14/11/2010: Mailing List 14/11/2010

Dear FreeNATTERS,I hope you are well in your far-flung corners of the globe and your LANs are behaving themselves. It looks like it's been
6 months since my last mailing list post so I thought it right to drop you
a line and keep you up-to-date with FreeNATS developments.

1. Multi-Lingual Support

After a considerable time of messing about I have now added the ability to use plug-in language modules with FreeNATS. Use of these modules is now supported in most key UI components.

Of course as I myself only speak English (and that not very well) this is the only language currently bundled. Anyone who would like to have a go at some translation though is very welcome and there is even a tool available to help you.

This feature is available as of version 1.10.0a and details are on the wiki page: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/wiki/Languages

2. Windows Desktop Alerter for NATS (WinDAN)
WinDAN is a little application for Windows that will regularly poll a FreeNATS installation using the XML Data API then popup and/or play a sound when new alerts are detected. It is pretty basic but hopefully fills a simple operational need and provides quick visibility of alerts on Windows hosts.

Details and download link on the wiki page: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/wiki/WinDAN

3. New Virtual Appliance Trial

Following some research and trialling here at FreeNATS HQ a contender has been identified to form the basis of the new FreeNATS VM - TurnKey LAMP based upon Ubuntu 8 LTS.

We are now looking for anyone who has the time and inclination to have a play and test the system which is now available for download. Details and download link on the wiki page: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/wiki/Virtual_Appliance_5_Trial

4. Page Error Detection

As of 1.10.1a some page errors (mainly missing language elements) are detected automatically. When this happens some text appears at the bottom of the page. If you are part of the automatic feedback program then this error is reported (anonymously and privately as usual of course) to PurplePixie automatically.

Otherwise there is a link to provide an error report. You can also see the contents of the errors detected.

5. Case Studies and Endorsements

We are now looking to find users of the system who maybe could provide a case study or offer an endorsement (of the "as used by X" variety).

Case studies can be anonymous if required and either written entirely by yourselves or as responses to a series of questions from us.

Anyone happy enough with FreeNATS to even let us use their company logo or similar would be especially welcome but please let us know if you might be willing to take part in any form.

A seperate news item will be posted with more details but if you are interested please contact us at freenats [at] purplepixie.org

6. Dynamic DNS Host Test

As of 1.10.1a a new extras test is available; the Dynamic DNS host test.

This is intended for people who use a dynamic DNS service such as dyndns.com to check their DNS record is up-to-date. You provide your dynamic hostname, the test will determine your sites external IP and then compare the two.

Full details on the test wiki page: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/wiki/Extras:Dynamic_DNS_Test

Please also note there are a growing number of extra tests and alert actions packaged with all releases. Details at http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/wiki/Extras

7. Online Code Browser

Available for a while now but not publicised is the CodXplore functionality of the FreeNATS website. This will let you browse the source code of all available releases. I know it is still not the SVN/CVS support some people have asked for but at least it provides some visibility to the codebase and is organised by release/version rather than revision.

Consideration is still underway as to how a SVN respository could be integrated into the standard (quite complex now) build and deployment cycle.

CodeXplore is at: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/codexplore/

And finally...

As always I hope you are finding the system useful. All feedback be it positive, negative or a death threat is always welcome as are suggestions. Most of the better features of the system come directly from user suggestions so if you think of a feature let me know.

Feedback can be made via a form on the website or on the forum at http://forum.purplepixie.org

Kind Regards,Dave.
FreeNATS: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/
Support Forum: http://forum.purplepixie.org/
Feedback Form: http://www.purplepixie.org/freenats/feedback.php
Dave's Blog: http://davesboringblog.wordpress.com/

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