What is our primary use case?
Our company only has a small five-person team working with Wazuh. We wanted a log management solution that we could deploy onto our cloud, so we deployed Wazuh on Kubernetes and integrated different log sources into a centralized logging solution.
The second use case is log searching. We wanted a usable integrated search, and Wazuh a good search integrated usable. Wazuh has support for Elasticsearch, which provides searching capabilities. Cost-effectiveness was important for us, and Wazuh is a top open source solution.
What is most valuable?
Wazuh's logging features integrate seamlessly with AWS cloud-native services. There are also Wazuh agent configurations for different use cases, like vulnerability scanning, host-based intrusion detection, and file integrity monitoring.
What needs improvement?
Scalability is a constraint in the on-prem version of Wazuh in terms of the volume of logs we can manage. There are some minor glitches, but that's part of every tool, and they usually get addressed in subsequent updates.
I would like to see more Kubernetes security and log integrations. That will be one of the good things. Wazuh supports AWS or GCP cloud-native service integration, but it would be great if they added support for Kubernetes security and AWS or Azure-managed Kubernetes solutions.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used Wazuh for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Wazuh is pretty stable. There are no major issues, but sometimes we face minor glitches. It's open source, so we can't expect every bug to be documented. We discover some new issues from time to time, but that's part of using an open-source solution. You pay for a licensed product or you deal with minor problems in open source.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Wazuh's scalability has room for improvement.
How are customer service and support?
We paid for technical support, but they do have a robust community and Slack channels and all that stuff. You can find most of the answers you need in the community groups or forums. I rate Wazuh support eight out of 10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I worked with Splunk, Curator, ArcSight, and some legacy solutions that no longer exist. They became obsolete or transitioned to a different product. Cost-effectiveness was one reason we switched. We had to decide whether to spend $500,000 on a commercial product or rely on our skills to deploy an open-source solution.
The big difference between Wazuh and other solutions is maturity and customization. Wazuh's scalability and out-of-the-box functionality are slightly lagging behind, but Wazuh has improved a lot since the first time we saw it. Others have more search capabilities, whereas Wazuh depends on Elasticsearch. Searching is a bit slower in Wazuh.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the Wazuh setup experience nine out of 10. The basic setup was straightforward, but our deployment was slightly complex because we did a lot of customization. It took us a week to deploy and fine-tune the initial setups. After deployment, the only maintenance task is rotating particular logs. If we don't rotate it correctly, the log storage runs out and services stop.
What about the implementation team?
Wazuh is open-source, so we didn't have a support person or any professional services to help us. Fortunately, the documentation is excellent, and they have good community support as well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Wazuh is an open-source solution, so the only expenses are Elasticsearch and log storage costs. Log storage costs no more than $20,000 to $30,000 annually. It's around $3,000 a month. It's all money in the bank. We don't have to spend anything except for resources.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Wazuh nine out of 10. It's a powerful tool, and you can do lots of things with it. Wazuh is a good choice if you're on a tight budget, but you need to have an enterprise-level SIEM deployment.
If someone doesn't know how to manage large-scale log management solutions, you should start small and grow your experience. You can start with Wazuh and switch to an enterprise solution once you start scaling up.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.