Novell Secures the Perimeter with Linux

Today, at the RSA Conference in San Francisco and LinuxWorld in Boston, Novell make known the availability of a gateway security solution called Novell Security Manager powered by Astaro. Security Manager is a SuSE Linux-based appliance configured to guard against viruses, worms, spam and network intrusion.

Novell has bundled six different perimeter security applications and includes an integrated management platform.

Novell's Security Manager software is Web-based and consolidates functions into a single installation, interface and reporting tool so that it is easier to manage.

Novell reasons that the soft-appliance leverages the "collective benefits" of open source primarily because Linux has an active community of developers that respond immediately to security holes and release quick patches.

The appliance has inbound firewall protection based on ports, protocols, sources, and destinations, Novell said. Other barriers to unauthorized entry include the ability to monitor traffic and block undesired network activity, as well as heuristic and definition based antivirus scanning.

Spam is also on the short list for removal and is quarantined or reported once if it is flagged by policy, patterns and thresholds. Content filtering blocks access to other objectionable content.

Security Manager is not limited to keeping traffic out; it can be configured to let remote users in. The last of the six security components is a virtual private network (VPN) gateway. This, says Novell, reduces cost by eliminating the need for dedicated lines.

"Our Linux-based approach provides customers enterprise-class security that protects their organizations from all external threats. We are looking forward to helping Novell realize its vision of a flexible, feature-rich, cost-effective IT infrastructure based on Linux platforms," said Astaro CEO Jan Hichert.

Novell Security Manager powered by Astaro is available now at a startinng price of $315 USD for a single "Server + 10-devices" license. Bulk licensing is also available.