After years of using the free components of Untangle as my UTM, I finally decided to bit the bullet and purchase the NG Firewall subscription for it. I have to say I am sorry I didn't do it sooner. The paid versions of the web and spam filters alone make it work the cost. Oh and the bandwidth control is nice too. Since I spiffed up the software for the box I decided it was time to move it from a old workstation to a nice, small form factor box.
The Untangle software is more interested in the number of cores than the speed of the processor which opened up a nice selection of small boxes. One of the requirements is a dual nic box which you can't get in the Intel NUC's and Gigabyte BRIX's. I found a small box called a Fitlet from Compulab that had 5 nic's which would give me more options in creating zone policies.
Unfortunately the Fitlet turned out to be a royal pain in the you know what. The box would not post. I tried different DIMM sticks, removing all components, resetting the BIOS, etc. I considered getting a replacement, but during my troubleshooting I found very little information on this box. Ether no one was using them, or they were very quiet about it. I've pronounced it useless and it's going back.
My next attempt will be a Jetway box with dual nic's. I'd prefer more, but I can live with two as long as the box works. :) It also has a wireless adapter which Untangle can use to create an AP. I could not determine if the chipset on the wireless adapter is supported, but even it it doesn't I am fine with it. I'm not getting it for the wireless. The main reason I chose it is the wealth of information on the box and the active community.
The Jetway box should arrive tomorrow, I hope it goes much better than the Fitlet.
-Keith
No comments:
Post a Comment