This device offers two operational 10/100 Base-T Ethernet connections in a 1U height rack-mountable case. The system has a serial port to support a terminal emulation program to access the command line interface, used to configure the device before it goes into service.
The device can be installed into a network immediately, since it will allow traffic in both directions until configured and activated. Network support staff will appreciate this. The serial link remains operative after the system has been configured and it can be used to access a runtime command line interface to a number of configuration and diagnostic facilities as well as system statistics and logs.
Device documentation comes on CD-Rom only, but is comprehensive and detailed.
The device, which is primarily designed to provide VPN services for medium to large-scale office networks, can also support remote clients. The VPN client software, 'High Assurance Remote,' includes a copy of Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm personal firewall. This is installed along with the client software and provides a further level of protection both to the client and to the VPN connection.
The firewall is automatically configured to allow the VPN client and its associated software to function, while blocking other access attempts. There is no facility to prevent the firewall being installed, so any existing firewall software needs to be removed before installing the client to avoid any conflicts.
The client software has a number of useful features beyond those normally found in VPN clients, including Certificate Management, a real-time connection monitor and a detailed log viewer.
It can also be configured to support several connections to different gateways and other clients, although only one connection can be operative at a time. Each connection can have its own customized security policy. The VPN client's documentation is installed with the software and is in the normal two-pane Windows Compiled HTML Help (CHM) format.
