Netgate® Newsletter February 2018 Edition
Happy New Year from all of us at Netgate! We hope this year will be a prosperous and happy one for you!
We have a lot of good news to share.
Here are the highlights:
- The new XG-7100 1U
- Meltdown and Spectre update
- TNSR update
- Where does your security come from?
- pfSense cloud software updated
- Silver Member of The Linux Foundation
- Tip of the month
- Netgate move is complete
- pfSense Gold Hangout this month
Announcing the new XG-7100 1U!
We're pleased to announce the next level system coming from Netgate:The XG-7100 1U pfSense® Security Gateway Appliance. This 1U rack mount system comes with the new Intel® C3000 processor, 8x one GbE ports, and 2 SFP+ 10 GbE ports. At $999 USD, it's a very competitive way to jump into the 10 Gbps space!
The XG-7100 is available for pre-order and will ship in March with pfSense software version 2.4.3 preinstalled. Click the button to see the full set of features and specifications.
Meltdown and Spectre update
There's been a lot in the news recently about Meltdown and Spectre, vulnerabilities that have recently been identified that can affect 64-bit Intel® and ARM processors used in Netgate® hardware.
FreeBSD, the operating system that pfSense software is based on, is fully aware of the vulnerabilities and is working to address them. Netgate will test and benchmark pfSense software, once a patch is implemented in the underlying operating system.
We will continue to monitor the progress and support the FreeBSD Security Team as they work to create patches and we will communicate via the blog and social media channels as updates become available.
You can read our blog post on Meltdown and Spectre by clicking the button.
TNSR update
The world of secure networking is due for dramatic change. From corporate telecommuters running small packet applications, to enterprises with hundreds or thousands of retail outlets, to cloud service providers who need to enable super large traffic flows between two or more virtual private clouds – the demand for secure, high performance, easy to manage network connections is insatiable. Yet, no one is excited about being told they need to pay for six-figure routers and firewalls to get there.
So how is this relevant to you? Well, if you’ve ever wanted your firewall to go beyond 300 Mbps or so with real world traffic mixes – especially with encrypted traffic or tunneled protocol traffic like PPPoE, you’ll want to know what we’re up to. Or, if you’ve ever thought about how nice it would be to manage a number of firewall or router instances via an API, you’ll want to know more. Best of all, if you think 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, or even 100 Gbps capabilities are likely to be out of your budget grasp, prepare to be pleasantly surprised.
We call it TNSR™ ("tensor"). And it has a scaled-down true 1 Gbps version that we’ve named SCLR™ ("scalar"). In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be making exciting announcements about new software, physical appliances, and cloud capabilities that will take your secure networking to unprecedented levels of price and performance. Stay tuned!
Want to know more? Click the button below.
Where does your security come from?
pfSense software installed on Netgate hardware is a great firewall solution. pfSense software installed on your hardware is also a great combination. If your firewall security doesn't come from one of these two places, you may not be as secure as you think.
Purchasing pfSense software installed on third-party hardware from an unofficial vendor could lead you into a false sense of security. There are counterfeit versions of pfSense on the market. Being open source, it's possible for unscroupulous people to program backdoors into the software they install and call pfSense.
We've received reports of systems purchased from unofficial vendors with things like admin passwords that revert back to the default password, making the firewall vulnerable. And this is just one example.
Our recommendation: Be sure you're getting your system directly from Netgate or a Netgate partner. If you build your own firewall, download pfSense software directly from www.pfsense.org.
If you have purchased from an unofficial vendor, download pfSense software and reinstall immediately. Better off safe than sorry.
pfSense cloud software updated
The latest image of pfSense software has been uploaded to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Both sites offer a 30-day free trial of pfSense Firewall/VPN/Router software.
If you are hosting part or all of you infrastructure in the cloud, you should consider using pfSense as your cloud firewall or VPN endpoint. pfSense software in the cloud offers the same great functionality you've come to rely on from Netgate, without additional fees for additional features.
When it's time to renew the annual license for your cloud firewall, consider pfSense as an econimical, secure alternative.
Silver Member of The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation just published a press release announcing the addition of 30 new Silver Members. We're proud that Netgate is among those 30 new members. We're supporting the foundation by contributing code to the Linux Foundation Networking Fund effort. You can read the press release by clicking below.
Tip of the month
The tip of the month this time is a little bit different than previous months.
We've started a new series of articles called the Why To Series, designed to explain why to do things on pfSense rather than how to do them. There are lots of great articles and videos available that go into great depth on how to customize and use the features within pfSense software, but if you don't know why, then you might not know it's a feature you should use.
The first article of the Why To Series is pfSense Best Practices - Part 1. Click the button to download the PDF.
Our move is complete!
Netgate has completed the move to a larger location. Our new facilities are up and running, and with the new space, we will be able to serve you better in 2018 and beyond. All of our old contact information is the same. Only our address has changed:
4616 W Howard Lane Suite 900
Austin, TX 78728
If you need our contact information, it is listed below or you can go to our contact us page on our website.
January Gold Monthly Hangout
If you missed it, the first 2018 Gold Monthly Hangout covered User Management and Privileges on 2.4. That included user and group management, controlling access using privileges, SSH, sudo, and best practices for accounts and accessing firewall management.
The video is posted in the Monthly Hangout Archive for you to review. Remember to log into the portal with your pfSense Gold credentials to view the archive.
Netgate training schedule
Official pfSense training by Netgate has been announced and is up on the website. If you need training to maintain your partner status, please click the button below to get enrolled. Seats fill up quickly so don't delay.
Netgate Global Support
Netgate Global Support subscriptions are designed to meet the needs of any organization – public or private, large or small, with support plans starting at $29 a month (less than $1 a day) on pfSense hardware purchased from Netgate at the point of sale. Choose plans from Professional, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus to meet your pfSense support SLA needs.
We're always on! Our team is staffed 24x7x365. We are committed to delivering enterprise-class, worldwide support at a competitive price point.
This message is sent on behalf of Netgate. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add news@netgate.com to your address book or safe sender list. To contact us, please use the methods listed on the contact us page.
© Copyright 2002 - 2018 Rubicon Communications, LLC
Netgate is a registered trademark of Rubicon Communications, LLC
pfSense is a registered trademark of Electric Sheep Fencing, LLC
Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
