Just about to embark on my testing of Cisco Security Manager 4.0 ready for deployment.
Was about to deploy CSM 3.31 but saw that CSM4.0 was on the horizon and we are trying to upgrade all servers to Windows Server 2008 so decided to wait.
Now that CSM 4.0 is released I've downloaded it and the Install notes and was slightly taken aback by the 'shift' in minimum requirements.
A quick comparison between the minimum requirements of CSM 3.31 and 4.0 the difference is:
CPU 3.31 - Minimum of one CPU >=2Ghz / Recommended single Dual Core
CPU 4.0 - Minimum recommenation of Quad Core (doubled from 3.31 recommendation)
RAM 3.31 - Minimum of 2GB / Recommended 4GB
RAM 4.0 - Minimum recommendation of 16GB (quadroupled from 3.31 recommendation)
HDD 3.31 - Minimum 20GB+
HDD 4.0 - 2 x 1TB (500 OS+CSM + 1.5TB for Logs)
OS 3.31 - Windows 2003 Standard or Enterprise SP1/SP2 32 bit
OS 4.0 - Windows 2008 Enterprise SP2 32 or 64 bit
The hardware isn't much of an issue as any decent new server will meet the requirements, although I notice that the VMware hosting requirements are identical between CSM3.31 and CSM4.0 so I'm not sure why the physical specification is so much higher?
However what concerns me is the MINIMUM specification of Windows 2008 Enterprise with absolutely no mention of Standard Edition.
As I understand it Win 2008 Enterprise x64 Edition (about 3 times the price of Standard) gives you:
> Support for 8 CPU as opposed to 4 CPU with Standard x64
> Support for 2TB RAM as opposed to 32GB with Standard x64
> Support for failover clustering
None of these are required to meet the minimum specification for CSM4.0 so why has Cisco specificied a minimum of Windows 2008 Enteprise Edition at 3 times the price of Standard Edition ????
I don't want to do my testing and deployment on Standard Edition only to be not supported by Cisco.
Anyone (especially someone from Cisco) got any pointers around this?
Cheers
Mike
