Ixia Software Release Notes
IxOS 10.00
Build Number: 10.00.1000.4(Dec 2023)


About This Release

IxOS 10.00 is an alignment release.
All IxOS features and bug-fixes introduced in interim releases since the IxOS 9.30,9.30 Patches and the other 9.3x release have been consolidated into IxOS 10.00.
This release is an ongoing effort to support existing L23 customer base and maintain our market leadership.
Please refer to the 'What is New' section for a complete list of all the new features.

Application Compatibility

 The following application releases support IxOS 10.00:
Application IxOS 10.00
BPS 10.00
HLTAPI 10.00
IxANVL 9.37
IxLoad 10.00
IxNetwork 10.00
IxVM 10.00
Licensing 5.70
Metronome 2.3
Wireshark 3.2.6
In addition, current interoperability and compatibility coverage for IxOS 
10.00 can also be retrieved using the on-line compatibility tool.


Licensing

Ixia Licensing

Any chassis which runs IxServer must have an IxOS license installed on it. 
IxOS 10.00 ships with Ixia Licensing 5.70, which is installed automatically along with IxOS Installation.

Some of the key benefits of this new licensing system are:
  - Supports Keysight's new KSM Licensing structure ( refer to Licensing Software Upgrade Required Customer Notice )

Installing a License

Ixia Licensing 5.70 upgrades Ixia Licensing 5.60 and prior versions. 
Once upgraded, Ixia Licensing cannot be downgraded to previous versions. 

If upgrading from the Ixia Registration Utility (IRU) used in IxOS 8.00 and earlier releases, note that 
automatic license migration is no longer possible. Please contact Support to assist you with the upgrade and with license retrieval.

For more information about the IxLicensing system, please refer to the "Ixia Licensing Management User Guide" 
provided with the Ixia software, or downloadable from the Ixia web site.


Installation Notes

Installation on XGS2-SD and XGS12-SD chassis

Starting from IxOS 8.40 EA, the XGS2-SD and XGS12-SD chassis can optionally be converted to run Native IxOS, 
for improved stability and performance. The conversion removes the Microsoft Windows Operating System, and 
replaces it with IxOS running natively on the chassis. Once complete the chassis are effectively converted to 
XGS2-SDL and XGS12-SDL. For more information, including the conversion process procedure, please read 
the Converting XGS2-SD and XGS12-SD Chassis to Native IxOS.pdf document available on IxOS Downloads And Update page.

Starting from IxOS 9.00, XGS2-SD and XGS12-SD chassis can optionally be converted to run Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 
which allows the installation of the latest security and stability updates from Microsoft. For more information,
including the conversion process, please read the Windows 10 Upgrade Guide and  the Windows 10 Datasheet.  
Requires the purchase of IXIA IXOS AND WINDOWS 10 FIELD UPGRADE 943-0014.

Installation on PSOne, XGS2-HS and XGS12-HS chassis

Starting from IxOS 9.00, IxOS installation is no longer supported on the PSOne, XGS2-HS and XGS12-HS chassis with 
Windows OS. To install IxOS and compatible Ixia Applications on these platforms, the management operating system must
first be converted to Native IxOS 10.00. The conversion procedure is described in Converting_XGS_and_PSOne_to_Native_IxOS.pdf,
which can be downloaded from IxOS 10.00 Downloads And Update page.

NOTE:
     -For security reasons, we recommend changing the default passwords for chassis.

Installation Requirements On Windows

IxOS 10.00 installation requires 13 GB of free space on chassis' system drive and 5.5 GB of free space on client's system drive.
IxExplorer 10.00 installation requires 2.5 GB of free space on client's system drive.



NOTE:
   - IxOS installer automatically installs a Microsoft Hotfix 2921916 (if not already installed) for an issue due to which 
     "Untrusted publisher" dialog would appear when installing IxOS on Windows 7.

