14 DAY TRIAL // SmoothWall team announced today the much-awaited beta release of their upcoming 3.0 version of SmoothWall Linux Firewall distribution. Named "Degu", this first beta release is based on the latest Linux 2.6 kernel and it's designed for ease of use and install: "SmoothWall is pleased to announce the much-awaited release of the beta, feature-complete version of Express 3.0. Code-named "Degu", 3.0 is the latest version of our successful and long-running express firewall software and incorporates a number of new features and improvements. "
Highlights of this beta include:
￭ A much improved user interface pic ￭ Additional "purple" network interface ￭ Additional support for newer hardware (including 64bit processors) ￭ Improved VPN subsystem ￭ Advanced level reporting with dynamic "real-time" traffic graphs and per-IP address traffic stats pic ￭ Improved bandwidth management so important traffic can be prioritized ￭ Improved IDS/easier updates ￭ Time based controls ￭ Email antivirus via POP3 proxy support ￭ Outbound traffic blocking ￭ Inline Instant Messenger (MSN, ICQ, Yahoo!, AOL) logging proxy server support pic
"3.0 was code named "Degu", in remembrance of one of our team's pets, who sadly died during development. (Although given the length of time it has taken to get this version complete, it's hardly surprising the little critter died really!) "
However, there are some small known issues in this release, all of them related to Linux kernel 2.6:
￭ USB ISDN support is broken; ￭ PPTP and Quake helpers. PPTP is compiled up but not loaded by default because it is still being tested; ￭ UPnP support is currently missing,
But probably there are some unknown problems as well; bugs that you are encouraged to hunt by testing this beta release.
What is SmoothWall Express? It is an open source firewall distribution based on the Linux operating system. It includes a hardened subset of the GNU/Linux operating system, so there is no separate OS to install. The SmoothWall Express project is designed for ease of use as it can be configured via a web-based interface, and requires absolutely no knowledge of Linux to install or use.
SmoothWall Open Source project produces a range of commercial supported security products, designed for use in small to medium sized businesses, education and corporate offices.
You can download this first beta release of SmoothWall Express 3.0 right now from Softpedia.