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NE-ONE v2024.12.2073 Release Notes

NE-ONE v2024.12.2073 Release Notes

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Contents

General Information

NE-ONE v2024.12 is the logical successor to:

  • NE-ONE v2022, V2023 & V2024 (all previous versions)

  • NE-ONE Enterprise v2021.02

  • NE-ONE v5.0

  • INE Enterprise/INE Ultra v9.0

This release is a feature release, it also contains security updates, as can be seen from the full list below.

Please note that if you use the console's change password feature to change the password for the user neone, it will also change the password for itrinegy to the same value. This is to prevent itrinegy being accidentally left with a legacy insecure password. [The new console username neone was introduced in v2022.08.936 and will completely replace the old console username itrinegy in future.] Please therefore change to using the username neone as soon as possible.

If you are running any v2021, v2022, v2023, or earlier v2024 versions you should upgrade to this version as it contains many benefits (features and fixes) - see the release details below.

Note for INE v9 and NE-ONE v5 users: NE-ONE v2022,v2023 & v2024 merge INE v9 and NE-ONE v5 together into one product under a unified Web GUI, in a process that started with NE-ONE Enterprise v2021. The product is called simply NE-ONE v2024 (previously NE-ONE v2022/v2023), though you may see it referred to under two names in various documents, websites and publications.

  • NE-ONE Enterprise v2024

  • NE-ONE Professional v2024

These are the same software base (NE-ONE v2024) with different feature sets enabled.

Information for NE-ONE v2022 & v2023 users

NE-ONE v2024 will seem very familiar to you. This version is a direct upgrade from NE-ONE v2022/v2023.

Upgrading

For the smoothest upgrade experience please login to an admin user using the products Web GUI, then stop all running networks - you can right mouse click on them in the active network list (on the home page) and stop them from there. Then refresh the browser (using the browser's refresh button).

The upgrade itself is performed by using the standard method. Use the Web GUI to go to: Management [menu]→ Platform Settings → Software Update and then upload the appropriate update file (.itu file). It will take several minutes to complete.

Please note, when Upgrading

Some customers have observed that the upgrade appears to time out with a session timeout message and then offer to refresh or login again from scratch at the end, rather than issue an upgrade completed successfully popup. If this occurs to you, do not be concerned, the upgrade has completed successfully. Just refresh your browser (with the browser refresh button) and you'll be able to login without issue.

[This issue occurs because the GUI may have been issuing requests to the NE-ONE's engine concerning running emulations, the time, graph or status data etc. Now the new version of the software takes over, the login session token is invalid, as opposed to simply getting no reply which is true during the upgrade. It therefore pops up the session timeout dialog. By following the guidelines above for the smoothest upgrade experience, we make sure the GUI is making no such requests and so the upgrade completes without a timeout]

If you're currently using NE-ONE (Enterprise or Professional) v2022.01.630 or lower please read the points below, otherwise skip over them, as it is a standard upgrade including new features, improvements and bug fixes as detailed.

  1. Before upgrading, please note the serial number of your system (if hardware) or the current License Id (hardware or virtual) - which you can get from Management [menu] → Platform Settings → License)

  2. The License Id (aka fingerprint) will change after this upgrade. From the homepage please click License Now and email your new License Id to support@ne-one.com together with the serial number or the old License Id we will update this on your records so you can get an updated license key

Information for NE-ONE v2021 users

If you're currently using NE-ONE (Enterprise) v2021.02.x please read this section, otherwise skip over it.

NE-ONE v2024 will seem very familiar to you. This version is a direct upgrade from NE-ONE (Enterprise) v2021.02.

