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EfficientIP
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February 06, 2014
Table of Contents
Release Notes for Version 5.0.3 ......................................................................................... 2
Hybrid DNS .............................................................................................................. 2
IPLocator/NetChange ................................................................................................ 2
Anycast DNS ............................................................................................................ 2
IPv4 to IPv6 Transition ............................................................................................... 2
Enhanced Workflow .................................................................................................. 3
Multi-Status Column .................................................................................................. 3
Enhanced Replication ............................................................................................... 3
Enhanced IPAM ........................................................................................................ 3
Enhanced DNS Management .................................................................................... 4
Enhanced Groups, Users and Authentication Rules Pages .......................................... 4
Enhanced User Management .................................................................................... 4
Enhanced Graphical User Interface ............................................................................ 5
Additional Gadgets .................................................................................................... 5
Packager .................................................................................................................. 6
Release Notes for Version 5.0.2 ......................................................................................... 6
Virtual Routing and Forwarding .................................................................................. 6
VLAN Manager ......................................................................................................... 6
Hardware Security Module ......................................................................................... 6
DNS Firewall - Response Policy Zone (RPZ) ............................................................... 6
Enhanced DNS Smart Architectures .......................................................................... 6
Easier High Availability Management .......................................................................... 7
Enhanced Device Manager ........................................................................................ 7
Enhanced Subnets Import ......................................................................................... 7
Additional Columns to Enhance Data Management ..................................................... 7
Release Notes for Version 5.0.1 ......................................................................................... 8
Agentless Management of Microsoft DNS & DHCP Servers ......................................... 8
DHCP Import: Now Compatible with Infoblox Configuration Files .................................. 9
Enhanced Management of Default Behaviors .............................................................. 9
Enhanced Management of Log Files .......................................................................... 9
Enhanced Management of Appliances in High Availability ............................................ 9
New Option to Undo IPAM Changes ......................................................................... 10
Release Notes for Version 5.0.0 ....................................................................................... 10
Fully Supported IPv6 ............................................................................................... 10
DHCPv6 ................................................................................................................. 10
DNS64 ................................................................................................................... 10
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
IPLocator/NetChange
Since version 5.0.3., IPLocator changed name and is now called NetChange. There are now
two different licenses for the module as well as an extra page.
The licenses offer two levels of management for HP and Cisco network devices:
• NetChange-IPL provides the same management options as the former IPLocator module.
• NetChange provides extra management options for devices that support it: you can now asso-
ciate the devices ports with your VLANs; create, edit and delete VLANs; manage the ports
tagging mode, 802.1X authentication, speed and duplex; or even restrict access to your ports
using the Port-Security protocol.
A New Page
The All Routes page is now available with both licenses. It provides a complete routing tables
list of all the layer 3 network devices you manage via SOLIDserver.
Anycast DNS
In addition to unicast DNS, SOLIDserver now provides DNS anycast broadcasting for the OSPF
routing protocol. This methodology is especially useful if your deployment includes multiple
geographically dispersed sites. It improves the service high availability and reliability by improving
the redundancy of the DNS appliances.Your DNS clients will always query the same management
IP address but their packets will systematically be routed to the nearest running server in the to-
pology. This ensures that the DNS clients are always querying the nearest servers first and avoids
querying remote servers based on the IP address alone.
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
creation: use the first IPv6 address available in the selected subnet or convert the IPv4 address
to hexadecimal format.
Enhanced Workflow
The Workflow module services were rebuilt to improve the requests management and add new
dedicated classes. The requests still concern the DNS zones and the IPAM (from address to
block level) can be subject to user requests as long as they were granted sufficient rights. A new
option allows administrators to accept the users requests directly from the Incoming request
page. Besides, some pre-defined variables can be added to Workflow classes and provide ad-
ministrators with an extra step when adding and editing IPAM and DNS objects during which
they can associate their current operation with existing requests.
Multi-Status Column
The Multi-status column is now available on every page of SOLIDserver. It provides gathers
messages regarding the objects configuration and divides them into levels of severity from inform-
ational to emergency. Nothing is displayed in the column if the object configuration is normal.
