Ixia Software Release Notes
IxNetwork 9.01
Build Number: 9.01.1911.7 (Jan 31, 2020)
IxNetwork 9.01 is a point release for MACsec.
We are pleased to announce the introduction of MACsec test capability. This is a phase 1 Static MACsec solution based on IEEE Std. 802.1AE-2018.
For a complete list of all the new features included in this release, please refer to the 'What Is New' section below.
Application Compatibility
NOTE: When you are using one or more of the applications below on a single
chassis configuration, please use the correct application versions so they align
to a common version of IxOS.
| Application |
IxOS 9.01 |
| BPS |
Not Supported |
| HLTAPI |
9.01 |
| IxANVL |
Not Supported |
| IxChariot |
Not Supported |
| IxLoad |
Not Supported |
| IxNetwork |
9.01 |
| IxVM |
Not Supported |
| Licensing |
5.20 |
| Metronome |
2.1.1 |
| Wireshark |
1.8.31911 |
Starting from 7.51-EA release IxNetwork-FT and IxRouter (IxTclProtocol) APIs are declared
as End of Development. So user should not use IxNetwork-FT GUI or IxOS TCL client to view
or configure Routing Switching protocols. Users also should not try similar use cases using
other Ixia tools e.g. IxOS HLT, IxAutomate which underneath uses IxRouter (IxTclProtocol)
APIs. From any such client application if an user tries these unsupported use cases, it
might also make the corresponding Chassis/IxServer unstable and hence other users who are
connected to same chassis may also be impacted.
For the latest compatibility information to include releases occurring after this
date, please refer to the online Product Compatibility Matrix at the link below.
An Ixia website account is required before accessing.
http://www.ixiacom.com/support-overview/product-support/product-compatibility-matrix
IxNetwork Load Module Support
The load modules support by IxNetwork 9.01 application is same as IxNetwork 9.00 for all existing features.
Static MACsec is supported on following load modules and fixed chassis. It is supported on full feature card only, not on reduced card.
a. NOVUS QSPF28 100/50/40/25/10GE
b. NOVUS 10GE/1GE/100M
c. NOVUS 10GE/5GE/2.5GE/1GE/100M
d. NOVUS ONE PLUS 10GE/5GE/2.5GE/1GE/100M
e. AresONE-400G QSFP-DD 400/200/100/50GE
f. AresONE-400G OSFP 400/200/100/50GE
Please contact Ixia for details.
Starting with version 8.10EA, users of IxNetwork applications are required to authenticate when starting the applications' user interfaces, using an e-mail based authentication mechanism.
A login window is presented when a user starts IxNetwork and the user will need to enter the registered e-mail address and the associated password.
First time users need to create a new account, which can be done online at login.ixiacom.com;
this link is available on the login window. A new account can be used only after the user verifies the e-mail address by opening the link in the verification e-mail received from "Ixia Identity".
If the client machine running IxNetwork is offline, a token is required to sign in; the token is a binary file, that can be obtained by signing in at
login.ixiacom.com from a computer with Internet access and downloading the Offline Authentication Token.
Note: When signing in, or managing the account in a web browser, always confirm that you are doing so over a secure connection. Ixia does not ask for user name, password or other personal information via email.
Privacy Matters:
To improve the experience for customers and the quality of Ixia's products, data may be collected and stored by Ixia.
This typically includes data about the product usage and environment (such as operating system, browser, language), and personal data such as user name, email and IP addresses.
Only Ixia's IT, project managers and marketing worldwide will have access to this data.
When you first sign in to either application, you will be asked to consent to such data collection and use, and to the data transfer to Ixia in the United States.
You may withdraw your consent at any time and for any reason. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information and opt-out possibility (available at https://www.ixiacom.com/privacy-policy)
IxNetwork requires that a license for its use be installed for each chassis used by IxNetwork. That license may be installed on each chassis or on a server on your network, referred to as the central license server.
For more information about the new IxLicensing system, please refer to the "Ixia Licensing Management User Guide" provided with the Ixia software, or downloadable from the Ixia web site: http://www.ixiacom.com/support-services/product-support/user-guides
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.
Prerequisites
As part of the IxNetwork installation, the installer installs Microsoft SQL Express
and Microsoft .Net Framework on a client machine and Microsoft .Net Framework on a
chassis.
Windows client and chassis should have all the windows updates installed.
