Network Security Spheres of Support

The Spheres of Support for Network Security (NetSec) lists the technologies and features
in the network security domain and defines the support level for each item.

Firewall support

Firewall support contains the following elements:

  • Monitoring and management of network firewalls
  • Customized patching, rollback capabilities, and iOS updates
  • Problem, incident, and change management
  • Configuration changes on behalf of the customer
  • Performance monitoring and tuning
  • Configuration and support of internet protocol security (IPsec)-compliant Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
  • Configuration and maintenance of firewall policies to restrict access to environments
  • Provision Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) and private IP space
  • Managed VPN access
  • Secure Scocket Layer (SSL) certificate installation and troubleshooting

The following table shows which features are supported in Cisco® and Juniper® firewalls:

FeatureCisco ASAJuniper SRX
InterfacesVLAN tagged (Cisco trunk)
VLAN untagged (Cisco access)
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) bundling with a number of interfaces is a power of 2
RoutingStatic routing
Static routing with Internet protocol service level agreement (IP SLA) tracking
IPv6Static routing
Static routing with IP SLA tracking
Network Address Translation (NAT)Static (one-to-one)
Port Address Translation (PAT) (NAT overloading)
Policy NAT/PAT
Domain Name System (DNS) doctoring
Connection limits via static NAT
Packet filteringLayer 3/4 filtering ingress/egress
Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) based filtering✓ ASA 8.3+
Outbound access control list (ACL)
DDoS mitigationConnection limiting (embryonic, established, or both)
Connection timeouts
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) normalization modification
Application inspection
VPNRoute-based VPNs - Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Route-based VPNs - static
IPsec - IKEv2 L2L with Pre-shared keys (PSK)
IPsec LAN-to-LAN layer 3/4 filtering
IPsec LAN-to-LAN PSK authentication
IPsec LAN-to-LAN hub and spoke configuration
IPsec remote access with group authentication
IPsec remote access with group and user authentication
IPsec remote access with two-factor authentication
IPsec remote access - multiple VPN groups
IPsec remote access with layer 3/4 filtering
IPsec remote access - split-tunneling
IPsec remote access - all traffic through VPN (tunnel all)
IPsec remote access - DNS server assignment
SSL VPN AnyConnect® Plus
SSL VPN - mobile client (plus license feature)
SSL VPN - two-factor authentication
ManagementBuffered logging
Log shipping to log correlation device within the customer's account
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) read-only for customer
High Availability (HA)Active or standby (stateful and non-stateful) (clustering - Security, Routing, and Switching (SRX)) Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) 5510 and above, ASA-X 5508, 5515 and above
Modes and modulesMode - multi-context routed
Mode - routed
RackConnectRackConnect VLANs termination
RackConnect GlobalRackConnect Global (Private)

Load balancer support

Load balancer support contains the following elements:

  • Monitoring and management of load balancers
  • Problem, incident, and change management
  • Configuration changes on behalf of the customer
  • Performance monitoring and tuning

The following table shows which features are supported in F5® LTM®, Brocade® ADX,
NetScaler® VPX, and NetScaler MPX load balancers:

Note: Citrix made the VPX software platform available in early access and will soon
release it in limited access. They have not released the MPX hardware platform yet but
currently are planning support for it.

