be configured
as both Cisco NSF helper and IETF NSF helper but a NSF-capable device can be configured in either Cisco
NSF or IETF NSF mode at a time for an ospf instance.

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Configure Cisco NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2

Configure Cisco NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2

Configure Cisco NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2, for a NSF-capable or NSF-aware device.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup > Advanced
> Add NSF Properties.
Step 2 Under Configuring Cisco NSF, check the Enable Cisco nonstop forwarding (NSF) check box.
Step 3 (Optional) Check the Cancels NSF restart when non-NSF-aware neighboring networking devices are detected
check box if required.
Step 4 (Optional) Under Configuring Cisco NSF helper, uncheck the Enable Cisco nonstop forwarding (NSF) for
helper mode check box.
Note This is checked by default. Uncheck this to disable the Cisco NSF helper mode on NSF-aware
device.

Step 5 Click OK.

Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configure IETF NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2

Configure IETF NSF Graceful Restart for OSPFv2, for a NSF-capable or NSF-aware device.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup > Advanced
> Add NSF Properties.
Step 2 Under Configuring IETF NSF, check the Enable IETF nonstop forwarding (NSF) check box.
Step 3 (Optional) Enter the restart interval in seconds in the Length of graceful restart interval field.
Note The default value is 120 seconds. For a restart interval below 30 seconds, graceful restart will be
terminated.

Step 4 (Optional) Under Configuring IETF NSF helper, uncheck the Enable IETF nonstop forwarding (NSF) for
helper mode check box.
This is checked by default. Uncheck this to disable the IETF NSF helper mode on NSF-aware device.

Step 5 Click OK.

Step 6 Click Apply to save your changes.

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Configuring Graceful Restart for OSPFv3

Configuring the NSF graceful-restart feature for OSPFv3 involves two steps; configuring a device to be
NSF-capable and then configuring a device to be NSF-aware.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup >
Advanced > Add NSF Properties.
Step 2 Under Configuring Graceful Restart, check the Enable Graceful Restart check box.
Step 3 (Optional) Enter a value for the restart interval in the Restart Interval field.
Note The default value is 120 seconds. For a restart interval below 30 seconds, graceful restart will be
terminated.

Step 4 Under Configuring Graceful Restart Helper, check the Enable Graceful Restart Helper check box.
This is checked by default. Uncheck this to disable the Graceful-restart helper mode on a NSF-aware device.

Step 5 (Optional) Check the Enable LSA checking check box to enable strict link state advertisement checking.
When enabled, it indicates that the helper router will terminate the process of restarting the router if it detects
that there is a change to a LSA that would be flooded to the restarting router, or if there is a changed LSA on
the retransmission list of the restarting router when the graceful restart process is initiated.

Step 6 Click OK.

Step 7 Click Apply to save your changes.

Configuring Graceful Restart Wait Timer for OSPF

OSPF routers are expected to set the RS-bit in the EO-TLV attached to a Hello packet when it is not known
that all neighbors are listed in the packet, but the restarting routers require to preserve their adjacencies.
However, the RS-bit value must not be longer than the RouterDeadInterval seconds. Hence the timers nsf
wait command is introduced to set the RS-bit in Hello packets lesser than RouterDeadInterval seconds. The
default value of NSF wait timer is 20 seconds.

Before you begin

• To configure Cisco NSF wait time for OSPF, the device must be NSF-aware or NSF-capable.

Procedure

Step 1 Enter into OSPF router configuration mode.

Example:
ciscoasa(config)# router ospf

Step 2 Enter timers and specify nsf.

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Example:
ciscoasa(config-router)# timers?
router mode commands/options:
lsa OSPF LSA timers
nsf OSPF NSF timer
pacing OSPF pacing timers
throttle OSPF throttle timers
ciscoasa(config-router)# timers nsf ?

Step 3 Enter the graceful restart wait interval. This value can range between 1 and 65535.
Example:
ciscoasa(config-router)# timers nsf wait 200

By using the graceful restart wait interval, you can ensure that the wait interval is not longer than the router
dead interval.

Remove the OSPFv2 Configuration

Remove the OSPFv2 configuration.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
Step 2 Uncheck the Enable this OSPF Process check box.
Step 3 Click Apply.

Remove the OSPFv3 Configuration

Remove the OSPFv3 configuration.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Setup.
Step 2 Uncheck the Enable OSPFv3 Process check box.
Step 3 Click Apply.

Example for OSPFv2

The following example shows how to enable and configure OSPFv2 with various optional processes:
1. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.

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2. Click the Process Instances tab and in the OSPF Process 1 field, type 2.
3. Click the Area/Networks tab, and click Add.
4. Enter 0 in the Area ID field.
5. In the Area Networks area, enter 10.0.0.0 in the IP Address field.
6. Choose 255.0.0.0 from the Netmask drop-down list.
7. Click OK.
8. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF >
Redistribution.
9. Click Add.
The Add/Edit OSPF Redistribution Entry dialog box appears.
10. In the Protocol area, click the OSPF radio button to choose the source protocol from which the routes
are being redistributed. Choosing OSPF redistributes routes from another OSPF routing process.
11. Choose the OSPF process ID from the OSPF Process drop-down list.
12. In the Match area, check the Internal check box.
13. In the Metric Value field, enter 5 for the metric value for the routes being redistributed.
14. From the Metric Type drop-down list, choose 1 for the Metric Type value.
15. From the Route Map drop-down list, choose 1.
16. Click OK.
17. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Interface.
18. From the Properties tab, choose the inside interface and click Edit.
The Edit OSPF Properties dialog box appears.
19. In the Cost field, enter 20.
20. Click Advanced.
21. In the Retransmit Interval field, enter 15.
22. In the Transmit Delay field, enter 20.
23. In the Hello Interval field, enter 10.
24. In the Dead Interval field, enter 40.
25. Click OK.
26. In the Edit OSPF Properties dialog box, enter 20 in the Priorities field, and click OK.
27. Click the Authentication tab.
The Edit OSPF Authentication dialog box appears.
28. In the Authentication area, click the MD5 radio button.
29. In the MD5 and Key ID area, enter cisco in the MD5 Key field, and 1 in the MD5 Key ID field.

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30. Click OK.

31. Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup, and click the Area/Networks
tab.
32. Choose the OSPF 2 process and click Edit.
The Edit OSPF Area dialog box appears.
33. In the Area Type area, choose Stub.
34. In the Authentication area, choose None, and enter 20 in the Default Cost field.
35. Click OK.
36. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPF > Setup.
37. Click the Process Instances tab and check the OSPF process 2 check box.
38. Click Advanced.
The Edit OSPF Area dialog box appears.
39. In the Timers area, enter 10 in the SPF Delay Time field and 20 in the SPF Hold Time field.
40. In the Adjacency Changes area, check the Log Adjacency Change Details check box.
41. Click OK.
42. Click Reset.

Examples for OSPFv3

The following example shows how to configure OSPFv3 routing in ASDM:
1. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 >
Setup.
2. On the Process Instances tab, do the following:
a. Check the Enable OSPFv3 Process check box.
b. Enter 1 in the Process ID field.

3. Click the Areas tab. then click Add to display the Add OSPFv3 Area dialog box.
4. From the OSPFv3 Process ID drop-down list, choose 1.
5. Enter 22 in the Area ID field.
6. Choose Normal from the Area Type drop-down list.
7. Enter 10 in the Default Cost field.
8. Check the Redistribution imports routes to normal and NSSA areas check box.
9. Enter 20 in the Metric field.
10. Choose 1 from the Metric Type drop-down list.

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11. Check the inside check box as the specified interface being used.
12. Check the Enable Authentication check box.
13. Enter 300 in the Security Policy Index field.
14. Choose SHA-1 from the Authentication Algorithm drop-down list.
15. Enter 12345ABCDE in the Authentication Key field.
16. Choose DES from the Encryption Algorithm drop-down list.
17. Enter 1122334455aabbccddee in the Encryption Key field.
18. Click OK.
19. Click the Route Summarization tab, then click Add to display the Add Route Summarization dialog
box.
20. Choose 1 from the Process ID drop-down list.
21. Choose 22 from the Area ID drop-down list.
22. Enter 2000:122::/64 in the IPv6 Prefix/Prefix Length field.
23. (Optional) Enter 100 in the Cost field.
24. Check the Advertised check box.
25. Click OK.
26. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 >
Interface.
27. Click the Properties tab.
28. Check the inside check box and click Edit to display the Edit OSPF Properties dialog box.
29. In the Cost field, enter 20.
30. Enter 1 in the Priority field.
31. Check the point-to-point check box.
32. In the Dead Interval field, enter 40.
33. In the Hello Interval field, enter 10.
34. In the Retransmit Interval field, enter 15.
35. In the Transmit Delay field, enter 20.
36. Click OK.
37. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Redistribution.
38. Choose 1 from the Process ID drop-down list.
39. Choose OSPF from the Source Protocol drop-down list.
40. Enter 50 in the Metric field.
41. Choose 1 from the Metric Type drop-down list.

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42. Click OK.

43. Click Apply to save your changes.

Monitoring OSPF
You can display specific statistics such as the contents of IP routing tables, caches, and databases. You can
also use the information provided to determine resource utilization and solve network problems. You can also
display information about node reachability and discover the routing path that your device packets are taking
through the network.
To monitor or display various OSPFv2 routing statistics in ASDM, perform the following steps:
1. In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > OSPF LSAs.
2. You can select and monitor OSPF LSAs, Types 1 through 5 and 7. Each pane shows one LSA type, as
follows:
• Type 1 LSAs represent the routes in an area under a process.
• Type 2 LSAs show the IP address of the designated router that advertises the routers.
• Type 3 LSAs show the IP address of the destination network.
• Type 4 LSAs show the IP address of the AS boundary router.
• Type 5 LSAs and Type 7 LSAs show the IP address of the AS external network.

3. Click Refresh to update each LSA type pane.

4. In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > OSPF Neighbors.
In the OSPF Neighbors pane, each row represents one OSPF neighbor. In addition, the OSPF Neighbors
pane shows the network on which the neighbor is running, the priority, the state, the amount of dead time
in seconds, the IP address of the neighbor, and the interface on which it is running. For a list of possible
states for an OSPF neighbor, see RFC 2328.
5. Click Refresh to update the OSPF Neighbors pane.

To monitor or display various OSPFv3 routing statistics in ASDM, perform the following steps:
1. In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > OSPFv3 LSAs.
2. You can select and monitor OSPFv3 LSAs. Choose a link-state type to display its status according to
specified parameters from the Link State type drop-down list. The supported link-state types are router,
network, inter-area prefix, inter-area router, AS external, NSSA, link, and intra-area prefix.
3. Click Refresh to update each link-state type.
4. In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > OSPFv3 Neighbors.
In the OSPFv3 Neighbors pane, each row represents one OSPFv3 neighbor. In addition, the OSPFv3
Neighbors pane shows the IP address of the neighbor, the priority, the state, the amount of dead time in
seconds, and the interface on which it is running. For a list of possible states for an OSPFv3 neighbor,
see RFC 5340.
5. Click Refresh to update the OSPFv3 Neighbors pane.

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History for OSPF

History for OSPF

Table 40: Feature History for OSPF

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

OSPF Support 7.0(1) Support was added for route data,

authentication, and redistribution and
monitoring of routing information using the
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing
protocol.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF.

Dynamic Routing in Multiple Context 9.0(1) OSPFv2 routing is supported in multiple

Mode context mode.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF > Setup

Clustering 9.0(1) For OSPFv2 and OSPFv3, bulk

synchronization, route synchronization, and
Spanned EtherChannel load balancing are
supported in the clustering environment.

OSPFv3 Support for IPv6 9.0(1) OSPFv3 routing is supported for IPv6.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPFv3 > Setup, Configuration > Device
Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Interface,
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPFv3 > Redistribution, Configuration >
Device Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 >
Summary Prefix, Configuration > Device
Setup > Routing > OSPFv3 > Virtual Link,
Monitoring > Routing > OSPFv3 LSAs,
Monitoring > Routing > OSPFv3
Neighbors.

OSPF support for Fast Hellos 9.2(1) OSPF supports the Fast Hello Packets
feature, resulting in a configuration that
results in faster convergence in an OSPF
network.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF > Interface > Edit OSPF Interface
Advanced Properties

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History for OSPF

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Timers 9.2(1) New OSPF timers were added; old ones

were deprecated.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF > Setup > Edit OSPF Process
Advanced Properties

Route filtering using access-list 9.2(1) Route filtering using ACL is now
supported.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF > Filtering Rules > Add Filter Rules

OSPF Monitoring enhancements 9.2(1) Additional OSPF monitoring information

was added.

OSPF redistribute BGP 9.2(1) OSPF redistribution feature was added.

We added the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF > Redistribution

OSPF Support for Non-Stop Forwarding 9.3(1) OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 support for NSF was
(NSF) added.
We added the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPF > Setup > NSF Properties,
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
OSPFv3 > Setup > NSF Properties

OSPF Support for Non-Stop Forwarding 9.13(1) NSF wait timer was added.
(NSF)
We added a new command for setting the
timer for the NSF restart interval. This
command was introduced to ensure the wait
interval is not longer that the router dead
interval.
We introduced the following command:
timers nsf wait <seconds>

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 CHAPTER 33
IS-IS
This chapter describes the Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) routing protocol.
• About IS-IS, on page 789
• Prerequisites for IS-IS, on page 795
• Guidelines for IS-IS, on page 795
• Configure IS-IS, on page 796
• Monitoring IS-IS, on page 811
• History for IS-IS, on page 811

About IS-IS
IS-IS routing protocol is a link state Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP). Link-state protocols are characterized
by the propagation of the information required to build a complete network connectivity map on each
participating device. That map is then used to calculate the shortest path to destinations. The IS-IS
implementation supports IPv4 and IPv6.
You can divide a routing domain into one or more subdomains. Each subdomain is called an area and is
assigned an area address. Routing within an area is known as Level-1 routing. Routing between Level-1 areas
is known as Level-2 routing. A router is referred to as an Intermediate System (IS). An IS can operate at Level
1, Level 2, or both. ISes that operate at Level 1 exchange routing information with other Level-1 ISes in the
same area. ISes that operate at Level 2 exchange routing information with other Level-2 routers regardless of
whether they are in the same Level-1 area. The set of Level-2 routers and the links that interconnect them
form the Level-2 subdomain, which must not be partitioned in order for routing to work properly.

About NET
An IS is identified by an address known as a Network Entity Title (NET). The NET is the address of a Network
Service Access Point (NSAP), which identifies an instance of the IS-IS routing protocol running on an IS.
The NET is 8 to 20 octets in length and has the following three parts:
• Area address—This field is 1 to 13 octets in length and is composed of high-order octets of the address.

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IS-IS Dynamic Hostname

Note You can assign multiple area addresses to an IS-IS instance; in this case, all area
addresses are considered synonymous. Multiple synonymous area addresses are
useful when merging or splitting areas in the domain. Once the merge or split
has been completed, you do not need to assign more than one area address to an
IS-IS instance.

• System ID—This field is 6 octets long and immediately follows the area address. When the IS operates
at Level 1, the system ID must be unique among all the Level-1 devices in the same area. When the IS
operates at Level 2, the system ID must be unique among all devices in the domain.

Note You assign one system ID to an IS instance.

• NSEL—The N-selector field is 1 octet in length and immediately follows the system ID. It must be set
to 00.

Figure 65: NET Format

IS-IS Dynamic Hostname

In the IS-IS routing domain, the system ID is used to represent each ASA. The system ID is part of the NET
that is configured for each IS-IS ASA. For example, an ASA with a configured NET of
49.0001.0023.0003.000a.00 has a system ID of 0023.0003.000a. ASA-name-to-system-ID mapping is difficult
for network administrators to remember during maintenance and troubleshooting on the ASAs.
The dynamic hostname mechanism uses link-state protocol (LSP) flooding to distribute the
ASA-name-to-system-ID mapping information across the entire network. Every ASA on the network will try
to install the system ID-to-ASA name mapping information in its routing table.
If an ASA that has been advertising the dynamic name type, length, value (TLV) on the network suddenly
stops the advertisement, the mapping information last received will remain in the dynamic host mapping table
for up to one hour, allowing the network administrator to display the entries in the mapping table during a
time when the network experiences problems.

IS-IS PDU Types

ISes exchange routing information with their peers using protocol data units (PDUs). Intermediate
System-to-Intermediate System Hello PDUs (IIHs), Link-State PDUs (LSPs), and Sequence Number PDUs
(SNPs) types of PDUs are used.
IIHs
IIHs are exchanged between IS neighbors on circuits that have the IS-IS protocol enabled. IIHs include
the system ID of the sender, the assigned area address(es), and the identity of neighbors on that circuit
that are known to the sending IS. Additional optional information can also be included.

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Operation of IS-IS on Multiaccess Circuits

There are two types of IIHs:

• Level-1 LAN IIHs—These are sent on multiaccess circuits when the sending IS operates as a Level-1
device on that circuit.
• Level-2 LAN IIHs—These are sent on multiaccess circuits when the sending IS operates as a Level-2
device on that circuit.

LSPs
An IS generates LSPs to advertise its neighbors and the destinations that are directly connected to the
IS. An LSP is uniquely identified by the following:
• System ID of the IS that generated the LSP
• Pseudonode ID—This value is always 0 except when the LSP is a pseudonode LSP
• LSP number (0 to 255)
• 32-bit sequence number

Whenever a new version of an LSP is generated, the sequence number is incremented.

Level-1 LSPs are generated by ISs that support Level 1. The Level-1 LSPs are flooded throughout the
Level-1 area. The set of Level-1 LSPs generated by all Level-1 ISs in an area is the Level-1 LSP Database
(LSPDB). All Level-1 ISs in an area have an identical Level-1 LSPDB and therefore have an identical
network connectivity map for the area.
Level-2 LSPs are generated by ISs that support Level 2. Level-2 LSPs are flooded throughout the Level-2
subdomain. The set of Level-2 LSPs generated by all Level-2 ISs in the domain is the Level-2 LSP
Database (LSPDB). All Level-2 ISs have an identical Level-2 LSPDB and therefore have an identical
connectivity map for the Level-2 subdomain.
SNPs
SNPs contain a summary description of one or more LSPs. There are two types of SNPs for both Level
1 and Level 2:
• Complete Sequence Number PDUs (CSNPs) are used to send a summary of the LSPDB that an IS
has for a given level.
• Partial Sequence Number PDUs (PSNPs) are used to send a summary of a subset of the LSPs for a
given level that an IS either has in its database or needs to obtain.

Operation of IS-IS on Multiaccess Circuits

Multiaccess circuits support multiple ISes, that is, two or more operating on the circuit. For multiaccess circuits
a necessary prerequisite is the ability to address multiple systems using a multicast or broadcast address. An
IS that supports Level 1 on a multiaccess circuit sends Level-1 LAN IIHs on the circuit. An IS that supports
Level 2 on a multiaccess circuit sends Level-2 LAN IIHs on the circuit. ISes form separate adjacencies for
each level with neighbor ISes on the circuit.
An IS forms a Level-1 adjacency with other ISes that support Level 1 on the circuit and has a matching area
address. Two ISes with disjointed sets of area addresses supporting Level 1 on the same multiaccess circuit
is NOT supported. An IS forms a Level-2 adjacency with other ISes that support Level 2 on the circuit.

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IS-IS Election of the Designated IS

The devices in the IS-IS network topology in the following figure perform Level 1, Level 2, or Level 1 and
2 routing along the backbone of the network.
Figure 66: Level-1, Level-2, Level 1-2 Devices in an IS-IS Network Topology

IS-IS Election of the Designated IS

If each IS advertised all of its adjacencies on a multiaccess circuit in its LSPs, the total number of advertisements
required would be N 2 (where N is the number of ISes that operate at a given level on the circuit). To address
this scalability issue, IS-IS defines a pseudonode to represent the multiaccess circuit. All ISes that operate on
the circuit at a given level elect one of the ISes to act as the Designated Intermediate System (DIS) on that
circuit. A DIS is elected for each level that is active on the circuit.
The DIS is responsible for issuing pseudonode LSPs. The pseudonode LSPs include neighbor advertisements
for all of the ISes that operate on that circuit. All ISes that operate on the circuit (including the DIS) provide
a neighbor advertisement to the pseudonode in their non-pseudonode LSPs and do not advertise any of their
neighbors on the multiaccess circuit. In this way the total number of advertisements required varies as a
function of N-the number of ISes that operate on the circuit.
A pseudonode LSP is uniquely classified by the following identifiers:
• System ID of the DIS that generated the LSP
• Pseudonode ID (ALWAYS NON-ZERO)
• LSP number (0 to 255)
• 32-bit sequence number

The nonzero pseudonode ID is what differentiates a pseudonode LSP from a non-pseudonode LSP and is
chosen by the DIS to be unique among any other LAN circuits for which it is also the DIS at this level.
The DIS is also responsible for sending periodic CSNPs on the circuit. This provides a complete summary
description of the current contents of the LSPDB on the DIS. Other ISes on the circuit can then perform the
following activities, which efficiently and reliably synchronizes the LSPDBs of all ISes on a multiaccess
circuit:
• Flood LSPs that are absent from or are newer than those that are described in the CSNPs sent by the DIS.

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IS-IS LSPDB Synchronization

• Request an LSP by sending a PSNP for LSPs that are described in the CSNPs sent by the DIS that are
absent from the local database or older than what is described in the CSNP set.

IS-IS LSPDB Synchronization

Proper operation of IS-IS requires a reliable and efficient process to synchronize the LSPDBs on each IS. In
IS-IS this process is called the update process. The update process operates independently at each supported
level. Locally generated LSPs are always new LSPs. LSPs received from a neighbor on a circuit may be
generated by some other IS or may be a copy of an LSP generated by the local IS. Received LSPs can be
older, the same age, or newer than the current contents of the local LSPDB.
Handling Newer LSPs
When a newer LSP is added to the local LSPDB, it replaces an older copy of the same LSP in the LSPDB.
The newer LSP is marked to be sent on all circuits on which the IS currently has an adjacency in the UP
state at the level associated with the newer LSP—excluding the circuit on which the newer LSP was
received.
For multiaccess circuits, the IS floods the newer LSP once. The IS examines the set of CNSPs that are
sent periodically by the DIS for the multiaccess circuit. If the local LSPDB contains one or more LSPs
that are newer than what is described in the CSNP set (this includes LSPs that are absent from the CSNP
set), those LSPs are reflooded over the multiaccess circuit. If the local LSPDB contains one or more
LSPs that are older than what is described in the CSNP set (this includes LSPs described in the CSNP
set that are absent from the local LSPDB), a PSNP is sent on the multiaccess circuit with descriptions
of the LSPs that require updating. The DIS for the multiaccess circuit responds by sending the requested
LSPs.
Handling Older LSPs
An IS may receive an LSP that is older than the copy in the local LSPDB. An IS may receive an SNP
(complete or partial) that describes an LSP that is older than the copy in the local LSPDB. In both cases
the IS marks the LSP in the local database to be flooded on the circuit on which the older LSP or SNP
that contained the older LSP was received. Actions taken are the same as described above after a new
LSP is added to the local database.
Handling Same-Age LSPs
Because of the distributed nature of the update process, it is possible than an IS may receive copies of
an LSP that is the same as the current contents of the local LSPDB. In multiaccess circuits receipt of a
same-age LSP is ignored. Periodic transmission of a CSNP set by the DIS for that circuit serves as an
implicit acknowledgment to the sender that the LSP has been received.
The following figure shows how LSPs are used to create a network map. Think of the network topology as a
jigsaw puzzle. Each LSP (representing an IS) is one of the pieces. It is applicable to all Level-1 devices in an
area or to all Level-2 devices in a Level-2 subdomain.

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IS-IS Shortest Path Calculation

Figure 67: IS-IS Network Map

The following figure shows each device in the IS-IS network with its fully updated link-state database after
the adjacencies have been formed among the neighbor devices. It is applicable to all Level-1 devices in an
area or to all Level-2 devices in a Level-2 subdomain.
Figure 68: IS-IS Devices with Synchronized LSPDBs

IS-IS Shortest Path Calculation

When the contents of the LSPDB change, each IS independently reruns a shortest path calculation. The
algorithm is based on the well-known Dijkstra algorithm for finding the shortest paths along a directed graph
where the ISes are the vertices of the graph and the links between the ISes are edges with a nonnegative
weight. A two-way connectivity check is performed before considering a link between two ISes as part of the
graph. This prevents the use of stale information in the LSPDB, for example, when one IS is no longer operating
in the network but did not purge the set of LSPs that it generated before stopping operation.
The output of the SPF is a set of tuples (destination, next hop). The destinations are protocol-specific. Multiple
equal-cost paths are supported, in which case multiple next hops would be associated with the same destination.
Independent SPFs are performed for each level supported by the IS. When the same destination is reachable
by both Level-1 and Level-2 paths, the Level-1 path is preferred.

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IS-IS Shutdown Protocol

A Level-2 IS that indicates that it has one or more Level-2 neighbors in other areas may be used by Level-1
devices in the same area as the path of last resort, also called the default route. The Level-2 IS indicates its
attachment to other areas by setting an attached bit (ATT) in its Level-1 LSP 0.

Note An IS can generate up to 256 LSPs at each level. The LSPs are identified by the numbers 0 through 255. LSP
0 has special properties, including the significance of the setting of the ATT bit to indicate attachment to other
areas. When LSPs that are numbered 1 through 255 have the ATT bit set, it is not significant.

IS-IS Shutdown Protocol

You can shut down IS-IS (placing it in an administrative down state) to make changes to the IS-IS protocol
configuration without losing your configuration parameters. You can shut down IS-IS at the global IS-IS
process level or at the interface level. If the device was rebooted when the protocol was turned off, the protocol
would be expected to come back up in the disabled state. When the protocol is set to the administrative down
state, network administrators are allowed to administratively turn off the operation of the IS-IS protocol
without losing the protocol configuration, to make a series of changes to the protocol configuration without
having the operation of the protocol transition through intermediate-and perhaps undesirable-states, and to
then reenable the protocol at a suitable time.

Prerequisites for IS-IS

The following prerequisites are necessary before configuring IS-IS:
• Knowledge of IPv4 and IPv6.
• Knowledge of your network design and how you want traffic to flow through it before configuring IS-IS.
• Define areas, prepare an addressing plan for the devices (including defining the NETs), and determine
the interfaces that will run IS-IS.
• Before you configure your devices, prepare a matrix of adjacencies that shows what neighbors should
be expected in the adjacencies table. This will facilitate verification.

Guidelines for IS-IS

Firewall Mode Guidelines
Supported only in routed firewall mode. Transparent firewall mode is not supported.

Cluster Guidelines
Supported only in Individual Interface mode; Spanned EtherChannel mode is not supported.

Additional Guidelines
IS-IS is not supported with bidirectional forwarding.

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Configure IS-IS

Configure IS-IS
This section describes how to enable and configure the IS-IS process on your system.

Procedure

Step 1 Enable IS-IS Routing Globally, on page 796.

Step 2 Enable IS-IS Authentication, on page 797.
Step 3 Configure IS-IS LSP, on page 798
Step 4 Configure IS-IS Summary Addresses, on page 799.
Step 5 Configure IS-IS NET, on page 801.
Step 6 Configure IS-IS Passive Interfaces, on page 801.
Step 7 Configure IS-IS Interfaces, on page 802.
Step 8 Configure IS-IS IPv4 Address Family, on page 805.
Step 9 Configure IS-IS IPv6 Address Family, on page 809.

Enable IS-IS Routing Globally

Before you begin
In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the system
to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > General.
Step 2 Check the Configure ISIS check box to enable IS-IS.
Step 3 Check the Shutdown protocol check box to enable shutdown protocol,
See IS-IS Shutdown Protocol, on page 795for more information on Shutdown protocol.

Step 4 To have IS-IS use a dynamic hostname, check the Use dynamic hostname check box.
Dynamic hostname is enabled by default. See IS-IS Dynamic Hostname, on page 790 for detailed information
on the dynamic hostname in IS-IS.

Step 5 To prevent IS-IS from padding LAN hello PDUs, check the Do not pad LAN hello PDUs check box.
IS-IS hellos are padded to the full maximum transmission unit (MTU) size. This allows for early detection
of errors that result from transmission problems with large frames or errors that result from mismatched MTUs
on adjacent interfaces. You can disable hello padding to avoid wasting network bandwidth in case the MTU
of both interfaces is the same or in the case of translational bridging.

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Enable IS-IS Authentication

Step 6 To advertise passive interfaces only, check the Advertise passive only check box.
It excludes IP prefixes of connected networks from LSP advertisements, which reduces IS-IS convergence
time.

Step 7 Choose whether to have your ASA act as station router (Level 1), an area router (Level 2), or both (Level 1-2)
by clicking the appropriate radio button.
See About IS-IS, on page 789for more information on IS-IS levels.

Step 8 In the Topology priority field, enter a number that indicates where the ASA's priority is in the topology. The
range is from 0 to 127.
Step 9 In the Route priority tag field, enter a tag that indicates the ASA's route priority. The range is from 1 to
4294967295. The default value is 100. Higher values indicate higher preference. This preference is sent to all
routers in the IS-IS system.
Step 10 To have the IS conditionally advertise as L2, choose a device from the drop-down menu, and click Manage.
See Define a Route Map for the procedure for adding a route map.

Step 11 Check the Log changes in adjacency check box to have the ASA send a log message whenever an IS-IS
neighbor goes up or down.
This command is disabled by default. Logging adjacency changes is useful when monitoring large networks.

Step 12 To have changes included from non-IIH events, check the Include changes generated by non-IIH events
check box.
Step 13 To set up the skeptical time interval, enter the amount of minutes in the Skeptical interval field. The range
is 0 to 1440 minutes. The default is five minutes.
Step 14 Click Apply.

Enable IS-IS Authentication

IS-IS route authentication prevents the introduction of unauthorized or false routing messages from unapproved
sources. You can set a password for each IS-IS area or domain to prevent unauthorized routers from injecting
false routing information into the link-state database, or you can configure a type of IS-IS authentication,
either IS-IS MD5 or enhanced clear text authentication. You can also set authentication per interface. All
IS-IS neighbors on interfaces configured for IS-IS message authentication must be configured with the same
authentication mode and key for adjacencies to be established.
See About IS-IS, on page 789 for more information on areas and domains.

Before you begin

Before you can enable IS-IS route authentication, you must enable IS-IS and set up an area. See Enable IS-IS
Routing Globally, on page 796 for the procedure.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > Authentication.
Step 2 Configure authentication parameters for Level 1 and Level 2:

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Configure IS-IS LSP

• In the Key field, enter the key to authenticate IS-IS updates. The key can include up to 16 characters.
• Click the Enable or Disable radio button depending or whether you want to have Send Only enabled.
Note ASAs will have more time for the keys to be configured on each ASA if authentication is
inserted only on the packets being sent, not checked on packets being received.

• Choose the authentication mode by clicking either the Disabled, MD5, or Plaintext radio button.

Step 3 If you choose Disabled, enter an area password for the Level 1 area (subdomain) and/or a domain password
for the Level 2 domain.
Step 4 Click Apply.

Configure IS-IS LSP

An IS generates LSPs to advertise its neighbors and the destinations that are directly connected to IS-IS. See
IS-IS PDU Types, on page 790 for more detailed information on LSPs.
Use the following commands to configure LSPs so that you have a faster convergence configuration.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the system
to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under the
active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > Link State Packet.
Note IS-IS must be enabled before you can configure LSP parameters. See Enable IS-IS Routing Globally,
on page 796 for the procedure.

Step 2 To allow the ASA to ignore LSP packets that are received with internal checksum errors rather than purging
the LSPs, check the Ignore LSP errors check box.
Step 3 To fast-flood and fill LSPs before running SPF, check the Flood LSPs before running SPF, and then in the
Number of LSPs to be flooded field, enter a number. The range is 1 to 15. The default is 5.
This parameter sends a specified number of LSPs from the ASA. If no LSP number is specified, the default
of 5 is used. The LSPs invoke SPF before running SPF. We recommend that you enable fast flooding, because
then you speed up the LSP flooding process, which improves overall network convergence time.

Step 4 To suppress IP prefixes, check the Suppress IP prefixes check box, and then check one of the following:
• Don't advertise IP prefixes learned form another ISIS level when ran out of LSP
fragments—Suppresses any routes coming from another level. For example, if the Level-2 LSP becomes
full, routes from Level 1 are suppressed.
• Don't advertise IP prefixes learned form other protocols when ran out of LSP fragments—Suppresses
any redistributed routes on the ASA.

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Configure IS-IS Summary Addresses

In networks where there is no limit placed on the number of redistributed routes into IS-IS, it is possible that
the LSP can become full and routes will be dropped. Use these options to control which routes are suppressed
when the PDU becomes full.

Step 5 Configure the LSP generation intervals for Level 1 and Level 2:
• LSP calculation interval—Enter the interval of time in seconds between transmission of each LSP. The
range is 1 to 120 seconds. The default is 5.
The number should be greater than the expected round-trip delay between any two ASAs on the attached
network. The number should be conservative or needless transmission results. Retransmissions occur
only when LSPs are dropped. So setting the number to a higher value has little effect on reconvergence.
The more neighbors the ASAs have, and the more paths over which LSPs can be flooded, the higher you
can make this value.
• Initial wait for LSP calculation—Enter the time in milliseconds specifying the initial wait time before
the first LSP is generated. The range is 1 to 120,000. The default is 50.
• Minimum wait between first and second LSP calculation—Enter the time in milliseconds between
the first and second LSP generation. The range is 1 to 120,000. The default is 5000.

Step 6 If you want the values you configured for Level 1 to also apply to Level 2, check the Use level 1 parameters
also for level 2 check box.
Step 7 In the Maximum LSP size field, enter the maximum number of seconds between two consecutive occurrences
of an LSP being generated. The range is 128 to 4352. The default is 1492.
Step 8 In the LSP refresh interval field, enter the number of seconds at which LSPs are refreshed. The range is 1
to 65,5535. The default is 900.
The refresh interval determines the rate at which the software periodically transmits in LSPs the route topology
information that it originates. This is done to keep the database information from becoming too old.
Reducing the refresh interval reduces the amount of time that undetected link state database corruption can
persist at the cost of increased link utilization. (This is an extremely unlikely event, however, because there
are other safeguards against corruption.) Increasing the interval reduces the link utilization caused by the
flooding of refreshed packets (although this utilization is very small).

Step 9 In the Maximum LSP lifetime field, enter the maximum number of seconds that LSPs can remain in a router's
database without being refreshed. The range is 1 to 65,535. The default is 1200 (20 minutes).
You might need to adjust this parameter if you change the LSP refresh interval. LSPs must be periodically
refreshed before their lifetimes expire. The value set for LSP refresh interval should be less that the value set
for the maximum LSP lifetime; otherwise LSPs will time out before they are refreshed. If you make the LSP
lifetime too low compared to the LSP refresh interval, the LSP refresh interval is automatically reduced to
prevent the LSPs from timing out.

Step 10 Click Apply.

Configure IS-IS Summary Addresses

Multiple groups of addresses can be summarized for a given level. Routes learned from other routing protocols
can also be summarized. The metric used to advertise the summary is the smallest metric of all the more
specific routes. This helps to reduce the size of the routing table.

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Configure IS-IS Summary Addresses

You need to manually define summary addresses if you want to create summary addresses that do not occur
at a network number boundary or if you want to use summary addresses on an ASA with automatic route
summarization disabled.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > Summary Address.
The Configure ISIS Summary Address pane displays a table of the statically-defined IS-IS summary
addresses. By default, IS-IS summarizes subnet routes to the network level. You can create statically defined
IS-IS summary addresses to the subnet level from the Configure ISIS Summary Address pane.

Step 2 Click Add to add a new IS-IS summary address, or to click Edit to edit an existing IS-IS summary address
in the table.
The Add Summary Address or Edit Summary Address dialog box is displayed. You can also double-click
an entry in the table to edit that entry.

Step 3 In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of the summary route.
Step 4 In the Netmask field, choose or enter the network mask to apply to the IP address.
Step 5 Select the Level 1, Level 2, or Level 1 and 2 radio button depending on which levels you want to receive
summary addresses.
• Level 1—Summary routes are applied when redistributing routes into Level 1 and Level 2 and when
Level 2 IS-IS advertises Level 1 routes as reachable in its area.
• Level 2—Routes learned by Level 1 routing are summarized into the Level 2 backbone with the configured
address and mask value. Redistributed routes into Level 2 IS-IS are summarized also.
• Level 1 and 2—Summary routes are applied when redistributing routes into Level 1 and Level 2 and
when Level 2 IS-IS advertises Level 1 routes as reachable in its area.

Step 6 In the Tag field, enter a number for the tag. The range is 1 to 4294967295.
The Tag field lets you specify a number to tag routes that are being summarized. If the routes have already
been tagged on the Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > General pane in the Route
priority tag field, those routes are summarized, otherwise the tag is lost.

Step 7 In the Metric field, enter the metric that will be applied to the summary route. The range is 1 to 4294967295.
The default value is 10.
The Metric value is assigned to the link and used to calculate the path cost via the links to destinations. You
can configure this metric for Level 1 or Level 2 routing only.

Step 8 Click OK.

Step 9 Click Apply.

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Configure IS-IS NET

Configure IS-IS NET

Before you begin
In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the system
to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under the
active device IP address.
IS-IS uses addresses called Network Entity Titles (NET). They can be 8 to 20 bytes long, but are usually 10
bites long. You can add a NET entry on the NET page when clustering is not configured on the ASA. If your
ASA has clustering configured, you must create a net pool entry on the Configuration > Device Management
> Advanced > Address Pools > NET Address Pools pane. You can then reference the NET address pool
on the NET pane.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > Network Entity Title (NET).
The Configure Network Entity (NET) pane displays a table of the NET addresses. You can add a NET entry
here when clustering is NOT configured on the ASA. For an ASA with clustering configured, you must create
a net pool entry at Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Address Pools > Net Address
Pools.
YOu can then reference the NET address pool on the Network Entity Title (NET) pane.
Step 2 Click Add to add a new IS-IS NET address, or to click Edit to edit an existing IS-IS NET address in the table.
The Add Network Entity Title (NET) or Edit Network Entity Title (NET) dialog box appears. You can
also double-click an entry in the table to edit that entry.

Step 3 From the Network Entity Title (NET) drop-down list, choose a NET.
Step 4 In the Maximum allowed Net field, enter the maximum allowed NETs you want. The range is from 3 to 254.
The default is 3.
In most cases only one NET is necessary, but in the case of merging multiple areas or splitting one area into
multiple areas, you may need to use multiple area-addresses.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Configure IS-IS Passive Interfaces

You can disable IS-IS hello packets and routing updates on interfaces while still including the interface
addresses in the topology database. These interfaces will not form IS-IS neighbor adjacencies
If you have an interface that you do not want to participate in IS-IS routing, but that is attached to a network
that you want advertised, configure the passive interfaces to prevent that interface from using IS-IS.
Additionally, you can specify the version of IS-IS that is used by the ASA for updates. Passive routing assists
in controlling the advertisement of IS-IS routing information and disables the sending and receiving of IS-IS
routing updates on an interface.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > IS-IS > Passive Interfaces.
Step 2 To suppress routing updates on all interfaces, check the Suppress routing updates on all Interfaces check
box.
This causes all interfaces to operate in passive mode.

Step 3 To configure individual interfaces to suppress routing updates, select the named routing interface in the left
column and click Add to add it to the Suppress routing updates column.
Specifying an interface name sets only that interface to passive mode. In passive mode, IS-IS routing updates
are accepted by, but not sent out of, the specified interface.
Note Only interfaces that you have given a dynamic hostname can be suppressed from sending routing
updates. See IS-IS Dynamic Hostname, on page 790 for more information.

Step 4 Click Apply.

Configure IS-IS Interfaces

This procedure describes how to modify individual ASA interfaces for IS-IS routing.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > Interface.
The ISIS Interface Configuration pane appears and displays the IS-IS interface configurations. You can
configure hello padding per interface by checking/unchecking the Hello Padding check box.
IS-IS hellos are padded to the full maximum transmission unit (MTU) size. Padding IS-IS hellos to the full
MTU allows for early detection of errors that result from transmission problems with large frames or errors
that result from mismatched MTUs on adjacent interfaces.

Step 2 Choose an interface entry by double-clicking an interface entry, or choose the entry and click Edit.
The Edit ISIS Interface dialog box appears.

Step 3 On the General tab, configure the following:

• Shutdown ISIS on this interface—Lets you disable the IS-IS protocol for this interface without removing
the configuration parameters. The IS-IS protocol does not form any adjacencies on this interface, and
the IP address of this interface is put into the LSP that is generated by the ASA.
• Enable ISIS on this interface—Enables IS-IS protocol on this interface.
• Enable IPv6 ISIS routing on this interface—Enables IPv6 IS-IS routing on this interface.
• Priority for level-1—Lets you set a priority for Level 1. The priority is used to determine which router
on a LAN will be the designated router or Designated Intermediate System (DIS). The priorities are
advertised in the hello packets. The router with the highest priority becomes the DIS. The range is 0 to
127. The default is 64.

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Note In IS-IS, there is no backup designated router. Setting the priority to 0 lowers the chance of
this system becoming the DIS, but does not prevent it. If a router with a higher priority comes
on line, it takes over the role from the current DIS. In the case of equal priorities, the highest
MAC address breaks the tie.

• Priority for level-2—Lets you set a priority for Level 2. The priority is used to determine which router
on a LAN will be the designated router or Designated Intermediate System (DIS). The priorities are
advertised in the hello packets. The router with the highest priority becomes the DIS. The range is 0 to
127. The default is 64.
Note In IS-IS, there is no backup designated router. Setting the priority to 0 lowers the chance of
this system becoming the DIS, but does not prevent it. If a router with a higher priority comes
on line, it will take over the role from the current DIS. In the case of equal priorities, the highest
MAC address breaks the tie.

• Tag—Sets a tag on the IP address configured for an interface when this IP prefix is put into an IS-IS
LSP.
• CSNP Interval for level-1—Sets the Complete Sequence Number PDUs (CSNPs) interval in seconds
between transmission of CSNPs on multiaccess networks for Level 1. This interval only applies for the
designated ASA. The range is from 0 to 65535. The default is 10 seconds. It is unlikely that you will
have to change the default.
This option applies only for the designated router (DR) for a specified interface. Only DRs send CSNP
packets to maintain database synchronization.
• CSNP Interval for level-2—Sets the Complete Sequence Number PDUs (CSNPs) interval in seconds
between transmission of CSNPs on multiaccess networks for Level 2. This interval only applies for the
designated ASA. The range is from 0 to 65535. The default is 10 seconds. It is unlikely that you will
have to change the default.
This option applies only for the designated router (DR) for a specified interface. Only DRs send CSNP
packets to maintain database synchronization.
• Adjacency filter—Filters the establishment of IS-IS adjacencies.
Filtering is performed by building NSAP addresses out of incoming IS-IS hello packets by combining
each area address in the hello with the system ID. Each of these NSAP addresses is then passed through
the filter. If any one NSAP matches, the filter is considered passed unless you specifiedMatch all area
addresses, in which case all addresses must pass. The functionality of Match all area addresses is
useful in performing negative tests, such as accepting an adjacency only if a particular address is NOT
present.
• Match all area addresses—(Optional) All NSAP addresses must match the filter to accept the adjacency.
If not specified (the default), only one address must match the filter for the adjacency to be accepted.

Step 4 Click OK.

Step 5 On the Authentication tab, configure the following for Level 1 and/or Level 2:
• In the Key field, enter the key to authenticate IS-IS updates. The range is 0 to 8 characters.
If no password is configured with the Key option, no key authentication is performed.
• For Send only click the Enable or Disable radio button.

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Choosing Send only causes the system only to insert the password into the SNPs, but not check the
password in SNPs that it receives. Use this keyword during a software upgrade to ease the transition.
The default is disabled.
• Choose the authentication mode by checking the Mode check box and then choosing MD5 or Text from
the drop-down list, and in the Password field, enter a password.

Step 6 Click OK.

Step 7 On the Hello Padding tab, configure the following:
• Hello Padding—Enables Hello Padding.
IS-IS hellos are padded to the full maximum transmission unit (MTU) size. Padding IS-IS hellos to the
full MTU allows for early detection of errors that result from transmission problems with large frames
or errors that result from mismatched MTUs on adjacent interfaces.
• Minimal holdtime 1 second for Level-1—Enables the holdtime (in seconds) that the LSP remains valid
for Level 1.
• Hello Interval for level-1—Specifies the length of time in seconds between hello packets for Level 1.
By default, a value three times the hello interval seconds is advertised as the hold time in the hello packets
sent. (Change the multiplier of 3 by checking the Hello Multiplier check box.) With smaller hello
intervals, topological changes are detected faster, but there is more routing traffic. The range is 1 to
65535. The default is 10.
• Minimal holdtime 1 second for Level-2—Enables the holdtime (in seconds) that the LSP remains valid
for Level 2.
• Hello Interval for level-2—Specifies the length of time in seconds between hello packets for Level 2.
By default, a value three times the hello interval seconds is advertised as the hold time in the hello packets
sent. (Change the multiplier of 3 by checking the Hello Multiplier check box.) With smaller hello
intervals, topological changes are detected faster, but there is more routing traffic. The range is 1 to
65535. The default is 10.
• Hello Multiplier for level-1—Specifies the number of IS-IS hello packets a neighbor must miss before
the ASA declares the adjacency is down for Level 1.
The advertised hold time in IS-IS hello packets is set to the hello multiplier times the hello interval.
Neighbors declare an adjacency to this ASA down after not having received any IS-IS hello packets
during the advertised hold time. The hold time (and thus the hello multiplier and the hello interval) can
be set on a per-interface basis, and can be different between different ASAs in one area. The range is 3
to 1000. The default is 3.
• Hello Multiplier for level-2—Specifies the number of IS-IS hello packets a neighbor must miss before
the ASA declares the adjacency is down for Level 2.
The advertised hold time in IS-IS hello packets is set to the hello multiplier times the hello interval.
Neighbors declare an adjacency to this ASA down after not having received any IS-IS hello packets
during the advertised hold time. The hold time (and thus the hello multiplier and the hello interval) can
be set on a per-interface basis, and can be different between different ASAs in one area. The range is 3
to 1000. The default is 3.
• Configure Circuit Type—Specifies whether the interface is configured for local routing (level 1), area
routing (Level 2), or both local and area routing (Level 1-2).

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Step 8 Click OK.

Step 9 On the LSP Settings tab, configure the following:
• Advertise ISIS Prefix—Allows the advertising of IP prefixes of connected networks in the LSP
advertisements per IS-IS interface.
Disabling this option is an IS-IS mechanism to exclude IP prefixed of connected network from LSP
advertisements thereby reducing IS-IS convergence time.
• Retransmit Interval—Specifies the amount of time in seconds between retransmission of each IS-IS
LSP.
The number should be greater than the expected round-trip delay between any two ASAs on the attached
network. The range is 0 to 65535. The default is 5.
• Retransmit Throttle Interval—Specifies the amount of time in milliseconds between retransmissions
on each IS-IS LSP.
This option may be useful in very large networks with many LSPs and many interfaces as a way of
controlling LSP retransmission traffic. This option controls the rate at which LSPs can be resent on the
interface. The range is 0 to 65535. The default is 33.
• LSP Interval—Specifies the time delay in millisecond between successive IS-IS LSP transmissions.
In topologies with a large number of IS-IS neighbors and interfaces, an ASA may have difficulty with
the CPU load imposed by LSP transmission and reception. This option allows the LSP transmission rate
(and by implication the reception rate of other systems) to be reduced. The range is 1 to 4294967295.
The default is 33.

Step 10 Click OK.

Step 11 On the Metrics tab, configure the following options for Level 1 and Level 2:
You can check the Use the level 1 values also for level 2 check box if you want the same metrics for both
Levels.
• Use maximum metric value— Specifies the metric assigned to the link and used to calculate the cost
from each other router via the links in the network to other destinations.
• Default metric—Enter the number for the metric.
The range is 1 to 16777214. The default value is 10.

Step 12 Click OK.

Step 13 Click Apply.

Configure IS-IS IPv4 Address Family

Routers are allowed to redistribute external prefixes or routes that are learned form any other routing protocol,
static configuration, or connected interface. The redistributed routes are allowed in either a Level 1 router or
a Level 2 router.
You can set up adjacency, Shortest Path First (SPF), and you can define conditions for redistributing routes
from another routing domain into ISIS (redistribution) for IPv4 addresses.

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Before you begin

Before you can enable IS-IS route authentication, you must enable IS-IS and set up an area. See Enable IS-IS
Routing Globally, on page 796 for the procedure.
Make sure that IPv4 is enabled on at least one interface before trying to add a neighbor, or ASDM returns an
error message indicating that the configuration failed.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > IPv4 Address Family > General.
a) Check the Perform adjacency check check box for the router to check on nearby IS routers.
b) In the Administrative Distance field, enter a distance assigned to routes discovered by IS-IS protocol.
Administrative distance is a parameter used to compare routes among different routing protocols. In
general, the higher the value, the lower the trust rating. And administrative distance of 255 means that
the routing information source cannot be trusted at all and should be ignored. The range is 1 to 255. The
default is 1.
You can use the distance option to configure the administrative distances applied to IS-IS routes when
they are inserted into the Routing Information Base (RIB), and influence the likelihood of these routes
being preferred over routes to the same destination addresses discovered by other protocols.
c) In the Maximum number of forward paths field, enter the maximum number of IS routes that can be
installed in a routing table. The range is 1 to 8.
d) Check the Distribute default route check box to configure an IS routing process to distribute a default
route, and then choose the default route from the drop-down list or click Manage to create a new route.
See Define a Route Map, on page 703 for the procedure for creating a new route.
Step 2 Configure IS-IS metrics:
a) In the Global ISIS metric for level 1, enter a number specifying the metric.
The range is 1 to 63. The default is 10.
When you need to change the default metric value for all IS-IS interfaces, we recommend that you use
the Global ISIS metric for level 1 option to configure all interfaces globally. Globally configuring the
metric values prevents user errors, such as unintentionally removing a set metric from an interface without
configuring a new value and unintentionally allowing the interface to revert to the default metric of 10,
thereby becoming a highly preferred interface in the network.
b) In the Global ISIS metric for level 2, enter a number specifying the metric.
The range is 1 to 63. The default is 10.
When you need to change the default metric value for all IS-IS interfaces, we recommend that you use
the Global ISIS metric for level 1 option to configure all interfaces globally. Globally configuring the
metric values prevents user errors, such as unintentionally removing a set metric from an interface without
configuring a new value and unintentionally allowing the interface to revert to the default metric of 10,
thereby becoming a highly preferred interface in the network.
c) Choose one of the following to configure Type, Length, and Values (TLVs):
• Check the Send and accept both styles of TLVs during transition check box.
• Click the Use old style of TLVs with narrow metric radio button.

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• Click the Use new style TLVs to carry wider metric radio button.
If you choose one of the radio buttons, you can also check the Accept both styles of TLVs during
transition check box.
We strongly recommend that you use the new-style TLV because TLVs that are used to advertise
IPv4 information in LSPs are defined to use only extended metrics. The software provides support
of a 24-bit metric field, the wide metric. Using the new metric style, link metrics now have a maximum
value of 16777214 with a total path metric of 4261412864.

d) Check the Apply metric style to check box, and then check the Level-1 and/or Level-2 check box.
Step 3 Click Apply.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > IPv4 Address Family > SPF.
a) Check the Honour external metrics during SPF calculations check box, to have the SPF calculations
include external metrics.
b) Check the Signal other routers not to use this router as an intermediate hop in their SPF calculations
check box if you want to exclude this device, and configure the following:
• Check the Specify on-startup behavior check box, and choose one of the following:
• Advertise ourself as overloaded until BGP has converged
• Specify time to advertise ourself as overloaded after reboot
In the Time to advertise ourself as overloaded field, enter the seconds to wait until the router
advertises that it is overloaded. The range is 5 to 86400 seconds.

• Check the Don't advertise IP prefixes learned from other protocols when overload bit it set
check box to exclude IP prefixes.
• Check the Don't advertise IP prefixes learned from another ISIS level when overload bit is set
check box to exclude IP prefixes.

c) Configure the partial route calculation (PRC) intervals:

• In the PRC Interval field, enter an amount of time for the router to wait between partial route
calculations (PRCs). The range is 1 to 120 seconds. The default is 5 seconds.
• In the Initial wait for PRC field, enter the initial PRC calculation delay (in milliseconds) after a
topology change. The range is 1 to 120.000 milliseconds. The default is 2000 milliseconds.
• In the Minimum wait between first and second PRC field, enter the amount of time in milliseconds
that you want the router to wait between PRCs. The range is 1 to 120,000 milliseconds. The default
is 5000 milliseconds.

d) Configure the intervals for SPF calculations for Level 1 and Level 2:
Note Check the Use level 1 values also for level 2 check box if you want both levels to have the
same values.

• In the SPF Calculation Interval field, enter an amount of time for the router to wait between SPF
calculations. The range is 1 to 120 seconds. The default is 10 seconds.
• In the Initial wait for SPF calculation field, enter the amount of time for the router to wait for an
SPF calculation. The range is 1 to 120.000 milliseconds. The default is 5500 milliseconds.

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• In the Minimum wait between first and second SPF calculation field, enter the amount of time
in milliseconds that you want the router to wait between SPF calculations. The range is 1 to 120,000
milliseconds. The default is 5500 milliseconds.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Step 6 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > IPv6 Address Family > Redistribution.
The Redistribution pane displays a table of the redistribution routes.

Step 7 Click Add to add a new redistribution route, or to click Edit to edit an redistribution route in the table.
The Add Redistribution or Edit Redistribution dialog box appears. You can also double-click an entry in
the table to edit that entry.
a) From the Source Protocol drop-down list, choose the protocol (BGP, Connected, EIGRP, OSPF, RIP,
or Static) from which you want to redistribute routes into the ISIS domain.
b) From the Process ID drop-down list, choose a process ID for the source protocol.
c) From the Route Level drop-down list, choose Level-1, Level- 2, or Level 1-2.
d) (Optional) In the Metric field, enter a metric for the redistributed route . The range is 1 to 4294967295.
e) For the Metric Type, click the internal or external radio button.
f) From the Route Map drop-down list, choose a route map that should be examined to filter the networks
to be redistributed, or click Manage to add a new route map or edit an existing route map. See Define a
Route Map for the procedure for configuring route maps.
g) Check one or more of the Match check boxes -Internal, External 1, External 2, NSSA External 1, and
NSSA External 2 check boxes to redistribute routes from an OSPF network.
This step is only applicable for redistribution from OSPF networks.

Step 8 Click OK.

Step 9 Click Apply.

Attached Bit Configuration

In the following example, the attached-bit will stay set when the router matches 49.00aa in the L2
CLNS routing table:
ciscoasa(config)# router isis
ciscoasa(config-router)# clns filter-set L2_backbone_connectivity permit 49.00aa
ciscoasa(config-router)# route-map check-for-L2_backbone_connectivity
ciscoasa(config-router)# match clns address L2_backbone_connectivity
ciscoasa(config)# router isis
ciscoasa(config-router)#set-attached-bit route-map check-for-L2_backbone_connectivity
ciscoasa(config-router)# end
ciscoasa# show clns route 49.00aa

Known via "isis", distance 110, metric 30, Dynamic Entry

Routing Descriptor Blocks:
via tr2, Serial0
isis, route metric is 30, route version is 58

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Configure IS-IS IPv6 Address Family

You can set up adjacency, SPF, and you can define conditions for redistributing routes from another routing
domain into IS-IS (redistribution) for IPv6 addresses.

Before you begin

Before you can enable IS-IS route authentication, you must enable IS-IS and set up an area. See Enable IS-IS
Routing Globally, on page 796 for the procedure.
Make sure that IPv6 is enabled on at least one interface before trying to add a neighbor, or ASDM returns an
error message indicating that the configuration failed.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > IPv6 Address Family > General.
a) Check the Perform adjacency check check box for the router to check on nearby IS routers.
b) In the Administrative Distance field, enter a distance for the route. The range is 1 to 255. The default is
1.
Administrative distance is a parameter used to compare routes among different routing protocols. In
general, the higher the value, the lower the trust rating. And administrative distance of 255 means that
the routing information source cannot be trusted at all and should be ignored. The range is 1 to 255. The
default is 1.
You can use the distance option to configure the administrative distances applied to IS-IS routes when
they are inserted into the Routing Information Base (RIB), and influence the likelihood of these routes
being preferred over routes to the same destination addresses discovered by other protocols.
c) In the Maximum number of forward paths field, enter the maximum number of IS routes that can be
installed in a routing table. The range is 1 to 8.
d) Check the Distribute default route check box to configure an IS routing process to distribute a default
route, and then choose the default route from the drop-down list or click Manage to create a new route.
See Define a Route Map, on page 703for the procedure for creating a new route.
Step 2 Click Apply.
Step 3 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > IPv6 Address Family > SPF.
a) Check the Signal other routers not to use this router as an intermediate hop in their SPF calculations
check box if you want to exclude this device, and configure the following:
• Check the Specify on-startup behavior check box, and choose one of the following:
• Advertise ourself as overloaded until BGP has converged
• Specify time to advertise ourself as overloaded after reboot
In the Time to advertise ourself as overloaded field, enter the seconds to wait until the router
advertises that it is overloaded. The range is 5 to 86,400 seconds.

• Check the Don't advertise IP prefixes learned from other protocols when overload bit it set
check box to exclude IP prefixes.
• Check the Don't advertise IP prefixes learned from another ISIS level when overload bit is set
check box to exclude IP prefixes.

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b) Configure the partial route calculation (PRC) intervals: .

• In the PRC Interval field, enter an amount of time for the router to wait between partial route
calculations (PRCs). The range is 1 to 120 seconds. The default is 5 seconds.
• In the Initial wait for PRC field, enter the amount of time for the router to wait for a PRC. The
range is 1 to 120.000 milliseconds. The default is 2000 milliseconds.
• In the Minimum wait between first and second PRC field, enter the amount of time in milliseconds
that you want the router to wait between PRCs. The range is 1 to 120.000 milliseconds. The default
is 5000 milliseconds.

c) Configure the intervals for SPF calculations for Level 1 and Level 2:
Note Check the Use level 1 values also for level 2 check box if you want both levels to have the
same values.

• In the SPF Calculation Interval field, enter an amount of time for the router to wait between SPF
calculations. The range is 1 to 120 seconds. The default is 10 seconds.
• In the Initial wait for SPF calculation field, enter the amount of time for the router to wait for an
SPF calculation. The range is 1 to 120.000 milliseconds. The default is 5500 milliseconds.
• In the Minimum wait between first and second SPF calculation field, enter the amount of time
in milliseconds that you want the router to wait between SPF calculations. The range is 1 to 120,000
milliseconds. The default is 5500 milliseconds.

Step 4 Click Apply.

Step 5 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > ISIS > IPv6 Address Family > Redistribution.
The Redistribution pane displays a table of the redistribution routes.

Step 6 Click Add to add a new redistribution route, or to click Edit to edit an redistribution route in the table.
The Add Redistribution or Edit Redistribution dialog box appears. You can also double-click an entry in
the table to edit that entry.
a) From the Source Protocol drop-down list, choose the protocol (BGP, Connected, EIGRP, OSPF, RIP,
or Static) from which you want to redistribute routes into the ISIS domain.
b) From the Process ID drop-down list, choose a process ID for the source protocol.
c) From the Route Level drop-down list, choose Level-1, Level- 2, or Level 1-2.
d) (Optional) In the Metric field, enter a metric for the redistributed route . The range is 1 to 4294967295.
e) For the Metric Type, click the internal or external radio button to specify the type of metric for the
destination routing protocol.
f) From the Route Map drop-down list, choose a route map that should be examined to filter the networks
to be redistributed, or click Manage to add a new route map or edit an existing route map. See Define a
Route Map for the procedure for configuring route maps.
g) Check one or more of the Match check boxes -Internal, External 1, External 2, NSSA External 1, and
NSSA External 2 check boxes to redistribute routes from an OSPF network.
This step is only applicable for redistribution from OSPF networks.

Step 7 Click OK.

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Monitoring IS-IS

Step 8 Click Apply.

Monitoring IS-IS
You can use the following screens to monitor the IS-IS routing process.
• Monitoring > Routing > ISIS Neighbors This pane shows information about each IS-IS neighbor.
Each row represents one IS-IS neighbor. For each neighbor, the list includes the system ID, type, interface,
IP address, the state (active, idle and so on), the hold time, and the circuit ID.
• Monitoring > Routing > ISIS Rib This pane displays the local IS-IS Routing Information Base (RIB)
table.
• Monitoring > Routing > ISIS IPv6 Rib This pane displays the local IPv6 IS-IS RIB table.

History for IS-IS

Table 41: Feature History for IS-IS

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

IS-IS routing 9.6(1) The ASA now supports the Intermediate

System to Intermediate System (IS-IS)
routing protocol. Support was added for
routing data, performing authentication,
and redistributing and monitoring routing
information using the IS-IS routing
protocol.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing
> ISIS
Monitoring > Routing > ISIS

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 CHAPTER 34
EIGRP
This chapter describes how to configure the Cisco ASA to route data, perform authentication, and redistribute
routing information using the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).
• About EIGRP, on page 813
• Guidelines for EIGRP, on page 814
• Configure an EIGRP Process, on page 815
• Configure EIGRP, on page 816
• Customize EIGRP, on page 818
• Monitoring for EIGRP, on page 830
• History for EIGRP, on page 831

About EIGRP
EIGRP is an enhanced version of IGRP developed by Cisco. Unlike IGRP and RIP, EIGRP does not send out
periodic route updates. EIGRP updates are sent out only when the network topology changes. Key capabilities
that distinguish EIGRP from other routing protocols include fast convergence, support for variable-length
subnet mask, support for partial updates, and support for multiple network layer protocols.
A router running EIGRP stores all the neighbor routing tables so that it can quickly adapt to alternate routes.
If no appropriate route exists, EIGRP queries its neighbors to discover an alternate route. These queries
propagate until an alternate route is found. Its support for variable-length subnet masks permits routes to be
automatically summarized on a network number boundary. In addition, EIGRP can be configured to summarize
on any bit boundary at any interface. EIGRP does not make periodic updates. Instead, it sends partial updates
only when the metric for a route changes. Propagation of partial updates is automatically bounded so that only
those routers that need the information are updated. As a result of these two capabilities, EIGRP consumes
significantly less bandwidth than IGRP.
Neighbor discovery is the process that the ASA uses to dynamically learn of other routers on directly attached
networks. EIGRP routers send out multicast hello packets to announce their presence on the network. When
the ASA receives a hello packet from a new neighbor, it sends its topology table to the neighbor with an
initialization bit set. When the neighbor receives the topology update with the initialization bit set, the neighbor
sends its topology table back to the ASA.
The hello packets are sent out as multicast messages. No response is expected to a hello message. The exception
to this is for statically defined neighbors. If you use the neighbor command, or configure the Hello Interval
in ASDM, to configure a neighbor, the hello messages sent to that neighbor are sent as unicast messages.
Routing updates and acknowledgements are sent out as unicast messages.

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Guidelines for EIGRP

Once this neighbor relationship is established, routing updates are not exchanged unless there is a change in
the network topology. The neighbor relationship is maintained through the hello packets. Each hello packet
received from a neighbor includes a hold time. This is the time in which the ASA can expect to receive a hello
packet from that neighbor. If the ASA does not receive a hello packet from that neighbor within the hold time
advertised by that neighbor, the ASA considers that neighbor to be unavailable.
The EIGRP protocol uses four key algorithm technologies, four key technologies, including neighbor
discovery/recovery, Reliable Transport Protocol (RTP), and DUAL, which is important for route computations.
DUAL saves all routes to a destination in the topology table, not just the least-cost route. The least-cost route
is inserted into the routing table. The other routes remain in the topology table. If the main route fails, another
route is chosen from the feasible successors. A successor is a neighboring router used for packet forwarding
that has a least-cost path to a destination. The feasibility calculation guarantees that the path is not part of a
routing loop.
If a feasible successor is not found in the topology table, a route recomputation must occur. During route
recomputation, DUAL queries the EIGRP neighbors for a route, who in turn query their neighbors. Routers
that do no have a feasible successor for the route return an unreachable message.
During route recomputation, DUAL marks the route as active. By default, the ASA waits for three minutes
to receive a response from its neighbors. If the ASA does not receive a response from a neighbor, the route
is marked as stuck-in-active. All routes in the topology table that point to the unresponsive neighbor as a
feasibility successor are removed.

Note EIGRP neighbor relationships are not supported through the IPsec tunnel without a GRE tunnel.

Guidelines for EIGRP

Firewall Mode Guidelines
Supported only in routed firewall mode. Transparent firewall mode is not supported.

Cluster Guidelines
EIGRP does not form neighbor relationships with cluster peers in individual interface mode.

IPv6 Guidelines
Does not support IPv6.

Context Guidelines
• EIGRP instances cannot form adjacencies with each other across shared interfaces because, by default,
inter-context exchange of multicast traffic is not supported across shared interfaces. However, you can
use the static neighbor configuration under EIGRP process configuration under EIGRP process to bring
up EIGRP neighbourship on a shared interface.
• Inter-context EIGRP on separate interfaces is supported.

