One_Minute_Hero Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 We are looking at changing firewall away from Smoothwall. we are currently looking at SonicWall. What are folks using here? We require VPN, filtering, firewall etc.
FN-GM Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) We have just moved to Smoothwall. For soincwall the filtering is terrible. Any website that isn't English it just seems to let through. Websites that area clearly proxy sites it just seem to let through. I wouldn't recommend it at all. However we do use the Sonicwall SSL VPN and thats excellent. Can I ask why you looking at leaving Smoothwall? Edited March 27, 2013 by FN-GM
One_Minute_Hero Posted March 27, 2013 Author Posted March 27, 2013 We have just moved to Smoothwall. For soincwall the filtering is terrible. Any website that isn't English it just seems to let through. Websites that area clearly proxy sites it just seem to let through. I wouldn't recommend it at all. Can I ask why you looking at leaving Smoothwall? Licence updating of £10k due this year. The box has ignored its self when told to tidy its self up after XX% full, support said dont worry, it got 100% full and fell over. TBH we dont have a support contract but i was looking at getting on then the £10k bill came in. its gonna cost us more to move but future costs arnt so bad
FN-GM Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 We just got 5 years and it cost us nothing like that. How many users? For filtering Websense is very good. Used to use that for many years.
One_Minute_Hero Posted March 27, 2013 Author Posted March 27, 2013 We just got 5 years and it cost us nothing like that. How many users? For filtering Websense is very good. Used to use that for many years. 600 users seems bonkers too me too
aleach2 Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 We are also looking to move away from Smoothwall for the very same reason. Our bill is getting on £10K for 650 users with a support contract. We have been looking at a Sophos solution . The price seems to be cheaper for the time period and it looks like a better solution. Have never really got our Smoothwall appliance to work for us. Its OK but it not the best solution i have ever used but its not the worst neither.
FN-GM Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) Maybe @tom_newton can comment? Edited March 27, 2013 by FN-GM
tom_newton Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 Yes - drop me a line, let me know your details and I am sure we will get something worked out. I don't know why support told you to let your disk get full, that's certainly not the standard line. We are improving the housekeeping disk stuff right now (next-but-one release) . With regard to pricing, maybe there is some miscommunication somewhere, I will certainly be happy to go and rootle it out if there is! Tom
SJA Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) I am currently trialling a Sonicwall. Nearly at the end. Will not be buying. It's buggy. The web content filtering leaves a bit to be desired. Regarding the application filtering, I carefully applied rules to block all sorts of nasties, including Ultrasurf. I tested Ultrasurf, and it was allowed right through. I Googled this issue and was led to This is unrelated to the specific block Ultrasurf rule which I had already implemented. I'm a bit annoyed by this. Edited March 27, 2013 by SJA
Dilbert Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 Have to say, apart from my current problem with safe search, the FortiGate units we have here are amazing...
plexer Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 600 users seems bonkers too me too I've got a quote here for renewal of 1000 users and it's less than £3K Ben
SchoolsBroadband Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 +1 for Fortigate or Lightspeed here. Let me know if you need a quote. Dave
RTFM Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 (edited) Lightspeed filter and sonicwall for firewall (not filtering, it's not upto the job for education from our testing. The bandwidth management should be really useful though). We have this solution installed Tuesday / Wednesday next week replacing our Smoothwall filter / firewall. Edited March 27, 2013 by RTFM
manc_techie Posted April 25, 2013 Posted April 25, 2013 I know it's a bit late but we're using the Sonicwall NSA4500 set up in High Availability. Gotta agree that the inbuilt filtering isn’t too great when CFS is used, however the Bandwidth Management to reduce bandwidth to certain domains is really handy. App Rules do allow a much more granular level of control but I’ve put a request in for Websense alongside the Sonicwall as this is much better for filtering. The SSL VPN setup is nice and easy as you just send the certificate out to the client and all they need to do is open it with the client application. One thing I do love on these though is the Sonicpoint Wireless. We moved from Procurve AP’s to the Sonicwall Wireless solution when we installed these and it’s so easy to setup it’s untrue. Took half a day to install 16 AP’s across site and configure them using the centralised policies, one change on the NSA and all AP’s update automatically. Was unsure at 1st and we went down the Sonicwall route more for cost efficiency but I’m more than happy with it
visioN Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Use different products for different stuff here. VPN - SonicWall seems to be really good. Filtering - Cisco ScanSafe
psillars Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Hi, We would normally suggest something like a Palo Alto or SonicWALL for the straight firewalling side of things and then either Smoothwall or Netsweeper on the filtering depending on the budget really. Let me know if anyone wants a trial or pricing support as we are partners with all listed.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now