Item: WatchGuard Network Security
Rating: 9
Author: Steve Davis

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Watchguard was used as a firewall appliance for our small to medium businesses we provided consulting services for. It was used at the edge of the network to provide basic and next-gen firewall services. We deployed Watchguard at our own offices, as well as our datacenter and in our customer networks.

Pros and Cons

Easy to deploy. Does not require specific CLI knowledge to implement.
Traffic analyzer tools.

policy based routing with dual WAN can require some fine tuning
more in depth CLI for troubleshooting would be a nice to have for when its needed

Return on Investment

ROI is always great as you can get a WatchGuard for a much more reasonable price than competitors.
Using WatchGuard as our endpoints allowed for greater mobility with SSL, IPSec VPNs.

WatchGuard Network Security Partner

Diamond Technologies is a Watchguard Network Security partner and who I worked for. As an implementer all of our customers were happy with the cost of the appliance, the implementation of the solution, and the features with which they obtained. All of my clients were satisfied knowing their network was protected by a quality firewall.

Usability

The overall usability gets a good rating as the WatchGuard firewalls are fairly easy to deploy. One does not have to have knowledge of their CLI structure to deploy it which makes it easier for a wider range of people. I would prefer to have a more in-depth CLI myself, however, the lack of requirement to use it for deployment, in my opinion, makes the usability easier for more people.

Implementation Rating

The majority of all implementations went really well and without any major headaches. Some of the more advanced deployments take a little time and care to get the configuration just right. The example I was thinking of was dual-WAN failover with SIP trunks. Setting up the policy-based routing, failover config to make sure each SIP trunk every time went out the specific WAN interface takes a little extra configuration but works really well once all is said and done.

WatchGuard Network Security Packaging and Licensing

The single appliance makes network protection easy to deploy and implement. Many companies don't have a full time IT staff, so simplifying the product stack and making it easy for companies to purchase, implement, and maintain is a benefit to many.

Alternatives Considered

SonicWall NSA Series and Cisco ASA

I find Watchguard much easier to deploy and maintain than Sonicwall devices. I find they offer a comparable range of products and features, however, I liked the deployment process of Watchguards much more. The Cisco ASA is a great firewall as well, however, can require more in-depth knowledge to deploy. Watchguard dual WAN functionality is better than the ASA as well which requires routers outside of the ASA to maintain a true dual WAN setup.

Likelihood to Recommend

WatchGuard has a ton of features for a very reasonable price. We utilized it as a simple edge firewall, but also in a more complex environment with dual WAN, policy-based routing, SIP gateway, next-gen features, etc. You would pay a lot more money with some other providers for similar features.

WatchGuard - Protecting your network doesn't need to break the bank.

Overall Satisfaction with WatchGuard Network Security