Barracuda Networks

Barracuda Networks, develops, designs, distributes, manufactures, as well as sells mail & Web security appliances. The products include the Barracuda Spam Firewall, integrated hardware & software solution for protection of mail servers from the spam, spoofing, virus, spyware attacks and phishing; Barracuda Web Filter, the solution to enforce the organizational Internet usage plans; Barracuda Firewall, the IM solution that gives IM server & gateway technologies; as well as Barracuda Website Firewall that gives protection against the hackers' attempts. Company's products as well include the Barracuda Message Archiver, email archiving solution; as well as Barracuda Load Balancer, which integrates the server load balancing & network intrusion prevention in network appliances. Additionally, it gives IM protection, the application server load balancing, as well as message archiving appliances; as well as Barracuda Backup Service, the local & cloud based data backup & disaster recovery solution that is hosted by the data centers for the businesses in Europe. Company's solutions deliver the protection against enterprise class spam, viruses, spyware, as well as IT infrastructure threats. Also, it sells the products through network of the distributors in United States & internationally.

Company was founded at 2002 & is headquartered in California with the additional offices in United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, India, United Arab Emirates as well as China.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

A worldwide leader in mail & Web security appliances, as well as world class IM protection, and application server load-balancing & message archiving appliances. Over 50,000 companies, which includes Coke, Harvard University, IBM, FedEx, NASA, L'Oreal, as well as Europcar, are protecting the networks with the Barracuda Networks solutions. Company is held privately with the international headquarters & manufacturing service based in California. Barracuda Networks has the offices in 8 international locations & distributors in over 80-countries all over the world. Barracuda Spam Firewall is the integrated hardware & software solution for the complete protection of the email server.

Barracuda Networks

Preventing Spam From Reaching Your Mailbox

If you are in the market for software programs that will help guard your email account against spam, you will find that there are a whole slew of products out there that claim to do just that. What you need to realize is that not all of them are made equally. There are some that will do the job more efficiently than others. There are also some out there that will not do the job at all and are only out there as a quick money making scam. Make sure that if you are going for a product that you know what you are getting yourself into and what you are spending your money on. There is nothing more frustrating than getting home with a product to find out that it was a waste of your hard earned money.

There is probably not a person out there that will tell you that they like to have a mailbox full of spam emails. They can get in the way of your personal and business life if you let them. Some spam emails can even harm your computer. Take the time to find some of the best products and spam filters on the market to protect your assets.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

A lot of people use their computers for school and work purposes. When you do, you will find that you need to take extra care of the safety and security of your files and personal information. Letting spammers into your email will most likely allow them into your computer as well.

No matter what your reasons for using your computer, keep it protected. Rest assured at night knowing that your computer is not going to become infected by any viruses or Trojans. There are some software programs out there that will not only offer anti spam support but will also offer anti virus support. Protect your computer all the way around so that you are not left having to repair or replace it. If for nothing else, do it so that you do not have to weed through the spam emails.

Preventing Spam From Reaching Your Mailbox

Barracuda Anti Spam

Barracuda Anti-Spam - High End Algorithm has played the Trick!

These days, it's the use of computer that seems to be too high across the globe. With the increasing demand for this innovative device and the internet, it's always becoming important for you to look for anti spam technology that will not only protect your computer from unwanted virus but also it can bring in a hassle free computer experience further.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

Due to the increasing demand for such spam software, in the market now you can find many in this category. Most of them are demanding to be the best one in this category. However, there are only few that have managed to draw enormous popularity after the announcement for the market. Well, it's the Barracuda anti-spam technology that seems to be drawing most response in the market when computer users are looking for spam killer software or programs. Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall gives comprehensive spam blocking for the organization. Algorithms & methods that are used by Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall are most comprehensive & advanced in industry. Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall includes the Bayesian analysis that is shown to be most effectual & accurate method of the blocking spam.

Barracuda Anti-spam and virus firewall has been designed to offer the user a comprehensive and effective spam blocking program for the computer or for the organization. If you are looking for one of the most advanced and comprehensive anti spam program or software for your organization, then it's the Barracuda Anti spam and virus firewall can become your ultimate destination.

