Strongbox Vs. Sparta
 

Which have you had better luck with using NATS?

No Favs??

I've used both.

Sparta is no longer available, but it has delicious integration with NATS. Strongbox, to pardon my rogue behavior, is shitty perl crap. It does about the same. However, it's still available.

oops I voted but don't use Nats. my bad.

LOL, isn't Sparta available through TMM?

No idea... but from the threads below my impression is that most people feel strongbox is the better choice.
http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?p=6579967
http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=764648

It was it isn't anymore.....they've stopped supporting it long time ago

Yeah, I remember waiting forever for them to finish it and they flaked. Now Stongbox seems like it's "too stong" and is keeping people out that should be in.

check out http://www.phantomfrog.com/ :thumbsup

sparta :)

voted for sparta - but its not supported anymore :(

ProxyPass, the third option.

Brad

Not sure where you're hosted, but many hosting providers have pretty good software too...

I like sparta lots, and I even use it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

It has a metric truckload of bugs - ie, log into a sparta proctected site, copy paste the URL to a buddy - and he'll have full access to the site too.

But - it integrates into NATS and CARMA really well, so there's the catch 22.

I know proxypass is what I use.. and love it..

also rico sites are using proxypass

Not since at least March. :(

There's something wrong with your memcache, then. It uses the username/IP hash. A different IP will 'bust' this if you've got your memcache setup properly.

I only vote for Sparta because I recently named my kitten that :P

I use strongbox and it has served me very well.

and NOBODY has better customer service...it seems like someone is there day or night to help within an hour or so...even when I moved servers and strongboxwas having issues....Ray logged in and fixed it no charge

Kudos to him for that he has a customer for life

If only CCBill were as responsive

It's our understanding that Sparta is no longer available, and TMM, who used to make Sparta, is now recommending Strongbox.

Never used Sparta.

I'd take Strongbox to the bank, though.

In our time using the program, very few problems using it... and any time we had any question, Ray was there.

Btw this is not about SPARTA.

No it won't. Sessions will still be shared. The old session will be trunc'd, but the new one will be fine. Trust me on this before you argue with me, I have been through this at great, great length with Mike and Fabien.

OK, so stongbox seems to be the program of choice...how about limitations when used across a ton of servers?

Will do fine when used across a ton of servers I would imagine. Currently I haven't taken it to the next level with the use of mysql databases to manage members and certain access levels. Password files are being shared as well as keys for certain sites are being used as well as being handed off to other sites, etc. and everything works perfectly. The questions I've had have all been solved right away with one call to ray.
:thumbsup:thumbsup

Are you using a single memcache for all of your sites? I saw that happen, too. I bound different daemons for different sites across a shared back end interface with a /32 bound for each one. I also used an incredibly ugly hack to test the browser's session vars and forward based upon proper auth. It was ugly as hell, but it worked for me. I think I had the very-last-sparta install, too, so there may have been some minor bugfixes.

It all depends on how you have it setup. Unless you use the Apache module version, it's going to be a bit slower. Add MySQL over a public interface, and it's slower, still.

Anything will work if it's put together properly - but that's rarely how this industry works. :(

Third Choice = PhantomFrog
 

Jay,

There is a third choice you should be aware of
and you can test drive it to evaluate the system
first-hand and its integrated with NATS!

I represent a password protection system called
Phantom Frog that is setting a new standard for
password security. Our product uses Geo-IP tracking
technology which will not even allow 2 people to
share the same password let alone a whole trading
forum with hundreds of leechers!

Our Hi-Resolution Geo-IP Tracking offers the most
accurate password abuse detection available anywhere.
It tracks all visits to the members area of a site
down to the city level. Furthermore, it takes
latitudal and longitudal data into consideration.
Therefore, Frog detects the fact that the same
password was used in L.A. and NYC. We pinpoint the
abuse instantly, allowing for the possibility of
legitimate travel. That level of city resolution is
unique to Phantom Frog.

Our system is based upon the premise of providing
24/7 uninterrupted access to the legitimate members
while blocking out the leechers. This is accomplished
automatically through our Automated Member Support
(AMS) feature. When password abuse is detected, the
password is changed. The next time the valid member
trys to login, Frog uses their email address to
validate their identity and issues them a new password
directly via email. This strategy breaks the cycle of
password abuse and frees up the webmasters to do more
important work.

Our product is integrated with CCBill, NetBilling,
Paycom, NATS, MPA3, Verotel, 2000Charge, SegPay, Jettis,
and 365Billing. Phantom Frog has a simple FREE Trial
Version which installs by adding one html tag or we
can handle the installation completely for you for.
In fact, we recommend that you leave ProxyPass or
Pennywize activated during our Trial to witness
first-hand all the abuse being missed by them!

Most of customers were motivated to purchase our
password protection only 3 days after installing the
Free Trial! We also offer Automated Member Support,
Brute Force Attack Protection, and Bandwidth Abuse
Protection.

