Release History

Current release: 4.8.6
Previous releases:
	4.8.5	4.8.4	4.8.3	4.8.2	4.8.1	4.8	4.7	4.6	4.5	4.4.1
	4.4	4.3	4.2.2	4.2	4.1	4.0.3	4.0.1	4.0	4.3.2

 

Version 4.8.6 — May 7, 2008

All products

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is now supported for 32-bit and 64-bit processors.

Version 4.8.5 — October 15, 2007

TacServe COM Port Server

• Improved phone number logging when using caller-ID.

DialOut/EZ Redirector

• Fixed DialOut/IP to DialOut/EZ upgrade issue.

Version 4.8.4 — July 16, 2007

All products

• Microsoft Windows Vista is now supported for 32-bit and 64-bit processors.
• The v4.8.3 restriction is removed on the Update Routing Table feature for Vista.
• Binary files for all Tactical Software products are now signed with an Authenticode certificate.

Automatic configuration of Microsoft Window Firewall

• The installer adds an exception for TacServe.

• The installer adds an exception for UDP port 2392 (outbound) for the DialOut/EZ Redirector.

• The installer adds an exception for the License Manager.
• The installer adds an exception for UDP port 2392 (outbound) for the Serial/IP Redirector.
  
• The installer adds an exception for UDP port 2392 (both inbound and outbound) for the COM/IP Redirector.

Version 4.8.3 — April 20, 2007

All products

• Microsoft Windows Vista is now supported for 32-bit processors

All redirectors

• Update Routing Table feature temporarily not available for Vista operating system

COM/IP Redirector

• New S-register S100 to control interval between RING messages.

Version 4.8.2 — March 29, 2007

All redirectors

• This is a maintenance release to correct the memory allocation problem in v4.8.1.

Version 4.8.1 — December 11, 2006

All redirectors

• This release introduced problem with memory allocation that can eventually affect system operation in certain configurations that use hostnames to configure virtual COM ports. Updating to v4.8.2 is recommended.

COM/IP Redirector

• New advanced option "Translate Dial Number" uses dialed numbers and a user-specified template to construct a hostname that is used as the destination of the connection.

DialOut/EZ License Manager

• License Manager log display and log file now include the number of
  licenses in use

Version 4.8 — October 10, 2006

Serial/IP and DialOut/EZ Redirectors

• New feature provides automatic failover to backup/alternate device servers.
• DialOut/EZ Site Edition adds support for automatic failover to backup servers running the Tactical Software License Manager.

All redirectors

• Includes OpenSSL patch preventing RSA Signature Forgery (CVE-2006-4339). (OpenSSL software runs only if the Tactical Software license key enables encryption.)

Version 4.7 — August 23, 2006

All products

• 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems are now supported: Windows XP x64 and Windows 2003 Server x64.

All redirectors

• Workaround included for compatibility with recent releases of Symantec / Norton software firewalls.

Version 4.6 — February 27, 2006

All redirectors

• The maximum number of virtual COM ports is increased to 4096 ports. (On Windows 98/95/Me the limit remains 256 ports.)
• The Select Ports dialog has been enhanced to make it easier to specify and view the selected ports.
• The Control Panel now has a "Copy To" feature that allows the configuration of the currently selected virtual COM port to be copied to any or all other virtual COM ports.
• In the Port Monitor, the Trace window now supports selective capture of virtual COM ports and filtering of the Trace display to show trace data for a specified subset of ports.
• Data displayed in the Trace window can be written to the system debug channel, with an optional tag.
• The amount of system RAM used for each Trace window can be set to be "large", which is 16 times the size used with the default setting.

COM/IP Redirector

• The Init String is now included in the Trace Log.
• The Init String is now applied both at COM port open and after all modem reset (ATZ) commands.
• AT+MS= commands are ignored, including any commas or digits after the "=".
• ATS12=0 will cause the COM/IP software modem to go into command mode after any occurrence of "+++" in data written by the application.

TacServe COM Port Server

• Connection failures are now indicated in the Event Log.

Version 4.5 — November 8, 2005

All products

• When installing a software update, the License Key is always preserved if the type of licensing being used (seat or site) is not changed.
• A new Check for Updates feature gets update information from the Tactical Software web site.  (Not present in products sold by Tactical OEMs.)

All redirectors

• The icon in the system tray is does not appear if the product is installed with the Administrator Only Mode feature selected.

