Hi All,
What hardware would you suggest for a small setup with one central office, and two smaller offices as a VPN solution. All sites are on broadband, I guess it makes sense to have the central site on a static address and the others should be ok with dynamic (Not a meshed setup but just remote office to central). Low cost if possible, but not down to a linux/PC type setup. All replies appreciated
I have suggested Netopia 3386-ENT,3387W-ENT, or 3387WG-ENT routers to others here before.
They are inexpensive. Support a good range of VPN protocols including pptp and ipsec. And support from Netopia is better than your average consumer gear maker. Also I understand them, and I don't mind posting suggestions or helping with configurations in this group.
Some have suggested Netgear VPN routers, but I'm not convinced they are a great choice. They seem to abandon firmware support for older units after they have gone out of production and they also tend to have firmware bugs more often than they should in new models.
If you want something that has a bit higher speed (These Netopia boxes start to max out their processor during encryption when you go beyond typical inexpensive ADSL and cable modem broadband options). I have been happy with Nortel VPN routers. I have also used Watchguard X core and X edge units, though I only recommend these if you want the wide range of features they can offer. Watchguard also works best when you can use their devices on all your endpoints and not mix in other brands. They have this VPN manager software that you can buy which sets up a complex set of subnets and routing very simply.
Mike, excellent, thank you very much. Off to have a look at them. Simon
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