UTM 9.000 Soft-Released

Greetings! After months of intense Beta testing, we have released UTM 9 in accordance with our Soft-Release process. Formerly Astaro Security Gateway, UTM 9 is our next major release. Full release notes, accompanying documentation, and many other "deliverables" will be available on the GA date which is targeted for July 16th if the plan holds true. The up2date.astaro.com blog post will be larger and with more information, though some of what is posted here and the beta forums will be added to that as well.

For now, the Soft-Release is a full ISO only, and we also have available an Up2Date package for those running the UTM 9 Beta, hopefully by the time you are reading this. The plan is that we will release the ISO now, followed by an Up2Date for ASG V8 later in July or Early August (after GA) that allows the one-touch upgrade for supported hardware appliances to migrate to UTM 9 directly from WebAdmin.

Sophos UTM 9.000 Information
Hardware Appliance Download (for our branded appliances)
Link: http://ftp.astaro.de/UTM/v9/hardware...-9.000-8.1.iso
Size: ~461MB
MD5: http://ftp.astaro.de/UTM/v9/hardware...00-8.1.iso.md5

Software Appliance Download (for your own X86/X64 hardware platforms)
Link: http://ftp.astaro.de/UTM/v9/software...-9.000-8.1.iso
Size: ~465MB
MD5: http://ftp.astaro.de/UTM/v9/software...00-8.1.iso.md5

Sophos UTM 9 Feature Overview (Not all things are yet on this list)
Major New Features

• Endpoint Protection
• Wireless Captive Portals (Hotspot)
• HTML5 VPN Portal (Clientless)
• Sophos Anti-Virus Engine
• New WebAdmin GUI Look

Minor New Features

• Apple iOS Support for WebAdmin (including drag 'n drop)
• YouTube for Schools Support
• 1:1 NAT Rules
• Appliance LCD Functions reworked
• HA/Clustering Cold-Standby option During Up2Date
• New Constant Live-Log Button (top of WebAdmin)
• Customizable Dashboard
• New Listbox Widget Functionality
• Support for Network Definition Ranges
• Download and Distribution of User VPN Configurations
• Support for Multiple Objects in Firewall Rules
• Creation of Interface Group Objects
• Extended Dynamic DNS support with more provides
• Path-Based Routing for WebServer Protection
• SSL VPN support for international character sets & spaces

Other Changes and Enhancements

Naming & Labelling

• All instances of “Security” as it relates to subscriptions have been renamed to “Protection” (Eg. Web Security becomes Web Protection).
• Instances of “Astaro” and associated products have been updated with Sophos naming. (Eg. Sophos Authentication Agent).
• The ICMP settings of Network Protection have seen “Firewall” renamed to Gateway.

• Support for the popular and most-requested DHCP options have been added to the DHCP server configuration.
• 3G Modem Support has been extended to include more devices worldwide, including some 4G devices
• The SSL VPN Client can now be run without administrator rights. (Windows requires that it be installed initially as Admin however)
• Support has been added for Solid-State Drives (SSD). When installed on an SSD, appropriate performance and maintenance tuning packages will be configured to maximize the benefit of these popular and fast-performing devices.
• The Sophos Authentication Agent (previously the AAA) now has the option to save the entered password, disable the splash screen, and be prevented from starting up with the client PC during boot.
• The title of the browser tab for WebAdmin can now be customized in WebAdmin Settings, allowing for easier management and clearer identification (especially when managing multiple installations simultaneously).
• In the customization section of WebAdmin, the many options and choices have been condensed using “+” expanders. This removes the need to scroll down at length to see all possible options in this section.
• Hovering over the currently logged-in administrator name at the top of WebAdmin will now display other active admin sessions.
• The NAT tab has been slightly reorganized with crisper layout which better assists rule creation.
• The overall WebAdmin performance of the user changelog on the management section has been greatly improved.
• Administrators can now select to receive notifications when Mail Protection has blocked an outgoing message.
• If you have multiple BGP Uplinks, load sharing between them can now be performed.
• Quality of Service has had various improvements applied to make it more effective and powerful.
• IPv6 can now be used with Dynamic Interfaces, and support for NAT has been added.
• IPv6 DHCP can be restricted to clients with static mappings only.
• The DHCP Server now has a relay mode option.
• Netflow/IPFIX records can now be exported.
• Web Application Security has been renamed to Webserver Protection
• As part of the new Webserver Protection path based routing, you can configure session "stickyness", which locks a session to the destination server once established. This removes errors you might encounter on some setups when using multiple backend servers and the integrated load balancer of Webserver protection.
• Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is now supported for bridged configurations. (You will find this option in the bridging section under "Advanced")
• The transmit power of Wireless AP's can now be configured per-radio. Edit the Access Point and this be adjusted under the "Advanced" section)
• The delimiter for exported reports can be selected from Reporting Settings-->Settings. You may choose between a comma or a semicolon.
• When creating definitions, the "Bind to Interface" option has been moved down under an advanced separator to avoid users commonly setting this parameter. (Needed only in very specific networking situations for precise use cases)
• Most popup windows throughout webadmin can now be moved in order to avoid them hiding configuration you are trying to work with.
• Ever-envious of it's popular counterpart, the Userportal has studied hard and learned from WebAdmin how to disable the auto-caps of the first letter entry when using iOS, making logins easier when using those platforms.
• The Firewall rules page has been extensively re-worked with a crisp new design to support the new functionality
• The Wireless Overview Status Page has been overhauled with many tweaks and usability improvements.
• The Web Security block and downloader pages have been repositioned and received new visuals

Other changes and items to note:
UTM 9 Support on older appliances
UTM 9 can be run on all but the oldest of ASG appliances. If you have an extremely old appliance it will not be able to one-touch upgrade or install UTM 9 from ISO image. Appliances which might not be able to run the new features in UTM 9 and still service the target market for which they were originally designed have been been designated as "Not Recommended". Depending on the features you use, the size of your network, bandwidth of your Internet connection, and how close you are to being overloaded already in ASG V8, these appliances may run just fine, or end up having performance problems. All of the last line of Astaro-branded appliances are supported as of course is all of the White Sophos-branded units. If your appliance is older and you would like the latest unit at a special discount, you can take advantage of our Hardware Refresh Program to get a discount on a new one. This program does not take effect until the GA, we'll have answers for your questions at that time.

Endpoint Protection Licensing
Our new Endpoint Protection requires a separate subscription and is not part of the Full Guard licensing bundles. You will be able to order this subscription once UTM 9 has the GA release.

Licensing
As Astaro continues to integrate within Sophos, some small changes have been made to the licensing due to discount structures and slight tweaks to the partner program. The first is that special Virtual License have been removed and virtualized installations will now use normal Software Appliance keys. This reduces the complexity and number of different licenses (and SKU's) needed and thus helps simplify the price list. Second is that the Full Guard Premium bundles have been removed as well as part of the integration and reseller structuring, while also reducing the SKU's and price list size. This doesn't affect your ability to have Full Guard with premium support of course; just purchase Full Guard standard and a Premium support upgrade for it. If you have any questions at all on this we'd be happy to answer them!

Note: Hotspots with wired interfaces
While not the primary focus, it is technically possible to use Hotspots on wired interfaces. This is not recommended and can cause side-effects like locking you out of WebAdmin if used on the interface which is configured to communicate with a backend authentication server (which thus breaks the communication) and all local administrator accounts have been disabled.

We'll have more for you when the GA hits. Enjoy everyone!