I’m talking, of course, about the phenomenon of tethering. Did you know that the blackberry in your pocket can be connected to your laptop, and as long as you have signal can give you an internet connection, pretty much wherever you are! It’s as easy as 1,2,3 to setup, and it gives you so many more options than just your blackberry alone.

Now, I hear you cry “What about the costs?” and “are you serious, this will cost me a fortune” which may have been true in the past but not so nowadays. Let’s use Vodafone UK as an example, if you are on the standard blackberry BIS tariff, then you get unlimited internet on your phone, which includes tethering. Now there is a fair usage policy of 500mb, but for occasionally writing and sending emails and checking the odd web page, you will be hard pushed to hit this (unless you are trying to stream movies and music on your BB!) and the big secret is, if you go over this 500mb, as it stands, they won’t charge you any extra, expect a phone call though if you regularly go over the limit.

I can see you’re interested now, but how do you do it? Well, it used to be a pain to setup which may be why so many people are not a fan of trying again, but now it couldn’t be easier. Simply download the latest BlackBerry desktop manager (BDM) from the blackberry site. Install and connect your blackberry by USB cable (there’s one in the box you got with the phone, there is, trust me!) or use bluetooth if you have the option on your laptop, bear in mind though that data transfer rates are slow over bluetooth, so I always prefer to use the cable option. Open the BDM and let it do its thing and install the drivers for your phone. Select the ‘IP Modem’ icon and then click ‘configure’ and select your network, in my case its ‘Vodafone UK – Contract’. Then all you have to do is click connect and you’re away!

There you have it, I told you it was easy! Why not head off and try it out and see how you get on!

To illustrate streams in action lets create a new text file in notepad.

Open up a command prompt and type

notepad e-clarity.txt

Enter some random text and save the file

Now using the command prompt again type

notepad e-clarity:stream2

Notice the file is empty? Enter a few words (different to the last) and save.

Ok so to see what we have done reopen the e-clarity.txt file by typing

notepad e-clarity.txt – note the text should be what you entered originally.

Close this and reopen by typing

notepad e-clarity.txt:stream2 – You should now see the text from your second save.

Close this and type

dir e-clarity.* – you will notice that only one file exists!

The point? None really just something that not many people are aware of. I have heard of people using a “Dummy” text file with a stream being used to store passwords! Not entirely secure but suitable for none critical passwords I guess and only on NTFS filesystems

Of course, for those of you that don’t know Untangle, I’ll start with a brief intro. Untangle is open source network security software that runs as its own OS, allowing you to protect, monitor, and control your network traffic. Once installed it allows you to install various ‘apps’ into your virtual rack, ranging from content controls, mail filters and firewalls to spyware/ad/virus blockers to VPN clients. The list goes on and there is too many to mention here, check it out at www.untangle.com or for any advice or a fully functioning demo, feel free to contact an e-Clarity support representative.

Now onto 7.2 and its new features, primarily the release of “Captive Portal”, the new app that allows you to control who has access to your Internet, using a portal system. This portal will allow you to set a terms of agreement statement which the user would have to agree to in order to proceed, allowing you to keep a record on who has agreed to the agreement, giving you ammunition should you need it! It also allows you to restrict the use to specific users, and groups of users, either by the built-in local directory, or if you have the “Directory Connector” App, you can use by your AD users and groups.

There are a lot of positives to using this app, if you are in a company that would need to use TOA for your internet, or if you want something a little stricter than the standard internet control app featured in Untangle. There is also a lot more potential for it to be used in small internet cafes or any place where you sell or provide internet access to the general public. The only downside to the Captive Portal that I have seen, is the fact that once the terms are agreed to, it is the computer in use that is given access, and not the user. This in turn opens up the possibility to multiple users using the same PC, using the same TOA, or the previous account as an automatic login. There is however a timeout and reset option, allowing you to specify an idle timeout and a general timeout.

Obviously the new app is the main feature in 7.2’s release, but a lot of upgrades have been made to existing apps as well. A key one to mention is the former ‘AD Connector’ which is now the ‘Directory Connector’, the name change being because as well as AD, the new connector also supports RADIUS. This opens up the product to companies using a Microsoft alternative, so they don’t feel so left out!

Another improvement has been made in the form of reporting. Due mainly to many user and customers asking for more options in reports, Untangle have sat up and listened to the little people and now provided us with much better reporting options, stats, etc so that we can get a much more detailed and in-depth analysis of what’s going on, on the network. As well as all this a new report is now available that will give you detailed information regarding your hardware, so you can see how well your system copes with the load your network puts on it!

The full list of improvements is available in the changelog. For now though Untangle have certainly given out some interesting new apps and toys to play with and test out, and hopefully make the job of internet security that little bit easier with a little more piece of mind thrown in for good measure!