|
Vigor2200E and Vigor2200USB VPN Router
Score: 3 out of 3 
Review Type: Hands On
Reviewer: Chris Kaminski
Date: Jan 3, 2001
Firmware: 2.00A
Price: Aprox $139
 Draytek is storming onto
the US broadband outer scene with two offerings that are both strong and timely.
Many companies when entering the US retail market appear to be a little behind the
times offering the same tired wares that everyone else does. Not Drayteck. For about
$139 (us), they are offering two broadband routers with VPN built right on. The
VIGOR2200E works with standard Ethernet broadband modems and the VIGOR2200USB works
with many USB modems.
The Basics
These broadband routers allow all of the computers in your home or small office
to access the internet over a single broadband internet connection. The VIGOR2200E
is for broadband modems with Ethernet connections, and the VIGOR2200USB can be used
with the following USB modems:
*Alcatel SpeedTouch Home USB modem
*ECI USB Modem
*Fujitsu USB Modem
(Be sure to check the Draytek
support site for updates to this list)
Uniquely, the VIGOR2200USB has TWO usb ports. The second is reserved for future
peripheral expansion – who knows what that would be!
Administration
All the modern features you would expect are present in these broadband routers.
They are arranged in an unglamorous but thoughtful and logical way. I would suggest
that new users stick to the Blue quick setup zone. This is all that is needed to
get the router up and running. It even allows you to configire VPN network dial-in
support from a single screen.
Beyond The Basics
These routers have features normally only seen in expensive business class firewalls
and routers. There are so many features; one can easily become overwhelmed and possibly
confused. Even with the vast number of features, the screens are laid out logically
and are easy to understand – if you can understand the technical terminology.
The following is a summary of SOME of the advanced features found in these routers.
Dynamic DNS This is the only router I have seen that supports multiple Dynamic DNS
dns accounts – three to be exact. Not only that, but at the time of this writing
dyndns.org, NO-IP.org, dtdns.org AND changeIP.com were all supported as the dynamic
DNS service.
Management
WEB, Telnet, or SNMP management – take your pick. Remote management can enabled
on custom user defined ports and can be restricted to three remote subnet ranges.
An SNMP trap can be configured for logging too.
Diagnostics
The Draytek routers provide a healthy amount of access to diagnostic information.
Included in the diagnostic area is PPPoE/PPTP Diags, ARP cache viewing, routing
table viewing, DHCP logs, NAT port routing tables and NAT session viewing. Strangely,
the diagnostic area is where the Syslog logging settings can be configured.
VPN Specifics
The Vigor routers support both L2TP and PPTP VPN tunnelling systems. The L2TP connection
supports IPSEC encryption too. Up to 8 simultaneous tunnels can be created to and
from a variety of devices. The router will act as either a VPN Client to call into
a VPN server or as a VPN server itself so that you can call into your network securely
over the Internet. If you find all this lingo confusing be sure to read our
VPN Primer. Up to 10 dial-in user accounts can be configured and 16 lan-to-lan
dialer profiles.
These routers from Draytek are priced less expensively than any other VPN router
on the market AND are very full featured.
Improvements?
The magic number with all the configuration tables in the web interface seems to
be 10. 10 Dial-in users, 10 port redirections, 10 open ports, etc. It would be nice
to see the web interface allow more than 10 in these lists – especially in
the port redirection table.
Screens:
Links:
|
Vigor2200E and Vigor2200USB
Menu:
