Introduction To The Firepower System - Cisco 7010 Installation Manual

Introduction to the Firepower System

The Cisco Firepower System combines the security of an industry-leading network intrusion protection
system with the power to control access to your network based on detected applications, users, and
URLs. You can also use Firepower System appliances to serve in a switched, routed, or hybrid (switched
and routed) environment; to perform network address translation (NAT); and to build secure virtual
private network (VPN) tunnels between the virtual routers of Firepower managed devices.
The Cisco Firepower Management Center provides a centralized management console and database
repository for the Firepower System. Managed devices installed on network segments monitor traffic for
analysis.
Devices in a passive deployment monitor traffic flowing across a network, for example, using a switch
SPAN, virtual switch, or mirror port. Passive sensing interfaces receive all traffic unconditionally and no
traffic received on these interfaces is retransmitted.
Devices in an inline deployment allow you to protect your network from attacks that might affect the
availability, integrity, or confidentiality of hosts on the network. Inline interfaces receive all traffic
unconditionally, and traffic received on these interfaces is retransmitted unless explicitly dropped by
some configuration in your deployment. Inline devices can be deployed as a simple intrusion prevention
system. You can also configure inline devices to perform access control as well as manage network
traffic in other ways.
This installation guide provides information about deploying, installing, and setting up Firepower
System appliances (devices and Management Centers). It also contains hardware specifications and
safety and regulatory information for Firepower System appliances.
You can host virtual Firepower Management Centers and devices, which can manage and be managed
Tip
by physical appliances. However, virtual appliances do not support any of the system's hardware-based
features: redundancy, switching, routing, and so on. See the Firepower NGIPSv for VMware Quick Start
Guide for more information.
The topics that follow introduce you to the Firepower System and describe its key components:
Firepower System Appliances, page 1-2
•
Firepower System Components, page 1-9
•
Licensing the Firepower System, page 1-11
•
Security, Internet Access, and Communication Ports, page 1-13
•
• Preconfiguring Appliances, page 1-16
C H A P T E R
Firepower 7000 and 8000 Series Installation Guide
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