Cisco ASA 5540 Security Appliance
The Cisco ASA 5540 is the premiere Security Appliance for the large enterprise environment.
The ASA 5540 can support up to 100 VLANs, allowing a security administrator greater
flexibility when designing a corporate LAN. The ASA 5540 runs on a 2.0-GHz Pentium 4
processor, with up to 1,024 MB of RAM and 64 MB of Flash memory.
The ASA 5540, like the ASA 5520, supports LAN-based failover in either Active/Active or
Active/Standby modes. The ASA 5540 supports up to 50 security contexts with purchase of
the VPN Premiere License.
NOTE * The larger number is only available with a Cisco ASA 5520 VPN Plus License.
Table 3-8 Cisco ASA 5520 Licenses
License Function
Base Software License Support for 4 10/100/1000 MB interfaces, 1 10/100 MB interface,
25 VLANs, 2 security contexts, and 300 IPSec VPN peers
VPN + Software License Support for 4 10/100/1000 MB interfaces, 1 10/100 MB interface,
25 VLANs, 2 security contexts, and 750 IPSec VPN peers
Cisco ASA Security Model Capabilities 65
Connection capabilities for the ASA 5540 Security Appliance are as follows:
■ Maximum firewall throughput—650 Mbps
■ Maximum throughput (with AIP-SSM-20)—450 Mbps
■ Maximum VPN throughput—325 Mbps
■ Maximum concurrent connections—280,000
■ Maximum concurrent IPSec VPN peers—500/2000*/5000**
■ Maximum concurrent WebVPN peers—500/1250*/2500**
Three software licenses are available for the ASA 5540. The Base License enables the
standard functions of the ASA Security Appliance, including 500 IPSec VPN peers. The VPN
Plus License adds more VPN peers. The VPN Premiere License enables additional VPNS
beyond the VPN Plus License. Table 3-9 describes the available licenses and their functions.