As we found last month, this solution is quite easy to set up and configure. The initial setup is guided by a wizard, which is launched at the first login to the GUI. This wizard helps not only configure the network setting but also assists in setting up an initial policy for the web filter and other security settings. After the wizard is complete, all further management is done through the web GUI, which we found to be easy to navigate and, overall, quite comfortable to use.
Policy is also easy to configure with the majority of the protection functionality enabled by simply clicking a button to turn it on. For added flexibility, gateway anti-virus, spam protection, firewall options and application blocking can be set by importing already existing groups and users from Active Directory.
Documentation included an easy-to-follow quick-start sheet, as well as a full administrator guide built into the appliance interface. The guide covered basic management of the appliance through advanced configuration.
Support is also the same whether it is licensed for just the web content management features or is fully licensed for UTM protection. Astaro offers two subscription plans that provide eight-hours-a-day/five-days-a-week or 24/7 phone and email technical support, access to updates and access to a vast online support area. This includes documentation downloads, a knowledge base, user forum and other resources.
At a price just under $3,000 for the fully loaded bundle, we find this product to be a good value for the money. The Astaro Security Gateway offers a lot of great functionality that is easy to configure and manage.