Deployment of 8260 Symantec mail security devices

Following are the important steps in deploying symantec 8260 mail security devices.

-- Choose a suitable deployment model. Basic gateway, gateway deployment with multiple appliances, gateway deployment in the DMZ, gateway deployment in DMZ with SMTP gateway, multi-tier gateway and post-gateway deployment are the possible options. Basic gateway deployment is recommended by symantec, where 8260 sits at the outermost gateway layer processing both inbound and outbound emails and relaying mails to internal mail or relay servers.
-- Select a suitable role. 8260 device can take on of the three roles of scanner, control center or scanner and control center. Scanner filters emails. Each scanner has a control center, which can configure and monitor scanner through web based interface. Scanner can also be setup from control center using 'Add Scanner Wizard'.
-- It also serves as a email firewall which can block directory harvest attack and spam and virus attacks. Spammer sends emails to a list of users within a domain to receive NDR for invalid users and can glean valid users from the results. Symantec device supports directory replication from mail server directory service to block such an attack by refusing an NDR. Spam and virus attacks can be slowed down by deferring SMTP connections from culprit servers, if the attack exceeds pre-configured limit.