Smoothwall Enhancements Roll Out

Smoothwall Enhancements Roll Out

Smoothwall has rolled out some major enhancements in the last months.

Major updates include:

  • Cookie Based SSL Login - Cookie based SSL login support in order to better use the SSL login captive portal on mobile devices and tablets (i.e. IOS & Android). The SSL login authentication method is now split into two methods: the traditional and the cookie based. With this release, it’s no longer necessary to keep the login page open to maintain a session, improving the user experience and making it harder to close the session accidentally.
  • Kerberos Authentication - This release adds the Kerberos authentication method. Kerberos supersedes NTLM as the preferred method for authenticating Active Directory or Open Directory domain computers, non-domain devices will not work with Kerberos. Kerberos is particularly useful if you want to use devices like Apple Macs on your network, although if you are using NTLM successfully it is advised that you do not alter your settings unless you need these specific features.
  • Driver Updates - This release, which should be invisible to the vast majority of customers, provides driver updates for be2net on HP G7 Blades and the c7000 chassis, the Dell R420 NIC and the Dell Perc H710 RAID storage controller.

Additional recent updates:

  • Improvements to the Guardian engine’s ability to verify HTTPS certificates by giving the ability to download intermediate certificates. This will reduce the chance of a secure site being blocked incorrectly
  • The interstitial HTTPS filtering warning page is now less intrusive, providing an option to only show the page daily or weekly
  • There will be a warning if the Guardian HTTPS filtering certificate is due to expire, with an easier process in place to regenerate the certficate upon expiry
  • Reboot is no longer required on changing a certificate
  • It is now possible to run web activity reports excluding a specific domain
  • 5 minute and 1 hour bypass options now available in blockpage admin override options
  • A warning will show on the Admin login page when an unsupported browser is used, or if cookies or JavaScript are disabled
  • Email Security module: It is now possible to disable the daily quarantine summary email for specific users
  • Email Security module: A different hostname can be used to prevent mails being rejected by other mail relays
  • Bugfixes for the optional Email Security module