Kemp 360 Central V2.3 Release Notes
Version 2.3 of Kemp 360 Central was released in August 2019 and is a feature and bug-fix release. It contains the new features, resolved issues, and known issues described in the following subsections.
For installation prerequisites, upgrade path information, virtual machine requirements, and other details, please see the article Installing and Upgrading Kemp 360 Central.
For more information on all features described below, see the Feature Description and the rest of the Kemp 360 Central documentation in the Documentation Library.
New Features
Auto adding of Metered Licensed LoadMasters to Kemp 360 Central
The process of adding Metered Licensed LoadMasters has been greatly improved. There is no manual intervention required when using V2.3 and LoadMaster V7.2.47. Once the Kemp 360 Central Licensing credentials are entered on the LoadMaster WUI a valid license will be returned and the steps to complete the addition of the LoadMaster instance into Management under Kemp 360 Central will all be automatically completed from the LoadMaster WUI. Once the LoadMaster has been licensed successfully it will appear "blue" on the Kemp 360 Central Network tree which means Kemp 360 Central is monitoring its configuration and collecting statistics for Metered Licensing billing.
Note: For Metered Licensed LoadMasters with firmware versions prior to 7.2.47 (including the LTS firmware) some addition steps need to be completed and these are detailed in Section 6 of the Installation Guide for Metered Licensing Management which can be found in the Documentation Library.
Metered Licensing Trial
Customers can now download a Kemp 360 Central Metered Licensing trial for 30 days from here. This trial enables licensing and management of up of 5 Metered Licensed LoadMasters instances in Kemp 360 Central so that you can explore the viability of using Metered Licensing in your estate. The trial also allows the monitoring and management of up to 25 pre-licensed LoadMasters.
When the trial expires after 30 days all Metered Licensed LoadMasters will enter a 1-day grace period and will be not manage traffic when the grace period ends. The Kemp 360 Central instance will remain licensed but will not allow any further Metered Licensed LoadMasters to be attached but will continue to operate based on the Support Type of any of the non-metered licensed LoadMasters that are attached to it.
Daily Metered Licensing Reporting
Kemp 360 Central will now monitor usage of its Metered Licensed managed LoadMasters daily. A daily report will be generated and delivered to Kemp similar to how monthly reporting happens. Monthly reports will continue to be sent to Kemp.
There is also an update to the Kemp 360 Central UI that allows the user to view and/or download a Metered Licensed Report for a specific time range in JSON or CSV format.
Further enhancements to the information in the reports has been made as follows:
- A blank entry in the CSV report or a Null entry in the JSON report indicates that Kemp 360 Central was not deployed during that time period.
- A '-' in the CSV and JSON reports indicates that Kemp 360 Central could not contact the LoadMaster to collect data for that time period.
- A '0' in the CSV and JSON reports indicates that the LoadMaster was contactable but not passing any traffic at that time.
Change of Ownership facility in Kemp 360 Central UI
There is now a change of ownership facility in the UI under Settings and Configuration > License Management > Kemp 360 Central Change of Ownership
A user can now transfer ownership to a different Kemp ID by providing a valid Order/Contract ID, the Kemp ID and password of the new owner. All 3 fields are mandatory for the process to be completed successfully.
Note: If a user does not have an Order/Contract ID please contact Kemp Support for assistance.
Feature Enhancements
Changes relating to SPLA Kemp ID and download images
Kemp has removed the need to have a specific (Service Provider License Agreement - SPLA) Kemp 360 Central image and SPLA Kemp ID to use Metered Licensing.
Now, any user with a valid Kemp ID and version 2.3 of Kemp 360 Central can use Metered licensing.
Note: LoadMaster images for Metered Licensing still use a SPLA build and may be downloaded from here
UI Server SSL Certificate Management
Enhancements have been made to provide greater visibility and control of the User Interface SSL Certificate. The following options are available on the UI under Settings and Configuration > UI Access Control
- Upload UI Server Certificate
- UI Server Certificate
- UI TLS Protocols
Upload UI Server Certificate
A user now has the ability to upload an SSL certificate and associated private key to replace the installation-default, self-signed certificate the UI uses to secure HTTPS connections.
