Access Gateway 4.5 / Access Gateway Advanced 4.5 Released
According to Sam Johnston, Access Gateway and Access Gateway Advanced Edition (Access Gateway with Advanced Access Control) 4.5 have been released as of last Friday 13th October. Check out Sam’s post for an excellent description of what to expect of the new version.
As many of you will by now know, Access Gateway and Access Gateway Advanced were released on Friday 13 October and can be downloaded from MyCitrix. We’ve set the Subscription Advantage date somewhat earlier than the release date (1 January 2006 if I recall correctly) which means that virtually everyone with an Access Gateway [Advanced] installation will be eligible to run this code. This is good because there’s a number of stability and scalability improvements that will be useful for all customers and it will allow us to focus our support resources on 4.5 (which is not to say that 4.2 will go unsupported, just that users will likely be encouraged to upgrade).
I don’t know how I missed this one, I think it’s been slipped in under the radar and I think Sam means 1 January 2007. I don’t seem to have access to it from the MyCitrix web site, but I no longer have access to the beta. So I’m yet to see the final 4.5 code.
There are quite a few changes in this version of the product with one of the most interesting is the removal of Access Centres. This means that there is no longer any of the Sequoia code in the product. I would recommend migrating away from Access Centres as soon as possible to the new Access Navigator interface.
Here’s a list of the feature changes in the Access Gateway and Advanced Access Control:
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Access Gateway 4.5, Standard Edition
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Feature Name
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Description
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Double-hop DMZ support
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Matches capability in Secure Gateway; supports ICA traffic only
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Licensing enhancements
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License policy engine overhauled to fully enforce license file entitlements; license pooling revamped along with greater licensing visibility provided within Access Gateway Admin Console
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Portal page customization
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Appliance portal page graphics, style sheets, and content can be fully customized
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Inactivity timeouts
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Session, network inactivity, and system idle timeouts can be configured on a per-group basis
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Desktop sharing control
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The ability to share desktops can be controlled on a per-group basis
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Kiosk mode control
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Kiosk mode is now disabled by default; can be controlled on a global basis
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Update serial console menu
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New options for configuring appliance parameters directly from the serial port
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Authentication enhancements
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New authentication support for Windows NT domains and RADIUS challenge-response; SafeWord authentication support overhauled
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Hosts file configuration
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The appliance hosts file can be configured using the Access Gateway Admin Console
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Network resource enhancements
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Port ranges and the ICMP protocol can now be configured within a network resource
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Security enhancements
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Private key and digital certificate management overhauled
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New cryptographic support
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AES encryption now supported; cryptographic algorithm support can be controlled by the administrator
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Port 80 to 443 auto-redirection
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HTTP requests to Access Gateway can be redirected to HTTPS over the specified SSL port
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Client-side proxy auto-detection
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Secure Access client can auto-detect the client-side proxy and uses those settings to connect through to Access Gateway
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Password label configuration
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The labels used for the primary and secondary password fields can be configured
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Improved support for VoIP softphones
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Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco VoIP softphones have been tested
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Access Gateway 4.5, Advanced Edition
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Feature Name
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Description
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Double-hop DMZ support
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Supports ICA and HTTP(s) traffic in double-hop configurations
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New endpoint scans
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Scans for latest antivirus packages added; new server-side scans have been added to detect browser type and client operating system; new scans for Windows Security Center and bandwidth added
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Web proxy enhancements
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More granularity in determining when Web proxy is used
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Configuration Utility
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Easily backup and restore AAC farm configurations
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Session Monitoring Utility
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New session monitoring utility introduced to track users accessing the SSL VPN
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Improved integration with Microsoft SharePoint
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Web proxy engine improved to handle more menu items; click-through for launching documents via Presentation Server enhanced
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Multiple Web Interface Support
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Multiple Web Interfaces supported through the NavUI; fully supports credential caching like the Program Neighborhood CDA
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I hope to have some more information about the new features in a future post.
UPDATE: Silly me, you need to fullfill your Access Gateway licenses to get access to the 4.5 downloads.
