FirstSpot v6 version history

[alan]

Please note:
- Customer with valid maintenance as of May 20, 09 (i.e. v6.0.0 release date) is eligible for free v6 license. Otherwise, please visit http://www.patronsoft.com/firstspot/buy_now.html to purchase an upgrade or renew the maintenance.
- Note that FirstSpot setup will now support upgrade (rather than reinstall) if only the 3rd digit of the version number change (e.g. v6.0.0 -> v6.0.1). Refer to chapter 5 of firstspot_guide.pdf for upgrade instruction.


v6.0.0 – May 20, 09
==============
- In-browser message now support RADIUS and Failover(Active/Passive) mode
- Implement infobox always on and internet surfing break
- Fix in-browser broadcast message won’t work when using SSL-enabled login pages
- Add adduser function in fsapi
- Add sorting function for Show URL Log in URL Tracking, CSV files are automatically generated in FirstSpot\log folder instead of manually clicking the export button in Configuration Manager
- Update sample user accounts and plans
- Apache is upgraded to 2.2.11
- PHP is upgraded to 5.2.9-2
- ISC BIND is upgraded to 9.5.0-P2
- Fix failure of accessing official free websites (client is being redirected to the login page instead) while the problem may not reappear after another start of FirstSpot
- Fix FirstSpot keeps at STARTING status but not switching to STOPPED if ISC BIND service fails to start

v6.0.1 – Jun 3, 09
==============
- Fix failure of passive login feature in Premium Edition, client can only receive message of no usage time left and is being redirected to Shopping Cart
- Fix Internet surfing break can not disable when iBMsg_interval > 0 in config.ini
- Fix fsapi get the wrong siteID during Load Balancing (it will affect resetQuota, deleteUser, update_usr_attributes)
- Fix the problem that Internet surfing break not work in mobile device
- Fix the problem that in-browser infobox not show in window mobile
- Add workaround for blocking third-party cookie (cross-domain cookie) browser (e.g. Safari) when using In-browser Message
- Add documentation for API call “adduser”
- HTTP WinINet error code with possible reasons will be shown in the window explaining Reduced Functionality Mode
- Fix the failure of both URL Tracking and SMTP Roaming when In-browser Message is enabled with InfoBox is always on
- Fix download data transfer quota-counting problem (not count [outbound] packet) when In-browser Message is enabled <IBMsg>
- Fix the problem using non-PayPal payment gateway where cookies warning page appears when client either refreshes, views timeleft or payment history page after being redirected to Shopping Cart due to no usage time at login
- Fix the problem that “When client's browser not fully support popup InfoBox (is detected by client's browser user-agent)”<not_support_popup_option> cannot save in Configuration Manager -> UI Customization

