Well
it is pretty obvious, if you play Quake III or Counter-Strike, I wanted to
and had no trouble setting up a server for each of these games.  In the virtual server section there are 10 spaces for server
ports and IP address information.  These
are used to allow a computer to VIRTUALLY act as the router. 
What that means is the router sends any incoming data on a specified
port to a specified IP address. As you can see below, enter the service port
such as 27016(standard half-life\counter-strike port) and then the IP
address of the computer that is to receive that data, in this case
192.168.123.138. 138 is the keyed
information because the other three octets are filled in by default by the
router.  SMC did a real nice job
with this section by anticipating the everyday users needs. 
There are nine common service ports that the user can just click on
and then select the id they want to attach that port. 
After all the changes are made to put the ports and server ip’s in
place,  simply select the enable check box on the right and then save
the changes and reboot the router.  The
reboot button comes up after changes have been saved with the message that
changes will take affect after you reboot.

Virtual
Server

Much
the same as with the virtual server SMC did a great job of anticipating some
common programs and the ports they require for special applications.  These are typically application that can use multiple ports
to send and receive data.  Dial
pad, ICQ II, and things of that nature fall into this category. 
Quick easy keying of needed information, trigger port, range of
incoming ports and then enable that id. 
Save the changes and reboot. Access control is a really nice feature
if the router is going to be used in an office environment where the
administrator needs to specify privileges based
on grouping of individuals.  Simply
the administrator assigns everyone to a group with privileges base on the
groups needs.  If the
kanuter-valve manufacturing staff is not allowed access to the Internet then
their pc are assigned to a specific group. 
Then that group is blocked at the router from using the port that is
required for the Internet.  Sounds
great, but beware and plan carefully because this feature is limited in the
number of groups that are available. There are three groups available for
modification plus the default group which will be able to access everything
the router allows access to as a whole.

Access
control

We
completed a series of 5 speed tests using this link: HTTP://msn.zdnet.com/partners/msn/bandwidth/speedtest500.htm.
Here are our results:

 NOT
attached to router:

• Kbps
  average = 2819.34   K
  bytes/sec Average = 345.52

Attached
to router:

• Kbps
  average = 2559.42   K
  bytes/sec Average = 313.68

Because
these were real world test the Internet itself very well could be the deciding
factor in the nominal difference in speed. Only five speed test were run with
and with out, as you can see the speed took a pretty big downward spike in the
second test group for one of the test sessions. 
This single drop crunched the average score of the tests with the router
installed.  Blame for the downward
spike probably lies with general congestion of Internet traffic. 

Barricade as a print server
Yes, the SMC Barricade, along with router and firewall capabilities, has the option of being configured as a print server. For some of us, we like the idea, for others, “who cares”? Well, I like the idea. I want to say, this unit worked flawlessly working as a print server, no downtime, but one thing that might not appeal to everyone is, the proprietary software/drivers you must install on each and every PC that will use the SMC to send a print job to. That might not seem that big a deal, especially if you do not have another pc to act as a print server or a free parallel/usb port for your printer. I for one, use another pc as a print server and really would not use the SMC Barricade as a permanent print server, even thought it works great as one.

Closing Remarks

The SMC Barricade performed great. The ease of installation and setup was a snap. If you have never set a broadband router up before, don’t be afraid to ask someone who has. We actually had a problem getting the “port forwarding” working for a Quake server, ends up that we did everything correct the first time, EXCEPT reboot the router. Ya, I know, it’s ALWAYS the smallest thing we overlook.

We ran across a slight problem with the power supply cord. Seems as if we might have received a faulty unit. The actual power plug that connects to the router did not fit correctly. It would come out if the router was bumped. Could have been we just got a “funky” power supply connector, but this was a consistent problem which is very annoying when online.

After all the time testing this unit, I would give it a thumbs up for performance and ease of installation. Over the past year, the price of SOHO broadband routers has reduced drastically, making it more affordable for most everyone. If I could get broadband, I would definitely invest in one. I think it’s safe to say that sooner or later we will ALL be wired!