ZyXEL ZyWALL 10

A Cable/DSL Router with enhanced security features

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Date:	2002-04-10 03:46
Author:	John
Category:	Firewalls / VPN
Manufacturer:	ZyXEL
Product/Model:	ZyWALL 10
List Price:	$299
Online Price:	$220.99 @ Buy.com

Installation and a view of the Administration area

Due to the amount of email I receive on the subject I have decided to offer the following information... If you have never used a broadband router, and have never, ever heard of "HyperTerminal" you will be in for a bumpy ride. These are the major portions of my installation:

1. Put away the manual.
2. Turn off my main computer, turn off the cable modem. Can't be too safe guys. ;)
3. Connect the cable modem to the WAN port of the ZyXEL. Connect your NIC to the LAN port on the ZyXEL.
4. Turn it all on.
5. Plug the serial cable into COM1.
6. Open up HyperTerminal. Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Communications
7. Configure HyperTerminal and get into the routers firmware. We need to change the router's internal time so the logs actually make sense.
8. Set up other computers and connect them to a hub or switch if you so desire.
9. Later on troubleshoot and get programs such as ICQ, Napster, hosting Q3 matches, etc. working.

Once into HyperTerminal, you will be greeted with the following screen. From here it is quite easy to navigate the menu system. We want to specifically find the time settings, because the router is not shipped with the correct internal time. Otherwise, the logs of incoming and outgoing data and attacks will not make sense because you will never know when anything happened. Type in "24" and you will get another menu, choose item #10 and you will get the screen below. Set the correct time and you are ready to go!

I for one absolutely hate having to use HyperTerminal for simple tasks as changing the time, perhaps it is laziness, but I much rather all the settings be accessible through a browser as well. ZyXEL has improved on this factor since the P314 I once had, and there are now many goodies to play with in via the web browser. Let's begin...

Enter the address 192.168.1.1 into the address bar and you are taken to the Password screen, as shown below. The default password gets you in, and you are immediately prompted to change it to your own password.

Main Menu

At this point, if you choose to to do the wizard setup you will go through a several step process to configure your internet connection. Also, if you look in the upper right hand corner of all those browser shots you will see a "Help" Button. I found this to be one of the BEST features this router has to offer beginners. Simply click it, and a box pops up with tons of information. Below is the box that pops up for the first page of the Wizard Setup, and is one of the less complex of the bunch. Sadly, not all of the pages have the option- the button is there, but there is no popup information given. They also include a CD with tons of information, which will be covered in the wrap up.

A great feature this router exhibits is it's VPN (Virtual Private Network) functionality. You can set up 10 of them, get summaries on them, monitor them, and view VPN logs.

Below are the pages from the Advanced area of the Administration for this router, and are self explanatory.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

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