Note: Ensure you clear your browsers cache after updating the UI certificate to ensure that the browser is using the latest installed certificate. This will prevent UI issues from occurring.
UI Server Certificate
The certificate details of Common Name, Expiration Date and Key Length for both the default and custom certificate are displayed.
UI TLS Protocols
Setting of specific TLS protocols can be done here, the following options are available to choose from: TLS1.0, TLS1.1 or TLS1.2.
LoadMaster Deployments - Specify DNS Server when adding a LoadMaster Profile
It is now possible in both Quick and Advanced mode to specify up to 3 DNS servers when creating a LoadMaster profile.
Update System Software
In Settings and Configuration > Update System Software validation is now performed on the firmware once it is uploaded. If the firmware patch that is being installed is an older version that the currently installed version, the upgrade operation will be cancelled, and the user informed via an appropriate UI message.
A UI message will also be displayed warning the user if they navigate away from the firmware upload page while an upload is in progress, the upload will be cancelled.
LoadMaster Template Upload validation
Validation is now performed to verify that the Template file is a valid format accepted by the LoadMaster. Validation is performed on the file extension once the file has been selected and the Upload button selected. If the file is not a valid format the user will be informed with a UI error message. A valid file extension is a .tmpl file.
Performance Improvements
The following changes have been made to allow the system to perform better with large estates of devices
Scheduled Actions
For a system with a large number of scheduled actions occurring at the same time these will now be serviced in batches of max 10 scheduled actions per minute.
All Network or Specific Network System Administration Tasks
Some changes have been made to the selection criteria for System Administration Tasks under System Configuration when All Networks or a specific network is chosen on the Network device tree.
For System Reboot, Templates Update LoadMaster Firmware and Backup/Restore the following changes have been implemented:
Select All
The Select All option is now limited to 13 devices, this can be on one-page list or across multiple pages of the device list. The number of currently selected devices is also displayed.
Reset Selection
If selected devices are spread across several pages, it is possible to clear the selection by choosing the Reset option.
Search option
The search option allows the device list to be filtered down by IP Address or nickname.
Confirmation Notice
A confirmation notice is presented to the user when they chose a bulk action to be performed. This notice will give details of the chosen devices and the action to be performed and the user can proceed by selecting OK or Cancel.
Device Backup and Restore
Improvements have been made to the Backup upload and Restore times for a system with the maximum allowed number of LoadMaster Profiles (25). Backup upload (validation of the file) time in V2.2 was over 20 minutes and to fully restore the backup took over 75 minutes.
Now, with version 2.3 these times have both been reduced to under 5 minutes. The size of the backup file which contains LoadMaster HA devices has also been reduced, previously in V2.2 both HA device disks were being backed up but now only the master/active HA device disk is being backed up.
Notes:
Patch upgrade and initial installation to this version will take over 10 minutes due to internal system libraries that have been upgraded.
Resolved Issues
The following are the major issues fixed in Version 2.3.
