SolSoft Policy Server is a program that I wish I had when I was performing daily firewall, router and VPN installs. It figures that now that I have not been installing firewalls for a few years, a product is finally released that would have made my life easier. For many administrators, this might be the best product if you administer Cisco devices with the firewall IOS, NetScreen/Juniper devices or Check Point devices. However, the product is especially effective if you manage a mixed environment that includes two or more of the aforementioned vendors.
Perhaps the best feature of this product is its ability to easily establish multi-vendor VPNs using a drag-and-drop feature. I have seen other vendors’ configuration utilities do this, but not as easily as SolSoft Policy Server. The other feature that I was most impressed with was its ability to convert an imported configuration from one vendor and migrate the configuration to another vendor. This feature allows an enterprise to have a standard firewall and VPN configuration across multiple platforms.
The installation was straightforward with the exception of a missing MySQL installation. It would seem to be a logical fit to bundle the MySQL database into the installation application instead of requiring the installer to download the product separately and then start the installation of Policy Server over again. In addition, the version of MySQL was a bit outdated and it took a bit of effort to track down. Once we had the correct MySQL version on the system, it took a bit of work to get the installation to recognize it.
Policy Server had PDFs for documentation that included an install guide as well as a user guide. Both were complete and well written with good screen shots to follow when installing.
Policy Server includes free 30-day support, and support beyond the 30-day period is available in several options. They have email and online support with an online knowledge base.
SolSoft Policy Server is good, but it is pricey. For small organization with a few devices, the price might be too high; but for large organizations, the time and effort saved by security administrators will make the cost less of an issue.
