GoAnywhere MFT Reviews

 I primarily use it for FTP purposes, sending files in and out within the corporation and through third-party vendors, both inbound and outbound.

It has been pretty seamless and straightforward for connectivity between my company and a third party. It is one of the easier aspects of using the product.

I could see its benefits after some time. That is because it was self-taught. I learned the functionality, the usability, and all the features as I went along by reading the help functions. There are probably still a lot of features that I have not yet used or know about.

The usability is valuable because I am self-taught and have not had any formal training in the product. The help feature is quite handy.

The biggest weakness I have seen in the product is scheduling. It is very limited in that aspect. It needs more flexibility and more ways to schedule. It is very strict with no customization options. The monitors are limited in how you can set them up.

Handling errors is challenging as errors are hard to understand. The help guide does not cover error messages well. It is Java-based, so it is hard to understand Java error messages.

I have been using it for about four or five years now.

I have not experienced any lagging or crashing. 

We have not used it to a high level of scalability. What we are running currently is what was installed by a previous manager, and it has been used for about six to seven years without issues.

They are very responsive and very knowledgeable. I would rate them a nine out of ten. Sometimes, they are hard to reach by phone. I get placed on hold for a long time, and I usually hang up and call later in the day or the following day. That is the only down thing I can think about in terms of support. They are hard to get hold of sometimes.

Positive

I have used FileZilla, which is freeware. We have also used WinSCP.

FileZilla is just a simple point-to-point file transfer, whereas GoAnywhere has way more features.

I did not install it in our environment. Another person who is not with the company anymore installed it. I came into play after it was fully installed and configured.

My initial onboarding was difficult for me because it required some level of programming which I am not savvy with. Initially, I reached out to tech support due to the cryptic errors that I was getting.

I do not use it on a daily basis or a full-time basis. It took about a year to be comfortable with it. I am still learning as I go along. There are still times when I wonder how to do something. I am still learning it, but it took me a good decent year to get acclimated to it.

In terms of maintenance, there is patching that comes out almost every month. It is pretty easy to download and apply the patch. It is pretty quick and painless.

I would rate GoAnywhere MFT an eight out of ten. I have not had any formal training on it. I would love that opportunity. Until then, it is self-learning.

We use Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT solution to achieve file standardization through automated workflows. In this process, when a file is sent, it's first routed to an ICAP server. Think of a file transfer as simply moving a file from one location to another. However, in this case, instead of transferring the file directly, we connect it to the ICAP server first. This intermediary step allows the file to be scanned and sanitized before it's delivered to its final destination.

We implemented Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT to securely transfer and share files, as well as automate file transfers and processes.

GoAnywhere has significantly improved our data exchange security. It's now faster, easier to use, and more convenient than before. It has improved automation, visibility, and security.

GoAnywhere offers good visibility through its file transfer logs. This allows me to track changes within my organization, including who made them, what changes were made, and when they occurred.

GoAnywhere's automation feature has streamlined our workflows by eliminating the need for extensive coding, programming, or scripting knowledge. Its user-friendly interface allows us to create workflows simply by dragging and dropping components. Additionally, GoAnywhere offers a library of pre-defined workflows readily available for use. These pre-built workflows can be easily integrated into our workspace with a single click. While some workflows may require minor adjustments, such as specifying a CTPS certificate, link, or IP address, GoAnywhere significantly reduces the need for manual configuration.

GoAnywhere integrates with our existing IT infrastructure and systems. It also offers a feature that allows for integration with Outlook. This integration enables us to send files securely via email through a link. However, using the standard email attachment method does not provide any file protection. The Outlook plugin streamlines this process. Once installed, it provides an option within our Outlook interface to connect and send files directly from our mailbox. This eliminates the need to access the GoAnywhere platform separately, generate a link, and then send it – saving us valuable time and steps.

The training and portal videos familiarized me with the benefits of GoAnywhere. I believe someone new to the platform could grasp most of these benefits within a week or two, though not all of them in such a short timeframe.

