5-2
Firepower 7000 and 8000 Series Installation Guide
Chapter 5 Setting Up Firepower Managed Devices
Understanding the Setup Process
Understanding the Setup Process
After you deploy and install a new Firepower device as described in earlier chapters of this guide, you
must complete a setup process. Before you begin the setup, make sure that you can meet the following
conditions.
Model
You must know which appliance you are setting up. For more information, see
.
Access
To set up a new appliance, you must connect using either keyboard and monitor/KVM (keyboard,
video, and mouse) or a direct Ethernet connection to the appliance’s management interface. After
initial setup, you can configure the appliance for serial access. For more information, see
Rack-Mounting a Firepower Device, page 4-20
Note
Do
not
use a KVM console with USB mass storage to access the appliance for the initial setup because
the appliance may attempt to use the mass storage device as a boot device.
Information
You have, at minimum, the information needed to allow the appliance to communicate on your
management network: an IPv4 or IPv6 management IP address, a netmask or prefix length, and a
default gateway.
If you know how the appliance is deployed, the setup process is also a good time to perform many
initial administrative-level tasks, including registration and licensing.
Tip
If you are deploying multiple appliances, set up your devices first, then their managing Firepower
Management Center. The initial setup process for a device allows you to preregister it to a Firepower
Management Center; the setup process for a Firepower Management Center allows you to add and
license preregistered managed devices.
After you complete setup, you will use the Firepower Management Center‘s web interface to perform
most management and analysis tasks for your deployment. Firepower devices have a restricted web
interface that you can use only to perform basic administration. For more information, see
Tip
If you are setting up an appliance after restoring it to factory defaults (see
Appliance to Factory Defaults, page 8-1
) and you did not delete the appliance’s license and network
settings, you can use a computer on your management network to browse directly to the appliance’s web
interface to perform the setup. Skip to
Initial Setup Page: Firepower Devices, page 5-5
Beginning the Setup
The following diagram illustrates the choices you can make when setting up Firepower devices: