Palo Alto Networks PA-Series Reviews

My company operates at multiple sites. My company has multiple work-related departments, and for each department, we have multiple servers along with multiple printers and other devices. My organization has to restrict certain accesses based on company policies. Generally, my company has to look after what accesses are to be allowed and which are not to be allowed, based on source and destination. If some business cases require some access, then our company allows access for those on the firewall.

Palo Alto Networks generally offers some very good features, like antivirus, DLP, URL filtering, and dynamic blocking. All the attributes offered by Palo Alto Networks are quite good and fall under the next-generation firewall features.

With Palo Alto Networks, every two or three months, there are some updates or bug fixes that happen. Everything is good with Palo Alto Networks.

With Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, I find that the support team takes a long time to resolve the issues that a user may face during the use of the product. You need to keep describing your issues to the support team since Palo Alto Networks usually provides you with a few engineers who then connect you with another set of engineers, making it a long process. When it comes to the support offered by Palo Alto Networks, our company has seen that we need to escalate an issue to senior management, which takes a lot of time. The support part of the product can improve a little bit.

I have experience with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series. My company has a partnership with Palo Alto Networks. I use the solution's recent version, which is PAN-OS 10.0.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight and a half out of ten.

More than 5,000 people in our company use Palo Alto Networks PA-Series.

I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Earlier, my company was involved with Cisco ASA Firewall and Check Point Software.

The product's initial setup was easy.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

If you are involved in the initial configuration part, then the deployment process related to the product may take around two or three hours.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

Our clients primarily utilize the Palo Alto Networks PA-Series as a VPN concentrator and next-generation firewall, particularly at the internet perimeter in Serbia. This setup effectively shields them from online threats and grants control over end-user activities, including website access.

The PA-Series has significantly enhanced our company's cybersecurity stance by providing us with comprehensive control over users and applications. With advanced inspection capabilities, we effectively scrutinize all network traffic, allowing only known users and applications to pass through the firewall.

When discussing threat prevention, key features essential for effective protection include thorough threat inspection, including virus and malware detection, as well as functioning as an Intrusion Prevention System. With comprehensive threat inspection, all potential threats are thoroughly analyzed, ensuring maximum security. Integrating Palo Alto Networks' Cortex XDR on endpoints further enhances threat prevention capabilities. This combination enables centralized analysis of security events from both the firewall and endpoints, facilitating a more comprehensive threat analysis and response strategy.

The benefits we've observed in Secure Traffic Management using the PA-Series are significant. Palo Alto Networks revolutionized firewalls with the invention of next-generation firewalls. Unlike other vendors who added this functionality to existing firewalls, Palo Alto Networks built their user interface from scratch, resulting in an exceptionally intuitive interface. Administrating the PA-Series is straightforward and user-friendly, requiring minimal time for users to become accustomed to it. Additionally, having everything accessible from one console enhances efficiency and streamlines management processes.

Security features like threat prevention, URL filtering, and DNS traffic inspection are crucial components of our setup. We also implement LightFire sandboxing for analyzing unknown files. Encryption of traffic is enabled, with careful consideration given to which traffic should be decrypted for inspection.

Comprehensive logging is essential for monitoring and analysis purposes. For remote users, the firewall can be configured as a VPN concentrator, with VPN policies defined within the firewall settings.

C Palo Alto Networks firewalls can be somewhat complex due to the various options available. They offer different devices and subscription models, including standalone firewalls and bundled options. Utilizing these features as a unified solution can require additional setup, particularly when incorporating Panorama for centralized management, which may involve extra costs.

I have been working with it for over ten years.

Stability is crucial when considering which version of the operating system to use for Palo Alto Networks devices. Recommendations provided on the Palo Alto webpage suggest opting for the most stable version available. Users often refrain from immediately adopting new releases due to potential instability. Instead, they wait until the release has proven its stability, a practice commonly observed with other vendors as well. Therefore, it is advised not to constantly pursue the latest release but to prioritize stability when making decisions.

Scalability with hardware firewalls is limited, as increased user numbers or higher throughput may push the firewall close to its maximum capacity. In such cases, purchasing a new device becomes necessary, as there is no inherent scalability. However, with virtual firewalls, scalability is simpler as additional credits can be purchased without new hardware. For instance, our customers typically upgrade to newer models every four years.

