Ken's Small Business Server Blog

I am currently evaluating a new Open Source application that promises big things. Antivirus, Anti Spam, Web Content filtering, Protocol filtering, Intrusion Detection and more -- all in one gateway appliance. This would be a dream come true for SMBs and large Enterprises as well.

The product is called Untangle (see www.untangle.com ) It is available as a free download, or you can get a branded appliance with paid support. It looks like they will even have a reseller channel.

Untangle is a Linux ISO that relies on other Open Source packages (ClamAV, etc) ready to install with a click, tested and guaranteed to work as a package. Anyone could build this type of package and link it all together, but I have spoken with some of the techs and they seem really eager and determined to make this a one-stop product that is ridiculously simple to use. Depending on your hardware, it sets up in about 15-20 minutes. It promises to take care of those pesky 'Network Edge' jobs that we all face and throw multiple products at....and have little success with...all in one box.

At first pass, I must say that it works quite well. I am not using all of the snap-ins yet, but AV and Antispam work well. With a little planning, one could place this in an SBS server network and keep it really very clean. I am working with it in my office and will make another post when I get it configured to work with SBS, for those of you who would like to know.

There are some glitches, as would be in any new product, but I fully believe this product will fill a huge void in our networks someday soon.