I’m pleased to announced that Astaro Security Gateway Version 8.100 has been GA-released and is being distributed via our Up2Date infrastructure. The main focus of this release is our Wireless Security products; 8.100 brings official support for our much-sought-after Astaro Access Points to the Version 8 platform. Version 8.100 also introduces more flexibility for Astaro RED deployments, improvements to SMTP profiles and WAN link balancing, and many usability improvements based on your feature submissions and feedback.
A summary of new features and functionality for ASG 8.100 follows, for a more in-depth list, please see the official 8.100 release notes (now hosted in our KnowledgeBase for easier reference in the future).
ASG 8.100 Feature Summary:
Wireless
The Astaro Access Points (Astaro Access Points) are now supported for use with ASG V8. There are no major differences in functionality between V7 and V8 in this area.
RED Transparent/Split Modes
RED Appliances now support a third operating mode: "Transparent / Split". In this mode, the ASG is not responsible as the gateway for the remote network behind the RED device (eg. it does not provide a DHCP server and is not the default gateway). Instead, all traffic per default goes transparently through RED through the existing Internet connection at the branch; only traffic for the destined for the networks at the main office behind the ASG (remote networks) will be redirected to the ASG. At RED Managment >> Deployment helper you can find a setup form for RED devices which gives a bit more context and help instead of the standard Add RED form, in a wizard-style approach.
Usability Improvements:
- Improved Object Tables: Certain actions (delete, enable, and disable) can now be applied to multiple selected objects. Also, object tables can now be sorted by different attributes of objects.
- Dashboard Links: Various parts of the Dashboard now allow you to directly jump to the relevant page in WebAdmin via the green arrows in the head lines. Also all the topics in "Current system configuration" are now linked to the respective page.
- SMTP Profiles Redesign: SMTP profile configuration has been redesigned to be more in line with the rest of WebAdmin.
- Streamlined Interface Setup: When creating or editing an interface object, per default not all the options are shown anymore. Some of the more advanced settings or rarely-used options are hidden by default.
- Uplink Balancing Mixed Mode: In uplink balancing you don’t have to choose anymore between either full multipath or failover. You can now define a default set of multipath interfaces and still define one or more fail over interfaces which will be activated if all the default interfaces fail. This can be useful if you have one line that is much slower or expensive than the others and should only be used as a very last resort, and gives more combinations as to how multiple connections can be used by the admin based on their specific needs.
- HTTP Parent Proxy Routing: You can now define more than one parent proxy for the HTTP proxy at Web Security>>HTTP/S Profiles>>Parent Proxies. Each parent proxy can be limited to a list of hosts. At Web Security>>HTTP/S>>Advanced you can define the list of enabled parent proxies and the order in which they should be matched. This feature is useful if various destinations require different upstream proxy points, such as in Schools or Government environments.
Astaro 8.100 Information:
Customers which have a license that enables Wireless Security, (or a Full Guard Bundle) are not able to one-touch upgrade their appliances to Version 8 just yet. However, in the coming weeks we will release Version 7.510 which will advance the "landing" version of the upgrade process from 8.003 to 8.101. At this time, all elligible ASG appliances will be able to update using the one-touch process. We will have more information on this for you very soon.
Remarks:
Configuration will not be upgraded
System will be rebooted
News:
Added Wireless support
RED Transparent/Split Modes
RED Deployment helper
German and Japanese language support
Usability Improvements
Uplink Balancing Mixed Mode
HTTP Parent Proxy Routing
Licensing change: DNS Routing available with any subscription
Open sources update to SLES11SP1 + latest vulnerability patches
Fixes:
[15938] Issue when using RED with QoS
Download Links:
Below is the link for the Up2Date package from 8.003 to 8.100. Next week, we will update this posting with individual ISO images for Hardware and Software applainces, along with corresponding ISO downloads for use with the Astaro Smart Installer. We will also include new VMware vSphere4 virtual appliance images.
Up2Date Package:
ftp://ftp.astaro.de/pub/ASG/v8/up2date/u2d-sys-8.100.tgz.gpg
ISO size: 156M
ISO md5sum: 34df23040999104fd32205ac5dbf4880
Astaro Up2Date technology makes it easy to upgrade your Astaro Security Gateway to the latest version. There are two ways to apply an Up2Date package to the system:
- Log on to WebAdmin, navigate to Management >> Up2Date >> Overview and use Update to latest version now to install the Firmware Up2Date. Click on the "Watch Up2Date Progress in new window" and an extra browser window will show the progress of the Up2Date installation. (The System administrator will receive a notification email once the Up2Date process has finished.)
- Download the Up2Date package from our HTTP or FTP Server and install it under Management >> Up2Date >> Advanced:
Astaro ASG Up2Date Download Mirrors:
Feedback
- If you want to provide feedback or want to discuss any of the ASG V8 features you should post it on our User Bulletin Board. Please indicate the version you are using (e.g. "[8.100] Wireless Security Question").
- If you have any feedback on our help, manual, or any documentation (Online Help) please send it to docu@astaro.com.
- There is also a demo server for public use: http://demo.astaro.com
Angelo Comazzetto
ASG Product Manager