Re: Experience with PowerLock

[John Earl <johnearl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oliver,

oliver.wenzel@cibavision.Novartis.com wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I've just downloaded Powerlock/SE from PowerTech to check security of our
> AS/400 820.
>
> Before I start, I'd like to know about your experiences with this tool - any
> gotcha's or problems to look for?
> Any precautions I should take or problems with uninstalling?

I work for PowerTech and can give you a couple of hints right off of the top of
my head.

1) Read the Quick Install and Read me documents.  They do a good job of laying
out the install and the uninstall steps.  It's generarlly pretty straight
forward, and if you are running just TCP/IP (no PC SNA connections) you can
install just about any time without disrupting users.

2) The Readme document identifies some other third party products that require
special configurations - FastFax and DataMirror are the two that come to mind.
Both of these products use External Data Queue calls extensively (up to 10 times
a second), and can generate a lot of audit entries.  If you are running either 
of
these products you'll want to follow the steps to suppress their audit entries
(in PowerLock) so that the reports are easier to digest.

3) Let the audit reports run of a week or so before you start to tighten down
security.  It will give you an excellent picture of how your system is really
being used.  This way you won't shut down access to a user who legitimately 
needs
it, but you will get a chance to see who is downloading data in illegitimate
ways.

4) Call the Customer Service Desk with any questions.  We have great customer
service people, and a pretty deep pool of technical talent backing them up.  
They
like to play "Stump the Chump" with the experts, so if you have a really hard
quesiton, throw it at 'em and see how we do.


HTH,

jte

--
John Earl                    johnearl@400security.com
The PowerTech Group      --> new number --> 253-872-7788
PowerLock Network Security   www.400security.com
--


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