Sonicwall question

[Red Squirrel]

We are thinking of deploying the Sonicwall PRO 5060 AV/firewall/anti spam appliance on a large network with multiple submets. I'm just not sure how the agent part of it works, and what is the proceedure of mass deploying the agent to the computers. Also, most of the machines on the network are 98, so is there a way to install the agent manually? Oh, and will it works ok on a netware based network? Tried sonicwall's forums, but the 2 first topics where in 2005 and the rest in 2004, so I doubt I'll get a response this year.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BeanDip]

Anything that tries to use the Internet through the Sonicwall appliance will be checked for the McAfee AV agent. If the device doesn't have the agent then it will be redirected to a web page to install it. It will do this for all Windows back to Win 95.

You will have to create exclusion rules for any device that cannot use the agent such as a PDA or a server that has the server-level AV.

It should work fined with a Netware network.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh nice, so they're forced to install it basically. Is there a way to mass deploy the agent? I guess I could create a rapidinstall package of it by doing it on a machine.

 

[BeanDip]

I don't know if you can install it manually or via a package.

Look here http://www.sonicwall.com/support/anti-virus_documentation.html

 

[Diaonic]

When we tried the AV agent on an older pro 200. It was very sluggish to install to the machines. Not sure how much they improved it. We ended up just buying Norton corporate.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmm what about win98 machines? would it install? These are over 1Ghz machines though. They came with XP and they went and put 98 on them. School boards sometimes make me wonder. (we only manage their servers/network)

 

[BeanDip]

I consult for an office of around 25 PCs that is using the Sonicwall AV. They have a mixture of anything from 400 MHz with Win98 to the latest and greatest.

Several years ago I would cuss and grumble because the agent just plain sucked. It would crash and it always seemed like the definitions would update days after the normal McAfee client.

Then around a year and a half ago they all auto-updated to a new agent that has fixed all the problems. It is stable and we have no problems with any of the computers.

Normally when I setup a customer I use the Symantec Corporate. I only used the Sonicwall AV because this client already had it when I took them over. If I had my choice it would be Symantec. The only thing I do like about the Sonicwall is the fact that you have to have the agent to get outside the network.

 

[Diaonic]

Yea that's probably the same era when we decided to do a test run of it. Man that left a bad taste in my mouth. We do use sonicwalls in all our locations across our school district and they are pretty flawless. We have only had issues with the lower end SOHO models.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Good to know so if we buy one now it will have the newer agent. We have a test unit here now but it's just a lower end one - the AV is seperate but I'll try to get the demo working so I can see how it works etc. Hopefully they'll get a higher end model like the 5060, much less hassle since everything works out of the box, no extra subscriptions or demos etc.

 

[InlineFive]

It's a somewhat buggy "feature". In my test experience it would consistently block client connections who had the latest client and DATs. It would say that they had not updated (when they had in fact) and deny them access.

I ended up going with McAfee VirusScan Enterprise which offers much, much more.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I have it working, only problem now is win98, it installs, but still blocks off the internet thinking it's not installed.

Just wondering though, how does it check if it's installed? Does the agent periodicly send something to the sonicwall indicating it's installed?