We use SonicWall NSa as a firewall to protect our branches. We use the solution for intrusion prevention systems (IPS), intrusion detection systems (IDS), and networking. We have VPN connections with our data center and other branches.
Group IT Manager at Direct Remit Limited
An easy-to-configure solution that can be used as a firewall, but its reporting needs to be improved
Pros and Cons
- "We use SonicWall NSa for authenticating MAC (media access control) ID from the PC."
- "SonicWall NSa's reporting could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
SonicWall NSa is very easy to configure. For example, it's very easy to give internet access to a user. We have configured groups, and I can remove and add them whenever required. We use SonicWall NSa for authenticating MAC (media access control) ID from the PC.
What needs improvement?
SonicWall NSa's reporting could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SonicWall NSa for three years.
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SonicWall NSa
October 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SonicWall NSa is quite a stable solution. We faced some issues regarding the VPN connectivity. Sometimes it drops, but it also depends on the box on the other side.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SonicWall NSa is not a scalable solution because we are using small boxes and can't scale them. For example, the solution works fine if it's for 20 users. The moment you add more than 20 users, it becomes slow.
Around 20 users are using SonicWall NSa in our organization. The solution is used extensively, 24/7, in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
SonicWall NSa's technical support is quite good because they respond and solve our issues whenever we call them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before SonicWall NSa, we previously used Cyberoam.
How was the initial setup?
SonicWall NSa's initial setup is very easy.
What about the implementation team?
Our networking team deploys SonicWall NSam in one or two days. Just one network engineer is required to deploy and maintain SonicWall NSa.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment with SonicWall NSa.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to Fortinet and Cisco, SonicWall NSa is a cheaper solution. You have to pay additionally for IPS, which is not part of the solution's license.
What other advice do I have?
I use the latest version of SonicWall NSa.
I would not recommend SonicWall NSa to other users compared to Fortinet or Cisco.
Overall, I rate SonicWall NSa 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.
Power System Engineer at a retailer with 201-500 employees
Provides security and basic protection for VPNs, but the cost could be lower
Pros and Cons
- "I like this solution because we are focused on VPN and have many brands that need to link a VPN and have security, like ransomware, spyware, and basic protection."
- "The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is deployed on-premises. We're using the latest version.
There are around 3,000 users of this solution in my company.
What is most valuable?
I like this solution because we are focused on VPN and have many brands that need to link a VPN and have security, like ransomware, spyware, and basic protection.
What needs improvement?
The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies. The cost to maintain SonicWall is quite high.
After updating the firmware, sometimes the solution stops working. I had to do a factory reset and reconfiguration to solve the problem.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I would rate the stability as seven out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support isn't bad, but it isn't the best. Sometimes, we don't receive the answers we're looking for, so we have to look it up on the internet.
I would rate technical support as three out of five.
How was the initial setup?
Setup isn't difficult, but it's not easy either. It depends on the experience of the person who is implementing the solution.
We use four people for maintenance. There's also a support team of three people.
What about the implementation team?
SonicWall's technical support helped us with implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We paid about 10,000 in our currency for one packet of SonicWall NSa.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution as 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
Buyer's Guide
SonicWall NSa
October 2024
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814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Cyber Security at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Easy to setup and has great VPN capability
Pros and Cons
- "Easy to setup and implement"
- "Potential improvement around the associated VPN cost"
What is our primary use case?
We have installed this firewall appliance across cloud and on-premises environments, our clients primarily use the VPN functionality.
If a customer wants to use the firewall, they have to pay more money for the cloud. By having a firewall solution, they can configure the VPN through the firewall, enabling them to avoid the high costs. Once you deploy the firewall in the cloud solution, then you will get protection for the gateway as well.
How has it helped my organization?
We are a service-based company and have implemented over 200 appliances for our customers.
What is most valuable?
The VPN functionality and intrusion prevention service (IPS) are the most valuable features.
What needs improvement?
I am a technical engineer, I have complete knowledge of SonicWall. I can do all of the configurations for the firewall. We are a service-based company and I handle the different solutions. If they need any requirement or they any action on the firewall then I can do that myself.
The only thing that needs improvement is the VPN because we need to pay to connect the points.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SonicWall for 5 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have found the NSa appliance to be stable and is comparable to FortiGate.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have expanded the solution with several of our customers and this worked great. We have over 200 customers who use SonicWall.
How are customer service and support?
Level 1 and 2 support issues are handled by our in-house team, but for more complex, level 3 issues we utilise the vendor. The call response is great.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We are a service-based provider and implement in-house.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also implement similar appliances from Fortinet and Sophos.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a ten out of ten. It's a good security product, so I wouldn’t give it a lower rating.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Systems network admin at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Unstable, expensive, and technical support is too slow to respond
Pros and Cons
- "The DPI-SSL is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's handy."
