D-Link DI-808HV 8-Port Cable / DSL VPN Router Review

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(More customer reviews)Finally, a sub $100.00 8 port switch/router/VPN/firewall with Stateful Packet Inspection and everything you need to get your SOHO safely connected to the Internet. There are other's out there, but nowhere near the features at this price range. Setup in place of an older Linksys HPRO200 router/firewall was about 10 minutes including wiring and cycling the cable modem. Rule sets will take awhile longer, but should be nice once it's done with configuration backup and restore features.

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ZyXEL ZyWALL 5 Internet Security Firewall Appliance With 4 10/100 Fast Ethernet Ports and 10 IPSec VPN Tunnels Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased a Zywall 5 VPN server to replace an older Linux Freeswan solution. It took about a month to set up in my corporate environment, which likely differs greatly from the Zywall's intended configuration.
The Zywall 5 assumes that it is the default gateway to the Internet, and thus lacks the capability of answering ARP requests for its connected VPN clients (which are configured with virtual IP addresses in the same subnet as the LAN). The Linux Freeswan solution could be configured to answer ARP requests for connected VPN clients. Working around this problem required adding an additional network card to the internal LAN firewall, attaching the Zywall to that LAN card, and configuring the internal firewall to forward packets destined to the connected VPN clients directly to the Zywall. This was not as clean as the Linux Freeswan solution, but it worked.
The Zywall 5 supports X.509 VPN certificates, but requires that a certificate authority be set up on a Windows 2000 server to generate the appropriate certificates for the Zywall and VPN clients. This is a bit awkward to accomplish, considering that the same was possible with just a couple command line entries on the Linux Freeswan box.
It is easy to accidentally misconfigure the Zywall, such that the web and telnet interfaces are no longer accessible, requiring a connection with a serial cable to undo the settings. This happened more than once when trying to make the Zywall send packets back to attached VPN clients.
While the Zywall supports up to 10 simultaneous clients, there are severe limitations. Preshared keys cannot be used with road warrior connections (where the client's IP address changes with each connection). X.509 certificates can be used with road warrior connections, but the same client X.509 certificate must be used for all road warriors (this makes it hard to revoke a certificate should a laptop be stolen). The Zywall supports RADIUS authentication in addition to certificates, so that somewhat resolves the need to share certificates. Multiple road warriors can simultaneous connect using the same VPN rule configured in the Zywall.
The Zywall at my site sits behind an external routing firewall. Some of the Zywall's NAT features appear to be buggy in this configuration, directing return VPN packets at the external routing firewall, rather than to the connected VPN client's IP address.
Bandwidth limitation capabilities help prevent attached VPN clients on high speed cable or DSL connections from completely saturating the corporate Internet connection.
Based on my experience with configuring Linux IPTABLES firewalls on the Freeswan box, the firewall on the Zywall is a challenge to set up correctly. Instead of referring to the encrypted network interface connection as IPSEC0 as on the Freeswan box, the Zywall uses verbose descriptions such as (LAN to LAN / Zywall), (LAN to WAN), (LAN to DMZ), (WAN to LAN), (WAN to WAN / Zywall), (WAN to DMZ), (DMZ to LAN), (DMZ to WAN), and (DMZ to DMZ / Zywall) - determining which setting to use in order to restrict traffic between the corporate LAN and a connected VPN client based on the documentation is difficult (even though the manual is 500+ pages). I had to disable the Zywall's firewall to resolve connectivity issues, and rely on the internal firewall to control traffic destined to connected VPN clients. Maybe if one of the verbose descriptions were labeled (LAN to VPN Client) it would be easier to set up the firewall.
The Zywall 5 supports time synchronization to Internet time servers, which is a required feature to keep the time from rapidly drifting from the correct time. Time synchronization is not always successful, nor does it always use the specified time server.
Once the device's limitations are determined, and it is set up to work around those limitations, the Zywall 5 performs very well for its intended purpose with clients using Safenet SoftRemote VPN software.

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NETGEAR FVS338 ProSafe VPN Firewall 50 Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought 2 of these for vpn tunnel between 2 offices, after updating to the june 2007 firmware everything worked like a charm. I share IP based phone system, Ip based camera system, and exchange servers between the two offices, the vpn works great between both offices. Everything works no problems. Maybe this model had problems before but it seems great to me now... Oh another thing I called up netgear support to help me setup the vpn and they practically setup my vpn on both ends by remote login. They made sure everything worked and even called me next day to make sure everything was working fine. All I did later was change the passwords and the vpn key. Overall a good buy.

