• Advanced Host Monitor 8.14

     New features

• New application: WatchDog
  Lets say you have installed HostMonitor on reliable server and setup thousand test items to monitor entire network (or several networks). HostMonitor will inform you in case of any problem. Unless... unless something happens to system where HostMonitor is running. WatchDog can be installed on another system and monitor HostMonitor. WatchDog can be used as interactive application that displays statistics information and charts in real-time. On the other hand, you may start WatchDog as Win32 service, setup some actions and leave it unattended.
  
  
• HostMonitor offers new test method: HM Monitor
  You may install another instance of HostMonitor on different system and use 2nd copy of HostMonitor to check your primary monitor! Also there is another good feature: primary HostMonitor may monitor backup HostMonitor so each system will monitor colleague!
  HM Monitor test method offers more that simple check: HostMonitor is on-line or not. It may monitor many parameters of HostMonitor. For example
  • it may warn you when alerts are disabled or monitoring is stopped;
  • it may show how many tests per second performed by primary monitor and start alerts if less than N tests per second were performed over period of time;
  • it may inform you that test list was modified and modifications were not stored (saved into the file);
  • it may warn you when ODBC driver (selected for ODBC logging function) uses too much time;
  • it may tell you how many actions were executed by primary monitor and how many log records were recorded;
  • and much more.
• 15 new macro variables supported by this test method. Using these variables with "Optional status processing" test property you may setup various additional alerts.

• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: Shell Script test method supports Power Shell scripts
  
  
• HostMonitor, RCC: Folder Properties dialog offers 2 new popup menu items on "Variables" page:
  - "Copy list" copies entire list of variables into clipboard
  - "Paste list" inserts list of variable from clipboard
  You may copy variables from one folder to another or create such list using any text editor.
  
  
• HostMonitor: new option "Reset Recurrences when test gets paused" located on Behavior page in the Options dialog
• HostMonitor: 2 new options for RCI logging were added on RCI page in the Options dialog
• HostMonitor: minor GUI improvements related to RCI Status form
  
  
• HostMonitor: when you start monitor in application mode it checks for another instance started in service mode (as it did before) plus it may stop service after user confirmation. Then it allows you to start service when you close application.
  
  
• Log Analyzer: "Use fixed date&time format" option applies for SQL query as well (when date filter for ODBC log is specified). However you may specify different date format for SQL by adding SQLDateFormat=<date_format> line into [FixedFormats] section of logsman.ini (e.g. this line may look like SQLDateFormat=dd-mm-yyyy)

• HostMonitor: if you specify folder related variables (like %FolderCurrent_BadTests%) as part of "master" expression for dependant test, HostMonitor could translate folder path to folder ID incorrectly. I.e. "master" expression like (%::Root\USA\Office2::FolderCurrent_BadTests% > 22) could work incorrectly. Fixed
• HostMonitor: Text Log test method could display some additional characters in Reply field when you setup "text from pos A till pos B" display mode. Fixed
• HostMonitor: if "Auto save testlist after changes" option is enabled and you apply "Reset (statistics)" command for large set of test items, HostMonitor could spend too much time performing this operation (in some cases up to minute). Fixed
• HostMonitor: if "Auto save testlist after changes" option is enabled and you change list of folder variables, HostMonitor could spend too much time performing this operation. Fixed
• Log Analyzer: could display empty string in warning dialog window instead of meaning error description while analyzing ODBC log. Fixed

• Advanced Host Monitor 8.06

     Improved tests:

• HostMonitor, Passive RMA for Windows, Active RMA for Windows and RMA for UNIX (1.28): the following test methods were improved:
  - Folder/File Size
  - File/Folder Availability
  - Count Files
  - Compare Files
  Now you may use 4 additional variables in the path to the file or folder:
  - %NewestFile%
  - %NewestFolder%
  - %OldestFile%
  - %OldestFolder%
  E.g. you may specify path like c:\%newestfolder%\%mmyy%\%newestfile%
  
  
• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: URL test: if you need to check web site that asks for client certificate but does not require it, you may setup URL test without using client certificate.
  Also if you do not see some certificates in drop down list while configuring URL test, you may use new "undocumented" option that tells HostMonitor to display all certificates without applying "client identification" filter. Just add FilterClientCertificates=0 line into [Misc] section of hostmon.ini file and restart HostMonitor.
  
  
• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: improved Shell Script test works a little faster.

• HostMonitor: HM Script action supports new command UseLinks=yes|no

• HostMonitor, RCC: minor GUI improvements
• RMA Manager: minor improvements related to "upgrade agent" procedure

• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: SSH test did not work with some SSH servers. Fixed
• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: WMI test: in some cases when you request non-default namespace test could fail.
  These problems are related to HostMonitor version 8.00-8.02 only; fixed in this release.

