NetMAX Newsletter - March 2004

1. [Industry News] Recent Virus Outbreaks
2. [Technical] NetMAX Proxy ARP Tips
3. [Hardware] Magnia SG20 Availability
4. [General] Let's Hear From You

1. Recent Virus Outbreaks

There has recently been a rash of e-mail viruses affecting computers running Microsoft Windows. Whether or not you are using NetMAX as your mail server, there are a variety of measures you can take to prevent your Windows machines from becoming infected.

1. Consider installing virus scanning software on your Windows machines. This is one of the biggest measures you can take to prevent viruses.

2. Keep your virus signature files up to date. All current anti-virus programs should come with auto-update routines built in. Ensuring that they are working is essential.

3. Check Windows Update frequently for patches. Keeping your system up to date not only prevents hackers from gaining access, but also can prevent many viruses from causing any damage.

4. Never open attachments to e-mail messages unless you were expecting them. This is especially true for files with the extensions: .pif, .exe, and .bat.

5. Use of the NetMAX SpamBouncer, part of the E-Mail PowerPack, can reduce the number of viruses that get to your users' inboxes. Many will be flagged as spam and placed in the users' spam folders.

6. Since nearly all current viruses only affect Windows machines, running your mail server on a Linux based machine will nearly eliminate the risk of your mail server itself getting infected.

2. NetMAX Proxy ARP Tips

Using Proxy ARP for bridging can be a very useful tool in a variety of situations. Proxy ARP is useful when you have machines that are within the same IP range as the external interface of a NetMAX, but want to perform firewalling functions for those machines. It is also useful for redirecting "external" traffic to an internal host when more than only TCP and UDP are required, or when you need to redirect many/all ports to a machine.

When Proxy ARP is properly configured, the NetMAX machine will receive IP traffic for the proxied machines and forward it along to the actual, internal host.

If you'd like to know how to configure Proxy ARP on your network, you can reference the Proxy ARP how-to article in our Knowledge Base:

http://www.netmax.com/fom/fom.cgi?file=546

3. Magnia SG20 Availability

As was announced in last month's newsletter, Magnia SG30 models are
no longer available in the NetMAX Store. We are, however, still
offering our higher-value SG20 models! Magnia SG20 models range in
price from $399-$599 with VPN, Professional or both pre-installed --
the easiest way to quickly and inexpensively add a NetMAX to your
network.

These prices will only last as long as our stock of SG20s does, so act soon! Drop by the NetMAX Store at:

http://www.netmax.com/order/BuyStuff.cgi

4. Let's Hear From You!

We would very much like to hear from you -- especially about how you use NetMAX and Linux in your business, and how we can make NetMAX better suited to your needs. Contribute your input to the NetMAX Forum at:

http://www.netmax.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi

or to our general NetMAX contact form at:

http://www.netmax.com/partners/contacts.html

Let us know about your likes, dislikes, and general comments. We are especially interested in the type of additions to NetMAX that you would like to see as we continue to develop the NetMAX line.

Thank you!