LinkFerret™ Network Monitor Release Notes

Introduction.

Thank you for installing and evaluating the LinkFerret Network Monitor. LinkFerret is a versatile, easy to use, low cost, high performance network monitor. With the comprehensive help file and top-notch support, we feel that LinkFerret is the best tool at the best price to uncover your network problems.

LinkFerret version 3.07 was released for external distribution as of May 5, 2003. These Release Notes apply to Version 3.07.0280. For more information and for the latest version of LinkFerret, please visit us on the web at www.linkferret.ws.

Evaluation Version Limitations.

The LinkFerret evaluation version is fully functional. Whatever LinkFerret can do, the evaluation version will do. However, usage of the unregistered evaluation version is restricted to thirty days, and there are a couple of annoying messages that appear. When the package is registered, the annoying messages all go away.

System Requirements.

LinkFerret will run on all versions of Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or better installed. At minimum, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 must be installed in order to provide access to the Common Control libraries.

A pentium class machine with a minimum of 32 mb of memory is required. More is better. A minimal system is okay for simply reviewing trace files, but when it comes to capturing and viewing real-time traffic a lot of horsepower is required. A full installation requires less than 10 mb of disk space.

What's New.

In addition to our on-line FAQ, we have initiated a new support forum. The forum is a good starting place for new LinkFerret users. Our support staff monitors the forum very closely. You will get quick feedback on any questions that you post. It's also great to browse through to see some of the issues others have raised and the solutions that have been provided.

We have corrected several inconsistencies and minor bugs relating to parsing differences between Ethernet and wireless. Several errors in the scrolling process in the packet display windows have been fixed. Scrolling operations are now faster and smoother. A problem with the "goto frame" functions has been corrected. In some cases, spurious "WEP Errors" were being indicated. This has been corrected. A random memory corruption that sometimes occurred when reading 802.11 trace files has been fixed. A memory leak that occured when 802.11 Information Elements were incorrectly formed has been fixed.

A new configuration option has been added, allowing the columns in the Brief display window to be reordered. To reset the columns go to the "Preferences->Brief Display" dialog and drag and drop the column names displayed in the list box into whatever order you prefer.

A new configuration option has been added, allowing the user to specify whether or not wireless beacon frames are included in the display. To turn this feature on or off go to the "Preferences->Brief Display" dialog and check or clear the box labeled "Hide 802.11 beacons."

Significant modifications have been made to the tool bar and menuing systems. Keyboard short-cuts have been created for Start-Capture (F9), Pause-Capture (F10), and Stop-Capture (F11). These values have been re-ordered from the last release. Several of the less frequently used icons have been removed.

Selection and display of the current Link Filter is now via a combo list located in the status bar at the bottom of the LinkFerret window. Swapping filters during capture is now much more dynamic. When the contents of the combo is changed, the filter is changed.

Several new statistics views have been added, including displays of the top ten transmitters and receivers. An additional display has been added to track 802.11 detected errors and retries. The histogram display has been tuned and beautified.

Several bugs in the LinkFerret Orinoco/Prism driver relating to channel scanning and AP detection have been corrected. A new default trace file type has been defined which will allow the 802.11-specific information that LinkFerret displays during live capture to be preserved.

The 802.11 parser has been updated to correctly identify fragmented data frames. Several low-level modifications have been made to increase the accuracy and efficiency of the capture engine. The changes impact all of the LinkFerret drivers as well as the frame parser.

Setting up for Wireless Monitoring.

This release supports both Cisco/Aironet 340/350 and Agere/Orinoco wireless adapters. PCMCIA or PCI only, USB adapters are not supported. Please note that one of the LinkFerret drivers must be installed before live 802.11b capture can occur. No promiscuous capture will occur if the original adapter driver is still in place. Select "Wireless Monitoring" on the LinkFerret program group menu to find out more about preparing for 802.11 monitoring. You will find detailed information on how to install the appropriate capture driver on your operating system.

This is very, VERY important! If any intermediate drivers are enabled in the protocol stack connected to the LinkFerret capture driver these intermediate drivers must be disabled or capture will not occur. An example of this type of driver is the Microsoft QOS Packet Scheduler. This problem is particularly likely to occur on Windows XP where this driver is loaded and enabled by default. Please read the "Wireless Monitoring" document carefully. It contains instructions on how to correctly configure your system to support 802.11 packet capture.

How to Register.

In order to use LinkFerret after the thirty day evaluation period has expired, you must register your copy. In addition to online purchase, we have provided a variety of payment methods including telephone, fax, mail and purchase order. All transactions are via a secure server. Please visit our web site for instructions.

In addition to our regular pricing, we offer significant discounts to purchasers representing educational or non-profit organizations, and for private at-home use. You will find the details on our web site.

In any case, after we have received and verified your purchase information we will provide you with a key to unlock the evaluation version and transform it into the full-featured version. The key will be transmitted to you via the method that you request, either mail or email, usually within twenty-four hours. After you have received your key, execute LinkFerret and register either via the initial reminder screen or by selecting the "Register ..." option from the Help menu dropdown.

Distribution Information.

Provided that you verify that you are distributing the most recent trial version of LinkFerret Network Monitor, you are hereby licensed to make as many copies of the LinkFerret Network Monitor trial package as you wish; give exact copies of the original LinkFerret Network Monitor trial package to anyone; and distribute the LinkFerret Network Monitor trial package in its unmodified form via electronic means (Internet, BBS's, Shareware distribution libraries, CD-ROMs, etc.). You may charge a distribution fee for the package, but you must not represent in any way that you are selling the software itself.

How to contact us.