SonicWall NSv Reviews

I usually use SonicWall NSv for the primary security perspective, including hybrid and multi-cloud security gateway, micro-segmentation, and east-west traffic control. I also use it to secure SD-WAN and virtualized branches, as well as for regulatory compliance and auditability.

I can give you an example for micro-segmentation and traffic control from my previous company. Imagine you have a standard three-tier web application hosted within a single virtual private cloud in AWS or Azure. Before SonicWall NSv segmentation, there is a risk because these three tiers often exist in the same flat virtual network and are separated only by basic security groups. Any successful attack, such as a zero-day exploit, would grant the web tier direct access for the attacker to gain a foothold inside the network because the security groups may only enforce simple port rules, such as allowing the app tier to talk to the database tier on port 1430.

In the solution, SonicWall NSv serves as a network segmentation gateway that can be deployed between these tiers. For example, SonicWall NSv can be deployed as a zoning and policy enforcement gateway with east-west security. By forcing all intra-cloud traffic to east-west to traverse SonicWall NSv, we gain full visibility. We can inspect the encrypted traffic using DPI-SSL between our own servers, and we can check attack containment. If the web tier is compromised, the attacker is immediately blocked by SonicWall NSv IPS signatures, and we maintain regulatory compliance.

Previously, I worked with a company where we had clients from the financial sector. We used a simple illustration about Innova Financial, a medium to large financial service company that is subject to regulations like PCI DSS. They used SonicWall NSv to secure their mission-critical cloud platform in Microsoft Azure.

SonicWall NSv offers great features. I cannot pinpoint a single best feature, but the best feature is the ability to deliver the full, high-efficiency inspection power of a physical SonicWall, including zero-day defense using Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection to the cloud, efficiently removing the performance versus cloud trade-off typically associated with virtual firewalls.

Regarding deep memory inspection and real-time zero-day defense in SonicWall NSv, deep memory inspection is distinct from traditional sandboxing methods because it is focused on what is happening in the memory during file execution time, rather than just observing file system behavior. The deep memory inspection process addresses all challenges by employing a proprietary technique within the secure analysis environment, focusing on CPU-level analysis and real-time verdict. Those are the key points.

SonicWall NSv's user interface is quite clear and easy to navigate. If someone has not worked with SonicWall and this is their first experience with the platform, I would highly recommend it. It is very easy to navigate and very user-friendly.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted our organization because we gained clear visibility into our network, and it helps to identify potential security issues that we had. We were able to remediate those issues, and so far, we have had a great experience with SonicWall NSv. We were able to manage approximately 99% of network-based attacks through this platform.

From my perspective, SonicWall NSv currently works very well, but I believe it would be better if you could integrate SonicWall NSv UI with AI. Every platform is now integrating with AI, at least in collaboration. If you can add more AI features to SonicWall NSv, such as recommendations, that would be great.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for almost one year when I worked with the previous company.

So far, we have not had any downtime or reliability issues with SonicWall NSv. We are getting great performance from SonicWall NSv. If we have any concerns with our platform, we are always contacting the support team, and the support team is also great. We are getting a response in a very quick time. I am very happy with the current experience.

SonicWall NSv's scalability is highly efficient because it is tied directly to the underlying virtual infrastructure and offers a pay-as-you-grow model. As a cybersecurity professional, I would assess its scalability as excellent for both vertical scaling and horizontal scaling with specific cloud limitations. It has met our organization's needs by allowing us to scale our security posture consistently with our cloud compute growth, increased traffic and user areas, new cloud regions, and policy complexity growth. In the growth area, I performed a vertical upgrade from NSv 470 to NSv 870 license upgrade, and also deployed new active and passive SonicWall NSv pairs instantly using marketplace imaging.

Customer support for SonicWall NSv is super good. If we have any issues or any doubts, they are resolved in a very quick time. That is another good thing that we noticed in SonicWall because other platforms take even days to resolve or reach out, but SonicWall NSv customer support is very good and has met our expectations.

I would rate the customer support of SonicWall NSv a nine.

Positive

Before SonicWall NSv, we used other solutions including Cisco Secure Firewall and FortiGate. The reason we switched to SonicWall NSv was based on our requirements for our infrastructure, policy management, and performance. Comparing with Cisco, SonicWall NSv is very user-friendly and very helpful to manage policies, and it has very good threat efficiency. For example, in threat efficiency, it is highly rated, especially in zero-day threats, Capture ATP, and Deep Memory Inspection. SonicWall NSv's performance is reliable but can be limited by single-stream CPU usage when DPI-SSL is enabled, but in most cases, it is a great experience. The user interface experience is also superior, which is the reason we made the switch.

