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Netgear ProSafe DGFV338
 
 
VERDICT
Near perfect 6-in-1 wireless & wired VPN solution for small businesses
PROS
Sturdy metal chassis; ADSL2+ modem; dual firewall (SPI & NAT); VPN support; 8-port 10/100 LAN switch, ADSL WAN Port
CONS
No power switch; no Draft-N support
COMPANY
Netgear
http://www.netgear.co.uk

Targeted toward small and mid-sized customers, Netgear’s Prosafe DGFV338 is a comprehensive six-in-one security appliance that delivers the business features that are not available in its current DG product line, such as support for 50 IPSec VPN tunnels for secure remote access, more powerful 5dBi antennas, 802.11a/g wireless support for 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz (region specific), and SNMP-based monitoring. The product also comes in a sturdy blue metal case and is backed by a lifetime warranty for added piece of mind.

For companies wanting a single device that performs many functions, is easy to manage and fits in a small space, the DGFV338 (Best Current Price: £128) is an ideal solution. A member of the ProSafe business-class product family, the DGFV338 is designed for reliability, ease of use, and affordability. Indeed, in our tests the router was stable and performed flawlessly over both fixed and wireless networks. The Web-based administration tool is also easy to navigate, although the vast array of configuration options will likely bamboozle networking newbies.

The DGFV338 supports reliable and high-speed WAN connectivity with a built-in ADSL2/2+ modem and a backup Ethernet WAN port for providing failover support. With the ability to support up to 50 IPSec VPN Tunnels, the DGFV338 is a great value product for small businesses seeking to provide network access to remote sites or mobile users. Supporting a wide variety of security protocols to safeguard the network from external threats, the DGFV338 supports Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) and Network Address Translation (NAT). Wireless access is secured with the support of WPA-2 Enterprise encryption.

The DGFV338 is a comprehensive standards-based, VPNC compliant security solution designed to enable small- and medium-sized companies to share and secure the broadband connection while providing a secure network. Built-in wireless access point with two detachable 5dBi antennas provides wireless LAN connectivity at speeds of up to 108Mbps. An integrated 8-port 10/100 LAN switch provides the wired infrastructure. The DGFV338 supports SNMPv2c and is optimised for ProSafe Network Management Software NMS100. Supporting ProSafe VPN Client software VPN01L and VPN05L, the DGFV338 comes with a single-user VPN01L license.

Easy to set up and use with Netgear’s intuitive Smart Wizard, a VPN Wizard also helps connect to your ISP and establish VPN connections. It delivers all the advantages of centralised administration for remote offices, teleworkers and small businesses, including dynamic DNS capabilities facilitate remote access, cameras, games, and other hosted services for users with dynamic IP addresses.

Business need not worry too much about security with the DGFV338 because it offers a powerful, ‘true’ firewall with content filtering. Using stateful packet inspection to defend against attacks, its firewall features include DoS protection (automatically detects and thwarts DoS attacks such as Ping of Death, SYN Flood, LAND Attack, and IP Spoofing), the blocking of unwanted traffic from the Internet to your LAN, as well as blocking access from your LAN to Internet locations or services that you specify as off-limits. It also logs security incidents, such as blocked incoming traffic, attacks, and administrator logins. You can configure the firewall to e-mail the log to you at specified intervals. You can also configure the firewall to send immediate alert messages to your e-mail address or e-mail pager whenever a significant event occurs.

With its URL keyword filtering feature, the DGFV338 prevents objectionable content from reaching your PCs. The firewall allows you to control access to Internet content by screening for keywords within Web addresses. You can configure the firewall to log and report attempts to access objectionable Internet sites. Another feature designed to improve security includes protection from PCs hidden by NAT. NAT opens a temporary path to the Internet for requests originating from the local network. Requests originating from outside the LAN are discarded, preventing users outside the LAN from finding and directly accessing the PCs on the LAN.

And although NAT prevents Internet locations from directly accessing the PCs on the LAN, the firewall allows you to direct incoming traffic to specific PCs based on the service port number of the incoming request. You can specify forwarding of single ports or ranges of ports. Finally, Incoming traffic from the Internet is normally discarded by the firewall unless the traffic is a response to one of your local computers or a service for which you have configured an inbound rule. Instead of discarding this traffic, you can have it forwarded to one computer on your network.

The DGFV338 supports the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and Routing Information Protocol (RIP). It also allows several networked PCs to share an Internet account using only a single IP address, which may be statically or dynamically assigned by your Internet service provider (ISP). This technique, known as NAT, allows the use of an inexpensive single-user ISP account.

It dynamically assigns network configuration information, including IP, gateway, and domain name server (DNS) addresses, to attached PCs on the LAN using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). This feature greatly simplifies configuration of PCs on your local network. And when DHCP is enabled and no DNS addresses are specified, the firewall provides its own address as a DNS server to the attached PCs. The firewall obtains actual DNS addresses from the ISP during connection setup and forwards DNS requests from the LAN. Other protocols supported include PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) and PPP over ATM (PPPoA).

Providing a business-class ADSL2/2+ gateway solution is not an easy task, but Netgear’s DGFV338 succeeds in providing higher security and VPN capabilities in an easily managed box. If you’re looking for a new box to commandeer your broadband connection and wired/wireless network, the DGFV338 should be at the top of your list.

[9] - Editors’ Choice

[Best Wi-Fi Pricing UK]
[Best Wi-Fi Pricing US]




BIOS, May 24, 07 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Networking
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