Cisco forgets to ship management software with security appliances Cisco has 'fessed up to forgetting the software needed to manage its Adaptive Security Appliances. “Some … security appliances were shipped without the Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) on-box management software,” Cisco says in a field notice. And it forget for quite a while: product shipped between February to October …
Now I have not needed to configure a Cisco ASA for while, so things might have changed, but if I recall the firewall could be managed fine without the ASDM from the CLI.
The ASDM is a java applet that is downloaded to a web browser to provide a GUI like interface, but I always used the CLI / scripts to manage the firewall rather than the ASDM.
In most cases, not just Cisco, the version of software loaded on the flash almost always should be replaced with either a more up to date version or the 'estate approved' version, so I guess that was why it was not really a big issue for most folks.
Rarely do I bother with a disk, I'm straight on the manufacturer website getting the latest and greatest. Proven the right thing to do recently when I bought a Samsung SSD for my own machine and the magician software was actually so out of date on the disc that it would not upgrade to the latest version. When I did upgrade there was a firmware update for the drive it hadn't picked up on. I'd be surprised anyone even noticed to report this to Cisco hence they didn't notice for so long.
First of all, you don't need ASDM to manage an ASA. ASDM is mainly useful for screwing up the commenting in your ACLs. I require commented ACLs and so ASDM is used rarely if ever in the orgs I manage. On the plus side, ASDM really sounds like some sort of BnD gear, so at least it's appropriately named. To Cisco's credit, it's far less stupid and buggy than most competing tools.
Also, who the hell still uses software off the disk in 2016? Or 1996 for that matter? Heck, I'm pretty sure I was downloading fresh drivers off of BBSs in 1986. US Robotics Courier HST FTW. Anyway, is there anybody out there that doesn't remove these things from the packaging and toss them directly in the trash? Is there any reason they're even included in the box? I was thinking for sysadmins in Antarctica or something, but they have Internet there, so...
And finally, it's not so much that the software shipped on Cisco devices and in the box tends to be old. It tends to be really, really, really, freaking old. So you more or less have to have download rights (SmartNet) or know how to extract updates from TAC for devices that aren't covered (hint: security fixes). This isn't much of a hassle unless you've got the first of some device in your org and your SmartNet contract is stuck in processing for three weeks and you can't find a TAC person who'll help you out.
The last time we use the ADSM it screwed up the device. The advice from our consultants was never, ever use it. For whatever reason, Cisco has never been able to get a GUI to work properly against their devices. No great loss that they didn't ship the software.
Want a good gui? Use Vyatta or PFSense on a decent pizza box. Way less expensive.
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