Sample Term Paper On Firewall Systems And Data Center

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Introduction

Firewalls systems have proved to be effective solutions in the provision of security for computer networks. It is important to understand that computer systems need to be ensured and managed well for effective network security and efficiency. This paper will compare four firewall systems that are used in securing computer systems. Firewall system is the technology, which has the objective to save the contents in a computer from the access of the unauthorized and foreign networks. Firewall systems come in the form of the hardware and software so they can be introduced to the computer in the form of the hardware and software, or both types can be incorporated in a combination. A firewall is the technology, which prevents the users who do not have authority to access the private networks, which are connected via an internet. Moreover, the networks connected to the intranet can be made safe with the firewall systems. An intranet is the local network through which the common internet users are connected. Therefore, the messages which are received and sent through the intranet are requisite to pass through the firewall systems first. The firewall in turn analyze the messages and do not let those messages pass through the check and enter in the private network if they are not according to the set security rules. Hence, the messages, which are unsafe, are restricted to pass through the system and get enter into the computer. Firewall systems provide the prevention and security from the unauthenticated connections, but it can analyze the users individually and cannot determine the users’ accessibility to the private network.

FortiGate 3950

There are a number of firewalls that have been manufactured by Fortinet. The firewall systems have been seen to span a wide number of sizes and have many features that are different. The FortiGate 3950B is one of the leading NextGeneration firewall that was developed by Fortinet. It has many slots that are used for expansion. It is not easy to set up because of the configuration that has been integrated to the system. It has a web management interface which is intuitive and easy to navigate. The web interface is easy to configure once the system has been set running. One advantage it has over all the other firewall systems is that the changes that are made are in real-time.
This system consists of the hardware, which contains the ability to high performance. This system offers above 120 GB seed for the links. In this manner, the security never gets the impact. Moreover, this system possesses a modular and the form factor for saving space. It also contains the expansion in its FMC which is the beneficial feature since, it permits the user in the data center for the network which is unique among others network. FMC modules can be incorporated in number in order to speed up the firewall system and efficiency. This system is capable of facing the diversified threats of today’s era due to the presence of the FortiOS system. It is the system, which provides more security tools within the range of the cost. Therefore, it has lower cost as compared to other systems of security.
The presence of the FortiAnalyzer and the FortiManager helps the system in centralizing the reports and management. Consequently, the security is monitored and managed centrally and simplified. The connection with the FMC is made possible due to the ISF o 240 Gbps. Hence, the connectivity is never hampered and, therefore, more FMC can be used in the ports available. Furthermore, the combination of FMC and ISF allows the usage of and resource for the processing of the threat from any FMC port. The high performance of this system is the result of the FMC integration with the FortiASIC processors, which comprise of the additional interface for the network. Similarly, this feature also increases the port density (Datasheet, 2013).

CISCO ASA 5585-X

It is one of the most widely used interfaces that has been put in place. It has been integrated with four 10Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. It has multi-processor architecture and 24 processing cores. The default MTU size that was used for the traffic is 1380 bytes. On the other hand, the default MTU size that was used for the traffic was 9192 bytes. It allows the user to set various policies according to which the security can be achieved in the organization. It requires the user to set the diverse policies in their VLANs. It offers multi-gigabit prevention from hacking and other things for the large data center working for in the larger terms. The feature of interface redundancy is also available with this system. Moreover, the links are separated which are required for the links of the state and tolerance of the fault. This system consists of the security from the threat coming from the globe, and it works beyond the perimeter of the user. The IPS abilities are provided in the series in this system. It has the ability to protect the data center from more than ten thousands of threats. Moreover, it has the capability to detect and protect the millions of unknown threats.

MacAfee Firewall Enterprise

It was recently acquired by Intel. It makes use of AppPrism technology to implement security of the network. It makes of AppPrism technology to discover applications and have an awareness of applications that are running on the network. McAfee includes many distinct features such as, identification of the application used by the user, global intelligence that is based on the reputation, automatic action for the threats, inspection for the traffic, prevention from the intrusion, and filtering of the content passing on through the network. These features are available in this system without any addition to the charges. It has the capability to identify the number of applications that are running on the network without regard to the port or protocol that is being run. It is able to achieve this with the use of application signature feature which has been developed in-house by McAfee. It has the ability to enable the administrators to block the file-sharing capability without denying users to chat on a network. It also enables administrators to have high levels of application control which will be able to ensure that some portion of the application can be controlled by the administrators.
This system is involved in the protection of the data pertaining to the health care, financial and customer, etc. consequently, this system maintains the security of the important data in order to maintain the privacy of the people whose data is incorporated. Besides, it is also used for the data centers, email, and web servers. The policies in this system allow the control of the unwanted data, blocks and eliminate the threats, and secure the connection with the undesired traffic of web.
McAfee includes many distinct features such as, identification of the application used by the user, global intelligence that is based on the reputation, automatic action for the threats, inspection for the traffic, prevention from the intrusion, and filtering of the content passing on through the network. These features are available in this system without any addition to the charges. Hence, the organizations working with the critical data and assets can acquire benefit from this system since; it is designed to grant the high level of security within the network and defense against the threats (McAfee, 2015).

Juniper Net screen

It has AppTrack component which is used to control the application awareness. It enables the system to offer policy awareness.
This system is integrated with the IPSec VPN services in order to make the system able to protect the data center from the attack on the application. They provide the connectivity to the LAN/WAN and can be used for the small, large or moderate level of organization. For providing the security, this system contains virtualization, high performance, and modules. The integration of the intrusion detection and the ISG series prepares the system to provide protection against the traffic within the network and its segments.
For the data center, which requires the protection system on larger terms, the juniper Net screen comes with the multi-gigabit performance with the series of 5000. The management of this system is operated centrally hence, for the large organization; the security management becomes easy and can acquire more benefits in the operation.

Conclusion

The firewall systems are the source of the protection and security for the data centers in order to provide a threat free connection to the users. However, the emergence of different problems in the systems needs to get fixed. A firewall is the technology, which prevents the users who do not have authority to access the private networks, which are connected via an internet. Moreover, the networks connected to the intranet can be made safe with the firewall systems. An intranet is the local network through which the common internet users are connected. Therefore, different solutions are evolved within the system for the improvement and named differently since; they have different features. The comparison among these systems reveals that all systems are significant, and the usage depends on the requirement of the security.

References

Datasheet (2013). fortiGate-3950B 10-GbE Consolidated Security Appliance. Fortinet. Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/security/asa-5500-series-next-generation-firewalls/design_guide_c22-624431.html on 10th April 2015.
Design Guide (2010). Cisco ASA 5585-X in the Data Center. Cisco. Retrieved from http://www.fortinet.com/sites/default/files/productdatasheets/FortiGate-3950B.pdf on 10th April 2015.
Knowledge Base (2013). What is a Firewall? The Trustees of Indiana University. Retrieved from https://kb.iu.edu/d/aoru on 1st April 2015.
McAfee (2015). McAfee for Business. 2014-2015 McAfee. Inc. Retrieved from http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/firewall-enterprise.aspx on 10th April 2015.