Linksys EtherFast® BEFVP41 Router
- Connectivity: Wired
- Router Functionalities: VPN Endpoint Firewall DHCP Server
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Standard Linksys Reliability
Pros
- IPSec Co-processor - SNMP Support - DHCP Server - Logging - Routing (Static, RIP)
Cons
- Requires IE for web utility to fully work
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I highly recommend this for someone needing VPN connectivity for a home/small office environment.
This is for the BEFVP41 VPN router. Seems most of these 'reviews' apply to the basic router. This router was a replacement for a Network Everywhere (Linksys) Basic Broadband Router. Linksys has alway had excellent quality and reliability. Most of my personal network is built and Linksys and I have had few/no problems. Currently this router supports my entire network consisting of 3 servers, 3 desktops, and 1 laptop.
Setup is somewhat of a hassle since the user interface was designed to work with Internet Explorer and not Netscape, Mozilla, Konqueror, Opera, etc. This can be problematic if you only have Linux, Unix or Mac on your network, as is my case. However, I was able to get the functions working that I need for right now. Linksys engineers know this is an issue and state they will fix it in the next firmware upgrade, though I have yet to see it. For those of you using Windows, this should be a non-issue.
I currently have this device set up to handle DHCP serving for a number of other devices on my network such as a Cisco ATA-186 VoIP gateway. Have never had a problem with DHCP since I turned the router on. I also have it handling static routing for a number of segments inside my network. The pass-through option work VERY well if you need to have VoIP services and use PPTP VPN. I can also pull stats as well as a some of the configuration parameters with SNMP. Pretty handy, though I haven't tried to actually configure it with SNMP. That may be the way around the Web interface issue noted above.
I have not yet had a chance to use the IPSec capabilities but have heard VERY good reports about it. It adheres to the IPSec standards and is supposed to be compatible with Cisco routers as well. I'm excited to try it out.
For a reliable router with VPN function, this is well worth the money.
Setup is somewhat of a hassle since the user interface was designed to work with Internet Explorer and not Netscape, Mozilla, Konqueror, Opera, etc. This can be problematic if you only have Linux, Unix or Mac on your network, as is my case. However, I was able to get the functions working that I need for right now. Linksys engineers know this is an issue and state they will fix it in the next firmware upgrade, though I have yet to see it. For those of you using Windows, this should be a non-issue.
I currently have this device set up to handle DHCP serving for a number of other devices on my network such as a Cisco ATA-186 VoIP gateway. Have never had a problem with DHCP since I turned the router on. I also have it handling static routing for a number of segments inside my network. The pass-through option work VERY well if you need to have VoIP services and use PPTP VPN. I can also pull stats as well as a some of the configuration parameters with SNMP. Pretty handy, though I haven't tried to actually configure it with SNMP. That may be the way around the Web interface issue noted above.
I have not yet had a chance to use the IPSec capabilities but have heard VERY good reports about it. It adheres to the IPSec standards and is supposed to be compatible with Cisco routers as well. I'm excited to try it out.
For a reliable router with VPN function, this is well worth the money.
