RouteFinder RF550VPN
broadband router
link
Score: 3 out of 3
Review Type: Hands On
Date: Jan 23, 2002
Multitech has entered the
arena of broadband routers that have a VPN client and server
built in. The Routefinder RF550VPN supports up to 5 concurrent vpn
connections, has a new WEB based user interface and includes all the
standard features you would expect in a modern broadband router.
Unlike the other
Routefinders the RF500VPN does not support RAS modem dial-in but
this feature is replaced with the broadband VPN connection. What it does
The RF550VPN broadband
router is an Internet connection device and then some. Up to 253
computers on your home LAN can connect to the Internet using a
single broadband connection. A serial port allows the connection of
a ‘backup’ 56k or ISDN connection. The built in firewall with SPI
(statefull packet inspection) will protect your home network and
Internet connection from hackers – even the ones that use advanced
techniques like Denial of Service attacks. The VPN ( Virtual Private Network)
portion of the router allows you to securely connect to your home
network over the Internet using standard IPSEC VPN client software.
You could also tie two networks on the Internet together using two
RouteFinder VPN routers. Imagine being on the road with your laptop or
over a friends house and NEEDING a file off of your computer at
home. Simply load up a VPN client & tunnel through the internet
to your home network – you now have secure access to all of the
network shares on your home network!
Administration
Administration is now completely performed
with a web interface. Unlike its predecessors, this RouteFinder does
not need special software loaded on your computer to configure the
router. For a first shot at a web interface, Multitech did fairly
well in making the interface logical and easy to use and understand.
Security
The RouteFinder’s SPI
firewall did a good job filtering out the attacks on my IP
address. My IP gets hit hard with Smurf attacks and what not and the
RouteFinder appeared to log them all. An optional SYSLOG logging
option well send the firewall alerts to your computer for storage
and processing if you have a syslog receiver loaded. Application Support
MultiTech was one of the first routers out
there to properly pass h.323 traffic and of course this router still
does. That means that making calls with telephone applications or
NetMeeting work without having reconfigure your router or compromise
your network security. Support for h.323 passthrough in a
router is a great sign of advanced application support.
The VPN Itself
The RF550VPN can act as
either an IPSec server OR an IPSec VPN client. It is
capable of having 5 simultaneous VPN connections running with a
total throughput of aprox 700kbps under maximum encryption.
Multitech licensed the IPsec client from SSH for the RF550VPN so compatibility
will never be an issue. You can try the SSH client
here
. The RF550VPN is a standard IPSec implementation and has been tested
with the Cisco 3005, Netscreen, Rapidstream, Netopia, Windows 2000
VPN servers. Although Multitech’s VPN implementation is a ‘no
frills’ approach, it is certainly one of the easier ones to
configure.
Admin Screens
| 
RouteFinder VPN
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