#1 most frequent
United States of America
35.0%7 installations of 20
What is WatchGuard XTM - Discontinued Product?
WatchGuard XTM is a firewall option, from WatchGuard Technologies.
Categories & Use Cases
Top Performing Features
Identification Technologies
Policy-based visibility and control over applications, users and content
Category average: 8.3
Content Inspection
Inspecting permitted application traffic by means of threat prevention, URL filtering and data filtering
Category average: 8.4
Policy-based Controls
Firewall policy controls enable administrators to create firewall policies controlling what data is allowed to traverse the firewall
Category average: 8.6
Areas for Improvement
Reporting and Logging
Custom and summary reports, and log files enabling analysis of security incidents, application usage and traffic patterns
Category average: 7.5
Stateful Inspection
Stateful inspection analyzes packet headers and contents of packets
Category average: 8.4
Proxy Server
A proxy server changes your IP address and masks the origin of your network traffic
Category average: 8
Who Buys & Uses WatchGuard XTM - Discontinued Product
#2 most frequent
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
15.0%3 installations of 20
#3 most frequent
Canada
10.0%2 installations of 20
Sad to See it Go
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
The XTMs I've had experience working with have been amazing, they are by far the easiest firewalls to set up/configure and are so much nicer to navigate than their competition. The new FireBox models are even better with more features and configurations. This makes it an easy recommendation over other companies.
Pros
- User Interface
- Reliability
- Support
Cons
- Obviously discontinued
- Difficult to replace without upgrading
- Security bundle is a yearly commitment
Return on Investment
- Easy to set up and connect firewalls
- Easy to set up branch tunnels
- Less time spent training
Alternatives Considered
SonicWall E10000 Series
Other Software Used
WatchGuard AuthPoint
WatchGuard XTM Firewall
Pros
- Proxy filter.
- Link redundancy.
- Security.
Cons
- Antispam.
- Data loss prevention.
Return on Investment
- Stability.
- Safety.
- User control.
- Bandwidth management.
Alternatives Considered
WatchGuard XTM - Discontinued Product
Other Software Used
Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series, Cisco ASA
Best offering in its price point
Pros
- GUI configuration.
- Security features for the price point.
- Consolidates management of VPN tunnels.
Cons
- Support can be hard to work with. While they are typically knowledgeable, there can be a language barrier. Also, most troubleshooting seems intrusive which is a problem in a production environment.
- The throughput of the cheaper models leaves something to be desired.
- Have had some issues running VOIP behind these, but have not been able to narrow down the issues to the phone provider or WatchGuard yet.
Return on Investment
- Great value per dollar
- Easy rule management
- Simplifies management of remote boxes
Other Software Used
Windows Server, Dell PowerEdge R, VMware ESXi
My favorite firewall
Pros
- WatchGuard XTM has a great GUI. It makes policy creation much easier, as well as setting up all the other features included in the WatchGuard. You can use the web interface or install an application to do the same.
- WatchGuard XTM allows you to integrate Active Directory accounts in policy creation. We can apply policies and web control to specific users or groups. For instance, our HR department can view job search sites to recruit, but everyone else is blocked from searching for jobs. Another example is that our IT department can download specific types of files that other users cannot. It makes life much easier.
- The policies are very flexible. Not only can you set policies for specific people or groups, you can set schedules. You can create a lunch hour or weekend policy that is different from normal working hours.
- You do not have to install anything on user workstations to authenticate with the WatchGuard. You can choose to install a client, but it is not required. It is a feature called Single Sign-On. With a small IT department, anything that reduces workload is welcome!
- Our XTM has run for several years and I can't remember having a hardware issue. We have to remember that we need to restart it every now and then. It just runs and runs with no problems.
Cons
- Although Watchguard XTM has a wonderful Single Sign-On (SSO) feature that integrates with Active Directory eliminating the need for client installs on workstations, I've noticed it is not always accurate. It is supposed to send the user information as soon as the user logs on, but I've see it keep a previous user's account attached to a workstation even after someone else has signed on. It has not been a major problem, but sometimes a user should have a specific policy, but a different policy is applied because it didn't register that the user changed on that workstation. I actually think it has something to do with DHCP. It ties the user with the IP address. When the IP address changes on a workstation, I've seen it move the user login with it. SSO is a wonderful feature, but it can be improved.
- WatchGuard XTM doesn't keep the best audit logs. It's difficult to tell what changes were made. We have to keep a manual log to record changes.
- Unlike other companies, I am not informed when there are updates to apply. I have to remember to check the site to see if there are newer versions of firmware, or software. There may be an email list I can join, but I haven't seen it.
Return on Investment
- The cost and maintenance renewals WatchGuard XTM are much MUCH lower than the leading firewall brand. When we switched we had an ROI within the second year.
Other Software Used
Lenovo BladeCenter Blade Servers
WatchGuard Rocks
Pros
- They are simple to set up and configure. With just a few months of experience you can easily deploy any series of XTM in mid to small environments in minutes. I can deploy clustered M5600 in an enterprise within 30 minutes straight from the box, that's easy.
- They are very reasonably priced and competitive in the market. For small and mid-sized businesses it's hard to beat the bang for the buck.
- After setting them up, it's also very easy to fine tune and manage them. The packet monitor is very useful in troubleshooting and I use it to tighten down rule sets.
- Dimension is a great packet analyzer and I think they still offer it as a free tool.
Cons
- The UTM package has caused me some issues in the past, specifically IPS and AV at the edge. In my experience when AV at the edge is unable to sync with its third party database the rule fails and will block all traffic by default.
- Some of the default global settings can cause issues. One common one is SYN packet not returning ACK. Turning off this setting will allow packets that don't complete the 3-way handshake to pass. Not the most ideal solution.
- An area that I think could be improved is in application awareness. The only firewall that can do true layer 7 policying is PaloAlto firewalls, that I'm aware of. I think firewalls need to start moving to that and this is an area WatchGuard could add and improve.
Return on Investment
- Simplicity and low overhead provide ROI for IT.
- Low cost in comparison to other vendors in the space.
- Flexibility and features provide ROI when it meets business needs, policies and security.
Other Software Used
VMware ESXi, PRTG Network Monitor, Windows Server, Barracuda Backup, Barracuda Web Filter