Release Notes : WANJet version 4.0.17

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WANJet

  • 4.0.17
Release Notes
Software Release Date: 05/19/2006
Updated Date: 04/18/2019

Summary:

This release note documents the version 4.0.17 maintenance release of the WANJet Appliance. We recommend this maintenance release only for those customers who want the fixes and enhancements listed in Fixes and enhancements in this release. This maintenance release is cumulative, and includes all fixes and enhancements released since version 4.0. For existing customers, you can apply the software upgrade to 3.1.1 and later. For information about installing the software upgrade, please refer to Upgrading the software. For additional information about installing the software, please refer to the WANJet User Guide.

Note: F5 now offers both feature releases and maintenance releases. For more information on our new release policies, please see Description of the F5 Networks software version number format.

Contents:


Supported platforms

This release supports the following platforms:

  • WANJet 200
  • WANJet 400

To verify your hardware platform type, click the About link from any screen in the WANJet appliance's Web UI.

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Backing up your current configuration

To back up your current configuration before installing the software upgrade, complete the following steps.

  1. Log on to the WANJet Web UI, by typing the following address into a browser's Address line.

    https://<your WANJet 200 or WANJet 400 appliance IP address>:10000

  2. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Backup & Restore.
    The WANJet Configuration Backup screen displays.

  3. Click the word, here.
    The browser opens a File Download window for you to save the backup file to your local computer. This default backup file is Settings-<ServerName>.NTCL.

  4. Save the backup file to your local hard disk.

  5. Rename the backup file to identify the specific WANJet appliance that you are backing up and the current date.
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Upgrading the software

To upgrade the WANJet appliance to version 4.0.17, complete these tasks:

  • Upgrade the WANJet appliance
  • Activate the license (only required if not previously activated)
  • Save the WANJet appliance chassis serial number (if not previously saved)

Important: For the WANJet appliance to function properly, TCP ports 3703, 3702, 3701, 10000, and 10001 must all be open on a firewall. Any firewalls separating the WANJet appliances must have these ports open. For specific information about configuring ports, refer to the WANJet User Guide.

Important: Version 4.0 introduces a new licensing procedure. If upgrading from version 3.1.x, you must first obtain a Base Registration Key. Do not proceed with the upgrade process until you have the Base Registration Key. If you did not receive an email with a Base Registration Key, contact F5 Networks Technical Support (and be sure to have the WANJet serial number) before attempting to install the software upgrade.

To upgrade the WANJet appliance

  1. Log in to the WANJet Web UI, by typing the following address into a browser's Address line.

    https://<your WANJet 200 or WANJet 400 appliance IP address>:10000

  2. Verify that a disk image of the new version of the WANJet software is accessible from the local computer on which you are viewing the WANJet Web UI (on CD-ROM, for example).

  3. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Upgrade & Boot Menu.
    The WANJet Boot Menu screen displays.

  4. Click the Upgrade button.
    A confirmation message displays.

  5. Click the OK button to continue.

  6. Click the Browse button and locate the upgrade file on your computer.

  7. Upload the upgrade file to the WANJet appliance.

  8. Click Upgrade WANJet.
    The WANJet appliance restarts automatically when the upgrade process is complete.

Performing a remote upgrade from version 3.1.1 or 3.1.2

You can perform a remote upgrade to version 4.0.17 from version 3.1.1 or later. If you are upgrading remotely from version 3.1.1 or 3.1.2, you must also complete the following procedures.

  1. Switch the operational mode of all WANJet appliances to Inactive.

  2. Upgrade all of the WANJet appliances.

  3. One at a time, change the operational mode of each WANJet appliance to Active.

To activate the license using the manual method

Note: You only need to perform this procedure if you have not previously activated the WANJet license.

  1. In a web browser, access the Web UI using HTTPS and port 10000.
    For example, if the IP address of the appliance is 192.168.168.102, type https://192.168.168.102:10000 in the web browser.
    The welcome screen displays.

