The Assent Networking Support Team enthusiastically provides its considerable expertise in supporting the growing ranks of traders who utilize our secure remote trading platform.
For purposes of this support page, the content presented below is applicable to remote traders. Those trading in an Assent office are encouraged to confer with their branch network administrator for assistance.
Assent LLC continues to maintain a sharp focus on ensuring that our infrastructure remains world - class. We're constantly improving our infrastructure and adding layers of redundancies in each component of our secure, extremely powerful, latency minimized network.
A Primer on SSL
Assent utilizes the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, originally designed by Netscape Communications Corporation to provide secure communications on the Internet. By using SSL, questions and concerns about which browser you're using or what firewall settings you may have largely become moot points. Simply stated, SSL does three things:
* SSL authenticates or ensures that the server you've connected to is the purportedly correct one.
* Second, SSL creates a secure communications channel by encrypting all packets in transit between a remote trader's computer and our servers.
* As well, SSL creates a cryptographic checksum to ensure data integrity. (The checksum provides a count of the number of bytes in a document, or message packet. With SSL, the checksum is encrypted so it can't be modified. If a message is not received in its entirety, it's rejected and another copy of the message is sent automatically.)
Our SSL infrastructure is dynamically load balanced which allows us to seamlessly maintain secure, high speed connections with our remote traders in the infrequent event that one of the SSL servers momentarily goes off line. We regularly carry out maintenance on each of these servers to keep them performing at optimal levels. All data that is passed between remote traders and Assent is encrypted at multiple levels.
Troubleshooting the F5 SSL Software
Click to download a pdf detailing some of the more commonly encountered issues with the F5 SSL client and their respective solutions:
F5 FAQ 
Internet Connections Overview
Although there are several means of connecting to Assent's trading platform from the Internet, the emphasis on latency minimization rules out the use of dial - up, satellite and ISDN modes. More practical and realistic choices include DSL, cable modems and dedicated lines such as T-1's and T-3's.
DSL is an acronym for a digital subscriber line. DSL runs through copper telephone wire and typically ranges in speeds from 256 kbs to 1.5 Mbps. A DSL connection is a dedicated connection and is not shared with other voice, video or data traffic.
Cable Modems provide a very fast Internet connection with speeds typically ranging from 1.5 - 3.0 Mbps. Because of the variable size of the bandwidth connection provided, cable modems can be very good for downloading sizable files. However, because a cable modem is a shared connection, the bandwidth performance can be impacted by multiple users all simultaneously trying to connect through that same cable modem. Thus, we do NOT recommend that multiple traders share the same cable modem.
Dedicated Circuits, Such as T - 1's typically provide fast dedicated connections. Trading groups who trade remotely may find that they need multiple T -1's. All the major carriers offer dedicated circuits, so check around to see which carrier offers the most competitive rates. That said, typically carriers require those who wish to subscribe to dedicated circuits to commit to minimum usage contracts.
Troubleshooting Internet Connection Issues
It sounds simplistic, but often, internet connection issues are resolved by logging off and then logging back on again. There can be router congestion, buffers and line instability issues that arise on your internet service provider's side. So, logging off and then back on again re-establishes your connection to our servers. If the issue is on our side, when you log back on again, you'll automatically be routed to a different, better performing server.
We also strongly encourage our traders to verify that their local system time is accurate. If it is not, you may likely see charts and other time sensitive data appear inaccurately. You can adjust your local system time via the Date/Time Properties window in the Control Panel of your PC.
We also encourage traders to minimize unnecessary applications that are running in the System Tray (lower right corner of your display screen, next to the current time display). Certain background applications --- Weather Bugs are a notorious example --- use substantial systems resources and will negatively impact the performance of your Internet connection. It may also be obvious, but during the course of a trading session, with large amounts of streaming market data flowing from us, that's probably not the ideal time to be downloading large music or video files.
Connection Ports Required
In order to efficiently connect to Assent's servers, you'll need to have the 443 connection port open on your computer. If you're not certain how to do this, call our Trader Support Desk at (201) 356 - 1423. You can verify that this port is open by attempting to log on to our clearing site http://www.assentclearing.com. If you can log on to this site, the 443 port is open.
