Hi all, Sorry if this is too off topic - but I need advice. Any direction would be useful.
What is a good (what ever that means) - reliable - ZERO MAINTENANCE firewall for small business PCs that allows me to open individual ports to the local LAN? We are soon to deploy our distributed Java Desktop app out to customers. Typical customers will run from 1 to perhaps 10 PCs, all working off the same database. These businesses are very "industrial" (think "Auto Mechanic") - so forget what they SHOULD do - they just plug in new PCs and get going - and they will not change their ways. Generally the PCs are pretty infected - but that is their problem. At our trial customers our DBs and apps work brilliantly despite any issues. What I'm looking for is candidates for firewalls for our server. Essentially we just want to open ports 1527 (Derby) and 1099 (RMI) to the LAN (say 192.168.1.1 thru 192.168.1.254). Also - this needs to be set-and-forget - there is no IT support in these small organisations. I love my ESET NOD32 Anti-virus and firewall at home - and I have never had a problem in years, but unfortunately I can't just set it to "Automatic Mode" and then open some ports - I must go to "Policy" or "Interactive" Mode to open those ports - and that is completley unacceptable for our customers. I always struggle with Norton - it is not transparent (to me) about what it is doing or what it is blocking or why or how to unblock something. It gives me nightmares and I will never recommend it to a customer. Norton and McAfee (aka "more coffee") seem to focus on getting customer subscriptions renewals - not at helping my technical challenges. Any advice, suggestions, recommendation is welcome - even from Norton and McAfee fans! Many thanks, -Damian