  2. Type the user name and password.
    The default user name is admin and the default password is admin.

  3. Click the Log On button.
    The WANJet Status screen displays.

  4. Click the Not Entered link, next to License.
    The WANJet License Detail screen displays.

  5. Into the Base Registration Key box, type or paste your Base Registration Key.

  6. Click the Manual button, located next to the Activation Method.

  7. Click the Next button.

  8. Select and copy the entire contents of the Dossier box.

  9. Click the Click here to access the licensing server link, located below the dossier.
    The Activate F5 License screen displays in a separate browser.

  10. Into the Dossier box, paste the dossier that you copied.

  11. Click the Next button.
    The WANJet License Details screen displays with the current license date.

  12. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Status.
    The license should now display as OK.

To save the WANJet appliance chassis serial number

Note: You only need to perform this procedure if you have not previously saved the chassis serial number in the About box.

  1. At the top right of the Web UI, click the About link.

  2. In the Chassis serial number box, type the serial number as it appears on the F5 serial number sticker, located on the front of the WANJet appliance (on older units, the serial number is on the back).

  3. Click the Save button.

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Fixes and enhancements in this release

This release includes the following fixes and enhancements.

Fixes

This release includes the following fixes.

Configuring the WANJet appliance from the shell (CR60652)
When using the restricted shell to configure the WANJet appliance, you can now use backspace characters to correct typing errors.

TCP performance (CR61415)
We have improved TCP performance between WANJet appliances to resolve a problem with file transfer speed and zero window sizes.

Real Time Traffic report (CR61437)
We have improved the Real Time Traffic report display, and it now correctly tracks network traffic.

CIFS connections (CR61513)
The WANJet appliance no longer prematurely terminates CIFS connections. This issue caused Lotus Notes users to receive delayed write error messages.

Upgrading a one-arm configuration (CR61967)
Upgrading a WANJet appliance in a one-arm configuration no longer disables IP forwarding.

Configuring Management IP address (CR62928)
You can now successfully change a previously configured Management IP address on the Local WANJet Configuration screen.

WANJet appliance connections dropped (CR63281)
In previous versions, in a particular configuration, the WANJet appliance might generate an error causing it to lose its connections. In this release, the error no longer occurs.

Copying remote directories (CR63912)
We have improved the speed of directory copies. The WANJet appliance now further accelerates the copying of remote directories to clients' local computers.

WANJet optimization (CR64023)
After a link down and link up with a peer on low bandwidth links, the WANJet appliance now ensures that connection optimization occurs. This corrects a previous issue in which the WANJet stopped optimizing under these circumstances.

WANJet appliance failure when bridge IP address not set (CR64145)
The WANJet appliance now works correctly when you set the bridge IP address to 0 or leave it empty.

Enhancements

This release includes the following enhancements.

New roadmin account (CR64016)
The WANJet appliance includes a new restricted account called roadmin. The roadmin is a read-only user who can view the WANJet Web UI, but cannot reconfigure the appliance. (The roadmin cannot view any of the Security or System screens.) The user name and the default password for the account are both roadmin.

Only an administrator who is logged in as admin can change the roadmin password in the Web UI, or at the command line using the passwd command. There is no command line interface to the roadmin account.

Administrator account change
When changing the admin password at the command line, you are now required to type the current password before typing the new one.

Upgrade enhancements
Upgrade enhancements, such as a progress bar showing the status of the file transfer, are included in this release. You see the enhancements when you perform the next software upgrade.

When you are performing a remote upgrade from release 4.0.16 or later, you can choose a tar file instead of the remote upgrade image. Selecting the tar file causes the WANJet appliance to perform an integrity check on the source file before doing the upgrade.

Copying small files (CR64024)
The WANJet appliance now optimizes the copying of small files as well as large files. Previously, it did not accelerate the copying of files under 128K.

Hub/spoke deployment
We removed the artificial limit on the number of WANJet appliances that you can configure in a mesh or hub/spoke deployment.

