KerioControl Reviews

We do quite a special deployment. I work on superyachts. My clients, basically have various ways to forward their internet connection, either by satellite, or, if they're within the range of the shore, they use 4G and a multitude of other connections. Kerio provides for an easy way to manage the various connections. Also, because of the limited bandwidth of the vessels using VSAT, they have control of internet traffic.

With Kerio Control, one very useful feature is the policy routing. This enables us to, if we have the yacht's network split up into VLANs, give the option of basically pushing different VLANs through different internet connections. This is very flexible. Then the PFM and the Netgate firewalls are also very flexible. 

The user interface and the ease of use are pretty good. Everything fits together so nicely.

The one thing that did put me off of the solution was that, after they were taken over by GFI, the licensing and a few other items have gotten very complicated. 

I am just a little bit wary as to the future of the Kerio Control. I do like open source. I think open source is the future. I don't think there is any place for proprietaries and if I can use something as open source, I would prefer to use open source.

I never found I missed anything in terms of features. From a user point of view, because I install these things and put them on a yacht, then the people on board, they're the ones that have to manage it once the installation is done. That means I have to train them, and, as long as they understand what they need to do and how to use I'm they'll be fine. That said, it can be a bit complicated for a novice user. A simpler user interface is necessary.

I've been using the solution for years.

I've never tried to scale the solution. In my case, it doesn't make sense to try. My installations are very finite. The yacht doesn't grow, so it's very self-contained.

I haven't contacted technical support in the past, to be honest. I'm the kind of person that I would rather look things up online. The beauty of working in IT is that a lot of problems you come across have already been witnessed. Someone else has come across them and has already posted solutions online for you to find. I'm not one of these people that tends to call help desks. I used to work on help desks quite a lot myself, so I am well versed in troubleshooting.

We have experience with pfSense. 

With Kerio, everything is just a bit more cohesive. Everything fits together. With pfSense, you need to install add-ons to get the features you need. You can have the same features as Kerio, but it may require installing an add-on. With Kerio, of course, everything is already there.

Another very nice feature I like with the pfSense firewall is the ability to actually run a packet capture on the router, on the gateway itself. Thatis something very useful that I miss having access to, as it's not available on Kerio.

The initial installation's level of difficulty all depends on the requirements of the customer. Some customers just want it there so that they can actually monitor and see the traffic usage, and, if necessary, they can go and speak to people and ask them to stop using up so much data. Some clients use it more as a deterrent and just as a way of monitoring what's going on. Other clients like even more control, which can make it a bit more complicated. They want to put in quotas for users and block certain sites, which is possible, and just a bit more work. It will all depend on clients.

Deployment typically can be done within one day. However, a lot of time users may be upgrading the whole network with wifi switches. Everything gets built together. For us, we're trading our gateway and our networks on board. It shouldn't take more than a few days for a full network installation.

I am self-employed, so I work with other companies that usually do the installation of the hardware and I come in at the end to just make sure everything's all configured correctly and set up properly for Kerio configuration.

I'd recommend the solution. 

It is a good solution. I would like to use it more as an open source software these days. The way everything is going in the world, I feel that there's definitely a place for open source. In terms of the proprietary side of it, I'm not too keen on it, and I'm a bit dubious about this takeover by GFI. I don't know if it's a product that will carry on as it is or if things will just keep getting a bit more complicated with it.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. It's done everything I've ever needed it to do. That said, if I can find a solution that does the same, I'll switch. I find that there are actually more options. If you know what you're doing and you find the add-on that you need, then I think it's more flexible.

Our primary uses for this solution are to control internet use, filter sites, and manage bandwidth.

It prevents people from visiting undesirable sites and ensures that they use the internet for their designated jobs.

The most valuable feature is the web filter.

Improvements are needed to the Next Generation Firewall Protection, specifically with user-level protection.

I use Kerio Control for user statistics, intrusion detection and prevention (IPS), web filtering, etc. 

It has helped our organization with testing.                                

They should improve the remote connectivity feature for users.

We are working with VMware and we are using virtual machines for Kerio Control.

The most valuable features of Kerio Control are the IPS and traffic rules. The traffic rules are very user-friendly and the IPS is working well. Additionally, the anti-virus is effective with quick options, such as filtering.

Kerio Control could improve by having higher availability and adding a mobile VPN channel. These additions are needed. The VPN is working fine on the Kerio Control but there needs to be a VPN client on the mobile phones, both for iOS and Android. This would be very good for us.

In a future release, SD-WAN features would be very useful.

I have been using Kerio Control for approximately seven years.

The solution is stable. However, we have had some problems, and we want to receive some updates for the IPS module. Sometimes we have errors downloading the IPS updates.

I have not contacted technical support. When I have an issue I search the internet and solve the problem. When I search Google, I find solutions for my problem.

Previously I was using OPNsense and pfSense. However, Kerio Control is more user-friendly and stable than pfSense and OPNsense.

