If your Cisco Firewall is not currently running on the latest release then this new program that Cisco is running could be a great option for you. Cisco Secure Firewall LevelUp is a free program that will assess your environment before upgrading and give you the steps to upgrade based on your specific environment. You will receive a bespoke checklist document that includes:

LevelUp was designed to help customers upgrade their existing secure firewall deployments to the latest suggested release.

In this article, we will explain the process of LevelUp, the benefits and the outcomes.

Once you sign up to Firewall LevelUp you will receive an email shortly afterwards to confirm one of three things – you have been accepted, you have not been accepted if you do not fit the criteria, or there is low availability currently and you are on the waiting list.

When you are accepted, Cisco will create a placeholder TAC case on your behalf. This is to facilitate secure communication and required data collection.

Cisco will then send you an email asking you to provide them with some troubleshooting files on the models you have. The email will include instructions on how to do this.

As soon as this data has been sent over, Cisco’s automation systems will analyse your data against some common upgrade challenges to decipher your specific susceptibility to them. After these checks have been completed, the results and other environment-specific information will be compiled into a customised pre-upgrade checklist which will be sent to you.

When you receive this document, you will see a benefits section which outlines all the advantages of upgrading to the latest release compared with the version you are running.

Next are the issues in your environment that may cause problems with your upgrade. They outline the things you should address before performing the upgrade.

Beneath is a continuation of the checks that were performed. However, these are the items that passed without issue.

Finally, there are the upgrade instructions. These are the environment-specific instructions that will allow you to perform your own upgrade including supporting documentation.

Once the upgrade has been completed successfully, there are instructions on how to let Cisco know. They will make the case completed and close it.

If you want to get started with this program, please click here, or use the button below.

If you would prefer an expert to perform your upgrade for you, Tesrex offers a fixed-cost service that does exactly this. You can rest assured that your Firewall will be upgraded seamlessly by an experienced professional with minimal effort from you. Learn more about it here.