Design
There are two features of the design: the underlying technology,
and the user interface.
The underlying technology was designed with servers in mind.
Indeed, there are many intrusions detected by the technology
that only apply to servers. In addition, the technology
has been designed for very high performance environments
without introducing a significant load on the server.
On the other hand, the first release of the product
has been targetted at consumers.
What this means is that there isn't a user interface
for server operators, and that the initial configuration
defaults to a set of parameters appropriate for home users,
not servers.
Immediately upon installation, Defender shuts down access
to standard services. Defender allows outgoing connections,
but blocks most incoming connections.
License
Another issue is that the home user product is not licensed to
run on WinNT Server. This is a key point because many of the
underlying server features are not disabled in the home user
product. As a consequence, the consumer version of the product runs very well
on servers (excepting the management issues described above).
We are planning the full server version in the later part of
the year 2000. This version is likely to cost quite a bit more
than the consumer version. At that time, we will likely require
users of Defender on Servers to upgrade to the full server product.
Experience
Many people do indeed install the consumer version
on WinNT Server machines, with the intention of upgrading
to the full server version when it becomes available.
Defender provides an effective
firewall and intrusion detection system.
The first problem they encounter is the need to edit the
text files that control the firewall (firewall.ini).
By default, access to the server will be shut off until
this configuration step is performed.
Many users
are comfortable editing textfiles and are quite satisfied
with the product.
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