The deployment process of SonicWall NSv depends on the metrics that fall into three main categories: security efficiency, operational efficiency, and performance. In security efficiency, it helps with blocking lateral movements, DPI and SSL threat detection, and zero-day block rate. When it comes to operational efficiency metrics, it helped deploy policy time, incident mean time to resolution, and deployment speed. For performance and resiliency metrics, I would mention CPU and memory utilization, latency added, and threat prevention throughput.

After deploying SonicWall NSv, I have seen a return on investment because it helps to save our time a lot. Previously, we had other monitoring methods to monitor network traffic, and it took a very long time. Based on SonicWall NSv, it helped us to easily navigate through everything and get done what we needed in a very quick manner. Additionally, with a low number of employees because it is very easy to navigate and everything is connected, anyone can easily navigate through the platform. It is a very user-friendly platform. If you are trained under SonicWall NSv, you will be able to handle most of the tasks. Therefore, it will definitely help to reduce the time and headcount as well.

We checked other options, including Palo Alto, before choosing SonicWall NSv. We checked the target market, and Palo Alto is for large enterprise compared to SonicWall NSv. The core differentiators are that Palo Alto offers Application-ID visibility. Additionally, deployment speed is a main concern because Palo Alto takes quite some time to deploy, but SonicWall NSv is very fast for existing SonicWall NSv users. That is an interesting difference. As mentioned, threat efficiency and performance were also factors in our decision.

Based on my experience in cybersecurity, the best advice I can offer to others looking into SonicWall NSv is to focus less on the firewall features and more on the architectural planning and the license alignment with your cloud strategy. Some key points would be to master the cloud routing first, then over-allocate the resources for deep inspection, and license smartly, considering BYOL versus PAYG options, and also create a migration plan. Those are the points I have to give for others who are looking to switch to SonicWall NSv. I would rate this review a nine overall.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

My main use case for SonicWall NSv involves the typical configuration for port shield configuration with HA mode. The implementation was very difficult for me, and I faced issues related to port shield configuration in HA. I am working on the implementation part and have completed multiple projects of SonicWall 2700, 4700, 4300, and multiple firewalls including 2300, 2700, and seventh generation firewalls. Additionally, I am also working on SonicWall NSM.

Currently, my main use case involves configuring the Azure integration for multiple users and customers. Configuring Azure integration is a good approach that allows us to implement with Azure AD.

In my experience, the best feature SonicWall NSv offers is its stateful HA, which functions without any impact, ensuring a zero impact failover. This is an excellent feature in SonicWall NSv, and the management of security services is also very easy, which helps in capturing threats and unknown malware.

The stateful feature helps me on a daily basis, especially in critical environments, as customers do not need to experience any downtime during the failover. If any hardware fails, it can continue to work with zero impact failover.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted my organization, particularly because we need to configure multiple policies for internet access or NAT and port forwarding. Configuring different policies is required, and we can see multiple options on a single page. After making changes, I have not encountered any issues; everything was working very well.

While I have not encountered significant challenges, during the configuration part, I noticed that some features, such as user-based policy for web filtering, are not available in SonicWall NSv compared to other firewalls. For dedicated users, we cannot allow a particular website category in a single policy, which is available in Sophos.

I find the features of SonicWall NSv similar to other firewalls, but I believe that application-based QoS policy is very important given the current environment. This feature should be available for application QoS as well in this firewall.

For implementation, I suggest that having a single page to view multiple options would enhance SonicWall NSv. Additionally, the report and logging part is challenging since identifying blocked websites based solely on default logging is quite difficult. Improved logging and reporting capabilities should be available on-box, including at least seven days of reporting and logs.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for the last three to four years.

In my experience, SonicWall NSv is quite stable when deployed on-premises, and there is no significant impact on the server. We have conducted multiple labs within our organization for testing as well.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate SonicWall NSv a nine. It offers very good features, and it is stable compared to other OEMs. For example, I can compare it to Sophos, which has experienced some hardware issues. SonicWall NSv is a robust appliance that has not failed during my five to six years of working with it, as I have not had to initiate an RMA for SonicWall.

SonicWall NSv software is very scalable, comparable to other OEMs. In comparison to Sophos, SonicWall has its proprietary OS, SonicOS, which enhances its scalability.

Customer support for SonicWall NSv is very good. Whenever I create a case regarding any issue, their support is prompt and effective, adhering to the SLA, which leaves our customers very satisfied.

Positive

I sometimes receive calls from our customers regarding issues such as firewall login failures due to firmware problems. We recovered from a firmware crash by logging in safe mode, performing OS upgrades, and reinstalling firmware, which solved the issue. This is the main outcome we have received from customers, and generally, everything works fine with the solution; it is indeed a very good solution compared to other OEMs.

As of now, nothing specific comes to mind that I can propose as add-on features for SonicWall NSv. If I receive any responses or suggestions from customers, I will certainly raise a feature request to SonicWall.

