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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    36

    Entry Level Firewall?

    Hi There,

    I'm about to co-lo a set of windows boxes running straightforward web apps (only need ports 80, 21 for FTP and 443 for SSL).

    I'm not a security expert and right now don't have budget to hire one in terms of configuring and monitoring a kick *** firewall. However, considering an entry level just to block all other ports using hardware so there is NO way someone can compromise my servers using other ports (so at least there's only three ports I'm vulnerable on).

    Is this worth the effort?

    If so, any recommendations on simple, cost effective product and any thoughts on best way to get reliable solution at low price (would I be able to buy two consumer grade firewalls and if so how would I balance the requests between them and handle if one broke, etc.) Just wondering if the "RAID" style approach would work to having redundant cheap firewalls (would it be a RAIF?!).

    Any input appreciated - this is NOT an area of expertise for me!

    Best Wishes,
    Peter

  2. #2
    We helped out with a setup similar to your's last year. We had 6 servers going into co-lo. The datacenter furnished the switch, but we needed a firewall solution.

    We built 2 machines running Windows 2000 Server configured as DHCP servers. This technique is much like your home router since all we are doing is assigning internal IP addresses to the servers. It apparently works, no successful attempts since they were installed over a year ago.

    Our setup is for a primary and backup DHCP server though, instead of load balancing or splitting, so I can't comment on that.

    Hope this helps you out a little bit.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Vancouver, Canada
    Posts
    760
    You could look into the Cisco PIX 501.

    Shouldn't be too hard to setup for what you would want it to do.
    Paradox Web Hosting - codyw@paradox-group.com
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  4. #4

    Re: Entry Level Firewall?

    Originally posted by fsusa
    Hi There,

    I'm about to co-lo a set of windows boxes running straightforward web apps (only need ports 80, 21 for FTP and 443 for SSL).

    I'm not a security expert and right now don't have budget to hire one in terms of configuring and monitoring a kick *** firewall. However, considering an entry level just to block all other ports using hardware so there is NO way someone can compromise my servers using other ports (so at least there's only three ports I'm vulnerable on).

    Is this worth the effort?

    If so, any recommendations on simple, cost effective product and any thoughts on best way to get reliable solution at low price (would I be able to buy two consumer grade firewalls and if so how would I balance the requests between them and handle if one broke, etc.) Just wondering if the "RAID" style approach would work to having redundant cheap firewalls (would it be a RAIF?!).

    Any input appreciated - this is NOT an area of expertise for me!

    Best Wishes,
    Peter
    Check, you may have something like that built into OS. For instance XP came from the box with a firewall - you don't neef to buy anything. This is as cheap as you can get.

    Peter.
    Open Solution, Inc
    http://opensolution-us.com

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    5,525
    I've been told that Smooth Wall is a good (free/open source?) solution. You could also use a FreeBSD system with dual NIC if you hire/contract an admin with experience in doing so (since it can be a little tricky for beginners).

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