September 16, 2020 Release Notes

New features

API v2.0 (Beta) Reference

The new API represents a full rewrite of our core product logic, and has been integrated with the PacketFabric portal.

API v2.0 also includes several underlying improvements for ease of use and improves support for upcoming new features.

Major changes and enhancements include:

• Lighter and flattened response payloads.
• More consistent parameter naming.
• Removal of old product names (PacketDirect, PacketCOR) in favor of standardized service names (point-to-point, cloud).
• API support for recently added features, including multi-factor authentication and cross connects.
• Removal of API keys. Authentication is now done through a bearer token.

While API v1.0 will remain available through the rest of 2020, we encourage everyone who has implemented tools using our API to upgrade to the latest version.

For more information, see our API v2.0 Reference.

IBM Cloud Direct Link Connect integration

While IBM Cloud has been a part of our ecosystem for some time, we are now integrated with their Direct Link 2.0 API and are a service provider for IBM Direct Link Connect (Beta).

This also means that when you create a hosted cloud connection to IBM, the process is fully automated and does not require any manual configuration from PacketFabric.

For more information, see Create an IBM Direct Link Connection. More documentation is forthcoming.

Pay invoices online

Starting with your September invoice, you will see a new link to pay online. This link is available in the portal, the invoice PDF, and the email sent to the billing account.

Clicking the link takes you to a page where you can submit a credit card payment via Stripe.

Read-only demo account

We have created a read-only version of the PacketFabric portal.

This is for prospective customers who are curious about our services and would like to explore the portal themselves. You can find this option on our website under Technology > View Demo Account.

Note the following:

• This is a read-only account, meaning you will not be able to create or modify any services.
• To protect customer privacy, you will not be able to access Admin pages in which user information is visible. Similarly, other users’ login events will be hidden from the Logging page.
• Once provided, the account remains active for 10 days.
• To extend your access, you can re-register at the link above. You will keep the login information you were previously assigned.

Changes and enhancements

Invoice page enhancements

• The Invoice ID field has been replaced with Invoice Name. This is the ID followed by a letter to indicate if the invoice was regenerated (e.g. 000123 vs. 000123-a).

• A new Payment column displays a link to pay the invoice online. After the invoice is paid, the payment column updates accordingly.

  NOTE: The Make Payment link will be available starting with the September invoice.

• A new Status column displays the following:

  • Finalized: The invoice includes all charges and is ready to be paid.
  • Overdue: The invoice has not been paid and it has been more than 30 days since the invoice date.
  • Closed: Payment has been received and applied.

Bug fixes

This release fixes the following bugs and errors:

• The Create Port page shows device options that are not available.
• A “Port not found” error appears when viewing the details of an inactive or provisioning virtual circuit.
• The Documents page for cloud connections is empty.
• Missing virtual circuit information when viewing a port details page.
• The delete action should not be available when a service is still in the provisioning state.
• Virtual circuit statistics missing for Azure ExpressRoute cloud connections.
• Rapidly double-clicking Place Order when creating a dedicated cloud connection creates duplicated services.
• Inactive cloud connections incorrectly being included in the Hosted Cloud Connectivity count on the portal home page.
• Maintenance notifications appearing in the portal with missing information or broken links.

Knowledge base

The following updates are in addition to documentation updates related to the new features and changes in this release.

New pages

• Administrative and Billing FAQ
• Point-to-Point Overview and Technical Specifications
• Virtual Circuit Overview and Technical Specifications
• Using Postman with the PacketFabric API
• API Limits

Updates

• Port Information: Updated the Operational and Administrative status definitions for clarity.