New user checklist/startup

[aits]

Hi! How about some kind of checklist for new clients to use when first setting up the product. There are so many appliances, with some of them similar in nature (IPS/Protocol) that a new client with no real networking experience might be overwhelmed. So much so that they just don't know where to start.

Perhaps some type of 'Here's the appliances to enable setup first and here's how to do it'. A priority sheet included with the server or software that they can use to immediately start locking down their network without having to look through daily reports for weeks to start understanding what's happening.

By then the damage may already have been done.

AITS-George

[ian]

Wattup aits!
Great suggestion. To rephrase this for others... Let's say you're a new user and you get Untangle up and running, you will quickly come to the question "So, what do/can I do next?" Untangle has lots of great things you can put in your rack, and you want to make the most of all of it quickly, so this is a natural question a user will have.

I see this question as some smaller questions that the user will have:
1) What should I put in my rack first, next, etc.?
2) I have XYZ in my rack, but what settings should I tune for my uses?
3) What do I need to do to maintain XYZ from day to day, week to week, etc.

Firstly, I refer to wizards as ninjas. Actually, a ninja is slightly different/better than a wizard. I'll explain that in a later post.

#1
We recognize this as a natural issue and we are continuing to improve our initial setup ninja. I think in the future our setup ninja will be better able to help you figure out what you should put in your rack, depending on various factors.

#2
In most cases, the default settings for most things in the rack are sufficient. Really, take a look at them. And we try to reduce the number of settings you can mess with to really just the critical set. However, there are definitely cases when you want to tune something a little more or complete a series of steps to achieve an end result (such as get your VPN up and running). I think that we can address these issues with more ninjas throughout. These ninjas will help you understand what you can do/tune within each product in the rack. They will also help you complete tasks/missions that take lots of somewhat tricky steps. Ninjas are your friends

#3
If you want to tune your settings over time, based on the particular situation you have put your Untangle Server in, the way you would currently do that is with the daily/weekly/monthly reports. It would be nice if the Untangle Server could do a better job of helping you (the user) figure out what you should do to improve security, productivity, etc. Imagine having some suggestions or a checklist emailed to you, based on actual network activity, which you can use to "do the laundry". These would not be pre-canned general type things... these would be specific, highly useful suggestions. Exciting!

Conclusion:
Overall, I think beginners are really important. They are future experts! The easier we can make setup for them, and the more functionality we can expose to them, without scaring them away (complexity), the more successful they will be at running and securing their network.

Happy Friday!
ian

[gotkimchi]

Great point! Like your idea. One thing we have noticed, many companies/users already have some sort of firewall. In many cases, they have other security products/solutions. We provide wide range of applications, to help you protect, control, and monitor your network. Most common modules are SPAM, Spyware, Web Content, Open VPN, RAP, and the Virus.