The first question to ask when implementing a firewall is whether the firewall is going be located at a central location or a remote location. | Different Types of Office Requirements Although every firewall implementation is truly unique a couple of fundamental designs from which virtually all firewall designs are created. The first question to ask when implementing a firewall is whether the firewall is going be located at a central location or a remote location. When you have answered that question you need to examine the resources that need to be protected. With that in mind the next step is to determine how many demilitarized zones DMZs if any need to be implemented. Although most of these design questions are based on protecting internal resources they should be equally applied to the question of how the firewall will screen Internet access for your internal resources essentially protecting the Internet from your systems while at the same time enabling you to restrict and filter the kinds of Internet-based traffic that will be allowed from your internal resources. Central Office Although referred to as a central office implementation the key to this implementation is not necessarily that it exists at the central office. Rather the central office implementation refers to an implementation that has a number of common elements A concentration of resources must be protected by the firewall. A significant number of internal users need access to external resources through the firewall for example if the firewall handles the majority of the company s Internet access . Technical personnel can actively monitor and manage the firewall because they are physically located at the same location. As a result the central office implementation is applicable in any environment that matches these elements. For example many large companies have multiple locations that would all warrant the central office design because there may be two or more hub locations with a high concentration of users resources and administrators. The central office implementation is highlighted by an implementation that tends to be more complex .
