So am I too understand correctly that firewall will do basic routing? I recently bought a Linksys WRT54GL and installed tomato. Disclaimer: I learned what I know from telecom sales; VOIP and stuff, that's my excuse, and trial and error while day trading.
Quote from smalltrader35: I also forgot to mention that I am running 2 ADSL2+ connections into the one PC. Does the Cisco/SonicWall work with any type of adsl connections? My old adsl routers wont work with the new ADSL2+ Lines. The device wont care about the type of ISP connection, your ADSL2+ modem should have an ethernet output that you connect to your router or firewall - the device itself will not accept an ADSL2+ connection directly. If you need to be able to team or bond two connections together to act as one you should make sure that the device you buy supports it. Thx GTS and everbody else who provided information on this thread. Can I ask you GTS, should I go directly with say SonicWall for their back-up service or stay local with my IT guy? If I have a problem I don't want to be waiting around for my IT guy to show when it suits his timetable so in that sence I am geared towards directly dealing with SonicWall Tech people 24/7 Help. That said, how technical is the back-up service when there are problems with the SonicWall? Does their tech support people cater for the non-technically minded individuals or is it solely for the technically experienced people when it comes to Firewalls? One last question if I may. Did I read your post correctly in that the SonicWall will not accept a direct connection to my adsl2+ line and that I will need a router connected to the adsl2+ line then that router connected to the SonicWall which means I will have to get a reliable router in addition to the firewall since these cheap routers go down and this will make my SonicWall useless during these periods? Are there any other questions I should be asking prior to my purchase? Once again thank you for your time and input.
Hi smalltrader35, I dont know anything about SonicWall tech support so I wont chime in about that decision. The device that terminates any dsl line is considered a modem. Depending on the ISP they may supply a modem that also has router features. What terminates your adsl2 connections now? If you want a single device solution, you can buy integrated routers/adsl2 modems but your selection is going to be very limited. Cisco ASA's would be out and I suspect SonicWall's as well. If you're going to go that route you'd better make sure your ISP supports whatever hardware you buy...normally that ADSL2 modem is something they supply and its better to just use that. One of the reasons for avoiding an integrated device is that if you change from adsl to some other technology (newer dsl flavor or cable or ??) then the device because obsolete. If you stick to something that takes ethernet in and ethernet out (e.g. Sonicwall) then you can use it with whatever broadband solution you want (with the appropriate cable or dsl modem in front of it)
Hi smalltrader35, I dont know anything about SonicWall tech support so I wont chime in about that decision. The device that terminates any dsl line is considered a modem. Depending on the ISP they may supply a modem that also has router features. What terminates your adsl2 connections now? If you want a single device solution, you can buy integrated routers/adsl2 modems but your selection is going to be very limited. Cisco ASA's would be out and I suspect SonicWall's as well. If you're going to go that route you'd better make sure your ISP supports whatever hardware you buy...normally that ADSL2 modem is something they supply and its better to just use that. One of the reasons for avoiding an integrated device is that if you change from adsl to some other technology (newer dsl flavor or cable or ??) then the device because obsolete. If you stick to something that takes ethernet in and ethernet out (e.g. Sonicwall) then you can use it with whatever broadband solution you want (with the appropriate cable or dsl modem in front of it) Hi GTS, I am using 2 adsl2+ routers Aolynk DR814 & Voyager 210. Both are not reliable at all. I had to take the top of the Voyager as it drops the link when it gets to HOT. My IT guy recommended the Cisco 871 Model but I have looked at the spec and haven't found any mention of it being compatible with adsl2+. so that doesn't say much for his knowledge. I have norrowed my search down to a normal adsl2+ Router/Firewall The Netgear DG834 router which got good reviews and 2 Cisco routers, the Cisco 877 adsl router and Ciso 857 adsl router, both of which have mixed reviews. All I want is reliability and I don't mind spending the money to get a good service and product. The Aolynk router had no problems yesterday or previous session but Monday I got 4 Disconnects. Its a Hit & Miss with these cheap ISP supplied routers. Any futher advice is most welcome and thx again for everybodys input especially you GTS. You've been very helpful. Thank you
I trade using the basic Linksys WRT54G router wired to my notebook and it has been working fine. However, I would prefer go wireless so I have some mobility but this modem is way too slow and inconsistent when going wireless. Netgear recently came out with their WNDR3700 dual band wireless router that is getting very good reviews so I've ordered one to give it a try. It has to be paired with their WNDA3100v2 wireless adapter to take full advantage of the speed but the v2 version of this adapter is so new it is difficult to find. I'm hoping this will provide enough speed and reliability to be able to trade wirelessly much of the time.
1 Cisco 800 series: good hardware, good OS, poor GUI. If you're not CCNA stay away from this router. Router is as good as you can configure it and IOS CLI is cumbersome 2 Sonicwall: I would not recommend anything below NSA240 Nice feature is build in Mobile Broadband backup 3 Watchguard: I would not use it at Data Center because it's a proxy based fw, however, as long as your apps don't use out of spec protocols you'll be fine. They use a lot of less resources to do what deep packet inspection fw do. 4 Cisco ASA: Nice GUI, superb OS. If you have money go for Cisco ASA. Second choice Snicwall or Watchguard IMO. EDIT: Since you relay on the pc/network to make money it does make sense to use UTMS firewall. UTMS device will do intrusion prevention/detection (detect if someone is hacking into your network), content filtering(filter out bad web pages) and virus detection.
I'm not so sure about Cisco ASA having a 'superb' OS since it has about 10 security advisories come out every year requiring patching or upgrading and in terms of usability JunOS is far superior to IOS in my opinion. If the criteria are pure firewall capability and security my vote goes to Packet Filter on OpenBSD, but that is probably the exact opposite of what most people would consider 'user friendly'.