- "We're not particularly fond of the way it generally performs. We are finding ourselves rebooting often. There are freeze-ups and that kind of thing. The stability needs to improve exponentially."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution from our firewall endpoint VPN. It does have a spam filter, SSL, DPI, and numerous other security features. We've got the full license suite.
What is most valuable?
The DPI-SSL is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's handy. It's nice.
The scalability is okay.
The initial implementation isn't too bad, once you get used to the process.
What needs improvement?
We're not happy with the device itself. We're obviously moving away from it for a reason that they're a Swiss pocket-knife of devices and they do a lot. However, nothing is really done well. They don't specialize in one thing that they excel at. They try instead to do almost everything and end up failing.
We're not particularly fond of the way it generally performs. We are finding ourselves rebooting often. There are freeze-ups and that kind of thing. The stability needs to improve exponentially.
Technical support is pretty slow to respond and escalate matters.
The cost of the solution is quite high.
The solution could use an invisible DPI-SSL or something that doesn't require a certificate rewrite. Most of the other vendors are doing that now.
The SSL VPN performance-wise is terrible.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for about three years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability isn't the best. It freezes. We have to reboot a lot. The device just doesn't work very well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is okay, It's marginal, however, it is possible.
We have about 300 people on-premises that use the solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've been in touch with technical support, ad currently, we find them to be below average in their support capabilities. Firewall support is just adequate. Right now, with COVID and everything, you are looking at 45 minutes to an hour to get the first technician on the phone. Often it takes two or three days to get it escalated. It's slow.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I personally previously used Cisco devices at another company, and therefore I have some experience with them.
We're currently migrating away from this solution at the moment. We do not like the way the device performs.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of deployment, there is a bit of a learning curve right off the top, as I come from a Cisco ASA background. It's more object-based, a little bit different. Once you get the knack of it, it's actually pretty nice in some ways.
That said, operationally, I would recommend anybody that deploys one of these to make sure they develop their own SOP for naming conventions, for objects, object groups, object types, service groups, service objects, et cetera, so that it's easier to manage and understand what you're doing. Generally speaking, it's just a best practices kind of process for administrative work. If you've got multiple admins, it's important that everything is contiguous, meaning everybody understands and works under that same parameters. It's like any other operating environment.
In terms of maintenance, there are two of us that generally manage it and maintain it on a fairly regular basis. I'm a network engineer and the department manager, who's not a system engineer, (however, is well-versed), also can perform maintenance as needed.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation in-house. We did not need an integrator or consultant to assist us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While I don't know the exact amount off the top of my head, I would estimate the licensing package was about $15,000 to $20,000 a year.
Your original purchase includes the purchase of the hardware, licensing, and support. It's not a cheap device.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers and end-users.
We are currently using the NSA 4600. It's a full security appliance. We're using the latest version of the solution.
It's our primary firewall/VPN endpoint. It's used 24/7, 365. Due to the nature of our work, uptime is critical.
Ultimately, if you were to ask me if I were to recommend this device, I would say no.
I'd rate the solution at a three out of ten, simple due to the fact that the stability isn't there, and it's an expensive solution.
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.
Presales Consultant at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Seamlessly configures and monitors with robust logging and alarms
Pros and Cons
- "The ease of configuration is excellent."
- "Certain features like SD-WAN are sometimes confusing to configure."
What is our primary use case?
NSa is mostly provided to customers who want to secure their perimeter. It is positioned for users above 100.
How has it helped my organization?
We are SonicWall partners. We propose NSa to our customers and do integrations with the firewall.
What is most valuable?
The ease of configuration is excellent. NSA has logging, alarm features, and a very useful knowledge base available on the SonicWall community site.
What needs improvement?
Certain features like SD-WAN are sometimes confusing to configure. One important feature that should be provided by default is SSL VPN, without needing a separate license.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used SonicWall for the past ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. Wherever I've deployed it, there has been a zero RMA.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For scalability, I would rate it nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support was good. The response time and quality were satisfactory.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is reasonable. I would rate it seven out of ten.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did evaluate Fortinet. Both SonicWall and Fortinet are on par with each other. The choice depends on the customer's existing setup and usage of SD-WAN.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the product to other users. I'd rate it nine out of ten overall.
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
Last updated: Sep 16, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSenior System Administrator at a government with 201-500 employees
Reliable and easy to expand with good features on offer
Pros and Cons
- "The solution can scale."
- "The user interface could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for a lot of things, so it's hard to talk about an individual use case.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution seems to help with any intrusion.
What is most valuable?
I like all the features. The global filtering and the content filtering are great. It's not always intuitive, however, you can usually figure it out. It's really handling all of our firewall needs.
It's stable.
The solution can scale.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been at the company for about two years and have used the solution since my arrival.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. As long as we maintain patching, we're good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution has been scalable.
About 150 people are using it in our organization.
I'm not sure if we have plans to increase usage at this time.
