Re: Good Router/Firewall Combo

[kj <kj () indifference org>]

On Sat, Sep 09, 2000 at 06:50:12PM -0700, Frank R. Boecherer wrote:
> Steven:
>
> I don't know how it compares to the rest of the units out there, but I've
> been using the SonicWall router.  It has 2 ethernets and even a model that
> has a DMZ.  It's not low cost like the Linksys, but it does have quite a bit
> of control with a nice HTML interface.
>
> There's also a VPN option (which costs more again, but it's available if you
> want to expand).
>
> The other product similar in price and capability appears to be the
> WatchGuard though I haven't done anything with it.
>
> I use the SonicWall at my office and for some of my small clients.
>
> Frank


My experience with the Sonicwall is completely opposite. It hangs and needs a 
reboot every few hours (currently this is the second one we have tried).
Sometimes that didn't even work and I full reconfiguration was needed (maybe 
once a day). Nothing special was enabled, so full logs didn't shutdown the 
machine and no filter rules were in place. All it was doing was acting as a 
NAT to about 10 PCs, and acting as a dhcpd server. The web interface would 
crash once in a while, thus crashing the SonicWall. After a few changes one
would need to reboot the SonicWall for the changes to take effect (what is
up with that!).

After about a week of that. I just took a P 150, with 32 megs of ram. Installed 
OpenBSD 2.7 with ipf. Patched her up and ran dhcped. We have had no problems, 
since then. I emailed the SonicWall support, and still no word (it's been about 
a week).

Yes, their interface is nice, and there are some nice features about it. But I like 
the damn thing to work first and foremost. The BSD solution gives us everything we 
need and has been rock solid.

K.J.


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