eBox Platform 1.4

Hi fellow eBox users!

Your favorite development team proudly presents the availability of eBox Platform 1.4.

eBox Platform is a Linux small business server that can act as a Gateway, Unified Threat Manager, Office Server, Infrastructure Manager, Unified Communications Server or a combination of them. The development of eBox Platform started in 2004 and currently it is an enterprise level network management solution that integrates over 20 open source network management tools in one single technology.

Let us summarize some of the new features of this new version.

Highlights

  • Support for master-slave LDAP servers. You can have several eBox machines running different services and have only one directory of users and groups that gets automatically replicated in every eBox slave machine to increase reliability and performance.
  • Microsoft Windows Active Directory synchronization. In case you already have an AD in your network to manage your users, you can still take advantage of the new master-slave architecture and make eBox pull users and groups from your AD.
  • New remote backup. It includes an enterprise-class backup module that allows you to backup and restore data in a very simple way. You can either buy our remote storage service or use your own servers to store the backup data. The process of a disaster recovery is much easier now. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and software that will minimize downtime in the event of a disaster.
  • E-Mail module enhancements. As part of our strategy to make eBox a simple but fully-fledged e-mail server a few new features have been added: quotas, Sieve support, retrieval of external accounts, anti-spam enhancements, catch-all account and a few others.
  • New webmail module. Roundcube is our webmail of choice and now has been tightly integrated with eBox.
  • PPPoE support.
  • Multi-WAN support for DHCP and PPPoE configured gateways.
  • New Samba version. This release ships samba 3.4.5, the latest available version. We expect it to be of great help for all of you deploying PDC servers with Vista and Windows 7 clients. In this regard, we have also added support for recycle bin in shares.
  • Dynamic DNS updates via DHCP.
  • New RADIUS module. Configure your wireless access point to use eBox's RADIUS and your users will be authenticated using LDAP. To take fully advantage of eBox services use the traffic shaping or proxy module if you need to optimize the access to the Internet from wireless clients.
  • Printers enhancements. New drivers and bug fixing.
  • VoIP improvements. Queues. On-hold music. Call transfers. Call parking. Logs.
  • Usability enhancements: breadcrumbs to ease navigation through the Web interface. Auto-configuration of VPN servers. Create a default template to configure if we wish to automatically add an e-mail account or enable certain services when a new user is added. Warn users if a module has changed but has not been enabled. Also warn users if they might get locked out when a external interface is configured.
  • i18n fixes. eBox offers a much better experience in other languages now.
  • Installer improvements: option to install and automatically boot a lightweight desktop and a browser to manage eBox locally.

Important Notes

Upgrading

Our commitment is to provide a smooth migration path from eBox 1.2 to 1.4. However, there is still a few edges that we are polishing in this regard. We are already working on this and we expect to solve these issues during the next days. In the meanwhile, it would be very helpful if you could help us test migrations.

To migrate from 1.3 to 1.4 you will have to follow a few extra steps as described in here.The modules that have changed the most are the LDAP based modules.

If you are upgrading a production machine we strongly recommend you make use of common sense and proceed with caution. Always backup your system. We encourage you to use a virtual machine to install or upgrade to 1.4 your current configuration. Check that everything is working as expected. And then proceed with the actual upgrade.

Please pay special attention to Samba and Asterisk. eBox 1.4 ships a new version of these packages. Again, use common sense, and test that there is not any regression with the feature set you use.

Repository

Here is the APT source entry for 1.4: 

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ebox/1.4/ubuntu hardy main

eBox Technologies

eBox Technologies, the company behind eBox Platform development, is a channel-focused company that does not only provide an enterprise level Linux server for small and medium sized businesses, but what is more, it enables Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Value Added Resellers (VARs) to offer a full set of eBox based network management and outsourcing services for SMBs all over the globe. In addition to eBox Platform, eBox Technologies provides a comprehensive set of commercial and technical support, services, certified training and technologies that grant eBox Partners with a full managed services offering.

Full Change Log

You can read the full change log from 1.2 to 1.4 here.