Sophos XG 135 firewall – A closer look

The Sophos XG 135 rev 3 is part of the hugely popular XG line of Next-Gen security appliances; and is one of our most popular firewalls at Corporate Armor.

The XG 135 is well-known for superior visibility into risky activity, as well as the ability to stop both known and unknown threats quickly and effectively. When it comes to malware, the XG 135 can see it, stop it, and secure it.

Under the hood of the Sophos XG 135

The Sophos XG 135 is listed at a blistering Max Firewall Throughput of 8 Gbps, and Firewall IMIX of 4.3 Gbps. IPS Throughput is 1.9 Gbps, NGFW Throughput is 1.8 Gbps and Threat Protection Throughput is 800 Mbps. It can handle 375,200 new connections per second and is suitable for up to 100 users.

The XG 135 is not just fast, but versatile too. There’s eight copper Gigabit Ethernet ports and one SFP fibre port. In addition, it offers dual-band 802.11ac wireless services. And an expansion slot allows you to add optional DSL, 3G/4G or Gigabit SFP cards. Or, you can add a second Wi-Fi module.

Installation of the XG 135 is a breeze, as it is with all Sophos firewalls. The web browser quickstart wizard lets you hit the ground running. First, it guides you through securing administrative access. Then you just set up the LAN and WAN ports plus a secure wireless network. After that, just add an email address for alerting. Once done, creating main and guest wireless networks and installing the latest firmware are all a snap. So is setting a base security policy so your users are protected from the outset are all taken care of.

Managing the XG 135

The main dashboard presents a clean overview of network activity and security issues. You’ll see graphs and charts detailing traffic statistics and blocked applications. Reporting options are excellent. Sophos’ iView gives tons of graphical information. You’ll have insights into security services, app and web activity, threats, mail usage and more.

You can also divide your users into different security groups, no problem. It’s ports can be assigned to different zones, each with its own firewall rules and policies. You can govern web filtering, IPS and application controls. These are easy to set up, since the XG 135 comes with 91 predefined website categories and over 3,400 predefined app profiles.

You can exercise finer control, too. It is possible to apply identity-based rules to specific users and groups. You will be able to restrict bandwidth on daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly internet usage.

One other strength of the XG 135 is that it’s fully manageable via the cloud. It’s even possible to manage endpoints outside your local network through Sophos’ Synchronised Security service. The dashboard shows all remote devices. And if any get compromised, you can automatically quarantine the network zone they’re located in.

Licensing

The base license of an XG Firewall is included free of charge. It features Wireless protection, SSL VPN or Sophos Connect Client, and IPsec VPN connections.

Of course, you can purchase additional security services a la carte, but the best and most efficient way to get the most out of your XG 135 is to purchase it as part of a bundle. There are two bundle types, EnterpriseProtect Plus, and TotalProtect Plus. Reach out to our specialists for more information on which of these bundles is best for you.

The Sophos XG 135 is very impressive. It offers a good breadth of security features, yet is easy to set up. Additionally, it’s a breeze to manage remotely. And it doesn’t cost as much as you’d think it would. If you have any questions, please reach out to us here, or call Corporate Armor at 877-449-0458. Thanks for reading!

Highlights

Completely cloud manangeable
Max Firewall Throughput of 8 Gbps
NGFW Throughput of 1.8 Gbps
Threat Protection Throughput of 800 Mbps