Operating System Support

Windows Client PC: 
- Windows 2019 Server Standard 64-bit
  - Windows 11 Enterprise Edition 64-bit
- Windows 10 64-bit (Build 21H2)


   The following versions of Windows operating systems are no longer supported on the client: - Windows 7 - starting with IxOS 9.30 - Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3 - starting with IxOS 8.30 EA UNIX Client PC: - Fedora Core 14.0 and above - RedHat Enterprise 5.0 and above - Centos 6.0 and above - Ubuntu 16.0 and above Other versions of UNIX platforms may operate properly, but are not officially supported. VMware - Server 1.0.2 - Server 2.0 Windows Chassis - Windows 10 Pro Version 22H2 - Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit NOTE: IxOS is no longer supported on a Windows XP Professional Chassis, starting with IxOS 9.00. Languages supported are English, Chinese (traditional and simplified), French, German Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish.

Supported Chassis

This release supports the following chassis:
 - XGS12-SD Windows 10 and Windows 7
 - XGS2-SD Windows 10 and Windows 7
 - XGS12-SDL
 - XGS2-SDL
 - XGS12-HSL
 - XGS2-HSL
 - AresOne
 - AresONE-S
 - AresONE-800G
 - Novus ONE PLUS 
 - Novus ONE
-  PerfectStorm One

Installation Features

The IxOS installation program offers the user a selection of four installation 
options: Client, Server, Demo Server and Tcl Server. The 
Server option is normally chosen for installation on Ixia chassis. The Demo 
Server option should NOT be chosen for chassis installations: it is used for 
client installations.

IxServer on Windows Chassis

In IxOS 9.00 High Performance Mode was introduced to the Windows chassis as an option, with the alternative to revert to Legacy Mode to support a wider range of load modules.
Besides significantly improving performance in multi-user test beds, High Performance Mode also enables chassis STAR or Metronome synchronization capability between Native IxOS and Windows Chassis.
With 9.10, only High Performance Mode exists, and it has been enhanced to support the wider range of load modules.  The Native IxOS chassis has always supported High Performance mode. 

Startup Configuration Options

There are three options offered for configuring IxOS server startup:

1. Service: A Windows Service for IxServer (or TCL Server) will be created which can be started/stopped
    from Windows Service Control Manager. Desktop Shortcuts and IxServer User Interface are not available.
    Any configuration of IxServer or TCL Server requires user to stop the service, manually invoke server
    from Start Menu shortcuts, close the server and restart service.
2. Startup: IxServer starts when user logs on to the chassis or when it is rebooted.
3. Manual: IxServer or TCL Server can only be started or stopped manually from
    Desktop or Start Menu shortcuts.
 
    NOTE:
       - Telnet connectivity is unavailable when TCL Server is configured to run as a service.
       - Demo Server is configured to operate manually even if service option is selected.

Tcl Version Option

IxOS 10.00 is shipping with Tcl 8.5 and 8.6. Both of them will be installed and the option
of using either of the version can be set for usage as follows:
1. On Windows Chassis, open TCL Server and select appropriate TCL version from options.
2. On Windows Client, select appropriate TCL version from Desktop or Start Menu shortcut.
3. On Native IxOS Chassis, login to IxOS CLI using SSH and execute:    set tcl active-version 8.x
4. On Unix Client, execute a script inside installed directory:    ./bin/set_tcl_active_version.sh 8.x

Chassis Management Console

 
Chassis Management Console (CMC) is a web application that provides access to Ixia Native IxOS Chassis and its components 
(i.e. load modules and ports) and enables users to control and monitor the chassis by means of any client computer connected to it. 
CMC is supported on following browsers:
Application Version
Google Chrome 75 or newer
Mozilla Firefox 67 or newer
Microsoft Edge 38 or newer
Apple Safari 12.1.1 or newer

UNIX Client Installation Notes

Using .bin Installer:

This installs packages for IxOS TCL API and Ixia TCL Interpreter. If you are updating an existing 
installation, be sure to run the installer as the same user who initially installed the software. Always 
run the uninstaller prior to removing any files manually. If installing as the root user and install 
location is a network-mounted file system, ensure the root user has write permission to the file system.

