Wilson Sigcha - PeerSpot reviewer
Ingeniero de TI at AndeanTrade S.A
Real User
Top 20
The quality of this product is good and it's easy to understand, but there is room for improvement in the integrations
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the quality of this product, and it performs. It's the best solution in the IT business."
  • "I would improve the management. I need to view charts and traffic statistics, but the management console doesn't share that information with me."

    What is our primary use case?

    I use the firewall to protect my entire enterprise network. 

    What is most valuable?

    I like the quality of this product, and it performs. It's the best solution in the IT business. 

    What needs improvement?

    I would improve the management. I need to view charts and traffic statistics, but the management console doesn't share that information with me.

    I would also improve the integration with other solutions. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been a partner of this solution for five years.

    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.
    768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability of the solution is good. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This is a scalable solution. 

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is very good. We contact them for support with the solution or if we have problems in the entire network. I would rate the technical support as an eight out of ten. 

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    My IT team handled the setup and it was very easy because they have the needed skills. We use three people for deployment and maintenance: one engineer and two technicians. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend that new users study the product. I think people should use it because it is very easy to understand.

    I would rate this solution as an eight out of ten. 

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Network Implementation Engineer at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
    MSP
    Great centralized management, easy to set up, and scales well
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution, especially the latest versions, is very stable."
    • "The customer support needs to be better."

    What is our primary use case?

    Panorama is one centralized management server through which all our devices are protected. It's a security management tool.

    What is most valuable?

    One of the most valuable aspects for us is the fact that all of the policy management and configuration management is able to happen right from the centralized management. This makes everything much easier.

    The initial setup is pretty simple.

    The solution, especially the latest versions, is very stable.

    The product can scale well.

    What needs improvement?

    The customer support needs to be better. Sometimes we need to wait for hours before getting someone from the product team or someone from the Palo Alto customer support to get on a call if we are facing some issue. They could reduce the wait times.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using Palo Alto for about a year and a half.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is quite stable. The more high-end devices you take, the more stability. If you're using a little old model of firewalls, then there are issues with regard to stability. In such cases, Palo Alto would likely recommend you upgrade to the latest hardware. The latest hardware is really very stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is quite scalable. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is quite slow. They are not quick to respond.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is easy. It is not that complex. There are articles and documentation, readily available on the Palo Alto website, the Palo Alto Portal, which can help you figure out how to configure the device.

    Our deployment strategy for any new customer is to directly implement it in a testing phase. In a testing phase, we try to see if all the requirements that the customer wants to see if we will be facing any challenges. We want to initially try and replicate that in a lab scenario. That way, if there are any issues, we can get back to the team at Palo Alto and ask them questions. If it works, then the customer goes into production.

    We don't have any dedicated person for maintaining anything. The antivirus, everything, can be directly, automatically updated on the firewall. That is not an issue. On top of that, if a particular device is getting into trouble then we get the NMS alerts for that device. In such scenarios, once we have a device failure at a particular site, we can have that device replaced. We can open a case with the vendor and once we give them a particular serial number or the VM instance, we can initiate an RML to replace that device with a new device. It takes a couple of days for that to happen.

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

    We have another team that handles licensing. In operations, we do not have any visibility with regard to cost.

    What other advice do I have?

    I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've been very happy with its capabilities.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
    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.
    768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    PeerSpot user
    Technology consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    Superior firewall management, plenty of features, and scalable
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable features of this solution are that it works better than a normal firewall, easy to explorer all of its features, and it has the Log Collector mode. This mode allows us to store our logs for two years in the solution itself."
    • "There is a need to improve the upgrade process. When we are upgrading the solution we are facing some issues with Elasticsearch services. Every time we upgrade it takes a long time to become stable."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using this solution to manage our two perimeter devices. We have two firewall setups; one perimeter and one internal firewall and we have two different Panorama for managing both set of firewall.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable features of this solution are that its look & feel is exactly same as normal firewall, easy to explorer all of its features, also it has the Log Collector mode. This mode allows us to store our logs for two years in the solution itself. 

    What needs improvement?

    There is a need to improve the upgrade process. When we are upgrading the solution we are facing some issues with Elasticsearch services. Every time we upgrade it takes a long time to become stable.

    In an upcoming release, I recommend having policy segmentation because that will help Panorama. There is no policy segmentation as you would find in Check Point. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability needs some improvement during some operations.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable. We have the solution on a VM and we only need to increase our storage to scale. One of my clients is a bank and they have approximately 2,000 employees using the solution.

