- How We Tested
- Astaro Security Gateway 110
- Check Point Safe@Office 1000N
- Netgear ProSecure UTM 50
- SonicWall NSA240
- WatchGuard XTM 810
- Testing Results
- Test Analysis
The Astaro Security Gateway 110 (ASG 110) is one of many hardware security appliances available in Astaro’s Security Gateway range. This model is designed to protect a small office of up to 10 users with a maximum firewall throughput of 200 Mbps. It can be easily upgraded to the ASG 120 model, which supports up to 50 users.
The ASG 110 is not a rack mountable device. It’s targeted at SMBs so is only slightly bigger than a Nintendo Wii, (45mm x 270mm x 183mm). This diminutive box features a 1.5 GHz Intel-compatible CPU and an 80 GB hard drive for quarantine and log storage. Aiding management, the ASG 110 includes a VGA port, two USB ports and a console port accessible via a DB9 to RJ45 cable.
It includes four 10/100 Mbps network ports; allowing one adapter to be dedicated to the LAN and another to the WAN, with the remaining two ports available for DMZ configuration and high availability/clustering.
The firewall boasts Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) as well as deep packet inspection - designed to remove any suspect traffic in transition from the WAN to the LAN.
A solid range of security services are available including gateway anti-virus scanning, DoS protection, anti-spam, intrusion prevention, URL filtering, web applications firewall to aid in exploit protection, IM/P2P blocking, and a VPN component.
Installing the device is a straightforward process; no administrator will take long to get it up and running. It can be easily configured by connecting a client machine to the LAN port using a standard RJ45 Ethernet cable. The DHCP server is not enabled by default so administrators will need to assign the first client computer using a static IP address. Once connected, the setup wizard can be initiated via Astaro’s Web GUI which uses an HTTPS encrypted protocol.
The Astaro ASG 110 is shipped with good out-of-the-box security. It will not permit any outbound network traffic, however, if the outbound firewall rules are not correctly defined during the initial setup phase, internal nodes will be denied access to the internet and other services.
During the initial setup, it requires an administrator’s email address and will use this address to automatically send a daily ‘Executive Report’ and ‘Configuration Auto Backup’ files. This daily report provides a good summary of network events from the last 24 hours, including statistics for resource usage (CPU/RAM) network usage (inbound and outbound requests) and network security (dropped packets and services). They are easy to read and are available in graph, tabular, and charted formats.
Astaro’s Security Gateway 110 solution is quickly set up, administrators should find daily management tasks straight forward.
RRP: Unit cost $868 AUS plus $1059AUS for a one-year licence.
Warranty: 1 year standard, extended when subscriptions are renewed.
positive
- Easy to setup and maintain
- Excellent automated reporting system.
negative
- Lacks gigabit NICs
- Only has 4 networking ports
summary
Astaro’s Security Gateway 110 offers a lot of benefits to the small office and it will seamlessly integrate within a wider network of other Astaro devices. We particularly liked how its GUI includes drag and drop firewall rules – making it easy to get to grips with the entire process.