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Additional Guidelines
• A maximum of one EIGRP process is supported.
• EIGRP adjacency flap occurs whenever a configuration change is applied which results in modifying
the routing information (sent or received) from neighbors especially in distribute lists, offset lists, and
changes to summarization. After the routers are synchronized, EIGRP reestablishes the adjacency between
neighbors. When an adjacency is torn down and reestablished, all learned routes between the neighbors
are erased and the entire synchronization between the neighbors is performed newly with the new distribute
list.

Configure an EIGRP Process

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP.
Step 2 Enable the EIGRP routing process by checking the Enable this EIGRP process check box on the Process
Instances tab. See Enable EIGRP, on page 816 or Enable EIGRP Stub Routing, on page 817.
Step 3 Define the networks and interfaces that will participate in EIGRP routing on the Setup > Networks tab. See
Define a Network for an EIGRP Routing Process, on page 818 for more information.
Step 4 (Optional) Define route filters on the Filter Rules pane. Route filtering provides more control over the routes
that are allowed to be sent or received in EIGRP updates. See Filter Networks in EIGRP, on page 825 for more
information.
Step 5 (Optional) Define route redistribution in the Redistribution pane.
You can redistribute routes discovered by RIP and OSPF to the EIGRP routing process. You can also redistribute
static and connected routes to the EIGRP routing process. See Redistribute Routes Into EIGRP, on page 823
for more information.

Step 6 (Optional) Define static EIGRP neighbors on the Static Neighbor pane.
See Define an EIGRP Neighbor, on page 823 for more information.

Step 7 (Optional) Define summary addresses on the Summary Address pane.

See Configure the Summary Aggregate Addresses on Interfaces, on page 820 for more information about
defining summary addresses.

Step 8 (Optional) Define interface-specific EIGRP parameters on the Interfaces pane. These parameters include
EIGRP message authentication, hold time, hello interval, delay metric, and the use of split-horizon. See
Configure Interfaces for EIGRP, on page 819 for more information.
Step 9 (Optional) Control the sending and receiving of default route information in EIGRP updates on the Default
Information pane. By default, default routes are sent and accepted. See Configure Default Information in
EIGRP, on page 828 for more information.

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Configure EIGRP

Configure EIGRP
This section describes how to enable the EIGRP process on your system. After you have enabled EIGRP, see
the following sections to learn how to customize the EIGRP process on your system.

Enable EIGRP
You can only enable one EIGRP routing process on the ASA.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.
The three tabs on the main EIGRP Setup pane used to enable EIGRP are as follows:
• The Process Instances tablets you enable an EIGRP routing process for each context. Single context
mode and multiple context mode are both supported. See Enable EIGRP, on page 816 and the Enable
EIGRP Stub Routing, on page 817 for more information.
• The Networks tablets you specify the networks used by the EIGRP routing process. For an interface to
participate in EIGRP routing, it must fall within the range of addresses defined by the network entries.
For directly connected and static networks to be advertised, they must also fall within the range of the
network entries. See Define a Network for an EIGRP Routing Process, on page 818 for more information.
• The Passive Interfaces tablets you configure one or more interfaces as passive interfaces. In EIGRP, a
passive interface does not send or receive routing updates.The Passive Interface table lists each interface
that is configured as a passive interface.

Step 2 Check the Enable this EIGRP process check box.

You can only enable one EIGRP routing process on the device. You must enter an autonomous system number
(AS) for the routing process in the EIGRP Process field before you can save your changes.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the autonomous system (AS) number for the EIGRP process. The AS number
can be from 1 to 65535.
Step 4 (Optional) Click Advanced to configure the EIGRP process settings, such as the router ID, default metrics,
stub routing, neighbor changes, and the administrative distances for the EIGRP routes.
Step 5 Click the Networks tab.
Step 6 To add a new network entry, click Add.
The Add EIGRP Network dialog box appears. To remove a network entry, choose an entry in the table and
click Delete.

Step 7 Choose the AS number of the EIGRP routing process from the drop-down list.
Step 8 Enter the IP address of the networks to participate in the EIGRP routing process in the IP Address field.
Note To change a network entry, you must first remove the entry and then add a new one. You cannot
edit existing entries.

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Enable EIGRP Stub Routing

Step 9 Enter a network mask to apply to the IP address in the Network Mask field.
Step 10 Click OK.

Enable EIGRP Stub Routing

You can enable, and configure the ASA as an EIGRP stub router. Stub routing decreases memory and processing
requirements on the ASA. As a stub router, the ASA does not need to maintain a complete EIGRP routing
table because it forwards all nonlocal traffic to a distribution router. Generally, the distribution router need
not send anything more than a default route to the stub router.
Only specified routes are propagated from the stub router to the distribution router. As a stub router, the ASA
responds to all queries for summaries, connected routes, redistributed static routes, external routes, and internal
routes with the message “inaccessible.” When the ASA is configured as a stub, it sends a special peer
information packet to all neighboring routers to report its status as a stub router. Any neighbor that receives
a packet informing it of the stub status will not query the stub router for any routes, and a router that has a
stub peer will not query that peer. The stub router depends on the distribution router to send the correct updates
to all peers.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the autonomous system (AS) number for the EIGRP process. The AS
number can be from 1 to 65535.
Step 4 Click Advanced to configure the EIGRP stub routing process.
The Edit EIGRP Process Advanced Properties dialog box appears.

Step 5 In the Stub area on the Edit EIGRP Process Advanced Properties dialog box, choose one or more of the
following EIGRP stub routing processes:
• Stub Receive only—Configures the EIGRP stub routing process to receive route information from the
neighbor routers but does not send route information to the neighbors. If this option is selected, you
cannot select any of the other stub routing options.
• Stub Connected—Advertises connected routes.
• Stub Static—Advertises static routes.
• Stub Redistributed—Advertises redistributed routes.
• Stub Summary—Advertises summary routes.

Step 6 Click OK.

Step 7 Click the Networks tab.
Step 8 Click Add to add a new network entry.

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Customize EIGRP

The Add EIGRP Network dialog box appears. To remove a network entry, choose the entry in the table and
click Delete.

Step 9 Choose the AS number of the EIGRP routing process from the drop-down list.
Step 10 Enter the IP address of the networks to participate in the EIGRP routing process in the IP Address field.
Note To change a network entry, you must first remove the entry and then add a new one. You cannot
edit existing entries.

Step 11 Enter a network mask to apply to the IP address in the Network Mask field.
Step 12 Click OK.

Customize EIGRP
This section describes how to customize the EIGRP routing.

Define a Network for an EIGRP Routing Process

The Network table lets you specify the networks used by the EIGRP routing process. For an interface to
participate in EIGRP routing, it must fall within the range of addresses defined by the network entries. For
directly connected and static networks to be advertised, they must also fall within the range of the network
entries.
The Network table displays the networks configured for the EIGRP routing process. Each row of the table
displays the network address and associated mask configured for the specified EIGRP routing process.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the autonomous system (AS) number for the EIGRP process. The AS
number can be from 1 to 65535.
Step 4 Click the Networks tab.
Step 5 Click Add to add a new network entry.
The Add EIGRP Network dialog box appears. To remove a network entry, choose the entry in the table and
click Delete.

Step 6 Choose the AS number of the EIGRP routing process from the drop-down list.
Step 7 Enter the IP address of the networks to participate in the EIGRP routing process in the IP Address field.
Note To change a network entry, you must first remove the entry and then add a new one. You cannot
edit existing entries.

Step 8 Enter a network mask to apply to the IP address in the Network Mask field.

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Configure Interfaces for EIGRP

Step 9 Click OK.

Configure Interfaces for EIGRP

If you have an interface that you do not want to have participate in EIGRP routing, but that is attached to a
network that you want advertised, you can configure the ASA that includes the network to which the interface
is attached, and prevent that interface from sending or receiving EIGRP updates.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 Click OK.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Interfaces.
The Interface pane appears and displays the EIGRP interface configurations. The Interface Parameters
table displays all of the interfaces on the ASA and lets you modify the following settings on a per-interface
basis:
• Authentication key and mode.
• The EIGRP hello interval and hold time.
• The interface delay metric used in EIGRP metric calculations.
• The use of split-horizon on the interface.

Step 5 Choose an interface entry by double-clicking an interface entry, or choose the entry and click Edit.
The Edit EIGRP Interface Entry dialog box appears.

Step 6 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the AS number for the EIGRP process. The AS number can range from 1
to 65535.
Step 7 In the Hello Interval field, enter the interval between EIGRP hello packets sent on an interface.
Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default value is 5 seconds.

Step 8 In the Hold Time field, enter the hold time, in seconds. Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The
default value is 15 seconds.
Step 9 Check the Enable check box for Split Horizon.
Step 10 In the Delay field, enter the delay value. The delay time is in tens of microseconds. Valid values range from
1 to 16777215.
Step 11 Check the Enable MD5 Authentication check box to enable MD5 authentication of EIGRP process messages.
Step 12 Enter the Key or Key ID values.
• In the Key field, enter the key to authenticate EIGRP updates. The key can contain up to 16 characters.
• In the Key ID field, enter the key identification value. Valid values range from 1 to 255.

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Configure Passive Interfaces

Step 13 Click OK.

Configure Passive Interfaces

You can configure one or more interfaces as passive interfaces. In EIGRP, a passive interface does not send
or receive routing updates. In ASDM, the Passive Interface table lists each interface that is configured as a
passive interface.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 Click OK.
Step 4 Click the Passive Interfaces tab.
Step 5 Choose the interface that you want to configure from the drop-down list.
Step 6 Check the Suppress routing updates on all interfaces check box to specify all interfaces as passive. Even
if an interface is not shown in the Passive Interface table, it will be configured as passive when the check box
is checked.
Step 7 Click Add to add a passive interface entry.
The Add EIGRP Passive Interface dialog box appears. Choose the interface that you want to make passive
and click Add. To remove a passive interface, choose the interface in the table and click Delete.

Step 8 Click OK.

Configure the Summary Aggregate Addresses on Interfaces

You can configure a summary addresses on a per-interface basis. You need to manually define summary
addresses if you want to create summary addresses that do not occur at a network number boundary or if you
want to use summary addresses on an ASA with automatic route summarization disabled. If any more specific
routes are in the routing table, EIGRP will advertise the summary address out the interface with a metric equal
to the minimum of all more specific routes.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Interfaces.
The Interface pane shows the EIGRP interface configurations. The Interface Parameters table shows all of
the interfaces on the ASA and lets you modify the settings on a per-interface basis. For more information
about these settings, see Configure Interfaces for EIGRP, on page 819.

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Change the Interface Delay Value

Step 2 To configure the EIGRP parameters for an interface, double-click an interface entry or select the entry and
click Edit.
Step 3 Click OK.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Summary Address.
The Summary Address pane displays a table of the statically-defined EIGRP summary addresses. By default,
EIGRP summarizes subnet routes to the network level. You can create statically defined EIGRP summary
addresses to the subnet level from the Summary Address pane.

Step 5 Click Add to add a new EIGRP summary address, or to click Edit to edit an existing EIGRP summary address
in the table.
The Add Summary Address or Edit Summary Address dialog box appears. You can also double-click an
entry in the table to edit that entry.

Step 6 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the autonomous system (AS) number for the EIGRP process. The AS
number can be from 1 to 65535.
Step 7 In the Interface drop-down list, choose the interface from which the summary address is advertised.
Step 8 In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of the summary route.
Step 9 In the Netmask field, choose or enter the network mask to apply to the IP address.
Step 10 Enter the administrative distance for the route in the Administrative Distance field. If left blank, the route
has the default administrative distance of 5.
Step 11 Click OK.

Change the Interface Delay Value

The interface delay value is used in EIGRP distance calculations. You can modify this value on a per-interface
basis.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Interfaces.
The Interface pane shows the EIGRP interface configurations. The Interface Parameters table shows all of
the interfaces on the ASA and lets you modify the settings on a per-interface basis. For more information
about these settings, see Configure Interfaces for EIGRP, on page 819.

Step 2 Double-click an interface entry or choose the Interface entry and click Edit to configure the delay value in
the EIGRP parameters for an interface.
The Edit EIGRP Interface Entry dialog box appears.

Step 3 In the Delay field, enter the delay time, which is in tens of microseconds. Valid values are from 1 to 16777215.
Step 4 Click OK.

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Enable EIGRP Authentication on an Interface

Enable EIGRP Authentication on an Interface

EIGRP route authentication provides MD5 authentication of routing updates from the EIGRP routing protocol.
The MD5 keyed digest in each EIGRP packet prevents the introduction of unauthorized or false routing
messages from unapproved sources.
EIGRP route authentication is configured on a per-interface basis. All EIGRP neighbors on interfaces configured
for EIGRP message authentication must be configured with the same authentication mode and key for
adjacencies to be established.

Note Before you can enable EIGRP route authentication, you must enable EIGRP.

Procedure

Step 1 In the man ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the autonomous system (AS) number for the EIGRP process. The AS
number can range from 1 to 65535.
Step 4 Click the Networks tab.
Step 5 Click Add to add a new network entry.
The Add EIGRP Network dialog box appears. To remove a network entry, choose the entry in the table and
click Delete.

Step 6 Choose the AS number of the EIGRP routing process from the drop-down list.
Step 7 In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of the networks to participate in the EIGRP routing process.
Note To change a network entry, you must first remove the entry and then add a new one. You cannot
edit existing entries.

Step 8 In the Network Mask field, choose or enter a network mask to apply to the IP address.
Step 9 Click OK.
Step 10 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Interfaces.
The Interface pane displays the EIGRP interface configurations. The Interface Parameters table displays
all of the interfaces on the ASA and lets you modify the settings on a per-interface basis. For more information
about these settings, see Configure Interfaces for EIGRP, on page 819.

Step 11 Check the Enable MD5 Authentication check box to enable MD5 authentication of EIGRP process messages.
After you check this check box, provide one of the following:
• In the Key field, enter the key to authenticate EIGRP updates. The key can include up to 16 characters.
• In the Key ID field, enter the key identification value. Valid values range from 1 to 255.

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Define an EIGRP Neighbor

Step 12 Click OK.

Define an EIGRP Neighbor

EIGRP hello packets are sent as multicast packets. If an EIGRP neighbor is located across a non broadcast
network, such as a tunnel, you must manually define that neighbor. When you manually define an EIGRP
neighbor, hello packets are sent to that neighbor as unicast messages.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the AS number for the EIGRP process. The AS number can range from 1
to 65535.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Static Neighbor.
The Static Neighbor pane appears and displays the statically-defined EIGRP neighbors. An EIGRP neighbor
sends EIGRP routing information to and receives EIGRP routing information from the ASA. Normally,
neighbors are dynamically discovered through the neighbor discovery process. However, on point-to-point,
nonbroadcast networks, you must statically define the neighbors.
Each row of the Static Neighbor table displays the EIGRP autonomous system number for the neighbor, the
neighbor IP address, and the interface through which the neighbor is available.
From the Static Neighbor pane, you can add or edit a static neighbor.

Step 5 Click Add or Edit to add or edit a EIGRP static neighbor.

The Add or Edit EIGRP Neighbor Entry dialog box appears.

Step 6 Choose the EIGRP AS number from the drop-down list for the EIGRP process for which the neighbor is
being configured.
Step 7 Choose the Interface Name from the Interface Name drop-down list, which is the interface through which
the neighbor is available.
Step 8 Enter the IP address of the neighbor in the Neighbor IP Address field.
Step 9 Click OK.

Redistribute Routes Into EIGRP

You can redistribute routes discovered by RIP and OSPF into the EIGRP routing process. You can also
redistribute static and connected routes into the EIGRP routing process. You do not need to redistribute
connected routes if they fall within the range of a network statement in the EIGRP configuration.

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Redistribute Routes Into EIGRP

Note For RIP only: Before you begin this procedure, you must create a route map to further define which routes
from the specified routing protocol are redistributed in to the RIP routing process.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the AS number for the EIGRP process. The AS number can range from 1
to 65535.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Redistribution.
The Redistribution pane displays the rules for redistributing routes from other routing protocols to the EIGRP
routing process. When redistributing static and connected routes to the EIGRP routing process, metrics are
not required to be configured, although this is recommended. Each row of the Redistribution pane table
includes a route redistribution entry.

Step 5 Click Add to add a new redistribution rule. If you are editing an existing redistribution rule, go to Step 6.
The Add EIGRP Redistribution Entry dialog box appears.

Step 6 Choose the address in the table and click Edit to edit an existing EIGRP static neighbor, You can also
double-click an entry in the table to edit that entry.
The Edit EIGRP Redistribution Entry dialog box appears.

Step 7 Choose the AS number of the EIGRP routing process to which the entry applies from the drop-down list.
Step 8 In the Protocol area, click the radio button next to one of the following protocols for the routing process:
• Static to redistribute static routes to the EIGRP routing process. Static routes that fall within the scope
of a network statement are automatically redistributed into EIGRP; you do not need to define a
redistribution rule for them.
• Connected to redistribute connected routes into the EIGRP routing process. Connected routes that fall
within the scope of a network statement are automatically redistributed into EIGRP; you do not need to
define a redistribution rule for them.
• RIP to redistributes routes discovered by the RIP routing process to EIGRP.
• OSPF to redistribute routes discovered by the OSPF routing process to EIGRP.

Step 9 In the Optional Metrics area, choose one of the following metrics used for the redistributed route:
• Bandwidth, which is the EIGRP bandwidth metric in kilobits per second. Valid values range from 1 to
4294967295.
• Delay, which is the EIGRP delay metric, in 10-microsecond units. Valid values range from 0 to
4294967295.

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Filter Networks in EIGRP

• Reliability, which is the EIGRP reliability metric. Valid values range from 0 to 255; 255 indicates 100
percent reliability.
• Loading, which is the EIGRP effective bandwidth (loading) metric. Valid values range from 1 to 255;
255 indicates 100 percent loaded.
• MTU, which is the MTU of the path. Valid values range from 1 to 65535.

Step 10 Choose the route map from the Route Map drop-down list to define which routes are redistributed into the
EIGRP routing process. For more details about how to configure a route map, see Route Maps, on page 701.
Step 11 In the Optional OSPF Redistribution area, click one of the following OSPF radio buttons to further specify
which OSPF routes are redistributed into the EIGRP routing process:
• Match Internal to match routes internal to the specified OSPF process.
• Match External 1 to match type 1 routes external to the specified OSPF process.
• Match External 2 to match type 2 routes external to the specified OSPF process.
• Match NSSA-External 1 to match type 1 routes external to the specified OSPF NSSA.
• Match NSSA-External 2 to match type 2 routes external to the specified OSPF NSSA.

Step 12 Click OK.

Filter Networks in EIGRP

Note Before you begin this process, you must create a standard ACL that defines the routes that you want to
advertise. That is, create a standard ACL that defines the routes that you want to filter from sending or receiving
updates.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 In the EIGRP Process field, enter the AS number for the EIGRP process. The AS number can range from 1
to 65535.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Filter Rules.
The Filter Rules pane appears and displays the route filtering rules configured for the EIGRP routing process.
Filter rules let you control which routes are accepted or advertised by the EIGRP routing process.
Each row of the Filter Rule table describes a filter rule for a specific interface or routing protocol. For example,
a filter rule with a direction of in on the outside interface would apply filtering to any EIGRP updates received

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Customize the EIGRP Hello Interval and Hold Time

on the outside interface. A filter rule with a direction of out with OSPF 10 specified as the routing protocol
would apply the filter rules to routes redistributed into the EIGRP routing process in outbound EIGRP updates.

Step 5 Click Add to add a filter rule. If you are editing an already existing filter rule, skip to Step 6.
The Add Filter Rules dialog box appears.

Step 6 To edit a filter rule, choose the filter rule in the table and click Edit.
The Edit Filter Rules dialog box appears. You can also double-click a filter rule to edit the rule. To remove
a filter rule, choose the filter rule in the table and click Delete.

Step 7 Choose the AS number from the drop-down list of the EIGRP routing process to which the entry applies.
Step 8 Choose the direction of the filter routes from the drop-down list.
Choose in for rules that filter routes from incoming EIGRP routing updates. Choose out to filter routes from
EIGRP routing updates that are sent by the ASA.
If you choose out, the Routing process field becomes active. Choose the type of route to be filtered. You can
filter routes redistributed from static, connected, RIP, and OSPF routing processes. Filters that specify a
routing process filter those routes from updates sent on all interfaces.

Step 9 Enter the OSPF process ID in the ID field.

Step 10 Click the Interface radio button and choose the interface to which the filter applies.
Step 11 Click Add or Edit to define an ACL for the filter rule. Clicking Edit opens the Network Rule dialog box for
the selected network rule.
Step 12 In the Action drop-down list, choose Permit to allow the specified network to be advertised; choose Deny
to prevent the specified network from being advertised.
Step 13 In the IP Address field, type IP address of the network being permitted or denied. To permit or deny all
addresses, use the IP address 0.0.0.0 with a network mask of 0.0.0.0.
Step 14 From the Netmask drop-down list, choose the network mask applied to the network IP address. You can type
a network mask into this field or select one of the common masks from the list.
Step 15 Click OK.

Customize the EIGRP Hello Interval and Hold Time

The ASA periodically sends hello packets to discover neighbors and to learn when neighbors become
unreachable or inoperative. By default, hello packets are sent every 5 seconds.
The hello packet advertises the ASA hold time. The hold time indicates to EIGRP neighbors the length of
time the neighbor should consider the ASA reachable. If the neighbor does not receive a hello packet within
the advertised hold time, then the ASA is considered unreachable. By default, the advertised hold time is 15
seconds (three times the hello interval).
Both the hello interval and the advertised hold time are configured on a per-interface basis. We recommend
setting the hold time to be at minimum three times the hello interval.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.

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Disable Automatic Route Summarization

The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 Click OK.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Interfaces.
The Interface pane appears and displays all of the EIGRP interface configurations.

Step 5 Double-click an interface entry or choose the entry and click Edit.
The Edit EIGRP Interface Entry dialog box appears.

Step 6 Choose the EIGRP AS number from the drop-down list, which is populated from system numbers that were
set up when you enabled the EIGRP routing process.
Step 7 In the Hello Interval field, enter the interval between EIGRP hello packets sent on an interface.
Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default value is 5 seconds.

Step 8 In the Hold Time field, specify the hold time, in seconds.
Valid values range from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default value is 15 seconds.

Step 9 Click OK.

Disable Automatic Route Summarization

Automatic route summarization is enabled by default. The EIGRP routing process summarizes on network
number boundaries. This can cause routing problems if you have noncontiguous networks.
For example, if you have a router with the networks 192.168.1.0, 192.168.2.0, and 192.168.3.0 connected to
it, and those networks all participate in EIGRP, the EIGRP routing process creates the summary address
192.168.0.0 for those routes. If an additional router is added to the network with the networks 192.168.10.0
and 192.168.11.0, and those networks participate in EIGRP, they will also be summarized as 192.168.0.0. To
prevent the possibility of traffic being routed to the wrong location, you should disable automatic route
summarization on the routers creating the conflicting summary addresses.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 Click the Process Instance tab.
Step 4 Click Advanced.
Step 5 In the Summary area, uncheck the Auto-Summary check box.
Note This setting is enabled by default.

Step 6 Click OK.

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Configure Default Information in EIGRP

Configure Default Information in EIGRP

You can control the sending and receiving of default route information in EIGRP updates. By default, default
routes are sent and accepted. Configuring the ASA to disallow default information to be received causes the
candidate default route bit to be blocked on received routes. Configuring the ASA to disallow default
information to be sent disables the setting of the default route bit in advertised routes.
In ASDM, the Default Information pane displays a table of rules for controlling the sending and receiving of
default route information in EIGRP updates. You can have one in and one out rule for each EIGRP routing
process (only one process is currently supported).
By default, default routes are sent and accepted. To restrict or disable the sending and receiving of default
route information, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The main EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable EIGRP routing check box.

Step 3 Click OK.
Step 4 Do one of the following:
• Click Add to create a new entry.
• To edit an entry, double-click the entry in the table or select an entry in the table and click Edit.
The Add Default Information or Edit Default Information dialog box appears for that entry. The
EIGRP AS number is automatically selected in the EIGRP field.

Step 5 In the Direction field, choose the direction for the rule from the following options:
• in—The rule filters default route information from incoming EIGRP updates.
• out—The rule filters default route information from outgoing EIGRP updates.

You can have one in rule and one out rule for each EIGRP process.

Step 6 Add network rules to the network rule table. The network rules define which networks are allowed and which
are not when receiving or sending default route information. Repeat the following steps for each network rule
you are adding to the default information filter rule.
a) Click Add to add a network rule. Double-click an existing network rule to edit the rule.
b) In the Action field, click Permit to allow the network or Deny to block the network.
c) Enter the IP address and network mask of the network being permitted or denied by the rule in the IP
Address and Network Mask fields.
To deny all default route information from being accepted or sent, enter 0.0.0.0 as the network address
and choose 0.0.0.0 as the network mask.
d) Click OK to add the specified network rule to the default information filter rule.
Step 7 Click OK to accept the default information filter rule.

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Disable EIGRP Split Horizon

Disable EIGRP Split Horizon

Split horizon controls the sending of EIGRP update and query packets. When split horizon is enabled on an
interface, update and query packets are not sent for destinations for which this interface is the next hop.
Controlling update and query packets in this manner reduces the possibility of routing loops.
By default, split horizon is enabled on all interfaces.
Split horizon blocks route information from being advertised by a router out of any interface from which that
information originated. This behavior usually optimizes communications among multiple routing devices,
particularly when links are broken. However, with nonbroadcast networks, there may be situations where this
behavior is not desired. For these situations, including networks in which you have EIGRP configured, you
may want to disable split horizon.
If you disable split horizon on an interface, you must disable it for all routers and access servers on that
interface.
To disable EIGRP split horizon, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Interfaces.
The Interface pane appears and displays the EIGRP interface configurations.

Step 2 Double-click an interface entry or choose the entry and click Edit.
The Edit EIGRP Interface Entry dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the EIGRP Autonomous system (AS) number from the drop-down list, which is populated from system
numbers that were set up when you enabled the EIGRP routing process.
Step 4 Uncheck the Split Horizon check box.
Step 5 Click OK.

Restart the EIGRP Process

You can restart an EIGRP process or clear redistribution or clear counters.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > EIGRP > Setup.
The EIGRP Setup pane appears.

Step 2 Click Reset.

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Monitoring for EIGRP

Monitoring for EIGRP

You can use the following commands to monitor the EIGRP routing process. For examples and descriptions
of the command output, see the command reference. Additionally, you can disable the logging of neighbor
change messages and neighbor warning messages.
To monitor or disable various EIGRP routing statistics, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > EIGRP Neighbor.
Each row represents one EIGRP neighbor. For each neighbor, the list includes its IP address, the interface to
which the neighbor is connected, the holdtime, the uptime, the queue length, the sequence number, the smoothed
round trip time, and the retransmission timeout. The list of possible state changes are the following:
• NEW ADJACENCY—A new neighbor has been established.
• PEER RESTARTED—The other neighbor initiates the reset of the neighbor relationship. The router
getting the message is not the one resetting the neighbor.
• HOLD TIME EXPIRED—The router has not heard any EIGRP packets from the neighbor within the
hold-time limit.
• RETRY LIMIT EXCEEDED—EIGRP did not receive the acknowledgment from the neighbor for EIGRP
reliable packets, and EIGRP has already tried to retransmit the reliable packet 16 times without any
success.
• ROUTE FILTER CHANGED—The EIGRP neighbor is resetting because there is a change in the route
filter.
• INTERFACE DELAY CHANGED—The EIGRP neighbor is resetting because there is a manual
configuration change in the delay parameter on the interface.
• INTERFACE BANDWIDTH CHANGED—The EIGRP neighbor is resetting because there is a manual
configuration change in the interface bandwidth on the interface.
• STUCK IN ACTIVE—The EIGRP neighbor is resetting because EIGRP is stuck in active state. The
neighbor getting reset is the result of the stuck-in-active state.

Step 2 Click the EIGRP neighbor that you want to monitor.

Step 3 To remove the current list of neighbors, click Clear Neighbors.
Step 4 To refresh the current list of neighbors, click Refresh.
Note By default, neighbor change and neighbor warning messages are logged.

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 IP Routing
History for EIGRP

History for EIGRP

Table 42: Feature History for EIGRP

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

EIGRP Support 7.0(1) Support was added for routing data,

performing authentication, and
redistributing and monitoring routing
information using the Enhanced Interior
Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
EIGRP.

Dynamic Routing in Multiple Context 9.0(1) EIGRP routing is supported in multiple

Mode context mode.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
EIGRP > Setup.

Clustering 9.0(1) For EIGRP, bulk synchronization, route

synchronization, and layer 2 load balancing
are supported in the clustering environment.

EIGRP Auto-Summary 9.2(1) For EIGRP, the Auto-Summary field is now

disabled by default.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
EIGRP > Setup > Edit EIGRP Process
Advanced Properties.

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History for EIGRP

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 CHAPTER 35
Multicast Routing
This chapter describes how to configure the Cisco ASA to use the multicast routing protocol.
• About Multicast Routing, on page 833
• Guidelines for Multicast Routing, on page 836
• Enable Multicast Routing, on page 836
• Customize Multicast Routing, on page 837
• Monitoring for PIM, on page 851
• Example for Multicast Routing, on page 851
• History for Multicast Routing, on page 853

About Multicast Routing

Multicast routing is a bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces traffic by simultaneously delivering a
single stream of information to thousands of corporate recipients and homes. Applications that take advantage
of multicast routing include videoconferencing, corporate communications, distance learning, and distribution
of software, stock quotes, and news.
Multicast routing protocols deliver source traffic to multiple receivers without adding any additional burden
on the source or the receivers while using the least network bandwidth of any competing technology. Multicast
packets are replicated in the network by ASA enabled with Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) and other
supporting multicast protocols, which results in the most efficient delivery of data to multiple receivers
possible.
The ASA supports both stub multicast routing and PIM multicast routing. However, you cannot configure
both concurrently on a single ASA.

Note The UDP and non-UDP transports are both supported for multicast routing. However, the non-UDP transport
has no FastPath optimization.

Stub Multicast Routing

Stub multicast routing provides dynamic host registration and facilitates multicast routing. When configured
for stub multicast routing, the ASA acts as an IGMP proxy agent. Instead of fully participating in multicast
routing, the ASA forwards IGMP messages to an upstream multicast router, which sets up delivery of the

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PIM Multicast Routing

multicast data. When configured for stub multicast routing, the ASA cannot be configured for PIM sparse or
bidirectional mode. You must enable PIM on the interfaces participating in IGMP stub multicast routing.
The ASA supports both PIM-SM and bidirectional PIM. PIM-SM is a multicast routing protocol that uses the
underlying unicast routing information base or a separate multicast-capable routing information base. It builds
unidirectional shared trees rooted at a single Rendezvous Point (RP) per multicast group and optionally creates
shortest-path trees per multicast source.

PIM Multicast Routing

Bidirectional PIM is a variant of PIM-SM that builds bidirectional shared trees connecting multicast sources
and receivers. Bidirectional trees are built using a Designated Forwarder (DF) election process operating on
each link of the multicast topology. With the assistance of the DF, multicast data is forwarded from sources
to the Rendezvous Point (RP), and therefore along the shared tree to receivers, without requiring source-specific
state. The DF election takes place during RP discovery and provides a default route to the RP.

Note If the ASA is the PIM RP, use the untranslated outside address of the ASA as the RP address.

PIM Source Specific Multicast Support

The ASA does not support PIM Source Specific Multicast (SSM) functionality and related configuration.
However, the ASA allows SSM-related packets to pass through unless it is placed as a last-hop router.
SSM is classified as a data delivery mechanism for one-to-many applications such as IPTV. The SSM model
uses a concept of "channels" denoted by an (S,G) pair, where S is a source address and G is an SSM destination
address. Subscribing to a channel is achieved by using a group management protocol such as IGMPv3. SSM
enables a receiving client, once it has learned about a particular multicast source, to receive multicast streams
directly from the source rather than receiving it from a shared Rendezvous Point (RP). Access control
mechanisms are introduced within SSM providing a security enhancement not available with current sparse
or sparse-dense mode implementations.
PIM-SSM differs from PIM-SM in that it does not use an RP or shared trees. Instead, information on source
addresses for a multicast group is provided by the receivers through the local receivership protocol (IGMPv3)
and is used to directly build source-specific trees.

PIM Bootstrap Router (BSR)

PIM Bootstrap Router (BSR) is a dynamic Rendezvous Point (RP) selection model that uses candidate routers
for RP function and for relaying the RP information for a group. The RP function includes RP discovery and
provides a default route to the RP. It does this by configuring a set of devices as candidate BSRs (C-BSR)
which participate in a BSR election process to choose a BSR amongst themselves. Once the BSR is chosen,
devices that are configured as candidate Rendezvous Points (C-RP) start sending their group mapping to the
elected BSR. The BSR then distributes the group-to-RP mapping information to all the other devices down
the multicast tree through BSR messages that travel from PIM router to PIM router on a per-hop basis.
This feature provides a means of dynamically learning RPs, which is very essential in large complex networks
where an RP can periodically go down and come up.

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PIM Bootstrap Router (BSR) Terminology

PIM Bootstrap Router (BSR) Terminology

The following terms are frequently referenced in the PIM BSR configuration:
• Bootstrap Router (BSR) — A BSR advertises Rendezvous Point (RP) information to other routers with
PIM on a hop-by-hop basis. Among multiple Candidate-BSRs, a single BSR is chosen after an election
process. The primary purpose of this Bootstrap router is to collect all Candidate-RP (C-RP) announcements
in to a database called the RP-set and to periodically send this out to all other routers in the network as
BSR messages (every 60 seconds).
• Bootstrap Router (BSR) messages — BSR messages are multicast to the All-PIM-Routers group with a
TTL of 1. All PIM neighbors that receive these messages retransmit them (again with a TTL of 1) out
of all interfaces except the one in which the messages were received. BSR messages contain the RP-set
and the IP address of the currently active BSR. This is how C-RPs know where to unicast their C-RP
messages.
• Candidate Bootstrap Router (C-BSR) — A device that is configured as a candidate-BSR participates in
the BSR election mechanism. A C-BSR with highest priority is elected as the BSR. The highest IP address
of the C-BSR is used as a tiebreaker. The BSR election process is preemptive, for example if a new
C-BSR with a higher priority comes up, it triggers a new election process.
• Candidate Rendezvous Point (C-RP) — An RP acts as a meeting place for sources and receivers of
multicast data. A device that is configured as a C-RP periodically advertises the multicast group mapping
information directly to the elected BSR through unicast. These messages contain the Group-range, C-RP
address, and a hold time. The IP address of the current BSR is learned from the periodic BSR messages
that are received by all routers in the network. In this way, the BSR learns about possible RPs that are
currently up and reachable.

Note The ASA does not act as a C-RP, even though the C-RP is a mandatory
requirement for BSR traffic. Only routers can act as a C-RP. So, for BSR testing
functionality, you must add routers to the topology.

• BSR Election Mechanism — Each C-BSR originates Bootstrap messages (BSMs) that contain a BSR
Priority field. Routers within the domain flood the BSMs throughout the domain. A C-BSR that hears
about a higher-priority C-BSR than itself suppresses its sending of further BSMs for some period of time.
The single remaining C-BSR becomes the elected BSR, and its BSMs inform all the other routers in the
domain that it is the elected BSR.

Multicast Group Concept

Multicast is based on the concept of a group. An arbitrary group of receivers expresses an interest in receiving
a particular data stream. This group does not have any physical or geographical boundaries—the hosts can
be located anywhere on the Internet. Hosts that are interested in receiving data flowing to a particular group
must join the group using IGMP. Hosts must be a member of the group to receive the data stream. For
information about how to configure multicast groups, see Configure a Multicast Group, on page 847.

Multicast Addresses
Multicast addresses specify an arbitrary group of IP hosts that have joined the group and want to receive traffic
sent to this group.

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Clustering

Clustering
Multicast routing supports clustering. In Spanned EtherChannel clustering, the control unit sends all multicast
routing packets and data packets until fast-path forwarding is established. After fast-path forwarding is
established, data units may forward multicast data packets. All data flows are full flows. Stub forwarding
flows are also supported. Because only one unit receives multicast packets in Spanned EtherChannel clustering,
redirection to the control unit is common. In Individual Interface clustering, units do not act independently.
All data and routing packets are processed and forwarded by the control unit. Data units drop all packets that
have been sent.
For more information about clustering, see ASA Cluster, on page 331.

Guidelines for Multicast Routing

Context Mode
Supported in single context mode.

Firewall Mode
Supported only in routed firewall mode. Transparent firewall mode is not supported.

IPv6
Does not support IPv6.

Clustering
In clustering, for IGMP and PIM, this feature is only supported on the primary unit.

Additional Guidelines
• You must configure an access control rule on the inbound interface to allow traffic to the multicast host,
such as 224.1.2.3. However, you cannot specify a destination interface for the rule, or it cannot be applied
to multicast connections during initial connection validation.
• PIM/IGMP Multicast routing is not supported on interfaces in a traffic zone.

Enable Multicast Routing

Enabling multicast routing on the ASA, enables IGMP and PIM on all data interfaces by default, but not on
the management interface for most models (see Management Slot/Port Interface, on page 492 for interfaces
that do not allow through traffic). IGMP is used to learn whether members of a group are present on directly
attached subnets. Hosts join multicast groups by sending IGMP report messages. PIM is used to maintain
forwarding tables to forward multicast datagrams.
To enable multicast routing on the management interface, you must explicitly set a multicast boundary on the
management interface.

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 IP Routing
Customize Multicast Routing

Note Only the UDP transport layer is supported for multicast routing.

The following list shows the maximum number of entries for specific multicast tables. Once these limits are
reached, any new entries are discarded.
• MFIB—30,000
• IGMP Groups—30,000
• PIM Routes—72,000

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast.
Step 2 In the Multicast pane, check the Enable Multicast routing check box.
Checking this check box enables IP multicast routing on the ASA. Unchecking this check box disables IP
multicast routing. By default, multicast is disabled. Enabling multicast routing enables multicast on all
interfaces. You can disable multicast on a per-interface basis.

Customize Multicast Routing

This section describes how to customize multicast routing.

Configure Stub Multicast Routing and Forward IGMP Messages

Note Stub multicast routing is not supported concurrently with PIM sparse and bidirectional modes.

An ASA acting as the gateway to the stub area does not need to participate in PIM sparse mode or bidirectional
mode. Instead, you can configure it to act as an IGMP proxy agent and forward IGMP messages from hosts
connected on one interface to an upstream multicast router on another interface. To configure the ASA as an
IGMP proxy agent, forward the host join and leave messages from the stub area interface to an upstream
interface. You must also enable PIM on the interfaces participating in stub mode multicast routing.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast.
Step 2 In the Multicast pane, check the Enable Multicast routing check box.
Step 3 Click Apply to save your changes.
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP > Protocol.

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Configure a Static Multicast Route

Step 5 To modify the specific interface from which you want to forward IGMP messages, select the interface and
click Edit.
The Configure IGMP Parameters dialog box appears.

Step 6 From the Forward Interface drop-down list, choose the specific interface from which you want to forward
IGMP messages.
Step 7 Click OK to close this dialog box, then click Apply to save your changes.

Configure a Static Multicast Route

Configuring static multicast routes lets you separate multicast traffic from unicast traffic. For example, when
a path between a source and destination does not support multicast routing, the solution is to configure two
multicast devices with a GRE tunnel between them and to send the multicast packets over the tunnel.
When using PIM, the ASA expects to receive packets on the same interface where it sends unicast packets
back to the source. In some cases, such as bypassing a route that does not support multicast routing, you may
want unicast packets to take one path and multicast packets to take another.
Static multicast routes are not advertised or redistributed.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > MRoute.
Step 2 Choose Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit Multicast Route dialog box appears.
Use the Add Multicast Route dialog box to add a new static multicast route to the ASA. Use the Edit Multicast
Route dialog box to change an existing static multicast route.

Step 3 In the Source Address field, enter the IP address of the multicast source. You cannot change this value when
editing an existing static multicast route.
Step 4 Choose the network mask for the IP address of the multicast source from the Source Mask drop-down list.
Step 5 In the Incoming Interface area, click either the RPF Interface radio button to choose RPF to forward the
route or the Interface Name radio button, then enter the following:
• In the Source Interface field, choose the incoming interface for the multicast route from the drop-down
list.
• In the Destination Interface field, choose the destination interface that the route is forwarded through
from the drop-down list.

Note You can specify the interface or the RPF neighbor, but not both at the same time.

Step 6 In the Administrative Distance field, choose the administrative distance of the static multicast route. If the
static multicast route has the same administrative distance as the unicast route, then the static multicast route
takes precedence.
Step 7 Click OK.

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Configure IGMP Features

Configure IGMP Features

IP hosts use IGMP to report their group memberships to directly-connected multicast routers. IGMP is used
to dynamically register individual hosts in a multicast group on a particular LAN. Hosts identify group
memberships by sending IGMP messages to their local multicast router. Under IGMP, routers listen to IGMP
messages and periodically send out queries to discover which groups are active or inactive on a particular
subnet.
This section describes how to configure optional IGMP setting on a per-interface basis.

Disable IGMP on an Interface

You can disable IGMP on specific interfaces. This information is useful if you know that there are no multicast
hosts on a specific interface and you want to prevent the ASA from sending host query messages on that
interface.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Protocol.
The Protocol pane displays the IGMP parameters for each interface on the ASA.

Step 2 Choose the interface that you want to disable and click Edit.
Step 3 To disable the specified interface, uncheck the Enable IGMP check box.
Step 4 Click OK.
The Protocol pane displays Yes if IGMP is enabled on the interface, or No if IGMP is disabled on the interface.

Configure IGMP Group Membership

You can configure the ASA to be a member of a multicast group. Configuring the ASA to join a multicast
group causes upstream routers to maintain multicast routing table information for that group and keep the
paths for that group active.

Note If you want to forward multicast packets for a specific group to an interface without the ASA accepting those
packets as part of the group, see Configure a Statically Joined IGMP Group, on page 840.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Join Group.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit > in the > Join Group > pane.
The Add IGMP Join Group dialog box allows you to configure an interface to be a member of a multicast
group. The Edit IGMP Join Group dialog allows you to change existing membership information.

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Configure a Statically Joined IGMP Group

Step 3 In the Interface Name field, choose the interface name from the drop-down list. If you are editing an existing
entry, you cannot change this value.
Step 4 In the Multicast Group Address field, enter the address of a multicast group to which the interface belongs.
Valid group addresses range from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.
Step 5 Click OK.

Configure a Statically Joined IGMP Group

Sometimes a group member cannot report its membership in the group because of some configuration, or
there may be no members of a group on the network segment. However, you still want multicast traffic for
that group to be sent to that network segment. You can have multicast traffic for that group sent to the segment
by configuring a statically joined IGMP group.
In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Routing > Multicast > IGMP > Static Group to
configure the ASA to be a statically connected member of a group. With this method, the ASA does not accept
the packets itself, but only forwards them. Therefore, this method allows fast switching. The outgoing interface
appears in the IGMP cache, but this interface is not a member of the multicast group.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Static Group.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit in the Static Group pane.
Use the Add IGMP Static Group dialog box to statically assign a multicast group to an interface. Use the Edit
IGMP Static Group dialog box to change existing static group assignments.

Step 3 In the Interface Name field, choose the interface name from the drop-down list. If you are editing an existing
entry, you cannot change this value.
Step 4 In the Multicast Group Address field, enter the address of a multicast group to which the interface belongs.
Valid group addresses range from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.
Step 5 Click OK.

Control Access to Multicast Groups

You can control access to multicast groups by using access control lists.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Access Group.
The Access Group pane appears. The table entries in the Access Group pane are processed from the top down.
Place more specific entries near the top of the table and more generic entries further down. For example, place
an access group entry that permits a specific multicast group near the top of the table and an access group
entry below that denies a range of multicast groups, including the group in the permit rule. The group is
permitted because the permit rule is enforced before the deny rule.

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Limit the Number of IGMP States on an Interface

Double-clicking an entry in the table opens the Add or Edit Access Group dialog box for the selected entry.

Step 2 Click Add or Edit.

The Add Access Group or Edit Access Group dialog box appears. The Add Access Group dialog box lets you
add a new access group to the Access Group Table. The Edit Access Group dialog box lets you change
information for an existing access group entry. Some fields may be dimmed when editing existing entries.

Step 3 Choose the interface name with which the access group is associated from the Interface drop-down list. You
cannot change the associated interface when you are editing an existing access group.
Step 4 Choose permit from the Action drop-down list to allow the multicast group on the selected interface. Choose
deny from the Action drop-down list to filter the multicast group from the selected interface.
Step 5 In the Multicast Group Address field, enter the address of the multicast group to which the access group
applies.
Step 6 Enter the network mask for the multicast group address, or choose one of the common network masks from
the Netmask drop-down list.
Step 7 Click OK.

Limit the Number of IGMP States on an Interface

You can limit the number of IGMP states resulting from IGMP membership reports on a per-interface basis.
Membership reports exceeding the configured limits are not entered in the IGMP cache, and traffic for the
excess membership reports is not forwarded.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Protocol.
Step 2 Choose the interface you want to limit from the table on the Protocol pane, and click Edit.
The Configure IGMP Parameters dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the maximum number of host that can join on an interface, in the Group Limit field.
The default value is 500.Valid values range from 0 to 500.
Note Setting this value to 0 prevents learned groups from being added, but manually defined memberships
are still permitted.

Step 4 Click OK.

Note When you change the IGMP limit on the interface with active joins on it, the new limit is not applicable to
the existing groups. ASA validates the limit only when a new group is added to the interface or when the
IGMP join timers expire. To apply the new limit with immediate effect, you must disenable and re-enable
IGMP on the interface.

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Modify the Query Messages to Multicast Groups

Modify the Query Messages to Multicast Groups

The ASA sends query messages to discover which multicast groups have members on the networks attached
to the interfaces. Members respond with IGMP report messages indicating that they want to receive multicast
packets for specific groups. Query messages are addressed to the all-systems multicast group, which has an
address of 224.0.0.1, with a time-to-live value of 1.
These messages are sent periodically to refresh the membership information stored on the ASA. If the ASA
discovers that there are no local members of a multicast group still attached to an interface, it stops forwarding
multicast packet for that group to the attached network, and it sends a prune message back to the source of
the packets.
By default, the PIM designated router on the subnet is responsible for sending the query messages. By default,
they are sent once every 125 seconds.
When changing the query response time, by default, the maximum query response time advertised in IGMP
queries is 10 seconds. If the ASA does not receive a response to a host query within this amount of time, it
deletes the group.
To change the query interval, query response time, and query timeout value, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Protocol.
Step 2 Choose the interface you want to limit from the table on the Protocol pane, and click Edit.
The Configure IGMP Parameters dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the interval in seconds, at which the designated router sends IGMP host-query messages, in the Query
Interval field.
Valid values range from 1 to 3600 seconds. The default value is 125 seconds.
Note If the ASA does not hear a query message on an interface for the specified timeout value, then the
ASA becomes the designated router and starts sending the query messages.

Step 4 Enter the period of time, in seconds, in the Query Timeout field before which the ASA takes over as the
requester for the interface after the previous requester has stopped doing so.
Valid values range from 60 to 300 seconds. The default value is 255 seconds.

Step 5 In the Response Time field, enter the maximum query response time advertised in IGMP queries, in seconds.
Values range from 1 to 25 seconds. The default value is 10 seconds.

Step 6 Click OK.

Change the IGMP Version

By default, the ASA runs IGMP Version 2, which enables several additional features.

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Configure PIM Features

All multicast routers on a subnet must support the same version of IGMP. The ASA does not automatically
detect Version 1 routers and switch to Version 1. However, a mix of IGMP Version 1 and 2 hosts on the
subnet works; the ASA running IGMP Version 2 works correctly when IGMP Version 1 hosts are present.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > IGMP
> Protocol.
Step 2 Choose the interface whose version of IGMP you want to change from the table on the Protocol pane, and
click Edit.
The Configure IGMP Interface dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the version number from the Version drop-down list.
Step 4 Click OK.

Configure PIM Features

Routers use PIM to maintain forwarding tables to use for forwarding multicast diagrams. When you enable
multicast routing on the ASA, PIM and IGMP are automatically enabled on all interfaces.

Note PIM is not supported with PAT. The PIM protocol does not use ports, and PAT only works with protocols
that use ports.

This section describes how to configure optional PIM settings.

Enable and Disable PIM on an Interface

You can enable or disable PIM on specific interfaces.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Protocol.
Step 2 Choose the interface on which you want to enable PIM from the table on the Protocol pane, and click Edit.
The Edit PIM Protocol dialog box appears.

Step 3 Check the Enable PIM check box. To disable PIM, uncheck this check box.
Step 4 Click OK.

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Configure a Static Rendezvous Point Address

Configure a Static Rendezvous Point Address

All routers within a common PIM sparse mode or bidir domain require knowledge of the PIM RP address.
The address is statically configured using the pim rp-address command.

Note The ASA does not support Auto-RP or PIM BSR.

You can configure the ASA to serve as RP to more than one group. The group range specified in the ACL
determines the PIM RP group mapping. If an ACL is not specified, then the RP for the group is applied to
the entire multicast group range (224.0.0.0/4).

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Rendezvous Points.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit Rendezvous Point dialog box appears. The Add Rendezvous Point dialog box lets you add
a new entry to the Rendezvous Point table. The Edit Rendezvous Point dialog box lets you change an existing
RP entry. Additionally, you can click Delete to remove the selected multicast group entry from the table.
These restrictions apply to RPs:
• You cannot use the same RP address twice.
• You cannot specify All Groups for more than one RP.

Step 3 In the Rendezvous Point Address field, enter the IP address for the RP.
When editing an existing RP entry, you cannot change this value.

Step 4 Check the Use bi-directional forwarding check box if the specified multicast groups are to operate in
bidirectional mode. The Rendezvous Point pane displays Yes if the specified multicast groups are to operate
in bidirectional mode and displays No if the specified groups are to operate in sparse mode. In bidirectional
mode, if the ASA receives a multicast packet and has no directly connected members or PIM neighbors present,
it sends a prune message back to the source.
Step 5 Click the Use this RP for All Multicast Groups radio button to use the specified RP for all multicast groups
on the interface, or the Use this RP for the Multicast Groups as specified below radio button to designate
the multicast groups to use with the specified RP.
For more information about multicast groups, see Configure a Multicast Group, on page 847.

Step 6 Click OK.

Configure the Designated Router Priority

The DR is responsible for sending PIM register, join, and prune messages to the RP. When there is more than
one multicast router on a network segment, selecting the DR is based on the DR priority. If multiple devices
have the same DR priority, then the device with the highest IP address becomes the DR.

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Configure and Filter PIM Register Messages

By default, the ASA has a DR priority of 1. You can change this value.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Protocol.
Step 2 Choose the interface that you want to enable for PIM from the table on the Protocol pane, and click Edit.
The Edit PIM Protocol dialog box appears.

Step 3 In the DR Priority field, type the value for the designated router priority for the selected interface. The router
with the highest DR priority on the subnet becomes the designated router. Valid values range from 0 to
4294967294. The default DR priority is 1. Setting this value to 0 makes the ASA interface ineligible to become
the default router.
Step 4 Click OK.

Configure and Filter PIM Register Messages

When the ASA is acting as an RP, you can restrict specific multicast sources from registering with it to prevent
unauthorized sources from registering with the RP. The Request Filter pane lets you define the multicast
sources from which the ASA will accept PIM register messages.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Request Filter.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Request Filter Entry dialog box lets you define the multicast sources that are allowed to register with the
ASA when the ASA acts as an RP. You create the filter rules based on the source IP address and the destination
multicast address.

Step 3 From the Action drop-down list, choose Permit to create a rule that allows the specified source of the specified
multicast traffic to register with the ASA, or choose Deny to create a rule that prevents the specified source
of the specified multicast traffic from registering with the ASA.
Step 4 Type the IP address for the source of the register message, in the Source IP Address field.
Step 5 Type or choose the network mask from the drop-down list for the source of the register message, in the Source
Netmask field.
Step 6 Type the multicast destination address, in the Destination IP Address field.
Step 7 Type or choose the network mask from the drop-down list for the multicast destination address, in the
Destination Netmask field.
Step 8 Click OK.

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Configure PIM Message Intervals

Configure PIM Message Intervals

Router query messages are used to select the PIM DR. The PIM DR is responsible for sending router query
messages. By default, router query messages are sent every 30 seconds. Additionally, every 60 seconds, the
ASA sends PIM join or prune messages.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Protocol.
Step 2 Choose the interface that you want to enable for PIM from the table on the Protocol pane, and click Edit.
The Edit PIM Protocol dialog box appears.

Step 3 Type the frequency, in seconds, at which the interface sends PIM hello messages, in the Hello Interval field.
Step 4 Type the frequency, in seconds, at which the interface sends PIM join and prune advertisements, in the Prune
Interval field.
Step 5 Click OK.

Configure a Route Tree

By default, PIM leaf routers join the shortest-path tree immediately after the first packet arrives from a new
source. This method reduces delay, but requires more memory than the shared tree. You can configure whether
or not the ASA should join the shortest-path tree or use the shared tree, either for all multicast groups or only
for specific multicast addresses.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Route Tree.
Step 2 Click one of the following radio buttons:
• Use Shortest Path Tree for All Groups—Choose this option to use the shortest-path tree for all multicast
groups.
• Use Shared Tree for All Groups—Choose this option to use the shared tree for all multicast groups.
• Use Shared Tree for the Groups specified below—Choose this option to use the shared tree for the
groups specified in the Multicast Groups table. The shortest-path tree is used for any group that is not
specified in the Multicast Groups table.
The Multicast Groups table displays the multicast groups to use with the shared tree.
The table entries are processed from the top down. You can create an entry that includes a range of
multicast groups, but excludes specific groups within that range by placing deny rules for the specific
groups at the top of the table and the permit rule for the range of multicast groups below the deny
statements.

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Configure a Multicast Group

To edit a multicast group, see Configure a Multicast Group, on page 847.

Configure a Multicast Group

Multicast groups are lists of access rules that define which multicast addresses are part of a group. A multicast
group can include a single multicast address or a range of multicast addresses. Use the Add Multicast Group
dialog box to create a new multicast group rule. Use the Edit Multicast Group dialog box to modify an existing
multicast group rule.
To configure a multicast group, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Rendezvous Points.
Step 2 The Rendezvous Point pane appears. Click the group that you want to configure.
The Edit Rendezvous Point dialog box appears.

Step 3 Click the Use this RP for the Multicast Groups as specified below radio button to designate the multicast
groups to use with the specified RP.
Step 4 Click Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit Multicast Group dialog box appears.

Step 5 From the Action drop-down list, choose Permit to create a group rule that allows the specified multicast
addresses, or choose Deny to create a group rule that filters the specified multicast addresses.
Step 6 In the Multicast Group Address field, type the multicast address associated with the group.
Step 7 From the Netmask drop-down list, choose the network mask for the multicast group address.
Step 8 Click OK.

Filter PIM Neighbors

You can define the routers that can become PIM neighbors. By filtering the routers that can become PIM
neighbors, you can do the following:
• Prevent unauthorized routers from becoming PIM neighbors.
• Prevent attached stub routers from participating in PIM.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Neighbor Filter.
Step 2 Choose the PIM neighbor that you want to configure from the table by clicking Add/Edit/Insert.

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Configure a Bidirectional Neighbor Filter

The Add/Edit/Insert Neighbor Filter Entry dialog box appears. It lets you create the ACL entries for the
multicast boundary ACL. You can also delete a selected PIM neighbor entry.

Step 3 Choose the interface name from the Interface Name drop-down list.
Step 4 From the Action drop-down list, choose Permit or Deny for the neighbor filter ACL entry.
Choosing Permit allows the multicast group advertisements to pass through the interface. Choosing Deny
prevents the specified multicast group advertisements from passing through the interface. When a multicast
boundary is configured on an interface, all multicast traffic is prevented from passing through the interface
unless permitted with a neighbor filter entry.

Step 5 Enter the IP address of the multicast PIM group being permitted or denied, in the IP Address field. Valid
group addresses range from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.255.
Step 6 From the Netmask drop-down list, choose the netmask for the multicast group address.
Step 7 Click OK.

Configure a Bidirectional Neighbor Filter

The Bidirectional Neighbor Filter pane shows the PIM bidirectional neighbor filters, if any, that are configured
on the ASA. A PIM bidirectional neighbor filter is an ACL that defines the neighbor devices that can participate
in the DF election. If a PIM bidirectional neighbor filter is not configured for an interface, then there are no
restrictions. If a PIM bidirectional neighbor filter is configured, only those neighbors permitted by the ACL
can participate in the DF election process.
When a PIM bidirectional neighbor filter configuration is applied to the ASA, an ACL appears in the running
configuration with the name interface-name_multicast, in which the interface-name is the name of the interface
to which the multicast boundary filter is applied. If an ACL with that name already exists, a number is appended
to the name (for example, inside_multicast_1). This ACL defines which devices can become PIM neighbors
of the ASA.
Bidirectional PIM allows multicast routers to keep reduced state information. All of the multicast routers in
a segment must be bidirectionally enabled for bidir to elect a DF.
The PIM bidirectional neighbor filters enable the transition from a sparse-mode-only network to a bidir network
by letting you specify the routers that should participate in the DF election, while still allowing all routers to
participate in the sparse-mode domain. The bidir-enabled routers can elect a DF from among themselves, even
when there are non-bidir routers on the segment. Multicast boundaries on the non-bidir routers prevent PIM
messages and data from the bidir groups from leaking in or out of the bidir subset cloud.
When a PIM bidirectional neighbor filter is enabled, the routers that are permitted by the ACL are considered
to be bidirectionally capable. Therefore, the following is true:
• If a permitted neighbor does not support bidir, then the DF election does not occur.
• If a denied neighbor supports bidir, then the DF election does not occur.
• If a denied neighbor does not support bidir, the DF election can occur.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM >
Bidirectional Neighbor Filter.

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Configure the ASA as a Candidate BSR

Step 2 Double-click an entry in the PIM Bidirectional Neighbor Filter table to access the Edit Bidirectional Neighbor
Filter Entry dialog box for that entry.
Step 3 Choose the PIM neighbor that you want to configure from the table by clicking Add/Edit/Insert.
The Add/Edit/Insert Bidirectional Neighbor Filter Entry dialog box appears, which lets you create ACL entries
for the PIM bidirectional neighbor filter ACL

Step 4 Choose the interface name from the Interface Name drop-down list. Select the interface for which you are
configuring the PIM bidirectional neighbor filter ACL entry.
Step 5 From the Action drop-down list, choose Permit or Deny for the neighbor filter ACL entry.
Choose Permit to allow the specified devices to participate in the DF election process. Choose Deny to prevent
the specified devices from participating in the DF election process.

Step 6 Enter the IP address of the multicast PIM group being permitted or denied. Valid group addresses range from
224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.255, in the IP Address field.
Step 7 From the Netmask drop-down list, choose the netmask for the multicast group address.
Step 8 Click OK.

Configure the ASA as a Candidate BSR

You can configure the ASA as a candidate BSR.

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast > PIM > Bootstrap Router.
Step 2 Check the Configure this ASA as a candidate bootstrap router (CBSR) check box to perform the CBSR
set up.
a) Select the interface on the ASA from which the BSR address is derived to make it a candidate from
theSelect Interface drop-down list.
Note This interface must be enabled with PIM.
b) Enter the length of a mask (32 bits maximum) that is to be ANDed with the group address before the hash
function is called in the Hash mask length field. All groups with the same seed hash (correspond) to the
same Rendezvous Point (RP). For example, if this value is 24, only the first 24 bits of the group addresses
matter. This fact allows you to get one RP for multiple groups.
c) Enter the priority of the candidate BSR in the Priority field. The BSR with the larger priority is preferred.
If the priority values are the same, the router with the larger IP address is the BSR. The default value is
0.
Step 3 (Optional) Select an interface on which no PIM BSR messages will be sent or received, in the Configure this
ASA as a Border Bootstrap Routersection.
Step 4 Click Apply.

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Configure a Multicast Boundary

Configure a Multicast Boundary

Address scoping defines domain boundaries so that domains with RPs that have the same IP address do not
leak into each other. Scoping is performed on the subnet boundaries within large domains and on the boundaries
between the domain and the Internet.
You can set up an administratively scoped boundary on an interface for multicast group addresses. IANA has
designated the multicast address range from 239.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 as the administratively scoped
addresses. This range of addresses can be reused in domains administered by different organizations. The
addresses would be considered local, not globally unique.
A standard ACL defines the range of affected addresses. When a boundary is set up, no multicast data packets
are allowed to flow across the boundary from either direction. The boundary allows the same multicast group
address to be reused in different administrative domains.
You can configure, examine, and filter Auto-RP discovery and announcement messages at the administratively
scoped boundary. Any Auto-RP group range announcements from the Auto-RP packets that are denied by
the boundary ACL are removed. An Auto-RP group range announcement is permitted and passed by the
boundary only if all addresses in the Auto-RP group range are permitted by the boundary ACL. If any address
is not permitted, the entire group range is filtered and removed from the Auto-RP message before the Auto-RP
message is forwarded.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Routing > Multicast > MBoundary.
The MBoundary pane lets you configure a multicast boundary for administratively scoped multicast addresses.
A multicast boundary restricts multicast data packet flows and enables reuse of the same multicast group
address in different administrative domains. When a multicast boundary is defined on an interface, only the
multicast traffic permitted by the filter ACL passes through the interface.

Step 2 Click Edit.

The Edit Boundary Filter dialog box appears and displays the multicast boundary filter ACL. You can add
and remove boundary filter ACL entries using this dialog box.
When the boundary filter configuration is applied to the ASA, the ACL appears in the running configuration
with the name interface-name_multicast, where the interface-name is the name of the interface to which the
multicast boundary filter is applied. If an ACL with that name already exists, a number is appended to the
name (for example, inside_multicast_1).

Step 3 Choose the interface for which you are configuring the multicast boundary filter ACL from the Interface
drop-down list.
Step 4 Check the Remove any Auto-RP group range check box to filter Auto-RP messages from sources denied
by the boundary ACL. If the Remove any Auto-RP group range check box is unchecked, all Auto-RP
messages are passed.
Step 5 Click OK.

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Monitoring for PIM

Monitoring for PIM

To monitor or disable various PIM routing statistics, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > PIM > BSR Router
The BSR Router configuration information is displayed.

Step 2 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > PIM > Multicast Routing Table
The contents of the multicast routing table are displayed.

Step 3 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > PIM > MFIB
The summary information about the number of IPv4 PIM multicast forwarding information base entries and
interfaces are displayed.

Step 4 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > PIM > MFIB Active
The summary information from the Multicast Forwarding Information Base (MFIB) about the rate at which
active multicast sources are sending to multicast groups is displayed.
Step 5 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > PIM > Group Map
The summary information from the Multicast Forwarding Information Base (MFIB) about the rate at which
active multicast sources are sending to multicast groups is displayed.
a) Select RP Timers from the Select PIM Group drop-down list, to view the timer information for each
group-to-PIM mode mapping.
Step 6 In the main ASDM window, choose Monitoring > Routing > PIM > Neighbors
The Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) neighbor information is displayed.

Example for Multicast Routing

The following example shows how to enable and configure multicast routing with various optional processes:
1. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast.
2. In the Multicast pane, check the Enable Multicast routing check box, and click Apply.
3. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast >
MRoute.
4. Click Add or Edit.
The Add or Edit Multicast Route dialog box appears.
Use the Add Multicast Route dialog box to add a new static multicast route to the ASA. Use the Edit
Multicast Route dialog box to change an existing static multicast route.

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Example for Multicast Routing

5. In the Source Address field, enter the IP address of the multicast source. You cannot change this value
when editing an existing static multicast route.
6. Choose the network mask for the IP address of the multicast source from the Source Mask drop-down
list.
7. In the Incoming Interface area, click either the RPF Interface radio button to choose RPF to forward
the route or the Interface Name radio button, then enter the following:
• In the Source Interface field, choose the incoming interface for the multicast route from the
drop-down list.
• In the Destination Interface field, choose the destination interface to which the route is forwarded
through the selected interface from the drop-down list.

Note You can specify the interface or the RPF neighbor, but not both at the same time.

8. In the Administrative Distance field, choose the administrative distance of the static multicast route. If
the static multicast route has the same administrative distance as the unicast route, then the static multicast
route takes precedence.
9. Click OK.
10. In the main ASDM window, choose Configuration > Device Setup > Routing > Multicast >
IGMP > Join Group.
The Join Group pane appears.
11. Click Add or Edit.
The Add IGMP Join Group dialog box allows you to configure an interface to be a member of a multicast
group. The Edit IGMP Join Group dialog box allows you to change existing membership information.
12. In the Interface Name field, choose the interface name from the drop-down list. If you are editing an
existing entry, you cannot change this value.
13. In the Multicast Group Address field, enter the address of a multicast group to which the interface
belongs. Valid group addresses range from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255.
14. Click OK.

