This article describes the user interface and access modes and commands associated with the operation of Cisco ASA 5500 firewall appliances. We assume that you know how to connect to the appliance using a console cable (the blue flat cable with RJ-45 on one end, and DB-9 Serial on the other end) and a Terminal Emulation software (e.g HyperTerminal), and how to use basic Command Line Interface.

SECURITY APPLIANCE ACCESS MODES
A Cisco ASA security appliance has four main administrative access modes:

• Monitor Mode: Displays the monitor> prompt. A special mode that enables you to update the image over the network or to perform password recovery. While in the monitor mode, you can enter commands to specify the location of a TFTP server and the location of the software image or password recovery binary image file to download. You access this mode by pressing the “Break” or “ESC” keys immediately after powering up the appliance.
• Unprivileged Mode: Displays the > prompt. Available when you first access the appliance. If the appliance is a Cisco PIX 500 series, the prompt for unprivileged mode is pixfirewall> and if the appliance is the new Cisco ASA 5500 Series, the prompt is ciscoasa>

This mode provides restricted view of the security appliance. You cannot configure anything from this mode. To get started with configuration, the first command you need to know is the enable command. Type enable and hit Enter. The initial password is empty, so hit Enter again to move on the next access mode (Privileged Mode).

• Privileged Mode: Displays the # prompt. Enables you to change the current settings. Any unprivileged command also works in this mode. From this mode you can see the current configuration by using “show running-config”. Still, you cannot configure anything yet until you go to Configuration Mode. You access the Configuration Mode using the configure terminal command from the Privileged Mode.

• Configuration Mode: This mode displays the (config)# prompt. Enables you to change all system configuration settings. Use exit from each mode to return to the previous mode.

The (config)# mode is sometimes called Global Configuration Mode. Some configuration commands from this mode enter a command-specific mode and the prompt changes accordingly. For example the interface command enters interface configuration mode as shown below:

ciscoasa(config)# interface GigabitEthernet0/1
ciscoasa(config-if)# <– Configure Interface specific parameters

Problem:
Let’s Say you want to reinstall your system since it is corrupted, but you forgot your Windows 7 product key. Have you been worried that your Windows 7 product key has been lost? Have you been worried that you will have to purchase another product key?

Solution:
Spotmau PowerSuite 2010 is the solution for you. One of Spotmau’s PowerSuite 2010 highly recommended functions — Password Kit — can help you.

MS Key Finder in “Password Kit” is an effective and powerful recovery tool. It checks a system for all possible MS product keys, and shows you the product keys immediately with the option to select which one you want to recover. With it, you will be able to find out almost all hidden MS product keys including all Windows product keys, Microsoft Office product keys, etc.

Procedure of finding back Microsoft products key:

1. Double click Spotmau icon and enter POWER SUITE 2010’s interface, follow these steps: Self Service —> PowerSuite 2010Wincare–>Password Kit –> MS Key Finder, then you can see the interface looked just like the following picture.

2. Afterward, you can either write down the Microsoft products key you need (if so, to put them in a safe place is suggested.)

3. Or you can export them as a .txt file by clicking“Export”.A “Save to file” dialog will pop up, and you can specify the destination for the file or rename it.

4. Click”Save”, MS Key Finder will finish its task for you. And the whole process is finished.

NOTES:
With the same procedures you can find out your lost product keys of Microsoft Office(2003/2007) and Windows XP (all versions), Windows 2000 (all versions), Windows 2003 (all versions) ,Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Traditionally, a network firewall is a routed hop that acts as a default gateway for hosts that connect to one of its screened subnets. A transparent firewall (or Layer 2 firewall), on the other hand, acts like a “stealth firewall” and is not seen as a Layer 3 hop to connected devices. The appliance connects the same Layer 3 network subnet on its inside and outside ports, but each interface of the firewall resides in a different Layer 2 Vlan. The Cisco ASA firewall can operate both in Routed Firewall Mode (default mode) or in Transparent Firewall Mode.

Routed Firewall Mode:

See the diagram below for a common network topology of a Cisco ASA firewall working in Routed Mode.

As you can see, there are two different network subnets. Inside network (10.20.20.0/24) and Outside Network (10.10.10.0/24). There must be also two different layer2 vlans (Vlan20 for inside network and Vlan10 for outside network). All hosts residing in internal network must belong to subnet 10.20.20.0 and must have default gateway the internal IP of the ASA (10.20.20.1).

Transparent Firewall Mode:

The diagram below shows an example topology using a Cisco ASA in Layer 2 transparent mode.

As you can see, there is only one Layer 3 network (10.10.10.0/24) BUT there MUST be two different Layer 2 Vlans (Vlan20 for inside zone and Vlan10 for outside zone). All hosts must reside in network range 10.10.10.0 and the devices must have as default gateway the IP address of the outside router (10.10.10.2). Also, a management IP address MUST be configured on the ASA firewall (again within the range of 10.10.10.0). DO NOT specify the management IP address of the ASA as the default gateway for connected devices.

Characteristics of Transparent Mode

• Transparent firewall mode supports only two interfaces (inside and outside)
• The firewall bridges packets from one VLAN to the other instead of routing them.
• MAC lookups are performed instead of routing table lookups.
• Can run in single firewall context or in multiple firewall contexts.
• A management IP address is required on the ASA.
• The management IP address must be in the same subnet as the connected network.
• Each interface of the ASA must be a different VLAN interface.
• Even though the appliance acts as a Layer 2 bridge, Layer 3 traffic cannot pass through the security appliance from a lower security level to a higher security level interface.
• The firewall can allow any traffic through by using normal extended Access Control Lists (ACL).

Initial Configuration

Asa(config)# firewall transparent

!Configure management IP below
Asa(config)# ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0

Asa(config)# interface Ethernet0/0
Asa(config-if)# nameif outside
Asa(config-if)# security-level 0
!
Asa(config)# interface Ethernet0/1
Asa(config-if)# nameif inside
Asa(config-if)# security-level 100