Table Of Contents
Cisco ASA 5500 Series Release Notes, Version 7.0
Determining the Software Version
Upgrading to a New Software Release
Transparent Firewall (Layer 2 Firewall)
Security Contexts (Virtual Firewall)
Downloadable Access Control Lists (ACLs)
Interface Name as Address in ACLs
Outbound ACLs and Time-based ACLs
Enabling/Disabling of ACL Entries
Incomplete Crypto Map Enhancements
DHCP Option 66 and 150 Support
DHCP Server Support on Multiple Interfaces
Assignable Syslog Levels by Message
Application-Aware Inspection Services
Advanced HTTP Inspection Engine
SunRPC / NIS+ inspection engine
GTP Inspection Engine for Mobile Wireless Environments
Support for Instant Messaging Using SIP
Configurable SIP UDP Inspection Engine
Improved URL Filtering Performance
Virtual Private Networking (VPN) Services
Remote Management Enhancements
Easy VPN Server Load Balancing Support
Dynamic Downloading of Backup Easy VPN Server Information
Easy VPN Internet Access Policy
Verify Certificate Distinguished Name
Easy VPN Web Interface for Manual Tunnel Control User Authentication and Tunnel Status
Flexible Easy VPN Management Solutions
VPN Client Security Posture Enforcement
VPN Client Blocking by Operating System and Type
Bi-Directional Network Address Translation (NAT)
Optional Address Translation Services
Diffie-Hellman (DH) Group 5 Support
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
Port Address Translation (PAT) for H.323 and SIP Inspection Engines
Remote Access via Web Browser (WebVPN)
Common Security-Level for Multiple Interfaces
IPv6 Inspection, Access Control, and Management
HTTPS and FTP Web Request Filtering via Websense Integration
Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) Authentication Proxy
Multicast Support (IGMP v2 and Stub Multicast Routing)
Network Time Protocol (NTP) Support
Optional Address Translation Services
Outbound Low Latency Queuing (LLQ) and Policing
Active/Active Failover with Asymmetric Routing Support
Zero-Downtime Software Upgrades
General High Availability Enhancements
CPU Utilization Monitoring Through SNMP
Configurable RAS Inspection Engine
Storage of Multiple Configurations in Flash Memory
Scheduled System Reload (Reboot)
AAA Fallback for Administrative Access
AAA—Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting
New Syslog Messaging for AAA authentication
Command-Line Interface (CLI) Usability
Command-Line Interface (CLI) Activation Key Management
New Ability to Assign Netmasks with Address Pools
Ability to Configure TFTP Inspection Engine
Dedicated Out-of-Band Management Interface
System Health Monitoring and Diagnostic Services
Modification to GE Hardware Speed Settings
Virtual LAN (VLAN)-based virtual interfaces
Local User Authentication Database for Network and VPN Access
Cryptographic Engine Known Answer Test (KAT)
Media Access Control (MAC) Based Authentication
Custom Backup Concentrator Timeout
Console Connection Inactivity Timeout
Voice Over IP Skinny Protocol Support
Custom Administrative Access Banner Messages
Important Notes in Release 7.0
Hostname and Domain Name Limitation
Readme Document for the Conduits and Outbound List Conversion Tool 1.2
Features not Supported in Version 7.0
Resolved Caveats - Release 7.0
Software Configuration Tips on the Cisco TAC Home Page
Cisco Product Security Overview
Reporting Security Problems in Cisco Products
Obtaining Technical Assistance
Cisco Technical Support Website
Definitions of Service Request Severity
Obtaining Additional Publications and Information
Cisco ASA 5500 Series Release Notes, Version 7.0
May 2005
Contents
This document includes the following sections:
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Obtaining Technical Assistance
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Introduction
The Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliance delivers unprecedented levels of defense against threats to the network with deeper web inspection and flow specific analysis, improved secure connectivity through end point security posture validation and voice and video over VPN support. It also provides enhanced support for intelligent information networks through improved network integration, resiliency, and scalability. This release introduces significant enhancements to all major functional areas, including: firewalling and inspection services, VPN services, network integration, high availability services, and management/monitoring.
For more information on all the new features, see the New Features.
Additionally, the Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliance software supports Adaptive Security Device Manager. ASDM is a browser-based, Java applet used to configure and monitor the software on the security appliances. ASDM is loaded from the security appliance, then used to configure, monitor, and manage the device.
System Requirements
The sections that follow list the system requirements for operating a Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliance. This section includes the following:
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Memory Requirements
Table 1 lists the DRAM memory requirements for the Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliance.
Table 1 DRAM Memory Requirements
ASA 5510
256 MB
ASA 5520
512 MB
ASA 5540
1 GB
All Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliances require a minimum of 64 MB of internal CompactFlash.
Determining the Software Version
Use the show version command to verify the software version of your adaptive security appliance.
