Sagar More - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Ares Management Corporation
Real User
When combined with WildFire, it's highly secure
Pros and Cons
  • "Compared to all of the other firewall vendors, Palo Alto is very secure."
  • "The initial setup can be complex."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution because it provides us with a consistent security profile no matter the location. Regardless of users, we use the same configuration. 

We also use Panorama for management. Currently, all of our users are working from home — this solution has helped us manage everything. 

Over the next four years, we are planning on moving all of our data centers onto the cloud.  

What needs improvement?

Before I joined this organization, they experienced some issues when trying to set up zone protection parameters. Last week I applied a zone protection profile; for each and every branch, I had to apply a zone protection profile or modify existing metrics — I needed to physically go to each branch. When we originally deployed Panorama, we were managing the firewalls individually. After implementing all those firewalls and changing all of the templates, it's really hard to modify them. 

You can't just modify them with a single click, you need to physically go to each individual branch and make the changes yourself — we can't directly seal all of the fireworks. This needs to be improved. 

With version 9.1, when configuring it, if something goes wrong, then it reverts back to your original settings automatically. This is a nice feature but it's not available on the standard firewalls. If we didn't have Panorama and I was setting up some remote Palo Alto firewalls, after implementing my configurations, if I were to lose the configurations then I would lose firewall access. This isn't the case with other firewalls like Cisco and Juniper SRX where you can just put in a reminder in the last 10 minutes. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Palo Alto Networks Panorama for the past five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Besides the odd bug, Panorama is stable. From a management point of view, it's good. Even though we now have 25 firewalls, with a single click, we can add and submit a request. With a single click, we can apply changes to all 25 firewalls. Upgrading our remote locations, the firewalls, logs, and the reporting is all very easy. We can easily add more power and stability, it's nice.

Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Palo Alto Networks Panorama. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

GlobalProtect is a great extension that you can add on. If something goes wrong with our cloud solution, then it will automatically fall back to our local physical firewalls across the globe. We have four different locations that GlobalProtect automatically connects to. At the moment, our company is expanding so we are adding more clients. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is pretty good. The best part about Palo Alto is that you can find answers with a simple Google search. Compared to other vendors, all of their technical data is online — for all of their solutions. Still, sometimes we prefer to use support. Sometimes it takes time as their technical team has to regenerate our issues in their lab, etc. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup can be complex. As I mentioned before, making modifications is very difficult. Before implementing, you need to plan carefully.

Our engineer made some mistakes when he was setting it up; we still experience some complications due to that as everything is already in place and we can't change it. 

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

Licenses are available on a one to three-year basis. If you go for a one-year license, you won't get much of a discount. We have a three-year license for all of our firewalls. Currently, we have 25 firewall licenses.

Currently, we have around 20 TB of data. We are in the process of upgrading our licenses because we are adding more and more files.

The price of the licenses could be lower. Still, because we have Panorama with 25 firewalls, Palo Alto gives us a good discount. 

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend Panorama to others. Compared to all of the other firewall vendors, Palo Alto is very secure. Personally, I'd say it's the best firewall vendor on the market. When combined with WildFire, it's highly secure; just make sure you configure it properly as there are a lot of viruses out there. 

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Panorama a rating of nine. 

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
Swapnil Jumale - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Lead at Peristent Systems
Real User
Top 10
Simple rule management, highly scalable, and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is the simplicity of rule management. Both this device group and template management are very easy to use."
  • "Palo Alto Networks Panorama currently lacks the capability of integrating with other software, such as AlgoSec to simplify rule management and schedule management. However, this feature has been requested by the company and it is uncertain if Palo Alto will implement it in the future. Additionally, the UI needs improvement, it is too slow."

What is our primary use case?

We use Palo Alto Networks Panorama firewall, rule and policies management.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is the simplicity of rule management. Both this device group and template management are very easy to use. 

What needs improvement?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama currently lacks the capability of integrating with other software, such as AlgoSec to simplify rule management and schedule management. However, this feature has been requested by the company and it is uncertain if Palo Alto will implement it in the future. Additionally, the UI needs improvement, it is too slow.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Palo Alto Networks Panorama for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has frequent upgrades that reduce the stability.

