Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 Performance Review: A Deep Dive into Snort3 Throughput
Choosing the right firewall for a small to medium-sized business (SMB) or a distributed branch office is a critical decision. You need a solution that provides robust, next-generation security without becoming a bottleneck for your network traffic. The Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 is a leading contender in this space, promising enterprise-grade protection in a compact form factor. But how does it perform under real-world conditions?
This analysis focuses on the true performance of the Firewall 1220, particularly when running the advanced Snort3 intrusion prevention system (IPS). We’ll move beyond simple datasheet numbers to give you a clear picture of what to expect when deploying this next-generation firewall (NGFW).
Understanding the Power of Snort3
Before diving into performance metrics, it’s essential to understand why Snort3 is a game-changer. For years, Snort2 was the industry-standard IPS engine, but it was limited by its single-threaded architecture. As network speeds increased and multi-core processors became standard, this created a performance ceiling.
Snort3 was completely redesigned from the ground up to address these limitations. Its key advantages include:
- Multi-threaded Architecture: Snort3 can use multiple CPU cores simultaneously to inspect traffic, dramatically increasing throughput and efficiency.
- Improved Performance: The new design allows for faster packet processing and more effective threat detection without slowing down your network.
- Enhanced Rule Language: It offers greater flexibility and power in writing and deploying security rules to catch sophisticated threats.
For any modern firewall, the performance of its threat inspection engine is the most important metric, and the move to Snort3 is a significant architectural leap forward for Cisco’s security appliances.
Putting the Firewall 1220 to the Test: Real-World Results
Lab-condition testing often uses ideal, unrealistic traffic patterns. To get a true measure of the Firewall 1220’s capabilities, it’s crucial to use a more realistic mix of application traffic that mirrors a typical business environment. Here’s a breakdown of the performance you can expect under different security scenarios.
Baseline Throughput (Basic Firewalling)
With only basic stateful firewalling and routing enabled (no advanced inspection), the Firewall 1220 is a powerful device. Testing shows it can handle a significant amount of traffic, easily meeting its datasheet specifications.
- In this state, the appliance delivers a baseline throughput of approximately 9.8 Gbps. This confirms the raw power of the underlying hardware for basic packet forwarding.
NGFW Performance (Snort3 IPS Enabled)
This is the most critical test for any modern firewall. What happens when you turn on the advanced threat protection that you bought the device for? When enabling the Snort3 IPS with a balanced security policy, the firewall must actively inspect every packet for threats.
- With Snort3 enabled, the Firewall 1220 achieves a realistic throughput of around 2.5 Gbps. This is a strong result for an entry-level appliance and represents a major performance uplift compared to previous generations running older inspection engines.
Full Threat Protection (IPS + Advanced Malware Protection)
For comprehensive security, most organizations will also enable Advanced Malware Protection (AMP), which inspects files for known and emerging malware threats. This adds another layer of processing.
- With both IPS and AMP activated, the Firewall 1220 maintains a throughput of approximately 1.8 Gbps. This demonstrates its capability to run multiple advanced security services while still providing multi-gigabit performance suitable for most branch offices.
The Impact of TLS/SSL Decryption
Perhaps the biggest challenge for any firewall today is inspecting encrypted traffic. A significant portion of web traffic is now encrypted using TLS/SSL, and threats are often hidden within it. Decrypting, inspecting, and re-encrypting this traffic is an incredibly resource-intensive process.
- When TLS/SSL decryption is enabled alongside full threat protection, the Firewall 1220 sustains a throughput of around 800 Mbps. This is a critical number to consider. While it represents a significant performance drop from the baseline, it is a very respectable figure for a device in this class and highlights the heavy computational cost of deep traffic inspection.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Advice
The performance numbers clearly show that the Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 is a highly capable device, but its real-world throughput is directly tied to the security features you enable.
- Performance is a Trade-off for Security: Remember that datasheet throughput numbers often represent ideal conditions. The most meaningful metric is the performance with the security services you actually plan to use, like IPS and TLS decryption.
- The Firewall 1220 is Ideal for Branch Offices: With multi-gigabit threat protection throughput, the 1220 is an excellent choice for branch locations, retail stores, and small to medium-sized businesses that need robust security without a massive hardware footprint.
- Plan Your TLS Decryption Strategy Carefully: The performance impact of decrypting encrypted traffic is substantial. It is crucial to develop a targeted TLS decryption policy. Instead of decrypting all traffic, focus on high-risk categories like unclassified websites, traffic from specific user groups, or traffic destined for critical internal assets. This provides excellent security while conserving firewall resources.
- Leverage the Power of Snort3: The efficiency of the Snort3 engine is what allows the Firewall 1220 to deliver these impressive numbers. Ensure your device is running the latest software to take full advantage of ongoing performance and security enhancements.
In conclusion, the Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 proves to be a powerful and efficient security appliance. Its performance when powered by the modern, multi-threaded Snort3 engine makes it a formidable choice for securing distributed networks, offering a strong balance of enterprise-grade threat protection and real-world throughput. By understanding how different security features impact performance, you can make an informed decision and configure the device to deliver optimal security for your organization.
Source: https://feedpress.me/link/23532/17190450/cisco-secure-firewall-1220-snort3-uncompromised-performance-in-rigorous-testing
