The FireMon Security Manager with Risk Analyzer and Policy Planner modules offers comprehensive network security management, including firewall and router risk analysis, policy compliance auditing, change management and risk analysis. This product features tools that allow administrators and security professionals to analyze the entire network infrastructure through visualization. This provides an easy and intuitive way to see where possible risks and weak points may be found in the network so that they can be assessed quickly before they become a bigger problem. This solution also offers fully integrated change management and rule cleanup capabilities, as well as remediation recommendations and ongoing change monitoring.
We found the initial setup and configuration of this appliance to be quite simple. We had the appliance up and running within minutes of turning it on. The first step of the installation is to connect a monitor and keyboard to the appliance and power it on. Once we powered on the appliance for the first time, we were greeted with a short setup wizard. This wizard allowed us to configure all the initial settings of the appliance, including IP and network settings. Once we completed the setup wizard, we were able to access the appliance through the Security Manager GUI client application for all configuration and management.
Once in the management interface we noticed the true power of this product. To start, the interface is elegantly designed and quite intuitive to navigate. We found it easy to add devices and begin the process of analysis. We also found this product to include a multitude of automation and visual analysis capabilities. Overall, we found this product to be quite comprehensive in features and functionality for complete policy management.
Documentation provided with this product includes quick-start, getting-started, administrator's, and user's guides. The getting-started and quick-start guides provide the necessary steps to get the appliance up and running in the network, as well as some basic configuration steps. The administrator's guide provides more installation and configuration detail, as well as detailed descriptions of the product features and functions. We find all these guides to complement each other nicely and to be well-organized and easy to follow with clear instructions, detail and screen shots.
FireMon offers silver and gold support levels to customers as part of an ongoing support and maintenance program. Each option includes various levels of phone- and email-based technical aid, as well as access to an online portal. Customers accessing this portal can find many resources, including product update and upgrade downloads and a knowledge base.
At a price of $25,000 for the hardware, software and licensing, this product may seem a bit pricey for some organizations, but we find this price tag is reasonable overall. This product includes a lot of functionality for the price. With the FireMon Security Manager with Risk Analyzer and Policy Planner in place, organizations can not only find and remediate risk points, but easily manage ongoing security policy and policy change. - MS
