Norman FireBreak v4

Norman's real-time and on-demand virus control product for Novell's NetWare operating system is now available in a new generation.

Project focus

The primary two goals for this new generation of the product were to ease management by giving the users a system that works with Novell Directory Services (NDS) and to expand and improve the system's messaging capabilities to help businesses better manage virus incidents. Since its introduction in 1993, the product had undergone enough fixes and enhancements, that a major upgrade also of the internals of the system was warranted.

Configuration and management

The first goal has been achieved by integrating all aspects of the system fully with NDS. This allows for simplified management in large as well as small networks. Multiple servers can be configured from a single NDS object using Novell's NWAdmin utility. Integrating with NWAdmin gives an additional benefit since there is no new utility for the operator to learn.

Messaging

The messaging features have been greatly expanded. The most important change is that you now can set up a hierarchy of message receivers. In previous versions, only one server in the network could function as a central collector of alert messages. Now, the administrator can tailor this feature to fit the organization. For instance, a system of local, regional and global reporting can be set up. This gives all levels of the organization that has a need to monitor virus incidents the capability. In addition the familiar NetWare broadcast messages have been enhanced as part of the NDS integration, as well as better controlling when a message is issued.

SNMP trap support has been added for virus alerts as well as for other aspects of the systems operation, like system load and unload, allowing an organization to use its existing infrastructure to monitor various aspects of FireBreak operation.

Other enhancements:

Fully compatible with NetWare 5 running in a pure IP environment.
The limitation in version 3 that forced operator to do an on-demand scan of the entire server has been lifted. By browsing and selecting the operator can limit the scan. One or more volumes or directories can be selected for scanning.
The menus have been redesigned to improve usability and the screens have been changed to enhance readability. In addition the real-time scanning monitor as well as the on-demand scanner now have separate screens.
Enhanced log file formats as well as improved administrator control over log content.
Complete control of all log files from the systems menu. Logs may be viewed, printed or deleted.
The use of SAP (Service Advertising Protocol) is no longer a requirement for the central collection and distribution of messages.
Revised and updated documentation.

System requirements:

NetWare v4.11 and later
(NetWare 3.12/3.2 supported through the use for FireBreak v3.98. A FireBreak v4 supporting NetWare 3.12+ will follow).
NDS v6 or later, including eDirectory.
NWAdmin32 for remote administration
Norman's Scanner Engine for NetWare v4.7 and later.
Memory requirement depends on operation, normally between 3.5 and 5 MB
4 MB disk space