PIX Firewall Management

When configuring the PIX for logging, one can choose from a variety of logging options such as buffered logging, console, Telnet/SSH sessions, syslog servers, or SNMP. Message severity levels can be selected, ranging from Level1 (alert) to Level7 (debug) based on the needs. Aside from selecting the severity level, one can choose from several facility levels to direct the flow of the syslog messaging. One can specify that all syslog messages should be logged or he or she can filter out certain messages, so they will not be sent. This functionality is very useful in troubleshooting a network issue where one might be in debug mode, and the normal message flow would be overwhelming to work with. The Cisco PIX firewall can be managed using a console port, although usually the PIX will be managed by remote access. The Cisco PIX firewall can act only as a server for SSH and Telnet services, not a client. An important point to remember about the Cisco PIX and SSH is to make sure to use a client that supports SSHv2 such as PuTTY or SSH Secure Shell. The Cisco PIX supports read-only SNMP reporting or read-only and can either send traps to a host or be polled for information. The Cisco PIX firewall has a wealth of system time and date functionality.