1999/11/4

		ComOS 3.9b24 Open Beta Release Note
	for PortMaster 2, PortMaster 25, and PortMaster IRX


________________ Introduction

The new Lucent Technologies ComOS(R) 3.9b24 software release is now
available for open beta for the PortMaster(R) 2, PortMaster 25, and
PortMaster IRX(TM).

This open beta release is provided at no charge to all Lucent
customers, but is recommended only for customers who wish to test the
new functionality before the general availability (GA) release of 
ComOS 3.9.

Command syntax for new commands might change between this open beta
release and the general availability release of ComOS 3.9.

This release note documents commands and features added between ComOS
3.9b10 and ComOS 3.9b24 on the PortMaster 2 series and IRX.

This release note applies only to the PortMaster 2 series and IRX.

Before upgrading, thoroughly read "Limitations" and "Upgrade
Instructions."

WARNING! The amount of nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) available 
for saving configurations has been reduced from 128KB to 64KB. 
PortMaster products with configurations greater that 64KB will 
lose some of their configuration. For this reason, be sure to back up 
your PortMaster configuration before upgrading to this release.

WARNING! The PortMaster must be running ComOS 3.5 or later to upgrade
to ComOS 3.9b24. If you are running an earlier release of ComOS,
upgrade to ComOS 3.5 first, reboot, then upgrade to ComOS 3.9b24.

NOTE: Any PortMaster running ComOS 3.9b24 requires 4MB of dynamic RAM
(DRAM). Use 16MB if you are running the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
on a PortMaster IRX.


_______________ Contents

Introduction
New Features
Bugs Fixed in ComOS 3.9b24
Limitations
Upgrade Instructions
Technical Support


_______________ New Features

This release includes two new features, which are explained in the
following text :

* RADIUS Authentication failover
* RADIUS Accounting failover


_______ RADIUS Authentication Failover

This feature is supported for the PortMaster 2 series and IRX in ComOS
3.9b24. Authentication failover allows the PortMaster to dynamically
switch primary and alternate RADIUS authentication servers according to
their response. Use the following commands:

  set authentication interval Seconds
  set authentication failover on | off

The first command sets the response interval. The PortMaster sends a
RADIUS access-request packet every "interval" number of seconds. If no
response is received from the primary RADIUS server after two tries,
the PortMaster sends to both the primary and secondary authentication
server for eight more tries, or until it receives a response.

  set authentication interval Seconds

Seconds A value between 1 and 255. The number of seconds that
	must elapse between RADIUS access-request retransmissions if
	the PortMaster receives no response. The default is 3 seconds,
	and 0 resets the value to the default. If the primary server
	does not respond, failover occurs after two times the Seconds
	value. For example, if "set authentication interval 6" is used,
	failover occurs in 12 seconds.

The second command enables the failover feature on the PortMaster 2.

  set authentication failover on | off

on	If the primary server fails to respond three times in a row,
	the PortMaster sends the packet to both the primary and
	secondary servers for the next seven retransmissions. If the
	secondary server replies before the primary server, the
	PortMaster switches the primary and secondary servers. Then on
	the next login attempt, the PortMaster tries the secondary
	server first. If the secondary server fails to respond three
	times in a row, the PortMaster sends the packet to both servers
	and designates the server that replies first as the new primary
	server.  The active primary RADIUS server is marked with an
	asterisk (*) in the output of the "show global" command.

off	The PortMaster always tries the primary server first, same as
	the current behavior. This is the default.


_______ RADIUS Accounting Settings

This feature is new to the PortMaster 2 in ComOS 3.9b24.

The PortMaster attempts to send each RADIUS accounting packet every
"interval" seconds, and sends it the "count" number of times before
giving up. If an acknowledgement is received from the RADIUS accounting
server, the PortMaster no longer tries to resend the accounting
packet. If no acknowledgment is sent from the primary server in
response to the first packet, the PortMaster sends the packet to both
the primary and secondary RADIUS accounting servers.

  set accounting count Number
  set accounting interval Seconds

Number	A decimal number between 1 and 99. The number of times 
	the PortMaster sends a RADIUS accounting packet without
	acknowledgement from a RADIUS server.

