Sophos XGS 116 review: A small and mighty appliance

Don’t be deceived by its modest proportions: the Sophos XGS 116 is a security powerhouse. Aimed at hectic SMBs and department workplaces, this desktop equipment offers a raw firewall throughput of 7,700Mbits/sec, and even with full danger security enabled it retains up a creditable 685Mbits/sec.

Which is largely many thanks to Sophos’ twin-processor architecture. The Xstream Circulation Processor gives a hardware acceleration layer that is optimised for unique network jobs, guaranteeing the principal AMD CPU doesn’t get bogged down.

Link alternatives abound. The rear panel provides eight Gigabit Ethernet ports – with PoE+ on the last one particular – in addition one fibre port. While there’s no developed-in modem, an expansion bay allows you include VDSL2 or 3G/4G modules, though Sophos’ Flexi network playing cards only do the job with larger sized rackmount designs like the XGS 3300.

The adaptable licensing design allows you to decide on which capabilities you want, and there are a lot on offer you. We have revealed the value of a a few-12 months Xstream subscription above, which allows the foundation firewall licence along with Xstream TLS 1.3 SSL inspection, deep packet inspection, network, web and zero-day defense modules, central orchestration and improved 24/7 guidance. The email and web server protection modules are optional extras, every single costing all-around £142 for a a few-12 months licence.

Deployment is easy many thanks to the appliance’s web console wizard, which guides you as a result of the techniques needed to get protected internet access up and jogging. We chose routed method as we wanted the equipment to deliver all security functions security begins promptly, with the wizard enabling a conventional set of firewall security policies together with web filtering and anti-malware.

Henceforth, the Command Heart dashboard supplies every thing you have to have to know about network activity and security issues. Graphs give a clear visible overview of web visitors and network attacks, additionally blocked and permitted purposes and web groups. The Consumer and Unit Insights section retains observe of action in modules these kinds of as SSL inspection, innovative risk security and zero-working day defense, and clicking on an icon normally takes you immediately to a much more in depth report.

Remote management will come into play too, by means of the Sophos Central portal. Soon after we’d registered the equipment with our account, we have been in a position to bring up live reports in a web browser, and to entry the appliance’s Management Middle console remotely for comprehensive configuration. 

Enterprises with property staff will enjoy the Synchronised Security characteristic, which extends firewall security to remote devices operating the Sophos Intercept X endpoint agent. A heartbeat assistance screens and instantly isolates any that are compromised, though the application management aspect detects unidentified applications working on endpoints and pushes out firewall policies to secure them.

All of this is managed by way of policies that carry jointly firewall procedures, provider filters, schedules and specific settings for intrusion detection, email, apps and web filtering. That final attribute is particularly extraordinary: the equipment arrives with predefined settings to get you started off, but you can pick out to block or let internet sites in about 90 categories. Software controls are equally in depth, with a lot more than 3,500 predefined filters supplied, together with 12 for Twitter and 73 for Facebook, so you can finely manage social networking in the office.

A new filtering feature in the newest firmware also can make it uncomplicated to uncover precise regulations in elaborate guidelines, and lets you reset targeted visitors counters to zero with a click on – a significant advancement on the previous launch, which required a reboot.

All advised, the XGS 116 provides powerful gateway security actions at a fantastic value. It has the power to cope with high demand, and the integration with Sophos’ endpoint security software will appeal to corporations that want to extend their security to property staff.

Sophos XGS 116 specs

Chassis

1U desktop chassis  

CPU

2.1GHz quad-core AMD RX-421ND CPU

Memory

4GB DDR4

Storage incorporated

64GB SATA SSD

Network

8 x GbE ports (PoE+ on port 8), SFP GbE

Other ports

RJ45/micro-USB COM ports, USB 3, USB 2, growth slot

Management

Sophos Management Middle

Proportions (WDH)

320 x 213 x 44mm

Body weight

2.2kg

Warranty

1yr common components guarantee

Some elements of this report are sourced from:
www.itpro.co.uk