Astaro is pleased to announce the availability of the Astaro Security Linux V6 BETA and invites you to test it!
Highlights of the BETA release
Transparent Firewall Mode
Packets can traverse the firewall without modifying any of the source or destination information in the IP packet header (acting like a layer 2 switch or bridge). There is no need to reconfigure IP space from currently assigned addresses. (Previously a subnet had to be split in at least two different subnets in order to put ASL in between). It is easy to pull a firewall out of the loop to diagnose network problems and to accurately map problem IP addresses.
Time-Based Packet Filter and Surf Protection Configuration
You can apply configuration options for packet and URL filters for specified time periods. For example, you can enable a set of firewall rules that allows a specific group access to specific servers only on Monday through Friday, from 8:00AM to 5:00PM.
Support for the Linux Kernel 2.6
Astaro Security Linux V6 utilizes the new Linux kernel 2.6. Benefits include:
- Support for S-ATA disks
- Increased performance for multithreaded applications (e.g. the content filter) via use of new NPTL thread library and support of Hyper-Threading Technology. This enables a single physical processor to execute two or more separate code streams (threads) concurrently.
- Support of new hardware and new devices
Policy-Based Routing
Traffic can be forwarded and routed based on source IP address, source port and destination port (in addition to normal routing, which is based on the destination IP address). With this feature traffic can be spread over multiple Internet uplinks to improve application performance, improve the use of bandwidth, and control costs.
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Proxy
The SIP Proxy increases flexibility, security and performance when supporting Voice over IP (VoIP) communications. SIP software clients (like kphone, xlite) and SIP hardware clients (Voice over IP phones which are SIP-compatible, such as those from Cisco, Grandstream or Snom) can work behind an IP masquerading firewall or NAT router.
Anomaly-Based Intrusion Protection
Increased protection against “zero-day-attacks” (malicious threats that attack enterprise networks before signatures have been developed). To guard against these early attacks, Astaro Security Linux analyzes the behavior of “normal” traffic and identifies anomalies that indicate a possible new attack, for example, new services, previously unseen hosts, and unusual amounts of traffic.
And a lot of more stuff visible or under the hood….
There are two things no longer included: Support for old CPUs (INTEL Pentium I, AMD K5/K6, VIA older then C3 Eden/Nehemiah) and WLAN.
Limitations
With the provided ISO image there are maybe some limitations (remember: its a BETA 🙂 Please check the Known Issue List (http://docs.astaro.org) before you test ASL V6 BETA! Astaro does not recommend to use ASL V6 BETA in productive environments. There is no manual for ASL V6 BETA and the Online Help may still contain some gaps.
It is possible to import configuration backup files from ASL V5.2X and in the end we will support a config import from ASL V6 BETA into the GA version. We will provide Up2Date packages as well as ISO images for ASL V6 BETA. Please update your test installation regularly. The ASL V6 BETA includes a test license with unlimited users and all features activated. There is no need to request a new or special license.
A hardware compatibility list and a Known Issues List for the BETA release are available at: http://docs.astaro.org
Hardware requirements
Astaro minimum recommendation for V6 BETA installations:
- Intel Pentium III 900 MHz
- 256MB RAM
- 9 GB hard disk drive and above.
Best performance results running on:
- Dual Xeon or Athlon
- 512MB/1GB RAM
- 36 GB SCSI 15krpm hard disk drive and above.
For testing purpose you can also use a VMware Workstation (http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_features.html).
Download Information
asl-5.800.iso
size: 294MB (294,766,592 Byte)
md5sum: b7d62f45114774d113f405c182885875
Astaro FTP server: ftp://ftp2.astaro.de/pub/ASL/v6.0/iso_i386/BETA/
Astaro HTTP server: http://download2.astaro.de/ASL/v6.0/iso_i386/BETA/
BitTorrent: http://download2.astaro.de/ASL/v6.0/iso_i386/BETA/asl-5.800.iso.torrent
(If you are not familiar with BitTorrent, please check out this detailed description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent). Search for “how to burn” on our Knowledge Base (http://www.astaro.com/kb/) if you have trouble to burn a CD from the ISO image.
Feedback
Feedback, problem reports and comments should be posted on our User Bulletin Board in the “BETA Version / ASL Hackers” forum. Please take care to add always(!) the version you refer to (e.g. “[5.801] problem with POP3 proxy in bridge mode“). Astaro is trying to build the security solutions that you need. We greatly appreciate your input, comments and suggestions!
Thx in advance for your tests!
Astaro R&D team
You Can Learn More About the Astaro Internet Security Product Line By Going to www.FirewallShop.com/Astaro.
The original article/video can be found at Try the ASL V6 BETA!