Installing the PTF

Apply the PTF to 3-DNS Controller, version 2.1 using the following process:

1. Connect to the F5 Networks FTP site at ftp.f5.com. Click here and follow the instructions for using the F5 Networks FTP site.
2. Download the appropriate file (3dns21PTF-01.tar for domestic users or 3dns21PTF-01-intl.tar for international users) to the /var/tmp/ directory on the target 3-DNS Controller.

3. Type the following commands on the command line:

   cd /var/tmp
   tar -xvf 3dns21PTF-01.tar (for domestic users, or 3dns21PTF-01-intl.tar for international users)
   ./upgrade_ptf

4. Restart the 3-DNS Controller:
   reboot
   

Enhancements and corrections

  This PTF contains the following enhancements and corrections:

NameSurfer

• A new version of NameSurfer™ has been incorporated, which resolves a number of outstanding issues.  (CR 8727)
• When you change the TTL (time to live) for a host, the serial number for the zone now gets updated.  (CR 5787)
• When you change the default TTL for a zone, the TTLs for all resource records that are set to the default now get updated.
• A race condition was eliminated whereby a zone managed by NameSurfer could be deleted from /etc/named.conf.
• Wide IP aliases that were defined in a different zone than the wide IP are now allocated in the correct zone file.  (CR 8640)

Scripts

• A new script, called config_ssh, has been added to the 3-DNS Controller.  This script ensures that secure communication, via ssh, between all 3-DNS Controllers and BIG-IP Controllers is fully configured.  (CR 8726)

Path and host probing

• A new feature was added that allows the big3d agent on a 3-DNS Controller or BIG-IP Controller to perform service checks on any host or virtual server if the big3d agent defined for a particular host or virtual server is unavailable.  (CR 8933)
• The DNS_VER protocol (which was one of the protocols you could select to probe LDNS servers and hosts) has been replaced with the DNS_REV protocol.  DNS_REV is a reverse IP address lookup protocol and is specific to the 3-DNS Controller.  When this protocol is selected, the 3-DNS Controller sends a DNS Message to the probe target LDNS, querying for a record of class IN, type PTR.  Most versions of DNS answer with a record containing a fully-qualified domain name.  (CR 8733)
• The big3d agent now successfully probes virtual server status on Cisco® LocalDirector™ version 3.3.1 using the TCP protocol.  (CR 8852)
• TCP probing on multiple interfaces, where the packet header lengths are different, is now more robust.  (CR 8904)
• Issues concerning new probe protocols, which could cause paths to become stale, have been resolved. (CR 8773)
• A malformed response packet to the big3d process that measures hops no longer causes that process to die.  (CR 8761)
• The maximum number of probers has been increased from 32 to 56.  (CR 8963)
• When set to TCP, the default iQuery protocol is now displayed correctly in the Globals Statistics page.  (CR 8963)

Other

• Summary and wide IP statistics pages now account for resolutions handled by persistence.  (CR 8361)
• The ethernet failover option for redundant systems is now more robust.  (CR 8728)

Configuring and using the updated software

After installing this PTF, you must copy the new version of the big3d agent to the BIG-IP Controllers in your network, as follows.

1. Log in to the 3-DNS Controller.



2. Type 3dnsmaint to open the 3-DNS Maintenance Menu.



3. Select Install and Start big3d, and press Enter.
   
   The 3-DNS Controller detects all BIG-IP Controllers in the network and updates their big3d agents.



4. Press Enter to return to the 3-DNS Maintanance Menu.



5. Press Q to quit.

Known issues

As of version 2.1, the 3-DNS Controller uses the UC Davis SNMP agent as its front-end agent. This SNMP agent uses the /etc/snmpd.conf configuration file; this file replaces the /etc/snmpd.rc file which was used in previous versions of the 3-DNS Controller.