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SmoothWall's Security Hardened Operating System

All SmoothWall products are based on our own special distribution of the Linux operating system.

A full general purpose operating system would be both unnecessarily large and include components that could offer potential targets for attack. Most of what constitutes a standard Linux distribution is simply not present in the SmoothWall operating system. Only those components necessary for the operation and support of SmoothWall security products are included; the omission of all file and print sharing services is a good example. Each component used is carefully audited, monitored, patched as necessary and pared down to the bare minimum.

The ability to be selectivity is what makes Linux so attractive as an operating system on which to base appliances. Linux offers SmoothWall a secure and reliable platform upon which to build its products. Device drivers for all major hardware and server components are readily available, allowing our customers great freedom of choice in the computer hardware they use for their SmoothWall appliances.

SmoothWall is able to control the entire software stack on each SmoothWall appliance, from the network card drivers through storage, VPN, right up to the client-side AJAX tools. This makes software upgrades much simpler and more reliable that for a system individually built from components. The SmoothWall and Open Source Software are tested together as a whole. Should an Open Source component need to be upgraded, then SmoothWall will take care of this by issuing standard update patches for all the SmoothWall products that include that component. One software source, one place for technical support - and many fewer potential sources of problems.

Speaking of source - SmoothWall adheres to the license terms of all Open Source code used; principally the General Public License (GPL) and Lesser General Public License (LGPL). We list all the Linux and other open source components used, with full source code available for any that we have modified.

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