There are several things, which you need to consider while looking for anti spam programs online. Well, the good news is that Barracuda Anti spam is all set to meet all your requirements regarding this aspect and exactly offering great results for its worldwide customers. Behind industry leading initiatives of the Predictive Sender Profiling & Barracuda Real Time Protection are twelve explicit defense layers that includes: Denial of the Service & Security Protection, IP Reputation Analysis, Rate Controls, Recipient Verification, Sender Authentication, Policy, Virus Protection, Intent Analysis, Fingerprint Analysis, Bayesian Analysis, Image Analysis, and Spam Rules Scoring engine.

The algorithm and the programming that has been used for Barracuda Anti spam are of high end. It also comprises of the Bayesian analysis method that has proven to be the most effective and efficient method for blocking spam. There are 12 precise defense layers that has been added for the Barracuda Anti spam and these are:

• Denial of Service and Security Protection
• Rate Controls
• IP Reputation Analysis
• Sender Authentication
• Recipient Verification
• Virus Protection
• Policy (user-specified rules)
• Fingerprint Analysis
• Intent Analysis
• Image Analysis
• Bayesian Analysis
• Spam Rules Scoring engine

Barracuda Anti Spam

Configure Exchange E-Mail Server Reverse DNS and MX Records Correctly

If DNS is setup incorrectly, over time your mail server IP will be added to blacklists. Nowadays most E-Mail servers have some kind of spam protection service which in turn means that all your inbound mail will be blocked if you do happen to be listed on a spam blacklist.

In this article I will describe how to correctly configure your MX and reverse DNS records for your mail server. This article is based on an Exchange 2003/2007 server but every other messaging server will follow the same principle.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

Assigning an IP address

Starting from the bottom up the first thing you need to do is assign a static external IP address to the internal private address of your mail server. You will need to apply these rules on your firewall to port forward SMTP (port 25) and NAT an external IP address to the internal address of the server.

Something that a lot of administrators forget to do or check is to set the outgoing NAT rule to use the same external IP address created for the inbound rule to the mail server. If this isn't set, Reverse DNS will not match and in turn your mail server will be listed on blacklists. If your firewall rules are setup correctly the IP address listed on this page should be the same IP address you mapped to the internal private IP address of the mail server.

Create the MX records for your mail server

For the purpose of this example, listed below are all the details of my mail server to help you understand what you need to do.

External IP: 87.22.1.22

E-Mail Domain: domain.com

You will need to be an administrative contact for your External DNS provider for your domain to make these changes. In most cases this can be done through an online control panel through your DNS provider. Failing that on the phone or via E-Mail.

1. The first thing we need to do is create an A record to point to the external IP address mapped on your firewall to the mail server. The host A record can be called any thing but is commonly called "mail". In our example we will create "mail.domain.com" to point to IP address "87.22.1.22"

2. Next we will create an MX record to point to the newly created A record of our mail server.

Within your DNS control panel select "add MX record". Make sure that the host address is the root domain name in our case "domain.com"

Set the FQDN as the A record we just created which in our case is "mail.domain.com".

The lowest property is the most preferred but in our example we will set the priority as 10.

Use NSlookup to check DNS and MX records are applied

It can take up to 48 hours for DNS to propagate but in most cases 12-24 hours. To check our DNS entries are applied and correct we can use nslookup.

1. Open a CMD prompt and type nslookup

2. Type set type=mx

3. Type the domain name which in our case is domain.com.

In our example the output should read as follows if correctly setup:

> domain.com

Non-authoritative answer:

domain.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail.domain.com

mail.domain.com internet address = 87.22.1.22

Configure Reverse DNS

Reverse DNS is used to verify that the mail server is who it says it is. The recipients mail server will do a reverse lookup to make sure that the IP address of the mail A or host record in DNS is the same as the IP address it is communicating with. Only 1 RDNS entry can be present per IP address.

To do this you will need to contact your ISP to make this entry. You will not be able to do this in your DNS control panel unless your ISP also host your DNS and give you the functionality to add your own RDNS records.

In our case we would contact our ISP and advise that we would like to create an RDNS entry for our IP address 87.22.1.22 which would resolve too mail.domain.com.

