Several weeks ago, Juniper Networks officially released an updated version of Firefly Perimeter. The version is 12.1x47 D10.2. We provided a lot of new and amazing updates in to the product. I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with an understanding of what is currently available in this code.
- Unified Threat Management ( UTM ) ( VMware and KVM )
- Intrusion Prevention System ( IPS ) ( VMware and KVM )
- vSphere 5.5 support ( VMware )
- Transparent Mode ( VMware and KVM )
- Transparent Mode Chassis Cluster Support ( VMware and KVM )
- Chassis Cluster Support for VirtIO driver ( KVM only )
- Deterministic NAT ( VMware and KVM )
- Port Block Allocation ( PBA ) NAT ( VMware and KVM )
A lot of these new features are self explanatory but I think that UTM needs some extra special explaining.
UTM is an industry term identifying a traditional firewall with security functions.
In the Firefly Perimeter realm UTM means
- Web Filtering ( included Enhanced Web Filter )
- Anti-virus
- Anti-spam
- Content Filtering
Anti-virus helps you with blocking malware, trojans, and viruses.
Anti-spam helps you with… wait for it… spam. That is right, the anti-spam feature in UTM, blocks spam.
Content filtering blocks or permits traffic based on MIME type, file extension, protocol command, and embedded object type. For instance, content filtering would block files that end in .exe or zip files.
Web filtering and enhanced web filtering allow to block or permit access to particular websites. For instance, if you wanted to block access to Facebook, you could use this capability ( past experience has proven that this does not make for happy employees but I think you get the idea ).
Now I have just given you a snippet of what these enhanced security features are capable of but I think it is important to understand what this means for you and your virtual environment. You now have the capability of implementing these security features in a virtual machine that is already capable of firewall protection, NAT, VPN, etc. and you still manage this from a single interface ( Junos Space ). Having the ability to manage everything in one virtual machine saves frustration, saves you time, improves your security capabilities through easier management. It is all around an amazing opportunity in your hand.
If you are interested in evaluating Firefly Perimeter 12.1x47, feel free to download
here If you are interested in Firefly Perimeter documentation, click here