Chapter 1 Getting Started; Deciding Where To Deploy Sensors And In What Operating Mode - McAfee M-1250 - Network Security Platform Deployment Manual

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H A P T E R
Getting Started
This chapter provides a high-level overview of McAfee
[formerly McAfee
The tasks described in this chapter provide pointers to more detailed information in the
other books of the McAfee Network Security Platform documentation set.
Note: Most of your interaction with Network Security Platform is through McAfee
Network Security Manager. Some configuration can be done using the McAfee
Network Security Sensor Command Line interface.
The process of setting up and running Network Security Platform falls into these basic
stages:
1 Deciding where to deploy McAfee Network Security Sensors (Sensors) and in what
operating mode
2 Setting up your Sensors for the desired deployment mode(s)
3 Installing the Manager software and establishing Sensor-to-McAfee Network Security
Manager (Manager) communication
4 Configuring your deployment using the Manager
5 Updating your signatures and software
6 Viewing and working with data generated by Network Security Platform
7 Tuning your deployment
Each of these stages consists of a number of tasks; some are simple, some are complex.
You will generally perform steps 1 through 3 only once per Sensor.

Deciding where to deploy Sensors and in what operating mode

Where you deploy your Sensors and which Sensor model to use depends on your network
topology, the amount of traffic on the network, and your security goals, which, ideally, are
specified in your company's security policy.

Determine where you will place the Sensors.
need to make. Questions to ask yourself in making this decision are covered at a high
level in Pre-Installation Considerations (on page 8). Some things to consider are what
assets you want to protect, the configuration of your network, the location of your
aggregation points, the type of traffic, how the traffic is routed, and so on.

Establish a naming convention for your Sensors.
Sensor in the Manager interface, in certain reports, and in the alert data generated by
the Sensor. McAfee recommends you establish a naming convention that is easy to
interpret by anyone working with the Network Security Platform deployment. Once you
name a Sensor, you cannot rename it without de-installing and reinstalling it.
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IntruShield ].
This is an individual decision your company will
The Sensor name is used to identify the
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Network Security Platform
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