v6.0.2 – Aug 14, 09
==============
- Fix database locking problem during using scenario2 technology (do not release lock in LogoutSSODBC() when logout by user, it will lock the entry in user table (when using share secret), do not lock correct user record when fail to force logout from other site, do not reset when fail to force logout from other site)
- Fix user won't be access firstspot after reset user attribute by fail to force logout from other site when load balancing is enabled (Symptom: Using Load balancing, user login from machineB, machineA already block that user from driver, disconnect user from UI in machineA, In that time machineB not avaliable (eg. crash), machineA will reset user attribute, but user also won't be access machineA, because of blocking that user before)
- Fix (normal pop-up) infobox will display as in-browser infobox format in firefox when (in-browser message) Infobox always on option is enabled
- Fix (Internet surfing break) iframe's height in firefox
- Fix the problem that when driver kick action contain more than two entry, and one of entry (A) will change to restrict account, then behind (A)'s entry won’t be take any action <eg>[** this problem can not be reproduce not fix in v4 and v5]
- Add error logs in Message Window of Configuration Manager for failure of starting FirstSpot due to missing driver and driver does not bind to Vistor Network Interface Card
- Add link for upgrade in the About window of Configuration Manager for Premium Edition
- Fix several problems in Status tab of Configuration Manager, including failure of saving auto-refresh period, wrong sorting order by column Login Duration, wrong number of users to be disconnected when pressing Disconnect button after auto-refresh
- List of selected users can be kept after auto-refresh in Status tab of Configuration Manager
- Prefix of Visitor Network subnet mask in Dispatcher tab of Configuration Manager is fixed at “255.255.” as FirstSpot only supports up to class B size of client IP addresses
- Fix failure of showing the original characters in both Message Broadcast Record under In-browser Message tab of Configuration Manager and client browser if sending an in-browser message containing UTF-8 characters through IE
- Fix the problem where login page does not show correct language in IE 7 and 8 despite Configuration Manager has available language which matches the settings in client browser
- Support UTF-8 file format for Announcement (msg.php), In-browser Message (msgByIBMsg.php), Default Language Content (cust_lang.php) and Dynamic Multiple Languages Support
- Solve Vista/Server 2008 client showing local access only in the network connection icon before login (further fix for v6.0.0 Beta 1 and on)
- Fix failure of the IP-MAC address mapping entry in DHCP tab where that IP is also used as Gateway IP in Multiple Network Segments tab
- Fix Real IP address mapping not work when network connection name contain multibyte characters
- Add top banner mode feature (in-browser message)
- Now self-signup cert's common name will base on login page URL (IP or Domain name)
- Improve the Real IP feature mechanism. Now, IP re-assignment will happen much less frequent, even for the username that is not enabled for the Real IP feature
- Enhance login page in mobile device
In [window mobile 6.5]
Add meta tag to fix scale to 1 and screen width to device width
In [window mobile 5.0 (desktop view), 6.0 (desktop view), 6.1.0(desktop view), 6.1.4 (mobile, desktop view)]
Using JavaScript <focus> on [username / password / submit button field] <not>
- Fix windows automatic updates not work when In-Browser Message is enabled <IBMsg> (now request method (HEAD) will ignore to modify anything (eg. Content, HTTP Header))
- Add “Show News” button in Configuration Manager where administrator can click it and open the notification window to read any FirstSpot related news
- Fix a problem when adding bulk user accounts in Configuration Manager where the numeric attributes of the accounts become 10 times larger than those in the original plan
- Fix a problem where the error message “Fail to start ICS since it is in started state” appears when starting FirstSpot in Vista due to the computer is being shut down directly without stopping FirstSpot before
- Fix the problem that FirstSpot will assign same real ip address when several clients login simultaneously
- Fix the problem that Firefox responds nothing to “Save” button in slip printing popup window
- Fix the problem that redirect to login page failure by incorrect setting of Exception Free Websites (add Visitor Network Interface IP (private NIC) in Free IP Addresses or add "domain name in login page URL" in Free Domain Names or add root domain of "domain name in login page URL" in Free Domain Names)
- Add new error message for fail to start FsRedirector.exe (timeout by fail to lookup ip address)
- Fix PHP errors from first login requires filling extra information under Scratch Code authentication mode
- remove check that if http request contains double dot (..) the redirection will stop. FirstSpot will now continue anyway
- Hide type and password attributes in Users tab of Configuration Manager when adding or editing accounts under Scratch Code mode