DHCP
On the DHCP All servers and All failover channels pages the Multi-Status column is displayed
by default. It displays in real-time potential failover problems.
DNS
In the DNS module, the Multi-Status column is displayed by default on all the pages. Each level
of the hierarchy is managed independently so you have to display each level separately to see
the Multi-status messages if there is any. This column is especially useful if you intend to switch
to Hybrid DNS at some point as it gathers all the messages regarding potential incompatibilities.
Enhanced Replication
New default behaviors regarding IPAM to DNS and IPAM to DHCP replication are now available.
A new default behavior allows you to make the selection of a domain name mandatory when
assigning IP addresses.
The IPAM subnet to DHCP scopes replication now copies the subnet gateway IP address and
automatically uses it as value for the corresponding scope “router” DHCP option.
SOLIDserver now provides the possibility of creating several A or AAAA records when assigning
or editing IP addresses. Therefore, you can from one wizard configure CNAME and A or AAAA
records at once.
Enhanced IPAM
The IPAM module contains now even more options at subnet, pool and IP address level.
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
Resizing Pools
Like DHCP and VLAN Manager ranges, you can now resize IPAM pools from a dedicated wizard.
It is now possible to look for IPv6 addresses using their compressed form through the column
search engine or Global search.
The IPv4 subnets split option has been improved. It now calculates automatically the new subnets
gateway IP address: it uses the first available IP address in each new subnet as gateway.
If you manage servers, views and zones through a smart architecture, you can now overwrite
the smart "forward" parameter and the list of forwarders directly from the properties page of your
physical server, view and/or zone.You cannot disable the forward mode if it was set on the smart
server but it allows to customize your network forwarding policy.
Version 5.0.3 introduces the possibility to order DNS views on your servers. That way, each view
match-clients and match-destinations configurations are checked in the order of your choice.
This configuration is even pushed to the physical server.
Enhanced RPZ
With version 5.0.3, new RPZ rules can be configured within your master and slave RPZ zones.
In addition, the All RPZ rules page provides a simpler display to ease up policies management.
User Tracking
The User Tracking page has been completely changed to contain more details regarding all the
changes made in the IPAM module. Each time a user adds, edits, deletes an object or executes
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
a rule the page displays the user, operation performed and object concerned on one line. After
an edition, the old and new object parameters are both displayed to provide a complete overview.
SOLIDserver now provides a dedicated key in the registry database that allows to redirect users
to the website of your choice once their session expired or when they click on the Logout button.
From the Home page, users can now edit the banner title, add or remove an image or even
choose to hide the welcome banner altogether.
User Rights
The group of users properties page has been reviewed to provide action orientated service names
to ease up the user profiles creation. Now each right granted to a group follows the format “<ac-
tion>: <objects it applies to>”. Useless rights were deleted and some rights were moved across
panels.
The date related columns provide further filtering possibilities with new keywords to narrow down
or extend the results: “last” can be used with a day of the week, periods of time can be looked
for with “ago”, etc.
The All leases page contains a new column that assists you in managing leases: the OS name.
You can now filter the list through DHCP client OS names or create dedicated alerts and gadgets.
Wizards
Some wizards were improved. For instance, the AD authentication rule configuration was simplified;
the IP address alias configuration was extended; the DNS forwarding configuration was edited.
Charts
The available charts are now clearer if not more detailed, especially NetChange charts.
Additional Gadgets
The list of available gadgets by default has been extended. When adding gadgets to a dashboard,
you now have a number of additional gadgets like the Top List ‘’Alert on ports/interfaces recon-
ciliation drift’’, the gadgets ‘’Shortcuts’’ and the ‘’My account preferences & configuration’’.
This gadget is displayed by default on SOLIDserver Home page and is especially useful as it
provides an overview of SOLIDserver main configurations: the internal module setup, adding
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
smart architectures in both DNS and DHCP, adding group of users, configuring a backup of the
appliance, etc.
