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NethServer 7.4 released

Today, we’re thrilled to announce that NethServer 7.4 has been released and is publicly available.

We’re confident that it will be as always a great release and it will achieve our mission: making sysadmin’s life easier with Open Source. This is thanks to the most vibrant, supportive and friendly community in the Open Source space (and not only Open Source).

About NethServer

NethServer is an Open Source operating system for the Linux enthusiast, designed for small offices and medium enterprises. It’s simple, secure and flexible.

NethServer is ready to deliver your messages, to protect your network with the built-in firewall, share your files and much more, everything on the same system.

Highlights

The new release automatically updates the domain controller and warns on upstream updates. Proxy, web content filter, antivirus and IPS were updated and got an improved web user interface. In addition, it contains some enhancements (Speedtest in diagnostics panel, new bandwidth measuring, prevent intrusions with rule categories). Last but not least we are proud to present an up-to-date cloud and VoIP server.

Account provider improvement

The local Active Directory account provider is now able to apply updates to the Samba DC instance automatically. The latest provided Samba DC version is 4.6.8.

More features:
* Besides local active directory NethServer supports remote AD and LDAP(local/remote).
* IP changing possible
* Account provider changing from LDAP to AD and vice versa is supported

Upstream updates awareness

The Software center page warns when a new upstream release is available.

  • Be warned of upstream updates which may harm a productive system
  • Improved stability

VoIP server update

Freepbx was updated to 14.0.1.8, providing almost all features you need for small medium enterprise telephony. Underlying Asterisk is now version 13.17.0-3.

More features:
* Out-of-the-box web manageable VoIP PBX
* Backup/restore
* Supports AD and LDAP
* Unlimited trunks
* Voicemessages
* Feature codes
* Call detail records database
* Hardware is the only limit

Patched web proxy

Squid has been patched for a smoother web navigation experience when using SSL transparent proxy.

More features:
* transparent/hidden web filtering with or without SSL
* AD/LDAP authentication
* secure browsing for the whole network
* cache big files to have them available in a fast way

Bandwidth measurement

Ntopng 3 replaces Bandwidthd, the Server Manager has a new “top talkers” page which tracks hosts network usage.

Enhanced IPS module

Suricata may be configured with multiple rule categories directly from the web interface.

Evebox is used to analyze or report traffic anomalies detected by Suricata.

Updated cloud storage

Nextcloud has been upgraded to latest [[https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-updates-12.0.3-11.0.5-are-here/|upstream release (12.0.3)]].

Web antivirus

Web antivirus is now based on ICAP instead of ECAP.

Web content filter

ufdbGuard was updated to 1.33.4 and additionally the web UI got some small improvements.

Diagnostics panel with new speedtest

We added a speedtest to our already feature-rich diagnostics panel. It supports servers all over the world to test internet speed with.

More features, all available in web user interface:

  • Network information
  • Routes
  • Mail test
  • DNS lookup
  • Ping
  • Network scan
  • Traceroute

Enhanced restore/upgrade procedure

You may now restore a NethServer 6 config on a NethServer 7.

Webtop got some new features

Webtop was upgraded to 5.0.13 and supports Nextcloud and XMPP client integration.

The mail module was extended with mail tag and archive feature.

Other improvements

For further information, all closed issues are reported on our bug tracker.

Thank the overall NethServer community

As usual, we’d like to first thank the overall community for contributions toward these improvements — whether it was in feedback, bug reports and suggestions or our personal favorite, feedback based on participation in our very own NethServer community.

Download and Test

Who wouldn’t want all these fantastic new features?

  • You can install NethServer on a virtual machine or on a bare-metal server using a DVD or USB stick
  • Upgrade from 7 versions are supported through the Software center

If you find a bug, please report it here – every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the experience for thousands of NethServer users worldwide, also our amazing beta testers team will be called upon to give its support on that!

Ready to check it out? Then head to the docs and download: