Item: SonicWall NSA Series
Rating: 8
Author: Kenny McGarrity

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The SonicWall NSA Series provides firewall protection at each of our branch locations. The NSA series specifically has the hardware power to acommodate the number of active connections we have at each branch. Combined with the comprehensive gateway security license, SonicWall NSA provides a solid first line of defense of whatever bad stuff our users may try to download.

Pros and Cons

Relatively inexpensive compared to some of the higher-end products, like Palo Alto Networks.
Easy to set up, as the SonicWall NSA interface is consistent across all models.

The logging interface is voluminous and difficult to get quick and good information from.
SonicWall NSA is trying to mimic Palo Alto Network's investigative features but falls far behind.

Return on Investment

Easy purchase for each branch we spin up.
Quick deployment time which doesn't require an outside vendor to install.

Alternatives Considered

WatchGuard Network Security, Check Point 12000 Appliances and Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series

SonicWall NSA series interface is way better than either Watchguard or Checkpoint. Even though people want to dismiss SonicWall NSA, they have the advanced features of its competitors, but with the easy interface. With all things being equal, I consider Palo Alto Networks to be the most preferred enterprise firewall, with SonicWall NSA being second and the rest trailing far behind.

Support Rating

Most of the time, calling SonicWall NSA Support, you get an expert who can help resolve your issues. RMAs are pretty easy once they determine there is an issue with the hardware. Support is available 24x7, which makes emergency calls easy. The only downside is the support engineers may have thick accents; however, their expertise more than makes up for any language barriers.

Key Insights

Do you think SonicWall NSA Series delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SonicWall NSA Series's feature set?

Yes

Did SonicWall NSA Series live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SonicWall NSA Series go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SonicWall NSA Series again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

SonicWall NSA is an excellent mid-range firewall suitable for branch office locations that expect a lot of network traffic. The higher-end NSA can take the bandwidth requirements of thousands of users while using Deep Packet Inspection and Antivirus features. We currently have SonicWall NSA deployed in a high availability mode configuration, and amazingly can failover to the backup hardware without dropping VPN connections. SonicWall NSA series is not recommended for companies who integrate VPNs with Cisco devices, as I've had difficulties with the VPN staying up.

SonicWall NSA is an enterprise firewall worth trusting!

Overall Satisfaction with SonicWall NSA Series