SCOUG-HELP Mailing List Archives

<< Previous Message <<

Date:	Wed, 26 Feb 2003 19:23:15 PST8
From:	"J. R. Fox" <jr_fox@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Firewalls

Content Type: text/plain

=====================================================
If you are responding to someone asking for help who
may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
=====================================================

Peter inquired:

> > I prefer the hardware type of solution. . . My SonicWall
>
> How much did it cost?

Straight up cost would have been $500., but at the time I bought it BUY.COM had a special deal on it for (I
think) $375. Model designations have since changed, but at that time SW had 3 models, with varying levels of
Firmware for them. For example, even my entry level model could have VPN support, but that was a different,
extra-cost firmware. Their top model cost a few grand. This line was not positioned as a consumer product,
but primarily sold directly to enterprise customers as a business solution. As such, it was not normally
available at discount.

> And why did you choose it?

Very strong reputation, per all my research. Closer to industrial strength. OS-independent. No need to rely
on anything running on your computer -- once it is set up right, you can mostly forget about it. This all
seemed more failsafe to me.

> I feel SMC sorta
> burned me with their buggy Barricade (which they wouldn't fix).

I got those 7004 ABR units for the home offices of two sets of relatives, and they have pretty much been
effective (so far as we can tell), and relatively trouble free.

> > There are a great many days when I'll get at
> > least one Netbus + one Sub Seven attack attempt
>
> How do you identify them?

It lists the gory details right there in the (hardware-based) log. You just sign-in to access the device, and
take a look at the log. When the log space fills up, the log is emailed to a mail account you have
designated, and purged from the device.

> > a firewall with many "fine-tuning" capabilities
> > like mine can do a number of other things, such as
> > specifically block out ads from Doubleclick etc., which
> > you would ordinarily need other software to accomplish.
>
> I *think* you have to know what IP address + port to block, otherwise
> your SonicWall wouldn't know what to filter on.

Maybe, maybe not. There are device Settings menus or fill-in boxes in the SW that already know about a lot of
"Services," such as IRC, ICQ, NetConference, Quicktime, etc. etc. I'm not sure, but the bigtime ad-servers
might be mentioned in there somewhere. (Unfortunately, the SW manual and Help seems to assume you have the
technical background of a network administrator.) I'm finally starting to experiment with some of these
settings. For example, on the W2K side, I could *never* get RealPlayer audio / video content in through the
firewall; it always bogged down right away with a standard and rather cryptic error, not clearly explained in
the Real documentation. And yet, QuickTime or Windoze Media content came right through with no special
accomodation. So, evidently, those popular streaming media technologies do their thing in very different
ways. I have now made the first possible special exception setting for RealPlayer in the firewall
(apparently, there are others), and was hoping to test it out . . . but those dirty S.O.B.s moved the
goalposts on me ! It wasn't too long ago that I installed RealPlayer G2. Now, I find that many of the sites
won't even let you in the front door unless you have *the latest* version installed, *plus* a browser that is
at least Netscape 6.2, I.E. 5.something, or Mozilla 1.1. It is still possible for me to access sites like
ATOMFILMS, though, because their stuff is in a variety of common formats, not entirely in the hip pocket of
Realnetworks.

This digresses far from OS/2. It's just that when I finally have a prospective fix lined up, it is annoying
to have to jump through some extra hoops just to see if it works.

I could not access the Webnet IRC chats until I made some other Settings changes. They were not made
permanently, however, so I will have to remember and retrace my steps.

Jordan

=====================================================

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email message
to "steward@scoug.com". In the body of the message,
put the command "unsubscribe scoug-help".

For problems, contact the list owner at
"rollin@scoug.com".

=====================================================

Return to [ 26 | February | 2003 ]

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.