Recommend me a firewall

[dayzd]

TL : DR:

Recommend me a firewall/UTM device for a small network of approximately 60 machines, connected to a 20Mb fibre line.

 

Background:

I don't work in education any more. I work in a subsidised rep theatre, which has had regular funding cuts for the last however many years and is currently facing more. I'm explaining this up-front to clarify I have very little money to spend (Although that's admittedly true everywhere...).

 

We're in the process of having a 20Mb fibre line installed to replace the dual ADSL lines we currently connect to the world with. The problem I face is that the ADSL lines are connected to a Draytek Vigor 2820 router/firewall and the new installation will be terminated just with the router, therefore I need a new firewall.

 

Question:

Our network isn't huge; we've barely 60 computers so traffic isn't going to be super high. What is mission critical is a VPN we use as part of our box office solution, beyond that we don't do anything special with the internet at all! We will be using some SIP trunks over the fibre once commissioned, plus the usual spattering of ports for email and web access into the building.

 

There's a part of me that would love to build a machine to run pfSense and use that, but I imagine there are good reasons for not doing so that I simply haven't thought of yet.

 

What products do people recommend I look into, bearing in mind I have no explicit budget for this?

 

Have I missed out something important; do I need to explain more before a recommendation can be made? Let me know.

[cpjitservices]

Reasons for not having to use pfsense... I can give you ONE.... THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!

 

I'd use Pf... stick it on an old machine / server and it'll chuck away nicely... one of the ones we have in production (on a Wireless ISP network so you can imagine the traffic) has been up for nearly 2 and a half years!! Cant get more reliable and solid than that!!!

 

Besides, the main factor is VPN... no licensing involved!!! you can have as many as you want!!

 

I wouldnt worry about the 20MB connection, on a HP ML110 G& I have a pfsense server running with 2x 1 gig uplinks.

Edited February 6, 2014 by cpjitservices

[SHimmer45]

smoothwall express

again open source with a decent community behind it and lots of easy to use information about adding Dans Guardian Snort etc etc to it

[SchoolsBroadband]

TL : DR:

Recommend me a firewall/UTM device for a small network of approximately 60 machines, connected to a 20Mb fibre line.

 

Background:

I don't work in education any more. I work in a subsidised rep theatre, which has had regular funding cuts for the last however many years and is currently facing more. I'm explaining this up-front to clarify I have very little money to spend (Although that's admittedly true everywhere...).

 

We're in the process of having a 20Mb fibre line installed to replace the dual ADSL lines we currently connect to the world with. The problem I face is that the ADSL lines are connected to a Draytek Vigor 2820 router/firewall and the new installation will be terminated just with the router, therefore I need a new firewall.

 

Question:

Our network isn't huge; we've barely 60 computers so traffic isn't going to be super high. What is mission critical is a VPN we use as part of our box office solution, beyond that we don't do anything special with the internet at all! We will be using some SIP trunks over the fibre once commissioned, plus the usual spattering of ports for email and web access into the building.

 

There's a part of me that would love to build a machine to run pfSense and use that, but I imagine there are good reasons for not doing so that I simply haven't thought of yet.

 

What products do people recommend I look into, bearing in mind I have no explicit budget for this?

 

Have I missed out something important; do I need to explain more before a recommendation can be made? Let me know.

 

 

Hello,

 

I'd highly recommend the Fortigate 60D (See here for specs Connected UTM for Small Networks | Fortinet)

 

This should fit your specifications very nicely. The fortigates are fantastic firewalls and very good value for money with the number of features you get on them.

 

The RRP for a Fortigate 60D with the UTM bundle is only £835.

 

Do send me a PM if you want an official quote for one as we are official partners of Fortinet with many hundreds installed in schools.

 

Cheers

 

Dave