Enterprise-grade Linux: Five network security FOSS apps

David M Williams
Wednesday, 23 January 2008 17:42

Opinion and Analysis

Here’s where L7 Filter comes in; it can detect and block these protocols as well as many others. Just like the products above the key is a library of signatures which, once again, are continually being updated and expanded by an enthusiastic and dedicated community.

OpenVPN
No matter the size of your company, at some point you’ll have users who want to get into the network from home or out on the road whether it be to check mail, work on the database, put together a tender or proposal or any of a million other reasons.

This is where VPN – virtual private network – products come in. Yet, many VPN clients from the likes of Cisco, Nortel and Juniper and other companies of their ilk do not co-operate with each other, or are limited in the operating systems they run on, or generally put up other obstacles.

Instead, OpenVPN is an easily-configured, easily managed VPN tool which works effectively and is available for Windows, Linux and Mac computers. OpenVPN is quicker to set up than IPSec and PPTP and is both cost-effective and stable.

The way of FOSS
So that’s five top-notch products you ought to check out. FOSS clearly comes in a winner when it comes to the balance sheet; no proprietary solution is as cost-effective. And each of these five products performs an essential network security task.

Yet, as enthusiastic as we may be about open source, you need to keep in mind that not all software products, no matter the price, are of comparable strength. In this case, all five of the above are proven and established. They are all extensible and have a great set of contributors giving extra value and support and pretty much ensuring they are future proof.

These are not, by any means, the only worthwhile FOSS network security apps. You will easily find many more. Make the right choice, though. Do some small research and you will be the better for it. When you find an intriguing product be sure to determine whether documentation exists and is clear, how straightforward or cumbersome the installation process is, how large and active the user community is, and whether someone in your company is willing to take on support themselves or reach out to the Internet for assistance rather than calling a dedicated support company.

With a bit of elbow grease, FOSS can help your company cut through the endless marketing and demonstration round-about used by proprietary software companies – before sliding the price across the table on a folded up piece of paper. There’s no need to leave your network without security; check out the above apps – every one is a winner.