Informacje o wydaniu

This chapter contains information on changes in different Veyon release series. You should read them carefully before upgrading from an older version of Veyon. If not migrated properly, using newer versions of Veyon with old settings in the worst case can lead to security issues such as misbehaving access control rules.

Release notes for the individual releases can be found at the Veyon releases page.

Aktualizacja konfiguracji

Due to changes in Veyon and its plugins it may happen that both configuration keys and values change between the release series of Veyon. In general Veyon has builtin mechanisms to read old configuration keys and values and migrate them internally at runtime. This ensures that Veyon keeps running normally after upgrading the software only. It is still highly recommended to always upgrade the Veyon configuration stored in the system. This can be done in two ways:

1. Open Veyon Configurator and click the Apply button to save and apply the runtime-migrated configuration permanently.

2. Use the Interfejs linii komend to upgrade the configuration through the upgrade command of the config module.

If not using the second method in an automated manner on all computers, the upgraded configuration needs to be exported to all other computers afterwards.

If configuration keys are renamed, the old keys are always kept for compatibility reasons allowing to switch back to a previous version more easily. There’ll be a clean up mechanism in a future release which will remove all legacy configuration keys.

Veyon 4.8

Przegląd

Veyon 4.8 introduces image quality control mechanisms to better meet bandwidth contraints, especially in Wi-Fi networks. A static image quality can now be configured for monitoring mode and remote access views. The demo server controls the image quality dynamically based on the used bandwidth between two key frames and the configured bandwidth limit.

The Windows version of Veyon is now based on the latest Qt 6.5 framework as well as OpenSSL 3 and UltraVNC 1.4.2.0. Also the build environment has been updated to Debian 11 (i.e. GCC 10 and MinGW runtime 8). This allowed us to enable Link Time Optimization (LTO) resulting in better overall performance.

Zmiany strukturalne

The WebAPI has been changed such that the /api/v1/user endpoint does not return the session ID any longer. Instead the new /api/v1/session endpoint should be used which also provides additional information about the session.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

No configuration keys have been changed or renamed in Veyon 4.8.

Veyon 4.7

Przegląd

Veyon 4.7 is the last minor release series of Veyon 4. One of the most long-awaited features is certainly the new screen selection menu in the remote access window. Also the overall performance and responsiveness has been improved thanks to a revised mechanism for sending and receiving control messages. Besides that, several issues from previous versions have been resolved.

• Core

  • Fixed binary compatibility issues between different versions of LibVNCServer/LibVNCClient.

  • Messages in log files (especially debug messages) are now much more human readable.

• Dodatki

  • Demo: Screens in the Demo menu are now displayed with their actual hardware name and connector type/index.

  • LDAP: Fixed querying members of a group when the nested groups option is enabled.

  • TextMessage: Students can now select and copy the text message or parts of it.

  • TextMessage: Rich text (i.e. formatted text including hyperlinks) can now be entered and sent to students.

  • RemoteAccess: For remote computers with multiple screens, a button with a screen selection menu has been added.

  • RemoteAccess: The login name of the remote user is shown in the window title, if the full name is not available.

  • WebAPI: The header field lookup (e.g. for the connection UID) is now case insensitive.

• Linux

  • The parameter order for the ping utility has been improved.

  • Issues regarding the session identification have been fixed, solving various issues when running veyon-server manually e.g. via autostart entries.

• Master

  • A regression in Veyon 4.6.0 has been fixed to make the computer and user search case insensitive again.

  • Control messages between computers are now sent asynchronously which improves performance and responsiveness while reducing the CPU load.

  • When closing the program, it now stops all features on the student computers and waits until all corresponding control messages have been sent.

  • A new filter button has been added to show computers with logged on users only.

  • The dialog for confirming actions such as powering off computers only emphasizes ALL computers if all computers are selected.

  • If available, the full name of the user is now preferred in the tooltip.

• Serwer

  • Server-side framebuffer update rate control has been added which improves performance and responsive.

• Windows

  • Added an explicit initialization of the WinSock layer to prevent networking issues.

  • The service control has been made more resilient.

  • The Windows ICMP API is now used to ping computers in favor of calling the external ping utility.

  • Several 3rdparty libraries have been updated (Qt 5.12.12 snapshot, TurboJPEG 2.1.2, OpenLDAP 2.5.10 snapshot)

Even though there have been changes to the core and networking layer, there’s only a small to medium risk for regressions, since most of the features haven’t been touched. To benefit from the performance improvements, both teacher and student computers should be upgraded to Veyon 4.7.