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50 VPN Tunnels for Encrypted Remote Access.NETGEAR's ProSafe™ VPN Firewall with Dial Back-up is a SNMP-Manageable, high-performance network solution that furnishes multidimensional security. Fully equipped and broadband-capable, this Virtual Private Network (VPN) firewall comes with connection insurance: a built-in serial port for dial-up access. This practical feature means your business can maintain operation if your broadband Internet connection fails.It lets you retain an analog modem for emergency backup and also provides a migration path from analog to broadband, making the transition effortless.High on security, this true firewall provides Denial of Service (DoS) protection and Intrusion Detection using Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), URL keyword filtering, logging, reporting, and real-time alerts. It supports up to 50 IPSec VPN tunnels simultaneously using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), reducing your operating costs and improving the security of your network. With 8 auto-sensing, Auto Uplink switched LAN ports and Network Address Translation (NAT) routing, up to 253 users can access your broadband connection at the same time.

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Netgear FVS336G ProSafe Dual WAN GigaBit SSL VPN Firewall Review

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(More customer reviews)3.0.6-29 Firmware Update
I thought this update fixed problems with NAT rules. It did fix the bug where inbound NAT rules were damaged on restart, but now newly created outbound NAT rules don't work! Packets go from LAN to WAN but the responses are lost without even triggering dropped packet logging. Netgear online support doesn't seem to have the technical knowledge to investigate.
Stay away from this router. You will never get it working.Earlier reviews follow.
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This router has suffered numerous firmware bugs that prevent it from working securely and reliably. Tech support's answer is always to hard-reset and reprogram manually. Reprogramming using a backup file only restores whatever corruption you're trying to get rid of. This is a BUSINESS class router! Manually reprogramming takes at least an hour. After fixing the bug that gave admin privileges to Telnet without a password, I've picked up a bug where an important NAT rule vanishes on each reboot. I've been told by Netgear Support to install the beta firmware update (and then manually reprogram AGIAN) but they never sent it to me and they stopped responding to the trouble ticket. Netgear has a forum that they recommend for fast support but it's staffed by illiterates. I can't tell what they're trying to say.
There's still no VPN client software for 64 bit systems.
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Firmware 3.0.5-25 may grant administrative access to everybody on the LAN through Telnet. If this happens, you can't set a password and you can't turn the feature off. The ONLY solution is to reset to factory defaults and re-configure from scratch. If Amazon let me, I'd drop to no stars until this is fixed.
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This little box is awesome. This is for anyone who has multiple internet connections, multiple static IP addresses, multiple home servers, or any other problem that a "home router" can't handle. Gigabit ports and the custom NAT rules allow a home server, a desktop computer, and a NAS can talk to each other at raw Gigabit speed.
The best feature isn't obvious until you're half way through the initial configuration - it's actually easy to set up. The web GUI is clear, full of help, responsive, and it tells you about potential conflicts. The owner's guide is all about how to create your network. It doesn't waste your time with Windows screenshots. Ping, traceroute, DNS, and packet sniffing tools are built-in for troubleshooting mistakes without yanking wires.
A test of NAT showed about 52Mbps, which isn't too bad for a small box. The only bug I've seen so far is that routing might not work immediately after setting up a custom NAT rule.

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Cisco CISCO851-K9 851 Ethernet SOHO Security Router Review

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(More customer reviews)As a home user, after upgrading my broadband to 6.0mb/s from Comcast, both my netgear and linksys routers were overwhelmed and couldn't cope up with all the activities for the 5 computers, Xbox360 and Slingbox in the house. After researching all the business class routers, including Netgear, Linksys, Sonicwall and others. Finally, I've decided that Cisco is the best product that would solve my problem. Knowing that this is a sophiscated product, I ordered the most basic router without wireless access (hence less variables to configure). Amazon has the best price among all the websites though you certainly don't get any type of technical support from them. As expected, the router requires some professional knowledge to configure. Being a home user, I only changed very few settings through the SDM software that came with the router and it worked very well within my network. The performance of the router is impressive and I am getting the same download speed if I connect my PC directly to the modem. With all the loaded activities in the house, the CPU usage was just around 40%. This router certainly is of professional quality and doesn't even warm up after leaving it on all the time.
On the flip side, I found that the user interface (SDM) to manage the router is a little over complicated. It could be much more simplier but is still acceptable. The command line interface through the console port is definitely for professional who knows exactly what they are doing. Through the command interface, you can get almost all status and configuration from the router. I dare not to modify any configuration using the console interface because I'm not sure what I'll be changing. In addition, this router is 4 times more expensive than the ones you can get from local retail stores. Overall, I would recommend this router if you need the quality and performance. Otherwise, stay with the consumer products from Linksys or Netgear.