For technical support, I would rate it a solid ten. Our support team in Serbia is highly regarded and often considered one of the best in Europe. We provide exceptional support services, and even for the most challenging cases, Palo Alto Networks is deeply involved, ensuring that complex issues are addressed effectively. Our commitment to providing top-notch support ensures our customers receive the assistance they need, contributing to our reputation for excellent support services. For example, certain issues are not directly related to Palo Alto Networks' products. They often stem from users employing various solutions from different vendors, resulting in integration challenges and overall system malfunctions. In such cases, Palo Alto Networks' support assists in identifying whether the issue originates from their products or other vendors' solutions. The focus lies in troubleshooting the entire integrated setup to pinpoint the source of the problem accurately.

Positive

The deployment process is generally straightforward, but its ease can vary depending on the complexity of the customer's network and specific requirements. While deployments for institutions like banks may be more intricate and time-consuming, deployments for typical companies are relatively simple. I would rate it nine out of ten.

In our cloud network infrastructure, we maximize efficiency by deploying the PA-Series focusing on redundancy and advanced security measures. Typically, we set up two devices in a high-availability configuration to ensure uninterrupted operations. This setup synchronizes sessions between devices, eliminating single points of failure within the network. Some users with budget constraints opt to purchase a spare device without licenses. In the event of a failure in the primary device, they can quickly switch configurations to the backup device, although this process may take some time. On the network perimeter, we prioritize next-generation firewall features such as user identification, achieved through integration with Active Directory. This enables us to create policies based on user groups rather than IP addresses. Additionally, we utilize Palo Alto's application recognition capabilities to control application usage, allowing only approved applications while blocking others.

Maintenance is straightforward and can be handled adequately by a single individual.

The PA-Series includes various subscriptions such as URL filtering, sandboxing, and DNS security. The Alto license is also bundled with the device, simplifying the purchasing process. Other optional licenses include GlobalProtect for remote VPN access and an IoT license for managing internet of things devices.

Licensing is now simplified with Palo Alto Networks offering bundles of licenses, available for purchase over the past few years. These bundles, typically priced around forty percent lower than individual licenses, include essential features such as threat prevention, URL filtering, DNS security, LightFire, and SD-WAN. Users can easily acquire the device, bundle subscriptions, and support package, comprising support and device warranty. Some users opt for additional licenses like GlobalProtect, which may not be included in the bundle. Licensing options range from one to three years, with easy renewal upon expiration. The cost varies depending on the device model, with entry-level firewalls priced around $1,300 to $1,500, while higher-end models can reach prices of several hundred thousand dollars. Ultimately, the cost is influenced by factors such as the number of users and specific requirements.

Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

I use the solution in my company to protect our networks.

My company provides Palo Alto Networks PA-Series to our customers. My company takes care of the product's integration part for our customers.

The most valuable features of the solution are its areas like performance and stability.

The product is perfect, in my opinion. The product's high prices are an area of concern where improvements are required.

I have been using Palo Alto Networks PA-Series for seven years. My company operates as a system integrator for Palo Alto Networks. My company also has a partnership with Palo Alto Networks.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

The product is suitable for enterprise-sized companies.

I have contacted the solution's technical support. I rate the technical support an eight and a half out of ten.

Positive

I have deployed the product in a multi-site environment.

The product's initial setup process was simple.

The product's deployment and configuration phases are easy.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Not too much time is required to deploy the product.

The product is offered to users at high prices compared to the pricing model of the other vendors in the market.

I feel that Palo Alto Networks PA-Series offers better performance when compared to the other vendors in the market.

I don't have many details about the product's application control and visibility features since I had to deal with a lot of features in the tool during the deployment of the solution for our company's customers.

The tool is good enough to deal with cyberattacks and meet the requirements of our company's customers.

Considering the product's usability and user interface, I would say that it is easy to use the tool.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

In our network security architecture, we utilize the PA-Series firewalls by integrating them seamlessly. Migration from Cisco to PA-Series was surprisingly easy, and we have centralized management using Panorama.

The most effective features for threat prevention in the PA-Series are its integration with Cortex and the use of machine learning AI for advanced threat detection. These capabilities, especially present in the newer generation firewalls like the PA-4000 series, enhance our security posture significantly.

Migrating from old to new Palo Alto Networks firewalls can sometimes encounter hiccups, and there is room for improvement in streamlining this process for smoother transitions.

I have been working with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series for nine years.

I would rate the stability of the product as a nine out of ten. We have not faced any issues with it.

I would rate the scalability of the product as a nine out of ten. We have approximately 3,000 end users.

