Originally published at: http://www.nethserver.org/nethserver-7-rc1-saltimbocca-released/
It’s only been a short month since we released Beta2 and we’re happy to say that it has already passed 4,000 direct downloads from around 100 different countries.
Today, I’m excited to announce that NethServer 7 RC1 “Saltimbocca” has been released and is publicly available.
In the past, we asked for help from our members to make NethServer 7 the best release yet, so we hope this is the last step forward on the path towards the final release.
Now, we’re thrilled to share it with you and hear your feedback, so let’s jump right into it!
Overview
The RC1 release of NethServer 7 will bring numerous goodies: Deep Packet Inspection, new time conditions on firewall rules, new interface for traffic shaping, Suricata as IPS, new interface for restore data and improved full text search for IMAP.
Changes from Beta2
There are some major changes from Beta2 and it’s impossible to cover them all in detail here, so here are some of our favorite highlights:
Deep Packet Inspection
A major feature of the new firewall is deep packet inspection to the firewall using nDPI.
This feature will allow the administrator to create firewall rules like “only the boss computer can access Facebook” or “nobody can download torrents”
New time conditions on firewall rules
The firewall now supports conditions based on time. Administrators should be able to create rules like this:
- Block Facebook during working hours in the working days
- Allow Facebook only during lunch time
New interface for the Traffic shaping
A better implementation of traffic shaping with a brand new interface allows the creation of complex rules also with nDPI support.
For example, during office hours facebook traffic has low priority
The “Firewall rules” page has been extended with the “low priority” and “high priority” actions on rule creation, and Bandwidth configuration of red network interface has been moved inside the “Network” page removing the “Traffic shaping” panel.
Suricata is the new IPS
We have replaced Snort with Suricata for better performances and improved support of newer hardware.
New web interface to restore data from old backups
In the past, the list of files to restore shown in the interface was created reading only the last backup.
Now, the user is able to select from which backup files should be restored (and the file list comes from the selected backup).
Improved full text search for IMAP
The upstream dovecot package provides the Lucene-based FTS (Full Text Search) plugin, we have enabled it by default, so the speed of searches performed by IMAP clients (and webmail) is now vastly improved.
And so much more
These are just the major highlights in 7 RC1 but there are other tiny improvements, refinements, and bugfixes that we aren’t covering here like:
- Shared Mailboxes default
- XMPP over bosh
- Clear-test password
- Collected memory plugin
- Passive FTP connection with virtualhost Display NetBIOS domain name on DC configuration page
- Failure on empty group creation
- Failures on Samba AD accounts management
- DC join failed, realmd cannot join this realm
- and more..
Full RC1 issues list is available on github
What does the RC release mean?
A release candidate (RC) is a testing version with potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. RC releases can be used in production, especially if new features are not used on mission critical systems. Upgrades to the final release will be supported
What needs test
Even in RC1, the most notable new feature that needs a good amount of testing is the AD Domain Controller setup, with particular focus on the depending functions such as email, shared folders and user authentication.
Feature freeze phase
This release is already in a core feature freeze phase, all work on adding new core features is suspended, shifting the effort towards fixing bugs and improving the stability and user experience.
This RC1 release contains all the exciting features of NethServer 7 in a form that anyone can help test. This testing, guided by the NethServer team, helps us target and identify bugs.
Future release
No new modules will be added or modified before the final release, we invite to stay tuned with our community for fresh news and updates about the forthcoming Stable Release
Thank the overall NethServer community
As always, we want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who makes NethServer possible! When you download a copy of NethServer or participate in your very own NethServer community, you enable us to write good Open Source software that many thousands have downloaded.
Why Saltimbocca?
Saltimbocca (also saltinbocca) is a dish (popular in southern Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Greece) made of veal lined or topped with prosciutto and sage or basil; marinated in wine, oil or saltwater depending on the region or one’s own taste. This dish is also occasionally topped with capers depending on individual taste.
It’s the favorite dish of one of the best Beta2 contributor @flatspin (aka Ralf Jeckel from Austria), so that would be a special tribute to the man who helped us test NethServer over the past month
Download and Test
We need your help to make NethServer 7 the best release yet, so please take some time to download and try out the RC1 and make sure the things that are important to you are working.
- You can install it on a virtual machine or on a bare-metal server using a DVD or USB stick
- Upgrade from Beta1 is supported through the Software center
If you find a bug, please report it replying to this topic – every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the experience for thousands of NethServer users worldwide, also our amazing quality team will be called upon to give its support on that!
Together, we can make NethServer rock-solid. We have a culture of coordinating new features and pushing fixes upstream as much as possible, and your feedback will help improve not only NethServer but Linux and free software as a whole.
Ready to check it out? Then head to the docs and download:
