Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Reviews

The primary use case of this solution is as a firewall for our servers.

We are running a total of 12 servers. Four of them are hardware servers and the rest are VMware servers. We have about 80 clients running Windows 10.

The most valuable feature is the Posture Assessment.

From my understanding, we used to have the Sophos firewall and a nice feature that is missing in Palo Alto is the heartbeat that monitors each endpoint. It would be helpful if Palo Alto monitored the status of every endpoint. It could be that it was not set up correctly.

In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the endpoints and the firewalls.

I have been using Palo Alto for approximately 12 months.

The stability is good.

We haven't explored the scalability yet.

We have approximately 80 Windows 10 clients, and we have approximately 85 users in our organization.

Technical support is okay. It's the same across the board, you have good techs and you have bad techs.

At times, it's a little slow in getting back to us, but nothing out of the norm.

Prior to using Palo Alto, we used a Sophos firewall.

The initial setup was complex, but we were able to work through it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We evaluated quite a few solutions before choosing Palo Alto Networks VM-Series.

I've mainly worked with the VM-Series, and a few features have been really effective for threat prevention in our networks, like McAfee training, Accountant ID, and apps ID. These features integrate well with our existing environments and tools, such as Panorama. 

 The VM-Series scalability is fast and easy to implement, improving our security posture as our Azure network grows. The only minor issue we've faced is with the apps ID configuration, which requires specific matching for application filtering. Tools like Loopback help us identify open or denied flows between two firewalls and manage the servers effectively. The Palo Alto system easily identifies rules and objects within roles, making maintenance straightforward.

No other major concerns, just the specific issue with Apps ID configuration. Otherwise, overall stability, VPN, IPSec, VRF, and flow management with the VM-Series have been very stable and reliable.

I have been using Palo Alto Networks VM-Series for 2 years.

I've had a positive experience with Palo Alto's support. They usually respond within a few hours, which is satisfactory

Positive

In my experience, Palo Alto and Fortinet offer similar quality and high-level security compared to other vendors like Cisco and Forcepoint. They stand out in terms of reliability and security features. Other vendors may not match their level of performance and security.

It is easy to maintain because we have various tools to manage and monitor the system. 

The pricing for Palo Alto is quite high compared to FortiGate, which is more affordable. I don't have the exact figures as my manager handles that, but from my research, Palo Alto's licensing costs are significantly higher.

I would rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series as an eight overall. My recommendation for others considering this tool would be to ensure they have the budget for it, as it can be expensive compared to alternatives like FortiGate. Also, they should be prepared to understand and document their application metrics thoroughly to implement the firewall correctly. 

Our corporate clients use the product to secure cloud environments.

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series's most valuable feature is the visibility of the environment.

The product's AIOps process needs improvement.

We have been using Palo Alto Networks VM-Series for two years.

I rate the product's stability a ten out of ten.

We have 5000 Palo Alto Networks VM-Series users as our clients. I rate its scalability a ten out of ten.

I rate the initial setup process a nine. It takes a few hours to complete.

I rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series pricing an eight out of ten.

I rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series a nine out of ten.

We use Palo Alto Networks VM-Series primarily for security purposes. It helps us with URL filtering, domain blocking, threat analysis, and detecting vulnerabilities.

We can monitor the traffic manually and detect threats. Additionally, we can block different IP addresses and URLs.

There could be dynamic DNS features similar to Fortinet in the product.

We have been using Palo Alto Networks VM-Series for six years.

I rate the product's stability a nine out of ten.

I rate the product's stability a seven out of ten. It could be better. We have four users for it at the moment. We plan to increase the number of devices.

We receive technical support from a local partner rather than directly from the vendor. The support team requires more training.

Positive

We have used Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) before. Compared to Palo Alto, Cisco devices are not feasible regarding hardware. They are very slow and complicated to find the granular level of results. Sometimes, even a technical expert is unable to fetch a proper report.

I rate the initial setup process an eight out of ten. It takes eight hours to complete and requires one security engineer to execute the process. The deployment involves setting up security policies. The on-premise installation is simple. However, VM installation is complicated in terms of the network interface.

It is an expensive product. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten. We purchased a three-year license for it.

I rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series an eight out of ten.

We use this as our primary security barrier between trusted and untrusted zones.

App-ID and User-ID have repeatedly shown value in securing business critical systems.

In AWS, Palo Alto provides us a better view than flow logs for network traffic.

We have ran into issues with Palo Alto’s limitations for resolving large IP lists from DNS lookups, as well as the antivirus interfering with App-ID.

I would like to see a more thorough QA process. We have had some difficulties from bugs in releases.

I see more improvements needed from AWS than from Palo Alto on the VM-Series, namely a design centered on NGFW.