I have had a great experience with Palo Alto Networks technical support. Response time and quality have been excellent, especially for RMA cases. Any issues, whether for functionality or hardware, were resolved quickly. I would rate the support as a nine out of ten.

Positive

Palo Alto Networks stands out from other solutions because they consistently strive to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. Their user-friendly interface and customizable security options make them a top choice. Additionally, they offer a wide range of security solutions without forcing you to invest in unnecessary features, similar to SecurePoint's approach with blades.

The initial setup of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series was straightforward, especially with prior network and security knowledge and a helpful training course. The intuitive web UI made the process comfortable, and overall, Palo Alto Networks seems to be heading in the right direction with user experience improvements.

I have experience deploying and managing PA-Series firewalls in a multi-site environment, including international locations connected via MPLS. We use them for perimeter security and have centralized management through Panorama. Deploying and managing them across sites has been straightforward and effective which makes Palo Alto Networks a preferred choice for our network security needs.

The PA-Series has consistently helped us prevent cyber-attacks through its threat prevention and vulnerability profiles. By configuring security profiles effectively, including antivirus and threat prevention, we have successfully mitigated various threats.

Overall, I would rate Palo Alto Networks PA-Series as a nine out of ten.

The resolution of the Palo Alto is very good. It is a well-known product in protection from an outside perspective. We use the solution for major or minor attacks. Also, it provides defence, security, and URL filtering. It is excellent in terms of security. It assures me against network threats.

Palo Alto should integrate artificial intelligence for security purposes in the background for well-known threats and new risks coming to the market.

Additionally, they could introduce a central dashboard where we can centrally monitor and mitigate all the risks automatically.

I have been using Palo Alto Networks PA-Series for six to eight years.

The product is stable.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

More than 300 users are using this solution.

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

We used Sony Firewall, but later on, we switched to Palo Alto because it is a popular security brand.

The initial setup depends on many policies, but it is not very difficult because we have been using it for more than eight years. It is not very complicated, but you need expertise for security.

I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten, where one is expensive and ten is cheap.

We have third-party support for the Palo Alto equipment. We call the implementation partner only whenever we need configuration information or changes. They make changes for us. We have not been directly involved with OEM for any support.

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

We use the solution for Internet Security and VPN. The product is a complete UTM Box, so we also use it for IDS, IPS, advanced security and enabling GlobalProtect service. 

It has a three-layer architecture, and it helps customers to deploy the solution quickly. The product also has an easy-to-use dashboard and user-friendly wizards. So the solution allows easy configuration and monitoring. 

The solution provides good reports in addition to great stability and hardware. Managing this solution is not challenging and doesn't need any expert appointment. The product can be fully managed on your own with some basic knowledge. 

The product's gateway services can be improved. Along with the firewall, if a user wants to work with a VPN and if you want to check the posture of your endpoint, that service needs to be separately purchased. They have this feature, but if this service is clubbed with the solution, it will be very useful for the end users. 

For Mac OS and Apple products, there remains some challenge for VPN; it requires an SSL certificate to be installed separately, and this can be improved. 

I have been using the solution for two years. 

The solution is very stable, has no bugs and the product is up to date. The support team of this solution is also great, and they are up to the mark, so your money won't go to waste. 

The solution is absolutely scalable for us, as an SMB.

I would rate the customer support a nine out of ten. 

Positive

The solution is easy and fast to deploy. The product can be deployed within a day and requires only one engineer or architect. Maintenance of this product is very easy and user-friendly. This solution can be maintained with basic knowledge and the user doesn't need to be certified like Check Point. This solution can be easily managed with the help of the provided white papers and can also be used very well for analysis. 

This solution can definitely provide a good ROI. 

In comparison to market competition, the price of this solution is great. When compared to Check Point, this product has an affordable and reasonable price. 

I have also used CrowdStrike, Check Point and Cisco. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is better than them, but this solution's role is different from the other solutions I use. This solution is completely used by us for Internet Security, Check Point is also there for the same purpose, but I was not happy with that product. 

I would definitely recommend others to go for this solution. I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

In our AWS deployments, we are utilizing Palo Alto firewalls to establish secure transit connections between two distinct AWS regions or locations. Within our AWS environment, we also host several critical services. Our primary objective is to enhance the security of these services.

The most valuable aspects are the App ID feature and its policy configuration capabilities, along with two other important features, specific feature management and CPU planning. These features have proven incredibly beneficial for our organization. They help us maintain stability in the network when issues arise, such as network congestion. Also, the data transfer between Virtual Service Providers has been seamless, and the standard S3 upgrade process has been impressive.

