netCannery Changes

• In the timeline view, ignore tags that change with every snapshot when computing the tag changes and tag changes tooltip.
• Consolidated graphs into the "Reports" menu.
• Improved the appearance of selected nodes in graph views.
• Handle user defined reports that have the same name as bundled reports.
• Changed the bundled BGP Peers report to only include eBGP peers. (iBGP peers will be handled separately.)
• Added titles to the bundled reports.
• Disable the "Tag Detail" toolbar button when a tag is not selected. Also change the focus to "Snapshot" when showing tag details.
• Fixed an issue where a snapshot could be colored as expired before the full poll interval had expired.
• Improved responsiveness at startup when there are snapshots to be imported.

Canner Changes

• IOS XR: update syntax to parse top level flow commands.
• Separate BGP peerings into iBGP peerings and eBGP peerings.
• Handle devices that respond to connection with only a prompt.
• Raise an error if the remote host key has changed when using SSH.

Known Issues

• There are performance issues when bulk-importing a large number of snapshots. This should not affect normal operation, but can be a problem when updating the tags on a large number of snapshots.
• File diff viewer does not always load diffs properly. Changing files typically fixes it.
• New smart tag cannot be created and existing smart tags are not dynamically updated.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

Highlights

• Added a new "Timeline" view which gives a quick overview of recent configuration changes across multiple devices in your network. By default, the timeline includes entries for each snapshot with a configuration change; the timeline can also be used to see all snapshots.

  The timeline view also color codes the most recent entry for each device to indicate how fresh it is. Green indicates that the device's configuration has been checked within the poll interval. Yellow and red both indicate that the data is considered stale and has not been verified within the defined poll interval. Yellow is used if the netCannery has not been set up to automatically poll the device. Red is used when netCannery is configured to poll the device but for some reason has not.

  Note the color coding reflects when the most recent snapshot of a device was taken, not when the configuration of the device was last updated. For example, assuming a polling interval of one day, a device may be listed as "green" with a snapshot age of seven days. That means the most recent snapshot was taken sometime in the last day, but that nothing had changed from the snapshot taken seven days ago.

  Double clicking on an entry in the Timeline will take you straight to the file viewer. If the entry represented a change, the file viewer will automatically open if diff mode showing the changes.

• The "Tag List" view (formerly the "as List" view) is no longer limited to listing snapshots and can now show tags of any kind. A new "Focus" control is used to pick the type of tags each row in the table represents. Focus is particularly useful when combined with filtering. For example, setting the focus to "interface" and adding "interface type GRE" to the filter is a quick way to find all the GRE interfaces in a network.

  Tags in the Tag List can be grouped by choosing "Group By" in the "View" menu. The makes in possible to show all devices grouped by vendor, all IP addresses used by subnet, etc.

  The focus control is shared with the "Compare" view (formerly the "as Tags" view); when used in the Compare view, focus controls the type of tags to use as columns.

• Devices can now be assigned one or more user-defined group tags. The group tags allow devices to be filtered in arbitrary ways; they are especially helpful for labeling devices with properties that are hard to deduce from configuration (i.e. POP or primary customer).

• New graph views have been added for visualizing tag relationships, BGP peers, and network topology. The views are based on an integrated, interactive graph viewer.

  These views are similar to the previous graph views, but no longer require installing Graphviz and provide much better interactivity.

• New analysis reports have been added. netCannery comes with two sample reports, but user-defined reports can be easily added. The included reports include an IPv4/IPv6 consistency report and a BGP peer report.

  Reports are written in JavaScript and HTML; see the file ~/Library/Application Support/netCannery/Custom Reports/example.html for more details on adding custom reports.

netCannery Changes

• Added new "Timeline" view. (See "Highlights" above.)

• The "as List" view has been renamed to "Tag List". The "as Tags" view has been renamed to "Compare".

• The "Tag List" view can list tags of any kind; a "Focus" control has been added to control the rows in the tag list and the columns in the compare view. (See "Highlights" above.)

• Removed the "as Icon" view.