CIFS optimization
We added a configuration option to disable CIFS optimization. Only F5 Systems Engineers can change this option.

Failure mode options (WANJet 400 only)
We added a new feature called Failure Mode to the Operational Mode screen. It applies only to the WANJet 400 appliance. Failure Mode has two options:

  • Fail to wire (default)
    When using Fail to wire, if there is a software failure, traffic passes through the WANJet appliance with no optimization. No traffic interruption occurs.
  • Fail close
    If you select Fail close, when a software failure occurs, the WANJet breaks the link and stops traffic from passing through the WANJet. To use this option, you must also make a hardware adjustment on the WANJet appliance.

     

Refer to Optional configuration changes for procedures on how to set these options.

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Optional configuration changes

Once you have installed the software, you can use any of the following new configuration options to update your configuration. Note that these new configuration options are the result of one of the enhancements (Failure mode options) listed above.

To enable fail close on the WANJet Web UI

  1. From the navigation pane, expand Optimization and click Operational Mode.

  2. For the Failure Mode setting, select Fail close.

  3. Click the Save button.

To open the WANJet appliance and locate the NIC card

  1. Turn the WANJet 400 appliance upside down. On the bottom of the unit, unscrew the four screws that are on the left and right edges of the unit.

  2. Slide the cover off the top of the WANJet 400 appliance.

  3. Facing the front of the WANJet 400 appliance, locate the PXG2BP NIC card on the right near the front of the unit.

  4. Tip the WANJet 400 appliance over onto the left side so you can see the buttons on the NIC card better.

To enable fail close on the WANJet hardware

  1. On the upper right of the NIC card, locate the two switches (labeled BYPASS MODE).

    • The ENB switch is on the left (towards the front of the card), and is turned off, by default.

    • The DIS switch is on the right (towards the back of the card), and is turned on, by default.

  2. Turn the appliance on.

  3. On the NIC card, press the ENB switch on the left (the one towards the front of the appliance). You hear an audible click.

  4. Turn the appliance off and replace the cover.

To re-enable fail to wire on the WANJet hardware

  1. Open the box and locate the NIC card.

  2. Turn the appliance on.

  3. On the NIC card, press the DIS switch on the right (the one towards the center of the appliance). You will hear an audible click.

  4. Turn the appliance off and replace the cover.

To re-enable fail to wire on the WANJet Web UI

  1. From the navigation pane, expand Optimization and click Operational Mode.

  2. For the Failure Mode setting, select Fail to wire.

  3. Click the Save button.

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Known issues

The following items are known issues in the current release.

TDR-2 optimization for concurrent connections (CR60126)
The limit of concurrent connections that TDR-2 can optimize is lower than the overall connection limit.

  • WANJet 400 appliance can optimize up to 1500 concurrent connections using TDR-2 optimization.
  • WANJet 200 appliance can optimize up to 200 concurrent connections using TDR-2 optimization.

Passthrough sessions (CR60178)
After a high volume of traffic passes through the WANJet appliance, the dashboard may temporarily display more Passthrough Sessions than are actually occurring.

VLAN configuration on a local Series 200 WANJet (CR61557)
After using the VLAN Settings link to add a VLAN to a local WANJet appliance, you cannot reach the IP address configured in the WANJet appliance virtual IP through the VLAN interface.

WANJet Links light (CR61710)
The WANJet Links light on the dashboard does not monitor WANJet appliances that are set up as redundant peers; it displays only the status of the active peer.

SSL encryption implementation (CR64020)
SSL encryption is currently implemented only for optimized TCP traffic. In future releases, we plan to support TCP and UDP protocols for SSL encryption.

VLAN traffic and LAN router value configuration (CR64021)
If you want to process VLAN traffic, do not configure a LAN Router value in the Local WANJet link of the Web UI.

SNMP support (CR64022)
We have disabled SNMP support for this release and expect to reinstate it in a subsequent version.

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