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History for Multicast Routing

History for Multicast Routing

Table 43: Feature History for Multicast Routing

Feature Name Platform Releases Feature Information

Multicast routing support 7.0(1) Support was added for multicast routing
data, authentication, and redistribution and
monitoring of routing information using the
multicast routing protocol.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Multicast.

Clustering support 9.0(1) Support was added for clustering.

Protocol Independent Multicast 9.5(1) Support was added to allow PIM-SSM

Source-Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM) packets to pass through when multicast
pass-through support routing is enabled, unless the ASA is the
Last-Hop Router. This allows greater
flexibility in choosing a multicast group
while also protecting against different
attacks; hosts only receive traffic from
explicitly-requested sources.
We did not change any screens.

Protocol Independent Multicast Bootstrap 9.5(2) Support was added for a new dynamic
Router(BSR) Rendezvous Point (RP) selection model
that uses candidate routers for Rendezvous
Point function and for relaying the
Rendezvous Point information for a group.
This feature provides a means of
dynamically learning Rendezvous Points
(RPs), which is very essential in large
complex networks where an RP can
periodically go down and come up.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Routing >
Multicast > PIM > Bootstrap Router

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History for Multicast Routing

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PA R T VI
AAA Servers and the Local Database
• AAA and the Local Database, on page 857
• RADIUS Servers for AAA, on page 867
• TACACS+ Servers for AAA, on page 893
• LDAP Servers for AAA, on page 901
• Kerberos Servers for AAA, on page 911
• RSA SecurID Servers for AAA, on page 917
 CHAPTER 36
AAA and the Local Database
This chapter describes authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA, pronounced “triple A”). AAA is
a a set of services for controlling access to computer resources, enforcing policies, assessing usage, and
providing the information necessary to bill for services. These processes are considered important for effective
network management and security.
This chapter also describes how to configure the local database for AAA functionality. For external AAA
servers, see the chapter for your server type.
• About AAA and the Local Database, on page 857
• Guidelines for the Local Database, on page 862
• Add a User Account to the Local Database, on page 862
• Test Local Database Authentication and Authorization, on page 863
• Monitoring the Local Database, on page 864
• History for the Local Database, on page 864

About AAA and the Local Database

This section describes AAA and the local database.

Authentication
Authentication provides a way to identify a user, typically by having the user enter a valid username and valid
password before access is granted. The AAA server compares a user's authentication credentials with other
user credentials stored in a database. If the credentials match, the user is permitted access to the network. If
the credentials do not match, authentication fails and network access is denied.
You can configure the Cisco ASA to authenticate the following items:
• All administrative connections to the ASA, including the following sessions:
• Telnet
• SSH
• Serial console
• ASDM using HTTPS
• VPN management access

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 AAA Servers and the Local Database
Authorization

• The enable command

• Network access
• VPN access

Authorization
Authorization is the process of enforcing policies: determining what types of activities, resources, or services
a user is permitted to access. After a user is authenticated, that user may be authorized for different types of
access or activity.
You can configure the ASA to authorize the following items:
• Management commands
• Network access
• VPN access

Accounting
Accounting measures the resources a user consumes during access, which may include the amount of system
time or the amount of data that a user has sent or received during a session. Accounting is carried out through
the logging of session statistics and usage information, which is used for authorization control, billing, trend
analysis, resource utilization, and capacity planning activities.

Interaction Between Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting

You can use authentication alone or with authorization and accounting. Authorization always requires a user
to be authenticated first. You can use accounting alone, or with authentication and authorization.

AAA Servers and Server Groups

The AAA server is a network server that is used for access control. Authentication identifies the user.
Authorization implements policies that determine which resources and services an authenticated user may
access. Accounting keeps track of time and data resources that are used for billing and analysis.
If you want to use an external AAA server, you must first create a AAA server group for the protocol that the
external server uses, and add the server to the group. You can create more than one group per protocol, and
separate groups for all protocols that you want to use. Each server group is specific to one type of server or
service.
See the following topics for details on how to create the groups:
• Configure RADIUS Server Groups, on page 885
• Configure TACACS+ Server Groups, on page 895
• Configure LDAP Server Groups, on page 906
• Configure Kerberos AAA Server Groups, on page 911

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AAA Servers and Server Groups

• Configure RSA SecurID AAA Server Groups, on page 918

See the VPN configuration guide for more information on using Kerberos Constrained Delegation and HTTP
Form.
The following table summarizes the supported types of server and their uses, including the local database.

Table 44: Supported Services for AAA Servers

Server Type and Service Authentication Authorization Accounting

Local Database

Administrators Yes Yes No

VPN Users Yes No No

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) Yes Yes No

RADIUS

Administrators Yes Yes Yes

VPN Users Yes Yes Yes

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) Yes Yes Yes

TACACS+

Administrators Yes Yes Yes

VPN Users Yes No Yes

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) Yes Yes Yes

LDAP

Administrators Yes No No

VPN Users Yes Yes No

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) Yes No No

Kerberos

Administrators Yes No No

VPN Users Yes No No

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) Yes No No

SDI (RSA SecurID)

Administrators Yes No No

VPN Users Yes No No

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About the Local Database

Server Type and Service Authentication Authorization Accounting

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) Yes No No

HTTP Form

Administrators No No No

VPN Users Yes No No

Firewall Sessions (AAA rules) No No No

Notes
• RADIUS—Accounting for administrators does not include command accounting.
• RADIUS—Authorization for firewall sessions is supported with user-specific access lists only, which
are received or specified in a RADIUS authentication response.
• TACACS+—Accounting for administrators includes command accounting.
• HTTP Form—Authentication and SSO operations for clientless SSL VPN user sessions only.

About the Local Database

The ASA maintains a local database that you can populate with user profiles. You can use a local database
instead of AAA servers to provide user authentication, authorization, and accounting.
You can use the local database for the following functions:
• ASDM per-user access
• Console authentication
• Telnet and SSH authentication
• enable command authentication
This setting is for CLI-access only and does not affect the Cisco ASDM login.
• Command authorization
If you turn on command authorization using the local database, then the Cisco ASA refers to the user
privilege level to determine which commands are available. Otherwise, the privilege level is not generally
used. By default, all commands are either privilege level 0 or level 15. ASDM allows you to enable three
predefined privilege levels, with commands assigned to level 15 (Admin), level 5 (Read Only), and level
3 (Monitor Only). If you use the predefined levels, then assign users to one of these three privilege levels.
• Network access authentication
• VPN client authentication

For multiple context mode, you can configure usernames in the system execution space to provide individual
logins at the CLI using the login command; however, you cannot configure any AAA rules that use the local
database in the system execution space.

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Fallback Support

Note You cannot use the local database for network access authorization.

Fallback Support
The local database can act as a fallback method for several functions. This behavior is designed to help you
prevent accidental lockout from the ASA.
When a user logs in, the servers in the group are accessed one at a time, starting with the first server that you
specify in the configuration, until a server responds. If all servers in the group are unavailable, the ASA tries
the local database if you have configured it as a fallback method (for management authentication and
authorization only). If you do not have a fallback method, the ASA continues to try the AAA servers.
For users who need fallback support, we recommend that their usernames and passwords in the local database
match their usernames and passwords on the AAA servers. This practice provides transparent fallback support.
Because the user cannot determine whether a AAA server or the local database is providing the service, using
usernames and passwords on AAA servers that are different than the usernames and passwords in the local
database means that the user cannot be certain which username and password should be given.
The local database supports the following fallback functions:
• Console and enable password authentication—If the servers in the group are all unavailable, the ASA
uses the local database to authenticate administrative access, which can also include enable password
authentication.
• Command authorization—If the TACACS+ servers in the group are all unavailable, the local database
is used to authorize commands based on privilege levels.
• VPN authentication and authorization—VPN authentication and authorization are supported to enable
remote access to the ASA if AAA servers that normally support these VPN services are unavailable.
When a VPN client of an administrator specifies a tunnel group configured to fallback to the local
database, the VPN tunnel can be established even if the AAA server group is unavailable, provided that
the local database is configured with the necessary attributes.

How Fallback Works with Multiple Servers in a Group

If you configure multiple servers in a server group and you enable fallback to the local database for the server
group, fallback occurs when no server in the group responds to the authentication request from the ASA. To
illustrate, consider this scenario:
You configure an LDAP server group with two Active Directory servers, server 1 and server 2, in that order.
When the remote user logs in, the ASA attempts to authenticate to server 1.
If server 1 responds with an authentication failure (such as user not found), the ASA does not attempt to
authenticate to server 2.
If server 1 does not respond within the timeout period (or the number of authentication attempts exceeds the
configured maximum), the ASA tries server 2.
If both servers in the group do not respond, and the ASA is configured to fall back to the local database, the
ASA tries to authenticate to the local database.

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Guidelines for the Local Database

Guidelines for the Local Database

Make sure that you prevent a lockout from the ASA when using the local database for authentication or
authorization.

Add a User Account to the Local Database

To add a user to the local database, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > User Accounts, then click Add.
The Add User Account-Identity dialog box appears.

Step 2 Enter a username from 4 to 64 characters long.

Step 3 (Optional) Enter a password between 3 and 127 characters. Passwords are case-sensitive. The field displays
only asterisks. To protect security, we recommend a password length of at least 8 characters. You might want
to create a username without a password if you are using SSH public key authentication, for example.
Note To configure the enable password from the User Accounts pane, change the password for the
enable_15 user. The enable_15 user is always present in the User Accounts pane, and represents
the default username. This method of configuring the enable password is the only method available
in ASDM for the system configuration. If you configured other enable level passwords at the CLI
(enable password 10, for example), then those users are listed as enable_10, and so on.

Step 4 Reenter the password.

For security purposes, only asterisks appear in the password fields.

Step 5 Check the User authenticated using MSCHAP check box if you are using MSCHAP for authentication.
Step 6 Set the management access level for a user in the Access Restriction area. You must first enable management
authorization by clicking the Perform authorization for exec shell access option on the Configuration >
Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authorization tab.
Choose one of the following options:
• Full Access (ASDM, Telnet, SSH and console)—If you configure authentication for management access
using the local database, then this option lets the user use ASDM, SSH, Telnet, and the console port. If
you also enable authentication, then the user can access global configuration mode.
• Privilege Level—Sets the privilege level for ASDM and local command authorization. The range
is 0 (lowest) to 15 (highest). Specify 15 to grant unrestricted admin access. The predefined ASDM
roles use 15 for Admin, 5 for Read Only, and 3 for Monitor Only (which restricts the user to the
Home and Monitoring panes).

• CLI login prompt for SSH, Telnet and console (no ASDM access)—If you configure authentication
for management access using the local database, then this option lets the user use SSH, Telnet, and the
console port. The user cannot use ASDM for configuration (if you configure HTTP authentication).

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Test Local Database Authentication and Authorization

ASDM monitoring is allowed. If you also configure enable authentication, then the user cannot access
global configuration mode.
• No ASDM, SSH, Telnet, or console access—If you configure authentication for management access
using the local database, then this option disallows the user from accessing any management access
method for which you configured authentication (excluding the Serial option; serial access is allowed).

Step 7 (Optional) To enable public key authentication for SSH connections to the ASA on a per-user basis, see
Configure HTTPS (ASDM) Access, on page 924.
Step 8 Click VPN Policy to configure VPN policy attributes for this user. See the VPN configuration guide.
Step 9 Click Apply.
The user is added to the local database, and the changes are saved to the running configuration.
Tip You can search for specific text in each column of the Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts pane. Enter the specific text that you want to locate in the Find box,
then click the Up or Down arrow. You can also use the asterisk (“*”) and question mark (“?”) as
wild card characters in the text search.

Test Local Database Authentication and Authorization

To determine whether the ASA can contact a local database and authenticate or authorize a user, perform the
following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 From the Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups > AAA Server
Groups table, click the server group in which the server resides.
Step 2 Click the server that you want to test from the Servers in the Selected Group table.
Step 3 Click Test.
The Test AAA Server dialog box appears for the selected server.

Step 4 Click the type of test that you want to perform—Authentication or Authorization.
Step 5 Enter a username.
Step 6 If you are testing authentication, enter the password for the username.
Step 7 Click OK.
The ASA sends an authentication or authorization test message to the server. If the test fails, ASDM displays
an error message.

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Monitoring the Local Database

Monitoring the Local Database

See the following commands for monitoring the local database:
• Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers
This pane shows AAA server statistics.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

History for the Local Database

Table 45: History for the Local Database

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Local database configuration for AAA 7.0(1) Describes how to configure the local
database for AAA use.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts.

Support for SSH public key authentication 9.1(2) You can now enable public key
authentication for SSH connections to the
ASA on a per-user basis. You can specify
a public key file (PKF) formatted key or a
Base64 key. The PKF key can be up to
4096 bits. Use PKF format for keys that are
too large to for the ASA support of the
Base64 format (up to 2048 bits).
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Edit User
Account > Public Key Authentication
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Edit User
Account > Public Key Using PKF
Also available in 8.4(4.1); PKF key format
support is only in 9.1(2).

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History for the Local Database

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Longer password support for local 9.6(1) You can now create local username and
username and enable passwords (up to enable passwords up to 127 characters (the
127 characters) former limit was 32). When you create a
password longer than 32 characters, it is
stored in the configuration using a PBKDF2
(Password-Based Key Derivation Function
2) hash. Shorter passwords continue to use
the MD5-based hashing method.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Device
Name/Password > Enable Password
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Add/Edit
User Account > Identity

SSH public key authentication 9.6(2) In earlier releases, you could enable SSH
improvements public key authentication without also
enabling AAA SSH authentication with the
Local user database . The configuration is
now fixed so that you must explicitly enable
AAA SSH authentication. To disallow users
from using a password instead of the private
key, you can now create a username without
any password defined.
We modifed the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access >
ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Add/Edit
User Account

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History for the Local Database

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

PBKDF2 hashing for all local username 9.7(1) Local username and enable passwords of
and enable passwords all lengths are stored in the configuration
using a PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key
Derivation Function 2) hash. Previously,
passwords 32 characters and shorter used
the MD5-based hashing method. Already
existing passwords continue to use the
MD5-based hash unless you enter a new
password. See the "Software and
Configurations" chapter in the General
Operations Configuration Guide for
downgrading guidelines.
We modified the following screens:
Configuration > Device Setup > Device
Name/Password > Enable Password
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Add/Edit
User Account > Identity

Separate authentication for users with SSH 9.6(3)/9.8(1) In releases prior to 9.6(2), you could enable
public key authentication and users with SSH public key authentication (ssh
passwords authentication) without also explicitly
enabling AAA SSH authentication with the
Local user database (aaa authentication
ssh console LOCAL). In 9.6(2), the ASA
required you to explicitly enable AAA SSH
authentication. In this release, you no longer
have to explicitly enable AAA SSH
authentication; when you configure the ssh
authentication command for a user, local
authentication is enabled by default for
users with this type of authentication.
Moreover, when you explicitly configure
AAA SSH authentication, this configuration
only applies for for usernames with
passwords, and you can use any AAA
server type (aaa authentication ssh
console radius_1, for example). For
example, some users can use public key
authentication using the local database, and
other users can use passwords with
RADIUS.
We did not modify any screens.

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 CHAPTER 37
RADIUS Servers for AAA
This chapter describes how to configure RADIUS servers for AAA.
• About RADIUS Servers for AAA, on page 867
• Guidelines for RADIUS Servers for AAA, on page 884
• Configure RADIUS Servers for AAA, on page 884
• Test RADIUS Server Authentication and Authorization, on page 889
• Monitoring RADIUS Servers for AAA, on page 890
• History for RADIUS Servers for AAA, on page 890

About RADIUS Servers for AAA

The Cisco ASA supports the following RFC-compliant RADIUS servers for AAA:
• Cisco Secure ACS 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, and 5.x
• Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
• RSA RADIUS in RSA Authentication Manager 5.2, 6.1, and 7.x
• Microsoft

Supported Authentication Methods

The ASA supports the following authentication methods with RADIUS servers:
• PAP—For all connection types.
• CHAP and MS-CHAPv1—For L2TP-over-IPsec connections.
• MS-CHAPv2—For L2TP-over-IPsec connections, and for regular IPsec remote access connections when
the password management feature is enabled. You can also use MS-CHAPv2 with clientless connections.
• Authentication Proxy modes—For RADIUS-to Active-Directory, RADIUS-to-RSA/SDI, RADIUS-
to-Token server, and RSA/SDI-to-RADIUS connections,

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User Authorization of VPN Connections

Note To enable MS-CHAPv2 as the protocol used between the ASA and the RADIUS
server for a VPN connection, password management must be enabled in the tunnel
group general attributes. Enabling password management generates an
MS-CHAPv2 authentication request from the ASA to the RADIUS server. See
the description of the password-management command for details.
If you use double authentication and enable password management in the tunnel
group, then the primary and secondary authentication requests include
MS-CHAPv2 request attributes. If a RADIUS server does not support
MS-CHAPv2, then you can configure that server to send a non-MS-CHAPv2
authentication request by using the no mschapv2-capable command.

User Authorization of VPN Connections

The ASA can use RADIUS servers for user authorization of VPN remote access and firewall cut-through-proxy
sessions using dynamic ACLs or ACL names per user. To implement dynamic ACLs, you must configure the
RADIUS server to support them. When the user authenticates, the RADIUS server sends a downloadable
ACL or ACL name to the ASA. Access to a given service is either permitted or denied by the ACL. The ASA
deletes the ACL when the authentication session expires.
In addition to ACLs, the ASA supports many other attributes for authorization and setting of permissions for
VPN remote access and firewall cut-through proxy sessions.

Supported Sets of RADIUS Attributes

The ASA supports the following sets of RADIUS attributes:
• Authentication attributes defined in RFC 2138.
• Accounting attributes defined in RFC 2139.
• RADIUS attributes for tunneled protocol support, defined in RFC 2868.
• Cisco IOS Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSAs), identified by RADIUS vendor ID 9.
• Cisco VPN-related VSAs, identified by RADIUS vendor ID 3076.
• Microsoft VSAs, defined in RFC 2548.

Supported RADIUS Authorization Attributes

Authorization refers to the process of enforcing permissions or attributes. A RADIUS server defined as an
authentication server enforces permissions or attributes if they are configured. These attributes have vendor
ID 3076.
The following table lists the supported RADIUS attributes that can be used for user authorization.

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Supported RADIUS Authorization Attributes

Note RADIUS attribute names do not contain the cVPN3000 prefix. Cisco Secure ACS 4.x supports this new
nomenclature, but attribute names in pre-4.0 ACS releases still include the cVPN3000 prefix. The ASAs
enforce the RADIUS attributes based on attribute numeric ID, not attribute name.
All attributes listed in the following table are downstream attributes that are sent from the RADIUS server to
the ASA except for the following attribute numbers: 146, 150, 151, and 152. These attribute numbers are
upstream attributes that are sent from the ASA to the RADIUS server. RADIUS attributes 146 and 150 are
sent from the ASA to the RADIUS server for authentication and authorization requests. All four previously
listed attributes are sent from the ASA to the RADIUS server for accounting start, interim-update, and stop
requests. Upstream RADIUS attributes 146, 150, 151, and 152 were introduced in Version 8.4(3).

Table 46: Supported RADIUS Authorization Attributes

Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Access-Hours Y 1 String Single Name of the time

range, for example,
Business-hours

Access-List-Inbound Y 86 String Single ACL ID

Access-List-Outbound Y 87 String Single ACL ID

Address-Pools Y 217 String Single Name of IP local

pool

Allow-Network-Extension-Mode Y 64 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Authenticated-User-Idle-Timeout Y 50 Integer Single 1-35791394 minutes

Authorization-DN-Field Y 67 String Single Possible values:

UID, OU, O, CN, L,
SP, C, EA, T, N,
GN, SN, I, GENQ,
DNQ, SER,
use-entire-name

Authorization-Required 66 Integer Single 0 = No 1 = Yes

Authorization-Type Y 65 Integer Single 0 = None 1 =

RADIUS 2 = LDAP

Banner1 Y 15 String Single Banner string to

display for Cisco
VPN remote access
sessions: IPsec
IKEv1, AnyConnect
SSL-TLS/DTLS/IKEv2,
and Clientless SSL

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Banner2 Y 36 String Single Banner string to

display for Cisco
VPN remote access
sessions: IPsec
IKEv1, AnyConnect
SSL-TLS/DTLS/IKEv2,
and Clientless SSL.
The Banner2 string
is concatenated to
the Banner1 string ,
if configured.

Cisco-IP-Phone-Bypass Y 51 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Cisco-LEAP-Bypass Y 75 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Client Type Y 150 Integer Single 1 = Cisco VPN

Client (IKEv1) 2 =
AnyConnect Client
SSL VPN 3 =
Clientless SSL VPN
4=
Cut-Through-Proxy
5 = L2TP/IPsec SSL
VPN 6 =
AnyConnect Client
IPsec VPN (IKEv2)

Client-Type-Version-Limiting Y 77 String Single IPsec VPN version

number string

DHCP-Network-Scope Y 61 String Single IP Address

Extended-Authentication-On-Rekey Y 122 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Framed-Interface-Id Y 96 String Single Assigned IPv6

interface ID.
Combines with
Framed-IPv6-Prefix
to create a complete
assigned IPv6
address. For
example:
Framed-Interface-ID=1:1:1:1
combined with
Framed-IPv6-Prefix=2001:0db8:/64
gives the assigned IP
address
2001:0db8::1:1:1:1.

Framed-IPv6-Prefix Y 97 String Single Assigned IPv6 prefix

and length.
Combines with
Framed-Interface-Id
to create a complete
assigned IPv6
address. For
example: prefix
2001:0db8::/64
combined with
Framed-Interface-Id=1:1:1:1
gives the IP address
2001:0db8::1:1:1:1.
You can use this
attribute to assign an
IP address without
using
Framed-Interface-Id,
by assigning the full
IPv6 address with
prefix length /128,
for example,
Framed-IPv6-Prefix=2001:0db8:1/128.

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Group-Policy Y 25 String Single Sets the group policy

for the remote access
VPN session. For
Versions 8.2.x and
later, use this
attribute instead of
IETF-Radius-Class.
You can use one of
the following
formats:
• group policy
name
• OU=group
policy name
• OU=group
policy name;

IE-Proxy-Bypass-Local 83 Integer Single 0 = None 1 = Local

IE-Proxy-Exception-List 82 String Single New line (\n)

separated list of
DNS domains

IE-Proxy-PAC-URL Y 133 String Single PAC address string

IE-Proxy-Server 80 String Single IP address

IE-Proxy-Server-Policy 81 Integer Single 1 = No Modify 2 =

No Proxy 3 = Auto
detect 4 = Use
Concentrator Setting

IKE-KeepAlive-Confidence-Interval Y 68 Integer Single 10-300 seconds

IKE-Keepalive-Retry-Interval Y 84 Integer Single 2-10 seconds

IKE-Keep-Alives Y 41 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Intercept-DHCP-Configure-Msg Y 62 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

IPsec-Allow-Passwd-Store Y 16 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

IPsec-Authentication 13 Integer Single 0 = None 1 =

RADIUS 2 = LDAP
(authorization only)
3 = NT Domain 4 =
SDI 5 = Internal 6 =
RADIUS with
Expiry 7 =
Kerberos/Active
Directory

IPsec-Auth-On-Rekey Y 42 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

IPsec-Backup-Server-List Y 60 String Single Server Addresses

(space delimited)

IPsec-Backup-Servers Y 59 String Single 1 = Use

Client-Configured
list 2 = Disable and
clear client list 3 =
Use Backup Server
list

IPsec-Client-Firewall-Filter-Name 57 String Single Specifies the name

of the filter to be
pushed to the client
as firewall policy

IPsec-Client-Firewall-Filter-Optional Y 58 Integer Single 0 = Required 1 =

Optional

IPsec-Default-Domain Y 28 String Single Specifies the single

default domain name
to send to the client
(1-255 characters).

IPsec-IKE-Peer-ID-Check Y 40 Integer Single 1 = Required 2 = If

supported by peer
certificate 3 = Do not
check

IPsec-IP-Compression Y 39 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

IPsec-Mode-Config Y 31 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

IPsec-Over-UDP Y 34 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

IPsec-Over-UDP-Port Y 35 Integer Single 4001- 49151. The

default is 10000.

IPsec-Required-Client-Firewal-Capability Y 56 Integer Single 0 = None 1 = Policy

defined by remote
FW Are-You-There
(AYT) 2 = Policy
pushed CPP 4 =
Policy from server

IPsec-Sec-Association 12 String Single Name of the security

association

IPsec-Split-DNS-Names Y 29 String Single Specifies the list of

secondary domain
names to send to the
client (1-255
characters).

IPsec-Split-Tunneling-Policy Y 55 Integer Single 0 = No split

tunneling 1 = Split
tunneling 2 = Local
LAN permitted

IPsec-Split-Tunnel-List Y 27 String Single Specifies the name

of the network or
ACL that describes
the split tunnel
inclusion list.

IPsec-Tunnel-Type Y 30 Integer Single 1 = LAN-to-LAN 2

= Remote access

IPsec-User-Group-Lock 33 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

IPv6-Address-Pools Y 218 String Single Name of IP local

pool-IPv6

IPv6-VPN-Filter Y 219 String Single ACL value

L2TP-Encryption 21 Integer Single Bitmap: 1 =

Encryption required
2 = 40 bits 4 = 128
bits 8 =
Stateless-Req 15=
40/128-Encr/Stateless-Req

L2TP-MPPC-Compression 38 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Member-Of Y 145 String Single Comma-delimited

string, for example:

Engineering, Sales

An administrative
attribute that can be
used in dynamic
access policies. It
does not set a group
policy.

MS-Client-Subnet-Mask Y 63 Boolean Single An IP address

NAC-Default-ACL 92 String ACL

NAC-Enable 89 Integer Single 0 = No 1 = Yes

NAC-Revalidation-Timer 91 Integer Single 300-86400 seconds

NAC-Settings Y 141 String Single Name of the NAC

policy

NAC-Status-Query-Timer 90 Integer Single 30-1800 seconds

Perfect-Forward-Secrecy-Enable Y 88 Boolean Single 0 = No 1 = Yes

PPTP-Encryption 20 Integer Single Bitmap: 1 =

Encryption required
2 = 40 bits 4 = 128
bits 8 =
Stateless-Required
15=
40/128-Encr/Stateless-Req

PPTP-MPPC-Compression 37 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Primary-DNS Y 5 String Single An IP address

Primary-WINS Y 7 String Single An IP address

Privilege-Level Y 220 Integer Single An integer between

0 and 15.

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Required-Client- Y 45 Integer Single 1 = Cisco Systems

Firewall-Vendor-Code (with Cisco
Integrated Client) 2
= Zone Labs 3 =
NetworkICE 4 =
Sygate 5 = Cisco
Systems (with Cisco
Intrusion Prevention
Security Agent)

Required-Client-Firewall-Description Y 47 String Single String

Required-Client-Firewal-Product-Code Y 46 Integer Single Cisco Systems

Products:
1 = Cisco Intrusion
Prevention Security
Agent or Cisco
Integrated Client
(CIC)
Zone Labs Products:
1 = Zone Alarm 2 =
Zone AlarmPro 3 =
Zone Labs Integrity
NetworkICE
Product: 1 =
BlackIce
Defender/Agent
Sygate Products: 1 =
Personal Firewall 2
= Personal Firewall
Pro 3 = Security
Agent

Required-Individual-User-Auth Y 49 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Require-HW-Client-Auth Y 48 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

Secondary-DNS Y 6 String Single An IP address

Secondary-WINS Y 8 String Single An IP address

SEP-Card-Assignment 9 Integer Single Not used

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

Session Subtype Y 152 Integer Single 0 = None 1 =

Clientless 2 = Client
3 = Client Only
Session Subtype
applies only when
the Session Type
(151) attribute has
the following values:
1, 2, 3, and 4.

Session Type Y 151 Integer Single 0 = None 1 =

AnyConnect Client
SSL VPN 2 =
AnyConnect Client
IPSec VPN (IKEv2)
3 = Clientless SSL
VPN 4 = Clientless
Email Proxy 5 =
Cisco VPN Client
(IKEv1) 6 = IKEv1
LAN-LAN 7 =
IKEv2 LAN-LAN 8
= VPN Load
Balancing

Simultaneous-Logins Y 2 Integer Single 0-2147483647

Smart-Tunnel Y 136 String Single Name of a Smart

Tunnel

Smart-Tunnel-Auto Y 138 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled 2 =
AutoStart

Smart-Tunnel-Auto-Signon-Enable Y 139 String Single Name of a Smart

Tunnel Auto Signon
list appended by the
domain name

Strip-Realm Y 135 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

SVC-Ask Y 131 String Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled 3 = Enable
default service 5 =
Enable default
clientless (2 and 4
not used)

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

SVC-Ask-Timeout Y 132 Integer Single 5-120 seconds

SVC-DPD-Interval-Client Y 108 Integer Single 0 = Off 5-3600

seconds

SVC-DPD-Interval-Gateway Y 109 Integer Single 0 = Off) 5-3600

seconds

SVC-DTLS Y 123 Integer Single 0 = False 1 = True

SVC-Keepalive Y 107 Integer Single 0 = Off 15-600

seconds

SVC-Modules Y 127 String Single String (name of a

module)

SVC-MTU Y 125 Integer Single MTU value

256-1406 in bytes

SVC-Profiles Y 128 String Single String (name of a

profile)

SVC-Rekey-Time Y 110 Integer Single 0 = Disabled

1-10080 minutes

Tunnel Group Name Y 146 String Single 1-253 characters

Tunnel-Group-Lock Y 85 String Single Name of the tunnel

group or “none”

Tunneling-Protocols Y 11 Integer Single 1 = PPTP 2 = L2TP

4 = IPSec (IKEv1) 8
= L2TP/IPSec 16 =
WebVPN 32 = SVC
64 = IPsec (IKEv2)
8 and 4 are mutually
exclusive. 0 - 11, 16
- 27, 32 - 43, 48 - 59
are legal values.

Use-Client-Address 17 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

VLAN Y 140 Integer Single 0-4094

WebVPN-Access-List Y 73 String Single Access-List name

WebVPN ACL Y 73 String Single Name of a WebVPN

ACL on the device

WebVPN-ActiveX-Relay Y 137 Integer Single 0 = Disabled

Otherwise = Enabled

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

WebVPN-Apply-ACL Y 102 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-Auto-HTTP-Signon Y 124 String Single Reserved

WebVPN-Citrix-Metaframe-Enable Y 101 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-Content-Filter-Parameters Y 69 Integer Single 1 = Java ActiveX 2

= Java Script 4 =
Image 8 = Cookies
in images

WebVPN-Customization Y 113 String Single Name of the

customization

WebVPN-Default-Homepage Y 76 String Single A URL such as

http://example-example.com

WebVPN-Deny-Message Y 116 String Single Valid string (up to

500 characters)

WebVPN-Download_Max-Size Y 157 Integer Single 0x7fffffff

WebVPN-File-Access-Enable Y 94 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-File-Server-Browsing-Enable Y 96 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-File-Server-Entry-Enable Y 95 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-Group-based-HTTPH
/ TTPS-Proxy-Excepoitn-Lsit Y 78 String Single Comma-separated
DNS/IP with an
optional wildcard (*)
(for example
*.cisco.com,
192.168.1.*,
wwwin.cisco.com)

WebVPN-Hidden-Shares Y 126 Integer Single 0 = None 1 = Visible

WebVPN-Home-Page-Use-Smart-Tunnel Y 228 Boolean Single Enabled if clientless

home page is to be
rendered through
Smart Tunnel.

WebVPN-HTML-Filter Y 69 Bitmap Single 1 = Java ActiveX 2

= Scripts 4 = Image
8 = Cookies

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

WebVPN-HTTP-Compression Y 120 Integer Single 0 = Off 1 = Deflate

Compression

WebVPN-HTTP-Proxy-IP-Address Y 74 String Single Comma-separated

DNS/IP:port, with
http= or https=
prefix (for example
http=10.10.10.10:80,
https=11.11.11.11:443)

WebVPN-Idle-Timeout-Alert-Interval Y 148 Integer Single 0-30. 0 = Disabled.

WebVPN-Keepalive-Ignore Y 121 Integer Single 0-900

WebVPN-Macro-Substitution Y 223 String Single Unbounded.

WebVPN-Macro-Substitution Y 224 String Single Unbounded.

WebVPN-Port-Forwarding-Enable Y 97 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-Por-tForwardnig-Exchange-Proxy-Enabel Y 98 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-Port-Forwarding-HTTP-Proxy Y 99 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-Port-Forwarding-List Y 72 String Single Port forwarding list

name

WebVPN-Port-Forwarding-Name Y 79 String Single String name

(example,
“Corporate-Apps”).
This text replaces the
default string,
“Application
Access,” on the
clientless portal
home page.

WebVPN-Post-Max-Size Y 159 Integer Single 0x7fffffff

WebVPN-Session-Timeout-Alert-Interval Y 149 Integer Single 0-30. 0 = Disabled.

WebVPN Y 225 Boolean Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Smart-Card-Removal-Disconnect Enabled

WebVPN-Smart-Tunnel Y 136 String Single Name of a Smart

Tunnel

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

WebVPN-Smart-Tunnel-Auto-Sign-On Y 139 String Single Name of a Smart

Tunnel auto sign-on
list appended by the
domain name

WebVPN-Smart-Tunnel-Auto-Start Y 138 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled 2 = Auto
Start

WebVPN-Smart-Tunnel-Tunnel-Policy Y 227 String Single One of “e

networkname,” “i
networkname,” or
“a,” where
networkname is the
name of a Smart
Tunnel network list,
e indicates the tunnel
excluded, i indicates
the tunnel specified,
and a indicates all
tunnels.

WebVPN-SSL-VPN-Client-Enable Y 103 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-SSL-VPN-Client-Keep- Y 105 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Installation Enabled

WebVPN-SSL-VPN-Client-Required Y 104 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-SSO-Server-Name Y 114 String Single Valid string

WebVPN-Storage-Key Y 162 String Single

WebVPN-Storage-Objects Y 161 String Single

WebVPN-SVC-Keepalive-Frequency Y 107 Integer Single 15-600 seconds,

0=Off

WebVPN-SVC-Client-DPD-Frequency Y 108 Integer Single 5-3600 seconds,

0=Off

WebVPN-SVC-DTLS-Enable Y 123 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-SVC-DTLS-MTU Y 125 Integer Single MTU value is from

256-1406 bytes.

WebVPN-SVC-Gaetway-DPD-Frequency Y 109 Integer Single 5-3600 seconds,

0=Off

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

WebVPN-SVC-Rekey-Time Y 110 Integer Single 4-10080 minutes,

0=Off

WebVPN-SVC-Rekey-Method Y 111 Integer Single 0 (Off), 1 (SSL), 2

(New Tunnel)

WebVPN-SVC-Compression Y 112 Integer Single 0 (Off), 1 (Deflate

Compression)

WebVPN-UNIX-Group-ID Y 222 Integer Single Valid UNIX group

(GID) IDs

WebVPN-UNIX-User-ID Y 221 Integer Single Valid UNIX user

(UIDs) IDs

WebVPN-Upload-Max-Size Y 158 Integer Single 0x7fffffff

WebVPN-URL-Entry-Enable Y 93 Integer Single 0 = Disabled 1 =

Enabled

WebVPN-URL-List Y 71 String Single URL list name

WebVPN-User-Storage Y 160 String Single

WebVPN-VDI Y 163 String Single List of settings

Supported IETF RADIUS Authorization Attributes

The following table lists the supported IETF RADIUS attributes.

Table 47: Supported IETF RADIUS Attributes

Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

IETF-Radius-Class Y 25 Single For Versions 8.2.x

and later, we
recommend that you
use the Group-Policy
attribute (VSA 3076,
#25):
• group policy
name
• OU=group
policy name
• OU=group
policy name

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Attribute Name ASA Attr. No. Syntax/Type Single or Multi- Description or Value
Valued

IETF-Radius-Filter-Id Y 11 String Single ACL name that is

defined on the ASA,
which applies only
to full tunnel IPsec
and SSL VPN
clients.

IETF-Radius-Framed-IP-Address Y n/a String Single An IP address

IETF-Radius-Framed-IP-Netmask Y n/a String Single An IP address mask

IETF-Radius-Idle-Timeout Y 28 Integer Single Seconds

IETF-Radius-Service-Type Y 6 Integer Single Seconds. Possible

Service Type values:
• .Administrative—User
is allowed
access to the
configure
prompt.
• .NAS-Prompt—User
is allowed
access to the
exec prompt.
• .remote-access—User
is allowed
network access

IETF-Radius-Session-Timeout Y 27 Integer Single Seconds

RADIUS Accounting Disconnect Reason Codes

These codes are returned if the ASA encounters a disconnect when sending packets:

Disconnect Reason Code

ACCT_DISC_USER_REQ = 1

ACCT_DISC_LOST_CARRIER = 2

ACCT_DISC_LOST_SERVICE = 3

ACCT_DISC_IDLE_TIMEOUT = 4

ACCT_DISC_SESS_TIMEOUT = 5

ACCT_DISC_ADMIN_RESET = 6

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Disconnect Reason Code

ACCT_DISC_ADMIN_REBOOT = 7

ACCT_DISC_PORT_ERROR = 8

ACCT_DISC_NAS_ERROR = 9

ACCT_DISC_NAS_REQUEST = 10

ACCT_DISC_NAS_REBOOT = 11

ACCT_DISC_PORT_UNNEEDED = 12

ACCT_DISC_PORT_PREEMPTED = 13

ACCT_DISC_PORT_SUSPENDED = 14

ACCT_DISC_SERV_UNAVAIL = 15

ACCT_DISC_CALLBACK = 16

ACCT_DISC_USER_ERROR = 17

ACCT_DISC_HOST_REQUEST = 18

ACCT_DISC_ADMIN_SHUTDOWN = 19

ACCT_DISC_SA_EXPIRED = 21

ACCT_DISC_MAX_REASONS = 22

Guidelines for RADIUS Servers for AAA

This section describes the guidelines and limitations that you should check before configuring RADIUS
servers for AAA.
• You can have up to 200 server groups in single mode or 4 server groups per context in multiple mode.
• Each group can have up to 16 servers in single mode or 8 servers in multiple mode.

Configure RADIUS Servers for AAA

This section describes how to configure RADIUS servers for AAA.

Procedure

Step 1 Load the ASA attributes into the RADIUS server. The method that you use to load the attributes depends on
which type of RADIUS server that you are using:

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• If you are using Cisco ACS: the server already has these attributes integrated. You can skip this step.
• For RADIUS servers from other vendors (for example, Microsoft Internet Authentication Service): you
must manually define each ASA attribute. To define an attribute, use the attribute name or number, type,
value, and vendor code (3076).

Step 2 Configure RADIUS Server Groups, on page 885.

Step 3 Add a RADIUS Server to a Group, on page 887.
Step 4 (Optional) Add an Authentication Prompt, on page 889.

Configure RADIUS Server Groups

If you want to use an external RADIUS server for authentication, authorization, or accounting, you must first
create at least one RADIUS server group per AAA protocol and add one or more servers to each group.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click Add in the AAA Server Groups area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter a name for the group in the AAA Server Group field.
Step 4 Choose the RADIUS server type from the Protocol drop-down list.
Step 5 Select the Accounting Mode.
• Simultaneous—Send accounting data to all servers in the group.
• Single—Send accounting data to only one server.

Step 6 Configure the method (Reactivation Mode) by which failed servers in a group are reactivated.
• Depletion, Dead Time—Reactivate failed servers only after all of the servers in the group are inactive.
This is the default reactivation mode. Specify the amount of time, between 0 and 1440 minutes, that
elapses between the disabling of the last server in the group and the subsequent reenabling of all servers.
The default is 10 minutes.
• Timed—Reactivate failed servers after 30 seconds of down time.

Step 7 In Max Failed Attempts, specify the maximum number of failed AAA transactions with a RADIUS server
in the group before trying the next server.
The range is from 1 and 5. The default is 3.
If you configure a fallback method using the local database (for management access only), and all the servers
in the group fail to respond, or their responses are invalid, then the group is considered to be unresponsive,
and the fallback method is tried. The server group remains marked as unresponsive for a period of 10 minutes
(if you use the default reactivation mode and dead time), so that additional AAA requests within that period
do not attempt to contact the server group, and the fallback method is used immediately. To change the
unresponsive period from the default, see change the Dead Time.

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If you do not have a fallback method, the ASA continues to retry the servers in the group.

Step 8 (Optional.) Enable the periodic generation of RADIUS interim-accounting-update messages by selecting the
desired options.
These options are relevant only if you are using this server group for AnyConnect or clientless SSL VPN.
• Enable interim accounting update—If you use this command without selecting the Update Interval
option, the ASA sends interim-accounting-update messages only when a VPN tunnel connection is added
to a clientless VPN session. When this happens the accounting update is generated in order to inform
the RADIUS server of the newly assigned IP address.
• Update Interval—Enables the periodic generation and transmission of accounting records for every
VPN session that is configured to send accounting records to the server group in question. You can
change the interval, in hours, for sending these updates. The default is 24 hours, the range is 1 to 120.

Note For server groups containing ISE servers, select both options. ISE maintains a directory of active
sessions based on the accounting records that it receives from NAS devices like the ASA. However,
if ISE does not receive any indication that the session is still active (accounting message or posture
transactions) for a period of 5 days, it will remove the session record from its database. To ensure
that long-lived VPN connections are not removed, configure the group to send periodic
interim-accounting-update messages to ISE for all active sessions.

Step 9 (Optional.) If this group contains AD Agents or Cisco Directory Agent (CDA) servers only, select Enable
Active Directory Agent Mode.
CDA or AD Agents are used in identity firewall, and are not full-featured RADIUS servers. If you select this
option, you can use this group for identity firewall purposes only.

Step 10 (Optional) If you are using this server group for ISE Policy Enforcement in remote access VPN, configure
the following options:
• Enable dynamic authorization—Enable the RADIUS Dynamic Authorization (ISE Change of
Authorization, CoA) services for the AAA server group. When you use the server group in a VPN tunnel,
the RADIUS server group will be registered for CoA notification and the ASA will listen to the port for
the CoA policy updates from ISE. Enable dynamic authorization only if you are using this server group
in a remote access VPN in conjunction with ISE.
• Dynamic Authorization Port—If you enable dynamic authorization, you can specify the listening port
for RADIUS CoA requests. The default is 1700. The valid range is 1024 to 65535.
• Use authorization only mode—If you do not want to use ISE for authentication, enable authorize-only
mode for the RADIUS server group. This indicates that when this server group is used for authorization,
the RADIUS Access Request message will be built as an “Authorize Only” request as opposed to the
configured password methods defined for the AAA server. If you do configure a common password for
the RADIUS server, it will be ignored.
For example, you would use authorize-only mode if you want to use certificates for authentication rather
than this server group. You would still use this server group for authorization and accounting in the VPN
tunnel.

Step 11 (Optional.) Configure the VPN3K Compatibility Option to specify whether or not a downloadable ACL
received from a RADIUS packet should be merged with a Cisco AV pair ACL.

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This option applies only to VPN connections. For VPN users, ACLs can be in the form of Cisco AV pair
ACLs, downloadable ACLs, and an ACL that is configured on the ASA. This option determines whether or
not the downloadable ACL and the AV pair ACL are merged, and does not apply to any ACLs configured on
the ASA.
• Do not merge —Downloadable ACLs will not be merged with Cisco AV pair ACLs. If both an AV pair
and a downloadable ACL are received, the AV pair has priority and is used. This is the default option.
• Place the downloadable ACL after Cisco AV-pair ACL
• Place the downloadable ACL before Cisco AV-pair ACL

Step 12 Click OK.

The Add AAA Server Group dialog box closes, and the new server group is added to the AAA Server
Groups table.

Step 13 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Add a RADIUS Server to a Group

To add a RADIUS server to a group, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups, and in the AAA
Server Groups area, click the server group to which you want to add a server.
Step 2 Click Add in the Servers in the Selected Group area (lower pane).
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears for the server group.

Step 3 Choose the interface name on which the authentication server resides.
Step 4 Add either a server name or IP address for the server that you are adding to the group.
Step 5 Specify the timeout value for connection attempts to the server.
Specify the timeout interval (1-300 seconds) for the server; the default is 10 seconds. For each AAA transaction
the ASA retries connection attempts (based on the retry interval) until the timeout is reached. If the number
of consecutive failed transactions reaches the maximum-failed-attempts limit specified in the AAA server
group, the AAA server is deactivated and the ASA starts sending requests to another AAA server if it is
configured.

Step 6 Specify how you want the ASA to handle netmasks received in downloadable ACLs. Choose from the following
options:
• Detect automatically—The ASA attempts to determine the type of netmask expression used. If the ASA
detects a wildcard netmask expression, the ASA converts it to a standard netmask expression.
Note Because some wildcard expressions are difficult to detect clearly, this setting may misinterpret
a wildcard netmask expression as a standard netmask expression.

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• Standard—The ASA assumes downloadable ACLs received from the RADIUS server contain only
standard netmask expressions. No translation from wildcard netmask expressions is performed.
• Wildcard—The ASA assumes downloadable ACLs received from the RADIUS server contain only
wildcard netmask expressions, and it converts them all to standard netmask expressions when the ACLs
are downloaded.

Step 7 Specify a case-sensitive password that is common among users who access this RADIUS authorization server
through this ASA. Be sure to provide this information to your RADIUS server administrator.
Note For an authentication RADIUS server (rather than authorization), do not configure a common
password.
If you leave this field blank, the username is the password for accessing this RADIUS authorization
server.
Never use a RADIUS authorization server for authentication. Common passwords or usernames as
passwords are less secure than assigning unique user passwords.
Although the password is required by the RADIUS protocol and the RADIUS server, users do not
need to know it.

Step 8 If you use double authentication and enable password management in the tunnel group, then the primary and
secondary authentication requests include MS-CHAPv2 request attributes. If a RADIUS server does not
support MS-CHAPv2, then you can configure that server to send a non-MS-CHAPv2 authentication request
by unchecking this check box.
Step 9 Specify the length of time, from 1 to 10 seconds, that the ASA waits between attempts to contact the server.
Note For the RADIUS protocol, if the server responds with an ICMP Port Unreachable message, the
retry-interval setting is ignored and the AAA server is immediately moved to the failed state. If this
is the only server in the AAA group, it is reactivated and another request is sent to it. This is the
intended behavior.

Step 10 Click Simultaneous or Single.

In Single mode, the ASA sends accounting data to only one server.
In Simultaneous mode, the ASA sends accounting data to all servers in the group.

Step 11 Specify the server port to be used for accounting of users. The default port is 1646.
Step 12 Specify the server port to be used for authentication of users. The default port is 1645.
Step 13 Specify the shared secret key used to authenticate the RADIUS server to the ASA. The server secret that you
configure should match the one configured on the RADIUS server. If you do not know the server secret, ask
the RADIUS server administrator. The maximum field length is 64 characters.
Step 14 Click OK.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box closes, and the AAA server is added to the AAA server group.

Step 15 In the AAA Server Groups pane, click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

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Add an Authentication Prompt

You can specify the AAA challenge text for HTTP, FTP, and Telnet access through the ASA when requiring
user authentication from RADIUS servers. This text is primarily for cosmetic purposes and appears above
the username and password prompts that users see when they log in. If you do not specify an authentication
prompt, users see the following when authenticating with a RADIUS server:

Connection Type Default Prompt

FTP FTP authentication

HTTP HTTP authentication

Telnet None

To add an authentication prompt, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > Authentication Prompt.
Step 2 Enter text in the Prompt field to add as a message to appear above the username and password prompts that
users see when they log in.
The following table shows the allowed character limits for authentication prompts:

Application Character Limit

Microsoft Internet Explorer 37

Telnet 235

FTP 235

Step 3 Add messages in the User accepted message and User rejected message fields.
If the user authentication occurs from Telnet, you can use the User accepted message and User rejected
message options to display different status prompts to indicate that the authentication attempt is either accepted
or rejected by the RADIUS server.
If the RADIUS server authenticates the user, the ASA displays the User accepted message text, if specified,
to the user; otherwise, the ASA displays the User rejected message text, if specified. Authentication of HTTP
and FTP sessions displays only the challenge text at the prompt. The User accepted message and User
rejected message text are not displayed.

Step 4 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Test RADIUS Server Authentication and Authorization

To determine whether the ASA can contact a RADIUS server and authenticate or authorize a user, perform
the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click the server group in which the server resides in the AAA Server Groups table.
Step 3 Click the server that you want to test in the Servers in the Selected Group table.
Step 4 Click Test.
The Test AAA Server dialog box appears for the selected server.

Step 5 Click the type of test that you want to perform—Authentication or Authorization.
Step 6 Enter a username.
Step 7 Enter the password for the username if you are testing authentication.
Step 8 Click OK.
The ASA sends an authentication or authorization test message to the server. If the test fails, an error message
appears.

Monitoring RADIUS Servers for AAA

See the following commands for monitoring the status of RADIUS servers for AAA:
• Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers
This pane shows the RADIUS server running configuration.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

History for RADIUS Servers for AAA

Table 48: History for RADIUS Servers for AAA

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

RADIUS Servers for AAA 7.0(1) Describes how to configure RADIUS servers for AAA.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server
Groups Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA >
Authentication Prompt.

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Key vendor-specific attributes (VSAs) 8.4(3) Four New VSAs—Tunnel Group Name (146) and Client Type (150)
sent in RADIUS access request and are sent in RADIUS access request packets from the ASA. Session
accounting request packets from the Type (151) and Session Subtype (152) are sent in RADIUS accounting
ASA request packets from the ASA. All four attributes are sent for all
accounting request packet types: Start, Interim-Update, and Stop. The
RADIUS server (for example, ACS and ISE) can then enforce
authorization and policy attributes or use them for accounting and
billing purposes.

Increased limits for AAA server groups 9.13(1) You can configure more AAA server groups. In single context mode,
and servers per group. you can configure 200 AAA server groups (the former limit was 100).
In multiple context mode, you can configure 8 (the former limit was
4).
In addition, in multiple context mode, you can configure 8 servers per
group (the former limit was 4 servers per group). The single context
mode per-group limit of 16 remains unchanged.
We modified the AAA screens to accept these new limits.

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 CHAPTER 38
TACACS+ Servers for AAA
This chapter describes how to configure TACACS+ servers used in AAA.
• About TACACS+ Servers for AAA, on page 893
• Guidelines for TACACS+ Servers for AAA, on page 895
• Configure TACACS+ Servers, on page 895
• Test TACACS+ Server Authentication and Authorization, on page 898
• Monitoring TACACS+ Servers for AAA, on page 899
• History for TACACS+ Servers for AAA, on page 899

About TACACS+ Servers for AAA

The ASA supports TACACS+ server authentication with the following protocols: ASCII, PAP, CHAP, and
MS-CHAPv1.

TACACS+ Attributes
The Cisco ASA provides support for TACACS+ attributes. TACACS+ attributes separate the functions of
authentication, authorization, and accounting. The protocol supports two types of attributes: mandatory and
optional. Both the server and client must understand a mandatory attribute, and the mandatory attribute must
be applied to the user. An optional attribute may or may not be understood or used.

Note To use TACACS+ attributes, make sure that you have enabled AAA services on the NAS.

The following table lists supported TACACS+ authorization response attributes for cut-through-proxy
connections.

Table 49: Supported TACACS+ Authorization Response Attributes

Attribute Description

acl Identifies a locally configured ACL to be applied to

the connection.

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Attribute Description

idletime Indicates the amount of inactivity in minutes that is

allowed before the authenticated user session is
terminated.

timeout Specifies the absolute amount of time in minutes that

authentication credentials remain active before the
authenticated user session is terminated.

The following table lists supported TACACS+ accounting attributes.

.

Table 50: Supported TACACS+ Accounting Attributes

Attribute Description

bytes_in Specifies the number of input bytes transferred during

this connection (stop records only).

bytes_out Specifies the number of output bytes transferred

during this connection (stop records only).

cmd Defines the command executed (command accounting

only).

disc-cause Indicates the numeric code that identifies the reason

for disconnecting (stop records only).

elapsed_time Defines the elapsed time in seconds for the connection

(stop records only).

foreign_ip Specifies the IP address of the client for tunnel

connections. Defines the address on the lowest
security interface for cut-through-proxy connections.

local_ip Specifies the IP address that the client connected to

for tunnel connections. Defines the address on the
highest security interface for cut-through-proxy
connections.

NAS port Contains a session ID for the connection.

packs_in Specifies the number of input packets transferred

during this connection.

packs_out Specifies the number of output packets transferred

during this connection.

priv-level Set to the user privilege level for command accounting

requests or to 1 otherwise.

rem_iddr Indicates the IP address of the client.

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Attribute Description

service Specifies the service used. Always set to “shell” for

command accounting only.

task_id Specifies a unique task ID for the accounting

transaction.

username Indicates the name of the user.

Guidelines for TACACS+ Servers for AAA

This section describes the guidelines and limitation that you should check before configuring TACACS+
servers for AAA.

IPv6
The AAA server can use either an IPv4 or IPv6 address.

Additional Guidelines
• You can have up to 200 server groups in single mode or 4 server groups per context in multiple mode.
• Each group can have up to 16 servers in single mode or 8 servers in multiple mode.

Configure TACACS+ Servers

This section describes how to configure TACACS+ servers.

Procedure

Step 1 Configure TACACS+ Server Groups, on page 895.

Step 2 Add a TACACS+ Server to a Group, on page 896.
Step 3 (Optional) Add an Authentication Prompt, on page 897.

Configure TACACS+ Server Groups

If you want to use a TACACS+ server for authentication, authorization, or accounting, you must first create
at least one TACACS+ server group and add one or more servers to each group. You identify TACACS+
server groups by name.
To add a TACACS+ server group, perform the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click Add in the AAA Server Groups area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter a name for the group in the Server Group field.
Step 4 Choose the TACACS+ server type from the Protocol drop-down list:
Step 5 Click Simultaneous or Single in the Accounting Mode field.
In Single mode, the ASA sends accounting data to only one server.
In Simultaneous mode, the ASA sends accounting data to all servers in the group.

Step 6 Click Depletion or Timed in the Reactivation Mode field.

In Depletion mode, failed servers are reactivated only after all of the servers in the group are inactive. In
depletion mode, when a server is deactivated, it remains inactive until all other servers in the group are inactive.
When and if this occurs, all servers in the group are reactivated. This approach minimizes the occurrence of
connection delays due to failed servers.
In Timed mode, failed servers are reactivated after 30 seconds of down time.

Step 7 If you chose the Depletion reactivation mode, enter a time interval in the Dead Time field.
The dead time is the duration of time, in minutes, that elapses between the disabling of the last server in a
group and the subsequent re-enabling of all servers.

Step 8 Add the maximum number of failed AAA transactions with a server to allow.
This option sets the number of failed AAA transactions before declaring a nonresponsive server to be inactive.

Step 9 Click OK.

The Add AAA Server Group dialog box closes, and the new server group is added to the AAA Server
Groups table.

Step 10 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Add a TACACS+ Server to a Group

To add a TACACS+ server to a group, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click the server group to which you want to add a server.
Step 3 Click Add in the Servers in the Selected Group area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears for the server group.

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Step 4 Choose the interface name on which the authentication server resides.
Step 5 Add either a server name or IP address for the server that you are adding to the group.
Step 6 Specify the timeout value for connection attempts to the server.
Specify the timeout interval (1-300 seconds) for the server; the default is 10 seconds. For each AAA transaction
the ASA retries connection attempts (based on the retry interval) until the timeout is reached. If the number
of consecutive failed transactions reaches the maximum-failed-attempts limit specified in the AAA server
group, the AAA server is deactivated and the ASA starts sending requests to another AAA server if it is
configured.

Step 7 Specify the server port. The server port is either port number 139, or the TCP port number used by the ASA
to communicate with the TACACS+ server.
Step 8 Specify the server secret key. The shared secret key used to authenticate the TACACS+ server to the ASA.
The server secret that you configure here should match the one that is configured on the TACACS+ server.
If you do not know the server secret, ask the TACACS+ server administrator. The maximum field length is
64 characters.
Step 9 Click OK.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box closes, and the AAA server is added to the AAA server group.

Step 10 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Add an Authentication Prompt

You can specify text to display to the user during the AAA authentication challenge process. You can specify
the AAA challenge text for HTTP, FTP, and Telnet access through the ASA when requiring user authentication
from TACACS+ servers. This text is primarily for cosmetic purposes and appears above the username and
password prompts that users see when they log in.
If you do not specify an authentication prompt, users see the following when authenticating with a TACACS+
server:

Connection Type Default Prompt

FTP FTP authentication

HTTP HTTP authentication

Telnet None

To add an authentication prompt, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > Authentication Prompt.
Step 2 Add text to appear above the username and password prompts that users see when they log in.
The following table shows the allowed character limits for authentication prompts:

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Application Character Limit for Authentication Prompt

Microsoft Internet Explorer 37

Telnet 235

FTP 235

Step 3 Add messages in the User accepted message and User rejected message fields.
If the user authentication occurs from Telnet, you can use the User accepted message and User rejected
message options to display different status prompts to indicate that the authentication attempt is accepted or
rejected by the AAA server.
If the AAA server authenticates the user, the ASA displays the User accepted message text, if specified, to
the user; otherwise, the ASA displays the User rejected message text, if specified. Authentication of HTTP
and FTP sessions displays only the challenge text at the prompt. The User accepted message and User rejected
message text are not displayed.

Step 4 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Test TACACS+ Server Authentication and Authorization

To determine whether the ASA can contact a TACACS+ server and authenticate or authorize a user, perform
the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click the server group in which the server resides.
Step 3 Click the server that you want to test.
Step 4 Click Test.
The Test AAA Server dialog box appears for the selected server.

Step 5 Click the type of test that you want to perform—Authentication or Authorization.
Step 6 Enter a username.
Step 7 If you are testing authentication, enter the password for the username.
Step 8 Click OK.
The ASA sends an authentication or authorization test message to the server. If the test fails, an error message
appears.

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Monitoring TACACS+ Servers for AAA

See the following commands for monitoring TACACS+ servers for AAA:
• Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers
This pane shows the configured TACACS+ server statistics.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

History for TACACS+ Servers for AAA

Table 51: History for TACACS+ Servers for AAA

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

TACACS+ Servers 7.0(1) Describes how to configure TACACS+

servers for AAA.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > Authentication Prompt.

TACACS+ servers with IPv6 addresses for 9.7(1) You can now use either an IPv4 or IPv6
AAA address for the AAA server.

Increased limits for AAA server groups and 9.13(1) You can configure more AAA server
servers per group. groups. In single context mode, you can
configure 200 AAA server groups (the
former limit was 100). In multiple context
mode, you can configure 8 (the former limit
was 4).
In addition, in multiple context mode, you
can configure 8 servers per group (the
former limit was 4 servers per group). The
single context mode per-group limit of 16
remains unchanged.
We modified the AAA screens to accept
these new limits.

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 CHAPTER 39
LDAP Servers for AAA
This chapter describes how to configure LDAP servers used in AAA.
• About LDAP and the ASA, on page 901
• Guidelines for LDAP Servers for AAA, on page 904
• Configure LDAP Servers for AAA, on page 905
• Test LDAP Server Authentication and Authorization, on page 909
• Monitoring LDAP Servers for AAA, on page 909
• History for LDAP Servers for AAA, on page 910

About LDAP and the ASA

The Cisco ASA is compatible with the most LDAPv3 directory servers, including:
• Sun Microsystems JAVA System Directory Server, now part of Oracle Directory Server Enterprise
Edition, and formerly named the Sun ONE Directory Server
• Microsoft Active Directory
• Novell
• OpenLDAP

By default, the ASA autodetects whether it is connected to Microsoft Active Directory, Sun LDAP, Novell,
OpenLDAP, or a generic LDAPv3 directory server. However, if autodetection fails to determine the LDAP
server type, you can manually configure it.

How Authentication Works with LDAP

During authentication, the ASA acts as a client proxy to the LDAP server for the user, and authenticates to
the LDAP server in either plain text or by using the SASL protocol. By default, the ASA passes authentication
parameters, usually a username and password, to the LDAP server in plain text.
The ASA supports the following SASL mechanisms, listed in order of increasing strength:
• Digest-MD5—The ASA responds to the LDAP server with an MD5 value computed from the username
and password.

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• Kerberos—The ASA responds to the LDAP server by sending the username and realm using the GSSAPI
Kerberos mechanism.

The ASA and LDAP server supports any combination of these SASL mechanisms. If you configure multiple
mechanisms, the ASA retrieves the list of SASL mechanisms that are configured on the server, and sets the
authentication mechanism to the strongest one configured on both the ASA and the server. For example, if
both the LDAP server and the ASA support both mechanisms, the ASA selects Kerberos, the stronger of the
two.
When user LDAP authentication has succeeded, the LDAP server returns the attributes for the authenticated
user. For VPN authentication, these attributes generally include authorization data that is applied to the VPN
session. In this case, using LDAP accomplishes authentication and authorization in a single step.

Note For more information about LDAP, see RFCs 1777, 2251, and 2849.

LDAP Hierarchy
Your LDAP configuration should reflect the logical hierarchy of your organization. For example, suppose an
employee at your company, Example Corporation, is named Employee1. Employee1 works in the Engineering
group. Your LDAP hierarchy could have one or many levels. You might decide to set up a single-level
hierarchy in which Employee1 is considered a member of Example Corporation. Or you could set up a
multi-level hierarchy in which Employee1 is considered to be a member of the department Engineering, which
is a member of an organizational unit called People, which is itself a member of Example Corporation. See
the following figure for an example of a multi-level hierarchy.
A multi-level hierarchy has more detail, but searches return results more quickly in a single-level hierarchy.
Figure 69: A Multi-Level LDAP Hierarchy

Search the LDAP Hierarchy

The ASA lets you tailor the search within the LDAP hierarchy. You configure the following three fields on
the ASA to define where in the LDAP hierarchy that your search begins, the extent, and the type of information
you are looking for. Together, these fields limit the search of the hierarchy to only the part that includes the
user permissions.

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• LDAP Base DN defines where in the LDAP hierarchy that the server should begin searching for user
information when it receives an authorization request from the ASA.
• Search Scope defines the extent of the search in the LDAP hierarchy. The search proceeds this many
levels in the hierarchy below the LDAP Base DN. You can choose to have the server search only the
level immediately below it, or it can search the entire subtree. A single level search is quicker, but a
subtree search is more extensive.
• Naming Attribute(s) defines the RDN that uniquely identifies an entry in the LDAP server. Common
naming attributes can include cn (Common Name), sAMAccountName, and userPrincipalName.

The figure shows a sample LDAP hierarchy for Example Corporation. Given this hierarchy, you could define
your search in different ways. The following table shows two sample search configurations.
In the first example configuration, when Employee1 establishes the IPsec tunnel with LDAP authorization
required, the ASA sends a search request to the LDAP server, indicating it should search for Employee1 in
the Engineering group. This search is quick.
In the second example configuration, the ASA sends a search request indicating that the server should search
for Employee1 within Example Corporation. This search takes longer.

Table 52: Example Search Configurations

No. LDAP Base DN Search Scope Naming Attribute Result

1 group= One Level cn=Employee1 Quicker search

Engineering,ou=People,dc=ExampleCorporation,
dc=com

2 dc=ExampleCorporation,dc=com Subtree cn=Employee1 Longer search

Bind to an LDAP Server

The ASA uses the login DN and login password to establish trust (bind) with an LDAP server. When performing
a Microsoft Active Directory read-only operation (such as authentication, authorization, or group search), the
ASA can bind using a login DN with fewer privileges. For example, the login DN can be a user whose AD
“Member Of” designation is part of Domain Users. For VPN password management operations, the login DN
needs elevated privileges, and must be part of the Account Operators AD group.
The following is an example of a login DN:

cn=Binduser1,ou=Admins,ou=Users,dc=company_A,dc=com

The ASA supports the following authentication methods:

• Simple LDAP authentication with an unencrypted password on port 389
• Secure LDAP (LDAP-S) on port 636
• Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) MD5
• SASL Kerberos

The ASA does not support anonymous authentication.

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Note As an LDAP client, the ASA does not support the transmission of anonymous binds or requests.

LDAP Attribute Maps

The ASA can use an LDAP directory for authenticating users for:
• VPN remote access users
• Firewall network access/cut-through-proxy sessions
• Setting policy permissions (also called authorization attributes), such as ACLs, bookmark lists, DNS or
WINS settings, and session timers.
• Setting the key attributes in a local group policy

The ASA uses LDAP attribute maps to translate native LDAP user attributes to Cisco ASA attributes. You
can bind these attribute maps to LDAP servers or remove them. You can also show or clear attribute maps.
The LDAP attribute map does not support multi-valued attributes. For example, if a user is a member of
several AD groups, and the LDAP attribute map matches more than one group, the value chosen is based on
the alphabetization of the matched entries.
To use the attribute mapping features correctly, you need to understand LDAP attribute names and values, as
well as the user-defined attribute names and values.
The names of frequently mapped LDAP attributes and the type of user-defined attributes that they would
commonly be mapped to include the following:
• IETF-Radius-Class (Group_Policy in ASA version 8.2 and later)—Sets the group policy based on the
directory department or user group (for example, Microsoft Active Directory memberOf) attribute value.
The group policy attribute replaced the IETF-Radius-Class attribute with ASDM version 6.2/ASA version
8.2 or later.
• IETF-Radius-Filter-Id—Applies an access control list or ACL to VPN clients, IPsec, and SSL.
• IETF-Radius-Framed-IP-Address—Assigns a static IP address assigned to a VPN remote access client,
IPsec, and SSL.
• Banner1—Displays a text banner when the VPN remote access user logs in.
• Tunneling-Protocols—Allows or denies the VPN remote access session based on the access type.

