ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2021 Release Notes

ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 2021
Release Date: July 2 2020

  Introduction
  Download
  What's new in ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2021
  Installation and Upgrade

INTRODUCTION

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2021 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 2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/10/8/7 platforms.
ActiveXperts Network Monitor is compatible with any configuration database created with a previous version of the product.

DOWNLOAD

Click on the link below to download ActiveXperts Network Monitor 2021. 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 2021

- Web Access -

You can now install/configure ActiveXperts Web Access without Microsoft Web Server (IIS) installed. From the 'ActiveXperts Web Access Configuration Tool', you can now launch a PowerShell script that installs and configures Web Server (IIS) on your Microsoft Windows Server in one go.
Configuring Web Access is much easier now. It is easier to create a new site in Web Server (IIS), or refer to an existing site in Web Server (IIS).
ActiveXperts Web Access has many CSS style improvements and jQuery optimizations.
You can now view Graphs through through ActiveXpers Web Access. This allows you to view all monitoring data in graphs from any (mobile) device.
ActiveXperts Web Access reintroduced the XSL based custom web interface that was first introduced in v.2015. It was replaced by a jQuery-driven 'ActiveXperts Web Access' solution in v.2019.
In v.2021, the v.2015-style XSL-based Web interface is back, and run simultaneous with 'ActiveXperts Web Access'.
ActiveXperts Web Access now includes the Notes field, which is used often by customers to instruct what to do after a check failure.
Native support for Windows 2019 IIS 10.

- Configuration -

Increased number of maximum checks to 16384 per installation. Used to be 8192.
Improved Configuration Database locking.
Improved Configuration Database load time.
Configuration Database locking can now be traced. In the log file, you can now see exactly which modules wait for a lock an how long. This enables administrator to troubleshoot when there are remote clients over a slow connection, slowing down the performance of the Configuration Database.

- Configuration API -

Added a new Configuration API to enable administrators tasks programmatically
Read and modify configuration settings programmatically.
Use Powershell or VBScript code. Samples for both scrpting languages are included.
Create new checks or modify checks from the command line
Request the engine to immediate monitor a Check, or multiple Checks, or a Folder. All done from the Command Line

- Credentials -

Added option to use an Active Directory Managed Service Account as the account for the ActiveXperts Network Monitor service.
Ability to use an Active Directory Managed Service Accounts when using Altenate Credentials.
Ability to configure how Alternate Credentials should be applied by the Engine. In the Manager's Global Settings, you can now select one of the following options:
- Alternate Credentials first. Fallback to existing connection or service credentials (default).
- Alternate Credentials only. No fallback.
- Service Credentials first. Fallback to Alternate Credentials.
- Service Credentials only.

- Address Book -

Changed the group count: the global group container is no longer counted as a group.
Changed recipients property window. The recipients' group membership is now listed in the recipients property window.
A few minor improvements.

- Reports and Graphs -

Fixed the issue where Instant Reports were empty when using case sensitive database configurations (e.g. in SQL Server with server setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS instead of SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS).
Fixed the issue where the Graph module didn't plot float-number graphs in the scenario where the Windows Region Settings 'Decimal symbol' was set to ',' and the 'Digital grouping symbol' to ' '. Empty Graphs were drawn.
Fixed the issue where the Database Migration Wizard sometimes failed for non-elevated Administrators, due to a denied access to the HKLM registry hive. This has been fixed.
Added support for both ',' and '.' (interchangable) in the Graph module. That means that custom scripts can now use either symbol.
Added the ability to launch the Web Access Graph interface from the GUI Graph module.
Added support for TLS enabled databases.

- Real-Time Activity View -

Added ability to view Real-Time Activity entries in Notepad using a single mouse-click. This is perfect for long lines (over 150 characters, depending on the screen resolution) that do not fit in the Manager's Real-Time Activity Log windows. Multiple lines can be selected;
Added ability to copy entries to the Windows Clipboard. Multiple select is supported.

- Actions -

Fixed: You can now pass parameters that have blank (spaces) in it. In previous versions, the ActiveXperts script interpreter mixed it up;
Added support for Script debugging. In previous versions, scripts were just executed without reporting (syntax) errors, missing parameters etc.. Such errors are now displayed in the 'Alerting/Actions' Activity View.
Added new New Powershell Action Scripts.
Added new VBScript Action Scripts.
Added new Windows Batch Action Scripts.

- Maintenance -

Added ability yo specify your maintenance window in hours and minutes instead of hours only.
Added ability to configure how checks should be processed during maintenace: either pause the check, or else process but without alerts on failure. In previous versions, there was no way to pause checks during a maintenance window.

- SMS Alerts -

Added compatibility with all recent versions of ActiveXperts SMS Messaging Server (v.2016, v.2016R2 and v.2018), as well as all versions of Auron SMS Server (v.2018 and v.2020).

- File check -

Added built-in File Change check. In previous versions, a File Change check was only available as a VBScript and Powershell check.
Added option to configure how a File Change should be cleared: either manually, or automatically. In is configurable at a global level, for all File Change checks.

- Folder check -

Added option to configure how a Folder Change should be cleared: either manually, or automatically. In is configrable at a global level, for all Folder Change checks.

- FTPS check -

Fixed: The FTPS check sometimes reported a false error 'Hostname could not be resolved'..
Fixed: The FTPS File Existence check retrieved the full file instead of just the file size.

- HTTP check -

Added option to set a User Agent string. In previous versions, some URL's could not be checked because the ActiveXperts default User Agent string was denied.

- SSH check -

Fixed: In previous versions, the StrErr Mapping setting ('If StdErr is not empty, the result will be Uncertain/Error/Success') was not stored in the configuration. As a result, SSH based checks that had StdErr output (for instance because of a syntax error in the script) always went into an Uncertain state, regardless of the StdErr Mapping setting.
This has been fixed.
Fixed: the AppendEcho (used to determine script completion) setting was not stored in the configuration.
Fixed: On rare occassions, there was a processing error: 'Failed to execute script; Error #25600: Failed to clear SSH:STDOUT file'.
Added new working SSH samples, monitoring SSH host 'ssh.activexperts-labs.com'.
An invalid number of parameters in an SSH script, as well as invalid parameter values are now reported as StdErr, and therefore treated in the same way as syntax errors.

- Windows Batch Cmd check -

Added new 'Windows Batch Cmd' check type, to support custom check scripting in Windows Command scripting language.

- Manager -

Reduced update flickering in the Manager's Monitoring View on latest Windows 2019 server platform.
Improved performance op the Manager. Configuration is read from the database in the backgroup in a separate thread, speeding up the performance.
Added ability to select a hostname/ip from a MRU (most recently used) selection box. This saves a lot of work tpying a hostname/ip each time again.;
Added new flag in the Manager to see Folder ID's straight from the Tree-View.
Added option to paste the Hostname/IPaddress to the selected checks in the 'Paste Properties' command.
Fixed: a manual move of a Folder to a new Folder that was just created could crash the Manager application (AxNmManager.exe).
Fixed: a configuration with over 5,000 checks sometimes made the Manager crash. This has been fixed.
Fixed: a check with multiple Schedules only showed the first Schedule in the Manager, although it was as expected by the Engine.

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.