You can upgrade from v2021.02.275 or v2021.02.398 or v2021.02.437 with a standard upgrade kit (.itu file), however please note the following:

  1. Before upgrading, please note the serial number of your system (if hardware) or the current License Id (hardware or virtual - which you can get from Management [menu] → Platform Settings → License)

  2. The upgrade will take quite a lot longer than usual (allow at least 15 minutes after the patch has uploaded). This is because the underlying operating system and associated packages are also upgraded from Ubuntu 18 LTS to Ubuntu 20 LTS

  3. The License Id (aka fingerprint) will change after this upgrade. From the homepage please click License Now and email your new License Id to support@ne-one.com together with the serial number or the old License Id we will update this on your records so you can get an updated license key

  4. After the upgrade your admin password will be reset to the default (admin) which should be changed as soon as possible. Other users will require a new password to be set by the admin, which they can later change. This is because we have enhanced password security under Ubuntu 20, and as it is (clearly) not possible to decrypt a user's current password and re-encrypt it, so they must be reset.

Information for NE-ONE v5 users

If you're currently using NE-ONE v5 please read this section, otherwise skip over it.

NE-ONE v2024 will seem quite a bit different to you, as it is a big jump from NE-ONE v5, though similar in concept.

To help you, there is a general tutorial video available on the homepage of the system and like NE-ONE v5 there are context sensitive videos and documentation on most of the pages.

You can upgrade from any NE-ONE v5.0.x version using two patches:

  • First a pre-patch which resets the php maximum file upload setting to allow the main patch to be uploaded

  • Then the main patch file

Calnex has created a specific guide to the upgrade process with screenshots to help ensure that it goes smoothly. Please download and have the upgrade guide available while you do the upgrade.

Please note the following, before upgrading:

  1. Before upgrading, please note the serial number of your system (if hardware) or the current Host Id (hardware or virtual - which you can get from Settings [menu] → Licensing)

  2. Perform the upgrade from a system local to the NE-ONE, as doing it over a slow internet connection may cause the main patch upload to time out.

  3. The upgrade will take quite a lot longer than usual (allow at least 15 minutes after the main patch has uploaded). This is because the underlying operating system and associated packages are also upgraded from Ubuntu 18 LTS to Ubuntu 20 LTS

  4. The Host Id will change to a License Id (aka fingerprint, which is much longer) after this upgrade. From the homepage please click License Now and email your new License Id to support@ne-one.com together with the serial number or the old Host Id we will update this on your records so you can get an updated license key

  5. After the upgrade your admin password will be reset to the default (admin) which should be changed as soon as possible. Other users passwords will need to be reset using the Management [menu] → Platform Settings → Users feature. Users can then change them to their own preference via the GUI

  6. You'll be able to find your saved emulation files using the new File Browser (Management [menu] → File Browser → click Up (to go to /) → double-click Library (to go to /Library) → double-click networks (to go to /Library/networks) and you'll see a folder containing your NE-ONE v5 files. Double-click one of your files to convert it to NE-ONE v2022/v2023 format and load it. [If there are any issues with this conversion please email the file to support@ne-one.com for inspection by right clicking on it and choosing download from the right mouse menu]

  7. The upgrade does not preserve your port addressing on the emulation ports (0, 1, 2 3…). Please make a note of the addresses and reapply them after the upgrade.

Information for INE v9 users

If you're currently using INE v9 please read this section, otherwise skip over it.

You can upgrade directly from any INE v9.0.x version to v2022.07.882 using two patches:

  • First a pre-patch which resets the php maximum file upload setting to allow the main patch to be uploaded

  • Then the main patch file

You can then upgrade to NE-ONE v2023.07 using a standard update kit

NE-ONE v2021-2024 is very different to INE v9, while possessing the similar capabilities and more… - please read on for a summary of the differences.

