Two years after the release of Zentyal 8.1, a Linux distribution specializing in server creation for small and medium businesses, a new version has been announced. Zentyal 8.1 is built on the package base of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and positioned as an alternative to Windows Server, offering components to replace Microsoft Active Directory and Exchange Server services. The size of the iso image for this distribution is 4.5 GB. While a commercial edition is available separately, Ubuntu users can access Zentyal components through the standard Universe repository.
Zentyal 8.1 is managed through a web interface with around 40 modules for network and office server management. Supported features include network gateway setup, firewall configuration, mail server management, VoIP services, VPN server setup, proxy server configuration, file server organization, employee interaction system, monitoring system, backup server setup, network security system, user login organization through Captive portal, and more. Installation of modules is ready for immediate use, and configuration is done through interactive wizards without the need for manual editing of configuration files.
Changes in the new release of Zentyal 8.1 include updated isolation profiles based on Apparmor, improved Clamav antivirus package version in the antivirus module, addition of the suricata-update command in the intrusion prevention module, enhancements in the web interface progress, new features in the mail server management module, redesigned network configuration module interface, switch from NTP to NTPsec in the ntp module, updated NSS and PAM management in the samba module, improvements in web server control module, redesign of installation script for Debian, and X11 configuration rework in zenbuntu-desktop.