Benchmarking WAN Speed on the Cisco ASA 5506X

The Cisco ASA 5506X is a powerful network security device that offers high-speed connectivity and robust firewall performance. As part of my testing, I wanted to explore its capabilities in terms of WAN speed. In this article, I'll share my experience with benchmarking the WAN speed on the ASA 5506X.

I began by setting up three 100 Mbps WAN links and connecting them to the device, assigning each link an outside interface. To ensure efficient traffic routing, I employed Policy-Based Routing (PBR) and access lists to direct traffic where needed. Next, I ran a 5 GB speedtest file on each link to simulate real-world network usage.

My initial thought was that the ASA 5506X would be able to reach speeds of up to 750 Mbps, but my testing revealed a different story. Even with three WAN links combined, the CPU utilization reached 67% when I pushed the limits to 300 Mbps. This suggests that reaching 750 Mbps might be challenging or even impossible without significant optimization.

The Cisco documentation provides insight into the device's firewall performance, stating that it can achieve minimum speeds of 750 Mbps when only the firewall feature is enabled. However, this assumes no additional features like Firepower are activated.

In conclusion, while the ASA 5506X is an impressive piece of hardware with robust security capabilities, its WAN speed may not live up to expectations without careful optimization and configuration. If you're planning to use the device for high-speed connectivity, it's essential to consider these limitations and plan accordingly.

The specifications of my test device are as follows: ASA5506, 4096 MB RAM, CPU Atom C2000 series 1250 MHz, 1 CPU (4 cores). If you have any experience with WAN speed testing on the ASA 5506X or would like to share your thoughts on this topic, please let me know in the comments!

Asa 5506x