ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 7.0

INTRODUCTION

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 7.0 is the newest 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 the Windows 2003/2000/XP/NT (and also Windows Vista beta 2) platforms. The ActiveXperts Network Monitor 7.0 configuration database is compatible with all previous versions of the product.

WHAT'S NEW IN ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 7.0

- Engine -

• Improved performance and scalibility, especially when dealing with configurations with more than 1000 checks.

- Reports Module -

The new Reports Module features the following:

• Summary Reports. These reports contain reports aggregate fields, such as total up-time, total down-time etc. Aggregate fields are shown as absolute values (e.g. days, hours, minutes) as well as relative (percentage) values;
• Detailed Reports. These reports show all state changes, including reason for the state change and amount of time it remained in that particular state;
• Filters - A comprehensive range of filters which can be applied to reports ensures that your reports only return the data you require.
• A report can be run between specific dates and times, or for a specific number of days, weeks, months or years from the current date or from the previous calendar period;
• Create reports interactively (ad-hoc), from the command line or scheduled;
• Dedicated tool ('Report Configuration Tool') to define new report templates;
• Supported formats: XML, XML/XSL, HTML and CSV;
• Report distribution by e-mail. Scheduled Reports can be configured so that the report results are sent to a list of e-mail recipients once the report has been run.

- Checks (Generic) -

• Scheduling - You can now schedule a check to be scanned at a specific date and time. In previous versions of Netowrk Monitor, you can only specify a time interval.

- Built-in Checks -

• Anti-Virus check - a new check to check the version and status of your anti-virus software on any workstation or server in your network. Support for McAfee, Norton AntiVirus, NOD32, Kaspersky and Norman;
• Directory Size check - the directory size check already existed in previous versions of Network Monitor; it has now the ability to check for a minimum directory size. Previous version of Network Monitor could only check for a maximum size;
• Event Log check - Event Log check now also support filters with EventID=0. In previous versions of Network Monitor, monitoring events with ID set to 0 was not allowed. This was because an Event ID should never be 0. However, many applications use this value for the Event ID;
• HTTP check - pattern matching now has the option to check if a pattern does NOT exists (besides checking if pattern DOES exist);
• ICMP check - you can now specify the buffer length of an ICMP check (as with PING -l). Default buffer size is 32 bytes;
• MS Exchange check - the Exchange check now supports all major MS Exchange versions: 2003, 2000 and 5.x;
• MS ISA check - Network Monitor now includes a check to monitor MS ISA Servers. It supports the major MS ISA Server versions: 2004 and 2000, and allows you to monitor both caching- and firewall aspects;
• Terminal Server check - the Terminal Server now has the ability to check for the number of active- and inactive sessions. This way, you can check the number of disconnected session. It will help you maximizing Terminal Server accessibility;
• VBScript check - the VBScript check now has some advanced properties to have better control over script execution. You can configure a script time-out and specify, and configure how to deal with script errors;

- VBScript Checks -

• Anti-Virus check - a new check to check the version and status of your anti-virus software on any workstation or server in your network. Support for McAfee, Norton AntiVirus, NOD32, Kaspersky and Norman;
• RSH check - monitor a remote UNIX/LINUX machine, and customize the check.