To proceed with installation, perform following steps (Note: the binary file name 'IxOS10.00.XXX.XXXLinux.bin' 
is used in the example below. In most cases, the file name will be different):

1. Copy the IxOS10.00.XXX.XXXLinux.bin file to the system.
2. Make the binary executable if it is not already:    chmod +x ./IxOS10.00.XXX.XXXLinux.bin
    Also, make sure target installation directory has full permissions granted.
3. Execute the IxOS installer file:    ./IxOS10.00.XXX.XXXLinux.bin
4. When the installer prompts, select appropriate Tcl version (e.g. 8.5 or 8.6)
5. Follow the installation prompts to complete the installation.

If the installation fails, check that there is enough disk space on the system  by using the command: df -ak
There must be enough space in the /tmp folder (to extract the files), and in the target folder (where files are 
to be installed). If the /tmp dir does not have enough space, specify the dir by setting IATEMPDIR environment 
with path to the folder where you have enough free space. The following example show the use of the options:

export IATEMPDIR=/tempdir
./IxOS10.00.XXX.XXXLinux.bin

Using .tar.gz:

This installs packages for IxOS TCL API only. To install, perform the following steps:

1. Create a destination folder and extract contents of .tar.gz file into it. e.g. /export/home/ixos10.00
2. After extraction, set the following variables (please replace sample path with original path):
        IXIA_HOME=/export/home/ixos10.00
        IXIA_VERSION=10.00.XXX.XXX
        TCLLIBPATH=/export/home/ixos10.00/lib
3. Optionally, specify the following environment variables to specify the location of logs, samples and results files for IxOS:
	IXIA_LOGS_DIR=$IXIA_HOME/logs
	IXIA_RESULTS_DIR=$IXIA_HOME/results
	IXIA_SAMPLES=$IXIA_HOME/samples
	IXIA_TCL_DIR=$IXIA_HOME/lib
4. If the Tcl option was installed with an IxOS installation, add Ixia's bin 
    and lib directory to the PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable in order to use it. 
    For example:
        IxiaLibPath=$IXIA_HOME/lib
        IxiaBinPath=$IXIA_HOME/bin
        PATH=$IxiaBinPath:$PATH
        LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$IxiaLibPath:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Multiple IxOS versions

Multiple IxOS versions can co-exist on an Ixia Chassis or client. Installing another IxOS version does not affect the existing versions.
On Windows Chassis, to set active IxOS version, users are required to close any running instance of
IxServer or TCL Server and start the intended IxServer version from Start Menu or Desktop Shortcuts.
On Native IxOS Chassis, users can login to IxOS CLI via SSH and set active IxOS version using
the command: set ixos active-version 10.x.x.x

NOTE: Any card, port, stream, etc., files generated by IxOS are forward compatible but not backward compatible. 

Tcl/Tk Support for Client Applications

Tcl Server was first supplied free of charge starting with IxOS 3.80 EA. 
Installation of this feature is optional; it should only be installed if 
required for specific application.
 
Installation and operation of the Tcl Server is required for IxChariot when 
running hardware performance pairs, for IxANVL when running VNIC (Virtual 
Network Interface Card) and for IxAuthenticate. The Tcl Server can be installed 
on either the Ixia chassis or a separate Windows workstation. 

The following limitations exist with respect to Wish and Tcl shell support:

   Tcl shell does not run on any version of Windows with Ixia software. Under
   Linux or Solaris, the Tcl shell runs on any version of Tcl greater than or 
   equal to 8.3.

How to Report Problems

Ixia Headquarters
+1 877 367 4942 - Toll-free North America
+1 818 871 1800 - Outside North America
+1.818.871.1805 - Fax
www.ixiacom.com/contact/info
Support
Global Support +1 818 595 2599

support@ixiacom.com

APAC Support +91 80 4939 6410

support@ixiacom.com

Australia +61-742434942

support@ixiacom.com

EMEA Support +40 21 301 5699

support-emea@ixiacom.com

Greater China Region

+400 898 0598

support-china@ixiacom.com

Hong Kong +852-30084465

support@ixiacom.com

India Office +91 80 4939 6410

support-india@ixiacom.com

Japan Head Office +81 3 5326 1980

support-japan@ixiacom.com

Korea Office +82 2 3461 0095

support-korea@ixiacom.com

Singapore Office +65-6215-7700

support@ixiacom.com

Taiwan (local toll-free number) 00801856991

support@ixiacom.com


Additional Documentation

Please refer to our website at https://support.ixiacom.com/ixos-1000.