• Advanced Host Monitor 8.02

     Improvements:

• HostMonitor: new %SuggestedReply_Integer% variable works similar to %Reply_Integer% variable but provides information about "suggested" status. E.g. if %SuggestedReply% shows '12.01 Kb', %SuggestedReply_Integer% will return '12298'. This variable returns zero when SuggestedReply is a string that can not be converted into a number
• HostMonitor: new %FolderFullPath% variable can be used in test template
• HostMonitor, RCC: other minor improvements

• HostMonitort, RCC: Folder Properties dialog could show annoying warning message. Fixed
• HostMonitor: in some cases Trace test (performed directly by HostMonitor) could not detect changes in the route. Fixed

• Advanced Host Monitor 8.01 Beta

     The following issues were resolved

• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: in some cases %NTEventUser% variable (supported by NT Event Log test method) could not provide information about user name related to the detected event. This problem is related to all previous versions of the software.
• HostMonitor, RMA for Windows: Shell Script tests may not work well in some cases. This problem is related to HostMonitor version 8.00 only; fixed in this release.
• HostMonitor: Text Log test can lead to resource leakage. This problem is related to HostMonitor version 8.00 only; fixed in this release.

• Advanced Host Monitor 8.00 Beta

     GUI improvements (HostMonitor and RCC):

1. New User Preferences dialog allows you to setup various GUI options on per-user basis. Previous versions of HostMonitor allow you to setup default GUI setting for all operators and use different color profiles, list of test properties to display, sorting mode, etc for some specific folder(s) of the test list. Now you may set specific color palette for some folder as well, plus you may setup unique color palette and other GUI related options for each operator.
   "Per-folder" level settings may be useful when each operator has its own home folder or you want to distinguish some folder among rest of tests. New options allow you to use different GUI settings even if several users have access to the same folder (e.g. "admin", "manager 1", "manager 2" and "boss" accounts may have access to Root' folder (entire test list) but they want to use different color scheme and display different list of test properties).
   User Preferences dialog allows you to copy settings between accounts and setup <Default> account. Settings of <Default> account will be applied for each new user account, then admin or user may change its own settings. Note: you may change name of fields using <Default> account only; new name will be applied for all account.
   Use menu "User" -> "GUI preferences" to open this dialog.
   
   
2. There are 2 new permissions can be specified for each operator:
   - edit GUI options for the account
   With this option enabled operator may change GUI options for its own account only. If operator works with HostMonitor remotely using RCC, settings specified in User Preferences dialog will be stored in the profile on HostMonitor system. This allows operator to move between different remote systems, login to HostMonitor and use the same settings on any remote system. When user changes column sizes, RCC sends this information to HostMonitor as well.
   - edit GUI options for ALL accounts
   If operator with such permission opens User Preferences dialog, he will see list of user profiles and he will be able to change settings for any profile (including <Default> profile), copy settings from one profile to another and so on.
   - if operator does not have any of these rights, he cannot change GUI options using HostMonitor. He can change settings using RCC, however these changes will not be stored. Next RCC session will use settings specified for this account by admin (or another operator with necessary rights). This is useful when you want to use the same account for many operators (e.g. guest account).
   
   
3. Another new permission "view test settings (read-only)" allows operator to view test settings using Test Properties dialog. If "configure tests/folders" permission is not assigned to the operator, he will not be able to change test settings.
   
   
4. New "Select items using expression" option for Views. You may use expressions like the following to select test items you need
   ('%SimpleStatus%'=='UP') and (%Recurrences%>5)
   ('%SimpleStatus%'=='UP') and ('mail' in '%AlertProfile%')
   ('%Status%'=='Out of schedule') and ('%LastStatus%'=='Bad')
   These expressions should follow the same rules that are used for "advanced actions"
   Note: Web Service does not support such views!
   
   
5. HostMonitor calculates time used by main thread for logging and actions (does not include time used by auxiliary threads, its not so important). You may see information like the following using Info Pane
   Performed tests: 1877564 | 12.05/sec
   Performed actions: 8651 | 0.01/sec | ATC: 0.26 msec/action
   Log records: 290543 | 2.10/sec | ATC: 0.01 msec/record
   Note: to see this information you should select folder or several test items in Test Details Area. If you select single test item, you will see different information about this specific test only
   This option can be useful for investigation of some 3rd party software related problems (e.g. if ODBC driver specified for ODBC logging consumes too much time).
   
