Magnia SG30 Big On Features, Easy Setup

End users will appreciate the unit's quick setup and easy administration, but solution providers may find the lack of some advanced features somewhat burdensome. Most notable is the lack of a Dynamic DNS client, which is used to change IP addresses associated with broadband connections. CRN Test Center engineers using the appliance also found it difficult to change internal IP address ranges from the default of a 192.168.1.xxx subnet.

That aside, there is a relatively robust feature set in the Magnia SG30, with all of the primary features easy to configure via the unit's browser-based console. For customers looking to leverage broadband connections, the appliance's integrated Web, FTP and VPN servers are a snap to set up, but users shouldn't expect to do more than serve up some basic Web pages or run e-commerce services.

On the LAN side, the Magnia SG30 offers Microsoft Windows networking compatibility via a user-defined Windows workgroup. Security is rather basic, limited to setting one of three user levels, with Level 3 offering administrative capabilities and Level 1 offering basic file and Web access.

User accounts are easy to set up and administer. For backup purposes, the unit offers a second hard drive, which can be used to take a snapshot or image of the primary drive,an option that falls far short of the fault tolerance offered by units that support mirrored drives. Users also can opt to connect an external USB-based hard drive for backups, which offers a method to move the data off-site.

Overall, solution providers will find the Magnia SG30 offers a low-cost avenue for small offices to share and protect broadband access while adding wireless, remote access and server-based features.