programs load slow

Just curious why corporate machines on a domain are running Zone Alarm?

My first reaction was to get the server on the LAN at gigabit speed.

 

It's Zone Alarm Pro, AV/Firewall. Not sure what you're underlying thoughts are in regards to ZA. Guess I'm just not understanding your statement. The workstations need an active antivirus app, and IMO a firewall as well. I suppose prior to yesterday, my response would have been 'Why not Zone Alarm? The network has remained infection free for 3 years.'

I still would like to get the gigabit card set for the LAN. Is it as easy as changing the IP/dns settings on the cards?

 

Yep.
Is it a gigabit switch?

The reason I question the ZA firewall is I would assume they are already behind a real hardware FW from the WAN anyway.

 

I'll have to check the switch. I'm guessing if it's not then using the gigabit NIC on the server rather than the 10/100 would serve little difference.

There is no hardware firewall, unless you consider the router one. When I first took over administration, SPI on the router was turned off, the router control panel login was at default settings, and there was a host of other security holes present within the network. The configuration I put in place RE: IP's is slightly different than the norm, I suppose. The WAN on the server is for server internet access only - updates, IT email, etc. There is very little web traffic on the server. All workstations have the router IP as the default gateway. This is partly because the server can be down and workstations can still send/receive email, which the business relies pretty heavily on. I added the software firewall to help protect not only the workstations, but also to help protect the server from the workstations. If a rogue were to get dropped onto a workstation, it would still have to be allowed access through the firewall to get access to the server, and ultimately the rest of the network. The Zone Alarm firewall has an embedded 'Smart Defense' that works in conjunction with the antivirus. Should something identified as rogue or exhibiting malicious behavior slip in and request access to either the internet or trusted zone, Smart Defense will kick in and deny it without any user interaction. I feel a software firewall is imperative, whether there's a hardware firewall present or not.

 

Admittedly, the only settings I know what to do with are link speed, which I have set all to 100 MB full duplex. I suppose failing cat5 is a possibility, though I would expect degraded performance in other areas as well, such as IE access, large emails, downloading, browsing the network, etc. I would also find it odd for 3 machines in 3 different areas to all be affected at the same time, and only those 3.

 

Good morning Dave

Is this issue still going on?

And if so, do you have any additional info that might point us in a new direction?

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Yes, it's still an issue. I just haven't had any time to do anything further with the machines. Since I've found workarounds, they are still able to get things done easily enough, so nobody's screamin yet. ZA is up for renewal in a couple of months, so I will be doing some testing to see if something else will be more compatible with my systems.

 

Update

After uninstalling ZA from several clients and running a couple of different trials, I've found an AV/Firewall solution which works well, has a great detection database, is loaded with options, is configured especially for workstations, and on top of all of that, has a great price tag. All software access times are back to normal.

Only remaining problem is with one workstation that hangs for a bit when right clicking any network share, including network share shortcuts on the local machine. Though the delay is about 1/3 of what it was with ZA onboard, it persists even with no firewall. I plan to re-install NIC drivers next and see if there's any improvement.

 

So what is it?

 

Dare I say?

 

I figured you were going to say Avast. I'm curious if anyone is running their pro version in a production environment.