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SonicWall Network Security Manager: Firewall management on steroids

SonicWall Network Security Manager

Small businesses, branch offices, and nationwide distributed enterprises are facing a common enemy: human error. Misconfigured firewalls can be attributed to 99% of network breaches. Enter SonicWall Network Security Manager – a centralized management service that minimizes human touchpoints wherever possible.

The ability to deploy network changes en masse across your network—no matter how big it may be—is a critical component of doing business in 2020. Traditionally, a strong network security posture relied on solid firewall management practices and large, complex systems. These huge security ecosystems, politely referred to as “robust,” eat up time and money, and until recently that black hole of resources signified your company was doing all it could to win the cyber war.

SonicWall Network Security Manager ends the insanity of ballooning security budgets, endless change documentation, and the headache of clicking through a dozen browser tabs to get the whole picture.

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What is SonicWall Network Security Manager?

SonicWall Network Security Manager (NSM) is a multi-tenant firewall manager that centralizes admin functions under one roof. Auditable workflows lighten the IT load in addition to allowing for error-free management and network changes. A native analytics engine provides single-pane-of-glass visibility so you won’t waste your day hopping between tabs and applications looking for basic management functions. By creating a full audit trail of all configuration change and providing deep reporting, SonicWall Network Security Manager simplifies compliance too.

Elevate your security by seeing hidden risks and eliminating operational disarray. The ultimate goal of your business is to grow, and SonicWall NSM ensures your network remains manageable even if you need to scale up fast.

Benefits of SonicWall NSM:

  • Reduce security management overhead costs & wasted time
  • Easily onboard multiple SonicWall firewalls from one interface
  • Establish role-based, access-controlled workflows
  • Unify policies globally with grouping, hierarchical rules, & inheritance
  • Discover & easily correct misconfigured firewall policies
  • Document all changes to meet compliance & stay organized

Even small businesses can forge a path to comprehensive management, analytics, and reporting without the need for hiring a roster of costly experts. Automated workflows form a fully coordinated security governance strategy that fits networks of two firewalls to 200, all visible on a single screen.

How does SonicWall NSM work?

NSM empowers you with increased visibility, group-based device control, and the ability to scale at any pace. By visualizing your entire network in one dashboard, Network Security Manager serves up several unique features:

  • Full network device inventory
  • Push policies at the group level
  • Create & manage groups of devices
  • Backup & restore functionality
  • Network switch & access point management
  • Workflow automation & zero-touch deployment

How does SonicWall Network Security Manager work?

Much of the heavy lifting is done by automation and templates, minimizing both the workload on your admin and the potential for that pesky human error to throw a wrench in the works. By applying a series of rigorous configuration procedures, NSM removes the guesswork and “free hand” management issues that plague so many businesses.

Approval groups are flexible, with varying audit procedures and authorization levels that allow for programmatic deployment of fully validated, documented, and efficient security policies.

Plus, SonicWall Network Security Manager’s RESTful API availability offers a standardized approach to managing individual features and allows compatibility with third-party management consoles you may already use.

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Network Security Manager vs Capture Security Center

So what about SonicWall Capture Security Center? SonicWall Network Security Manager is picking up all the same jobs that Capture Security Center handles, plus some!

Here are a few key differences between SonicWall Network Security Manager and Capture Security Center:

Max devices manageable per tenet:

  • Capture Security Center – 10
  • Network Security Manager – Over 100

Full configuration audit trail:

  • Capture Security Center – No
  • Network Security Manager – Yes

RESTful API for 3rd-party compatibility:

  • Capture Security Center – No
  • Network Security Manager – Yes

Group-level visibility, reporting, & dashboards:

  • Capture Security Center – No
  • Network Security Manager – Yes

If you currently use SonicWall Capture Security Center, no sweat! CSC MA-licensed customers will automatically migrate to equivalent NSM licensing at no cost.

How is SonicWall Network Security Manage licensed?

In keeping with tradition, SonicWall offers two variants of NSM: Essentials and Advanced. The key difference between the two levels revolves around your reporting needs. Network Security Manager Essentials includes 7-days of reporting. Network Security Manager Advanced includes a full year of reporting, plus 30 days of log analytics.

SonicWall Network Security Manager is available in 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year terms for SonicWall TZ series firewalls and 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year terms for SonicWall NSa firewalls.