|
KTS-6671 |
Network Configuration: An issue that occurred previously where a user received an Internal Server Error if Kemp 360 Central is browsed over a NAT'ed IP has been resolved. |
| KTS-6537 |
Real Server configuration: When editing a Real Server configuration, the changes made will not be applied until they have been saved by the user. |
| KTS-6500 |
SMTP settings: STARTTLS is now correctly shown as the Connection Security mode. |
| KTS-6381 |
LoadMaster Deployments: The Clone option is now also disabled when 25 LoadMaster Profiles have been created. There is a maximum of 25 LoadMaster Profiles allowed. |
| KTS-6358 |
Backup and Restore: Issues relating to file or directory not being found when performing a backup or a restore containing SSL certificates have been resolved. |
| KTS-6323 |
Network Configuration: If a user uses the Quick Setup method in the console to configure the Kemp 360 network settings choosing not to use DHCP they will be required to enter valid values for IP address, Default Gateway and DNS server to complete the setup correctly. |
| KTS-6288 |
Tighter controls have been implemented for repeat Scheduled Actions (Update firmware, Reboot, Backup) on a single device to prevent time overlap of actions. Now, 1 hour is the default interval between any scheduled actions on a single device. |
| KTS-2789 |
Syslog Options: Previously the private IP of a cloud installation of Kemp 360 Central was being used as the Error Host in the Log Settings > Syslog Options for each individual attached LoadMaster. This resulted in Kemp 360 Central being unable to collect the remote logs from LoadMasters outside its own cloud environment. Now, the public IP address is used in Syslog Options and remote logs can be collected by the Kemp 360 Central instance. |
| KTS-2707 |
Virtual Service Configuration: Configuring a Layer 7 specific parameter on a Layer 4 Virtual Service should both enable Layer 7 services on the Virtual Service and set the new parameter value. Instead, only Layer 7 is enabled; the Layer 7 specific parameter is not set to the value specified |
| KTS-2101 |
UDP Virtual Services: Setting the L7 alternate IP address for a UDP Virtual service now works correctly. |
Known Issues introduced in this version
The following list includes the most serious known issues in the product. If you experience an issue that is not on this list, please contact Kemp Support for further information.
|
ID |
Description |
|
KTS-7026 |
Kemp Id: Passwords with special characters are not supported and will return an error when licensing or using the Change of Ownership feature. |
|
KTS-6832 |
Installation: A DHCP server is required in your network to correctly instantiate this version of Kemp 360 Central. |
|
KTS-6790 |
Change of Ownership: It is not possible to change the ownership of Kemp 360 Central from the UI without a valid Order or Contract Id. Please contact Kemp Support to complete this process if you do not have an Order or Contract Id. |
|
KTS-6775 |
Security Scanner results: Some security scanners report SSH weak cipher vulnerabilities with SSH Server CBC Mode Ciphers and SSH Weak MAC Algorithms Enabled. These issues are not considered critical or exploitable and will be fixed in next release. |
|
KTS-6737 |
Browser Compatibility: Due to changes made on LMOS version 7.2.47 for the Auto adding of Metered Licensed LoadMasters to Kemp 360 Central, Kemp 360 Central running on IE and Edge browsers does not function correctly with this version of LMOS. Chrome and Firefox function correctly. |
|
KTS-6714 |
Statistics: In some cases, LoadMaster interface statistics report over 120% |
|
KTS-6610 |
LoadMaster Deployments: An available LoadMaster license will be consumed once a LoadMaster profile is created. In certain cases, especially with a limited number of available LoadMaster licenses, for example a Metered Licensing Trial of Kemp 360 Central, all available licenses can be consumed by LoadMaster Profiles, even if they are not deployed. |
|
KTS-6675 |
Metered Licensing Trial: If an attempt is made to re-license a non-expired metered licensed trial without an order or contract Id an incorrect message is displayed stating that the License attempt was successful, however no changes are made to the current license. |
Known Issues introduced in previous versions
The following list includes the known issues introduced in previous versions of the product. If you experience an issue that is not on this list, please contact Kemp Support for further information.
