XG Firewall v18 includes several performance gains that will breathe new life into your network, enabling you to handle more traffic and better secure it.
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If you haven’t upgraded to XG Firewall v18 already, you’re going to want to do so as soon as possible to take advantage of the substantial performance benefits waiting for you.
What are the gains and where do they come from?
Consider these potential performance boosts available by upgrading to XG Firewall v18:
Those are some impressive performance improvements!
One of the most exciting enhancements to XG Firewall in v18 was the introduction of the new Xstream Architecture, with its all-new streaming DPI engine, advanced TLS 1.3 inspection solution, and Network Flow FastPath.
Let’s look at how the Xstream Architecture upgrades your performance:
Trusted traffic FastPath acceleration
The new Xstream Network Flow FastPath is all about performance. It directs trusted traffic that doesn’t require security scanning into a fast lane through the system. This not only minimizes latency and accelerates application traffic through the firewall, it also has the added benefit of not engaging the DPI engine for deep-packet inspection of trusted traffic.
The impact of fast-pathing is up to a 5x improvement in firewall traffic throughput! Of course, with a blend of real-world traffic mixes, not all applications qualify for trusted traffic FastPath acceleration, but if a substantial portion of your traffic can be accelerated on the FastPath, you could increase your firewall’s security scanning capacity while allowing more trusted traffic. That’s a win-win.
Be sure to see how to make the most of the Network Flow FastPath on your network to learn how this works and how to set it up optimally.
TLS inspection speed
The new Xstream TLS inspection solution also brings a tremendous boost in decrypting and inspecting encrypted traffic flows, with up to a 2x improvement in performance. And when you combine the added performance with the very granular and easy to manage TLS inspection policies, you can be sure you’re only inspecting traffic that really needs it – and now do it faster than ever.
See how to make the most of Xstream TLS Inspection on your XG Firewall.
IMIX traffic performance
Internet Mix or IMIX is an often used reference in measuring typical real-world internet network traffic performance, making it a good metric to consider when looking at performance.
The new Xstream architecture in XG Firewall v18 brings a substantial boost in performance to this important metric. On our mid-range firewall models, the gains are over 100%, with the average across the XG Series line being a 57% improvement in performance.
This is all thanks to optimizations in the packet processing flow, DPI engine, and Network Flow FastPath. It’s an incredible real-world improvement in traffic processing performance.
Other common traffic performance measurements also benefit from the Xstream architecture in v18, including raw firewall performance, IPS, AV, application control, and malware protection.
Get the latest XG Firewall brochure to see the latest performance metrics and how your XG Series model stacks up.
SSL VPN capacity
Further optimizations to our SSL engine in XG Firewall v18 MR3 bring some dramatic improvements to remote access SSL VPN capacity, with up to 6x the number of connections possible on our higher-end appliances.
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Increases are more modest at the entry-level, but on a typical mid-range device like the XG 310, the capacity has tripled! This is great news for everyone managing a remote workforce these days.
Check out the other great enhancements with remote-access VPN.
Upgrade today
If you haven’t already, upgrade to XG Firewall v18 today. It’s a free performance boost, and you get a ton of great new protection and networking features.
Be sure to take advantage of all the resources available, including the recent “Making the Most of XG Firewall v18” article series that covers all the great new capabilities in XG Firewall v18:
XG Firewall v18 is now available, and it’s sporting the all-new Xstream Architecture, which delivers extreme levels of visibility, protection and performance.
We’ve packed this release with new and enhanced features for you, including:
Update Sophos Xg Firewall
- Xstream SSL inspection. Get unprecedented visibility into your encrypted traffic flows, support for TLS 1.3 without downgrading, powerful policy tools, and supreme performance.
- AI-powered threat intelligence. Extend your protection against zero-day threats and emerging ransomware variants with multiple best-in-class machine learning models and unmatched insights into suspicious files entering your network.
- Application acceleration. Optimize network performance by putting your important application traffic on the fast path through the firewall and routing it reliably out through your preferred WAN connection.
Watch the overview video to see everything that’s new in XG Firewall v18:
Sophos Central
XG Firewall v18 also includes support for all new central management, reporting, and deployment options launching on Sophos Central next week:
- Group firewall management. Easily keep your full estate of firewalls consistent using groups that automatically keep policies, objects, and settings synchronized.
- Central reporting. Network activity and insights across all your firewalls are now at your fingertips in Sophos Central, with several pre-packaged reports and flexible reporting tools to create your own.
- Zero-touch deployment. Conveniently setup a new firewall in Sophos Central, export the config, load it on a flash drive and have your new firewall automatically connect back to Sophos Central without having to touch it.
And, there’s more!
In addition, there are also a ton of other new features that will enhance your protection, visibility, management experience, and network versatility:
- Synchronized SD-WAN brings the power of Synchronized Security to reliably and accurately route application and user-based traffic over your preferred WAN links
- Firewall, NAT, and SSL Inspection rules and policies are now more powerful, flexible and easier to work with than ever before
- Plug-and-play high-availability (HA) makes it easy to enable business continuity and adds peace-of-mind – simply connect two XG Series appliances together and you’ll be up and running in no time
- Real-time flow monitoring provides at-a-glance insights into active bandwidth consuming hosts, applications, and users
- Expanded notifications and alerts ensure you never miss an important network security event whether it’s related to a threat, service, or important performance metric
How to get XG Firewall v18
As usual, this firmware update comes at no charge for licensed XG Firewall customers. The firmware will be rolled-out automatically to all systems over the coming weeks, but you can manually update at any time via MySophos.
Head on over to the XG Firewall Community Blog to get the full release notes.
Also check that your current hardware appliance supports v18.
Making the most of your new XG Firewall features
Free online training – available to all XG Firewall customers, our delta training program will help you make the most of the new features in XG Firewall v18.
It walks you through the key enhancements since v17.5 and takes about 90 minutes to complete. Get started on the XG Firewall training program.
Customer resources and how-to videos – be sure to visit the Customer Resource Center for the latest how-to videos and links to documentation, the community forums, training and other resources.
Take advantage of Partner and Sophos Professional Services: To augment your local Sophos partner’s services, we offer services to help you getting up and running and make the most of your XG Firewall, including the latest capabilities in v18.
While Sophos Professional Services can help with any task, here are the most common services they provide:
- XG Firewall deployment and setup
- XG Firewall v18 DPI, FastPath and SSL Engine Optimization
- XG Firewall Health Checks
Here are some direct links to helpful resources:
- Customer Training Portal (free Delta Training)
Xg Firewall 135
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