Hi,
I have to advise my company (cable modem/10 PCs/5 servers) on a firewall to use. We had a 1.5 year old SonicWALL 230 that died a couple of days ago. Getting support for it costs around $500. Getting a new one could cost $100. A vendor is recommending a Cisco 1171 for $900.
However, in my poor knowledge of these things, I can't see why an $80 Linksys BEFSX41 wouldn't do the job! Sales people are talking to us about robustness. Practically, I don't know what it means. That it can break? Our SonicWALL died after only 1.5 years. And besides, I could get 2 BEFSX41 and have one ready as a backup. Other say packet inspection. We asked the following: if we open, let's say, port 25, will a "more robust" or more "business like" firewall inspect packets that come to that port too? Will it stop suspects? Or the other way, will hackers be able to get in through blocked ports?
In summary, I don't seem to understant what a $900 firewall will do for me more than a $80 one. Could anybody explain?
Thanks!
I have to advise my company (cable modem/10 PCs/5 servers) on a firewall to use. We had a 1.5 year old SonicWALL 230 that died a couple of days ago. Getting support for it costs around $500. Getting a new one could cost $100. A vendor is recommending a Cisco 1171 for $900.
However, in my poor knowledge of these things, I can't see why an $80 Linksys BEFSX41 wouldn't do the job! Sales people are talking to us about robustness. Practically, I don't know what it means. That it can break? Our SonicWALL died after only 1.5 years. And besides, I could get 2 BEFSX41 and have one ready as a backup. Other say packet inspection. We asked the following: if we open, let's say, port 25, will a "more robust" or more "business like" firewall inspect packets that come to that port too? Will it stop suspects? Or the other way, will hackers be able to get in through blocked ports?
In summary, I don't seem to understant what a $900 firewall will do for me more than a $80 one. Could anybody explain?
Thanks!