    We are using this solution on a daily basis. The operation team is using it for log search, deploying policies, and a few other operations. I do not think we need a second instance of this solution running because security features are working with the firewall and not on Panorama.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The technical support is very good. Whenever we face an issue the technical support team helps a lot.

    How was the initial setup?

    In the initial setup in our case, we are using the single setup firewall with panorama. the usual templates, stacks, and devices group is works good with multiple firewalls. But with single firewall setup This whole process has become very complicated and very confusing. There should be some provision for a single setup firewall to avoid the template stacks and templates. 

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

    The solution is priced well and there is a license for this solution that we pay annually for. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I previously evaluated Check Point and Fortinet. Check Point security management server is altogether a different GUI & cannot work without SMS and Fortinet is also different because FortiAnalyzer is only used for log collection.

    This solution features I would recommend over Fortinet and Check Point because it has the same look as a firewall and there is no more difference between firewall and Panorama. We can deploy policy & other configurations without panorama as well. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I would advise those wanting to implement this solution that is pretty straightforward, and Palo Alto has written very detailed documentation on their website. If you go through that it is very easy to deploy. You will not run into any issues if you follow the documentation.

    I recommend this solution to others.

    I rate Palo Alto Networks Panorama a nine 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
    Engineering infrastructure manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    It has useful threat prevention and security features and good stability with right configuration
    Pros and Cons
    • "The threat prevention and layer seven security features were the most used and important for us. All operations are quite good in this solution."
    • "We found a vulnerability where when we have a low flow, like 2.7K, it is not getting fired by the threat prevention. That's something important to improve on. They should have a proxy or some solution to solve the issue. We also found some issues around decrypting the flow. When we have more flow than expected to decrypt, the performance goes down."

    What is our primary use case?

    We used Panorama to control all the other modules from Palo Alto and to create the rules.

    What is most valuable?

    The threat prevention and layer seven security features were the most used and important for us. All operations are quite good in this solution.

    What needs improvement?

    We found a vulnerability where when we have a low flow, like 2.7K, it is not getting fired by the threat prevention. That's something important to improve on. They should have a proxy or some solution to solve the issue.

    We also found some issues around decrypting the flow. When we have more flow than expected to decrypt, the performance goes down.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have used this solution for one year. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Its stability is fine. It supports the only point used here to decrypt the flows. When we have the right configuration, it has good stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We didn't scale up the solution because it requires a load balancer, which is not there. We have around 40,000 users.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    They should have a local technical team. I would rate them a seven out of ten.

    How was the initial setup?

    It wasn't easy, but it also wasn't very difficult. I would say it was medium. The deployment took around three months.

    What other advice do I have?

    In order to have the right security level, you need to understand how decryption works or is used in Palo Alto. We had to clarify some points with them related to how decryption works.

    I would 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
    Cristian Jerez - PeerSpot reviewer
    Advisor - Network and IT security consultant at Agrosuper
    Real User
    Top 20
    Easy to administrate and easy to control
    Pros and Cons
    • "Panorama is very easy, easy to administrate, and easy to control."
    • "It's difficult to implement."

    What is most valuable?

    Panorama is very easy, easy to administrate, and easy to control.

    What needs improvement?

    It's difficult to implement. 

    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?

    Palo Alto is very stable and is a great global solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    There are more than 5,000 users in my company.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I would rate their support a ten out of ten. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution. 

    I would rate it a ten out of ten. 

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Lead Program Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Flexible, scalable and very user friendly
    Pros and Cons
    • "You don't need an overly experienced workforce to handle Palo Alto. It's very easy to use."
    • "They need to do less bug-related releases and create versions that are stable for at least six months at a time. I don't find this issue in other solutions like Cisco, Check Point, FortiGate, or others. Those just provide a patch if there is a bug and we don't have to worry about downtime."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily use the solution for automation purposes and for security.

    What is most valuable?

    The underlying technology is very good, considering that we are moving to a work-from-home environment.

    Panorama is a straightforward tool. Palo Alto is comparative to other firewalls. Some firewall tools are more user friendly, and, from a technical perspective, it is very user friendly as well. It's not like Check Point. We use a setup for offshore development centers. For all those ODCs, we usually use a Palo Alto device. We have few perimeter firewalls which are Palo Alto but for the perimeter predominantly we use Check Point.

    You don't need an overly experienced workforce to handle Palo Alto. It's very easy to use.

    The solution if extremely flexible and scalable.

    What needs improvement?

    There are too many OS upgrades. We've had six new versions in the past six months. Even if they are updating it to fix bugs, it's hard to keep pace with the change when you have 800 or more Palo Alto devices that you now need to update and upgrade.

