Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Barracuda Spam Filter
From: Dave Koontz <dkoontz () MBC EDU>
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:42:03 -0400
Watching this thread, I have a couple questions about the 'cuda' product. What exactly does this product do that the free Spam Assassin code doesn't? In other words, why should I pay someone $1000+ dollars annually for what appears to basically be free software bundled on a scaled down server. It looks like the 'cuda' device uses SA version 3.02, which is two full versions behind the SA code branch.... which may frankly address some issues posted here. Initially, it would seem in the "device" world, I might actually loose a lot of functionality and features that I have running the full fledged product. So... 1) How easy is it to upgrade the device to the latest spam assassin version? 2) Do users have their own baysian DB's and rules, or are they globally maintained? 3) How easy can users interact with or train the system? 4) Can you easily add your own SA rulesets? (Custom or SARES) 5) Can the device test & score SPF/DK/DKIM/RBL/SUBL/URIBL results? 6) Does the device support the Razor and/or DCC networks? 7) Does the device support the usage of Grey Listing Technology? Lastly... Is this product really just a way for a site to "easily" use Spam Assassin without having to invest any time or effort into learning the program? If so, that's fine, but it may not be as full featured as the product could be. If the product does all the above and more... I will immediately ask for a purchase order to save me some precious time! :-) --- Dave Koontz Mary Baldwin College Staunton VA -----Original Message----- From: Justin Sipher [mailto:jsipher () SKIDMORE EDU] Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 3:59 PM To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Barracuda Spam Filter Add us to the list of schools who are very happy Barracuda users. However, I will share a recent story which dampers our enthusiasm slightly. Our single unit (model 600) had a hardware failure recently. It was in this process that we learned that we had a new "single point of failure" in the e-mail system. One major problem at the point of the failure is that all mail in the quarantine at the time of the failure was lost. Although most was SPAM, I do know that I had at least one valid e-mail in it. It was between when I received the e-mail quarantine summary and when I actually went to retrieve/delete the message when the failure occurred. To prevent this in the future, we've bought a second one and will have the two clustered for redundancy. The second problem we had is that they **appear** to be a victim of their own success. At the point of the failure they were out of stock for a replacement even though we were at the upgraded "instant replacement" level. In our case it took three days to get a replacement and then it was a 400 model to hold us over till they could get a 600. Not ideal. I do think they have learned from this (and maybe other) incidents and knowing everything I know now, I'd still buy another one, so the up-side is pretty high to overcome those shortcomings. ...Justin _______________________________________________________ Justin Sipher Chief Technology Officer Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY jsipher () skidmore edu 518-580-5909 _______________________________________________________ On Jul 25, 2005, at 11:35 AM, Gibbs, Aaron M. 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
Current thread:
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter, (continued)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Charlie Prothero (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Jamie A. Stapleton (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Stephen W. Bradley (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Jamie A. Stapleton (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Graham Toal (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Justin Sipher (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Charlie Prothero (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Charlie Prothero (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Jamie A. Stapleton (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Parker, Ron (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Dave Koontz (Jul 26)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Matthew Keller (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Michael_Maloney (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Tony Harris (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Matthew Keller (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Dave Koontz (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Hall, Rand (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Information Security (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Parker, Ron (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Matthew Keller (Jul 27)
- Re: Barracuda Spam Filter Matthew Keller (Jul 27)
(Thread continues...)