HI.
> the hole conduit vs static's and acl's is a bit of a mystery
conduit is the old way, and access-list is the newer one.
One of the main reasons for the change was simply to be more similar to IOS routers...
There are technical differenced between them (acl is bound to interface, acl overrides ASA security levels, and more).
I've looked at the link - I would have not done it that way.
Here are some of my notes about it:
* Unrelated to the pix, but ISA server can be a better and cheaper front end for OWA then an additional Exchange Enterprise box.
Linux+apache can also do it (reverse proxy).
* "WANT TO MAKE A VPN SERVER??? Here's the commands..."
What's the idea of VPN from DMZ to inside? - it punches more holes by allowing all ports via the VPN tunnel, or even access to other hosts in internal network...
DMZ to inside traffic (if any) should be protected by access rules and NOT by a transparent always on VPN between hosts.
* The whole model might fail if/when the front end server is hacked (run code of attacker), because it has almost unlimitted access to the internal network, or at least to some sensitive servers, and from there...
* A content filter (either additional device or on IIS servers like URLscan) can add an important layer of protection.
I will mail the article author souldjer777@hotmail.com a link to this thread so (s)he can comment...
Yizhar Hurwitz