Since the underlying LDAP library has been updated, users of Veyon’s LDAP backend should test if Veyon 4.7 is able to retrieve all relevant information from your LDAP/AD server as usual.

Zmiany strukturalne

There are no structural changes in Veyon 4.7.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

No configuration keys have been changed or renamed in Veyon 4.7.

Veyon 4.6

Przegląd

Most notably in Veyon 4.6 the remote access module has been redesigned to reuse the computer connection of the main window. This way users get instant access to computers when starting the remote control or view feature and no longer have to wait until the connection has been established (which could take up to several seconds). Also users can now press and hold the left mouse button on a computer. This shows the computer’s screen in fullscreen and realtime until the mouse button is released again. Veyon CLI gained two new modules for managing plugins and features. This allows starting and stopping Veyon features remotely on the command line, e.g. for scripting and automation tasks. On Linux the Veyon Service component has been greatly improved to start and stop Veyon Server instances more reliably on session changes (user logon/logoff etc.). In addition to the existing single and multi session modes, there’s now a new active session mode on Windows which starts a single Veyon Server instance for the currently active local or remote session. This is very useful for environments in which some students are logged in locally while others access unoccupied computers via RDP from home.

Since mostly only a few specific modules have been changed or enhanced, there’s a rather low risk for regressions in general. Especially Linux users are advised to upgrade soon to solve problems with the Veyon Service.

• Core

  • Protocol errors during the initial authentication phase are handled more reliably. This fixes problems when connecting to incompatible servers accidentally.

• CLI

  • The plugin and feature modules have been added.

  • The config and shell plugins have been integrated as static modules.

• Dodatki

  • Demo: The visual feedback when (re-)connecting has been redesigned.

  • DesktopServices: The Run program feature has been renamed to Start application.

  • RemoteAccess: The visual feedback when (re-)connecting has been redesigned.

  • RemoteAccess: The computer connection of the main window is reused if available resulting in immediate access to the remote computer.

  • RemoteAccess: The remote cursor is no longer used in view only mode to prevent occasionally observed render artifacts.

  • UserSessionControl: Non-user sessions (such as display manager/login screen sessions) are no longer terminated by the user logoff feature.

  • WebAPI: An error code has been added to report protocol errors occuring while connecting to the Veyon Server.

  • WebAPI: The connection limit is enforced at the HTTP server level already to properly report the connection limit reached error instead of timing out.

  • WebAPI: Skip ping for hosts which no connection could be established to. This allows using a higher connection limit on Linux when the number of open file descriptors is limited.

• Linux

  • SHM support is being detected more reliably.

  • Logging off users is now initiated properly through the environment-specific session manager while systemd-logind is used as fallback only. This fixes the display manager (especially GDM3) not being shown again after logoff.

  • Reboot and power down via systemd-logind has been improved while the environment-specific session manager is used as fallback only. The reboot and poweroff binaries are not used any longer.

• Master

  • In addition to the hostname, the computer display name is shown in the tooltip of a computer.

  • A computer’s screen is shown in fullscreen and realtime while pressing and holding the left mouse button on a computer.

  • For Linux clients, [no user] is displayed as the user name instead of the name of the display manager user.

• Serwer

  • Hostnames of connected computers (shown in the tooltip of the tray icon) are now reverse resolved in background to keep connections responsive.

• Windows

  • The 3rdparty component UltraVNC has been updated to the latest version.

  • The new Active session mode has been implemented.

  • Querying local and domain user groups has been improved to share more code in common and log more details in case of errors.

  • The Veyon Service additionally depends on the LanmanWorkstation and LSM services to improve reliability on start.

  • Several 3rdparty libraries have been updated (Qt 5.12.11 snapshot, OpenSSL 1.1.1l, TurboJPEG 2.1.1)

Zmiany strukturalne

In Veyon 4.6 the Run program feature has been renamed to Start application but works identically.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

One configuration key has been renamed in Veyon 4.6. When upgrading to Veyon 4.6 or newer this new configuration key will be populated with the value of the old key automatically.

