KerioControl Reviews

The primary use case of this solution is for the security of the entire network. There are more than 10 companies that are distributors in the territory and for this region, we have to manage and to guarantee that all the companies can interchange data between them, but also with the outside in a safe way. Kerio is the right solution to achieve our objectives because each client and each server that is distributed in the different companies can be maintained and can be controlled in the correct way.

The flexibility of the system, the capacity to provide the right level of security, and the ability to be integrated into different kinds of infrastructures are the most valuable features. 

The improvement that we are looking for is for when decide to move some part of our application to the cloud. This is one of the projects that we have in progress. Mainly to distribute some services on the cloud and to make that a possibility not only for our company, but also for the customer to have access to this application. To guarantee a correct level of security, not only for our application but also for all customers that access our system. This is one item that we are now considering.

Stability is good. We are satisfied with the performance of the system.

We have more than 300 users that are distributed in more than 10 different units. There is one production unit that is around 170 people, and the other 130 are distributed in the other nine companies.

Some of the users are administrators, the other users are in the technical department, R&D, sales, and the production department. 

Their technical support is very good. We haven't had any problems with them. 

We have used Sophos in the past. 

The initial setup was complex. The system itself isn't complex in terms of actually using it. It is user-friendly. It is complex in terms of the capacity to control the situation.

We didn't spend a lot of time on the deployment. In the beginning, we did need to dedicate some time to implement the infrastructure internally. In terms of the operations and maintenance, we don't spend a lot of time on it.

It requires two people for maintenance.

At the beginning, we did need a consultant to set up the system but now we have our own resources in our company who manage the system.

The pricing is in-line with our expectations in terms of the quality that we get for it. 

Kerio is user-friendly, it's flexible, and can be used on different kinds of infrastructure. You don't need a high level of skill to use it. It monitors, identifies potential problems and it takes actions on a problem. The system is quite easy to use, and we don't have any kinds of problems with it, compared to other solutions that are not easy to understand and are complex. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten. Right now, we are really satisfied with the product. Of course, we are open to seeing other improvements, but from our side, we don't need any other improvements because what we have right now complies with our needs.

We use it as the primary UTM for the whole company.

The statistic feature enables us to better use bandwidth management. We monitored the use by mobile, type of application, department, and by users. The bandwidth was solid. Our internet speed is optimized for our research.

The statistics feature is the most valuable feature. The active host feature, "Live," enables you to monitor every host and every connection. The statistics show you a full brief of every user, every type of connection used, and the total bandwidth used. It is a very powerful feature.

I would like for them to add more security features. 

It's very stable, and updates are frequent.

In terms of scalability, it's actually more for a small to medium-sized business. It's not very scalable. 

We currently have over 50 users. The users are in different departments. It's a whole network; we have the admin department, accounting department, finance, technical department, and support department. Everyone is using it. It's the main UTM of the network.

It's the main UTM of the network so it's the internet firewall. We use it every day, every minute. 

We've never had to use their technical support. 

The initial setup was straightforward. It's the most user-friendly UTM out there. The deployment was very fast, less than half a day.

We did the implementation ourselves. It required just one person. 

We see ROI on the internet bandwidth optimization levels.

It's very affordable.

Every year we evaluate other options like Sophos and Kaspersky.

My advice to somebody researching this solution is to check all the features. Some of the most important features of this program don't exist anywhere else. Especially the statistics.

I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

Our primary use case is for security purposes, web filtering, and firewalls. 

Kerio has improved my organization's security.

The most valuable feature would be the security. 

They should add wireless features. 

It's very stable. 

Scalability is okay. 

Technical support is good.

The initial setup was straightforward. The deployment took one week. 

I implemented it myself. 

The price is inexpensive. 

I would tell someone considering this solution to go for it. 

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

Our primary use case of this solution is for general network security and VLANs. It's in use 24/7, all the time. 

This solution has improved my organization because we can access remotely. With Kerio Control, we can remotely control systems to be installed in multiple areas. The remote connection is valuable for us.

The firewall feature is the most valuable.

I would like to see them develop a bit more flexibility creating VLANs.

It's a real good product. This version has many features for creating VLANs and also for traffic rules, firewall rules, etc.

Scalability is more than enough. There are over 50 users. Ten of them are management on the business side and about 20 or 30 are part of the crews.

Technical support is good. They respond right away. 

The initial setup is a bit complex, but it was fine for our IT department. Deployment took around one month and it only required one person. One person works on it, and it takes him about two or three weeks. Maintenance requires two people.

We did use an integrator. We have an IT manager.

Pricing is good, but the licensing took a lot of time. It was with a company in Europe and we got it with 50 users and wanted to upgrade to unlimited users. They first make it 250 users, then one or two weeks later unlimited. It took two weeks to get an unlimited license. It was strange but if you purchase with unlimited then it's no problem. You get it right away. The upgrade took a lot of time. 

We looked at Kerio Control vs Sophos Cyberoam. 

I would recommend this solution to someone considering it. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I use Kerio Control for user statistics, intrusion detection and prevention (IPS), web filtering, etc. 

It has helped our organization with testing.                                