The most valuable feature, GoDrive, requires an additional license. It functions similarly to Dropbox, providing a central location where all users can easily upload files. Once uploaded, the files are continuously monitored, encrypted, and inaccessible to unauthorized users. Additionally, GoDrive offers image-sharing capabilities. For instance, if we want to send a file to someone via email, we can enter their email address. Instead of sending the file through the exchange server, GoDrive generates a link. This link, when sent to the recipient, allows them to access the file with a single click. The link can be set to expire after a specific number of downloads or uploads, and we can even add a password for further security. In essence, GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing.

Fortra needs to offer more use cases for GoAnywhere MFT during training.

I have been using Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT for 2 months.

GoAnywhere MFT is stable.

GoAnywhere MFT is scalable. They have a 99 percent retention rate.

The technical support is good. Their development team releases new versions 4 times a year.

Positive

I deployed GoAnywhere myself and found it to be easy to install. It's the simplest product I've installed so far. The process takes less than 15 minutes. All you need is the installation file. You download it, and there are almost no prerequisites for running the software.

GoAnywhere uses a web-based console for management. You'll get an HTTPS link with an IP address to access it. You can then log in to your web console to manage GoAnywhere. Even deploying it on multiple machines is straightforward; there's an agent that simplifies the process.

GoAnywhere MFT delivers a positive return on investment, as evidenced by our extensive customer base.

I would rate Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT 8 out of 10.

GoAnywhere allows us to encrypt our data using either TGP or AES encryption.

Depending on the use case, one or two people are required to maintain GoAnywhere.

We offer GoAnywhere to a wide range of clients, from small IT shops to large banks with thousands of employees.

I recommend reading about all the additional features, such as GoDrive. You should also be aware that GoAnywhere is highly scalable.

We use GoAnywhere for the basic Secure File Transfer Protocols (SFTPs). We transfer between various operating systems, and most of our servers are Unix, such as Linux and AIX.

Regarding security, we don't store data on the GoAnywhere servers, and access is limited. Our information security is essential as we're a public safety agency.

We've been using the solution for all these years, and that's a testament to how useful we find it as an organization. We previously used a lot of scripting for FTP and SFTP, but GoAnywhere MFT provides a centralized managed platform that reduces our manual workload. 

The product enables live transfer between servers, and it does what we need it to. 

GoAnywhere being a centralized platform fits our needs very well; it gets the job done and improves our file transfer operations.

The solution is easy to learn and user-friendly, which makes it accessible even to those without programming backgrounds and extensive scripting training. Newcomers can quickly get to grips with the platform, and as it's a more object-oriented application, it's easier to use and program.

The solution's built-in functions could be better; I want to see easier file transfers and management. 

We've been using the solution for around ten years. 

The tech support is pretty good, and the team members are knowledgeable for the most part; I rate them eight out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is considered easy. We are looking to upgrade to the newest version and have one staff member responsible for implementing that. However, the installation guide provides little information, and the installation notes are relatively limited.

Previously, we did file transfers manually, so we didn't need to pay anything. However, GoAnywhere is a strong product, so it's a good investment.

The product's pricing is reasonable. 

I rate the solution eight out of ten.

We use it to release medical records to other healthcare facilities, attorneys, and insurance companies.

We can share information faster and easier and in a less restrictive manner in terms of sizing.

It has helped to eliminate manual processes. We don't have to mail and fax records, and we don't have to burn them on a CD anymore. We can just drop a record in a folder.

It helps in centralizing the exchange of data between systems, employees, customers, and trading partners, which is extremely important. The easier it is to do, the better it is for us. Previously, we were having issues with faxing, and now, we don't have fax issues. It is a lot faster for the people to whom we're sending records. It is almost instantaneous, whereas with faxing, it has to go out through the fax, and then their fax machine has to pick it up, and then, on somebody's end, it may not work.

All of it is valuable, but the most valuable would be the ability to release medical records without having a limitation for size and not having to deal with the fax machine.