Poprzednia nazwa	Nowa nazwa
DesktopServices/PredefinedPrograms	DesktopServices/PredefinedApplications

Veyon 4.5

Przegląd

Veyon 4.5 is the release series with the most changes since Veyon 4.0. Most notably, Veyon 4.5 includes a new WebAPI plugin which allows accessing computers by 3rdparty products via HTTP. Veyon Master introduces the new monitoring panels Slideshow and Spotlight. The demo mode has been greatly extended and improved. It’s now possible to share a student’s screen instead of the own screen easily. In environments where multiple monitors are connected to the computer running Veyon Master, the user can now choose to share a specific monitor only. Moreover, the performance and responsiveness of the demo mode is much better thanks to the demo server now being multithreaded. At the same time Veyon 4.5 focuses on application and desktop virtualization environments by delivering extended and improved multi session support. Additionally various compatibility issues on Linux have been fixed and the file transfer plugin received a configuration page.

• Core

  • The feature plugin API has been revised.

  • The invocation of worker processes and communication with them has been improved, resulting in increased reliability of certain Veyon features such as the demo mode.

  • Session IDs are now managed internally. This allows reusing a session ID after a user session has been closed. RDP session IDs (which are increased continuously) are no longer used for calculating server port numbers.

• Konfigurator

  • Several parts of the user interface have been improved.

  • Settings for new Veyon Master features have been added.

• Dodatki

  • Demo: The server has been refactored to be multithreaded which improves performance and responsiveness especially with many clients.

  • Demo: A feature has been added to share a user’s screen instead of the own one.

  • Demo: The modes (window/fullscreen) have been made subfeatures displayed in a drop down menu.

  • Demo: A feature has been added to share only one of multiple own screens.

  • FileTransfer: A configuration page has been added allowing to configure source and destination folders.

  • RemoteAccess: The username is now displayed in the window title.

  • WebAPI: Added a new plugin offering a RESTful API for accessing Veyon Server instances.

• Linux

  • The reboot/poweroff functions now prefer using systemd-logind.

  • The reboot/poweroff functions now look for binaries in /sbin and /usr/sbin if they are not in the PATH environment variable.

  • The user session management code has been improved to start Veyon Server more reliably.

  • The screenlock feature is now working properly with most desktop environments.

• Master

  • The new Slideshow panel cycles through all computers and shows a magnified view of each computer for a short time.

  • The new Spotlight panel shows one or multiple computers in realtime. This allows keeping an eye on users requiring special attention.

  • The size of computer icons is now always adjusted automatically whenever the panel is resized or computers are added or removed.

  • States and sizes of panels are now saved when closing the program and restored upon the next start.

  • The aspect ratio of computer icons is now adjusted to the original screen sizes.

• Serwer

  • A notification is now shown for both incomplete and failed authentication attempts.

  • Support for external VNC servers without any authentication/password configured has been added.

• Windows

  • The Interception driver is now disabled in multi session mode to prevent issues with hanging RDP sessions.

  • The 3rdparty component UltraVNC has been updated to the latest version.

  • Several 3rdparty libraries have been updated (Qt 5.12.11 snapshot, OpenLDAP 2.4.56, OpenSSL 1.1.1h)

Due to the large number of changes, there’s a medium risk for regressions. Therefore especially the initial release (v4.5.0) should be tested thoroughly before deploying.

Zmiany strukturalne

There are no structural changes in Veyon 4.5.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

Several configuration keys have been renamed in Veyon 4.5. When upgrading to Veyon 4.5 or newer the new configuration keys will be populated with the value of the old keys automatically.

Poprzednia nazwa	Nowa nazwa
Network/PrimaryServicePort	Network/VeyonServerPort
Master/AutoAdjustGridSize	Master/AutoAdjustIconSize
Master/LocalComputerHidden	Master/HideLocalComputer
Master/ComputerFilterHidden	Master/HideComputerFilter

Veyon 4.4

Przegląd

Veyon 4.4 is mostly identical to Veyon 4.3. The most notable change is the updated VNC and networking stack which provides even better reliability. As a result Veyon 4.4 uses slightly different techniques and settings when establishing connections to client computers, so the new version should be tested thoroughly before deployment. Apart from this, the risk of regressions is very low.

Zmiany strukturalne

There are no structural changes in Veyon 4.4.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

No configuration keys have been changed or renamed. Various internal settings of the VNC and networking stack (such as timeouts and intervals) are now configurable at the command line for debugging and tuning purposes.

Veyon 4.3

Przegląd

Veyon 4.3 is mostly identical to Veyon 4.2. A new plugin has been added which allows logging in a particular user remotely on all computers. The config CLI module has been improved to handle specific data types (such as JSON data and option indices) more intelligently. Upgrading to Veyon 4.3 does not require any configuration changes. Since only a new plugin has been added and some commands of the config CLI module have been extended the risk of regressions is very low.