Seconds A decimal number between 1 and 255. The number of 
	seconds that must elapse between RADIUS accounting packet
	retransmissions if not acknowledged by the accounting server.
	The default is 30 seconds.

Use the "show global" command to view the Accounting Count and the
Accounting Interval settings.

Examples:

Command> set accounting count 45
Accounting retry count changed from 23 to 45

Command> set accounting interval 60
Accounting retry interval changed from 30 to 60 sec


_______________ Bugs Fixed in ComOS 3.9b24

* Ports now reset properly when an incoming call with an idle timeout
of 5 minutes or greater exceeds the idle time. Previously, these ports
suspended operation and remained in the DISCONNECTING state, requiring
a PortMaster reboot to reset them to IDLE. In addition, if ISDN debug
was enabled during this condition, the PortMaster would reboot.

* The shortcut "sh mo" has been restored for the"show modem" command.

* The Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol no longer sends
individual host advertisements for users currently dialed in that have
already been advertised as part of the assigned address pool network.

* The "set maximum pmconsole" command now takes effect immediately.
Previously, active connections on port 1643 had to be reset before
changes would take effect.

* Output for the "set debug ?" command has been enhanced.

* The command "set user protocol ppp" no longer deletes the
Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) asynchronous map.

* A RADIUS Login-User with the telnet login service no longer generates
a Framed-User start record erroneously.

* Accounting records for a RADIUS Administrative-User logging in to
port S0 now show the correct service type.

* Administrative logins logged to syslog no longer have the password
sent in clear text.

* The authentication packet sent for telnet logins now reports the
correct user type to the access log. Previously, the authentication
packet erroneously reported a user type of Outbound-User.

* Startup and shutdown accounting packets are now resent like other
accounting packets.

* The "show session" command no longer returns garbage characters at
the end of a 12-character location name.

* If a RADIUS menu user fails over a telnet connection, an
administrative user is now allowed to telnet in. Previously, the
administrative user was rejected until the PortMaster was rebooted.

* When routing is disabled on a WAN port, the port status now reflects
this condition.

* BGP summarization settings that are configured with the "set bgp
summarization" command are now saved after you enter "save all" and
"reset bgp." Previously, only settings configured with the "add bgp
summarization" command were saved.

* Subnets included as part of an OSPF area range are now advertised as
internal OSPF routes. If not included as part of the range, they are
advertised as OSPF/E2 or external routes. In previous releases, the
PortMaster advertised subnets used for assigned address pools, but
did not advertise subnets statically assigned to individual dial-up
users.

* OSPF configuration information is now saved during an upgrade from
ComOS 3.7 to ComOS 3.9.


_______________ Limitations

* The Network Address Translator (NAT) translates only TCP, UDP and
ICMP packets. Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) traffic is not
translated.

* Ports without an active ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) connection
might incorrectly show a status of  IDLE rather than NO-SERVICE. This
is a cosmetic discrepancy that does not affect port functionality.

* Miscellaneous ISDN BRI problems are still being fixed.

* The PortMaster must be running ComOS 3.5 or later to upgrade to ComOS
3.9b24. If you are running an earlier release of ComOS, upgrade to
ComOS 3.5 first, reboot, then upgrade to ComOS 3.9b24.

* You must NOT downgrade from ComOS 3.9b24 to any other ComOS 3.9
version without first disabling IPX and OSPF. To do so, enter the
following commands:

set ospf disable
set ipx off
save all
reboot

* Downgrading from ComOS 3.9b24 to ComOS 3.7.2 or earlier might change
the Ether0 IP address.

* You cannot use Inverse Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) on a Frame
Relay interface with subinterfaces. The primary Frame Relay interface
does not automatically map IP addresses to data link connection
identifiers (DLCIs). When you enter a "show arp frm1" command, no ARP
tables appear, and the PortMaster cannot ping across the Frame Relay
cloud.

