Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Barracuda Spam Filter
From: "Kenneth G. Arnold" <bkarnold () CBU EDU>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 11:15:01 -0500
We are currently using the Model 400 Baracuda Spam Filter. It is very inexpensive compared to most other spam solutions. It has a warranty but I suggest that you buy replacement insurance so that if the unit develops a problem it can be replaced quickly. This costs under $1000 a year. The cost for yearly spam definition updates is also under $1000. Antivirus is included at no extra charge. The spam definititions aren't updated very quickly after a major burst of spam breaks out. Not too long ago there was a huge volume of German language spam. Barracuda didn't stop it during that first weekend of activity. As of about two weeks after the outbreak I hadn't really seen any more of it. I don't know whether that means the spam has stopped or that Barracuda now recognizes it and is stopping it. Updates are simple to install. The appliance runs linux but except for the initial installation you really can't access the linux operating system. You configure it through a web browser and you can control which IP addresses are able to login as the administrator. There are three separate manual backup processes that backup the administrative settings, the database of spam vs non-spam, and the user settings. If you have to replace the unit, these three backups can get the new unit up and running quickly. You can send the logs records via syslog to a syslog collector on another machine. I have developed a C program that generates statistics in the form of graphs plotted using gnuplot that show what is going on separate from the graphs available through the administrative interface. You can customize the spam settings using regular expressions but if you don't write the regular expressions correctly it can cripple the machine. They may have fixed this now so that it is more tolerant of bad regular expressions. In general the users are very happy with it although they do complain every so often about the spam that gets through it anyway. No system is perfect. For the money this system is very good. At 10:35 AM 7/25/2005, you wrote:
I'm looking at the Barracuda Spam Filter and would like to know if anyone is currently using it. If so what your experiences have been. Aaron M Gibbs Interim Vice President/CIO Center for Information Technology St. Augustine's College 919-516-4379 (Office) 919-516-4382 (Fax) amgibbs () st-aug edu www.st-aug.edu
Brother Kenneth Arnold System Administrator Information Technology Services Christian Brothers University (901) 321-4333
Current thread:
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Hunter, Laura E. (Jul 25)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Barracuda Spam Filter Gibbs, Aaron M. (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Fretz, Kerry (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Sherry Callahan (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Flagg, Martin D. (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Dewitt Latimer (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Jeffrey I. Schiller (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Kenneth G. Arnold (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Jamie A. Stapleton (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter CAROLE CARMODY (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Information Security (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Hall, Rand (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter CAROLE CARMODY (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Hall, Rand (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Graham Toal (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter CAROLE CARMODY (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Bruce Hudson (Jul 25)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Jeff Kell (Jul 25)
(Thread continues...)