Sophos UTM

[caffrey]

Anyone using a SG330 ? How is it ? And can it route between vlans ?

[twin--turbo]

If its similar to UTM9 free then you should have no issues.

 

TT

[Davit2005]

Using UTM9 at home and I did have it setup routingbetween vLANS at one stage.

 

As I had it virtual (ESXi) I think I added an virtual interface and had it attached to a switch accepting all vLANS (4096), it wasn't ideal but it worked, I went back to a Layer 3 switch which is prefereable because I had one available.

[caffrey]

Thanks for this very helpful, I fancy giving the free home version a try too

Are Sophos doing any major changes soon?

[RichCowell]

Thanks for this very helpful, I fancy giving the free home version a try too

Are Sophos doing any major changes soon?

 

Yes, there's a huge rebuild due out as an update soon... It's a great product already, but should be loads of improvements in the new version, it's meant to be a lot more intuitive... I'm really looking forward to seeing it...

[Wave9_Lee]

Thanks for this very helpful, I fancy giving the free home version a try too

Are Sophos doing any major changes soon?

 

If you would like a demo of the SOPHOS UTM and info on future roadmap, configuration advice etc, then we'd be happy to help.

 

cheers

 

Lee

[caffrey]

Any idea when this update is due ?

 

Thanks lee, I'm using http://demo03.astaro.com:4445/ to have a look atm

[Blue_Cookeh]

We love our Sophos UTM (on the old v9 software) and we were using it to route between VLANs. You plug your Ethernet interface into a trunk port on your switch (Cisco speak), obviously the Ethernet interface will talk on the default switch VLAN, but you go into the Interfaces section of the UTM admin and add VLANs there, it's really easy.

 

Be warned, it is likely your SG330 would come with the new XG Firewall software, which is a steaming pile of poop at the moment, but you get free downgrade rights to v9 (the one in that demo), which you should utilise.

 

Sophos have said the XG Firewall OS should be on par with v9 feature-wise in about a year or two, and you will be able to upgrade for free when you're ready.

 

Despite the mess of the new OS upgrade, I would still whole heartedly recommend it as a UTM, there are so many features in there and it's really intuitive to use.

 

This is what their new OS looks like: https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/next-gen-firewall.aspx

Edited April 1, 2016 by Blue_Cookeh

[caffrey]

I really don't like it when there are huge changes through a products cycle that's why I asked (Just getting to know something and it changes is annoying!) The firewall management really cant be any worse than smoothwalls implementation at the moment.

[George_j]

Hi guys,

 

Please be advised that the SG series comes with the SG software, however there is a rumor that at some point Sophos will stop developing that. At some point there will be a migration path to XG software.

 

On the other hand the XG appliances comes with the new software. As those appliances are mixture of Sophos and Cyberoam(Sophos acquired them 2 years ago) features. They are still developing the software for the XG appliances and as Blue_Cookeh advised it's not so good as the SG at the moment.

 

If you have any further questions please pop me a PM.

 

Please note that probably the Sophos UTMs are the easiest to managed and installed.

 

have a great weekend

 

cheers

 

George

[caffrey]

Little bump, how well does the Sophos handle BYOD ? And can it do layer 7 functionality (Eg stop apps / VPN's)

[Wave9_Lee]

Little bump, how well does the Sophos handle BYOD ? And can it do layer 7 functionality (Eg stop apps / VPN's)

 

Hi Caffrey, in answer to the second question - yes, it does manage Layer 7 applications. It's very configurable and feature rich.

 

ref BYOD, I guess it depends on the specifics of your question. You can segregate VLANS and provide different policies to each. You can configure it as transparent proxy. Is there anything specific you are trying to address?

 

cheers

 

Lee

[karldenton]

We had an SG230 installed 2 weeks ago and it doesn't have XG software on but it is compatible with it when it comes out.

[RichCowell]

I didn't think it was shipping with the new devices yet... It will be soon...

[George_j]

If you purchased SG appliance it will be with the SG software. There are already XG boxes available with the XG software. As i said above, when they stop developing the SG(probably in 2 or 3 years) all of us will be able to lead the XG software on the SG appliances. All of that is as per Sophos words....

Also another thing which I was advised. all of the Cyberoam appliances could be loaded with the Sophos software

hope that the above make sense.

cheers

George

[zag]

Just a warning with Sophos, we used to use them and the device was excellent. But when it went wrong, it took them 2 weeks to send a new box and even then it appeared to be refurbished with a number of obvious problems.

 

I wouldn't use the company again after that

[karldenton]

Just a warning with Sophos, we used to use them and the device was excellent. But when it went wrong, it took them 2 weeks to send a new box and even then it appeared to be refurbished with a number of obvious problems.

 

I wouldn't use the company again after that

 

I got ours through Virtue so dare say they will help if anything goes wrong

[RichCowell]

I got ours through Virtue so dare say they will help if anything goes wrong

I'm sure they will, I had an issue with two of the NICs on mine, I just moved the cables into spares and carried on using it as normal but they swapped it out and dealt with it all so no issues at all...

[Wave9_Lee]

Just a warning with Sophos, we used to use them and the device was excellent. But when it went wrong, it took them 2 weeks to send a new box and even then it appeared to be refurbished with a number of obvious problems.

 

I wouldn't use the company again after that

 

I don't think any vendors are particularly brilliant at dealing with end-users, that's why most have reseller arrangements so that the company you buy your kit from continue to support you as a customer. The right partner will provide you with ongoing support, warranty replacements, out-of-warranty options and advice and guidance.