- What is a “virtual appliance”?
- What are the benefits of Barracuda Virtual Appliances?
- What are the System requirements to run the Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
- Are Barracuda Virtual Appliances as easy to deploy as the Barracuda Networks hardware appliances?
- Do the Barracuda Virtual Appliances receive Energize Updates?
- How does an administrator interact with a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
- Can I make copies of my Barracuda Networks virtual appliance and deploy them for redundancy?
- Can I cluster a Barracuda Virtual Appliance with its hardware counterpart?
- What is an OVF template?
- How do I update the firmware on a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
- How are the Barracuda Virtual Appliances priced?
- How can I evaluate a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
- Where can I get more information?
What is a “virtual appliance”?
A virtual appliance is a software image designed to run inside a virtual machine. When deployed inside a virtualization platform, such as VMware, multiple virtual appliances can share the physical resources of a single host computer while remaining logically isolated from each other. Barracuda Networks currently offers virtual appliance versions of many of its popular hardware appliance solutions to leverage the benefits of virtualization.
What are the benefits of Barracuda Virtual Appliances?
Barracuda Virtual Appliances provide the same technology found in the Barracuda Networks hardware solutions and are ideal for enterprises that are standardizing hardware platforms or with existing virtual environments. Barracuda Virtual Appliances can be deployed on standard virtualization platforms and can co-exist with other virtual machines, thereby enabling optimal usage of hardware resources. As the organization grows, virtual appliances can be scaled for capacity without changing any hardware or software configurations. Also, virtual appliances can be easier to backup and restore using standard mechanisms for disaster recovery.
What are the System requirements to run the Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
Currently, Barracuda Virtual Appliances are supported on the following platforms
- VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5 and higher
- VMware Server 2.0 and higher
- VMware Player 3.0 and higher
- VMware Workstation 6.0 and higher
- VMware Fusion 3.0 and higher
- CITRIX XenServer 5.5 and higher
- Microsoft Hyper-V 2008
- Sun/Oracle VirtualBox 3.2
A minimum of 1 Gb RAM and 50 Gb available hard disk space is recommended. More information can be found in the README file available in the download package.
Are Barracuda Virtual Appliances as easy to deploy as the Barracuda Networks hardware appliances?
Yes. Barracuda Virtual Appliances are specifically designed for ease of deployment in new or existing virtualization environments. The virtual appliances are fully encapsulated with the virtual hardware configuration and the setup process is simple. Once the virtual appliance is installed, configuration and administration is through the same intuitive Web based user interface as that on the appliance. Instructions can be found in the online setup guides available as part of the download or under the Documentation section at www.barracuda.com/virtualization.
Do the Barracuda Virtual Appliances receive Energize Updates?
Yes. The Barracuda Networks Energize Updates subscription provides the latest security updates and is an essential part of purchasing either a Barracuda Networks hardware solution or a virtual appliance.
How does an administrator interact with a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
Once deployed, Barracuda Virtual Appliances are administered through the same simple Web based user interface found on the hardware equivalents. This makes it very easy for administrators of Barracuda Networks hardware appliances to support Barracuda Virtual Appliances without learning a new usage model.
Can I make copies of my Barracuda Networks virtual appliance and deploy them for redundancy?
Every active instance of a Barracuda Virtual Appliance must be supplied a unique license token that is obtained during the process of requesting an evaluation. If you choose the ZIP deployment method, the same ZIP file can be used for multiple deployments, but each deployment must be provisioned with a unique token. Cold backups, snapshots, host migration and other backup or disaster recovery operations are fully supported.
Can I cluster a Barracuda Virtual Appliance with its hardware counterpart?
Yes. The “Linked Management” feature can be used to cluster a combination of Barracuda Virtual Appliances and hardware equivalents as appropriate.
What is an OVF template?
Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is a standard to package and distribute virtual machines. It is a portable, platform independent file format that is supported by several hypervisors. An OVF file encapsulates the complete specification of a virtual machine including all the virtual disks, virtual hardware configuration (CPU, memory, networking) and storage. Barracuda Virtual Appliances are distributed as OVF templates that facilitate quick provisioning with little or no manual intervention.
How do I update the firmware on a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
New firmware releases will be available periodically and are included in the Energize Updates subscription. Once the virtual appliance is deployed, administrators can check for available firmware releases and upgrade as appropriate.
How are the Barracuda Virtual Appliances priced?
Barracuda Virtual Appliances do not involve any per user or setup fees. A Barracuda virtual appliance is licensed for a certain number of cores. As the organization grows, administrators can easily expand the capacity of these virtual appliances by licensing them for additional cores as needed without the overhead of provisioning any additional hardware or software.
How can I evaluate a Barracuda Virtual Appliance?
A 30-day evaluation copy of any Barracuda Virtual Appliance can be obtained by filling the evaluation request form online at www.barracuda.com/virtualization. This will generate an email with download and activation instructions.
Where can I get more information?
More detail about Barracuda Virtual Appliances is available online at www.barracuda.com/virtualization. Individual product pages can be found at www.barracudanetworks.com. For more information, please contact a Barracuda Networks sales representative at 888-ANTI-SPAM or +1 408-342-5400.
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We chose the Barracuda Web Application Firewall because of the excellent references we received from peers on its security capabilities, ease-of-use, and lower total cost of ownership