The deployment of Kerio Control was easy and user-friendly. We have no problems deploying the Kerio Control, Kerio Portal, and Kerio Connect for our customers.

I am living in Iran and we cannot buy the product from Kerio because of sanctions.

I rate Kerio Control an eight out of ten.

We use it for our data plan. We are using its latest version.

The firewall and the content filtering options are valuable.

There isn't a lot to be improved. It works well as it is, but they can maybe improve the reporting side.

We have been using this solution for about five years.

It is pretty stable. We don't have any issues.

It scales easily without a challenge. We have about 400 users, but administrators directly work with it.

It was pretty straightforward. It took about an hour.

We deployed it ourselves.

Its licensing is yearly. You renew every year. Its price is all-inclusive.

It works well. I don't have a problem with how it works. I am also fine with its deployment, but it can be challenging if you don't have someone skilled or trained. If you have the skills, its deployment would be straightforward. You would be able to deploy it without a challenge. So, you just need to find the right person to deploy it.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Our primary use case for this solution is to provide our customers with a reliable and secure internet service for which they can perform bandwidth management and other operations.

This is a service that we set up for the yacht owners. They all want to carry the control over the yacht.

The most valuable feature is to provide users with the ability to log in to the portal page, keep track of their data usage and perform bandwidth management. It allows the captain to keep a log of everything that is happening and see who is using what bandwidth.

If somebody is using too much bandwidth then they have the option to throttle them back.

As of late, it seems that they can't release a version that doesn't have some type of bug. It crashes when it runs out of memory, and fixing this would be great.

I would like to be able to inspect https packets for the purpose of virus scanning.

This solution has been pretty stable overall. That said, there is room for improvement.

For some clients, some of the options cause problems. Filtering, for example, is something that one client does not need at all. Turning this off seems to straighten things out.

I have been awoken at 3 am by emails telling me that things are down, and that has happened within the past couple of updates, but not as much. I keep my eyes on the Kerio forums and watch for other people who say that it is time to upgrade again.

My impression is that it is pretty scalable and it can handle a lot of stuff.

I don't use it to the point where I'm linking multiple sites together, so I can't comment on that aspect.

We have the solution installed on approximately twenty boats now, and we're continuing to install them.

The technical support used to be great. However, it's gone way downhill. I used to speak directly to the person writing the code, and he would walk you through when you need help. Now, I can barely get a hold of him.

Thankfully, now that I know the software inside and out, I don't really need them.

I have used a couple of other solutions.

For me, they are straightforward. However, the reason we chose this solution is because it has to be something that the captain can understand. It has to be a straightforward user interface. 

If it were a situation where a client were going to be managing every aspect of it and the captain is not going to be involved, I would probably choose pfSense or something else.

This initial setup is straightforward. It is a no brainer, and anybody can get in there and just do it. They deployment takes maybe half an hour, if that.

It all depends on what they are requesting. It's not just "one size fits all". Some boats have a LAN they need set up, while some boats don't. We set up the unit sources and assign different ports.

These days they have a dedicated internet port, and they've got four or five land ports. We'll take one or two of the land ports and assign them to the Internet port, so that way they'll have a ship-to-shore connection, as well as a VSAT (Very small aperture terminal) connection. We'll also have another device with a cell router coming into the third connection, so that way they can switch between the three Internet connections when they need to.

For example, if they are out at sea they're going to use the VSAT, but if they are in the port then they will either use the ship-to-shore Wi-Fi, or the cellular connection, to save money.

We have eight technicians on site, but it only takes one person to handle the deployment. The maintenance is quick; we can log in remotely and update it if we need to. I prefer to be on site for this in case something goes wrong, but nine times out of ten everything is just fine.

We do the implementation ourselves.

There is a yearly upkeep fee.

We have evaluated WatchGuard and pfSense as well. We basically need something that is easy for the client because they want to have control over everything, and that's what Kerio is going to give them.

This solution is big in our industry because the captains have to have control over everything. If the captain wants to log in and see what his users, his crew members are doing, then Kerio provides that.

I suggest watching the Kerio forums for what the community is saying in terms of upgrades and support.

I would rate this solution eight out of ten.

We use Kerio Control for controlling access to the web, and to protect the inside of the network.

I have been using Kerio Control for approximately five years.

The stability of Kerio Control is good.

We have not tried to scale the solution at this time.

The installation is straightforward.

The price of Kerio Control could be better, it is a bit overpriced compared to other solutions.

I rate Kerio Control an eight out of ten.

It helps us better control internal and external communications.

• The ease of use.
• The clear handling of the reports.
• The information that it delivers.

Filtering of pages and greater personalization in services, among others.

I have not had stability problems.

No issues.

The technical support is good.

We switched from our previous solution to Kerio Control, due to it administration and scalability.

Setup is simple. The Kerio interface is very intuitive.

Search and compare.

Yes, we evaluated Cisco, Fortinet, and Check Point.

Only trust in the product. Its support is very good, and it is stable product.