Packager
Packager page has been entirely edited: it now relies on dedicated services to make the imple-
mentation of your customized functionalities faster and more reliable. The aim of the page is still
the same: importing a set of customized functionalities via an archive file directly from the GUI
and install it to push the functionalities it contains the interface, database, file system, etc. they
apply to.
VLAN Manager
VLAN Manager is a new module available that allows you to create, organize and manage Virtual
Local Area Networks. Three levels of hierarchy help detail the VLAN organization through VLAN
Domains, VLAN Ranges and finally the VLANs themselves. Each VLAN has a unique VLAN ID
that enables communication between your network subnets: the VLAN ID can be assigned to
the subnets of your choice directly from the IPAM. To ease the management, each VLAN object
can be named. Obviously, on each page of the module, you can import existing data.
6
SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
EfficientIP introduces a new DNS smart architecture, the DNS Farm. Designed to act like a
Master/Slave architecture, it allows you to set as many master and slave servers as you need
and balance the DNS requests through a load balancer, or several if need be. This architecture
will basically ensure the DNS service availability as the redirection of your clients' requests will
prevent overloading it.
With version 5.0.2, SOLIDserver allows you to add as many master servers as you need to the
Master/Slave and Stealth architectures. Using the technology of the new Farm architecture, its
widens your DNS service management possibilities. Now four out of five DNS dedicated smart
architectures allow you to manage as many Master servers as you need.
You can now declare NS records of your choice when adding or editing any type of smart archi-
tecture. These NS records will overwrite the default Name Server created upon architecture ad-
dition or can correspond to the hostname of a load balancer (as you would declare them if you
configure a Farm architecture).
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
The All failover channels page has been reformed in IPv4 to provide more details. The Type
column has been removed and replaced by a set of columns indicating precisely the failover
channel primary and secondary servers and ports. Besides, the Failover state column now allows
you to see the channel state in a blink of an eye. Finally, the Drift column was added: this column
indicates the time difference between the servers, if both servers send out their time and date.
This time difference is a crucial piece of information to monitor the data replication from one
server to the other.
Moreover, SOLIDserver now supports the auto-partner-down option. You can configure it when
creating you smart architecture and therefore automatically switch to partner-down a failover
channel in communications-interrupted after the period of time of your choice.
SOLIDserver introduces two new columns on the All subnets page in IPv4 that display the exact
number of Free IP and Used IP addresses within your terminal subnets. Therefore, this page
now provides a clear overview of the IP addresses use within your terminal and non-terminal
through five columns: two columns containing numerical data regarding terminal subnets and
three columns displaying subnet use in percent for your containers (blocks and non-terminal
subnets).
Besides, the IPv6 All subnets page also contains an extra column: the Subnet use (%) column
displays, in the form of a graph, the occupancy rate of your containers (blocks and non-terminal
subnets). That way, you can get an overview of the IP addresses availability from the All subnets
page in IPv6 as well.
To further assist you in the management of your network devices, SOLIDserver adds a column
to the All network devices page dedicated to describing each device. Following the RFC1213, it
displays the content of the sysDescr field of the network devices MIB. This new column, named
after the field, displays all the information provided by the vendors regarding each network device.
MS DHCP Servers
The Agentless server allows to manage Microsoft DHCP server Windows 2003, 2008 and upper
without installing the WinDHCP agent anymore. This server is designed to synchronize DHCP
leases in configurations including more than 5000 DHCP clients, and allows to reduce CPU
overload by transferring only the most recent leases. It also enables incremental leases retrieval
from the remote servers in IPv4 and IPv6. Besides, this agentless server can be managed through
a smart architecture to provide a backup of its configuration.
8
SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
MS DNS Servers
The agentless MS DNS allows to remotely manage the Microsoft DNS server Windows 2003,
2008 and upper without installing the WinDNS agent. You will be able to manage the zones and
RRs from our GUI in IPv4 and IPv6. Like in the DHCP, this server can be managed through a
smart architecture to provide a backup of the configuration.
With this new dhcpd.conf import compatibility, EfficientIP can now import 6 different types of
DHCP server configurations.
