ClearOS (also known as the ClearOS System, formerly ClarkConnect) was a

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

by ClearFoundation, with network gateway, file, print, mail, and messaging services.

History

ClearOS is based on

CentOS CentOS (, from Community Enterprise Operating System; also known as CentOS Linux) is a discontinued Linux distribution that provided a free and open-source community-supported computing platform, functionally compatible with its upstream (softw ...

and

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial Linux distribution developed by Red Hat. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version for x86-64. Fedora Linux and ...

, designed for use in

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

as a network gateway and network server with a web-based administration interface. It is positioned as an alternative to

Windows Small Business Server Windows Server Essentials (formerly Small Business Server or SBS) is an integrated server suite from Microsoft for businesses with no more than 25 users or 50 devices. It includes Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Exchange Server, Window ...

. ClearOS is the successor to ClarkConnect. The software is built by ClearFoundation, and support services can be purchased from ClearCenter. ClearOS 5.1 removes previous limitations to mail,

DMZ A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...

, and MultiWAN functions. As of the ClearOS 6.1 release, the distribution is a full-featured operating system for gateway, network and servers built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The last release of ClearOS was in 2020, and with no updates since then, the project appears to be discontinued. ClearOS aims to replace, as a small business server, Windows SBS.

Features

Features include: * Stateful firewall (

iptables iptables is a user-space utility program that allows a system administrator to configure the IP packet filter rules of the Linux kernel firewall, implemented as different Netfilter modules. The filters are organized in a set of tables, whi ...

), networking and security * Intrusion detection and prevention system ( SNORT) * Virtual private networking ( IPsec,

PPTP The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is an obsolete method for implementing virtual private networks. PPTP has many well known security issues. PPTP uses a TCP control channel and a Generic Routing Encapsulation tunnel to encapsulate P ...

OpenVPN OpenVPN is a virtual private network (VPN) system that implements techniques to create secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. It implements both client and server appl ...

) * Web proxy, with content filtering and antivirus (

Squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

, DansGuardian) * E-mail services (Webmail, Postfix,

SMTP The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typi ...

POP3 In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Today, POP version 3 (POP3) is the most commonly used version. Together with IMAP, i ...

/s,

IMAP In computing, the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is an Internet standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server over a TCP/IP connection. IMAP is defined by . IMAP was designed with the goal of per ...

/s) * Groupware (

Kolab Kolab is a free and open source groupware suite. It consists of the Kolab server and a wide variety of Kolab clients, including KDE PIM-Suite Kontact, Roundcube web frontend, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Lightning with SyncKolab extension ...

) * Database and web server (easy to deploy LAMP stack) * File and print services (

Samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

and

CUPS CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs ...

) * Flexshares (unified multi-protocol storage which currently employs SMB,

HTTP HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, wher ...

/S,

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and dat ...

/S, and

) * MultiWAN (Internet

fault tolerant design Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to maintain proper operation despite failures or faults in one or more of its components. This capability is essential for high-availability, mission-critical, or even life-critical systems. Fault tole ...

) * Built-in reports for system statistics and services (

MRTG The Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) is free software for monitoring and measuring the traffic load on network links. It allows the user to see traffic load on a network over time in graphical form. It was originally developed by Tobias O ...

and others)

Awards and recognition

*August 2009: CompTIA Breakaway — ClearCenter's ClearOS wins 'Best New Product' at

CompTIA The Computing Technology Industry Association, more commonly known as CompTIA, is an American trade association that issues temporary vendor-neutral professional certifications for the information technology (IT) industry. Certifications All ce ...

Breakaway. *August 2010: CompTIA Breakaway — ClearCenter's ClearOS repeats win for 'Best New Product' at

Breakaway. *July 2012: Softpedia — An Open Source, free and powerful network and gateway Linux server operating system *February 2014: IDG Security Firewall Distributions Review *June 2015: Small Business Computing — The 5 Best Linux Servers for Small Business *September 2015: LinuxVoice Service Distro — Group Test (see pages 58-63)

References

External links

* *
Clark Connect
at

DistroWatch DistroWatch is a website that provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems. It now contains information on ...

clarkconnect.com

clarkconnect.org
''recycle a tired old computer into an Internet gateway''
PointClark Networks

ClarkConnect becomes ClearOS
!-
Announcement of ClearCenter and ClearFoundation by Point Clark Networks
-->
ClearFoundation

ClearCenter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clearos Enterprise Linux distributions Firewall software Free routing software Gateway/routing/firewall distribution Linux distributions

History

Features

Awards and recognition

See also

References

External links