Hawking H2WR54G

The H2WR54G from Hawking packs a bunch of features into a small device. Not only does the router support dual-WAN links, it includes an 802.11g wireless LAN module and basic firewall security. The H2WR54G was also the least-expensive unit in our test.

The H2WR54G from Hawking packs a bunch of features into a small device. Not only does the router support dual-WAN links, it includes an 802.11g wireless LAN module and basic firewall security. The H2WR54G was also the least-expensive unit in our test.

Any of the four 10/100Base-T Ethernet ports can be used for DMZ by providing the IP address of the device to be seen on the Internet. There is no QoS support.

Choosing the PC’s IP address and selecting one or more of the 16 standard services displayed can create firewall rules. There’s no way to block all users from using, for instance, MSN Messenger, only individual devices. This level of protection fits a consumer device or very small business, but not one serious about security. At least the firewall is enabled by default, as is the denial-of-service protection. There is no enterprise authentication support, such as RADIUS or even Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.

The minimal browser-based management application uses the left menu template, but none of the pages are long or detailed enough to need tabs for drilling down. Two logs are available, one system and one security, but no parsing or explanations are offered, and there’s no way to send the logs via e-mail or to a Syslog server as with the other units.

When we tried to steer outgoing e-mail to the WAN1 link using the cable connection, we couldn’t figure out where on the administration screens to configure SMTP routing, so we sent an e-mail to technical support. The good news: They answered by the next morning. The bad news: There is no way to route SMTP traffic to one WAN link. Users of this router must either have their own e-mail servers or be able to send outgoing mail through a hosting service because you can’t reliably send e-mail if both WAN ports are active.

WAN failover and reconnection worked, although streaming audio sessions had to be restarted. When set to backup rather than load balancing, the switch-over time from cable to DSl took about 20 seconds. Load balancing can be turned on, but the only control option is a percentage based on data transfer sessions. Feature-packed but detail-light, the Hawking’s low price should make it popular with small businesses, but the minimal security settings and management control will limit its usefulness.

For the full report, go to https://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2004/0913rev.html