NetMAX Newsletter - June 2003

1. [Support] NetMAX FireWall Primer
2. [Products] Sale Pricing on a Limited Number of SG20s
3. [Feedback] Recommending the NetMAX Personal Tutor
4. [General] Let's Hear From You

1. NetMAX FireWall Primer
*********************
We've recently run across a few of our customers running NetMAX
Firewalls in configurations we don't recommend -- a bit on the
permissive side, which can be dangerous out on the net these days.
Concerned that this might be simply because some customers are not
comfortable with basic firewall theory, we asked our experts to
write a short firewall primer for our customers. Confused by
firewalls? Keep reading, and follow the links at the end for
more information!

A firewall is a security scheme that prevents unauthorized access
to resources or information. In computing terms, this definition
is most often applied as a mechanism for disallowing undesirable
network traffic, while still allowing for access to desirable
network resources.

A little bit of forethought goes a long way in the design of a
firewall toward preventing the unexpected and reducing recurring
maintenance. Administrators must document what specific traffic is
to be allowed (e.g. Allow all machines to access websites, allow the
Internet to access local FTP server, etc). Documenting this traffic
ahead of time will make creating firewall rules make a lot more sense.

One of the safest methods for building a firewall is to allow
traffic you explicitly desire, and block everything else. This
way (provided that you have accounted for all legitimate traffic)
when a new security problem arises, chances are pretty good that
you are already safe. Also, since the list of things explicitly
allowed would logically be much shorter than the list of things
specifically denied, it is a lot easier to figure out whether a
security flaw impacts a service which must be running, and then
to take the necessary measures to address the problem (e.g. update
the affected service, etc.)

The links below point at some NetMAX Knowledge Base articles and
external websites that are relevant to firewalls, and will give a
more thorough understanding of the process.

http://www.netmax.com/fom/fom.cgi?file=306
Firewall Tutorial For NetMAX Firewall

http://www.netmax.com/fom/fom.cgi?file=412
I locked myself out of NetMAX with firewall rules. What can I do?

http://www.netfilter.org
Home of the Linux firewall: iptables/netfilter

2. Sale Pricing on a Limited Number of SG20s
***********************************

NetMAX is already the simplest way to setup and administer Linux on
your own server hardware... but why not go one step easier and get
NetMAX already installed on a great Internet Appliance? You can buy
NetMAX pre-loaded on the Toshiba Magnia SG20 Internet Appliance... just
plug it into your network, configure and you're ready to go!

Best of all, right now you can get promotional versions of these
all-in-one servers for only $799 instead of the normal $2019 price!
Hurry, because when they're gone, so is this price -- only three left
as of this morning!

Visit the NetMAX Store at:

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

3. Recommending the NetMAX Personal Tutor
************************************

We announced the NetMAX Personal Tutor to you last month... and the
response has been overwhelmingly positive! If you've ever felt like
you could use a quick lesson on how to use NetMAX to its full
potential, our Personal Tutor is apparently the friendliest and
easiest way to get it!

NetMAX Personal Tutor is the fastest, easiest way to brush up on
NetMAX. Our Macromedia Flash-based Tutor will quickly guide you
through common networking tasks and configurations step by step, in
just minutes per topic. Get tutored on selectable topics, or go
through the entire 80 minute tutorial to review everything at once.

NetMAX Personal Tutor is download only, and can be found in the
NetMAX Store:

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

If you have suggestions for what we should add to NetMAX Personal
Tutor to help you even more, please let us know!

4. Let's Hear From You!
*******************

We would very much like to hear from you. Tell us how you use NetMAX
and Linux in your business... or what you would like to see in NetMAX
5... or maybe even what you'd like us to add to the Personal Tutor!
You can contribute your input to the NetMAX Forum:

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

or to our general NetMAX contact form:

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 Server you would like to see as we continue to develop the NetMAX line.

Thank you!