Basic Configuration Tutorial For the Cisco ASA 5510 Firewall

Continuing our series of articles about Cisco ASA 5500 firewalls, I'm offering you here a basic configuration tutorial for the Cisco ASA 5510 security appliance. This device is the second model in the ASA series (ASA 5505, 5510, 5520 etc) and is fairly popular since is intended for small to medium enterprises. Like the smallest ASA 5505 model, the 5510 comes with two license options: The Base license and the Security Plus license. The second one (security plus) provides some performance and hardware enhancements over the base license, such as 130,000 Maximum firewall connections (instead of 50,000), 100 Maximum VLANs (instead of 50), Failover Redundancy, etc. Also, the security plus license enables two of the five firewall network ports to work as 10/100/1000 instead of only 10/100.

Next we will see a simple Internet Access scenario which will help us understand the basic steps needed to setup an ASA 5510. Assume that we are assigned a static public IP address 100.100.100.1 from our ISP. Also, the internal LAN network belongs to subnet 192.168.10.0/24. Interface Ethernet0/0 will be connected on the outside (towards the ISP), and Ethernet0/1 will be connected to the Inside LAN switch.

The firewall will be configured to supply IP addresses dynamically (using DHCP) to the internal hosts. All outbound communication (from inside to outside) will be translated using Port Address Translation (PAT) on the outside public interface. Let's see a snippet of the required configuration steps for this basic scenario:

Step1: Configure a privileged level password (enable password)

By default there is no password for accessing the ASA firewall, so the first step before doing anything else is to configure a privileged level password, which will be needed to allow subsequent access to the appliance. Configure this under Configuration Mode:

ASA5510(config)# enable password mysecretpassword

Step2: Configure the public outside interface

ASA5510(config)# interface Ethernet0/0

ASA5510(config-if)# nameif outside

ASA5510(config-if)# security-level 0

ASA5510(config-if)# ip address 100.100.100.1 255.255.255.252

ASA5510(config-if)# no shut

Step3: Configure the trusted internal interface

ASA5510(config)# interface Ethernet0/1

ASA5510(config-if)# nameif inside

ASA5510(config-if)# security-level 100

ASA5510(config-if)# ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0

ASA5510(config-if)# no shut

Step 4: Configure PAT on the outside interface

ASA5510(config)# global (outside) 1 interface

ASA5510(config)# nat (inside) 1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

Step 5: Configure Default Route towards the ISP (assume default gateway is 100.100.100.2)

ASA5510(config)# route outside 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 100.100.100.2 1

Step 6: Configure the firewall to assign internal IP and DNS address to hosts using DHCP

ASA5510(config)# dhcpd dns 200.200.200.10

ASA5510(config)# dhcpd address 192.168.10.10-192.168.10.200 inside

ASA5510(config)# dhcpd enable inside

The above basic configuration is just the beginning for making the appliance operational. There are many more configuration features that you need to implement to increase the security of your network, such as Static and Dynamic NAT, Access Control Lists to control traffic flow, DMZ zones, VPN etc.

Visit my website in my resource box below for more information about Cisco products and solutions. You can also learn how to configure any Cisco ASA 5500 Firewall Here

(applicable for ALL ASA models running software versions 7.x and 8.x).

You can check out my website for more Cisco configuration examples and other related details about designing and implementing Cisco solutions: Cisco Tips and Tutorials

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Harris_Andrea

System Guard 2009 - Remove System Guard Easily in Under 15 Minutes!

Infected with System Guard 2009? If so, you are probably now aware that it is a rogue antispyware program that will do nothing to actually help you remove spyware from your computer and instead will actually install more spyware and adware on your computer. Luckily, there is a very easy way to remove System Guard 2009 and it can be accomplished in under 15 minutes.

First of all, you should know that even if you did not actually click on the fake spyware infection advertisement stating that you needed to install System Guard 2009, even the mere fact that you are seeing the popup means that you are already infected by a Trojan.

If you do end up clicking on the advertisement and installing System Guard 2009, then the program will then place fake malware files onto your computer and also configure itself to automatically run when your computer starts up - the result is that you'll see fake spyware scans that come back showing fake spyware infections.

No big deal right?

Wrong.