Note A single LDAP attribute map may contain one or many attributes. You can only
map one LDAP attribute from a specific LDAP server.

Guidelines for LDAP Servers for AAA

This section includes the guidelines and limitations that you should check before configuring LDAP servers
for AAA.

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IPv6
The AAA server can use either an IPv4 or IPv6 address.

Additional Guidelines
• The DN configured on the ASA to access a Sun directory server must be able to access the default
password policy on that server. We recommend using the directory administrator, or a user with directory
administrator privileges, as the DN. Alternatively, you can place an ACL on the default password policy.
• You must configure LDAP over SSL to enable password management with Microsoft Active Directory
and Sun servers.
• The ASA does not support password management with Novell, OpenLDAP, and other LDAPv3 directory
servers.
• Beginning with Version 7.1(x), the ASA performs authentication and authorization using the native
LDAP schema, and the Cisco schema is no longer needed.
• You can have up to 200 server groups in single mode or 4 server groups per context in multiple mode.
• Each group can have up to 16 servers in single mode or 8 servers in multiple mode.
• When a user logs in, the LDAP servers are accessed one at a time, starting with the first server that you
specify in the configuration, until a server responds. If all servers in the group are unavailable, the ASA
tries the local database if you configured it as a fallback method (management authentication and
authorization only). If you do not have a fallback method, the ASA continues to try the LDAP servers.

Configure LDAP Servers for AAA

This section describes how to configure LDAP servers for AAA.

Procedure

Step 1 Configure LDAP attribute maps. See Configure LDAP Attribute Maps, on page 905.
Step 2 Add an LDAP server group. See Configure LDAP Server Groups, on page 906.
Step 3 Add a server to the group, then configure server parameters. See Add an LDAP Server to a Server Group ,
on page 907.

Configure LDAP Attribute Maps

To configure LDAP attribute maps, perform the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Remote Access VPN > AAA Local Users > LDAP Attribute Map (for local
users), or Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > LDAP Attribute Map (for all other
users), then click Add.
The Add LDAP Attribute Map dialog box appears with the Mapping of Attribute Name tab active.

Step 2 Create a name for this attribute map.

Step 3 Add the name of one of the LDAP attributes to be mapped.
Step 4 Choose a Cisco attribute.
Step 5 Click Add.
Step 6 To map more attributes, repeat Steps 1 through 5.
Step 7 Click the Mapping of Attribute Value tab to map the value of any of the LDAP attributes to a new value in
the mapped Cisco attribute.
Step 8 Click Add to display the Add Mapping of Attribute Value dialog box.
Step 9 Enter the value for this LDAP attribute that you expect to be returned from the LDAP server.
Step 10 Enter the value you want to use in the Cisco attribute when this LDAP attribute contains the previous LDAP
attribute value.
Step 11 Click Add.
Step 12 To map more attribute values, repeat Steps 8 through 11.
Step 13 Click OK twice to close each dialog box.
Step 14 Click Apply to save the settings to the running configuration.

Configure LDAP Server Groups

To create and configure an LDAP server group, then add an LDAP server to that group, perform the following
steps:

Before you begin

You must add an attribute map before you may add an LDAP server to an LDAP server group.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups, or Configuration >
Remote Access VPN > AAA/Local Users > AAA Server Groups for VPN users.
Step 2 Click Add.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter a name for the AAA server group.

Step 4 Choose the LDAP server type from the Protocol drop-down list.
Step 5 Click the radio button for the reactivation mode you want to use (Depletion or Timed).

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In Depletion mode, failed servers are reactivated only after all of the servers in the group are inactive.
In Timed mode, failed servers are reactivated after 30 seconds of down time.
a) If you chose the Depletion reactivation mode, enter a time interval in the Dead Time field.
The dead time is the duration of time, in minutes, that elapses between the disabling of the last server in
a group and the subsequent re-enabling of all servers.

Step 6 Add the maximum number of failed AAA transactions with the server to allow.
This option sets the number of failed connection attempts allowed before declaring a non-responsive server
to be inactive.

Step 7 Click OK.

The Add AAA Server Group dialog box closes, and the new server group is added to the AAA server group.

Step 8 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Add an LDAP Server to a Server Group

To add an LDAP server to a server group, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following:

• Configuration Remote Access VPN AAA/Local Users AAA Server Groups for VPN users.
• Configuration >Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups

Step 2 Select the server group to which you want to add a server, then click Add.
The Add AAA Server dialog box appears for the selected server group.

Step 3 Choose the name of the interface that connects to the LDAP server.
Step 4 Add either the server name or IP address of the LDAP server.
Step 5 Add a timeout value or keep the default. The timeout is the duration of time, in seconds, that the ASA waits
for a response from the primary server before sending the request to the backup server.
Step 6 In the LDAP Parameters for authentication/authorization area, configure the following settings:
• Enable LDAP over SSL (also called secure LDAP or LDAP-S)—Check this check box to use SSL to
secure communications between the ASA and the LDAP server.
Note If you do not configure the SASL protocol, we strongly recommend that you secure LDAP
communications with SSL.

• Server Port—Enter TCP port number 389, the port which the ASA uses to access the LDAP server for
simple (non-secure) authentication, or TCP port 636 for secure authentication (LDAP-S). All LDAP
servers support authentication and authorization. Only Microsoft AD and Sun LDAP servers additionally
provide a VPN remote access password management capability, which requires LDAP-S.

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• Server Type—Specify the LDAP server type from the drop-down list. The available options include the
following:
• Detect Automatically/Use Generic Type
• Microsoft
• Novell
• OpenLDAP
• Sun, now part of Oracle Directory Server Enterprise Edition

• Base DN—Enter the base distinguished name (DN) or location in the LDAP hierarchy where the server
should begin searching when it receives an LDAP request (for example, OU=people, dc=cisco, dc=com).
• Scope—Specify the extent of the search that the server should perform in the LDAP hierarchy when it
receives an authorization request from the drop-down list. The following options are available:
• One Level—Searches only one level beneath the Base DN. This option is quicker.
• All Levels—Searches all levels beneath the Base DN (that is, searches the entire subtree hierarchy).
This option takes more time.

• Naming Attribute(s)—Enter the relative distinguished name attribute(s) that uniquely identify an entry
on the LDAP server. Common naming attributes are Common Name (CN), sAMAccountName,
userPrincipalName, and User ID (uid).
• Login DN and Login Password—The ASA uses the login DN and login password to establish trust
(bind) with an LDAP server. Specify the login password, which is the password for the login DN user
account.
• LDAP Attribute Map—Select one of the attribute maps that you created for this LDAP server to use.
These attribute maps map LDAP attribute names to Cisco attribute names and values.
• SASL MD5 authentication—This enables the MD5 mechanism of the SASL to authenticate
communications between the ASA and the LDAP server.
• SASL Kerberos authentication—Enables the Kerberos mechanism of the SASL to secure authentication
communications between the ASA and the LDAP server. You must have defined a Kerberos server in
order to enable this option.
• LDAP Parameters for Group Search—The fields in this area configure how the ASA requests AD
groups.
• Group Base DN—Specifies the location in the LDAP hierarchy to begin searching for the AD
groups (that is, the list of memberOf enumerations). If this field is not configured, the ASA uses
the base DN for AD group retrieval. ASDM uses the list of retrieved AD groups to define AAA
selection criteria for dynamic access policies. For more information, see the show ad-groups
command.
• Group Search Timeout—Specify the maximum time to wait for a response from an AD server
that was queried for available groups.

Step 7 Click OK.

The Add AAA Server dialog box closes, and the AAA server is added to the AAA server group.

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Step 8 Click Apply to save the changes to the running configuration.

Test LDAP Server Authentication and Authorization

To determine whether the ASA can contact an LDAP server and authenticate or authorize a user, perform the
following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Select the server group in which the server resides.
Step 3 Select the server that you want to test.
Step 4 Click Test.
The Test AAA Server dialog box appears for the selected server.

Step 5 Click the type of test that you want to perform—Authentication or Authorization.
Step 6 Enter a username.
Step 7 If you are testing authentication, enter the password for the username.
Step 8 Click OK.
The ASA sends either an authentication or authorization test message to the server. If the test fails, an error
message appears.

Monitoring LDAP Servers for AAA

See the following commands for monitoring LDAP servers for AAA:
• Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers
This pane shows the configured AAA server statistics.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

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History for LDAP Servers for AAA

Table 53: History for AAA Servers

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

LDAP Servers for AAA 7.0(1) LDAP Servers describe support for AAA
and how to configure LDAP servers.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups
Configuration > Remote Access VPN >
AAA Local Users > LDAP Attribute Map.

LDAP servers with IPv6 addresses for 9.7(1) You can now use either an IPv4 or IPv6
AAA address for the AAA server.

Increased limits for AAA server groups and 9.13(1) You can configure more AAA server
servers per group. groups. In single context mode, you can
configure 200 AAA server groups (the
former limit was 100). In multiple context
mode, you can configure 8 (the former limit
was 4).
In addition, in multiple context mode, you
can configure 8 servers per group (the
former limit was 4 servers per group). The
single context mode per-group limit of 16
remains unchanged.
We modified the AAA screens to accept
these new limits.

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Kerberos Servers for AAA
The following topics explain how to configure Kerberos servers used in AAA. You can use Kerberos servers
for the authentication of management connections, network access, and VPN user access.
• Guidelines for Kerberos Servers for AAA, on page 911
• Configure Kerberos Servers for AAA, on page 911
• Monitor Kerberos Servers for AAA, on page 914
• History for Kerberos Servers for AAA, on page 915

Guidelines for Kerberos Servers for AAA

• You can have up to 200 server groups in single mode or 8 server groups per context in multiple mode.
• Each group can have up to 16 servers in single mode or 8 servers in multiple mode. When a user logs
in, the servers are accessed one at a time starting with the first server you specify in the configuration,
until a server responds.

Configure Kerberos Servers for AAA

The following topics explain how to configure Kerberos server groups. You can then use these groups when
configuring management access or VPNs.

Configure Kerberos AAA Server Groups

If you want to use a Kerberos server for authentication, you must first create at least one Kerberos server
group and add one or more servers to each group.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click Add in the AAA Server Groups area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears.

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Step 3 Enter a name for the group in the Server Group field.
Step 4 Choose the Kerberos server type from the Protocol drop-down list:
Step 5 Click Depletion or Timed in the Reactivation Mode field.
In Depletion mode, failed servers are reactivated only after all of the servers in the group are inactive. In
depletion mode, when a server is deactivated, it remains inactive until all other servers in the group are inactive.
When and if this occurs, all servers in the group are reactivated. This approach minimizes the occurrence of
connection delays due to failed servers.
In Timed mode, failed servers are reactivated after 30 seconds of down time.

Step 6 If you chose the Depletion reactivation mode, enter a time interval in the Dead Time field.
The dead time is the duration of time, in minutes, that elapses between the disabling of the last server in a
group and the subsequent re-enabling of all servers.

Step 7 Specify the maximum number of failed AAA transactions with a AAA server in the group before trying the
next server.
This option sets the number of failed AAA transactions before declaring a nonresponsive server to be inactive.

Step 8 (Optional.) Select Validate KDC to enable Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) validation.
To accomplish the authentication, you must also import a keytab file that you exported from the Kerberos
Key Distribution Center (KDC). By validating the KDC, you can prevent an attack where the attacker spoofs
the KDC so that user credentials are authenticated against the attacker’s Kerberos server.
For information about how to upload the keytab file, see Configure Kerberos Key Distribution Center
Validation, on page 913.

Step 9 Click OK.

Add Kerberos Servers to a Kerberos Server Group

Before you can use a Kerberos server group, you must add at least one Kerberos server to the group.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Select the server group to which you want to add a server.
Step 3 Click Add in the Servers in the Selected Group area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears for the server group.

Step 4 Choose the Interface Name through which the authentication server resides.
Step 5 Enter either the name or IP address for the server that you are adding to the group.
Step 6 Specify the timeout value for connection attempts to the server.
Specify the timeout interval (1-300 seconds) for the server; the default is 10 seconds. For each AAA transaction
the ASA retries connection attempts (based on the retry interval) until the timeout is reached. If the number
of consecutive failed transactions reaches the maximum-failed-attempts limit specified in the AAA server

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group, the AAA server is deactivated and the ASA starts sending requests to another AAA server if it is
configured.

Step 7 Select the retry interval, which is the time the system waits before retrying a connection request. You can
select from 1-10 seconds. The default is 10 seconds.
Step 8 Specify the server port. The server port is either port number 88, or the TCP port number used by the ASA
to communicate with the Kerberos server.
Step 9 Configure the Kerberos realm.
Kerberos realm names use numbers and upper case letters only, and can be up to 64 characters. The name
should match the output of the Microsoft Windows set USERDNSDOMAIN command when it is run on the
Active Directory server for the Kerberos realm. In the following example, EXAMPLE.COM is the Kerberos
realm name:

C:\>set USERDNSDOMAIN
USERDNSDOMAIN=EXAMPLE.COM

Although the ASA accepts lower case letters in the name, it does not translate lower case letters to upper case
letters. Be sure to use upper case letters only.

Step 10 Click OK.

Example

hostname(config)# aaa-server watchdogs protocol kerberos

hostname(config-aaa-server-group)# aaa-server watchdogs host 192.168.3.4
ciscoasa(config-aaa-server-host)# timeout 9
ciscoasa(config-aaa-server-host)# retry 7
ciscoasa(config-aaa-server-host)# kerberos-realm EXAMPLE.COM
ciscoasa(config-aaa-server-host)# exit
ciscoasa(config)#

Configure Kerberos Key Distribution Center Validation

You can configure a Kerberos AAA server group to authenticate the servers in the group. To accomplish the
authentication, you must import a keytab file that you exported from the Kerberos Key Distribution Center
(KDC). By validating the KDC, you can prevent an attack where the attacker spoofs the KDC so that user
credentials are authenticated against the attacker’s Kerberos server.
When you enable KDC validation, after obtaining the ticket-granting ticket (TGT) and validating the user,
the system also requests a service ticket on behalf of the user for host/ASA_hostname. The system then
validates the returned service ticket against the secret key for the KDC, which is stored in a keytab file that
you generated from the KDC and then uploaded to the ASA. If KDC authentication fails, the server is considered
untrusted and the user is not authenticated.
The following procedure explains how to accomplish KDC authentication.

Before you begin

You cannot use KDC validation in conjunction with Kerberos Constrained Delegation (KCD). The validate
KDC option will be ignored if the server group is used for KCD.

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Procedure

Step 1 (On the KDC.) Create a user account in the Microsoft Active Directory for the ASA (go to Start > Programs >
Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers). For example, if the fully-qualified domain
name (FQDN) of the ASA is asahost.example.com, create a user named asahost.
Step 2 (On the KDC.) Create a host service principal name (SPN) for the ASA using the FQDN and user account:

C:> setspn -A HOST/asahost.example.com asahost

Step 3 (On the KDC.) Create a keytab file for the ASA (line feeds added for clarity):

C:\Users\Administrator> ktpass /out new.keytab +rndPass

/princ host/[email protected]
/mapuser [email protected]
/ptype KRB5_NT_SRV_HST
/mapop set

Step 4 (On the ASA.) Choose Tools > File Management, and then from the File Transfer menu, select the appropriate
option to upload the keytab file to flash, depending on whether it is on your workstation or on a remote server.
Step 5 (On the ASA.) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Kerberos, then click
Browse Flash and select the uploaded keytab file.
Step 6 (On the ASA.) Add the Validate KDC option to the Kerberos AAA server group configuration. The keytab
file is used only by server groups that are configured with this option.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
b) Select the Kerberos server group and click Edit. Alternatively, you can create a new group at this time.
c) Select the Validate KDC option.
d) Click OK.

Monitor Kerberos Servers for AAA

You can use the following commands to monitor and clear Kerberos-related information. Enter commands
from the Tools > Command Line Interface window.
• Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers
This window shows the AAA server statistics.
• show aaa-server
Shows the AAA server statistics. Use the clear aaa-server statistics command to clear the server statistics.
• show running-config aaa-server
Shows the AAA servers that are configured for the system. Use the clear configure aaa-server command
to remove the AAA server configuration.
• show aaa kerberos [username user]
Shows all Kerberos tickets, or tickets for a given username.
• clear aaa kerberos tickets [username user]

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Clears all Kerberos tickets, or tickets for a given username.

• show aaa kerberos keytab
Shows information about the Kerberos keytab file.
• clear aaa kerberos keytab
Clears the Kerberos keytab file.

History for Kerberos Servers for AAA

Feature Name Platform Description
Releases

Kerberos Servers 7.0(1) Support for Kerberos servers for AAA.

We introduced the following screens: Configuration > Device
Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups

IPv6 addresses for AAA 9.7(1) You can now use either an IPv4 or IPv6 address for the AAA
server.

Increased limits for AAA server groups and servers 9.13(1) You can configure more AAA server groups. In single context
per group. mode, you can configure 200 AAA server groups (the former
limit was 100). In multiple context mode, you can configure 8
(the former limit was 4).
In addition, in multiple context mode, you can configure 8
servers per group (the former limit was 4 servers per group).
The single context mode per-group limit of 16 remains
unchanged.
We modified the AAA screens to accept these new limits.

Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) 9.8(4) and You can import a keytab file from a Kerberos Key Distribution
authentication. subsequent Center (KDC), and the system can authenticate that the Kerberos
interim server is not being spoofed before using it to authenticate users.
releases until To accomplish KDC authentication, you must set up a
9.14(1) host/ASA_hostname service principal name (SPN) on the
Kerberos KDC, then export a keytab for that SPN. You then
must upload the keytab to the ASA, and configure the Kerberos
AAA server group to validate the KDC.
We added or modified the following screens: Configuration >
Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Kerberos,
Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA
Server Groups Add/Edit dialog box for Kerberos server groups.

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 CHAPTER 41
RSA SecurID Servers for AAA
The following topics explain how to configure RSA SecurID servers used in AAA. The RSA SecureID servers
are also known as SDI servers, because SDI is the protocol used to communicate with them. You can use
RSA SecurID servers for the authentication of management connections, network access, and VPN user access.
• About RSA SecurID Servers, on page 917
• Guidelines for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA, on page 917
• Configure RSA SecurID Servers for AAA, on page 918
• Monitor RSA SecurID Servers for AAA, on page 919
• History for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA, on page 920

About RSA SecurID Servers

You can use RSA SecurID servers either directly for authentication, or indirectly, as a second factor for
authentication. In the latter case, you would configure the relationship to the SecurID server between the
SecurID server and your RADIUS server, and configure the ASA to use the RADIUS server.
But, if you want to directly authenticate against the SecurID server, you would create a AAA server group
for the SDI protocol, which is the protocol used to communicate with these servers.
When you use SDI, you need only specify the primary SecurID server when you create the AAA server group.
The ASA will retrieve the sdiconf.rec file, which lists all of the SecurID server replicas, when it first connects
to the server. The ASA can then use these replicas for authentication if the primary server does not respond.
In addition, you must register the ASA as an authentication agent in the RSA Authentication Manager.
Authentication attempts will fail until you register the ASA.

Guidelines for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

• You can have up to 200 server groups in single mode or 8 server groups per context in multiple mode.
• Each group can have up to 16 servers in single mode or 8 servers in multiple mode. When a user logs
in, the servers are accessed one at a time starting with the first server you specify in the configuration,
until a server responds.

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Configure RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

The following topics explain how to configure RSA SecurID server groups. You can then use these groups
when configuring management access or VPNs.

Configure RSA SecurID AAA Server Groups

If you want to use direct communication with an RSA SecurID server for authentication, you must first create
at least one SDI server group and add one or more servers to each group. If you are using the SecurID server
in a proxy relationship with a RADIUS server, you do not need to configure an SDI AAA server group on
the ASA.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Click Add in the AAA Server Groups area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter a name for the group in the Server Group field.
Step 4 Choose the SDI server type from the Protocol drop-down list:
Step 5 Click Depletion or Timed in the Reactivation Mode field.
In Depletion mode, failed servers are reactivated only after all of the servers in the group are inactive. In
depletion mode, when a server is deactivated, it remains inactive until all other servers in the group are inactive.
When and if this occurs, all servers in the group are reactivated. This approach minimizes the occurrence of
connection delays due to failed servers.
In Timed mode, failed servers are reactivated after 30 seconds of down time.

Step 6 If you chose the Depletion reactivation mode, enter a time interval in the Dead Time field.
The dead time is the duration of time, in minutes, that elapses between the disabling of the last server in a
group and the subsequent re-enabling of all servers.

Step 7 Specify the maximum number of failed AAA transactions with a AAA server in the group before trying the
next server.
This option sets the number of failed AAA transactions before declaring a nonresponsive server to be inactive.

Step 8 Click OK.

Add RSA SecurID Servers to an SDI Server Group

Before you can use an SDI server group, you must add at least one RSA SecurID server to the group.
Servers in an SDI server group use the authentication and server management protocol (ACE) to communicate
with the ASA.

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Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Server Groups.
Step 2 Select the server group to which you want to add a server.
Step 3 Click Add in the Servers in the Selected Group area.
The Add AAA Server Group dialog box appears for the server group.

Step 4 Choose the Interface Name through which the authentication server resides.
Step 5 Enter either the name or IP address for the server that you are adding to the group.
Step 6 Specify the timeout value for connection attempts to the server.
Specify the timeout interval (1-300 seconds) for the server; the default is 10 seconds. For each AAA transaction
the ASA retries connection attempts (based on the retry interval) until the timeout is reached. If the number
of consecutive failed transactions reaches the maximum-failed-attempts limit specified in the AAA server
group, the AAA server is deactivated and the ASA starts sending requests to another AAA server if it is
configured.

Step 7 Select the retry interval, which is the time the system waits before retrying a connection request. You can
select from 1-10 seconds. The default is 10 seconds.
Step 8 Specify the server port. The server port is either the default port number 5500, or the TCP port number used
by the ASA to communicate with the RSA SecurID server.
Step 9 Click OK.

Monitor RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

You can use the following commands to monitor and clear RSA SecurID-related information. Enter commands
from the Tools > Command Line Interface window.
• Monitoring > Properties > AAA Servers
This window shows the AAA server statistics.
• show aaa-server
Shows the AAA server statistics. Use the clear aaa-server statistics command to clear the server statistics.
• show running-config aaa-server
Shows the AAA servers that are configured for the system. Use the clear configure aaa-server command
to remove the AAA server configuration.

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History for RSA SecurID Servers for AAA

Feature Name Platform Description
Releases

SecurID Servers 7.2(1) Support for SecurID servers for AAA for management
authentication. SecurID was supported in previous releases for
VPN authentication.

IPv6 addresses for AAA 9.7(1) You can now use either an IPv4 or IPv6 address for the AAA
server.

Increased limits for AAA server groups and servers 9.13(1) You can configure more AAA server groups. In single context
per group. mode, you can configure 200 AAA server groups (the former
limit was 100). In multiple context mode, you can configure 8
(the former limit was 4).
In addition, in multiple context mode, you can configure 8
servers per group (the former limit was 4 servers per group).
The single context mode per-group limit of 16 remains
unchanged.
We modified the AAA screens to accept these new limits.

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System Administration
• Management Access, on page 923
• Software and Configurations, on page 965
• Response Automation for System Events, on page 995
• Testing and Troubleshooting, on page 1001
 CHAPTER 42
Management Access
This chapter describes how to access the Cisco ASA for system management through Telnet, SSH, and HTTPS
(using ASDM), how to authenticate and authorize users, and how to create login banners.
• Configure Management Remote Access, on page 923
• Configure AAA for System Administrators, on page 937
• Monitoring Device Access, on page 953
• History for Management Access, on page 954

Configure Management Remote Access

This section describes how to configure ASA access for ASDM, Telnet, or SSH, and other management
parameters such as a login banner.

Configure ASA Access for HTTPS (ASDM), Telnet, or SSH

This section describes how to configure ASA access for HTTPS, including ASDM and CSM, Telnet, or SSH.
See the following guidelines:
• To access the ASA interface for management access, you do not also need an access rule allowing the
host IP address. You only need to configure management access according to the sections in this chapter.
If, however, you configure HTTP redirect to redirect HTTP connections to HTTPS automatically, you
must enable an access rule to allow HTTP; otherwise, the interface cannot listen to the HTTP port.
• Management access to an interface other than the one from which you entered the ASA is not supported.
For example, if your management host is located on the outside interface, you can only initiate a
management connection directly to the outside interface. The only exception to this rule is through a
VPN connection. See Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel, on page 931.
• The ASA allows:
• A maximum of 5 concurrent Telnet connections per context, if available, with a maximum of 100
connections divided among all contexts.
• A maximum of 5 concurrent SSH connections per context, if available, with a maximum of 100
connections divided among all contexts.
• A maximum of 5 concurrent ASDM instances per context, if available, with a maximum of 32
ASDM instances among all contexts.

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Configure HTTPS (ASDM) Access

This section describes how to configure ASA access for HTTPS, including ASDM and CSM.

Before you begin

• In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the
system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context
name under the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH,
and click Add.
The Add Device Access Configuration dialog box appears.

Step 2 Choose ASDM/HTTPS.

Step 3 Choose the management interface and set the host IP addresses allowed, and click OK.
Specify any named interface. For bridge groups, specify the bridge group member interface. For VPN
management access only (see Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel, on page 931), specify the
named BVI interface.

Step 4 To require certificate authentication, in the Specify the interface requires client certificate to access ASDM
area, click Add to specify the interface and an optional certificate map that must be matched for successful
authentication. See Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Network (Client) Access > Advanced >
IPSec > Certificate to Connection Map > Rules to create the certificate map. For more information, see
Configure ASDM Certificate Authentication, on page 940.
Step 5 Configure HTTP Settings.
• Enable HTTP Server—Enable the HTTPS server.
• Port Number—Set the port number. The default is 443.
• Idle Timeout—Set the idle timeout for ASDM connections, from 1-1440 minutes. The default is 20
minutes. The ASA disconnects an ASDM connection that is idle for the set period of time.
• Session Timeout—Set the session timeout for ASDM sessions, from 1-1440 minutes. This timeout is
disabled by default. The ASA disconnects an ASDM session that exceeds the set period of time.
• Connection Session Timeout—Set the idle timeout for all HTTPS connections, including ASDM,
WebVPN, and other clients, from 10-86400 seconds. This timeout is disabled by default. The ASA
disconnects a connection that is idle for the set period of time. If you set both the Idle Timeout and the
Connection Session Timeout, the Connection Session Timeout takes precendence.

Step 6 Click Apply.

Step 7 (Optional) Allow non-browser-based HTTPS clients to access HTTPS services on the ASA. By default,
ASDM, CSM, and REST API are allowed.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > HTTP Non-Browser Client
Support, and click Add.

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b) In the User-Agent String from the HTTP Header field, specify the client's User-Agent string in the
HTTP header of the HTTP request.
You can specify the complete string or a partial string; partial strings must match the start of the User-Agent
string. We recommend complete strings for better security. Note that the string is case-sensitive.
For example, curl will match the following User-Agent string:
curl/7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.19.1 Basic
ECC zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2
curl will not match the following User-Agent string:
abcd curl/7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.19.1
Basic ECC zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2
CURL will not match the following User-Agent string:
curl/7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.19.1 Basic
ECC zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2

Configure SSH Access

This section describes how to configure ASA access for SSH. See the following guidelines:
• Only SSH Version 2 is supported.
• (8.4 and later) The SSH default username is no longer supported. You can no longer connect to the ASA
using SSH with the pix or asa username and the login password. To use SSH, you must configure AAA
authentication by choosing Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access >
Authentication; then define a local user by choosing Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA. If you want to use a AAA server for authentication instead of the local database, we
recommend also configuring local authentication as a backup method.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the system
to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under
the active device IP address.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH,
and click Add.
The Add Device Access Configuration dialog box appears.

Step 2 Choose SSH.

Step 3 Choose the management interface and set the host IP addresses allowed, and click OK.
Specify any named interface. For bridge groups, specify the bridge group member interface. For VPN
management access only (see Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel, on page 931), specify the
named BVI interface.

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Step 4 (Optional) Configure SSH Settings.

• Allowed SSH Versions—Only version 2 is supported.
• SSH Timeout—Set the timeout from 1 to 60 minutes. The default is 5 minutes. The default duration is
too short in most cases, and should be increased until all pre-production testing and troubleshooting have
been completed.
• DH Key Exchange (Admin context only)—Click the applicable radio button to choose Diffie-Hellman
(DH) Key Exchange Group 1 or Group 14 or Group 14 SHA256. If no DH group key-exchange method
is specified, the DH group 14 SHA256 key-exchange method is used. For more information about using
DH key-exchange methods, see RFC 4253. You can only set the key exchange in the Admin context;
this value is used by all contexts.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Step 6 Configure SSH user authentication.
a) (For password access) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access >
Authentication.
AAA authentication does not affect local public key authentication for usernames with the Public Key
Using PKF option. The ASA implicitly uses the local database for public key authentication. SSH
authentication only affects usernames with passwords. If you want to allow either public key authentication
or password use by a local user, then you need to explicitly configure local authentication with this
procedure to allow password access.
b) Check the SSH check box.
c) Choose the LOCAL database (or AAA server) from the Server Group drop-down list.
d) Click Apply.
e) Add a local user. You can alternatively use a AAA server for user access, but a local username is
recommended. Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > User Accounts, then
click Add.
The Add User Account-Identity dialog box appears.
f) Enter a username and password, then confirm the password. You might want to create a user without a
password if you want to force the user to use public key authentication instead of password authentication.
If you configure public key authentication as well as a password, then the user can log in with either
method if you explicitly configure AAA authentication in this procedure.
g) (Optional) To enable public key authentication on a per-user basis instead of/as well as password
authentication, choose one of the following panes:
• Public Key Authentication—Paste in a Base64-encoded public key. You can generate the key using
any SSH key generation software (such as ssh keygen) that can generate SSH-RSA raw keys (with
no certificates).When you view an existing key, the key is encrypted using a SHA-256 hash. If you
need to copy and paste a hashed key, check the Key is hashed check box.
• To remove an authentication key, click Delete Key to display a confirmation dialog box. Click Yes
to remove the authentication key, or click No to retain it.
• Public Key Using PKF—Check the Specify a new PKF key check box, and paste or import a public
key file (PKF) formatted key, up to 4096 bits. Use this format for keys that are too large to paste in
Base64 format. For example, you can generate a 4096-bit key using ssh keygen, then convert it to
PKF, and import on this pane. When you view an existing key, the key is encrypted using a SHA-256

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hash. If you need to copy and paste a hashed key, copy it from the Public Key Authentication pane,
and paste it in that pane on the new ASA with the Key is hashed check box checked.
To remove an authentication key, click Delete Key to display a confirmation dialog box. Click Yes
to remove the authentication key, or click No to retain it.

h) Click OK, then click Apply.

Step 7 Generate an RSA key pair (for physical ASAs only; for the ASAv, the RSA key pairs are automatically created
after deployment):
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Certificate Management > Identity Certificates.
b) Click Add and click the Add a new identity certificate radio button.
c) Click New.
d) In the Add Key Pair dialog box, take the defaults and click Generate Now.
Step 8 (Optional) Configure SSH cipher encryption and integrity algorithms:
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > SSH Ciphers.
b) Select Encryption, and click Edit.
c) From the SSH cipher security level drop-down list, choose one of the following levels.
Ciphers are used in the order they are listed. For pre-defined lists, they are listed from highest to lowest
security.
• All—Specifies using all ciphers: 3des-cbc aes128-cbc aes192-cbc aes256-cbc aes128-ctr aes192-ctr
aes256-ctr
• Custom—Specifies a custom cipher encryption configuration string that you enter in the Cipher
algorithms/custom string field, separated by colons.
• Fips—Specifies only FIPS-compliant ciphers: aes128-cbc aes256-cbc
• High—Specifies only high-strength ciphers: aes256-cbc aes256-ctr
• Low—Specifies low, medium, and high strength ciphers: 3des-cbc aes128-cbc aes192-cbc aes256-cbc
aes128-ctr aes192-ctr aes256-ctr
• Medium—Specifies the medium and high strength ciphers (the default): 3des-cbc aes128-cbc
aes192-cbc aes256-cbc aes128-ctr aes192-ctr aes256-ctr

d) Select Integrity, and click Edit.

e) From the SSH cipher security level drop-down list, choose one of the following levels:
• All—Specifies using all ciphers: hmac-sha1 hmac-sha1-96 hmac-sha2-256 hmac-md5 hmac-md5-96
• Custom—Specifies a custom cipher encryption configuration string that you enter in the Cipher
algorithms/custom string field, separated by colons.
• Fips—Specifies only FIPS-compliant ciphers: hmac-sha1 hmac-sha2-256
• High—Specifies only high-strength ciphers (the default): hmac-sha2-256
• Low—Specifies low, medium, and high strength ciphers: hmac-sha1 hmac-sha1-96 hmac-md5
hmac-md5-96

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• Medium—Specifies the medium and high strength ciphers: hmac-sha1 hmac-sha1-96

Examples
The following example generates a shared key for SSH on a Linux or Macintosh system, and imports
it to the ASA:
1. Generate the ssh-rsa public and private keys for 4096 bits on your computer:

jcrichton-mac:~ john$ ssh-keygen -b 4096

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/john/.ssh/id_rsa):
/Users/john/.ssh/id_rsa already exists.
Overwrite (y/n)? y
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): pa$$phrase
Enter same passphrase again: pa$$phrase
Your identification has been saved in /Users/john/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /Users/john/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
c0:0a:a2:3c:99:fc:00:62:f1:ee:fa:f8:ef:70:c1:f9 john@jcrichton-mac
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ RSA 4096]----+
| . |
| o . |
|+... o |
|B.+..... |
|.B ..+ S |
| = o |
| + . E |
| o o |
| ooooo |
+-----------------+

2. Convert the key to PKF format:

jcrichton-mac:~ john$ cd .ssh

jcrichton-mac:.ssh john$ ssh-keygen -e -f id_rsa.pub
---- BEGIN SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----
Comment: "4096-bit RSA, converted by ramona@rboersma-mac from OpenSSH"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---- END SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----
jcrichton-mac:.ssh john$

3. Copy the key to your clipboard.

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Configure SSH Access

4. In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > User Accounts,
select the username and then click Edit. Click Public Key Using PKF and paste the key into
the window:

5. Verify the user (test) can SSH to the ASA:

jcrichton-mac:.ssh john$ ssh [email protected]

The authenticity of host '10.86.118.5 (10.86.118.5)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 39:ca:ed:a8:75:5b:cc:8e:e2:1d:96:2b:93:b5:69:94.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

The following dialog box appears for you to enter your passphrase:

Meanwhile, in the terminal session:

Warning: Permanently added '10.86.118.5' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.

Identity added: /Users/john/.ssh/id_rsa (/Users/john/.ssh/id_rsa)
Type help or '?' for a list of available commands.
asa>

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Configure Telnet Access

Configure Telnet Access

This section describes how to configure ASA access for Telnet. You cannot use Telnet to the lowest security
interface unless you use Telnet inside a VPN tunnel.

Before you begin

• In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the
system to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context
name under the active device IP address.
• To gain access to the ASA CLI using Telnet, enter the login password. You must manually set the
password before using Telnet.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH,
and click Add.
The Add Device Access Configuration dialog box appears.

Step 2 Choose Telnet.

Step 3 Choose the management interface and set the host IP addresses allowed, and click OK.
Specify any named interface. For bridge groups, specify the bridge group member interface. For VPN
management access only (see Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel, on page 931), specify the
named BVI interface.

Step 4 (Optional) Set the Telnet Timeout. The default timeout value is 5 minutes.
Step 5 Click Apply.
Step 6 Set a login password before you can connect with Telnet; there is no default password.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Device Name/Password.
b) Check the Change the password to access the console of the security appliance check box in the Telnet
Password area.
c) Enter the old password (leave this field blank for a new ASA), new password, then confirm the new
password.
d) Click Apply.

Configure HTTP Redirect for ASDM Access or Clientless SSL VPN

You must use HTTPS to connect to the ASA using ASDM or clientless SSL VPN. For your convenience,
you can redirect HTTP management connections to HTTPS. For example, by redirecting HTTP, you can enter
either http://10.1.8.4/admin/ or https://10.1.8.4/admin/ and still arrive at the ASDM launch page at the
HTTPS address.
You can redirect both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic.

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Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel

Before you begin

Normally, you do not need an access rule allowing the host IP address. However, for HTTP redirect, you must
enable an access rule to allow HTTP; otherwise, the interface cannot listen to the HTTP port.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > HTTP Redirect.

The table shows the currently configured interfaces and whether redirection is enabled on an interface.

Step 2 Select the interface that you use for ASDM, and click Edit.
Step 3 Configure the following options in the Edit HTTP/HTTPS Settings dialog box:
• Redirect HTTP to HTTPS—Redirects HTTP requests to HTTPS.
• HTTP Port—Identifies the port from which the interface redirects HTTP connections. The default is
80.

Step 4 Click OK.

Configure Management Access Over a VPN Tunnel

If your VPN tunnel terminates on one interface, but you want to manage the ASA by accessing a different
interface, you must identify that interface as a management-access interface. For example, if you enter the
ASA from the outside interface, this feature lets you connect to the inside interface using ASDM, SSH, Telnet,
or SNMP; or you can ping the inside interface when entering from the outside interface.

Note For secure SNMP polling over a site-to-site VPN, include the IP address of the outside interface in the crypto
map access-list as part of the VPN configuration.

VPN access to an interface other than the one from which you entered the ASA is not supported. For example,
if your VPN access is located on the outside interface, you can only initiate a connection directly to the outside
interface. You should enable VPN on the directly-accessible interface of the ASA and use name resolution
so that you don’t have to remember multiple addresses.
Management access is available via the following VPN tunnel types: IPsec clients, IPsec Site-to-Site, Easy
VPN, and the AnyConnect SSL VPN client.

Before you begin

Due to routing considerations with the separate management and data routing tables, the VPN termination
interface and the management access interface need to be the same type: both need to be management-only
interfaces or regular data interfaces.

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Configure Management Access for FXOS on Firepower 2100 Platform Mode Data Interfaces

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Management Interface.
Step 2 Choose the interface with the highest security (the inside interface) from the Management Access Interface
drop-down list.
For Easy VPN and Site-to-Site tunnels, you can specify a named BVI (in routed mode).

Step 3 Click Apply.

The management interface is assigned, and the change is saved to the running configuration.

Configure Management Access for FXOS on Firepower 2100 Platform Mode

Data Interfaces
If you want to manage FXOS on the Firepower 2100 in Platform Mode from a data interface, you can configure
SSH, HTTPS, and SNMP access. This feature is useful if you want to manage the device remotely, and you
want to keep Management 1/1, which is the native way to access FXOS, on an isolated network. If you enable
this feature, you can continue to use Management 1/1 for local access. Note that you cannot allow remote
access from Management 1/1 for FXOS at the same time as using this feature. This feature requires forwarding
traffic to the ASA data interfaces using an internal path (the default), and you can only specify one FXOS
management gateway.
The ASA uses non-standard ports for FXOS access; the standard port is reserved for use by the ASA on the
same interface. When the ASA forwards traffic to FXOS, it translates the non-standard destination port to the
FXOS port for each protocol (do not change the HTTPS port in FXOS). The packet destination IP address
(which is the ASA interface IP address) is also translated to an internal address for use by FXOS. The source
address remains unchanged. For returning traffic, the ASA uses its data routing table to determine the correct
egress interface. When you access the ASA data IP address for the management application, you must log in
using an FXOS username; ASA usernames only apply for ASA management access.
You can also enable FXOS management traffic initiation on ASA data interfaces, which is required for SNMP
traps, or NTP and DNS server access, for example. By default, FXOS management traffic initiation is enabled
for the ASA outside interface for DNS and NTP server communication (required for Smart Software Licensing
communication).

Before you begin

• Single context mode only.
• Excludes ASA management-only interfaces.
• You cannot use a VPN tunnel to an ASA data interface and access FXOS directly. As a workaround for
SSH, you can VPN to the ASA, access the ASA CLI, and then use the connect fxos command to access
the FXOS CLI. Note that SSH, HTTPS, and SNMPv3 are/can be encrypted, so direct connection to the
data interface is safe.

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Change the Console Timeout

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Firewall > Advanced > FXOS Remote Management.
Step 2 Enable FXOS remote management.
a) Choose HTTPS, SNMP, or SSH from the navigation pane.
b) Click Add, and set the Interface where you want to allow management, set the IP Address allowed to
connect, and then click OK.
You can create multiple entries for each protocol type. Set the Port if you do not want to use the following
defaults:
• HTTPS default port—3443
• SNMP default port—3061
• SSH default port—3022

Step 3 Allow FXOS to initiate management connections from an ASA interface.

a) Choose FXOS Traffic Initiation from the navigation pane.
b) Click Add, and enable the ASA interfaces where you need to send FXOS management traffic. By default,
the outside interface is enabled.
Step 4 Click Apply.
Step 5 Connect to the Firepower Chassis Manager on Management 1/1 (by default https://192.168.45.45, with the
username: admin and password: Admin123).
Step 6 Click the Platform Settings tab, and enable SSH, HTTPS, or SNMP.
SSH and HTTPS are enabled by default.

Step 7 Configure an Access List on the Platform Settings tab to allow your management addresses. SSH and HTTPS
only allow the Management 1/1 192.168.45.0 network by default. You need to allow any addresses that you
specified in the FXOS Remote Management configuration on the ASA.

Change the Console Timeout

The console timeout sets how long a connection can remain in privileged EXEC mode or configuration mode;
when the timeout is reached, the session drops into user EXEC mode. By default, the session does not time
out. This setting does not affect how long you can remain connected to the console port, which never times
out.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Command Line (CLI) >
Console Timeout.
Step 2 Define a new timeout value in minutes, To specify an unlimited amount of time, enter 0. The default value is
0.
Step 3 Click Apply.

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Customize a CLI Prompt

The timeout value change is saved to the running configuration.

Customize a CLI Prompt

The ability to add information to a prompt allows you to see at-a-glance which ASA you are logged into when
you have multiple modules. During a failover, this feature is useful when both ASAs have the same hostname.
In multiple context mode, you can view the extended prompt when you log in to the system execution space
or the admin context. Within a non-admin context, you only see the default prompt, which is the hostname
and the context name.
By default, the prompt shows the hostname of the ASA. In multiple context mode, the prompt also displays
the context name. You can display the following items in the CLI prompt:

cluster-unit Displays the cluster unit name. Each unit in a cluster

can have a unique name.

context (Multiple mode only) Displays the name of the current

context.

domain Displays the domain name.

hostname Displays the hostname.

priority Displays the failover priority as pri (primary) or sec

(secondary).

state Displays the traffic-passing state or role of the unit.

For failover, the following values are displayed for
the state keyword:
• act—Failover is enabled, and the unit is actively
passing traffic.
• stby— Failover is enabled, and the unit is not
passing traffic and is in a standby, failed, or other
non-active state.
• actNoFailover—Failover is not enabled, and the
unit is actively passing traffic.
• stbyNoFailover—Failover is not enabled, and
the unit is not passing traffic. This might happen
when there is an interface failure above the
threshold on the standby unit.

For clustering, the values for control and data are

shown.

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Configure a Login Banner

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Command Line (CLI) >
CLI Prompt.
Step 2 Do any of the following to customize the prompt:
• Click the attribute in the Available Prompts list, then click Add. You can add multiple attributes to the
prompt. The attribute is moved from the Available Prompts list to the Selected Prompts list.
• Click the attribute in the Selected Prompts list, then click Delete. The attribute is moved from the
Selected Prompts list to the Available Prompts list.
• Click the attribute in the Selected Prompts list and click Move Up or Move Down to change the order
in which the attributes appear.

The prompt is changed and appears in the CLI Prompt Preview field.

Step 3 Click Apply.

The new prompt is saved to the running configuration.

Configure a Login Banner

You can configure a message to display when a user connects to the ASA, before a user logs in, or before a
user enters privileged EXEC mode.

Before you begin

• From a security perspective, it is important that your banner discourage unauthorized access. Do not use
the words “welcome” or “please,” as they appear to invite intruders in. The following banner sets the
correct tone for unauthorized access:

You have logged in to a secure device.

If you are not authorized to access this device,
log out immediately or risk possible criminal consequences.

• After a banner has been added, Telnet or SSH sessions to the ASA may close if:
• There is not enough system memory available to process the banner message(s).
• A TCP write error occurs when trying to display banner message(s).

• See RFC 2196 for guidelines about banner messages.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Command Line (CLI) >
Banner.

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Set a Management Session Quota

Step 2 Add your banner text to the field for the type of banner that you are creating for the CLI:
• The session (exec) banner appears when a user accesses privileged EXEC mode at the CLI.
• The login banner appears when a user logs in to the CLI.
• The message-of-the-day (motd) banner appears when a user first connects to the CLI.
• The ASDM banner appears when a user connects to ASDM, after user authentication. The user is given
two options for dismissing the banner:
• Continue—Dismiss the banner and complete login.
• Disconnect—Dismiss the banner and terminate the connection.

• Only ASCII characters are allowed, including a new line (Enter), which counts as two characters.
• Do not use tabs in the banner, because they are not preserved in the CLI version.
• There is no length limit for banners other than those for RAM and flash memory.
• You can dynamically add the hostname or domain name of the ASA by including the strings $(hostname)
and $(domain).
• If you configure a banner in the system configuration, you can use that banner text within a context by
using the $(system) string in the context configuration.

Step 3 Click Apply.

The new banner is saved to the running configuration.

Set a Management Session Quota

You can establish a maximum number of simultaneous ASDM, SSH, and Telnet sessions that are allowed on
the ASA. If the maximum is reached, no additional sessions are allowed and a syslog message is generated.
To prevent a system lockout, the management session quota mechanism cannot block a console session.

Note In multiple context mode, you cannot configure the number of ASDM sessions, where the maximum is fixed
at 5 sessions.

Note If you also set a resource limit per context for the maximum administrative sessions (SSH, etc.), then the
lower value will be used.

Before you begin

In multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the context execution space. To change from the System
to a context configuration, in the Configuration > Device List pane, double-click the context name under
the active device IP address.

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Configure AAA for System Administrators

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Management Session Quota.
Step 2 Enter the maximum number of simultaneous sessions.
• Aggregate—Sets the aggregate number of sessions between 1 and 15. The default is 15.
• HTTP Sessions—Sets the maximum HTTPS (ASDM) sessions, between 1 and 5. The default is 5.
• SSH Sessions—Sets the maximum SSH sessions, between 1 and 5. The default is 5.
• Telnet Sessions—Sets the maximum Telnet sessions, between 1 and 5. The default is 5.
• User Sessions—Sets the maximum sessions per user, between 1 and 5. The default is 5.

Step 3 Click Apply to save the configuration changes.

Configure AAA for System Administrators

This section describes how to configure authentication, management authorization, and command authorization
for system administrators.

Configure Management Authentication

Configure authentication for CLI and ASDM access.

About Management Authentication

How you log into the ASA depends on whether or not you enable authentication.

About SSH Authentication

See the following behavior for SSH access with and without authentication:
• No Authentication—SSH is not available without authentication.
• Authentication—When you enable SSH authentication, you enter the username and password as defined
on the AAA server or local user database. For public key authentication, the ASA only supports the local
database. If you configure SSH public key authentication, then the ASA uses the local database implicitly.
You only need to explicitly configure SSH authentication when you use a username and password to log
in. You access user EXEC mode.

About Telnet Authentication

See the following behavior for Telnet access with and without authentication:
• No Authentication—If you do not enable any authentication for Telnet, you do not enter a username;
you enter the login password. There is no default password, so you must set one before you can Telnet
to the ASA. You access user EXEC mode.

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About ASDM Authentication

• Authentication—If you enable Telnet authentication, you enter the username and password as defined
on the AAA server or local user database. You access user EXEC mode.

About ASDM Authentication

See the following behavior for ASDM access with and without authentication. You can also configure certificate
authentication, with or without AAA authentication.
• No Authentication—By default, you can log into ASDM with a blank username and the enable password,
which is blank by default. We suggest that you change the enable password as soon as possible so that
it does not remain blank; see Set the Hostname, Domain Name, and the Enable and Telnet Passwords,
on page 601. When you enter the enable command at the CLI for the first time, you are prompted to
change the password; this behavior is not enforced when you log into ASDM. Note that if you enter a
username and password at the login screen (instead of leaving the username blank), ASDM checks the
local database for a match.
• Certificate Authentication—(Single, routed mode only) You can require that the user have a valid
certificate. Enter the certificate username and password, and the ASA validates the certificate against
the PKI trustpoint.
• AAA Authentication—When you enable ASDM (HTTPS) authentication, you enter the username and
password as defined on the AAA server or local user database. You can no longer use ASDM with a
blank username and the enable password.
• AAA Authentication plus Certificate Authentication—(Single, routed mode only) When you enable
ASDM (HTTPS) authentication, you enter the username and password as defined on the AAA server or
local user database. If the username and password are different for the certificate authentication, you are
prompted to enter them as well. You can opt to pre-fill the username derived from your certificate.

About Serial Authentication

See the following behavior for access to the serial console port with and without authentication:
• No Authentication—If you do not enable any authentication for serial access, you do not enter a username
or password. You access user EXEC mode.
• Authentication—If you enable authentication for serial access, you enter the username and password as
defined on the AAA server or local user database. You access user EXEC mode.

About Enable Authentication

To enter privileged EXEC mode after logging in, enter the enable command. How this command works
depends on whether or not you enable authentication:
• No Authentication—If you do not configure enable authentication, enter the system enable password
when you enter the enable command, which is blank by default. The first time you enter the enable
command, you are prompted to change it. However, if you do not use enable authentication, after you
enter the enable command, you are no longer logged in as a particular user, which can affect user-based
features such as command authorization. To maintain your username, use enable authentication.
• Authentication—If you configure enable authentication, the ASA prompts you for your username and
password as defined on the AAA server or local user database. This feature is particularly useful when
you perform command authorization, in which usernames are important in determining the commands
that a user can enter.

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Sessions from the Host Operating System to the ASA

For enable authentication using the local database, you can use the login command instead of the enable
command. The login command maintains the username, but requires no configuration to turn on authentication.

Caution If you add users to the local database who can gain access to the CLI and whom you do not want to enter
privileged EXEC mode, you should configure command authorization. Without command authorization, users
can access privileged EXEC mode (and all commands) at the CLI using their own password if their privilege
level is 2 or greater (2 is the default). Alternatively, you can discourage the login command by using a AAA
server for authentication instead of the local database, or you can set all local users to level 1 so you can
control who can use the system enable password to access privileged EXEC mode.

Sessions from the Host Operating System to the ASA

Some platforms support running the ASA as a separate application: for example the ASA on the Firepower
4100/9300. For sessions from the host operating system to the ASA, you can configure serial and Telnet
authentication, depending on the type of connection. For example, the connect asa command in FXOS on
the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode uses a serial connection.
In multiple context mode, you cannot configure any AAA commands in the system configuration. However,
if you configure Telnet or serial authentication in the admin context, then authentication also applies to these
sessions. The admin context AAA server or local user database is used in this instance.

Configure Authentication for CLI, ASDM, and enable command Access

Before you begin

• Configure Telnet, SSH, or HTTP access.
• For external authentication, configure a AAA server group. For local authentication, add users to the
local database.
• HTTP management authentication does not support the SDI protocol for a AAA server group.
• This feature does not affect SSH public key authentication for local usernames with the ssh authentication
command. The ASA implicitly uses the local database for public key authentication. This feature only
affects usernames with passwords. If you want to allow either public key authentication or password use
by a local user, then you need to explicitly configure local authentication with this procedure to allow
password access.

Procedure

Step 1 To authenticate users who use the enable command, choose Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authentication, then configure the following settings:
a) Check the Enable check box.
b) Choose a server group name or the LOCAL database.
c) (Optional) If you chose a AAA server, you can configure the ASA to use the local database as a fallback
method if the AAA server is unavailable. Check the Use LOCAL when server group fails check box.
We recommend that you use the same username and password in the local database as the AAA server,
because the ASA prompt does not give any indication of which method is being used.

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Configure ASDM Certificate Authentication

Step 2 To authenticate users who access the CLI or ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authentication, then configure the following settings:
a) Check one or more of the following check boxes:
• HTTP/ASDM—Authenticates the ASDM client that accesses the ASA using HTTPS.
• Serial—Authenticates users who access the ASA using the console port. For the Firepower 2100 in
Platform mode, this keyword affects the virtual console accessed from FXOS using the connect asa
command.
• SSH—Authenticates users who access the ASA using SSH (password only; public key authentication
implicitly uses the local database).
• Telnet—Authenticates users who access the ASA using Telnet.

b) For each service that you checked, choose a server group name or the LOCAL database.
c) (Optional) If you chose a AAA server, you can configure the ASA to use the local database as a fallback
method if the AAA server is unavailable. Check the Use LOCAL when server group fails check box.
We recommend that you use the same username and password in the local database as the AAA server
because the ASA prompt does not give any indication of which method is being used.
Step 3 Click Apply.

Configure ASDM Certificate Authentication

You can require certificate authentication, with or without AAA authentication. The ASA validates the
certificate against the PKI trustpoint.

Before you begin

This feature is supported in single, routed mode only.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH.
Step 2 In the Specify the interface requires client certificate to access ASDM area, click Add to specify the
interface and an optional certificate map that must be matched for successful authentication.
You configure certificate authentication for each interface, so that connections on a trusted/inside interface
do not have to provide a certificate. See Configuration > Site-to-Site VPN > Advanced > IPSec > Certificate
to Connection Map > Rules to create the certificate map.

Step 3 (Optional) To set the attribute used by ASDM to derive the username from the certificate, choose
Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > HTTP Certificate Rule.
Choose one of the following methods:
• Specify the Certificate Fields to be used—Select a value from the Primary Field and the Secondary
Field drop-down lists.
• Use the entire DN as the username
• Use script to select username—Click Add to add the script content.

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Control CLI and ASDM Access with Management Authorization

Check the Prefill Username check box to pre-fill the username when prompted for authentication. If the
username is different from the one you initially typed in, a new dialog box appears with the username pre-filled.
You can then enter the password for authentication.
By default, ASDM uses CN OU attributes.

Step 4 Click Apply.

Control CLI and ASDM Access with Management Authorization

The ASA lets you distinguish between administrative and remote-access users when they authenticate. User
role differentiation can prevent remote access VPN and network access users from establishing an administrative
connection to the ASA.

Before you begin

RADIUS or LDAP (mapped) users
When users are authenticated through LDAP, the native LDAP attributes and their values can be mapped to
Cisco ASA attributes to provide specific authorization features. Configure Cisco VSA
CVPN3000-Privilege-Level with a value between 0 and 15. and then map the LDAP attributes to Cisco VAS
CVPN3000-Privilege-Level.
The RADIUS IETF service-type attribute, when sent in an access-accept message as the result of a RADIUS
authentication and authorization request, is used to designate which type of service is granted to the authenticated
user
The RADIUS Cisco VSA privilege-level attribute (Vendor ID 3076, sub-ID 220), when sent in an access-accept
message, is used to designate the level of privilege for the user.
TACACS+ users
Authorization is requested with “service=shell,” and the server responds with PASS or FAIL.
Local users
Configure the Access Restriction option for a given username. By default, the access restriction is Full
Access, which allows full access to any services specified by the Authentication tab options.
Management Authorization Attributes
See the following table for AAA server types and valid values for management authorization. The ASA uses
these values to determine the level of management access.

Management Level RADIUS/LDAP TACACS+ Attributes Local Database Attributes

(Mapped) Attributes

Full Access—Allows full access to any services Service-Type 6 PASS, privilege level 1 admin
specified by the Authentication tab options (Administrative),
Privilege-Level 1

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Control CLI and ASDM Access with Management Authorization

Management Level RADIUS/LDAP TACACS+ Attributes Local Database Attributes

(Mapped) Attributes

Partial Access—Allows access to the CLI or Service-Type 7 (NAS PASS, privilege level 2 nas-prompt
ASDM when you configure the Authentication prompt), and higher
tab options. However, if you configure enable Privilege-Level 2 and
authentication with the Enable option, then the higher
CLI user cannot access privileged EXEC mode
The Framed (2) and
using the enable command.
Login (1) service types
are treated the same
way.

No Access—Denies management access. The Service-Type 5 FAIL remote-access

user cannot use any services specified by the (Outbound)
Authentication tab options (excluding the Serial
option; serial access is allowed). Remote access
(IPsec and SSL) users can still authenticate and
terminate their remote access sessions. All other
service types (Voice, FAX, and so on) are treated
the same way.

Additional Guidelines
• Serial console access is not included in management authorization.
• You must also configure AAA authentication for management access to use this feature. See Configure
Authentication for CLI, ASDM, and enable command Access, on page 939.
• If you use external authentication, you must pre-configure a AAA server group before you enable this
feature.
• HTTP authorization is supported in single, routed mode only.

Procedure

Step 1 To enable management authorization for HTTP sessions, choose Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authorization, and check the HTTP check box in the Enable Authorization
for ASA Command Access Area.
Note To configure ASA Command Access, see Configure Local Command Authorization, on page 944.

Step 2 To enable management authorization for Telnet and SSH sessions, choose Configuration > Device
Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authorization, and check the Enable check box in the
Perform authorization for exec shell access Area.
Step 3 Select either the Remote or Local radio buttons to specify the server to be used for authorization of exec shell
access.
Step 4 To enable management authorization, check the Allow privileged users to enter into EXEC mode on login
check box.

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Configure Command Authorization

The auto-enable option allows users Full Access to be placed directly in privileged EXEC mode. Otherwise,
users are placed in user EXEC mode.

Configure Command Authorization

If you want to control access to commands, the ASA lets you configure command authorization, where you
can determine which commands that are available to a user. By default when you log in, you can access user
EXEC mode, which offers only minimal commands. When you enter the enable command (or the login
command when you use the local database), you can access privileged EXEC mode and advanced commands,
including configuration commands.
You can use one of two command authorization methods:
• Local privilege levels
• TACACS+ server privilege levels

About Command Authorization

You can enable command authorization so only authorized users can enter commands.

Supported Command Authorization Methods

You can use one of two command authorization methods:
• Local privilege levels—Configure the command privilege levels on the ASA. When a local, RADIUS,
or LDAP (if you map LDAP attributes to RADIUS attributes) user authenticates for CLI access, the ASA
places that user in the privilege level that is defined by the local database, RADIUS, or LDAP server.
The user can access commands at the assigned privilege level and below. Note that all users access user
EXEC mode when they first log in (commands at level 0 or 1). The user needs to authenticate again with
the enable command to access privileged EXEC mode (commands at level 2 or higher), or they can log
in with the login command (local database only).

Note You can use local command authorization without any users in the local database
and without CLI or enable authentication. Instead, when you enter the enable
command, you enter the system enable password, and the ASA places you in
level 15. You can then create enable passwords for every level, so that when you
enter enable n (2 to 15), the ASA places you in level n. These levels are not used
unless you enable local command authorization.

• TACACS+ server privilege levels—On the TACACS+ server, configure the commands that a user or
group can use after authenticating for CLI access. Every command that a user enters at the CLI is validated
with the TACACS+ server.

Security Contexts and Command Authorization

AAA settings are discrete per context, not shared among contexts.

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Command Privilege Levels

When configuring command authorization, you must configure each security context separately. This
configuration provides you the opportunity to enforce different command authorizations for different security
contexts.
When switching between security contexts, administrators should be aware that the commands permitted for
the username specified when they login may be different in the new context session or that command
authorization may not be configured at all in the new context. Failure to understand that command authorizations
may differ between security contexts could confuse an administrator.

Note The system execution space does not support AAA commands; therefore, command authorization is not
available in the system execution space.

Command Privilege Levels

By default, the following commands are assigned to privilege level 0. All other commands are assigned to
privilege level 15.
• show checksum
• show curpriv
• enable
• help
• show history
• login
• logout
• pager
• show pager
• clear pager
• quit
• show version

If you move any configure mode commands to a lower level than 15, be sure to move the configure command
to that level as well, otherwise, the user cannot enter configuration mode.

Configure Local Command Authorization

Local command authorization lets you assign commands to one of 16 privilege levels (0 to 15). By default,
each command is assigned either to privilege level 0 or 15. You can define each user to be at a specific privilege
level, and each user can enter any command at the assigned privilege level or below. The ASA supports user
privilege levels defined in the local database, a RADIUS server, or an LDAP server (if you map LDAP
attributes to RADIUS attributes).

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Configure Local Command Authorization

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authorization.
Step 2 Check the Enable authorization for ASA command access > Enable check box.
Step 3 Choose LOCAL from the Server Group drop-down list.
Step 4 When you enable local command authorization, you have the option of manually assigning privilege levels
to individual commands or groups of commands or enabling the predefined user account privileges.
• Click Set ASDM Defined User Roles to use predefined user account privileges.
The ASDM Defined User Roles Setup dialog box appears. Click Yes to use the predefined user account
privileges: Admin (privilege level 15, with full access to all CLI commands; Read Only (privilege level
5, with read-only access); and Monitor Only (privilege level 3, with access to the Monitoring section
only).
• Click Configure Command Privileges to manually configure command levels.
The Command Privileges Setup dialog box appears. You can view all commands by choosing All
Modes from the Command Mode drop-down list, or you can choose a configuration mode to view the
commands available in that mode. For example, if you choose context, you can view all commands
available in context configuration mode. If a command can be entered in user EXEC or privileged EXEC
mode as well as configuration mode, and the command performs different actions in each mode, you can
set the privilege level for these modes separately.
The Variant column displays show, clear, or cmd. You can set the privilege only for the show, clear, or
configure form of the command. The configure form of the command is typically the form that causes
a configuration change, either as the unmodified command (without the show or clear prefix) or as the
no form.
To change the level of a command, double-click it or click Edit. You can set the level between 0 and
15. You can only configure the privilege level of the main command. For example, you can configure
the level of all aaa commands, but not the level of the aaa authentication command and the
aaa authorization command separately.
To change the level of all commands that appear, click Select All, then Edit.
Click OK to accept your changes.

Step 5 (Optional) Check the Perform authorization for exec shell access > Enable check box to enable AAA users
for command authorization. Without this option, the ASA only supports privilege levels for local database
users and defaults all other types of users to level 15.
This command also enables management authorization. See Control CLI and ASDM Access with Management
Authorization, on page 941.

Step 6 Click Apply.

The authorization settings are assigned, and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

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Configure Commands on the TACACS+ Server

Configure Commands on the TACACS+ Server

You can configure commands on a Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) TACACS+ server as a shared
profile component, for a group, or for individual users. For third-party TACACS+ servers, see your server
documentation for more information about command authorization support.
See the following guidelines for configuring commands in Cisco Secure ACS Version 3.1; many of these
guidelines also apply to third-party servers:
• The ASA sends the commands to be authorized as shell commands, so configure the commands on the
TACACS+ server as shell commands.

Note Cisco Secure ACS might include a command type called “pix-shell.” Do not use
this type for ASA command authorization.

• The first word of the command is considered to be the main command. All additional words are considered
to be arguments, which need to be preceded by permit or deny.
For example, to allow the show running-configuration aaa-server command, add show
running-configuration to the command field, and type permit aaa-server in the arguments field.
• You can permit all arguments of a command that you do not explicitly deny by checking the Permit
Unmatched Args check box.
For example, you can configure just the show command, then all the show commands are allowed. We
recommend using this method so that you do not have to anticipate every variant of a command, including
abbreviations and a question mark, which shows CLI usage (see the following figure).
Figure 70: Permitting All Related Commands

• For commands that are a single word, you must permit unmatched arguments, even if there are no
arguments for the command, for example enable or help (see the following figure).

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Configure Commands on the TACACS+ Server

Figure 71: Permitting Single Word Commands

• To disallow some arguments, enter the arguments preceded by deny.

For example, to allow enable, but not enable password, enter enable in the commands field, and deny
password in the arguments field. Be sure to check the Permit Unmatched Args check box so that enable
alone is still allowed (see the following figure).
Figure 72: Disallowing Arguments

• When you abbreviate a command at the command line, the ASA expands the prefix and main command
to the full text, but it sends additional arguments to the TACACS+ server as you enter them.
For example, if you enter sh log, then the ASA sends the entire command to the TACACS+ server, show
logging. However, if you enter sh log mess, then the ASA sends show logging mess to the TACACS+
server, and not the expanded command show logging message. You can configure multiple spellings of
the same argument to anticipate abbreviations (see the following figure).

