ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 Release Notes

ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 2017
Release Date: January 6 2017

  Introduction
  Download
  What's new in ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017
  Installation and Upgrade

INTRODUCTION

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 is the latest version of the ActiveXperts Network Monitor product.
The mission of the product is to maximize the reliability of your production servers and applications through the automatic detection and correction of problems and issues.
The product runs as a service on Windows 2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/2003/10/8/7/Vista/XP x86/x64 platforms.
The ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 can import any configuration database created with a previous version of the product.

DOWNLOAD

Click on the link below to download ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017. It offers a 64-bit installation (AxMonitorSetup64.exe) and a 32-bit installation (AxMonitorSetup32.exe). Download here:
www.activexperts.com/download

WHAT'S NEW IN ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 2017

- Free License -

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 offers a free limited-checks license. With this free license, small companies have the possibility to professionally monitor their network for free. Up to 25 checks can be processed simultaneously. There's no functional limitation other than the limited number of checks.

- Compatible with Windows Server 2016 -

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 meets Microsoft standards for compatibility and recommended practices with the Windows Server 2016 operating system.

- Licensing -

Licensing has changed. The licensing options are now based on the number of checks defined in the software. Licensing is still perpetual, which means that a license is paid only once and does not need to be renewed annually.
A full functioning free limited-checks license is offered for small companies (see above).
FIX: In previous versions of ActiveXperts Network Monitor, some customers had problems storing the license key or activation code. This was a permissions problems and has been solved in v.2017.

- Installation -

FIX: ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 runs on Windows 2003 (v.2016 didn't). Despite the fact that Windows 2003 is not supported by Microsoft anymore, a fix was made to continue supporting ActiveXperts on Windows 2003.

- Manager -

FIX: In previous versions of Network Monitor, saving the Performance Settings (i.e. number of threads) sometimes failed. This was due to the fact that these settings were stored in the Registry without having full permissions on the particular hive. In v.2017, Performance Settings are stored in the data folder of the program.
FIX: In previous versions of Network Monitor, the License Key and Activation Code could sometimes not be saved due to Registry permissions restrictions. In v.2017, the License Key and Activation Code are stored in the data folder of the program.
FIX: In previous versions of Network Monitor, the Import Wizard was launched each time the Manager was started. This happened sometimes at a few customers, depending on the configuration. This has been fixed.

- Antivirus and Internet Security Suite updates 2017 -

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 supports the latest 2017 Antivirus- and Internet Security Suites, including avast!, AVG, Avira, BitDefender, BullGuard, ESET, F-Secure, G Data, Kaspersky, K7, McAfee, Panda, Trend Micro, VIPRE and ZoneAlarm

- Certificates check -

You can now monitor the expiration date of Windows Certificates.

- Disk Size check -

In previous versions of Network Monitor, the Disk Size check was not based on WMI but on a custom implementation. In v.2017, the Disk Size check is based on WMI, making the check more compatible with various Windows versions. In addition, Disk Size scripts (.ps1 and .vbs) are improved.

- MS Dynamics AX check -

You can now monitor the latest version of MS Dynamics AX - version 2012R3 - using the new Dynamics AX 2012R3 check. This check also has a VBScript and PowerShell equivalent, so it can be fully customized. Dynamics AX 2012R2 is still supported.

- MS IIS Server check -

You can now monitor the status of IIS application pools, to see if they are (all) running.
You can now monitor the latest version of MS Internet Information Server - version 10. This check also has a VBScript and PowerShell equivalent, so it can be fully customized. IIS 10 is part of Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. IIS 8.5, IIS 8.0. IIS 7.5, IIS 7.0, IIS 6 and IIS 5 are still supported.

- MS SharePoint check -

You can now monitor the latest version of MS SharePoint Server - version 2016. This check also has a VBScript and PowerShell equivalent, so it can be fully customized. SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2003 are still supported.

- MS SQL Server check -

You can now monitor the latest version of MS SQL Server - version 2016. This check also has a VBScript and PowerShell equivalent, so it can be fully customized. SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server Express are still supported.

