SonicWall TZ Reviews

It is used as firewalls are normally used and performance has been outstanding. We've been very happy with it. 

It has provided the necessary security, that's what it's there for.

I really don't know. I'm not really an IT person, per se, but I would say number one is the protection available, and then ease of use and flexibility. Those would be the top three.

I'm not an IT guy. What I will say is that the market seems to be going to a cloud-supported, new generation of firewall products. I think that's probably going to be important to us, the next time around.

It has been, to the best of my knowledge, trouble-free.

We haven't used tech support, at least, not that I'm aware of. We outsourced all of our IT stuff. They may have used it, but I'm not aware of anything.

We've used nothing but SonicWall, up until now.

I would say the most important criterion, when selecting a vendor, is probably the technology utilized.

The one we've got now is five years old. The next generation with the cloud-based signature and operation... I know SonicWall has what they call Capture, which is advanced threat protection type stuff. I think that is probably what we're going to be looking at next.

There are certainly a lot of options out there, and there are a lot of good options. I would say, stick with a name brand, whether it's SonicWall, or Check Point, or Palo Alto, or Cisco - any of those. You need to stick with a big name brand that is at the forefront of things.

The main features are support and security.

We have several locations, each with a VPN to a central office. SonicWall provides each location with its own security and provides our company with the ability to centralize our servers so they can provide applications to all the locations and users.

The SonicWall is somewhat misunderstood due to its being a lot more complicated to use and set up. A simpler interface would help this issue.

We have been using this solution for four years.

There were no stability issues.

I would give technical support and rating of 8/10. Most of the time support is with foreign staff and can be hard to understand.

We have not used a different solution since I have been with the company.

The initial setup was somewhat complex. The interface can be a little hard to get used to and understand.

It is not cheap, but it is probably one of the best secure firewalls. You get what you pay for!

Shop around and make sure you need this level of security. Have lots of time to get to know this device because the rewards are plenty.

Easy to use GUI
VPN (Site-to-Site and Client-to-Site)
Gateway Security
Built in A/V options
Content Filtering

The site-to-site VPN allows for consistent communication between sites.

Upgrading the OS is easy and they alert you when an upgrade is available.

Content filtering and gateway security has help reduce visiting unwanted websites and attacks.

Logging helps track down issues bandwidth hogs.

I would love to see a more detailed logs and filtering.

Wireless versions have week signal strength in comparison to other wireless routers.

5 years

Absolutely no issues with stability. I try to reboot them every 6 months to a year for good measure, but not because I have to.

Most of the TZ series are for small to mid size office. I would not recommend these for large to enterprise solutions. I do use one currently for a small community school of 250 students with no issues.

I have not worked with their customer service.

Excellent customer service. Very knowledgeable.

This has been a great solution and have never bothered trying anything else. I do have a few Cisco ASA installs, however the cost is a bit higher and more complex to implement.

Setup is quite straight forward. There are some deeper more complex setups that can be implemented. These more complex setups can be achieved through their support or a quick google search.

I personally implemented the solution.

I like to think that the TZ series has the best bang for the buck. Full of features and options that you need to control security with out breaking the bank. Perfect solution for smaller businesses.

Sonic Wall has an a la carte pricing model. There are many features and options that you may not need or want and therefore no need to pay for them

The only problem with this model is that it does now use a yearly subscription model. Although the router itself may be less expensive than other competitors, you may spend more in subscriptions.

Product support will require a yearly maintenance.

I only work with SonicWALL TZ and Cisco ASA.

Sonic Wall OS is very easy to use but still has all the options and features you need to implement your security.

Easy to configure. Good for any organization.

Always saves time for any implementation. IT guys never have lots of time for R&D in some live box.

Content filtering, Load balancing. Bandwidth management.

5 years.

Never.

Once.

No issues.

7/10

9/10

Technical support and it wasn't fit for our organization.

Never, it's so easy.

Fortigate

The MSSP partnership program is valuable, but is still too expensive. The devices are not as good as others, but the price and business model are attractive.

