We implement it for customers. We have some customers in Mexico who need that kind of technology. We sell that technology to them. Some of our customers have experience working with previous versions of Barracuda; they ask us to implement that kind of device. We have certification with Barracuda, we have certification with some other brands.
Barracuda has a very simple interface, very good security, all the features of the best firewalls in the market, but with a very friendly interface.
Something that we've seen that Barracuda, and some other brands also, have. When you program the firewall to detect certain kinds of attacks, Barracuda can detect that kind of attack and automatically insulate, or remove, or encapsulate the very specific IP, if it's internal. And if it's external it just blocks any kind of communication with that specific IP. If you want, Barracuda will warn the security team. If you allow, or release, that IP, it will continue communication. If not, it will block it forever, or until you release it.
Internally, we'll remove it until you release also, but we allow the IT team to review what is happening with that particular piece of equipment, a computer, a laptop, a server, any kind of device into which a "back door" can be opened or through which they're trying to get some information. Barracuda can help with that. That is one of the most important features we've seen with Barracuda.
I cannot mention the name, due to the NDA that we have signed with a financial company, a financial entity. But we implemented Barracuda with them. Right now they are monitoring all the information that their employees are managing. If an employee tries to get or move a file that is not permitted to them - for example if he wants to copy it to a USB - he will not have the right to do that, because Barracuda manages who has the right to copy, and what you copy to a USB. The USB is encrypted with a specific code from Barracuda and will only be decrypted into any other laptop in the company if they allow it to see it.
Even in the network, a feature of Windows is to see how you are sharing files. Barracuda can help you to monitor how you are moving files.
When you are sending information to an external email address, Barracuda can warn you when you are trying to access a private or personal email, or trying to upload information; it's not allowing you to do that. That was the biggest feature that that financial entity admired in Barracuda, among others.
Easy integration with some other systems like LDAP or Active Directory to manage other permissions and the division of external access and internal access.
The problem we found was with the issue of configuration. Our engineers are working with some other brands, they have knowledge of other brands. With Barracuda it's a matter of translating the comments. So maybe one company calls something a "black box" and with Barracuda they call "black" "dark." So it's a matter of getting to know it.
We had only one issue. But after we did the analysis and we escalated the issue with the Barracuda service desk, the issue was shown to be coming from a failure in a RAM memory card in the Barracuda. That issue was detected by technical support. They sent a replacement, it solved the issue, and we continued working.
No issues with scalability.
When we buy the device for the customer, we buy the Enhanced Support, the extended support contract, 24/7 support. When we write in with issues we get very quick answers from technical support. The communication with their engineers is very fluid.
We had a couple of sessions at one point; the engineer working with us never put down the phone. When her work hours were supposed to end, we changed to another engineer, but not immediately. The first one didn't say goodbye immediately. She stayed behind for 30 minutes to explain and transfer the case to the other engineer and we completed the test with the other engineer. He detected the failure and created the RMA to change the problematic piece and that was it.
We are not entirely switching to Barracuda. We want to, but we are not because before we started selling Barracuda we had invested in other brands and, obviously, in the accounting and in reality, we need to complete using them. But yes, we are thinking of moving to Barracuda after we have had it for three years. We want to show our customers that we are using the technology we are selling.
The firewall we are using in our company is Palo Alto, it's a very good firewall, a very robust firewall as well. But when we are doing the comparison with Barracuda we can see it's not the same. The biggest difference between the brands is pricing.
This is something that I have never specifically asked my technical team. The simple answer is that they have told me there is no problem. It's very easy. We only need to know the names of the commented bits, because there are some comments where the names are changing.
We compared Barracuda with Cisco. We compared Barracuda, at that time, with Fortinet. When we did the comparison we felt Cisco was another great product. But the difference in this case, what made Barracuda the winner, was the price, at that time.
We are an information technology service provider in telecommunications. We can supply any kind of device, for a datacenter, and contact centers, for our customers. We are using technology from Dell, HPE, Palo Alto, Barracuda, and some other brands to implement technology solutions for customers.
Our principal service is a managed service, information security services, or cyber security. We sell those services to different customers in Mexico. We are serving Central America and some other countries in Latin America.
I give Barracuda an eight out of 10 because they can still give more to the end-user. They still have things they can improve. They have very good features but I think they can improve some of those features and make it into a super service. Today, they are a good solution. It could be a super solution.
Regarding Barracuda, Google has been using that technology for a very long time. If a company like Google is using that technology...
Take the opportunity to get to know the device. You need to request a proof of concept, in the case that you are comparing it with another brand. That is the best way to show what Barracuda can do, completely. It's not the same as a simple server, or any other device.
If you only want to secure internet access, Barracuda will comply completely with all the features you require. But if you have public servers, and you are looking for more security options, etc., and don't want to spend a lot, Barracuda is what you are looking for. If you are a company that has no specific standard to follow, Barracuda is what you are looking for. It has very good hardware, it has very good software - or operating system - and they have very good features and good pricing. If you compare it with other brands, Barracuda is a very good solution.
