Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
Re: Concentrator inside of paired failover firewalls.
From: "Huelsbeck, Harry H. CTR" <harry.huelsbeck.CTR () jtc-i jfcom mil>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:44:32 -0400
Wow, lot's of quick responses! I can tell you guys are thinking pretty much what my thoughts have been so far, just wanted to see if I was crazy or something. I get a lot of deer in the headlights looks sometimes. Data path coming inbound would be something like: Router, Switch, Firewalls External Burp(each firwall on a separate port on switch), Firewall Internal Burps, Hub (a hub for each burp, dmz etc..., a cable from both firewalls and associated burb to the same hub which concentrates the two together), Router, Switch, etc... The hubs are also used as span points for the IDS sensors to be placed and also some network instrumentation when needed. If replaced with a switch we will only have one span port available to plug into. Not a big issue, just put a hub on the span port, or play thru the IDS, but still a factor in the end state. Paul, I believe the thinking on replacing the hubs, is to get Gig connectivity to the firewalls; although the hubs have never failed or caused performance bottle necks etc... The firewalls will have Gig connectivity with the new switch, which then plugs into a 100mb router, so the perceived bottle neck just shifts a notch on the network.(The routers could be next on the list to go gig I guess) I think they want to put in a Cisco Gigabit 24 port switch, $$$$$$. We've actually suggested instead of a switch for each burp, to run V-Lans for each burp and pump all the v-lans into one switch from the firewalls. This would only require 1 switch instead of one for each burp. It would also allow flexability for creating temporary burps as easy as creating another v-lan instead of adding another piece of gear. Mark, Yeh, I've always seen switches also and when I saw the NetGear hubs running the whole thing here, kind of makes me nervous, but again they haven't failed or caused problems so...... The network guys are looking at putting in Cisco Gigabit switches. Yep, we have G2s running in HA, but not load sharing, just running in fail over mode. Thanks for the advice on checking the code version on the switches, it's on the list. Kevin, Nothing between the firewalls but a crossover for heartbeat as you described. The hubs are on the inside of the firewalls to concentrate the data from them back together to a single data line to the router. Another thought on this whole thing. It would be a better design (maybe they already have) for the firewalls to be inline with each other for this type of fail over setup. Basically have an external firewall handling the traffic plugged into and playing thru an open firewall on the inside that does nothing with the traffic. If the outside firewall fails, it fails open and the internal secondary firewall begins handling traffic instead. Then if the internal firewall fails, it fails closed, unless the outside firewall is up, in which case it would fail open. Thanks again for your thoughts, Harry -----Original Message----- From: firewall-wizards-bounces () listserv icsalabs com [mailto:firewall-wizards-bounces () listserv icsalabs com] On Behalf Of Huelsbeck, Harry H. CTR Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 10:37 AM To: Firewall Wizards Security Mailing List Subject: [fw-wiz] Concentrator inside of paired failover firewalls. Importance: Low Everyone, Looking at our network layout. We have two firewalls, a primary and a secondary. The two firewalls go to a hub which concentrates the two together to the inside network segnment. We plan on replacing the hub with a switch, but I was wondering if there is a better/cheaper solution to concentrate the 2 firewalls together? Seems like a lot of money to waste, if another solution could be used. Please let me know what you have used, or if you know of something better. Thanks in advance for any inputs, Harry _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () listserv icsalabs com https://listserv.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () listserv icsalabs com https://listserv.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards
Current thread:
- Black Hat Briefings Japan Speakers Selected! Jeff Moss (Sep 08)
- Concentrator inside of paired failover firewalls. Huelsbeck, Harry H. CTR (Sep 13)
- Re: Concentrator inside of paired failover firewalls. Paul D. Robertson (Sep 13)
- Re: Concentrator inside of paired failover firewalls. Huelsbeck, Harry H. CTR (Sep 13)
- Concentrator inside of paired failover firewalls. Huelsbeck, Harry H. CTR (Sep 13)