Basic configuration of Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA)

09 Nov, 2021
Prerequisite – Adaptive security appliance (ASA) Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) is a Cisco security appliance that combines classic firewall features with VPN, Intrusion Prevention, and antivirus capabilities. It has the capability to provide threat defense before the attacks spread into the networks. 
As an administrator, we have to ensure protection against unauthorized access to our firewall. We can set login passwords, enable passwords for this. Also, we will discuss configuring an IP address on the ASA interface. 
Administrative Configuration – 
Bring up the interface and assign an IP address to ASA. To configure an IP address on the interface of an ASA, we have to configure 4 things: 
1. Bring up the interface – After entering into global interface mode, use the command no shut to bring up the interface. 
2. Assign an IP address to the interface of ASA – After bringing up the interface, assign an IP address by the command 
IP address IP_address Subnet_Mask  
It’s the same way by which we assign an IP address to the router’s interface. But the difference is that we can assign an IP address to the ASA interface without the subnet mask also. 
IP address IP_address
Now, if we don’t give a subnet mask, it automatically takes a classful subnet mask. for example, if we assign 192.168.1.1 to the ASA interface it will automatically take 255.255.255.0 as a subnet mask. 
3. Assign a nameif to the ASA interface – In ASA, we also assign a name to the interface otherwise the interface will be down. The most common names are INSIDE OUTSIDE or DMZ. These names are used while applying a policy but have no role in forwarding the traffic. We can assign a name to an ASA interface by the command: 
nameif NAME 
NAME is the name you want to give to an interface. 
4. Assign a security level to the interface – The security level is an integer value ranging from 0 to 100. It tells the trustworthiness of an interface i.e which interface is most trusted. 0 means less trusted while 100 means the most trusted. If we provide the name INSIDE to an interface, it will automatically provide security level 100 to it and if we provide any other name like OUTSIDE or DMZ, it will assign automatically 0 to it but can be changed manually. We can assign a security level to an interface by the command: 
Security-level {value} 
Here is an example where we will provide IP address 192.268.1.1 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0, name as INSIDE and security-level as 100. 
asa(config)#int e0
asa(config-if)#no shut
asa(config-if)#ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
asa(config-if)#nameif INSIDE 
asa(config-if)#security level 100
Giving hostname to ASA – It is used to set a name to a device stating an identity to a device. It is given by the same command that is used on the router:- 
asa(config)#hostname ciscoasa
ciscoasa(config)#
Setting passwords – As ASA is a security device, by default it will ask for a password while we try to enter privilege mode. By default, no password is set therefore by simply clicking enter, we can enter the privilege mode. 
enable password – The enable password is used for securing privilege mode. In routers, this password is shown in clear text in running configuration but in ASA, this password is encrypted (therefore no enable secret is required.) The password is a case-sensitive password of up to 16 alphanumeric and special characters. We can set an enable password by 
asa(config)#enable password GeeksforGeeks 
Or by the command  
asa(config)#enable passwd GeeksforGeeks 
Where GeeksforGeeks is the password. If we want to disable this password or set a password to default then simply enter the command.  
asa(config)#enable password 
login password – This password is used for taking access to ASA by using Telnet or SSH. By default, the login password is “Cisco”. We can change it by the command  
asa(config)#password GeeksforGeeks 
or 
asa(config)#passwd GeeksforGeeks 
Where GeeksforGeeks is the login password. 
Using a local database for login: A local database is configured on the device (username and password) so that it can be used for login purposes. It is configured in the same manner as it is configured on the router. A local database can be configured on the device using the command 
asa(config)#username SAURABH password GeeksforGeeks 
Where SAURABH is username and password is GeeksforGeeks. If we want the ASA to use its local database for its login purpose then we can use the command 
asa(config)#aaa authentication serial console LOCAL
Here, note that LOCAL is case-sensitive 
chhabradhanvi
23603vaibhav2021
Computer Networks
Computer Networks
Writing code in comment?
Please use ide.geeksforgeeks.org,
generate link and share the link here.
Differences between TCP and UDP
Types of Network Topology
RSA Algorithm in Cryptography
TCP Server-Client implementation in C
GSM in Wireless Communication
Socket Programming in Python
Differences between IPv4 and IPv6
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
Wireless Application Protocol
Mobile Internet Protocol (or Mobile IP)