I recently got the new Cisco 5506-X and I thought to benchmark the WAN speed on it and see what it can actually push. I got 3 x 100mb WAN links and connected them in and assigned 3 outside interfaces and decided to run a 5GB speedtest file on each link terminating. I used the PBR (Policy Based Routing) on the device to and some access lists to forward traffic where I wanted it to go.
Here are some of the specs of the 5506-X using show version:
Hardware: ASA5506, 4096 MB RAM, CPU Atom C2000 series 1250 MHz, 1 CPU (4 cores)
Upon testing and maxing the speed at 300mbit across 3 interfaces, the CPU on the device reached to 67%. This is only with the firewall on, and no other features turned on such as the Firepower. Upon looking at the Cisco documentation they mention at minimum it will do is 750mbit for firewall performance. If 3 WAN links @300mbit already reach 67% CPU, if I did add another link it, the CPU will nearly be maxed out at 400mbits. In my opinion, I think the 750mbits will not be reached or very difficult to get to as the CPU on the device will be quite high and packets might start getting dropped. Anyone else done speedtesting on it? Let me know your thoughts!
Here is a screenshot of the WAN performance of the ASA 5506-X @ 300mbit.
7 Comments
