The power of the Show Version command on Cisco ASA

Maybe the most popular and frequently used command on Cisco ASA firewalls is the one which shows the current running configuration, that is the “show run” command. However, maybe the most powerful command on Cisco ASA is the “show version” command. An example output of a show version command is shown below:

CISCO-ASA#  show version

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software Version 7.2(3)
Device Manager Version 5.2(3)
Compiled on Wed 15-Aug-07 16:08 by builders
System image file is “disk0:/asa723-k8.bin”
Config file at boot was “startup-config”

CISCO-ASA up 25 mins 32 secs

Hardware:   ASA5505, 256 MB RAM, CPU Geode 500 MHz
Internal ATA Compact Flash, 128MB
BIOS Flash M50FW080 @ 0xffe00000, 1024KB
Encryption hardware device : Cisco ASA-5505 on-board accelerator (revision 0x0)
Boot microcode   : CNlite-MC-Boot-Cisco-1.2
SSL/IKE microcode: CNlite-MC-IPSEC-Admin-3.03
IPSec microcode  : CNlite-MC-IPSECm-MAIN-2.04

0: Int: Internal-Data0/0    : address is 001e.4afa.2404, irq 11
1: Ext: Ethernet0/0         : address is 001e.4afa.23fc, irq 255
2: Ext: Ethernet0/1         : address is 001e.4afa.23fd, irq 255
3: Ext: Ethernet0/2         : address is 001e.4afa.23fe, irq 255
4: Ext: Ethernet0/3         : address is 001e.4afa.23ff, irq 255
5: Ext: Ethernet0/4         : address is 001e.4afa.2400, irq 255
6: Ext: Ethernet0/5         : address is 001e.4afa.2401, irq 255
7: Ext: Ethernet0/6         : address is 001e.4afa.2402, irq 255
8: Ext: Ethernet0/7         : address is 001e.4afa.2403, irq 255
9: Int: Internal-Data0/1    : address is 0000.0003.0002, irq 255
10: Int: Not used            : irq 255
11: Int: Not used            : irq 255

Licensed features for this platform:

Maximum Physical Interfaces : 8
VLANs                       : 3, DMZ Restricted
Inside Hosts                : 10
Failover                    : Disabled
VPN-DES                     : Enabled
VPN-3DES-AES                : Enabled
VPN Peers                   : 10
WebVPN Peers                : 2
Dual ISPs                   : Disabled
VLAN Trunk Ports            : 0

This platform has a Base license.

Serial Number: 1234567890
Running Activation Key: 123456781234567812345678

Configuration register is 0x1
Configuration last modified by enable_15 at 05:35:16.773 UTC Wed Apr 2 2008

Usefulness of show version command:

The power of the show version command comes from the wealth of useful information you can obtain from the output of this command. Use the show version command to display the following information:

• Appliance software version (in our example above it is 7.2(3)
• Software version of ASDM GUI software (in our example above it is 5.2(3)
• Where the appliance software image file is located (disk0:/asa723-k8.bin)
• Appliance up-time since last reboot (25 mins 32 secs)
• Appliance model, RAM memory and CPU type (ASA5505, 256 MB RAM, CPU Geode 500 MHz)
• Flash Memory (Internal ATA Compact Flash, 128MB)
• MAC Addresses of Ethernet Network Interfaces.
• Licensed features
• Serial Number (this can be used to order software upgrades)
• Running activation key
• Last time the configuration was modified.