McAfee Firewall Enterprise Review4U
Pros
- Based on the SecureComputing Sidewinder firewalls, the McAfee Firewall Enterprise does similar backend containerization of each service which provides for added security in the unlikely event of failures or breeches.
- Tie in reporting services (if used by the admin) provide very granular details on rules accessed and the firewalls response to the requests.
- Configurable options are plentiful. Unbound DNS can be configured on each "burb" (SecureComputing/McAfee parlance for interface), similar options for sendmail while rulesets can be configured at the application level down to simple IP-filter making options for enhancing security as well as troubleshooting equally as useful.
- Full control over shell for scripting and/or scheduling (cron) purposes.
- Solid HA and patching architecture.
- Support was always helpful, knowledgeable and insightful (especially the staff that migrated from SecureComputing).
Cons
- For an application-layer firewall the applications supported (at the time I managed them) were too few and would need to be expanded and the application ruleset needed to be expanded as well.
- The remote access VPN client configuration was overly complex for the average user and would need to be supplemented with a configuration file that had already been generated. Other solutions from CheckPoint or Cisco ASA are not as complex for end user remote access.
- Enhancing the GUI with a builtin "packet capture" feature would be useful for administrators not familiar with tcpdump.
Return on Investment
- In its highly available configuration the impact on any business objective has been positive given the fact that any downtime of the firewall would negatively impact all business objectives.
Other Software Used
Compellent