Linoma Updates GoAnywhere Products

Published: September 13, 2011

by Alex Woodie

Linoma Software has updated two of the managed file transfer (MFT) products that it sells under the GoAnywhere brand. GoAnywhere Gateway, a proxy MFT solution that protects internal networks, received a security enhancement with version 1.1, while GoAnywhere Services, a scaled-down version of its full MFT solution designed for connecting trading partners, gets support for AS2 messages, among other new features.

Linoma introduced two GoAnywhere products in 2009. GoAnywhere Director, which requires installation on all computers sharing files, was the most full-featured MFT offering, while GoAnywhere Services, which was developed to be a "data storefront" that eased file transfers among partners, did not require installation on client PCs.

A year ago, Linoma launched GoAnywhere Gateway, which works with GoAnywhere Services or GoAnywhere Director to serve files via a secondary pathway. It was originally set up as a reverse proxy server that would sit outside the company's firewall, in the demilitarized zone (DMZ), and provide a cloak of anonymity for the server that's the actual source of the requested data.

While the reverse proxy feature hid the identity of the back-end server, the new forward proxy feature added by Linoma last week helps to protect the identity of the computers that initiate file transfers. Instead of sending requested files directly to external trading partners, the back-end server will route the request through the forward proxy in GoAnywhere Gateway, Linoma says.

The forward proxy feature supports delivery of files via the FTP, FTPS, SFTP, and SCP protocols. Also with GoAnywhere Gateway 1.1, the product supports passive and active data connections for FTP and FTPS.

Meanwhile, the latest release of GoAnywhere Services features some of the capabilities that were previously only available in the high-end GoAnywhere Director product. For example, support for AS2 data transmissions, which was added to GoAnywhere Director last year, allows trading partners to share EDI documents using the popular AS2 standard.

AS2 is a separately priced module for both GoAnywhere Services and GoAnywhere Director. Linoma says it helps customers by charging a flat price for the AS2 capability. Also, it's not charging per-partner fees, as some of its competitors do. Linoma is also offering discounts for customers who ditch their old AS2 product in favor of GoAnywhere.

Other new features in GoAnywhere Services version 2.5 include a new customizable Web client that works with all popular Web browsers. Linoma says customers can tailor their Web clients with their own help text and disclaimers. Users can also configure the software to display welcome messages when trading partners log in to transfer files.

The new Web client also allows users to reset their forgotten passwords, to resume failed transfers, and to exchange files in ASCII mode, Linoma says.

GoAnywhere Services also gains support for file triggers in version 2.5. Triggers enable the product to automatically execute other tasks, such as issuing commands or running scripts, when an event (such as a completed file transfer) takes place.

Version 2.5 also gets improved user monitoring and security. Administrators can monitor specific users, the commands they issue, and the amount of data they're moving. Sessions can be terminated if the administrator determines they have gone rogue, according to Linoma. Administrators also get better session management tools, including more control over session time-outs and passwords.

This release also introduces new high availability capabilities. According to Linoma, the configurations and logs for GoAnywhere Services can now be stored in customer database systems, including DB2/400, SQL Server, and MySQL. This allows customers to manage and replicate this data using in-house database and HA tools, Linoma says.

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