Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Reviews

We are using it for network layer protection. And we have added all the Layer 7 protection there is, such as sinkhole protection and spyware and adware detection.

When you have the advanced URL protection enabled on a Palo Alto NG Firewall, the load on the application layer is reduced. The web application firewall features are already enabled in Palo Alto and those features give you an extra layer of protection, even if you have another technology above the Palo Alto firewall. That extra layer of protection is an opportunity that we have with Palo Alto.

The most important thing is that it's really user-friendly. I have almost stopped using the CLI because I like the graphical interface. You can do whatever you want on a single screen, including all the configuration and implementation, using Panorama. You don't have to switch from one place to another. And the best part is that you can manage multiple Palo Alto devices. We do have other companies' devices and for them we need to go to the CLI. But with Panorama, you almost get everything you need. It is very important for managing all the technology and features on the device, and for adding multiple devices, on one page.

Palo Alto also gives you a lot more options to troubleshoot and fix problems. That really helps our operations team.

Another valuable feature is the sinkhole option. If a malicious packet travels across the firewall, the firewall detects it as malicious traffic but it doesn't stop the traffic then and there. That way the attacker assumes that they have been successful but they have not. It's a type of honeytrap. It allows us to keep on responding to those packets.

Also, when the firewall does network discovery it can detect a malfunction or bugs or a configuration issue. That is very important. If your endpoint system is not functioning properly, it gives you an extra layer of protection in the network discovery field. It shows you all the options and all the data if your system is not compliant.

The Single Pass architecture is a nine out 10. A single pass is always good.

Palo Alto keeps coming out with antivirus and malware updates. When we have to integrate those updates we face some problems with the cloud platform, not the on-prem setup. The device works fine, but sometimes the sync doesn't happen on time.

It's not an issue that happens all the time, just sometimes. It's not a major issue. The device doesn't go down. It is not a priority-ticket situation.

Also, while Palo Alto is doing really well, they should bring out some small devices. As of now, we have the PA-800 Series firewall and the 440 Series firewall. A small Palo Alto firewall would be helpful for low-budget companies.

For the last six to seven months I've been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for architectural purposes. My job is to build infrastructure for our clients to support their functions. I also used Palo Alto for other clients in my previous organization for almost two years.

Scalability is something that I assume is feasible when you have Palo Alto in the cloud. In that case it's feasible to scale it very well, and you don't have to manage it. You just need to order it and it can be scaled per your request.

But with an on-prem setup it can be difficult if you want to scale anything. Then you need to order the physical device and do all kinds of configuration. I haven't really worked on scaling physical devices.

Support is really nice, but they keep on adding features, so regular training is really required for Palo Alto technical support. Every other day, every week, every month, they come up with something new. Sometimes, even technical support doesn't know about an update when it is still in the transition phase. They should have short-term training to be aware of when they are launching a particular new feature.

With more and better training, they will end up saving a lot of time, because they won't have to search for information or ask their colleagues or their engineering team about new features that have been added. That way, customers will be happy.

Positive

The initial deployment is absolutely straightforward. It's a very easy configuration. You just need to follow the instructions.

And the best part is that you get a lot of training material over the internet. I used to think that Cisco gave the best training materials over the internet but I was wrong. If you have any problem, you can Google it. There will be a lot of answers for Palo Alto NG Firewalls on the internet itself.

If everything goes well and if you don't have a major configuration to implement, you just want to set it up, the maximum it would take is one to two hours, because the image deployment is very easy. Once the device is racked up properly and all the cables are connected, you just need to boot up with the latest image and start the to-the-box and through-the-box configurations. Both configurations can be done within two to three hours.

The pricing is fair enough. 

This year, the pricing has increased. They played it really smart by increasing the support license costs and decreasing the platform costs. If you don't want to go for that particular license, you can opt out. The pricing model is very helpful, especially for small companies. If they don't want URL Filtering because they don't have any URL options, they can opt out of the URL Filtering.

I haven't seen Panorama go down in my entire tenure. I've worked with different companies. For example, I worked in Cisco TAC. Cisco users used to say that Firepower, the unified platform, was down and that they could not manage anything. Even though all the other components were running, they could not do any configuration because the unified configuration page itself was down. And, unfortunately, you don't have the ability to configure anything using the Cisco CLI anymore.

But I would give a slight edge to Cicso's technical support over Palo Alto's. I would rate Cisco's support at nine out of 10, and Palo Alto's at eight. Cisco gives priority to its customers.

Before you go ahead and invest in Palo Alto, look at as many reviews as you can. Do proper research before you deploy any firewall.

If someone says they are just looking for the cheapest and the fastest firewall, I would tell them to go for the PA-800 Series and their problem will be solved. Also, for small office requirements, you could go with the PA-440. The PA-450 and 460 will be a little expensive. If your requirements are to set something up for less than 100 users, the 440 will do it.