DialOut/EZ, DialOut/IP Redirectors: Merged into one product

• The DialOut/EZ Control Panel now has settings previously found only in the DialOut/IP product.
• The DialOut/EZ Redirector now can be used with servers that do not support the COM Port Control protocol.
• The DialOut/IP Redirector and (DialOut/IP License Manager for site licenses) are no longer offered and the DialOut/EZ products are used instead.
• DialOut/IP v4 users can upgrade (at no charge) to the DialOut/EZ product.

DialOut/EZ and DialOut/IP License Managers

• The DialOut/IP License Manager is no longer offered.
• The DialOut/IP License Manager can be updated to the DialOut/EZ License Manager without having to also update DialOut/IP Redirectors to DialOut/EZ.
• The DialOut/EZ License Manager is able to serve pre-v4.5 licenses for either DialOut/EZ or DialOut/IP Redirectors.  The Licensing dialog now has an option for specifying which pre-v4.5 redirector is being used.

DialOut/EZ Redirector

• The TacServe Edition of the DialOut/EZ Redirector can be installed on multi-user systems (Windows Terminal Services, Citrix Metaframe).
• Virtual COM ports can be configured with a new Recover Failed Connection option that causes the redirector to re-establish its connection to a modem server automatically if a network problem has broken the original connection.

Version 4.4.1— September 8, 2005

All products

• User Guide documentation updated (revision C).

TacServe COM Port Server

• General improvements in the TacServe Control Panel.

• Default rule for dialing restrictions changed to "block".

Version 4.4— July 29, 2005

TacServe COM Port Server: Port Groups

• The TacServe user interface now allows the administrator to create named "port groups" (called "dial-out modem pools" in modem applications), each with its own access, security, and control settings for one or more shared COM ports that are members of the group. Port groups allow TacServe to provide on one server the functions of multiple PC-based modem servers or serial servers.

• Port groups can be forced to use non-overlapping sets of shared ports.
• Access to shared ports can be via hunt group, individually, or neither (temporarily disabling the port group).

TacServe COM Port Server: Dialing Restrictions

• Each port group has its own rules for allowed and denied telephone numbers for modem calls. When an application uses a TacServe shared port to make a modem call, the TacServe server applies the dialing restriction rules that have been defined for the port group used by the application.
• Allowed/denied numbers can include "*" (multi-digit) and "?" (single-digit) matching characters to make it easy to use a few rules to manage access to a large range of telephone numbers. Default processing can be set to "allow" or "deny" for numbers that do not match any rule.
• Dialing rules are managed in a simple graphical user interface that supports in-place editing and reordering with drag-and-drop gestures.
• Processing of dialing restriction rules and logging of modem calls can be globally disabled.

TacServe COM Port Server: Call and Event Log Database with ODBC Access

• The call log and the activity log data are now stored in a database with an ODBC interface, allowing the use of numerous third-party ODBC-enabled tools to manage and report all TacServe log data in real-time.

• Microsoft Office applications (such as Excel and Query) and numerous other third-party tools (such as Crystal Reports) can be used to create reports for selected ranges of log data. By redefining the TacServe ODBC data source, an administrator can use other databases to hold the TacServe data.

• If TacServe version 4.4 is applied as an upgrade, previous log data is automatically imported to the log database.
• The server can be automatically halted if it is unable to add information to the log database for any reason.

TacServe COM Port Server: Other New Features

• Server credentials can be specified and used to access one or more port groups.
• Default flow control can be set to hardware or software, especially useful in serial device applications.
• Idle timeout and session timeout settings ensure that connections do not continue longer than expected.

• User authentication can use credentials from the port group, the server, or Windows

All Products

• User Guide content revised and format changed to on-line compiled HTML Help accessible.

DialOut/EZ and Serial/IP Redirectors: TacServe Editions

• Special releases of the DialOut/EZ and Serial/IP Redirectors are now available (at no charge) for paid TacServe licenses.  These "TacServe Editions" of the redirectors work only with the TacServe COM Port Server.

Version 4.3.2 — March 2, 2005

Serial/IP Redirector

• Inbound connections are now supported on Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Each
  Serial/IP COM port has an optional setting for a TCP port number on which
  it can receive connections. This allows applications to use Serial/IP COM
  ports to accept incoming connections from:

  Serial devices servers that can initiate TCP connections (often called "client mode" for the server).

  Other computers making outbound connections with the Serial/IP
  Redirector.

  Any other device initiating a TCP connection to the TCP port number used by a Serial/IP COM port.

