Table Of Contents
Cisco PIX Security Appliance Release Notes Version 7.2(4)
Maximum Recommended Configuration File Size
Cisco VPN Software Interoperability
Cisco VPN Client Interoperability
Cisco Easy VPN Remote Interoperability
Determining the Software Version
Upgrading to a New Software Version
Supported Platforms and Feature Licenses
IPv6 Multicast Listener Discovery Protocol v2 Support
clear ipv6 mld traffic Command
debug ipv6 Command Enhancement
show debug ipv6 mld Command Enhancement
show asp drop Command Enhancement
show asp table classify hits Command Enhancement
TCP Normalization Enhancements
Timeout for SIP Provisional Media
Readme Document for the Conduits and Outbound List Conversion Tool 1.2
Resolved Caveats - Version 7.2(4)
Obtaining Documentation, Obtaining Support, and Security Guidelines
Cisco PIX Security Appliance Release Notes Version 7.2(4)
April 2008Contents
This document includes the following sections:
•
Supported Platforms and Feature Licenses
•
Obtaining Documentation, Obtaining Support, and Security Guidelines
Introduction
Note
The PIX 501, PIX 506/506E, and PIX 520 security appliances are not supported in software Version 7.2(4).
The Cisco PIX 500 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.
For more information on all of the new features, see New Features.
Additionally, the security appliance software supports Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM). ASDM delivers world-class security management and monitoring through an intuitive, easy-to-use web-based management interface. Bundled with the security appliance, ASDM accelerates security appliance deployment with intelligent wizards, robust administration tools, and versatile monitoring services that complement the advanced integrated security and networking features offered by the market-leading suite of the security appliance. Its secure, web-based design enables anytime, anywhere access to security appliances.
System Requirements
The sections that follow list the system requirements for operating a security appliance.
Note
The PIX 501, PIX 506/506E, and PIX 520 security appliances are not supported in software Version 7.2(4).
Memory Requirements
If you are using a PIX 515/515E running PIX Version 6.2/6.3, you need to upgrade your memory before performing an upgrade to PIX Version 7.0. PIX Version 7.0 requires at least 64 MB of RAM for Restricted (R) licenses and 128 MB of RAM for Unrestricted (UR) and Failover (FO) licenses. The following security appliance platforms require at least 64 MB of RAM. Table 1 lists flash memory requirements for Version 7.2(4).
Table 1 Flash Memory Requirements
Security Appliance Model Flash Memory Required in Version 7.2(4)PIX 515/515E
16 MB
PIX 525
16 MB
PIX 535
16 MB
For more information on minimum memory requirements, see the "Minimum Memory Requirements" section in the Guide for Cisco PIX 6.2 and 6.3 Users Upgrading to Cisco PIX Software Version 7.0.
Software Requirements
Version 7.2(4) requires the following:
1.
The minimum software version required before performing an upgrade to PIX Version 7.2(4) is PIX Version 7.0. If you are running a PIX version prior to PIX Version 6.2, you must first upgrade to PIX Version 6.2 or PIX Version 6.3 before you can begin the upgrade to PIX Version 7.0.
To upgrade your PIX software image, go to the following website: http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/pix
2.
For information on specific licenses supported on each model of the security appliance, go to the following website: www.cisco.com/go/license
3.
If you are upgrading from a previous PIX version, save your configuration and write down your activation key and serial number. See "Upgrading to a New Software Version" for new installation requirements.
Maximum Recommended Configuration File Size
For the PIX 525 and PIX 535, the maximum supported configuration file size is 2 MB for Version 7.2(4). For the PIX 515/515E, the maximum supported configuration file size is 1 MB for Version 7.2(4). If you are using ASDM, we recommend no more than a 500 KB configuration file because larger configuration files can interfere with the performance of ASDM on your workstation.
While configuration files up to 2 MB are supported on the PIX 525 and PIX 535, be aware that such large configuration files can reduce system performance. For example, a large configuration file is likely to noticeably slow execution times in the following situations:
•
While executing commands such as the write terminal and show running-config commands
•
Failover (the configuration synchronization time)
•
During a system reload
Cisco VPN Software Interoperability
Cisco VPN Client Interoperability
Cisco Easy VPN Remote Interoperability
Determining the Software Version
Use the show version command to verify the software version installed on your security appliance. Alternatively, you can see the software version, on the Cisco ASDM home page.
