Looking for suggestions please.

I am in need of a hardware firewall/router to serve about 40 PC's through 4
switches. I need to be able to restrict access to adult sites, so I guess I
need support for blacklists. I have seen products (Netgear / Linksys) with a
blocked site list feature, but they only allow url's to be added one at a
time - I would like to copy/paste or upload an entire blacklist in one hit.
Updating it monthly say.

Internally, we only require web access / msn messenger / email - no mail
servers running internally.

The setup is very similar to what you might expect in an internet cafe, but
with no user accounts, ie. everyone has equal access & is equally restricted
from adult sites.

Budget is cheap - ie. less than $500 / £300

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Garry.

"Garry" <email [at] gary.biz> wrote in message
news:6W1se.14167$K5.2116 [at] newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
> Looking for suggestions please.
>
> I am in need of a hardware firewall/router to serve about 40 PC's through
4
> switches. I need to be able to restrict access to adult sites, so I guess
I
> need support for blacklists. I have seen products (Netgear / Linksys) with
a
> blocked site list feature, but they only allow url's to be added one at a
> time - I would like to copy/paste or upload an entire blacklist in one
hit.
> Updating it monthly say.
>
> Internally, we only require web access / msn messenger / email - no mail
> servers running internally.
>
> The setup is very similar to what you might expect in an internet cafe,
but
> with no user accounts, ie. everyone has equal access & is equally
restricted
> from adult sites.
>
> Budget is cheap - ie. less than $500 / £300
>
> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Garry.
>
>

Why dont you go for a business-level software
solution, such as Websense, CyBlock, or
SurfControl instead. Site lists are updated daily
on all three products.

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the quick reply. Pardon my ignorance, but would I have to install
a software based solution on all 40 PC's, or do I need to set aside one PC
to act as a firewall ?

Cheers,
Garry.



> Why dont you go for a business-level software
> solution, such as Websense, CyBlock, or
> SurfControl instead. Site lists are updated daily
> on all three products.
>
>

Garry wrote:

> Looking for suggestions please.
>
> I am in need of a hardware firewall/router to serve about 40 PC's through 4
> switches.

If you want hardware, go to a hardware store and get a wire cutter.

> I need to be able to restrict access to adult sites, so I guess I
> need support for blacklists.

Managing (long) black-lists results in an arms race and you'll lose it.

> I have seen products (Netgear / Linksys) with a
> blocked site list feature, but they only allow url's to be added one at a
> time - I would like to copy/paste or upload an entire blacklist in one hit.
> Updating it monthly say.

Install Linux or another free Uni* and use squid as a (transparent) proxy.
Any old P3/400 or maybe a bit better with 256 MB of RAM and 4 GB disk
space will do for that without problems.

> Budget is cheap - ie. less than $500 / £300

> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Use an old PC and free software.

Wolfgang

"Garry" <email [at] gary.biz> wrote in message
news:gb2se.14266$K5.11803 [at] newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
> Hi Charles,
>
> Thanks for the quick reply. Pardon my ignorance, but would I have to
install
> a software based solution on all 40 PC's, or do I need to set aside one PC
> to act as a firewall ?

You would either have to set aside one PC to run
the software filter, and you also need either a software
firewall, or a hardware firewall appliance to put all the
PCs behind.

Sonicwall TZ170 Unrestricted Comprehensive Security bundle, ~$1500 US List
(I'm sure someone sells em cheaper than that though)

You get a nice little hardware Firewall/VPN Appliance with
- Intrusion Prevention (~4000 attack sigs)
- Gateway AV (in the wild list ~5000 sigs)
- Gateway Antispyware (~1400 sigs)
- Content Filtering (think they use surfcontrols list)
- Viewpoint Reporting (quite hand for the content filtering)

Take the $500 budget you have, figure how much time you'd spend doing
blacklists, configuring linux boxes, but a $$$ figure on your time (for one
year) and see how it works out. The firewall does some nice "internet usage
policy" stuff for users to agree to AND the logging module is very handy.

Its 3 x your budget, but you have to figure the time factor in and weigh in
the added Gateway AV/AntiSpyware bonus.


