The Cisco FLSASR1-FWNAT-R is the Firewall/NAT Stateful Inter-Chassis Redundancy License designed specifically for the Cisco ASR 1000 series aggregation services routers. This perpetual Right-To-Use (RTU) license enables stateful redundancy between chassis for Firewall and Network Address Translation (NAT) services, ensuring high availability and minimal downtime in demanding enterprise and service provider environments.
Key Capabilities
- Provides stateful inter-chassis redundancy for Zone-Based Policy Firewall and NAT, allowing seamless failover between redundant ASR 1000 chassis such as ASR 1006 and ASR 1013.
- Embedded in Cisco QuantumFlow processors, delivering firewall performance from 2.5 Gbps to 100 Gbps depending on the Embedded Service Processor (ESP) installed.
- Supports thousands of firewall sessions with high-speed logging via NetFlow version 9, up to 40,000 sessions per second.
- Integrates with Cisco IOS XE software for In-Service Software Upgrades (ISSU) and software/hardware redundancy options across ASR 1001, ASR 1002 fixed, ASR 1002, ASR 1002-X, ASR 1004, ASR 1006, and ASR 1013 routers.
- Enables policy enforcement between zones using Modular QoS CLI (MQC), with explicit zone-pair policies for stateful detection at Layers 4, 7, or application level.
ASR 1000 Series Platform Overview
Cisco ASR 1000 series routers feature a separated control and data plane architecture powered by innovative Cisco QuantumFlow processors. Services including security (firewall, encryption), QoS, NBAR, Flexible Packet Matching (FPM), broadband aggregation, and Cisco Unified Border Element (SP edition) are embedded, offering up to 10x performance improvement over previous midrange solutions.
- Models: ASR 1001 (1RU), ASR 1002 fixed (2RU), ASR 1002 (2RU), ASR 1002-X (2RU), ASR 1004 (4RU), ASR 1006 (6RU), ASR 1013 (13RU).
- QuantumFlow processor supports services from 2.5 Gbps to 100 Gbps.
- Software redundancy on ASR 1001, 1002 fixed, 1002, 1002-X, 1004; hardware redundancy on ASR 1006, 1013.
- Integrated Daughter Cards (IDC) on ASR 1001: ASR1001-2XOC3POS (2 OC-3 PoS), ASR1001-4XT3 (4 T3), ASR1001-4X1GE (4 GE), ASR1001-8XCHT1E1 (8 T1/E1), ASR1001-HDD.
- IOS XE software packages: IP Base, Advanced IP Services, Advanced Enterprise Services (with/without encryption).
Firewall and Security Features
The embedded high-speed firewall utilizes Zone-Based Policy Firewall, creating implicit barriers between interfaces in different zones. Explicit policies define stateful inspection (L4/L7/application) and session parameters per zone pair. Supports HTTP/DNS policies across Internet-DMZ boundaries, with NetFlow v9 for session state logging to network management applications.
- Firewall throughput: 2.5 to 100 Gbps based on ESP.
- Encryption support via ESP: up to 25 Gbps (ASR1000-ESP100).
- IPsec VPN aggregation for up to 8000 tunnels, optimized for QoS and IP multicast.
Redundancy and High Availability
- Software redundancy via dual IOS instances on single RP for 1RU/2RU/4RU models.
- Hardware redundancy with modular RP and ESP on larger chassis.
- ISSU support for hitless upgrades.
- FLSASR1-FWNAT-R specifically enables Firewall/NAT state synchronization across chassis for stateful failover.
Applications
Enterprise: WAN edge with application availability via hierarchical QoS (232,000 queues), IPsec VPN aggregation (thousands of sites, 8000 tunnels), embedded firewall.
Service Provider: Hosted CPE with software redundancy, broadband L2TP LAC/LNS (64k users/sessions), L3VPN PE (4M IPv4/IPv6 routes, 8k VRFs), high-end route reflector (29M IPv4 routes), SBC (32k calls, 40 Gbps media).
Software Integration
Cisco IOS XE modular OS supports 6 technology packages per version: IP Base (no encryption), IP Base, Advanced IP Services, Advanced IP Services (no encryption), Advanced Enterprise Services, Advanced Enterprise Services (no encryption). Each includes 7 sub-packages: RPBase, RPControl, RPAccess (K9/non-K9), RPIOS, ESPBase, SIPSPA, SIPBase.
For ASR 1001/ASR 1002-X: Universal images (SASR1001U/NPEK9/UK9, SASR1002XU/NPEK9/UK9) plus tech packs (SLASR1-IPB/AIS/AES).