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List:       firewalls-gc
Subject:    Re: SonicWALL SOHO2 vs Netopia 910 vs NetScreen 5
From:       "jennyw" <jennyw () dangerousideas ! com>
Date:       2001-04-28 0:14:31
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There are other appliances out there ... some people like WatchGuard's
Firebox.

Here are my impressions of the three you mentioned:

NetScreen: NetScreen's claim to fame is speed. Their ASIC technology allows
them near-wire speed service (firewall and VPN).  Another great thing they
hve is their Global Security Mangement software.

Netopia: They licensed some of NetScreen's technology -- I'm not sure about
the specifics.  I believe that the main issue here is that they're missing
the central management facilities that NetScreen provides.  So it'd probably
be a good choice for a standalone office, but if you have to manage many
branch offices, it's probably better to use something with central
management.

SonicWall: Not as fast as NetScreen, but has anti-virus and content
filtering features.  The anti-virus software is provided by McAfee SonicWall
also has global management features.

I've recommended both NetScreen and SonicWall for different reasons (and
budgets).  A non-profit I consult for wanted an inexpensive, easy-to-manage
security system, for which SonicWall was a good fit. NetScreen was a good
fit at another company that needed the speed for its VPN.  We ran Trend as
the anti-virus solution there, so a firewall-based scheme was unnecessary.

One thing you'll want to look at are their rulesets and other features. I've
found that some appliances lack features you're used to having on software
firewalls. For example (I'm sure this has changed by now) when WatchGuard's
FireBox II first came out it didn't support static NAT (it supported IP masq
and port-forwarding). This really blew our minds when we were doing the
eval. -- we kept going over the documentation and software thinking it had
to be our mistake.  But a phone call to them revealed that their product
could do this (at the time, it was based on a modified Linux kernel).  By
the way, don't take this as WatchGuard bashing -- they've recently won some
awards for their product.  I'm just using them as an example.

Jen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Adam Zimmerer" <AdamZ@econet.com>
To: "'acs'" <springer_0@yahoo.com>
Cc: <firewalls@lists.gnac.net>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 2:59 PM
Subject: RE: SonicWALL SOHO2 vs Netopia 910 vs NetScreen 5


> ACS,
>
> How is the NetScreen better than the SonicWALL???
>
> Sincerely,
> Adam P. Zimmerer
> Director of Internetworking
> EcoNet.Com, Inc. - Since 1995
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: acs [mailto:springer_0@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 4:48 PM
> To: Vincent Power; firewalls@lists.gnac.net
> Subject: Re: SonicWALL SOHO2 vs Netopia 910 vs NetScreen 5
>
>
> I have not messed with the netopia but I would be
> surprised if the netopia and netscreen have the same
> code.
>
> The netscreen is better than the sonicwall in many
> ways.
>
> acs
>
>
> --- Vincent Power <vince@penguin-power.com> wrote:
> > I'm looking at equipment to put in branch offices
> > and home offices.
> >
> > All these three products meet my basic specs, which
> > are MRSP <$500US,
> > support for 5 users/computers, and for future use
> > ipsec/pptp to connect to
> > the head office.
> >
> > Does anyone have any real world experience with
> > these products? I've been
> > told the NetScreen 5 is the preferred choice, but
> > the Netopia has the same
> > code base and seems to retail for less.
> >
> > /Vince
> >
> >
> > -
> > [To unsubscribe, send mail to
> > majordomo@lists.gnac.net with
> > "unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
>
>
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