I work for a community organisation on a shoe string budget.

I have been asked to look into purchasing a Firewall device to protect
our LAN with 50 PCs. We have an ADSL Internet connection through a
basic NAT router supplied by the ISP.

I would like some info and recommendations on the various brands and
models and the features that they have.
Having one that is not to completed to configure and allows port
blocking, filtering etc is what I'm looking at.

Regards

Sean

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Hi Sean,

I agree with the last post.  We are also on a very limited budget, but we're
using the SonicWalls SOHO series.  If you are a registered non profit you
can get some discounts from certain vendors.  We get a small discount from
CDW for our hardware and software, let me know if you want my contact at the
company.

Regards,
Roberto
"Sean" <smce@ihug.com.au> wrote in message
 news:t5rrvvgi7uoc6d7il1rtnfavv23n08hec1@
4ax.com...
quote:

>
> I work for a community organisation on a shoe string budget.
>
> I have been asked to look into purchasing a Firewall device to protect
> our LAN with 50 PCs. We have an ADSL Internet connection through a
> basic NAT router supplied by the ISP.
>
> I would like some info and recommendations on the various brands and
> models and the features that they have.
> Having one that is not to completed to configure and allows port
> blocking, filtering etc is what I'm looking at.
>
> Regards
>
> Sean
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

www.netscreen.com might be another inexpensive choice.


"Roberto Icaza" <robertoicaza@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O8XbXrk1DHA.560@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
quote:

> Hi Sean,
>
> I agree with the last post.  We are also on a very limited budget, but

we're
quote:

> using the SonicWalls SOHO series.  If you are a registered non profit you
> can get some discounts from certain vendors.  We get a small discount from
> CDW for our hardware and software, let me know if you want my contact at

the
quote:

> company.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

You already have basic protection with the nat router. For something more ro
bust that
has SPI firewall and can control outbound access there are a lot of choices.
 The
Netgear ProSafe line is pretty decent, at as low as $75. I use one at home a
nd it
does a good job however it is limited in the number of outbound rules it can
 have and
the rules are not that flexible. The SonicWall and Netscreen line are more f
lexible
and powerful starting at somewhere around $400 I believe. Linksys has a new
affordable device, the RV082, that has a lot of features including SPI, fift
y vpn
ipsec endpoint tunnels, lots of logging, bandwidth sharing/redundancy with a
 second
wan connection, and better firewall rules that can control traffic to and fr
om
specific ip addresses unlike the lower end devices. You can see it at the li
nk below
and download the manual. My son just bought one for his workplace at $270.  
--- Steve

http://www.linksys.com/products/pro...cid=29&prid=589

"Sean" <smce@ihug.com.au> wrote in message
 news:t5rrvvgi7uoc6d7il1rtnfavv23n08hec1@
4ax.com...
quote:

>
> I work for a community organisation on a shoe string budget.
>
> I have been asked to look into purchasing a Firewall device to protect
> our LAN with 50 PCs. We have an ADSL Internet connection through a
> basic NAT router supplied by the ISP.
>
> I would like some info and recommendations on the various brands and
> models and the features that they have.
> Having one that is not to completed to configure and allows port
> blocking, filtering etc is what I'm looking at.
>
> Regards
>
> Sean
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

I would not recommend the SonicWalls... in my (limited) experience they have
 a high failure rate (we've had 3 out of 4 fail in less than 2 years).  The 
units are expensive, relative to the features and require extra-cost license
s for almost everything.

The maintenance is is pricy---and I've found the support to be poor.  (At le
ast the India-based support offered to US customers....user in Europe report
 that the support is good).

I just bought a LinkSys RV082 and was impressed with its feature set... the 
software is a bit rough... but it does a lot for you $300.  Support is ok ..
. eager to help, and answer the phone quickly

Just my 2 cents... best o' luck.
k

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]