Selecting an Operating System

The first step in building your firewall is selecting the operating system on which the application will run. With FireWall-1, you have several options:

  • Windows NT/2000 Server

  • Sun Solaris (SPARC)

  • AIX

  • Nokia IP Security Platform (IPSO)

  • Linux and Secure Platform (SPLAT)

Each operating system has its advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages and disadvantages are listed in the sections that follow, where each operating system is discussed. However, no one operating system is best for every environment. The single most important criteria for choosing an operating system should be the skill set of your administrators. Whichever operating system you select, make sure your security staff is knowledgeable in that particular ...

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