21-01-2013, 03:00 PM
Securing Your Network with the Cisco Centri Firewall
1Securing Your Network.pdf (Size: 31.95 KB / Downloads: 15)
Introduction
Welcome to Securing Your Network with the Cisco Centri Firewall. This guide describes
the “theory of operation” for your new security system—the concepts that are key to
understanding the system and the way it is meant to be used. These concepts include
security perimeters, security policies, the system’s architecture, and countermeasures for
potential security threats and vulnerabilities. This guide’s primary purpose is to provide a
strong foundation for understanding and using your Cisco Centri Firewall effectively.
This guide introduces the major components of and concepts behind your new security
system. It explores why we created Cisco Centri Firewall and how it prevents various
threats from affecting your organization’s network assets. It delineates the core network
security concepts around which the product was designed and built, and it defines the
terminology and concepts that you should be familiar with when using the Cisco Centri
Firewall.
This guide also introduces the user interface for the Cisco Centri Firewall, focusing on its
graphic portrayal and organization of network components and its intuitive design that
facilitates the development, application, and maintenance of security policies. The last
chapter of this guide provides an overview of the process that you should follow to get the
most out of your new security system and to help you plan its deployment.
With the exceptions of Chapter 1, “Overview of the Cisco Centri Firewall Product” and
Appendix A, “Understanding TCP/IP,” you should read each chapter in order as many
discussions in later chapters rely upon terminology and concepts presented in earlier
chapters. If you are unfamiliar with the TCP/IP protocol suite and how it works, you should
read Appendix A first.
Who Should Read This Guide
The intended audience of this guide is network administrators who want to understand the
basic concepts behind the design and deployment of Cisco Centri Firewall. In addition, this
guide can assist those professionals who are evaluating network security solutions and want
to understand how the Cisco Centri Firewall product family distinguishes itself from other
solutions, how it works, and how it should be used.
How This Guide is Organized
This guide presents information following a general to specific structure, and it comprises
the following chapters:
Chapter 1, “Overview of the Cisco Centri Firewall Product.” This chapter provides a
general overview of the features provide by the Cisco Centri Firewall product.
Chapter 2, “Why You Need a Firewall.” This chapter describes the problems that firewalls
attempt to address from a network security perspective. It defines common attack scenarios
that firewalls are typically designed to prevent or disarm.
Chapter 3, “Evolution of the Firewall Industry.” This chapter provides background
information on the firewall industry and introduces the four architectural models used to
implement most modern-day firewalls. It also briefly discusses ease-of-administration
issues within the firewall industry.
Where to Find Additional Information
This section identifies the various documents and document types provided as part of the
Cisco Centri Firewall documentation set. This documentation set comprises three types of
documents:
• COPY: hard copy books;
• HTML: HTML reference help; and
• HELP: Windows-based online help
Securing Your Network with the Cisco Centri Firewall. (COPY) This guide introduces you
to the Cisco Centri Firewall. It provides a high-level overview of the major pieces of and
concepts surrounding Cisco Centri Firewall and explains how the security system is
intended to be used to protect your networks. It defines the terminology and networking
concepts that you should be familiar with when using Cisco Centri Firewall and walks you
through the basic process required to set up and deploy the security system.
Cisco Centri Firewall Installation Guide. (COPY) This guide identifies the hardware and
software requirements of Cisco Centri Firewall. It also walks you through the install
process in detail to ensure that you have an “up-and-running” system using the default
services you enable during the install process.
Understanding and Writing Security Policies. (HTML) This guide describes the role of
security policies within an organization and presents procedures for building network
security policies using the Policy Builder security policy development environment. In
addition, it explains how to apply security policies to your network objects to reduce the
complexity of managing security policies.