Upgrading to a New Software Release
If you have a Cisco.com (CDC) login, you can obtain software from the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/kobayashi/sw-center/products.shtml
New Features
New Features
This section describes the new features in this release. This section includes the following topics:
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Advanced Firewall Services
Transparent Firewall (Layer 2 Firewall)
This feature has the ability to deploy the security appliance in a secure bridging mode, similar to a Layer 2 device, to provide rich Layer 2 - 7 firewall security services for the protected network. This enables businesses to deploy this security appliance into existing network environments without requiring readdressing of the network. While the security appliance can be completely "invisible" to devices on both sides of a protected network, administrators can manage it via a dedicated IP address (which can be hosted on a separate interface). Administrators have the ability to specify non-IP (EtherType) ACLs, in addition to standard ACLs, for access control over Layer 2 devices and protocols.
To configure transparent firewall on the security appliance, see the "Firewall Mode Overview" and "Transparent Mode Overview" sections in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide. The following commands are added for the transparent firewall: arp-inspection, firewall, mac-address-table, and mac-learn.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Security Contexts (Virtual Firewall)
This feature introduces the ability to create multiple security contexts (virtual firewalls) within a single appliance, with each context having its own set of security policies, logical interfaces, and administrative domain. This provides businesses a convenient way of consolidating multiple firewalls into a single physical appliance, yet retaining the ability to manage each of these virtual instances separately. These capabilities are only available on adaptive security appliance with either unrestricted (UR) or failover (FO) licenses. This is a licensed feature, with multiple tiers of supported security contexts (2, 5, 10, 20, and 50).
To configure security contexts on the security appliance, see the "Enabling Multiple Context Mode" and "Adding and Managing Security Contexts" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide. Some of the commands added for the security contexts are: admin-contex, context, changeto, and mode.
Note
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Downloadable Access Control Lists (ACLs)
This feature supports the download of ACLs to the adaptive security appliance from an access control server (ACS). This enables the configuration of per-user access lists on a AAA server, to provide per-user access list authorization, that are then downloadable through the ACS to the adaptive security appliance.
This feature is supported for RADIUS servers only and is not supported for TACACS+ servers.
For more information, see the "Configuring Any RADIUS Server for Downloadable ACLs" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
ACL Editing
The ACL editing feature provides users flexibility to insert or delete any access list element in an access list.
For more information, see the "Access List Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Syslog by ACL Entry
This feature allows users to configure a specific ACL entry with a logging option. When such an option is configured, statistics for each flow that matches the permit or deny conditions of the ACL entry are logged.
For more information, see the "Logging Access List Activity" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Comments/Remarks in ACLs
This feature allows users to include comments in access lists to make the ACL easier to understand and scan.
For more information, see the "Adding Remarks to Access Lists" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Interface Name as Address in ACLs
Users running the DHCP client on the adaptive security appliance outside interface will no longer have to adjust their access lists every time the outside DHCP address is changed by their ISP.
For more information, see the "Inbound and Outbound Access List Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Outbound ACLs and Time-based ACLs
This feature gives administrators improved flexibility for defining access control policies by adding support for outbound ACLs and time-based ACLs (building on top of our existing inbound ACL support). Using these new capabilities, administrators can now apply access controls as traffic enters an interface or exits an interface. Time-based access control lists provide administrators greater control over resource usage by defining when certain ACL entries are active. New commands allow administrators to define time ranges, and then apply these time ranges to specific ACLs.
The existing versatile access-list global configuration command was extended with the time-range command to specify a time-based policy defined using the time-range global configuration command. Additionally, the access-group global configuration command supports the out keyword to configure an outbound ACL. For more information, see the "Inbound and Outbound Access List Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Enabling/Disabling of ACL Entries
This feature provides a convenient troubleshooting tool that allows administrators to test and fine-tune ACLs, without the need to remove and replace ACL entries.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Incomplete Crypto Map Enhancements
Every static crypto map must define an access list and an IPSec peer. If either is missing, the crypto map is considered incomplete and a warning message is printed. Traffic that has not been matched to an complete crypto map is skipped, and the next entry is tried. Failover hello packets are exempt from the incomplete crypto map check.
For more information on this feature, see the "Defining Crypto Maps" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Auto Update Support
This release supports Auto Update, a next-generation feature set for Cisco and third-party applications, that provides secure remote network management.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
EtherType Access Control
This feature includes very powerful support for performing packet filtering and logging based on the EtherType of the packets. When operating as a transparent firewall, this provides tremendous flexibility for permitting or denying non-IP protocols.
For more information, see the "Permitting or Denying Network Access" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Modular Policy Framework
This feature introduces a highly flexible and extensible next-generation modular policy framework. It enables the construction of flow-based policies that identify specific flows based on administrator-defined conditions, and then apply a set of services to that flow (such as firewall/inspection policies, VPN policies, QoS policies, and more). This provides significantly improved granular control over traffic flows, and the services performed on them. This new framework also enables inspection engines to have flow-specific settings (which were global in previous releases).
The class-map, policy-map, and service-policy commands were added to support this feature.