NE-ONE Enterprise (v2021-2024) highlights:

  • A Brand New Web GUI for all Normal and Admin Operations - featuring:

    • Context Sensitive Documentation

    • An On-board Product Tour Video for getting started

    • A full set of On-board Context Sensitive Video Tutorials

    • Wizards to allow rapid creation of Network Designs

    • A flexible Multi Point Network Drawing Designer

    • A simple Point to Point network designer to make the simple - simple

    • A scenario builder to allow automation without scripting

    • Notes - NO Java or Flash are used in this GUI

    • Preferred Web Browsers: Chrome, Edge (but not Edge Legacy) and Firefox

  • A Brand New Reporting Tool (in addition to Graphs and Statistics)

  • A Brand New RESTful API

  • A built in JavaScript engine to allow automated changing of the network

  • A Console Program for initial IP address setting and occasional low level diagnostics

  • and much more - see the full release notes below

Notes

  • The INE client GUI (INE-GUI) is fully deprecated

  • The CLI and Sockets API interfaces are partially deprecated

  • When Upgrading - whatever method is being used to upgrade, it is recommended that a backup of the current system is taken first - using INE-GUI Help → Support → Backup

IMPORTANT

When planning an INE Enterprise/Ultra to NE-ONE Enterprise v2024 Upgrade the following should be noted:

  • You will need to obtain a new style NE-ONE Enterprise License key from your support team

  • Two upgrade methods will be supported for v2024.4:

  1. For INE v7/v8 (while this also works for v9 method 2 [below] is preferred for that upgrade). Perform a fresh install of NE-ONE Enterprise from a USB key. INE v9 can be upgraded this way, but as you can store files on your INE in v9 you should Backup your existing INE - using INE-GUI Help -> Support -> Backup (INE V9.0.x only), then re-image the system, then you can restore your backup later using v2022's Management [menu] → Platform Settings -> Restore feature

  2. For INE v9 use its patch (software update) mechanism to apply NE-ONE Enterprise v2022.08 as a pre-patch and then a patch - this method is limited to INE v9.0.x - for earlier versions (V8.x and V7.x) use method 1. Then update to NE-ONE v2023.02 with a further software update

 

WARNING

 

For any and all updates (including upgrades and patches)

Updates can only be applied to a system that has a current Support and Maintenance contract.

Updating a system which has expired maintenance will cause your system to stop working.

Releases

Latest Release v2024.12.2073 - 05 December 2024

 

WARNING

 

This version contains a major upgrade of the operating system and other related software libraries. To update to it from any previous version you must first update to (at least) v2024.09.1723.3. If you are not already running, version 2024.09.1723.3, or higher, you’ll receive an error message after uploading the upgrade kit (.itu file) saying:

• Please update to 2024.09.1723.3 or above before updating

After this error message, if the GUI remains with the message “Please wait while the system is updating...” in the centre of the screen. It will need refreshing using the browser’s refresh feature to continue.

 

NOTE

 

The new reporting and monitoring dashboard features are optional, but available at no cost to existing customers with a current support contract. To get access to the new reporting features please request them via the support portal and they will be added to your license.

Security

Reference, if Applicable

Description

 

All CVE's (see https://www.cve.org/) relevant to NE-ONE's operating system, layered packages e.g. python, openssl etc have been applied, up to and including those created on 5th December 2024

We are not noting them individually at this time.

New: Security Scans are now completed with Qualys at each main release and each security release

New Features

Reference, if Applicable

Description

NODPR-190

Major New Reports are now available.

There are bar charts showing:

Top Talkers – the IP addresses with the most data (both directions)

Top Initiators – the IP addresses initiating most data (both directions) – these are usually clients, or in the case of UDP traffic the IP address to send the first packet

Top Responders – (the opposite of an initiator) - the IP addresses responding to requests with most data (both directions) – usually servers, or in the case of UDP traffic the IP address to reply to the initiator

Top Protocols – the top protocols e.g. ICMP, TCP, UDP etc. (showing both directions of data)

Top Applications – based on the destination TCP/UDP port for an initiator (showing both directions of data)

Top Latencies – shows top the flows (conversations) with the highest latencies

 

The bar charts are stacked separately by sent and received data

It is possibly to drill down from one chart to the next by clicking on the bar or flows e.g. having located the Top Initiator drill down to find the Top applications for that Initiator IP. This works similarly for all the above.