• Removed the "Show History" button the and "Flag 'Current'" tag. Filtering and tag display now always use the most recent tags available. The Timeline view provides a way to see snapshot activity over time; the file viewer provides a way to view historical files and perform diffs over time.

• Ported visualization graphs to an internal, interactive graph viewer. (See "Highlights" above.)

• Added ability to show analysis reports. (See "Highlights" above.)

• Added device groups. (See "Highlights" above.)

• Added the ability to specify the host name to use for connecting to a device separately from the name of the device used in netCannery. If not specified, the host name for connecting defaults to the device name.

• Added columns for device name, polling interval, groups, and enable password to the device import sheet.

  The only required field is the device; the other fields are optional. Columns can be separated with a comma, tab, or semicolon. Multiple groups can be assigned to a device during import by separating them with a colon.

• Reworked the tool bar icons.

• Many fixes to the Tag List view, including better table column handling.

• Double-clicking on an entry in the Tag List will open the Tag Details for that tag.

• Various performance enhancements.

Canner Changes

• Detect and respond to Cisco terminal server continuation prompt.
• Handle devices that issue only a prompt after connection.
• ExtremeWare: skip date inserted in configuration file by 'show configuration' when calculating the fingerprint.
• IOS: get detailed CDP info.
• HP ProCurve: try to turn off paging.
• HP ProCurve: be more lenient when searching for ProCurve identification since it differs between versions.
• Linux: fetch release/distribution information.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

Highlights

• Devices can now be imported into netCannery in bulk from comma- or tab-separated files. Data files must include the devices' hostnames and can optionally include user names, passwords, and connection commands.

  To import devices, open the preferences window (netCannery > Preferences...), select the "Devices" tab, then click the "Import" button. After selecting a file to import, a preview sheet will open allowing you to rearrange the data fields to match your import file.

netCannery Changes

• Devices can be imported from comma- or tab-separated files.
• Allow pending tasks to be cancelled from the activity viewer.
• Appearance and usability impromvements to the device preference pane.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the user name to be set incorrectly in the new snapshot window.

Canner

• Added support for IPv6 router-advertisement servers and advertised prefixes.

Known Issues

• View "as Tags" is very slow when rendering many columns.
• Multiple main windows are not supported.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

Highlights

• The file viewer has been overhauled and is now much faster when viewing large configuration files. The file compare mode has also been improved, including fixes to inconsistent formatting of difference blocks between the two files being compared.

  Important

  Existing snapshots need to be retagged to display correctly in the file viewer. To update your snapshots, select them (Edit > Select All) and run the "Update Tags" command (File > Update Tags).

• The connection information for multiple devices can now be changed simultaneously using the devices preference pane. All of the fields except hostname can be modified, making it easy to update a password or to access a bunch of devices through a bastion host.

  The device preference pane also automatically opens if you try to take snapshots of devices that do not have connection commands specified.

netCannery Changes

• Greatly improved the performance of the file viewer when viewing large files.
• Fixed display issues with the file viewer's compare mode.
• Added a warning when launching a Canner process fails. This usually means that the path to a custom Canner was specified incorrectly.
• Reworked the activity indicator in the bottom bar of the main window.
• Enabling or disabling polling no longer requires restarting the application to take effect.
• Multiple devices can now be updated simultaneously using the devices preference pane.
• Added a search box to the device preference pane.
• Fixed problem which could cause the "Apply" button to remain disabled on the device preference pane.
• Improved the software updates preference pane. Added details showing all the information sent to !j when checking for updates.
• Performance improvements at startup and during updates from new snapshots.
• Changed the way Python eggs are packaged to resolve problems when installing netCannery through Apple Remote Desktop.

Canner

• New personality detection model: Canner now issues a series of commands to gain confidence about the type of device it is talking to. Personalities suggest commands to try, allowing new device types to be added without modifying the core.
• The syntax highlighter now produces HTML files with explicit line numbers in them. Previously CSS was used to number the lines at display time which could cause performance problems.
• A "fingerprint" is now generated for every snapshot. Two snapshots for the same device with matching fingerprints should represent the same configuration state. Matching fingerprints does not imply that the snapshots are identical; information that varies over time is intentionally excluded from the fingerprint.
• Fixed a problem where tags could be marked as coming from the wrong configuration file for ExtremeWare releases older than version 6.
• By default, setuptools now creates a zip-style egg for Canner.

