Cisco Firepower offers a range of hardware appliances designed to meet various performance and security requirements. These appliances are categorized into different series, each suited for specific environments, from small branch offices to large data centers. Here’s an overview of the main types of Cisco Firepower hardware:
1. Cisco Firepower 1000 Series
- Models: Firepower 1010, 1120, 1140, 1150
- Description: The 1000 Series is designed for small to medium-sized businesses or branch offices. These models provide essential security features with a focus on affordability and ease of use.
- Performance:
- Throughput ranges from 650 Mbps (Firepower 1010) to 3 Gbps (Firepower 1150).
- Supports up to 1,500,000 concurrent sessions.
- Key Features: NGFW, advanced malware protection, URL filtering, VPN support.
2. Cisco Firepower 2100 Series
- Models: Firepower 2110, 2120, 2130, 2140
- Description: The 2100 Series is aimed at medium-sized businesses and distributed enterprise networks. These appliances provide higher performance and enhanced security capabilities.
- Performance:
- Throughput ranges from 3 Gbps (Firepower 2110) to 8.5 Gbps (Firepower 2140).
- Supports up to 5,000,000 concurrent sessions.
- Key Features: High availability, NGFW, threat defense, SSL decryption, application visibility and control.
3. Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
- Models: Firepower 4110, 4120, 4140, 4150
- Description: The 4100 Series is designed for data centers and large enterprise environments requiring high performance and scalability.
- Performance:
- Throughput ranges from 10 Gbps (Firepower 4110) to 20 Gbps (Firepower 4150).
- Supports up to 10,000,000 concurrent sessions.
- Key Features: High throughput, low latency, advanced threat defense, clustering, and multi-instance support.
4. Cisco Firepower 9300 Series
- Models: Firepower 9300
- Description: The 9300 Series is the top-tier appliance in the Firepower family, designed for large data centers, service providers, and high-capacity networks.
- Performance:
- Modular design with throughput up to 1 Tbps.
- Supports more than 100,000,000 concurrent sessions.
- Key Features: Extreme scalability, high performance, redundancy, multi-tenancy, support for advanced threat protection, VPNs, and clustering.
5. Cisco Secure Firewall Virtual Appliances
- Models: Firepower Threat Defense Virtual (FTDv)
- Description: These virtual appliances provide the same security features as the physical Firepower appliances but are deployed in virtualized environments.
- Performance: Performance varies based on the underlying hardware and hypervisor capabilities.
- Key Features: Suitable for cloud environments, supports hybrid deployments, flexible scalability.
6. Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Appliances
- Models: FMC 1600, FMC 2600, FMC 4600
- Description: FMC appliances are dedicated management devices that provide centralized management and visibility for Firepower devices across the network.
- Performance: Supports management of various numbers of devices and events per second, depending on the model.
- Key Features: Centralized policy management, threat correlation, event monitoring, reporting, and integration with Cisco’s security architecture.
Key Considerations
- Scalability: Higher series (4100, 9300) offer more scalability and performance for larger networks and data centers.
- Deployment Environment: The choice between physical and virtual appliances depends on whether you’re securing physical, virtual, or cloud environments.
- Redundancy and High Availability: Advanced models like the 4100 and 9300 series offer more robust options for redundancy and high availability.
These hardware options provide the flexibility to deploy Cisco Firepower solutions in a wide range of environments, ensuring that businesses can find a model that meets their specific security and performance needs.