"Bourot Nicolas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I would like to know if someone could explain me what are the advantages and
>disadvantages of software and hardware firewall solutions.
It's just a matter of packaging. "Hardware" is a bunch of silicon
and, if you look really closely, it's running "software" inside.
"Software" is something you install on your own hardware.
But, in either case, you're running some kind of human-written
code, someplace.
Pros and Cons: Hardware perspective
Pro - software is pre-installed
Con - updating software may be more difficult (flash memory, etc)
Pro - you don't know any of the "messy details" about what's inside
Con - you don't know any of the useful details about what's inside
Pro - may be cheaper than buying a general purpose machine + software
Con - you're stuck buying someone else's specialized hardware (or
a really expensive PC with a cool sticker on the front)
Pro- if you trust the vendor, the hardware's security is "not a problem"
Con - not all vendors get it right in their hardware, either
Pros and Cons: Software perspective
Pro - you get to install it and may be able to understand how it works
inside
Con - you have to mess with installing it
Pro - it's easier to upgrade, manage, and do backups
Con - you have to manage it and the underlying O/S
Pro - you can use your existing machine
Con - you have to make it work on your existing machine
Pro - you can apply security patches and controls to the O/S
Con - you have to apply security patches and controls to the O/S
Performance is an open question: fast hardware running
fast software is always fast. Fast software on slow hardware,
or slow hardware running fast software is always medium-fast,
and slow software running on slow hardware is always slow.
Basically, the differences all boil down to manageability,
installation, and sometimes performance.
mjr.
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