You will be required to provide a login and password to enter this section of 
the web site. If you do not have the username and password, please forward your 
request to support@ixiacom.com.

Field Notices

Laser Warnings

The 10G load modules may use a Class III laser. Precautions should be 
taken to prevent personal injury. The spring-loaded safety cover should always be 
securely in place over the port when there is no cable installed. Avoid exposure
and never look directly into an open port aperture.

Inserting / Removing Load Modules

Modules in the XGS12-SD, XGS12-HSL, XGS12-SDL, XGS2-SD, XGS2-HSL, XGS2-SDL can be inserted/removed while the chassis is still operational.  

For all chassis types, use caution when inserting or removing multi-slot modules 
to evenly insert and remove. Load modules are tightly spaced; avoid contacting 
the adjoining modules while inserting and removing.

Safety Notice Regarding Ixia Load Modules

WARNING: In order to prevent accidental injury to personnel, do not leave transceiver 
(SFP/SFP+/QSFP/QSFP28/CXP/CFP4) cages uncovered on Ixia load modules. When transceivers 
are not installed, port end caps (Part No. 503-006) must be used. The metal edge of 
the transceiver cage is SHARP. To avoid injury, ALWAYS keep the transceiver cage covered.
   
Contact Ixia Technical Support to obtain end caps. Please reference Ixia Product
safety notice Part No. 913-0715 Rev A, June 2009. For additional information
refer to Chapter two of the IXOS Getting Started Guide under the section, 
Notes, Cautions and Warnings.

Use Ejector Tabs Properly

Ejector tabs on load modules are to be used only to eject a load module from
the chassis backplane connector. They are not designed to support the weight
of the load module. Ejector tabs can bend or break if used improperly as handles
to push, pull, or carry a load module.

What's New in IxOS

 

 
Infrastructure
 
Notes
End User License Agreement (EULA) is added in the About dialogue box of IxOS components.
Web Platform Jetty Server on Ixia Native IxOS Chassis is upgraded to 9.4
 
CLI
 
Notes
New options are added in CLI to maintain .ixs portability across releases.
 
VM
 
Notes
Support for Microsoft Hyper-V has been added. The vChassis / vCard / vAppliance are available in VHD format and connect via vSwitch (no support for SR-IOV / DPDK).
Support for more reliable Host ID generation algorithm for the License Server embedded inside the vChassis / vAppliance. This helps prevent various licensing issues.
 
AresONE
 
Notes
Tcl Api support is added to check whether Load Module supports Fully Qualified Port Name.
 
AresONE 400GE and 800GE
 
Notes
[AresONE-S 400GE and AresONE 800GE-M] Support for Applications Selection Code (AppSel) has been added to the CMIS support on the AresONE 800GE-QDD-M and AresONE-S 400GE fixed chassis. This allows the user to select an AppSel code manually, or to use the automatic detection and configuration match selections of the AppSel codes for the transceivers’ capabilities using the IxExplorer GUI and TCL APIs.
 

 


Known Issues List

 

 
Infrastructure
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-11034 IxOS-Client installation requires the chassis to have internet connectivity.

 
AresONE 800GE-QSFP-DD800-M
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-11411 User may experience link status flipping during the link initialization stage. After the first-time software reports link is up, the link may go down and up in a short period of time. This causes some receive stats to be incorrect. User may introduce a 10s delay after first link comes up to work around this issue.
 
VM
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-12239 Configuring the source/destination MAC addresses as only 0's will cause traffic to have 100% loss.
IXOS-12251 Double VLAN Tagging is not supported on Hyper-V if both the tags have the Tag Protocol ID set to 0x8100. In order for Double VLAN Tagging to be working, one must set one of the Tag Protocol ID to another value (e.g.: 0x9100).
IXOS-12272 Setting the system account password from bash using cloud-init and then connecting to the VM using the RestAPI or the WebUI will reset the password to the initial value. In order to change the password for the system account and use the WebUI/RestAPI one has to use the IxOS CLI.
IXOS-12276 Running traffic at 100% line rate might cause the AWS VM with SR-IOV to become unreachable. In order for this not to happen, one must use a lower line rate.
IXOS-12277 HYPER-V VMs might intermittently remain stuck at boot time due to an older version of the storage driver (hv_storvsc). Another reboot will solve the problem.
IXOS-12334 Windows Client cannot act as License Server in Azure because ILU Host ID is not generated as the VM is not providing an Ethernet interface to use.