These charts can be found in:

Reports & Graphs (menu) à choose Network à choose Run à click on ‘Top Talkers and more’

NODPR-190

Application Breakpoints

These are a form of trigger which generate alerts. You can create your own Breakpoints (triggers) for the following:

Response Time – The time it took the application to respond to a request. This (typically) applies to TCP based protocols

Average Bandwidth falls below a defined level. This (typically) applies to streaming protocols e.g. UDP

NODPR-190

Live Monitoring Dashboard

This dashboard shows current traffic levels for Top Initiators, Top Responders, Top Talkers, Top Protocols, Top Applications & Top Latencies – see Major New Reports above for definitions of these items

NODPR-259

Raid 1 in specified Rackmount systems (option)

Additional Hardware is added to specified rackmount systems to support ‘hardware raid 1” (mirroring).

Additional software is added to the GUI to monitor the state of the raid e.g. Healthy or Degraded and a separate management tool is added to allow manipulation of the RAID set e.g. replacing a failing drive

NODPR-342

Apply or remove a ‘patch file’ through the Web GUI

Patch files are not the same as regular updates (.itu files). They are essentially hot fixes, correcting just one issue.

They can now be applied via:

Management (menu) Platform Settings Software Update

NODPR-372

Generated packets can now exit the emulation environment and be sent to hardware ports.

The product now includes a configuration option that enables this.

The setting can be found in:

Management (menu) Platform Settings System Settings Allow generated packets to leave the emulator

NODPR-275

Generate Traffic from a Node
It is now possible to generate traffic from a Node (in addition to a soft port). This traffic generation function is now available as impairment under Packet Input category of the Node’s properties. (Select a Node from the diagram choose Properties from the sidebar click Advanced click Add New Property open the Packet Input Category

Improvements

Reference, if Applicable

Description

NODPR-315 & NODPR-205

New major operating system version and other software brings the platform fully up to date for operational and security purposes

NODPR-399

The speed of stopping a large network (emulation) has been

greatly improved

NODPR-321

Improved statistics collection and database concurrency to support new reporting and monitoring dashboard options

NODPR-400

Packet sizes larger than 2048 bytes for PCAP files are now supported

NODPR-335

Enhanced stability of the WebSocket client to ensure more reliable and consistent connection with the Web GUI.

NODPR-298

Added the option to add top-level ports directly from the Port Manager list view.

NODPR-243

The housekeeping frequency can now be set via: Management (menu) Platform Settings Housekeeping Run Frequency).

NODPR-346

You are now able to turn on reporting (data collection) before the network (emulation) is started, and this setting can be saved as part of the network file.

 

Miscellaneous minor improvements

Bug Fixes

Reference, if Applicable

Description

NODPR-282

The Scenario Builder could incorrectly generate the error message 'network Error - Object right: Cannot Open a connection to Input port (1) - likely it's already in use'. This has now been fixed.

NODPR-371

Applying the ‘Random Packet Move Offset’ impairment function with the ‘Bandwidth’ impairment function could cause the emulator to crash. This is now fixed

NODPR-373

The emulation engine could crash if stop was pressed right after start due to a race condition. This has now been fixed.

NODPR-243

Housekeeping was not working properly for non-admin users. This is now fixed.

NODPR-324

Connections could get stuck during the TLS handshake causing the Web GUI to become unresponsive. This appeared to be related to the TLS handshake being incomplete, due to a partial attempt to connect, perhaps by a scanner. This is now fixed.

NODPR-279

Running with a network variable that had a large number of instances for an extended period could occasionally cause the values to become fixed and not update. This is now fixed

NODPR-244

Sometimes the network (emulation) could take a long time to stop. This is now fixed.

NODPR-320

The Optimize Network feature was not working on example networks. This is now fixed.

NODPR-345

Setting system time significantly ahead caused the maintenance thread to use excessive resources. This is now fixed

NODPR-115

Starting multiple diagrams with traffic simultaneously for a certain amount of time could occasionally cause hardware ports to be disabled. This is now fixed.