A Note on Anti - Virus Software
Within our systems requirements page, we recommend that remote traders use the Symantec Anti-Virus software application as that appears to be the most compatible to the SSL software we use, which is provided by a company referred to as F5. This remote connection management software appears to be compatible with most other anti-virus software packages. If you're experiencing an issue with the way that your anti-virus application performs within our F5 remote software environment, please contact our Trade Support Desk for assistance. Microsoft's new operating system (Vista) does not perform well with the old Nortel remote connection software, which led in part to us changing vendors over to F5. If you're not using Vista and you're still experiencing an anti-virus software performance issue, then our Support Desk can walk you through some diagnostic troubleshooting measures. Should you encounter issues logging on, we suggest you temporarily disable your anti-virus software and then after you've successfully logged on, re-enable it. It's usually always a good idea to configure these anti-virus software packages for automatic updates.
Wireless Network Concerns
Speed and bandwidth requirements typically render the wireless mode of communication connectivity to our trading platform not as effective a solution as non - wireless modes. In addition, accessing our trading platform through a wireless network introduces several important security concerns. We recommend that if you do utilize a wireless network, that you exercise considerable caution. Included in our recommendations would be:
1) Use only wireless devices that meet the WPA and WPA2 certification standards (often times, during installation mode the WEP mode comes up as the first default option. Override that to the WPA or WPA2 mode)
2) Use MAC filtering to block access to unknown devices
3) Periodically change your wireless network name and encryption keys
4) Don't make your wireless network name (the SSID) known to others. Practically speaking, this is known as operating in the "closed network mode"
5) If there's ever any doubt about the security of your wireless network, immediately shut off wireless connectivity or remove the wireless network card and disable the wireless ad hoc mode, which prohibits networks that you specifically did not create from using your wireless software
6) Disable file and printer sharing capabilities
As always, our Networking Team can walk you through any questions you may have.
Hubs and Proxy Servers
Using hubs and proxy servers can result in the slowdown and/or misplacement of important data. The more direct your connection is to your internet service provider, the better. However, if you must deploy a proxy server, you should confer with our Networking Department to walk through the configuration details and other considerations you should be mindful of. Within the SSL software application, there are some settings within the Properties segment that you'll need to adjust. Please note that if you're using the CISCO VPN software, it is NOT possible to use a proxy server.
Testing the Speed and/or Quality of Your Internet Connection (via Trace Routes)
Should it become necessary to test the speed or quality of your internet connection, we'll assist you in carrying out what is referred to as a trace routes. Simply stated, these tests trace the route used to travel from your computer to our test server. There are always a certain amount of "hops" involved in completing such connections, and each hop yields results that can be further examined for latency possibilities. Among the objectives you're looking for include no packet losses.
To run a trace route test, you'll need to access an MS-DOS prompt and type tracert_d_ssl.assent.com.
To bring up the Command Prompt, click on START, then click on RUN and in the dialog box, type in the word "command" and then click "OK".
If any of the hop times are above 200ms, your connection is not optimized and should be further investigated. Start by contacting your ISP and share with them the results of the trace route you've carried out. Among other things your ISP will want to know is the name and/or IP address of the server in the line or route that reflects the underperforming connection. As we stated earlier on this page, often times, logging off your internet connection and then logging back on will resolve the issue. If these issues persist, you may want to have your line tested by your ISP for "noise" or "dropped packets". In some cases, the solution may end up to be switching to a different ISP.
Data Compression
To optimize the remote trading experience, we compress data down to a level that can flow to you easily and efficiently. The ANVIL client software you'll install on your computer will only retrieve from our quote servers that data that it actually needs for the task at hand. Once you have retrieved a particular symbol, it constantly records and stores the data in the event that you decide to access that same symbol again. This data compression process reduces the bandwidth required when you change symbols. That said, it's always a good idea to make sure that your watch lists and stock screening filters remain pertinent to those stocks you're interested in accessing real time data for. Our Trade Support Desk can assist you in troubleshooting any related issues.
IP Addresses
IP stands for Internet Protocol, and an IP address represents a unique address that electronic devices, such as computers, servers, printers and Internet capable mobile phones use in order to identify and communicate with other networked devices. Under certain circumstances, you will need to know what your IP address is when you're attempting to configure new devices or settings, or when we're assisting you with troubleshooting connection issues and such.
There are a number of ways to ascertain your IP address. One such method is to access the website http://www.whatismyip.com/and walk through the steps outlined.
