eBox
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eBox Platform | |
eBox Platform running on a PPC Linkstation |
|
Website | www.ebox-platform.com |
---|---|
Company/ developer |
Warp Networks |
OS family | Debian GNU/Linux |
Source model | Open Source |
Latest stable release | 0.11.100 / May 11, 2008 |
License | GPL |
eBox Platform is an open source distribution and development framework, based on the GNU/Linux operating system, intended to manage services in a computer network.
It offers a layer of abstraction and management, accessible through a simple web interface, and also a simplified development environment for new features or customization.
eBox is licensed under GPL and started as an open-source, collaborative project of two companies.[1] It also takes part on Morfeo Project.[2] On 16th November 2006 eBox was officially approved as a NEOTEC project, receiving public funds from the CDTI (a Spanish public organisation, under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism) to complete the development of version 1.0.[3]
Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 3 featured eBox as "network services control tool".[4]
Contents |
[edit] Overview
[edit] Features
eBox Platform features are:
- Open source
- Linux kernel
- Debian GNU/Linux operating system
- Free software based services
- User friendly
- Easy to use graphical frontend
- High level abstraction of networking and workgroup services
- Context aware help, warning and error reporting
- Internationalization and multilanguage support
- eBox Platform Live CD
- Efficient management
[edit] Services
- Networking
- High level objects
- Firewall and router
- Filtering
- Redirection
- VLAN support
- Multi-gateway with load balancing
- Traffic shaping
- Email server
- Instant messaging
- Web Proxy
- Virtual Private Network (VPN)
- Services
- Workgroup
- Shared directory
- Shared authentication including Windows' primary domain controller
- Shared storage (NAS)
- Shared printers
[edit] Development
eBox Platform uses an open source model, with all the source code available for its users.
[edit] Design
eBox is a web application using Apache webserver with mod_perl as foundation and Mason components as building blocks, mainly written in object oriented Perl, with some Javascript for visual improvements.
Its design incorporates modern programming techniques as:[5]:
- Design patterns: an Observer design pattern is used mainly to integrate different modules across eBox Platform. E.g. each service reports about which ports it needs to be open. Besides this, a Singleton holds global configuration and behaviour details.
- Presentation and logic decoupling: user interface uses CSS and Ajax, and include several Mason components, as a generic table used to configure services. Program logic is held inside library packages and CGI-like code.
- Fault tolerance: errors and warnings are managed through software exceptions, flowing from core to its handling routine.
It also offers debugging facilities, integrating the layout of the execution stack of the Perl 5 interpreter.
Each service's process is monitored so if it dies, it is respawned automatically.
[edit] Open Source Components
eBox is built upon common Open Source components:
- Apache
- Webserver
- mod_perl
- CGI engine
- OpenLDAP
- Shared users and groups
- OpenSSL
- Cryptography
- Netfilter/iptables
- Firewall
- NAT
- BIND
- Domain name server
- Squid
- Web proxy-cache
- DansGuardian
- Content filtering
- Postfix
- Mail server
- Jabberd
- Instant Messaging
- Ntpd
- Clock and date synchronization
- OpenVPN
- Virtual Private Network
- Samba
- Shared storage
- Primary Domain Controller for Windows clients
- Common Unix Printing System (CUPS)
- Shared printers
- Advanced Packaging Tool (APT)
- Software installation and upgrade
The main programming language used is the Open Source Perl, on top of Mason engine.
Documentation uses Docbook-XML to generate HTML pages. API reference uses Natural Docs.
eBox Platform Live CD is built using Morphix. The whole distribution uses Debian and Debian Installer for non-live media.
[edit] Community
Main eBox community work and support takes place at eBox users' mailing lists, with an English speaking and a Spanish speaking one.
eBox's inclusion on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon was preceded by some comments at Ubuntu Forums community.[6]
There is also a very active group of Linkstation users which succedeed in porting eBox to PowerPC.[7]
[edit] Documentation
- Installation guide: holds instructions about different installation methods like CD and Debian packages, and how to get source code and run eBox from scratch
- User's guide: aimed at software users, introduces some concepts and terminology, and explain different services and use cases
- Developer's guide: targeted at software developers and translators, it explains basic API, module backend, component interaction, web fronted and includes a small example about how to build a sample module from the ground up
- API reference: class and method's description and parameters
[edit] See also
- Iptables
- Postfix
- Jabber
- OpenVPN
- Squid
- DansGuardian
- DHCP
- NTP
- OpenLDAP
- Samba (software)
- Common Unix Printing System
[edit] References
- ^ Gestión libre para las empresas. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ eBox at Morfeo Project. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ eBox as a NEOTEC project. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
- ^ eBox included in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 3. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- ^ eBox developer's guide. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ eBox at Ubuntu Forums. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- ^ eBox on FreeLink-Debian. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.