16.1  System configuration (Software Appliance / VMware Virtual Appliance)

In the Software Appliance / VMware Virtual Appliance edition, the WinRoute administration console allows setting of a few basic parameters of the firewall's operating system. These settings are necessary for correct functionality of the firewall and they can be found in Configuration / Advanced options, on the System Configuration tab.

System configuration — host name, date, time and time zone

Figure 16.1. System configuration — host name, date, time and time zone


Server name

Name is important both for some WinRoute services (e.g. secured web interface) and for the firewall's operating system's services.

The DNS forwarder module in WinRoute sets IP addresses of all the firewall's interfaces for the name automatically. If another DNS server is used in the local network, it is necessary to set corresponding DNS records on it.

Date, time and time zone

Many WinRoute features (user authentication, logs, statistics, etc.) require correct setting of date, time and time zone on the firewall.

Date and time can be set automatically but it is more useful to use an NTP server which provides information about the current time and allows automatic management of the firewall's system time. The time zone also includes information about daylight saving time settings.

Kerio Technologies offers the following free NTP servers for this purpose: 0.kerio.pool.ntp.org, 1.kerio.pool.ntp.org, 2.kerio.pool.ntp.org and 3.kerio.pool.ntp.org.