Our company, in particular, always wants an extra layer of protection. They don't remove any extra layers of security. But an advantage of Palo Alto NG Firewalls is they are sufficient to tackle complications

Palo Alto's firewall is stable, helpful, and user-friendly.

We have implemented our own private cloud where we host different services for a number of internal companies that are part of a group. We have financial companies, hospitality, and construction companies; a large variety. We use Palo Alto to provide security protection for all these companies.

Previously, with our old firewalls, we did not have any visibility. The application layer was zero. We didn't have any visibility there. And we also didn't have any reports. Now, we have good visibility and we are able to get reports and we can monitor the network much better. That's a big change for us and a big help.

There are a lot of helpful features

• monitoring
• reporting
• WiFi.

You can easily integrate it with Active Directory, and you can use the GlobalProtect VPN for internal and external purposes. The URL Filtering is also clear and the application filtering is a plus. The application filtering is much better when you compare it to FortiGate or other firewall vendors.

Also, the fact that Next-Gen Firewalls from Palo Alto embed machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline and real-time attack prevention is very important. Nowadays, all the modern attacks, hackers, and bad people are becoming more intelligent and automating attacks. Embedding AI is a good idea.

We have complete visibility through the logs and the alerting. It depends on how you configure the firewall. You can configure it to get alerts whenever there's an attack or whenever something is happening. That's how we can assess if the firewall is doing the job correctly or not. We are happy with the way the firewall does its job.

There has been a recent change in the graphical interface. For the monitoring part, they could have a better UI.

We have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls since 2012.

The big firewalls, like the PA-300 and the PA-3020, are very good, stable, and performant. They are very reliable. The smaller models are reliable, but the performance on their management plane is a bit slow. Even the management plane of the PA-850 is a bit slow when you compare it to some of the bigger models.

Scaling is easy. We currently have about 1,000 endpoints.

We haven't worked with their technical support.

We replaced a Cisco ASA Firewall with Palo Alto, and then we started replacing all our other firewalls with Palo Alto. Cisco ASA was not a next-generation firewall at that time. And no firewall could beat the traffic monitoring and the visibility that we had on Palo Alto.

We did a PoC before going to Palo Alto. We placed the Palo Alto in virtual wire mode, meaning a transparent mode. Without changing our existing network infrastructure, we were able to plug the Palo Alto into our network where we could see all the incoming and all the outgoing traffic. Without creating any policies or any blocking, we were able to see all the traffic and we were impressed with that part and we decided to switch to Palo Alto.

The first deployment was very complex. I was not the one who implemented it, it was an integrator, but it was a headache due to some difficulties. After that, things became easy. We have implemented six or seven Palo Altos, and things are easy because of our familiarity with the whole deployment process. The first time we were using this firewall we were not at ease with the product. After that, we got used to it and it became easier.

Because of the issues with the first one, it took one week for the deployment, for the complete transition from Cisco ASA to Palo Alto. Since then, all the deployments have been done in one day.

We have seen ROI as a result of the visibility and reporting. These are two things we didn't have, and now that we have the visibility, we can ensure  that our network is secure.

If you compare Palo Alto with other firewalls, it's a bit expensive.

At that time, Palo Alto was the leader and I think it was the only next-gen firewall.

We have looked into other firewalls since then. In 2017 or 2018, we decided to replace one Palo Alto with a Forcepoint Next-Gen Firewall. We placed that in the network but, after six months, we replaced it with Palo Alto.

If someone is looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall, I would say the fastest is good, but not cheapest. Palo Alto Firewalls are not cheap.

We use it as an Internet-facing parameter firewall. In my environment, it has security and routing. It is on a critical path in terms of routing, where it does a deep inspection, etc.

There have been a lot of improvements from security to service.

It is critical that Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls embeds machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention. In my environments, we have an integration with a third-party vendor. As soon as there is new information about new threats and the destination that they are trying to reach on any of our network devices, that traffic will be stopped.

Setting up a VPN is quite easy. 

It gives you a lot of information when you are monitoring traffic. 

In terms of user experience, Palo Alto has very good user administration.

Machine learning is important. Although we have not exhausted the full capabilities of the firewall using machine learning, the few things that we are able to do are already very good because we have an integration with a third-party. We are leveraging that third-party to get threat intelligence for some destinations that are dangerous, as an example. Any traffic that tries to go to those destinations is blocked automatically. There is a script that was written, then embedded, that we worked on with the third-party. So, machine learning is actually critical for our business.

There is a bit of limitation with its next-generation capabilities. They could be better. In terms of logs, I feel like I am a bit limited as an administrator. While I see a lot of logs, and that is good, it could be better.

