Upgrade PIX 515 to 515E or get 506 for Branch Office?

We have a PIX 515 at HQ that Supports a 5 Home Office Site to site IPSec
3DES VPNs and maybe a dozen IPSec 3DES VPN Clients.

We are adding a internet connection to a branch office and were thinking
about upgrading the HQ PIX 515 to a 515E and placing the 515 at the Branch
office. The Branch Office only has 6-12 people at any one given time.

Is there that much of a Difference in the 515 and the 515E?

Would I be better off saving my self from redoing the Certs and IPSec Config
on the new 515E and just get a new 506 for the Branch Office?

Thanks,
Scott<-

 

Extracted from my comparison chart (that I haven't posted in awhile):

- 515 has 200 MHz Intel Pentium CPU
- 515E has 433 MHz Intel Celeron processor; bus is one 32-bit 33 MHz PCI
- 515: maximum 10 Mbps VPN throughput
[according to 506E/515E Q&A; 6.1(2) timeframe, might have improved later]
- 515E: 188 Mbps cleartext,
- 515E: Maximum 22 Mbps VPN throughput (without VAC), 63 Mbps 3DES VPN
(VAC) / 140 Mbps 3DES (VAC+), 135 Mbps AES-128 (VAC+),
140 Mbps AES-256 (VAC+)

- 506E has 300 MHz Intel Celeron processor; bus is one 32-bit 33 MHz PCI
- 506E: 100 Mbps cleartext, 25000 concurrent connections, 20 Mbps DES,
17 Mbps 3DES, 30 Mbps AES-128


So the 506E is faster than the 515 non-E... but the memory limits
are lower, the number of interfaces is lower, VLAN support is
less, the 515 supports PIX 7.x but the 506E does not...

 

Thanks... Kind of one of them darn if you do, darn if you don't things...

Since the 515 is working fine here at the HQ, It should be more then fine at
the Branch office. We'll get the new 515E for HQ.


Now Where are my note on how to get a IPSec Certificate from a MS Cert
Server again??? (-;

Scott<-