The main use case for SonicWall NSv is to secure virtual and cloud-based infrastructure by providing centralized firewall security, including VPN access and traffic inspections.

In one of our environments, we had multiple applications running in VMware and cloud VMs for internal users and external clients. We use SonicWall NSv as a virtual perimeter firewall between the internet and the application servers.

Our implementation involved deploying NSv on VMware Cloud as virtual appliances, positioned between the WAN and internal server network.

The best features with SonicWall NSv, based on my experience over several years, include next-generation firewall capabilities including stateful inspection and deep packet inspections. Advanced threat blocking at the perimeters is better than basic L3 and L4 firewalls.

IPS detects and blocks exploit attempts, protects virtualized workloads against known vulnerabilities, and helps reduce lateral movement inside networks.

Gateway antivirus and anti-malware scan traffic in real-time, blocking malware and ransomware before they reach servers or endpoints. It works across HTTP and HTTPS traffic with SSL inspections.

Among all of these features, the one I rely on the most in my day-to-day work is Deep Packet Inspections with IPS in SonicWall NSv. In our environment, most applications and users access services over the internet and cloud platform, so we are constantly exposed to external threats. With DPI and IPS enabled, it inspects traffic in real-time at the application and content level, not just at the port level. It detects and blocks attack exploits, including brute-force attacks and malware before they reach the server. It provides protection even when applications have unpatched or zero-day vulnerabilities.

The customer support for SonicWall NSv is outstanding, and the support from SonicWall is excellent.

Overall, SonicWall NSv is a strong and reliable virtual firewall, but based on my hands-on experience, there are a few areas where it can definitely be improved.

The first area is the management interface and usability. The management UI sometimes feels outdated and less intuitive compared to some newer firewall platforms. Navigating logs, policies, and monitoring screens can take extra time. Some advanced settings are not very easy to find.

This is the feedback I have regarding areas that need improvement by SonicWall.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for around three years as a part of my overall six years of IT experience.

SonicWall NSv has been stable and reliable based on my experience. It runs consistently without frequent crashes or unexpected reports.

Security policies and rules apply reliably across the virtual environment when deployed properly with the right resources. It handles traffic well, providing reliable perimeter security with minimal interruptions and few service disruptions related to the firewall itself.

SonicWall NSv's scalability is good, and it can handle growth and spikes in demand effectively when properly sized and configured.

Being a virtual appliance, it scales differently from physical firewalls. You can add more CPUs and RAM to increase throughput and processing capacity, and deploy multiple NSv instances in larger or segmented environments.

The customer support for SonicWall NSv is outstanding, and the support from SonicWall is excellent.

We have not used any other solution before SonicWall NSv. This is the first solution we are using, and we continue to use it.

We purchased SonicWall NSv through the Amazon Web Services Marketplace.

We have definitely seen a positive return on investment after implementing SonicWall NSv, mainly in terms of time savings, operational efficiency, and reduced security-related costs. Before NSv, we used to spend a lot of time and resources handling security incidents, malware cleaning, and emergency troubleshooting.

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of SonicWall NSv has been mostly positive, though there are a few areas that can be improved in licensing.

Pricing for SonicWall NSv is competitive and flexible, with a low initial setup cost due to its virtual nature. Licensing through AWS Marketplace simplified billing and deployment.

I do not think there are better options for this cost. I recommend SonicWall NSv as much better in this price range.

Based on my hands-on experience, here is the advice I would give to anyone considering SonicWall NSv. First, plan proper sizing from the start and do not underestimate resource requirements. Second, understand licensing and subscriptions clearly. Third, invest time in initial tuning for much better results. Also, monitor performance regularly. Finally, use high availability for critical systems.

Overall, my advice is to focus on proper sizing, clear licensing understanding, careful policy tuning, continuous monitoring, and high availability deployment. I would rate this product an eight out of ten.

My main use case for SonicWall NSv is as a firewall, specifically using it as an on-premise VM.

I can give you a quick specific example of how I use SonicWall NSv in my environment: we are using an internal firewall, so it's not a perimeter. We are using an internal firewall and only using an IPS.

Another use case I have is using SonicWall NSv in AWS, which has BYOL. BYOL fits into my workflow because generally, there is no need to buy new hardware. I can use the CPU and RAM, and if it needs to grow, I can increase the CPU and RAM only without needing to change the hardware.

Real-time memory inspection in SonicWall NSv is quite unique and valuable, especially for security-focused environments.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted my organization by being cost-effective, with latency monitoring as an added advantage for us, along with full SD-WAN.

I can share specific outcomes or metrics: it results in cost savings, especially with zero-touch deployment while maintaining it in our VM, which is more cost-effective for us.

To improve SonicWall NSv, we need to address that it is currently available only on AWS and Azure, and I think we need to move on with Oracle and GCP.

Regarding improvements, I find that logs are required. I chose 8 out of 10 because logs are unable to restore in the same system, requiring a separate analyzer or analytics. Competitors have seven-day storage available, which is very useful.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for two years.

SonicWall NSv has been stable for me with no downtime or reliability issues.

I would describe the scalability of SonicWall NSv as excellent. It can easily grow with my organization's needs.

The customer support for SonicWall NSv is really good, and I have found it helpful when I needed assistance.

Positive

I would rate the reporting and analytics features of SonicWall NSv as detailed enough for my needs.

