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Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Reseller
Built-in storage, stable, but better reporting needed
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the main features is the built-in storage capacity."
  • "The logging, reporting, and storage capacity size could improve in a future release."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for network security in our branch office.

What is most valuable?

One of the main features is the built-in storage capacity. 

What needs improvement?

The logging, reporting, and storage capacity size could improve in a future release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution within the last 12 months.

Buyer's Guide
SonicWall NSa
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about SonicWall NSa. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good in this solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. There are 200 people using this solution in my companies branch office.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support was very responsive.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used SonicWall TZ previously.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are on a three-year license for the solution. The price is inexpensive compared to other solutions.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated Sophos and Fortinet, SonicWall NSa we found to be much better.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to those who have between 150 to 500 users.

I rate SonicWall NSa a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
IT Services Coordinator with 11-50 employees
Real User
Simple management interface, although the SSL VPN client software needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Our old firewall was running as HA (High Availability) on two different but identical rack mounted servers. Moving to SonicWall allowed the company to move to one unit, yet accommodate more connections because it had sixteen ports and handled fail-over better than the old firewall solution."
  • "I feel that the SSL VPN client software needs a lot of improvement."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is as a corporate firewall, and to provide security for the network while allowing connectivity between multiple sites. We also use it as a VPN gateway for multiple users via SSL.

How has it helped my organization?

Our old firewall was running as HA (High Availability) on two different but identical rack mounted servers. Moving to SonicWall allowed the company to move to one unit, yet accommodate more connections because it had sixteen ports and handled fail-over better than the old firewall solution.

What is most valuable?

Compact 1u, 1/4 depth size. 16 x 10/100/1000 Mbps ports, fibre ready. Management interface that is relatively simple to figure out.

What needs improvement?

I feel that the SSL VPN client software needs a lot of improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SonicWall NSa
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about SonicWall NSa. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Technical Lead at 64network security pvt ltd
Reseller
Flexible, easy to set up and deploy, and the support is excellent
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are flexibility, ease of setup, and it's a good product cost-wise."
  • "There are a few areas that need improvement including the VPN, user management, and reporting."

What is our primary use case?

We are a reseller who provides products for our customer.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are flexibility, ease of setup, and it's a good product cost-wise.

What needs improvement?

There are a few areas that need improvement including the VPN, user management, and reporting.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution, we have not had any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are no issues with scaling this solution. It's a scalable product.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is excellent.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is definitely user-friendly, it's easy.

It only takes an hour to deploy, which includes the configuration.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is good and we are satisfied with the cost of this solution. They provide good value for the price.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. The support is good, the product is good, it's easy to deploy and it can be done manually with no assistance from support.

Other than the hardware related issues that can be experienced, it's a good solution.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
CISO at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A stable perimeter firewall with good support, but it is not scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support is very good."
  • "The scalability is something that should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I am using the SonicWall NSA as a perimeter firewall to control the traffic flowing in and out of my system. It is also a wireless gateway, it used for traffic shaping, mapping, and publishing certain web tables on the internet.

What needs improvement?

The scalability is something that should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the SonicWall NSA firewall for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is not scalable. We have approximately 2,000 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We also use the Cyberoam 320AI. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It took seven or eight days to complete the installation.

What about the implementation team?

The vendor's team completed the initial deployment for us.

We have a team of three engineers who manage the firewalls.

What other advice do I have?

UTM boxes are now obsolete and next-generation firewalls are the things that need to be put into place. Within the next three months, we are going to upgrade to a next-generation firewall.

For an enterprise, I think that I can recommend a SonicWall next-generation firewall. This is a discussion that we are already having with them. For small segments, such as a small office or home office environment, SonicWall is perfect.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT Supervisor at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
Has high availability and stateful firewall capabilities

What is most valuable?

Since we have a strict SLA of 99.98% up-time on our network per year, (including maintenance), resilience is our main concern. It is a good thing that our very own NSA 4600 has high availability/stateful firewall capabilities.

How has it helped my organization?

We have had zero downtime since the deployment of NSA 4600 (HA).

What needs improvement?

I'm not quite impressed with their new logging interface.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using SonicWall NGFWs for almost five years now. We started using the NSA 4600 (HA) in March.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were no stability issues at all!

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no scalability issues at all!

How are customer service and technical support?

I would give technical support a rating of seven out of 10. Their follow up is good. However, if the agent who is handling the case is not around, your support case will not progress. Hopefully, they can improve this.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

SonicWall NGFW has always provided the protection and uptime that we have needed. We never thought of switching to other vendors.

How was the initial setup?

I've been with SonicWall since my internship. Although we have a complex setup (Site-to-site VPN, SSL VPN, Bunch of NAT, custom Zones and Firewall policies), the initial setup for a new site has always been straightforward for us. This was due to the available knowledge base documents throughout the internet.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

SonicWall's Next Generation Firewall itself, I believe, is not expensive for the features and the protection it offers. Though the licensing is the big problem, especially for those companies with flat budgets for IT. My advice would be for everyone to avail themselves of at least three years of licensing to save tons of money.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We never had the chance to evaluate other options. But lots of my friends are bugging me to take a look at Sophos XG firewalls.

What other advice do I have?

Ask for a demo unit first before buying this.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: October 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free SonicWall NSa Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.