For those of you out there who have used or are currently using the product CiscoWorks VMS 2.3 (VPN Management Solution)…there are some changes in store. Cisco has reworked the product from the ground up and it is no longer based on CiscoWorks 2.2 LMS. It is now completely reworked for CiscoWorks 2.5 LMS. In addition to being retrofitted for the new 2.5 LMS, it has a totally new look and feel with a lot of advantages that would make you want to migrate to it as soon as possible.

One immediate advantage is that this product supports the PIX OS7 firewalls and the new ASA Firewall appliances. In addition to the VPN support -- which is literally a three-step process to creating a VPN -- it now supports Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) including the MARS product. Using the link I have provided below, it is clear that CiscoWorks VMS 2.3 software solution is going away and that part of your future Security strategy needs to consider migrating to the new Security management software.

Please click here to view the latest product information on Cisco Security Manager.

Some of you may be asking what are the benefits of such a migration? Well, one of the most compelling reasons is a company now has a single point of control for all firewall policies; in other words, this means corporate standardization for security policies. Another other key reason is in the not to distant future Cisco will discontinue support on the VMS 2.3 product and will be forcing companies to migrate to another solution. Below are some additional incentives for a company to deploy CSM 3.0:

• Firewall Management – rules/policies/configurations
• Improved ACL control and implementation
• Improved Graphical interface
• Central policy control for large organizations
• Three step process to creating any site-to-site, hub-spoke, full-mesh, or extranet VPN
• Full Integration of ACS 3.3 and above, therefore access rights and permissions come directly from the ACS server
• Integration with MARS

With all of the benefits mentioned above, it is imperative that a company evaluate Cisco Security manager to determine if the product will help improve their management of their Cisco Security infrastructure.

CCPrep.com is pleased to announce its beta class of Cisco Security Manager 3.0 and it is only a 2 day course. Please contact tkamla@ccprep.com if you wish to see a demo of this product or are interested in training on this product.