Chapter 1 – Introduction and Description
Feature Details
•Secure VPN Connections. The RouteFinder SOHO security appliance uses the IPSec or PPTP industry standard protocol, data encryption, and the Internet to provide high-performance, secure VPN connections. For LAN connectivity, the RouteFinder SOHO security appliance utilizes the IPSec protocol to provide up to 15 tunnels with strong 3DES or AES encryption using IKE and PSK key management. For Client-to-LAN connectivity, Multi-Tech provides optional IPSec client software allowing road warriors secure access to the company’s internal network.
This RouteFinder also supports remote users who want to use the PPTP VPN client built into the Windows operating system. This provides 40-bit or 128-bit encryption, user name and password authentication.
•Connect Multiple Users to the Internet with Broadband Speed. With the RouteFinder SOHO security appliance, multiple users can share access to the Internet with only one IP account. The WAN Ethernet port(s) support DSL or cable speeds of up to 20M bps.
•Built-in 10/100 Switch. The integrated 4-port 10/100M bps switch eliminates the need for an additional hub or switch to connect users not on a LAN. It ensures high-speed transmission and can serve as a completely dedicated full duplex backbone.
•Network Security. The RouteFinder SOHO appliance provides network layer security utilizing Stateful Packet Inspection, the sophisticated firewall technology found in large enterprise firewalls, to protect the network against intruders and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. It also uses Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide internal, non-routable IP addresses and allows internal hosts with unregistered IP addresses to function as Internet-reachable servers.
•Dual WAN Load Balancing, Internet and VPN Failover. The RouteFinder SOHO security appliance model RF830/RF830-AP has a second WAN port for Internet access. This allows for two separate ISP connections giving administrators the ability to balance traffic by distributing it over the two links. In addition, if one port were to go down, the RouteFinder appliance would automatically re-route all Internet and VPN traffic to the other connection. The second WAN port greatly enhances performance and system uptime.
•Automatic Dial Backup. The RouteFinder SOHO (RF820/RF820-AP) security appliance also provides an additional serial port that, when connected to a dial-up modem or ISDN terminal adaptor, can serve as a backup resource for Internet access if your cable or DSL service goes down. It can also serve as the primary connection if you do not have broadband connectivity yet in your area.
•Virtual Server Support. In addition to providing shared Internet access, the RouteFinder SOHO security appliance can support a Web, FTP or other Internet servers. Once configured, it accepts only unsolicited IP packets addressed to the Web, FTP or other specified servers.
•Dynamic DNS Client. The RouteFinder SOHO security appliance has a built-in Dynamic DNS client that is compatible with DynDNS.org. It automatically sends an update to the DynDNS.org update server if the WAN IP address changes. A registered Dynamic DNS account allows you to host your own Web site, mail server, or other services on the Internet without having to obtain a static IP address or keep track of a dynamic IP address. It also aids in creating static-to-dynamic or dynamic-to-dynamic IPSec VPN tunnels. In addition, with a Dynamic DNS account, you can establish a PPTP VPN tunnel behind the RouteFinder SOHO security appliance by configuring your PPTP client to connect to yourhostname.dydns.org instead of a dynamic IP address.
•Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) Feature. The FQDN featured on the RouteFinder SOHO security appliance allows you to utilize a static name in the IPSec VPN setup, like “branchof.ce.dyndns.org”, instead of a dynamic IP address, to create static-to-dynamic or dynamic-to-dynamic VPN IPSec tunnels. This allows all of the IPSec VPN connections to act like static-to-static connections. The RouteFinder SOHO security appliance checks the FQDN IPSec configuration every two minutes for IP address changes. If the IP address is different than the last time it checked, it drops the current tunnel and creates a new one. This helps to keep IPSec VPN tunnels readily available with minimal interruptions in data communication.
•Optional VPN Client Software. Multi-Tech provides easy-to-use IPSec VPN client software that transparently secures Internet communications anytime, anywhere. VPN client software is ideal for business users who travel frequently or work from home providing secure remote access through the RouteFinder security appliance for applications such as remote access, file transfer, e-mail, Web browsing, messaging or IP telephony. Encryption and authentication operations are completely transparent to the end user. In general, IPSec provides stronger encryption than PPTP resulting in better overall security. A 30-day free trial CD is included with the RouteFinder SOHO security appliance.
