Alternatives to Cisco

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
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ccordoba24
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#11

Post by ccordoba24 »

rolandc wrote:Till you get some solid answers, set the DNS in your current router to the churches DNS server that will help some but savvy users will get around it.

8.34.34.91
8.35.35.91
This option is working fine today. It was probably just a glitch last time. However youtube isn't blocked. I thought church servers would block sites like youtube and dailymotion, seeing that the cisco firewall does in the building where we have a cisco box installed.

Thanks again for the help. ;) :D
rolandc
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#12

Post by rolandc »

Those kind of blocks are handled differently, Our church uses a service provided by Zscaler.
Roland
nelsonfam
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#13

Post by nelsonfam »

charly3358 wrote:
CleggGP wrote:..........Russellhltn is correct: Contact the Stake Technology Specialist should contact the Global Service Center for answers (it may be better to call them). Facilities Managers order meetinghouse network equipment (including firewalls). The Stake should work with the FM to get a MH firewall ordered and installed. Equipment delivery time varies depending on the MH location. Until then implementing some of these suggestions may help.
Yeah, that´s all fine and true. But the problem we have is that Cisco firewall boxes simply aren't getting through customs due to the various import restriction in place here in the Argentine. Other boxes do get through but they aren´t configured to church standards. We also have issues with getting gaments in by the way, but because of their low cost we end up getting new one every now and then. But then when a chapel looses its remote for the projector, we´re gone because the church ones are fully imported and it is difficult to get other remotes to work with them...

But then for me, as the state tec specialist, I have 5 building with Internet using t-Link modems going directly out via an unfiltered connection. So everyone with a cel phone is on youtube and some people are visiting what are simply banned sites for any organization, not least the church. So then, although I can censor a few words it isn´t practical for all the realities of the web we all know about. Now I´ve tried the DNS option, of having them go through the church ones but the system is then incredibly slow, like 14.4kbps slow! And the ad blocker thinks its malware so I have to disable that to.

I haven´t figured out what the issue is with the church´s DNS, it should work ok, but I´ll have some time tomorrow to take a closer look. Hopefully it will work out.. By the way I did write to the global center but they haven´t answered yet, so I guess calling may be better as suggested ;) :shock:

Here's the contact information for the Cisco Partner in Argentina that can either source devices in country or help with importing items.
Martín Rasaboni
Account Manager
Tel: +54 11 5282-0481
Movil: +54 911 6 658 9616
martin.rasaboni@la.logicalis.com
Viamonte 1639 – CABA – Argentina
http://www.la.logicalis.com
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ccordoba24
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#14

Post by ccordoba24 »

nelsonfam wrote:
charly3358 wrote:
CleggGP wrote:..........Russellhltn is correct: Contact the Stake Technology Specialist should contact the Global....
Here's the contact information for the Cisco Partner in Argentina that can either source devices in country or help with importing items.
Martín Rasaboni
Account Manager
Tel: +54 11 5282-0481
Movil: +54 911 6 658 9616
martin.rasaboni@la.logicalis.com
Viamonte 1639 – CABA – Argentina
http://www.la.logicalis.com
yeah, they are the people who can´t get their products through customs due to the import restrictions. Maybe after the change of gov next month we will see some but its just a wild guess for now.

Thanks for you help though :D :geek:
CleggGP
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#15

Post by CleggGP »

As shared in a PM, a plan is underway to upgrade MH firewalls in Argentina. Meanwhile stay on Cisco, follow good suggestions on this forum, contact the GSC if needed, and do the best you can. Hopefully the customs roadblock gets resolved soon. Good luck!
tlhackett
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#16

Post by tlhackett »

charly3358 wrote:Hi all,

Are there any alternatives to the cisco firewall boxes? because cisco isnt' getting in here due to import limits.

Although I've blocked several domain words in the tplink router , like youtube and porn, it is rather tedious to do this in every chapel, as well as not being very efficient.

Any advice is appreciated. ;) :ugeek:
You have two options:

1. Wait for an official solution from Church management.

There are no Church supported Cisco alternatives. It is being discussed on what to do in areas such as yours. Various levels of management are trying to find a solution. The older firewalls are being phased out as they are very old and are not supported by Cisco anymore.

2. Look for and buy a local Cisco firewall.

If you cannot buy the Cisco firewalls from the Church because of customs, you can try to look into buying the firewalls locally. As long as the models are the ones we support, they will work fine. If you can find and buy a Cisco C881 firewall locally, we can modify the files/configuration to work with our setup.
russellhltn
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#17

Post by russellhltn »

yarrgh wrote:If you can find and buy a Cisco C881 firewall locally,
Who would be doing the buying/paying? FM?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
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ccordoba24
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#18

Post by ccordoba24 »

russellhltn wrote:
yarrgh wrote:If you can find and buy a Cisco C881 firewall locally,
Who would be doing the buying/paying? FM?
Yeah, I also suggested buying (they are all older models) but the local PF people wont allow it. My stake recently bought a new laptop and pc, using stake funds, and one of the wards bought a cheap tplink wifi router for their building but the PF people started to whine, so just to avoid hearing them complain I now avoid even suggesting buying cheap wifi routers. One of the PF guys even claimed that they can go in to that building and take the new router because it isn´t approved by the church, but as a favour to the bispric there they wont do that for now. So go figure!

They claim that next year they will get some through customs however they said the same thing last year!

Howerever, rerouting the modem to dns 8.34.34.91 etc actually works fine.

By the way the same people who have access to the modem have acces to the cisco box so if they want to they could simply disconnect it and connect a laptop directly to the web. The issue for us is the wifi access and all the phones and tablets kids and YSA use in the chappel. Leaders want to be sure that those connections are filtered appropriately. And I don´t give out the router password offcourse.

I think its fix now...thanks,

Cheers,

:geek: :D
russellhltn
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#19

Post by russellhltn »

charly3358 wrote:My stake recently bought a new laptop and pc, using stake funds,
According to Handbook 1:14.7.2, units can't buy computer equipment from their budgets (with exceptions for webcasting). Elsewhere, it's not allowed to run MLS on donated machines.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
tlhackett
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Re: Alternatives to Cisco

#20

Post by tlhackett »

You can talk to your FM group and see if they would be willing to buy a local firewall. The models would have to be a Cisco 881W, Cisco C881W, Cisco C881, or Cisco 891F (most likely would not be sold locally). Technically a Cisco 1921 could also be used but isn't recommended. Only these firewalls would work. If it is any other model, there wouldn't be a template for it and the activations servers will reject it.
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