Fastest Firewall?

for the lightest firewall would have to be look n stop. even tho i havent experienced any slowdown with outpost, i feel a slight speed boost with look n stop.

 

You might want to give GhostWall a shot.

http://www.ghostsecurity.com/index.php?page=ghostwall

It's fairly new, but also freeware and seems like a promising firewall for the future.

I noticed a speed increase since i've switched from outpost. And I can't even feel it running in the background.

The only drawback is that it currently doesn't support any form of application filtering.

If you are looking for a fast firewall with application filtering, you should give LookNStop a try.

 

VC, Kerio 2.1.5 is another one which I suspect is very fast, at least from my experience it is. If you are behind a router, then you're all set with Kerio. If not, then just be aware that it can pass fragmented packets. This however, would not stop me from using it. And it IS free..

There is also Jetico, which is free, if you like rules.

 

Hi Stefan .
Thank you and your welcome . Just wanted to make sure that the people in here understood what they are speaking of . And , for the record , ZAP can be considered a suite but , not Outpost or LnS . At least , not yet !

 

Kerio 2.1.5 is out of date...
I don't a firewall rules based...

 

To my limited realm and knowledge, CHX stealths me fully and protects me from the ills of outside with minimal resource consumption, no slowdowns on system or bandwidth and no other bug issues, the original post was intended to ask about the lightest and fastest firewall and therefore my vote for CHX is based on my experience and everything else I have tried including the suites like Outpost and ZAP. Firewalls were not supposed to do DNS caching, ad blocking or cookie washing, at least not in the true sense.

Now for a true definition of firewall check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(networking))

Note the first paragraph, "controlling communications based on security policy. Do note that packet filter is the name for firewall in BSD context, so CHX still remains a firewall, the second paragraph even elaborates my point further.

 

And therein lies the dilema. While that may be the traditional definition of a firewall, and what many still adhere to, there are numerous opinions on what a firewall is or should be these days

Regards,

CrazyM

 

Thank you Crazy .
As I have seen before , people have to be right sooo , ARUP . You are right . CHX is a firewall . Congrats . You want to argue this point and it is futile as you do not understand at all . I wrote in here to make the original poster aware that your comments are NOT to be considered as CHX is NOT a firewall . You might tell the CHX folks this as well . As they THEMSELVES claim it is not a firewall . Keep talking and trying to make us undersatand that you are right . I already know you are so I do not carew what you think is a firewall . CHX is not . Period . In your mind , it is so , I believe you . You know better than I . Again , this was for the original poster . NOT YOU . So , he needs to decide what he wishes to do . But , you better hurry up and get the CHX folks to get that CRAP of CHX NOT being a firewall off of their site . They may give people the wrong impression.

 

Hey,

No need to be rude, opinions differ and so does interpretations and perceptions, don't get personal on that, you did it first time and I let it go, so in your words, Wiki is wrong too, Packet Filter is not firewall, but Outpost is as it puts outbound as well as other stuff. Let the person who asked the question be the judge, you have absolutely no right to tell him I am wrong and you are right, we both have presented our individual views and lets leave it to the others to be judge. In the same breath I will tell all, your statements about a certain suite are not to be considered as firewall as it takes over 20mb just to do packet filtering. Light and fast it never will be, you should also tell Outpost, the BSOD bloat champion to take the firewall title off and call itself security suite with pakcet filtering.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen act in such a manner or you will find this thread closed, enough of the shots over the bow.

Blackspear.

 

Arup .
I quote you here : Wow! CHX not a firewall, thats news for me, IDRCI . Now I quote the IDRCI : The CHX suite of tools is not a personal firewall . Enough said . Good luck in your argument . I am through

 

If you look at my comments closely you will see that nobody is right and nobody wrong. Or is that you are all right and you are all wrong

While IDRCI may state that CHX-I is not a personal firewall, they do not define what a personal firewall is. They refer to it as a packet filter, does that mean it is not a firewall? All depends on who's definition of a firewall you are using.

Which brings us back to "there are numerous opinions on what a firewall is or should be these days". Seems like sometimes one almost has to post their definition before anything else.

Let's try and keep things constructive and not stray into the realm of personal bickering.

Regards,

CrazyM

 

No Crazy . I AM wrong . I just think that maybe IDRCI needs to remove that as I am confused . Firewalls are out of my league anyway . I do not know why I even came here . I will go play with what are considered REAL firewalls and see if I can learn a thing or two . And , as paranoid as people here are , I cannot imagine why anyone would use CHX and leave it at that . But , those are words from an amateur . Sorry I confused the issue . Since CHX IS now a firewall , yep , it would be the fastest .

 

Hi all!

Not to add to a hostile thread, but to answer your question:

I have done this for some time. I am still using Smoothwall which uses Iptables which does basicly the same thing as CHX as far as filtering is concerned. It all depends on what your preferences are! Some argue that application filtering or 'per application filtering' is illusionary! And on the other hand, some argue that without some sort of app filtering on a tdi level leaves you naked and open for attacks. Like CrazyM said, it all depends on your preferences or opinions. I run myself a transparent proxy and content filter with Clam AV+snort and am pretty happy with my setup and security. Others with that setup, would feel threatened. I have pretty much tried all fw's/packet filters in existance and must say that in the end it is up to the individual, based on their expectations...

Regards
Jazzie

 

Irrigators regulate the rivers;
fletchers straighten the arrow shaft;
carpenters shape the wood;
the wise control themselves.

 

I am a little confused by the terms Fast & Slow. Do you have any Numbers? I like Numbers.
Also how do I Speed up My Firewall?

 

Kerio 2.1.5 is fast, not much memory consumption either.
Sygate does not also limit my speed as confirmed with my 2MBits connection.
And memory usage is something like 10 MB.
Not recommended though if you run some local proxy software or needing at least to know it's limitations.

Never heard any other FW expect ZA to slow down intertnet speed.

 

I'm tying CHX and for now I like it a lot

Doesn't have application protection but to protect my inbound and use very low resources could be excellent...

With some IPS could be a great solution

If I change my mind, I will post here...

Thanks for your suggestion and thoughts

Regards