(ATE) A new version of ASHNET2.DLL (2.0.202) replaces the previous implementation of the OpenSSH protocol, adding support for client-initiated keep alive (more about that below), as well as fixing a number of internal issues, including the fact that the previous version crashed when executing the UNIX "su" command.
The new version also supports an abort option dialog while waiting for the connection. This allows you to cancel the operation instead of having to wait for it to time out.
This variation of SSH is now the preferred one in all cases. To activate it, check the "OpenSSH" box in the ATE configuration dialog Transport panel. To confirm that you are using it, the About box now indicates whether you are using ASHNET or ASHNET2 and the version.
Compatibility note: The new ASHNET2.DLL requires ASHW32.EXE edit 1215 or higher; otherwise, it will complain. The old ASHNET2.DLL will work with newer or older copies of ASHW32.EXE, but is no longer recommended.
Background Note: Originally, the only SSH option supported by ATE was the "TUNNEL", based on a proprietary COM implementation of SSH in wodTunnel.dll. That option continues to work well, but suffers from the complexities and other disadvantages of a tunnel versus a direct SSH transport. In 5.1.1148, we added a direct SSH option, based on another proprietary SSH library which was packaged into ASHNET.DLL. That option also works fairly well, but is known to drop the connection in response to certain communication errors, for which we've been unable to find any solution. This led to the introduction of another direct SSH option, this one based on the open source OpenSSH project, and packaged in ASHNET2.DLL. It seemed to solve the problem of the spurious dropped connections, but was missing a Keep Alive option and crashed when executing the UNIX "su" command. Since this new implementation solves both those problems, unless we discover something unexpected in the course of field testing, we'll probably drop the previous direct SSH option entirely.