For more information, see the "Using Modular Policy Framework" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
DHCP Option 66 and 150 Support
This feature enhances the DHCP server on the inside interface of the adaptive security appliance to provide TFTP address information to the served DHCP clients. The implementation responds with one TFTP server for DHCP option 66 requests and with, at most, two servers for DHCP option 150 requests.
DHCP options 66 and 150 simplify remote deployments of Cisco IP Phones and Cisco SoftPhone by providing the Cisco CallManager contact information needed to download the rest of the IP phone configuration.
For more information, see the "Configuring DHCP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
DHCP Server Support on Multiple Interfaces
This release allows as many integrated Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers to be configured as desired, and on any interface. DHCP client can be configured only on the outside interface, and DHCP relay agent can be configured on any interface. However, DHCP server and DHCP relay agent cannot be configured concurrently on the same adaptive security appliance, but DHCP client and DHCP relay agent can be configured concurrently.
The [no] dhcpd address ip1[-ip2] if_name command now allows DHCP servers to be configured as desired on any interface in the adaptive security appliance.
For more information, see the "Configuring DHCP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
DHCP Relay
Acting as a DHCP relay agent, the adaptive security appliance can assist in dynamic configuration of IP hosts on any of its interfaces. It receives requests from hosts on a given interface and forwards them to a user-configured DHCP server on another interface.This can work in conjunction with site- to-site or Easy VPN, enabling businesses to centrally manage their IP address.
This release supports the dhcprelay enable command. For more information on the dhcprelay enable command, see the "Configuring DHCP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
DHCP Support
The adaptive security appliance Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client/server support lets the user automatically leverage the DNS, WINS, and domain name values obtained by the
adaptive security appliance DHCP client for use by the hosts served by the DHCP server.The ip address and dhcpd commands provide DHCP client/server support.
For more information, see the "Configuring DHCP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Assignable Syslog Levels by Message
This release includes the ability to reassign the level of any syslog, allowing easy grouping of syslogs of interest.
The level option is added to the login command. For more information on this command, see the "Using System Log Messages" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Custom Logging Identifier
Allows a custom firewall identifier to be selected, such as an interface IP address, that will be included in all syslog messages to improve the centralized reporting of firewall events.
This new feature is added to the login command. For configuration information, see the "Using System Log Messages" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Cisco Logging Format
This feature will help users to log messages in Cisco EMBLEM format to a syslog server. The EMBLEM format is available for both messages with and without timestamp.
This new feature is added to the login command. For configuration information, see the "Using System Log Messages" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
clear logging Command
The clear configure logging command works in privileged mode.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Application-Aware Inspection Services
Advanced HTTP Inspection Engine
This feature introduces deep analysis of web traffic, enabling granular control over HTTP sessions for improved protection from a wide range of web-based attacks. In addition, this new HTTP inspection engine allows administrative control over instant messaging applications, peer-to-peer file sharing applications, and applications that attempt to tunnel over port 80 or any port used for HTTP transactions. Capabilities provided include RFC compliance enforcement, HTTP command authorization and enforcement, response validation, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) type validation and content control, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) length enforcement, and more.
A user can define the advanced HTTP Inspection policy using the http-map global configuration command and then apply it to the inspect http configuration mode command that was extended to support the specification of a map name. For more information, see the "Managing HTTP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
FTP Inspection Engine
This feature includes the FTP inspection engine which provides new command filtering support. Building upon the FTP security services previously supported, such as protocol anomaly detection, protocol state tracking, NAT/PAT support, and dynamic port opening, Version 7.0 gives administrators granular control over the usage of 9 different FTP commands, enforcing operations that users/groups can perform in FTP sessions. Version 7.0 also introduces FTP server cloaking capabilities, hiding the type and version of the FTP server from those who access it through adaptive security appliance.
For more information, see the "Managing FTP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
ESMTP Inspection Engine
This feature builds on the SMTP (RFC 821) feature with the addition of support for the SMTP (ESMTP) protocol, featuring a variety of commands defined in RFC 1869. Supported commands include AUTH, DATA, EHLO, ETRN, HELO, HELP, MAIL, NOOP, QUIT, RCPT, RSET, SAML, SEND, SOML, and VRFY (all other commands are automatically blocked to provide an additional level of security).
The inspect esmtp global configuration command provides inspection services for SMTP and ESMTP traffic. For more information, see the "Managing SMTP and Extended SMTP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
SunRPC / NIS+ inspection engine
The SunRPC inspection engine provides better support for NIS+ and SunRPC services. Specific enhancements include support for all three versions of the lookup service - Portmapper v2 and RPCBind v3 and v4.
Use the inspect sunrpc and the sunrpc-server global configuration commands to configure the SunRPC / NIS+ inspection Engine.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
ICMP Inspection Engine
This feature introduces an ICMP inspection engine. This engine enables secure usage of ICMP, by providing stateful tracking for ICMP connections, matching echo requests with replies. Additional controls are available for ICMP error messages, which are only permitted for established connections.
