ASA for CCSP lab

Got some questions on building a CCSP lab...

Background: At work I deal with 5510's and 5520's - various VPN configurations + firewalling, no advanced stuff like failover, etc, but I get to design VPN and set the devices up from scratch... Also, there is a single spare 5510 which can be used for my exam preparation.

Now, the questions are:
1) What else (beyond this single 5510) should I have for the ASA part of CCSP hands-on practice?
2) Is there a benefit in getting an ASA 5505? There is one on the local market for $150, which sounds like a good deal, but I don't know how much value it would add to the lab with the existing 5510
3) Anything specific to be looking out for when shopping? Like minimum RAM, certain licenses?

I found this comment in another thread to be of relevance:

tiersten wrote: »

For the CCSP, you'd probably want 5510s with the Security Plus license if you want to do absolutely everything since that is the cheapest model that comes with Active/Active failover and allows you to plug in SSMs.

The 5505 doesn't do failover at all with the base license and it only does stateless Active/Standby with the Security Plus license. I'm unsure of the limitations of the IPS SSC as well.

and also this thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccsp/57428-my-study-lab-5505-ips.html

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ChooseLife

FWIW, I also have a PIX 506 with 6.3(4) and a restricted license.

TIA for any advice on this

powerfool

The ASA and the PIX should be adequate. You won't be able to play with failover or virtual firewalls, but you just need to understand the concepts for the exam. If you proceed with the CCIE Security, I am sure working with failover and virtual firewalls (AKA active/active failover) will be absolutely necessary.

ChooseLife

powerfool, thanks for the comment. so you think i should not need to purchase this extra 5505 then?

powerfool

Correct, no need to purchase a 5505. You will miss out on setting it up as an Easy VPN Client, but that isn't that big of a deal. I have never seen anyone actually use the Easy VPN setup.

chrisone

ChooseLife wrote: »

Got some questions on building a CCSP lab...

Background: At work I deal with 5510's and 5520's - various VPN configurations + firewalling, no advanced stuff like failover, etc, but I get to design VPN and set the devices up from scratch... Also, there is a single spare 5510 which can be used for my exam preparation.

Dude if you only knew how easy setting up a failover firewall pair is.... You will see what i mean when you learn this in your journey to become a CCSP or CCNP Security professional.

ChooseLife

awesome, thanks!