I chose a rating of nine out of ten for SonicWall NSv instead of a perfect ten because Palo Alto and Cisco firewalls excel in threat detection and analysis, which SonicWall NSv can improve. SonicWall NSv does a good job, but some threats that are captured successfully by Palo Alto and Cisco are sometimes missed in SonicWall NSv.

For anyone considering SonicWall NSv, if a customer does not want to install any hardware in their on-premises network, recommending SonicWall NSv is a good option. Most customers are using on-premises servers such as VMware or Hyper-V, making it a cost-effective choice.

From my end, I have shared all that I can for now. If I receive any further responses from customers or if any questions arise, I will ensure to suggest ideas and inquiries to our contact at SonicWall SE, with whom we are already in touch. My overall review rating for SonicWall NSv is nine out of ten.

On-premises

Microsoft Azure

SonicWall NSv serves as a parameter and segmentation firewall in a cloud-hosted environment, primarily to secure application workloads and connect on-premises users to cloud resources. I primarily use it to protect a cloud-hosted application server and manage site-to-site VPNs, enforcing east-west traffic segmentation between application tiers.

Some of the best features about SonicWall NSv include its flexible virtual firewall deployment, allowing for deployment in cloud platforms like Azure and AWS, or virtual infrastructures such as VMware and Hyper-V, all while maintaining the same SonicWall policy model. Additionally, it has strong VPN capabilities that provide reliable site-to-site and remote access virtual private networks with stable tunnel performance, complemented by the Threat Prevention Suite, which integrates IPS, Gateway Antivirus, Anti-Spyware, Application Control, and Content Filtering for real-time inspections.

Another strong point is the policy familiarity due to maintaining the same rule-based structure as SonicWall physical firewalls, avoiding the need to relearn basics. Scalability in the cloud allows me to scale SonicWall NSv by choosing the proper VM size or cloud configuration that fits workload and throughput needs, while it also supports segmentation and multi-tier security with centralized logging that works well with external SIEMs for deeper visibility.

SonicWall NSv has had a positive impact mainly in terms of security consistency and operational efficiency, allowing me to extend the same firewall policy and VPN standard I already use on-premises into the cloud without redesigning everything from scratch. A clear benefit has been secure cloud adoption, enabling me to move application workloads to the cloud while maintaining strict access control and encrypted connectivity with on-premises systems, reducing public exposure of internal services and improving overall security posture. Day-to-day management has become easier because the policy model and VPN handling are familiar, facilitating faster troubleshooting and less risky adjustments. I have already seen stable VPN connectivity and predictable performance, which has decreased connectivity-related incidents.

SonicWall NSv has helped me to secure cloud workloads faster, maintain consistent security controls, and reduce operational overhead without needing a completely new firewall platform.

One feature that really stands out is the consistency between SonicWall NSv and the physical SonicWall firewalls, making it feel familiar for those already acquainted with SonicWall, which reduces operational effort and mistakes. The reliability of VPN stability and policy handling is evident once the initial setup is complete; however, on the improvement side, reporting and visibility could be better since built-in reports are basic, necessitating an external logging or SIEM solution for deeper traffic analysis or compliance.

Moreover, the initial cloud deployment and routing design can be challenging without a well-experienced team in cloud networking. SonicWall NSv is strong for security and day-to-day operation, but it would benefit from more advanced native reporting and smoother cloud onboarding.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for around 2.5 to three years in a production environment, primarily in a virtual and cloud setup like Azure and VMware, which includes site-to-site VPNs, remote access, security policies, and day-to-day operations such as rule changes, monitoring, and upgrades.

I had to scale SonicWall NSv up as the cloud workloads grew, mainly due to increased VPN users and higher application traffic, with scaling being accomplished by resizing the virtual machine and allocating more CPUs and memory instead of redeploying the firewall. The process itself was smooth and predictable; after a planned maintenance window and reboot, SonicWall NSv picked up the additional resources without any configuration changes. I did not need to scale down often, but when tested, the process was similar and straightforward.

Properly sizing and aligning licensing is crucial so that the firewall can utilize the added resources. Cloud scalability with SonicWall NSv has worked well and is much easier compared to the physical firewall, though it still requires good planning to avoid performance bottlenecks during peak traffic.

The main challenge lies during the initial deployment and troubleshooting in cloud environments, where routing and network integration need careful planning, and for deeper visibility, logs usually need to be sent to an external logging or SIEM solution. Once deployed correctly, SonicWall NSv is low maintenance for VPN and segmentation tasks.

Since deploying SonicWall NSv, I have seen measurable improvements in both operational efficiency and security, with VPN-related incidents dropping by roughly 25 to 30% due to the stability and ease of monitoring of tunnels. Routine tasks such as adding VPN peers or modifying security rules now take 30 to 40% less time because of the consistent policy structure and troubleshooting workflow aligned with physical SonicWall firewalls. In terms of cost, using SonicWall NSv in the cloud has allowed me to avoid purchasing additional physical firewall appliances, while scaling via VM size has proven more cost-effective than hardware refresh cycles, leading to reduced overall infrastructure and firewall expansion costs.

