Introduction

Barracuda NG Firewall F900 is the top class enterprise level firewall security appliance that provides secured network to large scale industries that have around 2000 users, by supporting up to 1,000,000 concurrent sessions. Barracuda NG Firewall F900 has around 2.82Gbps VPN throughput that enables administrators to create several secure VPN tunnels to multiple branch office for remote accesses.

With the capacity of having up to 24 x 1Gb Ethernet interfaces, 1 x 10/100 interface, and up to 12 x 1Gb fiber SFP or up to 6 x 10Gb fiber SFP+ interfaces in the appliance, Barracuda NG Firewall F900 provides high-speed data transmission to the internal network, and also allows network scalability by combining multiple networks with the help of fiber-optic media using them as backbone cables. Because of 20Gbps firewall throughput, Barracuda NG Firewall F900 is capable of securing the network from external threats while providing decent network connectivity to the branch offices at the same time.

Who Should Buy?

Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance is useful in:

• Large Scale Industries – Organizations that require high-speed data transmission for up to 2000 users and want to have secured VPN tunnels to multiple branch offices with decent connection speed can use Barracuda NG Firewall F900 for secure data transmission in internal network, as well as while communicating with branch offices through secured VPN tunnels using the Internet.
• Offices with Multiple Campuses – Since Barracuda NG Firewall F900 is also capable of having up to 12 x 1Gb fiber SFP or up to 6 x 10Gb fiber SFP+ interfaces, industries with multiple campuses in their premises can use this security appliance to connect multiple campuses using fiber-optic media for reliable, EMI-free and high-speed internetwork connectivity.

What Purposes It Serves?

Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance allows security administrators to:

• Control Applications – Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance helps administrators to implement application layer security by allowing or denying access to layer 7 applications such as Skype, P2P clients, and Web 2.0 applications.
• Join Multiple Networks (Campuses) – Because of the capability of having up to 12 x 1Gb fiber SFP or up to 6 x 10Gb fiber SFP+ interfaces, administrators can join multiple campuses in the network with the help of fiber-optic media as backbone cables. Since fiber-optic cables provide high-speed data transmission which can travel long distances, multiple campuses even at distant places can also be connected to the main building using Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance.
• Distributed Firewall Management – Barracuda NG Firewall 900 security appliance allows security administrators to logically divide a single global rule-set into multiple logical rule-sets. One responsible person can then be delegated the task of managing each logical rule-set, hence reducing management overhead of one security administrator.
• Set up VoIP – Barracuda NG Firewall F900 allows administrators to set up VoIP which can be useful to reduce calling costs, in case the organization deals in extensive voice calling process.
• Template-Based Management – Barracuda NG Firewall F900 allows security administrators to prepare management templates. Management templates eliminate the requirement of going through the similar configuration process on each Barracuda NG Firewall F900 appliance, if all of them require having same security policies. This saves administrators’ decent amount of time. Management template once created on any one Barracuda NG Firewall F900 appliance can be used to deploy identical configurations on all Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliances throughout the network, hence remarkably expediting the configuration process in the entire network.
• Secure Web Proxy – With the optional secure web proxy subscription, security administrators can enable and configure SSL proxy to monitor outgoing HTTPS packets and take appropriate actions according to the configured policies.

Top Features and Benefits

• VPN Connections – Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance supports:
• ✓ 2.82Gbps of VPN throughput
• ✓ IPsec VPN tunnel support
• Security – Since Barracuda NG Firewall F900 is a dedicated security device especially designed for large organizations that have branch offices that need to get connected via secure VPN tunnels for remote accesses, and also have multiple campuses to be connected to the main building, it supports:
• ✓ 20Gbps firewall throughput
• ✓ Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)
• ✓ Proxy Firewall
• ✓ Around 4.55Gbps Intrusion Prevention Services (IPS) throughput
• ✓ Spam Filtering
• Networking – Apart from other general networking features, Barracuda NG Firewall F900 also supports:
• ✓ Network Address Translation (NAT)
• Voice over IP (VoIP) – Security administrators can also manage VoIP by:
• ✓ H.323
• ✓ SIP
• Role Based Access Control (RBAC) – This feature allows administrators to configure Barracuda NG Firewall F900 to link Active Directory users to IP addresses and grant or deny access to network shares and resources according to the defined rule-sets in the polices. Apart from Active Directory integration, Barracuda NG Firewall F900 also supports RADIUS, NTLM, MS CHAP, TACACS+, etc.
• WAN Optimization – Because of data deduplication (byte level caching) and other such optimization features, Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance is capable of compressing WAN data up to 95%, hence remarkably improving business productivity with fast data transmissions over 2.82Gbps VPN tunnels, and securing the network with 20Gbps firewall throughput.

Hardware Specifications – Hardware specifications of a Barracuda NG Firewall F900 include:

• Up to 24 x 1GbE copper interfaces
• 1 x 10/100 copper interfaces
• Up to 12 x 1Gb fiber SFP or up to 6 x 10Gb fiber SFP+ interfaces
• 2 USB ports
• 3G USB modem (optional)
• Dual internal power supply
• 39.6 lbs (18 Kg) Weight
• 5 Amp power drawn

Paid Subscriptions

In order to enhance the security of the network, and make the Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance work even more efficiently, security administrators can purchase the following available additional subscriptions:

• Barracuda NG Energize Updates – This subscription keeps the Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance updated with latest updates on hourly basis. Energize Updates can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Instant Replacement – This subscription entitles Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance for instant replacement (within 24 hours), in case something goes wrong with the hardware of the device. Instant replacement program can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Web Filter- This subscription allows security administrators to block unwanted websites to pass through Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance, hence restricting users from accessing inappropriate contents available on the Internet. Web Filter services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Malware Protection – This subscription keeps the internal network secure by blocking malware and other such suspicious elements at the Barracuda NG Firewall F900 gateway itself. Malware Protection services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Web Security – Web Security services are a combination set of Web Filter and Malware Protection services and can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis. Since Web Security is a bundle of Web Filter and Malware Protection services, organizations are not required to purchase the said two services individually in case Web Security services are purchased.
• Barracuda NG SSL VPN and NAC – This subscription enables Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance to set up SSL VPN tunnels and Network Access Control (NAC) to secure the network and its sensitive information from threats. SSL VPN and NAC services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Secure Web Proxy – This subscription allows security administrators of the organizations to configure SSL web proxy on Barracuda NG Firewall F900 to intercept outgoing HTTPS traffic. Secure Web Proxy services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Premium Support – This subscription entitles Barracuda NG Firewall F900 security appliance for technical support for 24 x 7 from dedicated highly skilled technical support team. Premium Support for Barracuda NG Firewall F900 can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.

Conclusion

To summarize, Barracuda NG Firewall F900 can prove to be the best security solution for large scale organizations with up to 2000 users, that need secure and high speed VPN connectivity to their branch offices that may be situated at distant geographical locations, and want to establish a campus area network using fiber-optic media.