Redline technology to process content automatically

Redline Networks next week plans to introduce technology that the company says will enable users to automate content-processing actions by writing “if-then” policies.

The new technology, which will be integrated into Redline’s E/X enterprise application and T/X Web I/O processor platforms, includes a content-processing engine that is governed by rules that customers can tailor to their networks.

The company says the technology has the ability to read, understand and transform full Layer-7 HTTP content streams, including the header and the entire body, of client requests and server responses. By contrast, typical Layer 4-7 content switches and load-balancing products can read only the header or a small portion of a content stream, and are limited to adding a header or making a switching decision about where a stream should be directed, Redline explains.

Redline’s new capability, called OverDrive, is intended to help enterprise network managers manage and secure Web-enabled applications such as Siebel, PeopleSoft and Microsoft Outlook. For example, network managers could define rules to perform such actions as modifying a component of page content, selectively adding Secure Sockets Layer encryption, changing URLs and modifying requests.

Through rules, OverDrive can centrally redirect requests for outdated URLs to their newer equivalents. The new control environment can also assist in root-cause analysis of intermittent problems that are difficult to track within a data center, using rules to check and log every request and its accompanying error, and proactively alert network managers on problems.

The technology can add application-layer firewall enhancements that complement other edge firewalls. The rules can block buffer overflow attempts, deny malicious browsers, prevent unapproved URL requests and protect against well-known attacks such as Nimda or Code Red, Redline says.

To stop hackers who attempt to attack sites through fingerprinting of servers and applications, Redline OverDrive can obscure server identity by making Microsoft IIS servers appear to the outside world to be, say, Apache or Sun iPlanet Web servers.

RedLine OverDrive is available next week on the company’s E/X Enterprise Application Processors and T/X Web I/O Processors. It will be available across the company’s product portfolios as a free upgrade through year-end. Pricing for OverDrive Enterprise will be $5,000 in 2004.