SonicWall NSv delivers solid security and operational gains, yet enhanced reporting and simpler cloud onboarding would strengthen its value further.

If you are planning to use SonicWall NSv, the main advice is to carefully plan the cloud network design before deployment, as most issues later arise from cloud networking rather than the firewall itself. It is essential to size the VM correctly from the beginning, especially if you expect high VPN usage and heavy traffic, because undersizing can lead to performance issues that may resemble firewall problems.

For those already acquainted with SonicWall physical firewalls, managing SonicWall NSv will feel familiar. Also, plan for external logging or a SIEM if you need deep visibility, as built-in reporting is limited.

SonicWall NSv works best for hybrid and cloud environments where strong security is required without needing to transition to a completely new firewall platform. SonicWall NSv delivers solid security and operational gains, yet enhanced reporting and simpler cloud onboarding would strengthen its value further. I rate this solution an 8 out of 10.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

The main use case for SonicWall NSv is to secure virtual and cloud-based infrastructure by providing centralized firewall security, including VPN access and traffic inspections.

In one of our environments, we had multiple applications running in VMware and cloud VMs for internal users and external clients. We use SonicWall NSv as a virtual perimeter firewall between the internet and the application servers.

Our implementation involved deploying NSv on VMware Cloud as virtual appliances, positioned between the WAN and internal server network.

The best features with SonicWall NSv, based on my experience over several years, include next-generation firewall capabilities including stateful inspection and deep packet inspections. Advanced threat blocking at the perimeters is better than basic L3 and L4 firewalls.

IPS detects and blocks exploit attempts, protects virtualized workloads against known vulnerabilities, and helps reduce lateral movement inside networks.

Gateway antivirus and anti-malware scan traffic in real-time, blocking malware and ransomware before they reach servers or endpoints. It works across HTTP and HTTPS traffic with SSL inspections.

Among all of these features, the one I rely on the most in my day-to-day work is Deep Packet Inspections with IPS in SonicWall NSv. In our environment, most applications and users access services over the internet and cloud platform, so we are constantly exposed to external threats. With DPI and IPS enabled, it inspects traffic in real-time at the application and content level, not just at the port level. It detects and blocks attack exploits, including brute-force attacks and malware before they reach the server. It provides protection even when applications have unpatched or zero-day vulnerabilities.

The customer support for SonicWall NSv is outstanding, and the support from SonicWall is excellent.

Overall, SonicWall NSv is a strong and reliable virtual firewall, but based on my hands-on experience, there are a few areas where it can definitely be improved.

The first area is the management interface and usability. The management UI sometimes feels outdated and less intuitive compared to some newer firewall platforms. Navigating logs, policies, and monitoring screens can take extra time. Some advanced settings are not very easy to find.

This is the feedback I have regarding areas that need improvement by SonicWall.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for around three years as a part of my overall six years of IT experience.

SonicWall NSv has been stable and reliable based on my experience. It runs consistently without frequent crashes or unexpected reports.

Security policies and rules apply reliably across the virtual environment when deployed properly with the right resources. It handles traffic well, providing reliable perimeter security with minimal interruptions and few service disruptions related to the firewall itself.

SonicWall NSv's scalability is good, and it can handle growth and spikes in demand effectively when properly sized and configured.

Being a virtual appliance, it scales differently from physical firewalls. You can add more CPUs and RAM to increase throughput and processing capacity, and deploy multiple NSv instances in larger or segmented environments.

The customer support for SonicWall NSv is outstanding, and the support from SonicWall is excellent.

We have not used any other solution before SonicWall NSv. This is the first solution we are using, and we continue to use it.

We purchased SonicWall NSv through the Amazon Web Services Marketplace.

We have definitely seen a positive return on investment after implementing SonicWall NSv, mainly in terms of time savings, operational efficiency, and reduced security-related costs. Before NSv, we used to spend a lot of time and resources handling security incidents, malware cleaning, and emergency troubleshooting.

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of SonicWall NSv has been mostly positive, though there are a few areas that can be improved in licensing.

Pricing for SonicWall NSv is competitive and flexible, with a low initial setup cost due to its virtual nature. Licensing through AWS Marketplace simplified billing and deployment.

I do not think there are better options for this cost. I recommend SonicWall NSv as much better in this price range.

Based on my hands-on experience, here is the advice I would give to anyone considering SonicWall NSv. First, plan proper sizing from the start and do not underestimate resource requirements. Second, understand licensing and subscriptions clearly. Third, invest time in initial tuning for much better results. Also, monitor performance regularly. Finally, use high availability for critical systems.

