Release Notes : WANJet version 4.2.14

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WANJet

  • 4.2.14
Release Notes
Software Release Date: 09/07/2007
Updated Date: 04/18/2019

Summary:

This release note documents version 4.2.14 feature release of the WANJet® appliance. To review the features introduced in this release, see Fixes in this release. For new customers, the software is preinstalled on the WANJet appliance. For existing customers, you can apply the software upgrade to version 3.1.1 and later. For information about installing the software upgrade, please refer to Upgrading the software.
Note: F5 now offers both feature releases and maintenance releases. For more information on our new release policies, please see New Versioning Schema for F5 Software Releases.

Contents:


User documentation for this release

In addition to these release notes, the following user documentation is relevant to this release (depending on your platform).

You can find the product documentation and the solutions database on the AskF5 Technical Support web site.

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Supported browsers

The supported browsers for the Web UI are:

  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, version 6.x
  • Mozilla® Firefox® 1.5x or version 2.0x, and other browsers that use the Mozilla engine

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Supported platforms

This release supports the following platforms:

  • WANJet 200
  • WANJet 400
  • WANJet 500

If you are unsure which platform you have, click the About link from any screen in the WANJet appliance's Web UI.

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Upgrading the software

The following instructions explain how to upgrade existing WANJet appliances running version 3.1.1 and later to version 4.2.14. To upgrade the WANJet appliance, complete these tasks:

  • Back up your current configuration.
  • Upgrade the WANJet appliance.
  • Activate the license (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 Appliance Administrator Guide.

Important: Version 4.0 introduced a new licensing procedure. If you are upgrading from version 3.1.x, you must first obtain a Base Registration Key. Do not proceed with the upgrade 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 appliance serial number) before attempting to install the software upgrade.

Always back up your current configuration before installing the software upgrade.

To back up your current configuration

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

    https://<WANJet IP address>:10000

  2. In the navigation pane, expand System, and click Backup & Restore.
    The WANJet Configuration Backup screen opens.
  3. Click the word, here.
    The browser opens a File Download screen for you to save the backup file to your local computer. This default backup file name is Settings-<ServerName>.NTCL.
  4. Save the backup file on your local hard disk.
  5. Rename the backup file to identify the specific WANJet appliance that you are backing up, and the current date.

To upgrade the WANJet appliance

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

    https://<WANJet IP address>:10000

    The WANJet Status screen opens.

  2. If you have not activated the license of the WANJet appliance you plan to upgrade, activate it now (before upgrading). See To activate the license later in this document for details. (If you do not know whether the license has been activated, check on the WANJet Status screen, next to License. If it says Not Entered, it is not activated.)
  3. 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).
  4. In the navigation pane, expand System and click Upgrade & Boot Menu. The WANJet Boot Menu screen opens.
  5. Click the Upgrade button. A confirmation message appears.
  6. Click the OK button to continue.
  7. Click the Browse button, and locate the upgrade file on your computer.
  8. Upload the upgrade file to the WANJet appliance.
  9. Click Upgrade WANJet.
    The WANJet appliance restarts automatically when the upgrade process is complete. The license remains with the appliance after the upgrade.

Performing a remote upgrade from version 3.1.1 or 3.1.2

You can perform a remote upgrade to version 4.2.14 from version 3.1.1 or 3.1.2. If you are upgrading remotely from version 3.1.1 or 3.1.2, you must also complete the following tasks.

  • Switch the operational mode of all WANJet appliances to Inactive.
  • Upgrade all of the WANJet appliances.
  • One at a time, change the operational mode of each WANJet appliance to Active.

To activate the license

Note: You must activate the license before you can use the WANJet appliance to optimize traffic. You need to perform this procedure only once for each WANJet appliance.

  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 opens.

  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 opens.
  4. Click the Not Entered link, next to License.
    The WANJet License Details screen opens.
  5. Into the Base Registration Key box, type or paste your Base Registration Key. For new installations, you should see your Base Registration Key (filled in at the factory).
  6. Next to Activation Method, make sure that Automatic (the default) is selected.
  7. Click Next. The EULA (End User License Agreement) screen opens.
  8. Read the EULA, and then click Accept if you agree to the conditions.
    When license activation is complete, the WANJet License Details screen opens and shows the current license date.

    Note: If automatic license activation does not work, you can use manual activation instead. On the WANJet License Details screen, next to Activation Method, select Manual and follow the directions on the screen.

  9. 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 need to perform this procedure only 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.
    The About box opens.
  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 in this release

Release 4.2.14 includes the following fixes.

Performance impact resulting from CIFS optimization (CR81190)
Previously, performance could be slower when using some Microsoft® products with Common Internet File System (CIFS) optimization. We have addressed CIFS performance issues related to opening and saving files when using Microsoft Excel® and Microsoft® Word, and issues related to Microsoft AccessTM when opening and saving database tables. These changes improve CIFS optimization performance.

CIFS buffer allocation (CR82619)
In previous releases, Common Internet File System (CIFS) buffer allocation failures could reset connections and disable optimization. In this release, the WANJet appliance now handles CIFS buffer allocation failures gracefully. Now, under heavy load, if CIFS fails to obtain a buffer, the WANJet appliance disables optimization for that file transfer; the connection persists without any interruption and continues to benefit from other WANJet appliance optimizations, such as TDR1 and TDR2. CIFS optimization for that connection resumes once buffers are available.

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Known issues

The following items are known issues in the current release.

TDR-2 efficiency on WANJet 200
On WANJet 200 appliances, the overall cache size for data transmitted or received is 50 MB, or 25 MB in each direction. TDR-2 efficiency may be degraded when transmitting or receiving application data sets of 25 MB or greater.

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.

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.

TDR-2 efficiency impacted by slow servers (CR65171)
TDR-2 efficiency may be degraded when transmitting data from low-performance servers.

UDP port optimization may cause problems on port 53 (CR70172)
When all UDP ports are optimized, DNS services over port 53 may fail. The workaround is to put all UDP ports into passthrough mode, and to specifically open those UDP ports you want to optimize.

Delayed Acceptance setting enabled after upgrade (CR81526)
The Delayed Acceptance setting is set to its default value of Enabled after you upgrade the WANJet appliance to a newer release, regardless of what it was set to in the previous release. If you do not want to enable delayed connection acceptance, after upgrading, click Settings for Delayed Acceptance on the Local WANJets screen, and clear the Enable box.

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