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Cisco-Linksys BEFVP41 EtherFast Cable/DSL VPN Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch Review

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(More customer reviews)The router/switch/NAT features of this little box work just like the other Linksys products in this line -- and just as well. What's new is the IPSec VPN support. You can set up secure tunnels over the Internet between two or more LANs using one of these boxes in front of each LAN. Alternatively (or in addition) you can set up a tunnel between a standalone remote PC and a LAN that has one of these routers *IF* the remote PC supports IPSec. Windows 2000 and XP support IPSec but Windows 9x/Me/NT do *NOT*. (If you want a Windows 9x/Me/NT PC to connect into an IPSec VPN, you will need a 3rd party IPSec driver, or just buy another one of these boxes to put in front of the PC.)
Configuring IPSec on a Windows 2000 or XP PC is not exactly easy either -- Linksys' how-to document is SIXTEEN PAGES long! But the difficulty is not Linksys' fault -- rather it's due to Microsoft's tortured GUI for the IPSec configuration.
But setting up a tunnel between two of these boxes is easy. It's only the standalone PC to LAN tunnel that is daunting.
I want to give this product 5 stars. It works very well, and the price is almost too good to be true -- it compares quite favorably with other products costing 5-10 times more. But I have to take a point off because Linksys does not give enough emphasis to the Windows 2000/XP limitation of the standalone PC VPN client in its marketing copy, and there is not one word about how to configure the standalone client in the manual that comes with the router -- you have to hunt for it on Linksys' Web site. From what I see on the discussion boards, there are a lot of people who are lost without better information on these points. So if you plan to use a standalone VPN client, be prepared for a struggle, but hang in there -- it DOES work!

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The Instant Broadband EtherFast Cable/DSL VPN Router from Linksys is the ideal solution for remotely accessing a network securely over the Internet using cutting edge encryption and authentication methods.Built from the popular standard Linksys 4Port Router Model BEFSR41, the VPN Router expands its functionality and security features by utilizing 56bit DES and 168bit 3DES encryption, and Internet Key Exchange (IKE). A built-in IPSec coprocessor from Hifn allows for complete data privacy for the access and exchange of your most sensitive data from your home to your corporate network or between remote branch offices without the additional cost of IPSec VPN client software for each computer. Mobile workers can also connect to a corporate network using an IPSec based VPN client software solution.

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NETGEAR FVG318 ProSafe 802.11G Wireless VPN Firewall 8 Review

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(More customer reviews)I too had a poor experience with this device. There are a LOT of updates and fixes available for the problems described by the other reviewer, but unfortunately they are only available for the "V2" device. Amazon shares part of the blame for the problem since I ordered my device WELL after the V2 released but Amazon sent me one of the "old stock" V1 devices.
After performing all possible V1 updates, tuning, tweaks, etc. I was ready to return the device. I decided that I would give the V2 firmware a try (yes, it may void your warranty, but if the device is an absolute piece of trash anyway...)
The "good news" is that the V2 firmware loaded just fine and performs "as advertised" - just no warranty. DDNS actually works for me with the V2 firmware, and all my VPN tunnels also all work without any issues. My device is used in a light business / heavy home user environment with 5 persistent VPN tunnels and I have not noticed any performance related issues, random resets, or dropped connections after the V2 flash upgrade.
Shame on Netgear for not offering an upgrade path from V1 to V2 (partial credit or something).
Shame on Netgear for not supporting the V2 software on the V1 device (since the V2 software is the only thing that makes the device usable).
Shame on Amazon for not returning all their old stock to Netgear and offering their customers the latest version of the product - my main complaint here is that if I purchase a book that has multiple revisions, at least I am told, and therfore able to select which revision of the book I would like to purchase. This was not the case with my purchase of the firewall.
CM