 

 


 

Resolved Defects List

 

 
Miscellaneous
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-9812 Support for TCP flags ECN-Echo and CWR is not present in IxExplorer.
IXOS-10767 TLS protocol 1.2 version related vulnerabilities seen on the chassis.
 
Infrastructure
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-10173 Management pages cannot be added to CMIS 4/CMIS 5 transceivers.
IXOS-10617 IxServer fails to boot up in secondary chassis when XGS2 chassis is connected as secondary on a 3 XGS2 chassis chain setup.
IXOS-10745 In rare occurrences a license server’s host ID may be incorrectly programmed leading to duplicates across the install-base and resultant licensing errors.
IXOS-11432 IxOS CLI command "reset management-interface" is not working correctly.
IXOS-11932 Memory utilization displayed on chassis GUI shows different than the utilization shown through CLI with tacuser login
 
K400
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-10255 TCP Checksums errors are seen on sending frame size > 9216 Bytes.
 
NOVUS10GDP 5-Speed
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-10285 Sync and Followup messages are transmitted late for VLAN tagged PTP traffic and 1518bytes frame size.
IXOS-10519 Fragmentation was observed while sending the traffic when Load Module is in 1G only mode.
IXOS-10881 On some occasions, chassis stops accepting connections while running long duration automated regression tests.
IXOS-11251 The sent packet payload does not match the configured packet payload for some specific configurations.
 
AresONE S400GD
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-10768 IxExplorer crashes when clicking on BERT lane stats in NRZ BERT mode.
IXOS-11079 Packet ratio is not maintained when configuring IMIX distribution with fixed packet duration
IXOS-11268 Card crashes when clock PPM values are adjusted.
IXOS-12244 Autonegotiation Help does not include information about "Presets"
 
NOVUS10GDP 3-Speed
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-11012 Traffic does not start if the first stream is disabled, in advanced scheduler mode
IXOS-11436 Captured payload incorrect at the configured table UDF offset
IXOS-12289 Simulate cable disconnect is not working for 100M speed.
 
AresONE
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-11254 Card gets removed on configuring fixed burst mode in stream and retrieving per stream statistics using streamTransmitStats Tcl API.
IXOS-12374 The value of protocol column in capture view is 0x0000 for all the entries when data pattern type is set to random for 200G and 400G speed.
 
VM
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-11601 During topology configuration of the Virtual Chassis, by attaching Virtual Load Modules, the interface names of the Virtual Cards were showing up blank instead of correct values such as "eth1", "eth2" etc.
IXOS-12335 Virtual Ports crash when switching between Legacy Traffic Engine and DPDK Traffic Engine.
IXOS-12336 Error in Virtual Test Appliance CLI when trying to configure DNS servers in an Azure environment.
IXOS-12337 Running scripts in IxOS TCL API that are calling ipAddressTableItem is now possible on IxVM ports.
IXOS-12339 Backplane interface eth1 of the Virtual Chassis will not come up because of an incompatibility between older drivers and newer drivers from the host by upgrading the Mellanox driver on the Virtual Chassis.
IXOS-12341 IxVM Virtual Chassis deployed on vmware ESXi 6.7 was not accesible because of a blank login screen.
IXOS-12361 Configuring link-local as gateway in the Virtual Test Appliance CLI is not applying correct routes.
IXOS-12362 Adding an IPv6 route on the Virtual Test Appliance CLI does not allow a /0 subnet mask.
IXOS-12363 Running "show management-interface state" on the Virtual Test Appliance is not showing the correct IPv4 and IPv6 interface configuration state.
 
NOVUS100GE8Q28
 
Bug Number Notes
IXOS-12175 Unable to upgrade the 4-port card to 8-port with valid activation code.