NODPR-329

Networks started using examples files (/Library/examples) would show up as being in /Private/networks. This is now fixed.

NODPR-299

When creating a top-level port (a child of the system itself, not a child of another port), and then selecting the port type and name would cause an extra popup to appear requesting the port type again. This is now fixed.

NODPR-297

Using a formula on "Max Delay" could cause an error that prevented the network (emulation) from starting. This is now fixed.

NODPR-219

The Port Config dropdown menu could disappear after a port was deleted. This is now fixed.

NODPR-108

The use of the Fragment MTU impairment could crash the emulation engine. This is now fixed.

-

Miscellaneous minor fixes

Notes

NODPR-385

The Application Report is available only after the Network (Emulation) has stopped. This is to prevent concurrency issues on the database seen in previous versions. A new popup prevents this: The application report can only be generated once the network is stopped.

NODPR-336

External Routing has been disabled, as part of a DPDK upgrade. Please enquire if you’d like to discuss the roadmap for this feature.

NODPR-126

Setting the link speed to a very low value now generates a warning popup: 'Very low Link Speed set on link'.

NODPR-404

At this time, for performance reasons the Monitoring Dashboard does not resolve host names, and so the systems appear on that dashboard as IP addresses. You can see host names by clicking through into Reports

Known Issues

Reference, if Applicable

Description

NODPR-296

When creating ports or loading a port config in the port manager, it will sometimes create an extra line connecting the new port with a different port. This is an visual artifact and can be removed by refreshing the browser.

NODPR-88

Impairments involving packet duplication should be put at the bottom of the list of functions when in advanced mode. This prevents the duplicated packet being duplicated itself.

NE1-362

Some customers have observed that the upgrade appears to time out with a session timeout message and then offer to refresh or login again from scratch at the end, rather than issue an upgrade completed successfully popup. If this occurs to you, do not be concerned, the upgrade has completed successfully. Just refresh your browser (with the browser refresh button) and you'll be able to login without issue.

Workaround

For the smoothest upgrade experience stop all running networks - you can right mouse click on them in the active network list (on the home page) and stop them from there. Then refresh the browser (using the browser's refresh button).

Now you can upgrade using the standard method. Use the Web GUI to go to: Management [menu]→ Platform Settings→ Software Update and then upload the appropriate update file (.itu file). It will take several minutes to complete. There should now be no timeout.

NE1-333

The Application Performance Report, which is reached when 'drilling down' in the Applications report, does not currently support downloading. This will be added in a future version

NE1-334

If a lot of data has been collected it can take a while to produce the reports. However, there is currently no visual indication of the need to wait. This will be added in a future version

NE1-330

In the 'hardware traffic generation' soft port, if you set up a generating stream without choosing the Stream Type (which visually shows UDP) it errors on Save with 'Could not create port: gen1, Stream: 1- Stream Type must be TCP or UDP'

Workaround: Change the Stream Type to TCP then back to UDP

NE1-310

Clicking on an NE-ONE v5 scenario which has already been converted will not convert it again, unless the converted file is first deleted. No message is output.

NE1-281

Launching an 'old' point-to-point network using the new Play feature from the File Browser may generate a 'network Error - Object right: Cannot Open a connection to Input port (1) - likely it's already in use'. This is because these older emulations were not 'relocatable', except by the Point-to-Point designer. To solve the issue, load the network into the point-to-point designer and (re)save it - this updates it to be relocatable - then Play from the file browser will work.