Upgrading to a New Software Version
If you have a Cisco.com (CDC) login, you can obtain software from the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/pix
Note
PIX and ASDM images must be compatible for example PIX Version 7.2(4) is compatible to ASDM Version 5.2(4). ASDM will not work with an incompatible platform version. You will get an error message and ASDM will close.
You can also use the command-line interface to download the image, see the "Downloading Software or Configuration Files to Flash Memory" section in the Cisco Security Appliance Command Line Configuration Guide.
To upgrade from Version 7.1.(x) to 7.2(4), you must perform the following steps:
Step 1
Load the new Version 7.2(4) image from the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/asa
Step 2
Reload the device so that it will start using the Version 7.2(4) image.
Step 3
Copy new ASDM Version 5.2(x) image from the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/asa
Step 4
Enter the following command; this will tell the security appliance where to find the ASDM image:
hostname(config)# asdm image flash:/ asdm file
To downgrade from Version 7.2(4) to 7.1.(x), you must perform the following steps:
Step 1
Load the earlier Version 7.1(x) image from the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/asa
Step 2
Reload the device so that it will be use the Version 7.1(x) image.
Step 3
Copy the ASDM Version 5.1(x) image from the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/asa
Step 4
Enter the following command; this will tell the security appliance where to find the ASDM image:
hostname(config)# asdm image flash:/ asdm file
Supported Platforms and Feature Licenses
This software version supports the following platforms; see the associated tables for the feature support for each model:
•
PIX 515/515E, Table 2
•
PIX 525, Table 3
•
PIX 535, Table 4
Note
Items that are in italics are separate, optional licenses that you can replace the base license. You can mix and match licenses, for example, the 10 security context license plus the Strong Encryption license; or the 500 WebVPN license plus the GTP/GPRS license; or all four licenses together.
Table 2 PIX 515/515E Security Appliance License Features
PIX 515/515E R (Restricted) UR (Unrestricted) FO (Failover)1 FO-AA (Failover Active/Active)1Users, concurrent
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Security Contexts
No support
2
Optional license: 5
2
Optional license: 5
2
Optional license: 5
IPSec Sessions
2000
2000
2000
2000
WebVPN Sessions
No support
No support
No support
No support
VPN Load Balancing
No support
No support
No support
No support
TLS Proxy for SIP and Skinny Inspection
No support
No support
No support
No support
Failover
No support
Active/Standby
Active/ActiveActive/Standby
Active/Standby
Active/ActiveGTP/GPRS
None
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledMax. VLANs
10
25
25
25
Concurrent Firewall Conns2
48 K
130 K
130 K
130 K
Max. Physical Interfaces
3
6
6
6
Encryption
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Min. RAM
64 MB
128 MB
128 MB
128 MB
1 This license can only be used in a failover pair with another unit with a UR license. Both units must be the same model.
2 The concurrent firewall connections are based on a traffic mix of 80% TCP and 20% UDP, with 1 host and 1 dynamic translation for every 4 connections.
Table 3 PIX 525 Security Appliance License Features
PIX 525 R (Restricted) UR (Unrestricted) FO (Failover)1 FO-AA (Failover Active/Active)1Users, concurrent
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Security Contexts
No support
2
Optional licenses:
2
Optional licenses:
2
Optional licenses:
5
10
20
50
5
10
20
50
5
10
20
50
IPSec Sessions
2000
2000
2000
2000
WebVPN Sessions
No support
No support
No support
No support
VPN Load Balancing
No support
No support
No support
No support
TLS Proxy for SIP and Skinny Inspection
No support
No support
No support
No support
Failover
No support
Active/Standby
Active/ActiveActive/Standby
Active/Standby
Active/ActiveGTP/GPRS
None
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledMax. VLANs
25
100
100
100
Concurrent Firewall Conns2
140 K
280 K
280 K
280 K
Max. Physical Interfaces
6
10
10
10
Encryption
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Min. RAM
128 MB
256 MB
256 MB
256 MB
1 This license can only be used in a failover pair with another unit with a UR license. Both units must be the same model.
2 The concurrent firewall connections are based on a traffic mix of 80% TCP and 20% UDP, with 1 host and 1 dynamic translation for every 4 connections.
