Central Firewall management

[Arif]

Can we manage windows xp professional firewall from
network...i.e if 10 machines are installed with windows xp
pro and each machine has Microsoft firewall configured,
then is it possible to administer/manage these machines
from one designated server and create rules for all...

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

Can we manage windows xp professional firewall from
network...i.e if 10 machines are installed with windows xp
pro and each machine has Microsoft firewall configured,
then is it possible to administer/manage these machines
from one designated server and create rules for all...

Hi

You really want Service Pack 2 installed on the computers to be able
to do this in a satisfactory way. Service Pack 2 is in beta just now,
but I would think it will most likely be released in August (this is
my guess, Microsoft has not published any specific release date).

See WF_XPSP2.doc "Deploying Windows Firewall Settings for Microsoft
Windows XP with Service Pack 2" downloadable from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4454e0e1-61fa-447a-bdcd-499f73a637d1
for more on this.

You should also read 02_CIF_Network_Protection.DOC downloadable from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d7-b791-40b6-8364-685b84158c78&DisplayLang=en


SP2 Release Candidate 2 is available to the public if you want to
start some testing now:

Windows XP SP2 Technical Preview
http://www.microsoft.com/sp2preview/

 

[Steve]

If you have 10 machines you should really be using a
network firewall such as a Linksys or Sonicwall instead
of the broken ICF in Windows.