Untangle NG Firewall offers quick visibility into network traffic and streamlines threat management, allowing small and midsize businesses to evolve with technology trends. Because companies can deploy it throughout any network, regardless of size or complexity, this multi-layered security approach also supports the global dispersion of offices and employees. Untangle runs particularly well when deployed in content sensitive environments, such as schools, government locations and medical facilities.
The interface is intuitive to navigate with a well-designed, widget-based dashboard, offering a high-level overview of all activity within the various appliances and managed networks. Security teams may quickly see important information such as physical appliance locations, notable alerts, and audit history.
To prevent bombarding administrators with notifications, Untangle comes with a zero-alert default setting. However, by using the Alerts tab, administrations can configure notification profiles and rules to adjust their alert notifications. They may even choose to receive alerts in a variety of ways, including web hooks, slack, and email. The Alerts tab also contains event log information with a full audit history. The effective search feature makes it easy to filter through this information to find specific data.
The Policy tab drives the flexibility of this platform, featuring fully configurable templates that dictate all the application, policy and network configurations. Administrators may create templates for single-use or ongoing configuration. They may also synchronize individual applications and pieces of information to streamline policy designation instead of issuing them manually. Another advanced feature of the Policy tab, the bypass rules, streamlines the product licensing process and reduces the price of this solution. Any device that does not need deeper inspection, web content filtering, or other paid functionalities may be configured to bypass the next generation type filtering and license capabilities. Overall, this section of the interface simplifies policies to maximize configuration efficiency and productivity.
The Appliances tab shows security teams an overview of valuable appliance information such as status and licensing. Drilling into an appliance reveals even more high-level information. The data shown in these sub-dashboards generates unique reports that are a strong selling point for Untangle.
Several other consolidated, predefined reports span across all networks within an environment. These reports include both deep insights and at-a-glance information such as top domains, blocked categories and hostnames. All Untangle hardware solutions include half-a-terabyte of storage to retain vast amounts of data for reporting purposes. However, administrators may use the Reports Application to determine their own data retention levels and to enable different types of reports. Security teams may then customize reports and share them with individual users for administrative and account purposes.
Overall, Untangle NG Firewall combines an enterprise-type next- generation firewall with endpoint security capabilities. Although Untangle may not have the robust feature capabilities more enterprise-driven solutions have, it offers simplified administration at a price point accessible for small businesses and organizations with limited resources.
Pricing for twelve devices starts at $270 per year, or $25 per month and includes online ticketing support and access to a community forum. The searchable online support database contains effective user manuals, installation guides and step-by-step instructions for troubleshooting common issues. Each application features a dedicated support page and detailed overview. Additional phone, email and website support are available for a fee.
Written by Katelyn Dunn
Tested by Tom Weil