Table 4 PIX 535 Security Appliance License Features
PIX 535 R (Restricted) UR (Unrestricted) FO (Failover)1 FO-AA (Failover Active/Active)1Users, concurrent
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Security Contexts
No support
2
Optional licenses:
2
Optional licenses:
2
Optional licenses:
5
10
20
50
5
10
20
50
5
10
20
50
IPSec Sessions
2000
2000
2000
2000
WebVPN Sessions
No support
No support
No support
No support
VPN Load Balancing
No support
No support
No support
No support
TLS Proxy for SIP and Skinny Inspection
No support
No support
No support
No support
Failover
No support
Active/Standby
Active/ActiveActive/Standby
Active/Standby
Active/ActiveGTP/GPRS
None
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledNone
Optional license:
EnabledMax. VLANs
50
150
150
150
Concurrent Firewall Conns2
250 K
500 K
500 K
500 K
Max. Physical Interfaces
8
14
14
14
Encryption
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
None
Optional licenses:
Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Base (DES)
Strong (3DES/
AES)Min. RAM
512 MB
1024 MB
1024 MB
1024 MB
1 This license can only be used in a failover pair with another unit with a UR license. Both units must be the same model.
2 The concurrent firewall connections are based on a traffic mix of 80% TCP and 20% UDP, with 1 host and 1 dynamic translation for every 4 connections.
New Features
This section lists the new features for Version 7.2(4). All new features are supported in ASDM 5.2(4).
capture command Enhancement
The capture asp type asp-drop all command captures all packets that the security appliance drops, including those dropped due to security checks.
clear conn Command
The clear conn command was added to remove connections.
IPv6 Multicast Listener Discovery Protocol v2 Support
The PIX security appliance now supports the Multicast Listener Discovery Protocol (MLD) Version 2, to discover the presence of multicast address listeners on their directly attached links, and to discover specifically which multicast addresses are of interest to those neighboring nodes. PIX becomes a multicast address listener, or a host, but not a a multicast router, and responds to Multicast Listener Queries and sends Multicast Listener Reports only.
The following commands support this feature:
•
debug ipv6 Command Enhancement
•
show debug ipv6 mld Command Enhancement
clear ipv6 mld traffic Command
The clear ipv6 mld traffic command allows you to reset all the Multicast Listener Discovery traffic counters. the syntax is as follows:
clear ipv6 mld trafficshow ipv6 mld Command
The show ipv6 mld command allows you to display all the Multicast Listener Discovery traffic counters. the syntax is as follows:
show ipv6 mld trafficdebug ipv6 Command Enhancement
The enhancement to the debug ipv6 command allows the user to display the debug messages for MLD, to see whether the MLD protocol activities are working properly. This enhancement adds the mld option.
debug ipv6 {icmp | interface | mld | nd | packet | routing}show debug ipv6 mld Command Enhancement
The enhancement to the show debug ipv6 command allows the user to display whether debug ipv6 mld is enabled or disabled.
show debug ipv6 mld
MIB Enhancement
The CISCO-REMOTE-ACCESS-MONITOR-MIB is implemented more completely.
QoS Traffic Shaping
If you have a device that transmits packets at a high speed, such as a security appliance with Fast Ethernet, and it is connected to a low speed device such as a cable modem, then the cable modem is a bottleneck at which packets are frequently dropped. To manage networks with differing line speeds, you can configure the security appliance to transmit packets at a fixed slower rate. See the crypto ipsec security-association replay command, which lets you configure the IPSec anti-replay window size. One side-effect of priority queueing is packet re-ordering. For IPSec packets, out-of-order packets that are not within the anti-replay window generate warning syslog messages. These warnings become false alarms in the case of priority queueing. This new command avoids possible false alarms.
show asp drop Command Enhancement
The show asp drop command now displays the capture asp-drop type keywords. This enhancement displays the particular capture type as part of the output of the show asp drop command.
A timestamp was also added indicating when the last time the asp drop counters were cleared.
show asp table classify hits Command Enhancement
The hits option was added to the show asp table classify command, showing the timestamp indicating the last time the asp table counters were cleared. It also shows rules with hits values not equal to zero. This permits users to quickly see what rules are being hit, especially since a simple configuration may end up with hundreds of entries in the show asp table classify command.
TCP Normalization Enhancements
You can now configure TCP normalization actions for certain packet types. Previously, the default actions for these kinds of packets was to drop the packet. Now you can set the TCP normalizer to allow the packets.