Its user interface is extremely easy. If you can drag and drop, then you're good.

I'm on the admin side of it, and one of the complaints is that it times out too quickly for the people who are using the internet-based part of it. It could be that there is a way to do it, but I just don't know how. 

One of the things that I wish is to not necessarily have to set up a username and password for people with whom we don't frequently share files. For instance, if I want to share files with a patient who is not somebody with whom we share files all the time, I would like them to somehow verify who they are and be able to push the file to them. I shouldn’t have to set them up as a user with a password. It should be almost like Dropbox.

I have been using this solution for about two years.

It is great. I haven't had any issues with it. I've had issues with my IT department, but nothing on the GoAnywhere's side.

I use it for a very specific thing. So, it definitely meets my needs.

They're fantastic. Anytime I've called to ask anything, they've always been extremely helpful. They spent time with me, walked me through things, and explained things to me. They've always been great. I've not had any issues. So, I would rate them a ten out of ten.

Positive

We didn't have any other solution previously. It was just fax and paper or burn a CD.

I was involved in its setup, and my part of it was simple. IT was also involved. There are portions of GoAnywhere that we're not using but IT can use. 

We were having issues with faxing to external people where our faxes wouldn't go through. So, in terms of the implementation strategy, they were the first ones with whom I checked whether they would be interested in doing this. It has just kind of grown from there. People request things from us all the time. If I'm on the phone, I ask them, "Hey, we have this. Is this something that you're interested in?" Sometimes, they say no, but most of the time, it is a yes. So, it has worked out really well.

I started using it in my department, and now, I've got a few other departments that are also using GoAnywhere for the same thing. For example, the business office will use it when people or attorneys request itemized statements or itemized billing if that requester has GoAnywhere.

I did have training courses. They did help me set up exactly what I needed it to be set up for, and that part was really simple.

In terms of maintenance, I'm the one who sets everybody up, and I'm the one who goes through it. Our IT has one person, but he is hardly in it. He usually accesses it when I have an issue. I do have four other staff members who drop things in, but they don't build users. They don't resend passwords or do anything like that.

I would like to say that we have seen an ROI because I don't have to burn CDs and mail them all the time, but I can't give a dollar figure for that.

The cost is fine. It is probably the best software that I've had for the money that we spend for it. I am not aware of any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. I don't pay for it. IT pays for it.

Our IT did look at other options. I know they looked at Dropbox, but I don't know what else they looked at.

GoAnywhere hasn't helped to eliminate single-function tools or unsecured file transfer methods because we work in medical records, and we don't send things in a non-secure fashion. I personally don't think that the mail is very secure. If we take the fact that we don't burn CDs anymore and we don't have to put them in the mail, then it has helped because now, it is from us to them, and there is no wait time. 

It hasn't enabled us to allocate staff toward other work, and it also hasn't enabled us to acquire or disseminate more data or more documents. It has only helped us to work more efficiently.

I would rate it a ten out of ten. I tell people all the time that they need to get this. I was looking for something like this, and finally, I got it. I'm super happy about it. I don't want to have to go back to the way I was doing it before.

We have a lot of different files that we need to move from in-house to a vendor. While our online banking configuration is real-time, we upload files every morning to cover some aspects of that online banking. Customers also send us files and we pull them off of our secure servers and push them on to our core application vendor. In summary, our use case is almost entirely secure file movement: making sure a file gets from here to there.

We're running this as a cluster with four Linux platforms, two at our on-site and two at our co-location site. Always live. 

Our web development team wants to do source code management for change control of our executables. They are working right now on setting that up. GoAnywhere is the resource that handles movements from test to acceptance, and from acceptance into production. The reason we do that with GoAnywhere is that its logging capabilities, of all of the actions that have been taken, are exquisite, in my opinion, and I've been working in core for 40 years. If anybody wants to know if something did or didn't happen, I can point at a specific line in a job log that says yes or no.