Use the inspect icmp and the inspect icmp error commands to configure the ICMP inspection engine.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
GTP Inspection Engine for Mobile Wireless Environments
This feature introduces a new inspection engine for securing 3G Mobile Wireless environments that provide packet switched data services using the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP). These new advanced GTP inspection services permit mobile service providers secure interaction with roaming partners and provide mobile administrators robust filtering capabilities based on GTP specific parameters such as IMSI prefixes, APN values and more. This is a licensed feature.
The inspect gtp command in the policy-map configuration mode and the gtp-map global configuration commands are new features introduced in Version 7.0. For more information on GTP and detailed instructions for configuring your GTP inspection policy, see the "Managing GTP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide. You may need to install a GTP activation key using the activation-key exec command.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
H.323 Inspection Engine
The H.323 inspection engine adds support for the T.38 protocol, an ITU standard that enables the secure transmission of Fax over IP (FoIP). Both real-time and store-and-forward FAX methods are supported. The H.323 inspection engine supports Gatekeeper Routed Call Signaling (GKRCS) in addition to the Direct Call Signaling (DCS) method currently supported. GKRCS support, based on the ITU standard, now allows the security appliance to handle call signaling messages exchanged directly between H.323 Gatekeepers.
For more information, see the "Managing H.323 Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
H.323 Version 3 and 4 Support
This release supports NAT and PAT for H.323 versions 3 and 4 messages, and in particular, the H.323 v3 feature Multiple Calls on One Call Signaling Channel.
For more information on this command, see the "H.323Inspection Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
SIP Inspection Engine
This feature adds support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based instant messaging clients, such as Microsoft Windows Messenger. Enhancements include support for features described by RFC 3428 and RFC 3265.
For more information, see the "Managing SIP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Support for Instant Messaging Using SIP
Fixup SIP now supports the Instant Messaging (IM) Chat feature on Windows XP using Windows Messenger RTC client version 4.7.0105 only.
For more information, see the "SIP Inspection Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Configurable SIP UDP Inspection Engine
This provides a CLI-enabled solution for non-Session Information Protocol (SIP) packets to pass through the adaptive security appliance instead of being dropped when they use a SIP UDP port.
For more information on this command, see the "SIP Inspection Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
MGCP Inspection Engine
This feature includes an MGCP inspection engine that supports NAT and PAT for the MGCP protocol. This ensures seamless security integration in distributed call processing environments that include MGCP Version 0.1 or 1.0 as the VoIP protocol.
The inspect mgcp command in the policy-map configuration mode and the mgcp-map global configuration command enables the user to configure MGCP inspection policy. For more information, see the "Managing MGCP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
RTSP Inspection Engine
This feature introduces NAT support for the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), which allows streaming applications such as Cisco IP/TV, Apple Quicktime, and RealNetworks RealPlayer to operate transparently across NAT boundaries.
For more information, see the "Managing RTSP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
SNMP Inspection Engine
Similar to other new inspection engines, the inspect snmp command in policy-map configuration mode and the snmp-map global configuration command enables the user to configure an SNMP inspection policy. For more information, see the "Managing SNMP Inspection" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
TCP Security Engine
This feature introduces several new foundational capabilities to assist in detecting protocol and application layer attacks. TCP stream reassembly helps detect attacks that are spread across a series of packets by reassembling packets into a full packet stream and performing analysis of the stream. TCP traffic normalization provides additional techniques to detect attacks including advanced flag and option checking, detection of data tampering in retransmitted packets, TCP packet checksum verification, and more.
You can configure the extensive TCP security policy using the set connection advanced-options in global configuration command and tcp-map global configuration command.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Improved URL Filtering Performance
This feature significantly increases the number of concurrent URLs that can be processed by improving the communications channel between the adaptive security appliance and the Websense servers.
The existing url-server global configuration command now supports the connections keyword to specify the number of TCP connections in the pool that is used. For more information, see the "Applying Filtering Services" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
URL Filtering Enhancements
This release supports N2H2 URL filtering services for URLs up to 1159 bytes.
For Websense, long URL filtering is supported for URLs up to 4096 bytes in length.
Additionally, this release provides a configuration option to buffer the response from a web server if its response is faster than the response from either an N2H2 or Websense filtering service server. This prevents the web server's response from being loaded twice.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Virtual Private Networking (VPN) Services
IPSec
Spoke-to-Spoke VPN Support
This feature improves support for spoke-to-spoke (and client-to-client) VPN communications, by providing the ability for encrypted traffic to enter and leave the same interface. Furthermore, split-tunnel remote access connections can now be terminated on the outside interface for the security appliance, allowing Internet-destined traffic from remote access user VPN tunnels to leave on the same interface as it arrived (after firewall rules have been applied).
The same-security-traffic command permits traffic to enter and exit the same interface when used with the intra-interface keyword enabling spoke-to-spoke VPN support. For more information, see the "Permitting Intra-Interface Traffic" section in the in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
OSPF Dynamic Routing over VPN
Support for OSPF has been extended to support neighbors across an IPSec VPN tunnel. This allows the adaptive security appliance to support dynamic routing updates across a VPN tunnel to other OSPF peers. OSPF hellos are unicast and encrypted for transport down the tunnel to an identified neighbor in an RFC- compliant manner.
