Can I use a Mac as my network's Firewall and VPN server?

[ChrisH3677]

The council I am IT Manager of has a third-party Linux firewall that provides firewall, proxy, vpn, smtp and port re-direction services.

I am frustrated by not having any control and having to always pay for support when even the littlest problems. One of my counterparts at another council is replacing his with a Symantec hardware solution.

I would like to consider a Mac solution first if possible.

We have two ADSL lines - one for email and vpn traffic, and the other for web traffic. Therefore we have 3 NICs. I want to keep costs down too.

Does anyone have any thoughts, websites or leads? Do I need OSX server or can I do this with OSX desktop? If I need OSX server, will it run on a desktop Mac?

thanks

[tomf87]

The council I am IT Manager of has a third-party Linux firewall that provides firewall, proxy, vpn, smtp and port re-direction services.

I am frustrated by not having any control and having to always pay for support when even the littlest problems. One of my counterparts at another council is replacing his with a Symantec hardware solution.

I would like to consider a Mac solution first if possible.

Does anyone have any thoughts, websites or leads? Do I need OSX server or can I do this with OSX desktop? If I need OSX server, will it run on a desktop Mac?

thanks

OS X Server will run fine on a desktop Mac. I run OS X Server 10.3 on my PowerBook with no problems. Even though you could probably get VPN and Firewall services working fine on 10.3, I would recommend going with OS X Server as it is built for the task and administration is a ton easier.

I know NAT is built into Server, however, I'm not sure about port redirection.

You may also check out NetScreen devices. They are wicked fast and pretty affordable as well.