If you experience any issue related to the installation of these prerequisites,
please uninstall any existing versions, reboot, and reattempt installation.
IxNetwork Installation
IxNetwork has two components:
The 'chassis' component needs to be installed on the Ixia windows chassis being used or when using a native IxOS chassis it is included in the IxOS install package.
It is required to install IxOS before installing the IxNetwork 'chassis' component.
The 'client' component needs to be installed on the user-provided Windows workstation where the IxNetwork GUI will be run.
The Web Edition 'client' component can be deployed on VMware ESXi, KVM, Docker or directly on a Native IxOS chassis.
IxNetwork Download from Ixia Website
IxNetwork software is available either on a DVD-ROM or as a download from the
Ixia website.
1. Download IxNetwork software from the Ixia website to an Ixia chassis or
client PC. Double-click on the file from within Windows Explorer.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions provided by the installer.
NOTE: If you are upgrading from a DVD-ROM, the installer will be launched
automatically. The files on the DVD-ROM will be the same files as the ones
unzipped by the above process.
Chassis Installation Requirements
When installing IxNetwork 9.00 + on a chassis, a minimum of 4GB of installed
RAM and 30GB of free disk space is required.
If your chassis does not meet these requirements, please contact Customer Support
at support@ixiacom.com or 1-877-FOR-IXIA about appropriate upgrades.
NOTE: When installing from the DVD, some virus scanning configurations present
a malicious code alert during the execution of the Windows autorun feature. If
this occurs, right-click the DVD-ROM drive icon in Explorer and 'Explore'
the DVD. At the root of the DVD, double-click on the index.htm file.
NOTE: IxNetwork installs the Ixia Stat Engine component. This component is
shared by other Ixia applications. It can be manually uninstalled from the target machine by using the Windows Add/Remove Programs applet.
Operating System Support
The following operating systems are supported on the chassis
- Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit (only for Ixia Virtual Chassis)
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
- CentOS 7 64-bit (only for Ixia Linux Chassis)
For other foreign language support, please change the default to US English.
Note: Regardless of configured OS language, the keyboard must be configured
for US English.
Chassis Installation Notes
1. Install the required IxOS version.
2. Install IxNetwork, and the IxNetwork installer will automatically install the
chassis component. The client component of IxNetwork cannot be installed on
the Ixia Windows chassis.
3. If the required IxOS was already installed and running, restart IxServer.
Client Installation Requirements
IxNetwork 9.00+ requires the user workstation to have the following minimum
system requirements. It is recommended to use the 'next higher' requirement for
improved performance.
IxNetwork application is qualified for running up to 7 days. It is recommended
to restart the application after 7 days for consistent operation.
System Requirements
| Ixia Configuration |
Per User System Requirements |
| Ports |
Flow Groups |
Flows |
CPU (# or cores) |
Memory (GB) |
HDD (GB) |
Operating System |
| Install |
Temporary |
Running |
| 4 |
4 |
500 |
1 |
2 |
14GB |
3GB |
10GB |
64 bit |
| 8 |
8 |
4,000 |
2 |
2 |
14GB |
3GB |
20GB |
64 bit |
| 16 |
16 |
8,000 |
2 |
3 |
14GB |
3GB |
20GB |
64 bit |
| 32 |
32 |
16,000 |
2 |
4 |
14GB |
3GB |
20GB |
64 bit |
| 64 |
64 |
32,000 |
4 |
6 |
14GB |
3GB |
20GB |
64 bit |
| 128 |
16,000 |
4,000,000 |
4 |
8 |
14GB |
3GB |
30GB |
64 bit |
| 1200 |
16,000 |
4,000,000 |
12 |
24 |
14GB |
3GB |
40GB |
64 bit |
| Platform |
Qualified no. of users |
| On chassis * |
| Ares One |
2 |
| Novus One Plus |
2 |
| XGS-SDL |
4 |
| XGS-HSL |
8 |
| Virtual Chassis ** |
1 |
| Off Chassis |
| Windows App Server |
15 |
| ESXi 6.0+/KVM V/Docker |
15 |
* on chassis assumes only that same chassis is used in test.
** the VM resources must be increased with the per user specs
Data storage must present local storage instead of NFS
~ 25 IOPS per user are needed at minimum (HDD max 4 users , SSD up to 15 users, 15+ NVME drive)
A compatible Graphics Card must be present on the server
Multi user support is directly dependent on the available hardware resources.