System Guard 2009, because it constantly runs in the background and also attempts to hijack your browser and internet connection, will cause your computer to slow down significantly and also can cause internet connection issues as well and don't forget that you were already infected with a Trojan in the first place as that was the reason you saw the fake spyware popups at all.

Also, it will attempt to obtain sensitive data from your computer such as passwords and credit card information as all spyware does. So don't be fooled into thinking that having a rogue antispyware program such as System Guard 2009 is no big deal because it is and it can end up costing you your identity and thousands of dollars in the process.

In spite of all of this, there is a rather simple solution - get your hands on top of the line spyware removal software that includes real time proactive protection.

The key is to find reputable software that has earned the right to be called a top spyware remover through the various awards given out by industry leading publications and websites so that you'll not only be able to remove System Guard 2009 literally in under 15 minutes - but also so that you'll be protected from spyware for years to come.

Discover what the absolute best spyware remover is that will get rid of System Guard 2009 for good.

Visit Paul's info packed website http://www.TheBestSpywareRemovers.com and get your free spyware scan today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_McDonald

7 Ways to Speed Up Windows Vista

There are many ways to speed up Windows Vista. Some methods are more straight forward than the other and some will help you see huge improvements to the performance of Windows while others offer less noticeable results. Here we will look at 7 most effective ways to speed up Windows Vista from my personal experience.

Turn off unnecessary Windows features.

By default, Vista comes with tons of features that are enabled based on assumptions which may or may not apply to you. Hence you get a system that is running lots of background processes, most of which you do not need at all. So one of the great ways to speed up Windows Vista is to disable them. To see the list of Windows features and turn them on or off, go to Control Panel, change to "Classic View", click on "Program Features" and then select "Turn Windows Features On And Off". Some examples of features you may want to disable are:

- Remote Differential Compression

- Windows Meeting Space

- Tablet PC optional components

- And so on.

Graphical features.

One of the better ways to speed up Windows Vista is to turn off fanciful graphical features if you are not too much into aesthetics. One example is the Aero feature. Open your start menu, go to run, and type in 'systempropertiesperformance'. At the Visual Effects tab, uncheck 'Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing'. This will do the job. There are many graphical features that you can take out from here. This can give you more immediate results as compared to other ways to speed up Windows Vista.

Turn off Windows Indexing.

The Windows Indexing service was initially designed to be one of the ways to speed up Windows Vista by shortening the search time for files. However, as the volume of hard disk increases exponentially, the service has proven to be a resource intensive program causing massive slowdowns when Windows start to index the millions of files in the system. Select Start then choose Computer, right click on your C Drive and select properties. Under the General Tab, uncheck "Index this drive for faster searching". On the next dialog box, choose "Include subfolders and files". Do the same for the other Drives.

Remove Spyware and Trojans and protect your system against future attacks.

Out of the many ways to speed up Windows Vista, this has to be one of the most crucial things you need to do. This is because not only your system performance is at stake, the security and confidentiality of your data is too. Use free tools such as Avast for anti-virus protection, Spybot for spyware removal and protection as well as Zonealarm for firewall protection. There are other good tools around but make sure they are not spywares themselves!

Remove unnecessary start up programs.

When Vista boots up, many programs run at the start up either in the background or as pop up Windows. Many of these you do not need. You need to take control and eliminate these memory suckers that are lurking in the background. Open your start menu, go to run, and type in 'msconfig', choose the Startup tab and uncheck any items that you do not want to auto-load and click OK.

Defrag your hard disk.

This may not be new to you but if you are thinking of using the Windows Defragmentation Tool in Vista, you can forget about it. Instead, use a free 3rd party tool known as Defraggler (Google it for the download link). It is still quite effective in comparison to other ways to speed up Windows Vista.

Clean your registry.

One of the often neglected portions of Windows is the registry itself. Many do not realized that one of the best ways to speed up Windows Vista is to make sure the registry is clear of invalid entries that causes Windows to perform unnecessary tasks. Cleaning the registry has other advantages too. In certain cases you can remove Windows errors that pop up during boot up.

George Tho is an IT support specialist. One of the best ways to speed up Windows Vista is using registry cleaners. Read his review on the top 3 Registry Cleaners that come with free scanning features to help you improve your system's performance and remove errors.

Author's review website on clickbank products: http://www.clickbankproductreview.com

Disclaimer: The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Tho