Known Issues

• View "as Tags" is very slow when rendering many columns.
• Multiple main windows are not supported.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

Highlights

• Snapshots can now be sent to !j from within netCannery. Submitting snapshots helps us with diagnosing problems and adding support for more tags and devices.

  There are two ways to send us snapshots. The first is to select them in the icon view and then choose "Send Snapshots..." from the "File" menu. The second is to send a snapshot from the list in the activity window. Just click on the status summary in the bottom bar of the application to open the activity window, click on the magnifying glass next to the snapshot to see its log file, and then click "Send for Analysis". A snapshot can be sent from the activity window even if it failed to complete successfully.

• This release includes performance enhancements which improve the overall responsiveness of the application, especially when manipulating snapshots containing large configuration files. There are still known performance problems with viewing large files in the file viewer and using the "as Tags" view with many columns.

netCannery Changes

• Fixed a problem which could prevent snapshots from being automatically updated.
• Added vendor logos for Dell and NETGEAR.
• The username field is now optional when defining a device or requesting a new snapshot.
• The automatic device polling frequency can now be adjusted.
• Fixed an issue with storing multiple passwords for a device in the keychain that could cause problems when adding or updating IOS enable passwords. The password scheme in the keychain has been changed, but existing passwords will automatically be migrated.
• The full device name is now shown in the icon view if it appears to be a numeric IPv4 address.
• Fixed a problem that caused the BGP peer graph to not display if an AS number could not be mapped to an organization.
• Fixed a selection problem when navigating the devices preference pane with the keyboard.

Canner

• Now supports the Cisco IOS XR operating system.
• Skeleton support for Dell and NETGEAR switches and Juniper Netscreen firewall devices.
• Fixed detection of HP ProCurve switches. Canner does not understand terminal control codes for screen positioning; to successfully take a snapshot of a switch its terminal mode must be configured to "none".
• New tags have been added to identify specific kinds of files. These tags can be used to distinguish between files that are named the same but should be interpreted differently. For example, a "running.cfg" file from an IOS device has a different syntax than a "running.cfg" file from an SMC switch.
• Added support for four-byte AS numbers (currently only for IOS XR).
• Added support for IPv6 "general-prefix" in IOS.
• Canner now uses more features from PEAK's setuptools, making it easier to install and maintain as a standalone program. The code layout and style was also updated to conform to common setuptools usage.
• Personalities are now located using setuptools-style entry points, allowing new personalities to be added without modifying the core Canner code.

Known Issues

• Specifying an invalid custom Canner can cause new snapshots to silently fail while appearing to still be active. Fixing the Canner path and restarting netCannery fixes the problem.
• File comparisons sometimes have formatting problems.
• Rendering large files in the file viewer sometimes causes a temporary hang. The "as Tags" view is also slow when rendering many columns.
• Currently only a single window is possible.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

netCannery Changes

• The bottom bar of the main window now includes a summary of background activities. Clicking on the summary will bring up the activity window with full details.
• netCannery can generate graphs for visualizing network topology, BGP peering, and the relationships between different kinds of tags. The graphs are still considered experimental and require installing the free Graphviz package from http://graphviz.org/Download_macos.php. (Note: Due to differences in installation, Graphviz packages older than 2.18 or installed from MacPorts cannot be used.)
• Canceling a task is now more immediate; previously Canner would attempt to logout, often triggering a 30 second timeout.
• Fixed automatic application update checking to poll at most once per day.
• Fixed a crash at startup caused by the file viewer.

Canner

• New IOS tags for BGP and NTP were added.
• A problem logging into ExtremeXOS boxes over SSH has been fixed.
• Preliminary support for tagging SMC boxes with IOS-like command line interfaces and hypothetical Procket devices has been added.
• The IOS parser is now more liberal parsing interface names to accomodate more IOS-like devices. In particular, interface names for SMC switches are now recognized.