- Process check -

FIX: The CPU monitoring part of the Process check was sometimes giving odd results, depending on the number of (virtual) CPU's. This has been fixed.

- SNMP Trap Receiver check check -

FIX: Filtering of OID's was not working in v.2016 and lower. All OID's where accepted regardless of the OID filter. This has been fixed.

- SSH check -

In previous versions of Network Monitor, SSH scripts were processed one by one. The SSH implementation allowed only SSH thread (sub-process) simultaneously. In v.2017, up to 8 simultaneous SSH scripts are processed by 8 concurrent SSH threads.
All SSH scripts are rewritten from scratch, in order to have maximum compatibility with various Linux distributions. Also, new SSH scripts are included.
Time-out for SSH connection is now configurable. This is extremely useful for Linux hosts that require reverse DNS verification (usually takes 30 seconds if reverse DNS record is not in DNS).
Time-out for SCP script copy action is now configurable.
FIX: Some Linux hosts reported an error while processing an SSH script: "Error #22492: Unhandled exception occurred while executing SSH script". This has been fixed.

- Windows Update check -

You can now monitor the Windows Update status of a Windows computer. This check also has a VBScript and PowerShell equivalent, so it can be fully customized.

- Backup -

FIX: In previous versions of Network Monitor, the Auto-Backup function could not be disabled. This was a bug in the GUI and has been fixed.

- Logging -

FIX: In ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2016, restoring the log database (.sdf) file failed in case where SQL Compact Edition logging was used. This has been fixed. The problem did not happen in configurations using ASCII (.txt) logging, MS SQL Server logging or MySQL logging.

- Notifications -

You can now assign an Office365 SMTP server as your outgoing mail server to send out e-mail alerts. You need a valid Office365 account at Microsoft.
FIX: In previous versions of Network Monitor, e-mail and SMS alerts were sometimes delayed in the situation where lots of data was written to the Statistical Database. This was caused by congestion in the internal message queue. This has been fixed; ActiveXperts now uses a separate message queue for its e-mail and SMS alerts.

- SMS Notifications -

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2017 now bundles with a new GSM modem: a 3G based Cinterion EHS6 modem. Previous bundle offered a 2G based Cinterion modem, but since 2G will close down in various countries in the upcoming years, this 3G based modem is good alternative.

- Web Interface -

FIX: In v.2016, deleting web views didn't work. This has been fixed in v.2017.

- Reports and Graphs -

The Report and Graphs Configuration program doesn't stall anymore when connectinging to a database takes long (i.e. a few seconds or more). In previous version, the windows was frozen for a few seconds up to half a minute in situations where the database was offline or corrupted.
You can now configure the logging rate for the Graphing module. In previous versions, a graph entry was written to the database with every checks' state change, and once every 5 minutes. Now, 5 minutes is the default, but if the database grows fast, or if you don't need that level of detail, you can increase the value.

INSTALLATION AND UPGRADE

- Installation -

To learn more about installing the product for the first time, please read our manual.

- Upgrade -

Upgrading from a previous version should be done in the following way:

Make a backup of the current configuration - although not really necessary, it's a good practice to do so. Use the Manager's Export command to make the backup;
Make a backup of all custom VBScript scripts - if any. Use the Windows Explorer to make the backup;
Uninstall all 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor Manager' application on the PCs that have the Manager application installed. Use the 'Add/Remove Programs' applet in the Control Panel to start the Uninstall;
Uninstall the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor' software on the monitoring server. Use the 'Add/Remove Programs' applet in the Control Panel to start the Uninstall;
Reboot the monitoring server;
Install the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor' software on the monitoring server;
Launch the Manager application, and choose 'Restore Configuration' from the 'File menu'. Select the version of the previous configuration file, and then select the configuration file (named CONFIG.SDF, CONFIG.MDB or CONFIG.AMF);
Optionally, install the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor Manager' application on the PCs of the operators.