SAFIRE – Enterprise Firewall Performance Tester
Why do you need SAFIRE?
Enterprise firewalls improve network security by segmenting enterprise LANs. However, each of the advanced security features (e.g. Antivirus, App-Control, IPS and SSL decryption) has a performance disadvantage. In combination, these features can easily reduce network performance by 90% – frustrating for users and a loss of business performance.
Safire is the only solution on the market that solves this problem quickly and cost-effectively.
Simply connect Safire to your firewall, define a traffic profile that matches your network, and select the features you want to measure. Start the test and in minutes Safire will create a PDF report detailing how each feature affects performance, with easy-to-understand graphs that clearly show the firewall’s performance limit and a host of other data.
Top 5 Test Scenarios
Safire is a simple and cost-effective tool for:
- Comparison of different enterprise firewalls before purchase
- Performance verification prior to installation
- Performance control after software updates and patches
- Review of performance after significant LAN changes
- Measuring the impact of new SW applications on performance
Safire System Diagram
Software
SAFIRE WEB UI (SafireManager)
Safire is controlled via an easy-to-use web interface called SafireManager, which is so intuitive that training is rarely required. Users are guided through the few simple steps of connecting to the firewall and define all variables relevant to the test – which network scenario and which traffic mix to use, how many users to emulate, which firewall functions to test, and so on. The basic test configuration process usually only takes a few minutes! Then it’s just a matter of waiting for Safire to perform iterations of the test and create the PDF report.
An important reason why Safire is so effective is that it includes a predefined library of application traffic and protocols to ensure highly realistic traffic profiles.
Every company obviously has a unique traffic profile. Performance testing of next-generation enterprise firewalls – where application perception is widespread to monitor traffic on enterprise networks – requires real traffic that matches this network’s unique traffic profile.
Safire makes it easy to create such traffic mixes through its current library of applications and protocols (in PCAP format) to maximize the accuracy of the test.
The PDF report provides a summary of key results and a wealth of graphical data so you can immediately identify serious performance issues.
1
Here you can see the traffic mix resulting from the current Safire library of applications and protocols.
2
The diagrams show various test parameters such as goodput, errors, latency, sessions and so on. They can be dragged and resized to speed up results analysis.
3
This is where you configure Safire and initiate new tests or view existing ones.
Main Functions
Verification of goodput and throughput
Safire makes it easy to document goodput, i.e. application-level throughput (i.e. the number of useful bits of information that the network delivers to a particular destination per unit of time). It also measures Layer 1 throughput with multiple concurrent sessions, packet sizes, traffic mixes and traffic properties in easy-to-understand graphs.
Safety perimeter and internal segmentation
You can test with asymmetric or symmetric traffic patterns and different mixes on different firewall deployment topologies: security firewalls protect enterprises from incoming traffic, while internal segmentation firewalls protect internal LAN network segments where performance requirements are much higher than those at the edge of the network.
SSL performance test for in-depth inspections
Perform tests using the latest standardized TLS encryption to determine the impact of activating the SSL Deep Inspection Policy on your firewalls.
Intelligent test result analysis
Compare different test results for intelligent analysis of how different firewalls work with the same enabled features or how the same firewall works when different features and policies are enabled.
Easy to understand PDF reports
Safire creates attractive PDF reports that highlight key performance indicators for efficient decision making.
HARDWARE
Safire is a fixed 1-slot package that can test up to 10GE over 24 packet engines and two L4-7 SFP+ test ports. Its compact size and quiet performance make it easy to integrate into any office.
Width: 19″ Width (48.26 cm) /Height: 1.75″ (4.45 cm) / Depth: 25 cm (9.8″) Weight: 4.5 kg (10 lbs)
