Ascend firewall questions

[Peter da Silva]

> I understand this firewall uses dynamic filtering (explained by Chris
> Kostick earlier) but does it also include application proxies, like
> those found in Raptor Eagle or Gauntlet?

As near as I can tell from setting it up on a Pipeline-50, it's basically
a pretty classic filtering firewall with a fancy GUI that has some smarts
about the semantics of the protocols. It has no VPN, NAT, or proxy support.
It does anti-spoofing and the like.

I don't know how well it performs, but given its simplicity I would be
stunned if it had any significant impact on performance.

Administration is easy, but it does not really do any more than the packet
filtering rules in IOS 10.5.

[Stackpole, Bill]

The Ascend security option does provide some standard proxies and allows
you to
create others to support things like LDAP etc. It has SYN protection,
spoofing protection and uses
dynamic packet filtering. The product is the same on all the routers as
near as I can
determine. It doesn't have any special features like VPNs etc. but not
a bad product for the
money. The only glitch I ran into was activating the firewall after
it's been configured. Not really
straight forward, make sure and follow the instructions to the letter.

"Simplify - There is no value in complexity, it's too difficult to
manage."
Bill Stackpole, CISSP
Seitel Leeds & Associates Voice: 206.283.4355
2 Nickerson St. Suite 201 Email: bstac...@sla.com
Seattle, Wa 98109

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Tyrrell [SMTP:tyr...@foremost.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 1997 3:46 PM
> To: fire...@GreatCircle.COM
> Subject: Ascend firewall questions
>
> We are looking at Ascend's Pipeline 130 router with their Secure
> Access
> Firewall option. Has anyone had any experience with this combination?

>
> I understand this firewall uses dynamic filtering (explained by Chris
> Kostick earlier) but does it also include application proxies, like
> those found in Raptor Eagle or Gauntlet?
>

> Does it provide VPN support?
>
> Does it provide network address translation, anti-spoofing, source
> routing blocking?
>
> How's the performance of the firewall/router combination? We plan to
> give 50 - 100 people http, e-mail and ftp access through it. We don't
> plan on allowing incomming access through the firewall.
>
> How's the administration, logging and alerts?
>
> Any unbiased opinions would be appreciated.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kevin
>
> tyr...@foremost.com