Thanks to great recomendations from a number of people in this group I am now using a sonicwall tz170 and love it.
I was a little concerned since I noticed a fair number of posts saying their tz 170 died and had to be replaced so I purchased a back up 170 just in case. Not a big deal since I got the second one for just over $300.
Now I need to configure the second back up tz170 exactly as the production one.
I did my home work and here are the actions I think I need to do but woudl like someone to revew them before I try it.
Configuring a back up tz170 from a current one in production.
On the production tz170
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1) Firmware System / Settings I have three things listed. Current Firmware Current Firmware with Factory Default Settings Current Firmware with Backup Settings
I guess Current Firmware is the one I want to download from this production tz170 right?
If I click the "Create backup settings" I get a warning about overwriting my existing backup setting. Should I do a back up first to make sure I have the latest firmware from this tz170?
2) Settings System / Settings Import Settings Export settings I exported the setting to a file on my PC.
On the back up tz170
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1) Firmware load the firmware "Current Firmware" from step #1 above.
2) Import Settings from the file Exported from #1 above.
Are these the steps to make an exact copy of my production tz170? Thanks everyone for recomending this firewall and any help.
I sleep way better now seeing all the crap packets, ports scans and weird connect being droppped now instead of having a wide open MS server on the web. The firewall is in stealt mode and only a few of the standard ports are open like 80, 443, 110
Hillarious! Linux running in the tz170 is protecting my "Secure MS Operating system!"