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Innovations in Zextras Suite and Zimbra OSE

In addition to major releases, Zextras Suite also has minor versions. The release of each of them is timed to coincide with the release of the corresponding patch for the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition, to ensure compatibility of the current version of Zimbra OSE and Zextras Suite. However, in addition to this, minor versions of Zextras Suite bring quite important innovations to the product. Since we wrote about the release of Zextras Suite 3.0, nine months have passed and the current version of Zextras Suite is version 3.0.9. During this time, several important innovations were implemented, including the ability to organize a video chat and share files with external users, as well as the ability to configure and localize messages in the ABQ system.

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The function of instant meetings with external users began to work with one of the updates. An instant meeting differs from a regular video chat in that it is created using a special invitation link. Thanks to this, Zextras Team Pro users can invite not only their colleagues, but also external users to participate in instant video calls without using any third-party services and applications. This function can be useful when negotiating with contractors, conducting job interviews, and conducting product or service presentations without having to go to the client. Also, this function will greatly simplify the lives of employees of those enterprises in which the use of third-party services for video communications is prohibited for reasons of information security. 

The ability to provide file access to external users appeared in Zextras Drive. Recall that Zextras Drive is a full-fledged cloud storage, implemented on the basis of Zimbra Open-Source Edition. Thanks to this feature, Zextras Drive allows you to solve the problem of transferring important files that cannot be placed in email attachments, while avoiding the pitfalls and risks associated with the use of third-party cloud services. To provide access to a file or folder, it is enough to send a special obfuscated link to the interlocutor. The security of using Zextras Drive when exchanging files with external users is achieved due to the password required to gain access to this file, as well as the ability to withdraw the link.



Released simultaneously with Zextras Suite 3.0, the mobile applications Zextras Team and Zextras Drive have also acquired a number of new features. In particular, the Zextras Team introduced support for private and group video chats, an opportunity to send and receive files, as well as support for a number of languages, including Russian. The Zextras Drive has also been slightly updated interface and added support for the Russian language.



The Allow / Block / Quarantine function has also gained significant innovation. Now the message that is displayed to the user when adding his device to quarantine can be configured. Previously, a user whose device was quarantined when connecting to the Zimbra OSE server would be sent to a fake mailbox, where he would receive a message in English that his device was quarantined and subsequently, depending on the administrator’s actions, it would be sent to the list of allowed or locked devices. Now the administrator can independently configure the text of this message, and it is possible to create separate text for each domain and for regional settings used on devices. This innovation is very popular among international organizations that have branches in Russia, China,Italy and other countries where most people speak languages ​​other than English. 

To enable this function, use the zxsuite mobile initABQMessage command. Subsequently, ABQ messages are also configured on the command line. Here are some examples of setting up an ABQ message:

Adding an ABQ system message to the system for all blocked users of all
zxsuite mobile setABQMessage global blocked default u0@company.ru admin@company.ru domains “Access is denied” “Your device was denied access when trying to connect to the company.ru mail server. If you do not agree with this, contact the server administrator at admin@company.ru »

Adding a quarantine message from the ABQ system for example.ru users who use Russian on their devices
zxsuite mobile setABQMessage domain example.ru quarantined ru_RU.UTF-8 u0@example.ru admin@example.ru « » « example.ru. , admin@example.ru»

ABQ example.ru
zxsuite mobile deleteABQMessage domain example.ru blocked default

Small changes have occurred in the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition itself. So, along with fresh patches, a number of third-party components of Zimbra OSE were updated. In particular, now SpamAssassin has upgraded from version 3.4.1 to 3.4.4, ClamAV from version 0.99.4 to 0.102.2, and OpenLDAP from version 2.4.46 to 2.4.49. This was done to close a number of vulnerabilities that were discovered in older versions of these components.

In particular, two vulnerabilities were discovered at once in SpamAssassin, each of which allowed an attacker to remotely run arbitrary code, a vulnerability was discovered in ClamAV that allowed an attacker to create conditions under which the ClamAV service would experience serious overloads and crash, and, as a result, terminate Scan incoming emails for malware infection. In OpenLDAP, however, a problem was discovered that consisted in the fact that under certain conditions a user authenticated in OpenLDAP could log in with elevated rights. In new versions, all these problems and vulnerabilities have been fixed.

You can update Zextras Suite by downloading the fresh installer from Zextras.com and runninghis. The installation script will automatically detect the installed package Zextras Suite and offer to update it. To update the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, you can use the official repositories that are added to the system during installation. After completing the upgrade, be sure to restart Zimbra OSE with the zmcontrol restart command .

For all questions related to the Zextras Suite, you can contact the representative of the company "Zextras" Ekaterina Triandafilidi by e-mail katerina@zextras.com

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