Best Home Hosting Box?

[jwynacht]

Hi,

I'm trying to determine what the best router is for doing home hosting/biz.

1721

1712

1711

It seems given my ADSL connection and router from SBC that the 1711 would serve my needs best but the Cisco Small Business Network Designer suggested a 1721.

Anybody have any preferences here and if so, why?

Thanks muchly!

Jon

[blazesod]

Hi Jon,

I would use a secure PIX 501 or 515 Firewall to do basic routing and establish a DMZ.

R/S

Dave

[ssheikh]

515 for a home buisiness setup? isn't that a bit of an overkill?

what about just doing port forwarding on... say a 831 or something?

lots of people don't like the 800-series devices, but i've never had any issues with them. they're great little boxes.

[travis-dennis_2]

I agree that the 515 is probably overkill for a home based business but if there is going to be a server that customers hit from the Internet I would probably recommend this as well. What else is going to give that 3rd interface to (more) securely hang a web server off of? Some of the higher end routers will but then they are not dedicated to security like the PIX. A low end router like a 1700 series with a PIX behind it would be best in my humble opinion but as you can see by the rankings I am sucking eggs this month! :)

[ssheikh]

what about a 831 w/ the FW feature set, with port forwarding?

can someone explain to me why port forwarding isn't favored over a DMZ? afterall, doesn't a DMZ open everything to outside access, where port forwarding only opens particular ports for access?

[jwynacht]

Thanks for all the replies...good info here. This is what the Cisco Small Business Network diagrammed for me:

http://www.ciscoretail.com/sbnd/child/1.0/results.asp?configid=30365&dt=2%2F9%2F2004+7%3A56%3A01+PM&cdt=2%2F9%2F2004+7%3A53%3A28+PM

It seems like the 1721 is the way to go and from folks to talked to at Cisco the firewall it uses will work well for setting up a DMZ with only one server.

The PIX is a good idea though, I'll have to give it some thought.

Thanks!

[thisisshanky]

For home business..you could use a 1700. 1721 is better than the rest probably because it has many supported features which the rest doesnt support. More supported hardware, software features etc.

I would also suggest using a PIX 501 or 506. It can do PPPOE, vpn, provide you excellent firewalling, a 4 port switch on the inside, 10 Mbps connection on the outside. They are cheaper in price too..You wont get a dmz with 501 or 506.

[n2-goes]

Hello Jon,

I have looked at these routers and I will be using a Cisco 1711 for my business. It uses a Firewall and IDS IOS. IT can terminates VPN. It is also a switch with 802.1Q vlans.

For a small business, it is a lot in 1 device.

Regards,

Nadine.