SG-1000
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Thanks for the quick reply. Much appreciated.
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Gordon:
I recently purchased a SG-1000 for a client. Thank you for the purchase.I was looking at this as a good fit since they are a small office with 5 people in it. When I got it I was surprised to find that it is running 2.4.0 BETA. I don't see anywhere that it says the unit shipped with BETA software. This ended up with spending an hour reassuring the client that the system would be ok, that the version was about to be released. They are still asking when the stable version is going to be released
-We are very close to releasing RC-1, I have been on 2.4beta for my edge for almost 6mos to help with testing. Most of the support team us running 2.4 beta in some form on their network. It's very close to being a mature product.
Under Interfaces there is a new menu item called switches.
-The NICs on the SG-1000 are switch ports, we have not really used too much of the switch side of things on the SG1000, we are starting small and growing,-When I emailed support back indicating this I never got a response back.
It looks like it went to our sales department instead of the support desk. I'm not sure why this happened to you, I will follow up with this. -
OK. I guess what I am getting to with the BETA version is that nothing indicated that this unit was shipping with a BETA version on it. Shouldn't there be some kind of note or notice on the page for the device indicating that the unit is shipping with that version on it. Then if the person orders it they are fully aware of what they are getting.
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If it was unstable enough to warrant a warning, we'd be more vocal about it, but 2.4 has been quite stable for some time now, but we had a few things to polish up before releasing it.
It is covered in the SG-1000 FAQ: https://www.netgate.com/docs/sg-1000/faq.html#why-did-you-ship-beta-firmware which is in the docs linked from the product page.
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Kind of with gordc on this.. Shipping a version that is not even RC1 yet, while it might be stable seems a bit odd..
What I think would be a good idea.. Is if on the order page you allowed to pick what it ships with, either the current stable 2.3.4_p1 or 2.4 beta..
But I would be a bit dismayed at ordering a firewall and having it show up with "beta" software..
I too agree its been very stable and have been running in for quite some time.. Just a bit odd to ship hardware with beta code - no matter how stable it has been.. Unless it is clearly spelled out when the hardware is being ordered.. Just looked at the order page https://store.netgate.com/SG-1000.aspx
And I see no mention of any "beta" software.. On the order page.. The FAQ link is nice and great - but maybe big link off the order page to that section would help make sure that people ordering understand that will come with "beta".. To find that off the order page you have to go to the quick start manual link, then on to the faq, and then on to the "why shipped with beta" This would be quite possible to be missed, etc.
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What I think would be a good idea.. Is if on the order page you allowed to pick what it ships with, either the current stable 2.3.4_p1 or 2.4 beta..
The SG-1000 is an ARM device that can only run 2.4 or later, which is why it ships with 2.4. It is not capable of running 2.3.x, only 2.4 and later.
And I see no mention of any "beta" software.. On the order page.. The FAQ link is nice and great - but maybe big link off the order page to that section would help make sure that people ordering understand that will come with "beta"..
It'll be a moot point in a few … well let's just say soon. :-)
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The SG-1000 is an ARM device that can only run 2.4 or later
Ah - this is a VERY important point!! Still be nice if clearly mentioned on the order page that it since it only 2.4 runs on ARM that it will be shipping with what is currently considered "beta".. But that does explain for sure why its shipped with 2.4 ;)
Thanks as always jim for your insightful take on the matters in question.
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I agree there should be some kind of notice or disclaimer on the page indicating that the unit is using BETA software. In this case the unit was purchased for a client. They noticed while I was installing it that it said 2.4.0-BETA on the dashboard. This ended up with having to have a meeting to with both my boss and the client explaining what happened and also trying to reassure them that the product would not cause any issues. This resulted in time for both us and the client in dealing with this. It has also resulted in that the client is now questioning us a lot more on all aspects of our support. All this could have been eliminated with a simple disclaimer.
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I agree there should be some kind of notice or disclaimer on the page indicating that the unit is using BETA software. In this case the unit was purchased for a client. They noticed while I was installing it that it said 2.4.0-BETA on the dashboard. This ended up with having to have a meeting to with both my boss and the client explaining what happened and also trying to reassure them that the product would not cause any issues. This resulted in time for both us and the client in dealing with this. It has also resulted in that the client is now questioning us a lot more on all aspects of our support. All this could have been eliminated with a simple disclaimer.
While I completely agree that it should be disclosed that the unit is running on beta software, as a firewall provider you just handed to a client a piece of hardware you don't know and have not even tested in your own environment. If I was a client I'd be more upset about this than it running beta software.
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Normally I would agree about the untested hardware. This is an unusual case in that regard though. The client has a problem with getting hit by lightening. They have had the problem for years and haven't been able to find a good solution. As a result they end having to replace equipment fairly often. So they are more concerned about price point than using untested hardware.
