Problem iwith Computer Associates firewall
 

I've been lurking for some time on Flyer Talk. I saw the offer of a free firewall from Computer Associates.

I installed the firewall and when I rebooted I received a message that "some network drives could not be reconnected." The drives that could not be reconnected are a couple of virtual drives that I need for a program. The firewall doesn't say how to solve this problem. Can anyohe help?

Hmmm... ; This is the eTrust, GuardIt, product, right?

Virtual drives are quasi-network drives anyway. Which virtual drive product you using? You likely need to open up the ports that the product uses. I would think though that the IP would be localhost anyway and this would be all open? Any other network guys want to through in their 2 cents...

See also:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%2...ftngp03&rnum=1

Also see: http://support.ca.com/techbases/Guardit/guarditfaq.html

I assume you’re using Windows. Windows networks use port 137 to communicate with virtual drives. CA as most firewalls detects networks and gives you the option of allowing network traffic by automatically allowing traffic from the IP address of the approved network.. Unfortunately, it may not detect virtual drives, in that case you must manually open the TCP port 137. Go to Firewall, Main, Custom, and open TCP 137.

Firewalls are very dangerous. They all work differently, and many exceptions, like virtual drives, may not be detected. So you may be blinded, and without a considerable knowledge of ports and how they’re used, you may be in big trouble. Often when a firewall closes a port, uninstalling the program will not open the port. Even restoring Windows XP to a previous state may not open the port.

I know of one person who in frustration reformatted his hard disk to get rid of the effects of Zone Alarm.

I couldn't agree more. That's why I stay away from all but the native XP Firewall, and always use a hardware firewall rather than software firewall.

I bet you that software firewalls have caused their users much more grief than any virus or spyware could have.

I've never had a serious problem with Sygate. It is useful when I travael and access a public hotspot. I use a separate hardware firewall most of the time though.

Thanks for the heads up though, I never realized they could be so problematic (thankfully).

Thank you so much Maui. It worked.

I didn't realize how helpless a user is when a program blocks drives that are vital and there is no insturctions on how to solve the problem.

Thank you again.

Glad I was able to help.

There is one basic misconception here. A hardware firewall is even more problematic than a software firewall. Hardware firewalls only make your network hard to see. They are highly configurable and require quite a bit of knowledge to configure properly, far more than software firewalls.

Just one more thing.

When you call techincal support for practically anything that isn't working. The invariable response at some point is, "Do you have a firewall" If you answer yes, then the universal response is, "Well that's what's probably causing the problem. Call them we don't know anything about it"

It's a good response, because they don't know anything about it, and neither do you. So it's not impossible that the firewall is the culprit.

Then you discover in panic that there's no way to call the firewall people. Or if there is they charge by the minute.

Firewalls are kind of unique. Because they close port, and often don't open them when you uninstall the firewall, they can cause incredible problems for those who really don't know how ports work. And that's most of us.

[This message has been edited by traveler123 (edited Dec 02, 2003).]

IMO hardware firewalls aren't THAT difficult/onerous/mysterious. I definitely prefer them to software and indeed will NOT use a software firewall product as I find them to cause more trouble than they're worth.

I feel a hardware firewall (or at the least a router to provide Network Address Translation services) is indispensible. Opening ports isn't terribly difficult as long as you know what you're opening and why... in almost all cases, that merely requires reading the documentation when something won't work. For instance, the D-Link DVC-1000 conferencing camera I recently installed needs specific ports opened in order to communicate. It specifically says which ports need to be opened in the documentation. My firewall (Snapgear SME-550... admittedly a bit more complex than the average home firewall) included online documentation that clearly showed how to enable port forwarding and spelled out the procedure step-by-step. So once one gets beyond the trepidation, they'll find it's not as difficult as they think.

one of these days I'll set up my old computer running Linux as a firewall. I'm too lazy right now and the SMC Barricade seems to be doing a good job.

The benefit of a software firewall in theory is for times like when you travel and use your laptop on a network that is not your own.

I have never had any serious trouble with Sygate's Syshield product. My kids use it on their computers too. I used it for years without anything but an occasional problem that was resolved by shutting it down and starting it up again.

I think there is malware that can monkey with certain software firewalls anyway.