The most recent articles from PC Magazine

SonicWall TZ 170

Alex Arias — 2004-03-24T12:07:03.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 24 March 2004 at 12:07:03

A flexible firewall.

SonicWall has produced solid firewall products for the Soho market in the past, and the TZ 170 is no exception. Designed for the smaller office, it offers the ease of use and flexibility required for such environments.

It has a five-port autosensing 10/100Mbit/s LAN switch in addition to its 10/100Mbit/s WAN port, and there's also a seventh optional port (fitted on our review unit) called a WorkPort. This can be configured in a variety of ways, but straight out of the box it allows you to create a securely isolated network segment, much like a DMZ port.

The basic unit supports 10 users and can be upgraded to unlimited users for £645 (ex.VAT).

SonicWall's SonicOS software provides easy, wizard-based configuration and its well designed interface makes short work of locating the configuration pages.

Network services are offered on subscription basis, and these can be accessed and configured via the software. Subscriptions are available for services such as content filtering (£225 ex.VAT per year) and antivirus protection (£130 ex.VAT).

Upgrading to the SonicOS Enhanced software provides additional features such as WAN redundancy (which uses the WorkPort to act as a secondary WAN port), ISP failover and load balancing, object based management for administering a large number of users, and granular policy based NAT.

SonicWall recently announced the addition of intrusion detection, designed to protect against worms, trojans and other threats. This is expected to be released in Q2 2004 and to cost £350 a year per appliance. This is a welcome step and pushes down the cost of a technology that's normally found only in larger, corporate environments.

Overall, the flexibility of the TZ 170, in terms of the number of supported users and its VPN capability, offers plenty of scope for growth, and the numerous optional add-ons make the TZ 170 a powerful security tool that can grow with your business.

Contact: SonicWall (01344) 668090

www.sonicwall.com

Specifications:

Dimensions: 23x16.8x4.1cm Weight 520g
Firewall architecture: Stateful packet inspection
Processor: SonicWall security processor
Memory: 64MB RAM, 8MB Flash
Interfaces: WAN 1x10/100Base-T, LAN 5x10/100Base-T
Security standards: IPSec, PPTP, L2TP, WEP, IKE, PPPoE, RADIUS
Protocols supported: DHCP, NAT, TCP/IP, and SNMP
Management software: Integrates into SonicWall's global management
Performance: 90 Mbit/s Stateful packet inspection, 30+ Mbit/s 3DES and AES VPN
Warranty: 90 days firmware, 12 months hardware RTB

Netgear Prosafe FWG114P

Alex Arias — 2004-03-11T12:04:45.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Thursday 11 March 2004 at 12:04:45

Not just a SOHO router.

Network appliances for the small office/home office (SOHO) sector should offer low cost and easy administration. Netgear's FWG114P multifunction appliance meets both these criteria and offers extra features that cover many of the requirements for home or small office use.

Designed for broadband, it's a lot more than a basic router, with an integrated firewall, 802.11g access point and a print server. Like other Netgear products it is easy to install, using helpful wizards, and has a clear, Web-based interface.

To make the upgrade process easier if you have an existing broadband modem or router, it supports MAC address cloning, so you don't have to re-register with your ISP.

The product is based on a stateful packet inspection firewall and provides intrusion detection - a safer approach than just NAT - that offers advanced content filtering capabilities.

It also allows you to establish access policies, for instance based on the time of day. Port forwarding, DMZ and Dynamic DNS support more advanced uses such as running a web server.

Wireless connectivity uses the 2.4GHz, 54Mbit/s 802.11g standard, and provides backward compatibility and a degree of longevity. As with all wireless environments, security is an issue and Wi-Fi Protected Access is available as a firmware upgrade. As standard it offers 128-bit WEP encryption or MAC address access lists.

Up to 64 wireless clients can connect to the AP, although the limited bandwidth of 802.11g makes that impractical. Up to 253 LAN clients are supported. It lacks WDS (Wireless Distribution System) support, although this isn't really an issue for the target market.

Software is provided for the print server, with a USB 2.0 connection on the unit for the printer. It supports peer-to-peer or Windows printing, but this was fiddly to set up. It's also worth checking which printers are supported as it's not comprehensive, although most popular Canon, HP, Epson and Lexmark models are on the list.

The four-port switch offers scope for connecting additional PCs. Redundancy isn't usually found in this price range, but the FWG114P has a failover DB9 serial port for an ISDN or analogue modem, with extensive hardware support. The serial port also supports a single RAS (Remote Access Server) client.