They should improve the remote connectivity feature for users.

It is for local use in our company of about one hundred users. It is also deployed to different clients, which are from twenty to two hundred users.

It provides security to the internal network and implements solutions through VPN to access specific internal services, without the need to open the network completely. The usage capacity of Kerio Control is enormous.

The ease of use and the ability to deliver customized solutions is incredible. When updating from version 9.2.4 to version 9.2.5, support services was able to remove 5 patches from version 9.2.5 in a very short amount of time to normalize the system.

Support responses. The response time was very good, but not excellent, because they were worried about their system normalization solution. They slightly delayed in answering direct queries.

I am evaluating version 9.2.6. I would like for there to be a difference between international and national links, something I can find in other firewalls.

Yes, in version 9.2.5, but we solved it quickly.

None

In general, I have not used it, except in version 9.2.5. The response was very good.

None

Simple initial setup.

An internal team implemented the solution.

In 2 years 80% of the investment was returned.

Initial implementation costs are comparable to a similar product due to the ease of performing basic operations.

The cost of the product has optional additions with very good prices. The product update is 25% of its value which is very good.

Yes, FortiGate.

Setting up a small laboratory is simple and fast, so you can see a small portion of the solution's benefits and what it will do to improve a business's security.

It helps us better control internal and external communications.

• The ease of use.
• The clear handling of the reports.
• The information that it delivers.

Filtering of pages and greater personalization in services, among others.

I have not had stability problems.

No issues.

The technical support is good.

We switched from our previous solution to Kerio Control, due to it administration and scalability.

Setup is simple. The Kerio interface is very intuitive.

Search and compare.

Yes, we evaluated Cisco, Fortinet, and Check Point.

Only trust in the product. Its support is very good, and it is stable product.

Navigation through options and configure them is just two mouse clicks away. Lots of information without need of an external tool.

• Site-to-Site VPN
• Easy configuration
• Really easy and user friendly GUI
• Stability
• AD integration
• Traffic shaping options
• QoS management is great
• VLAN options per interface
• Proxy and Reverse proxy with SSL options
• Two step authentication
• The real-time built-in monitoring applications
• Intrusion prevention system
• DNS redirection
• Easy monitoring and configuration of the routing table
• Guest interface feature

We had several routers in our environment, including Linux firewalls and Cisco PIX for user and site-to-site VPN connections, all of them were replaced by Kerio Control. The improvement was instant as now we have a better overview of all our internet connections and LAN-to-LAN connections. We even have a better control of our site-to-site VPN tunnels.

The VPN configuration because if you need specific VPN parameters you have to configure them through the CLI of the appliance. These options are not available in the GUI. The intrusion prevention system is good, but it could be better and you cannot configure per IP exceptions. Some diagnostic tools can be improved too, however they are good enough to the everyday usage. Last,lu the Ubuntu/Debian VPN client can be improved a lot.

It does not offer high availability option yet, however you can do that through VMware's fault-tolerance feature.

Guest Interface has a built-in web site for access to the internet (like a hotspot). In some cases, guest users cannot see this interface and then they cannot navigate/use the internet, however this only happens on rare occasions.

I have used this for four years in several locations, and all of them are happy with it.

We had no issues deploying it.

Kerio Control can be used with three internet connection modes:

• Single internet connection
• Fail-Over
• Load-Balancig.

If you put the appliance in Fail-Over mode it will simply FAIL, and will bypass your routing rules. It will start balancing connections (even when you have not configure it) and the stability will be annoyingly poor. However, the user manual says that you have to put it on Load-Balancing mode if you want to use routing policies which is contradictory, but that's how it works. When you put the appliance in Load-Balancing mode it i will work great.

Once again you have to double-check licenses, remembering the licences count the IP that is passing through the firewall to the internet, and site-to-site connections will not count.

Here in Argentina they are terrible, as they will not answer emails and will not reurn the phone calls. Otherwise Kerio support is great.

We had a mix of Linux IPtables and Cisco appliances. We switched because the business needs a quicker and more precise response from IT.. Now, with a clicks, we can see everything.

It's not complex at all, however I have to modify the virtual appliance because it came with the E1000 virtual network adapter. I removed them and put VMXNet3 in instead. I also had to change the amount of default configured RAM. It's now working great.

I implemented it myself as it's really easy to setup and use.

To test it, you can setup a mini-lab inside of a VMware hypervisor. The major problem that you will find with this is the licensing, as it´s confusing and you have to remember that they licence the appliance per IP basis. The basic licence includes five users and 25 IPs for every device that pases through the firewall which counts as a used licence. If you have one user connected to the VPN and 24 devices using the internet (Tablets, Phones, VoIP phones, computers) then you are using 25 of the available IPs so no-one else would be allowed to use the VPN or navigate through the firewall until the VPN user disconnects, or one of the devices is not being used to connect to the internet. So you have to double-check how many IP address/users you will need before buy and deploy it. Luckily for us, Kerio offered a 30 day free trial for testing. Also, they sell the product with Sophos AV and a really good content filter.

Connection Monitor

Debug Area

The Main Dashboard

Traffic Rules