Re: host based firewall for windows 2003 server?

[Vuong Phung <vphung () SCIENCE SJSU EDU>]

Thanks Guy! I know about Security Configuration Wizard for Windows Server 2003 but never actually go through to install 
and configure it. I am afraid it's not as flexible to make changes as third-party firewall like zonealarm on a desktop 
client.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/security/configwiz/default.mspx

I will give SCW a try and see if it meet what we need. However, if anyone know about any third-party firewall for 
windows 2003 server please continue to let me know. Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vuong Phung
Operating Systems Administrator
College of Science - Dean's Office

San Jose State University
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0099
Duncan Hall 33

Tel 1.408.924.5056
Fax 1.408.924.5033
Web https://ncs.science.sjsu.edu/helpdesk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: Pace, Guy [mailto:gpace () CIS CTC EDU]
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 10:05 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] host based firewall for windows 2003 server?


Vuong, I think you might be confusing the XP endpoint firewall (which
does only monitor inbound traffic) with the Win2k3 endpoint firewall.
The Windows 2003 firewall is much more feature rich than the XP, manages
both incoming and outgoing traffic and allows very granular control of
ports, IP source and target, and traffic. It will log, as well, and that
can be incorporated into your MOM service. The wizard that must be
installed to configure the system for the first time gives you a run
down on the capabilities and feature set of the firewall. You do need to
know what services and applications are going to run on your server
beforehand so that you know what selections to make. Believe me, if you
don't set it up correctly, a service or application on your server will
not be able to communicate out.

No, it probably isn't as "good" as a third-party commercial product, but
it is part of the package and requires no extra license It is a good,
no-cost endpoint option for internal, server-to-server traffic control
and management. It is not an enterprise firewall.

Guy L. Pace, CISSP
Security Administrator
Center for Information Services (CIS)
3101 Northup Way, Suite 100
Bellevue, WA 98004
425-803-9724

gpace () cis ctc edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Vuong Phung [mailto:vphung () SCIENCE SJSU EDU] 
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 9:36 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: [SECURITY] host based firewall for windows 2003 server?

Windows 2003 built-in firewall only blocks incoming traffic and don't do
much logging and alerting. We are looking for a firewall to install on
Windows 2003 server to control  and monitor its outgoing and incoming
traffic. A lot of googling didn't show many products, and none of them
really stand out or have much review about the products. 

Does anyone know or use any third-party firewall on Windows 2003 server
that can control, monitor and alerting (via email or log to the event
log) its outgoing and incoming traffic?

Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vuong Phung
Operating Systems Administrator
College of Science - Dean's Office

San Jose State University
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0099
Duncan Hall 33

Tel 1.408.924.5056
Fax 1.408.924.5033
Web https://ncs.science.sjsu.edu/helpdesk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~