Sangfor Easyconnect is a great combination of SSL-VPN, WAN acceleration and Application Delivery Virtual appliance end users will love.

1. ITSMDaily.com
IncreaseProductivity
withSangforEasyConnect
Reviewdby:ErikBlum
Published:June2015
“SangforEasyconnectisagreatcombination
ofSSL-VPN,WANaccelerationandApplication
DeliveryVirtualapplianceenduserswilllove.”
Outstanding
Features
Easyofuse
Eastofinstallation
Pros
Greatproduct,easytoinstall,
easytoconfigure,uniquefeatures.
Theproductisattheearlystages
whichinturnmeansonlyonething.
Itcanbefurtherimproved.
Cons
-1-www.sangfor.net

2. ITSMDaily.com
-2-www.sangfor.net
Sangfortotherescue
YesterdayIfoundonegreatproductforremoteusers.IwishItwason
themarketyearsago.Firstletmetellyouaboutmyproblem.Weuse
ERPapplicationwhichisthemainapplicationinourenvironment.
Unfortunatelyit’snotweb-based.Wealsohavemanylocations,from
warehouses,distributiontoremoteoffices.TheyalluseERP.
BecauseapplicationisaclassicWindowsapp,thatmeansitcan’tbe
uusedontablets,phones.Usersworkingfromhomealsoneedtouseit.
Remotedesktopservices(Terminalservices)cansolvethemainproblem.
ITcandeliverapplicationtoremotelocationseasily.Buttherearetwo
problems.EveniftheRDPprotocolcan”stream”applicationtoremote
locations,protocolbyitselfisstillnotefficient,henceCitrixinventedICA
protocol.IfyouknowCitrix,thenyouknowthatwhiletechnologyisgood,
itcostsanarmandalegtobuyit.Anditalsomeansthatyouhavetoadd
additionaladditionalcosttoalreadyexpensiveRemotedesktopservicelicenses.
Recently,Istumbledonasecondproblem.Usersneedtouseapplications
remotely.Fromtheirmobiledevicesandevenprivatecomputers.Westill
useJuniperSAapplianceforSSLVPN.Inevergotsomanyproblemswith
MACusers.JuniperJunosPulseisnotworkingwellforIPhoneusersand
OSXusers…Theycanfindarefugefindingworkingremoteconnectonthis
website.
IthoughtaboutIthoughtaboutDellSonicWallasanalternativetoSAappliance.Youcan
addRDPtousersSSL-VPNscreenandIheardthatMACusersdon’thave
problemsconnecting.Butintheend,it’snotasolution.Itisnotthatuseful
whenyouconsiderthatit’smainpurposeisnotapplicationdelivery.
IneverheardaboutSangforuntilnow.Whatshockedmewasanimage
fromGartnerreport,SangforislistedonreportsforSSL-VPN,NGFW
andWANoptimization.For3yearsinarow.Whatcanacompanywith
WWANoptimization,SSL-VPNanNGFWproductsinventtomakeremote
workeasier?
TheanswerisEasyconnect.
EASYCONNECT

3. ITSMDaily.com
-3-www.sangfor.net
BeautyofEasyConnect
EasyconnectisacombinationofSSL-VPN,network
accelerationandRDPgateway.Userhastologinto
awebportalwherehe/shecanauthenticate.Justlike
withSSL-VPNyoucanuseanycomputerandinstall
asmallclient.
Onceloggedin,youcanrunapplicationsthatare
publishedonpublishedonyourTerminalServicesserver(RDS).
Allnetworktrafficiscompressedandaccelerated.
Thatmeansthatyouwillneedjustafractionof
networkresourcescomparedtoclassicalRDP.This
comeshandywhenusersneedtousemobiledata,
whenusersareroamingandevenwhenyouhavea
badconnection.Becauseofnetworkoptimizations,
eevenapplicationslikeAutodeskAutocadwillworkgreat.
Butservingapplicationsisnotall.Youcangrantyour
usersadditionalaccesstoyourresources.Youcan
enableaccesstofileshare,RemoteDesktoporEasy
Connectconsole.
Thereisalsoacompulsorymobileapplicationavailable
forIOSandAndroidoperatingsystems.Mobileuserscan
uusemobilephonesortabletstoconnecttoEasyconnect
anduseapplicationsyouhavedeployedsecurely.

4. ITSMDaily.com
-4-www.sangfor.net
TheBackend
Easyconnectinstallationisprettysimple.
FromSangforwebpageyoudownloada
virtualappliancewhichyoueasilyimport
toyourvirtualinfrastructure.Onenetwork
interfaceisdedicatedtoDMZandtheother
isdedicatedtointernalnetwork.Whenyou
cconnecttotheapplianceforthefirsttime
youlogintotheconsolewithcredentials
admin/admin.
OntheDashboard,yougetessentialinformation
likeCPUusage,Throughput,ConcurrentSessions,
Concurrentusers,andByteCache.Youcan
immediatelyseehowtheapplianceisutilized.
ThenThenyoucanaddTerminalservicesserver
sothatyoucanstartcreatingpoliciesfor
applicationsandusers.

5. ITSMDaily.com
-5-www.sangfor.net
EasyconnectSecurity
Securityisoneofthestrongestassets.Because
EasyConnectwascreatedbytheteamthatisworking
onasecurityproducts,youcanreallysecureyour
environment.Forexample,youcansetuparulethat
limitsaccesstocomputerswithonlycertaintypeof
operatingsystem,operatingsystemversioni.e
WWindows7andyoucanevenlimitaccessbythe
ServicePackversion.
Youcanalsosetupanattributecheck.Forexample,
youcanonlyallowaccessiftheclienthasaspecified
fileincertaindirectory.Butthatisjustthebeginning.
Youcandefinewhichprocessmustberunning,which
Anti-Virussoftwarehastobeinstalled.Youcanalso
hhaveaplaywithRegistrydata,variousendpoint
features,sourceIP,WANinterfaceIP,etc….
Ifyourequireyoucansetupafort.Imean,security
isreallyastrongassetandtherearemanychecks
youcanusetopreventunauthorizeduserstoconnect
toyourinfrastructure.
Conclusion
Easyconnectisagreatwaytodeployyourapplicationstoremoteusers.Oneexamplewhereitshinesisthatyou
canextendyourexisitinginfrastructure.Youdon’thavetobuyadditionalexpensiveSSL-VPNappliance,youdon’t
havetoupgradeyourfirewalls,youdon’thavetobuyanewdevicethatofferslatestandgreatest,including
featuresyoudon’tneed.
Instead,youcandeployEasyconnect.Youcaninstallinyourvirtualenvironmentandeasilysetuppoliciesand
applicationsforyourusers.
IIwasreallysurprisedwithconfiguration.IthoughtthatIwillfindacomplicatedGUI,hardtounderstandcontrols
andhardlylogicalconfigurationoptions.Instead,whatIfoundwaseasytounderstand,easytosetupandeasyto
useproduct.
Ifyouareinterestedinthiskindofproduct,Irecommendyoutodownloadatrialversionandhaveashorttrial.
Itmaysurpriseyou…