I would describe the ease of management and configuration for SonicWall NSv as very useful, making it simple to create a policy in a single dashboard, which is easy to configure and maintain.

The security capabilities of SonicWall NSv compared to other firewall solutions I have used are moderate because deep inspection is required to prevent the URLs, making it very difficult to secure those.

My advice to others looking into using SonicWall NSv is that it is cost-effective. You can purchase it easily and maintain the firewall without issues.

I have rated this review 8 out of 10.

My main use case for SonicWall NSv is to secure cloud, such as using it for threat prevention, IPS, anti-malware, and VPN.

I use SonicWall NSv for threat prevention and VPN in my environment by managing different zones depending on what we're serving, which is practical because it's all software-based. We have been successful using and managing the environment.

I generally use SonicWall NSv as a firewall, so anything that is needed as a firewall is handled well.

The best features SonicWall NSv offers mainly include site-to-site VPN and segmentation, which are especially helpful in our hybrid cloud environment.

Segmentation is helpful because you are able to have people working in the same department, even though they are geographically dispersed, and they all will have the same access and user privileges. This allows us to reduce traffic, for example, for broadcasting on the network, and helps in bringing the team together, even though they are geographically dispersed.

SonicWall NSv has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to secure and manage the network in a secure fashion and providing easy access. This is helpful as it doesn't require somebody to be senior to perform small tasks.

A specific outcome that shows how SonicWall NSv helped my organization is that for any change in configuration, we need to make changes on the firewall. Using SonicWall NSv has been beneficial because of the ease of use and maintaining system security, making it business as usual.

SonicWall NSv can be improved by incorporating AI to help with configuration, propose scenarios, and check the changes before deployment, which would be helpful.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for three years.

SonicWall NSv is stable.

SonicWall NSv's scalability is good, as we can expand it to cover our network, making it suitable for the future as well.

Customer support for SonicWall NSv is good.

I did not previously use a different solution. We used to use a regular firewall, but now with SonicWall NSv, this has been helpful.

I have seen a return on investment with SonicWall NSv, as I have saved money by saving time and needing fewer employees due to the ease of use, allowing us to manage our resources better.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for SonicWall NSv is favorable.

Before choosing SonicWall NSv, we evaluated other options and used to have the physical SonicWall, the regular SonicWall where you purchase the device.

My advice to others looking into using SonicWall NSv is that if they are using regular firewalls, this will be a game-changer, but there are also other NGFW options. The ROI is good, so that's the main thing, as the ratio between technical and financial benefits is favorable, and you can save money using it. I would rate this product 9 out of 10.

SonicWall NSv is primarily used in cloud environments like Azure and AWS for partner connectivity. A specific example of how I use SonicWall NSv for partner connectivity in Azure or AWS involves working with a customer who has an Azure tenant with a Zscaler app connector installed. The customer wants to connect to their partner, so we build a site-to-site VPN to the partner from Azure SonicWall NSv and then build a tunnel. This is the main use case, and we definitely add some security rules as well.

SonicWall NSv offers several best features, including security profiles such as IPS protection and malware protection, as well as ease of use. The ease of use with SonicWall NSv is primarily due to the GUI look and feel, which is very user-friendly. This stands out because I work on many firewall products.

SonicWall NSv is more stable and less of a headache compared to Palo Alto because we did not have any issues. I can compare it to other vendors, and when we made some upgrades with another vendor, the policy that was applied was not really there. With another firewall vendor, the logs were not really showing. I did not face these kinds of issues with SonicWall NSv.

There is a feature called Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection in SonicWall NSv, which is basically ATP sandboxing by detecting and blocking zero-day threats. This is a good feature. I would say it is not a unique feature, but one of the best features that is available.

Regarding needed improvements for SonicWall NSv, if not in terms of features, then in terms of support, I think from the L1 level, if there were better skilled resources available right from L1, it would make the service better.

I have been using SonicWall NSv for two to three years.

SonicWall NSv was selected by our customer and was already in place, so I would not say that it has affected anything positively. However, I would say that SonicWall NSv has been stable and we did not have any headache or any bad experience with SonicWall NSv compared to other products, such as Palo Alto, because we had a tough time handling Palo Alto. SonicWall NSv is really stable.

I believe SonicWall NSv's scalability is good. On a scale of 10, I would rate it 7 or 8.

I would rate customer support for SonicWall NSv as 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Positive

SonicWall NSv was not purchased through the AWS marketplace because it was purchased by our customer, and we are managing it. I believe it was purchased through the marketplace itself. I did not look for a different solution for this purpose, but I have worked on Palo Alto, Cisco Firepower, and others. SonicWall NSv was provided by the customer, so I did not have any option to choose.

I do not have any metrics available regarding return on investment. I would say it was a stable infrastructure.

I do not get involved in the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for SonicWall NSv, as it was handled by the customer directly. In a general discussion, what I understand is that SonicWall NSv was a bit expensive for the subscription.

I would rate SonicWall NSv as an 8 out of 10. I chose an eight out of 10 for SonicWall NSv because there are some improvements to be done in the support, and I think the subscription is slightly expensive. These are the reasons why I gave 8 and why I did not give 10. My advice to others looking into using SonicWall NSv is that if you really need a stable solution, SonicWall NSv is better, but you should look at the cost. I do not recall other improvements SonicWall NSv needs at this time. My overall review rating for SonicWall NSv is 8.