We are typically at only about eight to ten percent load.

The limit of the product is based on resources that we can obtain from AWS. We have approximately 3500 users and 200 servers leveraging the Palo Alto product.

We used BYOL, because of the cost to own.

We procure the solution through AWS Marketplace because previous experience with their physical appliances.

The pricing and licensing of this product on AWS for a three-year commitment is a great deal, if you can plan that far ahead.

It is a good product, but there is room for improvement.

We use this with Microsoft AD, N2WS, IIS, MySQL, MS SQL, and a number of proprietary applications.

• To do a lot of intrusion detection.
• Threat prevention.
• As an application firewall, to be able to securely deliver apps to the public.

It gives us the ease that we are secure. We have set up the proper things that help make our data safe. This is the biggest benefit.

It offers a single pane of glass for all the different types of installations.

The easy of use is pretty good.

I would like a way to do everything programmatically, or be able to copy the configs from different prices at different levels.

The stability is excellent. We have about 50 to 60 employees on it per day. Then, we have about 100 edge connected devices coming through it as well.

It is definitely scalable. We have about 100 users with about 200 to 300 instances on the cloud that we protect.

The technical support is really good. It is usually one phone call to get everything done if we are having an issue.

We chose to purchase Palo Alto through the AWS Marketplace because we needed an easy to use firewall and a way to protect our public applications and services.

The integration and configuration on our AWS environment was pretty simple. We did not have to ask any questions about anything on it, so it was good.

We haven't had any security issues since deploying it.

Purchasing on the AWS Marketplace was simple, effective, and easy.

The price is not bad. They have a yearly renewal fee, and the pricing is exactly where we expect it to be.

We also evaluated Fortinet, but Palo Alto is sort of the new up and coming product. There were a lot of good recommendations from other security experts.

In addition, Palo Alto is easier to configure when you are building policies on applications. 

Talk to their technical services to make sure you are getting the right size solution for what you want to do.

The product is easy use. I don't have to think twice when I am using it. I know it is doing its job. Customer support has been great.

We are using both the AWS and on-premise versions. Both versions are about the same. The interface is nice and easy to configure. I like that it seems like it is one platform to manage.

The solution is used to protect some servers and access their traffic in a virtualization environment.

The most valuable features of the solution are its stability, ease of implementation, ease of operation, and security.

It is not very easy to scale up the solution.

I have been using Palo Alto Networks VM-Series for one year.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten for stability.

I rate the solution a seven out of ten for scalability.

The solution’s technical support is very good.

Positive

The solution’s initial setup is very easy.

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series can be deployed in a day or two.

The solution is a little bit expensive compared to other vendors.

I would recommend the solution to other users because it is a good firewall.

Overall, I rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series a nine out of ten.

I am a firewall expert, although my job is not on the management side. I take care of the routing and switching aspects. We have approximately 1,000 firewalls in the company.

This product is a complete security system, wherein we provide direct internet access to our hub site.

The most valuable feature is that you can control your traffic flowing out and coming out, allowing you to apply malware and threat protection, as well as vulnerability checks.

It has an advanced engine that does parallel processing for packet and deep packet inspection. It also supports user authentication.

The disadvantage with Palo Alto is that they don't have a cloud-based solution that includes a secure web gateway. For example, if a person is working from home and you want a proxy then you have to rely on a secure web gateway. Palo Alto cannot do that because they don't have a cloud solution. So, if you want direct internet access and if you also want the proxies then Palo Alto is not a good choice.

I have been working with the Palo Alto VM-Series for four years.

The stability is absolutely good and there is no problem with it.

We have almost 3,000 branch offices set up across the globe.

Our intention is to increase usage of Palo Alto, adopting it for security in all of our future products.

Technical support from Palo Alto is very good.

We did not use another firewall product before this one.

With any organization, if you want to change the firewalls that are being used in production then it's a hectic task. You have some rules and engines that can be used, but it's a step-by-step process.

Migrating from an existing solution to Palo Alto needs to be done in phases. Phase one would be installing the devices. Phase two is testing a lab setup and diverting traffic, then analyzing it. Finally, the third phase is to enable other features like threat protection, malware detection, and other advanced options.

Depending on the size of the organization, if a migration is well planned then it will take three to four months to complete.

The configuration is different between our branch offices in order to meet our requirements. Some use the hardware appliance, whereas others use the software version.

We had a Palo Alto engineer who was assisting us, in-house, for our deployment. We also have support from our vendor, which provides LAN and WAN solutions.

We considered using Cisco ASA, but we chose Palo Alto because it can also act as a proxy for your hub site. Palo Alto is more advanced than the Cisco solution.

This is definitely a product that I can recommend.

Overall, it is a good product, although it would be better if they offered a cloud proxy.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.