* Inbound NAT maps are restricted to static address maps and/or static
TCP/UDP port maps only. Outbound NAT maps do not have this limitation.

* A ComOS online help file is not included in this release; therefore,
the "help" command is not supported.


_______________ Upgrade Instructions

You can upgrade your PortMaster using PMVision 1.7 or later, or
pmupgrade 4.3 or later from PMTools. Alternatively, you can upgrade
using the older programs pminstall 3.5.3, PMconsole 3.5.3, or PMconsole
for Windows 3.5.1.4. You can also upgrade using TFTP with the "tftp get
comos" command from the PortMaster command line interface.

See ftp://ftp.livingston.com/pub/le/software/java/pmvision17.txt for
installation instructions for PMVision 1.7.

*** CAUTION! If the upgrade fails, do NOT reboot!
*** Contact Lucent NetCare technical support without rebooting.

The upgrade process on the PortMaster erases the configuration area
from nonvolatile memory and saves the current configuration into
nonvolatile memory. Never interrupt the upgrade process, or loss of
configuration information can result.

WARNING! The amount of NVRAM available for saving configurations has
been reduced from 128KB to 64KB. PortMaster products with
configurations greater than 64KB will lose some of their
configuration. For this reason, be sure to back up your PortMaster
configuration before upgrading to this release. You can check the
amount of memory used for your configuration with the "show files"
command. Ignore any files that also include an uncompressed size.

WARNING! The PortMaster must be running ComOS 3.5 or later to upgrade
to ComOS 3.9b24. If you are running an earlier release of ComOS,
upgrade to ComOS 3.5 first, reboot, then upgrade to ComOS 3.9b24.

IMPORTANT: Any PortMaster running ComOS 3.9b24 requires 4MB 
of RAM. If you are running BGP on the IRX, 16MB of RAM is required.

The installation software can be retrieved by FTP from
ftp://ftp.livingston.com/pub/le/software/, and the upgrade image can be
found at ftp://ftp.livingston.com/pub/le/upgrades:

ComOS         Upgrade Image   	Product
_________    _____________   	_____________________________________
3.9b24       pm2_3.9b24-intl 	PortMaster 2 and 2E (international ISDN)
3.9b24       pm2_3.9b24-usa  	PortMaster 2 and 2E (USA ISDN)
3.9b24       pm25_3.9b24     	PortMaster 25
3.9b24       irx_3.9b24      	PortMaster IRX-111, -112, -114, -211

________________________________________________________________________

	Copyright and Trademarks

Copyright 1999 Lucent Technologies. All rights reserved.

PortMaster, ComOS, ChoiceNet, and NetCare are registered trademarks of
Lucent Technologies. PMVision, IRX, and PortAuthority are trademarks of
Lucent Technologies. PolicyFlow is a service mark of Lucent
Technologies. All other marks are the property of their respective
owners.

	Notices

Lucent Technologies makes no representations or warranties with respect
to the contents or use of this publication, and specifically disclaims
any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any
particular purpose. Further, Lucent Technologies reserves the right to
revise this publication and to make changes to its content, any time,
without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or
changes.

	Contacting Lucent NetCare Technical Support

Lucent NetCare Professional Services provides PortMaster technical
support via voice or electronic mail, or through the World Wide Web at
http://www.livingston.com/. Specify that you are running ComOS 3.9b24
when reporting problems with this release.

Internet service providers (ISPs) and other end users in Europe, the
Middle East, Africa, India, and Pakistan should contact their
authorized Lucent sales channel partner for technical support; see
http://www.livingston.com/International/EMEA/distributors.html.

For North America, the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), and Asia
Pacific customers, technical support is available Monday through Friday
from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time (GMT -8). Dial 1-800-458-9966
within the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada, and
CALA, or 1-925-737-2100 from elsewhere, for voice support. Otherwise,
send email to support@livingston.com (asia-support@livingston.com for
Asia Pacific customers).
 
