Airport Router with Firewall?

fixmdudefixmdude
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My NetGear Wireless Draft N router/firewall burned up for the 4th time in 2 years. We use the model with 100mb ethernet ports at work, but I use the 1 GB ethernet port version at home. Netgear must use the same chips in both and just overclock them to get 1 GB because the GB units keep burning up and going dead one after the other.



I'm slowly replacing all of my computer equipment with Apple equipment due to PC quality problems from outsourcing to China, etc..., but half of my computers are still PCs as of right now. So, I still need a hardware firewall.



I read online that the Apple Airport Extreme, though it has a router, does not have a firewall? Is that correct? If I use the router for NAT (network address translation) and if I don't pass-through any of my machines as servers, does it matter that it won't have a firewall or will NAT take care of it? I'd really prefer to get an Airport Extreme if it can do what I need.



Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fixmdude View Post


    My NetGear Wireless Draft N router/firewall burned up for the 4th time in 2 years. We use the model with 100mb ethernet ports at work, but I use the 1 GB ethernet port version at home. Netgear must use the same chips in both and just overclock them to get 1 GB because the GB units keep burning up and going dead one after the other.



    I'm slowly replacing all of my computer equipment with Apple equipment due to PC quality problems from outsourcing to China, etc..., but half of my computers are still PCs as of right now. So, I still need a hardware firewall.



    I read online that the Apple Airport Extreme, though it has a router, does not have a firewall? Is that correct? If I use the router for NAT (network address translation) and if I don't pass-through any of my machines as servers, does it matter that it won't have a firewall or will NAT take care of it? I'd really prefer to get an Airport Extreme if it can do what I need.



    Thanks.



    NAT routers are a form of firewall, so it depends on what firewall functionality you are looking for. Unless otherwise configured, NAT routers won't just pass incoming packets to nodes inside as it won't know what port to direct to what node.



    Apple also outsources to China, so Netgear problems are not directly related to location of manufacturer. Apple might have higher quality control standards.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    talksense101talksense101 Posts: 1,738member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fixmdude View Post


    I read online that the Apple Airport Extreme, though it has a router, does not have a firewall? Is that correct? If I use the router for NAT (network address translation) and if I don't pass-through any of my machines as servers, does it matter that it won't have a firewall or will NAT take care of it? I'd really prefer to get an Airport Extreme if it can do what I need.



    Thanks.



    Airport works as a firewall and a router. As such, it supports NAT. However, the flexibility can be a pain. Airport doesn't allow you to open up a range of addresses in NAT. Apple calls it port mapping and it allows you to only open individual ports. (If someone has managed to set it up to allow the user to specify a range of ports with a single entry, let me know.). Again, some of the nuances of the Netgear router like logging, etc. are absent from Airport.



    YMMV depending on what you are trying to accomplish.



    There are much better "real" firewalls out there. Netgear, D-Link and other also provide better routers and firewalls than the cheap variants meant for normal home use. You could also invest in a Cisco pix firewall if you really have a use for it.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    fixmdudefixmdude Posts: 93member
    Thanks, it looks like NAT does take care of my needs in a home environment, I don't need to open ports by ranges. I would guess you might need to do that to play some online games, and I need to open ranges at work for some of our remote servers to be accessible from home, but for work we use a professional firewall that costs thousands per year. I just needed to protect windows at home from viruses and hackers.



    I drove an hour to the Madison Apple store and got the Airport Extreme, plus an iPod Touch 32 to make even further use of wireless. Both are wonderful devices, the fit and finish shows quality, and they work well. Thanks!
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