Zmiany strukturalne

W Veyon 4.3 nie ma zmian strukturalnych.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

No configuration keys have been changed or renamed. The only new configuration keys are directly related to the new remote log in feature and usually do not have to be changed.

Veyon 4.2

Przegląd

Veyon 4.2 continues the Veyon 4 major release series with many internal modernizations, user interface optimizations and performance improvements in many areas. Veyon 4.2 lays the foundation for commercial add-ons offered starting in the second half of 2019. The following new features and improvements can be found in Veyon 4.2:

• Core

  • The network object management layer has been revised to allow using multi-level hierarchies in commercial add-ons.

  • The automatic detection of user interface language in some countries has been improved (e.g. use German in Austria or Switzerland).

  • Context information in log messages have been improved.

• Master

  • The computer sort order can now be configured.

  • The internal data models have been improved leading to more stability and reliability.

  • The connection and message handling has been improved to reduce latencies.

• Konfigurator

  • New view modes „Standard” and „Advanced” have been added.

  • Dodano funkcję testu uwierzytelnienia.

• Dodatki

  • The new file transfer plugin allows sending files to all users and open them automatically if requested.

  • Wake-on-LAN can be used in the CLI via the power module.

  • The builtin network object directory gained support for importing CSV files with a type column.

  • Funkcja wyłączania obsługuje dodatkowe opcje instalowania aktualizacji, potwierdzania wyłączania lub wyłączania po upływie limitu czasu.

  • Użytkownicy mogą teraz dodawać własne programy i strony internetowe do odpowiedniego menu.

  • Aktualizacje miniatur można spowolnić, gdy aktywny jest tryb demo. Poprawia to wydajność i zmniejsza ruch w sieci.

• LDAP

  • Do stron konfiguracji dodano przyciski przeglądania.

  • Dodano nowy atrybut wyświetlanej nazwy komputera.

  • Computer attribute queries have been optimized to decrease load on the LDAP/AD server.

  • Computer location queries used by access control have been fixed if containers/OUs are used as locations.

  • Poprawiono komunikaty wyników testów integracyjnych.

• Linux

  • Dodano stronę konfiguracji z ustawieniami specyficznymi dla platformy.

  • The PAM service login instead of su is now used to authenticate users.

  • Support for using a custom PAM service such as veyon has been added.

• Windows

  • Dodano stronę konfiguracji z ustawieniami specyficznymi dla platformy.

  • Platform-specific network code has been improved for more reliable network connections.

  • An alternative authentication mechanism has been added for cases where the SSPI-based mechanism does not work.

  • The screen lock feature can now disable and hide the taskbar, start button and start menu.

  • The underlying Qt framework has been updated to the LTS version 5.12 leading to better Windows 10 support.

  • Performance and security of the builtin UltraVNC server have been improved.

Zmiany strukturalne

Starting with Veyon 4.2 the more generic term location instead of room is used wherever appropriate. This affects both the user interface and configuration key names. The wording has been changed to better reflect where computers are located in multi-level hierarchies.

In Veyon 4.2 the command line utility has been renamed to veyon-cli. All occurrences of the old name veyon-ctl in your scripts and installation routines have to be replaced accordingly. On Windows there’s also a new non-console version veyon-wcli which allows automating tasks without irritating command line window popups.

On Linux the systemd unit has been renamed from veyon-service.service to veyon.service.

The Veyon Configurator no longer shows all configuration options per default in order to present a cleaner user interface. If you miss certain advanced options you can switch the view to Advanced through the View menu.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

Several configuration keys have been renamed in Veyon 4.2. When upgrading to Veyon 4.2 or newer the new configuration keys will be populated with the value of the old keys automatically.

