[Lanforge] LANforge 5.0.1 beta-1 is available, new appliances released.

[Ben Greear]

LANforge 5.0.1 beta-1 is now available on our downloads page.  This is 
BETA software, and should
probably NOT be used in production environments at this time.  We have a 
few more features to
add to 5.0.1 and a heavy round of internal testing before it is 
officially released.

We have also released two new pre-configured appliances.  The CT921 is 
the next generation
of our popular CT920 appliance.  The CT921 can run at 80Mbps (full 
duplex), almost double
the 45Mbps for the CT920.  It is also RoHS complaint, which will be a 
big help for our
over-seas customers.

One the high-end, we released our CT964, which has 4GB or more of RAM 
and runs a 64-bit OS.
This powerful hardware allows the CT964 to emulate 8 or more seconds of 
delay (in EACH direction)
at full GigE line speed!  At lower speeds we can emulate substantially 
higher delays should anyone
require them (or more RAM can be added for even more delay at GigE speeds.)

New PDFs and product data sheets (with sparkly new photos of each 
system!) are available here:
http://www.candelatech.com/lanforge_v3/lf_systems.html


The 5.0.1 beta can be downloaded from here:
http://www.candelatech.com/private/downloads/r5.0.1/

Here are the new features & bug fixes in the 5.0.1 beta (since 4.4.12):
Release 5.0.1
    *  Add Virtual-Router technology for LANforge-ICE on Linux.
       This allows one LANforge system to emulate a network of routers,
       with unique bandwidth constraints and latency between each router.
       Subnet routing is currently supported:  Multipath and advanced
       routing protocols may be supported in future releases as customer
       demand dictates.

    *  Add notification framework for keeping track of support (ASA)
       expiration so that users are easily aware of their status.

    *  Fix rare linux kernel crash related to UDP multicast packets.

    *  Add ability to print the tables in the LANforge-GUI.

    *  Re-work LANforge-FIRE rate-control logic.  This fixes the
       'catch-up burst' caused by temporary network outtages.  LANforge
       will now burst for no more than 1 second during catch-up.

    *  Fix Armageddon UDP traffic generator to support NICs that do
       fragmented buffer receives (some new Intel pro/1000 NICs do this.)

    *  Fix rare divide-by-zero bug in Port logic in LANforge server.


The big new feature is the ability of LANforge (on Linux, using our 
patched kernel), to emulate
multiple routers in a single machine.  This can make modeling your 
particular network
easier, as well as providing new emulations needed by network discovery 
and monitoring
tools.  We have a graphical drag-and-drop widget incorporated into our 
LANforge GUI
to make this easy to configure.  A screen-shot of a fairly complex 
network is here:

http://www.candelatech.com/oss/vr.png

A WanLink is positioned between each router connection, so you can add 
delay, restrict
bandwidth, etc between each router hop.

Currently, only subnet routing is supported.  It is possible we will try 
to emulate or
support advanced routing protocols in the future, but I am not sure it 
will be useful or
possible at this time...

The pricing model for the virtual router feature has not been determined 
yet.  It will
certainly cost more than a regular LANforge-ICE system in bridge mode, 
but it will
be cheaper than buying X WanLink licenses (one for every router 
connection) at the current
WanLink prices.

If you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, please let us 
know.

Thanks,
Ben

-- 
Ben Greear <greearb at candelatech.com> 
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com