Solved: ASA 5525-X Hardware Specs Clarification

TechDude · ‎08-21-2012

I have a 5525-X Running in production and I have a couple clarification questions:

1.) Quad Core: Only ever see a single core with load

2.) Memory: Shows 8GB but only shows 4GB (I can only assume that 4GB is used as system member and the other half ram drive maybe?)

varrao · ‎08-21-2012

Hi Ethan,

In the ASA 5525-X, the memory is divided between your ASA and IPS, as are all the other resources.

ASA and IPS share system resources such as CPU, RAM, and Flash, CPU and RAM are
statically allocated and are not configurable

There are totally 4 CPU cores, where 1 CPU core is statically allocated to ASA software
module, while 3 CPU cores are statically allocated to IPS software module

There is 8GB of RAM memory, 4GB are statically allocated to ASA and 4GB are statically 
allocated to IPS.

If you enable the IPS license, you would see the memory and RAM allocated to the IPS as well.

An output of "show version" would also  tell you that the ASA is allocated 1 CPU core.

Thanks,
Varun Rao
Security Team,
Cisco TAC

Thanks,
Varun Rao

View solution in original post

Marcin Latosiewicz · ‎08-21-2012

Ethan,

Currently CPU and memory are staically divided between ASA and IPS.

The division depends on hardware.

in case of 5525 1 core is assigned to ASA and 3 to IPS, the mem is divided 50/50.

M.

varrao · ‎08-21-2012

Hi Ethan,

In the ASA 5525-X, the memory is divided between your ASA and IPS, as are all the other resources.

ASA and IPS share system resources such as CPU, RAM, and Flash, CPU and RAM are
statically allocated and are not configurable

There are totally 4 CPU cores, where 1 CPU core is statically allocated to ASA software
module, while 3 CPU cores are statically allocated to IPS software module

There is 8GB of RAM memory, 4GB are statically allocated to ASA and 4GB are statically 
allocated to IPS.

If you enable the IPS license, you would see the memory and RAM allocated to the IPS as well.

An output of "show version" would also  tell you that the ASA is allocated 1 CPU core.

Thanks,
Varun Rao
Security Team,
Cisco TAC

Thanks,
Varun Rao

TechDude · ‎08-21-2012

Perfect thanks!

I was reading a few others forums where they were saying "Knowing Cisco they will make you buy more licenses to get get access to the additional Memory and Processing Power" made me think oh sh*t

Perfect Answer

plotniku7 · ‎04-24-2013

Hi Varun Rao
so, i will not be able to use the other three cores.

i do not use IPS or CX modules.

so, halth of my ram and 3 parts of the CPU will not be utilized. very bad.

is it possible to confgiure the redistribution of the CPU?

paultribe · ‎11-18-2020

I totally agree I have customer with the same problem and they do use IPS and AMP. 1 cpu is 90% the other 3 are less than 20. This seems a non optimal setup especially with the advent of SASE. Having said that the ASA55x are being phased out I guess for FTD. Does AMP use cpu0 or 1,2,3 and what about VPN and url filtering, where can we see some explanation of the architecture so we can plan better?