Endian is proud to release the new version of EFW that introduces several new features such as easier procedures to switch to the Enterprise edition and to migrate older versions to EFW 2.4, a new kernel, improved IPsec, and a new GUI for the destination NAT/Port Forwarding module. In addition, Endian Engineers worked hard on bugfixes, making EFW 2.4 a significant improvement in the development of the Endian product family.

Check the complete list of new features and enjoy the new release!

Your Endian team

Hi blog readers,

Endian Engineers are working hard on the new release of our EFW: version 2.4 is coming sooner than you expect!

With EFW 2.4 Endian will introduce new features that have been designed in order to improve the performances of the system and your user experience, as well as several bugfixes that make 2.4 an even more stable and reliable release.

Keep following our news and you will enjoy EFW 2.4 soon!

Today we are proud to announce the release 2.3 of Endian UTM Appliances and Endian Firewall Community. It includes many features previously available only to Enterprise users as well as some completely new features. Some highlights:

• Dashboard
  The main page has been replaced by a dashboard with statistics about the system and its services as well as live-graphs for incoming and outgoing traffic.
• HTTP proxy with user- and group-based content filtering
  The HTTP proxy now has a new and polished web interface that adds the possibility to create group based content filters.
• Intrusion Prevention
  Snort rules can now be configured. It is possible to drop packets as well as to log intrusion attempts.
• Port forwarding rewrite
  In version 2.3 it is possible to add port-forwards from any zone (only from the RED zone previously). Port forwarding without NAT is now also supported.
• Quality of Service
  Traffic Shaping has been replaced by a fully configurable Quality of Service module. QoS devices, classes and rules can be defined.
• Email notifications
  Emails can be sent automatically for predefined events.
• SNMP
  support
Basic SNMP support has been added.

For more information point your browser to:
http://www.endian.com/en/products/features/release/
Enjoy this fantastic release!
Your Endian Team

Please remember that this is not the final release. Therefore do not use it in production environments unless you know what you are doing. Should you find any bugs do not hesitate and add them to our bugtracker at http://bugs.endian.com/ *AFTER* you have made sure that the bug has not been reported already.

This release includes many features that were previously available only to users of the Enterprise release as well as some completely new features. These features are:

Backups
Backups can now be stored to and recovered from attached USB mass storage devices. It is also possible to schedule automatic backups and to send encrypted backups via email.

Dashboard
The main page has been replaced by a dashboard with statistics about the system and its services as well as live-graphs for incoming and outgoing traffic.

Email notifications
Emails can be sent automatically for predefined events.

HTTP proxy time based access control
With the new interface it is possible to add time based access control lists for the HTTP proxy.

HTTP proxy with user- and group-based content filtering
The HTTP proxy now has a new and polished web interface that adds the possibility to create group based content filters.

Intrusion Prevention
Snort rules can now be configured. It is possible to drop packets as well as to log intrusion attempts.

Policy routing
Routing rules can be created based on the interface, MAC address, protocol or port of a packet.

Port forwarding rewrite
In version 2.3 it is possible to add port-forwards from any zone (only from the RED zone previously). Port forwarding without NAT is now also supported.

Quality of Service
Traffic Shaping has been replaced by a fully configurable Quality of Service module. QoS devices, classes and rules can be defined.

SNMP support
Basic SNMP support has been added.

SMTP proxy web interface rewrite
The web interface of the SMTP proxy has been rewritten with focus on usability.

VLAN support (IEEE 802.1Q trunking)
It is now possible to create VLANs on every interface. The VLAN interfaces can be used to distinguish connections in the same zone.

Enjoy the release!
Your Endian team

Hi blog readers,
today I have rumour from our development team!

The last 2.3 beta release is on my desk!!

This is the fourth beta and it’s full featured, I’ve been testing it for one week now and it looks stable.
The GUI is almost definitive, same for the strings (we will start soon the translation).

Are you part of the Endian Community?
There’s a revelation for you!!

We will release soon the 2.3 Release Candidate 1 which will be available to the world!!!

Moreover a good news for Endian 2.2 Enterprise users:
in a couple of weeks we are releasing few patches which fix some annoying bugs.

Be quiet, don’t spread the news

Luca

I know.. I’ve been away for a while and everybody is waiting for the Peter’s super-secret-feature but..

[suspense]

..I can’t.. it’s too big..
..your minds are not ready for that.. so keep on waiting.. lol

Anyway don’t be sad because today I’m telling you a small but useful hidden feature!

detectip

It’s a very simple shell command which shows the external ip address of your main uplink.

usage

Just type the command on the console and you’ll get the external ip!

root@endian:~ # detectip
74.125.77.104

how it works

It’s really easy, it automatically does what every sys admin does when wants to find out the real ip address: he goes on www.your-ip-or-something-like-that.com

The script retrieves the http://checkip.dyndns.org page and extracts the ip address.
Nothing else, but it’s cool when you are remotely connected through Endian Network.

That’s all for me, I hope you liked this feature, I do.
Stay tuned for more features and of course the super-secret-one

Have fun with Endian!
Luca

Get one of our limited Endian Action/Reaction T-shirts!

Friday, July 31, 2009 we are celebrating the 10th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day.
On this very special international day we would to show all system administrators how much we appreciate their hard work and dedication.

Therefore we decided to initiate a little photo contest. Show us why you or your system administrator deserve one of our limited edition Endian Action/Reaction T-shirts (only 10 in the whole world). Send the image to sysadminday[at]endian.com and we will post it on our facebook site. The creators of the three images with the biggest feedback will win this “hot” shirt:

The deadline for the contest will be August, 16th. Don’t forget: “Life is too short to be serious”..

To all sysadmins out there: ENJOY YOUR SPECIAL DAY! And to the rest of the world: Show them your respect because they deserve it for all the things they do to run your business!
Your Endian Team.

Hey, is there anybody out there?
Ok, let’s hope someone is reading this blog..

Some days ago I was talking to Peter and I had an incredible idea..

me: hey pito, do you remember the command for that (super-secret-feature)
pito: easy! the (super-secret-feature) is almost finished, just write that .. in /var/efw/..
me: but that means the (super-secret-feature) is ready and working!
pito: yes it is, just the GUI is missing
me: great! but who knows about that?
pito: …
me: ok, I’ve just found my mission. I’ll write about this (super-secret-feature) in my first blog post!

After a while I realized that our firewall has lot of cool features that nobody knows.
So I decided to start a series of posts called “The Hidden Features” of Endian of course!

Want to know more about Peter’s super-secret-feature?
Stay tuned and wait until next week.

Have fun with your Endian!

Luca

Don‘t underestimate the System Administrators’ power!

Be grateful and show them your respect.
Ok maybe not every day, but just on July 31st, the official SysAdminDay 2009.

To say thanks to these great people, who care of your computers and network, buy them a cool SysAdmin day t-shirt.
On our new online shop you can find a wide range of products that every sysadmin desires. Don’t lose the chance to be good!