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The NETGEAR FVG318 ProSafe 802.11G Wireless VPN Firewall 8 offers the small office an all-in-one solution in a space-saving design combining wired and wireless connectivity, a NAT router, VPN appliance, SPI firewall, and an eight-port Ethernet switch.
Wired and Wireless Connectivity The FVG318 functions as a 802.11g wireless access point, supporting speeds up to 108 Mbps with Super G technology. A detachable 5dBi antenna is included. The device also has a built-in switch, with eight 10/100 Mbps auto-sensing, Auto Uplink ports.
High-class Security For businesses that require more than just a simple NAT router, the FVG318 offers significantly more protection. It provides: a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall to prevent Denial of Service attacks, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), the ability to block Java/URL/ActiveX based on extension, and FTP/SMTP/RPC program filtering.
The FVG318 has eight dedicated VPN tunnels to protect links between remote locations, encrypting the data between them. IPSec-based 256-bit encryption is also supported.
The wireless network is protected by Wi-Fi Protect Access 2 Enterprise (WPA2), the highest available industry-standard encryption. Specific addresses, services, protocols, ports, and URLs can be filtered or block for further security.
Easy Setup Even with all the functionality the FVG318 provides, NETGEAR makes setup a breeze with intuitive Smart Wizards. Additionally, SNMP support provides complete remote administration. The FVG318 would be an ideal foundation for a small network, but it also works well integrated into an existing larger one. DHCP and PPPoE support makes widespread deployment simple.
The NETGEAR FVG318 ProSafe 802.11G Wireless VPN Firewall 8 is backed by a 3-year warranty.
What's in the Box FVG318 ProSafe Wireless VPN Firewall, detachable 5 dBi antenna, AC power adapter, ethernet cable, user guide, resource CD, warranty/support information card.

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Cisco WRV210 Wireless-G VPN Router - RangeBooster Review

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(More customer reviews)
My experience with the WRV210 has been excellent. This was my first time setting up a VPN. I can assure you that any first time IPSec VPN setup will be tedious. Dealing with routers, modems, firewalls, certificates, and static IP addresses, is no picnic. That said, the WRV210 with QuickVPN client makes the task a good deal easier. I can understand other reviewers, here and elsewhere, that are not as positive regarding the WRV210. But I suspect that their ratings reflect more the tedium of the setup process rather than the device itself. And, face it, no one box, or one piece of software, is going to go out there, find the exact network that you care about, configure the routers, the modems, the firewalls, etc. with the exact functionality that you desire. To credit Linksys, the WRV210 User Guide is extensive. In some 75 pages, they clearly discuss many of the issues involved. The Linksys Online Forum was also great at filling in the blanks.
I also used the great freeware application UltraVNC (rev 1.0.5.3) to add a remote desktop connection capability through my WRV210 VPN "tunnel". It works great. (A big "thank you!" to the UltraVNC developers. My contribution is on the way.) At this point I think that I could write another chapter to the Linksys User Guide or Linksys Forum documenting my experience. I really love the robust features like a maximum of ten VPN clients, and up to four wireless SSID's. My WRV210 setup is in a small commercial studio that offers free Wi-Fi to its customers. The WRV210 wireless capability allowed me to tailor the hotspot for maximum user convenience as well as system security. It even provides a wireless LAN scheduling capability, as well as wireless isolation within a SSID which is great protection for public hotspots.
My VPN setup involves both Windows Vista and Windows XP machines. The WRV210 worked flawlessly with both operating systems. To those small business owners wanting to have a VPN capability like the big guys, the WRV210 is an outstanding cost-effective solution. I highly recommend it.