   
6. Undocumented option allows you to change titles for comment lines displayed by "Comment" dialog (it can be called from Test Properties dialog). You may add line like AlternativeCommentTitles=address;phone;admin_name;admin_e-mail into [Misc] section of hostmon.ini file and restart HostMonitor. Then Comments dialog will display "address" instead of %CommentLine1%, "phone" instead of %CommentLine2%, "admin name" instead of %CommentLine3% and so on.

7. New SSH test method. HostMonitor can connect and login to specified remote system running the SSH daemon and execute a command or shell script. This allows you to perform some tests on UNIX systems without using Remote Monitoring Agent for UNIX.
   SSH test allows you to check result of the command in 3 different ways:
     a) check for exit code (just like External test method does)
     b) check for text result (similar to Text Log test method)
     c) check for specially formatted result string (similar to Shell Script test method)
   HostMonitor may perform SSH test directly or using RMA for Windows.
   Note1: Connection Manager allows you to setup user name and password for each remote system (also you may use some default account information for all target systems)
   Note2: Software supports 3DES, AES and Blowfish encryption methods for SSHv2. If you are using old SSHv1 server, HostMonitor will use 3DES encryption only.

8. URL test method supports NTLM authentication for HTTPS servers (before you could use NTLM only for HTTP protocol)
   
9. HTTP test supports NTLM authentication as well
   
   
10. Text Log test method offers 2 new options:
    - set "Ok" status by acknowledgement (manually)
    - set "Ok" status when new "Good" event detected
    Now Text Log test allows you to specify 2 set of conditions for 2 different filters: "bad" and "good". However you may still use single "bad" filter as before.
    
    
11. NT Event Log test: HostMonitor may request extended list of event log files and sources (channels) provided by Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
    
    
12. NT Event Log test: when Event Log API cannot retrieve complete event description from remote system (e.g. necessary DLL is not installed on local system), HostMonitor may request additional information using WMI technology. This is especially handy when you need to monitor remote Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 system.
    On the other hand such requests may require more time. If you don't need to check entire description of the events (e.g. you need to check event source, event type and ID), you may add AllowWMIForNTEventLogs=0 line into [Misc] section of hostmon.ini file. In such case HostMonitor will not perform additional requests. Note: if HostMonitor cannot retrieve message text from 3rd party DLL installed on remote system, event description may look like "Message not found. Insertion strings: Administrator, PrimaryIISServer, 0xc000506F, %%1323, 0xc0000134, 3"
    
    
13. Service test: when you setup Service test, you may open "Choose service to monitor" dialog that displays list of all services on target system. Now it shows service name (short name), its long name, service status and type of the service. Also you may setup filter, e.g. display only running services or do not show kernel drivers.
    Also you may use %path% variable for service test template. Variable returns "display name" property of the service (while %object% variable represents short name).
    Passive RMA and Active RMA were modified in order to support these new options.
    
    
14. WMI test: improved Unicode data processing
    
    
15. ShellScript test method may redirect output of external applications without using cmd.exe. This helps to reduce system resources usage when you perform a lot of such tests (Note: if you are using some BAT file scripts, you should call cmd.exe anyway)
    
    
16. SNMP Trap test method: supports wildcard * (just trailing *) for "Message contains OID" test property

17. "Send e-mail" action supports CRAM-SHA1 and NTLM authentication methods
    
18. "Send e-mail" action supports SSL/TLS encryption
    
19. "Send message to Jabber" action supports SSL/TLS encryption
    
    
20. HM Script action: improved SetTestParam and ReplaceTestParam commands. These commands support new parameter testinterval that allows you to change execution interval for specified test items
    Usage:
       SetTestParam <testname> testinterval <new_interval>
       ReplaceTestParam <testname> testinterval <current_test_interval> <new_interval>
    Where time interval can be specified in hh:mm:ss format or just in number that represents minutes (i.e. 5 is equivalent to 00:05:00, 60 is equivalent to 01:00:00)
    E.g.
       SetTestParam _AllPing testinterval 5
       SetTestParam _AllPing testinterval 00:02:30
       ReplaceTestParam _AllCPU testinterval 5 00:15:00
    
    
21. HM Script action supports 2 new commands: FlushCommonLog and FlushPrivateLogs
    - FlushCommonLog - tells HostMonitor to record into common log current test statuses of all test items except items that do not use common log and items that already have recorded (today!) their status into common log
    - FlushPrivateLogs - performs the same operation for all test items that uses private log(s)
    These commands can be useful for Log Analyzer in case when you are using Brief logging mode and for some reasons you do not want to use Midnight logging mode (e.g. you want to "flush" log records at noon instead of midnight or you want to "flush" log records for some specific private logs or you want to "flush" log records twice a day)
    
    
22. HM Script action supports another new command: PauseMonitor. It tells HostMonitor to pause monitoring for specified time (time should be specified in minutes)
    
    
23. New %FailureID% test related variable allows you to use unique failure ID as parameter of the actions. HostMonitor assigns unique failure ID for each failed test and keeps the same ID when test fails several times in a row (note: "failure" conditions may depend on "Treat Unknown as Bad" or "Treat Warning as Bad" test properties). HostMonitor assigns different IDs for different test items; it assigns new unique ID when test restores "good" status and then fails again. HostMonitor sets %FailureID% variable to 0 when test has "good" status.
    
