Introduction

I've been getting requests lately for recommendations on routers that include VPN endpoints. But when I checked my past reviews, I found that the last time I looked at one of these products was back in 2004. Yikes! So one of my (early) new year's resolutions is to get back to reviewing wired routers, starting with this review.

Zyxel's Zywall 2 and 2 Plus are the entry-level products in Zyxel's Security Appliance portfolio. Both are four port 10/100 routers with SPI firewalls and IPsec endpoints capable of supporting two tunnels, with feature sets supporting use in larger networks behind multiple layers of routers. The key differences between the two products are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Zywall 2 and 2 Plus comparison

The router has the footprint of a typical plastic DVD box and stands about two such boxes high. The enclosure is plastic and there are two screw slots on the bottom cover for wall mounting. Figure 1 shows the complement of LEDs on the front panel, which are bright and viewable from a wide angle.

Figure 1 : Front panel

Figure 2 shows the available ports, which include two RJ45 sockets supporting serial port connections to a console device and analog modem (remember those?) for dialup failover.

Figure 2: Rear panel

Internal Details

Figure 3 is a photo of the 2 Plus' board, which is built around a 266MHz Intel IXP422 CPU with 32MB of SDRAM and 8MB of FLASH memory. A Marvell Link Street 88E6060 6 port Fast Ethernet Switch rounds out the essential components.

Figure 3: The 2plus board (click image to enlarge)