The ospf network point-to-point non-broadcast command in interface configuration mode extends comprehensive OSPF dynamic routing services to support neighbors across IPSec VPN tunnels, providing improved network reliability for VPN connected networks. For more information, see the "Configuring OSPF" section in the in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
OSPF Dynamic Routing
Route propagation and greatly reduced route convergence times are two of the many benefits that arrive with Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). The adaptive security appliance implementation will support intra-area, inter-area and external routes. The distribution of static routes to OSPF processes and route redistribution between OSPF processes are also included.
To configure OSPF routing on the adaptive security appliance, see the "Configuring OSPF" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Remote Management Enhancements
This feature enables administrators to remotely manage firewalls over a VPN tunnel using the inside interface IP address of the remote adaptive security appliance. In fact, administrators can define any adaptive security appliance interface for management-access. This feature supports ASDM, SSH, Telnet, SNMP, and so on, that requires a dynamic IP address. This feature significantly benefits broadband environments.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
X.509 Certificate Support
Support for X.509 certificates has been significantly improved in the adaptive security appliance, adding support for n-tier certificate chaining (for environments with a multi-level certification authority hierarchy), manual enrollment (for environments with offline certificate authorities), and support for 4096-bit RSA keys. Version 7.0 also includes support for the new certificate authority introduced in Cisco IOS software, a lightweight X.509 certificate authority designed to simplify roll-out of PKI-enabled site-to-site VPN environments.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Easy VPN Server
This release supports Cisco Easy VPN server. Cisco Easy VPN server is designed to function seamlessly with existing VPN headend configured to support Cisco VPN client and to minimize the administrative overhead for the client by centralizing VPN configuration at the Cisco Easy VPN server. Examples of Cisco Easy VPN server products include the Cisco VPN client v3.x and greater and the Cisco VPN 3002 Hardware client.
Note
Easy VPN Server Load Balancing Support
The ASA 5500 adaptive security appliance can participate in cluster-based concentrator load balancing. It supports VPN 3000 series concentrator load balancing with automatic redirection to the least utilized concentrator.
For more information on this command, see the "Enabling Redundancy" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Dynamic Downloading of Backup Easy VPN Server Information
Support for downloading a list of backup concentrators defined on the headend.
This feature supports the vpngroup group_name backup-server {{ip1 [ip2... ip10]} | clear-client-cfg} commands. For more information on this command, see the "Enabling Redundancy" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Easy VPN Internet Access Policy
The adaptive security appliance changes the behavior of a security appliance used as an Easy VPN remote device in regard to Internet access policy for users on the protected network. The new behavior occurs when split tunneling is enabled on the Easy VPN server. Split tunneling is a feature that allows users connected through the security appliance to access the Internet in a clear text session, without using a VPN tunnel.
The adaptive security appliance used as an Easy VPN remote device downloads the split tunneling policy and saves it in its local Flash memory when it first connects to the Easy VPN server. If the policy enables split tunneling, users connected to the network protected by the adaptive security appliance can connect to the Internet regardless of the status of the VPN tunnel to the Easy VPN server.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Verify Certificate Distinguished Name
This feature enables the adaptive security appliances acting as either a VPN peer for site to site, or as the Easy VPN server in remote access deployments to validate matching of a certificate to an administrator specified criteria.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Easy VPN Web Interface for Manual Tunnel Control User Authentication and Tunnel Status
With the introduction of the User-Level Authentication and Secure Unit Authentication, features the adaptive security appliance delivers the ability to enter the credentials, connect/dis-connect the tunnel and monitor the connection using new web pages served to users when attempting access to the VPN tunnel or unprotected networks through the security appliance. This is only applicable to the Easy VPN server feature.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
User-Level Authentication
Support for individually authenticating clients (IP address based) on the inside network of the adaptive security appliance. Both static and One Time Password (OTP) authentication mechanisms are supported. This is done through a web-based interface.
This feature adds support to the vpn-group-policy command. For more information on this command, see the "Configuring Users" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Secure Unit Authentication
This feature provides the ability to use dynamically generated authentication credentials to authenticate the Easy VPN remote (VPN Hardware client) device.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Flexible Easy VPN Management Solutions
Managing the adaptive security appliance using the outside interface will not require the traffic to flow over the VPN tunnel. You will have the flexibility to require all NMS traffic to flow over the tunnel or fine tune this policy.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
VPN Client Security Posture Enforcement
This feature introduces the ability to perform VPN client security posture checks when a VPN connection is initiated. Capabilities include enforcing usage of authorized host-based security products (such as the Cisco Security Agent) and verifying its version number, policies, and status (enabled/disabled).