I rate the stability of Palo Alto Networks Panorama a six out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama is scalable.

I have been using the same management software from other vendors, such as Check Point and Fortinet, but they are not as scalable as Palo Alto Networks Panorama.

We have approximately 25 people using the solution.

We do not plan to increase our usage because we are migrating to Zscaler and Cisco. Zscaler has some scalability advantages over Palo Alto Networks Panorama and this is why we are switching.

I rate the scalability of Palo Alto Networks Panorama a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

There are a few areas where Palo Alto Networks Panorama support could be improved. Specifically, when we encounter issues, it takes a significant amount of for support to resolve them, particularly when it comes to coding-related problems. We are unsure if they have invested in research and development in this area.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Palo Alto Networks Panorama took a long time to complete because there was not a lot of documentation.

What about the implementation team?

We used the support from Palo Alto Networks Panorama for the implementation. They were very professional and helpful. We used five people for the deployment of the solution.

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

The price of Palo Alto Networks Panorama should be reduced. We pay for the solution annually.

We have acquired Palo Alto Networks Panorama for a three-year period, and we are selecting firewall options based on our specific needs, which may result in purchasing a DNS Security solution separately.

What other advice do I have?

We use five people for the maintenance of the solution.

The solution is easy to use and superior to other competitors. Additionally, there are occasional graphical or visual glitches that also take a while for them to address through updates. The length of time it takes to resolve these issues depends on their severity.

I rate Palo Alto Networks Panorama a nine out of ten.

The solution is good compared to the competition, but the support is not up to standard.

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:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Palo Alto Networks Panorama. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Provides good visibility, offers good functionality, and has great support
Pros and Cons
  • "Overall, the functionality was very good."
  • "It is an expensive product."

What is our primary use case?

Even though there was a dedicated team to monitor the logs with the SIEM platform, I would use the solution when there is a potential outbreak to provide a particular tool to view the effects of the outbreak on my environment.

What is most valuable?

It was a good functional tool. When we had multiple Palo Alto devices to be managed, it provided a lot of visibility onto those solutions. It was a good and useful tool.

The solution helped us consolidate and use logs.

The UI was fine. The visualization would be almost similar to Palo Alto Firewalls.

Overall, the functionality was very good.

It was a stable product.

It's easy to set up. 

What needs improvement?

I don't have any real comments in terms of areas of improvement. 

The scalability is limited. 

It is an expensive product. 

For how long have I used the solution?

The last time I used the solution was six months ago. I recently switched jobs. I previously used the solution for about three or four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution was stable and reliable. There were no bugs or glitches, and it didn't crash or freeze. I'd rate the stability of the solution nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's not hugely scalable. It has limited scalability. That said, it's good. It offers what is requested. It depends on your initial planning and pricing, so it's not great in scalability. However, I would give it an overall scalability rating of seven out of ten.

At my old company, we had six to eight people using the solution. 

How are customer service and support?

I did raise some tickets with technical support, and I found them to be helpful and responsive. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

It was pretty easy to set up. I did not find the implementation complex. I'd rate the ease of deployment nine out of ten. 

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

The pricing of the product is high. They aren't very cost-effective. That said, they do provide high value to organizations. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I've seen three other devices like FortiGate and FortiManager as well as FortiAnalyzer. However, I can't make apples-to-apples comparisons between the solutions. I can say that the interface of Panorama is better in general, and Panorama does offer very good visibility.

What other advice do I have?

I was a customer and end-user. 

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.
PeerSpot user
SimonPerry - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at DRS
Reseller
Top 10
Great stability and a central management component that makes it easy to manage many firewalls at once
Pros and Cons
  • "From a configuration point of view, when we are implementing it for large organizations where the customer owns a hundred firewalls, it's just easy to manage them all at one central location."
  • "Price is probably one of the biggest things that we struggle with, specifically with Palo, and that's across their whole portfolio."

What is our primary use case?

