NetEqualizer News: April 2013

April 18, 2013 — netequalizer

April 2013

Greetings!

Enjoy another issue of NetEqualizer News! This month, we discuss our new 7.0 Software Update, announce our FlyAway Contest winner, and preview our new “Equalizing Explained” video. As always, feel free to pass this along to others who might be interested in NetEqualizer News.
A message from Art…
Art Reisman, CTO – APconnections

art_smallSpring has sprung! As I write this today, it is raining in Colorado, which is great for my garden. Grass is greening up here, and soon everything will be budding out or in bloom. Just like our spring release, Software Update 7.0, which is now ready! We talk more about the release, and how to get it, in this month’s newsletter.

And with April Fool’s Day just past, I got a little creative and updated a Beatles song with a NetEqualizer spin. Check it out below. It is featured as our “Poem Of The Month”.

We love it when we hear back from you – so if you have a story you would like to share with us of how we have helped you, let us know. Email me directly at art@apconnections.net. I would love to hear from you!

7.0 Software Update: NDI and 64-Bit Release

We recently released our latest NetEqualizer Software Update, further improving our existing technology. The update from 6.0b to 7.0 has the following enhancements:

NetEqualizer Directory Integration (NDI) 

Level 1
Level 1 of NDI is now GA. This version allows you to view directory user names in the Active Connections table so that you can associate each connection with a particular user.

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Level 2
Level 2 of NDI is now in beta testing. This version allows you to view directory user names in quotas and set quota restrictions for users based on directory user name.

quotas

NDI requires a one-time setup fee of $1,000. This includes activation and setup of the NetEqualizer to prepare for incoming directory results via our API. Because each directory implementation varies drastically, gathering the required information on the directory side will require some development work.

64-Bit Processing

As part of our commitment to keeping our product supported on the latest hardware, we have upgraded our Linux kernel and re-certified the NetEqualizer software.

This kernel upgrade was also undertaken to take advantage of 64-bit processing. This will position us to offer enhanced capabilities to our core equalizing platform, without sacrificing speed and response times.

In previous releases, as we moved to multi-core hardware, we have split out key processes across cores, so that equalizing does not have to compete with other processing. With this 64-bit processing release, we will see increased speed for all processes across all cores.

—

Remember, Software Updates are available for free to customers with valid NetEqualizer Software & Support (NSS) – the NDI setup, however, has an initial fee.

At this time, most customers likely DO NOT need to update to 7.0 unless you are interested in NDI and/or are a NE4000-10G customer who needs faster performance.

For more notes on this Software Update, check out our release notes.

If you are not current with NSS, contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net

-or-

toll-free U.S. (888-287-2492),

worldwide (303) 997-1300 x. 103

New NetEqualizer Demo Video

Our previous “Equalizing Explained” video was great, but we felt it was necessary to create a new video that only focused on Equalizing and was short and to the point.

So, here it is on our YouTube channel.

equalizing

Even if you have already seen our old video, go ahead and take a look! It never hurts to have a quick refresher!

We will continue to develop and enhance this video over time – please feel free to send us your thoughts!

And the FlyAway Contest Winner Is…

Every few months, we have a drawing to give  away two round-trip domestic airline tickets from Frontier Airlines to one lucky person who’s recently tried out our online NetEqualizer demo.40

The time has come to announce this round’s winner.

And the winner is…

Michael Bamsey of Santel Communications.

Congratulations, Michael!

Please contact us within 30 days (by May 9, 2013) at:

admin@apconnections.net
-or-
303-997-1300

to claim your prize!

Best Of The Blog

The Wireless Density Problem

By Art Reisman – CTO – APconnections

Recently, we have been involved in several projects where an IT consulting company has attempted to bring public wireless service into a high density arena. So far, the jury is out on how effective these service offerings have fared.

The motivation for such a project is driven by several factors.

1) Most standard cellular 4G data coverage is generally not adequate to handle 20,000 people with iPhones in a packed arena. I am sure the larger carriers are also feverishly working on a solution, but I have no inside information as to their approach nor chance of success.

Note: I’d be interested to learn about any arenas with great coverage…
Poem Of The Month

To the tune of “Imagine” – by John Lennon

Imagine there’s no congestion
It’s easy if you try
No hidden fees surprise us
Above us high speed guy
Imagine all providers, giving bandwidth away

Imagine there’s no quotas
It isn’t hard to use
No killer apps that die for
A lack of bandwidth too

Imagine all the gamers living Layer-7 free
You may say, I’m a streamer
But I’m just gonna download one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And your speed concerns will be done
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NetEqualizer Software Update 4.0 — Carrier-Class Shaping

November 3, 2009 — netequalizer

Continuing the constant evolution of the NetEqualizer line, we’re pleased to offer the most recent NetEqualizer software release – Carrier Class 4.0. In addition to providing the features and quality found in past NetEqualizer releases, among its many enhancements Carrier Class 4.0 will now support three times as many shaping buffers, translating into smoother shaping for up to tens of thousands of users.

For example, you will be able to take a one-gigabit pipe and break off 1,000 users into a subnet mask to share 100 megabits (with smoother results than current versions). Most routers that break out chunks of bandwidth use harsh rate control methods such as dropping packets when the limit is reached. Although there will be a small margin of error, the optimizations and techniques used to break off larger chunks of bandwidth and shape them smoothly without dropping packets rivals that of carrier class shapers sold for 10 times our cost.

The following features and enhancements will also be available with Carrier Class 4.0:

  • Full one- to 32-bit mask fields for hard limits  — You can now take any IP address and specify a mask in x.x.x.x/y format where y is the number of bits you wish to mask. All IP addresses in the masked range will receive the specified hard limit (Hard limits are individual rate limits for an IP address).
  • Pools support masks – You can now add members to a bandwidth pool using a mask field of the form x.x.x.x/y, Y can range from one to 32. The NetEqualizer will automatically add members of the range specified as they become active and retire them if they become inactive. This optimization will allow users to specify large ranges without overwhelming the system.
  • Full one- to 32-bit masking for traffic masking – You can now use the NetEqualizer masking function with odd numbered mask specifications, prior to this release only /24 and /16 masks were allowed.
  • Pool number displayed in active connection table – You can now see if a connection is part of a pool, the pool number will be displayed in the last column of the connection table.
  • Release 1.0 of our URL-based blocking feature – Now you can block a list of URL’s. This feature is commonly used by libraries and private institutions where there is a mandate to block particular recreational sites. In the initial release, customers need only supply a config file with all URLs by name that they wish to block and then hit the start button. In future releases, we will be contracting with providers that supply updated lists on a regular basis. There will be no charge to enable our URL-blocking feature, however there will likely be subscription charges to use third party URL lists.
  • Connection limit masks now fully supported – You can specify a connection limit mask of the form x.x.x.x/y where y is an int from one to 32. Prior to this release, only /24 and /26 were supported.
  • New Automatic detection of license overruns – The NetEqualizer will now automatically report any new license overruns. Any time you log into the GUI, a message will be displayed indicating how many license overruns you may have incurred since your last reboot. If you do see a license overrun, you should call support and see about upgrading your license.
  • New license levels available for enforcement in kernel
  • URL-based shaping

For more information on the Carrier Class 4.0 update, contact us at admin@apconnections.net or 303-997-1300.

Posted in New Features. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »
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