next version of Smoothwall

[CyberNerd]

Does anyone know when the next School Guardian is released. I thought it was soon, April?
In time for Easter holiday upgrade?

[pete]

I think it's "Tom Newton, Tom Newton, Tom Newton" that usually triggers his appearance.

[plexer]

Dunno I'm currently trialling their latest auth3 installation and providing feedback on the UI as well.

Ben

[tom_newton]

There's two upgrades imminent - both "in place" add ons.
First, there's the reporting performance & stability improvements, due in days, rather than weeks. Shortly after that is out and we're happy with it, there's the new authentication module, but that is likely to fall just the wrong side of easter :-/

Later in the year we will be replacing out the whole Guardian module, which will be a lot of fun (tm), but your "base OS" will be current for some time to come, as we are still managing to get plenty out of it

[CyberNerd]

thanks, It's the new authentication Module that I'm after.

[powdarrmonkey]

Shortly after that is out and we're happy with it, there's the new authentication module, but that is likely to fall just the wrong side of easter :-/

Later in the year we will be replacing out the whole Guardian module, which will be a lot of fun (tm), but your "base OS" will be current for some time to come, as we are still managing to get plenty out of it

Do you have any details of these? It's the first time I'd heard of either of them.

[nadeem]

what will the authentication module do?

[tom_newton]

Details details.. always with the details

Anyways... new auth (aka "auth3"). This si a ground up re-implementation of the auth controller. Basic requirements were:
* improve scalability - larger organisations should see a drop in load relating to auth
* fix a few long-standing architecture issues
* allow configuration of multiple different directories
* some interface rework to make config easier
* group "precedence" to help with users who have >1 group
* limited per-user filtering
* auth method by proxy-port: use NTLM on port 800 and ident or SSL auth on port 900, for example - for those with machines that disagree with ntlm

Then... later on, new guardian, which again, is a complete rearchitecting of the whole module. These projects have both been ongoing for a LONG time whilst we've also been writing flash filters and other fun for you . Some of the new bits here:

Architecture:
* again, more scalable, each instance being able to handle 10k connections/sec
* redesign of the thread architecture to reduce process overhead
* lower memory footprint and better scaling of RAM usage in general
* zero-impact policy and URL filtering changes for rapidly changing (eg. automated) filter jobs
* plugin based for fun future upgrades

Blocking:
* improved classifier, making results more accurate
* new antimalware engine
* better handling of SSL connections (more on this as I get it... there's a lot of "what ifs" in this bit)

Policy:
* new policy engine with re-orderable rules
* location based policy (less filtering for users depending where they log in)
* (possibly) time periods with holes in
* true multi-group membership
* full per-user filtering
* soft block as an "action"

UI:
* partial redesign
* wizards for common tasks
* (maybe in a slightly later update) policy testing page

Auth:
* authentication method based on location (IP)


This is all off the top of my head, so I may have missed some bits. Any input gratefully received. I'll be calling some of you to show you UI mockups soon for the guardian UI. If anyone particularly fancies being bothered by me... let me know

[plexer]

Auth3 test install workign flawlessly here

Ben

[pwds]

What engine did you go with Tom?

Interested in what "soft block as an action" means.

How granular will allowed times be- many lessons don't run neatly to half or quarter hours.

Generally looking exciting

[tom_newton]

pwds - it's all our own tackle, none of what's in Guardian or Auth is produced anywhere but in an office just east of southampton - no "bought in" engines Only our email filter is currently a 3rd party commercial component, though the new antimalware will also be an external company.

Soft block as an action will allow you to use "coach" or "warning page mode" (we call it "soft block") on certain categories, for certain people, at your option.

Time controls are currently one-minute granular. This will get no worse, though I can't see it getting any better ;-P

[pwds]

So soft block is more granular but otherwise more or less the same as at the moment? The quotes around "action" threw me, probably as I've not read through your documentation to understand your use of terminology.

Looking forward to the release.

[tom_newton]

Indeed. Right now soft-block is "all or nothing".

We also hope to standardise on terms like "action" and produce a glossary of same.

[Stuart_C]

Time controls are currently one-minute granular. This will get no worse, though I can't see it getting any better ;-P

But what if I wanted to switch on my locked down the internet 30 seconds before school! You mean I CANT do that?!??!?



I got told Auth3 was about 3 weeks away.

[tom_newton]

3 weeks is probably accurate - hard to tell though, we have to fully release the reporting fixes first, but the guys have all but finished auth, bar final tests and packaging.