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Hydra

Release 18

Release Status: 
Past

hydra (HIGH-druh) noun
1. A persistent or multifaceted problem that cannot be eradicated by a single effort.
2. The many-headed monster that was slain by Hercules.
3. A constellation in the equatorial region of the southern sky near Cancer, Libra, and Centaurus. Also called Snake.

Details of this update and their benefits to you

  • Major Firewall Enhancements -- Our development team has been hard at work, improving the NetBox's firewall to provide the best possible level of protection. The firewall now features full connection tracking for all major Internet protocols. This means that the content of every network packet passing through the NetBox is carefully inspected to make sure it allowed and 'makes sense' in the context it is being sent. In practical terms this means its now even harder for hackers and malicious software to attack your network and valuable information.

    The new firewall subsystem also offers a number of other benefits:
    • Port forwarding of traditionally troublesome protocols such as FTP is now a breeze. For FTP, set up a port forward on port 21 and the NetBox will figure out the rest. Both active and passive FTP will work out of the box.
    • Similarly, outbound firewall control of difficult protocols is now also simple. As an example for FTP, just set a rule for on port 21 and all FTP traffic will allowed/rejected as specified. No worrying about the FTP data port or active/passive mode issues.
    • This update provides the groundwork for bandwidth shaping and Quality of Service (QoS) features which are now in development. Imagine being able to specify exactly how much bandwidth different services, protocols and hosts on your network have access to. No more frustration as a big email out slows web browsing to a crawl! Look out for this feature in the coming months.
  • Improved PPTP Connection Handling -- Previously it was not possible to make outbound connections from the LAN to external PPTP servers while the NetBox's own PPTP server was active. Due to advancements in the firewall subsystem, concurrent inbound and outbound PPTP connections are now possible.
  • USB Keyboard Support -- You can now use a USB keyboard to configure the NetBox via the LCD screen. Previously only PS/2 style keyboards were supported. You may use any USB port on the unit. The NetBox Micro features two USB ports on the front and two on the rear. All other NetBox styles feature two USB ports on the rear.
  • Internal Storage System Update -- The internal database used by the NetBox has been updated to improve speed and reliability. You may notice improved performance when using the NetBox web interface.
  • NOD32 Virus Scanner Engine Update -- NetBox™s using ESET's NOD32 virus scanner will have the NOD32 scanning engine updated to fix a recent security issue discovered with this product.
  • Admin Can Now Access Email Monitoring Config -- The NetBox™ 'admin' user now has access to the 'config' section under Email Monitoring in the web interface. This was previously disabled.
Note

Some items mentioned above are only available on your NetBox if you have purchased certain feature modules. If you would like further information about these modules don't hesitate to contact your NetBox reseller.