Firmware 8.3.0 RC 3

Lai · December 21, 2022, 9:48am

We would like to announce that Firmware 8.3.0 RC 3 is now available.

Supported models:
X Series, Balance, MAX, MediaFast, FusionHub, UBR, SpeedFusion Engine, Surf SOHO

Download Release Notes

Download the Firmware

Download the SNMP MIB for Firmware 8.3.0

bruce_kuok · December 22, 2022, 2:41pm

BR-1 HW 2 AP setting page still blank page. RC3 not fix it.

mldowling · December 22, 2022, 3:28pm

Hello @Lai ,
This is a new one; we’ve never seen Peplink not allow backward compatibility on the firmware configuration.

File: “firmware-8.3.0rc3-release-notes.pdf”
Important Notices

The configuration file for Firmware 8.3.0 is not compatible with firmware versions 8.2.1 or below.

Reference: 16675
Description: [RC 3] [System] Updated configuration file version. The configuration file for Firmware 8.3.0 is not compatible with firmware versions 8.2.1 or below.
Device Supported: All Models

Two questions:

Will Peplink supply a support tool for Partners to copy configurations back to older firmware prior to 8.3.0 when required?
Can Peplink elaborate some of the reason for this change?

Happy to Help,
Marcus

sitloongs · December 23, 2022, 12:58am

@bruce_kuok ,

We have checked and this is a WebUI bug. We will fix this for the next coming RC firmware. Thank you for letting us know.

Jonathan_Pitts · December 23, 2022, 3:03pm

Yes this concerns us as well.

Korantin-Saugrin · December 25, 2022, 10:34am

Hi I have some bug on the firmware, when I select on the remote User access page the VLAN wich is used to connect Client the configuration is taken in account but UI interface doesn’t change at all and reset itself when I select the save button

thanks in advance

Lorance_Tseng · December 26, 2022, 8:03am

Thanks for your feedback, we will fix this bug in the next RC version.

Lee_Zim · December 26, 2022, 4:02pm

Unable to add Local DNS Record

Either a bug, or procedural change - cannot add local DNS record in 8.3.0.x (process works perfectly in FW 8.2.1).

Is there a new/additional step or configuration required now?

Upon clicking the save button after adding the entry, this error occurs.

Jonathan_Pitts · December 26, 2022, 5:08pm

I filed a ticket on RC2 , looks like it still an issue on RC3

Lee_Zim · December 26, 2022, 6:20pm

Thanks - looks like I missed that under the RC2 thread.

Jonathan_Pitts · December 26, 2022, 6:37pm

@Lee_Zim I’m not sure I posted under RC2, I think I raised a ticket.
@Oh_Yaw_Theng Can you please advice on ticket 22120613 and if the concern raised by myself and @Lee_Zim will be fixed in RC4 ?

Lorance_Tseng · December 27, 2022, 1:10am

Hi dear friends, this problem has been fixed in RC3.

Jonathan_Pitts · December 27, 2022, 3:35am

I still have this issue on a 380x 8.3.0 build 5546 is that the latest version?

Cable17 · December 27, 2022, 3:46am

@Jonathan_Pitts, I was also having this issue on a 310x starting with RC1. Just had a chance to upgrade to RC3, and it does fix this issue.

The newest version is 8.3.0 build 5552. Here is the link for 380x. https://download.peplink.com/firmware/epx/fw-epx_mbx_sdx-8.3.0-build5552.bin

Steve_Mitchell · December 27, 2022, 5:19am

I’m very surprised by this one as well and would love to hear more about the decision and implications.

Lee_Zim · December 27, 2022, 5:45am

@Lorance_Tseng @Jonathan_Pitts
FYI…Resolved - I was able to update a test unit to 8.3.0 build5200 (BR1 Pro 5G), and can report this issue has been fixed.

Thank you!

Lorance_Tseng · December 27, 2022, 5:54am

Thank you very much ~!!

sitloongs · December 27, 2022, 6:09am

Let me explain this shortly ^^.

MIchael_Schwartz · December 27, 2022, 8:28am

With 8.3.0 RC3 I am seeing a large increase in logging vs previous releases. Close to 735,000 entries over three days. Most are what appears to be simple DNS requests tied to session logging, which is flooding the logging server on my NAS. Here is an example.

2022-12-27 01:24:55 Info pepwave kern xxxx-xxxx-xxxx Session Logging: SESSION_STATE=END PROTO=tcp PEPROTO=dohdot SRC=(My Cellular IP) DST=8.8.4.4 SNATIP=(my cellular IP) SPT=53612 DPT=443 SNATPT=53612 PACKETS_SENT=12 PACKETS_RECVD=9 BYTES_SENT=1521 BYTES_RECVD=6631 IFACE[OUT]=wan5 IFACE[IN]=local

I have disabled session logging for now.

sitloongs · December 27, 2022, 9:27am

@Marcus, @Jonathan_Pitts , @Steve_Mitchell

Below are the answer for the two questions:
1 Will Peplink supply a support tool for Partners to copy configurations back to older firmware prior to 8.3.0 when required?

Please open a ticket and support team should able to help you to convert the config in case you need to upload the 8.3.0 backup config to a device that still running using 8.2.1 or below firmware.
In normal case, you can upgrade the device using 8.3.0 before you load the config into the device and you should not have issue to load the config.
In any urgent case as well, you can use a device that running using 8.3.0 firmware and upload the config and downgrade it to 8.2.1 to have a config backup in firmware 8.2.1 .

2 Can Peplink elaborate some of the reason for this change?

In firmware 8.3.0, we have enhance the backup config file feature using more secure encryption method to protect the config file which is not supported in the old firmware.
The latest 8.3.0 firmware device will able to compatible/read the old firmware version config file but old firmware will always limited to support the latest ^^.

Hope the above explained the concerns ^^