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Configure TACACS+ Command Authorization

Figure 73: Specifying Abbreviations

• We recommend that you allow the following basic commands for all users:
• show checksum
• show curpriv
• enable
• help
• show history
• login
• logout
• pager
• show pager
• clear pager
• quit
• show version

Configure TACACS+ Command Authorization

If you enable TACACS+ command authorization, and a user enters a command at the CLI, the ASA sends
the command and username to the TACACS+ server to determine if the command is authorized.
Before you enable TACACS+ command authorization, be sure that you are logged into the ASA as a user
that is defined on the TACACS+ server, and that you have the necessary command authorization to continue
configuring the ASA. For example, you should log in as an admin user with all commands authorized.
Otherwise, you could become unintentionally locked out.
Do not save your configuration until you are sure that it works the way you want. If you get locked out because
of a mistake, you can usually recover access by restarting the ASA.
Be sure that your TACACS+ system is completely stable and reliable. The necessary level of reliability
typically requires that you have a fully redundant TACACS+ server system and fully redundant connectivity

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Configure a Password Policy for Local Database Users

to the ASA. For example, in your TACACS+ server pool, include one server connected to interface 1, and
another to interface 2. You can also configure local command authorization as a fallback method if the
TACACS+ server is unavailable.
To configure command authorization using a TACACS+ server, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access > Authorization.
Step 2 Check the Enable authorization for command access > Enable check box.
Step 3 Choose a AAA server group name from the Server Group drop-down list.
Step 4 (Optional) You can configure the ASA to use the local database as a fallback method if the AAA server is
unavailable. To do so, check the Use LOCAL when server group fails check box. We recommend that you
use the same username and password in the local database as the AAA server, because the ASA prompt does
not give any indication which method is being used. Be sure to configure users in the local database and
command privilege levels.
Step 5 Click Apply.
The command authorization settings are assigned, and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

Configure a Password Policy for Local Database Users

When you configure authentication for CLI or ASDM access using the local database, you can configure a
password policy that requires a user to change their password after a specified amount of time and also requires
password standards such as a minimum length and the minimum number of changed characters.
The password policy only applies to administrative users using the local database, and not to other types of
traffic that can use the local database, such as VPN or AAA for network access, and not to users authenticated
by a AAA server.
After you configure the password policy, when you change a password (either your own or another user’s),
the password policy applies to the new password. Any existing passwords are grandfathered in. The new
policy applies to changing the password with the User Accounts pane as well as the Change My Password
pane.

Before you begin

• Configure AAA authentication for CLI or ASDM access using the local database.
• Specify usernames in the local database.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > Password Policy.
Step 2 Configure any mix of the following options:
• Minimum Password Length—Enter the minimum length for passwords. Valid values range from 3 to
64 characters. The recommended minimum password length is 8 characters.

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Change Your Password

• Lifetime—Enter the interval in days after which passwords expire for remote users (SSH, Telnet, HTTP);
users at the console port are never locked out due to password expiration. Valid values are between 0
and 65536 days. The default value is 0 days, a value indicating that passwords will never expire.
7 days before the password expires, a warning message appears. After the password expires, system
access is denied to remote users. To gain access after expiration, do one of the following:
• Have another administrator change your password.
• Log in to the physical console port to change your password.

• Minimum Number Of—Specify the minimum of characters from the following types:
• Numeric Characters—Enter the minimum number of numeric characters that passwords must
have. Valid values are between 0 and 64 characters. The default value is 0.
• Lower Case Characters—Enter the minimum number of lower case characters that passwords
must have. Valid values range from 0 to 64 characters. The default value is 0.
• Upper Case Characters—Enter the minimum number of upper case characters that passwords
must have. Valid values range from 0 to 64 characters. The default value is 0.
• Special Characters—Enter the minimum number of special characters that passwords must have.
Valid values range from 0 to 64 characters. Special characters include the following: !, @, #, $, %,
^, &, *, '(‘ and ‘)’.The default value is 0.
• Different Characters from Previous Password—Enter the minimum number of characters that
you must change between new and old passwords. Valid values are between 0 and 64 characters.
The default value is 0. Character matching is position independent, meaning that new password
characters are considered changed only if they do not appear anywhere in the current password.

• Enable Reuse Interval—You can prohibit the reuse of a password that matches previously used
passwords, between 2 and 7 previous passwords. The previous passwords are stored in the configuration
under each username in encrypted form using the password-history command; this command is not
user-configurable.
• Prevent Passwords from Matching Usernames—Prohibit a password that matches a username.

Step 3 (Optional) Check the Enable Password and Account Protection check box to require users to change their
password on the Change My Password pane instead of the User Accounts pane. The default setting is
disabled: a user can use either method to change their password.
If you enable this feature and try to change your password on the User Accounts pane, the following error
message is generated:

ERROR: Changing your own password is prohibited

Step 4 Click Apply to save the configuration settings.

Change Your Password

If you configure a password lifetime in the password policy, you need to change your password to a new one
when the old password expires. This password change method is required if you enable password policy

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Enable and View the Login History

authentication. If password policy authentication is not enabled, then you can use this method, or you can
change your user account directly.
To change your username password, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > Change Password.
Step 2 Enter your old password.
Step 3 Enter your new password.
Step 4 Confirm your new password.
Step 5 Click Make Change.
Step 6 Click the Save icon to save your changes to the running configuration.

Enable and View the Login History

By default, the login history is saved for 90 days. You can disable this feature or change the duration, up to
365 days.

Before you begin

• The login history is only saved per unit; in failover and clustering environments, each unit maintains its
own login history only.
• Login history data is not maintained over reloads.
• This feature applies to usernames in the local database or from a AAA server when you enable local
AAA authentication for one or more of the CLI management methods (SSH, Telnet, serial console).
ASDM logins are not saved in the history.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > Login History.
Step 2 Check the Configure login history reporting for administrators check box. This feature is enabled by
default.
Step 3 Set the Duration between 1 and 365 days. The default is 90.
Step 4 To view the login history, from any ASDM screen you can click on the Login History icon in the bottom
Status bar:

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Configure Management Access Accounting

The login history for all users displays in a dialog box.

Configure Management Access Accounting

You can send accounting messages to the TACACS+ accounting server when you enter any command other
than show commands at the CLI. You can configure accounting when users log in, when they enter the enable
command, or when they issue commands.
For command accounting, you can only use TACACS+ servers.
To configure management access and enable command accounting, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 To enable accounting of users when they enter the enable command, perform the following steps:
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access > Accounting , then check
the Require accounting to allow accounting of user activity > Enable check box.
b) Choose a RADIUS or TACACS+ server group name.
Step 2 To enable accounting of users when they access the ASA using Telnet, SSH, or the serial console, perform
the following steps:
a) Check the Serial, SSH, and/or Telnet check boxes in the Require accounting for the following types
of connections area.
b) Choose a RADIUS or TACACS+ server group name for each connection type.
Step 3 To configure command accounting, perform the following steps:
a) Check the Enable check box in the Require accounting for the following types of connections area.
b) Choose a TACACS+ server group name. RADIUS is not supported.
You can send accounting messages to the TACACS+ accounting server when you enter any command
other than show commands at the CLI.
c) If you customize the command privilege level using the Command Privilege Setup dialog box, you can
limit which commands the ASA accounts for by specifying a minimum privilege level in the Privilege
level drop-down list. The ASA does not account for commands that are below the minimum privilege
level.
Step 4 Click Apply.
The accounting settings are assigned, and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

Recover from a Lockout

In some circumstances, when you turn on command authorization or CLI authentication, you can be locked
out of the ASA CLI. You can usually recover access by restarting the ASA. However, if you already saved
your configuration, you might be locked out.
The following table lists the common lockout conditions and how you might recover from them.

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Monitoring Device Access

Table 54: CLI Authentication and Command Authorization Lockout Scenarios

Feature Lockout Condition Description Workaround: Single Mode Workaround: Multiple Mode

Local CLI No users have been If you have no users in Log in and reset the passwords Session into the ASA from the
authentication configured in the the local database, you and aaa commands. switch. From the system
local database. cannot log in, and you execution space, you can
cannot add any users. change to the context and add
a user.

TACACS+ The server is down If the server is 1. Log in and reset the 1. If the server is unreachable
command or unreachable and unreachable, then you passwords and AAA because the network
authorization you do not have the cannot log in or enter commands. configuration is incorrect
fallback method any commands. on the ASA, session into
TACACS+ CLI 2. Configure the local
configured. the ASA from the switch.
authentication database as a fallback From the system execution
RADIUS CLI method so you do not get space, you can change to
authentication locked out when the server the context and
is down. reconfigure your network
settings.
2. Configure the local
database as a fallback
method so that you do not
get locked out when the
server is down.

TACACS+ You are logged in You enable command Fix the TACACS+ server user Session into the ASA from the
command as a user without authorization, but then account. switch. From the system
authorization enough privileges find that the user cannot execution space, you can
If you do not have access to
or as a user that enter any more change to the context and
the TACACS+ server and you
does not exist. commands. complete the configuration
need to configure the ASA
changes. You can also disable
immediately, then log into the
command authorization until
maintenance partition and reset
you fix the TACACS+
the passwords and aaa
configuration.
commands.

Local command You are logged in You enable command Log in and reset the passwords Session into the ASA from the
authorization as a user without authorization, but then and aaa commands. switch. From the system
enough privileges. find that the user cannot execution space, you can
enter any more change to the context and
commands. change the user level.

Monitoring Device Access

• Monitoring > Properties > Device Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH Sessions
The top pane lists the connection types, session IDs, and IP addresses for users connected through ASDM,
HTTPS, and Telnet sessions. To disconnect a specific session, click Disconnect.

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History for Management Access

The bottom pane lists the clients, usernames, connection states, software versions, incoming encryption
types, outgoing encryption types, incoming HMACs, outgoing HMACs, SSH session IDs, remaining
rekey data, remaining rekey time, data-based rekeys, time-based rekeys, and the last rekey time. To
disconnect a specific session, click Disconnect.
• Monitoring > Properties > Device Access > Authenticated Users
This pane lists the usernames, IP addresses, dynamic ACLs, inactivity timeouts (if any), and absolute
timeouts for users who were authenticated by AAA servers.
• Monitoring > Properties > Device Access > AAA Locked Out Users
This pane lists the usernames of locked-out AAA local users, the number of failed attempts to authenticate,
and the times that users were locked out. To clear a specific user who has been locked out, click Clear
Selected Lockout. To clear all users who have been locked out, click Clear All Lockouts.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

History for Management Access

Table 55: History for Management Access

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Management access for SNMP 9.14(2) When configuring management access over
a VPN tunnel, include the IP address of the
outside interface in the crypto map
access-list as part of the VPN configuration
for secure SNMP polling over a site-to-site
VPN.

HTTPS idle timeout setting 9.14(1) You can now set the idle timeout for all
HTTPS connections to the ASA, including
ASDM, WebVPN, and other clients.
Formerly, using the http server
idle-timeout command, you could only set
the ASDM idle timeout. If you set both
timeouts, the new command takes
precendence.
New/Modified screen: Configuration >
Device Management > Management
Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH >
HTTP Settings > Connection Idle
Timeout check box.

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History for Management Access

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

SSH encryption ciphers are now listed in 9.13(1) SSH encryption ciphers are now listed in
order from highest to lowest security for order from highest security to lowest
pre-defined lists security for pre-defined lists (such as
medium or high). In earlier releases, they
were listed from lowest to highest, which
meant that a low security cipher would be
proposed before a high security cipher.
New/Modified screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Advanced > SSH Ciphers

Setting the SSH key exchange mode is 9.12(2) You must set the SSH key exchange in the
restricted to the Admin context Admin context; this setting is inherited by
all other contexts.
New/Modified screen: Configuration >
Device Management > Management
Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH >
SSH Settings > DH Key Exchange

enable password change now required on 9.12(1) The default enable password is blank.
login When you try to access privileged EXEC
mode on the ASA, you are now required to
change the password to a value of 3
characters or longer. You cannot keep it
blank. The no enable password command
is no longer supported.
At the CLI, you can access privileged
EXEC mode using the enable command,
the login command (with a user at privilege
level 2+), or an SSH or Telnet session when
you enable aaa authorization exec
auto-enable. All of these methods require
you to set the enable password.
This password change requirement is not
enforced for ASDM logins. In ASDM, by
default you can log in without a username
and with the enable password.
No modified screens.

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History for Management Access

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Configurable limitation of admin sessions 9.12(1) You can configure the maximum number
of aggregate, per user, and per-protocol
administrative sessions. Formerly, you
could configure only the aggregate number
of sessions. This feature does not affect
console sessions. Note that in multiple
context mode, you cannot configure the
number of HTTPS sessions, where the
maximum is fixed at 5 sessions. The quota
management-session command is also no
longer accepted in the system configuration,
and is instead available in the context
configuration. The maximum aggregate
sessions is now 15; if you configured 0
(unlimited) or 16+, then when you upgrade,
the value is changed to 15.
New/Modified screens: Configuration >
Device Management > Management
Access > Management Session Quota

Notifications for administrative privilege 9.12(1) When you authenticate for enable access
level changes (aaa authentication enable console) or
allow privileged EXEC access directly (aaa
authorization exec auto-enable), then the
ASA now notifies users if their assigned
access level has changed since their last
login.
New/Modified screens:
Status bar > Login History icon

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

SSH stronger security 9.12(1) See the following SSH security

improvements:
• Diffie-Hellman Group 14 SHA256 key
exchange support. This setting is now
the default. The former default was
Group 1 SHA1.
• HMAC-SHA256 integrity cipher
support. The default is now the high
security set of ciphers (hmac-sha2-256
only). The former default was the
medium set.

New/Modified screens:
• Configuration > Device
Management > Management
Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH
• Configuration > Device
Management > Advanced > SSH
Ciphers

Allow non-browser-based HTTPS clients 9.12(1) You can allow non-browser-based HTTPS
to access the ASA clients to access HTTPS services on the
ASA. By default, ASDM, CSM, and REST
API are allowed.
New/Modified screens.
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > HTTP
Non-Browser Client Support

RSA key pair supports 3072-bit keys 9.9(2) You can now set the modulus size to 3072.
New or modified screen: Configuration >
Device Management > Certificate
Management > Identity Certificates

VPN management access on Bridged 9.9(2) You can now enable management services,
Virtual Interfaces (BVIs) such as telnet, http, and ssh, on a BVI if
VPN management-access has been
enabled on that BVI. For non-VPN
management access, you should continue
to configure these services on the bridge
group member interfaces.
New or Modified commands: https, telnet,
ssh, management-access

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

SSH version 1 has been deprecated 9.9(1) SSH version 1 has been deprecated, and
will be removed in a future release. The
default setting has changed from both SSH
v1 and v2 to just SSH v2.
New/Modified screens:
• Configuration > Device
Management > Management
Access > ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH

Separate authentication for users with SSH 9.6(3)/9.8(1) In releases prior to 9.6(2), you could enable
public key authentication and users with SSH public key authentication (ssh
passwords authentication) without also explicitly
enabling AAA SSH authentication with the
Local user database (aaa authentication
ssh console LOCAL). In 9.6(2), the ASA
required you to explicitly enable AAA SSH
authentication. In this release, you no longer
have to explicitly enable AAA SSH
authentication; when you configure the ssh
authentication command for a user, local
authentication is enabled by default for
users with this type of authentication.
Moreover, when you explicitly configure
AAA SSH authentication, this configuration
only applies for for usernames with
passwords, and you can use any AAA
server type (aaa authentication ssh
console radius_1, for example). For
example, some users can use public key
authentication using the local database, and
other users can use passwords with
RADIUS.
We did not modify any screens.

Login history 9.8(1) By default, the login history is saved for 90

days. You can disable this feature or change
the duration, up to 365 days. This feature
only applies to usernames in the local
database when you enable local AAA
authentication for one or more of the
management methods (SSH, ASDM,
Telnet, and so on).
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > Login History

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Password policy enforcement to prohibit 9.8(1) You can now prohibit the reuse of previous
the reuse of passwords, and prohibit use of passwords for up to 7 generations, and you
a password matching a username can also prohibit the use of a password that
matches a username.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > Password Policy

ASA SSL Server mode matching for 9.6(2) For an ASDM user who authenticates with
ASDM a certificate, you can now require the
certificate to match a certificate map.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access >
ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH

SSH public key authentication 9.6(2) In earlier releases, you could enable SSH
improvements public key authentication without also
enabling AAA SSH authentication with the
Local user database . The configuration is
now fixed so that you must explicitly enable
AAA SSH authentication. To disallow users
from using a password instead of the private
key, you can now create a username without
any password defined.
We modifed the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access >
ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Add/Edit
User Account

ASDM management authorization 9.4(1) You can now configure management

authorization separately for HTTP access
vs. Telnet and SSH access.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access >
Authorization

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

ASDM username from certificate 9.4(1) When you enable ASDM certificate
configuration authentication, you can configure how
ASDM extracts the username from the
certificate; you can also enable pre-filling
the username at the login prompt.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > HTTP Certificate
Rule.

Improved one-time password authentication 9.2(1) Administrators who have sufficient

authorization privileges may enter
privileged EXEC mode by entering their
authentication credentials once. The
auto-enable option was added to the aaa
authorization exec command.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access >
Authorization.

HTTP redirect support for IPV6 9.1(7)/9.6(1) When you enable HTTP redirect to HTTPS
for ASDM access or clientless SSL VPN,
you can now redirect traffic sent an to IPv6
address.
We added functionality to the following
screen: Configuration > Device
Management > HTTP Redirect

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Configurable SSH encryption and integrity 9.1(7)/9.4(3)/9.5(3)/9.6(1) Users can select cipher modes when doing
ciphers SSH encryption management and can
configure HMAC and encryption for
varying key exchange algorithms. You
might want to change the ciphers to be more
or less strict, depending on your application.
Note that the performance of secure copy
depends partly on the encryption cipher
used. By default, the ASA negotiates one
of the following algorithms in order:
3des-cbc aes128-cbc aes192-cbc
aes256-cbc aes128-ctr aes192-ctr
aes256-ctr. If the first algorithm proposed
(3des-cbc) is chosen, then the performance
is much slower than a more efficient
algorithm such as aes128-cbc. To change
the proposed ciphers, use ssh cipher
encryption custom aes128-cbc, for
example.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Advanced > SSH Ciphers

AES-CTR encryption for SSH 9.1(2) The SSH server implementation in the ASA
now supports AES-CTR mode encryption.

Improved SSH rekey interval 9.1(2) An SSH connection is rekeyed after 60

minutes of connection time or 1 GB of data
traffic.
.

For the ASASM in multiple context mode, 8.5(1) Although connecting to the ASASM from
support for Telnet and virtual console the switch in multiple context mode
authentication from the switch. connects to the system execution space, you
can configure authentication in the admin
context to govern those connections.

Support for administrator password policy 8.4(4.1), 9.1(2) When you configure authentication for CLI
when using the local database or ASDM access using the local database,
you can configure a password policy that
requires a user to change their password
after a specified amount of time and also
requires password standards such as a
minimum length and the minimum number
of changed characters.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > Password Policy.

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Support for SSH public key authentication 8.4(4.1), 9.1(2) You can enable public key authentication
for SSH connections to the ASA on a
per-user basis. You can specify a public
key file (PKF) formatted key or a Base64
key. The PKF key can be up to 4096 bits.
Use PKF format for keys that are too large
to for the ASA support of the Base64
format (up to 2048 bits).
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Edit User
Account > Public Key Authentication
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > User Accounts > Edit User
Account > Public Key Using PKF.
PKF key format support is only in 9.1(2)
and later.

Support for Diffie-Hellman Group 14 for 8.4(4.1), 9.1(2) Support for Diffie-Hellman Group 14 for
the SSH Key Exchange SSH Key Exchange was added. Formerly,
only Group 1 was supported.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access >
ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH.

Support for a maximum number of 8.4(4.1), 9.1(2) You can set the maximum number of
management sessions simultaneous ASDM, SSH, and Telnet
sessions.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > Management
Session Quota.

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Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Increased SSH security; the SSH default 8.4(2) Starting in 8.4(2), you can no longer
username is no longer supported. connect to the ASA using SSH with the pix
or asa username and the login password.
To use SSH, you must configure AAA
authentication using the aaa authentication
ssh console LOCAL command (CLI) or
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access >
Authentication (ASDM); then define a local
user by entering the username command
(CLI) or choosing Configuration > Device
Management > Users/AAA > User
Accounts (ASDM). If you want to use a
AAA server for authentication instead of
the local database, we recommend also
configuring local authentication as a backup
method.

Management Access 7.0(1) We introduced this feature.

We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access >
ASDM/HTTPS/Telnet/SSH Configuration
> Device Management > Management
Access > Command Line (CLI) > Banner
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > CLI Prompt
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > ICMP Configuration
> Device Management > Management
Access > File Access > FTP Client
Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > File Access >
Secure Copy (SCP) Server Configuration
> Device Management > Management
Access > File Access > Mount-Points
Configuration > Device Management >
Users/AAA > AAA Access >
Authentication Configuration > Device
Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access
> Authorization Configuration > Device
Management > Users/AAA > AAA Access
> > Accounting.

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 CHAPTER 43
Software and Configurations
This chapter describes how to manage the Cisco ASA software and configurations.
• Upgrade the Software, on page 965
• Load an Image Using ROMMON, on page 965
• Upgrade the ROMMON Image (ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, and 5516-X, ISA 3000), on page 967
• Recover and Load an Image for the ASA 5506W-X Wireless Access Point, on page 968
• Downgrade Your Software, on page 969
• Manage Files, on page 974
• Set the ASA Image, ASDM, and Startup Configuration, on page 981
• Back Up and Restore Configurations or Other Files, on page 983
• Schedule a System Restart, on page 986
• Configure Auto Update, on page 987
• History for Software and Configurations, on page 993

Upgrade the Software

See the Cisco ASA Upgrade Guide for full upgrade procedures.

Load an Image Using ROMMON

To load a software image onto an ASA from the ROMMON mode using TFTP, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the ASA console port according to the instructions in Access the Appliance Console, on page 17.
Step 2 Power off the ASA, then power it on.
Step 3 During startup, press the Escape key when you are prompted to enter ROMMON mode.
Step 4 In ROMMOM mode, define the interface settings to the ASA, including the IP address, TFTP server address,
gateway address, software image file, and port, as follows:

rommon #1> interface gigabitethernet0/0

rommon #2> address 10.86.118.4

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rommon #3> server 10.86.118.21

rommon #4> gateway 10.86.118.21
rommon #5> file asa961-smp-k8.bin

Note Be sure that the connection to the network already exists.

The interface command is ignored on the ASA 5506-X, ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X platforms,
and you must perform TFTP recovery on these platforms from the Management 1/1 interface.

Step 5 Validate your settings:

rommon #6> set

ROMMON Variable Settings:
ADDRESS=10.86.118.3
SERVER=10.86.118.21
GATEWAY=10.86.118.21
PORT=GigabitEthernet0/0
VLAN=untagged
IMAGE=asa961-smp-k8.bin
CONFIG=
LINKTIMEOUT=20
PKTTIMEOUT=4
RETRY=20

Step 6 Ping the TFTP server:

rommon #7> ping server

Sending 20, 100-byte ICMP Echoes to server 10.86.118.21, timeout is 4 seconds:

Success rate is 100 percent (20/20)

Step 7 Save the network settings for future use:

rommon #8> sync

Updating NVRAM Parameters...

Step 8 Load the software image:

rommon #9> tftpdnld

ROMMON Variable Settings:
ADDRESS=10.86.118.3
SERVER=10.86.118.21
GATEWAY=10.86.118.21
PORT=GigabitEthernet0/0
VLAN=untagged
IMAGE=asa961-smp-k8.bin
CONFIG=
LINKTIMEOUT=20
PKTTIMEOUT=4
RETRY=20

tftp [email protected] via 10.86.118.21

Received 14450688 bytes

Launching TFTP Image...

Cisco ASA Security Appliance admin loader (3.0) #0: Mon Mar 5 16:00:07 MST 2016

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Upgrade the ROMMON Image (ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, and 5516-X, ISA 3000)

Loading...

After the software image is successfully loaded, the ASA automatically exits ROMMON mode.

Step 9 Booting the ASA from ROMMON mode does not preserve the system image across reloads; you must still
download the image to flash memory. See Upgrade the Software, on page 965.

Upgrade the ROMMON Image (ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, and 5516-X,

ISA 3000)
Follow these steps to upgrade the ROMMON image for the ASA 5506-X series, ASA 5508-X, ASA 5516-X,
and ISA 3000. For the ASA models, the ROMMON version on your system must be 1.1.8 or greater. We
recommend that you upgrade to the latest version.
You can only upgrade to a new version; you cannot downgrade.

Caution The ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, and 5516-X ROMMON upgrade for 1.1.15 and the ISA 3000 ROMMON upgrade
for 1.0.5 takes twice as long as previous ROMMON versions, approximately 15 minutes. Do not power cycle
the device during the upgrade. If the upgrade is not complete within 30 minutes or it fails, contact Cisco
technical support; do not power cycle or reset the device.

Before you begin

Obtain the new ROMMON image from Cisco.com, and put it on a server to copy to the ASA. The ASA
supports FTP, TFTP, SCP, HTTP(S), and SMB servers. Download the image from:
• ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, 5516-X: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286283326/type
• ISA 3000: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286288493/type

Procedure

Step 1 Copy the ROMMON image to the ASA flash memory. This procedure shows an FTP copy; enter copy ? for
the syntax for other server types.
copy ftp://[username:password@]server_ip/asa5500-firmware-xxxx.SPA disk0:asa5500-firmware-xxxx.SPA

Step 2 To see your current version, enter the show module command and look at the Fw Version in the output for
Mod 1 in the MAC Address Range table:

ciscoasa# show module

[...]
Mod MAC Address Range Hw Version Fw Version Sw Version
---- --------------------------------- ------------ ------------ ---------------
1 7426.aceb.ccea to 7426.aceb.ccf2 0.3 1.1.5 9.4(1)

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sfr 7426.aceb.cce9 to 7426.aceb.cce9 N/A N/A

Step 3 Upgrade the ROMMON image:

upgrade rommon disk0:asa5500-firmware-xxxx.SPA
Example:

ciscoasa# upgrade rommon disk0:asa5500-firmware-1108.SPA

Verifying file integrity of disk0:/asa5500-firmware-1108.SPA

Computed Hash SHA2: d824bdeecee1308fc64427367fa559e9

eefe8f182491652ee4c05e6e751f7a4f
5cdea28540cf60acde3ab9b65ff55a9f
4e0cfb84b9e2317a856580576612f4af

Embedded Hash SHA2: d824bdeecee1308fc64427367fa559e9

eefe8f182491652ee4c05e6e751f7a4f
5cdea28540cf60acde3ab9b65ff55a9f
4e0cfb84b9e2317a856580576612f4af

Digital signature successfully validated

File Name : disk0:/asa5500-firmware-1108.SPA
Image type : Release
Signer Information
Common Name : abraxas
Organization Unit : NCS_Kenton_ASA
Organization Name : CiscoSystems
Certificate Serial Number : 553156F4
Hash Algorithm : SHA2 512
Signature Algorithm : 2048-bit RSA
Key Version : A
Verification successful.
Proceed with reload? [confirm]

Step 4 Confirm to reload the ASA when you are prompted.

The ASA upgrades the ROMMON image, and then reloads the operating system.

Recover and Load an Image for the ASA 5506W-X Wireless

Access Point
To recover and load a software image onto an ASA 5506W-X using TFTP, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Session to the access point (AP) and enter the AP ROMMON (not the ASA ROMMON):

ciscoasa# hw-module module wlan recover image

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Downgrade Your Software

Step 2 Follow the procedure in the Cisco IOS Software Configuration Guide for Cisco Aironet Access Points.

Downgrade Your Software

In many cases, you can downgrade your ASA software and restore a backup configuration from the previous
software version. The method of downgrading depends on your ASA platform.

Guidelines and Limitations for Downgrading

See the following guidelines before downgrading:
• There is no official Zero Downtime Downgrade support for clustering. However, in some cases, Zero
Downtime Downgrading will work. See the following known issues for downgrading; note that there
may be other issues that require you to reload your cluster units, thus causing downtime.
• Downgrade to a pre-9.9(1) release with clustering—9.9(1) and later includes an improvement in
the backup distribution. If you have 3 or more units in the cluster, you must perform the following
steps:
1. Remove all secondary units from the cluster (so the cluster consists only of the primary unit).
2. Downgrade 1 secondary unit, and rejoin it to the cluster.
3. Disable clustering on the primary unit; downgrade it, and rejoin the cluster.
4. Downgrade the remaining secondary units, and join them back to the cluster, one at a time.

• Downgrade to a pre-9.9(1) release when you enable cluster site redundancy—You should disable
site redundancy if you want to downgrade (or if you want to add a pre-9.9(1) unit to a cluster).
Otherwise, you will see side effects, for example, dummy forwarding flows on the unit running the
old version.
• Downgrade from 9.8(1) with clustering and crypto-map—There is no Zero Downtime Downgrade
support when downgrading from 9.8(1) when you have a crypto-map configured. You should clear
the crypto-map configuration before downgrading, and then re-apply the configuration after the
downgrade.
• Downgrade from 9.8(1) with clustering unit health check set to .3 to .7 seconds—If you downgrade
your ASA software after setting the hold time to .3 - .7 (health-check holdtime), this setting will
revert to the default of 3 seconds because the new setting is unsupported.
• Downgrade from 9.5(2) or later to 9.5(1) or earlier with clustering (CSCuv82933)—There is no
Zero Downtime Downgrade support when downgrading from 9.5(2). You must reload all units at
roughly the same time so that a new cluster is formed when the units come back online. If you wait
to reload the units sequentially, then they will be unable to form a cluster.
• Downgrade from 9.2(1) or later to 9.1 or earlier with clustering—Zero Downtime Downgrade is
not supported.

• Downgrade issue for the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode from 9.13/9.14 to 9.12 or earlier—For a
Firepower 2100 with a fresh installation of 9.13 or 9.14 that you converted to Platform mode: If you
downgrade to 9.12 or earlier, you will not be able to configure new interfaces or edit existing interfaces

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Incompatible Configuration Removed After Downgrading

in FXOS (note that 9.12 and earlier only supports Platform mode). You either need to restore your version
to 9.13 or later, or you need to clear your configuration using the FXOS erase configuration command.
This problem does not occur if you originally upgraded to 9.13 or 9.14 from an earlier release; only fresh
installations are affected, such as a new device or a re-imaged device. (CSCvr19755)
• Downgrade from 9.10(1) for smart licensing—Due to changes in the smart agent, if you downgrade, you
must re-register your device to the Cisco Smart Software Manager. The new smart agent uses an encrypted
file, so you need to re-register to use an unencrypted file required by the old smart agent.
• Downgrade to 9.5 and earlier with passwords using PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function
2) hash—Versions before 9.6 do not support PBKDF2 hashing. In 9.6(1), enable and username passwords
longer than 32 characters use PBKDF2 hashing. In 9.7(1), new passwords of all lengths use PBKDF2
hashing (existing passwords continue to use MD5 hashing). If you downgrade, the enable password
reverts to the default (which is blank). Usernames will not parse correctly, and the username commands
will be removed. You must re-create your local users.
• Downgrade from Version 9.5(2.200) for the ASAv—The ASAv does not retain the licensing registration
state. You need to re-register with the license smart register idtoken id_token force command (for
ASDM: see the Configuration > Device Management > Licensing > Smart Licensing page, and use
the Force registration option); obtain the ID token from the Smart Software Manager.
• VPN tunnels are replicated to the standby unit even if the standby unit is running a version of software
that does not support the Ciphersuite that the original tunnel negotiated. This scenario occurs when
downgrading. In this case, disconnect your VPN connection and reconnect.

Incompatible Configuration Removed After Downgrading

When you downgrade to an old version, commands that were introduced in later versions will be removed
from the configuration. There is no automated way to check the configuration against the target version before
you downgrade. You can view when new commands were added in ASA new features by release.
You can view rejected commands after you downgrade using the show startup-config errors command. If
you can perform a downgrade on a lab device, you can preview the effects using this command before you
perform the downgrade on a production device.
In some cases, the ASA migrates commands to new forms automatically when you upgrade, so depending on
your version, even if you did not manually configure new commands, the downgrade could be affected by
configuration migrations. We recommend that you have a backup of your old configuration that you can use
when you downgrade. In the case of upgrading to 8.3, a backup is automatically created
(<old_version>_startup_cfg.sav). Other migrations do not create back-ups. See the "Version-Specific Guidelines
and Migrations" in the ASA Upgrade guide for more information about automatic command migrations that
could affect downgrading.
See also known downgrade issues in Guidelines and Limitations for Downgrading, on page 969.
For example, an ASA running version 9.8(2) includes the following commands:

access-list acl1 extended permit sctp 192.0.2.0 255.255.255.0 198.51.100.0 255.255.255.0

username test1 password $sha512$1234$abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz privilege 15
snmp-server user snmpuser1 snmpgroup1 v3 engineID abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz encrypted auth
md5 12:ab:34 priv aes 128 12:ab:34

When you downgrade to 9.0(4), you will see the following errors on startup:

access-list acl1 extended permit sctp 192.0.2.0 255.255.255.0 198.51.100.0 255.255.255.0

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^
ERROR: % Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

username test1 password $sha512$1234$abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz pbkdf2 privilege 15

^
ERROR: % Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

snmp-server user snmpuser1 snmpgroup1 v3 engineID abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz encrypted auth

md5 12:ab:34 priv aes 128 12:ab:34
^
ERROR: % Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

In this example, support for sctp in the access-list extended command was added in version 9.5(2), support
for pbkdf2 in the username command was added in version 9.6(1), and support for engineID in the
snmp-server user command was added in version 9.5(3).

Downgrade the Firepower 1000 or 2100 in Appliance Mode

You can downgrade the ASA software version by setting the ASA version to the old version, restoring the
backup configuration to the startup configuration, and then reloading.

Before you begin

This procedure requires a backup configuration of the ASA before you upgraded, so you can restore the old
configuration. If you do not restore the old configuration, you may have incompatible commands representing
new or changed features. Any new commands will be rejected when you load the old software version.

Procedure

Step 1 Load the old ASA software version using the upgrade procedure in the ASA upgrade guide for standalone,
failover, or clustering deployments. In this case, specify the old ASA version instead of a new version.
Important: Do not reload the ASA yet.
Step 2 At the ASA CLI, copy the backup ASA configuration to the startup configuration. For failover, perform this
step on the active unit. This step replicates the command to the standby unit.
copy old_config_url startup-config
It's important that you do not save the running configuration to the startup configuration using write memory;
this command will overwrite your backup configuration.
Example:

ciscoasa# copy disk0:/9.13.1_cfg.sav startup-config

Step 3 Reload the ASA.

ASA CLI
reload
ASDM
Choose Tools > System Reload.

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Downgrade the Firepower 2100 in Platform Mode

Downgrade the Firepower 2100 in Platform Mode

You can downgrade the ASA software version by restoring the backup configuration to the startup configuration,
setting the ASA version to the old version, and then reloading.

Before you begin

This procedure requires a backup configuration of the ASA before you upgraded, so you can restore the old
configuration. If you do not restore the old configuration, you may have incompatible commands representing
new or changed features. Any new commands will be rejected when you load the old software version.

Procedure

Step 1 At the ASA CLI, copy the backup ASA configuration to the startup configuration. For failover, perform this
step on the active unit. This step replicates the command to the standby unit.
copy old_config_url startup-config
It's important that you do not save the running configuration to the startup configuration using write memory;
this command will overwrite your backup configuration.
Example:

ciscoasa# copy disk0:/9.12.4_cfg.sav startup-config

Step 2 In FXOS, use the Firepower Chassis Manager or FXOS CLI to use the old ASA software version using the
upgrade procedure in the ASA upgrade guide for standalone, failover, or clustering deployments. In this case,
specify the old ASA version instead of a new version.

Downgrade the Firepower 4100/9300

You can downgrade the ASA software version by restoring the backup configuration to the startup configuration,
setting the ASA version to the old version, and then reloading.

Before you begin

• This procedure requires a backup configuration of the ASA before you upgraded, so you can restore the
old configuration. If you do not restore the old configuration, you may have incompatible commands
representing new or changed features. Any new commands will be rejected when you load the old software
version.
• Make sure the old ASA version is compatibile with the current FXOS version. If not, downgrade FXOS
as the first step before you restore the old ASA configuration. Just make sure the downgraded FXOS is
also compatible with the current ASA version (before you downgrade it). If you cannot achieve
compatibility, we suggest you do not perform a downgrade.

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Procedure

Step 1 At the ASA CLI, copy the backup ASA configuration to the startup configuration. For failover or clustering,
perform this step on the active/control unit. This step replicates the command to the standby/data units.
copy old_config_url startup-config
It's important that you do not save the running configuration to the startup configuration using write memory;
this command will overwrite your backup configuration.
Example:

ciscoasa# copy disk0:/9.8.4_cfg.sav startup-config

Step 2 In FXOS, use the Firepower Chassis Manager or FXOS CLI to use the old ASA software version using the
upgrade procedure in the ASA upgrade guide for standalone, failover, or clustering deployments. In this case,
specify the old ASA version instead of a new version.
Step 3 If you are also downgrading FXOS, use the Firepower Chassis Manager or FXOS CLI to set the old FXOS
software version to be the current version using the upgrade procedure in the ASA upgrade guide for standalone,
failover, or clustering deployments.

Downgrade the ASA 5500-X or ISA 3000

The downgrade feature provides a shortcut for completing the following functions on ASA 5500-X and ISA
3000 models:
• Clearing the boot image configuration (clear configure boot).
• Setting the boot image to be the old image (boot system).
• (Optional) Entering a new activation key (activation-key).
• Saving the running configuration to startup (write memory). This sets the BOOT environment variable
to the old image, so when you reload, the old image is loaded.
• Copying the old configuration backup to the startup configuration (copy old_config_url startup-config).
• Reloading (reload).

Before you begin

• This procedure requires a backup configuration of the ASA before you upgraded, so you can restore the
old configuration.
• Make sure the ASA FirePOWER module version, if installed, is compatible with the old ASA version.
You cannot downgrade the FirePOWER module to an earlier major version.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Downgrade Software .

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Manage Files

The Downgrade Software dialog box appears.

Step 2 For the ASA Image, click Select Image File.

The Browse File Locations dialog box appears.

Step 3 Click one of the following radio buttons:

• Remote Server—Choose ftp, smb, or http from the drop-down list, and type the path to the old image
file.
• Flash File System—Click Browse Flash to choose the old image file on the local flash file system.

Step 4 For the Configuration, click Browse Flash to choose the pre-migration configuration file.
Step 5 (Optional) In the Activation Key field, enter the old activation key if you need to revert to a pre-8.3 activation
key.
Step 6 Click Downgrade.

Manage Files
ASDM provides a set of file management tools to help you perform basic file management tasks. The File
Management tool lets you view, move, copy, and delete files stored in flash memory, transfer files, and to
manage files on remote storage devices (mount points).

Note In multiple context mode, this tool is only available in the system security context.

Configure File Access

The ASA can use an FTP client, secure copy client, or TFTP client. You can also configure the ASA as a
secure copy server so you can use a secure copy client on your computer.

Configure the FTP Client Mode

The ASA can use FTP to upload or download image files or configuration files to or from an FTP server. In
passive FTP, the client initiates both the control connection and the data connection. The server, which is the
recipient of the data connection in passive mode, responds with the port number to which it is listening for
the specific connection.

Procedure

Step 1 From the Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > File Access > FTP Client pane, check
the Specify FTP mode as passive check box.
Step 2 Click Apply.

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Configure the ASA as a Secure Copy Server

The FTP client configuration is changed and the change is saved to the running configuration.

Configure the ASA as a Secure Copy Server

You can enable the secure copy (SCP) server on the ASA. Only clients that are allowed to access the ASA
using SSH can establish a secure copy connection.

Before you begin

• The server does not have directory support. The lack of directory support limits remote client access to
the ASA internal files.
• The server does not support banners or wildcards.
• Enable SSH on the ASA according to Configure HTTPS (ASDM) Access, on page 924.
• The ASA license must have the strong encryption (3DES/AES) license to support SSH Version 2
connections.
• Unless otherwise specified, for multiple context mode, complete this procedure in the system execution
space. If you are not already in the System configuration mode, in the Configuration > Device List pane,
double-click System under the active device IP address.
• The performance of secure copy depends partly on the encryption cipher used. By default, the ASA
negotiates one of the following algorithms in order: 3des-cbc aes128-cbc aes192-cbc aes256-cbc aes128-ctr
aes192-ctr aes256-ctr. If the first algorithm proposed (3des-cbc) is chosen, then the performance is much
slower than a more efficient algorithm such as aes128-cbc. To change the proposed ciphers, use the
Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > SSH Ciphers pane; for example, choose Custom
and set it to aes128-cbc.

Procedure

Step 1 Depending on your context mode:

• For single mode, choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > File Access
> Secure Copy (SCP).
• For multiple mode in the System, choose Configuration > Device Management > Device Administration
> Secure Copy

Step 2 Check the Enable secure copy server check box.

Step 3 (Optional) The ASA stores the SSH host key for each SCP server to which it connects. You can manually
add or delete servers and their keys from the ASA database if desired.
To add a key:
a) Click Add for a new server, or select the server from the Trusted SSH Hosts table, and click Edit.
b) For a new server, in the Host field, enter the server IP address.
c) Check the Add public key for the trusted SSH host check box.
d) Specify one of the following keys:

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Configure the ASA TFTP Client Path

• Fingerprint—Enter the already hashed key; for example, a key that you copied from show command
output.
• Key—Enter the public key or hashed value of the SSH host. The key string is the Base64 encoded
RSA public key of the remote peer. You can obtain the public key value from an open SSH client;
that is, from the .ssh/id_rsa.pub file. After you submit the Base64 encoded public key, that key is
then hashed via SHA-256.

To delete a key, select the server from the Trusted SSH Hosts table, and click Delete.

Step 4 (Optional) To be informed when a new host key is detected, check the Inform me when a new host key is
detected check box.
By default, this option is enabled. When this option is enabled, you are prompted to accept or reject the host
key if it is not already stored on the ASA. When this option is disabled, the ASA accepts the host key
automatically if it was not stored before.

Step 5 Click Apply.

Examples
From a client on the external host, perform an SCP file transfer. For example, in Linux enter the
following command:
scp -v -pw password [path/]source_filename
username@asa_address:{disk0|disk1}:/[path/]dest_filename
The -v is for verbose, and if -pw is not specified, you will be prompted for a password.

Configure the ASA TFTP Client Path

TFTP is a simple client/server file transfer protocol, which is described in RFC 783 and RFC 1350 Rev. 2.
You can configure the ASA as a TFTP client so that it can copy files to or from a TFTP server. In this way,
you can back up and propagate configuration files to multiple ASAs.
This section lets you predefine the path to a TFTP server so you do not need to enter it in commands such as
copy and configure net.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > File Access > TFTP Client,
and check the Enable check box.
Step 2 From the Interface Name drop-down list, choose the interface to use as a TFTP client.
Step 3 In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of the TFTP server on which configuration files will be saved.
Step 4 In the Path field, enter the path to the TFTP server on which configuration files will be saved.
For example: /tftpboot/asa/config3

Step 5 Click Apply.

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Add Mount Points

Add Mount Points

You can add a CIFS or FTP mount point.

Add a CIFS Mount Point

To define a Common Internet File System (CIFS) mount point, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > File Access > Mount-Points,
and click Add > CIFS Mount Point .
The Add CIFS Mount Point dialog box appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable mount point check box.

This option attaches the CIFS file system on the ASA to the UNIX file tree.

Step 3 In the Mount Point Name field, enter the name of an existing CIFS location.
Step 4 In the Server Name or IP Address field, enter the name or IP address of the server in which the mount point
is located.
Step 5 In the Share Name field, enter the name of the folder on the CIFS server.
Step 6 In the NT Domain Name field, enter the name of the NT Domain in which the server resides.
Step 7 In the User Name field, enter the name of the user authorized for file system mounting on the server.
Step 8 In the Password field, enter the password for the user authorized for file system mounting on the server.
Step 9 In the Confirm Password field, reenter the password.
Step 10 Click OK.
The Add CIFS Mount Point dialog box closes.

Step 11 Click Apply.

Add an FTP Mount Point

For an FTP mount point, the FTP server must have a UNIX directory listing style. Microsoft FTP servers
have a default of the MS-DOS directory listing style.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > File Access > Mount-Points,
and click Add > FTP Mount Point.
The Add FTP Mount Point dialog box appears.

Step 2 Check the Enable check box.

This option attaches the FTP file system on the ASA to the UNIX file tree.

Step 3 In the Mount Point Name field, enter the name of an existing FTP location.

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Access the File Management Tool

Step 4 In the Server Name or IP Address field, enter the name or IP address of the server where the mount point is
located.
Step 5 In the Mode field, click the radio button for the FTP mode (Active or Passive). When you choose Passive
mode, the client initiates both the FTP control connection and the data connection. The server responds with
the number of its listening port for this connection.
Step 6 In the Path to Mount field, enter the directory path name to the FTP file server.
Step 7 In the User Name field, enter the name of the user authorized for file system mounting on the server.
Step 8 In the Password field, enter the password for the user authorized for file system mounting on the server.
Step 9 In the Confirm Password field, reenter the password.
Step 10 Click OK.
The Add FTP Mount Point dialog box closes.

Step 11 Click Apply.

Access the File Management Tool

To use the file management tools, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM application window, choose Tools > File Management.
The File Management dialog box appears.
• The Folders pane displays the available folders on disk.
• Flash Space shows the total amount of flash memory and how much memory is available.
• The Files area displays the following information about files in the selected folder:
• Path
• Filename
• Size (bytes)
• Time Modified
• Status, which indicates whether a selected file is designated as a boot configuration file, boot image
file, ASDM image file, SVC image file, CSD image file, or APCF image file.

Step 2 Click View to display the selected file in your browser.

Step 3 Click Cut to cut the selected file for pasting to another directory.
Step 4 Click Copy to copy the selected file for pasting to another directory.
Step 5 Click Paste to paste the copied file to the selected destination.
Step 6 Click Delete to remove the selected file from flash memory.
Step 7 Click Rename to rename a file.
Step 8 Click New Directory to create a new directory for storing files.

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Transfer Files

Step 9 Click File Transfer to open the File Transfer dialog box. See Transfer Files, on page 979 for more information.
Step 10 Click Mount Points to open the Manage Mount Points dialog box. See Add Mount Points , on page 977 for
more information.

Transfer Files
The File Transfer tool lets you transfer files from either a local or remote location. You can transfer a local
file on your computer or a flash file system to and from the ASA. You can transfer a remote file to and from
the ASA using HTTP, HTTPS, TFTP, FTP, or SMB.

Note For the IPS SSP software module, before you download the IPS software to disk0, make sure at least 50% of
the flash memory is free. When you install IPS, IPS reserves 50% of the internal flash memory for its file
system.

Transfer Files Between Local PC and Flash

To transfer files between your local computer and a flash file system, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM application window, choose Tools > File Management.
The File Management dialog box appears.

Step 2 Click the down arrow next to File Transfer, and then click Between Local PC and Flash.
The File Transfer dialog box appears.

Step 3 Select and drag the file(s) from either your local computer or the flash file system that you want to upload or
download to the desired location. Alternatively, select the file(s) from either your local computer or the flash
file system that you want to upload or download, and click the right arrow or left arrow to transfer the file(s)
to the desired location.
Step 4 Click Close when you are done.

Transfer Files Between Remote Server and Flash

To transfer files between a remote server and a flash file system, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 In the main ASDM application window, choose Tools > File Management.
The File Management dialog box appears.

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Transfer Files Between Remote Server and Flash

Step 2 Click the down arrow from the File Transfer drop-down list, and then click Between Remote Server and
Flash.
The File Transfer dialog box appears.

Step 3 To transfer a file from a remote server, click the Remote server option.
Step 4 Define the source file to be transferred.
a) (Optional) Specify the interface through which the ASA communicates with the server. If you do not
specify the interface, the ASA checks the management-only routing table; if there are no matches, it then
checks the data routing table.
b) Choose the path to the location of the file, including the IP address of the server.
Note File transfer supports IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

c) Enter the type (if the path is FTP) or the port number (if the path is HTTP or HTTPS) of the remote server.
Valid FTP types are the following:
• ap—ASCII files in passive mode
• an—ASCII files in non-passive mode
• ip—Binary image files in passive mode
• in—Binary image files in non-passive mode

Step 5 To transfer the file from the flash file system, click the Flash file system option.
Step 6 Enter the path to the location of the file or click Browse Flash to find the file location.
Step 7 In addition, you can copy a file from your startup configuration, running configuration, or an SMB file system
through the CLI. For instructions about using the copy command, see the CLI configuration guide.
Step 8 Define the destination of the file to be transferred.
a) To transfer the file to the flash file system, choose the Flash file system option.
b) Enter the path to the location of the file or click Browse Flash to find the file location.
Step 9 To transfer a file to a remote server, choose the Remote server option.
a) (Optional) Specify the interface through which the ASA communicates with the server. If you do not
specify the interface, the ASA checks the management-only routing table; if there are no matches, it then
checks the data routing table.
b) Enter the path to the location of the file.
c) For FTP transfers, enter the type. Valid types are the following:
• ap—ASCII files in passive mode
• an—ASCII files in non-passive mode
• ip—Binary image files in passive mode
• in—Binary image files in non-passive mode

Step 10 Click Transfer to start the file transfer.

The Enter Username and Password dialog box appears.

Step 11 Enter the username, password, and domain (if required) for the remote server.

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Set the ASA Image, ASDM, and Startup Configuration

Step 12 Click OK to continue the file transfer.

The file transfer process might take a few minutes; make sure that you wait until it is finished.

Step 13 Click Close when the file transfer is finished.

Set the ASA Image, ASDM, and Startup Configuration

If you have more than one ASA or ASDM image, you should specify the image that you want to boot. If you
do not set the image, the default boot image is used, and that image may not be the one intended. For the
startup configuration, you can optionally specify a configuration file.
See the following model guidelines:
• Firepower 4100/9300 chassis—ASA upgrades are managed by FXOS; you cannot upgrade the ASA
within the ASA operating system, so do not use this procedure for the ASA image. You can upgrade
ASA and FXOS separately from each other, and they are listed separately in the FXOS directory listing.
The ASA package always includes ASDM.
• Firepower 2100 in Platform mode—The ASA, ASDM, and FXOS images are bundled together into a
single package. Package updates are managed by FXOS; you cannot upgrade the ASA within the ASA
operating system, so do not use this procedure for the ASA image. You cannot upgrade ASA and FXOS
separately from each other; they are always bundled together.
• Firepower 1000 and 2100 in Appliance mode—The ASA, ASDM, and FXOS images are bundled together
into a single package. Package updates are managed by ASA using this procedure. Although these
platforms use the ASA to identify the image to boot, the underlying mechanism is different from legacy
ASAs. See the command description below for more information.
• ASDM for the Firepower models—ASDM can be upgraded from within the ASA operating system, so
you do not need to only use the bundled ASDM image. For the Firepower 2100 in Platform mode and
Firepower 4100/9300, ASDM images that you upload manually do not appear in the FXOS image list;
you must manage ASDM images from the ASA.

Note When you upgrade the ASA bundle, the ASDM image in the bundle replaces the
previous ASDM bundle image on the ASA because they have the same name
(asdm.bin). But if you manually chose a different ASDM image that you uploaded
(for example, asdm-782.bin), then you continue to use that image even after a
bundle upgrade. To make sure that you are running a compatible version of
ASDM, you should either upgrade ASDM before you upgrade the bundle, or you
should reconfigure the ASA to use the bundled ASDM image (asdm.bin) just
before upgrading the ASA bundle.

• ASAv—The initial deployment ASAv package puts the ASA image in the read-only boot:/ partition.
When you upgrade the ASAv, you specify a different image in flash memory. Note that if you later clear
your configuration, then the ASAv will revert to loading the original deployment image. The initial
deployment ASAv package also includes an ASDM image that it places in flash memory. You can
upgrade the ASDM image separately.

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Set the ASA Image, ASDM, and Startup Configuration

See the following default settings:

• ASA image:
• Firepower 1000, and 2100 in Appliance mode—Boots the previously-running boot image.
• Other Physical ASAs—Boots the first application image that it finds in internal flash memory.
• ASAv—Boots the image in the read-only boot:/ partition that was created when you first deployed.
• Firepower 4100/9300 chassis—The FXOS system determines which ASA image to boot. You cannot
use this procedure to set the ASA image.
• Firepower 2100 in Platform mode—The FXOS system determines which ASA/FXOS package to
boot. You cannot use this procedure to set the ASA image.

• ASDM image on all ASAs—Boots the first ASDM image that it finds in internal flash memory, or if
one does not exist in this location, then in external flash memory.
• Startup configuration—By default, the ASA boots from a startup configuration that is a hidden file.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > System Image/Configuration > Boot
Image/Configuration.
Firepower 1000, 2100 in Appliance mode: You can only add a single image. If you upgrade to a new image,
then you must delete the previous image you set. When you apply this change, the system performs an action:
the system validates and unpacks the image and copies it to the boot location (an internal location on disk0
managed by FXOS). The new image will load when you reload the ASA. If you change your mind prior to
reloading, you can delete the Boot Image Location and reapply to remove the new image from the boot
location, so the current image continues to run. You can even delete the original image file from the ASA
flash memory after you apply this change, and the ASA will boot correctly from the boot location. Unlike
other models, this command in the startup configuration does not affect the booting image. The last-loaded
boot image will always run upon reload. You can only load images with the original filename from the Cisco
download site. If you change the filename, it will not load.
Other models: You can specify up to four local binary image files for use as the startup image, and one image
located on a TFTP server for the device to boot from. If you specify an image located on a TFTP server, it
must be first in the list. If the device cannot reach the TFTP server to load the image, it tries to load the next
image file in the list located in flash.

Step 2 Click Add in the Boot Image/Configuration pane.

Step 3 Browse to the image from which you want to boot. For a TFTP image, enter the TFTP URL in the File Name
field. Click OK.
Step 4 Arrange the images in order by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.
Step 5 (Optional) In the Boot Configuration File Path field, specify the startup configuration file by clicking Browse
Flash and choosing the configuration. Click OK.
Step 6 In the ASDM Image File Path field, specify the ASDM image by clicking Browse Flash and choosing the
image. Click OK.
Step 7 Click Apply.

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Back Up and Restore Configurations or Other Files

Back Up and Restore Configurations or Other Files

We recommend that you make regular backups of your configuration and other system files to guard against
system failure.

Perform a Complete System Backup or Restoration

These procedures describe how to back up and restore configurations and images to a zip file and transfer it
to your local computer.

Before You Begin Backup or Restore

• You should have at least 300 MB of disk space available at the backup or restore location before you
start a backup or restore.
• The ASA must be in single context mode.
• If you make any configuration changes during or after a backup, those changes will not be included in
the backup. If you change a configuration after making the backup, then perform a restore, this
configuration change will be overwritten. As a result, the ASA might behave differently.
• You can start only one backup or restore at a time.
• You can only restore a configuration to the same ASA version as when you performed the original
backup. You cannot use the restore tool to migrate a configuration from one ASA version to another. If
a configuration migration is required, the ASA automatically upgrades the resident startup configuration
when it loads the new ASA OS.
• If you use clustering, you can only back up or restore the startup-configuration, running-configuration,
and identity certificates. You must create and restore a backup separately for each unit.
• If you use failover, you must create and restore a backup separately for the active and standby units.
• If you set a master passphrase for the ASA, then you need that master passphrase to restore the backup
configuration that you create with this procedure. If you do not know the master passphrase for the ASA,
see Configure the Master Passphrase, on page 606 to learn how to reset it before continuing with the
backup.
• If you import PKCS12 data (with the crypto ca trustpoint command) and the trustpoint uses RSA keys,
the imported key pair is assigned the same name as the trustpoint. Because of this limitation, if you
specify a different name for the trustpoint and its key pair after you have restored an ASDM configuration,
the startup configuration will be the same as the original configuration, but the running configuration
will include a different key pair name. This means that if you use different names for the key pair and
trustpoint, you cannot restore the original configuration. To work around this issue, make sure that you
use the same name for the trustpoint and its key pair.
• You cannot back up using the CLI and restore using ASDM, or vice versa.
• Each backup file includes the following content:
• Running-configuration
• Startup-configuration

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Back Up the System

• All security images

Cisco Secure Desktop and Host Scan images
Cisco Secure Desktop and Host Scan settings
AnyConnect (SVC) client images and profiles
AnyConnect (SVC) customizations and transforms
• Identity certificates (includes RSA key pairs tied to identity certificates; excludes standalone keys)
• VPN pre-shared keys
• SSL VPN configurations
• Application Profile Custom Framework (APCF)
• Bookmarks
• Customizations
• Dynamic Access Policy (DAP)
• Plug-ins
• Pre-fill scripts for connection profiles
• Proxy Auto-config
• Translation table
• Web content
• Version information

Back Up the System

This procedure describes how to perform a complete system backup.

Procedure

Step 1 Create a folder on your computer to store backup files so they will be easy to find in case you need to restore
them later.
Step 2 Choose Tools > Backup Configurations.
The Backup Configurations dialog box appears. Click the down arrow in the SSL VPN Configuration area
to view the backup options for SSL VPN configurations. By default, all configuration files are checked and
will be backed up if they are available. If you want to back up all of the files in the list, go to Step 5.

Step 3 Uncheck the Backup All check box if you want to select the configurations to back up.
Step 4 Check the check box next to the option that you want to back up.
Step 5 Click Browse Local to specify a directory and file name for the backup .zip file.
Step 6 In the Select dialog box, choose the directory in which you want to store the backup file.
Step 7 Click Select. The path appears in the Backup File field.

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Restore the Backup

Step 8 Enter the name of the destination backup file after the directory path. The backup file name must be between
3 and 232 characters long.
Step 9 Click Backup. The backup proceeds immediately unless you are backing up certificates or the ASA is using
a master passphrase.
Step 10 If you have configured and enabled a master passphrase on your ASA, you receive a warning message with
a suggestion to change the master passphrase, if you do not know it, before proceeding with the backup. Click
Yes to proceed with the backup if you know the master passphrase. The backup proceeds immediately unless
you are backing up identity certificates.
Step 11 If you are backing up an identity certificate, you are asked to enter a separate passphrase to be used for encoding
the certificates in PKCS12 format. You can enter a passphrase or skip this step.
Note Only identity certificates are backed up by this process.

• To encrypt certificates, enter and confirm your certificate passphrase in the Certificate Passphrase dialog
box and click OK. You will need to remember the password you enter in this dialog box when restoring
the certificates.
• Clicking Cancel skips the step and does not back up certificates.

After clicking OK or Cancel, the backup begins immediately.

Step 12 After the backup is complete, the status window closes and the Backup Statistics dialog box appears to provide
success and failure messages.
Note Backup “failure messages” are most likely caused by the lack of an existing configuration for the
types indicated.

Step 13 Click OK to close the Backup Statistics dialog box.

Restore the Backup

You can specify configurations and images to restore from a zip tar.gz file on your local computer.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Restore Configurations.

Step 2 In the Restore Configurations dialog box, click Browse Local Directory, choose the zip file on your local
computer that contains the configuration to restore, then click Select. The path and the zip filename appear
in the Local File field.
The zip file that you restore must be created by choosing the Tools > Backup Configurations option.

Step 3 Click Next. The second Restore Configuration dialog box appears. Check the check boxes next to the
configurations that you want to restore. All available SSL VPN configurations are selected by default.
Step 4 Click Restore.
Step 5 If you specified a certificate passphrase with which to encrypt the certificates when you created the backup
file, ASDM prompts you to enter the passphrase.
Step 6 If you chose to restore the running configuration, you are asked if you want to merge the running configuration,
replace the running configuration, or skip this part of the restoration process.

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Save the Running Configuration to a TFTP Server

• Merging configurations combines the current running configuration and the backed-up running
configuration.
• Replacing the running configuration uses the backed-up running configuration only.
• Skipping the step does not restore the backed-up running configuration.

ASDM displays a status dialog box until the restore operation is finished.

Step 7 If you replaced or merged the running configuration, close ASDM and restart it. If you did not restore the
running configuration or the running configuration, refresh the ASDM session for the changes to take effect.

Save the Running Configuration to a TFTP Server

This feature stores a copy of the current running configuration file on a TFTP server.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose File > Save Running Configuration to TFTP Server.

The Save Running Configuration to TFTP Server dialog box appears.

Step 2 Enter the TFTP server IP address and file path on the TFTP server in which the configuration file will be
saved, and then click Save Configuration.
Note To configure default TFTP settings, choose Configuration > Device Management > Management
Access > File Access > TFTP Client. After you have configured this setting, the TFTP server IP
address and file path on the TFTP server appear automatically in this dialog box.

Schedule a System Restart

The System Reload tool lets you schedule a system restart or cancel a pending restart.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > System Reload.

Step 2 In the Reload Scheduling area, define the following settings:
a) For the Configuration State, choose either to save or discard the running configuration at restart time.
b) For the Reload Start Time, choose from the following options:
• Click Now to perform an immediate restart.
• Click Delay by to delay the restart by a specified amount of time. Enter the time before the restart
begins in hours and minutes or only minutes.

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Configure Auto Update

• Click Schedule at to schedule the restart to occur at a specific time and date. Enter the time of day
the restart is to occur, and select the date of the scheduled restart.

c) In the Reload Message field, enter a message to send to open instances of ASDM at restart time.
d) Check the On reload failure force immediate reload after check box to show the amount of time elapsed
in hours and minutes or only minutes before a restart is attempted again.
e) Click Schedule Reload to schedule the restart as configured.
The Reload Status area displays the status of the restart.

Step 3 Choose one of the following:

• Click Cancel Reload to stop a scheduled restart.
• Click Refresh to refresh the Reload Status display after a scheduled restart is finished.
• Click Details to display the results of a scheduled restart.

Configure Auto Update

Auto Update is a protocol specification that allows an Auto Update Server to download configurations and
software images to many ASAs and can provide basic monitoring of the ASAs from a central location.

About Auto Update

This section describes how Auto Update is implemented and why you might want to use Auto Update.

Auto Update Client or Server

The ASA can be configured as either a client or a server. As an Auto Update client, it periodically polls the
Auto Update Server for updates to software images and configuration files. As an Auto Update Server, it
issues updates for ASAs configured as Auto Update clients.

Auto Update Benefits

Auto Update is useful in solving many issues facing administrators for ASA management, such as:
• Overcoming dynamic addressing and NAT challenges.
• Committing configuration changes in one action.
• Providing a reliable method for updating software.
• Leveraging well-understood methods for high availability (failover).
• Providing flexibility with an open interface.
• Simplifying security solutions for Service Provider environments.

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Auto Update Server Support in Failover Configurations

The Auto Update specification provides the infrastructure necessary for remote management applications to
download ASA configurations, software images, and to perform basic monitoring from a centralized location
or multiple locations.
The Auto Update specification allows the Auto Update server to either push configuration information and
send requests for information to the ASA, or to pull configuration information by having the ASA periodically
poll the Auto Update server. The Auto Update server can also send a command to the ASA to send an immediate
polling request at any time. Communication between the Auto Update server and the ASA requires a
communications path and local CLI configuration on each ASA.

Auto Update Server Support in Failover Configurations

You can use the Auto Update Server to deploy software images and configuration files to ASAs in an
Active/Standby failover configuration. To enable Auto Update on an Active/Standby failover configuration,
enter the Auto Update Server configuration on the primary unit in the failover pair.
The following restrictions and behaviors apply to Auto Update Server support in failover configurations:
• Only single mode, Active/Standby configurations are supported.
• When loading a new platform software image, the failover pair stops passing traffic.
• When using LAN-based failover, new configurations must not change the failover link configuration. If
they do, communication between the units will fail.
• Only the primary unit will perform the call home to the Auto Update Server. The primary unit must be
in the active state to call home. If it is not, the ASA automatically fails over to the primary unit.
• Only the primary unit downloads the software image or configuration file. The software image or
configuration is then copied to the secondary unit.
• The interface MAC address and hardware-serial ID is from the primary unit.
• The configuration file stored on the Auto Update Server or HTTP server is for the primary unit only.

Auto Update Process Overview

The following is an overview of the Auto Update process in failover configurations. This process assumes
that failover is enabled and operational. The Auto Update process cannot occur if the units are synchronizing
configurations, if the standby unit is in the failed state for any reason other than SSM card failure, or if the
failover link is down.
1. Both units exchange the platform and ASDM software checksum and version information.
2. The primary unit contacts the Auto Update Server. If the primary unit is not in the active state, the ASA
first fails over to the primary unit and then contacts the Auto Update Server.
3. The Auto Update Server replies with software checksum and URL information.
4. If the primary unit determines that the platform image file needs to be updated for either the active or
standby unit, the following occurs:
a. The primary unit retrieves the appropriate files from the HTTP server using the URL from the Auto
Update Server.
b. The primary unit copies the image to the standby unit and then updates the image on itself.
c. If both units have new image, the secondary (standby) unit is reloaded first.