We were focused on traditional service provider model, so if one customer ask us to implement an NGFW, we look for the best solution for the client within the market. After getting in contact with Dell Spain, they proposed us to become MSP partner, so we consider to improve our business model to MSSP model.

Support is not as good as should be. An NGFW is supposed to use all the functions, so they must be considered as a must. If you switch on all of them, the system is working under the spected figures...

I have done a benchmark for around two months. The 500 is still working after benchmarking. We were looking for a solution for a law firm to be able to communicate in a safer mode.

The figures are not valid when you active all the functionalities. So, an office with only 15 workstations is not able to work with a TZ500, which is supposed to be for up to 40 workstations.

They are stable if you are not very demanding, if so, they become unstable.

I don't think they are designed to scale, but I haven't tested it.

6/10 - they are not providing the same support level as before.

I haven't used it, but they have contacted me several times to offer their help.

I was looking for the best solution for my customer and I found a better one after implementing SonicWALL. I have been a user, administrator and certified architect of Cisco, Checkpoint, StoneSoft, Fortinet, Sophos, Juniper, and most of them are focused for massive environments, not for SMEs.

It was straightforward, but I had to make a few changes to adapt it. However, every installation is different so, you need to adapt.

It was an in-house implementation.

I didn't choose this product.

Consider Sophos solution or maybe Fortinet if you don't need the Sophos extra features.

The affordability.

It's provided security and a VPN connection.

GUI configurations and menus are not intuitive, thus making it difficult to identify dependent configurations completion.

I've used it for two years.

In most cases no issues, except a few times when the External Interface would not take a public dynamic IP address.

There were some issues, when the firewall would work for six months straight, and then cause VPN slowness, which was resolved right after a reboot. Not many companies allow themselves to have such downtime.

No issues encountered.

Service is great.

Service is great.

We previously used a mix of WatchGuard and Cisco firewalls. We switched because Dell offered an affordable, stable, flexible option that is easier to deploy and configure.

• All feautures related to deep packet inspection (IPS, application control, anti-malware, anti-spyware)
• Single Sign On
• Web content filter
• VPN

We sell the product, and we have a lot of business for it, and our customers are happy with the solution.

• Advance malware analysis (sandbox)
• Reporting

I've been using the NSA, E-Class and Supermassive models over the last 12 years.

If it's planned correctly, there will be no problems.

Sometimes there are issues.

No issues encountered.

It's good.

It's medium.

We previously used CheckPoint and switched because it was expensive.

It was straightforward.

We are a vendor team.

It normally comes within eight months for us.

• The management GUI is easy to configure, friendly to use, manage, and troubleshoot
• IPSec/SSL VPN is easy to configure
• It offers granular level of control for IPS and firewalls with advanced application control features
• You have one console to manage different aspect of the product
• It provides a high level of security
• It is easy to integrate into an existing network
• It provides a high level of throughput

• The DPI SSL Inspection needs a lot of improvements
• Dell SonicWALL doesn’t offer virtual UTM models which is a very fast growing area in the world

I've used it for three years.

No issues encountered.

The firewall does crash and/or unexpectedly reboots.

Generally speaking no, but sizing correctly is main challenge, and that is why you need to make sure you select the right model.

The hold time is very long, and they need to hire more people to handle the huge number of incoming calls.

Dell SonicWALL tech support is excellent, and they meet the evolving needs of their clients.

I had a chance to work with Fortinet and Netasq. and am also currently exploring CheckPoint. It was a part of my job when I joined different companies, and each with had partnership with these products.

Most of the deployments were straightforward, whether as a standalone unit or as part of an HA setup.

It was an in-house team who consulted with the vendor for complex installations.

It delivers an immediate ROI with a low cost of managing and maintaining multiple security solutions, it increases productivity, and improves security.

No other options were evaluated.

Dell SonicWALL UTM is strong in the UTM space with great support. They continue to innovate and deliver a solid UTM product with high throughput speed. Added to this, Dell partners are pleased with their SonicWALL partnership as well as the products features and excellent support.