HP ProLiant 4500 Communique - Novell BorderManager Performance on Compaq Serve - Page 3

ECG028.0897 Communiqúe (cont.) ... OVERVIEW OF NOVELL BORDERMANAGER FEATURES Novell BorderManager offers a comprehensive, effective firewall-class solution that includes the following components: Packet Filtering, Proxy Cache Services, Access Control Services, Novell IP Gateway, Network Address Translation, and Virtual Private Network (VPN). Proxy Cache Using proxy cache, a WWW browser on your network or intranet sends a user's request for a file residing on an Internet server to your HTTP proxy, which checks its cache for the file. If the file is in cache, the proxy returns the file to the browser without having to retrieve the file from the Internet server. If the file is not in cache, the proxy retrieves the file from the Internet, stores a copy of the file in cache, and returns this file to the browser. HTTP Accelerator (Reverse Proxy) You can also configure the HTTP proxy to perform HTTP acceleration, meaning that the proxy stores in cache a copy of files residing on your local WWW servers. Then when a WWW browser on the Internet requests a file that resides on one of these servers, the proxy can retrieve the file from its cache. In this way, the proxy shields your local WWW servers from the Internet and conserves bandwidth by reducing the number of file requests sent over your network or intranet. Virtual Private Network (VPN) Organizations often need to connect multiple sites as well as customers, business partners and outside contractors. The Internet allows organizations to use public networks to connect sites at a much lower cost than using dedicated, private lines. Data between sites is encrypted to provide security. Companies can combine sites into subnetworks called Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that can utilize the Internet and run on top of their existing enterprise networks. IP / IP and IPX / IP Gateways The IPX/IP gateway provides protocol translation for IPX clients, which enables them to access the Internet (and TCP/IP Intranet servers) without running TCP/IP. This reduces the amount of work a systems administrator has in managing IP addresses. To use the IPX/IP gateway, IPX clients must run the enhanced WINSOCK.DLL file. In addition to performing protocol translation, the IPX/IP gateway establishes a connection to the Internet on behalf of the client, ensuring that there is no direct contact between the Internet host and the client. The IP/IP gateway performs a similar service for IP clients. Because the gateways, not the client establish the connection to the Internet, all packets that pass through the gateways appear to have originated from the gateways rather than from the clients, shielding your network or intranet clients from potential untrustworthy hosts. 3