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Guidelines for Auto Update

• If hitless upgrade can be performed when secondary unit boots, then the secondary unit becomes
the active unit and the primary unit reloads. The primary unit becomes the active unit when it
has finished loading.
• If hitless upgrade cannot be performed when the standby unit boots, then both units reload at the
same time.

d. If only the secondary (standby) unit has new image, then only the secondary unit reloads. The primary
unit waits until the secondary unit finishes reloading.
e. If only the primary (active) unit has new image, the secondary unit becomes the active unit, and the
primary unit reloads.
f. The update process starts again at Step 1.

5. If the ASA determines that the ASDM file needs to be updated for either the primary or secondary unit,
the following occurs:
a. The primary unit retrieves the ASDM image file from the HTTP server using the URL provided by
the Auto Update Server.
b. The primary unit copies the ASDM image to the standby unit, if needed.
c. The primary unit updates the ASDM image on itself.
d. The update process starts again at Step 1.

6. If the primary unit determines that the configuration needs to be updated, the following occurs:
a. The primary unit retrieves the configuration file from the using the specified URL.
b. The new configuration replaces the old configuration on both units simultaneously.
c. The update process begins again at Step 1.

7. If the checksums match for all image and configuration files, no updates are required. The process ends
until the next poll time.

Guidelines for Auto Update

Context Mode
Auto Update is supported in single context mode only.

Clustering
No clustering support.

Models
No support on the following models:
• ASA 5506-X, 5508-X, 5516-X
• Firepower 1000, 2100, 4100, and 9300

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• ASAv

Additional Guidelines
• If the ASA configuration is updated from an Auto Update server, ASDM is not notified. You must choose
Refresh or File > Refresh ASDM with the Running Configuration on the Device to obtain the latest
configuration, and any changes to the configuration made in ASDM will be lost.
• If HTTPS is chosen as the protocol to communicate with the Auto Update server, the ASA uses SSL,
which requires the ASA to have a DES or 3DES license.

Configure Communication with an Auto Update Server

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > System Image/Configuration > Auto Update.
The Auto Update pane consists of an Auto Update Servers table and two areas: the Timeout area and the
Polling area.
The Auto Update Servers table lets you view the parameters of previously configured Auto Update servers.
The ASA polls the server listed at the top of the table first.

Step 2 To change the order of the servers in the table, click Move Up or Move Down.
The Auto Update Servers table includes the following columns:
• Server—The name or IP address of the Auto Update server.
• User Name—The user name used to access the Auto Update server.
• Interface—The interface used when sending requests to the Auto Update server.
• Verify Certificate—Indicates whether the ASA checks the certificate returned by the Auto Update server
with the CA root certificates. The Auto Update server and the ASA must use the same CA.

Step 3 Double-clicking any of the rows in the Auto Update Server table opens the Edit Auto Update Server dialog
box, in which you can modify the Auto Update server parameters. These changes are immediately reflected
in the table, but you must click Apply to save them to the configuration.
Step 4 The Timeout area lets you set the amount of time the ASA waits for the Auto Update server to time out. The
Timeout area includes the following fields:
• Enable Timeout Period—Check to enable the ASA to time out if no response is received from the Auto
Update server.
• Timeout Period (Minutes)—Enter the number of minutes the ASA will wait to time out if no response
is received from the Auto Update server.

Step 5 The Polling area lets you configure how often the ASA will poll for information from the Auto Update server.
The Polling area includes the following fields:
• Polling Period (minutes)—The number of minutes the ASA will wait to poll the Auto Update server for
new information.

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• Poll on Specified Days—Allows you to specify a polling schedule.

• Set Polling Schedule—Displays the Set Polling Schedule dialog box where you can configure the days
and time-of-day to poll the Auto Update server.
• Retry Period (minutes)—The number of minutes the ASA will wait to poll the Auto Update server for
new information if the attempt to poll the server fails.
• Retry Count—The number of times the ASA will attempt to retry to poll the Auto Update server for new
information.

Step 6 Setting the Polling Schedule

The Set Polling Schedule dialog box lets you configure specific days and the time-of-day for the ASA to poll
the Auto Update server.
The Set Polling Schedule dialog box includes the following fields:
Days of the Week—Check the days of the week that you want the ASA to poll the Auto Update server.
The Daily Update pane group lets you configure the time of day when you want the ASA to poll the Auto
Update server, and includes the following fields:
• Start Time—Enter the hour and minute to begin the Auto Update poll.
• Enable randomization—Check to enable the ASA to randomly choose a time to poll the Auto Update
server.

Monitoring Auto Update

Monitoring the Auto Update Process
You can use the debug auto-update client or debug fover cmd-exe commands to display the actions performed
during the Auto Update process. The following is sample output from the debug auto-update client command.
Run debug commands from a terminal session.

Auto-update client: Sent DeviceDetails to /cgi-bin/dda.pl of server 192.168.0.21

Auto-update client: Processing UpdateInfo from server 192.168.0.21
Component: asdm, URL: http://192.168.0.21/asdm.bint, checksum:
0x94bced0261cc992ae710faf8d244cf32
Component: config, URL: http://192.168.0.21/config-rms.xml, checksum:
0x67358553572688a805a155af312f6898
Component: image, URL: http://192.168.0.21/cdisk73.bin, checksum:
0x6d091b43ce96243e29a62f2330139419
Auto-update client: need to update img, act: yes, stby yes
name
ciscoasa(config)# Auto-update client: update img on stby unit...
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 1, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 1001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 1501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 2001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 2501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 3001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 3501, len = 1024

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auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 4001, len = 1024

auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 4501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 5001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 5501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 6001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 6501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 7001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 7501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 8001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 8501, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover copyfile, seq = 4 type = 1, pseq = 9001, len = 1024
auto-update: Fover file copy waiting at clock tick 6129280
fover_parse: Rcvd file copy ack, ret = 0, seq = 4
auto-update: Fover filecopy returns value: 0 at clock tick 6150260, upd time 145980 msecs
Auto-update client: update img on active unit...
fover_parse: Rcvd image info from mate
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 20
Beginning configuration replication: Sending to mate.
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 50
auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 50

auto-update: HA safe reload: reload active waiting with mate state: 80

Sauto-update: HA safe reload: reload active unit at clock tick: 6266860
Auto-update client: Succeeded: Image, version: 0x6d091b43ce96243e29a62f2330139419

The following syslog message is generated if the Auto Update process fails:

%ASA4-612002: Auto Update failed: file version: version reason: reason

The file is “image”, “asdm”, or “configuration”, depending on which update failed. The version is the version
number of the update. And the reason is the reason that the update failed.

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History for Software and Configurations

History for Software and Configurations

Platform
Feature Name Releases Feature Information

Secure Copy client 9.1(5)/9.2(1) The ASA now supports the Secure Copy (SCP) client to transfer
files to and from a SCP server.
We modified the following screens:
Tools > File Management > File Transfer > Between Remote
Server and Flash Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > File Access > Secure Copy (SCP)
Server

Configurable SSH encryption and integrity ciphers 9.1(7)/9.4(3)/9.5(3)/9.6(1) Users can select cipher modes when doing SSH encryption
management and can configure HMAC and encryption for
varying key exchange algorithms. You might want to change
the ciphers to be more or less strict, depending on your
application. Note that the performance of secure copy depends
partly on the encryption cipher used. By default, the ASA
negotiates one of the following algorithms in order: 3des-cbc
aes128-cbc aes192-cbc aes256-cbc aes128-ctr aes192-ctr
aes256-ctr. If the first algorithm proposed (3des-cbc) is chosen,
then the performance is much slower than a more efficient
algorithm such as aes128-cbc. To change the proposed ciphers,
use ssh cipher encryption custom aes128-cbc, for example.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device
Management > Advanced > SSH Ciphers

Auto Update server certificate verification enabled 9.2(1) The Auto Update server certificate verification is now enabled
by default by default; for new configurations, you must explicitly disable
certificate verification. If you are upgrading from an earlier
release, and you did not enable certificate verification, then
certificate verification is not enabled, and you see the following
warning:

WARNING: The certificate provided by the

auto-update servers will not be verified.
In order to verify this certificate please
use the verify-certificate option.

The configuration will be migrated to explicitly configure no

verification.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device
Management > System/Image Configuration > Auto Update >
Add Auto Update Server.

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History for Software and Configurations

Platform
Feature Name Releases Feature Information

System backup and restore using the CLI 9.3(2) You can now back up and restore complete system
configurations, including images and certificates, using the
CLI.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Recovering and loading a new ASA 5506W-X 9.4(1) We now support the recovery and loading of a new ASA
image 5506W-X image.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Automatic Backup and Restore for the ISA 3000 9.7(1) You can enable auto-backup and/or auto-restore functionality
using pre-set parameters in the backup and restore commands.
The use cases for these features include initial configuration
from external media; device replacement; roll back to an
operable state.
We introduced the following screen: Configuration > Device
Management > Auto Backup & Restore Configuration

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Response Automation for System Events
This chapter describes how to configure the Embedded Event Manager (EEM).
• About the EEM, on page 995
• Guidelines for the EEM, on page 996
• Configure the EEM, on page 997
• Monitoring the EEM, on page 1000
• History for the EEM, on page 1000

About the EEM

The EEM service enables you to debug problems and provides general purpose logging for troubleshooting.
There are two components: events to which the EEM responds or listens, and event manager applets that
define actions as well as the events to which the EEM responds. You may configure multiple event manager
applets to respond to different events and perform different actions.

Supported Events
The EEM supports the following events:
• Syslog—The ASA uses syslog message IDs to identify syslog messages that trigger an event manager
applet. You may configure multiple syslog events, but the syslog message IDs may not overlap within
a single event manager applet.
• Timers—You may use timers to trigger events. You may configure each timer only once for each event
manager applet. Each event manager applet may have up to three timers. The three types of timers are
the following:
• Watchdog (periodic) timers trigger an event manager applet after the specified time period following
the completion of the applet actions and restart automatically.
• Countdown (one-shot) timers trigger an event manager applet once after the specified time period
and do not restart unless they are removed, then re-added.
• Absolute (once-a-day) timers cause an event to occur once a day at a specified time, and restart
automatically. The time-of-day format is in hh:mm:ss.
You may configure only one timer event of each type for each event manager applet.

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Actions on Event Manager Applets

• None—The none event is triggered when you run an event manager applet manually using the CLI or
ASDM.
• Crash—The crash event is triggered when the ASA crashes. Regardless of the value of the output
command, the action commands are directed to the crashinfo file. The output is generated before the
show tech command.

Actions on Event Manager Applets

When an event manager applet is triggered, the actions on the event manager applet are performed. Each
action has a number that is used to specify the sequence of the actions. The sequence number must be unique
within an event manager applet. You may configure multiple actions for an event manager applet. The
commands are typical CLI commands, such as show blocks.

Output Destinations
You may send the output from the actions to a specified location using the output command. Only one output
value may be enabled at any one time. The default value is output none. This value discards any output from
the action commands. The command runs in global configuration mode as a user with privilege level 15 (the
highest). The command may not accept any input, because it is disabled. You may send the output of the
action CLI commands to one of three locations:
• None, which is the default and discards the output
• Console, which sends the output to the ASA console
• File, which sends the output to a file. The following four file options are available:
• Create a unique file, which creates a new, uniquely named file each time that an event manager
applet is invoked
• Create/overwrite a file, which overwrites a specified file each time that an event manager applet
is invoked.
• Create/append to a file, which appends to a specified file each time that an event manager applet
is invoked. If the file does not yet exist, it is created.
• Create a set of files, which creates a set of uniquely named files that are rotated each time that an
event manager applet is invoked.

Guidelines for the EEM

This section describes guidelines and limitations that you should check before configuring the EEM.

Context Mode Guidelines

Not supported in multiple context mode.

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Additional Guidelines
• During a crash, the state of the ASA is generally unknown. Some commands may not be safe to run
during this condition.
• The name of an event manager applet may not contain spaces.
• You cannot modify the None event and Crashinfo event parameters.
• Performance may be affected because syslog messages are sent to the EEM for processing.
• The default output is output none for each event manager applet. To change this setting, you must enter
a different output value.
• You may have only one output option defined for each event manager applet.

Configure the EEM

Configuring the EEM consists of the following tasks:

Procedure

Step 1 Create an Event Manager Applet and Configure Events, on page 997.
Step 2 Configure an Action and Destinations for Output from an Action, on page 998.
Step 3 Run an Event Manager Applet, on page 999.
Step 4 Track Memory Allocation and Memory Usage, on page 999.

Create an Event Manager Applet and Configure Events

To create an event manager applet and configure events, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Embedded Event Manager.
Step 2 Click Add to display the Add Event Manager Applet dialog box.
Step 3 Enter the name of the applet (without spaces) and describe what it does. The description may be up to 256
characters long. You may include spaces in description text if it is placed within quotes.
Step 4 Click Add in the Events area to display the Add Event Manager Applet Event dialog box.
Step 5 Choose the event type that you want to configure from the Type drop-down list. The available options are
crashinfo, None, Syslog, Once-a-day timer, One-shot timer, and Periodic timer.
• Syslog: Enter a single syslog message or a range of syslog messages. If a syslog message occurs that
matches the specified individual syslog message or range of syslog messages, an event manager applet
is triggered. (Optional) Enter the number of times in the occurrences field that the syslog message must
occur for an event manager applet to be invoked. The default is 1 occurrence every 0 seconds. Valid
values are from 1 - 4294967295. (Optional) Enter the number of seconds in the period field within which

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the syslog messages must occur to invoke the action. This value limits how frequently an event manager
applet is invoked to at most once in the configured period. Valid values are from 0 - 604800. A value of
0 means that no period is defined.
• Periodic: Enter the time period in seconds. The number of seconds may range from 1- 604800.
• Once-a-day timer: Enter the time of day in hh:mm:ss. The time range is from 00:00:00 (midnight) to
23:59:59.
• One-shot timer: Enter the time period in seconds. The number of seconds may range from 1- 604800.
• None: Choose this option to invoke an event manager applet manually.
• crashinfo: Choose this option to trigger a crash event when the ASA crashes.

Configure an Action and Destinations for Output from an Action

To configure an action and specific destinations for sending output from an action, perform the following
steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Add to display the Add Event Manager Applet dialog box.
Step 2 Enter the name of the applet (without spaces) and describe what it does. The description may be up to 256
characters long.
Step 3 Click Add in the Actions area to display the Add Event Manager Applet Action dialog box.
Step 4 Enter the unique sequence number in the Sequence # field. Valid sequence numbers range from 0 - 4294967295.
Step 5 Enter the CLI command in the CLI Command field. The command runs in global configuration mode as a
user with privilege level 15 (the highest). The command may not accept any input, because it is disabled.
Step 6 Click OK to close the Add Event Manager Applet Action dialog box.
The newly added action appears in the Actions list.

Step 7 Click Add to open the Add Event Manager Applet dialog box.
Step 8 Choose one of the available output destination options:
• Choose the None option from the Output Location drop-down list to discard any output from the action
commands. This is the default setting.
• Choose the Console option from the Output Location drop-down list to sends the output of the action
commands to the console.
Note Running this command affects performance.

• Choose the File option from the Output Location drop-down list to send the output of the action
commands to a new file for each event manager applet that is invoked. The Create a unique file option
is automatically selected as the default.
The filename has the format of eem-applet-timestamp.log, in which applet is the name of the event
manager applet and timestamp is a dated time stamp in the format of YYYYMMDD-hhmmss.

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• Choose the File option from the Output Location drop-down list, then choose the Create a set of files
option from the drop-down list to create a set of rotated files.
When a new file is to be written, the oldest file is deleted, and all subsequent files are renumbered before
the first file is written. The newest file is indicated by 0, and the oldest file is indicated by the highest
number. Valid values for the rotate value range from 2 - 100. The filename format is eem-applet-x.log,
in which applet is the name of the applet, and x is the file number.
• Choose the File option from the Output Location drop-down list, then choose the Create/overwrite a
file option from the drop-down list to write the action command output to a single file, which is
overwritten every time.
• Choose the FileFile option from the Output Location drop-down list, then choose the Create/append
a file option from the drop-down list to writes the action command output to a single file, but that file
is appended to every time.

Step 9 Click OK to close the Add Event Manager Applet dialog box.
The specified output destination appears in the Embedded Event Manager pane.

Run an Event Manager Applet

To run an event manager applet, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In the Embedded Event Manager pane, select an event manager applet from the list that has been configured
with the None event.
Step 2 Click Run.

Track Memory Allocation and Memory Usage

To log memory allocation and memory usage, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Advanced > Embedded Event Manager.
Step 2 Click Add to display the Add Event Manager Applet dialog box.
Step 3 Click Add again to display the Add Event Manager Applet Event dialog box.
Step 4 Choose memory-logging-wrap from the drop-down list.
Step 5 Click OK to add it to the Events list.
Step 6 Click OK again to add it to the Applets list.

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Monitoring the EEM

See the following commands to monitor the EEM.
• Monitoring > Properties > EEM Applets
This pane shows the list of EEM applets and their hit count value.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

History for the EEM

Table 56: History for the EEM

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Embedded Event Manager (EEM) 9.2(1) The EEM service enables you to debug
problems and provides general purpose
logging for troubleshooting. There are two
components: events to which the EEM
responds or listens, and event manager
applets that define actions as well as the
events to which the EEM responds. You
may configure multiple event manager
applets to respond to different events and
perform different actions.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Advanced > Embedded Event Manager,
Monitoring > Properties > EEM Applets.

Memory tracking for the EEM 9.4(1) We have added a new debugging feature to
log memory allocations and memory usage,
and to respond to memory logging wrap
events.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Advanced > Embedded Event Manager
> Add Event Manager Applet > Add
Event Manager Applet Event.

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Testing and Troubleshooting
This chapter describes how to troubleshoot the Cisco ASA and test basic connectivity.
• Recover Enable and Telnet Passwords, on page 1001
• Configure and Run Captures with the Packet Capture Wizard, on page 1006
• vCPU Usage in the ASAv, on page 1012
• Test Your Configuration, on page 1013
• Monitoring Performance and System Resources, on page 1022
• Monitoring Connections, on page 1024
• History for Testing and Troubleshooting , on page 1024

Recover Enable and Telnet Passwords

If you forget the enable or Telnet passwords, you can recover them for ASA models. The procedure differs
by device type. You must perform the task using the CLI.

Note For Firepower platforms, you cannot recover lost passwords. You can only restore the factory default
configuration, and reset the passwords to the default. For Firepower 4100/9300, see the FXOS configuration
guide. For Firepower 1000 and 2100, see the FXOS troubleshooting guide.

Recover Passwords on the ASA 5500-X

This procedure works for the ASA 5525-X, 5545-X, 5555-X.
To recover passwords for the ASA, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the ASA console port.

Step 2 Power off the ASA, then power it on.
Step 3 After startup, press the Escape key when you are prompted to enter ROMMON mode.
Step 4 To update the configuration register value, enter the following command:

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rommon #1> confreg 0x41

Update Config Register (0x41) in NVRAM...

Step 5 To set the ASA to ignore the startup configuration, enter the following command:

rommon #1> confreg

The ASA displays the current configuration register value, and asks whether you want to change it:

Current Configuration Register: 0x00000041

Configuration Summary:
boot default image from Flash
ignore system configuration

Do you wish to change this configuration? y/n [n]: y

Step 6 Record the current configuration register value, so you can restore it later.
Step 7 At the prompt, enter Y to change the value.
The ASA prompts you for new values.

Step 8 Accept the default values for all settings, except for the "disable system configuration?" value.
Step 9 At the prompt, enter Y.
Step 10 Reload the ASA by entering the following command:

rommon #2> boot

Launching BootLoader...
Boot configuration file contains 1 entry.

Loading disk0:/asa800-226-k8.bin... Booting...Loading...

The ASA loads the default configuration instead of the startup configuration.

Step 11 Access the privileged EXEC mode by entering the following command:

ciscoasa# enable

Step 12 When prompted for the password, press Enter.

The password is blank.

Step 13 Load the startup configuration by entering the following command:

ciscoasa# copy startup-config running-config

Step 14 Access the global configuration mode by entering the following command:

ciscoasa# configure terminal

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Step 15 Change the passwords, as required, in the default configuration by entering the following commands:

ciscoasa(config)# password password

ciscoasa(config)# enable password password
ciscoasa(config)# username name password password

Step 16 Load the default configuration by entering the following command:

ciscoasa(config)# no config-register

The default configuration register value is 0x1. See the command reference for more information about the
configuration register.

Step 17 Save the new passwords to the startup configuration by entering the following command:

ciscoasa(config)# copy running-config startup-config

Recover Passwords on the ASA 5506-X, ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X
To recover passwords for the ASA 5506-X, ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the ASA console port.

Step 2 Power off the ASA, then power it on.
Step 3 After startup, press the Escape key when you are prompted to enter ROMMON mode.
Step 4 To update the configuration register value, enter the following command:

rommon #1> confreg 0x41

You must reset or power cycle for new config to take effect

The ASA displays the current configuration register value and a list of configuration options. Record the
current configuration register value, so you can restore it later.

Configuration Register: 0x00000041

Configuration Summary
[ 0 ] password recovery
[ 1 ] display break prompt
[ 2 ] ignore system configuration
[ 3 ] auto-boot image in disks
[ 4 ] console baud: 9600
boot: ...... auto-boot index 1 image in disks

Step 5 Reload the ASA by entering the following command:

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rommon #2> boot

Launching BootLoader...
Boot configuration file contains 1 entry.

Loading disk0:/asa932-226-k8.bin... Booting...Loading...

The ASA loads the default configuration instead of the startup configuration.

Step 6 Access the privileged EXEC mode by entering the following command:

ciscoasa# enable

Step 7 When prompted for the password, press Enter.

The password is blank.

Step 8 Load the startup configuration by entering the following command:

ciscoasa# copy startup-config running-config

Step 9 Access the global configuration mode by entering the following command:

ciscoasa# configure terminal

Step 10 Change the passwords, as required, in the default configuration by entering the following commands:

ciscoasa(config)# password password

ciscoasa(config)# enable password password
ciscoasa(config)# username name password password

Step 11 Load the default configuration by entering the following command:

ciscoasa(config)# no config-register

The default configuration register value is 0x1. See the command reference for more information about the
configuration register.

Step 12 Save the new passwords to the startup configuration by entering the following command:

ciscoasa(config)# copy running-config startup-config

Recover Passwords or Images on the ASAv

To recover passwords or images on the ASAv, perform the following steps:

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Procedure

Step 1 Copy the running configuration to a backup file on the ASAv:

copy running-config filename
Example:

ciscoasa# copy running-config backup.cfg

Step 2 Restart the ASAv:

reload

Step 3 From the GNU GRUB menu, press the down arrow, choose the <filename> with no configuration load
option, then press Enter. The filename is the default boot image filename on the ASAv. The default boot
image is never automatically booted through the fallback command. Then load the selected boot image.

GNU GRUB version 2.0(12)4

bootflash:/asa100123-20-smp-k8.bin
bootflash: /asa100123-20-smp-k8.bin with no configuration load

Example:

GNU GRUB version 2.0(12)4

bootflash: /asa100123-20-smp-k8.bin with no configuration load

Step 4 Copy the backup configuration file to the running configuration.

copy filename running-config
Example:

ciscoasa (config)# copy backup.cfg running-config

Step 5 Reset the password.

enable password password
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# enable password cisco123

Step 6 Save the new configuration.

write memory
Example:

ciscoasa(config)# write memory

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Disable Password Recovery for ASA Hardware

Disable Password Recovery for ASA Hardware

Note You cannot disable password recovery on the ASAv or Firepower models.

To disable password recovery to ensure that unauthorized users cannot use the password recovery mechanism
to compromise the ASA, perform the following steps.

Before you begin

On the ASA, the no service password-recovery command prevents you from entering ROMMON mode
with the configuration intact. When you enter ROMMON mode, the ASA prompts you to erase all Flash file
systems. You cannot enter ROMMON mode without first performing this erasure. If you choose not to erase
the Flash file system, the ASA reloads. Because password recovery depends on using ROMMON mode and
maintaining the existing configuration, this erasure prevents you from recovering a password. However,
disabling password recovery prevents unauthorized users from viewing the configuration or inserting different
passwords. In this case, to restore the system to an operating state, load a new image and a backup configuration
file, if available.
The service password-recovery command appears in the configuration file for information only. When you
enter the command at the CLI prompt, the setting is saved in NVRAM. The only way to change the setting
is to enter the command at the CLI prompt. Loading a new configuration with a different version of the
command does not change the setting. If you disable password recovery when the ASA is configured to ignore
the startup configuration at startup (in preparation for password recovery), then the ASA changes the setting
to load the startup configuration as usual. If you use failover, and the standby unit is configured to ignore the
startup configuration, then the same change is made to the configuration register when the no service password-
recovery command replicates to the standby unit.

Procedure

Disable password recovery.

no service password-recovery
Example:

ciscoasa (config)# no service password-recovery

Configure and Run Captures with the Packet Capture Wizard

You can use the Packet Capture Wizard to configure and run captures for troubleshooting errors. The captures
can use ACLs to limit the type of traffic captured, the source and destination addresses and ports, and one or
more interfaces. The wizard runs one capture on each of the ingress and egress interfaces. You can save the
captures on your PC to examine them in a packet analyzer.

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Configure and Run Captures with the Packet Capture Wizard

Note This tool does not support clientless SSL VPN capture.

To configure and run captures, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Wizards > Packet Capture Wizard.

The Overview of Packet Capture screen appears, with a list of the tasks through which the wizard will guide
you to complete. Those tasks include the following:
• Selecting an ingress interface.
• Selecting an egress interface.
• Setting the buffer parameters.
• Running the captures.
• Saving the captures to your PC (optional).

Step 2 Click Next.

In a clustering environment, the Cluster Option screen appears. Go to Step 3.
In a non-clustering environment, the Ingress Traffic Selector screen appears. Go to Step 4.

Step 3 Choose one of the following options in the Cluster Option screen for running a capture: This device only
or The whole cluster, then click Next to display the Ingress Selector screen.
Step 4 Click the Select Interface radio button to capture packets on an interface.
In a clustering environment, to capture only the cluster control plane packets, select the CP-Cluster check
box.

Step 5 Click the Use backplane channel radio button to capture packets on the ASA CX dataplane.
Step 6 Do one of the following in the Packet Match Criteria area:
• Click the Specify access-list radio button to specify the ACL to use for matching packets, then choose
the ACL from the Select ACL drop-down list. Click Manage to display the ACL Manager pane to add
a previously configured ACL to the current drop-down list. Choose an ACL, then click OK.
• Click the Specify Packet Parameters radio button to specify packets parameters.

a) Do one of the following in the ICMP Capture drop-down list:

Note The ICMP Capture field is populated only when you select The whole cluster as the cluster option
in the previous window.
• Select include-decrypted to capture decrypted IPsec packets which contain both normal and decrypted
traffic once they enter the firewall device.
• Select persist to capture persistent packets on cluter units.

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Configure and Run Captures with the Packet Capture Wizard

Step 7 To continue, see Ingress Traffic Selector, on page 1010.

Step 8 Click Next to display the Egress Traffic Selector screen.
Step 9 Click the Select Interface radio button to capture packets on an interface.
In a clustering environment, to capture the cluster control plane packets, select the CP-Cluster check box.
Note To know more details on the Egress Traffic Selector fields, see Egress Traffic Selector, on page
1010.

To know more details on the Egress Traffic Selector fields, see Egress Traffic Selector, on page 1010.

Step 10 Click Next to display the Buffers & Captures screen. To continue, see Buffers, page 34-8.
Step 11 Check the Get capture every 10 seconds check box in the Capture Parameters area to obtain the latest
capture every 10 seconds automatically. By default, this capture uses the circular buffer.
Step 12 You specify the buffer size and packet size in the Buffer Parameters area. The buffer size is the maximum
amount of memory that the capture can use to store packets. The packet size is the longest packet that the
capture can hold. We recommend that you use the longest packet size to capture as much information as
possible.
a) Enter the packet size. The valid size ranges from 14 - 1522 bytes.
b) Enter the buffer size. The valid size ranges from 1534 - 33554432 bytes.
c) Check the Use circular buffer check box to store captured packets.
Note When you choose this setting, if all the buffer storage is used, the capture starts overwriting the
oldest packets.

Step 13 Click Next to display the Summary screen, which shows the cluster options for all units in the cluster (if you
are using clustering), traffic selectors, and buffer parameters that you have entered. To continue, see Summary,
page 34-8.
Step 14 Click Next to display the Run Captures screen, then click Start to begin capturing packets. Click Stop to
end the capture. To continue, see Run Captures, on page 1011. If you are using clustering, go to Step 14.
Step 15 Click Get Capture Buffer to determine how much buffer space you have remaining. Click Clear Buffer on
Device to remove the current content and allow room in the buffer to capture more packets.
Step 16 In a clustering environment, on the Run Captures screen, perform one or more of the following steps:
• Click Get Cluster Capture Summary to view a summary of packet capture information for all units in
the cluster, followed by packet capture information for each unit.
• Click Get Capture Buffer to determine how much buffer space you have remaining in each unit of the
cluster. The Capture Buffer from Device dialog box appears.
• Click Clear Capture Buffer to remove the current content for one or all of the units in a cluster and
allow room in the buffer to capture more packets.

Step 17 Click Save captures to display the Save Capture dialog box. You have the option of saving either the ingress
capture, the egress capture, or both. To continue, see Save Captures, page 34-9.
Step 18 Click Save Ingress Capture to display the Save capture file dialog box. Specify the storage location on your
PC, then click Save.
Step 19 Click Launch Network Sniffer Application to start the packet analysis application specified in Tools >
Preferences for analyzing the ingress capture.

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Guidelines for Packet Capture

Step 20 Click Save Egress Capture to display the Save capture file dialog box. Specify the storage location on your
PC, then click Save.
Step 21 Click Launch Network Sniffer Application to start the packet analysis application specified in Tools >
Preferences for analyzing the egress capture.
Step 22 Click Close, then click Finish to exit the wizard.

Guidelines for Packet Capture

Context Mode
• You can configure captures on the cluster control link within a context; only the packet that is associated
with the context sent in the cluster control link is captured.
• You can only configure one capture for a shared VLAN; if you configure a capture in multiple contexts
on the shared VLAN, then only the last capture that was configured is used.
• If you remove the last-configured (active) capture, no captures become active, even if you have previously
configured a capture in another context; you must remove the capture and add it again to make it active.
• All traffic that enters the interface to which the capture is attached is captured, including traffic to other
contexts on the shared VLAN. Therefore, if you enable a capture in Context A for a VLAN that is also
used by Context B, both Context A and Context B ingress traffic are captured.
• For egress traffic, only the traffic of the context with the active capture is captured. The only exception
is when you do not enable the ICMP inspection (therefore the ICMP traffic does not have a session in
the accelerated path). In this case, both ingress and egress ICMP traffic for all contexts on the shared
VLAN is captured.

Additional Guidelines
• If the ASA receives packets with an incorrectly formatted TCP header and drops them because of the
invalid-tcp-hdr-length ASP drop reason, the show capture command output on the interface where those
packets are received does not show those packets.
• You can only capture IP traffic; you cannot capture non-IP packets such as ARPs.
• For inline SGT tagged packets, captured packets contain an additional CMD header that your PCAP
viewer might not understand.
• Packet captures include packets that the system modifies or injects into the connection due to inspection,
NAT, TCP normalization, or other features that adjust the content of a packet.
• The trace of the lifespan of an injected virtual packet in a datapath does not exactly reflect how the
datapath handles the physical packets. This difference depends on the software version, configuration,
and type of the injected virtual packets. Following are configuration settings that might lead to the
disparity:
• at least 2 NAT statements for the same host exist.
• forward and reverse flows of a connection having different protocols. For example, forward flow
is UDP or TCP, reverse flow is ICMP.

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Ingress Traffic Selector

• ICMP error inspection being enabled.

Ingress Traffic Selector

To configure the ingress interface, source and destination hosts or networks, and the protocol for packet
capture, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the ingress interface name from the drop-down list.
Step 2 Enter the ingress source host and network. Click the Use backplane channel radio button to capture packets
on the ASA CX dataplane.
Step 3 Enter the ingress destination host and network.
Step 4 Enter the protocol type to capture. Available protocols are ah, eigrp, esp, gre, icmp, icmp6, igmp, igrp, ip,
ipinip, nos, ospf, pcp, pim, snp, tcp, or udp.
a) Enter the ICMP type for ICMP only. Available types include all, alternate address, conversion-error, echo,
echo-reply, information-reply, information-request, mask-reply, mask-request, mobile-redirect,
parameter-problem, redirect, router-advertisement, router-solicitation, source-quench, time-exceeded,
timestamp-reply, timestamp-request, traceroute, or unreachable.
b) Specify the source and destination port services for the TCP and UDP protocols only. Available options
include the following:
• Choose All Services to include all services.
• Choose Service Groups to include a service group.
To include a specific service, choose one of the following: aol, bgp, chargen, cifx, citrix-ica, ctiqbe,
daytime, discard, domain, echo, exec, finger, ftp, ftp-data, gopher, h323, hostname, http, https, ident,
imap4, irc, kerberos, klogin, kshell, ldap, ldaps, login, lotusnotes, lpd, netbios-ssn, nntp,
pcanywhere-data, pim-auto-rp, pop2, pop3, pptp, rsh, rtsp, sip, smtp, sqlnet, ssh, sunrpc, tacacs, talk,
telnet, uucp, or whois.

Step 5 Check the SGT number check box in the Security Group Tagging area and enter the security group tag
number to enable packet capture for the Cisco TrustSec service. Valid security group tag numbers range from
2 - 65519.

Egress Traffic Selector

To configure the egress interface, source and destination hosts/networks, and source and destination port
services for packet capture, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click the Select Interface radio button to capture packets on an interface. Click the Use backplane channel
radio button to capture packets on the ASA CX dataplane.

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Buffers

Step 2 Choose the egress interface name from the drop-down list.
Step 3 Enter the egress source host and network.
Step 4 Enter the egress destination host and network.
The protocol type selected during the ingress configuration is already listed.

Buffers
To configure the packet size, buffer size, and use of the circular buffer for packet capture, perform the following
steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Enter the longest packet that the capture can hold. Use the longest size available to capture as much information
as possible.
Step 2 Enter the maximum amount of memory that the capture can use to store packets.
Step 3 Use the circular buffer to store packets. When the circular buffer has used all of the buffer storage, the capture
will overwrite the oldest packets first.

Summary
The Summary screen shows the cluster options (if you are using clustering), traffic selectors, and the buffer
parameters for the packet capture selected in the previous wizard screens.

Run Captures
To start and stop the capture session, view the capture buffer, launch a network analyzer application, save
packet captures, and clear the buffer, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click Start to begin the packet capture session on a selected interface.
Step 2 Click Stop to stop the packet capture session on a selected interface.
Step 3 Click Get Capture Buffer to obtain a snapshot of the captured packets on the interface.
Step 4 Click Ingress to show the capture buffer on the ingress interface.
Step 5 Click Egress to show the capture buffer on the egress interface.
Step 6 Click Clear Buffer on Device to clear the buffer on the device.
Step 7 Click Launch Network Sniffer Application to start the packet analysis application for analyzing the ingress
capture or the egress capture specified in Tools > Preferences.
Step 8 Click Save Captures to save the ingress and egress captures in either ASCII or PCAP format.

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Save Captures

Save Captures
To save the ingress and egress packet captures to ASCII or PCAP file format for further packet analysis,
perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Click ASCII to save the capture buffer in ASCII format.

Step 2 Click PCAP to save the capture buffer in PCAP format.
Step 3 Click Save ingress capture to specify a file in which to save the ingress packet capture.
Step 4 Click Save egress capture to specify a file in which to save the egress packet capture.

vCPU Usage in the ASAv

The ASAv vCPU usage shows the amount of vCPUs used for the data path, control point, and external
processes.
The vSphere reported vCPU usage includes the ASAv usage as described plus:
• ASAv idle time
• %SYS overhead used for the ASAv VM
• Overhead of moving packets between vSwitches, vNICs, and pNICs. This overhead can be quite
significant.

CPU Usage Example

The following is an example in which the reported vCPU usage is substantially different:
• ASAv reports: 40%
• DP: 35%
• External Processes: 5%
• vSphere reports: 95%
• ASA (as ASAv reports): 40%
• ASA idle polling: 10%
• Overhead: 45%

The overhead is used to perform hypervisor functions and to move packets between NICs and vNICs using
the vSwitch.
Usage can exceed 100% because the ESXi server can use additional compute resources for overhead on behalf
of the ASAv.

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VMware CPU Usage Reporting

VMware CPU Usage Reporting

In vSphere, click the VM Performance tab, then click Advanced to display the Chart Options drop-down
list, which shows vCPU usage for each state (%USER, %IDLE, %SYS, and so on) of the VM. This information
is useful for understanding VMware’s perspective on where CPU resources are being used.
On the ESXi server shell (you access the shell by using SSH to connect to the host), esxtop is available. Esxtop
has a similar look and feel to the Linux top command and provides VM state information for vSphere
performance, including the following:
• Details on vCPU, memory, and network usage
• vCPU usage for each state of each VM.
• Memory (type M while running) and network (type N while running), as well as statistics and the number
of RX drops

ASAv and vCenter Graphs

There are differences in the CPU % numbers between the ASAv and vCenter:
• The vCenter graph numbers are always higher than the ASAv numbers.
• vCenter calls it %CPU usage; the ASAv calls it %CPU utilization.

The terms “%CPU utilization” and “%CPU usage” mean different things:
• CPU utilization provides statistics for physical CPUs.
• CPU usage provides statistics for logical CPUs, which is based on CPU hyperthreading. But because
only one vCPU is used, hyperthreading is not turned on.

vCenter calculates the CPU % usage as follows:

Amount of actively used virtual CPUs, specified as a percentage of the total available CPUs
This calculation is the host view of the CPU usage, not the guest operating system view, and is the average
CPU utilization over all available virtual CPUs in the virtual machine.
For example, if a virtual machine with one virtual CPU is running on a host that has four physical CPUs and
the CPU usage is 100%, the virtual machine is using one physical CPU completely. The virtual CPU usage
calculation is Usage in MHz / number of virtual CPUs x core frequency
When you compare the usage in MHz, both the vCenter and ASAv numbers match. According to the vCenter
graph, MHz % CPU usage is calculated as 60/(2499 x 1 vCPU) = 2.4

Test Your Configuration

This section describes how to test connectivity for the single mode ASA or for each security context, how to
ping the ASA interfaces, and how to allow hosts on one interface to ping through to hosts on another interface.

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Test Basic Connectivity: Pinging Addresses

Test Basic Connectivity: Pinging Addresses

Ping is a simple command that lets you determine if a particular address is alive and responsive. The following
topics explain more about the command and what types of testing you can accomplish with it.

What You Can Test Using Ping

When you ping a device, a packet is sent to the device and the device returns a reply. This process enables
network devices to discover, identify, and test each other.
You can use ping to do the following tests:
• Loopback testing of two interfaces—You can initiate a ping from one interface to another on the same
ASA, as an external loopback test to verify basic “up” status and operation of each interface.
• Pinging to an ASA—You can ping an interface on another ASA to verify that it is up and responding.
• Pinging through an ASA—You can ping through an intermediate ASA by pinging a device on the other
side of the ASA. The packets will pass through two of the intermediate ASA’s interfaces as they go in
each direction. This action performs a basic test of the interfaces, operation, and response time of the
intermediate unit.
• Pinging to test questionable operation of a network device—You can ping from an ASA interface to a
network device that you suspect is functioning incorrectly. If the interface is configured correctly and
an echo is not received, there might be problems with the device.
• Pinging to test intermediate communications—You can ping from an ASA interface to a network device
that is known to be functioning correctly. If the echo is received, the correct operation of any intermediate
devices and physical connectivity is confirmed.

Choosing Between ICMP and TCP Ping

The ASA includes the traditional ping, which sends ICMP Echo Request packets and gets Echo Reply packets
in return. This is the standard tool and works well if all intervening network devices allow ICMP traffic. With
ICMP ping, you can ping IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, or host names.
However, some networks prohibit ICMP. If this is true of your network, you can instead use TCP ping to test
network connectivity. With TCP ping, the ping sends TCP SYN packets, and considers the ping a success if
it receives a SYN-ACK in response. With TCP ping, you can ping IPv4 addresses or host names, but you
cannot ping IPv6 addresses.
Keep in mind that a successful ICMP or TCP ping simply means that the address you are using is alive and
responding to that specific type of traffic. This means that basic connectivity is working. Other policies running
on a device could prevent specific types of traffic from successfully getting through a device.

Enable ICMP
By default, you can ping from a high security interface to a low security interface. You just need to enable
ICMP inspection to allow returning traffic through. If you want to ping from low to high, then you need to
apply an ACL to allow traffic.
When pinging an ASA interface, any ICMP rules applied to the interface must allow Echo Request and Echo
Response packets. ICMP rules are optional: if you do not configure them, all ICMP traffic to an interface is
allowed.

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Ping Hosts

This procedure explains all of ICMP configuration you might need to complete to enable ICMP pinging of
ASA interfaces, or for pinging through an ASA.

Procedure

Step 1 Ensure ICMP rules allow Echo Request/Echo Response.

ICMP rules are optional and apply to ICMP packets sent directly to an interface. If you do not apply ICMP
rules, all ICMP access is allowed. In this case, no action is required.
However, if you do implement ICMP rules, ensure that you include rules that permit any address for the Echo
and Echo-Reply messages on each interface. Configure ICMP rules on the Configuration > Device
Management > Management Access > ICMP pane.

Step 2 Ensure access rules allow ICMP.

When pinging a host through an ASA, access rules must allow ICMP traffic to leave and return. The access
rule must at least allow Echo Request/Echo Reply ICMP packets. You can add these rules as global rules.
If you do not have access rules, you will need to also allow the other type of traffic you want, because applying
any access rules to an interface adds an implicit deny, so all other traffic will be dropped.
Configure access rules on the Configuration > Firewall > Access Rules pane. If you are simply adding the
rules for testing purposes, you can delete them after completing the tests.

Step 3 Enable ICMP inspection.

ICMP inspection is needed when pinging through the ASA, as opposed to pinging an interface. Inspection
allows returning traffic (that is, the Echo Reply packet) to return to the host that initiated the ping, and also
ensures there is one response per packet, which prevents certain types of attack.
You can simply enable ICMP inspection in the default global inspection policy.
a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules.
b) Edit the inspection_default global rule.
c) On the Rule Actions > Protocol Inspection tab, select ICMP.
d) Click OK, then Apply.

Ping Hosts
To ping any device, you simply choose Tools > Ping, enter the IP address or host name of the destination
you are pinging, and click Ping. For TCP ping, you select TCP and also include the destination port. That is
usually the extent of any test you need to run.
Example output for a successful ping:

Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to out-pc, timeout is 2 seconds:

!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/1/1 ms

If the ping fails, the output indicates ? for each failed attempt, and the success rate is less than 100 percent
(complete failure is 0 percent):

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Test ASA Connectivity Systematically

Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.132.80.101, timeout is 2 seconds:

?????
Success rate is 0 percent (0/5)

However, you can also add parameters to control some aspects of the ping. Following are your basic options:
• ICMP ping—You can select the interface through which the destination host is connected. If you do not
select an interface, the routing table is used to determine the correct interface. You can ping IPv4 or IPv6
addresses or host names.
• TCP ping—You must also select the TCP port for the destination you are pinging. For example,
www.example.com 80 to ping the HTTP port. You can ping IPv4 addresses or host names, but not IPv6
addresses.
You also have the option to specify the source address and port that is sending the ping. In this case,
optionally select the interface through which the source sends the ping (the routing table is used when
you do not select an interface).
Finally, you can specify how often to repeat the ping (the default is 5 times) or the timeout for each
attempt (the default is 2 seconds).

Test ASA Connectivity Systematically

If you want to do a more systematic test of ASA connectivity, you can use the following general procedure.

Before you begin

If you want to see the syslog messages mentioned in the procedure, enable logging (the logging enable
command, or Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup in ASDM).

Procedure

Step 1 Draw a diagram of your single-mode ASA or security context that shows the interface names, security levels,
and IP addresses. The diagram should also include any directly connected routers and a host on the other side
of the router from which you will ping the ASA.

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Test ASA Connectivity Systematically

Figure 74: Network Diagram with Interfaces, Routers, and Hosts

Step 2 Ping each ASA interface from the directly connected routers. For transparent mode, ping the BVI IP address.
This test ensures that the ASA interfaces are active and that the interface configuration is correct.
A ping might fail if the ASA interface is not active, the interface configuration is incorrect, or if a switch
between the ASA and a router is down (see the following figure). In this case, no debugging messages or
syslog messages appear, because the packet never reaches the ASA.
Figure 75: Ping Failure at the ASA Interface

Figure 76: Ping Failure Because of IP Addressing Problems

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Trace Routes to Hosts

If the ping reply does not return to the router, then a switch loop or redundant IP addresses might exist (see
the following figure).

Step 3 Ping each ASA interface from a remote host. For transparent mode, ping the BVI IP address. This test checks
whether the directly connected router can route the packet between the host and the ASA, and whether the
ASA can correctly route the packet back to the host.
A ping might fail if the ASA does not have a return route to the host through the intermediate router (see the
following figure). In this case, the debugging messages show that the ping was successful, but syslog message
110001 appears, indicating a routing failure has occurred.
Figure 77: Ping Failure Because the ASA Has No Return Route

Step 4 Ping from an ASA interface to a network device that you know is functioning correctly.
• If the ping is not received, a problem with the transmitting hardware or interface configuration may exist.
• If the ASA interface is configured correctly and it does not receive an echo reply from the “known good”
device, problems with the interface hardware receiving function may exist. If a different interface with
“known good” receiving capability can receive an echo after pinging the same “known good” device,
the hardware receiving problem of the first interface is confirmed.

Step 5 Ping from the host or router through the source interface to another host or router on another interface. Repeat
this step for as many interface pairs as you want to check. If you use NAT, this test shows that NAT is operating
correctly.
If the ping succeeds, a syslog message appears to confirm the address translation for routed mode (305009
or 305011) and that an ICMP connection was established (302020). You can also enter either the show xlate
or show conns command to view this information.
The ping might fail because NAT is not configured correctly. In this case, a syslog message appears, showing
that the NAT failed (305005 or 305006). If the ping is from an outside host to an inside host, and you do not
have a static translation, you get message 106010.
Figure 78: Ping Failure Because the ASA is Not Translating Addresses

Trace Routes to Hosts

If you are having problems sending traffic to an IP address, you can trace the route to the host to determine
if there is a problem on the network path.

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Make the ASA Visible on Trace Routes

Procedure

Step 1 Make the ASA Visible on Trace Routes, on page 1019.

Step 2 Determine Packet Routes, on page 1019.

Make the ASA Visible on Trace Routes

By default, the ASA does not appear on traceroutes as a hop. To make it appear, you need to decrement the
time-to-live on packets that pass through the ASA, and increase the rate limit on ICMP unreachable messages.

Procedure

Step 1 Decrement the TTL using a service policy.

a) Choose Configuration > Firewall > Service Policy Rules.
b) Add or edit a rule. For example, if you already have a rule to which you can add the option to decrement
TTL, you do not need to create a new one.
c) Progress through the wizard to the Rule Actions page, applying the rule globally or to an interface, and
specifying the traffic match. For example, you could create a global match any rule.
d) On the Rule Actions page, click the Connection Settings tab, and select Decrement time to live for a
connection.
e) Click OK or Finish, then Apply.
Step 2 Increase the ICMP unreachable rate limit.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > ICMP.
b) Increase the IPv4 ICMP Unreachable Message Limits > Rate Limit value at the bottom of the page.
For example, increase it to 50.
c) Click Apply.

Determine Packet Routes

Use Traceroute to help you to determine the route that packets will take to their destination. A traceroute
works by sending UDP packets or ICMPv6 echo to a destination on an invalid port. Because the port is not
valid, the routers along the way to the destination respond with an ICMP or ICMPv6 Time Exceeded Message,
and report that error to the ASA.
The traceroute shows the result of each probe sent. Every line of output corresponds to a TTL value in increasing
order. The following table explains the output symbols.

Output Symbol Description

* No response was received for the probe within the

timeout period.

U No route to the destination.

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Output Symbol Description

nn msec For each node, the round-trip time (in milliseconds)

for the specified number of probes.

!N. ICMP network unreachable. For ICMPv6, address is

out of scope.

!H ICMP host unreachable.

!P ICMP unreachable. For ICMPv6, port not reachable.

!A ICMP administratively prohibited.

? Unknown ICMP error.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Traceroute.

Step 2 Enter the destination hostname or IP address to which you are tracing the route. Configure a DNS server to
use a host name.
Step 3 (Optional) Configure the characteristics of the trace. The defaults are appropriate in most cases.
• Timeout—How long to wait for a response before timing out. The default is 3 seconds.
• Port—The UDP port to use. The default is 33434.
• Probe—How many probes to send at each TTL level. The default is 3.
• TTL—The minimum and maximum time-to-live values for the probes. The minimum default is one, but
you can set it to a higher value to suppress the display of known hops. The maximum default is 30. The
traceroute terminates when the packet reaches the destination or when the maximum value is reached.
• Specify source interface or IP address—The interface to use as the source of the trace. You can specify
the interface by name or by IP address. For IPv6, you cannot specify the source interface; you can only
specify the source IP address. An IPv6 address is valid only if you enabled IPv6 on an ASA interface.In
transparent mode, you must use the management address.
• Reverse Resolve—Whether to have the output display the names of hops encountered if DNS name
resolution is configured. Deselect the option to show IP addresses only.
• Use ICMP—Whether to send ICMP probe packets instead of UDP probe packets.

Step 4 Click Trace Route to start the traceroute.

The Traceroute Output area displays detailed messages about the traceroute results.

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Using the Packet Tracer to Test Policy Configuration

Using the Packet Tracer to Test Policy Configuration

You can test your policy configuration by modeling a packet based on source and destination addressing and
protocol characteristics. The trace does policy lookup to test access rules, NAT, routing, and so forth, to see
if the packet would be permitted or denied.
By testing packets this way, you can see the results of your policies and test whether the types of traffic you
want to allow or deny are handled as desired. Besides verifying your configuration, you can use the tracer to
debug unexpected behavior, such as packets being denied when they should be allowed.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > Packet Tracer.

Step 2 Choose the source Interface for the packet trace.
Step 3 Specify the Packet Type for the packet trace. Available protocol types include: ICMP, IP, TCP, UDP, SCTP.
Step 4 (Optional.) If you want to trace a packet where the security group tag value is embedded in the Layer 2 CMD
header (Trustsec), check SGT number and enter the security group tag number, 0-65533.
Step 5 (Transparent mode) If you want the packet tracer to enter a parent interface, which is later redirected to a
subinterface, check VLAN ID and enter the ID, 1- 4096. VLAN ID is available only when the input interface
is not a subinterface.
Step 6 (Transparent mode) Specify the Destination MAC Address.
Step 7 Specify the source and destination for the packets.
You can specify IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, fully-qualified domain names (FQDN), or security group names or
tags if you use Cisco Trustsec. For the source address, you can also specify a username in the format
Domain\username.

Step 8 Specify the protocol characteristics:

• ICMP—Enter the ICMP type, ICMP code (0-255), and optionally, the ICMP identifier.
• TCP/UDP/SCTP—Enter the source and destination port numbers.
• Raw IP—Enter the protocol number, 0-255.

Step 9 Use packet tracer to debug packets across cluster units. From the Cluster Capture drop-down list, select:
a) decrypted—Injects a decrypted packet in a VPN tunnel and also simulates a packet that comes across a
VPN tunnel.
b) persist—Injects the packet you want to track across cluster units.
c) bypass-checks—Skips security checks like ACL, VPN filters, IPsec spoof, and uRPF.
d) transmit—Allows simulated packets to egress the ASA.
Step 10 Click Start to trace the packet.
The Information Display Area shows detailed messages about the results of the packet trace.

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Monitoring Performance and System Resources

Monitoring Performance and System Resources

You can monitor a variety of system resources to identify performance or other potential problems.

Monitoring Performance
You can view ASA performance information in a graphical or tabular format.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > Connection Graphs > Perfmon.
Step 2 You can give the graph window a title by entering it in Graph Window Title, or you can choose an existing
title.
Step 3 Select up to four entries from the Available Graphs list, then click Add to move them to the Selected Graphs
list. The available options are the following:
• AAA Perfmon—Requests per second for authentication, authorization, and accounting requests.
• Inspection Perfmon—Packets per second for HTTP, FTP, and TCP inspection.
• Web Perfmon—Requests per second for URL access and URL server requests.
• Connections Perfmon—Connections per second for all connections, UDP connections, TCP connections,
and TCP Intercept.
• Xlate Perfmon—NAT xlates per second.

Step 4 Click Show Graphs.

You can toggle each graph between graph and table views. You can also change how often the data refreshes,
and export or print the data.

Monitoring Memory Blocks

You can view free and used memory blocks information in a graphical or tabular format.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > System Resources Graphs > Blocks.
Step 2 You can give the graph window a title by entering it in Graph Window Title, or you can choose an existing
title.
Step 3 Select entries from the Available Graphs list, then click Add to move them to the Selected Graphs list. The
available options are the following:
• Blocks Used—Displays the ASA used memory blocks.

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Monitoring CPU

• Blocks Free—Displays the ASA free memory blocks.

Step 4 Click Show Graphs.

You can toggle each graph between graph and table views. You can also change how often the data refreshes,
and export or print the data.

Monitoring CPU
You can view CPU utilization.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > System Resources Graphs > CPU.
Step 2 You can give the graph window a title by entering it in Graph Window Title, or you can choose an existing
title.
Step 3 Add CPU Utilization to the Selected Graphs list.
Step 4 Click Show Graphs.
You can toggle the graph between graph and table views. You can also change how often the data refreshes,
and export or print the data.

Monitoring Memory
You can view memory utilization information in a graphical or tabular format.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > System Resources Graphs > Memory.
Step 2 You can give the graph window a title by entering it in Graph Window Title, or you can choose an existing
title.
Step 3 Select entries from the Available Graphs list, then click Add to move them to the Selected Graphs list. The
available options are the following:
• Free Memory—Displays the ASA free memory.
• Used Memory—Displays the ASA used memory.

Step 4 Click Show Graphs.

You can toggle each graph between graph and table views. You can also change how often the data refreshes,
and export or print the data.

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Monitoring Per-Process CPU Usage

Monitoring Per-Process CPU Usage

You can monitor the processes that run on the CPU. You can obtain information about the percentage of CPU
that is used by a certain process. CPU usage statistics are sorted in descending order to display the highest
consumer at the top. Also included is information about the load on the CPU per process, at 5 seconds, 1
minute, and 5 minutes before the log time. This information is updated automatically every 5 seconds to
provide real-time statistics. In ASDM, it is updated every 30 seconds.
To view CPU usage on a per-process basis, choose Monitoring > Properties > Per-Process CPU Usage.
You can stop the auto refresh, manually refresh the information, or save it to a file. You can also click
Configure CPU Usage Colors to chose background and foreground colors based on usage percentages, to
make it easier to scan for high-usage processes.

Monitoring Connections
To view current connections in a tabular format, in the ASDM main window, choose Monitoring > Properties
> Connections. Information for each connection includes the protocol, source and destination address
characteristics, idle time since the last packet was sent or received, and the amount of traffic in the connection.

History for Testing and Troubleshooting

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

IPv6 support for traceroute 9.7(1) The traceroute command was

modified to accept an IPv6 address.
We modified the following screen:
Tools > Traceroute

Support for the packet tracer for 9.7(1) You can now use the packet tracer
bridge group member interfaces for bridge group member interfaces.
We added VLAN ID and
Destination MAC Address fields
in the packet-tracer screen:Tools >
Packet Tracer

Manually start and stop packet 9.7(1) You can now manually stop and
captures start the capture.
Added/Modified screens:
Wizards > Packet Capture
Wizard > Run Captures
Added/Modified options: Start
button, Stop button

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History for Testing and Troubleshooting

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Enhanced packet tracer and packet 9.9(1) The packet tracer has been
capture capabilities enhanced with the following
features:
• Trace a packet when it passes
between cluster units.
• Allow simulated packets to
egress the ASA.
• Bypass security checks for a
similated packet.
• Treat a simulated packet as an
IPsec/SSL decrypted packet.

The packet capture has been

enhanced with the following
features:
• Capture packets after they are
decrypted.
• Capture traces and retain them
in the persistent list.

New or modified screens:

Tools > Packet Tracer
We added Cluster Capture field
to support these options:
decrypted, persist, bypass-checks,
transmit
We added two new options in the
Filter By view under the All
Sessions drop-down list: Origin
and Origin-ID
Monitoring > VPN > VPN
Statistics > Packet Tracer and
Capture
We added ICMP Capture field in
the Packet Capture Wizard
screen:Wizards > Packet Capture
Wizard
We added two options
include-decrypted and persist to
support ICMP Capture.

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History for Testing and Troubleshooting

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Packet capture support for 9.10(1) If you use the match keyword for
matching IPv6 traffic without using the capture command, the any
an ACL keyword only matches IPv4 traffic.
You can now specify any4 and
any6 keywords to capture either
IPv4 or IPv6 traffic. The any
keyword continues to match only
IPv4 traffic.
New/Modified commands: capture
match
No ASDM support.

New debug telemetry command 9.14(1) If you use the debug telemetry
for Forepower 9300/4100. command, debug messages related
to telemetry are displayed. The
debugs help to identify the cause
for errors when generating the
telemetry report.
No modified screens.

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Monitoring
• Logging, on page 1029
• SNMP, on page 1063
• Cisco Success Network and Telemetry Data, on page 1079
• Alarms for the Cisco ISA 3000, on page 1089
• Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home, on page 1095
 CHAPTER 46
Logging
This chapter describes how to log system messages and use them for troubleshooting.
• About Logging, on page 1029
• Guidelines for Logging, on page 1036
• Configure Logging, on page 1037
• Monitoring the Logs, on page 1055
• History for Logging, on page 1058

About Logging
System logging is a method of collecting messages from devices to a server running a syslog daemon. Logging
to a central syslog server helps in aggregation of logs and alerts. Cisco devices can send their log messages
to a UNIX-style syslog service. A syslog service accepts messages and stores them in files, or prints them
according to a simple configuration file. This form of logging provides protected long-term storage for logs.
Logs are useful both in routine troubleshooting and in incident handling.
The ASA system logs provide you with information for monitoring and troubleshooting the ASA. With the
logging feature, you can do the following:
• Specify which syslog messages should be logged.
• Disable or change the severity level of a syslog message.
• Specify one or more locations where syslog messages should be sent, including:
• An internal buffer
• One or more syslog servers
• ASDM
• An SNMP management station
• Specified e-mail addresses
• Console
• Telnet and SSH sessions.

• Configure and manage syslog messages in groups, such as by severity level or class of message.

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Logging in Multiple Context Mode

• Specify whether or not a rate-limit is applied to syslog generation.

• Specify what happens to the contents of the internal log buffer when it becomes full: overwrite the buffer,
send the buffer contents to an FTP server, or save the contents to internal flash memory.
• Filter syslog messages by locations, severity level, class, or a custom message list.

Logging in Multiple Context Mode

Each security context includes its own logging configuration and generates its own messages. If you log in
to the system or admin context, and then change to another context, messages you view in your session are
only those messages that are related to the current context.
Syslog messages that are generated in the system execution space, including failover messages, are viewed
in the admin context along with messages generated in the admin context. You cannot configure logging or
view any logging information in the system execution space.
You can configure the ASA to include the context name with each message, which helps you differentiate
context messages that are sent to a single syslog server. This feature also helps you to determine which
messages are from the admin context and which are from the system; messages that originate in the system
execution space use a device ID of system, and messages that originate in the admin context use the name of
the admin context as the device ID.

Syslog Message Analysis

The following are some examples of the type of information you can obtain from a review of various syslog
messages:
• Connections that are allowed by ASA security policies. These messages help you spot holes that remain
open in your security policies.
• Connections that are denied by ASA security policies. These messages show what types of activity are
being directed toward your secured inside network.
• Using the ACE deny rate logging feature shows attacks that are occurring on your ASA.
• IDS activity messages can show attacks that have occurred.
• User authentication and command usage provide an audit trail of security policy changes.
• Bandwidth usage messages show each connection that was built and torn down as well as the duration
and traffic volume used.
• Protocol usage messages show the protocols and port numbers used for each connection.
• Address translation audit trail messages record NAT or PAT connections being built or torn down, which
are useful if you receive a report of malicious activity coming from inside your network to the outside
world.

Syslog Message Format

Syslog messages begin with a percent sign (%) and are structured as follows:

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Severity Levels

%ASA Level Message_number: Message_text

Field descriptions are as follows:

ASA The syslog message facility code for messages that are generated by the ASA. This value
is always ASA.

Level 1 through 7. The level reflects the severity of the condition described by the syslog
message—the lower the number, the more severe the condition.

Message_number A unique six-digit number that identifies the syslog message.

Message_text A text string that describes the condition. This portion of the syslog message sometimes
includes IP addresses, port numbers, or usernames.

Severity Levels
The following table lists the syslog message severity levels. You can assign custom colors to each of the
severity levels to make it easier to distinguish them in the ASDM log viewers. To configure syslog message
color settings, either choose the Tools > Preferences > Syslog tab or, in the log viewer itself, click Color
Settings on the toolbar.

Table 57: Syslog Message Severity Levels

Level Number Severity Level Description

0 emergencies System is unusable.

1 alert Immediate action is needed.

2 critical Critical conditions.

3 error Error conditions.

4 warning Warning conditions.

5 notification Normal but significant conditions.

6 informational Informational messages only.

7 debugging Debugging messages only.

Note ASA does not generate syslog messages with a severity level of zero (emergencies).

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Syslog Message Filtering

Syslog Message Filtering

You can filter generated syslog messages so that only certain syslog messages are sent to a particular output
destination. For example, you could configure the ASA to send all syslog messages to one output destination
and to send a subset of those syslog messages to a different output destination.
Specifically, you can direct syslog messages to an output destination according to the following criteria:
• Syslog message ID number
• Syslog message severity level
• Syslog message class (equivalent to a functional area)

You customize these criteria by creating a message list that you can specify when you set the output destination.
Alternatively, you can configure the ASA to send a particular message class to each type of output destination
independently of the message list.

Syslog Message Classes

You can use syslog message classes in two ways:
• Specify an output location for an entire category of syslog messages.
• Create a message list that specifies the message class.

The syslog message class provides a method of categorizing syslog messages by type, equivalent to a feature
or function of the device. For example, the rip class denotes RIP routing.
All syslog messages in a particular class share the same initial three digits in their syslog message ID numbers.
For example, all syslog message IDs that begin with the digits 611 are associated with the vpnc (VPN client)
class. Syslog messages associated with the VPN client feature range from 611101 to 611323.
In addition, most of the ISAKMP syslog messages have a common set of prepended objects to help identify
the tunnel. These objects precede the descriptive text of a syslog message when available. If the object is not
known at the time that the syslog message is generated, the specific heading = value combination does not
appear.
The objects are prefixed as follows:
Group = groupname, Username = user, IP = IP_address
Where the group is the tunnel-group, the username is the username from the local database or AAA server,
and the IP address is the public IP address of the remote access client or Layer 2 peer.
The following table lists the message classes and the range of message IDs in each class.

Table 58: Syslog Message Classes and Associated Message ID Numbers

Class Definition Syslog Message ID Numbers

auth User Authentication 109, 113

— Access Lists 106

— Application Firewall 415

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Class Definition Syslog Message ID Numbers

bridge Transparent Firewall 110, 220

ca PKI Certification Authority 717

citrix Citrix Client 723

— Clustering 747

— Card Management 323

config Command Interface 111, 112, 208, 308

csd Secure Desktop 724

cts Cisco TrustSec 776

dap Dynamic Access Policies 734

eap, eapoudp EAP or EAPoUDP for Network Admission Control 333, 334

eigrp EIGRP Routing 336

email E-mail Proxy 719

— Environment Monitoring 735

ha Failover 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 210, 311, 709

— Identity-based Firewall 746

ids Intrusion Detection System 400, 733

— IKEv2 Toolkit 750, 751, 752

ip IP Stack 209, 215, 313, 317, 408

ipaa IP Address Assignment 735

ips Intrusion Protection System 400, 401, 420

— IPv6 325

— Botnet traffic filtering. 338

— Licensing 444

mdm-proxy MDM Proxy 802

nac Network Admission Control 731, 732

nacpolicy NAC Policy 731

nacsettings NAC Settings to apply NAC Policy 732

— Network Access Point 713

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Syslog Message Classes

Class Definition Syslog Message ID Numbers

np Network Processor 319

— NP SSL 725

ospf OSPF Routing 318, 409, 503, 613

— Password Encryption 742

— Phone Proxy 337

rip RIP Routing 107, 312

rm Resource Manager 321

— Smart Call Home 120

session User Session 106, 108, 201, 202, 204, 302, 303, 304,
305, 314, 405, 406, 407, 500, 502, 607,
608, 609, 616, 620, 703, 710

snmp SNMP 212

— ScanSafe 775

ssl SSL Stack 725

svc SSL VPN Client 722

sys System 199, 211, 214, 216, 306, 307, 315, 414,
604, 605, 606, 610, 612, 614, 615,701,
711, 741

— Threat Detection 733

tre Transactional Rule Engine 780

— UC-IME 339

tag-switching Service Tag Switching 779

vm VLAN Mapping 730

vpdn PPTP and L2TP Sessions 213, 403, 603

vpn IKE and IPsec 316, 320, 402, 404, 501, 602, 702, 713,
714, 715

vpnc VPN Client 611

vpnfo VPN Failover 720

vpnlb VPN Load Balancing 718

— VXLAN 778

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Sort Messages in the Log Viewers

Class Definition Syslog Message ID Numbers

webfo WebVPN Failover 721

webvpn WebVPN and AnyConnect Client 716

— NAT and PAT 305

Sort Messages in the Log Viewers

You can sort messages in all ASDM log viewers (that is, the Real-Time Log Viewer, the Log Buffer Viewer,
and the Latest ASDM Syslog Events Viewer). To sort tables by multiple columns, click the header of the first
column that you want to sort by, then press and hold down the Ctrl key and at the same time, click the headers
of the other column(s) that you want to include in the sort order. To sort messages chronologically, select
both the date and time columns; otherwise, the messages are sorted only by date (regardless of the time) or
only by time (regardless of the date).
When you sort messages in the Real-Time Log Viewer and in the Latest ASDM Syslog Events Viewer, the
new messages that come in appear in the sorted order, instead of at the top, as they normally would be. That
is, they are mixed in with the rest of the messages.