Verify Reverse DNS

Again it can take up to 48 hours for DNS to propagate but in most cases 12-24 hours. To verify that the RDNS entries have been added and are correct do the following:

1. Open a CMD prompt.

2. Type Ping -a 87.22.1.22 (This is the external IP address for your mail server. In our case we use our external IP address stated above)

If RDNS is configured correctly the following output will be shown:

C:UsersUser>ping -a 87.22.1.22

Pinging mail.domain.com [87.22.1.22] with 32 bytes of data:

SMTP Banner

Every time a mail server establishes a connection with your mail server it shows its SMTP banner. This banner must be resolvable on the internet and best practice is to have it as your mail host/A record.

Configure SMTP banner Exchange 2003

1. Open Exchange system manager.

2. Expand your administrative group ("First administrative group" by default).

3. Expand Servers.

4. Expand YourServerName.

5. Expand Protocals container.

6. Select SMTP container.

7. On the right window, right click the Default SMTP virtual Server (Or the name you set your SMTP Server) and

select Properties.

8. Select the Delivery Tab.

9. Click the Advanced button.

10. Under the Fully-qualified domain name type mail.domain.com (The A/Host record you created in DNS for your mail server)

11. Click OK and OK again to accept the changes

Configure SMTP banner Exchange 2007/2010

1. Open the Exchange management console.

2. Select the Organisation Configuration container.

3. Select Hub Transport container.

4. On the right select the Send Connectors tab.

5. Right click your send connector and select properties.

6. On the General tab under the Set the FQDN this connector will... type the A record domain name you created. Which in our case is mail.domain.com. Click OK.

7. Under the Server Configuration container click the Hub Transport container.

8. In the Right window Select the properties of the Receive Connector under Receive Connectors tab.

9. On the General tab under the Set the FQDN this connector will... type the A record domain name you created. Which in our case is mail.domain.com. Click OK

To verify these changes we can use telnet to view the output upon establishing a connection on port 25 to our mail server. Use the following steps to do this:

1. Open a CMD prompt

2. Type Telnet mail.domain.com 25.

The output you see should look something like this and contain your A record of your mail server:

220 mail.domain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service ready at Sun, 28 Feb 2

010 17:51:20 +0000

If you use an edge server or a SPAM filter appliance like a Barracuda the SMTP banner will have to be set on this device/server.

Check to see if your mail server is on spam lists and/or an open relay

A great website to use to check your MX records, RDNS, check if your mail server is an open relay and check to see if you are listed on spam lists is www.mxtoolbox.com. This is a great site and one to keep in your favourites.

Following these guide lines will successfully and correctly configure mail routing to and from your mail server. The next step is too secure and ensure your mail server is not an open relay. I will be writing a separate article dedicated to this in the near future.

Configure Exchange E-Mail Server Reverse DNS and MX Records Correctly

Ever Heard Of A Spam Firewall?

Most computer users are now familiar with what a firewall does but have you ever seen or used a spam firewall?

This article will take a beginners look at this interesting subject. It will give you the information that you need to know most.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

The Webopedia definition of a firewall is - "A practice planned to preclude unauthorized access to or from a personal system." A firewall can come in both hardware and software versions and even a combination of both. Home computer users cultivate to use software based firewalls like Zone bell while corporate IT departments rely on the hardware based router/firewall combination policy.

Both home and corporate computer users are now accustomed to running with firewalls to guarantee that their numbers is reserved safe. What surprises most people are that there are firewalls specifically planned to finish spam. Yup that means a hardware spam filter.

One of the main players in deceitful firewalls to finish spam is Barracuda. Their products are planned to be implemented on systems of 10 - 20,000 employees the spam firewall. The beauty of a hardware spam filtering liquid is that it takes some of the workload off the attendant which means better system reply period. An added bonus to impeding spam is that the Barracuda products also impedes any viruses limited inside those spam emails - everything from bogus attachments to VB scripts can be detected and certainly impeded.

We hope that the first part of this article as brought you a lot of much needed information on the subject at hand.

So when you think about firewalls in prospect don't just think in provisos of numbers sanctuary. See the Barracuda firewall for what it is - an all encompassing sanctuary liquid for all systems.

If you type in the main word from the subject of this article into any reliable search engine, you will pull up a variety of resources.

Ever Heard Of A Spam Firewall?

Hardware Spam Filters You Can Use

If you are looking to purchase a hardware based spam filter, and you are not sure how to judge capabilities against price, then you have come to the right place. There are a lot of hardware spam filters out there, and they are based on many factors. One of these is the system that you are using, depending on whether you run Windows, Linux or Apple's Macintosh OS, there are hardware spam filters which are either bespoke to these systems.