I encountered a slight issue with the application portal, which was not functioning correctly. Enhancing its performance would be highly beneficial.

I have been working with it for three years now.

It provides good stability capabilities.

It offers robust scalability features, suitable for accommodating over a thousand users in my company.

When comparing Palo Alto with other firewall solutions I've worked with, Palo Alto stands out as a superior choice. It offers a seamless transition from one option to another, making it exceptionally versatile and user-friendly in an enterprise setting.

The initial setup is notably simpler compared to other firewall solutions. When comparing it to other firewalls like FCD, ASA, or vendors like TechPoint, Palo Alto's setup process is much more straightforward.

While other firewalls may come with a higher cost, when you consider the cost in relation to the services and features that Palo Alto offers, it is clear that Palo Alto is delivering excellent value.

When considering an organization's needs, I strongly lean toward Palo Alto due to its flexibility. Its user interface is notably more user-friendly compared to other options and the way it handles data is impressive. The integration capabilities with products like XDR and Prisma for cloud deployments are excellent. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

I use the solution in my company to cater to the needs of our clients, so based on the requirements of the clients, we configure the firewall.

Palo Alto's advantage is that it offers very secure products. Unit 42 in Palo Alto and sandboxing are advantages offered by the product, along with the fact that it provides users with updates every minute, so users keep getting updates. App-ID is the name of a feature in the product that is very good. None of the other firewall products offer the aforementioned features. With the product, the area around NAT is very secure, and users get a lot of options for NAT.

The technical support offered by Palo Alto is an area of concern where improvements are required. It is very difficult to get technical support, which is a very pathetic area. If you try to figure out a solution to your issues with the help of a web browser, it is very difficult to find a proper solution. Other firewall products have proper portals where everything gets published with all the details on how to resolve an issue. There is a need to have a dedicated person or specialist to manage Palo Alto, but getting one is a problem. Overall, the area of technical support is not user-friendly.

I have been using Palo Alto Networks PA-Series for eight years.

Some issues are there with the stability part of the solution, but based on the feedback from clients, Palo Alto sends updates like all other solutions. One can say that the tool is mostly stable.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

It is a scalable solution.

Our company has a strength of 250 employees.

My clients deal with two or three enterprise-sized clients who use Cisco. Small and medium-sized businesses use Palo Alto. Some of our big clients who operate at an enterprise level use Palo Alto.

It is very difficult to get to the product support team, and it takes at least half an hour to get connected with the technical team. I rate the technical support a four out of ten.

Neutral

For deployment, Palo Alto provides a tool that doesn't work properly on many of the systems from Windows, and only the product's previous versions work properly, but the latest versions don't work. Palo Alto offers Limited options to users and allows for easy migration when it comes to products like Cisco, Fortinet, or IBM, but for low-end servers, there are no options to migrate from the tool.

If a large part of a client's workforce operates with cloud services in place, then the solution can be deployed on the cloud. Nowadays, most people are moving to the cloud.

The time required to deploy the solution depends on the firewall size and configuration, but I know that it requires at least a month.

Our company has around 14 members from the network security side involved in the deployment process.

Price-wise, Palo Alto offers high-price products. It is mostly the enterprise-sized customers who prefer to use Palo Alto products. Recently, Palo Alto launched Palo Alto Networks PA-400, which is much cheaper than the other products on the market. My company has to make yearly payments or opt for a three-year payment when it comes to the charges associated with the licensing model of the product. The clients of the tool need to procure the license for the premium support. Almost all the vendors of firewall products follow the aforementioned steps nowadays when it comes to the licensing model.

Considering the presence scenario, I can suggest Fortinet since I found its products doing well in business. Support and configuration-wise, Fortinet is better than Palo Alto, but technology-wise, Palo Alto is the number one product in the market. Fortinet is much more user-friendly than Palo Alto.

The tool is not very easy to maintain, but people go for it since it is a secure product. Only those who know about Firewall products can maintain the solution.

Some of our company's clients have migrated from Palo Alto Networks PA-Series to FortiGate or Fortinet since it is very easy to manage with a very user-friendly UI.

Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is a good solution, but someone in the organization should manage it since it is not a very user-friendly tool. If you want to configure something, you need to know how Palo Alto Networks PA-Series works and also know about what architecture is and all. Other firewall products can be easily configured since very user-friendly GUIs are made available to users. Checking logs in Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is very difficult. If someone knows how to check logs, then it's fine because otherwise, it's very difficult.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.