To set personal firewall policies that the security appliance pushes to the VPN client during IKE tunnel
negotiation, use the client-firewall command in group-policy configuration mode.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
VPN Client Update
To configure and change client update parameters, use the client-update command in tunnel-group ipsec-attributes configuration mode. For more information, see the "Configuring Group Policies" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
VPN Client Blocking by Operating System and Type
This feature adds the ability to restrict the different types of VPN clients (software client, router, VPN 3002, and PIX) that are allowed to connect based on type of client, operating system version installed, and VPN client software version. When non-compliant users attempt to connect, they can be directed to a group that specifically allows connections from non-compliant users.
To configure rules that limit the remote access client types and versions that can connect via IPSec through the security appliance, use the client-access-rule command in group-policy configuration mode. For more information, see the "Configuring Group Policies" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference
Movian VPN Client Support
This feature introduces support for handheld (PocketPC and Palm) based Movian VPN clients, securely extending access to your network to mobile employees and business partners.
New support for Diffie-Hellman Group 7 (ECC) to negotiate perfect forward secrecy was added to Version 7.0. This option is intended for use with the MovianVPN client, but can be used with other clients that support D-H Group 7 (ECC).
Bi-Directional Network Address Translation (NAT)
This feature allows Network Address Translation (NAT) of external source IP addresses for packets traveling from the outside interface to an the inside interface. All functionality available with traditional NAT such as fixups, Stateful Failover, dynamic NAT, static NAT, and PAT are available bidirectionally in this release.
For more information, see the "Policy NAT" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Policy NAT
Policy NAT allows you to identify both the source and destination addresses in an access list when specifying the local traffic to translate. This feature lets you use different global addresses for each source and destination pair on an interface, even if the source address is the same for each pair. Without policy NAT, you can only specify a single global address for a given source address, because the destination address is not considered. To configure policy NAT, use either the static or nat commands.
For more information, see the "Policy NAT" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Optional Address Translation Services
This feature introduces the "nat-control" configuration option, which allows NAT to be enabled incrementally.
For new security appliances or devices which have their configurations cleared, the default will be to not require a NAT policy for traffic to traverse the security appliance. For more information, see the "NAT Control" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
VPN NAT Transparency
This feature extends support for site-to-site and remote-access IPSec-based VPNs to network environments that implement NAT or PAT, such as airports, hotels, wireless hot spots, and broadband environments. Version 7.0 also adds support for Cisco TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) NAT traversal methods as complementary methods to existing support for the IETF UDP wrapper mechanism for safe traversal through NAT/PAT boundaries.
See the isakmp global configuration command for additional options when configuring a NAT traversal policy. For more information, see the "Enabling IPSec over NAT-T" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
IKE Syslog Support
This feature introduces a small enhancement to IKE syslogging support and a limited set of IKE event tracing capabilities for scalable VPN troubleshooting. These enhancements have been added to allow for new syslog message generation and improved ISAKMP command control.
For more information on this feature, see the "Configuring ISAKMP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Diffie-Hellman (DH) Group 5 Support
This release supports the 1536-bit MODP Group that has been given the group 5 identifier.
For more information on this feature, see the "Configuring ISAKMP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
This feature adds support for securing site-to-site and remote access VPN connections with the new international encryption standard. It also provides software-based AES support on all supported the adaptive security appliance models and hardware-accelerated AES via the new VAC+ card.
For more information on this feature, see the "Configuring ISAKMP" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Port Redirection
The adaptive security appliance provides static Port Address Translation (PAT) capability. This capability can be used to send multiple inbound TCP or UDP services to different internal hosts through a single global address. The global address can be a unique address, a shared outbound PAT, or shared with the external interface.
The static command is modified to accommodate this feature.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Port Address Translation (PAT) for H.323 and SIP Inspection Engines
This release enhances support for the existing H.323 and SIP inspection engines by adding support for Port Address Translation (PAT). Adding support for PAT with H.323 and SIP enables our customers to expand their network address space using a single global address.
For more information on this command, see the "SCCP Inspection Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
PAT for Skinny
This feature allows Cisco IP Phones to communicate with Cisco CallManager across the adaptive security appliance when it is configured with PAT. This is particularly important in a remote access environment where Skinny IP phones behind a adaptive security appliance talk to the CallManager at the corporate site through a VPN.
For more information on this command, see the "SCCP Inspection Overview" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
WebVPN
WebVPN lets users establish a secure, remote-access VPN tunnel to a security appliance using a web browser. There is no need for either a software or hardware client. WebVPN provides easy access to a broad range of web resources and web-enabled applications from almost any computer on the Internet. WebVPN includes the following features:
Remote Access via Web Browser (WebVPN)
Version 7.0(1) supports WebVPN on ASA 5500 series security appliances in single, routed mode. WebVPN lets users establish a secure, remote-access VPN tunnel to the security appliance using a web browser. There is no need for either a software or hardware client. WebVPN provides easy access to abroad range of web resources and both web-enabled and legacy applications from almost any computer that can reach HTTPS Internet sites. WebVPN uses Secure Sockets Layer Protocol and its successor, Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS1) to provide a secure connection between remote users and specific, supported internal resources that you configure at a central site. The security appliance recognizes connections that need to be proxied, and the HTTP server interacts with the authentication subsystem to authenticate users.