v6.0.3 – Oct 9, 09
============
- Fix the problem where certain Apple devices do not reply ping requests from FirstSpot machine after renewing IP from waking up or disabling then enabling the Wi-Fi switch with Client Isolation enabled
- Fix the problem that when passive login user logout using [instant keyword] or [click logout button from infobox], driver will not reload passive login user.
- Modify FSAPI’s deleteUser function: improve delete passive login user (now disconnect user > delete user > run QueryPassiveLogin.exe> remove entry from driver) and not allow delete passive login user when current state is low priority with enable load balancing
- Fix the problem that fail to input extra information field will not close the infobox
- Fix the problem that user name and password are equal during quick add with Randomize User
- Modify randomization of User [in quick add] (username [123456789], password [abcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHJKMNPQRSTUVWXYZ])
- Add more option on FSAPI's update_usr_attributes function (forcedDisconnect, resetQuota)
- Fix Internet surfing break and message broadcast not work during mobile device routine with some special condition (http request <which> end with "Connection" row or not contain "Connection" row, it will erase "Server: FirstSpotDispatcher" incorrectly, so that Internet surfing break and message broadcast not work)
- Fix user status will display broken layout during ie7 or ie8
- change format of Operator Account's attribute and add workaround for handle v4,v5,v6 with (0 & 1) format. This will fix the Operator problem for user upgrading from v4/5.
- Fix the problem that DNS will deny dns request when client not in same subnet (or using multiple network segments)
- Now do not allow using external DNS with domain name based login page URL
- Fix the problem that FirstSpotCore.exe will crash when DHCP Service Path is missing
- In Standard Edition, FirstSpot do not work when not using default domain name based login page URL
- Remove apache error message "httpd.exe: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name..." from window event viewer (Since default variable of ServerName is not set in httpd.conf)
- Add checkbox options under UI Customization tab in Configuration Manager to hide the following login page sections: Reminders, Local Content Example, Free Websites and Terms
- Modify in-browser message behavior (original using "</body" to inject, now it will using "<body”)
- Fix fail to upload file (eg. attach file in email) when In-browser Message is enabled <IBMsg>
- In-browser message will handle when previous packet contain "<body>"
- Improve FsRedirector.exe memory leak problem (create thread part on multithreaded program)
- Fix the problem that one of listening socket fail to accept socket, then FSRedirector.exe will not work immediately. (Now it will restart FSRedirector.exe)
- Now FirstSpot will print process (memory usage) information when fail to receive bandwidth report from driver or one of listening socket of FSRedirector.exe fail to accept socket.

v6.0.4 – Oct 14, 09
=============
- fix problem that v6.0.3 setup.msi misses copying the FirstSpotCore.exe when upgrading (new install is okay). This will prevent several bugs from fixing when user upgrade from pre-v6.0.3 version. One of the v6.0.3 bug fix missed is “Fix the problem that DNS will deny dns request when client not in same subnet (or using multiple network segments)”

v6.0.5 – Dec 17, 09
==============
- improve “Top Banner Mode”
- Fix the problem that click In-browser message button will trigger browser reload on some web site
- add warning about removing log files, datasource during uninstall
- Improve DHCP process timeout performance under heavy client request traffic with the introduction of IP conflict detection since v6
- Fix the problem that FSRedirector.exe notify FirstSpotCore.exe to print all process (memory usage) information when it is not stopped by FirstSpotCore.exe (eg. stop FSRedirector by "net stop" command)
- ISC BIND is upgraded to 9.6.1-P1 (Windows 2000 will not be upgraded. Using version 9.5.0-P2 instead)
- Fix Dynamic Multiple Language's Description does not support multibyte character (eg. chinese)
- Change apache error log level to “crit” to reduce the file (error.log) size
- Reduce apache access log logging information to reduce the file (access.log) size (all vhost will not logging, expect [SSL-enabled login pages] will logging the login page redirection <5788>)
- Remove ping (ICMP) test from DHCP server (for IP conflict detection) when handing out IP to further improve performance. The DHCP server behavior is now closer to v5.
- official Windows 7 support (when NAT is enabled within FirstSpot, using Vista ICS method)
- fix a rare intermittent blue screen problem when installing FirstSpot. This problem only seems to happen in Windows 2008. (* remove obtain NIC’s mac address by driver itself, now FirstSpotCore.exe will set NIC’s mac address in driver)

v6.0.6 – Mar 18, 10
==============
- change resetABW.exe behavior - 1) Daily - now will reset daily with no first time exception, 2) Monthly – now will reset when the day matches with no first time exeception
- fix user attribute auto delete not working properly as the last login/logout time has been incorrectly clear during FirstSpot startup
- change removeUser.exe behavior (using logout time (reserved3), instead of login time (reserved2))
- fix DHCP server crash problem under heavy usage. This problem is introduced in v6.0.5 newly added debug log. Event log error message :

Faulting application dhcpservice.exe, version 0.0.0.0, faulting module dhcpservice.exe, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x0000c5ed.