It has also centralized the exchange of data. We used to use an iSeries to run our core operations. There was a job scheduler on it, and we used that to invoke certain GoAnywhere jobs to do motion. Since then, we've converted off of the iSeries, and because GoAnywhere can run on Linux or Windows platforms, we didn't need to do away with it. We could just move it. And we could also move some of the scheduling that we still had to do off of the Series and have GoAnywhere's job scheduler handle it for us. And that's what we did.

We used to use two or three other scripted FTP processes in Robo-FTP, where the operator would double-click on an icon on a desktop to do something. Those all got moved into GoAnywhere.

And its workflow features have very much helped us to eliminate manual processes. That has made our operations a lot smoother. We've had some staff changes. One of those staff changes necessitated our automating a bunch of functions and we're doing so and continuing to improve that automation. In addition, the automation of file transfers has helped to reduce workload by about one-third to one-half of an FTE.

In terms of handling more documents, we set up a lot of file transfers to the core application server of documents created in our bank's branch system. GoAnywhere supported all of that.

All of our internal, as well as external file transfers, are secured now, and GoAnywhere is what was used. We used GoAnywhere when we created the external servers to go from FTP to secure FTP and GoAnywhere supported that transition really easily. We were able to get rid of one internal FTP server after we did that.

The workflow features eliminate the need for custom programs and scripts for file transfers. It handles a lot of different things. We have gone into database programming, to some extent, with a few of our transfers that require a bit of translation between how they are when we pick them up and what they need to look like for where we send them. I'm looking forward to using that ability a little bit more.

Another nice feature is that you can invoke a native program from GoAnywhere. That helps you because you don't have to get fancy with agents. If a native program runs on the server that GoAnywhere is running on, like sed or perl, you can use it,

The intuitiveness of GoAnywhere's user interface is pretty good. The nature of job scheduling is that it can sometimes be really intricate, and difficult to see and understand. We've had learning on it, but the main person who supports it for us digs in and finds documentation that explains how to go about things. We'll then run some test jobs to make sure it works the way we think it's going to, and then we'll use it. In general, it's very intuitive.

When it comes to GoAnywhere's workflow features, there are a couple of areas where I'd like to get a little more consistency. The two aspects of scheduling that we use are scheduled jobs and monitors. And there's cross-capability between the two. We've done some philosophical thinking about when a function should be handled by a monitor and when it should be handled by a scheduled job. When a monitor invokes a project to accomplish something, that gets logged as a job. I've had a little difficulty figuring out where to look to see the monitor's activities itself, to see if the monitor is having a problem. 

For instance, if an account on a secure FTP server has expired, the monitor that uses that account doesn't announce to us that it's having a problem. I want to work with them on this to get it fixed.

Another aspect would be greater visibility into exactly what's happening. But part of that is because we haven't learned how to look at it. I still need to establish some training for my people who support this. We've learned a lot and done a lot with the documentation, which is pretty good, but some formal training would really help tie together a lot of the little tidbits of knowledge in our heads.

We have been using HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT for eight to 10 years.

I don't believe it was any fault of HelpSystems, but the service did stop working for a couple of hours one time. I need to check with them and see if there's a way to restart that says, "Go back and pick up the stuff that didn't run." In this particular instance, the number of things that didn't run was small enough that I could manually look at the schedule screen and figure out what needed to be run. Still, I'm wondering if there's a button I could have pushed that would have taken care of all of that automatically. If that's not a feature they have, that might be something they should implement.

Aside from supporting the occasional new needs, we don't have plans to increase our use of GoAnywhere.

Their tech support is pretty good in responding to us and in helping us to work through any issues that might crop up.

At times we've had some difficulty getting a point across, but I won't assign 100 percent of the responsibility for that to them. Sometimes we won't phrase things correctly. But they don't run away from us. They stick to it and figure out what's going on.

Positive

I didn't do the original deployment. It was done by some engineers who reported to me, and then our web developer did the current implementation of four Linux servers. But the original setup was pretty straightforward.

