Archive for the 'WatchGuard' Category

16
Jan
12

Focused Intensity

One of my favorite pastimes is to read about companies and what they do and why they do what they do.  What I love is to also understand what they don’t do.

Here is what I mean by that.  Chick-Fil-A is a great company based near me in Atlanta, GA USA. Any location you go into across the country will be a terrific experience.  Friendly employees, clean and welcoming environment.  In fact the service at the one is far better than that at some places that cost three times as much.  If you take a baby in there a member of their staff will make sure you have everything you need and also give you some Cheerios for them.

Chick-Fil-A makes chicken.  They don’t make hamburgers, fish or any other protein.  There is no need for them to go away from their core values or change what they do.  If they did I think their business would dissolve away and look like any other fast food place.

They also are not open on Sunday’s or holidays.  No exceptions.  They are also very successful.  And what I love is they will not bend their principles on these things.  If you drive down the interstate and see a list of upcoming restaurants if there is a Chick-Fil-A you will see a note underneath that reads “Closed Sunday”.  They are upfront and honest about who they are.

What all do your vendors do?  Are they focused like Chick-Fil-A?

27
Sep
11

When to Outsource

So when is a good time to outsource a function of IT? I think anyone who has received a call from a Managed Services Company has asked that question of themselves. Some companies absolutely refuse to outsource any function of IT. Others I have seen maybe outsource too much.

Like anything I don’t think there is a clear cut answer. It will depend on the talents of your staff. If your staff is really good at break fix work then higher end functions like firewall management and security should be outsourced. Conversely if your staff is more skilled in the higher end functions than please get the break fix work off their plate. It is unwise to try and do all the work in-house if your staff doesn’t possess the appropriate skills.

Please do not take this as a criticism of anyone’s skills or knowledge level. God knows I am not the one to do a lot of jobs in this world no matter how much I want to. Knowing the limits of your IT team is how you can lead them to what they really want to do. People naturally gravitate towards their skill set anyway. It is the job of the leader to keep the on that path. And outsourcing certain functions of your department is the only way to lead the organization down the correct path.

17
May
11

WatchGuard Single Sign On Over VPN Tunnel

If you have a remote site connecting over a VPN tunnel that does not have a local domain server you can still provide Active Directory Authentication and security over Single Sign On.

Simply configure the remote WatchGuard XTM to point back to the local IP address of your Global Catalog server and SSO will pass through.  Policies at the remote site can then be secured and security logs maintained to meet compliance.

If you have a WatchGuard issue we will have a solution.  Contact Us with Any Questions!  www.xtmtraining.com

06
May
11

J. Stengel Solves Major WatchGuard Management Issue

Currently there is a limitation in WatchGuard XTM devices and WatchGuard Management Server that prevents centralized Proxy and WebBlocker policies if you are using them in conjunction with Active Directory authentication and Single Sign On.  This prevents companies from having tighter security while reducing management.

So here is an example.  Let’s say a company has 8 WebBlocker Policies and 100 sites.  If they want to integrate those policies with Active Directory and Single Sign On they can do that on each appliance but not centrally.  But what if a change needs to be made or an exception added?  They would need to make 800 changes.  The error rate would be high and the margin of error is huge.

Today I am very excited to announce that we have solved this hurdle in WatchGuard XTM and WatchGuard Server Center management.  After extensive research and testing, we have successfully centralized Proxy and WebBlocker policies while integrating them into Active Directory.   

Using the same scenario as above we take those changes from 800 down to 8.  So if someone had 10,000 sites they would still only make 8 changes.  All while maintaining centralized control.  The cost savings are tremendous.  By using our solution we can save companies thousands or even millions.  Additional savings can also be achieved by not purchasing higher priced solutions.

Our solution eliminates the margin of error, improves productivity, increases employee and client satisfaction, and saves companies a lot of money.

Contact us via our Website www.jstengel.net or 704-464-4468 if you would like more information or to discuss how we can solve your network security hurdles.




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