I wanted Palo Alto Networks engineering to look at the traffic log, because I see traffic being dropped that happens to be legitimate. It would be interesting for me to just right click on the traffic, select that traffic, and then create a rule to allow it. For example, you sometimes see there is legitimate traffic being dropped, which is critical for a service. That's when actually you have to write it down, copy, a rule, etc. Why not just right click on it and select that link since that log will have the source destination report number? I would like to just right click, then have it pop up with a page where I can type the name of the rule to allow the traffic.

I started using Palo Alto in 2015.

It is very stable. We had two outages this year that were not good. They were related to OSPF bugs. Those bugs affected our service availability. 

It is quite scalable. I have been able to create a lot of zones to subinterfaces for a number of environments. I don't really have any issues regarding scalability. It meets my expectations.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls technical support is very poor. Three or four months ago, I had a bug where the database of the firewall was locked. You cannot do anything with it. We looked for documentation, giving us a procedure to follow, but the procedure didn't work. We logged a complaint with Palo Alto Networks, and they gave us an engineer. The engineer relied on documentation that doesn't work, and we had already tested. In the end, the engineer gave us an excuse, "No, we need this account to be able to unlock it." This happened twice. The way out of it was just to restart the firewall. You can restart the firewall and everything goes back to normal. Therefore, I think the support that we got was very poor.

Neutral

I have used Check Point and Cisco ASA.

Initially, when I started with Palo Alto, we had Cisco ASA, but Palo Alto Networks beat ASA hands down.

We have a multi-vendor environment with different providers. Our standard is that we can't have the same firewall for each parameter, so there is some kind of diversity. 

We had ASA looking at one side of the network and Palo Alto Networks looking at the other side of the network. We also had Juniper looking at another side of the network. At the end of the day, ASA was very good, I don't dispute that. However, in terms of functionality and user experience, Palo Alto Networks was better. 

Palo Alto Networks beat ASA because it was a next-generation firewall (NGFW), while ASA was not.

When we bought Palo Alto, we had Juniper devices in our environment. We were told that it was a bit like Juniper, so we were happy. However, some people were a bit skeptical and scared of Juniper firewalls. Because of that, it took us a very long time to put them on the network. However, as soon as we did the implementation, we realized that we were just thinking too much. It was not that difficult. 

We deployed Palo Alto Networks as part of a project for data center implementation. The implementation of the firewall didn't take long.

We buy through a third-party. Our account is managed by IBM.

We have seen ROI. There is more visibility in the environment in terms of security. There was a time when we suspected a security breach, and this firewall was able to give us all the logs that we expected. 

Palo Alto is like Mercedes-Benz. It is quite expensive, but the price is definitely justified.

One thing is system administration. In our opinion, Palo Alto administration is easier compared to other vendors. I know other vendors who have Check Point. You have to manage Check Point, and it is a bit cumbersome. It is a very nice, powerful firewall, but you need more knowledge to be able to manage Check Point compared to Palo Alto. Palo Alto is very straightforward and nice to use.

In our environment, troubleshooting has been easy. Anybody can leverage the Palo Alto traffic monitoring. In Cisco ASA and Check Point, you also have these capabilities, but capturing the traffic to see is one thing, while doing the interpretation is another thing. Palo Alto is more user-friendly and gives us a clearer interpretation of what is happening.

One thing that I don't like with Palo Alto is the command line. There isn't a lot of documentation for things like the command line. Most documents have a graphic user interface. Cisco has a lot of documents regarding command lines and how to maneuver their command line, as there are some things that we like to do with the command line instead of doing them with the graphic interface. Some things are easy to do on a graphic interface, but not in the command line. I should have the option to choose what I want to do and where, whether it is in the command line or a graphic interface. I think Palo Alto should try to make an effort in that aspect, as their documentation is quite poor.

We would rather use Cisco Umbrella for DNS security.

I compared the price of Palo Alto Networks with Juniper Networks firewall. The Juniper firewall is quite cheap. Also, Palo Alto Networks is a bit expensive compared to Cisco Firepower. Palo Alto Networks is in the same class of Check Point NGFW. Those two firewalls are a bit expensive.

It gives us visibility. In my opinion, the first firewall that I would put on our network is Palo Alto Network and the second would be Check Point.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is a very good firewall. It is one of the best firewalls that I have used.

I would rate Palo Alto Networks as nine out of 10.

We use this firewall to segment our network into two parts and control traffic between them, providing a secure and efficient way to manage our network.

The product's most valuable features are the ease of deployment, regularly updated security information, and robust hardware.

Palo Alto's various products need better integration to ensure they work harmoniously.

We have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for the past six years.

The firewall is very stable; I rate it ten out of ten in terms of stability.

