Re: Barracuda Spam Filter

["Kenneth G. Arnold" <bkarnold () CBU EDU>]

We are currently using the Model 400 Baracuda Spam Filter.

It is very inexpensive compared to most other spam solutions.

It has a warranty but I suggest that you buy replacement insurance so that
if the unit develops a problem it can be replaced quickly.  This costs
under $1000 a year.

The cost for yearly spam definition updates is also under $1000.

Antivirus is included at no extra charge.

The spam definititions aren't updated very quickly after a major burst of
spam breaks out.  Not too long ago there was a huge volume of German
language spam.  Barracuda didn't stop it during that first weekend of
activity.  As of about two weeks after the outbreak I hadn't really seen
any more of it.  I don't know whether that means the spam has stopped or
that Barracuda now recognizes it and is stopping it.

Updates are simple to install.

The appliance runs linux but except for the initial installation you really
can't access the linux operating system.  You configure it through a web
browser and you can control which IP addresses are able to login as the
administrator.

There are three separate manual backup processes that backup the
administrative settings, the database of spam vs non-spam, and the user
settings.  If you have to replace the unit, these three backups can get the
new unit up and running quickly.

You can send the logs records via syslog to a syslog collector on another
machine.  I have developed a C program that generates statistics in the
form of graphs plotted using gnuplot that show what is going on separate
from the graphs available through the administrative interface.

You can customize the spam settings using regular expressions but if you
don't write the regular expressions correctly it can cripple the
machine.  They may have fixed this now so that it is more tolerant of bad
regular expressions.

In general the users are very happy with it although they do complain every
so often about the spam that gets through it anyway.  No system is perfect.
For the money this system is very good.



At 10:35 AM 7/25/2005, you wrote:
> I'm looking at the Barracuda Spam Filter and would like to know if anyone
> is currently using it. If so what your experiences have been.
>
> Aaron M Gibbs
> Interim Vice President/CIO
> Center for Information Technology
> St. Augustine's College
> 919-516-4379 (Office)
> 919-516-4382 (Fax)
> amgibbs () st-aug edu
> www.st-aug.edu


Brother Kenneth Arnold
System Administrator
Information Technology Services
Christian Brothers University
(901) 321-4333