Thoughts on Barracudas?

[Stephen Swaney]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mailscanner-bounces at lists.mailscanner.info [mailto:mailscanner-
> bounces at lists.mailscanner.info] On Behalf Of Michele Neylon :: Blacknight
> Solutions
> Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 9:04 AM
> To: 'MailScanner discussion'
> Subject: RE: Thoughts on Barracudas?
> 
> Julian Field wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > Folks,
> >
> > I have had some comments from a few people leaving the mailing list
> > as they are ditching their MailScanner setups and switching to
> > Barracuda applicances instead. They claim that things worked fine
> > when they first installed MailScanner, but gradually more and more
> > spam is leaking through, to the point where they have decided to
> > abandon it.
> >
> >
> > Here is what he said:
> >
> > "I've tried Mailscanner on FreeBSD for almost one year. It worked
> > great for about two months, then after every upgrade it began to let
> > more and more spam through. I've tried everything to fix it and just
> > got tired of my users complaining of increased spam. "It wasn't worth
> > the headache. Your forums indicate that there are numerous people
> > experienced the same problems I have encountered. "I have since
> > purchased a Barracuda SPAM 200 firewall. This device has worked much
> > better."
> >
> >
> >
> > What is your opinion on the Barracuda appliance?
> > How easy is it to use?
> > Does it actually work?
> > Can it survive the loads they say it can?
> >
> > And, of course, how does it compare with MailScanner?
> >
> > Please be open and honest, and as impartial as you can.
> >
> > All of your thoughts are most welcome.
> >

We've had several customers test DefenderMX (Commercial product based on
MailScanner / SpamAssassin with web interface) against different anti-spam
products including Barracuda. Barracuda has not won yet. In tests where more
than 2 products were tested, Barracuda never even placed second. 

You can't run Barracuda on your own hardware.

Domain based settings for most configuration items are not available

And if you want to scan outbound email, you'll need two Barracudas, one to
can inbound mail and one to scan outbound mail. That can get pretty pricy.

The complaint we've heard most often was poor technical support but to be
fair, that was a while back and it may have improved by now. 

Steve

Stephen Swaney
Fort Systems Ltd.
stephen.swaney at fsl.com
www.fsl.com