In the latest issue of the leading UK Linux magazine Linux Format, its Roundup section – that benchmarks every month a large number of software solutions, was focused on comparing a selection of Firewall Distributions and finding the best option for both home and office setups. Among the compared distributions were ClearOS, IPCop, Monowall, PFSense, Smoothwall Advanced, Smoothwall Express and the final winner, eBox Platform.
The starting point of the comparative was that many people are looking for an efficient and easy-to-use Firewall that they could use both for their home and office setups and the different alternatives were evaluated taking into account how easy their installation and configuration was. To help their readers to make the right decision through the massive choice of firewall distributions available, the Roundup looked at what made some options better than others and what would be the best option for the readers’ particular setups.
After concluding that all the Firewall Distributions selected for the comparative could perfectly match the needs and expectations of someone looking for “just a firewall”, Martin Meredith, the author of the article, went a bit further and looked at the “bonuses” offered by each candidate. After the full review, eBox Platform was declared winner thanks to “the astounding feature list and the fact that it’s built on top of a standard Ubuntu install means that along with the firewall, you’ve got a box that can do close to anything you can imagine.” Furthermore, the author also enhanced “the potential of eBox to have any kind of functionality added to it” and “the super-powered features” it offers.
In the detailed review, Linux Format justifies the extramarks granted to eBox Platform by this sentence “eBox offers so much by way of configuration, and provides almost everything you’d need to run your home or office network right from the default install.” The detailed eBox Platform review concludes with the 9/10 rating and advice to the readers not to be put off by the huge number of features available through the interface.
Update 22/06/2010
The full article is now available on the TechRadar website.