Custom Message Lists

Creating a custom message list is a flexible way to exercise control over which syslog messages are sent to
which output destination. In a custom syslog message list, you specify groups of syslog messages using any
or all of the following criteria:
• Severity level
• Message IDs
• Ranges of syslog message IDs
• Message class.

For example, you can use message lists to do the following:

• Select syslog messages with the severity levels of 1 and 2 and send them to one or more e-mail addresses.
• Select all syslog messages associated with a message class (such as ha) and save them to the internal
buffer.

A message list can include multiple criteria for selecting messages. However, you must add each message
selection criterion with a new command entry. It is possible to create a message list that includes overlapping
message selection criteria. If two criteria in a message list select the same message, the message is logged
only once.

Clustering
Syslog messages are an invaluable tool for accounting, monitoring, and troubleshooting in a clustering
environment. Each ASA unit in the cluster (up to eight units are allowed) generates syslog messages
independently; certain logging commands then enable you to control header fields, which include a time

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Guidelines for Logging

stamp and device ID. The syslog server uses the device ID to identify the syslog generator. You can use the
logging device-id command to generate syslog messages with identical or different device IDs to make
messages appear to come from the same or different units in the cluster.

Note To monitor syslog messages from units in a cluster, you must open an ASDM session to each of the units that
you want to monitor.

Guidelines for Logging

This section includes guidelines and limitations that you should review before configuring logging.

IPv6 Guidelines
• IPv6 is supported. Syslogs can be sent using TCP or UDP.
• Ensure that the interface configured for sending syslogs is enabled, IPv6 capable, and the syslog server
is reachable through the designated interface.
• Secure logging over IPv6 is not supported.

Additional Guidelines
• The syslog server must run a server program called syslogd. Windows provides a syslog server as part
of its operating system.
• To view logs generated by the ASA, you must specify a logging output destination. If you enable logging
without specifying a logging output destination, the ASA generates messages but does not save them to
a location from which you can view them. You must specify each different logging output destination
separately. For example, to designate more than one syslog server as an output destination, specify
separate entries in the Syslog Server pane for each syslog server.
• Sending syslogs over TCP is not supported on a standby device.
• It is not possible to have two different lists or classes being assigned to different syslog servers or same
locations.
• You can configure up to 16 syslog servers. However, in multiple context mode, the limitation is 4 servers
per context.
• The syslog server should be reachable through the ASA. You should configure the device to deny ICMP
unreachable messages on the interface through which the syslog server is reachable and to send syslogs
to the same server. Make sure that you have enabled logging for all severity levels. To prevent the syslog
server from crashing, suppress the generation of syslogs 313001, 313004, and 313005.
• The number of UDP connections for syslog is directly related to the number of CPUs on the hardware
platform and the number of syslog servers you configure. At any point in time, there can be as many
UDP syslog connections as there are CPUs times the number of configured syslog servers. For example,
for each syslog server:
• A Firepower 4110 can have up to 22 UDP syslog connections.

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Configure Logging

• A Firepower 4120 can have up to 46 UDP syslog connections.

This is the expected behavior. Note that the global UDP connection idle timeout applies to these sessions,
and the default is 2 minutes. You can adjust that setting if you want to close these session more quickly,
but the timeout applies to all UDP connections, not just syslog.
• When you use a custom message list to match only access list hits, the access list logs are not generated
for access lists that have had their logging severity level increased to debugging (level 7). The default
logging severity level is set to 6 for the logging list command. This default behavior is by design. When
you explicitly change the logging severity level of the access list configuration to debugging, you must
also change the logging configuration itself.
The following is sample output from the show running-config logging command that does not include
access list hits, because their logging severity level has been changed to debugging:

ciscoasa# show running-config logging

logging enable
logging timestamp
logging list test message 106100
logging buffered test

The following is sample output from the show running-config logging command that does include
access list hits:

ciscoasa# show running-config logging

logging enable
logging timestamp
logging buffered debugging

In this case, the access list configuration does not change and the number of access list hits appears, as
shown in the following example:

ciscoasa(config)# access-list global line 1 extended

permit icmp any host 4.2.2.2 log debugging interval 1 (hitcnt=7) 0xf36b5386
ciscoasa(config)# access-list global line 2 extended
permit tcp host 10.1.1.2 any eq www log informational interval 1 (hitcnt=18) 0xe7e7c3b8
ciscoasa(config)# access-list global line 3 extended
permit ip any any (hitcnt=543) 0x25f9e609

• When the ASA sends syslogs via TCP, the connection takes about one minute to initiate after the syslogd
service restarts.
• The server certificate received from a Syslog Server must contain "ServAuth" in the Extended Key Usage
field. This check will be done on non self-signed certificates only, self-signed certificates do not provide
any value in this field.

Configure Logging
This section describes how to configure logging.

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Enable Logging

Enable Logging
To enable logging, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 In ASDM, choose one of the following:

• Home > Latest ASDM Syslog Messages > Enable Logging
• Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup
• Monitoring > Real-Time Log Viewer > Enable Logging
• Monitoring > Log Buffer > Enable Logging

Step 2 Check the Enable logging check box to turn on logging.

Configure an Output Destination

To optimize syslog message usage for troubleshooting and performance monitoring, we recommend that you
specify one or more locations where syslog messages should be sent, including an internal log buffer, one or
more external syslog servers, ASDM, an SNMP management station, the console port, specified e-mail
addresses, or Telnet and SSH sessions.
When you configure syslog logging on an interface with management-only access enabled, the dataplane
related logs (syslog IDs 302015, 302014, 106023, and 304001) are dropped and does not reach the syslog
server. The syslog messages are dropped because the datapath routing table does not have the management
interface routing. Hence, ensure the interface that you are configuring has management-only access disabled

Send Syslog Messages to an External Syslog Server

You can archive messages according to the available disk space on the external syslog server, and manipulate
logging data after it is saved. For example, you could specify actions to be executed when certain types of
syslog messages are logged, extract data from the log and save the records to another file for reporting, or
track statistics using a site-specific script.
To send syslog messages to an external syslog server, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup.
Step 2 Check the Enable logging check box to turn on logging for the ASA.
Step 3 Check the Enable logging on the failover standby unit check box to turn on logging for the standby ASA,
if available.
Step 4 Check the Send debug messages as syslogs check box to redirect all debugging trace output to system logs.
The syslog message does not appear on the console if this option is enabled. Therefore, to view debugging
messages, you must have logging enabled at the console and have it configured as the destination for the

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Configure FTP Settings

debugging syslog message number and severity level. The syslog message number to use is 711001. The
default severity level for this syslog message is debugging.
Step 5 Check the Send syslogs in EMBLEM format check box to enable EMBLEM format so that it is used for all
logging destinations, except syslog servers.
Step 6 Specify the size of the internal log buffer to which syslog messages are saved if the logging buffer is enabled.
When the buffer fills up, messages are overwritten unless you save the logs to an FTP server or to internal
flash memory. The default buffer size is 4096 bytes. The range is 4096 to 1048576.
Step 7 To save the buffer content to the FTP server before it is overwritten, check the Save Buffer To FTP Server
check box. To allow overwriting of the buffer content, uncheck this check box.
Step 8 Click Configure FTP Settings to identify the FTP server and configure the FTP parameters used to save the
buffer content.
Step 9 Check the Save Buffer To Flash check box To save the buffer content to internal flash memory before it is
overwritten.
Note This option is only available in routed or transparent single mode.

Step 10 Click Configure Flash Usage to specify the maximum space to be used in internal flash memory for logging
and the minimum free space to be preserved (in KB). Enabling this option creates a directory called “syslog”
on the device disk on which messages are stored.
Note This option is only available in single routed or transparent mode.

Step 11 Specify the queue size for system logs that are to be viewed in the ASA.

Configure FTP Settings

To specify the configuration for the FTP server that is used to save the log buffer content, perform the following
steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Check the Enable FTP client check box to enable configuration of the FTP client.
Step 2 Specify the IP address of the FTP server.
Step 3 Specify the directory path on the FTP server to store the saved log buffer content.
Step 4 Specify the username to log in to the FTP server.
Step 5 Specify the password associated with the username to log in to the FTP server.
Step 6 Confirm the password, then click OK.

Configure Logging Flash Usage

To specify the limits for saving the log buffer content to internal flash memory, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Specify the maximum amount of internal flash memory that can be used for logging (in KB).

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Enable Secure Logging

Step 2 Specify the amount of internal flash memory that is preserved (in KB). When the internal flash memory
approaches that limit, new logs are no longer saved.
Step 3 Click OK to close the Configure Logging Flash Usage dialog box.

Enable Secure Logging

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Server.
Step 2 Select a syslog server for which you want to enable secure logging, then click Edit.
The Edit Syslog Server dialog box appears.

Step 3 Click the TCP radio button.

Secure logging does not support UDP; an error occurs if you try to use this protocol.

Step 4 Check the Enable secure syslog with SSL/TLS check box, then click OK.
Step 5 (Optional) Specify a Reference Identity object by name to enable RFC 6125 reference identity checks on
the certificate received from the Syslog server.
See Configure Reference Identities, on page 644 for details on the reference identity object.

Generate Syslog Messages in EMBLEM Format to a Syslog Server

To generate syslog messages in EMBLEM format to a syslog server, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Server.
Sending syslogs over IPv6 is supported.

Step 2 Click Add to add a new syslog server.

The Add Syslog Server dialog box appears.
Note You can set up a maximum of four syslog servers per security context (up to a total of 16).

Step 3 Specify the number of messages that are allowed to be queued on the ASA when a syslog server is busy. A
zero value means an unlimited number of messages may be queued.
Step 4 Check the Allow user traffic to pass when TCP syslog server is down check box to allow all traffic if any
syslog server is down.
When the ASA is configured to send syslog messages to a TCP-connected syslog server, and if the syslog
server fails, as a security protection, new connections through the ASA are blocked. To permit new connections,
even when the syslog server is not operational, select this check box.

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Generate Syslog Messages in EMBLEM Format to Other Output Destinations

If you specify UDP, the ASA continues to allow new connections whether or not the syslog server is operational.
Valid port values for either protocol are 1025 through 65535. The default UDP port is 514. The default TCP
port is 1470.
Note Sending syslogs over TCP is not supported on a standby ASA.

Generate Syslog Messages in EMBLEM Format to Other Output Destinations

To generate syslog messages in EMBLEM format to other output destinations, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup.
Step 2 Check the Send syslogs in EMBLEM format check box.

Add or Edit Syslog Server Settings

To add or edit syslog server settings, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the interface used to communicate with the syslog server from the drop-down list.
Step 2 Enter the IP address that is used to communicate with the syslog server.
Choose the protocol (either TCP or UDP) that is used by the syslog server to communicate with the ASA or
ASASM. You can configure the ASA and ASASM to send data to a syslog server using either UDP or TCP.
The default protocol is UDP if you do not specify a protocol.
Warning If you specify TCP, when the ASA discovers syslog server failures, for security reasons, new
connections through the ASA are blocked. To permit new connections despite syslog server failures,
see Step 4 of Generate Syslog Messages in EMBLEM Format to a Syslog Server, on page 1040.

Step 3 Enter the port number used by the syslog server to communicate with the ASA or ASASM.
Step 4 Check the Log messages in Cisco EMBLEM format (UDP only) check box to specify whether to log
messages in Cisco EMBLEM format (available only if UDP is selected as the protocol).
Step 5 Check the Enable secure logging using SSL/TLS (TCP only) check box to specify that the connection to
the syslog server is secure through the use of SSL/TLS over TCP, and that the syslog message content is
encrypted.
Step 6 Click OK to complete the configuration.

Send Syslog Messages to the Internal Log Buffer

You need to specify which syslog messages should be sent to the internal log buffer, which serves as a
temporary storage location. New messages are appended to the end of the list. When the buffer is full, that is,

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Save an Internal Log Buffer to Flash

when the buffer wraps, old messages are overwritten as new messages are generated, unless you configure
the ASA to save the full buffer to another location.
To send syslog messages to the internal log buffer, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options to specify which syslog messages should be sent to the internal log buffer:
• Home > Latest ASDM Syslog Messages > Configure ASDM Syslog Filters
• Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Filters

Step 2 Choose Monitoring > Logging > Log Buffer > View. Then choose File > Clear Internal Log Buffer
in the Log Buffer pane to empty the internal log buffer.
Step 3 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup to change the size of the
internal log buffer. The default buffer size is 4 KB.
The ASA continue to save new messages to the internal log buffer and save the full log buffer content to
internal flash memory. When saving the buffer content to another location, the ASA create log files with
names that use the following time-stamp format:

LOG-YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS.TXT

where YYYY is the year, MM is the month, DD is the day of the month, and HHMMSS is the time in hours,
minutes, and seconds.

Step 4 To save new messages to another location, choose one of the following options:
• Check the Flash check box to send new messages to internal flash memory, then click Configure Flash
Usage. The Configure Logging Flash Usage dialog box appears.
a. Specify the maximum amount of flash memory in KB that you want to use for logging.
b. Specify the minimum amount of free space in KB that logging will preserve in flash memory.
c. Click OK to close this dialog box.

• Check the FTP Server check box to send new messages to an FTP server, then click Configure FTP
Settings. The Configure FTP Settings dialog box appears.
a. Check the Enable FTP Client check box.
b. Enter the following information in the fields provided: FTP server IP address, path, username, and
password.
c. Confirm the password, then click OK to close this dialog box.

Save an Internal Log Buffer to Flash

To save the internal log buffer to flash memory, perform the following steps:

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Change the Amount of Internal Flash Memory Available for Logs

Procedure

Step 1 Choose File > Save Internal Log Buffer to Flash.

The Enter Log File Name dialog box appears.

Step 2 Choose the first option to save the log buffer with the default filename, LOG-YYYY-MM-DD-hhmmss.txt.
Step 3 Choose the second option to specify a filename for the log buffer.
Step 4 Enter the filename for the log buffer, then click OK.

Change the Amount of Internal Flash Memory Available for Logs

To change the amount of internal flash memory available for logs, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup.
Step 2 Check the Enable Logging check box.
Step 3 Check the Save Buffer to Flash check box in the Logging to Internal Buffer area.
Step 4 Click Configure Flash Usage.
The Configure Logging Flash Usage dialog box appears.

Step 5 Enter the maximum amount of flash memory in KB allowed to be used for logging.
By default, the ASA can use up to 1 MB of internal flash memory for log data. The minimum amount of
internal flash memory that must be free for the ASA to save log data is 3 MB. If a log file being saved to
internal flash memory would cause the amount of free internal flash memory to fall below the configured
minimum limit, the ASA deletes the oldest log files to ensure that the minimum amount of memory remains
free after saving the new log file. If there are no files to delete or if, after all old files have been deleted, free
memory is still below the limit, the ASA fails to save the new log file.

Step 6 Enter the minimum amount of free space in KB to be preserved for logging in flash memory.
Step 7 Click OK to close the Configure Logging Flash Usage dialog box.

View and Copy Logged Entries with the ASDM Java Console
Use the ASDM Java console to view and copy logged entries in a text format, which may help you troubleshoot
ASDM errors.
To access the ASDM Java Console, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Tools > ASDM Java Console.

Step 2 Enter m in the console to show the virtual machine memory statistics.

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Send Syslog Messages to an E-mail Address

Step 3 Enter g in the console to perform garbage collection.

Step 4 Open the Windows Task Manager and double-click the asdm_launcher.exe file to monitor memory usage.
Note The maximum memory allocation allowed is 256 MB.

Send Syslog Messages to an E-mail Address

To send syslog messages to an e-mail address, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > E-Mail Setup.
Step 2 Specify the e-mail address that is used as the source address for syslog messages that are sent as e-mail
messages.
Step 3 Click Add to enter a new e-mail address recipient of the specified syslog messages.
Step 4 Choose the severity level of the syslog messages that are sent to the recipient from the drop-down list. The
syslog message severity filter used for the destination e-mail address causes messages of the specified severity
level and higher to be sent. The global filter specified in the Logging Filters pane is also applied to each
e-mail recipient.
Step 5 Click Edit to modify an existing severity level of the syslog messages that are sent to this recipient.
Step 6 Click OK to close the Add E-mail Recipient dialog box.

Add or Edit E-Mail Recipients

To add or edit e-mail recipients and severity levels, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > E-mail Setup.
Step 2 Click Add or Edit to display the Add/Edit E-Mail Recipient dialog box.
Step 3 Enter the destination e-mail address, and choose the syslog severity level from the drop-down list. Severity
levels are defined as follows:
• Emergency (level 0, system is unusable)
Note Using a severity level of zero is not recommended.

• Alert (level 1, immediate action is needed)

• Critical (level 2, critical conditions)
• Error (level 3, error conditions)
• Warning (level 4, warning conditions)
• Notification (level 5, normal but significant conditions)

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Configure the Remote SMTP Server

• Informational (level 6, informational messages only)

• Debugging (level 7, debugging messages only)

Note The severity level used to filter messages for the destination e-mail address is the higher of the
severity level specified in the Add/Edit E-Mail Recipient dialog box and the global filter set for
all e-mail recipients in the Logging Filters pane.

Step 4 Click OK to close the Add/Edit E-Mail Recipient dialog box.

The added or revised entry appears in the E-mail Recipients pane.

Step 5 Click Apply to save your changes to the running configuration.

Configure the Remote SMTP Server

To configure the remote SMTP server to which e-mail alerts and notifications are sent in response to specific
events, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Setup > Logging > SMTP.
Step 2 Enter the IP address of the primary SMTP server.
Step 3 (Optional) Enter the IP address of the standby SMTP server, then click Apply to save your changes to the
running configuration.

Send Syslog Messages to the Console Port

To send syslog messages to the console port, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options:

• Home > Latest ASDM Syslog Messages > Configure ASDM Syslog Filters
• Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Filters

Step 2 Select the console in the Logging Destination column, then click Edit.
The Edit Logging Filters dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose either syslogs from all event classes or syslogs from specific event classes to specify which syslog
messages should be sent to the console port.

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Send Syslog Messages to a Telnet or SSH Session

Send Syslog Messages to a Telnet or SSH Session

To send syslog messages to a Telnet or SSH session, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options:

• Home > Latest ASDM Syslog Messages > Configure ASDM Syslog Filters
• Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Filters

Step 2 Select the Telnet and SSH Sessions in the Logging Destination column, then click Edit.
The Edit Logging Filters dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose either syslogs from all event classes or syslogs from specific event classes to specify which syslog
messages should be sent to a Telnet or an SSH session..
Step 4 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Setup to enable logging for the
current session only.
Step 5 Check the Enable logging check box, then click Apply.

Configure Syslog Messages

Configure Syslog Messaging
To configure syslog messaging, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup.
Step 2 Choose a system log facility for syslog servers to use as a basis to file messages. The default is LOCAL(4)20,
which is what most UNIX systems expect. However, because your network devices share eight available
facilities, you might need to change this value for system logs.
Step 3 Check the Include timestamp in syslogs check box to add the date and time in each syslog message sent.
Use the Timestamp Format drop-down to select the legacy (mm:dd:yyyy hh:mm:ss) or RFC 5424
(yyyy:dd:mmTHH:mm:ssZ) format.

Step 4 Uncheck the Hide username if its validity cannot be determined check box to show invalid usernames in
syslog messages for unsuccessful login attempts. The default setting is to hide usernames when the username
is invalid or if the validity is unknown. If a user accidentally types a password instead of a username, for
example, then it is more secure to hide the “username” in the resultant syslog message. You might want to
show invalid usernames to help with troubleshooting login issues.
Step 5 Choose the information to be displayed in the Syslog ID table. Available options are as follows:
• Choose Show all syslog IDs to specify that the Syslog ID table should display the entire list of syslog
message IDs.

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Edit Syslog ID Settings

• Choose Show disabled syslog IDs to specify that the Syslog ID table should display only those syslog
message IDs that have been explicitly disabled.
• Choose Show syslog IDs with changed logging to specify that the Syslog ID table should display only
those syslog message IDs with severity levels that have changed from their default values.
• Choose Show syslog IDs that are disabled or with a changed logging level to specify that the Syslog
ID table should display only those syslog message IDs with severity levels that have been modified and
the IDs of syslog messages that have been explicitly disabled.

Step 6 The Syslog ID Setup Table displays the list of syslog messages based on the setting in the Syslog ID Setup
Table. Choose individual messages or ranges of message IDs that you want to modify. You can either disable
the selected message IDs or modify their severity levels. To select more than one message ID in the list, click
the first ID in the range and Shift-click the last ID in the range.
Step 7 Click Advanced to configure syslog messages to include a device ID.

Edit Syslog ID Settings

To change syslog message settings, perform the following steps:

Note The Syslog ID(s) field is display-only. The values that appear in this area are determined by the entries you
chose in the Syslog ID table, located in the Syslog Setup pane.

Procedure

Step 1 Check the Disable Message(s) check box to disable messages for the syslog message ID(s) displayed in the
Syslog ID(s) list.
Step 2 Choose the severity logging level of messages to be sent for the syslog message ID(s) displayed in the Syslog
ID(s) list. Severity levels are defined as follows:
• Emergency (level 0, system is unusable)
Note Using a severity level of zero is not recommended.

• Alert (level 1, immediate action is needed)

• Critical (level 2, critical conditions)
• Error (level 3, error conditions)
• Warning (level 4, warning conditions)
• Notification (level 5, normal but significant conditions)
• Informational (level 6, informational messages only)
• Debugging (level 7, debugging messages only)

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Step 3 Click OK to close the Edit Syslog ID Settings dialog box.

Include a Device ID in Non-EMBLEM Formatted Syslog Messages

To include a device ID in non-EMBLEM formatted syslog messages, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Check the Enable syslog device ID check box to specify that a device ID should be included in all
non-EMBLEM formatted syslog messages.
Step 2 To specify which to use as the device ID, choose one of the following options:
• Hostname of the ASA
• Interface IP address
Choose the interface name that corresponds to the selected IP address from the drop-down list.
Check the In an ASA cluster, always use control’s IP address for the selected interface check box
if you are using clustering.
• String
Specify an alphanumeric, user-defined string.
• ASA cluster name

Step 3 Click OK to close the Advanced Syslog Configuration dialog box.

Include the Date and Time in Syslog Messages

To include the date and time in syslog messages, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup.
Step 2 Check the Include timestamp in syslogs check box in the Syslog ID Setup area.
Step 3 Click Apply to save your changes.

Disable a Syslog Message

To disable a specified syslog message, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup.

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Change the Severity Level of a Syslog Message

Step 2 Select the syslog that you want to disable from the table, then click Edit.
The Edit Syslog ID Settings dialog box appears.

Step 3 Check the Disable messages check box, then click OK.

Change the Severity Level of a Syslog Message

To change the severity level of a syslog message, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup.
Step 2 Select the syslog whose severity level you want to change from the table, then click Edit.
The Edit Syslog ID Settings dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the desired severity level from the Logging Level drop-down list, then click OK.

Block Syslog Messages on a Standby Unit

To block specific syslog messages from being generated on a standby unit, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Settings.
Step 2 Choose a syslog ID in the table, then click Edit.
The Edit Syslog ID Settings dialog box appears.

Step 3 Check the Disable messages on standby unit check box to block syslog messages from being generated on
a standby unit.
Step 4 Click OK to close this dialog box.

Include the Device ID in Non-EMBLEM Format Syslog Messages

To include the device ID in non-EMBLEM format syslog messages, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Syslog Setup > Advanced > Advanced
Syslog Configuration.
Step 2 Check the Enable syslog device ID check box.
Step 3 Click the Hostname, Interface IP Address, or String radio button in the Device ID area.

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• If you chose the Interface IP Address option, make sure that the correct interface is selected in the
drop-down list.
• If you chose the String option, enter the device ID in the User-Defined ID field. The string can include
as many as 16 characters.

Note If enabled, the device ID does not appear in EMBLEM-formatted syslog messages nor in SNMP
traps.

Step 4 Click OK to close the Advanced Syslog Configuration dialog box.

Create a Custom Event List

You use the following three criteria to define an event list:
• Event Class
• Severity
• Message ID

To create a custom event list to send to a specific logging destination (for example, an SNMP server), perform
the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Event Lists.
Step 2 Click Add to display the Add Event List dialog box.
Step 3 Enter the name of the event list. No spaces are allowed.
Step 4 Click Add to display the Add Class and Severity Filter dialog box.
Step 5 Choose the event class from the drop-down list. Available event classes change according to the device mode
that you are using.
Step 6 Choose the severity level from the drop-down list. Severity levels include the following:
• Emergency (level 0, system is unusable)
Note Using a severity level of zero is not recommended.

• Alert (level 1, immediate action is needed)

• Critical (level 2, critical conditions)
• Error (level 3, error conditions)
• Warning (level 4, warning conditions)
• Notification (level 5, normal but significant conditions)
• Informational (level 6, informational messages only)
• Debugging (level 7, debugging messages only)

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Step 7 Click OK to close the Add Event List dialog box.

Step 8 Click Add to display the Add Syslog Message ID Filter dialog box.
Step 9 Enter a syslog message ID or range of IDs (for example, 101001-199012) to include in the filter.
Step 10 Click OK to close the Add Event List dialog box.
The event of interest appears in the list.

Configure Logging Filters

Apply Message Filters to a Logging Destination
To apply message filters to a logging destination, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Filters.
Step 2 Choose the name of the logging destination to which you want to apply a filter. Available logging destinations
are as follows:
• ASDM
• Console port
• E-Mail
• Internal buffer
• SNMP server
• Syslog server
• Telnet or SSH session
Included in this selection are the second column, Syslogs From All Event Classes, and the third column,
Syslogs From Specific Event Classes. The second column lists the severity or the event class to use to
filter messages for the logging destination, or whether logging is disabled for all event classes. The third
column lists the event class to use to filter messages for that logging destination.

Step 3 Click Edit to display the Edit Logging Filters dialog box. To apply, edit, or disable filters, see Apply Logging
Filters, on page 1051.

Apply Logging Filters

To apply filters, perform the following steps:

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Add or Edit a Syslog Message ID Filter

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the Filter on severity option to filter syslog messages according to their severity level.
Step 2 Choose the Use event list option to filter syslog messages according to an event list.
Step 3 Choose the Disable logging from all event classes option to disable all logging to the selected destination.
Step 4 Click New to add a new event list. To add a new event list, see Create a Custom Event List, on page 1050.
Step 5 Choose the event class from the drop-down list. Available event classes change according to the device mode
that you are using.
Step 6 Choose the level of logging messages from the drop-down list. Severity levels include the following:
• Emergency (level 0, system is unusable)
Note Using a severity level of zero is not recommended.

• Alert (level 1, immediate action is needed)

• Critical (level 2, critical conditions)
• Error (level 3, error conditions)
• Warning (level 4, warning conditions)
• Notification (level 5, normal but significant conditions)
• Informational (level 6, informational messages only)
• Debugging (level 7, debugging messages only)

Step 7 Click Add to add the event class and severity level, then click OK.
The selected logging destination for a filter appears at the top.

Add or Edit a Syslog Message ID Filter

To add or edit a syslog message ID filter, see Edit Syslog ID Settings, on page 1047.

Add or Edit a Message Class and Severity Filter

To add or edit a message class and severity level for filtering messages, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose the event class from the drop-down list. Available event classes change according to the device mode
that you are using.
Step 2 Choose the level of logging messages from the drop-down list. Severity levels include the following:
• Emergency (level 0, system is unusable)
Note Using a severity level of zero is not recommended.

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Send All Syslog Messages in a Class to a Specified Output Destination

• Alert (level 1, immediate action is needed)

• Critical (level 2, critical conditions)
• Error (level 3, error conditions)
• Warning (level 4, warning conditions)
• Notification (level 5, normal but significant conditions)
• Informational (level 6, informational messages only)
• Debugging (level 7, debugging messages only)

Step 3 Click OK when you are done making selections.

Send All Syslog Messages in a Class to a Specified Output Destination

To send all syslog messages in a class to a specified output destination, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Filters.
Step 2 To override the configuration in the specified output destination, choose the output destination that you want
to change, then click Edit.
The Edit Logging Filters dialog box appears.

Step 3 Revise the settings in either the Syslogs from All Event Classes or Syslogs from Specific Event Classes
area, then click OK to close this dialog box.
For example, if you specify that messages at severity level 7 should go to the internal log buffer and that ha
class messages at severity level 3 should go to the internal log buffer, then the latter configuration takes
precedence.
To specify that a class should go to more than one destination, select a different filtering option for each output
destination.

Limit the Rate of Syslog Message Generation

To limit the rate of syslog message generation, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Rate Limit.
Step 2 Choose the logging level (message severity level) to which you want to assign rate limits. Severity levels are
defined as follows:
• Emergency (level 0, system is unusable)

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Assign or Change Rate Limits for Individual Syslog Messages

• Alert (level 1, immediate action is needed)

• Critical (level 2, critical conditions)
• Error (level 3, error conditions)
• Warning (level 4, warning conditions)
• Notification (level 5, normal but significant conditions)
• Informational (level 6, informational messages only)
• Debugging (level 7, debugging messages only)

Step 3 The No of Messages field displays the number of messages sent. The Interval (Seconds) field displays the
interval, in seconds, that is used to limit how many messages at this logging level can be sent. Choose a logging
level from the table and click Edit to display the Edit Rate Limit for Syslog Logging Level dialog box.
Step 4 To continue, see Assign or Change Rate Limits for Individual Syslog Messages, on page 1054.

Assign or Change Rate Limits for Individual Syslog Messages

To assign or change rate limits to individual syslog messages, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 To assign the rate limit of a specific syslog message, click Add to display the Add Rate Limit for Syslog
Message dialog box.
Step 2 To continue, see Add or Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Message, on page 1054.
Step 3 To change the rate limit of a specific syslog message, click Edit to display the Edit Rate Limit for Syslog
Message dialog box.
Step 4 To continue, see Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Severity Level, on page 1055.

Add or Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Message

To add or change the rate limit for a specific syslog message, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 To add a rate limit to a specific syslog message, click Add to display the Add Rate Limit for Syslog Message
dialog box. To change a rate limit for a syslog message, click Edit to display the Edit Rate Limit for Syslog
Message dialog box.
Step 2 Enter the message ID of the syslog message that you want to limit.
Step 3 Enter the maximum number of messages that can be sent in the specified time interval.
Step 4 Enter the amount of time, in seconds, that is used to limit the rate of the specified message, then click OK.

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Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Severity Level

Note To allow an unlimited number of messages, leave both the Number of Messages and Time Interval
fields blank.

Edit the Rate Limit for a Syslog Severity Level

To change the rate limit of a specified syslog severity level, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Enter the maximum number of messages at this severity level that can be sent.
Step 2 Enter the amount of time, in seconds, that is used to limit the rate of messages at this severity level, and click
OK.
The selected message severity level appears.
Note To allow an unlimited number of messages, leave both the Number of Messages and Time Interval
fields blank.

Monitoring the Logs

See the following commands for monitoring logging status.
• Monitoring > Logging > Log Buffer > View
This pane allows you to view the log buffer.
• Monitoring > Logging > Real-Time Log Viewer > View
This pane allows you to view the real-time log.
• Tools > Command Line Interface
This pane allows you to issue various non-interactive commands and view results.

Filter Syslog Messages Through the Log Viewers

You can filter syslog messages based on one or multiple values that correspond to any column of the Real-Time
Log Viewer and the Log Buffer Viewer.
To filter syslog messages through one of the log viewers, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options:

• Monitoring > Logging > Real-Time Log Viewer > View

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Filter Syslog Messages Through the Log Viewers

• Monitoring > Logging > Log Buffer > View

Step 2 In either the Real-Time Log Viewer or the Log Buffer Viewer dialog box, click Build Filter on the toolbar.
Step 3 In the Build Filter dialog box, specify the filtering criteria to apply to syslog messages:
a) Choose one of the following three options in the Date and Time area: real-time, a specific time, or a time
range. If you chose a specific time, indicate the time by entering the number and choosing hours or minutes
from the drop-down list. If you chose a time range, click the drop-down arrow in the Start Time field to
display a calendar. Choose a start date and a start time from the drop-down list, then click OK. Click the
drop-down arrow in the End Time field to display a calendar. Choose an end date and an end time from
the drop-down list, then click OK.
b) Enter a valid severity level in the Severity field. Alternatively, click the Edit icon on the right of the
Severity field. Click the severity levels in the list on which you want to filter. To include severity levels
1-7, click All. Click OK to display these settings in the Build Filter dialog box. Click the Info icon on
the right of the Severity field for additional information about the correct input format to use.
c) Enter a valid syslog ID in the Syslog ID field. Alternatively, click the Edit icon on the right of the Syslog
ID field. Choose a condition on which to filter from the drop-down list, then click Add. Click OK to
display these settings in the Build Filter dialog box. Click the Info icon on the right of the Syslog ID
field for additional information about the correct input format to use.
d) Enter a valid source IP address in the Source IP Address field, or click the Edit icon on the right of the
Source IP Address field. Choose a single IP address or a specified range of IP addresses, then click Add.
Check the Do not include (exclude) this address or range check box to exclude a specific IP address
or range of IP addresses, Click OK to display these settings in the Build Filter dialog box. Click the Info
icon on the right of the Source IP Address field for additional information about the correct input format
to use.
e) Enter a valid source port in the Source Port field, or click the Edit icon on the right of the Source Port
field. Choose a condition on which to filter from the drop-down list, then click Add. Click OK to display
these settings in the Build Filter dialog box. Click the Info icon on the right of the Source Port field for
additional information about the correct input format to use.
f) Enter a valid destination IP address in the Destination IP Address field, or click the Edit icon on the
right of the Destination IP Address field. Choose a single IP address or a specified range of IP addresses,
then click Add. Check the Do not include (exclude) this address or range check box o exclude a specific
IP address or range of IP addresses. Click OK to display these settings in the Build Filter dialog box.
Click the Info icon on the right of the Destination IP Address field for additional information about the
correct input format to use.
g) Enter a valid destination port in the Destination Port field, or click the Edit icon on the right of the
Destination Port field. Choose a condition on which to filter from the drop-down list, then click Add.
Click OK to display these settings in the Build Filter dialog box. Click the Info icon on the right of the
Destination Port field for additional information about the correct input format to use.
h) Enter filtering text for the Description field. The text may be any string of one or more characters, including
a regular expression. However, semicolons are not valid characters, and this setting is case-sensitive.
Multiple entries must be separated by commas.
i) Click OK to add the filter settings you have just specified to the Filter By drop-down list in the log
viewers. The filter strings follow a specific format. The prefix FILTER: designates all custom filters that
appear in the Filter By drop-down list. You may still type random text into this field.
The following table shows examples of the format used.

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Edit Filtering Settings

Build Filter Example Filter String Format

Source IP = 192.168.1.1 or 0.0.0.0 FILTER: srcIP=192.168.1.1,0.0.0.0;srcPort=67;

Source Port = 67

Severity = Informational FILTER: sev=6;dstIP=1.1.1.1-1.1.1.10;

Destination IP = 1.1.1.1 through 1.1.1.10

Syslog ID not in the range 725001 through 725003 FILTER: sysID=!725001-725003;

Source IP = 1.1.1.1 FILTER: srcIP=1.1.1.1;descr=Built outbound

Description = Built outbound

Step 4 Choose one of the settings in the Filter By drop-down list to filter syslog messages, then click Filter on the
toolbar. This setting also applies to all future syslog messages. Click Show All on the toolbar to clear all
filters.
Note You cannot save filters that you have specified with the Build Filter dialog box. These filters are
valid only for the ASDM session during which they were created.

Edit Filtering Settings

To edit filtering settings that you created using the Build Filter dialog box, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Choose one of the following options:

• Revise a filter directly by entering the changes in the Filter By drop-down list.
• Choose a filter in the Filter By drop-down list, then click Build Filter to display the Build Filter dialog
box. Click Clear Filter to remove the current filter settings and enter new ones. Otherwise, change the
settings that appear, and click OK.
Note These filter settings apply only to those defined in the Build Filter dialog box.

• Click Show All on the toolbar to stop filtering and show all syslog messages.

Issue Certain Commands Using the Log Viewers

You can issue the following commands using either of the log viewers: ping, traceroute, whois, and dns
lookup.
To run any of these commands, perform the following steps:

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History for Logging

Procedure

Step 1 Choose one of the following options:

• Monitoring > Logging > Real-Time Log Viewer > View
• Monitoring > Logging > Log Buffer > View

Step 2 Click Tools from the Real-Time Log Viewer or Log Buffer pane, then choose the command that you want
to execute. Alternatively, you can right-click a specific syslog message that is listed to display a context menu,
then choose the command that you want to execute.
The Entering command dialog box appears, with the command that you selected automatically showing in
the drop-down list.

Step 3 Enter either the source or destination IP address of the selected syslog message in the Address field, then
click Go.
The command output appears in the area provided.

Step 4 Click Clear to remove the output, and choose another command to execute from the drop-down list. Repeat
Step 3, if necessary. Click Close when you are done.

History for Logging

Table 59: History for Logging

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Logging 7.0(1) Provides ASA network logging information

through various output destinations, and
includes the option to view and save log
files.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Logging Setup.

Rate limit 7.0(4) Limits the rate at which syslog messages

are generated.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Rate Limit.

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History for Logging

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Logging list 7.2(1) Creates a logging list to use in other

commands to specify messages by various
criteria (logging level, event class, and
message IDs).
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Event Lists.

Secure logging 8.0(2) Specifies that the connection to the remote

logging host should use SSL/TLS. This
option is valid only if the protocol selected
is TCP.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Syslog Server.

Logging class 8.0(4), 8.1(1) Added support for the ipaa event class of
logging messages.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Logging Filters.

Logging class and saved logging buffers 8.2(1) Added support for the dap event class of
logging messages.
Added support to clear the saved logging
buffers (ASDM, internal, FTP, and flash).
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Logging Setup.

Password encryption 8.3(1) Added support for password encryption.

Log viewers 8.3(1) The source and destination IP addresses

were added to the log viewers.

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History for Logging

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Enhanced logging and connection blocking 8.3(2) When you configure a syslog server to use
TCP, and the syslog server is unavailable,
the ASA blocks new connections that
generate syslog messages until the server
becomes available again (for example,
VPN, firewall, and cut-through-proxy
connections). This feature has been
enhanced to also block new connections
when the logging queue on the ASA is full;
connections resume when the logging queue
is cleared.
This feature was added for compliance with
Common Criteria EAL4+. Unless required,
we recommended allowing connections
when syslog messages cannot be sent or
received. To allow connections, continue
to check the Allow user traffic to pass
when TCP syslog server is down check
box on the Configuration > Device
Management > Logging > Syslog Servers
pane.
We introduced the following syslog
messages: 414005, 414006, 414007, and
414008.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Syslog message filtering and sorting 8.4(1) Support has been added for the following:
• Syslog message filtering based on
multiple text strings that correspond
to various columns
• Creation of custom filters
• Column sorting of messages. For
detailed information, see the ASDM
configuration guide.

This feature interoperates with all ASA

versions.
We modified the following screens:
Monitoring > Logging > Real-Time Log
Viewer > View.
Monitoring > Logging > Log Buffer Viewer
> View.

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History for Logging

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Clustering 9.0(1) Added support for syslog message

generation in a clustering environment on
the ASA 5580 and 5585-X.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Logging > Syslog Setup >
Advanced > Advanced Syslog
Configuration.

Blocking syslogs on a standby unit 9.4(1) We added support for blocking the
generation of specific syslog messages on
the standby unit in a failover configuration.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Syslog Setup.

Reference Identities for Secure Syslog 9.6(2) TLS client processing now supports rules
Server connections for verification of a server identity defined
in RFC 6125, Section 6. Identity
verification will be done during PKI
validation for TLS connections to the
Syslog Server. If the presented identity
cannot be matched against the configured
reference identity, the connection is not
established.
We modifed the following pages: ASDM
Configuration > Remote Access VPN >
Advanced, and Configuration > Device
Management > Logging > Syslog Servers
-> Add or Edit.

IPv6 address support for syslog servers 9.7(1) You can now configure syslog servers with
IPv6 addresses to record, send, and receive
syslogs over TCP and UDP.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Logging > Syslog Servers > Add Syslog
Server

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History for Logging

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 CHAPTER 47
SNMP
This chapter describes how to configure Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to monitor the Cisco
ASA.
• About SNMP, on page 1063
• Guidelines for SNMP, on page 1066
• Configure SNMP, on page 1068
• Monitoring SNMP, on page 1072
• History for SNMP, on page 1073

About SNMP
SNMP is an application-layer protocol that facilitates the exchange of management information between
network devices and is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. The ASA provides support for network monitoring
using SNMP Versions 1, 2c, and 3, and support the use of all three versions simultaneously. The SNMP agent
running on the ASA interface lets you monitor the network devices through network management systems
(NMSes), such as HP OpenView. The ASA support SNMP read-only access through issuance of a GET
request. SNMP write access is not allowed, so you cannot make changes with SNMP. In addition, the SNMP
SET request is not supported.
You can configure the ASA to send traps, which are unsolicited messages from the managed device to the
management station for certain events (event notifications) to an NMS, or you can use the NMS to browse
the Management Information Bases (MIBs) on the security devices. MIBs are a collection of definitions, and
the ASA maintain a database of values for each definition. Browsing a MIB means issuing a series of
GET-NEXT or GET-BULK requests of the MIB tree from the NMS to determine values.
The ASA have an SNMP agent that notifies designated management stations if events occur that are predefined
to require a notification, for example, when a link in the network goes up or down. The notification it sends
includes an SNMP OID, which identifies itself to the management stations. The ASA agent also replies when
a management station asks for information.

SNMP Terminology
The following table lists the terms that are commonly used when working with SNMP.

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SNMP Version 3 Overview

Table 60: SNMP Terminology

Term Description

Agent The SNMP server running on the ASA. The SNMP agent has the following features:
• Responds to requests for information and actions from the network management station.
• Controls access to its Management Information Base, the collection of objects that the SNMP manager can
view or change.
• Does not allow SET operations.

Browsing Monitoring the health of a device from the network management station by polling required information from
the SNMP agent on the device. This activity may include issuing a series of GET-NEXT or GET-BULK requests
of the MIB tree from the network management station to determine values.

Management Standardized data structures for collecting information about packets, connections, buffers, failovers, and so on.
Information MIBs are defined by the product, protocols, and hardware standards used by most network devices. SNMP
Bases (MIBs) network management stations can browse MIBs and request specific data or events be sent as they occur.

Network The PCs or workstations set up to monitor SNMP events and manage devices, such as the ASA.
management
stations (NMSs)

Object identifier The system that identifies a device to its NMS and indicates to users the source of information monitored and
(OID) displayed.

Trap Predefined events that generate a message from the SNMP agent to the NMS. Events include alarm conditions
such as linkup, linkdown, coldstart, warmstart, authentication, or syslog messages.

SNMP Version 3 Overview

SNMP Version 3 provides security enhancements that are not available in SNMP Version 1 or Version 2c.
SNMP Versions 1 and 2c transmit data between the SNMP server and SNMP agent in clear text. SNMP
Version 3 adds authentication and privacy options to secure protocol operations. In addition, this version
controls access to the SNMP agent and MIB objects through the User-based Security Model (USM) and
View-based Access Control Model (VACM). The ASA also supports the creation of SNMP groups and users,
as well as hosts, which is required to enable transport authentication and encryption for secure SNMP
communications.

Security Models
For configuration purposes, the authentication and privacy options are grouped together into security models.
Security models apply to users and groups, which are divided into the following three types:
• NoAuthPriv—No Authentication and No Privacy, which means that no security is applied to messages.
• AuthNoPriv—Authentication but No Privacy, which means that messages are authenticated.
• AuthPriv—Authentication and Privacy, which means that messages are authenticated and encrypted.

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SNMP Groups

SNMP Groups
An SNMP group is an access control policy to which users can be added. Each SNMP group is configured
with a security model, and is associated with an SNMP view. A user within an SNMP group must match the
security model of the SNMP group. These parameters specify what type of authentication and privacy a user
within an SNMP group uses. Each SNMP group name and security model pair must be unique.

SNMP Users
SNMP users have a specified username, a group to which the user belongs, authentication password, encryption
password, and authentication and encryption algorithms to use. The authentication algorithm options are MD5,
SHA-1, and SHA-256 HMAC. The encryption algorithm options are DES, 3DES, and AES (which is available
in 128, 192, and 256 versions). When you create a user, you must associate it with an SNMP group. The user
then inherits the security model of the group.

SNMP Hosts
An SNMP host is an IP address to which SNMP notifications and traps are sent. To configure SNMP Version
3 hosts, along with the target IP address, you must configure a username, because traps are only sent to a
configured user. SNMP target IP addresses and target parameter names must be unique on the ASA. Each
SNMP host can have only one username associated with it. To receive SNMP traps, configure the SNMP
NMS, and make sure that you configure the user credentials on the NMS to match the credentials for the ASA.

Implementation Differences Between the ASA and Cisco IOS Software

The SNMP Version 3 implementation in the ASA differs from the SNMP Version 3 implementation in the
Cisco IOS software in the following ways:
• The local-engine and remote-engine IDs are not configurable. The local engine ID is generated when
the ASA starts or when a context is created.
• No support exists for view-based access control, which results in unrestricted MIB browsing.
• Support is restricted to the following MIBs: USM, VACM, FRAMEWORK, and TARGET.
• You must create users and groups with the correct security model.
• You must remove users, groups, and hosts in the correct sequence.
• Use of the snmp-server host command creates an ASA rule to allow incoming SNMP traffic.

SNMP Syslog Messaging

SNMP generates detailed syslog messages that are numbered 212nnn. Syslog messages indicate the status of
SNMP requests, SNMP traps, SNMP channels, and SNMP responses from the ASA or ASASM to a specified
host on a specified interface.
For detailed information about syslog messages, see the syslog messages guide.

Note SNMP polling fails if SNMP syslog messages exceed a high rate (approximately 4000 per second).

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Application Services and Third-Party Tools

Application Services and Third-Party Tools

For information about SNMP support, see the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk362/tk605/tsd_technology_support_sub-protocol_home.html
For information about using third-party tools to walk SNMP Version 3 MIBs, see the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa83/snmp/snmpv3_tools.html

Guidelines for SNMP

This section includes the guidelines and limitations that you should review before configuring SNMP.

Failover Guidelines
The SNMP client in each ASA shares engine data with its peer. Engine data includes the engineID, engineBoots,
and engineTime objects of the SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB. Engine data is written as a binary file to
flash:/snmp/contextname.

IPv6 Guidelines
SNMP can be configured over IPv6 transport so that an IPv6 host can perform SNMP queries and receive
SNMP notifications from a device running IPv6 software. The SNMP agent and related MIBs have been
enhanced to support IPv6 addressing.

Note The command to associate a single user or a group of users in a user list with a network object, snmp-server
host-group, does not support IPv6.

Additional Guidelines
• You must have Cisco Works for Windows or another SNMP MIB-II compliant browser to receive SNMP
traps or browse a MIB.
• For secure SNMP polling over a site-to-site VPN, include the IP address of the outside interface in the
crypto map access-list as part of the VPN configuration.
• Does not support view-based access control, but the VACM MIB is available for browsing to determine
default view settings.
• The ENTITY-MIB is not available in the non-admin context. Use the IF-MIB instead to perform queries
in the non-admin context.
• The ENTITY-MIB is not available for the Firepower 9300. Instead, use
CISCO-FIREPOWER-EQUIPMENT-MIB and CISCO-FIREPOWER-SM-MIB.
• On some devices, the order of interfaces (ifDescr) in the output of snmpwalk has been observed to
change after a reboot. The ASA uses an algorithm to determine the ifIndex table that SNMP queries.
When the ASA is booted up, the interfaces are added to the ifIndex table in the order loaded as the ASA
reads the configuration. New interfaces added to the ASA are appended to the list of interfaces in the
ifIndex table. As interfaces are added, removed, or renamed, it can affect the order of interfaces on reboot.

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Guidelines for SNMP

• Does not support SNMP Version 3 for the AIP SSM or AIP SSC.
• Does not support SNMP debugging.
• Does not support retrieval of ARP information.
• Does not support SNMP SET commands.
• When using NET-SNMP Version 5.4.2.1, only supports the encryption algorithm version of AES128.
Does not support the encryption algorithm versions of AES256 or AES192.
• Changes to the existing configuration are rejected if the result places the SNMP feature in an inconsistent
state.
• For SNMP Version 3, configuration must occur in the following order: group, user, host.
• Before a group is deleted, you must ensure that all users associated with that group are deleted.
• Before a user is deleted, you must ensure that no hosts are configured that are associated with that
username.
• If users have been configured to belong to a particular group with a certain security model, and if the
security level of that group is changed, you must do the following in this sequence:
• Remove the users from that group.
• Change the group security level.
• Add users that belong to the new group.

• The creation of custom views to restrict user access to a subset of MIB objects is not supported.
• All requests and traps are available in the default Read/Notify View only.
• The connection-limit-reached trap is generated in the admin context. To generate this trap. you must
have at least one SNMP server host configured in the user context in which the connection limit has been
reached.
• If the NMS cannot successfully request objects or is not correctly handling incoming traps from the ASA,
performing a packet capture is the most useful method for determining the problem. Choose Wizards >
Packet Capture Wizard, and follow the on-screen instructions.
• You can add up to 4000 hosts. However, only 128 of this number can be for traps.
• The total number of supported active polling destinations is 128.
• You can specify a network object to indicate the individual hosts that you want to add as a host group.
• You can associate more than one user with one host.
• You can specify overlapping network objects in different host-group commands. The values that you
specify for the last host group take effect for the common set of hosts in the different network objects.
• If you delete a host group or hosts that overlap with other host groups, the hosts are set up again using
the values that have been specified in the configured host groups.
• The values that the hosts acquire depend on the specified sequence that you use to run the commands.
• The limit on the message size that SNMP sends is 1472 bytes.

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• Members of a cluster do not synchronize their SNMPv3 engine IDs. Because of this, each unit in the
cluster should have a unique SNMPv3 user configuration.
• With Version 9.4(1), the ASA supports an unlimited number of SNMP server trap hosts per context. The
show snmp-server host command output displays only the active hosts that are polling the ASA, as well
as the statically configured hosts.

Configure SNMP
This section describes how to configure SNMP.

Procedure

Step 1 Configure an SNMP management station to receive requests from the ASA.
Step 2 Configure SNMP traps.
Step 3 Configure SNMP Version 1 and 2c parameters or SNMP Version 3 parameters.

Configure an SNMP Management Station

To configure an SNMP management station, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > SNMP. By default, the SNMP
server is enabled.
Step 2 Click Add in the SNMP Management Stations pane.
The Add SNMP Host Access Entry dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the interface on which the SNMP host resides.

Step 4 Enter the SNMP host IP address.
Step 5 Enter the SNMP host UDP port, or keep the default, port 162.
Step 6 Add the SNMP host community string. If no community string is specified for a management station, the
value set in the Community String (default) field on the SNMP Management Stations pane is used.
Step 7 Choose the SNMP version used by the SNMP host.
Step 8 If you have selected SNMP Version 3 in the previous step, choose the name of a configured user.
Step 9 To specify the method for communicating with this NMS, check either the Poll or Trap check box.
Step 10 Click OK.
The Add SNMP Host Access Entry dialog box closes.

Step 11 Click Apply.

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The NMS is configured and changes are saved to the running configuration. For more information about
SNMP Version 3 NMS tools, see the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa82/snmp/snmpv3_tools.html

Configure SNMP Traps

To designate which traps that the SNMP agent generates and how they are collected and sent to NMSs, perform
the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > SNMP.
Step 2 Click Configure Traps.
The SNMP Trap Configuration dialog box appears.

Step 3 Check the SNMP Server Traps Configuration check box.

The traps are divided into the following categories: standard, IKEv2, entity MIB, IPsec, remote access,
resource, NAT, syslog, CPU utilization, CPU utilization and monitoring interval, and SNMP interface threshold
and interval. Check the applicable check boxes for the SNMP events to notify through SNMP traps. The
default configuration has all SNMP standard traps enabled. If you do not specify a trap type, the default is
the syslog trap. The default SNMP traps continue to be enabled with the syslog trap. All other traps are disabled
by default. To disable a trap, uncheck the applicable check box. To configure the syslog trap severity level,
choose Configuration > Device Management > Logging > Logging Filters.

Step 4 Click OK to close the SNMP Trap Configuration dialog box.

Step 5 Click Apply.
The SNMP traps are configured and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

Configure Parameters for SNMP Version 1 or 2c

To configure parameters for SNMP Version 1 or 2c, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > SNMP.
Step 2 Enter a default community string in the Community String (default) field if you are using SNMP Version 1
or 2c. Enter the password used by the SNMP NMSs when they send requests to the ASA. The SNMP community
string is a shared secret among the SNMP NMSs and the network nodes being managed. The ASA uses the
password to determine if the incoming SNMP request is valid. The password is a case-sensitive value up to
32 alphanumeric characters long. Spaces are not permitted. The default is public. SNMP Version 2c allows

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separate community strings to be set for each NMS. If no community string is configured for any NMS, the
value set here is used by default.
Step 3 Enter the name of the ASA system administrator. The text is case-sensitive and can be up to 127 alphabetic
characters. Spaces are accepted, but multiple spaces are shortened to a single space.
Step 4 Enter the location of the ASA being managed by SNMP. The text is case-sensitive and can be up to 127
characters. Spaces are accepted, but multiple spaces are shortened to a single space.
Step 5 Enter the number of the ASA port that listens for SNMP requests from NMSes; or keep the default, port
number 161.
Step 6 (Optional) Check the Enable Global-Shared pool in the walk checkbox to query free memory and used
memory statistics through SNMP walk operations.
Important When the ASA queries memory information, the CPU may be held by the SNMP process for too
long before releasing the CPU to other processes. This can result in SNMP-related CPU hogs causing
packet drops.

Step 7 Click Add in the SNMP Host Access List pane.

The Add SNMP Host Access Entry dialog box appears.

Step 8 Choose the interface name from which traps are sent from the drop-down list.
Step 9 Enter the IP address of the NMS or SNMP manager that can connect to the ASA.
Step 10 Enter the UDP port number. The default is 162.
Step 11 Choose the SNMP version that you are using from the drop-down list. If you choose Version 1 or Version
2c, you must enter the community string. If you choose Version 3, you must choose the username from the
drop-down list.
Step 12 Check the Poll check box in the Server Poll/Trap Specification area to limit the NMS to sending requests
(polling) only. Check the Trap check box to limit the NMS to receiving traps only. You may check both
check boxes to perform both functions of the SNMP host.
Step 13 Click OK to close the Add SNMP Host Access Entry dialog box.
The new host appears in the SNMP Host Access List pane.

Step 14 Click Apply.

SNMP parameters for Versions 1, 2c, or 3 are configured and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

Configure Parameters for SNMP Version 3

To configure parameters for SNMP Version 3, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > SNMP.
Step 2 Click Add > SNMP Useron the SNMPv3 User/Group tab in the SNMPv3 Users pane to add a configured
user or a new user to a group. When you remove the last user in a group, ASDM deletes the group.
Note After a user has been created, you cannot change the group to which the user belongs.

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The Add SNMP User Entry dialog box appears.

Step 3 Choose the group to which the SNMP user belongs. The available groups are as follows:
• Auth&Encryption, in which users have authentication and encryption configured
• Authentication_Only, in which users have only authentication configured
• No_Authentication, in which users have neither authentication nor encryption configured
Note You cannot change the group names.

Step 4 Click the USM Model tab to use the user security model (USM) groups.
Step 5 Click Add.
The Add SNMP USM Entry dialog box appears.

Step 6 Enter the group name.

Step 7 Choose the security level from the drop-down list. This setting allows you to assign a configured USM group
as a security level to SNMPv3 users.
Step 8 Enter the name of a configured user or a new user. The username must be unique for the SNMP server group
selected.
Step 9 Indicate the type of password you want to use by clicking one of the two radio buttons: Encrypted or Clear
Text.
Step 10 Indicate the type of authentication you want to use by clicking one of the three radio buttons: MD5, SHA1,
or SHA256.
Step 11 Enter the password to use for authentication.
Step 12 Indicate the type of encryption you want to use by clicking one of these three radio buttons: DES, 3DES, or
AES.
Step 13 If you chose AES encryption, then choose the level of AES encryption to use: 128, 192, or 256.
Step 14 Enter the password to use for encryption. The maximum number of alphanumeric characters allowed for this
password is 64.
Step 15 Click OK to create a group (if this is the first user in that group), display this group in the Group Name
drop-down list, and create a user for that group.
The Add SNMP User Entry dialog box closes.

Step 16 Click Apply.

SNMP parameters for Version 3 are configured, and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

Configure a Group of Users

To configure an SNMP user list with a group of specified users in it, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > SNMP.

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Step 2 Click Add > SNMP User Group on the SNMPv3 User/Group tab in the SNMPv3 Users pane to add a
configured user group or a new user group. When you remove the last user in a group, ASDM deletes the
group.
The Add SNMP User Group dialog box appears.

Step 3 Enter the user group name.

Step 4 Click the Existing User/User Group radio button to select an existing user or user group.
Step 5 Click the Create new user radio button to create a new user.
Step 6 Choose the group to which the SNMP user belongs. The available groups are as follows:
• Auth&Encryption, in which users have authentication and encryption configured
• Authentication_Only, in which users have only authentication configured
• No_Authentication, in which users have neither authentication nor encryption configured

Step 7 Enter the name of a configured user or a new user. The username must be unique for the SNMP server group
selected.
Step 8 Indicate the type of password you want to use by clicking one of the two radio buttons: Encrypted or Clear
Text.
Step 9 Indicate the type of authentication you want to use by clicking one of the two radio buttons: MD5 or SHA.
Step 10 Enter the password to use for authentication.
Step 11 Confirm the password to use for authentication.
Step 12 Indicate the type of encryption you want to use by clicking one of these three radio buttons: DES, 3DES, or
AES.
Step 13 Enter the password to use for encryption. The maximum number of alphanumeric characters allowed for this
password is 64.
Step 14 Confirm the password to use for encryption.
Step 15 Click Add to add the new user to the specified user group in the Members in Group pane. Click Remove
to delete an existing user from the Members in Group pane.
Step 16 Click OK to create a new user for the specified user group.
The Add SNMP User Group dialog box closes.

Step 17 Click Apply.

SNMP parameters for Version 3 are configured, and the changes are saved to the running configuration.

Monitoring SNMP
See the following commands for monitoring SNMP. You can enter these commands using Tools > Command
Line Interface.
• show running-config snmp-server [default]
This command shows all SNMP server configuration information.
• show running-config snmp-server group

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This command shows SNMP group configuration settings.

• show running-config snmp-server host
This command shows configuration settings used by SNMP to control messages and notifications sent
to remote hosts.
• show running-config snmp-server host-group
This command shows SNMP host group configurations.
• show running-config snmp-server user
This command shows SNMP user-based configuration settings.
• show running-config snmp-server user-list
This command shows SNMP user list configurations.
• show snmp-server engineid
This command shows the ID of the SNMP engine configured.
• show snmp-server group
This command shows the names of configured SNMP groups. If the community string has already been
configured, two extra groups appear by default in the output. This behavior is normal.
• show snmp-server statistics
This command shows the configured characteristics of the SNMP server. To reset all SNMP counters to
zero, use the clear snmp-server statistics command.
• show snmp-server user
This command shows the configured characteristics of users.

History for SNMP

Table 61: History for SNMP

Feature Name Version Description

SNMP Versions 1 and 2c 7.0(1) Provides ASA network monitoring and event information by transmitting data
between the SNMP server and SNMP agent through the clear text community
string.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > SNMP.

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Feature Name Version Description

SNMP Version 3 8.2(1) Provides 3DES or AES encryption and support for SNMP Version 3, the most
secure form of the supported security models. This version allows you to
configure users, groups, and hosts, as well as authentication characteristics by
using the USM. In addition, this version allows access control to the agent and
MIB objects and includes additional MIB support.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > SNMP.

Password encryption 8.3(1) Supports password encryption.

SNMP traps and MIBs 8.4(1) Supports the following additional keywords: connection-limit-reached, cpu
threshold rising, entity cpu-temperature, entity fan-failure, entity
power-supply, ikev2 stop | start, interface-threshold, memory-threshold,
nat packet-discard, warmstart.
The entPhysicalTable reports entries for sensors, fans, power supplies, and
related components.
Supports the following additional MIBs: CISCO-ENTITY-SENSOR-EXT-MIB,
CISCO-ENTITY-FRU-CONTROL-MIB, CISCO-PROCESS-MIB,
CISCO-ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB,
CISCO-L4L7MODULE-RESOURCE-LIMIT-MIB, DISMAN-EVENT-MIB,
DISMAN-EXPRESSION-MIB, ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB, NAT-MIB.
Supports the following additional traps: ceSensorExtThresholdNotification,
clrResourceLimitReached, cpmCPURisingThreshold, mteTriggerFired,
natPacketDiscard, warmStart.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > SNMP.

IF-MIB ifAlias OID support 8.2(5) / The ASA now supports the ifAlias OID. When you browse the IF-MIB, the
8.4(2) ifAlias OID will be set to the value that has been set for the interface description.

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Feature Name Version Description

ASA Services Module (ASASM) 8.5(1) The ASASM supports all MIBs and traps that are present in 8.4(1), except for
the following:
Unsupported MIBs in 8.5(1):
• CISCO-ENTITY-SENSOR-EXT-MIB (Only objects under the
entPhySensorTable group are supported).
• ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB (Only objects in the entPhySensorTable group
are supported).
• DISMAN-EXPRESSION-MIB (Only objects in the expExpressionTable,
expObjectTable, and expValueTable groups are supported).

Unsupported traps in 8.5(1):

• ceSensorExtThresholdNotification
(CISCO-ENTITY-SENSOR-EXT-MIB). This trap is only used for power
supply failure, fan failure, and high CPU temperature events.
• InterfacesBandwidthUtilization.

SNMP traps 8.6(1) Supports the following additional keywords for the ASA 5512-X, 5515-X,
5525-X, 5545-X, and 5555-X: entity power-supply-presence, entity
power-supply-failure, entity chassis-temperature, entity chassis-fan-failure,
entity power-supply-temperature.
We modified the following command: snmp-server enable traps.

VPN-related MIBs 9.0(1) An updated version of the CISCO-IPSEC-FLOW-MONITOR-MIB.my MIB

has been implemented to support the next generation encryption feature.
The following MIBs have been enabled for the ASASM:
• ALTIGA-GLOBAL-REG.my
• ALTIGA-LBSSF-STATS-MIB.my
• ALTIGA-MIB.my
• ALTIGA-SSL-STATS-MIB.my
• CISCO-IPSEC-FLOW-MONITOR-MIB.my
• CISCO-REMOTE-ACCESS-MONITOR-MIB.my

Cisco TrustSec MIB 9.0(1) Support for the following MIB was added: CISCO-TRUSTSEC-SXP-MIB.

SNMP OIDs 9.1(1) Five new SNMP Physical Vendor Type OIDs have been added to support the
ASA 5512-X, 5515-X, 5525-X, 5545-X, and 5555-X.

NAT MIB 9.1(2) Added the cnatAddrBindNumberOfEntries and cnatAddrBindSessionCount

OIDs to support the xlate_count and max_xlate_count entries, which are the
equivalent to allowing polling using the show xlate count command.

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Feature Name Version Description

SNMP hosts, host groups, and user lists 9.1(5) You can now add up to 4000 hosts. The number of supported active polling
destinations is 128. You can specify a network object to indicate the individual
hosts that you want to add as a host group. You can associate more than one
user with one host.
We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > SNMP.

SNMP message size 9.2(1) The limit on the message size that SNMP sends has been increased to 1472
bytes.

SNMP OIDs and MIBs 9.2(1) The ASA now supports the cpmCPUTotal5minRev OID.
The ASAv has been added as a new product to the SNMP sysObjectID OID
and entPhysicalVendorType OID.
The CISCO-PRODUCTS-MIB and
CISCO-ENTITY-VENDORTYPE-OID-MIB have been updated to support
the new ASAv platform.
A new SNMP MIB for monitoring VPN shared license usage has been added.