We are a cybersecurity business, so we are a Palo Alto reseller and integrator. We also use Palo Alto to run our firewalls in our own environment. 

What is most valuable?

It's really the central management component that helps us. From a configuration point of view, when we are implementing it for large organizations where the customer owns a hundred firewalls, it's just easy to manage them all at one central location. I think that's probably one of the best features from a visibility component.

What needs improvement?

Price is probably one of the biggest things that we struggle with, specifically with Palo, and that's across their whole portfolio. Also, the tech support could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is easy to scale.

How are customer service and support?

On a scale of one to five, I would rate the technical support as a four. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The setup process is simple and straightforward. 

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

If I were to rate the pricing of Palo on a scale of one to five, with one being really high and five being a good, reasonable price, I would rate Palo as a three.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We generally compare Palo Alto with the offerings from Check Point because they both seem to have the majority of the market share here in my region.
From a stability point of view, I think Panorama is better. Check Point is struggling with their current software releases along those lines, and Panorama is very good at releasing new features along those lines. Palo is a lot faster than a lot of the competitors on the market.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Panorama as an eight out of ten.

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:
PeerSpot user
ShivaniDhingra - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Operations Expert at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Efficient firewall monitoring but lacks in customer support
Pros and Cons
  • "Threat prevention and traffic monitoring are the most valuable features for us."
  • "There is room for improvement in response time for tech support."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use it for firewall monitoring, reviews, and policy-level monitoring.

What is most valuable?

Threat prevention and traffic monitoring are the most valuable features for us. We use them the most.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in response time for tech support.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good, so I would rate it around nine.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and support team is okay because the response time depends on the case. For example, it can take a lot of time if they don't have a readily available solution.

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

If compared with Cisco, I find Panorama is better and easier to use.

How was the initial setup?

Our technical team did the setup for us.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Darshan Divekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Manager -Information Technology at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
High availability, scalable, and good support
Pros and Cons
  • "Palo Alto Networks Panorama is stable."
  • "Palo Alto Networks Panorama has some bugs that could be fixed."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Palo Alto Networks Panorama for security and access controls.

What needs improvement?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama has some bugs that could be fixed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Palo Alto Networks Panorama for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is good.

We have less than 100 people using this solution in my organization.

How are customer service and support?

I have used the support from Palo Alto Networks Panorama.

I rate the support from Palo Alto Networks Panorama an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is of a medium level of difficulty.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solution in-house.

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

There is a license needed to use Palo Alto Networks Panorama. The cost is not that important, what is important is meeting all the requirements and security features.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We decided to use Palo Alto Networks Panorama over other solutions because we have the strategy sheet which defines our requirements, and our requirements were mostly met. We have a standardized service we want to deliver when it comes to a firewall we use Palo Alto Networks Panorama, if we use load balancers, we use F5, and for networks, we use Cisco. We have certain things that are already defined as a criterion for us to follow.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others is if this solution fits their use case then they should use it.

I rate Palo Alto Networks Panorama an 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.
PeerSpot user
Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Has good stability and a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "Palo Alto Networks Panorama has good stability. I didn't see any instability from it, and its initial setup was straightforward."
  • "My company's getting whatever it needs from Palo Alto Networks Panorama, but in the cloud, there's an issue with CPU management, and that's an area for improvement. Though the normal data traffic doesn't go through the management interface, whenever there's an increase in the throughput, CPU management becomes high. If you increase the load, CPU management spikes, and it's what needs to be taken care of in Palo Alto Networks Panorama."

How has it helped my organization?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama has improved the way my company works, which is why my company uses it.

What is most valuable?

What I like about Palo Alto Networks Panorama is that it's stable and setting it up isn't complex.

What needs improvement?

