Re: Firewall/Router: Dedicated Server or Appliance?

[André Gil <andregil () vianw pt>]

Well on my opinion that depends on what features you need on the firewall.

As for the router I guess it's mostly a matter of taste.

Anyway, what will the firewall protect?

You say the network has 1000 users, but will it protect a mission critical 
system? Or just some servers? Are those systems that need protection under 
constant attacks?

I guess those are some questions you should try to answer and then, after 
carefull thinking checking what kind of features you need on the firewall.

After that I guess you should go and do a market search. Then you should 
consider the cost of mounting a dedicated server only for routing/firewall. 
Then after that and after every features taken into consideration, you could 
devise a better answer.

I'm assuming your institution has limited budget and that you want to 
maximize the features and extensibility of the solution and minimize the 
cost.

André Gil

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nuno Marques" <nmarques () di fc ul pt>
To: <security-basics () securityfocus com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 11:10 PM
Subject: Firewall/Router: Dedicated Server or Appliance?


> Hi everybody,
>
> what do you think it's the best choice for a college network?
>
> The network has something like 1000 users, we have been recommended an 
> astaro appliance, what's your opinion about it? Any other suggestion? Will 
> a dedicated server do the same thing?
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nuno