For more information on this command, see the "Using SSL to Access the Central Site" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
CIFS
WebVPN supports the Common Internet Files System, which lets remote users browse and access preconfigured NT/Active Directory file servers and shares at a central site. CIFS runs over TCP/IP and uses DNS and NetBIOS for name resolution.
For more information on this command, see the "Configuring WebVPN" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Port Forwarding
WebVPN port forwarding, also called application access, lets remote users use TCP-applications over an SSL VPN connection.
For more information on this command, see the "Creating Port Forwarding, URL, and Access Lists in Global Configuration Mode" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
WebVPN supports several ways of using email, including IMAP4S, POP3S, SMTPS, MAPI, and Web Email.
—IMAP4S, POP3S, SMTPS
WebVPN lets remote users use the IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP email protocols over SSL connections.
—MAPI Proxy
WebVPN supports MAPI, which is remote access to e-mail via MS Outlook Exchange port forwarding. MS Outlook exchange must be installed on the remote computer.
—Web Email
Web email is MS Outlook Web Access for Exchange 2000, Exchange 5.5, and Exchange 2003. It requires an MS Outlook Exchange Server at the central site.
For more information on this command, see the "Configuring Email" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Network Integration
Common Security-Level for Multiple Interfaces
This feature extends the security-level policy structure by enabling multiple interfaces to share a common security level. This allows for simplified policy deployments by allowing interfaces with a common security policy (for example two ports connected into the same DMZ, or multiple zones/departments within a network) to share a common security level. Communication between interfaces with the same security level is governed by the ACL on each interface.
See the same-security-traffic command and the inter-interface keyword to enable traffic between interfaces configured with the same security level. For more information, see the "Allowing Communication Between Interfaces on the Same Security Level" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
IPv6 Inspection, Access Control, and Management
This feature introduces support for IP version 6 (IPv6) inspection, access control, and management. Full stateful inspection is provided for through-the-box IPv6 traffic in both a dedicated IPv6 mode and in a dual-stack IPv4 / IPv6 mode. In addition, a security appliance can be deployed in a pure IPv6 environment, supporting IPv6 to-the-box management traffic for protocols including SSHv2, Telnet, HTTP, and ICMP. Inspection engines that support IPv6 traffic in Version 7.0 include HTTP, FTP, SMTP, UDP, TCP and ICMP.
For more information, see the "Config uring IPv6" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
fragment Command
The fragment command provides additional management of packet fragmentation and improves compatibility with NFS.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
HTTPS and FTP Web Request Filtering via Websense Integration
This feature extends the existing Websense-based URL filtering to HTTPS and FTP and introduces the filter ftp and filter https commands. For information on configuring this command, see the "Applying Filtering Services" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) Authentication Proxy
This feature extends the capabilities of the adaptive security appliance to securely authenticate HTTP sessions and adds support for HTTPS Authentication Proxy. To configure secure authentication of HTTP sessions, use the aaa authentication secure-http-client command. To configure secure authentication of HTTPS sessions, use the aaa authentication include https or the aaa authentication include tcp/0 command.
In this release configurations that include the aaa authentication include tcp/0 command will inherit the HTTPS Authentication Proxy feature, which is enabled by default with a code upgrade to Version 6.3 or later.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Multicast Support (IGMP v2 and Stub Multicast Routing)
This release enables you to statically configure multicast routes or use an IGMP helper address for forwarding IGMP reports and leave announcements.
The following summarizes multicast support in this release:
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NAT is not performed on IGMP packets. When IGMP forwarding is configured, the adaptive security appliance forwards the IGMP packets (report and leave) with the IP address of the helper interface as the source IP address.
Multicast Support
PIM sparse mode was added to allow direct participation in the creation of a multicast tree using PIM-SM. This capability extends existing multicast support for IGMP forwarding and for Class D access control policies and ACLs. PIM-SM provides an alternative to transparent mode operation in multicast environments.
The pim commands and the multicast-routing command added support to the new functionality in addition to the show mrib EXEC command in this feature. For more information, see the "Configuring Multicast Routing" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Network Time Protocol (NTP) Support
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) synchronizes the times of devices operating over an IP data network.
This release supports NTP, enabling theadaptive security appliance to act as an NTP client and synchronize its time to a network time server. This enables the adaptive security appliance to maintain precise network time for logging and certificate revocation list (CRL) validation. NTP server mode is not supported because the firewall would have to allow incoming requests to open ports, which is a security risk.
This release supports Version 3 of NTP as this is currently the most common version in use and is the highest version supported by Cisco IOS software. The NTP authentication mechanism uses MD5 and is compatible with Cisco IOS software.
Optional Address Translation Services
This feature simplifies deployment of the security appliance by eliminating previous requirement for address translation policies to be in place before allowing network traffic to flow. Now, only hosts and networks that require address translation will need to have address translation policies configured. This feature introduces a new configuration option, "nat-control", which allows NAT to be enabled incrementally.
