Planning to buy an ASA - licensing question

I'm looking around on eBay for a used ASA for my lab. Most likely a 5505 since that seems to be within my price range. I had a quick question about the licensing. Is there any reason I should go with more than 10 licenses?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

tiersten

If it is for a lab then no. If you're using it for real usage then you may hit the limit if you have many devices on your network.

The Security Plus license gives you the ability to do VLANs and failover even if it is only active/standby.

JSK

Thanks tiersten. Yes, this is strictly for home lab. Basically something for me to practice with and study for the SNAF and SNAA exams in the future.

tiersten

JSK wrote: »

Thanks tiersten. Yes, this is strictly for home lab. Basically something for me to practice with and study for the SNAF and SNAA exams in the future.

If you're doing those exams then you'll need the Security Plus license which is the expensive one. Additional users aren't particularly expensive but that license is.

QHalo

I've seen new ASA5505's on Ebay with Sec Plus licensing around 700-900 a hit. Not terribly expensive but almost 2x as much as the ASA with a normal license. YMMV of course.

JSK

I guess it is a good thing that I posted here before buying something.

Thanks for answering my questions.

chrisone

I think ive seen some ASA 5505s with security licenses for around 500-600. I am not sure as far as having the vlans for studying since i am not going for my ccsp or ccnp security yet. I work (install,design,maintain) ASA's 5540s on a daily basis so i get more than enough practice at work. I guess in the long run getting the security license would be beneficial, just gotta save more.

notgoing2fail

A couple weeks ago I was looking into this as well. The range is somewhere around $600-900 with the Security+ license.

That's what I would want for myself along with two 5505's so I can practice failover.

But right now it's on the backburner as I have more pressing needs, like getting my hands on some 3560's....

tiersten

notgoing2fail wrote: »

That's what I would want for myself along with two 5505's so I can practice failover.

You only get active/standby though with a 5505. If you want active/active then you need a 5510 with Security Plus or a 5520 and above.