|
ID |
Description |
| KTS-6374 |
Backup and Diagnostic Access: If a backup archive is created while SSH diagnostic access is enabled, and that archive is restored, SSH access will appear to be enabled in the UI on the restored system; however, it is not actually enabled and an attempt to log in to the diagnostic shell via SSH will fail. To work around this issue, click the Revoke Access button to clear the SSH access form and enable access again. |
| KTS-4252 |
Virtual Service Wildcard Addresses: If a Virtual Service uses a wildcard (*) IP address, you cannot add Real Servers to the Virtual Service from Kemp 360 Central. The workaround is to add them using the LoadMaster UI; they are then displayed in the Kemp 360 Central UI. |
| KTS-3857 |
LoadMaster HA Pairs: In the Log Viewer, the Virtual Service and Real Server search boxes do not display Virtual Services and Real Servers for the HA nodes. The workaround is to use the Text search box instead. |
| KTS-3837 |
LoadMaster HA Pairs: If the shared IP address for a LoadMaster HA pair cannot be contacted, both HA units show their status as "Standby". You must restore access to the shared IP address from Kemp 360 Central to correct this issue. Possible causes are that the network of the shared IP address is unreachable or that the authentication parameters on one or both HA units in the pair was modified on the LoadMaster without making the same modifications on Kemp 360 Central. |
| KTS-3812 |
LoadMaster HA Pairs: When setting up Role Based Access Control (RBAC) for a user on LoadMasters configured in HA mode, ensure to assign the same level of access to all three devices in the LoadMaster HA pair; the HA1 device, the HA2 device, and the shared IP device. This is not enforced by the UI. |
| KTS-3721 |
LoadMaster HA Pairs: If a LoadMaster HA unit configured in a LoadMaster HA pair is moved to "standalone" mode in the LoadMaster WUI, the effect on status reporting for that device in the Kemp 360 Central UI depends on the LoadMaster Operating System (LMOS) release:
|
| KTS-3304 |
RBAC: If you create a user, give it full write permissions, and add it as a member of a custom user group - any device that user adds is not visible to that user in the network tree. The workaround is to specifically add the new device to the custom group. |
Known Issues introduced in prior version with Specific LoadMaster Releases
The following table lists all issues in Kemp 360 Central that occur only with specific LoadMaster releases. If there is a fix for the issue, the release containing the fix is listed in the description.
|
ID |
Description |
|
PD-11560 |
MELA LoadMaster HA Units Failover Every 5 Minutes: LoadMaster HA Pairs fail over every 5 minutes. This issue has been addressed in LoadMaster Operating System (LMOS) version 7.2.43. |
|
PD-10051 |
MELA Licensing: When re-activating a previously activated LoadMaster, it is not possible to choose a license on the LoadMaster that is above the previously-selected license in the menu. This issue has been addressed in LMOS version 7.2.41. |
|
PD-9947 |
Virtual Service Status: Issues with Virtual Service status returns from LoadMasters running version 7.1.35.4 can result in incorrect Virtual Service health statuses being displayed in the Kemp 360 Central UI. This can occur when either Virtual Service status is requested from the LoadMaster, or when the Virtual Service is modified (if the issue is not already present). In the latter case, the issue should correct itself on the next UI status update (within a minute). This issue has been addressed in LMOS version 7.2.46. |
|
PD-9747 |
Lost Contact with LoadMaster HA Standby Unit: When monitoring two LoadMasters that are configured in an HA pair, and certificate authentication is in use, it is possible for Kemp 360 Central to lose contact with the standby (passive) LoadMaster. The recommended workaround is to reboot the standby LoadMaster. This has no effect on traffic through the HA pair (because this is the standby unit) and certificate-based authentication with Kemp 360 Central should be restored after the reboot. An alternative workaround is to edit the LoadMaster HA devices on Kemp 360 Central and switch the authentication setting from certificate to basic authentication. This issue has been addressed in LMOS versions 7.1.35.4 and 7.2.40. |
|
PD-9373 |
MELA LoadMaster HA Units Lose Connectivity: This issue occurs in 7.2.38 and causes MELA LoadMaster HA units to lose network connectivity. A reboot results in the same problem recurring. This issue has been addressed in LMOS version 7.2.39. Also see PD-11560, above. |
|
PD-9383 |
Special Characters in LoadMaster Passwords: Most special characters supported in LoadMaster passwords are supported in V1.15 and later releases of Kemp 360 Central. However, because of an issue in the LoadMaster Application Program Interface (API), quotes and spaces in LoadMaster passwords can cause authentication from Kemp 360 Central to fail. However, they work without issue when logging directly into the LoadMaster WUI. As a workaround, you should log into the LoadMaster and update the password for the login that you supply to Kemp 360 Central so that it does not contain any spaces or quotes. Then, add the device to Kemp 360 Central. This issue has been addressed in LMOS versions 7.1.35.4 and 7.2.40. |