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NETGEAR FVS318 ProSafe VPN Firewall 8 with 8-Port 10/100 Switch Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using the Netgear FVS318 router firewall for over a month now with not one glitch. For the money, this is an amazing bargain considering it is a true SPI firewall and a certified ipsec VPN endpoint for eight tunnels included with a eight port switch! The quality of Netgear products are also commendable.
We had it up and running in less than fifteen minutes. My son configured two ipsec vpn tunnels with his friends networks using Linksys VPN routers in short order and I have one configured to my Windows 2000 computer at work that is behind a nat router using Windows 2000 built in ipsec capabilities. All three of our ipsec tunnels have proven to be reliable. I also have no problems using remote desktop through port 3389 or going to my pptp Windows 2000 vpn server through port 1723 behind the FVS318.
We have not experienced any of the problems that other reviewers have, but we have experience configuring these kinds of devices. The FVS318 has fairly extensive built in logging though it does not store much information itself but it can be configured to transfer log information to another computer and can even send you an email alert if certain attacks are detected. It has configurable services based on ports and protocols that are used to create port forwarding to inbound services and block outbound services. However you are limited to 16 services. It can control outbound traffic which is very important to defend against undetected trojans or users [and kids] running things like file swapping or other unapproved applications that access the internet. Internet access can be even controlled by a day/time schedule. If your network is fairly simple, a default block all rule could be created [which must be at the end of the list] and then you can specify what outbound services are allowed. It is also possible to deny a computer or address range of computers from having internet access while allowing others full access. Though the block services is a great addition to this device, it is somewhat limited if you have more than a few variations of configurations compared to a more sophisticated [and much more expensive] soho firewall, and the services can not be configured to use certain ip address/subnet destinations for outbound control which should not be a big deal for most home/small office users. However inbound services/port mapping can be configure to come from specific ip address/subnet. That is an important security feature. For instance if you open an internal computer for remote managment, you can configure the FVS318 to accept connections from only one ip address, which will keep everyone else on the internet from trying to connect and guess your password!
I am very impressed with the Netgear FVS318. Being a true SPI firewall and ipsec VPN endpoint with all the other feaures it has in a quality package, I can highly recommend it to anyone that wants a bargain priced internet device that is a big step up from the consumer grade nat routers.

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The NETGEAR FVS318 ProSafe VPN Firewall 8 with 8-Port 10/100 Switch offers the small office a space-saving design combining wired connectivity, a NAT router, VPN appliance, SPI firewall, and an eight-port 10/100 Mbps Ethernet switch.
Wired and Wireless Connectivity The FVS318 has a built-in switch, with eight 10/100 Mbps auto-sensing, Auto Uplink ports. With Network Address Translation (NAT) routing, up to 253 users can simultaneously access your connection.
High-class Security For businesses that require more than just a simple NAT router, the FVS318 offers significantly more protection. It provides: a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall to prevent Denial of Service attacks, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), the ability to block Java/URL/ActiveX based on extension, and FTP/SMTP/RPC program filtering.
The FVS318 has eight dedicated VPN tunnels to protect links between remote locations, encrypting the data between them. IPSec-based encryption up to 256 bit is also supported. This lets you easily create secure connections to branch offices or mobile workforces.
Easy Setup Even with all the functionality the FVS318 provides, NETGEAR makes setup a breeze with the intuitive Smart Wizard that connects you to your ISP quickly. The web-based configuration screen is easy-to-use and requires no additional software. DHCP and PPPoE support makes widespread deployment simple.
The NETGEAR FVS318 ProSafe VPN Firewall 8 with 8-Port 10/100 Switch is backed by a 3-year warranty.
What's in the Box FVS318 ProSafe VPN Firewall, power adapter, category 5 ethernet cable, installation guide, resource CD, warranty/support information card.

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D-Link DIR-330 NetDefend 802.11G Wireless VPN Firewall 8 4-Port 10/100Mbps Switch Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the absolute worst product I ever bought. I bought it explicitly for the VPN accessibility. I never got that to work. If you have to forward a port..make sure you know what you're doing cause once you choose the port, you can't go back and change it.
Also, which was rather nice (sarcastic)....the people in support were able to establish a vpn connection to my router but I couldn't. I used 3 different machines with the trial software they recommend. Their solution was that instead of using the trial software..BUY their product and then try it.
I never write reviews but I don't want anyone getting screwed with this thing.

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Cisco RV082 8-port 10/100 VPN Router - Dual WAN Review

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(More customer reviews)Okay, this will be brief and is being posted only as helpful hint rather than an indepth review.
If your speeds are fine when directly connected to your ISP, but are slow or unstable when running through the RV082 try the following:
Under the firewall tab, there is an MTU setting. You MUST take this off of Auto and use the manual setting. In my case the default manual setting of 1500 is what I needed. This solved the incredible slowdown problems I was having - in fact now I have the best speeds I have ever seen on my network.
Thanks to "Lone Stranger" and the Google search in which I found his post for finally providing me with this answer after hours of frustration. No thanks to linksys email support, who was of no use at all.

