Solsoft Policy Server 7
Product Rating
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Overall Rating:
For: Completeness of features, intuitive design.
Against: Cost a little steep.
Verdict: An extremely useful tool which, once experienced, you will not want to be without.
Within any sizeable network, the issues around maintaining known configurations from a security perspective can become problematic. Similarly, maintaining a compliant infrastructure, together with its attendant processes, can represent quite a challenge. Add to this the requirements for change control, access control and other factors, and one can readily appreciate that this challenge can become significant in terms of both resource and cost.
Solsoft Policy Server 7 aspires to come to your rescue with a tool that can take the sting out of such a situation, via logical automation and the provision of comprehensive information in reports and on-screen views. While implementing such a tool effectively will undoubtedly require some effort, the potential benefits can be significant.
Solsoft Policy Server can help you create your security policies in line with business requirements, and then disseminate them intelligently to target devices. For example, it may be necessary to deploy a complex rule set to devices at a particular point of presence on the network, but not essential to deploy the same complexity further down the logical path. Therefore the rule set overall may be reduced, providing a more manageable solution.
A wide range of devices are supported from suppliers such as Cisco, Juniper, Check Point, Nortel and Symantec. Indeed, Solsoft take compatibility and interoperability seriously, including the provision of an SDK to enable device supplier partners to interface seamlessly with the Policy Server tool. This is good news for those with complex infrastructures containing a mixture of devices.
When it comes to compliance and auditing, Solsoft Policy Server 7 has the potential to really save you time. If you think of this partly as an intelligence gathering tool, then collating this information into concise, appropriate reports for auditing purposes would no doubt be extremely valuable. This is precisely what Policy Server does, via an attractive and effective reports section, which may be configured and fine tuned by the user in order to provide exactly what they need. Policy Server even includes pre-defined templates that generate typical reports tailored by role.