FireWall-1 Gurus Mailing List

[BarryStiefel]

An alternative to the FireWall-1 Gurus Mailing List is the web-based PhoneBoy's Forums.



FireWall-1 Gurus Mailing List



This mailing list is designed to be a discussion forum for FireWall-1 and related products. Unlike certain other mailing lists, this list is and will remain moderated. This means all emails to the list are approved by a moderator before being sent out. The approval guidelines are designed to promote useful discussion and eliminate redundant information. Because moderating a list can be a full-time job, there is more than one moderator. However, I, PhoneBoy, am the benevolent dictator of the list and always have the final say.



The email address for the mailing list is fw1-gurus@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com. However, before you post to the list, please read the list FAQ, most especially the guidelines for posting to FireWall-1 Gurus.



Administrative questions about the list can be addressed to fw1-gurus-owner@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com. Technical questions sent to fw1-gurus-owner@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com will be ignored and will not be forwarded to the list.



If you don't like the rules and restrictions of the FireWall-1 Gurus Mailing List, I suggest you have a look at PhoneBoy's Forums instead, which are web-based.

• Disclaimers
• Questions about the list
  • What is a mailing list?
  • Didn't this list used to be called FireWall-1 Wizards?
  • Doesn't Check Point run a FireWall-1 Mailing List? How is FireWall-1 Gurus Different?
  • How come my message doesn't appear right away?
  • What are the guidelines for posting to FireWall-1 Gurus?
  • Why are my posts being rejected?
  • How do I (un)subscribe?
  • Is there a "nomail" option for going on vacation, etc?
  • When I post, the reject notice I get back is: "Sorry, I don't accept messages of MIME Content-Type 'text/html' (or 'multipart/alternative')" or "Sorry, a message part has an unacceptable MIME Content-Type"
  • Why is the "Reply-to" header on list email always the original sender and not the mailing list?
  • Will my address be unsubscribed if email bounces?
  • I inadvertenly posted a message with some private information in it. Can you remove my posting from the archives or alter it?
  • Mailing List Archives

Disclaimers

• The moderators are human and will make mistakes from time to time. Deal with it.
• This is a public mailing list. Don't expect any sort of privacy. If you posted something you wish you didn't, deal with it.
• This list is not meant to replace a support contract with Check Point, Nokia, or an authorized support provider.
• This list does not represent the official opinion of Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd., Nokia Corporation, or anyone else for that matter, including the moderators.
• Use the information contained herein at your own risk without any warranty. If it helps you, great. If your system is turned into a pile of smoking rubble, it's not our fault.
• All submissions to this list, whether or not they are approved, may be re-used without your permission.
• Any subscribers that use auto-responders to list postings will be unsubscribed without warning. This also includes sites that might "auto-respond" to messages that do not conform to that site's policy for content.
• We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

Questions about the list



What is a mailing list?



A mailing list, in this context, is a forum for discussing a particular topic over electronic mail. Interested persons subscribe their email address to the list. Participants submit a message to a particular email address, the list address, which then sends their message to all subscribers. Some subscribers, instead of receiving every email sent out to the list, will receive a daily summary of the list traffic. This is called a "digest."

Didn't this list used to be called FireWall-1 Wizards?



The name "FireWall-1 Wizards" was inspired by the "Firewall Wizards" mailing list, which had been around for a few years before I started my list. In March of 2003, I was asked by TruSecure to change the name of my mailing list because "Firewall Wizards" is a registered trademark they currently own and "FireWall-1 Wizards" is too confusingly similar. In fact, users had been confused on more than one occasion. I should have chosen a different name to begin with.

Doesn't Check Point run a FireWall-1 Mailing List? How is FireWall-1 Gurus Different?



Check Point's list is an unmoderated forum. This means anyone can send messages to the list. The problem is that nobody is actively making sure postings are relevant, on-topic, or not covered somewhere else like a FAQ page. Frequently, unmoderated lists, particularly popular ones, have a low signal-to-noise ratio (i.e. a low number of useful posts versus the large number of unuseful posts). Check Point's mailing list is no exception. The FireWall-1 Gurus list was created in response to frustration with the Check Point mailing list. As such, it is a moderated forum, which means all submissions are reviewed by human beings before they are sent to the list as a whole. The moderators will approve posts that meet certain criteria. The criteria is designed to promote useful technical conversations and reduce redundant questions and answers (i.e. those covered in other areas or answers recently posted).

How come my message doesn't appear right away?



Messages are moderated. This means humans must look at the message and determine if the message met acceptable criteria. If the message does not appear in a day or so, don't panic. There are times where messages may be queued up for a few days because the moderators haven't processed them yet. Otherwise, you will get a reject notice with an explanation of why it was rejected. If you disagree, feel free to respond to the moderators.

Even if we were to moderate the postings in realtime, do you have any idea how many people subscribe to this list? Do you know how long it takes to send out that many messages, even with a decent net connection?

What are the guidelines for posting to FireWall-1 Gurus?



Basically, the post must be "on-topic" (i.e. about Check Point VPN-1/FireWall-1 or a related product). However, there are exceptions:

• Message that are not sent in ASCII text (i.e. use RTF or HTML). Not all readers of this list use these sorts of mail readers. The mailing list software automatically rejects postings that contain these formats. Please configure fw1-gurus@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com so that only ASCII information is sent.
  
• Anything already covered in the FAQs. Check Point's Support Database (public access documents), Main.PhoneBoy's FireWall-1 FAQs, and Nokia's Knowledge Base (for Nokia-specific questions) will be the baseline this will be judged against, though it may eventually include other sources.
  