Management information is gathered via logs that can be emailed to administrators, and remote management is possible over an SSL connection.

This tiny box certainly pulls its weight, and is suitable for a wide range of uses in even quite large SOHO environments. Although it's targeting a highly competitive market, its ease of use and extensive features are compelling.

Contact: Netgear 01344 39702

www.netgear.co.uk

Specifications:

Dimensions (DxWxH) 32 x 188 x 124mm
Firewall type Stateful packet inspection
Protocols supported NAT, DHCP, PPoE, TCP/IP, VPN pass through
Printing protocols TCP/IP, Windows LPD
Ports 4 x 10/100Mbit/s Auto Uplink LAN, 1 x 10/100Mbit/s Auto Uplink WAN
USB interface USB 2.0
Wireless standard 802.11G, 2.4GHz
Physical security Kensington lock slot
OS support Windows 95 or above, Netware, Linux, Unix, Mac
Warranty 3 years RTB

Corega COR-GSW-4P

Alex Arias — 2003-11-20T11:45:31.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Thursday 20 November 2003 at 11:45:31

Cheap and robust gigabit switch.

Gigabit networking is being widely adopted, partly due to motherboard and chipset manufacturers implementing the technology onto the majority of new systems. This has been driven by increasingly bandwidthhungry applications with ever larger file sizes.

Consequently, there's been a significant drop in the price of gigabit networking, with a number of manufacturers, such as Corega (part of Allied Telesyn), releasing a range of low-cost gigabit switches. The COR-GSW-4P is an unmanaged four-port switch, offering non-blocking gigabit speeds. The unit is encased in a robust white metal chassis that can either be wall-mounted or placed on a desktop. Having no fans, it runs silently. It's also available in a rackmountable eight-port configuration (GSW-8P) for £119.99 (ex. VAT).

As an unmanaged switch, there's no configuration needed. All the ports are auto-sensing MDI/MDIX-capable, so you simply plug the Ethernet cables into the ports without requiring any crossover cables. At the front of the device, there's a full set of status LEDs for link, activity and duplex states, while power is supplied through an external adapter.

The COR-GSW-4P is ideally suited for smallnetwork installations requiring high bandwidth where large files are exchanged. Although many manufacturers offer unmanaged switches, it has been aggressively priced and provides a robust switch for a small network.

Contact: Corega (0118) 920 9800

www.corega-international.com

Specifications:

Dimensions (DXWXH) 15.8x10.1x26mm
Architecture Store and forward
Processor Tamarack TC9204M
MAC entries 8K
Number of ports Four
Network speed 10/100/1000MB/sec
Standards compliance I-EEE 802.3, 3u, 3x, 3ab
Warranty Two years, RTB

WallBotz 500

Alex Arias — 2003-11-19T11:55:04.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 19 November 2003 at 11:55:04

Increased security coverage for critical environments.

The new WallBotz 500 is the latest update to NetBotz's range of network monitoring appliances. It provides environmental monitoring for server rooms or rack cabinets in real time.

The WallBotz 500 incorporates a detachable Camera Pod 120, which supports colour resolutions up to 1,280 by 1,024 and frame rates up to 30fps. It also includes a door switch sensor. In addition, a single Sensor Pod 120 is provided as standard, which contains sensors for temperature, humidity, dew point, airflow and audible alarms.

An integrated four-port USB 1.1 hub supports up to four Camera Pods and 17 Sensor Pods per base station, which can be located up to 104m from the base station, allowing coverage of multiple rooms or cabinets. A single PC Card slot enables 802.11b wireless connectivity between the base station and the LAN, although at present only the Orinoco Classic Gold PC card is supported.

A Web interface allows viewing of statistical information or you can use the Advanced View management software for full configuration. This is even better than the previous version, as it's both clearer and easier to navigate. Security is ensured via an SSL connection between the base station and the LAN.

The WallBotz can store up to 24 hours of sensor data onboard, although there's no built-in video recording facility. Alerts and notifications can now include sound clips, graphs and snapshots, triggered by one or more of the sensors. A useful new addition is native support for Power over Ethernet.

The WallBotz 500 is a worthy addition to NetBotz range, providing comprehensive and flexible security coverage for critical environments.

Contact: NetBotz (0800) 389 5101

www.netbotz.com

Specifications:

Operating systems Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Red Hat Linux 7, Sun Solaris
Standard sensors Temperature, humidity, airflow, audio, intrusion detection
Protocols supported TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP, SNMP, POP, DHCP, DNS, Socks V4 or V5 proxy servers

Is ADSL a revolution?

