Mandrake Multi-Network Firewall Released
A couple of years after the fairly quiet release of its Single Network Firewall product (which I was personally not that impressed with), MandrakeSoft has now released their Multinetwork Firewall. Whereas SNF was designed as a router/firewall for simple home networks, MNF is aimed at more complex network topologies. A quick rundown of the features from the web site:
Quote:
*Configuration and management is performed through a secure Web Interface
*Monitoring tools display detailed information about network & system activity
*Detailed reports on intrusion detection, DHCP and Proxy usage
*Supported Internet connections include modem, DSL, ISDN, Cable, T1,...
*Specialized feature to allow Internet access only during specified hours
*Dial-on-demand provides a hassle-free way to share a dial-up connection
*Netfilter/IPtables is the firewalling subsystem which offers stateful inspection and secure kernel 2.4
*"Snort" and "Prelude" Intrusion Detection Systems issue alerts during network attacks and take action against hostile intruders
*DMZ (de-militarized zone) wizard for easily configuring several DMZs
*VPN (Virtual Private Network), based on the FreeS/wan project, provides the ability to secure all data transfer
*Shorewall is a powerful "hardening" firewall system for configuring access rules such as source IP address, destination IP address and IP protocol type
*NAT (Network Access Translation) permits many hosts to share a single Internet IP address at the same time
*Firewall updates available
*Full-featured and easily configured Proxy (transparent, manual & manual with user authentication through LDAP & Samba protocol)
*URL/Content filtering offers a powerful solution for advertising banner and specific Internet site filtering
*Web surfing time restriction
*Create filtering rules to control information flow through a company network
*Cache only DNS
*DHCP server
It can be downloaded from one of the download mirrors.
[edit]Oops..... apparently you can't link directly to the mirrors page anymore. They have it configured where you have to see a promo for the Mandrake Club first, but just go on to the download page and it's there. ;)
An interesting note about this product is that it has a lot of people wondering if Mandrake is backing away from free software in the face of economic realities.
Quote:
The company's new Multi Network Firewall (MNF) software is free and ships under an open-source licence for those who don't need support, Paris-based MandrakeSoft said Thursday. But if customers want support, they must buy a version covered by a different, more restrictive licence....
The commercial version may be installed on only one computer, though it supports any number of clients connecting to it. MandrakeSoft supports the product and gives faster access to updates. In addition, business partners may change the software without requiring the changes to be published.
I'm downloading the ISO now, and I'm going to try it on my DSL firewall box just for shits and giggles. I will post a full review once I've taken it around the block a few times.
