Solved: ASA 5520 Solaris 8/9 limitations

keeleym · ‎01-18-2008

Hi All

Just a quick question.

I wonder if anybody who is familiar with the ASA 55XX VPN concentrators could advise me if it is true that a ASA 55XX will only handle clients running Sun Solaris v 10 and will not support clients running Sun Solaris v 8 and Sun Solaris v 9.

It seems crazy that a relatively new piece of Cisco hardware would not support Solaris 8/9.

I have had a brief look around the Cisco product site but have not found any information regarding this issue.

Best Regards & TIA,

Michael

Danilo Dy · ‎01-18-2008

Hi Michael,

Yes, but make sure you use CDE (Common Desktop Environment) not OpenWindows.

Solaris 8 and 9 supports CDE and OpenWindows. Solaris 10 supports CDE (OpenWindows was dropped after Solaris 9) and Sun's Java Desktop System which I believe is based on GNOME which is popularly use by Linux.

I think Solaris 8 and 9 by default uses OpenWindows, you need to manually switch to CDE or configure it to use CDE. This could be the reason why some says SSL VPN is not supported in Soalris 8 and 9.

Much older Solaris versions only use OpenWindows.

Regards,

Dandy

View solution in original post

Danilo Dy · ‎01-18-2008

Hi,

Support for what? SSL VPN, ASDM?

You need Solaris 8 or higher running CDE not OpenWindows. Browser supported is Mozilla 1.7.x with Java plugin 1.4.x or 1.5.x

Regards,

Dandy

keeleym · ‎01-18-2008

Hi Dandy

Thanks for the response and information.

We want to use the ASA 5520 to set up SSL VPN but some of the users use Solaris 8/9 workstations.

I was told by someone that the Cisco ASA 55XX range do not support Solaris 8/9 clients, only Solaris 10, which I find hard to believe.

In my opinion it would not make financial sense for Cisco to sell a VPN solution which does not support Solaris 8/9 as I believe that this OS is still pretty widely used.

So I was just looking for some feedback from forum members who have experience with ASA 55XX series equipment.

So can I take from your previous reply that if I have a Solaris 8 client with Mozilla 1.7.x and Java plugin 1.4 or .1.5, that I can create a VPN connection through a ASA 5520 VPN Concentrator?

Best Regards,

Michael

Danilo Dy · ‎01-18-2008

Hi Michael,

Yes, but make sure you use CDE (Common Desktop Environment) not OpenWindows.

Solaris 8 and 9 supports CDE and OpenWindows. Solaris 10 supports CDE (OpenWindows was dropped after Solaris 9) and Sun's Java Desktop System which I believe is based on GNOME which is popularly use by Linux.

I think Solaris 8 and 9 by default uses OpenWindows, you need to manually switch to CDE or configure it to use CDE. This could be the reason why some says SSL VPN is not supported in Soalris 8 and 9.

Much older Solaris versions only use OpenWindows.

Regards,

Dandy

keeleym · ‎01-18-2008

Hi Dandy

Cheers and many thanks for the response. Much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Michael