Guy Kewney — 2003-10-16T09:25:51.000Z

Guy Kewney, PC Magazine, Thursday 16 October 2003 at 09:25:51

We've waited and waited for the miracle that was suppose to be ADSL, but the UK's comms infrastructure just can't cope

Is your broadband connection faster than your modem? What a stupid question to ask, you might think, as if it wasn't obvious.

I mean, modems provide 50Kbps at their best and ADSL is 10 times that, at 512Kbps. So, of course, your broadband must be faster. Well, it isn't.

Part of the problem seems to be deep and complex, but the rest is awfully simple. The hidden bits are really well hidden in the way BT (in particular) runs its network; not the bit in the exchange, but the lines that connect the exchange to the rest of the network.

The simple bit is that the figures that provide the number of 512Kbps don't actually say: 'This is what you get.'

If you connect a pipe that takes 10 gallons a minute to a pump that delivers one gallon a minute, you don't have to be a brain surgeon to realise that you're going to get a gallon a minute at best - and only as long as there's water to pump.

The complex bit is what happens behind the scenes inside BT's network. People who know how that network is configured say there's no difference in the service BT provides to its 512Kbps and 2Mbps customers.

The 2Mbps service looks faster, but that's only because relatively few people use it. In actual fact, the contention ratio inside the BT network is the same for both services.

Now that people are starting to really stress the network, they're finding out that the sceptics are right. If you haven't found this yet, trust me - you will. The fact of the matter is that ADSL isn't only inadequately provisioned, but obsolete.

Look 10 years into the future and the typical household, equipped with two high-definition TV servers plus a standard (for 2013) broadband data feed, will need (absolute minimum) 100Mbps. And that's a typical household.

I recently sat through a tutorial by Seagate on the subject of the differences between a hard disk and a hard disk. If the hard disk is inside a personal video recorder, it has to cope with five (or six) simultaneous data streams being written to, and read from, the hard disk surface.

The incoming (two) video channels are both written in real time, plus a data stream. Then two video channels can be read off in real time to two different viewers and to a DVD writer.

Believe it or not, that application is hugely easier for the disk to handle than reading fragmented files off a Windows PC.

There's capacity on the disk - typically 80GB - to cope with far more bandwidth, both in and out. To me, that means people will want to use this capacity. Why restrict a TV recorder to two channels? Who would not want three or four?

Imagine a household with four simultaneous HDTV input channels coming down the fibre. You're looking at around 150Mbps.

But you simply can't do that down BT's twisted-pair copper wire using DSL technology. And the backbone that BT uses to feed the IP stream to the exchange couldn't come close to coping.

We can be sure that the costs of high-speed switches and routers will drop. Even so, one thing is inescapable: the communications infrastructure is going to need investment to cope with the demands of the future.

Probably, by the time we've installed the communications links capable of delivering it, DSL will be so much a thing of the past and you can pretty much expect to be the only user on your block.

At that time, it may become popular, perhaps, for reverse channel control of satellite links. Otherwise, I think it's time to admit that ADSL is a fad of the last millennium, which was delayed into this one by incompetence.

It will disappear pretty soon.

Getting more from broadband 5: Remote working

Craig Paterson — 2002-09-22T23:00:00.000Z

Craig Paterson, PC Magazine, Sunday 22 September 2002 at 23:00:00

Part five of our guide to getting the most from broadband internet looks at using your connnection to work from home.

Why not put your broadband connection to good use by freeing up some of your time and working from home?

Remote control

High speed and good reliability make broadband connections viable for remote working, freeing you from the tyranny of office life. However, there are some precautions that need to be observed.

Before considering using a virtual private network (VPN), you should establish the security of your PC and home network. Once connected to your company VPN, your PC is typically treated as if it were a station on the office local area network (Lan).

This means that the connection between your PC and others isn't firewalled as normal internet traffic would be. Should your PC be compromised over the internet, a VPN connection and its privileged status would provide the ideal starting point for attacks on internal systems. This is how Microsoft had its source code accessed recently.

VPN latency

The performance of broadband connections - while being fast enough for web surfing and general use - is still much lower than the performance of a typical office Lan. A good DSL connection offers 1Mbps downstream and 128Kbps upstream; a modern office Lan offers 100Mbps.

Also, VPN latency is much higher. Machines on a VPN might be logically close together, but the number of routers ('hops'), through which each packet must pass, and the overhead of VPN processing at either end mean packets between apparently adjacent VPN stations have latencies of hundreds of milliseconds, rather than the 1ms to 10ms of a Fast Ethernet Lan.

