I have a hardware firewall issue

K

kevineugenius

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
1,415
About 4 years ago, an overpaid IT mastermind came into our establishment when our server crashed and deduced that we had been hacked... he then installed a Sonicwall TZ 170, which has worked to mediocre performance since then. I reinstalled Windows on that server and keep it as a spare, I'm still not convinced we were hacked; I think a power surge probably would have done the same "damage".

Anyway, we now have an issue with people wasting time on stupid web pages, and I went into the Sonicwall to try to block those sites like I did back when it was new. To my dismay, it now requires me to purchase a subscription in order to use it.

Now, let me explain how rednecks think, even technologically gifted ones: If I have to pay you $450 for a stupid little plastic box with 2 wires running to it, plus pay the electricity, plus reboot it when it fails, plus set it up, plus maintain it... I'm not paying you a stupid subscription fee ever. If it was $60, yeah I'd consider subscribing to something.

So, now the question really is: who is Sonicwall's competition? I know absolutely nothing about hardware firewalls... if it has GOOD antivirus built in, I could justify a monthly/yearly fee, but other than that it had better be free to use after I buy it. All I really want is web traffic filtering and anti-hackers so that I don't have to worry about software firewalls (employees tend to turn them off, and our stupid inventory program REQUIRES that all users have administrator priveleges... lamest idea ever).

Sorry if this came off a little feisty, I'm a bit peeved by Sonicwall's business model and their desire to charge me for what I thought was free after charging me an exhorbitant amount for the firewall in the first place...
 
most UTM firewalls like that Sonicwall from a OEM will have a paid for subscription. If you want free look into Untangle
 
If you want the good AV plugin for Untangle you still have to pay a subscription for it. And depending on the number of users, it could end up being a lot. $100/month for 151+ users.
 
answered my own question; probably a bit out of my league but with enough reading about it, Untangle might be perfect for me.
 
kevineugenius said:
answered my own question; probably a bit out of my league but with enough reading about it, Untangle might be perfect for me.
Click to expand...

I've deployed quite a few of them to existing clients. Most have been the free open sourced one, but several are also the pro paid for version for larger more important clients. The content filtering is decent, the basic antivirus in the open sourced version is based on Clam, the optional paid for antivirus package is Kaspersky. The open sourced version also includes a good anti spyware module.

For good reporting and monitoring of your users web surfing habits....you will want to paid for version with the AD Connector, else your reporting only shows IP addresses of the workstations. Which, if your network clients are all DHCP, that's difficult. But with the AD Connector it shows the username in the reports.

I have had reduced issues with viruses/trojans once Untangle has been put in place. Once in a while one of the new rogue trojans (XPAntivirusxxx, etc) slips through..but that makes it past any antivirus brand out there, and it seems to be stopped from infecting the machine as deeply (the machine shows a slight symptom of it..but it's seems to be prevented from snowballing into a deep infection).

Your experience with the stability of Untangle will be based on the quality of hardware you install it on. Right away I started using only good business grade workstations for my smaller clients, and decent 1U servers for my larger clients. Intel or 3COM NICs, new hard drives, good RAM approved for that specific model, Intel chipset motherboards. Compaq/HP Evo Business Desktops or Dell Optiplex desktops. I never have to reboot Untangle unless I upgrade the version on it, it runs rock solid without reboots all the rest of the time. I've noticed on Untangles forums, people that use el cheapo grade hardware are the ones having issues with Untangle needing reboots....19 dollar desktop NICs, Via or SiS motherboards or other oddball cheap parts. For servers I've been using 1U Dell R200s or HP Proliants.

If your bosses want to stay away from opensource....I'd recommend a Juniper box. Excellent support..pricey, yes..but stable as heck.
 
SonicWall is cheap compared to Fortinet, but then again you get what you pay for.

Fortinet firewalls are quality pieces of hardware.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top