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The heart of your connection-redundant secure small office network The Linksys 10/100 8-Port VPN Router is an advanced Internet-sharing network solution for your small business needs. Like any router, it lets multiple computers in your office share an Internet connection. But the unique dual Internet ports on the 10/100 8-Port VPN Router let you connect a second Internet line as a backup to insure that youre never disconnected. Or, use both Internet ports at the same time, and let the router balance your offices requirements between them for maximum bandwidth efficiency. The 10/100 8-Port VPN Router also features a built-in 8-port full-duplex 10/100 Ethernet switch to connect eight PCs directly, or you can connect more hubs and switches to create as big a network as you need. The Virtual Private Network (VPN) capability creates encrypted tunnels through the Internet, allowing up to 50 remote office or traveling users to securely connect into your office network from off-site.

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Cisco RV042 4-port 10/100 VPN Router - Dual WAN Review

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(More customer reviews)I wanted a low-cost VPN solution and had been debating purchasing the Cisco 501 PIX firewall and Netscreen's lowest end 5GT VPN router (which costs $450 + maintenance/support contracts) before discovering this bargain model. Tom's Networking Hardware has a good review about the RV082 holding up with Netscreen's 5GT VPN router in performance tests, which pretty much convinced me to get this Linksys brand. I use the RV082 for our main office and the RV042 as a client in our remote office in mainland China, so I can't say for sure that an RV042-RV042 solution works. Note: If you intend to purchase this model and use it for an international location, however, you do need to purchase a separate 220 volt/1000 mA/12 volt adapter, since the unit only comes with a 110 volt adapter. (Linksys apparently has yet to provide a universal power adapter for this product line.)
I thought the RV042 would be exactly the same as the RV082 except with 4 ports instead of 8. However, I found that the firmware is still a bit behind the RV082 (the RV042 also does not come with an internal PPTP server, though this PPTP server is still not compatible with the Win2000/XP PPTP client). One major benefit of the RV082 is that it comes with a free VPN client called QuickVPN (downloadable in the same section where the RV082 firmware is located). Unlike other Linksys VPN routers, the RV082 using the QuickVPN client avoids the trouble of needing to follow a 16-page procedure for configuring a Win2000/XP client to access the VPN.
The RV082 firmware (v1.1.6.3) contains an "HTTP Service" option that must be enabled to provide QuickVPN support. The QuickVPN client appears to retrieve some VPN server information through https:// requests, which isn't evident unless you look closely at the wget_error.txt located inside the C:\Program Files\Linksys\Linksys VPN Client directory. The RV042 firmware (1.3.1) does not yet support this feature, but their current BETA version (v1.3.3) does (downloaded from linksysinfo.org). Linksys has yet to officially release this firmware, so be forewarned!
The RV units may also be compatible with other VPN brands. We had been using the really flaky Symantec 200 VPN units and managed to get one of the units to negotiate a IPSEC tunnel with the RV042 and RV082. You can use the VPN log feature to see if the negotiation works. Enable the keep-alive option in the Advanced features to help maintain a persistent tunnel too!
Instructions for QuickVPN and setting up the RV042:
1. Upgrade to the latest firmware version (1.3.3 beta off Linksysinfo.org. Additional note: There are reports of problems with the the 1.3.6 beta so have stayed away from using it.)
2. Inside the "Firewall" section, enable the HTTPS service. Make sure to Save Settings too.
3. Inside the "VPN" section, click on the VPN Client Users. Add a username and password that will be used for the QuickVPN Client. Make sure the user that you will be using is selected as Active.
4. Make sure that your client's NAT/firewall has IPSEC passthrough capability turned-on. If you don't, you may see that the QuickVPN client successfully connects but freezes at "Verifying Network".
5. Your client's IP subnet should not conflict with the other remote networks (i.e. Your client subnet should be 192.168.2.0 if your remote networks use 192.168.0.0 or 192.168.1.0)
6. Verify that the IPSEC services is running on your Windows machine.
7. If you are running Windows XP SP2, you need to disable the Windows Firewall. You may also see the connection established but QuickVPN get stuck at the "Verifying Network" message.
A good place to debug your problem is to look at the error logs in the wget_error.txt in the directory where the QuickVPN client is installed (i.e. C:\Program Files\Linksys). The wget program apparently tries to connect via HTTPS to the RV042/RV08 to obtain VPN server information. If the connection is successful, you can see several .conf files downloaded into the same directory.
One another note: Both the RV042 and RV082 have a second WAN port for load-balancing, but I've seen enough reports to stay away from using this feature until Linksys manages to resolves the issues in the firmware.