•
TCP invalid ACK check (the invalid-ack command)
•
TCP packet sequence past window check (the seq-past-window command)
•
TCP SYN-ACK with data check (the synack-data command)
You can also set the TCP out-of-order packet buffer timeout (the queue command timeout keyword). Previously, the timeout was 4 seconds. You can now set the timeout to another value.
The default action for packets that exceed MSS has changed from drop to allow (the exceed-mss command).
The following non-configurable actions have changed from drop to clear for these packet types:
•
Bad option length in TCP
•
TCP Window scale on non-SYN
•
Bad TCP window scale value
•
Bad TCP SACK ALLOW option
TCP Urgent Flag Syslog
When the TCP urgent flag of a TCP packet is cleared and debugging is enabled, a syslog is generated.
Timeout for SIP Provisional Media
You can now configure the timeout for SIP provisional media using the timeout sip-provisional-media command.
Important Notes
This section lists important notes related to Version 7.2(4).
User Upgrade Guide
Before upgrading to Version 7.2(4), read the Guide for Cisco PIX 6.2 and 6.3 Users Upgrading in Cisco PIX Software Version 7.0. This guide includes information about deprecated features and other changes in the Cisco PIX software Version 7.0. For a list of deprecated features and user upgrade information, go to the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa70/pix_upgrade/upgrade/guide/pixupgrd.html
CautionIf you share the Stateful Failover update link with a link for regular traffic such as your inside interface, you must change your configuration before upgrading. Do not upgrade until you have corrected your configuration, as this is not a supported configuration and Version 7.2(4) treats the LAN failover and Stateful Failover update interfaces as special interfaces. If you upgrade to Version 7.2(4) with a configuration that shares an interface for both regular traffic and the Stateful Failover updates, configuration related to the regular traffic interface will be lost after the upgrade. The lost configuration may prevent you from connecting to the security appliance over the network.
Readme Document for the Conduits and Outbound List Conversion Tool 1.2
The security appliance Outbound and Conduit Conversion tool assists in converting configurations with outbound or conduit commands to similar configurations using ACLs. ACL-based configurations provide uniformity and optimize the ACL feature set. ACL-based configurations provide the following benefits:
•
ACE insertion capability—Provides simplified system configuration and management, which allows you to add, delete or modify individual ACEs.
•
Outbound ACLs and time-based ACLs—Provides administrators with improved flexibility for defining access control policies by adding support for outbound ACLs and time-based ACLs.
•
Enabling and Disabling of ACL entries—Provides a convenient troubleshooting tool that allows administrators to test and fine-tune ACLs without the need to remove and replace ACL entries.
Features not Supported
The PPTP feature is not supported.
Downgrade to Previous Version
To downgrade to a previous version of the operating system software (software image), use the downgrade command in privileged EXEC mode. Use the downgrade command only if you want to downgrade to a version other than 7.x.
For more information and a complete description of the command syntax, see the Cisco Security Appliance Command Reference.
CautionDo not load a previous version of software if your PIX security appliance is currently running PIX Version 7.0 or later. If you load a software image from monitor mode onto a PIX security appliance that has a PIX Version 7.0 file system, unpredictable behavior may occur and is not supported. We strongly recommend that you use the downgrade command from a running PIX Version 7.0 image that facilitates the downgrade process.
Caveats
The following sections describe the caveats for the Version 7.2(4).
For your convenience in locating caveats in Cisco's Bug Toolkit, the caveat titles listed in this section are drawn directly from the Bug Toolkit database. These caveat titles are not intended to be read as complete sentences because the title field length is limited. In the caveat titles, some truncation of wording or punctuation may be necessary to provide the most complete and concise description. The only modifications made to these titles are as follows:
•
Commands are in boldface type.
•
Product names and acronyms may be standardized.
•
Spelling errors and typos may be corrected.
Note
If you are a registered cisco.com user, view Bug Toolkit on cisco.com at the following website:
http://www.cisco.com/support/bugtools
To become a registered cisco.com user, go to the following website:
http://tools.cisco.com/RPF/register/register.do
Open Caveats - Version 7.2(4)
Table 5 lists open caveats for Version 7.2(4).
Resolved Caveats - Version 7.2(4)
Table 6 lists resolved caveats for Version 7.2(4).


