Go to page: 1 2   

Printer Friendly Version

For those who have tried IPCop in the past but are still hungry for more control over their firewall installation, then I highly suggest going with pfSense as a great BSD option.

4. SmoothWall

If you have any level of involvement with IT, then the chances are good that you have experienced a SmoothWall protected network at least once in your life. Often times, you may have not even been aware of it.

For many newbies totally unfamiliar with Linux or BSD, SmoothWall serves as a "gateway drug" for self-built firewall appliances, as it a provides for just about anyone with a blank CD and an older PC to create a ready-to-roll firewall appliance for their home office or small business. Just like other more complicated solutions, SmoothWall provides amazingly simple installation. Once installed, the administrator can setup their firewall settings, QoS, Web filter, anti-spam protection, and manage outgoing/incoming instant message conversations.

At its core, SmoothWall is a firewall with heavily content filtering abilities. If you have never tried turning an old PC into a firewall appliance, this is what I would suggest starting with. And yes, SmoothWall also has enterprise level support and offerings for those needing to go this route, as well.

5. Linux LiveCD Router

At first I hesitated to even bother highlighting this particular solution, as it bothered me on two fronts.

1. One, it is difficult to gauge just how well supported this Linux distro actually is. It appears to have dropped off the face of the planet around 2007?

2. It is a relative unknown to me. I know nothing of this option at all, other than the fact that it provides LiveCD functionality.

Remote SSH administration.

Load balancing between two ISP connections.

Boot from a CD or a USB Flash Drive.

At the end of the day, it is important to recognize that for some users, going with a build-your-own hardware firewall appliance is the way to go. But for many others, sometimes is just makes sense to buy something pre-built. And that is where trying out the various options out there comes into play.

Speaking for myself, I am thrilled that I first took the time to really understand the roll-your-own solutions first. It enabled me to better work through what I was looking for from a hardware firewall and what turned out to be mostly fluff.

Go to page: 1 2   

Printer Friendly Version