• Any question(s) regarding which OS is the best to use. The standard answer is "use what you know best." Note that this does not preclude discussing hardware, which is a different topic entirely.
  
• Rants about Check Point Support or your Reseller.
  
• Commercial postings, unless they contain a high amount of technical content. For example, it is okay to describe how a particular product might solve your problem, but it is not okay to say "buy this, it does that." This is a technical discussion forum, not a place to advertise your commercial products and services.
  
• Job postings or soliciting for jobs. See previous point.
  
• Flames or anything intended to invoke flames (i.e. flamebait).
  
• Most License-related issues. Most license questions fall under the category of "talk to your reseller." Those that don't will be posted.
  
• Someone said the same thing recently (i.e. within the past 24 hours).
  
• Your post is essentially a "me too" email without any useful content or unique insights.
  
• Your post quotes too much of a previous post or has too many people listed in the "To" or "CC" field. Please reduce the amount of stuff you are "replying" to down to the bare essentials, i.e. the specific points you are replying to. Replys that contain more than one message previously posted to the list that aren't trimmed to the specific points you are replying to will be rejected.
  
• Anything cross-posted to another mailing list, such as fw-1-mailinglist (i.e. Check Point's list).
  
• Posts lacking basic information like version of FireWall-1 w/Service Packs, OS version, or a useful subject line.
  
• Anything the moderators can easily answer (if we feel like it. :-).

Your postings must contain relevant information, which includes, but may not be limited to:

• Version/Service Pack level of FireWall?-1/Secure Client in question (build numbers are useful). If asking about Secure Client issues, please also include the version/service pack level of FireWall-1 you are connecting to. Be as specific as possible when providing this information.
  • Bad example: "Latest version of FireWall-1"
    
  • Better, but not as great example: "FireWall-1 4.1"
    
  • Best example: "FireWall-1 NG FP3 with HFA-308 applied"
• Operating System/Platform and version/service pack level, as appropriate. Again, be as specific as possible.
  
• Error messages or log messages that show up along the way
  
• Exact steps you took that led to the error and/or using to accomplish your goal, including rulebases used

Why are my posts being rejected?



Quite likely because you failed to follow the list posting guidelines. Read the rejection notice carefully.

How do I (un)subscribe?





To subscribe to the realtime version of the list, send a blank email to: fw1-gurus-subscribe@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com.
To unsubscribe from the realtime version of the list, send a blank email to fw1-gurus-unsubscribe@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com.



To subscribe to a digest verison of the list, send a blank email to: fw1-gurus-digest-subscribe@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com.
To unsubscribe from the digest version of the list, send a blank email to: fw1-gurus-digest-unsubscribe-digest@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com.



A confirmation message will be sent to your email address. Please simply "reply" to this message, making sure the address the message is sent to matches what it shows in the message. If you have issues, please contact fw1-gurus-owner@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com for assistance, making sure you include which list (realtime or digest) you want to be (un)subscribed from.

Is there a "nomail" option for going on vacation, etc?



The mailing list software I use, ezmlm, does not provide a way to set an address to "nomail" mode. Unsubscribe when you go on vacation and re-subscribe when you come back. What you missed while you were away will show up in the archives.

When I post, the reject notice I get back is: "Sorry, I don't accept messages of MIME Content-Type 'text/html' (or 'multipart/alternative')" or "Sorry, a message part has an unacceptable MIME Content-Type"



It's because your MUA (Mail User Agent) is configured to send email in HTML, RTF, or some other objectionable format. Or your mail client is configured to send both an ASCII version and a non-ASCII version of the same message. Configure your MUA to not send fw1-gurus@lists.phoneboy_REMOVEME_.com messages in anything other than ASCII text. Do not ask us how to do this, we don't know how to use your MUA. Ask someone who does.

Why is the "Reply-to" header on list email always the original sender and not the mailing list?



Because if the mailing list sets a Reply-To header, you lose the original Reply-To header sent by the poster. I consider this important information that should not be lost. If you want a response to a list posting to go back to the list, please use the "Reply-to-all" function in your mail client. If you want to ensure all replies to your messages sent to the mailing list go to the mailing list and not to you directly, set the "Reply-to" header in your outgoing message to the list address.

Will my address be unsubscribed if email bounces?



If you or your site implements an auto-responder and it responds to any list postings for any reason whatsoever, your email address will be unsubscribed without warning.



If your email becomes unavailable for a period of time (e.g. a day or so), ezmlm will "detect" this and stop sending you mail. It will occasionally try and "ping" your address to make sure your address is still good. If your address becomes unreachable for an extended period of time, your address will be automatically unsubscribed.

I inadvertenly posted a message with some private information in it. Can you remove my posting from the archives or alter it?



Except where required by law, no posting made to the list will be removed from the archives or altered. Email addresses may be obscured to protect you from spammers, but there is no guarantee of that.

Mailing List Archives



Yes, there are mailing list archives. Browse by month below. You can also search the archives. The current month's archives are updated once daily.

• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• December 2003
• November 2003
• October 2003
• September 2003
• August 2003
• July 2003
• June 2003
• May 2003
• April 2003
• March 2003
• February 2003
• January 2003
• December 2002
• November 2002
• October 2002
• September 2002
• August 2002
• July 2002
• June 2002
• May 2002
• April 2002
• March 2002
• February 2002
• January 2002
• December 2001
• November 2001
• October 2001
• September 2001
• August 2001
• July 2001
• June 2001
• May 2001
• April 2001
• March 2001
• February 2001
• January 2001
• December 2000
• November 2000
• October 2000
• September 2000
• August 2000
• July 2000

-- PhoneBoy - 3 December 2004