Feature packed high quality router (Draytek Vigor 2820)

Member Name: gump103

Product:	Draytek Vigor 2820
Date:	24/06/09 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, reliable, silent, feature packed

Disadvantages: no load balancing for VPN

I've been using several draytek vigor 2820's for the last 4 months or so for a new wan deployment at work and can say that they have been flawless in almost every way.

We are using them to connect our smaller sites over single ADSL connections backed up with a USB 3g modem to an Enterprise Draytek 2950 and haven't had any real issues with them.

The vigor 2920 main feature is that it is a dual WAN router which can be implemented by using any 2 of 3 options which are:

-Direct ADSL connection to an ISP.

- Ethernet connection for direct PPPoE (adsl modem) or NAT connection via Cable modem or other source of web access.

- USB 3g modem

This allows for redundant links to be configured in case one fails and due to the variety of options allows you to setup with different service types such as a link from BT to the exchange, and a 3g modem to a data carrier. You can also load balance over these links if required or configure them in a failover state.

The phsical router is in a sleek white case and which is tapered at the back in a wavey design that look really nice. Unlike most routers all the connections are at the front which can be a bit of a pain to make it look tidy but it allows for easy access to the sockets. On the left of the front panel is a series of lights which allow for some limited visability of the routers current functions andd status. The router is pasively cooled and as such is silent when in operation.

The router also has a very impressive VPN configuration allowing it to handle upto 32 VPN connections at any single time. The vpn connections can be either incoming or outgoing and can be from pc - Lan or direct LAN - LAN connections which was the feature we were after. The setup of the VPN connection is done through the web interface (or SSH telnet session if you are feeling brave or geeky) and is a relatively simple affair to configure. Once done the connection speeds are impressive (depending on the web connection speeds) and allow for useful remote working. We have set several of these connections up for remote sites with up to 30 users (connecting to central citrix servers) and all are working brilliantly. I even have one of these hooked up at home to allow me to work from home out of hours and the connection to work is like being there (except for when I try to copy files).

The router has a mass lot of other features as well such as Firewall, QOS (quality of service so as to allow certain services priority over the web connection. Eg. Skype), Content filtering (prevent access to certain sites based on keywords, or category, as well as controlling P2P, gaming, and messaging software ), Multiple static WAN IP's for multiple DMZ'd services, and a host of other features.

Managing the device is a simple affair and involves connection to the router via a simple (and slightly old looking interface) that is almost identical in style to any other draytek ever produced. This means that anyone with any experience with Drayteks will instantly feel at home in the interface. Draytek do however use different colour menu's depending on the model you are administering (eg blue for 2800 series and red for the 2900's)
The 2820 has a full diagnostic page which I have found really useful as it allows you to monitor the bandwidth being consumed on the individual WAN ports as well as monitoring the individual sessions and current bandwidth being consumed via a dataflow monitor. From here you can also block a machine for limited time if you suspect it of causing issues on the network. You also have basic ping and trace route tools which can help with issues with routing over the wan links. There is also a full syslog output tool that can be used in conjuction with a syslog deamon (receiving server) to track down and record events on the router. Draytek supply a syslog app for windows that can filter these events into different areas to make it easier to track the events.

These routers come in several models with the basic one starting at £149 and the full featured one costing around £200 which comes with all the basic features plus wireless N and VOIP where it will allow 2 analogue phones to be connected to up to 20 VOIP services. We purchased several of these VN models for around £189 by shopping around and buying in bulk.
The VOIP works well with a trixbox server I have at work allowing for free calls into the office from home and back and the Wireless has a good range outside of my house with the G in my laptop and gets even better when paired with a usb wireless N adapter.

Draytek seem to be good at releasing firmware updates that increase the feature set of this router, as well as fixing any issues that are reported to them (they did have a few with older firmware according to the forums). Currently they have a beta firmware which allows you to use the USB slot with a USB hard drive to provide either FTP or Network share access. The latest firmware also has increased support for the 3G modems that are available.

One thing to note though is that you can't use any of the 2820 models at the moment for load balanced VPN connections as it is not possible with this model (unless a firmware update is released on the draytek site) and if this is what you are after then you will need to look at the 2930 or 2950 models which both support this for a premium cost (approx £320 for 2930 + 2 vigor 120's, or approx £400 for 2950 + 2 vigor 120's)

In conclusion I really rate these routers highly, they have a feature set of a much more expensive Cisco and works equally as reliably (so far). The VPN configuration is simple (but powerful and secure with the right settings) and allows for a good remote working experience. The other features such as content filter, QOS and firewall , and VLAN work really well.

Summary: awesome router for business vpn and web access

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