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Clustered Firewalls? What on earth next, beowulf IDS systems?
Check Point has added cluster support and more granular controls to its virtual firewall software, memorably named Check Point VPN-1 Power VSX NGX.
Virtual firewalls can now be distributed around a server cluster, with standby firewalls on alternative servers. System administrators can also shift processor power around, taking it from low priority systems and giving to to high priority ones.
“We are seeing a growing market within data centres to have clustered environments so there is no single point of failure,” said Check Point security engineer Caroline Ikomi.
Virtual servers are getting pretty big though, for all kinds of purposes.
“Within the VSX scalability pack, you can allocate virtual systems to specific cluster members based on their performance requirement, and have alternative virtual systems backed up to the same blade as a standby, so making maximum use of resources.”
Check Point claimed that the new clustering capability in VSX enables linear growth in performance, plus real-time monitoring of traffic load distribution, and reduced synchronisation traffic.
The program, which costs from $24,000 for 10 virtual system licences, is a version of Check Point’s firewall, VPN and anti-intrusion software that runs as a virtual application. The company said that it allows a single physical server to run up to 250 virtual security devices.
It’s aimed at large organisations with multiple VLANs so it might interest some of you. It’s also good for running multiple ‘firewall’ devices with different policy sets from the same bit of hardware.
Source: The Register