"Garry" <email [at] gary.biz> wrote in message
news:6W1se.14167$K5.2116 [at] newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
> Looking for suggestions please.
>
> I am in need of a hardware firewall/router to serve about 40 PC's through
4
> switches. I need to be able to restrict access to adult sites, so I guess
I
> need support for blacklists. I have seen products (Netgear / Linksys) with
a
> blocked site list feature, but they only allow url's to be added one at a
> time - I would like to copy/paste or upload an entire blacklist in one
hit.
> Updating it monthly say.
>
> Internally, we only require web access / msn messenger / email - no mail
> servers running internally.
>
> The setup is very similar to what you might expect in an internet cafe,
but
> with no user accounts, ie. everyone has equal access & is equally
restricted
> from adult sites.
>
> Budget is cheap - ie. less than $500 / £300
>
> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Garry.
>
>

Wolfgang Kueter wrote:
> Garry wrote:
>
>
>>Looking for suggestions please.
>>
>>I am in need of a hardware firewall/router to serve about 40 PC's through 4
>>switches.
>
>
> If you want hardware, go to a hardware store and get a wire cutter.
>
>
>>I need to be able to restrict access to adult sites, so I guess I
>>need support for blacklists.
>
>
> Managing (long) black-lists results in an arms race and you'll lose it.
>
>
>>I have seen products (Netgear / Linksys) with a
>>blocked site list feature, but they only allow url's to be added one at a
>>time - I would like to copy/paste or upload an entire blacklist in one hit.
>>Updating it monthly say.
>
>
> Install Linux or another free Uni* and use squid as a (transparent) proxy.
> Any old P3/400 or maybe a bit better with 256 MB of RAM and 4 GB disk
> space will do for that without problems.
>
>
>>Budget is cheap - ie. less than $500 / £300
>
>
>>Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
>
>
> Use an old PC and free software.
>
> Wolfgang



I'll jump in with a URL or two

<http://smoothwall.org/>

Smoothwall with Danguardian + AV
<http://community.smoothwall.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8488>


John

You can also check out the Astaro Security Gateway. The model 120 is priced
at $995.00 for unlimited users. Our customers have been very happy with
them. They are loaded with features. You can download the software for home
use for free. Check out http://www.astaro,com


"Mark" <nothere [at] notthere.com> wrote in message
news:42b0bb91$0$91603$bb4e3ad8 [at] newscene.com...
> Sonicwall TZ170 Unrestricted Comprehensive Security bundle, ~$1500 US List
> (I'm sure someone sells em cheaper than that though)
>
> You get a nice little hardware Firewall/VPN Appliance with
> - Intrusion Prevention (~4000 attack sigs)
> - Gateway AV (in the wild list ~5000 sigs)
> - Gateway Antispyware (~1400 sigs)
> - Content Filtering (think they use surfcontrols list)
> - Viewpoint Reporting (quite hand for the content filtering)
>
> Take the $500 budget you have, figure how much time you'd spend doing
> blacklists, configuring linux boxes, but a $$$ figure on your time (for
> one
> year) and see how it works out. The firewall does some nice "internet
> usage
> policy" stuff for users to agree to AND the logging module is very handy.
>
> Its 3 x your budget, but you have to figure the time factor in and weigh
> in
> the added Gateway AV/AntiSpyware bonus.
>
>
> "Garry" <email [at] gary.biz> wrote in message
> news:6W1se.14167$K5.2116 [at] newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
>> Looking for suggestions please.
>>
>> I am in need of a hardware firewall/router to serve about 40 PC's through
> 4
>> switches. I need to be able to restrict access to adult sites, so I guess
> I
>> need support for blacklists. I have seen products (Netgear / Linksys)
>> with
> a
>> blocked site list feature, but they only allow url's to be added one at a
>> time - I would like to copy/paste or upload an entire blacklist in one
> hit.
>> Updating it monthly say.
>>
>> Internally, we only require web access / msn messenger / email - no mail
>> servers running internally.
>>
>> The setup is very similar to what you might expect in an internet cafe,
> but
>> with no user accounts, ie. everyone has equal access & is equally
> restricted
>> from adult sites.
>>
>> Budget is cheap - ie. less than $500 / £300
>>
>> Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Garry.
>>
>>
>
>

In article <bI2dncUm7r4ENSrfRVn-tA [at] megapath.net>, mikes [at] m5systems.net
says...
> You can also check out the Astaro Security Gateway. The model 120 is priced
> at $995.00 for unlimited users. Our customers have been very happy with
> them. They are loaded with features. You can download the software for home
> use for free. Check out http://www.astaro,com

Are you a reseller or partnet with Astaro?

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