Overall, my advice is to focus on proper sizing, clear licensing understanding, careful policy tuning, continuous monitoring, and high availability deployment. I would rate this product an eight out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

My main use case for SonicWall NSv is to secure connectivity between the virtual machines in ESXi and the cloud internet.

SonicWall NSv works for me day-to-day by allowing me to configure DPI that checks packets for malware, exploits, and some ransomware. I have also deployed the Application Control that works on Zoom and Microsoft Teams, which allows limits connectivity to these applications. Additionally, I have deployed cloud-native security that protects the VM containers and workloads, and I have connected a site-to-site VPN, enabling us to connect site users into the virtual machines through the site-to-site VPN.

Regarding my main use case for SonicWall NSv, initially we deployed the physical devices, SonicWall 200 firewalls, and in the physical environment, we were unable to move from cloud to protect this virtual machine. At the end of the day, SonicWall NSv helps us to validate this connectivity between the virtual machines compared to the physical hardware we were using before.

The best features SonicWall NSv offers include DPI, which inspects every traffic that comes into the virtual machines, and that is one of the most important features for me. Additionally, it has Advanced Threat Protection, flexibility in applying policies, and VPN and SSL VPN connectivity, which are the major features that I think are very good.

Advanced Threat Protection has made a difference for my environment by providing real-time, memory-deep inspection and a machine learning feature that is able to learn the way these devices behave and analyze them. The cloud delivery threat intelligence spots suspicious behavior in just a few seconds, stopping it before execution, automatically blocking and quarantining files. These features are very important, as well as the machine learning features that evaluate file system changes, help in changing the registry, and prevent network course process behavior. These key advantages are what I have observed in the few years of deployment.

I think the machine learning feature is very important because next-generation firewalls need that feature to help us review the latest trend of attacks, which are becoming more prevalent and smarter. Without the implementation of machine learning, preventing these threats on the network becomes very difficult, so I truly appreciate this feature.

SonicWall NSv has impacted my organization positively as I see a lot of threats being detected and blocked when I review the logs. The infusion of many signatures for the DPI helps me to review all the logs and identify the forms of attacks I am facing on a daily basis, such as more than 500 different brute force attacks trying to guess my admin password to breach the firewall. These logs really assist me in understanding the threats to specific factions of my organization and applying the relevant security policies to secure the entire network.

I believe SonicWall NSv is performing well overall, but I think it would be beneficial to have physical versions, such as the hardware of SonicWall NSv, for some environments that may not necessarily need to be connected to the cloud. I also think that there could be free tutorials or courses for engineers to learn more about these new firewall deployments and their use cases. If there are resources, sharing them online would be helpful to master the full capacities of the product.

The few points off I take relate to the understanding that there should always be improvement in every production environment. I believe there may be significant improvements that the application itself needs that I have not recognized or shared, and I trust that your team has the ability to enhance this further to compete better in the market.

I have been working in my current field for the past 14 years.

SonicWall NSv is stable so far.

SonicWall NSv's scalability is manageable; my environment does not have too many virtual machines, with fewer than 50, and not all powered on at the same time. We are able to upgrade devices and RAM without issues when it comes to how SonicWall NSv performs.

Customer support for SonicWall NSv is top-notch, and I have had positive experiences with their support team. I would rate the customer support a nine out of ten.

Positive

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been smooth; the support has been on point. Since I started using SonicWall NSv, their support has always been number one, making it easy to route calls to the right agents who support us without delay.

I previously used FortiGate, but I did not switch completely; some sections and departments are still on FortiGate while my virtual environment runs on SonicWall NSv.

We have considered several alternatives like FortiGate and Meraki, but I chose SonicWall NSv for the very good user experience, especially with customer support.

We evaluated other options including FortiGate, but what won us over was the sales representative and my past experiences. After assessing their latest features, especially the machine learning that makes work easier, we decided to go for SonicWall NSv instead of FortiGate.

I have not performed any specific evaluations on metrics, but I can say that SonicWall NSv makes my work easier compared to other firewalls on my network like FortiGate. Once the configuration is done, I can confidently expect it to work, rather than having to log into the firewall every time to update virus signatures manually. With automatic updates, it saves me work time, but I cannot provide specific numbers for that.

SonicWall NSv is deployed in my organization as a hybrid setup, with some on-premises components and a bit attached to our cloud environment.

My advice for others looking into using SonicWall NSv is that it is very good and designed to make the engineer's work much easier. You need 24/7 support and a solution that provides peace of mind regarding network protection and system security. I would recommend SonicWall NSv, especially since it supports all cloud deployments and easy scaling, even for on-premises setups. It is good for bandwidth and throughput for all hardware devices, and integrating into the cloud is straightforward. There are also flexible payment options, such as pay-as-you-go, which makes SonicWall NSv a great choice for engineers. I would give this product an overall rating of 7 out of 10.

