SonicOS 7.1 High Availability Administration Guide

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Technical Documentation > SonicOS 7.1 High Availability Administration Guide > About SonicOS > Working with SonicOS

Working with SonicOS

SonicOS provides a web management interface for configuring, managing, and monitoring the features, policies, security services, connected devices, and outside threats to your network. SonicOS functions in connection with SonicCore, SonicWall's secure underlying operating system.

The SonicOS management interface facilitates:

  • Setting up and configuring your firewall
  • Configuring external devices such as access points or switches
  • Configuring networks and external system options that connect to your firewall
  • Defining objects and policies for protection
  • Monitoring the health and status of the security appliance, network, users, and connections
  • Monitoring traffic, users, and threats
  • Investigating events

SonicWall offers two different modes of operation in SonicOS; the modes differ mainly in the areas of policy, object configuration, and diagnostics.

  • Policy Mode provides a unified policy configuration work flow. It combines Layer 3 to Layer 7 policy enforcement for security policies and optimizes the work flow for other policy types. This unified policy work flow gathers many security settings into one location that were previously configured on different pages of the management interface.
  • Classic Mode is more consistent with earlier releases of SonicOS; in that you need to develop individual policies and actions for specific security services. Classic Mode has a redesigned interface.

This following table identifies which of these two modes can be used on various SonicWall firewalls:

Firewall Type Classic Mode Policy Mode Comments
TZ Series yes no The entry level TZ Series, also known as desktop firewalls, delivers revamped features such as 5G readiness, better connectivity options, improved threat protection, SSL and decryption performance that addresses HTPPS bandwidth issues; built-in SD-WAN, and lawful TLS 1.3 decryption support. It provides advanced networking and security features, like the multi-engine Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) cloud-based sandbox service with patent-pending Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI™).
NSa Series yes no

NSa firewalls provide your mid-sized network with enhanced security. These firewalls are designed specifically for businesses with more than 250 workstations. The NSa provides cloud-based and on-box capabilities such as TLS/SSL decryption and inspection, application intelligence and control, SD-WAN, real-time visualization, and WLAN management.

NSsp 10700, NSsp 11700, NSsp 13700 yes

no

 The NSsp Series includes high-end firewalls that delivers both advanced threat protection and the fast speeds that large enterprises, data centers, and service providers require.
NSsp 15700 no yes The NSsp 15700 is designed for large distributed enterprises, data centers, government agencies and services providers. It provides unified policy creation and modification with scalability and availability.
NSv Series yes yes The NSv series firewalls offers all the security advantages of a physical firewall with the operational and economic benefits of virtualization. The NSv firewalls can operate in either Policy Mode or Classic Mode. You can switch between modes, but some configuration information from extra interfaces is removed.

In addition to the management interface, SonicOS also has a full-featured API and a CLI to manage the firewalls. For more information, refer to:

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