Router/Firewall Recommendation

[Rodolfo J. Paiz]

At 07:58 AM 6/24/2004, Ed Wilts wrote:
>On Thu, Jun 24, 2004 at 09:15:17AM -0400, Ted Beaton wrote:
> > Nope, then you buy a cheap hub or switch.  Anywhere from 4 port and 
> up.  Can
> > get them pretty cheap off EBay.
>
>And if you decide you want GigE on the inside instead of 100mbps, then
>the LBB isn't going to help you anyway.  An 8-port GigE switch is under
>$100 these days and many systems are coming with onboard GigE interfaces
>(like my Dell PowerEdge 400SC).

And what if you switch Internet Service Providers? Now you get ISDN, and it 
comes in through a *serial port*. Easy on a PC, bloody near impossible on 
an LBB. Same goes for some other types of connections. Or say you want 
*two* cheap Internet connections to your home or office so you can have 
more bandwidth and some fault-tolerance. Again, 
not-so-easy-but-definitely-doable on a PC, bloody near impossible on an LBB.

I keep saying here... no answer is perfect for everyone, all the time. 
LBB's certainly have their uses and their advantages and they *are* 
excellent solutions in some cases. As noted previously, I use them myself 
in some cases. However, they are not perfect, and they are not the ultimate 
in security (dear God, no!). Otto's religious belief that an LBB cannot be 
cracked or penetrated is simply a case of serious mental myopia or too 
little oxygen; nothing is perfect and we should always be aware of the 
pros/cons of each and every tool we choose to use.

Cheers,


-- 
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz at simpaticus.com
http://www.simpaticus.com