UTM Options / (Server OS options included)

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ehcah

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Nov 10, 2010
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7
Hello,

I'm not sure how much of my question falls within the scope of this group? I've been in the process of testing all sorts of gateways, firewall, UTM solutions and Server OS's recently. I break out the middle two as every solution seems to offer something a little different. These solutions range from free to medium cost as well as minimal to greater level's of complexity. I am looking for opinion's on the best solution and not the cheapest cost.

In no particular order, I have evaluated:

ClearOS
SmoothWall
Untangle
Ebox/Zentyal running on Ubuntu
Windows Server 2008 r2
Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium
Forefront Suite

My needs aren't huge, and certainly not different than a lot of others, but I have a couple of servers in my basement rack that can run most of the above options without complication. A few of those distros do take a bit of tweeking as they don't like the HP raid controller's in my DL380's.

Basic Network functionality requirements are Internet Sharing, DHCP Service's, DNS, NAT/Firewall and gateway level Antivirus/SPAM etc... protection. Next level of "like's" are ability to backup family devices, server's and ease to access permission based shares on my windows Servers. My NAS are either going to be 2 Win2008 r2 boxes running DFS or Windows Storage Server. (I have tried every flipping linux based NAS solution I can get my hands on and have concluded that there are a lot of great options out there, but none of them perfect.)

Being able to use my dyndns account to access files and mange my server infrastructure remotely is of great interest also. I'm currently using some services from my telco gateway and Ubuntu server and can not access anything away from my LAN. What ever my new middle device is to become, it will be connected directly to my Telco Fiber Gateway. NAT and F/W on the Gateway will be turned off. This device needs to be able to police all inbound/outbound traffic through eth0 and eth1.

Any advice/opinions are greatly appreciated.

e
 
I am not sure what you are looking for a distro that has both router and server os in one?

I wouldn't recommend an all in one solution. I would go with a device for the firewall/utm and then a dedicated server.

What are your needs?

If you just need a UTM most of the forum recommends Untangle. I would not run SBS 2008 Premium just for ISA.
 
Hi marley1,

I really like untangle as a UTM solution. I wish the management interface could be configured to show only what I want to see. I couldn't see an option to change its look. Maybe that is a feature beyond the free version. Even with the free version, I am very curious about the $10 per month Kapersky subscription. Is it worth it? I would leave protection on the desktop also, but gateway level protection gives me greater piece of mind for my kids.

I agree with your comments about not running a single device. Whereas my NAS boxes are going to be running on Windows 2008r2 and I want to keep as few services on them as possible for performance reasons. I thought about SBS 2008 or even 2011 when it comes out, to help with permissions, sharing, remote access and all that jazz. I wasn't sure what the impact of adding forefront or something else might cause. I could always run Forefront on one DL380G4 and SBS on a seperate one? But that is assembling a 100% MS solution.

Thank you for the link to the other thread. That will be a good read. If I didn't have access to the MS software, it wouldn't be on my list. A combination of Untangle's functionality and Smoothwall's look and feel would be the cat's... meow! :)

e
 
Check the stickied thread of router/firewall distros....
ClearOS is danged slick!
SBS 2008 Premium isn't a UTM by itself ...you have to add something like Forefront to it.

For dedicated UTM products, check out Untangle and Astaro.
 
if you are running windows 2008 you can do permissions that way through NTFS shares/permissions. Either in Workstation mode or AD.

For remote access OpenVPN is nice in Untangle.
 
I don't want to want to high jack my own thread, but if I could run 2 boxes would Microsoft come back into play? ClearOS is very impressive and most comparable to Zentyal 2.0 running on Ubuntu IMO. If I'm going the route of a server OS though, I need to understand how it compares with Microsoft. My gut tells me that others would post not to run ClearOS exclusively for all of my requirements and that I probably want another device/appliance in the mix?

Basic Microsoft Server 2008r2 + the appropriate Forefront modules in front and SBS 2008/2011 in the middle? Just trying to position everything in my own mind. I find that a lot of folks are jaded against Microsoft for no other reason than cost. If they aren't offering the best solution(s) though, that is a different story.

e
 
SBS needs to be 1st in the domain.

get a UTM up front, put your nas and windows behind it however you want to work it.
 
ehcah said:
I don't want to want to high jack my own thread, but if I could run 2 boxes would Microsoft come back into play? ClearOS is very impressive and most comparable to Zentyal 2.0 running on Ubuntu IMO. If I'm going the route of a server OS though, I need to understand how it compares with Microsoft. My gut tells me that others would post not to run ClearOS exclusively for all of my requirements and that I probably want another device/appliance in the mix?

Basic Microsoft Server 2008r2 + the appropriate Forefront modules in front and SBS 2008/2011 in the middle? Just trying to position everything in my own mind. I find that a lot of folks are jaded against Microsoft for no other reason than cost. If they aren't offering the best solution(s) though, that is a different story.

e
Click to expand...

Well, it depends...."What are you needs?" I see you mention "home-basement" stuff...and I'm thinking you're doing this just for a home LAN? If it's a business, what are your needs? What line of business apps are being run? What types of services are needed? How many users? What kind of file storage needs? Remote access needs?
 
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