New Release of Vyatta Open Source Network OS Adds Cloud Features

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/22/10

Vyatta has released a new version of its open source network operating system that addresses IPv6, cloud computing, and stronger security. Version 6.1 of Vyatta, released in August 2010, has been certified on IPv6 for conformance and interoperability, which means customers that move to the newer Internet protocol will have an easier time migrating their computing platforms, including physical, virtual, and cloud operations.

The new release also addresses environments that run applications or servers in the cloud. According to the company, the upgrade provides layer 2 cloud bridging that allows physically separate networks to communicate with each other over the Internet as if they were on a single Ethernet network. This capability is intended to simplify the transfer of applications and physical servers between data centers, maintain continuity during a phased migration, and enable the shuttling of virtual machines between physical servers on physically separate networks.

Vyatta version 6.1 adds stateful firewall failover, to continue data transmission in the event of a firewall failure. The company is offering enhanced intrusion prevention services through an add-on partnership with security technology vendor Sourcefire. Vyatta sells the Sourcefire Snort Vulnerability Research Team (VRT) rule-base as a subscription service, which allows users to access updates to the rule-base directly from Vyatta.

Vyatta's open source software is available for free download. Vyatta Subscription Edition licensing, which includes enterprise-oriented product extensions and vendor-supplied technical support, starts at $747. Vyatta Snort VRT Rules are available starting at $250 per year.

The software is in use by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; and the University of Florida in Gainesville.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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