willp2
asked on
Traffic / Bandwidth Shaping Firewall Appliance
I’m looking for a firewall appliance that has decent traffic / bandwidth shaping features. We have around $1,000 to spend but would be happy to pay less if that’s possible. This is for a small business that needs to prioritize a variety of different types of streaming media so that regular web surfing doesn’t impact the streams.
I am currently considering a Sonicwall TZ210 as it does have decent bandwidth management capabilities, however the controls aren’t as granular as I would like. Also, we don’t need a lot of the more advanced features of the TZ. We basically need a decent / low end firewall with good traffic shaping capabilities.
We are not looking for a software solution built around a PC, this needs to be an appliance.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I am currently considering a Sonicwall TZ210 as it does have decent bandwidth management capabilities, however the controls aren’t as granular as I would like. Also, we don’t need a lot of the more advanced features of the TZ. We basically need a decent / low end firewall with good traffic shaping capabilities.
We are not looking for a software solution built around a PC, this needs to be an appliance.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks!
digitap
What granularity do you need?
ASKER
I'm mostly looking to be able to prioritize protocols and traffic from specific IP's and networks. I can do some of that with the Sonicwall but the level of control or even managing the flow is a bit akward.
you have a sonicwall now? with the enhance OS this is quite easy to do. were you reviewing the interface using sonicwall demo site?
ASKER
I have worked with Sonicwall's with the enhanced OS for many years and am very familiar with the bandwidth management. It's just kind of a blunt tool with little visibility into what is actually happening. For instance most of the management is based around setting the max throughput on an interface then assigning a percentage of bandwidth or a min and max kbps for what you want.
In some environments with real available bandwidth that changes from time to time, you sometimes end up capping your entire connection when a provider has increased your available speed or based your percentages incorrectly if the available bandwidth goes down. Then to compensate for these variations we’ve had to allocate more bandwidth to the priority devices just to make sure they get what they need.
I do like the Sonicwall’s and use them all over the place, and I don’t know of anything better at doing this in the price range. I was just hoping to get features more like I would find in an enterprise class traffic shaping tool. I don’t need all the bells and whistles just hoping for a bit more control without involving bandwidth limits and more visibility.
In some environments with real available bandwidth that changes from time to time, you sometimes end up capping your entire connection when a provider has increased your available speed or based your percentages incorrectly if the available bandwidth goes down. Then to compensate for these variations we’ve had to allocate more bandwidth to the priority devices just to make sure they get what they need.
I do like the Sonicwall’s and use them all over the place, and I don’t know of anything better at doing this in the price range. I was just hoping to get features more like I would find in an enterprise class traffic shaping tool. I don’t need all the bells and whistles just hoping for a bit more control without involving bandwidth limits and more visibility.
OK...I like your assessment of the sonicwall and BWM and it's spot on. It also sounds like you know your sonicwall stuff. I'm only familiar with sonicwall appliances. I'll step out and continue to monitor. I'm sure other experts out there will provide valuable alternatives to the sonicwall regarding BMW.
I can suggest an apliance other than sonicwall.. its Bluecoat Packetshaper. ts pretty simple to setup and easy to manage.
http://www.bluecoat.com/products/packetshaper
http://www.bluecoat.com/products/packetshaper
ASKER
I actually had something like a Packetshaper in mind, but I'm pretty sure they are well past my budget for this.
the license of Packetshaper is based on your internet badwidth that u want to shape....maybe your regional sales guy can give u a budget quote...
ASKER
Unfortunatly we are talking about 30+Mbps, which last i checked puts us in a pretty high bracket with Packetshaper
have you tried to configure QoS on your routers?
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ASKER
Fine, squeaky wheel gets the points ; )
The points are unimportant...it was a matter of EE rules of engagement, but thanks for the points anyway.
ASKER
I was kidding. You had a good point. While I wasn't looking for the SonicWall answer, its a solid answer.
No worries...I wanted to make sure you understood that you had more options available to you. At this point, you can reopen your question and have a moderator help you get more exposure to your question. I want to help you get the answer you want or need.