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What is a Hardware Firewall?
A hardware firewall is a physical device similar to a server that filters traffic to a computer. Instead of plugging the network cable into the server, it is connected to the firewall, positioning the firewall between the uplink and the computer. Like a standard computer with a processor, memory, and sophisticated software, this device also employs powerful networking components (hardware and software) and forces all traffic traversing that connection to be inspected by configurable rulesets which grant or deny access accordingly.