- Notifications -

• Administrators can now enable/disable particular notification types. For instance, to enabe/disable E-mail notifications (temporarily), the Administrator can check/uncheck 'Enable SMTP notifications' from the global Notifications settings. This can be done in a similar way for SMS-, Pager-, NetBIOS- and SNMP Trap notifications;
• E-mail Notifications: Port numbers - Network Monitor now supports SMTP port numbers other than default port 25. Previous versions of Network Monitor were not able to send e-mail notifications via SMTP server listening to another port than port 25;
• E-mail Notifications: Secundary Mail Server - Version 7 now supports an alternative, secundary mail server. Although notifications can be sent through only one mail server, you can specify an alternative, secundary mail server which is used in the event of a mail server failure.
• SMS notifications: TAP/XIO - Version 7 does NOT support the TAP/XIO protocol anymore. Previous versions of Network Monitor supported this protocol to allow Network Monitor to send out SMS notifications via a dial-up connection to a TAP/XIO SMSC provider. Instead, Network Monitor v.7 now supports the faster and more reliable SMPP protocol;
• SMS notifications: SMS Messaging Server support - Network Monitor has the ability to forward outgoing SMS notifications to ActiveXperts SMS Messaging Server;
• SMS notifications: GSM modem Detection Wizard - Configuration of a GSM modem is much easier now by the introduction of a GSM modem wizard. The Network Monitor Manager automatically detects if the device is a GSM modem or not, and queries the modem to find the most optimal configuration settings for the modem;
• SMS notifications: Multi-line support - Netwokr Monitor can now send out multi-line SMS notifications;
• Pager notifications: SNPP - Version 7 now supports alpha-numeric paging via SNPP (Simple Network Paging Protocol). The product is shipped with a list of available SNPP providers, worldwide;
• Pager notifications: Modem Detection Wizard - Configuration of a hayes modem is much easier now by the introduction of a modem wizard. The Network Monitor Manager queries the modem to find the most optimal configuration settings for the modem;

- Configuration -

• The configuration of Network Monitor is now stored in an MS Access database, called CONFIG.MDB. Previous versions of Network Monitor used a plain ASCII configuration file (CONFIG/AMF). The MS Access confiration has a much better performance for large confugurations;
• The configuration of Network Monitor can be accessed by an API. The product ships with a set of API samples, written in VBScript.

- Manager application -

• The Manager has much better performance when using a large configuration (i.e. configuration with more than 1000 checks). In previous version of Network Monitor, launching the Manager with a large configuration could take more than a minute, especially when running it from a remote workstation;
• The Manager has a configurable auto-refresh. In previous version of Network Monitor, the Manager was refresing its checks view after any update.
• The Manager has a manual refresh key (F5);
• The Manager has the ability to hide/show columns from the checks view.

- Web Interface -

• You can now have a maximum of 128 Web Views. In previous versions of Network Monitor, the maximum number of Web Views was limited to 16.
• Users can now use the web interface with browsers other than Internet Explorer 5/x/6.x (for instance: FireFox or Internet Explorer 7.x).

- Miscellaneous -

• Notes variable - there's a new system variable called 'Notes'. This variable holds the 'Notes' field of the properties of a rule, and can be used in notifications;

BUG FIXES

• File check - You can now check the size of files when a file is larger than 2 GB. In previous versions of Network Monitor, the file size check showed the wrong value for files larger than 2 GB;
• ICMP check - In previous versions of Network Monitor, the ICMP check didn't work for IP devices that don't accept 0 bytes ICMP packets. Version 7 now also works with these type of devices;
• HTTP check - The HTTP check now also works with Basic Authentication. In previous version of Network Monitor, Network Monitor was not able to check a web site that required Basic Authentication;
• WMI checks on Windows XP SP1 - With previous versions of Network Monitor on a Windows XP SP1 machine, any WMI-based check using alternate credentials ended up with 'rule was blocked because of a bad operation'. The issue is fixed in v.7;
• In Read-only mode, it was still possible to create a new VBScript based rule (from the context menu of the Tree View)
• Version 7 stores all password variables encrypted. In previous versions, all passwords were stired encrypted except HTTP- and FTP passwords;
• Web Interface - In previous versions of Network Monitor, you could only use the Web Interface with Internet Explorer 5.x/6.x. In version 7, you can use any XML capable browser, including FireFox and internet Explorer 7.x;
• Reports Module - In previous versions of Network Monitor, you could only use the Reports Module with Internet Explorer 5.x/6.x. In version 7, you can use any XML capable browser, including FireFox and internet Explorer 7.x;
• VBScript Checks - In previous versions of Network Monitor, a new function was not listed in the Function selection box if the function started with a lowecase character. This has been fixed in version 7.

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 'Import Configuration' from the 'File menu'. Select the version of the previous configuration file, and then select the configuration file (named CONFIG.AMF);
• Optionally, install the 'ActiveXperts Network Monitor Manager' application on the PCs of the operators.