ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 7.1

INTRODUCTION

ActiveXperts Network Monitor 7.1 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 2008/Vista/2003/2000/XP platforms. The ActiveXperts Network Monitor 7.1 configuration database is compatible with all previous versions of the product.

WHAT'S NEW IN ACTIVEXPERTS NETWORK MONITOR 7.1

- Checks (Generic) -

• You can now specify how to handle 'uncertain' results for each individual check. In previous version of Network monitor, it could only be set at a global level, for all checks
• You can now inverse the result of a check. This applies to all check types. For instance, one may PING a server to check its availability (i.e., a successful PING means: success), where others may want to make sure that a server is offline (i.e. a failed PING means: success).
• You can now view the result history for each check by choosing 'View Result History' from the check's context menu.

- New built-in checks -

• New Anti-Virus/Anti-Spam checks - a few new Anti-Virus/Anti-Spam packages/releases are supported, including the following:
  
  • McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009
  • Norton Internet Security 2009
  • Norton Anti Virus 2009
  • Trend Micro Internet Security 2009
  • Panda Internet Security 2009
  • Panda Anti Virus 2009
• New Environmental checks - in ActiveXperts Network Monitor v.7.1., the following new environmental checks are included:
  
  • Power
  • Light
  • Motion
  • Smoke
  • Door
  • Resistance
  • Switch (NC)
  • Switch (NO)

  For all of the above checks, a Senturion Environmental Monitor (manufactured by Sensatronics LLC) is required.

• New MSMQ (Microsoft Message Queue) check - this new check allows user to monitor the maximum length and/or maximum size of an MSMQ queue.
• New Serial Device check - this is a new check. The serial device check has the ability to query a device connected to the serial port of the monitoring server. The result of the check depends on the response of the serial device. USB devices that ship with a serial device driver (like most USB modems) are also supported.
• New SNMP Receive check - a new check to receive SNMP Traps; send notifications to the administrator(s) based on the content of the received SNMP trap. Log all received traps in an OLE-DB compliant database (e.g. MS Access, MS SQL, MySQL)
• New SSH check - a new check to run SSH script on a (remote) UNIX/LINUX machine. StdOut and/or StdErr determine the result of the check (success or error). Previous versions of Network Monitor only supported the unsecure RSH (Remote Shell) protocol.

- Enhanced Built-in checks -

• Directory check - You can now monitor a directory change. As soon as a directory changes (i.e. the number of files change, or a file changes), you get a notification. Another enhancement to the Directory check is the ability to select MB and GB as unit of measurement. In previous versions of Network Monitor, only MB could be used.
• Disk Space check - You can now select MB, GB and % as unit of measurement. In previous versions of Network Monitor, only MB could be used
• Memory check - You can now select check on Available Memory, Committed Bytes and Pages/Second. In previous versions of Network Monitor, only Available Memory could be checked
• RSH check - The RSH check is not based on pattern matching anymore. Instead, the result is determined by a keyword ('success','error','uncertain') on the LINUX/UNIX machine. The RSH checks already defined in previous versions of Netork Monitor need to be recreated
• Process check - You can now monitor a server for any process consuming too much memory (e.g. any process consuming more than 200 MB of RAM). In previous version of Network Monitor, you could only monitor a pre-defined process
• SNMP Get - the 'SNMP Get' check now supports the use of MIB files, to allow users to enter alpha-numeric OID's. Load a MIB file to select your alphanumeric OID. Type and syntax are automatically extracted from the MIB database;
• SNMP Get - there's now type checking in the Manager's configuration dialog, to prevent users from checking against an incompatible data type.

- VBScript -

• It is now much easier to test a VBScript check from the command line, isolated from Network Monitor. There's code for it included in all VBScript files, to call a particular function. The statement to call the function is commented out by default. By removing the comments, you can call a function from the command line (i.e. CSCRIPT.EXE) or by double clicking on the VBScript file using the Windows Explorer.

- Notifications -

• New SMS/HTTP protocol - the new SMS/HTTP protocol allows you to send SMS alerts through an SMS/HTTP compliant SMS provider. Users can make use of the ActiveXperts SMS Gateway (smpp.activexperts-labs.com:2775) to test this functionality.
• Notification Groups - in previous versions of Network Monitor, the maximum number of distribution groups was limited to 24. Now, you can define an unlimited number of distribution groups. This applies to e-mail notifications, SMS notifications, Pager notifications, SNMP notifications and Network Popup notifications.
• SNMP Trap Notifications - SNMP Trap Notifications now supports the use of MIB files, to allow users to enter alpha-numeric OID's. Load a MIB file to select your alphanumeric OID. Type and syntax are automatically extracted from the MIB database.

- Manager application -

• You can now view the 'Result History' for each check, so you can see instantly what happened to the check in the last few hours/days. In previous versions of Network Monitor, this could only be achieved by creating a new report.
• A few minor changes were made to make the Manager easier to use and more intuitive.

- 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).

- Reports -

• The Availability Reports do not make use of image files anymore; an Availability Report is now only just one file, which makes it easier to send it as an attachment via e-mail

- Miscellaneous -

• You can now clear a failure manually: select a failed check in the Manager and choose 'Clear Failure' from the context menu.
• A selection of Diagnostic Tools is included, for troubleshooting purposes.
• Support for more Sensatronics enviromental devices. Previous versions of Network Monitor already included support for the following Sensatronics models: EM1, E16, E8, E4, CM16. Network Monitor now also supports the Senturion, U16 and U4 models.

BUG FIXES

• Directory check - if a directory had a file > 4 GB, the directory size was showing a completely wrong value. This has been fixed in v.7.1
• SNMP Get check - OID's with an empty value were reported as: "Unable to establish an SNMP connection. Check if the SNMP service is running on both monitoring and monitored host". Now, there's an empty value reported, as it should be.
• The 'Delete Function' command in the 'VBScript Check' setup dialog of the Manager application was not working in previous versions of Network Monitor. This has been fixed in v.7.1;
• In previous versions of Network Monitor, the 'Service Restart' action only worked for services that were specified by its short name (i.e. its registry key name). It now also works for service 'full' display names.

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.

Important Note: VBScript checks created with a previous version of Network Monitor need a small modification.

The following line must be inserted in the file, after the '

Option Explicit

Dim SYSDATA, SYSEXPLANATION

Without this statement, the checks written with a previous version of Network Monitor will all produce an 'Uncertain' result because of a syntax error in the script.