Re: firewall vs security appliance


"boaz" <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:elmazcSpGHA.4192@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This one is $500:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=2&pid=480

This one is $3000:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=2&pid=328

Is it just better to install a copy of Microsoft ISA server to a 2k3 box
instead of buying one of these security applicance?

ISA server might be a good product for some uses [for example, you're a
medium sized business with a need for a proxy server that can use Windows
user accounts], but for most uses I'd personally get a simple firewall
appliance. Fewer moving parts to break, less software to patch, simpler
GUI, more features out of the box, and probably cheaper in the end. Windows
server license plus the server hardware is probably going to cost you
significantly more than $500.

Regarding the difference between the two, read all the features at the $3000
page. The cheaper one doesn't say whether it has most of those features:
IDS, SNMP, high availability, content filtering, true bandwidth management,
etc. Maybe you don't care about those features, which is OK. If you do
care, other firewalls like www.netscreen.com give you those features at the
$500 price. With Netscreen, there is little to no difference in
functionality between the low and high end models. With the D-Link, there
are some features you lose with the cheaper model.

Another thing: watch out for hidden costs. The cheaper firewall appears to
use the Checkpoint firewall. It appears that you have to pay Checkpoint
each year to get security updates. And tech support from Checkpoint each
year is often extra as well. Checkpoint out of the box does not have the
wide variety of additional features that something like Netscreen has,
unless you pay extra. You may or may not care about those extra features.


.

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