SonicWALL OS

Designed for business networks that range in size from telecommuter and small office applications up to large, multi-site deployments with central, remote and branch offices, SonicOS delivers the new standard in security, reliability and flexibility. A feature-rich operating system, SonicOS is available on fourth-generation and higher SonicWALL Internet security appliances and comes in two versions: SonicOS Standard and SonicOS Enhanced. Both provide powerful network reliability and flexibility capabilities. In addition,SonicOS Enhanced offers an advanced feature set that includes:

  • WAN ISP Failover and Load Balancing for complete business continuity.
  • Object-Based Management and Policy-Based NAT for complete network configuration flexibility.
  • Easy-to-use Web interface and intuitive configuration and management wizards for easy set-up.

This combination of security, reliability and flexibility delivers a strong business value proposition for today's network administrator.

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WAN ISP Failover and Load Balancing

Offers the ability to designate one of the user-assigned ports to function as a secondary WAN port, delivering highly reliable network connectivity and robust performance. This secondary WAN port can be used in "active-passive" Failover configuration providing a highly efficient method for distributing or load sharing outbound WAN traffic.

VPN Failover and Hardware Redundancy

SonicOS Enhanced includes various features focused on increasing business continuity. Remote/branch offices can seamlessly establish a VPN connection to a secondary gateway at the corporate headquarters should the VPN connection to the primary gateway experience a failure, offering continuous uptime. When in "Hardware Failover" mode, should the active unit fail, the passive unit automatically detects and assumes responsibility for forwarding traffic, offering greater reliability and redundancy.

Multiple Interfaces and Security Zones

SonicOS Enhanced allows network administrators to create WANs, LANs, DMZs and custom-defined security zones for greater network configuration flexibility as well as internal security. Administrators can assign multiple network interfaces, including the VPN tunnel, to a pre- or custom-defined zone and apply security policies, such as access rules, content filtering or anti-virus enforcement, for each zone. Using zones as the logical addressing entity provides tremendous flexibility, scalability and added internal security when deploying SonicWALL security appliances in various network topologies.

Secure Wireless Gateway (on SOHO TZW)

An addition security layer residing beneath the firewall layer that provides extensible controls such as abstracted MAC filtering, IPSec enforcement and captive portal based user authentication for wireless guest users.

Object/Policy-Based Management

Network administrators can define an object, such as an individual user, a user group, network, service or interfaces, once and then reuse that object wherever it is needed. When security policies or object members change, the administrator can modify the object and propagate the changes instantly without redefining rules, enabling businesses to implement and manage security policies easily and consistently.

Policy-Based NAT

While continuing to provide standard NAT (many-to-one) functionality, SonicOS Enhanced also exposes control of NAT policies to administrators for one-to-one NAT, many-to- many NAT, one-to-many NAT, inbound Port Address Translation (PAT), flexible NAT (for overlapping IP addresses) as well as NAT policies on selective source/destination/service translations. As a result, network administrators have more control and flexibility to support and manage various NAT requirements.

Bandwidth Management

Enables an administrator to prioritize traffic and dedicate bandwidth to higher priorities. For example, VPN tunnels can be given a higher priority. Increases productivity by ensuring that critical traffic has priority over non-urgent traffic. Important feature for the SMB market where slower broadband Internet connections are common.

Dynamic Routing

Dynamically advertises updated VPN and static routing information to the internal network, reducing the risk of misroutes and ensuring reliable connectivity to critical resources. Supports both RIPv1 and RIPv2.

Single Arm VPN

Enables the SonicWALL security appliance to connect via the WAN interface onto a subnet with an existing firewall and process all VPN traffic, removing the burden of encryption/decryption from the Internet access firewall. A dedicated SonicWALL VPN solution easily integrates with existing firewalls, increases security policy enforcement through VPN tunnels, and delivers flexible VPN options to customers of all sizes.

User Group Policies

Provides the option to create and assign security policies to a large number of users with minimal effort, simplifying authentication for Internet and VPN access. SonicOS Enhanced also comes with the capability to restrict access to internal resources for remote users based on group policies and user authentication.

Wireless Guest Services (on SOHO TZW)

Creates a "Guest Zone" on the wireless LAN for day guests, temporary employees, consultants and "hot spot" customers, delivering greater flexibility. Network Administrators can create guest accounts requiring usernames and passwords for security purposes. Wireless guest users have full access to the Internet, but not to the corporate network.

Multiple Configuration Management

SonicOS has the capability to save multiple images of working configurations on the appliance for a higher level of recovery in the case of a configuration error. Administrators can select which configuration load at start up time as well as save configurations from multiple firmware versions.

Built-In User Database

Creates and maintains a list of user accounts within the SonicWALL, eliminating the need for and costs associated with using a RADIUS server to provide user authentication.