[plug] Advantages of Linux-based firewalls?

[Bernard Blackham]

> My question is: does anyone know of any compelling
> reasons to switch? Yes, I've already tried the
> standard "more stable and secure" lines, but they
> don't seem to care. I've also (I think) used the "open
> source -> better all round" but they don't buy that
> either.

I've had some bad experiences with things like WinGate and Internet
Connection Sharing, they work for simple things, but ftp was occasionally
dodgy and ICQ was never able to use anything but server mode (no file
transfers, big msgs, chats, etc). Also some miscellaneous utilities became
terribly confused about their IP address. These problems all had work
arounds, but it took a great deal of fiddling, even relative to what's
required for linux, and in many cases required another bit of software (to
buy). And then I saw the light....

One case for linux is it's flexibility. You can add in whatever services
you want, whenever you want, if standard masquerading wont do it. You can
run your own proxy servers for Web, DNS, to reduce your download usage a
tad. Also hosting web pages might come in handy. But surely minimal
maintenance and being able to just let it sit in the corner and hum for
months on end is surely the best reason? Least mucking around etc... And
24-hour technical support at PLUG if anything does ever go wrong :)

My two cents,

Bernard.

-- 
 Bernard Blackham
 bernard at blackham.com.au