The Joebox M-series is a Linux-based network security and IP routing appliance developed by Networkmaine and MECnet, the technology arm of the Merrimack Education Center.

Joebox User Manual [PDF]

Through its years of involvement with the MSLN project, it became clear to Networkmaine that K12 schools and libraries often struggle with network security issues either due to the cost of commercially available security solutions or lack of local expertise.

As some schools were connected by the University of Maine System directly to MaineREN using high-capacity fiber-optics it was quickly realized the security appliances schools had installed would not scale.  Networkmaine began to look for a commercial appliance that it could offer and support through MSLN while being capable of providing high-throughput connectivity.  The result was that nearly every commercial offering would be cost-prohibitive for public education, even when subsidized by the MSLN project.

Networkmaine turned to the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) operating system Linux to see if it could provide a base for a custom appliance.  Initial testing showed not only that such a Linux-based device was able to provide the functionality desired, but could do so at a fraction of the costs.

Rather than develop a new appliance from scratch Networkmaine decided to reach out to others in the education community to see if similar projects existed.  When MECnet was discovered to be offering a similar solution to K12 in Massachusetts, Networkmaine partnered with them to create a custom offering to meet the needs of the MSLN project.

The Joebox M-series is the appliance created by MECnet and Networkmaine for use by the MSLN project.  Using the original MECnet Joebox as a base, the M-series has been modified to provide higher throughput, full IP routing, and support for MSLN distributed DHCP and DNS services, as well as emerging technologies like IP multicast and IPv6.

The Joebox M-series is a 1U rack-mountable appliance build on commodity hardware.  It provides four Gigabit Ethernet ports and has been verified for WAN throughput greater than 100 Mbps with a full feature set.  The CPU is an Intel Dual-Core Xeon at 2.5GHz with 2GB RAM.

Here are some of the features of the Joebox M-series:

• IP routing engine

• Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) Firewall for both NAT (Private) and Routed (Public) IP networks

• Optional Local DHCP and DNS services with the ability to act as a satellite server for central MSLN servers (this provides a functional DHCP server in the event that WAN connectivity is lost for publicly-address networks)

• Local CIPA-compliant HTTP filter with adaptive Real-Time Filter provides content-based filtering in addition to traditional URL-based filtering.

• Limited VPN client and server support through PPTP

• Local management through web-based control panel for administration

• Supported by Networkmaine