Poprzednia nazwa	Nowa nazwa
Service/SoftwareSASEnabled	Windows/SoftwareSASEnabled
Master/AutoSwitchToCurrentRoom	Master/AutoSelectCurrentLocation
Master/OnlyCurrentRoomVisible	Master/ShowCurrentLocationOnly
Master/ManualRoomAdditionAllowed	Master/AllowAddingHiddenLocations
Master/EmptyRoomsHidden	Master/HideEmptyLocations
Master/OpenComputerManagementAtStart	Master/AutoOpenComputerSelectPanel
Master/ConfirmDangerousActions	Master/ConfirmUnsafeActions
LDAP/UserLoginAttribute	LDAP/UserLoginNameAttribute
LDAP/ComputerRoomMembersByAttribute	LDAP/ComputerLocationsByAttribute
LDAP/ComputerRoomMembersByContainer	LDAP/ComputerLocationsByContainer
LDAP/ComputerRoomAttribute	LDAP/ComputerLocationAttribute
LDAP/ComputerRoomNameAttribute	LDAP/LocationNameAttribute

Veyon 4.1

Przegląd

Veyon 4.1 was the first feature release series of Veyon 4. Even though not visible to the end user the most notable change is the platform support modularization, i.e. all platform-specific functions have been moved to distinct plugins. This has significantly improved the support of the individual platforms and makes it easier to support further platforms in the future. In addition to that Veyon 4.1 offers many improvements and new features compared to 4.0:

• Core

  • Wszystkie hasła w konfiguracji są obecnie szyfrowane.

  • Kod specyficzny dla platformy został przeniesiony do wtyczek platformy.

• Master

  • Komputery można teraz porządkować za pomocą przeciągania i upuszczania.

  • Dodano przycisk ukrywania wyłączonych komputerów.

  • Można teraz konfigurować interwał odświeżania, kolor tła i podpis miniatury.

• Dodatki

  • Zarządzanie kluczami uwierzytelniającymi zarówno dla Konfiguratora, jak i wiersza poleceń zostało całkowicie zmienione.

  • Komputerami i pokojami można teraz zarządzać za pomocą wiersza poleceń.

  • Komputery i sale można teraz importować z CSV i plików tekstowych.

  • Można skonfigurować wstępnie programy i strony internetowe dla „uruchom program” i „otwórz stronę internetową”.

• LDAP

  • Dodano obsługę szyfrowanych połączeń SSL / TLS.

• Linux

  • Pełna obsługa systemd

  • Mechanizmy zamykania / ponownego uruchamiania / wylogowywania sesji zostały przepisane, aby używać wywołań DBus.

• Windows

  • All builds are based on an updated toolchain with GCC 7.3, Qt 5.9 LTS and OpenSSL 1.1.

Zmiany strukturalne

As part of the changes for systemd support on Linux, in Veyon 4.1 the Veyon Service component has been split into two separate components. The Veyon Service no longer contains the actual functions to provide access to a computer. These functions have been moved into the new Veyon Server component which runs as a standalone process in user sessions. The Veyon Service now only monitors user sessions on a computer and starts Veyon Server instances within these sessions.

The LocalData plugin has been split into the BuiltinDirectory and SystemUserGroups plugins. This allows using different data sources for access control, e.g. computers from an LDAP directory in combination with local user groups. After upgrading you should verify that the appropriate network object directory and access control user groups backend are selected as desired.

Zmiany w konfiguracji

W Veyon 4.1 zmieniły się następujące elementy:

ExternalVncServer/Password

In Veyon 4.0 this key contained the unencrypted password for an external VNC server. Starting with Veyon 4.1 this password is always stored encrypted. It will be encrypted automatically when upgrading the configuration to 4.1. There’s no way to encrypt the password manually. When downgrading to 4.0 the password needs to be set explicitly again.

LDAP/BindPassword

In Veyon 4.0 this key contained the unencrypted LDAP bind password. Starting with Veyon 4.1 this password is always stored encrypted. It will be encrypted automatically when upgrading the configuration to 4.1. There’s no way to encrypt the password manually. When downgrading to 4.0 the password needs to be set explicitly again.

LDAP/UsersFilter, LDAP/UserGroupsFilter, LDAP/ComputersFilter, LDAP/ComputerGroupsFilter, LDAP/ComputerContainersFilter

Veyon 4.0 used a non-standard syntax for LDAP filters. This has been fixed in Veyon 4.1 where all filter expressions must be placed in parentheses. The expressions will be adjusted automatically when upgrading the configuration to 4.1.

BuiltinDirectory/NetworkObjects

In Veyon 4.0 the builtin network object directory was provided by a different plugin. Starting with Veyon 4.1 locations and computers are stored in BuiltinDirectory/NetworkObjects instead of LocalData/NetworkObjects.

Veyon 4.0

Veyon 4.0 was the first release series of Veyon 4, the successor of iTALC. It features a modular architecture, a rewritten Master application and LDAP/AD support. As of December 2018 the Veyon 4.0.x series is marked end-of-life and will not receive updates any longer.