Barracuda NG Firewall VF50

Overview:

As organizations turn to virtualization as a way to save money, simplify deployments and reduce their environmental footprint, Barracuda Networks is offering virtual appliance versions of the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall and Barracuda SSL VPN with additional solutions to follow.

Virtual appliances enable enterprises to harness the same powerful security and networking technologies available in the Barracuda Networks range of hardware based solutions. Barracuda Networks virtual appliances are an ideal choice for enterprises that are standardizing hardware platforms or with existing virtual environments like VMware. As the organization grows, these appliances can be easily scaled for performance and capacity and also lend themselves to quicker backup and disaster recovery.

The virtual appliances combined with industry leading storage, security and networking hardware appliances from Barracuda Networks provide flexible deployment options to meet the unique needs of small, medium and large enterprises.

Key Features:

• Same powerful technology as the Barracuda Networks hardware appliances
• Same simple Web based user interface
• Simple installation in your existing VMware infrastructure
• Can be combined with Barracuda Networks hardware appliances
• Plug and play deployment
• Maintenance free through automatic updates
• Lower TCO

Deployments:

The screen-shots below illustrate deploying the Barracuda Virtual Appliance on a VMware ESX/ESXi hypervisor. Other deployment options are available. Please refer to the Setup Guide or contact Barracuda Networks.

Barracuda Virtual Appliances FAQ:

What is a “virtual appliance”?

A virtual appliance is a software image designed to run inside a virtual machine. When deployed inside a virtualization platform, such as VMware, multiple virtual appliances can share the physical resources of a single host computer while remaining logically isolated from each other. Barracuda Networks currently offers virtual appliance versions of many of its popular hardware appliance solutions to leverage the benefits of virtualization.

What are the benefits of Barracuda Virtual Appliances?

Barracuda Virtual Appliances provide the same technology found in the Barracuda Networks hardware solutions and are ideal for enterprises that are standardizing hardware platforms or with existing virtual environments. Barracuda Virtual Appliances can be deployed on standard virtualization platforms and can co-exist with other virtual machines, thereby enabling optimal usage of hardware resources. As the organization grows, virtual appliances can be scaled for capacity without changing any hardware or software configurations. Also, virtual appliances can be easier to backup and restore using standard mechanisms for disaster recovery.

What are the System requirements to run the Barracuda Virtual Appliance?

Currently, Barracuda Virtual Appliances are supported on VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 and higher with a minimum of 512 Mb RAM (1 Gb recommended) and 40 Gb available hard disk space. For information regarding other hypervisors or virtual infrastructures (like VMware Server, CITRIX XenApp, Microsoft Hyper-V), please contact us.

Are Barracuda Virtual Appliances as easy to deploy as the Barracuda Networks hardware appliances?

Yes. Barracuda Virtual Appliances are specifically designed for ease of deployment in new or existing virtualization environments. The virtual appliances are fully encapsulated with the virtual hardware configuration and the setup process is simple. Once the virtual appliance is installed, configuration and administration is through the same intuitive Web based user interface as that on the appliance. Instructions can be found in the online setup guides available as part of the download or under the Documentation section at www.barracuda.com/virtualization.

Do the Barracuda Virtual Appliances receive Energize Updates?

Yes. The Barracuda Networks Energize Updates subscription provides the latest security updates and is an essential part of purchasing either a Barracuda Networks hardware solution or a virtual appliance.

How does an administrator interact with a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?

Once deployed, Barracuda Virtual Appliances are administered through the same simple Web based user interface found on the hardware equivalents. This makes it very easy for administrators of Barracuda Networks hardware appliances to support Barracuda Virtual Appliances without learning a new usage model.

Can I make copies of my Barracuda Networks virtual appliance and deploy them for redundancy?

Every active instance of a Barracuda Virtual Appliance must be supplied a unique license token that is obtained during the process of requesting an evaluation. If you choose the ZIP deployment method, the same ZIP file can be used for multiple deployments, but each deployment must be provisioned with a unique token. Cold backups, snapshots, host migration and other backup or disaster recovery operations are fully supported.

Can I cluster a Barracuda Virtual Appliance with its hardware counterpart?

Yes. The “Linked Management” feature can be used to cluster a combination of Barracuda Virtual Appliances and hardware equivalents as appropriate.

What is an OVF template?

Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is a standard to package and distribute virtual machines. It is a portable, platform independent file format that is supported by several hypervisors. An OVF file encapsulates the complete specification of a virtual machine including all the virtual disks, virtual hardware configuration (CPU, memory, networking) and storage. Barracuda Virtual Appliances are distributed as OVF templates that facilitate quick provisioning with little or no manual intervention.

How do I update the firmware on a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?

New firmware releases will be available periodically and are included in the Energize Updates subscription. Once the virtual appliance is deployed, administrators can check for available firmware releases and upgrade as appropriate.

How are the Barracuda Virtual Appliances priced?

Subscriptions for the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall Vx and Barracuda SSL VPN Vx Virtual Appliances are usually priced in terms of user bands. As the organization grows, administrators can easily expand the capacity of these virtual appliances by purchasing incremental subscriptions as needed without the overhead of provisioning any additional hardware or software.

How can I evaluate a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?

A 30-day evaluation copy of any Barracuda Virtual Appliance can be obtained by filling the evaluation request form online. This will generate an email with download and activation instructions.