Since updating single boxes or large amounts of systems only requires a couple of mouse clicks, it allows us to keep the firewalls up to date, both for firmware and on fixes, in demanding locations around the globe. This process is such that we trust it to handle nearly impossible to reach systems too.
The real difference is the fact that it truly scales, and fully managing a thousand firewalls worldwide with a team of two is quite doable. Even with serious hardware failures, you can often still securely manage the system and analyze the issue at hand, or even fix certain issues. Other indispensable functions, are the full transparency of handled data, both real time and historical, the ability to create VPN tunnels in the blink of an eye, the multiple parallel VPN tunnels, and near infinite routing options.
Although IPv6 was implemented a couple of years ago in the Barracuda NG Firewalls, the real use of IPv6 is still rare. This means that the “real world exposure” of these parts is less than the IPv4 parts. This is obviously a general issue for security vendors.
None what so ever, we use these systems in critical 24x7x365 environments because of their stability and resiliency.
Barracuda offers a wide range of models ranging up to 40 GB sustained firewall throughput, and since all their systems work from a single image, I’ve never had an issue with scaling or migrating them.
The Barracuda NG Firewall, managed through the Barracuda Control Center thrives in large to very large environments. Unlike other vendors, the management really scales. Managing (all aspects) a thousand firewalls anywhere in the world with just a couple of engineers, is quit doable. The current practical maximum of firewalls to manage simultaneously is around 7,500, but that is quite beyond my scope.
Customer Service:
I’ve been in IT for nearly 40 years, and I’ve had my share of dealings with “service/support organizations”, often service/support was just the name of the department, but down the line it got a different meaning. Barracuda’s definition of support however extends every definition of the term to a new level.
These guys are accessible, no phone trees etc., they are polite, extremely knowledgeable, and customer oriented. Officially you need a subscription to be eligible for support, but I’ve never seen them turn their back on anyone. Barracuda Service is really Barracuda Service.
Technical Support:
There is not really a difference between customer service and technical support except maybe in the questions asked (and the people assigned to answer these questions).
Every user is entitled to full technical support which, as states, is unsurpassed in the IT industry.
I’ve been working with firewalls in small, medium and world scale solutions, since approx. 1994. and have dealt with a substantial amount of systems from number of vendors (like Check Point, Juniper NetScreen, Cisco PIX and ASA and some smaller ones).
Over the years, I’ve seen many sales guys promising “the world” but upon closer scrutiny actually offering very little. I must confess that I told the Barracuda (Phion back than) sales guy of my experiences, and his reply was; “you’re right, I’ll organize a phone conference with one of the developers”. My immediate reply was “Do these guys talk to mortals?”
After a very frank and open call lasting far beyond the one hour initially set, I was convinced that this product truly did stand out. Seven years of experience later, I’m even more convinced that this solution is unparalleled.
Let me rephrase, my “first setup” was complex, as the Barracuda NG firewall is different to others, but once you understand what you’ve got, and can get your head around it, it’s tremendously straightforward.
I’ve received full training of the Barracuda NG Firewall, and I’m the guy that designs the entire environment, and gets to setup the complex parts, and for the really insane tweaks, I can always count on the help of the entire Barracuda team. They are always reachable and will come over on short notice for special cases. These are the people who were part of team that build the systems back in the very early 2000’s and working with these guys is always a pleasure.
It is a real next generation firewall, if you’re looking for any run of the mill box and have little requirements, it’s probably not for you. If your requirements are more demanding and especially if you’ve got a number of locations, this is the product to consider.
The price itself is in the normal range, so the real benefit lies in the savings in management and amount of staff. Furthermore, Barracuda offers a so called instant replacement contract that not only entitles you to replacement of defective hardware, but also after four years enables you to replace the system with a brand new system for free.
As stated, I’ve worked with firewalls from different vendors, also in quite large environments, but they are no match for the Barracuda NG Firewall, not by a long shot. The vendors were:
Although it is a truly great firewall it is certainly not a “run of the mill” product, and even if you have thorough knowledge of other firewall environment, don’t go in there without a good partner that will guide and support you.
Not really a Barracuda NG Firewall but a Barracuda rack mounted device (EON) that is capable of running the NG Firewall, next to instances of e.g. Web Application Firewall, Web Filters, etc., the sustained throughput on these boxes is around 250 GB.
Showing an F10, low-end, firewall and an F600, mid-range, model Barracuda NG Firewall
Just the first screen of a (demo env.) Barracuda Control Center showing the status of some firewalls
The Barracuda tool (NGEarth) that allows you to monitor in real time your VPN tunnels and system status (again demo)
Example showing traffic history (just one of the many screens.)
