[WEB4LIB] WatchGuard Firebox II

[Phillip Whitford]

Catherine,

We have been using a Firebox II in a public library setting for about 4
weeks now. So far I am happy with the Firebox and the Watchguard service.
Previously we used Alta Vista Firewall.  The Firebox II was pretty easy to
configure as Firewalls go. We did have some initial problems since our
network was configured for the old Firewall and some changes had to be made
in DHCP and DNS so out network clients could find the Firewall.  The
Watchguard tech support was very helpful and responsive in figuring out the
changes.  They prefer e-mail tech support enquires and initially I would
have preferred someone on the phone to talk to.  However, their e-mail tech
support worked very well and the folks at Watchguard were not reluctant to
pick up the phone to call me to clarify any traffic I sent them.

The Watchguard service the Firebox comes with (free the first year,
subscription required after that) provides a steady stream of information on
security vulnerabilities, computer viruses, and other computer and network
related security topics. They also provide notice of software upgrades via
this service. This is all sent to your workstation desktop.  Since the
Firebox logs are also sent to your workstation (or another computer) you do
need to make sure you have a workstation with sufficient memory and hard
drive space to support the Firebox.

The remote management features of the Firebox work well, although I wish I
didn't have to reboot it almost every time a change was made n the
configuration. Of course once it is configured and up and running changes
should be few. We use TLC's Library.Solution as our automation system and it
works great with the Firebox.

PC Magazine had a comparison of Firewalls in their April or May 2000 issue
(as I write this I'm not at the Library so I can't look up the issue).
Firebox came out very well. Only Cisco's system was rated higher I believe.
But the article noted the Cisco firewall was much more expensive and was
better suited to very large networks. Before we bought the Firebox II I also
asked around and found a couple other libraries who used and liked it.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Phillip Whitford
Braswell Memorial Library
Rocky Mount, NC

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Catherine Buck Morgan
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 5:35 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] WatchGuard Firebox II


We have just had a demonstration (from a techie, not a sales person) of
the Watchguard Firebox II. I was favorably impressed.

I'd like to talk to someone else who has this. (We are getting local
references, but no libraries in our area have it.) Any experiences with
this firewall out there?

Thanks.
--
Catherine Buck Morgan
Automation Librarian
South Carolina State Library
EMAIL: catherine at leo.scsl.state.sc.us
Phone: 803.734.8651 Fax 803.734.4757
Home page: http://www.state.sc.us/scsl/
Web catalog: http://www.state.sc.us/scsl/scslweb/welcome.html

The opinions stated herein are not necessarily those of SCSL.