In version 5.0.1, the DNS querylog command has its own column on the All servers page. That
way, you know right from the start for which server the querylog can be used. Besides, it will in-
dicate if the querylog is enabled or disabled for each server concerned. Obviously, you can display
all the logs on their Syslog page and even export them if need be.
9
SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
aging any case of Split-brain was added: a number of checks are undergone during the appliances
start up and at each synchronization to try and prevent it. If two appliances turn out to be in Split-
brain, SOLIDserver will detect it and initiate an automated recovery if possible. If not, you will be
notified and simply need to choose which appliance is actually the Master in the configuration.
Obviously, this option is available both in IPv4 and IPv6 and the list of deleted IP addresses can
be exported at any time.
DHCPv6
EfficientIP is introducing the management of DHCPv6 servers.The DHCPv6 server implementation
in SOLIDserver is compliant with RFC 3315. It supports 2 modes of operation: a stateless mode
and a stateful mode of operation. DHCPv6 Stateless mode is where the host uses a non-DHCPv6
method to obtain an IPv6 address, and uses DHCPv6 only to obtain other configuration parameters
such as the IPv6 address from the DNS server. Typically in this mode, clients will use the IPv6
prefix from a Router Advertisement to auto-configure an IPv6 address for the network interface.
DHCPv6 Stateful mode is where a client uses DHCPv6 to obtain an IPv6 address from the DHCPv6
server along with other configuration parameters.
A smart architecture can manage IPv6 addresses and, just like DHCPv4, can be configured
without DHCP servers. Note that with a DHCPv6 smart architecture, you will still apply your
configuration to a DHCP server managed on a SOLIDserver appliance running on an IPv4 address.
With DHCPv6, there are three different smart architectures. The Single-Server and Split-Scope
smart architectures have the same advantages in DHCPv6 than in DHCPv4: both will automatically
apply the smart configuration to the server(s) managed and a backup of the configuration, the
Split-Scope will distribute ranges between two physical servers configured in an active/active
configuration. However, the Stateless smart architecture was especially designed to manage the
DHCPv6 server of your choice and allows you to set up a number of options at the scopes level.
The clients will then have access to the options defined in the architecture.
DNS64
DNS64 is a mechanism for synthesizing AAAA records from A records. DNS64 is used with an
IPv6/IPv4 translator to enable client-server communication between an IPv6-only client and an
IPv4-only server, without requiring any changes to either the IPv6 or the IPv4 node, for the class
10
SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
of applications that work through NAT64. SOLIDserver provides the DNS64 mechanism that you
can configure with your own NAT64 from the GUI.
New Exports
Release 5.0.0 allows scheduling data export filtered and ordered according to the administrator's
choices. This scheduled export is entirely configurable from the graphical user interface. The
export is automatically generated on the appliance file system and can be pushed out of the box
toward a third system (CMDB, asset management platform, ticketing, network orchestrator…).
IPLocator Rights
It is now possible to delegate rights per switch. Switches can be added in groups like group re-
sources. Administrators can organize their switches delegations based on their existing group
structure. Users no long need to belong to the admin group to manage network devices.
Device Manager is mainly focused on managing the configuration of network devices throughout
their life cycle, from deployment to retirement, as it will inevitably change. This module allows
managing physical equipment with their physical links. It allows to logically attach network devices
with the servers and PC. It also allows to associate interfaces belonging to the same device. A
device can be built to stage an installation before a deployment. After the deployment Device
Manager can be used to reconcile and detect the drift between the network actual plug configur-
ation and the device management database (theory). Device Manager data collection can be
compared with the IPLocator discoveries (reality), the IPAM database (IP strategy) and the DNS
database.
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SOLIDserver Version 5.x Release
Notes
Among others, the module provides the following features: ability to discover network device
giving interface, OS, architecture; establishing and enforcing compliance with network device
configuration policies; ability to perform differential audit between configuration versions; performing
device reconciliation with its physical, logical and virtual network interface; display and manage-
ment of IPv6 and IPv4 dual stack transition; provisioning of new network devices; detection, alert
and reporting on all aspects of network device configuration and changes.
12