My company's getting whatever it needs from Palo Alto Networks Panorama, but in the cloud, there's an issue with CPU management, and that's an area for improvement. Though the normal data traffic doesn't go through the management interface, whenever there's an increase in the throughput, CPU management becomes high. If you increase the load, CPU management spikes, and it's what needs to be taken care of in Palo Alto Networks Panorama.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Palo Alto Networks Panorama for the past four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama has good stability. I didn't see any instability from it, though at times, the CPU goes high in terms of usage, and that's what you need to take care of.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support for Palo Alto Networks Panorama, in my experience, was initially good, but now the wait time is longer. My company has a dedicated account manager, so it gets support, but in general, the response time is longer.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Palo Alto Networks Panorama was straightforward. I didn't see any complexity. It was a normal firewall configuration. I haven't done any new deployment of Palo Alto Networks Panorama, but in the cloud environment, it didn't take much time for me, and you can complete a setup within one to two hours.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented Palo Alto Networks Panorama through a vendor team by Palo Alto, specifically for the on-premises deployment, to migrate from Check Point to Palo Alto Networks Panorama, but in the cloud environment, as it is a VM, we did it ourselves.

What other advice do I have?

Palo Alto Networks Panorama is deployed everywhere, particularly in the public cloud and on-premises as well.

My company is just a customer of Palo Alto Networks Panorama, but because it's a big company, it has a dedicated account manager in Palo Alto.

My company uses the solution extensively. There are more than six Panoramas. Forty to fifty firewalls are managed currently through Palo Alto Networks Panorama.

I'm rating Palo Alto Networks Panorama nine out of ten. It's a good solution. What would make my rating a ten is if the CPU management spike issue was addressed and if the delayed response of technical support was addressed as well. A few years ago, the response time from support was immediate, but now, there's a delay with the response, even though my company has a dedicated account manager from Palo Alto Networks Panorama, and this makes you think about a midsized company with no account manager in terms of how much time it gets a response from Palo Alto support.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Ragesh Alappurath - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Almoayyed Computers
Real User
Top 10
Easy to set up and manage but can be expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution offers good logging features."
  • "Sometimes technical support is slow to respond."

What is our primary use case?

Our customers are using the product.

What is most valuable?

The solution offers good logging features. 

The management is great. 

It is easy to set up.

The solution is stable.

I can scale well. 

Using a Palo Alto solution is very straightforward. 

What needs improvement?

We have faced some challenges with the solution. We had Panorama in the cloud, and then we used Panorama to manage the on-prem firewalls. Then we had some network-centric architecture to connect to on-prem, where we had two separate Palo Alto firewalls on the cloud. From there, we had a direct connect, external direct connect to the on-prem. In that case, the issue we faced was that whenever the traffic left AWS, it went with any one of the subnets, either from availabilities on one subnet or availabilities on two subnets. When we configured Panorama, it was actually behind a NAT device on two separate IP signals, and there were challenges around that.

When we were deploying Panorama in AWS, there were some issues with Panorama deployment in AWS. I was the first customer to deploy Panorama in AWS, and I raised a case with both AWS and Panorama. Then, in the next Panorama release, they enhanced some features, and both came up in the same version. I had to wait for two or three months to get to a resolution. 

Sometimes technical support is slow to respond. 

The solution is expensive. 

Panorama can be a bit difficult compared to other Palo Alto solutions. It would be ideal if they could simplify it a bit. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Overall, the product is stable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't had an issue with scalability.

We work mainly with enterprise-level organizations. 

How are customer service and support?

In our region, technical support is not so good. We need to wait if we are reaching out with a P1 case. Sometimes we have to wait for two or three hours. That can be an issue.

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

I do also work with various other vendors. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple and quite straightforward. It was not overly complex. It's been two years now since I implemented the solution, and therefore I cannot recall exactly how long the deployment took. While the process was smooth, we did face some integration issues, for example, integrating the active standard Palo Alto to Panorama.

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

It's a costly product. All Palo Alto products are pretty expensive. Nowadays, people are looking for security and something that offers easy management. Therefore, Palo Alto can easily charge what they want. 

What other advice do I have?

We're partners. We handle pre-sales and implementation of the solution for clients. 

It's a good product. However, if a company wants to deploy the solution, it should first do a proper study and design it properly. Otherwise, they will likely run into issues. 

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Palo Alto Networks Panorama Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Palo Alto Networks Panorama Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.