NE1-277

There are some artifacting issues in the port manager (though a number have also been fixed). A browser refresh to redraw the screen will normally remove them

NE1-278

On the Azure and AWS platforms, logging on at the console goes directly to the command prompt - this is due to the platform constructing the default username in these cases

NE1-279

On Azure and AWS, the platforms directly take control of the console usernames and Management Port addressing. At this time therefore the console menu does not appear on console login and GUI setting of the management port addresses is not functioning

NE1-222

On Desktop systems Generation 4 and 4A - the LCD will start even without the system being powered on leading to the false impression that the system was not starting. Please 'short' press the power button if it does not appear to be coming on

NE1-100

Due to the large variety of network (emulation) designs customers have reported that certain legacy Emulations or files from both INE v8/V9 and NE-ONE v5.0 have not automatically converted to NE-ONE v2022 format - if this happens please email them to support so that we improve the converter. (Many improvements were already made in this version). Where appropriate we will send back a correctly converted file

NE1-99

The context sensitive entry into the User manual from screens relies on PDF destination markers, however not all browsers support this feature. Chrome, Edge (Recent, non legacy) & Firefox support this feature. Safari does not support this feature

NE1-98

There is an issue with removing a function in advanced settings mode and then clicking the Update All button. The function is not removed, and its impairments persist. A workaround for this is to set the function's impairment parameters so that it will not impair

Previous Release v2024.05.1723.3 - 02 September 2024

This release is a security release with security and bug-fix updates to the Operating system Kernel, its services and modules and layered packages

Security

Reference, if Applicable

Description

 

All CVE's (see https://www.cve.org/) relevant to NE-ONE's operating system, layered packages e.g. python, openssl etc have been applied, are per the previous security release v2024.04.1723.2 and are therefore updated as of that version's build date - see below.

Previous Release v2024.05.1723.2 - 11 July 2024

This release is a security release with security and bug-fix updates to the Operating system Kernel, its services and modules and layered packages

Security

Reference, if Applicable

Description

 

All CVE's (see https://www.cve.org/) relevant to NE-ONE's operating system, layered packages e.g. python, openssl etc have been applied, are per the previous security release v2024.04.1723.1 and are therefore updated as of that version's build date - see below.

Previous Release v2024.05.1723.1 - 24 May 2024

This is an update version made specifically to address a number of issues and makes minor improvements to the brand new 'Network Variables', t.ms and formulas feature introduced in v2024.04.1723. There are also a few small improvements and fixes in other areas. There are no New Features, but there are some minor improvements.

Security

Reference, if Applicable

Description

 

All CVE's (see https://www.cve.org/) relevant to NE-ONE's operating system, layered packages e.g. python, openssl etc have been applied, are per the base release v2024.04.1723 and are therefore updated as of that version's build date - see below.

 

Improvements

Reference, if Applicable

Description

NODPR-217

Starlink has now been separated into separate profiles, for: Starlink - Priority (Fixed), Starlink - Standard (Fixed), Starlink - Mobile Priority, Starlink - Mobile.

NODPR-241

You can now enable/disable the logging of variables in the ippe.log file Management (menu) -> Platform settings -> System preferences -> 'Enable logging for formulas and network variables'

-

Miscellaneous minor improvements

 

Bug Fixes

Reference, if Applicable

Description

NODPR-195

Using the GUI – Split feature, then changing the right hand side to have different values (asymmetric) then unsplit did not properly return both directions to the same values. This is fixed.

NODPR-118

The City-City feature did not work correctly when updating a running emulation. This is now fixed.

NODPR-217

The parameters for the predefined setting Satellite -> Starlink -> Good were (incorrectly) not asymmetric.

This is now fixed. [See also the Starlink settings improvements above]

NODPR-240

After importing a CSV file in the Network Variable feature, then changing the Unit to 's' (seconds) and and the Loop to Hold, it does not keep the change. This is now fixed.

NODPR-218

It was not possible to use a (discrete) Network Variable which was increasing in the Minimum Latency (ms) and Maximum Latency (ms) fields. This was because the minimum was updated fractionally before the maximum causing minimum > maximum which is not allowed. This is now fixed.
[They are now updated simultaneously. This has also improved Network Variable performance slightly]

NODPR-226

There was an issue with concurrency in Javascript Custom Code which could cause the Javascript Engine to Crash. This is now fixed.

NODPR-228