sasllc
asked on
Guidance needed for small office firewall
Most of my customers have anywhere from 1 to 10 PCs running Win10 Pro, sharing files between PCs, i.e. pretty basic. All have Norton and Malwarebytes installed. Even so, a few get more than their share of viruses.
And a few have asked me to set up a hardware firewall for them, but I have avoided that so far because I don't know what I'm doing. I am under the impression that they are expensive, difficult to configure, and difficult to maintain. But I'm hoping an expert here at e-e can convince me otherwise--and recommend a hardware firewall that is reasonably priced for a small office, and does not require a rocket scientist to know how to set it up and maintain it.
And if they all ARE complex to configure, I'd need suggestions on how to get started, considering that this will be new to me, and the accompanying user manual might assume a good bit of knowledge about firewall setup that I don't yet have. TIA
And a few have asked me to set up a hardware firewall for them, but I have avoided that so far because I don't know what I'm doing. I am under the impression that they are expensive, difficult to configure, and difficult to maintain. But I'm hoping an expert here at e-e can convince me otherwise--and recommend a hardware firewall that is reasonably priced for a small office, and does not require a rocket scientist to know how to set it up and maintain it.
And if they all ARE complex to configure, I'd need suggestions on how to get started, considering that this will be new to me, and the accompanying user manual might assume a good bit of knowledge about firewall setup that I don't yet have. TIA
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I can tell them when they ask why they should buy a firewall that requires a subscription
First these are not "firewalls"
They are UTM (Unified Threat Management) Appliances focusing on Intrusion prevention and the health / security of your network
The subscription renewals provide the added security (Intrusion protection, Gateway protection etc) as well as provides access to the vendors help desk, firmware updates and (at least with SonicWall) hardware replacement should it go bad (as long as it has a valid active subscription for CGSS or AGSS)
Are all these strictly firewalls, that allow them to keep their router intact
No... "Firewall" vs UTM is like comparing a water balloon to a canon ball
allow them to keep their router intact?
I can't answer that without more information on the network
Generally these devices would take over the initial routing of traffic
ASKER
Are all these strictly firewalls, that allow them to keep their router intact? That would be highly preferable for these customers.