SNMP OIDs and MIBs 9.3(1) CISCO-REMOTE-ACCESS-MONITOR-MIB (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.392) support

has been added for the ASASM.

SNMP MIBs and traps 9.3(2) The CISCO-PRODUCTS-MIB and

CISCO-ENTITY-VENDORTYPE-OID-MIB have been updated to support
the ASA 5506-X.
The ASA 5506-X has been added as new products to the SNMP sysObjectID
OID and entPhysicalVendorType OID tables.
The ASA now supports the CISCO-CONFIG-MAN-MIB, which enables you
to do the following:
• Know which commands have been entered for a specific configuration.
• Notify the NMS when a change has occurred in the running configuration.
• Track the time stamps associated with the last time that the running
configuration was changed or saved.
• Track other changes to commands, such as terminal details and command
sources.

We modified the following screen: Configuration > Device Management >

Management Access > SNMP > Configure Traps > SNMP Trap Configuration.

SNMP MIBs and traps 9.4(1) The ASA 5506W-X, ASA 5506H-X, ASA 5508-X, and ASA 5516-X have
been added as a new product to the SNMP sysObjectID OID and
entPhysicalVendorType OID tables.

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Feature Name Version Description

Unlimited SNMP server trap hosts per 9.4(1) The ASA supports unlimited SNMP server trap hosts per context. The show
context snmp-server host command output displays only the active hosts that are
polling the ASA, as well as the statically configured hosts.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Added support for ISA 3000 9.4(1.225) The ISA 3000 family of products is now supported for SNMP. We added new
OIDs for this platform. The snmp-server enable traps entity command has
been modified to include a new variable l1-bypass-status. This enables hardware
bypass status change.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

Support for the cempMemPoolTable in the 9.6(1) The cempMemPoolTable of the CISCO-ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB is
CISCO-ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB now supported. This is a table of memory pool monitoring entries for all
physical entities on a managed system.
Note The CISCO-ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB uses 64-bit counters
and supports reporting of memory on platforms with more than 4GB
of RAM.

Support for E2E Transparent Clock Mode 9.7(1) MIBs corresponding to E2E Transparent Clock mode are now supported.
MIBs for the Precision Time Protocol
Note Only SNMP get, bulkget, getnext, and walk operations are supported.
(PTP)

SNMP over IPv6 9.9(2) The ASA now supports SNMP over IPv6, including communicating with SNMP
servers over IPv6, allowing the execution of queries and traps over IPv6, and
supporting IPv6 addresses for existing MIBs. We added the following new
SNMP IPv6 MIB objects as described in RFC 8096.
• ipv6InterfaceTable (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.30)—Contains per-interface
IPv6-specific information.
• ipAddressPrefixTable (OID:1.3.6.1.2.1.4.32)—Includes all the prefixes
learned by this entity.
• ipAddressTable (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.34)—Contains addressing information
relevant to the entity's interfaces.
• ipNetToPhysicalTable (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.35)—Contains the mapping
from IP addresses to physical addresses.

New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management >

Management Access > SNMP

Support to enable and disable the results 9.10(1) To avoid overutilization of CPU resources, you can enable and disable the
for free memory and used memory statistics query of free memory and used memory statistics collected through SNMP
during SNMP walk operations walk operations.
We did not modify any ASDM screens.

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Feature Name Version Description

Support to enable and disable the results 9.12(1) To avoid overutilization of CPU resources, you can enable and disable the
for free memory and used memory statistics query of free memory and used memory statistics collected through SNMP
during SNMP walk operations walk operations.
New or modified screen: Configuration > Device Management >
Management Access > SNMP

SNMP polling over site-to-site VPN 9.14(2) For secure SNMP polling over a site-to-site VPN, include the IP address of the
outside interface in the crypto map access-list as part of the VPN configuration.

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Cisco Success Network and Telemetry Data
This chapter describes about Cisco Success Network and how to enable it on ASA. It also lists the telemetry
data points that are sent to the Security Service Engine(SSE) cloud.
• About Cisco Success Network , on page 1079
• Enable or Disable Cisco Success Network , on page 1080
• View ASA Telemetry Data , on page 1081
• Cisco Success Network - Telemetry Data, on page 1081

About Cisco Success Network

Cisco Success Network is user-enabled cloud service that establishes a secured connection with the Security
Service Exchange (SSE) cloud to stream ASA usage information and statistics. Streaming telemetry provides
a mechanism to transmit ASA usage and other details in structured format (JSON) to remote management
stations for the following benefits:
• To inform you of extra technical support services and monitoring that are available for your product.
• To help Cisco improve its products.

By default, the Cisco Success Network is enabled on the Firepower 9300/4100 platforms that hosts ASA
devices (at the blade level). However, for the telemetry data to be transmitted, you must enable the configuration
on FXOS at chassis level (see Cisco Firepower 4100/9300 FXOS CLI Configuration Guide) or enable the
Cisco Success Network on the chassis manager (see Cisco Firepower 4100/9300 FXOS Firepower Chassis
Manager Configuration Guide) ASA allows you to disable the telemetry service at any point in time.
The telemetry data that is collected on your ASA devices includes CPU, memory, disk, bandwidth, and license
usage, configured feature list, cluster/failover information, and the alike. Refer Cisco Success Network -
Telemetry Data, on page 1081.

Supported Platforms and Required Configurations

• Supported on FP9300/4100 platforms with ASA version 9.13.1 or above running on it.
• Requires FXOS version 2.7.1 or above to connect with the cloud.
• The SSE connector on FXOS must be connected to the SSE cloud. This connection is established by
enabling and registering the smart license with smart licensing backend. The SSE connector on FXOS
is automatically registered to the SSE cloud by registering smart license.

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• The Cisco Success Network configuration must be enabled on chassis manager.

• The telemetry configuration must be enabled on ASA.

How Does ASA Telemetry Data Reach the SSE Cloud

Cisco Success Network is supported on Firepower 9300/4100 platforms in ASA 9.13(1) by default. The FXOS
service manager sends telemetry request daily to the ASA application running on the Firepower platform.
The ASA engine, based on the configuration and connectivity status, sends the telemetry data either in
standalone mode or cluster mode to FXOS. That is, if the telemetry support is enabled in ASA and SSE
connector status is connected, the telemetry thread pulls the needed information from various sources such
as system or platform or device APIs, license APIs, CPU APIs, memory APIs, disk APIs, smart call home
feature APIs, and so on. However, if the telemetry support is disabled in ASA or the SSE connector status is
disconnected, ASA sends a response to FXOS (appAgent) indicating the telemetry configuration status and
does not send any telemetry data.
FXOS has only one SSE connector instance running on it. When it gets registered with the SSE cloud, it is
considered as one device and SSE infra assigns FXOS with one device ID. Any telemetry report that is sent
through the SSE connector is categorized under the same device ID. Therefore, FXOS aggregates the telemetry
report from each ASA into a single report. Other contents such as smart license account information are added
to the report. FXOS then sends the final report to the SSE cloud. The telemetry data is saved in the SSE data
exchange (DEX) and available for the Cisco IT team to use.

Enable or Disable Cisco Success Network

Before you begin
• Enable and register smart license on FXOS.
• Enable telemetry support on FXOS at the chassis level (see Cisco Firepower 4100/9300 FXOS CLI
Configuration Guide) or enable the Cisco Success Network on the chassis manager (see Cisco Firepower
4100/9300 FXOS Firepower Chassis Manager Configuration Guide).

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Telemetry.

The Enable Cisco Success Network checkbox is selected by default.

Step 2 Ensure the Cisco Success Network is enabled by checking the Enable Cisco Success Network check box.
Step 3 To disable the Cisco Success Network, clear the Enable Cisco Success Network check box.
Step 4 Click Apply.

What to do next
• You can view the telemetry configuration and activities log or the telemetry data. See View ASA Telemetry
Data , on page 1081

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View ASA Telemetry Data

• To view a sample of telemetry data and the data fields, see Cisco Success Network - Telemetry Data, on
page 1081

View ASA Telemetry Data

Before you begin
• Enable the telemetry service on ASA. See Enable or Disable Cisco Success Network , on page 1080

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Monitoring > Properties > Telemetry.

Step 2 Under Telemetry, click the relevant option:
• History—To view the past 100 events related to telemetry configuration and activities.
• Sample—To view the instantly generated telemetry data in JSON format.
• Last-report—To view the latest telemetry data sent to FXOS in JSON format.

Step 3 Click Refresh to view the report.

Cisco Success Network - Telemetry Data

Cisco Success Network is supported on Firepower 9300/4100 platforms by default. The FXOS service manager
sends telemetry request daily to the ASA engine running on the Firepower platform. The ASA engine, on
receiving the request, based on the connectivity status, sends the telemetry data either in standalone mode or
cluster mode to FXOS. Following tables provide information on the telemetry data points, its description, and
sample values.

Table 62: Device Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Device Model Device model Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance

Serial Number Serial number of the device FCH183771EZ

System Time System uptime 11658000

Platform Hardware FPR9K-SM-24

Deployment Mode Deployment type Native

Security context mode Single/Multiple Single

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Table 63: Versions Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Version Global Variable ASA version 9.13.1.5

Device Manager Version Device manager version 7.10.1

Table 64: License Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Smart License Global Variable Activated licenses regid.2015-01.com.cisco.ASA -

SSP-STRONG-ENCRYPTION,
1.0_555507e9-85f8-4e41-96de-
860b59f10bbe

Table 65: Platform Info

Data Point Description Example Value

CPU CPU usage in past 5 minutes fiveSecondsPercentage: 0.2000000,

oneMinutePercentage: 0,
fiveMinutesPercentage: 0

Memory Memory usage freeMemoryInBytes:

225854966384,
usedMemoryInBytes:
17798281616,
totalMemoryInBytes:
243653248000

Disk Disk usage freeGB: 21.237285,

usedGB: 0.238805,
totalGB: 21.476090

Bandwidth Bandwidth usage receivedPktsPerSec: 3,

receivedBytesPerSec: 212,
transmittedPktsPerSec: 3,
transmittedBytesPerSec: 399

Table 66: Feature Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Feature List Enabled feature list name: cluster

status: enabled

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Table 67: Cluster Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Cluster Info Cluster information clusterGroupName : ssp-cluster

interfaceMode : spanned
unitName : unit-3-3
unitState : SLAVE
otherMembers :
items :
memberName : unit-2-1
memberState : MASTER
memberSerialNum :
FCH183771BA

Table 68: Failover Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Failover Failover information myRole: Primary,

peerRole: Secondary,
myState: active,
peerState: standby,
peerSerialNum: FCH183770EZ

Table 69: Login Info

Data Point Description Example Value

Login Login history loginTimes: 2 times in last 2 days,

lastSuccessfulLogin: 12:25:36 PDT
Mar 11 2019

ASA Telemetry Data Sample

Following is an example of the telemetry data that are sent from ASA in JSON format. When service manager
receives this input, it aggregates the data from all ASAs and adds necessary headers/fields before sending to
the SSE connector. The headers/fields include “version”, “metadata”, “payload” with “recordedAt”,
“recordType”, “recordVersion”, and ASA telemetry data, "smartLicenseProductInstanceIdentifier",
"smartLicenseVirtualAccountName", and alike.
{
"version": "1.0",
"metadata": {
"topic": "ASA.telemetry",
"contentType": "application/json"

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},
"payload": {
"recordType": "CST_ASA",
"recordVersion": "1.0",
"recordedAt": 1557363423705,
"SSP": {
"SSPdeviceInfo": {
"deviceModel": "Cisco Firepower FP9300 Security Appliance",
"serialNumber": "JMX2235L01J",
"smartLicenseProductInstanceIdentifier": "f85a5bb0-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx",
"smartLicenseVirtualAccountName": "SSP-general",
"systemUptime": 198599,
"udiProductIdentifier": "FPR-C9300-AC"
},
"versions": {
"items": [
{
"type": "package_version",
"version": "92.7(1.342g)"
}
]
}
},
"asaDevices": {
"items": [
{
"deviceInfo": {
"deviceModel": "Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance",
"serialNumber": "AANNNXXX",
"systemUptime": 285,
"udiProductIdentifier": "FPR9K-SM-36",
"deploymentType": "Native",
"securityContextMode": "Single"
},
"versions": {
"items": [
{
"type": "asa_version",
"version": "201.4(1)82"
},
{
"type": "device_mgr_version",
"version": "7.12(1)44"
}
]
},
"licenseActivated": {
"items": [
{
"type": "Strong encryption",
"tag":
"regid.2015-01.com.cisco.ASA-SSP-STRONG-ENCRYPTION,1.0_xxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-96de-860b59f10bbe",

"count": 1
},
{
"type": "Carrier",
"tag":
"regid.2015-01.com.cisco.ASA-SSP-MOBILE-SP,1.0_xxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx",
"count": 1
}
]
},
"CPUUsage": {

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"fiveSecondsPercentage": 0,
"oneMinutePercentage": 0,
"fiveMinutesPercentage": 0
},
"memoryUsage": {
"freeMemoryInBytes": 99545662064,
"usedMemoryInBytes": 20545378704,
"totalMemoryInBytes": 120091040768
},
"diskUsage": {
"freeGB": 21.237027,
"usedGB": 0.239063,
"totalGB": 21.476090
},
"bandwidthUsage": {
"receivedPktsPerSec": 3,
"receivedBytesPerSec": 268,
"transmittedPktsPerSec": 4,
"transmittedBytesPerSec": 461
},
"featureStatus": {
"items": [
{
"name": "call-home",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "cluster",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "firewall_user_authentication",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-dns",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-esmtp",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-ftp",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-netbios",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-rsh",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-sip",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-sqlnet",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-sunrpc",

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"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-tftp",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "inspection-xdmcp",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "logging-console",
"status": "informational"
},
{
"name": "management-mode",
"status": "normal"
},
{
"name": "sctp-engine",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "threat_detection_basic_threat",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "threat_detection_stat_access_list",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "webvpn-activex-relay",
"status": "enabled"
},
{
"name": "webvpn-dtls",
"status": "enabled"
}
]
},
"clusterInfo": {
"clusterGroupName": "ssp-cluster",
"interfaceMode": "spanned",
"unitName": "unit-3-3",
"unitState": "SLAVE",
"otherMembers": {
"items": [
{
"memberName": "unit-2-1",
"memberState": "MASTER",
"memberSerialNum": "FCH183771BA"
},
{
"memberName": "unit-2-3",
"memberState": "SLAVE",
"memberSerialNum": "FLM1949C6JR"
},
{
"memberName": "unit-2-2",
"memberState": "SLAVE",
"memberSerialNum": "xxxxxxxx"
},
{
"memberName": "unit-3-2",

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"memberState": "SLAVE",
"memberSerialNum": "xxxxxxxx"
},
{
"memberName": "unit-3-1",
"memberState": "SLAVE",
"memberSerialNum": "xxxxxxxx"
}
]
}
},
"loginHistory": {
"loginTimes": "1 times in last 1 days",
"lastSuccessfulLogin": "12:25:36 PDT Mar 11 2019"
}
}

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 CHAPTER 49
Alarms for the Cisco ISA 3000
This chapter gives an overview of the alarm system in the ISA 3000, and also describes how to configure and
monitor alarms.
• About Alarms, on page 1089
• Defaults for Alarms, on page 1091
• Configure Alarms, on page 1091
• Monitoring Alarms, on page 1092
• History for Alarms, on page 1094

About Alarms
You can configure the ISA 3000 to issue alarms for a variety of conditions. If any conditions do not match
the configured settings, the system triggers an alarm, which is reported by way of LEDs, syslog messages,
SNMP traps, and through external devices connected to the alarm output interface. By default, triggered alarms
issue syslog messages only.
You can configure the alarm system to monitor the following:
• Power supply.
• Primary and secondary temperature sensors.
• Alarm input interfaces.

The ISA 3000 has internal sensors plus two alarm input interfaces and one alarm output interface. You can
connect external sensors, such as door sensors, to the alarm inputs. You can connect external alarm devices,
such as buzzers or lights, to the alarm output interface.
The alarm output interface is a relay mechanism. Depending on the alarm conditions, the relay is either
energized or de-energized. When it is energized, any device connected to the interface is activated. A
de-energized relay results in the inactive state of any connected devices. The relay remains in an energized
state as long as alarms are triggered.
For information about connecting external sensors and the alarm relay, see Cisco ISA 3000 Industrial Security
Appliance Hardware Installation Guide.

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Alarm Input Interfaces

Alarm Input Interfaces

You can connect the alarm input interfaces (or contacts) to external sensors, such as one that detects if a door
is open.
Each alarm input interface has a corresponding LED. These LEDs convey the alarm status of each alarm
input. You can configure the trigger and severity for each alarm input. In addition to the LED, you can configure
the contact to trigger the output relay (to activate an external alarm), to send syslog messages, and to send
SNMP traps.
The following table explains the statuses of the LEDs in response to alarm conditions for the alarm inputs. It
also explains the behavior for the output relay, syslog messages, and SNMP traps, if you enable these responses
to the alarm input.

Alarm Status LED Output Relay Syslog SNMP Trap

Alarm not Off — — —

configured

No alarms triggered Solid green — — —

Alarm activated Minor alarm—solid Relay energized Syslog generated SNMP trap sent
red
Major
alarm—flashing red

Alarm end Solid green Relay de-energized Syslog generated —

Alarm Output Interface

You can connect an external alarm, such as a buzzer or light, to the alarm output interface.
The alarm output interface functions as a relay and also has a corresponding LED, which conveys the alarm
status of an external sensor connected to the input interface, and internal sensors such as the dual power supply
and temperature sensors. You configure which alarms should activate the output relay, if any.
The following table explains the statuses of the LEDs and output relay in response to alarm conditions. It also
explains the behavior for syslog messages, and SNMP traps, if you enable these responses to the alarm.

Alarm Status LED Output Relay Syslog SNMP Trap

Alarm not Off — — —

configured

No alarms triggered Solid green — — —

Alarm activated Solid red Relay energized Syslog generated SNMP trap sent

Alarm end Solid green Relay de-energized Syslog generated —

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Defaults for Alarms

Defaults for Alarms

The following table specifies the defaults for alarm input interfaces (contacts), redundant power supply, and
temperature.

Alarm Trigger Severity SNMP Trap Output Syslog

Relay Message

Alarm Contact 1 Enabled Closed Minor Disabled Disabled Enabled

State

Alarm Contact 2 Enabled Closed Minor Disabled Disabled Enabled

State

Redundant Power Enabled — — Disabled Disabled Enabled

Supply (when
enabled)

Temperature Enabled for the — — Enabled for Enabled for Enabled for
primary primary primary primary
temperature temperature temperature temperature
alarm (default alarm alarm alarm
values of 92°C
and -40°C for the
high and low
thresholds
respectively)
Disabled for the
secondary alarm.

Configure Alarms
To configure alarms for the ISA 3000, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Configure alarms, monitoring, and logging in the required alarm contact pane.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Alarm Port > Alarm Contact.
b) Click the major or minor radio button to specify the severity. Click none to disable the alarm for severity.
c) Click the open or close radio button to specify the trigger.
The default is close. Specifying open will trigger an alarm when a contact which is normally closed, is
open, or when current stops flowing. Specifying closed will trigger an alarm when the contact which is
normally open, is closed, or when current starts flowing.

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For example, if a door sensor is connected to an alarm input, its normally open state has no electrical
current flowing through the contacts. If the door is opened, electrical current flows through the contacts
activating the alarm.
d) (Optional) Enter the description in the description field. The description may be up to 80 alphanumeric
characters long, and will be included in syslog messages.
e) Check the Enable relay check box.
f) Check the Enable system logger check box to enable syslogs.
g) Check the Enable notification sent to server check box to enable SNMP traps.
h) Click Apply.
Step 2 Configure the alarm, monitoring, and logging for redundant power supply.
The redundant power supply has to be enabled for the power supply alarms to work.
To enable the redundant power supply, choose Configuration > Device Management > Power Supply.
Check the Enable Redundant Power Supply check box, and click Apply.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Alarm Port.
b) Click the Redundant Power Supply tab.
c) Check the Enable notification sent to server check box to enable SNMP traps.
d) Check the Enable relay check box.
e) Check the Enable system logger check box to enable syslogs.
f) Click Apply.
Step 3 Configure the alarms, monitoring and logging, for temperature.
a) Choose Configuration > Device Management > Alarm Port.
b) Click the Temperature tab.
c) Check the Enable notification sent to server check box to enable SNMP traps.
d) Check the Enable relay check box.
e) Check the Enable system logger check box to enable syslogs.
f) Enter the high and low thresholds in the High Threshold and Low Threshold fields in the required alarm
pane.
For the primary temperature alarm, valid values range from –40°C to 92°C. For the secondary temperature
alarm, valid values range from –35°C to 85°C. If a high temperature threshold is configured for the
secondary alarm, only the secondary alarm will be enabled. The primary alarm cannot be disabled. When
threshold values are not specified for the primary alarm, it reverts to the default values of 92°C and -40°C
for the high and low thresholds respectively.
g) Click Apply.

Monitoring Alarms
See the following panes to monitor alarms

Procedure
• Choose Monitoring > Properties > Alarm > Alarm Settings.
This pane displays all global alarm settings.

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• Choose Monitoring > Properties > Alarm > Alarm Contact.

This pane displays all external alarm settings.
• Choose Monitoring > Properties > Alarm > Facility Alarm Status.
This pane displays all alarms based on severity specified and displays the following information:

Column Description

Source Device from which the alarm was triggered. This

is usually the hostname configured on the device.

Severity Major or minor

Description Type of alarm triggered. For example, temperature,

external contact, redundant power supply etc.

Relay Energized or de-energized

Time Timestamp of the triggered alarm

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History for Alarms

History for Alarms

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Alarm ports support for the ISA 3000 9.7(1) The ISA 3000 now supports two alarm
input pins and one alarm out pin, with
LEDs to convey alarms’ statuses. External
sensors can be connected to the alarm
inputs. An external hardware relay can be
connected to the alarm out pin. You can
configure descriptions of external alarms.
You can also specify the severity and
trigger, for external and internal alarms. All
alarms can be configured for relay,
monitoring and logging.
We introduced the following commands:
alarm contact description, alarm contact
severity, alarm contact trigger, alarm
facility input-alarm, alarm facility
power-supply rps, alarm facility
temperature, alarm facility temperature
high, alarm facility temperature low,
clear configure alarm, clear
facility-alarm output, show alarm
settings, show environment
alarm-contact.
We introduced the following screens:
Configuration > Device Management >
Alarm Port > Alarm Contact
Configuration > Device Management >
Alarm Port > Redundant Power Supply
Configuration > Device Management >
Alarm Port > Temperature
Monitoring > Properties > Alarm >
Alarm Settings
Monitoring > Properties > Alarm >
Alarm Contact
Monitoring > Properties > Alarm >
Facility Alarm Status

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 CHAPTER 50
Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home
This chapter describes how to configure the Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home services.
• About Anonymous Reporting, on page 1095
• About Smart Call Home, on page 1096
• Guidelines for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home, on page 1097
• Configure Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home, on page 1098
• Monitoring Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home, on page 1102
• History for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home, on page 1103

About Anonymous Reporting

You can help to improve the Cisco ASA platform by enabling Anonymous Reporting, which allows Cisco to
securely receive minimal error and health information from the device. If you enable the feature, your customer
identity will remain anonymous, and no identifying information will be sent.
Enabling Anonymous Reporting creates a trust point and installs a certificate. A CA certificate is required for
your ASA to validate the server certificate present on the Smart Call Home web server and to form the HTTPS
session so that your ASA can send messages securely. Cisco imports a certificate that is predefined in the
software. If you decide to enable Anonymous Reporting, a certificate is installed on the ASA with a hardcoded
trust point name: _SmartCallHome_ServerCA. When you enable Anonymous Reporting, this trust point is
created, the appropriate certificate is installed, and you receive a message about this action. The certificate
then appears in your configuration.
If the appropriate certificate already exists in your configuration when you enable Anonymous Reporting, no
trust point is created, and no certificate is installed.

Note When you enable Anonymous Reporting, you acknowledge your consent to transfer the specified data to
Cisco or to vendors operating on Cisco’s behalf (including countries outside of the U.S.). Cisco maintains the
privacy of all customers. For information about Cisco’s treatment of personal information, see the Cisco
Privacy Statement at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/web/siteassets/legal/privacy.html
When the ASA configures Smart Call Home anonymous reporting in the background, the ASA automatically
creates a trustpoint containing the certificate of the CA that issues the Call Home server certificate. The ASA
now supports validation of the certificate if the issuing hierarchy of the server certificate changes, without the
need for customer involvement to make certificate hierarchy changes. You can also automatically import the
trustpool certificates so that ASA renews the certificate hierarchy without any manual intervention.

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DNS Requirement

DNS Requirement
A DNS server must be configured correctly for the ASA to reach the Cisco Smart Call Home server and send
messages to Cisco. Because it is possible that the ASA resides in a private network and does not have access
to the public network, Cisco verifies your DNS configuration and then configures it for you, if necessary, by
doing the following:
1. Performing a DNS lookup for all DNS servers configured.
2. Getting the DNS server from the DHCP server by sending DHCPINFORM messages on the highest
security-level interface.
3. Using the Cisco DNS servers for lookup.
4. Randomly using a static IP addresses for tools.cisco.com.

These tasks are performed without changing the current configuration. (For example, the DNS server that
was learned from DHCP will not be added to the configuration.)
If there is no DNS server configured, and the ASA cannot reach the Cisco Smart Call Home Server, Cisco
generates a syslog message with the warning severity level for each Smart Call Home message that is sent to
remind you to configure DNS correctly.
See the syslog messages guide for information about syslog messages.

About Smart Call Home

When fully configured, Smart Call Home detects issues at your site and reports them back to Cisco or through
other user-defined channels (such as e-mail or directly to you), often before you know that these issues exist.
Depending on the seriousness of these problems, Cisco responds to your system configuration issues, product
end-of-life announcements, security advisory issues, and so on by providing the following services:
• Identifying issues quickly with continuous monitoring, real-time proactive alerts, and detailed diagnostics.
• Making you aware of potential problems through Smart Call Home notifications, in which a service
request has been opened, with all diagnostic data attached.
• Resolving critical problems faster with direct, automatic access to experts in Cisco TAC.
• Using staff resources more efficiently by reducing troubleshooting time.
• Generating service requests to Cisco TAC automatically (if you have a service contract), routed to the
appropriate support team, which provides detailed diagnostic information that speeds problem resolution.

The Smart Call Home Portal offers quick access to required information that enables you to do the following:
• Review all Smart Call Home messages, diagnostics, and recommendations in one place.
• Check service request status.
• View the most up-to-date inventory and configuration information for all Smart Call Home-enabled
devices.

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Guidelines for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

Guidelines for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

This section includes the guidelines and limitation that you should review before configuring Anonymous
reporting and Smart Call Home.

Anonymous Reporting Guidelines

• DNS must be configured.
• If an Anonymous Reporting message cannot be sent on the first try, the ASA retries two more times
before dropping the message.
• Anonymous Reporting may coexist with other Smart Call Home configurations without changing the
existing configuration. For example, if Smart Call Home is disabled before enabling Anonymous
Reporting, it remains disabled, even after Anonymous Reporting has been enabled.
• If Anonymous Reporting is enabled, you cannot remove the trust point, and when Anonymous Reporting
is disabled, the trust point remains. If Anonymous Reporting is disabled, you can remove the trust point,
but disabling Anonymous Reporting does not cause the trust point to be removed.
• If you are using a multiple context mode configuration, the dns, interface, and trustpoint commands
are in the admin context, and the call-home commands are in the system context.
• You can automate the update of the trustpool bundle at periodic intervals so that Smart Call Home can
remain active if the self-signed certificate of the CA server changes. This trustpool auto renewal feature
is not supported under multi-context deployments.

Smart Call Home Guidelines

• In multiple context mode, the subscribe-to-alert-group snapshot periodic command is divided into two
commands: one to obtain information from the system configuration and one to obtain information from
the user context.
• The Smart Call Home back-end server can accept messages in XML format only.
• A Smart Call Home message is sent to Cisco to report important cluster events if you have enabled
clustering and configured Smart Call Home to subscribe to the diagnostic alert group with a critical
severity level. A Smart Call Home clustering message is sent for only the following events:
• When a unit joins the cluster
• When a unit leaves the cluster
• When a cluster unit becomes the cluster control unit
• When a secondary unit fails in the cluster

Each message that is sent includes the following information:

• The active cluster member count
• The output of the show cluster info command and the show cluster history command on the cluster
control unit

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Configure Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

While Anonymous Reporting is part of the Smart Call Home service and allows Cisco to anonymously receive
minimal error and health information from your device, the Smart Call Home service provides customized
support of your system health, enabling Cisco TAC to monitor your devices and open a case when there is
an issue, often before you know the issue has occurred.
You can have both services configured on your system at the same time, although configuring the Smart Call
Home service provides the same functionality as Anonymous Reporting, plus customized services.

Configure Anonymous Reporting

To configure Anonymous Reporting, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call Home.
Step 2 Check the Enable Anonymous Reporting check box.
Step 3 Click Test Connection to ensure that your system is able to send messages.
ASDM returns a success or error message to notify you of test results.

Step 4 Click Apply to save the configuration and enable Anonymous Reporting.

Configure Smart Call Home

To configure the Smart Call Home service, system setup, and alert subscription profiles, perform the following
steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Choose Configuration > Device Management > Smart Call Home.
Step 2 Check the Enable Registered Smart Call Home check box to enable Smart Call Home and register your
ASA with Cisco TAC.
Step 3 Double-click Advanced System Setup. This area consists of three panes. Each pane can be expanded or
collapsed by double-clicking the title row.
a) You can set up mail servers in the Mail Servers pane, through which Smart Call Home messages are
delivered to e-mail subscribers.
b) You can enter the information of the person to contact in the Contact Information pane for the ASA that
appears in Smart Call Home messages. This pane includes the following information:
• The name of the contact person.
• The contact phone number.
• The postal address of the contact person.

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• The e-mail address of the contact.

• The “from” e-mail address in Smart Call Home e-mail.
• The “reply-to” e-mail address in Smart Call Home e-mail.
• The customer ID.
• The site ID.
• The contract ID.

c) You can adjust alert control parameters in the Alert Control pane. This pane includes the Alert Group
Status pane, which lists the status (enabled or disabled) of the following alert groups:
• The diagnostics alert group.
• The configuration alert group.
• The environmental alert group.
• The inventory alert group.
• The snapshot alert group.
• The syslog alert group.
• The telemetry alert group.
• The threat alert group.
• The maximum number of Smart Call Home messages processed per minute.
• The “from” e-mail address in Smart Call Home e-mail.

Step 4 Double-click Alert Subscription Profiles. Each named subscription profile identifies subscribers and alert
groups of interest.
a) Click Add or Edit to display the Subscription Profile Editor, in which you can create a new subscription
profile or edit an existing subscription profile.
b) Click Delete to remove the selected profile.
c) Check the Active check box to send a Smart Call Home message of the selected subscription profile to
subscribers.
Step 5 Click Add or Edit to display the Add or Edit Alert Subscription Profile dialog box.
a) The Name field is read-only and cannot be edited.
b) Check the Enable this subscription profile check box to enable or disable this particular profile.
c) Click either the HTTP or Email radio button in the Alert Delivery Method area.
d) Enter the e-mail address or web address in the Subscribers field.
e) Specify a Reference Identity object by name to enable RFC 6125 reference identity checks on the
certificate received from the Syslog server.
See Configure Reference Identities, on page 644 for details on the reference identity object.

Step 6 The Alert Dispatch area lets the administrator specify which type of Smart Call Home information to send
to subscribers and under what conditions. There are two types of alerts, time-based and event-based, chosen
according to how the alert is triggered. The following alert groups are time-based: Configuration, Inventory,

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Snapshot, and Telemetry. The following alert groups are event-based: Diagnostic, Environmental, Syslog,
and Threat.
Step 7 The Message Parameters area lets you adjust parameters that control messages sent to the subscriber, including
the preferred message format and the maximum message size.
Step 8 For time-based alerts, click Add or Edit in the Alert Dispatch area to display the Add or Edit Configuration
Alert Dispatch Condition dialog box.
a) Specify the frequency in the Alert Dispatch Frequency area in which to send the information to
subscribers:
• For a monthly subscription, specify the day of the month, as well as the time of the day to send the
information. If they are not specified, the ASA chooses appropriate values for them.
• For a weekly subscription, specify the day of the week, as well as the time of the day to send the
information. If they are not specified, the ASA chooses appropriate values for them.
• For a daily subscription, specify the time of the day to send the information. If it is not specified, the
ASA chooses an appropriate value for it.
• For an hourly subscription, specify the minute of the hour to send the information. If it is not specified,
the ASA chooses an appropriate value for it. Hourly subscriptions are applicable to the snapshot and
telemetry alert groups only.

b) Click the Basic or Detailed radio button to provide the desired level of information to subscribers.
c) Click OK to save the configuration.
Step 9 For diagnostic, environment, and threat event-based alerts, click Add or Edit in the Alert Dispatch area to
display the Create or Edit Diagnostic Alert Dispatch Condition dialog box.
Step 10 Specify the event severity that triggers dispatch of the alert to subscribers in the Event Severity drop-down
list, and then click OK.
Step 11 For inventory time-based alerts, click Add or Edit in the Alert Dispatch area to display the Create or Edit
Inventory Alert Dispatch Condition dialog box.
Step 12 Specify how often to dispatch alerts to subscribers in the Alert Dispatch Frequency drop-down list, and then
click OK.
Step 13 For snapshot time-based alerts, click Add or Edit in the Alert Dispatch area to display the Create or Edit
Snapshot Alert Dispatch Condition dialog box.
a) Specify the frequency in the Alert Dispatch Frequency area in which to send the information to
subscribers:
• For a monthly subscription, specify the day of the month, as well as the time of the day to send the
information. If they are not specified, the ASA chooses appropriate values for them.
• For a weekly subscription, specify the day of the week, as well as the time of the day to send the
information. If they are not specified, the ASA chooses appropriate values for them.
• For a daily subscription, specify the time of the day to send the information. If it is not specified, the
ASA chooses an appropriate value for it.
• For an hourly subscription, specify the minute of the hour to send the information. If it is not specified,
the ASA chooses an appropriate value for it. Hourly subscriptions are applicable to the snapshot and
telemetry alert groups only.
• For an interval subscription, specify how often, in minutes, the formation is sent to the subscribers.
This requirement is applicable to the snapshot alert group only.

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Configure Auto Import of Trustpool Certificates

b) Click OK to save the configuration.

Step 14 For syslog event-based alerts, click Add or Edit in the Alert Dispatch area to display the Create or Edit
Syslog Alert Dispatch Condition dialog box.
a) Check the Specify the event severity which triggers the dispatch of alert to subscribers check box,
and choose the event severity from the drop-down list.
b) Check the Specify the message IDs of syslogs which trigger the dispatch of alert to subscribers check
box.
c) Specify the syslog message IDs that trigger dispatch of the alert to subscribers according to the on-screen
instructions.
d) Click OK to save the configuration.
Step 15 For telemetry event-based alerts, click Add or Edit in the Alert Dispatch area to display the Create or Edit
Telemetry Alert Dispatch Condition dialog box.
a) Specify the frequency in the Alert Dispatch Frequency area in which to send the information to
subscribers:
• For a monthly subscription, specify the day of the month, as well as the time of the day to send the
information. If they are not specified, the ASA chooses appropriate values for them.
• For a weekly subscription, specify the day of the week, as well as the time of the day to send the
information. If they are not specified, the ASA chooses appropriate values for them.
• For a daily subscription, specify the time of the day to send the information. If it is not specified, the
ASA chooses an appropriate value for it.
• For an hourly subscription, specify the minute of the hour to send the information. If it is not specified,
the ASA chooses an appropriate value for it. Hourly subscriptions are applicable to the snapshot and
telemetry alert groups only.

b) Click OK to save the configuration.

Step 16 Click Test to determine if the configured alerts are operating correctly.

Configure Auto Import of Trustpool Certificates

Smart licensing uses the Smart Call Home infrastructure. When the ASA configures Smart Call Home
anonymous reporting in the background, the ASA automatically creates a trustpoint containing the certificate
of the CA that issued the Call Home server certificate. The ASA now supports validation of the certificate if
the issuing hierarchy of the server certificate changes, without the need for customer involvement to adjust
certificate hierarchy changes. You can automate the update of the trustpool bundle at periodic intervals so
that Smart Call Home can remain active if the self-signed certificate of the CA server changes. This feature
is not supported under multi-context deployments.
Automatic import of trustpool certificate bundles requires you to specify the URL that ASA uses to download
and import the bundle. Use the following command so the import happens daily at a regular interval with the
default Cisco URL and default time of 22 hours:
ciscoasa(config-ca-trustpool)# auto-import-url Default

You can also enable auto import with a custom URL with the following command:
ciscoasa(config-ca-trustpool)# auto-import url http://www.thawte.com

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To give you more flexibility to set downloads during off peak hours or other convenient times, enter the
following command which enables the import with a custom time:
ciscoasa(config-ca-trustpool)# auto-import time 23:23:23

Setting the automatic import with both a custom URL and custom time requires the following command:
ciscoasa(config-ca-trustpool)# auto-import time 23:23:23 url http://www.thawte.com

Monitoring Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

See the following commands for monitoring Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home services. You can
enter these commands using Tools > Command Line Interface.
• show call-home detail
This command shows the current Smart Call Home detail configuration.
• show call-home mail-server status
This command shows the current mail server status.
• show call-home profile {profile name | all}
This command shows the configuration of Smart Call Home profiles.
• show call-home registered-module status [all]
This command shows the registered module status.
• show call-home statistics
This command shows call-home detail status.
• show call-home
This command shows the current Smart Call Home configuration.
• show running-config call-home
This command shows the current Smart Call Home running configuration.
• show smart-call-home alert-group
This command shows the current status of Smart Call Home alert groups.
• show running-config all
This command shows details about the Anonymous Reporting user profile.

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History for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

History for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

Table 70: History for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Smart Call Home 8.2(2) The Smart Call Home service offers
proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts
on the ASA, and provides higher network
availability and increased operational
efficiency.
We introduced the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Smart Call Home.

Anonymous Reporting 9.0(1) You can help to improve the ASA platform
by enabling Anonymous Reporting, which
allows Cisco to securely receive minimal
error and health information from a device.
We modified the following screen:
Configuration > Device Management >
Smart Call Home.

Smart Call Home 9.1(2) The show local-host command was

changed to the show local-host | include
interface command for telemetry alert
group reporting.

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History for Anonymous Reporting and Smart Call Home

Feature Name Platform Releases Description

Smart Call Home 9.1(3) A Smart Call Home message is sent to

Cisco to report important cluster events if
you have enabled clustering and configured
Smart Call Home to subscribe to the
Diagnostic alert group with a Critical
severity level. A Smart Call Home
clustering message is sent for only the
following three events:
• When a unit joins the cluster
• When a unit leaves the cluster
• When a cluster unit becomes the
cluster control unit

Each message that is sent includes the

following information:
• The active cluster member count
• The output of the show cluster info
command and the show cluster
history command on the cluster
control unit

Reference Identities for Secure Smart Call 9.6(2) TLS client processing now supports rules
Home Server connections for verification of a server identity defined
in RFC 6125, Section 6. Identity
verification will be done during PKI
validation for TLS connections to the Smart
Call Home Server. If the presented identity
cannot be matched against the configured
reference identity, the connection is not
established.
We modifed the following page:
Configuration > Device Management >
Smart Call Home.

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Reference
• Addresses, Protocols, and Ports, on page 1107
 CHAPTER 51
Addresses, Protocols, and Ports
This chapter provides a quick reference for IP addresses, protocols, and applications.
• IPv4 Addresses and Subnet Masks, on page 1107
• IPv6 Addresses, on page 1111
• Protocols and Applications, on page 1116
• TCP and UDP Ports, on page 1117
• Local Ports and Protocols, on page 1121
• ICMP Types, on page 1122

IPv4 Addresses and Subnet Masks

This section describes how to use IPv4 addresses in the Cisco ASA. An IPv4 address is a 32-bit number
written in dotted-decimal notation: four 8-bit fields (octets) converted from binary to decimal numbers,
separated by dots. The first part of an IP address identifies the network on which the host resides, while the
second part identifies the particular host on the given network. The network number field is called the network
prefix. All hosts on a given network share the same network prefix but must have a unique host number. In
classful IP, the class of the address determines the boundary between the network prefix and the host number.

Classes
IP host addresses are divided into three different address classes: Class A, Class B, and Class C. Each class
fixes the boundary between the network prefix and the host number at a different point within the 32-bit
address. Class D addresses are reserved for multicast IP.
• Class A addresses (1.xxx.xxx.xxx through 126.xxx.xxx.xxx) use only the first octet as the network prefix.
• Class B addresses (128.0.xxx.xxx through 191.255.xxx.xxx) use the first two octets as the network prefix.
• Class C addresses (192.0.0.xxx through 223.255.255.xxx) use the first three octets as the network prefix.

Because Class A addresses have 16,777,214 host addresses, and Class B addresses 65,534 hosts, you can use
subnet masking to break these huge networks into smaller subnets.

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Private Networks

Private Networks
If you need large numbers of addresses on your network, and they do not need to be routed on the Internet,
you can use private IP addresses that the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) recommends (see
RFC 1918). The following address ranges are designated as private networks that should not be advertised:
• 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255
• 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255
• 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255

Subnet Masks
A subnet mask lets you convert a single Class A, B, or C network into multiple networks. With a subnet mask,
you can create an extended network prefix that adds bits from the host number to the network prefix. For
example, a Class C network prefix always consists of the first three octets of the IP address. But a Class C
extended network prefix uses part of the fourth octet as well.
Subnet masking is easy to understand if you use binary notation instead of dotted decimal. The bits in the
subnet mask have a one-to-one correspondence with the Internet address:
• The bits are set to 1 if the corresponding bit in the IP address is part of the extended network prefix.
• The bits are set to 0 if the bit is part of the host number.

Example 1: If you have the Class B address 129.10.0.0 and you want to use the entire third octet as part of
the extended network prefix instead of the host number, then you must specify a subnet mask of
11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000. This subnet mask converts the Class B address into the equivalent
of a Class C address, where the host number consists of the last octet only.
Example 2: If you want to use only part of the third octet for the extended network prefix, then you must
specify a subnet mask like 11111111.11111111.11111000.00000000, which uses only 5 bits of the third octet
for the extended network prefix.
You can write a subnet mask as a dotted-decimal mask or as a /bits (“slash bits”) mask. In Example 1, for a
dotted-decimal mask, you convert each binary octet into a decimal number: 255.255.255.0. For a /bits mask,
you add the number of 1s: /24. In Example 2, the decimal number is 255.255.248.0 and the /bits is /21.
You can also supernet multiple Class C networks into a larger network by using part of the third octet for the
extended network prefix. For example, 192.168.0.0/20.

Determine the Subnet Mask

See the following table to determine the subnet mask based on how many hosts you want.

Note The first and last number of a subnet are reserved, except for /32, which identifies a single host.

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Determine the Address to Use with the Subnet Mask

Table 71: Hosts, Bits, and Dotted-Decimal Masks

Hosts /Bits Mask Dotted-Decimal Mask

16,777,216 /8 255.0.0.0 Class A Network

65,536 /16 255.255.0.0 Class B Network

32,768 /17 255.255.128.0

16,384 /18 255.255.192.0

8192 /19 255.255.224.0

4096 /20 255.255.240.0

2048 /21 255.255.248.0

1024 /22 255.255.252.0

512 /23 255.255.254.0

256 /24 255.255.255.0 Class C Network

128 /25 255.255.255.128

64 /26 255.255.255.192

32 /27 255.255.255.224

16 /28 255.255.255.240

8 /29 255.255.255.248

4 /30 255.255.255.252

Do not use /31 255.255.255.254

1 /32 255.255.255.255 Single Host

Address

Determine the Address to Use with the Subnet Mask

The following sections describe how to determine the network address to use with a subnet mask for a Class
C-size and a Class B-size network.

Class C-Size Network Address

For a network between 2 and 254 hosts, the fourth octet falls on a multiple of the number of host addresses,
starting with 0. For example, The following table shows the 8-host subnets (/29) of 192.168.0.x.

Note The first and last address of a subnet are reserved. In the first subnet example, you cannot use 192.168.0.0 or
192.168.0.7.

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Class B-Size Network Address

Table 72: Class C-Size Network Address

Subnet with Mask /29 (255.255.255.248) Address Range

192.168.0.0 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.7

192.168.0.8 192.168.0.8 to 192.168.0.15

192.168.0.16 192.168.0.16 to 192.168.0.31

— —

192.168.0.248 192.168.0.248 to 192.168.0.255

Class B-Size Network Address

To determine the network address to use with the subnet mask for a network with between 254 and 65,534
hosts, you need to determine the value of the third octet for each possible extended network prefix. For
example, you might want to subnet an address like 10.1.x.0, where the first two octets are fixed because they
are used in the extended network prefix, and the fourth octet is 0 because all bits are used for the host number.
To determine the value of the third octet, follow these steps:
1. Calculate how many subnets you can make from the network by dividing 65,536 (the total number of
addresses using the third and fourth octet) by the number of host addresses you want.
For example, 65,536 divided by 4096 hosts equals 16. Therefore, there are 16 subnets of 4096 addresses
each in a Class B-size network.
2. Determine the multiple of the third octet value by dividing 256 (the number of values for the third octet)
by the number of subnets:
In this example, 256/16 = 16.
The third octet falls on a multiple of 16, starting with 0.

The following table shows the 16 subnets of the network 10.1.

Note The first and last address of a subnet are reserved. In the first subnet example, you cannot use 10.1.0.0 or
10.1.15.255.

Table 73: Subnets of Network

Subnet with Mask /20 (255.255.240.0) Address Range

10.1.0.0 10.1.0.0 to 10.1.15.255

10.1.16.0 10.1.16.0 to 10.1.31.255

10.1.32.0 10.1.32.0 to 10.1.47.255

— —

10.1.240.0 10.1.240.0 to 10.1.255.255

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IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Addresses
IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol after IPv4. It provides an expanded address space, a
simplified header format, improved support for extensions and options, flow labeling capability, and
authentication and privacy capabilities. IPv6 is described in RFC 2460. The IPv6 addressing architecture is
described in RFC 3513.
This section describes the IPv6 address format and architecture.

IPv6 Address Format

IPv6 addresses are represented as a series of eight 16-bit hexadecimal fields separated by colons (:) in the
format: x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x. The following are two examples of IPv6 addresses:
• 2001:0DB8:7654:3210:FEDC:BA98:7654:3210
• 2001:0DB8:0000:0000:0008:0800:200C:417A

Note The hexadecimal letters in IPv6 addresses are not case-sensitive.

You do not need to include the leading zeros in an individual field of the address, but each field must contain
at least one digit. So the example address 2001:0DB8:0000:0000:0008:0800:200C:417A can be shortened to
2001:0DB8:0:0:8:800:200C:417A by removing the leading zeros from the third through sixth fields from the
left. The fields that contained all zeros (the third and fourth fields from the left) were shortened to a single
zero. The fifth field from the left had the three leading zeros removed, leaving a single 8 in that field, and the
sixth field from the left had the one leading zero removed, leaving 800 in that field.
It is common for IPv6 addresses to contain several consecutive hexadecimal fields of zeros. You can use two
colons (::) to compress consecutive fields of zeros at the beginning, middle, or end of an IPv6 address (the
colons represent the successive hexadecimal fields of zeros). The following table shows several examples of
address compression for different types of IPv6 address.

Table 74: IPv6 Address Compression Examples

Address Type Standard Form Compressed Form

Unicast 2001:0DB8:0:0:0:BA98:0:3210 2001:0DB8::BA98:0:3210

Multicast FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:101 FF01::101

Loopback 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 ::1

Unspecified 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 ::

Note Two colons (::) can be used only once in an IPv6 address to represent successive fields of zeros.

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IPv6 Address Types

An alternative form of the IPv6 format is often used when dealing with an environment that contains both
IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. This alternative has the format x:x:x:x:x:x:y.y.y.y, where x represent the hexadecimal
values for the six high-order parts of the IPv6 address and y represent decimal values for the 32-bit IPv4 part
of the address (which takes the place of the remaining two 16-bit parts of the IPv6 address). For example, the
IPv4 address 192.168.1.1 could be represented as the IPv6 address 0:0:0:0:0:0:FFFF:192.168.1.1 or
::FFFF:192.168.1.1.

IPv6 Address Types

The following are the three main types of IPv6 addresses:
• Unicast—A unicast address is an identifier for a single interface. A packet sent to a unicast address is
delivered to the interface identified by that address. An interface may have more than one unicast address
assigned to it.
• Multicast—A multicast address is an identifier for a set of interfaces. A packet sent to a multicast address
is delivered to all addresses identified by that address.
• Anycast—An anycast address is an identifier for a set of interfaces. Unlike a multicast address, a packet
sent to an anycast address is only delivered to the “nearest” interface, as determined by the measure of
distances for the routing protocol.

Note There are no broadcast addresses in IPv6. Multicast addresses provide the broadcast functionality.

Unicast Addresses
This section describes IPv6 unicast addresses. Unicast addresses identify an interface on a network node.

Global Address
The general format of an IPv6 global unicast address is a global routing prefix followed by a subnet ID
followed by an interface ID. The global routing prefix can be any prefix not reserved by another IPv6 address
type.
All global unicast addresses, other than those that start with binary 000, have a 64-bit interface ID in the
Modified EUI-64 format.
Global unicast address that start with the binary 000 do not have any constraints on the size or structure of
the interface ID portion of the address. One example of this type of address is an IPv6 address with an embedded
IPv4 address.

Site-Local Address
Site-local addresses are used for addressing within a site. They can be used to address an entire site without
using a globally unique prefix. Site-local addresses have the prefix FEC0::/10, followed by a 54-bit subnet
ID, and end with a 64-bit interface ID in the modified EUI-64 format.
Site-local routers do not forward any packets that have a site-local address for a source or destination outside
of the site. Therefore, site-local addresses can be considered private addresses.

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Link-Local Address

Link-Local Address
All interfaces are required to have at least one link-local address. You can configure multiple IPv6 addresses
per interfaces, but only one link-local address.
A link-local address is an IPv6 unicast address that can be automatically configured on any interface using
the link-local prefix FE80::/10 and the interface identifier in modified EUI-64 format. Link-local addresses
are used in the neighbor discovery protocol and the stateless autoconfiguration process. Nodes with a link-local
address can communicate; they do not need a site-local or globally unique address to communicate.
Routers do not forward any packets that have a link-local address for a source or destination. Therefore,
link-local addresses can be considered private addresses.

IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Addresses

There are two types of IPv6 addresses that can contain IPv4 addresses.
The first type is the IPv4-compatibly IPv6 address. The IPv6 transition mechanisms include a technique for
hosts and routers to dynamically tunnel IPv6 packets over IPv4 routing infrastructure. IPv6 nodes that use
this technique are assigned special IPv6 unicast addresses that carry a global IPv4 address in the low-order
32 bits. This type of address is termed an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address and has the format ::y.y.y.y, where
y.y.y.y is an IPv4 unicast address.

Note The IPv4 address used in the IPv4-compatible IPv6 address must be a globally unique IPv4 unicast address.

The second type of IPv6 address, which holds an embedded IPv4 address, is called the IPv4-mapped IPv6
address. This address type is used to represent the addresses of IPv4 nodes as IPv6 addresses. This type of
address has the format ::FFFF:y.y.y.y, where y.y.y.y is an IPv4 unicast address.

Unspecified Address
The unspecified address, 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0, indicates the absence of an IPv6 address. For example, a newly
initialized node on an IPv6 network may use the unspecified address as the source address in its packets until
it receives its IPv6 address.

Note The IPv6 unspecified address cannot be assigned to an interface. The unspecified IPv6 addresses must not be
used as destination addresses in IPv6 packets or the IPv6 routing header.

Loopback Address
The loopback address, 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1, may be used by a node to send an IPv6 packet to itself. The loopback
address in IPv6 functions the same as the loopback address in IPv4 (127.0.0.1).

Note The IPv6 loopback address cannot be assigned to a physical interface. A packet that has the IPv6 loopback
address as its source or destination address must remain within the node that created the packet. IPv6 routers
do not forward packets that have the IPv6 loopback address as their source or destination address.

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Interface Identifiers

Interface Identifiers
Interface identifiers in IPv6 unicast addresses are used to identify the interfaces on a link. They need to be
unique within a subnet prefix. In many cases, the interface identifier is derived from the interface link-layer
address. The same interface identifier may be used on multiple interfaces of a single node, as long as those
interfaces are attached to different subnets.
For all unicast addresses, except those that start with the binary 000, the interface identifier is required to be
64 bits long and to be constructed in the Modified EUI-64 format. The Modified EUI-64 format is created
from the 48-bit MAC address by inverting the universal/local bit in the address and by inserting the hexadecimal
number FFFE between the upper three bytes and lower three bytes of the of the MAC address.
For example, and interface with the MAC address of 00E0.b601.3B7A would have a 64-bit interface ID of
02E0:B6FF:FE01:3B7A.

Multicast Address
An IPv6 multicast address is an identifier for a group of interfaces, typically on different nodes. A packet sent
to a multicast address is delivered to all interfaces identified by the multicast address. An interface may belong
to any number of multicast groups.
An IPv6 multicast address has a prefix of FF00::/8 (1111 1111). The octet following the prefix defines the
type and scope of the multicast address. A permanently assigned (well known) multicast address has a flag
parameter equal to 0; a temporary (transient) multicast address has a flag parameter equal to 1. A multicast
address that has the scope of a node, link, site, or organization, or a global scope has a scope parameter of 1,
2, 5, 8, or E, respectively. For example, a multicast address with the prefix FF02::/16 is a permanent multicast
address with a link scope. The following figure shows the format of the IPv6 multicast address.
Figure 79: IPv6 Multicast Address Format

IPv6 nodes (hosts and routers) are required to join the following multicast groups:
• The All Nodes multicast addresses:
• FF01:: (interface-local)
• FF02:: (link-local)

• The Solicited-Node Address for each IPv6 unicast and anycast address on the node:
FF02:0:0:0:0:1:FFXX:XXXX/104, where XX:XXXX is the low-order 24-bits of the unicast or anycast
address.

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Anycast Address

Note Solicited-Node addresses are used in Neighbor Solicitation messages.

IPv6 routers are required to join the following multicast groups:

• FF01::2 (interface-local)
• FF02::2 (link-local)
• FF05::2 (site-local)

Multicast address should not be used as source addresses in IPv6 packets.

Note There are no broadcast addresses in IPv6. IPv6 multicast addresses are used instead of broadcast addresses.

Anycast Address
The IPv6 anycast address is a unicast address that is assigned to more than one interface (typically belonging
to different nodes). A packet that is routed to an anycast address is routed to the nearest interface having that
address, the nearness being determined by the routing protocol in effect.
Anycast addresses are allocated from the unicast address space. An anycast address is simply a unicast address
that has been assigned to more than one interface, and the interfaces must be configured to recognize the
address as an anycast address.
The following restrictions apply to anycast addresses:
• An anycast address cannot be used as the source address for an IPv6 packet.
• An anycast address cannot be assigned to an IPv6 host; it can only be assigned to an IPv6 router.

Note Anycast addresses are not supported on the ASA.

Required Addresses
IPv6 hosts must, at a minimum, be configured with the following addresses (either automatically or manually):
• A link-local address for each interface
• The loopback address
• The All-Nodes multicast addresses
• A Solicited-Node multicast address for each unicast or anycast address

IPv6 routers must, at a minimum, be configured with the following addresses (either automatically or manually):
• The required host addresses
• The Subnet-Router anycast addresses for all interfaces for which it is configured to act as a router

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IPv6 Address Prefixes

• The All-Routers multicast addresses

IPv6 Address Prefixes

An IPv6 address prefix, in the format ipv6-prefix/prefix-length, can be used to represent bit-wise contiguous
blocks of the entire address space. The IPv6-prefix must be in the form documented in RFC 2373 where the
address is specified in hexadecimal using 16-bit values between colons. The prefix length is a decimal value
that indicates how many of the high-order contiguous bits of the address comprise the prefix (the network
portion of the address). For example, 2001:0DB8:8086:6502::/32 is a valid IPv6 prefix.
The IPv6 prefix identifies the type of IPv6 address. The following table shows the prefixes for each IPv6
address type.

Table 75: IPv6 Address Type Prefixes

Address Type Binary Prefix IPv6 Notation

Unspecified 000...0 (128 bits) ::/128

Loopback 000...1 (128 bits) ::1/128

Multicast 11111111 FF00::/8

Link-Local (unicast) 1111111010 FE80::/10

Site-Local (unicast) 1111111111 FEC0::/10

Global (unicast) All other addresses.

Anycast Taken from the unicast address space.

Protocols and Applications

The following table lists the protocol literal values and port numbers; either can be entered in ASA commands.

Table 76: Protocol Literal Values

Literal Value Description

ah 51 Authentication Header for IPv6, RFC 1826.

eigrp 88 Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol.

esp 50 Encapsulated Security Payload for IPv6, RFC 1827.

gre 47 Generic Routing Encapsulation.

icmp 1 Internet Control Message Protocol, RFC 792.

icmp6 58 Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6, RFC 2463.

igmp 2 Internet Group Management Protocol, RFC 1112.

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TCP and UDP Ports

Literal Value Description

igrp 9 Interior Gateway Routing Protocol.

ip 0 Internet Protocol.

ipinip 4 IP-in-IP encapsulation.

ipsec 50 IP Security. Entering the ipsec protocol literal is equivalent to entering the esp
protocol literal.

nos 94 Network Operating System (Novell’s NetWare).

ospf 89 Open Shortest Path First routing protocol, RFC 1247.

pcp 108 Payload Compression Protocol.

pim 103 Protocol Independent Multicast.

pptp 47 Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol. Entering the pptp protocol literal is equivalent
to entering the gre protocol literal.

snp 109 Sitara Networks Protocol.

tcp 6 Transmission Control Protocol, RFC 793.

udp 17 User Datagram Protocol, RFC 768.

You can view protocol numbers online at the IANA website:

http://www.iana.org/assignments/protocol-numbers

TCP and UDP Ports

The following table lists the literal values and port numbers; either can be entered in ASA commands. See
the following caveats:
• The ASA uses port 1521 for SQL*Net. This is the default port used by Oracle for SQL*Net. This value,
however, does not agree with IANA port assignments.
• The ASA listens for RADIUS on ports 1645 and 1646. If your RADIUS server uses the standard ports
1812 and 1813, you can configure the ASA to listen to those ports using the authentication-port and
accounting-port commands.
• To assign a port for DNS access, use the domain literal value, not dns. If you use dns, the ASA assumes
you meant to use the dnsix literal value.

You can view port numbers online at the IANA website:

http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

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TCP and UDP Ports

Table 77: Port Literal Values

Literal TCP or UDP? Value Description

aol TCP 5190 America Online

bgp TCP 179 Border Gateway Protocol, RFC 1163

biff UDP 512 Used by mail system to notify users that new mail is
received

bootpc UDP 68 Bootstrap Protocol Client

bootps UDP 67 Bootstrap Protocol Server

chargen TCP 19 Character Generator

cifs TCP, UDP 3020 Common Internet File System

citrix-ica TCP 1494 Citrix Independent Computing Architecture (ICA)

protocol

cmd TCP 514 Similar to exec except that cmd has automatic
authentication

ctiqbe TCP 2748 Computer Telephony Interface Quick Buffer Encoding

daytime TCP 13 Day time, RFC 867

discard TCP, UDP 9 Discard

dnsix UDP 195 DNSIX Session Management Module Audit

Redirector

domain TCP, UDP 53 DNS

echo TCP, UDP 7 Echo

exec TCP 512 Remote process execution

finger TCP 79 Finger

ftp TCP 21 File Transfer Protocol (control port)

ftp-data TCP 20 File Transfer Protocol (data port)

gopher TCP 70 Gopher

h323 TCP 1720 H.323 call signaling

hostname TCP 101 NIC Host Name Server

http TCP, UDP 80 World Wide Web HTTP

https TCP 443 HTTP over SSL

ident TCP 113 Ident authentication service

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TCP and UDP Ports

Literal TCP or UDP? Value Description

imap4 TCP 143 Internet Message Access Protocol, version 4

irc TCP 194 Internet Relay Chat protocol

isakmp UDP 500 Internet Security Association and Key Management

Protocol

kerberos TCP, UDP 750 Kerberos

klogin TCP 543 KLOGIN

kshell TCP 544 Korn Shell

ldap TCP 389 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

ldaps TCP 636 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (SSL)

login TCP 513 Remote login

lotusnotes TCP 1352 IBM Lotus Notes

lpd TCP 515 Line Printer Daemon - printer spooler

mobile-ip UDP 434 Mobile IP-Agent

nameserver UDP 42 Host Name Server

netbios-dgm UDP 138 NetBIOS Datagram Service

netbios-ns UDP 137 NetBIOS Name Service

netbios-ssn TCP 139 NetBIOS Session Service

nfs TCP, UDP 2049 Network File System - Sun Microsystems

nntp TCP 119 Network News Transfer Protocol

ntp UDP 123 Network Time Protocol

pcanywhere-data TCP 5631 pcAnywhere data

pcanywhere-status UDP 5632 pcAnywhere status

pim-auto-rp TCP, UDP 496 Protocol Independent Multicast, reverse path flooding,
dense mode

pop2 TCP 109 Post Office Protocol - Version 2

pop3 TCP 110 Post Office Protocol - Version 3

pptp TCP 1723 Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

radius UDP 1645 Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

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TCP and UDP Ports

Literal TCP or UDP? Value Description

radius-acct UDP 1646 Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

(accounting)

rip UDP 520 Routing Information Protocol

rsh TCP 514 Remote Shell

rtsp TCP 554 Real Time Streaming Protocol

secureid-udp UDP 5510 SecureID over UDP

sip TCP, UDP 5060 Session Initiation Protocol

smtp TCP 25 Simple Mail Transport Protocol

snmp UDP 161 Simple Network Management Protocol

snmptrap UDP 162 Simple Network Management Protocol - Trap

sqlnet TCP 1521 Structured Query Language Network

ssh TCP 22 Secure Shell

sunrpc TCP, UDP 111 Sun Remote Procedure Call

syslog UDP 514 System Log

tacacs TCP, UDP 49 Terminal Access Controller Access Control System

Plus

talk TCP, UDP 517 Talk

telnet TCP 23 RFC 854 Telnet

tftp UDP 69 Trivial File Transfer Protocol

time UDP 37 Time

uucp TCP 540 UNIX-to-UNIX Copy Program

vxlan UDP 4789 Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN)

who UDP 513 Who

whois TCP 43 Who Is

www TCP, UDP 80 World Wide Web

xdmcp UDP 177 X Display Manager Control Protocol

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Local Ports and Protocols

Local Ports and Protocols

The following table lists the protocols, TCP ports, and UDP ports that the ASA may open to process traffic
destined to the ASA. Unless you enable the features and services listed in this table, the ASA does not open
any local protocols or any TCP or UDP ports. You must configure a feature or service for the ASA to open
the default listening protocol or port. In many cases you can configure ports other than the default port when
you enable a feature or service.

Table 78: Protocols and Ports Opened by Features and Services

Feature or Service Protocol Port Number Comments

DHCP UDP 67,68 —

Failover Control 105 N/A —

HTTP TCP 80 —

HTTPS TCP 443 —

ICMP 1 N/A —

IGMP 2 N/A Protocol only open on destination IP address

224.0.0.1

ISAKMP/IKE UDP 500 Configurable.

IPsec (ESP) 50 N/A —

IPsec over UDP UDP 4500 —

(NAT-T)

IPsec over TCP (CTCP) TCP — No default port is used. You must specify the
port number when configuring IPsec over TCP.

NTP UDP 123 —

OSPF 89 N/A Protocol only open on destination IP address

224.0.0.5 and 224.0.0.6

PIM 103 N/A Protocol only open on destination IP address

224.0.0.13

RIP UDP 520 —

RIPv2 UDP 520 Port only open on destination IP address

224.0.0.9

SNMP UDP 161 Configurable.

SSH TCP 22 —

Stateful Update 8 (non-secure) 9 N/A —

(secure)

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ICMP Types

Feature or Service Protocol Port Number Comments

Telnet TCP 23 —

VPN Load Balancing UDP 9023 Configurable.

VPN Individual User UDP 1645, 1646 Port accessible only over VPN tunnel.
Authentication Proxy

ICMP Types
The following table lists the ICMP type numbers and names that you can enter in ASA commands.

Table 79: ICMP Types

ICMP Number ICMP Name

0 echo-reply

3 unreachable

4 source-quench

5 redirect

6 alternate-address

8 echo

9 router-advertisement

10 router-solicitation

11 time-exceeded

12 parameter-problem

13 timestamp-request

14 timestamp-reply

15 information-request

16 information-reply

17 mask-request

18 mask-reply

30 traceroute

31 conversion-error

32 mobile-redirect

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