Juniper SRX vs. Untangle NG Firewall

Juniper vSRX is an excellent edge gateway device. The combination of Tunneling protocols supported and the advanced routing & security features makes it perfect for this kind of deployment. It is available in physical, virtual appliances as well as support on multiple clouds so you can have the same box be your edge gateway in multiple environments for consistency.

It can also work as a Internet Gateway, DMZ Firewall/Router and it would function just fine.

While it can also work as a DC firewall (North-South), the poor GUI will make it harder in the day to day administration for the multiple policies in a DC.

Incentivized

Midsized business is where I have used it. Have used it to connect to other Untangle boxes across town and in other countries with NO issues and works with MS Domains across these VPN connections. Probably less appropriate for small home networks or large businesses.

Incentivized

• The Juniper SRX platform is easy to set up (out of the box).
• The support team responds to tickets quickly and with good solutions.

Incentivized

• The firewall is easy to set up and manage.
• The open VPN while not as feature rich as some other options is rock solid and consistently needs nothing
• The web filter app is great, it's easy to block broad categories or specific things as well as white list whatever is needed.
• Support is responsive and accurate.

Incentivized

• Some of the more complex setups (clustered HA, etc.) can be a little difficult to configure.
• The lowest-end model that supports true multi-site HA is relatively expensive. It would be nice to have that option in lower models.
• Some configuration options (particularly the way address book entries are done) can get tedious and make for very long configs.

Incentivized

• The UI could be a little flashier.
• Getting your license file moved from one firewall to another can be tough at times... but support is great if you need it.
• Ability to upload reports to a portal versus getting them emailed would be best (some reports can get 100+ Mb depending on all the bells and whistles).

Incentivized

Service renewal is in Feb 2021. We will be renewing!

Generally works well but seeing more and more bugs with the OpenVPN app.

Incentivized

This is the one area where I have a beef with Juniper. When I called into Cisco TAC, 90% of the time, the first person I spoke with was able to resolve my issue. With Juniper TAC, 90% of the time, the first person I speak with is not able to resolve my issue, seems to almost be reading from a script, and must escalate my ticket. All of which takes time.

Incentivized

The phone support reps are highly competent and native-English speakers. big plus vs some other vendors with difficult to understand or less knowledgable support engineers.

Incentivized

Equipment prices ran about the same. Performance and management were also more or less equal. The biggest deciding factors for going with Juniper were (1) fewer security incidents related to SRX firewalls and (2) technical support costs were significantly less.

Incentivized

I could never come close with these two products to the level of functionality and security I have with Untangle. Simply put, there is absolutely no contest. In addition, the cost of these other solutions was many thousands more than the academic cost for Untangle. Many times have I experienced threats and inappropriate content passing through these other products. All of that was stopped the moment I implemented Untangle, even before I started to customize the settings.

Incentivized

• It is a workhorse for our field operations. It provides the last touch for an ISP to the customer. The customer has no view of the device, but with the repeatability of the device, they do not need to.
• The ability to roll out a dynamic routing protocol attached to a security zone allows elasticity to the environment that supports growth.
• VLAN support on the inside interfaces allow this to be the only device in some smaller deployments we install these in.

Incentivized

• Easy setup and implementation made ROI easy to achieve. An Untangle HA solution is 1/2-1/3 the cost of a comparable Cisco/Checkpoint/Palo Alto solution.
• non-business internet usage has nearly ground to a halt.
• SD-WAN integration made it easy to connect branch offices quickly without complicated IPSEC configuration.

Incentivized