Also, the asymmetric nature of ADSL and most cable modem connections is a problem - when saving or searching data, there's a much higher proportion of outbound traffic than when web surfing, which forms a bottleneck.

You shouldn't expect a VPN connection over DSL or a cable modem to be as flexible as a Lan. Mapping network drives and performing searches that look through files on remote servers both invite sluggish performance that'll saturate the VPN connection and render it unusable while traffic-heavy operations are completed.

To avoid these problems, save files locally and occasionally synchronise. With Windows, the Briefcase feature, originally intended for on-the-road notebooks, can be useful to synchronise local and network storage and avoid long latencies while editing.

Windows 2000 and later include support for VPNs. Only Windows XP Professional, however, offers easy-to-use support for IP Security (IPSec) based VPNs. Earlier versions of Windows require third-party clients for easy connections. VPN support in Linux is complete, but not as easy to configure.

FreeS/Wan is the platform of choice for IPSec support and Microsoft PPTP (used by the Windows 2000 VPN client) support is available using PoPToP. However, getting a working system incorporating IPSec and Microsoft's Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol with full encryption requires a variety of kernel patches and isn't an easy task.

SSH

Remote control utilities provide another means of working. Unix/Linux have always offered remote login and system management facilities via telnet, login and secure shell (SSH). These allow you to log in to a remote system as if at the console and browse/execute commands in text mode. Telnet and login are insecure; these days SSH is preferred.

Many users can log in simultaneously from different locations, exploiting the multiuser nature of Unix. Modern Linux distributions include SSH server and clients. Windows isn't multiuser out of the box - Terminal Services offers the ability for multiple users to run programs with remote display, but at an additional cost.

Besides text-mode logins, several mechanisms exist for displaying remote desktops or individual remote programs. X-Windows on Unix/Linux allows for easy remote display of windows, however it's bandwidth hungry. More modern and efficient solutions offering similar functionality are Citrix ICA and VNC.

Getting more from broadband 4: Server setup

Craig Paterson — 2002-09-22T23:00:00.000Z

Craig Paterson, PC Magazine, Sunday 22 September 2002 at 23:00:00

The fourth part of our guide to getting the most from your broadband internet connection looks at setting up your server.

Setting up a server is a logical first step for any experienced user, as long as the service provider allows this.

Static IP

A broadband connection opens up the possibility of running your own server on the public internet. Serving web pages or files over file transfer protocol (ftp) is simple to set up and is a convenient way of sharing content or publishing small websites.

If you're planning to serve pages from a PC connected to a cable or DSL line, ask your internet service provider (ISP) for a static IP address.

With this, your machine will always be at the same 'place' on the internet so that you can point domain names at it using an ordinary domain name system (DNS). This makes it easier for others to find and remember. Most providers charge a premium for giving you static internet protocol (IP).

If you can't get a static IP address, you'll have to notify others of IP changes as they occur, which can be inconvenient. Otherwise, you might use a dynamic DNS service that tracks changes.

Besides static IP, check your upstream capacity: ADSL and cable in the UK typically have upstream speeds of 128Kbps, but vary between providers and packages.

Bear in mind that 128Kbps translates to real download speeds of about 14 to 15KBps. Some providers offer higher upstream speeds at increased cost, but if you plan on serving a lot of content or having many simultaneous users, a server hung off a home broadband line is probably not the right choice.

Spare parts

Ideally, a server should be a dedicated machine. This isn't for performance reasons, but because the security and setup requirements of a server are different to those for a standalone PC.

On a desktop PC, the primary goal is to provide a good user environment, whereas on a server it's to provide a robust, secure environment with as few unnecessary frills as possible.

If you have a spare, older PC, this can usefully be deployed as a server (and, if necessary, network gateway). The limited upstream bandwidth of cable and ADSL mean that a powerful machine would be wasted, since the connection would saturate long before the device became heavily loaded.

If you lack a spare machine, you can run server software on your PC. The load of serving a handful of web pages or ftp content is low and, provided you've enough memory your machine doesn't need to swap excessively to run the software, it won't slow things down too much.

Again, the limited speed of the upstream connection imposes a fairly low ceiling on the amount of work the server will do.

The choice of operating system is probably the widest when picking something to deliver services on the internet. Web and ftp server software is available for just about every operating system - from Windows 98 to Sun Solaris x86.

Unix and Unix-like platforms (such as Linux) are the best, as they can be stripped down to provide a minimal server platform with very modest hardware requirements. Also, many of these are available for free.