- fix Apache crash problem when Configuration Manager Status page is repeatedly refresh for a long period of time. This error shouldn’t affect normal FirstSpot operation. Event log error message :

Faulting application httpd.exe, version 2.2.11.0, faulting module fsauth.dll, version 3.0.0.0, fault address 0x00005f72.

- improve In-browser Message display (eg. benq.com, www.sina.com.hk, videonews.ro, msdn.microsoft.com/zh-tw/default.aspx)

- fix infobox display “Restricted Account” incorrectly during infobox refresh by 0 second of timeleft counter

- fix httpd.exe/Apache/PHP resource leak problem (Handles, Kernel Nonpaged Memory), it only occur when using file base database (eg. default dbf datasource). Gateway log message:

** GetHttpTraceReport: IOCTL_CMD_ALL_HTTP_TRACE FAIL[1450]
** GetDriverBWReport: IOCTL_CMD_ALL_USR_BWREPORT FAIL[1450]

(the symptom includes the client won’t be able to get redirected to the FirstSpot login page after FirstSpot has been run for an extended period of time.)

- Fix a problem about DHCP with Multiple Network Segments where client is sometimes unable to obtain new IP when the client moves from one segment to another
- Fix a problem where IP client using does not match with DHCP status shown in Configuration Manager
- Fix failure of applying DisableTaskOffload registry setting during installation in certain non-English Windows versions (e.g. Spanish)

v6.0.7 – Jun 10, 10
==============
- Allow blank Prefix and Suffix fields under Bulk Accounts tab in Configuration Manager
- Fix failure of resetting upload and download data transfer counters for the bulk accounts
- Fix the problem where IPs which are not in local segment are not offered using Proxy ARP
- Installation terminates at the beginning with notification if it is carrying out under 64-bit version of Windows
- Fix the problem that Client (Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7) does not work well after login when using Load Balancing
- Add close button in Top Banner (Image Type) Mode
- Minor improvement for Top Banner Mode (eg. foxnews.com, www.nbc.com/schedule)
- Add warning message indicating file update needs to be performed after reboot if the file is locked by another process during upgrade
- New Self Sign-up failure message indicating browser session cookies feature is disabled instead of "Security code did not match"
- Fix the problem where resetABW.exe fails to reset Data Transfer Counter of the offline user accounts when Load Balancing is enabled

v6.0.8 – Oct 19, 10
==============
- Fix login failure if password contains double quote characters under RADIUS authentication mode
- Now FSAPI’s disconnectUser function (e.g. Configuration Manager -> Status -> disconnect) support user name which contain escape chars (e.g. backslash)
- Fix and improve checking bwrmethod (value: disable, month, day, NULL) in FSAPI’s addUser
- Block the login of the other users, except the first one, where those users accidentally share the same IP under IP-based Session Handling
- Fix a BSOD issue (firsthop.sys) when FirstSpot runs after certain time with In-browser Message enabled under Windows Server 2008

v6.0.9 – Dec 3, 10
==============
- When using FirstSpot API adduser to create username, the field bwcountsha (Total Data Transfer Counting Mode) is set as null. This will in turn intervene with normal download or upload transfer counter reset (provided it is enabled) by FirstSpot API resetquota and resetABW.exe. FirstSpot API and resetABW.exe will now reset if bwcountsha is null.
- resetABW.exe will incorrectly update “last time of reset data transfer” (lastABW) even though there is no reset. It is now fixed.
- Fix inconsistency of “conditions to suspend this account” ( http://patronsoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2856 ). When both “At a specific date and time” and “After x days” is enabled, FirstSpot will now suspend the account when first condition is met.
- When using ProxyARP, FirstSpot DHCP server has problem when all 12 digits of IP address is used
- fix problem that Multiple Network Segments cannot access Configuration Manager from the visit side
- only introduced in v6.0.8 (fsauth.dll problem), In-Browser Message -> Message Broadcast will trigger “Fatal error: Call to undefined method com::SetIBMsgByName() in C:\Program Files\FirstSpot\cfgmgr\setIBMsg.php on line 419”. This dll problem will also effect Load Balancing
_________________
~ Patronsoft Limited ~