    We try to follow version minus one or two for security reasons. To keep pace with the changes, it takes us nearly six months as we have to check with the business, arrange downtime, and count and cover all devices.

    These upgrades aren't just little fixes either. Whenever there is a new release, it requires an OS upgrade. It would be nice if there was some automation on the upgrades of the devices.

    They need to do less bug-related releases and create versions that are stable for at least six months at a time. I don't find this issue in other solutions like Cisco, Check Point, FortiGate, or others. Those just provide a patch if there is a bug and we don't have to worry about downtime.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We've been using the solution for close to seven years at this point. It's definitely been about six years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is very, very stable. There aren't too many issues on it once you get it up and running. We consider it reliable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is very scalable. If a company needs to expand its services, it can do so rather easily.

    We have different businesses running inside the organization. We have close to 800 devices, so it means about 800 different projects are using those devices. Each project has a firewall, so most of these, 80%, are on Palo Alto.

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

    We use Check Point as well, however, we don't really like it as much. It's not as user friendly.

    Prior to this solution, we were using the ASA products and then Check Point. Check Point is a little complicated. I can use Check Point on my perimeter firewall, but not on my overseas businesses. That's what makes Palo Alto is more user friendly. I can use the GUI to do everything due to the fact that I don't need a skilled person to work on the Palo Alto. On Check Point, I have to go to CLA and do all the changes. 

     It's easy to upgrade or to do anything with the Palo Alto. Technically it's quite sound. It's dynamic, scalable, and there's a lot of things that can be done easily. Plus, I don't need an extremely experienced person to work on Palo Alto. Anybody with two or three years of experience can easily work on a Palo Alto device.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward.

    The deployment is easy and uncomplicated. It takes about an hour or so, if not less than an hour. It's pretty quick.

    However, we have 800 or more devices. It takes about six months to deploy everything, especially if I have to do everything manually.

    We have eight to ten people who manage deployment and maintenance.

    What about the implementation team?

    We haven't used an integrator or reseller. We handled the implementation ourselves in-house.

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

    In terms of licensing for Panorama and Palo Alto products, we have only the DMC cost and we are billed every year.

    It's not overly expensive. It is comparatively okay if you look at other devices. Compared to the top three devices, pricing is okay due to the fact that you have multiple vendors who are selling firewalls and competing with each other for the same clients. 

    What other advice do I have?

    We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with the company.

    We have multiple variants of the solution's model. Currently, we are using 8.1.15-H. We also have some virtual firewalls that are recently in Tokyo. We are using close to around 800+ Palo Alto firewalls. 

    We're currently developing our virtual firewalls and have them in different locations. 

    It is not just Palo Alto. We have other devices as well, so we have close to around 1300 plus firewall devices.

    I would recommend the solution to others.

    I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. If you need a perimeter type of device, Check Point may be a better option. However, for my businesses, I would choose Palo Alto due to its scalability and user-friendliness. It also has great security features. That said, if it didn't release so many new updates, I would rate it higher, simply due to the fact that so many upgrades requires a lot of work on our part.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Manager - Project at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Centralized management unit that lets you manage multiple regions in one place
    Pros and Cons
    • "The initial setup isn't very complex, it's user-friendly."
    • "An area for improvement would be the connectivity, which sometimes means logs can be slow to display."

    What is our primary use case?

    My primary use of Panorama is as a management unit, including firewall and log management.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is that the management unit is centralized, so you can manage different regions from one place.

    What needs improvement?

    An area for improvement would be the connectivity, which sometimes means logs can be slow to display.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Panorama's stability is very good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This solution is scalable.

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is very good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup isn't very complex, it's user-friendly. The deployment time depends on your capacity planning - how many firewalls will be managed and how many logs or discs you require.

    What other advice do I have?

    When implementing, make sure someone involved has a good technical understanding of the product and how it will work. I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.

    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
    Senior Project Engineer at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    MSP
    Good technical support
    Pros and Cons
    • "On the one or two occasions that I had to make use of technical support, I felt it to be pretty good."
    • "The solution's utilization of network ports makes things as complex as possible."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the solution for border-leaf access.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution's utilization of network ports makes things as complex as possible. 

    The pricing could be better. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Palo Alto Networks Panorama for 10 years.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    On the one or two occasions that I had to make use of technical support, I felt it to be pretty good. 

    How was the initial setup?

    I cannot comment on the initial setup, as I was not involved with it. 

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

    The pricing could be lower.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate Palo Alto Networks Panorama as an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
    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.