Some of the hardware spam filters you can use also include features like virus filtering, and anyone in the know should know that spam and viruses come together, especially when a lot of hackers use worms and Trojans to harvest email lists and re distribute them to other sources or spam operators.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

So the best advice is that when you do look at hardware spam filters, you should look at the strength of the features and top of the list should be how customisable the spam options are and how strong the virus filtration and protection system is. Also, it should also be a question of price.

Systems like the Barracuda are one of the used systems out there and its specs make it a very good hardware spam filter. Other spam filters like SpamTitan are also good in the sense that it allows alot of customisation and options when it comes to your filtering needs, meaning that you can set things like prompting, storage of junk mail and spam, listing of origin I.P's and a whole host of other security options.

Another brand name that comes to mind is the PineApp mail-Secure system, which is a dedicated mail based spam filtering hardware, managed but their own security networks and all the hassle is taken out. All you need to do is to tell the company what you need and it will set the options down for you. The good thing about hardware spam filters is the fact that they add another level of capacity and since the emails are being handled by the dedicated server, this means that your own email servers are not being stressed by their operations.

They do everything in real time, which means that your 'allow' list will be immediately forwarded to you while dubious sources and generic mails will be scanned before being given the go ahead to go to your inbox.

For many, it is a question of control, because while you do want to filter out the useless and junk emails, you also need to do that there is nothing that was missed out. Also, it depends on what you do, and from business owner to casual home user of the internet, there are different sorts of hardware spam filters that are bespoke for your own needs.

Don't make the mistake of buying the first one you see, or being impressed by features that you don't need. Make the right decision and one that matches you needs, and you will soon see more than 90% of your spam problems disappear.

Hardware Spam Filters You Can Use

How to Make Money Selling Web Hosting

The secret to making money selling web hosting is simple (yet often overlooked).

Now here's the "insider" secret: Find out what web hosting buyers want... and give it to them. It's that simple. And -- if you don't already know -- I'll tell you exactly what they want (sparing you the research). The #1 most important thing every web hosting buyer wants is: consistent reliability.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

This means... they never want to experience the embarrassment of downtime... and they always want to experience the thrill of fast loading web pages.

If you remember one thing -- remember this: "Helping others get what they want is how to get what you want."

Now you know how to exceed their expectations... and this is how to earn long-term client loyalty. Do this... and your clients will pay you month, after month, after month (and recommend you to family and friends). The wonderful FREE 'word-of-mouth' advertising that'll skyrocket your profits into overdrive.

And you'll feel good banking buckets of money... because you're solving other people's problems. It's a win-win situation! Business doesn't have to be a zero-sum game (someone doesn't have to lose for you to gain). And here's another "insider" tip to accelerate your success....

Talk to your clients frequently. After you solve their primary burning need... find out what others problems they're having (and create solutions to solve these problems). The more problems you solve -- the more money you make (and the more client loyalty your earn). This is what business is all about: solving other people's problems.

Remember this: people are selfish (and this isn't good or bad -- it's just how it is). People will not spend money to bring you happiness (they only care about their happiness). So, build your products and services around what people want. You do this by asking what problems they're having... and creating products/services to solve these problems. Again, don't assume anyone will want anything. Get out and talk to people!

A real world example: I discovered more and more people were becoming frustrated with the -- ever increasing -- bombardment of spam. Nobody wanted to wake up to an inbox of hundreds of spam emails. It wastes precious time (and nobody has enough time as it is). Now think how spam affects your mood. How does it make you feel. Can you think of any positive emotions spam invokes? Doubt it. Sharing this frustration, I became determined to solve it... and just recently started offering barracuda spam firewall service. Now my clients don't have to deal with the frustrations of spam.

That's an example of keeping your ear to the ground... and solving problems to bring others increased happiness.

So, here's your take-away: The burning problem in the web hosting industry is inconsistent reliability. Solving this problem is your surest way to success. And, once you solve this problem -- don't stop solving problems. Ask your clients what other problems they are having (and solve those, too). Now go Google the Japanese Kaizen philosophy (and apply it to solving problems).

How to Make Money Selling Web Hosting