KB ID 0001182

Problem

There’s an alarming amount of people who have contacted me about this error;

Cannot connect the the ASA FirePOWER module.
Cannot connect the the ASA FirePOWER module.. Check that it is correctly configured and on the network. It’s also possible that the management address is being translated by NAT.
Please verify the IP address/Hostname and port.

Note: If you have just updated or re-imaged the SFR module, see this article

Solution

You see this error when YOU attempt to connect to the ASDM, it does NOT mean the firewall cannot see the FirePOWER module. So look at the IP address it’s telling you that it can’t see, in the example above thats 10.254.254.253  can YOU ping that address from YOUR location?

You will see this error if the FirePOWER module is incorrectly cabled or not plugged into the same network as the inside/LAN of the parent firewall. Or if the management port is misconfigured, see the following article; (yes even if you are using FMC).

ASA 5505-X / 5508-X Setup FirePOWER Services (for ASDM)

You will also see this error if you are on your corporate LAN and the FirePOWER module does not have route to get to you. See the following article;

Cisco FirePOWER – Adding a Static Route

You will also see this error if you are connected to the ASDM from the firewall’s PUBLIC ip address. To avoid this error, and to manage the SFR externally you would need to have done the following;

• Connect to firewall via a VPN (which has access to the network segment that the inside, and management interfaces are on).
• Have ‘management-access’ enabled on the inside interface.
• Allowed https/ASDM access from the VPN subnet, and opened the ASDM from the firewalls INSIDE IP.

Follow the solutions in the following article;

Cannot Manage ASA via AnyConnect VPN

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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