Hybrid Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

SonicWall NSv is primarily used in cloud environments like Azure and AWS for partner connectivity. A specific example of how I use SonicWall NSv for partner connectivity in Azure or AWS involves working with a customer who has an Azure tenant with a Zscaler app connector installed. The customer wants to connect to their partner, so we build a site-to-site VPN to the partner from Azure SonicWall NSv and then build a tunnel. This is the main use case, and we definitely add some security rules as well.

SonicWall NSv offers several best features, including security profiles such as IPS protection and malware protection, as well as ease of use. The ease of use with SonicWall NSv is primarily due to the GUI look and feel, which is very user-friendly. This stands out because I work on many firewall products.

SonicWall NSv is more stable and less of a headache compared to Palo Alto because we did not have any issues. I can compare it to other vendors, and when we made some upgrades with another vendor, the policy that was applied was not really there. With another firewall vendor, the logs were not really showing. I did not face these kinds of issues with SonicWall NSv.

There is a feature called Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection in SonicWall NSv, which is basically ATP sandboxing by detecting and blocking zero-day threats. This is a good feature. I would say it is not a unique feature, but one of the best features that is available.

Regarding needed improvements for SonicWall NSv, if not in terms of features, then in terms of support, I think from the L1 level, if there were better skilled resources available right from L1, it would make the service better.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for two to three years.

SonicWall NSv was selected by our customer and was already in place, so I would not say that it has affected anything positively. However, I would say that SonicWall NSv has been stable and we did not have any headache or any bad experience with SonicWall NSv compared to other products, such as Palo Alto, because we had a tough time handling Palo Alto. SonicWall NSv is really stable.

I believe SonicWall NSv's scalability is good. On a scale of 10, I would rate it 7 or 8.

I would rate customer support for SonicWall NSv as 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Positive

SonicWall NSv was not purchased through the AWS marketplace because it was purchased by our customer, and we are managing it. I believe it was purchased through the marketplace itself. I did not look for a different solution for this purpose, but I have worked on Palo Alto, Cisco Firepower, and others. SonicWall NSv was provided by the customer, so I did not have any option to choose.

I do not have any metrics available regarding return on investment. I would say it was a stable infrastructure.

I do not get involved in the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for SonicWall NSv, as it was handled by the customer directly. In a general discussion, what I understand is that SonicWall NSv was a bit expensive for the subscription.

I would rate SonicWall NSv as an 8 out of 10. I chose an eight out of 10 for SonicWall NSv because there are some improvements to be done in the support, and I think the subscription is slightly expensive. These are the reasons why I gave 8 and why I did not give 10. My advice to others looking into using SonicWall NSv is that if you really need a stable solution, SonicWall NSv is better, but you should look at the cost. I do not recall other improvements SonicWall NSv needs at this time. My overall review rating for SonicWall NSv is 8.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

My main use case for SonicWall NSv is securing the cloud infrastructure, the endpoints, and implementing policies like content filtering and relevant services such as site-to-site VPNs; these are generic tasks that are expected from a normal physical firewall.

Recently, we built a site-to-site tunnel with one of our clients to securely access their applications, which serves as a specific example of how I use SonicWall NSv for one of these tasks.

SonicWall NSv offers features that are user-friendly; the options are easily available, and there is no need to drill down into a lot of menu bars to configure it. Support is great as well.

I find the support exceptional, as recently, while building that site-to-site tunnel, the support representative helped us address an issue even when the other party's firewall was not a SonicWall device, demonstrating a good level of expertise. He helped us configure a site-to-site tunnel from a SonicWall device to a non-SonicWall device, so his inputs were very valuable and really saved us a lot of time to configure the tunnel.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted my organization, as we have not seen any threat or any successful cyberattack; the positive aspect is that we also use SonicWall physical devices for our on-premise infrastructure, so the integration is excellent. Additionally, they have many features in terms of analytics; for example, if we want more information on ongoing threats, they have a tool where we can drill down to each and every packet and see what is incoming and what is outgoing.

I believe SonicWall NSv can be improved, as currently, they are rolling out Generation 7 models, and I am not sure if they are also working on Generation 8 and beyond. I faced a problem when migrating from an old Generation 6 firewall to a Generation 7 firewall, where I could not simply copy the configuration from one appliance to the other; I had to rebuild the entire policies, IP addressing, the rules, the NAT rules, the tunnels, and the VPN policies. I believe that if they have an interface that simplifies moving from an old generation to a new one, that would save significant time for the IT team's engineers and organizations as a whole.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for five years.

SonicWall NSv is stable.

SonicWall NSv's scalability is pretty impressive because even though NSv 270 is an entry model, it supports up to 500 users, which is a very good number for an SME like us.

The customer support for SonicWall NSv is pretty good.

