Spam Packages - Opinions Wanted! 1

[Datanomics]

I manage 2 networks:
-- 1 has a Windows 2003 SBS running Exchange 2003
-- 1 has a Windows 2003 Std server running Exchange 2003.

Both are getting innundated with spam. I am using IMF but it just isn't cutting it. I'm looking into purchasing a 3rd party spam blocking package. My first call is to McAfee since both servers are running McAfee GroupShield.

But above & beyond that, I would love to hear opinions on what has / has not worked for other environments.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Zelandakh]

McAfee is good.
GFi is good.
IMF when configured well is extremely good.
Postini is great.
Barracuda do a good product.

 

[TechyMcSe2k]

I run Barracuda, and i think it rocks!

 

[Davetoo]

Have to add my vote for the Barracuda solution. I like it because it takes the load off my Exchange servers...they only see a fraction of the spam. I then use the GFI MailSecurity for antivirus.

I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.

There are no more PDC's! There are DC's with FSMO roles!

 

[tanderson3733]

Barracuda is an excellent product ...IF... you have the time and patience to do some extra tweaking AND don't have an issue with the amount of spam having a noticable effect on your bandwidth.

If you go with the 'Cuda then do buy the next-day replacement coverage...spendy but almost mandatory. I went through 3 servers (Hard drives, power supplies on the 300)with them and found out that it's only 90 days hardware and warranty support without it. Plus downloaded a firmware update that somehow converted my spam firewall into a non-working 310-series web filter and couldn't recover...they wouldn't have done anything for that either without the replacement coverage.

 

[58sniper]

IMF generally does a pretty good job if you spend some time on it.

You could use a cloud based server like AppRiver, Google's Postini, etc.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[TechyMcSe2k]

(Barracuda) They have a new 400 series that can be clustered to prevent a single point outage and they keep the same information in both to avoid having to "retrain" the filter or update both devices. I also use Surf Control Email filter as a secondary precaution.

 

[58sniper]

You can also use an Exchange 2007 Edge Transport server in a 2003 environment. Perfect if you plan to eventually move to 2007.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[cmeagan656]

We use XWall:

http://www.dataenter.co.at/products/xwall.htm.

It takes a bit of configuring and fine tuning and about a month's worth of spam being fed to its bayesian filter but after that we found that it stops more than 98% of our spam with very few false positives.

Cheers.

 

[edvinh]

I have to add my vote to Barracuda. It really doesn't take much to configure and it blocks approx 95% of SPAM.
I have it running at 5 of my clients and the love it. Make sure you get any model from the 300 and up, the Exchange LDAP accellerator is awesome, not to mention the per user quarantine and settings.

 

[Zelandakh]

I actually favour GFi which used to taek out about 90% of inbound email and then used IMF once it hit the Exchange environment thereafter just to get a second take.

It worked well and doesn't cost much.

 

[Datanomics]

THANK YOU ALL for so many great suggestions.

I knew about GFI and that IS one I plan to look in to. I'll also check out XWall & Barracuda although tanderson3733's post makes me a little wary on the latter.

58sniper - "if you plan to eventually move to 2007" ha! I was running Exchange 5.0 until Nov. 2004. Getting mgmnt here to approve upgrades is like getting Mother Teresa to steal candy from a baby. We'll be on Exchange 2003 until about 2020... Oh, and btw, we're still using Office 2000 so it's not like we have the oh-so-fun-easy-squeezy junk mail features available in the newer versions.

Zelandakh - "IMF when configured well is extremely good." I'm going to go out on a limb here & say that my IMF is NOT configured well, hence the amount of spam we're seeing in our inboxes. It's blocking ~1K/day but we're still getting a ton. Mostly foreign language & spoofs from our own domain. And your comment about GFI - "It worked well and doesn't cost much" - those may be the magic words.

I'm spread REAL thin here - I handle everything from cell phones to desktop support to network administration to moving furniture (no, not kidding). So unfortunately I DON'T have a lot of time to really sit with a product & fine tune it. I know any spam filter will require that to a degree but I need an inexpensive yet robust solution with as little effort as possible.

Thanks again, everyone!

Sidenote: Davetoo - Love your signature.

 

[Zelandakh]

spoofs from your own domain mean you need an SPF record and to reject SPF failures. That will lost that lot completely with about 20 minutes work.

Spread really thinly? Postini - pay it and forget it. No maintenance time required.

 

[58sniper]

Not only that, but cloud based solutions keep the spam off your bandwidth. If spam is 80% of your inbound mail, imagine getting 80% of your bandwidth back!

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[smah]

Another outsourced service to look at is mxlogic. I prefer them over postini, but it's the same scenario.

 

[ShackDaddy]

Another vote for MXLogic. I've never had a single thing to complain about with them.

Dave Shackelford
Shackelford Consulting

 

[nicolasvdb]

Also look at IronPort, PineApp and Mail Marshall, probably after Barracuda the biggest players in the game.

 

[Grenage]

We use an Ironmail here, and can't really fault it. It blocks 99% of spam and doesn't require much administration.

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area" - Major Mike Shearer

 

[Zelandakh]

Plenty of upvotes here - anyone want to diss any product?

I like cheap and cheerful if it works, hence GFi and IMF. Found Postini and the other cloud based products get expensive with a lot of users.

 

[edvinh]

I had the chance to use Mail Foundry once, and wasn't too impressed with the product.

I agree with Zelandakh, some cloud based solutions get pretty expensive the more users you have. I like appliances for the control and flexibility that they offer, but they do sometimes cost bandwidth.

IMHO - I guess you really have to answer a couple of questions for yourself when looking for a solution;

# of users
# of domains
bandwidth (how much do you have/need)
initial cost
term/maintenance cost