Sensible security

Windows 2000 and XP Professional ship with Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), which provides web, ftp and other services. Although easy to set up, IIS has suffered several security problems, so must be diligently patched to ensure security.

Some best-of-breed software, such as the Apache Web Server, is available for Unix and Windows - it's free on all platforms.

It's often claimed that Unix or Linux are superior choices to Windows for server platforms due to their robustness, modularity and security. However, any of these systems can be made insecure by poor setup and administration.

Whichever operating system you choose, it's vital to follow a sensible security policy when setting it up.

The software required to run a server will depend on what services you want to provide. While IIS provides an integrated suite of services on Windows, ftp and web serving on Unix would, for instance, be handled by two separate packages.

While ftp provides a richer and more robust set of file transfer facilities, if you only need to deliver files, just doing it over HTTP using web server software is a good choice. It's one less thing to administer and ftp server software has a particularly poor security record.

If you need to allow file uploads, SCP and SFTP are better choices. These are run using the Secure Shell (SSH). On Unix platforms, the Apache Web Server and the OpenSSH suite provide an excellent combination.

There isn't a free equivalent to OpenSSH for Windows, but commercial alternatives can be purchased from SSH Communications.

Finally, check with your DSL provider before you set up your server. Many have contracts that forbid them supporting such operations.

Getting more from broadband 6: Gaming

Matthew Moore — 2002-09-22T23:00:00.000Z

Matthew Moore, PC Magazine, Sunday 22 September 2002 at 23:00:00

In this final part of our guide to getting the most from your broadband internet connection, we look at the best ways to enjoy gaming.

Gaming has always been one of the most popular areas of PC use, and broadband connections open up a whole new world for the game player.

The gaming community is one that can benefit most from the increased transfer speeds offered by broadband. Hardware manufacturers are also behind broadband; Microsoft's Xbox will use nothing else, for example. So what should the hardcore gamer know before going online?

If you're planning to get into serious online gaming, then a fast broadband connection is an absolute must. In most games, your reaction time is dependent on your connection speed. For first-person shooters, network latency or lag has been a major problem. It's a major contributor to the freezes and pauses that can cause anything from a missed target to losing the game.

A ping is the number of milliseconds (ms) taken for a packet to travel from your PC to the game server and back again. Ping troubles would actually be a lot greater if a lot of data were passed between the gamer's PC and the server, but having the graphics and sound stored on a CD, DVD or hard drive means that only small move instructions must be passed over the network.

That means that the asymmetric upload/download rates that broadband offers - the slower upload rate from your PC to the server - isn't a problem.

Ping values

A better ping value will decrease the delay between a key depression or mouse movement and the corresponding action in the game. However, the quality of coding in a game also makes a big difference. For example, it's possible to play Quake 2 or Tribes with a ping of 350, but playing Unreal Tournament with the same value is almost impossible.

Better-written games have more efficient network code and use some client-side prediction to smooth over interruptions in data transfer.

A sensible choice of game server can help to improve your ping. Internet service providers (ISPs) such as demon, ukonline and Nildram run their own game servers, some of which are open to the public.

Because it takes over 20 router hops for packets to cross the Atlantic, it's sensible to choose a UK or EU server rather than a US one. If each hop takes 20ms, the addition of 400ms of latency will make most games unplayable.

While a broadband connection improves your transfer rate to your ISP, it'll have no effect on the connection to other servers involved in the game. Although ping is the best indicator available of performance, it's by no means perfect. The ping program uses a different kind of packet to those of games and might take a different route.

What really affects the playability of the game is significant packet loss. The interrupted data stream can exceed the prediction capabilities of your PC and cause frame loss. The necessity to resend packets will clog your connection further.

If you're using a cable modem, your transfer rates will depend on the number of others sharing the bandwidth in your local loop. As a provider wins subscribers, you're likely to notice a deterioration in your transfer speeds. Network performance is also quite likely to change over the course of the day.

If you're still choosing a provider, then forewarned is forearmed. Check broadband news sites, such as Broadbandweek.com or Speedguide.net, for existing subscribers' opinions.

For ADSL users, ADSLguide is an excellent source of information.

Other enhancements

First person shooters games don't appeal to everyone, though. Fortunately, a broadband connection enhances other kinds of gaming as well. It's also feasible to switch between your game, web use and other connected activity.

If you have a home network set-up, other PCs can use the connection for less network-intensive activity as you play. A home network also opens the door to using a broadband-enabled console.

The Xbox has an Ethernet port to support the forthcoming Xbox Live service, while Sony and Nintendo plan to sell a network adaptor for broadband and modem connections. However, the online console market won't hit its stride until 2004 or 2005.