I have one guy who supports the servers but he rarely has to do anything on them. I also have one web developer who manages all of the jobs. It works out to 1.25 FTEs and that's because they're always looking at ways they can make these projects work better.

GoAnywhere pays for itself easily. It has saved us work and enables us to sleep through the night.

They were open-minded and they did what they could for us, in terms of cost, when we made the transition to GoAnywhere.

And when we migrated from the iSeries to Linux servers, HelpSystems carried forward the startup money that we spent when we originally installed GoAnywhere on the iSeries. We did not have to pay startup fees on the Linux servers. We got credit and that was nice of them.

GoAnywhere was on our radar before we got it. We knew of other options, but after seeing the demo for GoAnywhere, we saw that it does what we needed. I did do a small business case for it that included an examination of other options, but that was a long time ago.

I'm fond of this tool. I don't know how much of an opportunity I'll get to explore other aspects of GoAnywhere's services, but I like what it's doing for us. 

I would 100 percent recommend GoAnywhere to someone else who is looking for solutions in this area.

The use cases would be to transfer files and send files of large sizes.

We have not yet collaborated with third parties. We might see benefits in the future when we have SharePoint.

Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT is easy to use, easy to set up, and the support is good.

I am not able to go in and say 'forgot password.' I need to access the admin portal to change the password from there. I would like to be able to do MFA and reset the password via email.

I have used GoAnywhere for less than a year. April will mark one year.

We hardly have any issues with lagging, crashing, or downtime.

The solution is scalable. We utilize it minimally, and it seems easy to scale up.

Their customer service is good, with decent support. They get back to us within a day with answers. Their documentation is also very helpful.

Positive

We used standard MFT, FileZilla, and just FTP protocol within Windows Server. We switched as we were concerned about security and wanted ease of use and setup.

The initial deployment was easy. It took us just a couple of days to fully set up.

We used Fortra's implementation team since it came with the package. We had to purchase eight hours of implementation time. From our end, mainly one person was involved in the deployment.

The pricing is too expensive for what we need. If we could cut it by 50%, that would be great.

We looked at other solutions, however, it was time-consuming, and since Fortra's offers very good products, we did not pursue other options further.

I recommend the solution for secure transfer and easy setup. Despite the pricing, it is a reliable product.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

GoAnywhere MFT tool is used to transfer files from one end user to another. 

Traditionally, you would transfer a file as an attachment to an email. However, that does not always work very well, especially if you want to continuously transfer files. For example, sometimes you need to transfer files every hour. In such cases, traditional ways of file transfers do not work very well. This is where GoAnywhere MFT is helpful. You can just place a file at a location and it automatically gathers the file and transfers it to the destination or wherever you want to transfer it. 

It provides the easiest and safest way to transfer files. There is security and multiple advantages to using an MFT tool like GoAnywhere MFT.

It enables you to easily transfer files and not bother about sending them manually through emails. You can automate it. You do not want to log in and attach files in an email. You can just place them at a specified location, and they are picked up by the GoAnywhere MFT server. If you want to transfer a file to an external vendor, you can either use the vendor's location or your own location to put the file. If the external vendor provides you with a location, you can use that. Otherwise, you can create a folder and provide access to the external vendor. There are two options. It is very easy and secure.

Scheduling is valuable. You can schedule a transfer for any time you want. It can be hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly. You can transfer the file on AWS, Azure, or SharePoint. These are the main advantages.

It is easy to use. You just need to create a template and then the sequence is already provided to you. You just have to input the details that you got from the requester. You do not need to put any code, but if you have to do PGP key and encryption, it is a little bit complicated because all users are not aware of all the cases. You have to tell them what exactly you need in a particular case and what you are going to provide them. You need to interact with them.

They should have some training courses. Usually, everything is available on YouTube today, but I have not found any videos for this solution. For training, there should be some sites or resources on YouTube or Udemy. They do not have that currently.

