Clavister is a fairly new name in the security market, but its high-end firewall appliances are impressive enough to ensure that will not be the case for long.
The H3060 appliance is aimed at the enterprise market, supporting an impressive 3Gbps throughput. It is a robust, silver, rack-mounted device with its six Ethernet ports at the front. There is also an LCD display for systems information.
The actual firewall application is also available on its own if you do not want a dedicated appliance. A more powerful H4080 device is available for larger corporate networks.
Initial installation is quick and easy. There is a frighteningly thin getting started manual, but enough thought has been put into usability that this is actually all you need. Subsequent management options are apparently covered in a comprehensive user guide, although this was absent from the reviewed product.
The appliance does not need a dedicated PC, but the system requirements for this are sufficiently low-end that you could probably use one of the old junked machines in the office anyway.
Configuration is performed using a very understandable wizard, which guides you through the relatively few stages. There is a brief dalliance with old- terminal emulation, but this is mercifully brief and you are soon back with the uncluttered GUI.
Once installed, you are presented with a very easy to manage, stateful inspection firewall. The management console has been designed to ensure that it does not confuse, even though all of the firewall and network information is available at a glance. This makes Clavister Firewall an excellent choice of product for organizations where the administrator is either relatively inexperienced or part-time. There is a wealth of reporting and logging options, all easily available through the console.
The device is also an IPsec VPN, supporting up to 2,000 simultaneous tunnels, and it also provides a degree of traffic shaping for the more advanced administrator.
Despite its high-end credentials, the Clavister H3060 is virtually ready to start working the moment you take it out of the box. This ensures a fast and efficient install without having to employ a dedicated firewall expert or consultant.
If you have a large organization, but cannot really spare a dedicated network administrator either to maintain your firewall, the Clavister - the appliance or the software alone - may be the solution for you.