    
24. New %AlertThreshold%Value% variable works similar to %AlertThreshold% variable but returns numeric value only (without any correspondent text comment). E.g. %AlertThreshold% variable may return text like "Absent, MaxAge: 60" when it is used in action triggered by "File/Folder Availability" test method. In the same case %AlertThresholdValue% would return "60".

25. HostMonitor allows you to limit number of simultaneous RCC connections on per user basis. E.g. you may allow "admin" to use 1 connection only and allow "guest" account to use up to 5 RCC connections. If you set limit to 0, user will be able to use Web Service and Telnet service but will not be able to use RCC.
    This option located in User Profiles dialog
    
    
26. Folder-related variables: Folder Properties dialog provides new option that allows variables inheriting from parent folder plus using local variables that may override inherited variables with the same name. In other words: for each subfolder you may choose one of the following modes:
    • use folder variables only
    • use inherited variables only (inherit all variables from parents)
    • use inherited variables; folder variables may override inherited variables
    When you choose 3rd mode, Folder Properties dialog will display 2 lists: one read-only list shows all inherited variables, another list allows you specify local variables
    
    
27. HM Script action: if you are using HM Script to modify a lot of test items and you have set "Autosave options: auto save testlist after any change" option, HostMonitor could consume too much time saving testlist after each test item modification. Now HostMonitor saves modified testlist file after complete script execution.
    
    
28. If you are using "Tune up Reply" option without using "Use Warning status" / "Use Normal status" options, HostMonitor could not resolve some test-related statistical macro variables. Fixed.
    
    
29. Improved Auditing Tool
    
30. Optimized Active RMA management
    
31. Other minor improvements

32. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: support new SSH test method
33. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: optimized Shell Script test method
34. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: support new Text Log test method options
35. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: provide additional information for Service test method
    
36. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: improved Unicode data processing for WMI test method
37. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: when you setup NT Event Log test agents may request extended list of event log files and sources (channels) provided by Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
38. Passive and Active RMA for Windows: NT Event Log test: when Event Log API cannot retrieve complete event description from remote system (e.g. necessary DLL is not installed on local system), agent may request additional information using WMI technology.
39. Active RMA for Windows: SNMP Trap test method supports trailing wildcard '*' for "Message contains OID" test property
40. RMA for UNIX supports new Text Log test method options
41. RMA_CFG utility allows you to specify user account when you install RMA as service
    
    

42. Web Service allows you to setup secured channel between web browser and web service using HTTPS protocol.
    Note: data transmission between Web Service and HostMonitor, RCC and HostMonitor, HostMonitor and RMA, RCC and RMA always was encrypted and secured.
    
43. Web Service: new "undocumented" options allow you to change style and size of the font used by web interface. You may add 3 lines into [HTML] section of webservice.ini file:
       CustomStyleCompact = <style definition used for "compact" interface>
       CustomStyleNormal = <style definition for regular web interface>
       CustomStyleErrors = <style definition for error reports>
    E.g. you may specify styles like
       CustomStyleCompact=style="font-family: gill, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 50%"
       CustomStyleNormal =style="font-family: gill, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 150%"
       CustomStyleErrors =style="font-family: gill, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%"
    
    
44. Web Service allows to specify comment when operator acknowledges "bad" test status.
45. Web Service allows to "pause" and "resume" specified test items
    
    
46. WMI Explorer: new version allows you to browse complete list of name spaces provided by local or remote system
47. WMI Explorer: improved Unicode data processing
    
    
48. Log Analyzer: "Erase top value" popup menu item allows you to remove (temporarily) log record with top (maximum) reply value for selected test item. This option is useful when you want to remove one or several records with outstanding results from the chart. Log Analyzer does not remove records from the file or database, just skips the record from analyzing process.
    
49. Log Analyzer: Similar "Erase line" popup menu item allows you to remove (skip) specific log record
    
50. Log Visualizer: Sometimes you may need to visualize logging data for specific period of time instead of showing test results for the last day/week/month: Now you may use -starttime:mm/dd/yyyy command like parameter instead of -daysback parameter.
    
    
51. MIB Browser: compiler has been improved