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Networking and Security Software

1. Nagois

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Nagios, now known as Nagios Core, is a free and open source computer-software application that monitors systems, networks and infrastructure. Nagios offers monitoring and alerting services for servers, switches, applications and services. It alerts users when things go wrong and alerts them a second time when the problem has been resolved. Nagios was originally designed to run under Linux, but it also runs well on other Unix variants. It is free software licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.

 

Nagios Core is open source software licensed under the GNU GPL V2.

 

Currently it provides:

  • Monitoring of network services (SMTP, POP3, HTTP, NNTP, ICMP, SNMP, FTP, SSH)

  • Monitoring of host resources (processor load, disk usage, system logs) on a majority of network operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, using monitoring agents.

  • Monitoring of any hardware (like probes for temperature, alarms, etc.) which have the ability to send collected data via a network to specifically written plugins

  • Monitoring via remotely run scripts via Nagios Remote Plugin Executor

  • Remote monitoring supported through SSH or SSL encrypted tunnels.

  • A simple plugin design that allows users to easily develop their own service checks depending on needs, by using their tools of choice (shell scripts, C++, Perl, Ruby, Python, PHP, C#, etc.)

  • Available data graphing plugins

  • Parallelized service checks

  • Flat-text formatted configuration files (integrates with many config editors)

  • The ability to define network host using 'parent' hosts, allowing the detection of and distinction between hosts that are down or unreachable

  • Contact notifications when service or host problems occur and get resolved (via e-mail, pager, SMS, or any user-defined method through plugin system)

  • The ability to define event handlers to be run during service or host events for proactive problem resolution

  • Automatic log file rotation

  • Support for implementing redundant monitoring hosts

  • Support for implementing performance data graphing

  • Support for database backend (such as NDOUtils)

  • An web-interface for viewing current network status, notifications, problem history, log files, etc.

2. pfSense

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pfSense is an open source firewall/router computer software distribution based on FreeBSD.It is installed on a physical computer or a virtual machine to make a dedicated firewall/router for a network. It can be configured and upgraded through a web-based interface, and requires no knowledge of the underlying FreeBSD system to manage. pfSense is commonly deployed as a perimeter firewall, router, wireless access point, DHCP server, DNS server, and as a VPN endpoint. pfSense supports installation of third-party packages like Snort or Squid through its Package Manager.

3. clearOS

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ClearOS (also known as the ClearOS System, formerly ClarkConnect) is an operating system marketed by the software company ClearCenter. It is based on CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, designed for use in small and medium enterprises as a network gateway and network server with a web-based administration interface. It is positioned as an alternative to Windows Small Business Server. ClearOS succeeds ClarkConnect. The software is built by ClearFoundation, and support services can be purchased from ClearCenter. ClearOS 5.1 removes previous limitations to mail, DMZ, and MultiWAN functions. As of the ClearOS 6.1 release, the distribution is a full-featured operating system for gateway, network and servers built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

4. Untangle

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Untangle was founded in 2003 as Metavize, Inc. by John Irwin and Dirk Morris. Untangle provides network management software. Untangle NG Firewall is used by nearly 40,000 organizations worldwide. In October 2009, Untangle released Untangle 7.0 which included improvements to its reporting capabilities. In June 2010 Untangle released Untangle 7.3, enabling the company's software to be used by OEM hardware manufacturers to produce their own branded multi-function firewalls and UTM appliances. In February, 2014, Untangle released Untangle NG Firewall version 10.1 featuring high availability.

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Untangle applications include anti-spam, content filtering, antivirus, anti-phishing, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, firewall, OpenVPN, router, and web cache software. Untangle's NG Firewall platform and free applications are released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPL), many components with the GNU Classpath exception. Certain third-party components distributed with the Untangle Software are licensed under other free license terms. The Complete package is under a proprietary EULA.

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