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Network connections are the backbone of business connections. One of the Cisco Small Business Routers, the RV042 Virtual Private Networking (VPN) Router supports up to four wired and 50 off-site connections. The latter allows users to connect into your network with secure access to your files and intranet. The RV042 comes with dual Internet ports that can serve as a failsafe system for 24/7 network uptime, or as a secondary connection to a separate Internet provider. Whether they're used for backup or speed boosting, the router's networking hardware will keep bottlenecks away from your network, period.

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Cisco RVL200 4-Port SSL/IPsec VPN Router Review

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(More customer reviews)I want to be able to view and control my IP cameras installed around my home when I am away. The IP camera I have comes with a web interface for realtime viewing from a PC in the local network. This SSL VPN router allows me to connect back to the web interface of my IP camera when I am at work. The out of the box experience is good - I have no trouble in setting it up and connect to the internet with my cable modem. After I changed my default password, created a few user accounts for my family members, and enabled the Remote Management, I put the device into test. First, I have to find the ip address that my cable company assigned to me and the ip address of my camera given by the router - all available from the router administration web interface at http://192.168.1.1. When I was at work the next day, I was able to get to the internet address of my SSL router and connect to my home network within a minute. Just want to share my success story with the community that might have the same need. The QoS feature may come to rescue when I am working from home, using my company's VPN, and my kids are playing bandwidth extensive internet games. I have to see how well it would work.

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Cisco-Linksys WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router - VPN v2.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I should have known better. I'm a geek (I've owned more than 20 computers/servers in my >10 years as a software engineer and I've setup >10 wired/wireless networks for friends and family), so when I read all of the bad reviews on this product, I just figured it was people who couldn't figure out what they're doing. I was wrong, so wrong. The WRVS4400N is totally worthless - don't make the same mistake as I - BUY A DIFFERENT ROUTER.
The problem is that every 24 hours or 36 hours (on the exact second) this router stops sharing the internet connections to all computers on the network. It must them be unplugged or rebooted via the web interface and then the problem goes away. So far their tech support has been unable to resolve the problem they keep sending me new routers. After this last one, they told me there is nothing more they can do and it will have to be reported as an issue to their product development team. My internet connection is fine as evidenced by plugging in a laptop when the router fails and they have reported no compatibility issues with my cable modem. And furthermore other people are experiencing the exact same problem.
This router does offer a great set of features for the price, but be careful - they're implemented poorly. So you'll likely turn them off.
The IPS (special security features that this router offers) features are worthless - if you want to FTP anything, you'll need to turn them off. And even with them off, I still can't connect to several of the FTP servers that I routinely connect to, which I could with my last router - for example Google Base FTP servers and Yahoo's webhosting accounts.
The QoS (quality of service) features are extremely hard to configure and there is NO documentation on line, include with the product or in the help section of the administration tool, which explains how to actually configure it.
The range of the N wireless network isn't very impressive. It's only slightly better than the G router from Linksys that it replaced. Both routers were placed in the same spot in my basement.
I haven't tried the VPN connectivity yet, but you're only limited to 5 clients connecting, which is a limitation that's not published on this product description, nor easy to find on Linksys's site.
Now, I've been a long time buyer and recommender of Linksys products, but in the last two years their product quality has plummeted as evidenced by the ratings they get her on Amazon. They keep sending me these survey's every time I contact their tech support and I share these same complaints, but they don't get any better. If anything they're getting worse.
Linksys's phone technical support is horrible. This unit isn't serviced by the "home" area of Linksys's tech-support staff, you must go through the "business" area and their level 1 support staff aren't even trained, so you go right to their level 2 support, which you'd think would mean you'd get good support, but not from Linksys. They have no idea how to solve problems with this router. Several of the tech support people have given up and made excuses to get off the phone - my favorite was to reapply the same version of the router's firmware, waste an hour reconfiguring it, and then wait 24-36 hours to see if the problem came back; and sure enough it did.
Linksys's phone customer support is horrible. After my last tech support tech's manager determined that I have yet another defective router and I should get a new one, I was transferred to their customer service department so that they could process an RMA. It took them 43 minutes to process the RMA. The customer service person, who could barely speak english, said he had to read everyone of the case notes in order to process an RMA. Then it took 24 minutes to get transferred to his supervisor to complain about him.
So to reiterate my review: While this router looks like a great set of features for great price, you'll need to turn off much of those features to be able to FTP, and you'll need to reboot your router every 24-36 hours if you want it to router internet service to other computers on your network. And if you have to call tech support or customer support, you'll be in for some horrible experience. So don't make the same mistake as I did. Don't buy this router.

