X-Road is a free and open-source data exchange layer solution. We are proud to announce that X-Road version 6.24.0 was published by our customer Nordic Insititute of Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) on the 31st of August and its latest release is more user-friendly than ever.
Combining security and human-centric design together might sound like a mission impossible, but it’s not if there is a will to make it happen. The creation of version 6.24.0 has required good collaboration between the customer and its different vendors – including us. It is always a pleasure to work in the team, that wants to find the best solutions, taking equally into account the functionality, visual design, user experience, and security.
A new user interface for Security Server administrators
The main new feature that is visible for the user is a new user interface for Security Server administrators. The CTO of NIIS, Petteri Kivimäki, wrote about it himself: “The new UI provides improved user experience (UX) for Security Server administrators. The new UI has a new look and feel, and it makes taking care of administrative tasks easier and supports streamlining the onboarding process of new X-Road members.”
The new version has an administrative REST API that enables automation of Security Server maintenance tasks, several changes to improve the performance of the security server, and last, but not least, a new version has support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL8).
A significant improvement in many ways
Security Server’s administrative API is a significant improvement in many ways. Basically all the operations that can be done in the UI, can also be done with the API. After all, the UI has been built on top of the API. Using the API and automation, configuring new Security Servers becomes effortless. Maintaining and monitoring subsystems, services, and access rights can be fully automated. What’s best of all, everything mentioned above works equally well for single servers and large groups of Security Server installations.
Please remember that X-Road version 6.21, which was compliant with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, is not supported anymore and the underlying host operating system needs to be upgraded! If help is needed in any of those upgrades, then do not hesitate to ask us. Gofore is an X-Road Technology Partner and we are happy to help in all the areas around X-Road implementation, maintenance, or upgrade.
Background
Gofore provides the X-Road Software Core Development Services for the Nordic Institute of Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) since 2018, based on a 3-year agreement. NIIS is an association founded jointly by Estonia and Finland. It is both a network and cooperation platform and executioner of IT developments in members’ common interests. NIIS ensures the quality, sustainability, and cross-border capability of core e-government infrastructure components.
Our service for NIIS includes the design, implementation, and maintenance of X-Road core software. In addition, cloud-based development environments related to X-Road development are maintained and further developed.
Ilkka Seppälä
Technical Project Manager for X-Road core development team
ilkka.seppala@gofore.com
Read more:
Release notes: https://confluence.niis.org/display/XRDKB/X-Road+v6.24.0+Release+Notes
Official documentation: https://github.com/nordic-institute/X-Road/tree/master/doc
List of contributors: https://confluence.niis.org/display/XRDKB/X-Road+v6.24.0+Release+Notes#XRoadv6.24.0ReleaseNotes-Contributors
Package repositories: https://confluence.niis.org/display/XRDKB/X-Road+v6.24.0+Release+Notes#XRoadv6.24.0ReleaseNotes-PackageRepositories
