Link-Live Release Notes v9.5

These Link-Live Release Notes briefly describe the new features and enhancements included in the release.

NOTE: Certain features and enhancements are only available for specific NetAlly testers. See sub-headings. Many advanced Link-Live analysis features are only available to active AllyCare Pro customers.

Version 9.5 New Features & Enhancements

This release centers on keeping your AllyCare Pro coverage current, with a self-service renewal path reachable directly from your units and more lead time before coverage ends. It also brings a welcome experience for link-based claiming, a new FEC card and richer transceiver detail for 100G AutoTest results, VLAN data in Discovery exports, automatic processing for cross-organization upload copies, and a broad set of mobile and workflow refinements.

Units and Claiming

For Third-Generation NetAlly Testers

  • Self-Service AllyCare Pro Renewal – You can renew AllyCare Pro directly from Link-Live. When coverage on a unit is approaching its end date or has lapsed, the unit's detail page shows a renewal message with a Renew Now button. The button opens the NetAlly self-service renewal site with that unit's serial number already filled in, so you can complete the renewal without looking anything up. Payment on the self-service site is by credit card. The expiring-soon message now appears 60 days ahead of the end date, giving you twice the lead time to arrange a renewal.

    Online renewal is available for units on NetAlly's third-generation common software platform. The EtherScope 200 series is not included. The self-service renewal site serves accounts in the United States and Canada. Accounts elsewhere, and anyone not paying by credit card, renew through the existing NetAlly renewal page.

  • Update Unit Software from Link-Live – You can now update a tester from Link-Live as an alternative to starting the update on the unit. On the Units page for your Organization, click the unit you want to update to highlight it, then select the Update Unit button above the unit's details panel. The unit downloads the update, installs it, and then restarts.

    Updates are pushed one unit at a time. Available for units running version 3.0 or later.

  • Welcome Experience for Link-Based Claiming – Claiming a unit from a claim link now opens a welcome view that walks you through the claim as it happens, with progress from Connecting to Unit… through Activating…. When the unit you claimed carries AllyCare Pro, the view introduces the AllyCare Pro benefits that come with it.

  • EtherScope EXG-300-CE Firmware Updates – EXG-300-CE hardware is recognized as part of the EtherScope 300 family and receives over-the-air firmware updates along with the rest of that family.

100G Results and Test Data

For LinkRunner 100G Testers

  • Direct-from-Tester Link, FEC, and QSFP Values – Lane, Wavelength, and FEC values on the Link, Link QSFP Details, and FEC cards read from fields the LinkRunner 100G reports explicitly, so what you see on the result matches what the tester measured. Results from earlier firmware continue to display as before.

  • Expanded 100G Transceiver Detail – The Link QSFP Details card on a 100G AutoTest result shows the full set of transceiver values the tester reports, available to every user: Transceiver Type, Vendor Name, Part Number, Serial Number, Revision, Connector, Wavelength, and Max Lengths. Transceiver Type leads the card, and the Link card now shows Lane data alongside it. The chevron on the card opens Lane Details for the per-lane values.

  • FEC Card on 100G AutoTest Results – A FEC card on a 100G AutoTest result reports FEC Clause, FEC Scheme, and QSFP Port, along with Corrected, Corrected Rate, Uncorrected, Uncorrected Rate, and Error Free totals for the link. The chevron on the card opens a FEC Corrections dialog listing every FEC result in a table of Corrections, Codewords, and Rate.

Discovery, Uploads, and Processing

  • VLANs in Discovery Exports – The Discovery CSV export includes a VLANs column, so VLAN assignments travel with the data when you analyze it outside Link-Live.

  • Automatic Processing for Cross-Organization Uploads – When a unit is configured to duplicate its uploads into additional organizations, every copy is processed automatically. The receiving organization opens a finished, viewable analysis with no manual step.

  • Faster Upload Processing – Uploads are detected and picked up for processing noticeably sooner, and detection recovers on its own through transient interruptions, so results appear more promptly and more predictably after a unit uploads.

User Management and Permissions

  • Sign In with Your Organization's Identity Provider – Single sign-on now recognizes your email domain. Enter your work email on the login page and Link-Live hands you off to your organization's provider to authenticate, alongside the existing Google and Microsoft sign-in options. SAML 2.0 providers are supported, including Okta, and OIDC providers are supported on request. Sign-in always begins from the Link-Live login page.

    Contact your NetAlly representative to have single sign-on configured for your organization.

General UI and UX

  • A Better Fit on Phones and Tablets – The unit detail header condenses to icons on small screens, with Settings moved into the overflow menu so the top row stays on one line. The unit status indicator and the claim-success animation now display on mobile as they do on the desktop.

Minor Improvements and Refinements

Security and Data Access

  • Raw QSFP transceiver diagnostic data is reserved for super users across every results route, including list, aggregate, visualize, and linked-result views.

User Management and Permissions

  • Organization admins can send invitations whenever Only Allow Owner to Invite is turned off.

  • Read-only users see InSites pages that match their permissions.

Units and Claiming

  • The Push to unit action for a floor plan, profile, configuration, or Nmap script reaches every eligible unit in the organization. In organizations with more than 100 units, the unit picker lists all of them and the selected-of-total count reflects the full organization, so Select All includes every eligible unit. The unit pairing picker and the Nmap menu's eligibility count are corrected the same way.

  • AllyCare Pro expiring notifications arrive once per unit.

Results and Test Data

  • Periodic AutoTest sequences from third-generation testers are recorded and grouped together.

  • AutoTest results carry response codes for their DNS, DHCP, and Gateway sections.

  • Performance test data points display accurate values at small magnitudes.

  • Values shown in blue on the test data cards filter the results list when you click them, and each applied filter shows a chip you can remove to restore the full list.

  • Optical tests display an optical icon in place of the copper RJ45 icon.

  • Results emails are legible in mail clients set to dark mode.

Wi-Fi, AirMapper, and Analysis

  • You can open and edit heatmap annotations on an iPad in Safari, and your edits persist exactly as they do on the desktop.

  • Topology views level correctly around their hub.

  • Clicking a Max Rate cell in the Wi-Fi Neighbor Report opens the Max Rate detail for every rate class.

Organization Settings

  • Organization updates apply for members who belong to more than 100 organizations, and a user invited to more than 100 organizations joins all of them when the account is activated. Pending invitation lists show every invitation.

General UI and UX

  • Row highlighting stays accurate when you select all rows and then deselect individual ones.

  • The download progress indicator appears on the row that is downloading.

  • Get Software and Get KeyFile respond clearly when no serial number has been entered.

  • The Update button on account settings saves your changes.

  • Additional refinements to stability, layout, and wording across v9.5.