Most current games have been designed on the assumption that 56Kbps modems are the predominant means of connection. The superlative graphics and design of many PC games has traditionally been aimed at the single player. However, always-on, fast connections offer new avenues for games developers.

Enhancements such as voice can be included in the game effectively, so that players can communicate using a headset. You can download patches and updates quickly and effortlessly. Sophisticated server-side code means you can play the game without needing a particularly powerful PC.

Although true online games are still something of niche product, developers are pushing swiftly into the mainstream. Forthcoming games like Gladius Online, for example, will attempt to attract yet more players using a new revenue model.

Some initially dismissed online games as a fad, but the fact that companies are now producing spin-off games attests to their acceptance. Shareware manufacturers are also producing utilities that will take advantage of broadband connections, allowing you to talk with team members as you play.

Whether you prefer chess or Counter Strike, broadband gaming is a more enjoyable and more effective experience than the old and slow dial-up experience.

Getting more from broadband 3: Home security

Iain Thomson — 2002-09-22T23:00:00.000Z

Iain Thomson, PC Magazine, Sunday 22 September 2002 at 23:00:00

Part three of our guide to getting the most from your internet broadband connection looks at using your PC to augment your home security.

You may have got your broadband connection and your firewall installed, but what about your PC's physical security?

Alarm bells

The idea of being able to use your PC as a burglar alarm has been touted for a while, but it's only since always-on broadband has become widely available that it's become really possible. It's not easy to set up, but it could provide invaluable peace of mind.

A burglar alarm is little more than a collection of dumb electronic switches, so if a door circuit is broken, for example, the alarm rings. The police estimate that as many as 65 per cent of alarm calls are false and in some areas they refuse to investigate further unless there's reasonable suspicion that someone is breaking and entering.

How much more efficient would it be then to use your PC to augment an existing system and so be able to tell the police how many people are breaking in and what they look like.

At the simplest level, a PC can act as a replacement or substitute for an alarm system. Backson sells PC Patrol, a product that includes wireless motion sensors and a receiver connected to your system.

In the event of an alarm, the system will call or page you on a preset number (your mobile). In addition to this, you can add in wireless PC cameras, magnetic sensors and a microphone for additional functionality.

Unfortunately, this product stores images as Audio Video Interleave files on your PC, which isn't particularly helpful - if the burglar steals your PC, then you've lost all of the images.

The price for this software ranges from £127.30 to £210.47 (ex. VAT), depending on optional extras. The software can also be linked into and control lighting systems to give the impression that someone's at home all the time.

There's a growing number of software suites that allow you to remotely control various functions within your home. Bill Gates has spent millions on a highly advanced system for his $97m mansion in Medina, Seattle, but you can get some of the same functionality for a fraction of the cost.

Home DirectorIBM created the Home Director software suite to do the same job. Networking infrastructures, called the Network Connection Centre, distribute voice, video and data services into every room.

Residential gateways, including next-generation digital set-top boxes, provide an added layer of computing software intelligence. You can get a variety of options depending on how much control you want and how many functions you need. Costs range from £950 to £2,750 (ex. VAT).

The product should be available in the UK by the end of the year. For the home or office user with a smaller budget, Gotcha offers software that allows you to set up a webcam as a remote viewer.

Rather than store the images on your PC, these are sent to a web page, so you can view and store them wherever you're based at the time. You can also buy cameras from Gotcha, but it's better to buy the software alone if you're on a budget.

The software can be configured to take snapshot images whenever there's movement in front of the camera or, for notebook PC users, if it detects motion. You can be alerted to the fact that an image has been taken via email or audio alert. Otherwise, you can choose to monitor only at preset times.

Other useful functions are also built in. For example, if you're playing a game and the camera detects movement behind you, the program can automatically shut down that window and open another. Costs range from £62.87 (ex. VAT) for the single-camera option to £240.69 (ex. VAT).

A similar product from Inetcam called iVista is available as a download from the website for £63.01 (ex. VAT). This works particularly well with wireless technology and so is perfect for the wireless cameras currently being pushed by x10.

Security, be it in the office or at home, is coming into its own thanks to broadband. If you choose a high-tech solution, you should stay one step ahead of the criminal fraternity.

Getting more from broadband 2: Firewalling

Craig Paterson — 2002-09-19T23:00:00.000Z

Craig Paterson, PC Magazine, Thursday 19 September 2002 at 23:00:00

The second part of our guide to getting the most from your broadband internet connection considers ways you can protect yourself from security threats.

