Which SMB Firewall that fits for CCTV and PA Systems

Hi FW Experts,

Could you please help me decide which SMB FW that fits to cater only for CCTV and PA systems? They are vlan segregated. My 3 best picks are below devices. Thank you in advance on your recommendations.

  1. pFSense Netgate 2100
  2. EdgeRouter ER-4
  3. Firewalla Gold

regards,
Tem

I would use pfsense as they are easier to setup than the Edge routers. Firewalla is a consumer device that I have not really tested.

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Yeah, if in doubt, go with pfSense. EdgeRouter focuses more in routing although you can setup a firewall in a router. You must be familiar with setting up the three chains of the firewall that associate with a port or VLAN:

  • in: packets coming in to the router and routes to different networks
  • local: packets coming into the router only
  • out: packets coming in from a different network and out into the network that goes through the firewall.

For pfSense, there’s only one direction that communicates to the pfSense firewall or when routing to different networks, which is “in.” So in pfSense, the “in” and “local” is combined into one, so there’s no need to deal with separate firewall chains.

I know nothing about Firewalla but after I did some research, it seems more like a SOHO device to me. I would probably stay away from SOHO devices when dealing with CCTV and PA systems. If there are vulnerabilities in those devices, you don’t want an outside attacker to get into the CCTV/PA network.

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Pfsense any day. Go with the netgate.