Positive

We previously used a different solution; however, we were on SonicWall NSv but an older generation which was taken off the shelf by SonicWall, so we had to upgrade to a newer one.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been pretty much linear; it is not high, it is not low, and I found it on par with industry standards.

We have seen a return on investment because setting up the appliance, besides the configuration part, has been pretty straightforward; we have saved a lot of time, and when we say saved a lot of time, it also implies that lesser downtimes mean more productive time, which ultimately means more revenue.

We have seen a return on investment because setting up the appliance, besides the configuration part, has been pretty straightforward; we have saved a lot of time, and when we say saved a lot of time, it also implies that lesser downtimes mean more productive time, which ultimately means more revenue.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been pretty much linear; it is not high, it is not low, and I found it on par with industry standards.

Before choosing SonicWall NSv, we evaluated other options in terms of pricing; we looked at the pricing of Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Check Point, but they were very costly and out of our budget. We also have experience with SonicWall, so we trust the brand.

I would rate SonicWall NSv a 9 out of 10.

I choose a 9 because many times, whenever we try to reach support via phone call, we have to wait around 35 to 40 minutes; if SonicWall can reduce that time, then it would be a 10 out of 10 product.

I would advise others looking into using SonicWall NSv to have a proof of concept before buying the product; I find SonicWall NSv to be a useful and easy-to-use product, and the support is good. They offer an initial 15-day trial, and if requested, they can extend it for another 15 days, so one month is a good time to test any product. I would suggest comparing what they are currently using, the price, and the features they expect.

My main use case for SonicWall NSv is cloud space, specifically for Azure, AWS, and GCP deployments.

I use SonicWall NSv to secure cloud infrastructure instead of relying on Azure barebone security or AWS security. This allows me to get more granular control with my security settings.

I also use it to protect our private data center. We have customers that utilize it in a similar manner to Azure infrastructure, but within our own environment.

SonicWall NSv offers the option for Classic or Policy Mode, which allows me to choose between the two. If I need more granular control, I would prefer to use Policy Mode. If it is a simple configuration with one network that does not require much complexity, then Classic Mode is perfect.

When I use Policy Mode for more granular configurations, I can address situations where that flexibility makes a difference, such as wanting to have one network or one zone over another. I am not limited to the global security service configuration and can have multiple different security policies.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted my organization. One specific outcome I have noticed is the low cost of licensing and that it is a trusted security appliance.

The low cost and trusted security have led to measurable benefits such as cost savings, which allow us to invest in other technologies.

SonicWall NSv can be improved, particularly in the SAML implementation, which was introduced in 7.2 firmware. I have 7.3, and I am waiting on that first jumbo hotfix from SonicWall. There is a need to continue improving the SAML implementation.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for about seven years.

SonicWall NSv is stable.

With NSM, the Network Security Manager, SonicWall NSv is quite scalable. You can operate multiple different NSvs under one management plane.

Customer support from SonicWall could see some improvement. With the number of items that SonicWall has going on at the moment, the wait line can be quite intrusive.

Neutral

Before choosing SonicWall NSv, I evaluated other options such as FortiGate virtual servers. For our customers, it always comes down to cost, where their budget is, and whether they need to go with FortiGate or SonicWall. Along with the cost, it also factors in how granular they need to utilize it. If they know they need to have BGP, then I might forgo SonicWall.

I have seen a return on investment. The relevant metric includes the time saved in deployment, especially if you go with Classic Mode over Policy Mode. Not much has changed since the release of Gen 7.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that licensing is fairly simple. I work with account managers at SonicWall, submit quotes with my distribution group, and the process is seamless.

I did not purchase SonicWall NSv through the AWS Marketplace. I bring my own license.

Integration is something worth discussing.

SonicWall NSv integrates well with my existing systems. I have a built-in syslog system called ForVideo, and I can ingest all logs from SonicWall NSv appliance that I may not be able to get from a FortiGate.

My advice to others looking into using SonicWall NSv is that if deploying SonicWall NSv, I would really consider using Policy Mode over Classic Mode. I know it is quite a change going to that mode, but if you have to change to Policy Mode in the future, then you are looking at redeploying SonicWall NSv. If you deploy it from the start, you have that scalability to continue to grow.

I would rate this product a seven out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

I primarily use SonicWall NSv to protect cloud servers. I created firewall rules, check traffic, enable IPS, and use it for VPN access.

My main use case was securing the cloud server. I use SonicWall NSv to control incoming and outgoing traffic and to block threats in the cloud.

In one setup, I had to deploy SonicWall NSv on Azure. I created a virtual machine from a SonicWall image, assigned a network interface, and connected it between the internet and the cloud servers. After deployment, I configured basic firewall rules and NAT. In another setup, I configured SSL VPN for remote users. I created user accounts, assigned them to the VPN group, and configured the portal. The user connected through the SonicWall NSv VPN client and accessed the cloud server securely.