The system must meet the required operating system requirements + per user requirements * no. of users.
EX: If we want to run 4 lite users on a Windows 2019 server: Windows needs minimum 2 GB RAM + 4 users * 2 GB/user = 10 GB RAM is needed at a minimum.
Operating System Support
The following versions of Windows operating systems are supported on the client:
- Windows 2019 Server Standard 64-bit
- Windows 2016 Server Standard 64-bit
- Windows 2012 Server R2 Standard 64-bit (*)
- Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise 64-bit
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise 32-bit and 64-bit (*)
- Windows 7 SP1 Enterprise 32-bit and 64-bit
- Windows 7 SP1 Professional 32-bit and 64-bit
- Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate 32-bit and 64-bit
(*) The following foreign languages are supported only on Windows 8.1 Enterprise and Windows 2012 Server R2 SP1 Standard:
- Chinese (traditional and simplified)
- Japanese
For other foreign language support, please change the default to US English.
Note: Regardless of configured OS language, the keyboard must be configured
for US English.
IxNetwork Low Level API library is supported on the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows(OS as stated above) - Tcl 8.5 and 8.6, Perl 5.18, Python 2.7 and 3.6, Ruby 1.9.3
- CentOS 7 on x64 platform - Tcl 8.5 and 8.6, Perl 5.18, Python 2.7 and 3.6, Ruby 1.9.3
IxNetwork Low Level API library has been tried but is not officially supported, on the
following operating systems/language version combination:
- CentOS 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 on x64 platform - Tcl 8.5, Perl 5.18, Python 2.7, Ruby 1.9.3
- Arch Linux on x64 platform - Tcl 8.6, Perl 5.26, Python 3.7
- Free BSD 10.1 on x64 platform - Tcl 8.6, Perl 5.18, Python 2.7
- OS X Yosemite on x64 platform - Tcl 8.6, Perl 5.18, Python 2.7
- Windows 8.1/2012 - Ruby 1.8.7, Ruby 2.2.2
IxNetwork High Level API library is supported on the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows(OS as stated above) - Tcl 8.5 and 8.6, Perl 5.24 and Python 2.7 and 3.6
- CentOS 7 on x64 platform - Tcl 8.5 and 8.6 , Perl 5.24 and Python 2.7 and 3.6
Display Requirements
Recommended screen resolution: 1920 x 1080
If a display device with high resolution is used, it is recommended to change the text size to
100% from the display settings of the operating system for best usability experience.
For Microsoft Windows 10 operating system: It is recommended to update at least to Windows 10 April 2018 Update
release for best usability experience.
Please refer to the IxNetwork documentation for guidance on its usage.
|
Ixia Headquarters
|
|
Support
|
Please refer to our website at http://support.ixiacom.com/support-services/product-support/user-guides.
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 mailto:support@ixiacom.com.
9.01 Features
| Encryption |
| Phase 1 Static MACsec solution based on IEEE Std. 802.1AE-2018. It provides following key feature set:
A. Line rate 1G to 400G MACsec encryption frame generation with static SAK provision
B. MACsec frames live decryption at lower rate with standard defined MACsec statistics using L4-7 Applib traffic
C. MACsec frame decryption support in Wireshark |
Encryption
| Bug Number |
Notes |
| 1523617 |
"Clear All Statistics" is not supported for Static MACsec protocol.
|
| 1528356 |
Static MACsec is not supported on IxVM.
|
| 1528728 |
If MACsec secure payload size is less than confidentiality offset, Wireshark cannot decrypt the packet properly and shows the ICV as "Incorrect".
|
| 1528782 |
When traffic is running at line rate, there may be a momentary drop in Tx throughput when Rekey is triggered. This drop is more prevalent in AresONE.
|
| 1529538 |
"Send GRATARP" right click action triggered from "IPv4" stack over Static MACsec and "Send NS" right click action triggered from "IPv6" stack over Static MACsec are not supported.
|
AresONE
| Bug Number |
Notes |
| 1514583 |
Added option to select the Clause 91.6.2a Alignment Marker Type for 100G to be either xR4 or xR2 to address compatibility issue with some devices. The new setting controls the alignment marker mapping on transmit and requires the same mapping to be used on receive.
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