Version 7.0 introduces the nat-control command and preserves the current behavior for customers upgrading from previous versions of the software. For new security appliances or devices which have their configurations cleared, the default will be to not require a NAT policy for traffic to traverse the security appliance. For more information, see the "Applying NAT" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Outbound Low Latency Queuing (LLQ) and Policing
This feature supports applications with demanding quality of service (QoS) requirements through support of Low Latency Queuing (LLQ) and Traffic Policing - supporting the ability to have an end-to-end network QoS policy. When enabled, each interface maintains two queues for outbound traffic - one for latency-sensitive traffic (such as voice or market-data), and one for latency-tolerant traffic (such as file transfers). Queue performance can be optimized through a series of configuration parameters.
The QoS functionality is managed using the following commands: police, priority, priority-queue, queue-limit, and tx-ring-limit. For more information, see the "Applying QoS Policies" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
High Availability
Active/Active Failover with Asymmetric Routing Support
This feature builds upon the award-winning adaptive security appliance high availability architecture, introducing support for Active/Active failover. This enables two UR licensed or one UR and one FO-AA licensed security appliance to act as a failover pair, both actively passing traffic at the same time, and with Asymmetric Routing Support. The Active/Active failover feature leverages the security context feature of this software release - where each security appliance in a failover pair is active for one context and standby for the other, as an inverse symmetric pair. Another key customer challenge that we are addressing in Version 7.0 is Asymmetric Routing Support. This will enable customers with advanced routing topologies, where packets may enter from one ISP and exit via another ISP, to deploy the security appliance to protect those environments (leveraging the Asymmetric Routing Support introduced in Version 7.0).
To support the Active/Active feature, the failover active command is extended with the group keyword and this software release introduces the failover group configuration mode. In addition, the asr-group command in interface configuration mode extends the Active/Active solution to environments with Asymmetric Routing. For more information, see the "Configuring Active/Active Failover" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
VPN Stateful Failover
This feature introduces Stateful Failover for VPN connections, complementing the award-winning firewall failover services. All security association (SA) state information and key material is automatically synchronized between the failover pair members, providing a highly resilient VPN solution.
The VPN Stateful Failover is enabled implicitly when the device operates in single routed mode. In addition to the show failover EXEC command, which includes a detailed view of VPN Stateful Failover operations and statistics, the show isakmp sa, show ipsec sa and show vpnd-sessiondb commands have information about the tunnels on both the active and standby unit.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Failover Enhancements
This feature enhances failover functionality so that the standby unit in a adaptive security appliance failover pair can be configured to use a virtual MAC address. This eliminates potential "stale" ARP entry issues for devices connected to the adaptive security appliance failover pair, in the unlikely event that both adaptive security appliances in a failover pair fail at the same time and only the standby unit remains operational.
LAN-Based Failover
LAN-based Failover extends the adaptive security appliance failover functionality to operate through a dedicated LAN interface, without the serial failover cable. This overcomes the distance limitation of the current serial cable. Failover configuration synchronization can now occur through the serial cable or a LAN interface. However, the adaptive security appliance failover pair must be on the same subnet, and the adaptive security appliance model remains a hot-standby model, with one unit active and the other standby.
For LAN-based Failover, use a dedicated switch or hub (or VLAN) to connect the adaptive security appliance failover pair so that the secondary unit can detect the failure of the dedicated LAN failover interface of the primary unit and become active. Crossover Ethernet cables cannot be used to connect the LAN-based Failover interface. Additionally, we recommend that you dedicate a LAN interface for LAN-based Failover, but the interface can be shared with Stateful Failover under lightly loaded configurations.
Show Failover Command
This new feature enhances the show failover command to display the last occurrence of a failover.
For more information on this feature, see the "Using the Show Failover Command" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Failover Support for HTTP
This feature supports the failover replicate http and show failover commands to allow the stateful replication of HTTP sessions in a Stateful Failover environment:
When HTTP replication is enabled, the show failover command displays the failover replicate http command.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
show shun Command
The show shun command, when issued from an appropriately configured adaptive security appliance, provides dynamic packet filtering in response to a adaptive security appliance signature by preventing new connections from an attacking host and disallowing packets from the attacking host on any existing connection(s). When possible, the connection that caused the event is terminated.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
show interface Command
The show interface command has display buffer counters.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Zero-Downtime Software Upgrades
This feature introduces the ability for customers to perform software upgrades of failover pairs without impacting network uptime or connections flowing through the units. Version 7.0 introduces the ability to do inter-version state sharing between security appliance failover pairs, allowing customers to perform software upgrades to maintenance releases (for example Version 7.0(1) upgrading to 7.0(2)) without impacting traffic flowing through the pair (in active/standby failover environments or Active/Active environments where the pair is not oversubscribed - more that 50% load on each pair member).
General High Availability Enhancements
This feature includes many significant enhancements to the Failover operation and configuration to deliver faster Failover transitions, increased scalability and even further robustness in failover operation.
The release introduces the following new commands: failover interface-policy, failover polltime, and failover reload-standby.
For a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
Guest
