Barracuda Networks Spam Firewall FAQ

How do I get a demo of the product?

Fill out the Evaluation Request Form or call us at 800-878-6893.

Is there a software limit on the number of users with the Barracuda Spam Firewall or is it only a performance recommendation?

For Barracuda Spam Firewall models 200 and higher, there are no hard limits. The number of users as well as the amount of email that can be serviced varies with each model. The numbers in the datasheet are recommendations based on the performance and depend primarily on the type of your email traffic. The Barracuda Spam Firewall model 100 is restricted to scanning spam and viruses for 50 users.

Do you require per user or per domain licensing fees?

There are no per user or per domain licensing fees. This pricing structure allows your organization to expand without additional cost.

Why do I have to purchase Energize Updates?

The Barracuda Networks Energize Updates subscription provides the latest spam and virus updates and is an essential part of purchase. In addition, we do provide multi-year subscriptions that can be a cost savings to you.

Can I purchase the Instant Replacement Service at a later date?

Yes. You will have 60 days from the date of purchase of the Barracuda Networks product to decide if you wish to purchase an Instant Replacement Service. If you wish to purchase the Instant Replacement Service within the 30-day window, the Service will retroactively begin on the delivery date of the Barracuda Networks product and continue for the time period purchased.

Is there an extra charge for virus blocking capabilities?

No, there are no extra charges for virus blocking capabilities.

How current are your spam and virus definitions?

Spam rules and virus definitions are automatically updated on the Barracuda Spam Firewall through the Barracuda Energize Updates Subscription. Users can configure this feature to update hourly or daily. Virus definitions are constantly being updated by Barracuda Engineers.

How do I know my email will remain private?

Email is processed inside the hardware. Further privacy is configured in your Barracuda Spam Firewall. The administrator can specify who can access the machine through password protection.

Is there a warranty?

There is a one year warranty against manufacturing defects in the USA and Canada.

What languages does your solution support?

Barracuda's solution supports all languages including German, French, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Spanish, Russian and Czech.

How long have you been in business?

Barracuda Networks launched in December 2002 and began shipping product in July 2003.

Will I get false positives?

Out of the box, the Barracuda Spam Firewall is tuned to minimize false positives. With no additional tuning, the false positive rate is typically at 0.01% or less – one of the lowest false positive ratings in the industry. Barracuda Networks emphasizes and optimizes for a lower false positive rate rather than a higher spam block rate. As with any solution that allows for user customization, each customer’s false positive return will vary depending on how the administrator tunes the unit (i.e. a stricter spam score setting will result in more false positives).

How is Spam filtered?

Incoming email is routed through the Barracuda Spam Firewall. Spam is tagged, quarantined or blocked based on preferences. Legitimate email is allowed through to the recipient.

What happens to quarantined email?

Quarantined email is sent to a mailbox specified by the administrator. With the exception of viruses, email messages are stored in their entirety, and can be retrieved should the need arise. On model 300 and higher, per user quarantined email is stored on the Barracuda Spam Firewall itself.

Name a few of your largest/most prestigious customers?

The Barracuda Spam Firewall is widely used by large and small customers. Visit Barracuda's customers page for a sampling of customers in various industries.

What is Spam scoring and Bayesian Analysis?

Spam scoring is the rules based system that looks for characteristics in the email. The Spam scores are used to determine what to do with the email. They do not contribute directly to the future analysis. The rules are updated via Energize Updates.

Bayesian analysis, also contributes to the Spam scoring. This is done using emails that you flag as either SPAM, or NOT SPAM.

Will the Barracuda Spam Firewall work in my network setup?

Yes. The Barracuda Spam Firewall will work in a variety of network configurations. Our flagship products protect more than 40,000 customers globally.

Can I set the Barracuda Spam Firewall on a different subnet from the email servers?

Yes. You may redirect email messages to any destination mail servers from the same or different subnet with proper routes.

Is it possible to configure the Spam Firewall to do anti-spam checks for some sender DNS domains and not for others?

This can be configured on the Web interface.

Is it possible to define different spam checking, rating and blocking policies for some subsets of mailboxes or mail domains?

The Barracuda Spam Firewall model 300 and higher support per user settings, allowing users to manage their quarantine messages through their email.

Is it possible for users to set individual scanning/tagging preferences?

Yes.

How does the user interact with the Barracuda Spam Firewall?

The Barracuda Spam Firewall has a Web-based interface for ease of use. In addition administrators can choose to receive system status information via email.

What is the MS Exchange Accelerator and how does it work?

A "Dictionary" or NDR (Non-Delivery Report) attack is a sequence of spam messages that attempts delivery to every possible recipient name on a server. Microsoft Exchange attempts to protect against "Dictionary" attacks by accepting messages for all recipients rather than rejecting invalid recipients and letting a spam sender know which accounts are valid. Unfortunately, this often leads to very high Exchange server CPU loads because the server still attempts to send one or more non-delivery notification for every invalid recipient.

The Barracuda Spam Firewall MS Exchange Accelerator uses the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) service built into Exchange to verify recipients before delivering messages to the MS Exchange server and consuming valuable resources.

What do I do if I have more questions?

For answers to additional questions, please contact us.