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...l hopefully not only do things like VPN for securing your data in trasit between your office and a remote one, but it will also provide a platform for QoS/traffic shaping. To avoid the firewall here is actually *asking* for sound quality problems in addition to the fact that you no longer have the entrence point to your network secured. Now to your point.... Almost any Linux system can be configured (if you know what you are doing) to perform all these firewalling functions. Just add an extra network card, put it on the perimeter of your network, set up iptables, traffic shaping, uninstall unnec...

...vantage of hardware is that you are >physically separating the traffic from the end point. > The analogy I would use here is that you could purchase a safe for each person in your house and have them each keep all their valuables in it, but it is often cheaper and easier to focus on securing entrence-points. The same is doubly true for office buildings, and also quite true for computer networks. I typically use used P1's running Linux for firewalls. They work great and have all the capabilities I need including QoS and secure management. > Sure, all the >ports closed on a Linux b...