The luxury of having an always-on broadband internet connection brings with it increased risks to your online security.

Primary risks

An always-on PC is an attractive target for those up to mischief on the internet. Risks include attempts to make use of services like shared drives that might have inadvertently been left open to the internet.

Technically, there are also potential problems when connected to the internet by modem, but with an always-on broadband connection, the threat is magnified. A broadband-connected PC tends to have the same internet protocol (IP) address for longer periods than a dial-up user, which gives attackers a 'sitting duck' target.

Debate rages about the relative security of different operating systems. While some are better than others, rarely should internet security be the primary factor when choosing an operating system. In any case, the basic steps in securing all operating systems are the same. Initial configuration and proper maintenance are equally important.

Disabling unnecessary services

The first step is to consider what services any PC you're connecting to the internet needs to provide. Do you need to run Internet Information Server (IIS) on Windows for serving web pages or file transfer protocol (ftp)?

Whenever you plan to connect a machine to the internet, and before you do, the first step should be to disable all unnecessary services.

As operating systems and server software spend more time in production, new security problems often come to light. These are usually publicised by organisations like CERT and on sites such as SecurityFocus.

Tracking these sites, responding to alerts and diligently applying security patches are all vital to maintaining system security. Once the operating system and server software are properly configured, the next step is adding a firewall, which limits network access to a particular system (or systems).

Packet filtering

The most basic type of firewall is a packet filter, which allows or rejects packets received based on the characteristics of the incoming packet - the IP address from which it claims to originate or the transmission control protocol port number to which it's bound, for example.

Packet filters don't inspect the data in a packet, nor do they understand the concept of a conversation (or 'connection'). Each packet is treated individually. A more sophisticated mechanism than packet filtering is 'stateful inspection'.

Besides basic packet filtering, the firewall tracks actual connections, such as the steps required to connect, request and download a web page. This allows more sophisticated filtering and tracking.

Both packet filtering and stateful inspection only monitor traffic as it arrives or passes, rejecting it or allowing it to continue to its destination.

Proxy firewalling sits in the traffic path and doesn't allow any traffic to pass through. A request for a web page on the other side of a proxy firewall goes to the firewall, but it's this that actually requests the page from the server behind, which it then returns to the client.

Windows and Linux have various options for firewalling. Windows 2000 includes packet-filtering functions, but these aren't trivial to administer, whereas Windows XP provides the Internet Connection Firewall, which offers a good basic level of protection and needs minimal configuration.

For all versions of Windows, a variety of third-party firewall tools are available. For single PCs or home networks, tools such as ZoneAlarm are ideal.

Linux 2.2 kernels provide packet filtering using IP Chains. The 2.4 series takes this further with the IP Tables tool, which provides full stateful inspection. There are several front-end interfaces to both IP Chains and IP Tables, which can be found at Freshmeat.

Red Hat and several other distributions include firewall setup in the installation process, which avoids the need for designing and editing rule sets by hand.

Once you've configured your firewall, it's a good idea to make sure that it's working. There are several free scanners available on the internet that'll sweep your machine (harmlessly) and report on what services and ports are open.

A very good example is scan.sygate.com, but there are a number of others. You can download tools to do this yourself and there are many Linux distributions that come with penetration testing tools like nmap, which provide an excellent auditing resource.

Advanced users, or those with more esoteric requirements, will need to learn how to construct firewall rule sets from scratch. But be careful before jumping into a detailed setup, as it's easy to inadvertently leave vulnerabilities open.

Getting more from broadband 1: Networking

Craig Paterson — 2002-09-18T23:00:00.000Z

Craig Paterson, PC Magazine, Wednesday 18 September 2002 at 23:00:00

The first part in our look at six of the most useful applications for getting the best from broadband internet.

You'll want to make sure that the maximum number of people benefit from your broadband connection, so what's the best way to share it?

Many PC networking technologies are available but, for smaller and peer-to-peer (P2P) PC networking requirements, there's an obvious choice: Ethernet.

The convenience of simple plug-in connections and a relatively high speed have made Ethernet popular, while market competition has brought costs down to the point where a small P2P home network can now be built for under £100.

USB networking is also possible with some digital subscriber lines (DSL) services, but at present it's too complicated to be worthwhile.

Choosing your network equipment

Ethernet 10/100Mbps client adaptors are typically Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) cards, although PC Card and USB adaptors are available. Brand name cards, such as those from Intel and 3Com, command a significant premium over generic alternatives, offering the reassurance of support and perceived quality.

In a home network, advanced features - and the associated price hike - offered by big-name adaptors are unnecessary.

