OK, so we’ve got an ASA 5510 that’s simply acting as a VPN endpoint. Today, I’ve got a need to go ahead and poke at the configuration of it. So I log into the thing… and the Java-based ADSM administration tool just sits and hangs. OK, I figure I’m up against a Linux incompatibility so I jump over to my Mac. Nope, same deal - the ADSM tool downloads some code then sits and spins with an hourglass.

Hm. Well, I’m not defeated that easily. I reach under my desk and pull out my seldom-used Windows laptop, fire it up, and try logging into the firewall.. and get the same thing. I’ve seen this kind of junk happen before with Java Webstart enabled applications, so I upgraded the JRE on the laptop. Nope, still broken. Ok, let’s downgrade - so I grab 1.6.0u7 and put it on the laptop. Nope, still broken.

WTF. Now I begin googling, and I find bug CSCsr89144 – Cisco ADSM 6.1(3) fails to load on an ASA with uptime> 1 year. Wow. This is just massive fail. Fail of the first degree. A nice, first class, all expense paid trip on the fail boat.

I don’t really care TOO much as this is just a VPN endpoint and I can run down to the datacenter and kick this at my leisure, but my point is for the amount of money that is shelled out for Cisco gear, I shouldn’t HAVE TO.

It used to be Microsoft Windows was my nemesis, not because they’re evil or any of that religious claptrap, but because Windows had stolen more of my free time than anything else. Cisco has taken second place in this race, and is rapidly gaining on Microsoft.

Lame.