Available for All XTM Appliances
WatchGuard is pleased to announce the general release of Fireware XTM v11.6.5. This release demonstrates our continuing commitment to delivering high quality products to our customers, with a significant number of bug fixes. You can install Fireware XTM OS v11.6.5 on any WatchGuard XTM device, including all 2 Series models. There is no WatchGuard System Manager v11.6.5. We recommend that you use WatchGuard System Manager v11.7.2 to manage Fireware XTM 11.6.5.
Fireware XTM 11.6.5 includes a large number of bug fixes, covering many different areas of Fireware. For more information, see the Resolved Issues section of our Release Notes.
Fireware XTM is compatible with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. The Operating System compatibility matrix in the Release Notes provides full details.
For users of the spamBlocker subscription service, WatchGuard has switched to Mailshell as our new provider of spam detection technology. Mailshell scored highly in the most recent VBSpam Comparative Test, the industry’s leading independent testing program. In the testing, Mailshell’s filter accurately detected 99.84% of spam without a single false positive. This release also includes updates to the Mailshell engine based on feedback submitted after its first release with 11.7.2.
Does This Release Pertain to Me?
The 11.6.x branch of Fireware is primarily intended for XTM appliances than cannot run the latest 11.7.x releases; specifically, the XTM 21, 22, and 23 appliances (wired and wireless). If you already have an XTM appliance running 11.7.x, you can ignore this release.
Otherwise, if you have an XTM appliance and wish to take advantage of the latest updates, you should upgrade to version 11.6.5. Please read the Release Notes before you upgrade, to understand what’s involved.
How Do I Get the Release?
XTM Series owners who have a current LiveSecurity Service subscription can obtain this update without additional charge by downloading the applicable packages from the Articles & Support section of WatchGuard’s Support Center. To make it easier to find the relevant software, be sure to uncheck the “Article” and “Known Issue” search options, and press the Go button. The 11.6.5 Release Notes include clear upgrade instructions. Finally, 11.6.5 is an XTM Series-only release, and does not work on e-Series appliances. We will also make available an 11.3.6 release for e-Series appliances this week.
As always, if you need support, please enter a support incident online or call our support staff directly. (When you contact Technical Support, please have your registered Product Serial Number, LiveSecurity Key, or Partner ID available.)
- U.S. End Users: 877.232.3531
- International End Users: +1.206.613.0456
- Authorized WatchGuard Resellers: +1.206.521.8375
How do I check my device to determine if this upgrade applies to me?
Mike Rannow
LS Mold Inc.
616-392-5926 x102
If you connect to your WatchGuard via the web interface or the WatchGuard System Manager, you can see which version of firmware you’re currently on. This will mainly apply to the XTM 2-series (21, 22, 23). If you have a larger XTM model, I would recommend applying XTM 11.7.X to your device.
Erik Blankenship
Network Engineer
Networks Plus
http://www.networksplus.com
I’ve moved many of my customers to XTM 11.7.2 and find that the spam-blocker service, as of the last week, has been doing very poorly. “Mailshell” seems to perform very poorly in comparison to the old spam-blocker service. We normally see about 4000 rejected spams per day, for just a dozen email addresses, and we normally only see about 1 spam a week reach user email boxes – but, since moving from 11.4.x to 11.7.2 we’re seeing a dozen spams per day reaching users email boxes.
I’m not impressed with the change to Mail Shell.
Sincerely,
Mark Lynch
Mark,
Though I posted the 11.7.2 update info here, I haven’t sent the update broadcast to all customers yet, and there is a reason for that. We have heard about the anti-spam performance difference, and we quickly made a SDK engine change/update that should rectify it. XTM 11.7.2 Update 1 should release any time now, which has this fix/update. So we expect the new spamBlocker engine to perform well with this update.
By the way, the latest 11.6.5 release has the spamBlocker update I’m talking about. So 11.6.5 should fix some of the issues that you say in 11.7.2, and when 11.7.2 Update 1 comes out, we’ll be good across the board.
Cheers
Fireware XTM version 11.6.5 applies some important fixes for older issues, that our support engineers are met mainly on XTM 21 devices:
– Big file download can stall, if you will use an HTTP packet filter policy with enabled IPS;
– Pinning of CPU usage, caused by active logging processes.
Also should notice, that with 11.6.5 support of REFER SIP method was added in SIP-proxy filter (SIP-ALG) functionality. Practically, this means correct support of call transfer operations, initiated during SIP session. Requirements for REFER method are stated by RFC 3515.