Upper-limit throughput capacity is also not an issue. Even at the £10 to £15 level, you can buy a competent PCI Fast Ethernet adaptor. In fact, the only serious concern when buying adaptors for PCs is support for your chosen operating system. All offer Windows support, but not all are so well supported by Linux.

It's rare to find a card that can't be used at all in a Linux machine, although you might have to compile drivers or even a new kernel if you stray too far away from mainstream products.

Cable choice is limited to Category 5 or the recently announced Category 6. Only if you're building network cabling into walls, conduits and the like should you consider using Category 6 to provide future proofing. Otherwise, use cheaper Category 5.

The last physical component of the network is the switching equipment, which links the clients together. For Ethernet, this will be either a hub or a switch. On a hub, all ports of the hub see all traffic passing through the hub.

More expensive switches, on the other hand, automatically learn which machines are connected to each port and each port only sees traffic destined for machines connected to it. As a rule of thumb, use switches in preference to hubs. In larger networks, you'll have to introduce switches to avoid too much unnecessary data being transmitted across the entire network.

Switches appropriate for home network use are small, unmanaged devices, which are plug-and-play. Larger switches offer advanced functionality such as virtual local area networks (Lans), traffic filtering and web and console management.

All of that is overkill for home and many small office networks, but small, silent switches from companies like Netgear and Linksys are ideal. Only in more complicated and larger network topologies are more advanced switches likely to be required.

Designing the physical network

The golden rule of designing a network is not to overcomplicate. For a home or small office network, a simple 'flat' network design is sufficient. If this includes an internet connection, one PC will have two network connections: one to the internet and one to the home network. Each of the other PCs will be connected to the same switch.

If you need to support multiple PCs in multiple rooms, you can either run cables back from each PC to a central switch or install additional switches in each room and connect the switches instead.

Configuring the network

Once everything is wired up, each PC needs to be configured. This means assigning an Internet Protocol (IP) address, subnet mask, gateway and Domain Name System server addresses. Doing this for each PC can be laborious, especially if any of the information changes.

A neat way around this is to use the Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP). Using this, a central server assigns IP addresses (and associated network configuration) as required. Server versions of Windows and all common Linux distributions include DHCP servers.

IP addresses on the public internet are assigned specifically, so you shouldn't invent IP addresses for machines connected to it. For internal networks, internet-valid IP addresses aren't required for each host.

Instead, the gateway machine connecting the local network to the internet is assigned a valid public IP address and handles internet-bound traffic on behalf of machines behind it on the Lan.

This is known as Native Address Translation (sometimes called Network, rather than Native) or Nat. Network traffic bound for the internet from the local network has its IP address translated to that of the gateway on the way out, while reply traffic returning to the gateway is tracked and passed on to the correct machine behind it.

With the Windows operating system, this mechanism is called Internet Connection Sharing. With Linux, the technique is called IP Masquerading.

A rather useful side effect is that machines behind the gateway are effectively invisible to the public internet. Private IP address ranges for use on internal networks are defined here.

A combination of DHCP, Nat and firewalls run on a dedicated gateway host on ADSL or cable modem line would make an excellent gateway for a small office or home network. A P100 with 32MB of Ram, for example, is more than up to this task in a Linux system; 64MB of Ram should be fitted for Windows.

Netgear FSM726S

Alan Stevens — 2002-06-19T11:27:55.000Z

Alan Stevens, PC Magazine, Wednesday 19 June 2002 at 11:27:55

An Ethernet switch that pushes down the cost of managed networking.

The FSM726S is Netgear's first managed Ethernet switch. Delivered in a rack-mount format, the switch features 24 10/100Mbit/s and two Gigabit Ethernet ports.

All of the ports come supplied with UTP interfaces, along with a pair of GBIC slots for optical cabling on the Gigabit ports. In addition, there are two independent stacking ports available for expansion.

Up to six units can be stacked in total, the independent interfaces avoiding the need to use any of the front-panel Ethernet ports.

The management features of the FSM726S, however, are of the most interest. The new switch offers support for all the key management protocols, including Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and remote network monitoring, as well as port trunking, Spanning Tree, quality of service and virtual local area network configuration.

As such, it can be managed and monitored using all of the leading SNMP consoles, including the likes of Hewlett Packard's OpenView, IBM's Tivoli and others.

In addition to this, Netgear has implemented its own embedded web-based graphical user interface to simplify the management process for smaller businesses.

Price: £599 (ex. VAT)

Contact: Netgear 01344 397 021

www.netgear.com