Feature-wise, I do not have any areas for improvement. Whenever we work for a company, they have certain restrictions, and we cannot use all the features of any MFT tool. In my previous company, we had a few restrictions, and the feature usage was limited, which made it hard to say if it lacked any features or not. I have not found any issues with most of the features I worked with. I could do whatever was required using GoAnywhere MFT.

I used this solution for four years and seven months.

GoAnywhere MFT is very good in terms of stability. You would not find many issues related to stability. If there are any issues, they are rare or once or twice a year.

We can easily scale up and scale down. If they want to use GoAnywhere MFT, most companies get it for a year. People usually do not scale down. They usually scale up because it has many services.

I believe it was being used at multiple locations because we had four servers. If any one of them went down, we had other servers.

I never contacted them. We had an on-site team for that, but I have attended calls with them. They are very prompt. They will schedule a meeting and help you out until the issue is resolved.

Positive

In the market, there are multiple MFT tools, but I only have experience working with GoAnywhere MFT. When I joined the company, GoAnywhere MFT was already there. I was trained on that and started working with it.

In my previous company, it was on the cloud. I was not involved in its deployment. It was already being used in my previous company. 

If you want to deploy it, you need to contact GoAnywhere. You can raise the ticket and ask them to provide that particular service. They will charge you and provide the service. 

I am not sure, but it seems that it does not require any maintenance. We just have to restart it, and we get all the updates and patching activities done.

I would rate GoAnywhere MFT a seven out of ten.

We use the solution for SFTP and HTTPS.

We went from a single client to a clustered environment and that's nice for maintenance work. The thing that has improved is the high-availability.

We basically use the SFTP and HTTPS for transferring files. If it's dealing with SFTP or any kind of secure transfer, we don't hear about it. It's good. Everything works.

Also, for importing information and exporting it, it's not too bad.

We have it implemented on-prem only. That's one of the issues we have. When we restart the agent on each server, it tries to go out to the internet and it takes about a 13-minute timeout before it can move forward. Why is there a 13-minute timeout value when trying to go to the internet? Shouldn't it be a minute or so? We weren't sure why it was taking that long, and then we noticed that it took almost exactly 13 minutes, every single time. We looked into it and we found out that it could be a timeout value. They checked with their developers and they said, "Yeah, it looks like it is a timeout value." We have worked with a support engineer and they definitely know about it, but so far there is no fix.

If they could limit that timeout or give us a way to modify it so we could have a faster timeout, that would help us at least knock out a half-hour's worth of outage.

In addition, when you log in through the GUI, it always fails the first time and says that your time expired, and it makes you log in twice. Supposedly it's a bug. If they could fix that, that would be awesome.

Also, in some areas it could be more user-friendly, when it comes to adding certificates and or keys for access.

The organization I'm working for has been using HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT for at least a couple of years,  but we just implemented our new cluster environment in February or March, about seven or eight months ago.

So far, the stability has been good. 

The only thing I have noticed is that if you take it down hard, sometimes the startup can get corrupted. So you have to make sure you shut down that application. We had an issue where it lost the NFS mounts for a couple hours. When we tried to bring it back up, it wouldn't recognize where it was at and we had to call support. But most of the time, you don't want to take anything down hard.

Other than that, it seems to be pretty stable.

The support is really good, but the ticket system is not that good.

When you open the ticket, that's the only time you can see what is in the ticket. Support engineers can see it, but if you're a customer and you want to update your ticket or look at the ticket that you created, you can't access it. I think they know about that, but I don't know if they've done anything about it lately. It's one thing I can't stand. If you go to other vendors and you open a ticket, you can actually go into the ticket and update it. You can't do that with GoAnywhere's ticketing system.

I would recommend GoAnywhere, depending on how much it costs. I'm not involved with the cost side of things. For the most part, you can access it from the internet into the web servers, or you can have it only localized. So I would recommend it.

We have three or four admin people who can help maintain it, but that's only in case one of the people isn't available.