2 Overview

This chapter introduces system concepts and functionality. It provides an overview of the X Family.

Overview

In the highly technical era of data transfers and the Internet, the protection of data and networks concerns most businesses, corporations, and network administrators. 3Com has studied the issue of data security and network protection from malicious activity and attacks. One of the solutions is the X Family of security devices (X Family). The X Family devices provide constant vigilance for a network by monitoring and managing packets while blocking malicious attacks.

This chapter covers these topics:

•“X Family Overview” on page 17

•“X Family Environment” on page 18

X Family Overview

The X Family of security devices combines virtual private network (VPN) management, stateful packet inspection firewall, bandwidth management, and web content filtering with the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

The IPS provides total packet inspection and intrusion prevention. The IPS detects and blocks inappropriate, incorrect, or anomalous activity on the network by comparing network traffic with filters defined by the 3Com TippingPoint Division. The X Family devices use filters to scan traffic and recognize header or data content in the attack along with the protocol, service, and the operating system or software that the attack affects. The attack filter includes an action set, which defines the reaction when the X Family device encounters packets that match attack filter parameters. In a broad sense, the X Family device either drops matching packets or permits them.

The Stateful firewall provides service-level, stateful inspection of network traffic before it is inspected by the IPS. It incorporates filtering functionality to protect mission-critical applications. An

X Family Hardware Installation Guide V 2.5.1

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