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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
588
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Cisco Secure Firewall
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
456
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (5th), Cisco Security Portfolio (3rd)
Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Operating Systems (OS) for Business (28th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Firewall7.5%
Fortinet FortiGate18.3%
OPNsense10.3%
Other63.9%
Firewalls
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu0.1%
Rocky Linux10.2%
Ubuntu Linux8.8%
Other80.9%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Phil Shiflett - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager, Network Engineering at TTi Power Equipment
Unified policies streamline network management but complex licensing requires attention
Cisco Secure Firewall has some growth opportunities in terms of visibility and control capabilities regarding managing encrypted traffic. It has the ability to analyze encrypted traffic, and there is potential for more integration with APIs and AI to enhance these capabilities. Cisco Secure Firewall needs improvement in deployment time and the capability to access the CLI during support calls. I often encounter issues when technical support uses a CLI that is not familiar to me while troubleshooting through the GUI. My ongoing complaint for the last six years has been the lack of CLI functionality, which hinders my ability to work on the firewall, alongside concerns regarding deployment time. For the next release, they should look at the features offered by competitors such as Fortinet, including the ability to perform packet capture directly from the interface. If they enhanced their troubleshooting efficiency related to packet capture for each specific rule, it would simplify the process significantly.
KT
Software Engineering Manager at Visteon Corporation
Role-based automation has streamlined secure CI pipelines and supports data-driven delivery decisions
Any product that I create, I will have an improvement expectation for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu. The one expectation that I have is that the UI can be still improved. Some more metrics can be established. Nowadays, there are a lot of configurations. I should be able to really connect with AI as another feature that can also be integrated. These are the three or four items that can be added to the improvement toward Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu.Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu could include AI chat features in the future to make it even better. When there is a build happening or when there is a job happening, I could ask in the chat how long that takes or what is the current job running. These AI features can be included.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"For the performance they provide, the price is acceptable."
"Overall, I would recommend the product, as it comes with a very good set of features and we have been quite happy with it."
"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."
"The product is scalable."
"The pricing is excellent. It's much less expensive than Cisco."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."
"The FortiGate 60D is a fantastic piece of equipment."
"Our experience of using Fortigate is excellent and we strongly recommend it."
"From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Cisco Secure Firewall is that the end-users have a good experience with the remote access VPN, are happy to use it, and have to use it every day."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Secure Firewall include the next-generation firewall and its strong anti-malware capabilities."
"Cisco Secure Firewall increased my efficiency by above 90 percent."
"The manageability through the FMC is superb."
"Secured our network from outside and inside intruders."
"My advice for anybody who is implementing Cisco ASA is that it is not very difficult to deploy and not very difficult to understand how to continue adding more rules to it."
"The change to Cisco Firepower has reduced the time it takes for our network guy to generate our monthly report; it used to take him many hours where he can now have it done in an hour."
"This product has increased the visibility in our network."
"The benefits of Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu include its easy integration with every tool; it can be used as both an integration tool and a deployment tool, and with the help of scripts, we can easily configure Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu in an effective way."
"I have definitely noticed a reduction in incidents and time saved since switching to Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu, which saves at least between ten to twenty hours in configuration time, translating to potential savings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is an open-source tool that has many plugins to support all applications, and this stands out as its main advantage."
"Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu has extremely benefited our CI/CD pipelines; the whole of our build systems are completely running on Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu and it is a day-to-day activity."
 

Cons

"But because it's so modular, sometimes customers mistakenly just buy the firewall. The firewall doesn't work right."
"The solution could improve by having some additional features, such as IBS and better cloud administration."
"Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."
"In the balance between links feature normally you can just choose one option to balance. It would be better for the solution to have more than one option, preferably three."
"We called them for a geolocation issue and we didn't get any proper assistance."
"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."
"The performance can be improved."
"The solution could be more evenly structured."
"In Firepower, there is an ability to search and dig into a search, which is nice. However, I'm not a super fan of the way it scrolls."
"The initial setup could be simplified, as it can be complex for new users."
"The new NAT configuration is difficult to understand especially for people familiar with the pre v8.3 code."
"Customer service is non-existent. You need to go through a very complex and annoying approval system before you can get any help."
"I think that the solution can be improved with the integration of application-centric infrastructure. It could be used to have better solutions in one box."
"The configuration is an area that needs improvement."
"Firepower's user experience should be a little bit better."
"For a next-generation firewall, Cisco's product — a combination of ASA and Firepower — is not the best solution."
"There is a maintenance overhead to using Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu since the customer is responsible for patching both Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu and the OS, and although security issues are somewhat handled, Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu third-party plugins may still be insecure, and hardened images can be too restrictive."
"Initially, I faced some issues with plugins that might be incompatible while setting up Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its pricing is good. It's average or normal as compared to Palo Alto and Check Point firewalls."
"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."
"If we have an older version, the support costs get quite high."
"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."
"It is not the cheapest one, but its price is very competitive."
"The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."
"It is less expensive than a Cisco solution."
"When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost."
"There are licensing costs."
"Licensing is quite difficult to get your head around. My biggest challenge is to understand the details, the inner relations. Luckily, to some extent, we have enterprise agreements, but licensing for me is a real black box."
"We've compared it to other solutions, like WatchGuard and other types of firewalls in that same realm. Cisco ASAs are fairly priced and very competitive with them."
"Everything with Cisco is expensive. My advice is that there are a lot better options out in the market now."
"They're not too expensive. They're a little more expensive than other products, but you are getting the name, the company, and the support."
"We are in the process of renewing our three-year license, which costs approximately $24,000 USD for the thirty-six months."
"Cisco is cheaper than Check Point although it is not as cheap as Fortigate. But with the latest improvements in hardware and speed, the pricing is okay."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing when compared to the market. Although, when you compare the benefits of support from Cisco, you can adjust the value and it becomes comparable, because you usually need very good support. So you gain value there with this device."
Information not available
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Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Consultant at Webernetz.net - Network Security Consulting
Mar 11, 2015
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto: Management Goodies You often have comparisons of both firewalls concerning security components. Of course, a firewall must block attacks, scan for viruses, build VPNs, etc. However, in this post I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages from both vendors concerning…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
36%
Manufacturing Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business364
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise191
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business186
Midsize Enterprise129
Large Enterprise231
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
Which is better - Fortinet FortiGate or Cisco ASA Firewall?
One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. Fortinet Fort...
How does Cisco's ASA firewall compare with the Firepower NGFW?
It is easy to integrate Cisco ASA with other Cisco products and also other NAC solutions. When you understand the Cis...
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports netw...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu?
The price for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu is not a constraint for me. As long as there are good features and it is a m...
What needs improvement with Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu?
Any product that I create, I will have an improvement expectation for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu. The one expectation...
What is your primary use case for Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu?
I am still working with Black Duck. I am working with both Jenkins on Hardened Ubuntu and Coverity. I have Jenkins on...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Adaptive Security Appliance, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall, Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Virtual - BYOL
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
There are more than one million Adaptive Security Appliances deployed globally. Top customers include First American Financial Corp., Genzyme, Frankfurt Airport, Hansgrohe SE, Rio Olympics, The French Laundry, Rackspace, and City of Tomorrow.
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