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The Cisco WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit VPN Security Router, formerly part of the Linksys Business Series, is designed and built for small businesses. It combines wired and wireless network access with switching capabilities in a single affordable device to keep your employees safely connected to the resources they need to be productive. Strong security features include a proven firewall with intrusion prevention, VPN capabilities, and an optional service that scans email to help fight spam, viruses, and other threats. An integrated 4-port Gigabit Ethernet switch allows up to four devices to share high speed connectivity in the office.

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Cisco RVS4000 4-port Gigabit Security Router - VPN Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased the RVS4000 primarily due to its gigabit WAN port; very few wired firewalls have a gigabit WAN port. Not having a gigabit WAN port is a reasonable design because WAN ports in many SOHO firewall applications will likely connect to T1 (1.5 Mbps) or T3 lines (45 Mbps) at most. Since these data rates are lower than that of an ordinary 100 Mbps ethernet port, a gigabit WAN port is more than what is required of a WAN interface.
However, I wanted to use a firewall/router on the network inside of my primary NAT/SPI firewall which is primarily a gigabit network. So, a gigabit WAN port was an important feature because it needs to connect to a gigabit switch (not a WAN link).
Before my purchase, I read many customer reviews that complained about slow data rates through the WAN port. These reviews were very discouraging since the Linksys had a gigabit WAN interface. This was until I found a benchmark test that explained the negative reviews. The RVS4000 (primarily due to its industrial-grade security features) has a WAN to LAN data rate of 15.9 Mbps; very slow for a gigabit interface. However, this can be improved upon by configuring (turning off) the security features of the firewall. Unless you configure the firewall as a non-gateway device, don't expect orders of magnitude improvement in speed.
Here's the good news. The benchmark clocked the RVS4000 LAN to WAN data rate at 530 Mbps. Since many disk drive interfaces do not have a sustained data rate this high; you will not see this number when transfering files. I have a couple NAS RAID boxes with gigabit interfaces that top out at around 100-150 Mbps (individually). I can get higher network utilization numbers when doing several files transfers between different network endpoints simultaneously. Network file transfers tend to be very CPU intensive, even when using SCSI hard drives. The CPU intensive part comes from having to package up the data into IP packets and managing the data transfer.
The bottom line is that I am very satisfied with this firewall and its gigabit WAN port. But understand that it needs to be configured properly to optimize its performance and functionality. You don't need to be an engineer or rocket scientist to do this; however, you will need a bit of understanding about IP networking. If you use the RVS4000 as a primary firewall (configuring all of its security features), I suspect it will do that job rather well also.


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As broadband speeds increase most 10/100 gateways do not have the power to support those higher data rates, and thus become the bottleneck in the network. The RVS4000 10/100/1000 4-Port VPN Router works at Gigabit speeds to meet the demands of todays networks. It features Linksys proven SPI Firewall with an integrated Intrusion Detection and Prevent System (IDS/IPS). Its built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100/1000 Ethernet switch can connect up four PCs directly, or additional hubs and switches. The QoS features provide consistent voice and video quality throughout your business. In addition the RVS4000 features a Virtual Private Network (VPN) security engine that creates encrypted IPSec tunnels through the Internet. The IPSec VPN tunnels enable remote users from at home, or on the road to easily, and securely connect to the office network through a typical wired or wireless broadband connection. When used with another RVS4000 or other Linksys VPN router, branch-to-branch connections can be established allowing users in a remote office to connect to the corporate network.

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