Dell SonicWALL NSA 250M Wireless-N review

The SonicWALL NSA 250M Wireless-N appliance offers SMBs and remote offices an extensive range of tough gateway security measures, but the cost can add up quickly.

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Wireless features

For wireless operations, the appliance's AP can provide 2.4GHz b/g/n or 5GHz a/n services but not both together. However, it's still quite versatile as it can present multiple virtual APs (VAPs) each with their own encryption profiles.

You need to create a new wireless zone and interface where the later is a VLAN on the parent wireless interface. Next, you create an SSID and assign the new wireless VLAN interface to it.

The VAP needs to be made a member of the appliance's internal AP group and you also give it a VAP profile which defines the authentication mode you want to use. It's all a bit fiddly but it does mean you can use separate SSIDs for guest access or other wireless services and from the zone menu, decide which security profiles you want to apply to each one.

Conclusion

There's no denying the NSA 250M Wireless-N is offering tough gateway security and the deep packet inspection option provides extensive application controls. It can be easily customised to suit but this all comes at a comparatively high price.

Verdict

The NSA 250M Wireless-N delivers an impressive range of security measures which can be toughened up further with SonicWALL’s deep packet inspection option. It’s a good choice as an all-in-one wired and wireless security appliance for SMBs. Although we found it can be challenging to configure and each option will increase costs significantly.

Chassis: Desktop

Memory: 256MB RAM, 32MB Flash

Network: 5 x Gigabit

Wireless: 2.4GHz n/b/g or 5GHz a/n

Ports: USB, RJ-45 console

Management: Web browser

Options: Appliance and 1 year TotalSecure bundle, £1,458 ex VAT

Modules: 4-port Gigabit, £265; ADSL Annex B, £205; T1/E1, £414 (all ex VAT)

Dave Mitchell
Dave Mitchell

Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.