• In the Serial/IP Control Panel, COM Port Options have been expanded.

• The Options tab of the Advanced dialog now includes a setting for the
  keep-alive interval.
• If the Restore Failed Connections feature is enabled for a Serial/IP COM
  port, the intervals between attempts to reestablish a failed connection
  are 10 milliseconds, 1 second, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, and continuing to
  double until reaching the Maximum Connection Recovery Interval setting in
  the Options tab of the Advanced dialog.

Serial/IP and DialOut/IP Redirectors

• The Options tab of the Advanced dialog now includes setting to force the
  redirector to always limit the outbound data rate to the COM port baud
  rate if the COM Port Control protocol is not being used.

Version 4.3— December 21, 2004

TacServe COM Port Server

• The DialOut/Server product has a new name: TacServe COM Port Server.
• Can be installed with a DialOut/Server version 4 license key.
• Adds user authentication on each connection.
• User interface is in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), with remote management from other PCs.
• Supports up to 256 shared ports.
• Supports SSL encryption, controlled by redirector license.
• Compatible with DialOut/EZ, DialOut/IP, and Serial/IP 4.3 and later.
• Not available for Windows 95, 98, ME.

DialOut/Server Modem Server

• Renamed to TacServe COM Port Server.

DialOut/Client Redirector

• Versions 4.0 through 4.2.2 can be used with the TacServe COM Port Server.
• Beginning in version 4.3, use DialOut/EZ and Serial/IP Redirectors for modem and serial device applications, respectively.

Serial/IP Redirector

• The Options tab in the Advanced dialog contains a new setting for the timer used by the COM Port Control Keep-Alive mechanism.

All Redirectors

• SSL/TLS protocol negotiation method can be specified on a per-port basis.
• The Configuration Wizard now provides more detailed diagnostic output when it encounters mis-configured Proxy settings.
• The GUI for selecting a Presets file now supports auto-completion. Additionally, the Port Monitor displays the name of the Preset being used (if any) for every open COM port.  (Does not apply to COM/IP Redirector.)

All Products

• OpenSSL library updated to version 0.97d.

Version 4.2.2 — August 9, 2004

All Products

• Documentation updates affecting OEM versions.
• Documentation installs by default.

Version 4.2 — July 14, 2004

All Products

• Uses Windows Installer, enabling unattended installs and SMS installs.

All Redirectors

• Configuration Snapshot Utility copies settings for use in additional installations.
• New Options tab in Advanced dialog provides additional settings.

All Redirectors Except COM/IP and DialOut/Client

• New real-time authentication feature that prompts for user credentials every time a virtual COM port is opened.

DialOut/Client, Serial/IP, and COM/IP Redirectors

• Added support for HTTPS protocol on Apache and Squid proxy servers.

Version 4.1 — March 5, 2004

All Redirectors

• New Encryption Option can encrypt the network connection.

DialOut/Client, COM/IP, Serial/IP

• Added support for proxy servers running the SOCKS protocol.

Version 4.03 — January 13, 2004

All Redirectors

• Fixed problem with setting 5 data bits and 1.5 stop bits.

DialOut/EZ (Seat and Site), DialOut/IP (Seat and Site), Serial/IP

• Use Windows Credentials feature now sends correct username in all cases.

Version 4.01 — December 2, 2003

All Redirectors

• Fixed a problem with port close after many hours of use on multi-processor machines.
• Added feature to turn off routing table updates via a registry setting.

COM/IP

• Known problem: Routing table not updated by default.

DialOut/EZ, DialOut/IP and Serial/IP

• Added a registry setting to optionally pass the domain name when Windows Credentials is selected.

Version 4.0 — October 7, 2003

All Products

• General improvements in the graphical user interface.

All Redirectors

• TCP/IP connections are now ended gracefully with FIN instead of with a RST; This caused problems with some firewalls.
• Application-configurable flow control is now optional and has been disabled as the default setting.

All Redirectors (Seat Licenses)

• The maximum number of virtual COM ports provided by the redirector per machine is set by the License Key.

All Seat Client products, DialOut/Server and License Manager

• Added License Enforcement to detect duplicate License Keys in simultaneous use.

DialOut/EZ, DialOut/IP (both Seat and Site) and Serial/IP

• Authentication methods expanded to include using Windows credentials (not available on Windows 98/ME) or prompt a user for credentials on system login.  Note: The presets file does not yet support these authentication methods.