Known Issues

• When creating a new smart tag, the "Add to Favorites" checkbox is ignored.
• File comparisons sometimes have formatting problems.
• Rendering large files in the file viewer sometimes causes a temporary hang.
• Some views are slow with lots of snapshots.
• Currently only a single window is possible.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

netCannery Changes

• Added: new preference to enable or disable automatic device polling.
• Added: more example badges.
• Fixed: tags with "--" in their names would cause import problems.
• Fixed: various small issues with preference panels.
• Enhancement: improved snapshot import speed.

Canner

• Added: "interface address" tags to distinguish between addresses assigned to an interface and addresses used in other ways (such as protocol peers).
• Changed: "address family" has been replaced with "IP version"; unlike address family, there are only two IP version tags: IPv4 and IPv6. An interface may have both tags.
• Added tags for IOS: interface descriptions, SNMP communities, SSIDs, VLAN info, IPv6 addresses.
• Changed tags for JUNOS: moved BGP and MSDP peer tags above IPv4 address
• Added/changed tags for JUNOS: local and remote AS numbers for BGP peers.
• Changed: taggers are only trigger once per tag instead of every time a tag was seen.
• Added: preliminary recognition of SMC and Procket devices.
• Fixed: honor timeout command line option if given.

Known Issues

• When creating a new smart tag, the "Add to Favorites" checkbox is ignored.
• File comparisons sometimes have formatting problems.
• Rendering large files in the file viewer sometimes causes a temporary hang.
• Some views are slow with lots of snapshots.
• Currently only a single window is possible.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

New Filter Bar

The previous tag filter bar assumed a logical "and" of tags. The new filter bar allows an operator to be applied to the set of tags:

• The "ALL" operator only displays snapshots that contain all of the given tags. This mimics the previous behavior.
• The "ANY" operator displays snapshots that contain at least one of the given tags.
• The "NONE" operator only displays snapshots that do not contain any of the of the given tags.

Smart Tags

The Smart Tags feature builds on the new filter bar and allows you to define new tags based on the current filter. Smart tags are dynamic and get automatically assigned to new or updated snapshots.

Smart tags can be used just like standard tags and can be used to filter, select, badge snapshots, etc. Smart tags can be based on other smart tags, allowing more complex boolean expressions to be built.

Other Enhancements

• The back and forward navigation buttons are now operational.
• The "Connect" button now uses Canner to connect to the device, allowing connections to devices behind bastion hosts.
• The tags now includes a count of the number of matching snapshots that contain the tag.
• Log files from running Canner are now available from the activity window.
• The icons in the icon view have been restyled to be more compact.
• Authentication information is passed between netCannery and Canner using a private file, reducing security exposure when not using SSH keys.
• General speed improvements.

Canner

• Improved catching and logging of errors in taggers and Canner.
• Renamed some tags to make them more consistent.

Caveats

• File comparisons sometimes have formatting problems.
• Some views are slow with lots of snapshots.
• Currently only a single window is possible.

Reporting Bugs

Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

Changes Since Last Build

• Fixed: compare-running.py tagger for IOS could hang on some configurations.
• Fixed: loading vendor logos could cause the application to hang at startup if the network was misconfigured.
• Fixed: initial location of the Activity Window could be off screen.
• Fixed: minor issues with the Preferences Window.
• Changed: taggers are now given a much shorter timeout.
• Added: tagger errors are now marked with error 'tagger failed' tags. Viewing an error tag's source file will show a log of the failed run.

Caveats

• Forward and Back arrows don't work yet.
• File comparisons sometimes have formatting problems.
• Some views are slow with lots of snapshots.
• Currently, only a single window is possible.

Reporting Bugs

• Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.

Caveats

• Forward and Back arrows don't work yet.
• File comparisons sometimes have formatting problems.
• Some views are slow with lots of snapshots.
• Currently, only a single window is possible.

Reporting Bugs

• Please submit netCannery bugs at http://canner.bangj.com using component netCannery.