Which is better PIX v checkpoint

you cant really give an statisfying answer to this question - for myself i prefer
netscreen appliances. it depends on your infrastructure:

if you have a lot of cisco devices like routers and switches I think pix is good because
you dont need to invest for knowledge because its very similar to ciso IOS. but ... simple
things like NAT are very difficult to configure on the pix...and the vpn config is horrable.
you cant use the web management "PIX Device Manager" because its buggy, slow and
uncomfortable.

if money doesnt matter and you dont have any fear of complicated licenses management
then checkpoint is a good choise. its very expensive, you have a lot of OPSEC partner software
for clusterung, URL filtering, virus protection....but here also..it isnt easy to setup checkpoint
with thinks like NAT, VPN .... it may be an advantage if you can install the checkpoint software
on the hardware platform of your choise but I suggest to buy NOKIA appliances because you dont
need to have additional hardwae, hardend os .

netscreen compines all the missing features of pix and checkpoint in one product...you have ASIC based
appliances. very easy management....you need only ~15minutes to setup the box to connect lan-to-internet
with pppoe interface.

hope this helps a little bit ;)
bye
andre

andre, when was the last time you saw the PIX Device Manger? The new 3.0 version is really slick...and I can get a PIX up and running with NAT and VPN's within 15 minutes.

Agree that we can't answer this for you. It all depends on your goals, your budget, your expertise, and your security policies.
I personally like the PIX over Checkpoint, and I agree that checkpoint is much more complicated and expensive than the others. Most of the Checkpoint installations I've seen run it on a SUN platform, but I think they offer an appliance now.

You might check out Symantec's new gateway boxes. Pretty slick.

Our company uses Netscreen and they have to reboot the firewall once a week. That should never be necessary...

I think it is what you are used to!
I've been using Checkpoint FW4.1 for 3 years and I think setting up NAT's and VPN's are a piece of cake and is even easier with Checkpoint NG.
The one thing I do agree with though, is that licensing is more complicated then a Hollywood divorce! Everytime I want to purchase or upgrade a product, I seem to get into endless discussions about licensing.

Just my 2 cents:  I (we) use a PIX 501 and find it very satisfactory in our operations.  Not hard to setup (lrmoore) and the Cisco VPN client that you can dnload connects like a dream.

Of course, this comment is only worth the 2 cents because I have never had to setup a checkpoint firewall, although I do have clients that have had nightmares trying to get checkpoint and cisco to talk to each other.

Happy Holidays to all.

FE

With the latest Application Intelligence feature in Checkpoint NG, I think Checkpoint is the best firewall.

Because for PIX or Netscreen, although they also have stateful inspection technology. But in today's complex world, they are not enough.

For example, for Checkpoint NG AI, you block Windows media stream, ICQ , yahoo ... that tunnel in port 80. I cannot find similar feature in Netscreen in this moment.

Also, it can block those nimda worm automatically even if you open up port 80 to the Internet world.

The license of Checkpoint is relatively cheaper and flexible right now(when compare with its olddays)

If we talk about setup and maintenance, I love netscreen. Easy and Simple.

lrmoore,

Pix Device Manager is a copy of Checkpoint interface.  Cisco engineers are even laughing about it....

happythedog,

You really need to compare for yourself.... I like Checkpoint for certain area.  I like Pix for other.  Which one was you trained on?  

Start with geting their reps in and ask the rep to tell you about the competition.  Ask the rep about the weakness that you learned about their products.  Things to ask startup cost, features, training, cost of ownership, strengths and weaknesses, client reference.  You will be surprised, then you toss a coin.

I like Checkpoint then, Pix is ok..... What I like best was what the military used....but it's available commercially.  

cheers

No comment has been added to this question in more than 21 days, so it is now classified as abandoned..
I will leave the following recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area:

--> PAQ - No refund

Any objections should be posted here in the next 4 days. After that time, the question will be closed.

tim_holman
EE Cleanup Volunteer