Phantom Frog has stellar webmaster testimonials which
are listed on our site. A high percentage of our clients
are ex-ProxyPass/Pennywize clients. A casual scan of
our webmaster testimonials page will reveal how unaware
they were of the password abuse which was being allowed
and overlooked by their current protection system.

Our system works just fine across many servers and we
have clients with over 30,000 members.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback.

Visit out site to learn more: http://www.PhantomFrog.com/g

Visit this link to try our FREE demo: http://phantomfrog.com/g?ft=1

Thanks

George

It would be nice if they would udate their website, haven't done much since 2005. Hard to trust a company if they don't update.

Interesante...

Look at half the crappy porn sites out there.

Terry and the guys at ProxyPass are top-notch. I suggest giving them a try, whenever we have had an issue, a suggestion etc., Terry was always there and able to help out quickly. We have had great success with them with our setup.

Phew! Glad we got that one out of the way....

I have used strongbox and proxypass
Currently Proxypass seems ok , however we
did have some issues and still found some of our stuff
on password trading sites :(

SPARTA was discontinued a while ago. It basically left TMM with Fabian.

We highly recommend strongbox. Ray is a great guy to deal with.

Don't use the default parameters. Contact ProxyPass and they will assist you with this.

Ray has been really cool with us. Everybody says great things about it, but somewhere between NATS, our server clusters, and Strongbox there are a number of bugs and exploits that are super hard to pin down.

Have had great experiences with Sparta, but as everyone else has already said it's been discontinued.

Another vote for Strongbox right here. :2 cents:

Strongbox 2x for me - MassiveDollars and my husband's paysite.

I am using Strongbox on 2 sites and I am happy with the program and the customer service. There are no complaints from my members, only from password thieves

So AOL users are banned automatically?

Speaking to our own experience here.. it would be easier and cheaper to pay one-off fees for a script (StrongBox) rather than $45/month eternally (ProxyPass). It's no wonder why so many use other products, absolutely everything else is cheaper.

Please consider that my post here is meant to be informative only, not at all to be a specific indictment of StrongBox or any other product on the market. Everything available in the marketplace works to an extent and I am certain has a long list of loyal, happy customers. I still feel inclined to share my own experience because with so many customers I think that there is some value in doing so for someone out there trying to make a decision.

We have dozens of clients using ProxyPass and as far as I can remember we've never had one of them decide to stop using it in favor of a competing product. We have, however, had a fair share of clients make the switch from every competing product available in the marketplace over to ProxyPass.

And please let's not turn this into a bashing thread, I'd really like to hear the views of anyone that has moved from ProxyPass to something else with better technical results that they can explain to an educated audience. If something out there has improved over time, I'd like to know about it. At the end of the day all we want is what is best for our clients. I've got absolutely no financial motivation to like anything but the best product on the market as we end up picking up the cost for all larger clients and on smaller clients it's merely a pass-through on the monthly subscription fee.

I'm simply saying that when I am asked what product I am ultimately going to warranty as a fully managed host - what product in the marketplace that I'll put my own reputation behind - it has been and for the forseeable future will continue to be ProxyPass. It's not the cheapest but based upon our own experience it's the only product that we absolutely have the experience of always being able to rely on.

I take the extent of our managed hosting so very seriously that when I say we warranty the outcome it means that if there is ever a malfunction with ProxyPass we don't bill the clients for their overage - thats our level of confidence in the product. I guess show me another host or competing password product that's going to warranty no bandwidth overage due to password sharing? Remember, I'm not even making money reselling ProxyPass to my clients.

I believe that it is very worth mentioning that we get consistent and available support from ProxyPass and that has *always* been the case. Also, that ProxyPass scales incredibly well across large complex setups. :thumbsup

:2 cents:

Brad

Warning: This thread has been deemed too business-like and useful and may lead to more professional conduct... an absence of drama may cause some GFY users to experience minor discomfort and breathing pains which should pass quickly when one returns to the regularly scheduled postgramming. If all else fails search out an AFF/Zango or Pimpdogg hater thread immediately and consult with a physician.:2 cents::error

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Wow...nice post. :)

Thanks man.

Yeah Proxypass, and the support is spot on!

There will be an apache module for this really soon.......and it will look at the
initial http-request instead of reading the info from the logfiles when it's already
too late.....this module will also prevent people from using brute password guessing scripts by blocking the ip from connecting to any socket connection at
any port ;-)........a few more days I need to finish this :-)

Has anyone got a contact for Strongbox? [email protected] is getting bounced back

Phantom Frog has 15 different parameters that are
mixed, matched and compared to handle dial up IPs.
We have clients that have been with us for four years
and counting and this has never been a problem.

Once again, we intentionally provide a Free Trial that
can co-exist with any current pass protection system
you're using. This way, you can get a true side-by-side
comparison and judge for yourself.

Bump for the day time readers... :)

Brad

Strange... we're receiving email from other customers. We can be reached at 979-530-1300 or you can try emailing [email protected].