Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 13:55:39 -0600 (CST) From: "Jasper O'Malley" <jooji@webnology.com> To: Bill Paul <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Some good press for FreeBSD (I guess...) Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.02.9812161340460.30645-100000@mercury.webnology.com> In-Reply-To: <199812160550.AAA05843@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu>
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On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Bill Paul wrote:
> The reviewers gave the best overall rating to the Fort Knox system,
> which, according to the 'features' listing on page 71, runs a modified
> version of FreeBSD.
I figured this out when I noticed that the network interfaces were named
"vx0", "vx1", and "vx2" in the first model I was unfortunate enough to
install, and "fxp0", "fxp1", and "fxp2" in the later models. I had to
twist Internet Devices' arm to admit it, too, which pissed me off on
general principle.
> I've actually had the displeasure of using the SonicWall device. Some
> of the things that struck me were:
>
> - While the device is meant to be configured by a web browser, it has
> to be one that supports just the right version of java. The manual
> recommends netscape, and sure enough, when we tried to use Internet
> Exploder with it, results were less than perfect (things didn't always
> display properly; no, I didn't try tweaking it: it's a stinking web
> browser and I have better things to do).
Ditto for the Fort Knox. Takes forever for the classes to load, and once
they do it's nothing to write home about.
> - The device can _only_ be configured through a web browser. There is
> no serial port to which you can attach a dumb terminal in an emergency.
> This really bothered me: it's incredibly easy to shoot yourself in the
> foot with the browser interface and get the thing into a state where
> you can't connect to it via the network. I can't see how you're supposed
> to fix such a problem without a directly wired console.
Ditto again, for the Fort Knox. You can slap a phone line into it and have
Internet Devices' 9-5, M-F tech support department dial in to fix if it
you've hosed the thing. You're not allowed to do it yourself, though.
> - There's no way to reset the device back to the factory default
> configuration.
This is technically possible with the Fort Knox box, though I've never
actually tried it. They provide a serial port dongle you can slap on the
back and power up the machine with, which is supposed to set it back to
the defaults.
I guess it's not a horrible device for the technically uninclined, but
I've seen better. Unless I have to, I won't be working with another. It's
not the box itself that sucks, it's the bloody user interface...I might
reconsider my opinion of it, though, if they put some serious effort into
improving the graphical interface, and provided a command line interface,
even if on a limited basis.
Cheers,
Mick
The Reverend Jasper P. O'Malley dotdot:jooji@webnology.com
Systems Administrator ringring:asktheadmiral
Webnology, LLC woowoo:http://www.webnology.com/~jooji
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