Firewall classification 1

If divided from the software and hardware forms of the firewall, firewalls can be divided into software firewalls, hardware firewalls, and chip-level firewalls.

First: Software Firewall Software Firewall runs on a specific computer. It requires the support of a pre-installed computer operating system. In general, this computer is the gateway to the entire network. Commonly known as "personal firewall." Software firewalls, like other software products, need to be installed and configured on the computer before they can be used. Firewall makers do the most well known online version of software firewall than Checkpoint. The use of such firewalls requires network administrators to be familiar with the operating system platform they are working on.

Second: Hardware Firewall The hardware firewall mentioned here refers to the so-called hardware firewall. The reason why the word “so-called” is added is for chip-level firewalls. Their biggest difference is whether they are based on dedicated hardware platforms. Most firewalls on the market today are such so-called hardware firewalls. They are based on the PC architecture, that is, they are not much different from ordinary home PCs. Some of these PC architecture computers run on a reduced and simplified operating system. The most common are older versions of Unix, Linux, and FreeBSD. It is worth noting that because such firewalls still use other people's cores, they will still be affected by the security of the OS itself.

Traditional hardware firewalls generally have at least three ports, which are connected to the internal network, external network, and DMZ zone (demilitarized zone). Some new hardware firewalls often extend the ports. Common four-port firewalls generally use the fourth port. Configuration port and management port. Many firewalls can further expand the number of ports.

The third type: chip-level firewall chip-level firewall is based on a dedicated hardware platform without an operating system. The proprietary ASIC chip makes them faster than other types of firewalls, with greater processing power and higher performance. The most famous manufacturers of such firewalls are NetScreen, FortiNet, Cisco and others. Because this type of firewall is a dedicated OS (operating system), the vulnerability of the firewall itself is relatively small, but the price is relatively high.