A DHCP forwarder is not included with Astaro. You would need to hack the underlying Linux environment in order to put one in. I would advice against doing so.
If I may make a suggestion. You might want to consider moving to V6 or V7 in the near future. Astaro has announced complete end of life for the V5 line on 1 October. After that point, there will be no up2dates, AV or anti-spam updates, and documentation and files for V5 will be removed from Astaro sites.
We're actually replacing this box with a cisco pix in the next yr.
Cisco's Pix firewall has had more security advisories than ASG over the last few years. It will also cost you more money. I believe migrating from Pix to ASG is more common than going the other way.
Indeed... we are finding ourselves upgrading a lot of customers to the Astaro solution and off of Cisco; the price vs. performance and extra features are normally the reasons.
I have to agree that Astaro in its' latest version is much more versatile and overall less expensive than a PIX. The overall track record on security flaws has been much better as well.
That being said, if you must get a Cisco (as we all know, sometimes control of these things is not in the hands of the admin. On several occasions I've been blindsided by a salesperson getting management to buy up some piece of garbage bugware. First I know of it is when I get handed a box and told to install it.), do not get a PIX. That product line is about dead at this point with support only being an afterthought. One by one the various models in the PIX family are being declared EOL (End of Life) by Cisco over the next couple of years. Once an item hits that point in the Cisco world, there are no more updates for it, even if major flaws are found. Go with the replacement line for the PIX series, ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance).
Hey Scott, looks like you work the same hours I do (I'm assuming you're in the States, or at least North America)
Have you heard the latest? Cisco is going to get rid of the Linksys brand altogether... not the flaky equipment, they're just going to start selling it as Cisco branded hardware ... not a good decision, in my opinion!
Yep US. Illinois to be specific. Weather is not as nice as SC. I'm actually at work from 7:30AM-4PM. Just trolling the boards before bedtime. [:)]
I did read that. As much money as Cisco has sunk into trying to market Linksys to SMB's, due to quality issues, lackluster software, and default configs, it is still really only good as cheap stuff for the home user IMO. In IT circles, about the only good thing to say for Stinksys routers are the Linux based OS is completely unprotected on some models so is easy to hack and customize. I see this decision hurting the Cisco brand name.
I really do like most Cisco gear. It's the yardstick that all networking gear is measured by. Cisco comes up with a neat new feature, then everyone else follow suit. Heck, wish I had the budget for Cisco managed switches instead of the knockoff Dell ones.
Looking at your companies web site, I have to ask, does your sales guy ever sing "In the Air Tonight"? ;P
I agree... I've always like Cisco routers and switches.. though we sell a lot of 3com switches and access points (you get so many features and so much speed for free, where Cisco wants to nickel and dime you to death for IOS upgrades, etc. --- and the reliability in my experience has been about the same), but still sell Cisco routers. I have noted that recently, for the smaller access routers, the units made in Mexico seem to have a higher DOA rate than the ones made in the US about 8 years ago or so.
I'm in SC on the East Coast; just up late trying to get everything in for the end of the month billing cycle!