The best feature SonicWall NSv offers is its simple and clean interface that makes it easy to create rules, check logs, and manage security, even in the cloud. The IDS and IPS features work well and block common attacks, scanning attempts, and malicious traffic before it reaches the cloud servers. SonicWall NSv manages very stable VPN connectivity, as seen in the SSL VPN example where remote users can connect securely to cloud resources without issues.

There are many features available, including application control features that can detect and control applications in the traffic. This helps block unnecessary or risky applications. Additionally, SonicWall NSv supports NAT and routing very easily, which is important for hosting applications in the cloud. The most valuable aspect is that it is lightweight and flexible compared to other cloud firewalls, and you can scale the VM size up or down based on your needs.

SonicWall NSv has reduced the risk of attack, which is very impactful for any organization, especially larger organizations. With IPS and threat protections enabled, the risk of attack and malware on cloud workloads is reduced significantly. You can have centralized management where you control everything centrally, giving you one place to manage all cloud security rules, VPNs, IPS, and monitoring. This makes management easier for the IT team. Since it is a virtual firewall, you do not need physical hardware, which reduced costs and removed the hardware maintenance effort. It has improved cloud security, reduced attack risk, allowed secure remote access, saved hardware costs, and made management simple for the IT team.

There is minimal room for improvement, perhaps one to two percent. The reporting and analytics should be improved. The reports could be more detailed and easier to customize.

I have been working in my current field as a network security consultant for more than five years.

SonicWall NSv has been stable in our environment. We had no major downtime. From user feedback, it has been rated around eight to nine out of ten for stability.

One challenge was the initial setup. Some options were not very clear in the beginning, so it took some time to configure everything properly. The second challenge was performance. When the traffic increased, we had to upgrade the VM size, otherwise it would slow down. Performance totally depends on the VM size.

Customer support for SonicWall NSv is excellent.

Positive

One challenge was the initial setup. Some options were not very clear in the beginning, so it took some time to configure everything properly. The information provided was very knowledgeable and very helpful.

The return on investment was approximately five thousand to eight thousand dollars in savings.

The licensing cost was a bit higher compared to other options, but it is negligible.

SonicWall NSv is very helpful to deploy and manage. Everything can be managed easily and it is very simple, so I cannot justify switching to other options.

My advice is to select the correct VM size. There could be a little bit of improvement regarding the VM size selection to ensure optimal performance. My overall rating for this product is eight out of ten.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Our organization has more than 60 locations across GCC, and we have deployed SonicWall NSv in all of our locations to establish secure VPN connectivity from the branches to the head offices.

We have multiple head offices; mainly, we have three head offices. We have deployed SonicWall NSv models on the head offices, and every branch connects to these head office SonicWalls and sends data through secure VPN IPsec tunnels.

The best features SonicWall NSv offers include the auto-creation of firewall policies, which is easily useful when we have multiple zones and multiple rules. This feature is one I appreciate greatly. Additionally, the web filter and content filtering policy were amazing, as we had every option to add the subdomains or domains to whitelist, remove from the whitelist, or specifically block any website, and it was working very well. These two are the main features I liked.

When I had to establish multiple new branches and add multiple firewalls at a time for the new openings, the auto-creation of firewall rules saved me so much time on the configuration of firewalls. It was stressful for me to create every rule in every firewall that I was adding into the centralized VPN connectivity, but with this feature, I do not have to spend much time on these multiple firewalls I'm adding.

SonicWall NSv helped our organization maintain and send traffic consistently through our secure VPN channels between the SonicWalls, serving around 300 employees in our organization.

I would appreciate the app filter rules, which are already there, but managing it on the web console is a bit confusing for me. I would prefer to have it easier, similar to how we handle the web filter on SonicWall NSv.

SonicWall NSv is better in all aspects mostly, but I would prefer to see improvements in the quality of the OS running on it, particularly if there are some bugs.

The improvement needed is about the user interface.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for two years.

SonicWall NSv is stable, as most of the firmware versions are stable.

When it comes to on-premises, scaling up with SonicWall NSv is easy; we just need to have the hardware. We can utilize the SonicWall migration tool to migrate the configuration from the old model to a scalable model, making it very easy at the configuration level.

I appreciate the customer support of SonicWall because, in most cases, issues have been resolved quickly. One of the things I appreciate about SonicWall support is that when I call, they definitely answer my call and connect me to a SonicWall engineer. I would rate the customer support of SonicWall a 10.

Positive

I would suggest others looking into using SonicWall NSv that if they want a stable solution and support that is easy to access, along with reduced license and installation costs, I would recommend SonicWall NSv.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted our organization, and since upgrading to NSv 7th Gen models, I have seen that it made the connectivity more stable and resilient.

I have noticed that it improved the VPN connectivity and throughput, along with the speed it takes to create a tunnel between the branches. I would rate this review overall a 10.

On-premises