The solution is highly scalable, accommodating around 5,000 users at our site. We plan to increase usage, which is a matter of purchasing new licenses without affecting current operations.

While I have not used technical support service, my team has, and they have found it to be very good.

Positive

We switched from AWS to Oracle Advanced Analytics because while AWS was easy to use, it was more expensive.

The setup is easy but requires careful planning and expert design to ensure optimal deployment. The process involves planning, reviewing requirements, designing, implementing, and operating the firewall.

Palo Alto NG Firewall effectively prevents threats and helps maintain a secure network environment.

I rate it a nine out of ten.

The product’s most valuable feature is security.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls work slowly for vulnerability management. Its performance could be faster.

We have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for five years.

The product is stable. I rate its stability a ten out of ten.

I rate the product’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The technical support services are good. They respond immediately.

Positive

We used FortiGate earlier. We plan to switch again to FortiGate as per our vendor’s preference.

The initial setup process is quite easy. It took less than a month to complete.

I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten.

We evaluated Check Point. We decided to go to Palo Alto for better pricing.

I rate Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls a nine out of ten.

We use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for our gateway security.

Embedded machine learning is important.

The user experience is good and the configuration is very easy.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls provide a unified platform that natively integrates security capabilities.

IDM is the most valuable feature.

The process of applying updates to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls has room for improvement.

The price also has room for improvement and the technical support could respond faster.

I have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for one year.

The solution is extremely stable.

The solution is scalable. We have 60 people that use the solution in our organization.

The technical support is good but can sometimes be slow.

Positive

I previously used WatchGuard XTM firewalls, but I switched to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because of their superior performance and features.

We have seen a good return on investment.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive compared to WatchGuard XTM firewalls.

I give Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls a ten out of ten.

We have to perform regular updates for the solution.

We use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls mostly for firewalls.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls saves our company time and resources, which equals money.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls saves us time. The solution's firewalls have secured our company, and we don't have to worry about anything.

I would like more reporting and metrics in the solution.

We have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for two years.

It is a stable solution.

It is a very scalable solution.

We have seen an ROI with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because it saves us time. We haven't worried about any security issues and feel very protected with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls.

It is expensive but is worth the price.

Before choosing Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, we did evaluate other options.

We're fine with the firewall and not shopping around for a firewall.

The fact that it embeds machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention is invaluable to me.

Palo Alto NGFW provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities, which is invaluable to me.

It does a great job of securing data centers consistently across all workplaces, i.e., from the smallest office to the largest data centers, and we have zero complaints.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have helped us reduce about twenty extra hours a week of downtime in our organization.

I rate the value we receive from attending an RSA Conference a ten out of ten.

Attending RSAC will surely have an impact on our organization's cybersecurity purchases made throughout the year afterward.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Solutions like firewalls and routers improve any company. If you don't have them, then I wouldn't be doing business with you. 

Palo Alto has embedded machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention. That's big. We're embedding that type of security and information into every part of our corporate network as well as our products.

It has helped to reduce downtime in our organization. The savings are probably in single digits.

I typically get involved with it when it comes to audit and compliance and having to gather evidence of those firewalls, routers, and rule sets. The evidence that I typically need is there.

We got a lot of integrations into it, but I don't know if it integrates with all.

I don't deal with it from a day-to-day perspective, but I can say that the evidence that I typically need is there, but sometimes, it's a task to actually get it and pull it out. They can make it easier to gather that evidence. From our NetOps team's perspective also, they can make it easier to manage and constantly update those rule sets.

I don't know for how long exactly we have been using this solution, but I've been aware that we've had them probably since about 2016 or 2017.

It's very stable. They are highly ranked within their space.

It's a good product for securing all types of workplaces. It's specifically good for data centers, which are all brick-and-mortar houses. Small businesses must also have it because they don't have the ability to have everything in a cloud or virtualized firewalls and other things like that.

I haven't dealt with their support team.

I was not involved in its initial deployment.

I am able to gather some of the evidence and things that I need. Our NetOps team uses it heavily, and they love it.

I would assume that it's still within mid-range given its company structure and everything else. My guess is it's still okay.

To someone at another company who says, “We are just looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall,” I would say that you just lost the customer because I'm not going to do business with somebody who is going for the cheapest. I'm always looking for a vendor or customer that has more input and cares about the security of their systems.

The value received from attending an RSA Conference includes prizes and other things, but on a personal level, I love the tech talks, knowing about a lot of industry changes, and different product solutions being showcased.

RSAC definitely has an impact on our organization’s cybersecurity purchases made throughout the year. One of my main roles is vendor due diligence, so I come to RSA quite often, and I have conversations with many different sales engineers who can explain the security of their products because that's what I focus on during our onboarding process. 

Overall, I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.