Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 vs 3120
The Secure Firewall 3120 is the larger sibling: it roughly doubles concurrent connection capacity and delivers about 20 percent more threat-inspection throughput than the 3110. Pick the 3110 for a midsize branch or campus edge; step up to the 3120 when you need more headroom for connections, VPN, and inspected traffic.
Cisco Secure Firewall 3110
Entry of the 3100 Series, built for midsize enterprise edge and campus deployments needing hardware-accelerated threat inspection.
- Around 17 Gbps with FW + AVC + IPS enabled
- 2 million concurrent connections, 300K new connections/sec
- Dedicated crypto engine for VPN offload (about 12 Gbps)
- Same 1U chassis and module options as the 3120
Cisco Secure Firewall 3120
Higher-capacity 3100 Series model for busier midsize-to-large sites that need more connections and inspected throughput.
- Around 21 Gbps with FW + AVC + IPS enabled
- 4 million concurrent connections, 500K new connections/sec
- VPN offload up to roughly 15 Gbps
- Clustering and high-availability support, same as the 3110
Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 vs Cisco Secure Firewall 3120: spec comparison
| Spec | Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 | Cisco Secure Firewall 3120 |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | 1RU | 1RU |
| Stateful inspection throughput (1024B) | ~18 Gbps | ~22 Gbps |
| FW + AVC + IPS throughput (1024B) | ~17 Gbps | ~21 Gbps |
| IPsec VPN throughput | ~8 Gbps | ~10 Gbps |
| Max concurrent connections | 2 million | 4 million |
| New connections per second | 300,000 | 500,000 |
| Clustering / HA | Yes | Yes |
| Network modules | 1 expansion slot (8x10G or 1x40G/QSFP options) | 1 expansion slot (8x10G or 1x40G/QSFP options) |
| Software | Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) or ASA | Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) or ASA |
| Management | FMC, FDM, or Cloud-delivered FMC (CDO) | FMC, FDM, or Cloud-delivered FMC (CDO) |
Choose Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 if
Choose the 3110 for a midsize branch, campus edge, or HA pair where inspected throughput needs stay under roughly 17 Gbps and 2 million concurrent connections is plenty. It is the cost-efficient entry point with the full 3100 Series feature set.
Choose Cisco Secure Firewall 3120 if
Choose the 3120 when connection counts, VPN aggregation, or inspected traffic will grow: it doubles concurrent connections to 4 million and adds about 20 percent more throughput in the same 1RU, giving you more runway before the next model up.
Verdict
Both run identical software and management and share the same chassis, so the decision is pure capacity. Size to the 3110 if your inspected throughput stays under about 17 Gbps; move to the 3120 when you need the extra connection capacity and VPN headroom. For growing federal or enterprise edges, the modest price step to the 3120 often buys years of runway.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the Secure Firewall 3110 and 3120?
The 3120 has roughly double the concurrent connections (4 million vs 2 million), higher new-connections-per-second, and about 20 percent more threat-inspection throughput. The chassis, modules, software, and management are otherwise identical.
Do the 3110 and 3120 run the same software?
Yes. Both run Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) or ASA software and are managed by FMC, FDM, or Cloud-delivered FMC, so there is no feature gap between them, only capacity.
Can the 3110 and 3120 be clustered together?
Clustering requires identical models, so you cluster 3110 with 3110 or 3120 with 3120. You cannot mix the two in a single cluster; plan your model choice around your peak aggregate throughput.
Are the Secure Firewall 3110 and 3120 TAA compliant?
Cisco offers TAA-compliant configurations of the 3100 Series for US federal buyers. Confirm the exact TAA part number on your quote; both models are GPC-payable through an authorized partner.
More Security comparisons
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