FeatureF5 LTMBrocade ADXNetScaler VPXNetScaler MPX
InterfacesVLAN tagged (Cisco trunk)
VLAN untagged (Cisco access)
RoutingStatic routesDefault route
IPv6Static routesDefault route
Packet filteringLayer 3/4 Ingress/EgressUS - ✓
Intl - X
NATStatic (one-for-one)
PAT (NAT overload)
Source NAT pools on virtual servers
Load balancingLocal servers Servers behind the load balancer (LB)
Remote servers in front of the LB
Parallel Servers sitting as a neighbor to the LB
Algorithms - static (round robin or weighted round robin)
Algorithms - dynamic (least connections)
Healthchecks - ICMP echo
Healthchecks - Layer 4 TCP (port socket check) and UDP (port rejection)
Healthchecks - Layer 7 HTTP (response code, string search, checks on non well-known ports)
Healthchecks - Layer 7 HTTPS (SSL hello, Response Code, String Search, Checks on non-well-known ports)
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/User Datagram Protocol(UDP) virtual servers (catchall, single port)
Stateful Networked Address Translation (SNAT)
HTTP Redirects
Universal Resource Identifier (URI) load balancing
SSL offloading
Pools - single node: port combination (multiple ports on a server)
Pools - connection limits (pool, node)
Pools - priority group activation
LB - pools - group monitor applied to all pool members
LB - pools - individual monitors applied to each pool member
LB - pools - combination of individual and group monitors across different pool members
LB - application profiles - HTTP (OneConnect, custom HTTP profile settings)
LB - application profiles - SSL (client and server)
LB - application profiles - FTP (active and passive)
Persistence - TCP - source IP
Persistence - HTTP cookie: LB generated, server generated
Persistence - HTTP custom cookie name
Persistence - cookie encryption
Persistence - UDP - source IP
LB - virtual servers - SNAT pools
ScriptingiRules✓ (Limited)
ManagementLogging - local buffered logging
Logging - log shipping to log correlation device (within customer's account)
Management - SNMP read-only for customer
HAHigh availability✓ ADX 1000 only
HA - active or standby
Modes and modulesRouted (single and multiple route domains) default gateway for back end servers
Mode - edge net device✓ with AFM
Multiple segments behind LB
Interface filtering is
RackConnectRackConnect VLANs terminationRCV2 - X
RCv3 - ✓
RackConnect GlobalRackConnect Global (Private)✓(AFM only)
SSL VPNsSSL client VPN on edge Big-IPs using APM module
SNIServer name indication

Global load balancer

The following table shows which global load balancer features are supported in F5 LTM, Brocade ADX, NetScaler VPX, and NetScaler MPX load balancers:

FeatureF5 GTMADX GSLBNetScaler VPXNetScaler MPX
InterfacesVLAN tagged (Cisco trunk)
VLAN untagged (Cisco access)
LACP bundling with the number of interfaces is a power of 2
RoutingStatic routes
IPv6Static routes
Load balancingSingle listener address
Servers - BIG-IP system (single)
Servers - BIG-IP system (redundant pair)
Virtual servers - manual configuration
Wide IPs - standard FQDN names
Wide IPs - standard FQDN alias names
Wide IPs - single pool, multiple virtual server members
Algorithms - static - round robin, ratio (weighted round robin), Global Availability
Algorithms - dynamic - least connections
DNSAuthoritative name server for specific sub-delegated domains
ManagementBuffered logging
Log shipping to log correlation device (within customer's account)
High availability (HA)Synchronization groups
Redundant GTM devices specified as primary and secondary DNS servers
Modes and modulesSerial configuration
Parallel configuration
Standalone BigIP with GTM license

Cisco Content Service Switches support

End of support for Cisco Content Service Switches (CSS) occurred on September 30, 2014. Customers
that continue to use the platform fall under the Extended Lifecycle Support agreement. Any
support is considered a reasonable endeavor.

Redhill® WebMux support

End of support for the Redhill MebMux load balancer occurred on September 1, 2014. Customers that
continue to use the platform fall under the Extended Lifecycle Support agreement. Any support
is considered a reasonable endeavor.

Note: Rackspace makes every effort to align our support dates for operating systems with the
manufacturer’s support dates. If a manufacturer decides to shorten the support life of an operating
system, Rackspace might be forced to end support sooner than originally anticipated. For full details
on support life, see the Rackspace End of Life Terms.

DDoS mitigation

Be aware that Rackspace does support the mitigation of the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) feature.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this document is a general introduction to the Rackspace Services and does not include any legal commitment on the part of Rackspace.

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Although part of this document explains how Rackspace services may work with third-party products, the information contained in the document is not designed to work with all scenarios. Any use or changes to third-party products and configurations should be made at the discretion of your administrators and are subject to the applicable terms and conditions of such third party. Rackspace does not provide technical support for third-party products, other than specified in the agreement or agreements you have with Rackspace, and Rackspace accepts no responsibility for third-party products.

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