IM MESSAGE ARCHIVING, FIREWALL AND CONTENT FILTERING
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Network Deployment

imsense is very easy to install and deploy into your network. The below diagrams show some typical network topologies.

View Installation and Hardware Requirements



This diagram shows how imsense integrates into your existing network. Since imsense is a Public IM Proxy it needs to sit close to your WAN link. The ideal place is between your switch/hub and your WAN router/modem.


If you have an existing firewall, then place imsense just before your firewall.



Router/Bridge mode

imsense will operate in bridge mode by default. This is extremely convenient. Just plug in your imsense system between your users and your gateway and all you need is one IP Address! So if your LAN is using the 172.16.0.0/16 block, you can give imsense any unused IP Address from this block.

In normal mode, imsense will work as a router. So you need to assign an IP address to both the Internet (eth0) and LAN (eth1) interfaces.

No matter which mode imsense operates in, it will silently and efficiently process IM packets and ignore the rest of your network traffic.

Installation

imsense is easy to install and setup. After you have your hardware ready, perform the following steps.

  1. Boot your hardware from the imsense CD
  2. The imsense installation is fully automated and you don't have to configure anything.
    Please note that the installation will partition and format your entire hard disk, so make sure you don't have any existing data on it
  3. At the end of the installation, press the Enter key. This will reboot your imsense system. Remove the imsense installation CD before rebooting
  4. Follow the post installation instructions. This is where you set your admin password.
  5. Use the admin console to configure your network interfaces and DNS servers.
  6. You need to reboot imsense the first time after you configure the network interfaces. Use the admin console option to restart imsense.
  7. Your imsense system is now ready! Point your browser to http://$ip/, login as the admin user and have fun!
    Note: $ip is the IP address of your LAN interface (eth1) or bridge interface (br0) if operating in bridge mode.

Hardware Requirements

We suggest the following minimum hardware configuration. Yes, imsense requires its own dedicated hardware since it works as a network analyzer and IM firewall, and needs its own hardware to do its magic. This also helps the network administrator to isolate and efficiently manage the network functionality provided by imsense.

  • CPU - Pentium 2 Gz
  • RAM - 1 GB
  • Hard Disk - 40 GB
  • Two Ethernet Cards
  • Bootable CD-ROM Drive for Installation
  • A connected monitor is required for installation, post installation and trouble shooting
You can also install your imsense system as a Virtual Machine in your VMware Player or VmWare Server. Use the above hardware specs to create your virtual machine.