How are customer service and support?
We have been very satisfied with the technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution. this product was in place when I arrived at the company.
How was the initial setup?
The product was already set up when I got here, so I can't speak to the implementation process.
You only need one person to handle deployment and maintenance tasks.
What was our ROI?
We've had it for quite a while and therefore must find it to be quite cost-effective.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not familiar with the licensing aspects of the solution.
I'm a technical person. I don't care about the cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have a very old SonicWall NSa. That's why we're looking to upgrade.
What other advice do I have?
I'd advise new users to just learn how to work around the interface. That's my one complaint. It's sometimes a little cumbersome to use the UI.
I'd rate the solution eight 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.
Senior Manager at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Everything is filtered, and if it detects an intruder, it drops the line
Pros and Cons
- "SonicWall has USCS and anti-virus at the gateway level. Everything is filtered, and if it detects an intruder, it drops the line."
- "We have security as a service, and they make recommendations about adding to the denylist and other things. That part could be more accessible and more user-friendly. I'd like to see SonicWall add a user-friendly interface where our internal team can drag and drop everything."
What is most valuable?
SonicWall has USCS and anti-virus at the gateway level. Everything is filtered, and if it detects an intruder, it drops the line.
What needs improvement?
We have security as a service, and they make recommendations about adding to the denylist and other things. That part could be more accessible and more user-friendly. I'd like to see SonicWall add a user-friendly interface where our internal team can drag and drop everything. We get the IOCs from the security companies, so these things can be filtered and blocked at the gateway level. They could add a feature where our team uploads the IOCs in an Excel spreadsheet instead of entering them in one at a time.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using SonicWall for almost seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Yeah, it is much stable and we have been using NSa the previous version before also, the old device. It's all so far okay. It's stable only.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We could expand by another 20 percent, and the product would still cover us. It shouldn't be a problem. We haven't faced many challenges. It's a gateway-level firewall product, and we have 140 users.
How are customer service and support?
SonicWall support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Cisco a long time ago, but we moved to SonicWall almost eight years ago.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up SonicWall isn't that complicated, but you need to know the scope — what's allowed and what isn't. But it's not as complex as Cisco. The deployment takes a couple of days, but we could probably do it faster. We upgraded from the older version of SonicWall NSa to the latest appliance in less time.
It doesn't require a large team for maintenance. If we can manage it, anyone can. We only have three people on our team, and we can manage it without issue.
What about the implementation team?
We used the local redistributor here in Bahrain. They were knowledgeable and had SonicWall experience, so they didn't face much of a challenge. It was straightforward. The only difference is that we went with high availability — two devices.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a yearly license. SonicWall's price is better than other vendors. We get a discount of about 15 percent off the initial cost.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SonicWall eight out of 10. I recommend it. If you implement SonicWall, it'll be a smooth journey.
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.
IT Manager at Esnad
Fast tech support and has the ability to collect mini routers
Pros and Cons
- "SonicWall NS has a lot of valuable features. One of the best SonicWall NSa features is the ability to collect mini routers and get only one user connection."
- "Overall, Im satisfied with SonicWall NSa, but it would be better if they could add a small terminal to each device. This would help me deal with certain issues by running a small bot onto any PC."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for SonicWall NSa is a firewall and for analytics. I use SonicWall NSa to follow the users. Some users manage to bypass the firewall sometimes and install certain software. I track all of this "bad" behavior and block it.
What is most valuable?
SonicWall NS has a lot of valuable features. One of the best SonicWall NSa features is the ability to collect mini routers and get only one user connection.
What needs improvement?
Overall, I'm satisfied with SonicWall NSa, but it would be better if they could add a small terminal to each device. This would help me deal with certain issues by running a small bot onto any PC. This terminal could control technical configuration from a centralized configuration with the SonicWall appliance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution since last February. However, I have worked with SonicWall since 2007.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 150 users. Each employee configures up to three connections: one on a PC and one or two on mobiles.
How are customer service and support?
We are happy with SonicWall NSa's tech support. We have an account manager and whenever I run into any issues, I email him directly and he calls me within the hour. This is sufficiently fast for our needs.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously ran MicroTech and FortiGate. We switched because we wanted to try something new. We change the technology we use each year.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy for me because I am a specialist. I previously worked for a Dell and SonicWall partner before, so I'd configured SonicWall NSa many times before. However, now as a customer, I had a SonicWall consultant deploy it.
What about the implementation team?
We used a SonicWall NSa consultant for the deployment.
What was our ROI?
I can't speak to any ROI we've had in terms of numbers but all technology of this type will give you a return on investment because it's secure and makes your business run smoothly.
For example, as I am in the desert and there is no fiber connection here, I was using SIM cards that gave me seven GB a day. Before we deployed SonicWall NSa, I was running seven SIM cards for a total of about 50 GB per day. Right now, I use only one seven-GB SIM card.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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