Monitoring firewall devices
IPHost Network Monitor allows you to test and monitor performance parameters of network firewalls. You can select what variable to monitor using built-in MIB browser that provides you with all variables supported by firewall, their current values and descriptions taken from MIBs.
Firewall is general purpose traffic management devices (hardware, software or hybrid one). Historically, firewalls are the first barrier protecting networks, their first line of defense. There are several firewall types in use; every OS currently used includes a software firewall providing similar set of functions.
Briefly, firewalls can be subdivided into
- proxy firewalls: they perform traffic flow control (usually, simple redirection)
- stateful inspection firewalls manage traffic flow depending on traffic state (Linux example: netfilter-based software firewall)
- next generation firewalls, performing sophisticated traffic control based upon inspecting traffic and performing actions depending on patterns matched
- personal firewalls (such as Windows built-in firewall), allowing fine-grained control over users and applications
There are other firewall types and classification methods; listing the complete firewalls taxonomy is beyond the goal of this article.
Typical firewalls monitoring use cases
Firewalls belong to security frontier; monitoring firewalls is required to ensure traffic is properly managed and filtered. Apart from common monitoring tasks, one can:
- check ISP connectivity; optionally, switch to a backup line
- check for certain pattern in traffic (for example, unwanted or malicious traffic)
- check health/status of VPNs (if set up on the firewall)
Since IPHost provides tools to control remote devices in response to switching to problem state, it can be used to switch firewalls to corresponding state (example: if a network devices begins to consume abnormally much traffic, alerting can be set up to use firewall controls to throttle or entirely block the offending device).
List of MIBs used to monitor network firewall devices
A collection of MIBs to monitor firewall devices follows:
- BORDERWARE-FW-MIB
This MIB module contains information related to the BorderWare Firewall Server; Borderware SNMP extensions - BORDERWARE-SMG-MIB
This MIB module contains Borderware Mail Firewall SNMP extensions. - CISCO-FIREWALL-MIB
MIB module for monitoring Cisco Firewalls. - JUNIPER-FIREWALL-MIB
This is Juniper Networks’ implementation of enterprise specific MIB for firewalls filters/policers. - SONICWALL-FIREWALL-IP-STATISTICS-MIB
The MIB Module for SonicWALL Firewall Ipsec Statistics. - SONICWALL-FIREWALL-TRAP-MIB
The MIB Module for SonicWALL Firewall Trap. - UCD-IPFWACC-MIB
This module defines MIB components for reading information from the accounting rules IP Firewall. This would typically let you read the rules and the counters.
You can start Firewall SNMP monitoring using free 30-day trial version of IPHost Network Monitor right now. With IPHost SNMP monitor you can monitor network performance, audit network usage, detect network faults, or inappropriate access. The IPHost’s SNMP monitor can communicate and interact with any SNMP-enabled device.
Free 30-day trial version of IPHost Network Monitor is available. During your trial you can get support by e-mail, please use contact form to send all your inquiries on IPHost Network Monitor features and purchase.
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IPHost Network Monitor 5.4 build 14538 of April 21, 2023. File size: 111MB
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