Release Notes for Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold v16.4

In this File

Release Notes for Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold v16.4

Release information

Product name

WhatsUp Gold

 

Version

v16.4

 

Release date

v16.4 Service Pack 1 (v16.4.1) January 27, 2016
v16.4 January 5, 2016

 

New in WhatsUp Gold v16.4

WhatsUp Gold

Note: The New File Content monitor is intended for scanning text files such as logs, for example, and not binary files. For best performance, select as few files to scan as possible. Using regular expressions to specify filename and scan pattern can affect the monitor’s performance. It is imperative to create detailed regular expressions, specifically for specifying the scan pattern, in order to achieve the best results.

APM plug-in

Flow Monitor plug-in

WhatsConfigured plug-in

Defects resolved in WhatsUp Gold 16.4

WhatsUp Gold 16.4 also includes defect resolutions from WhatsUp Gold 16.3 Service Pack 1 - Service Pack 2.

Defect ID

Category

Issues

APM-1294

APM

Corrected an issue preventing APM from saving data when than more ten iDrones (EUM pollers) were reporting data at the sames time.

APM-1371

APM

Corrected an issue causing thousands of lines of errors to be written when an application with a running action applied was deleted from APM.

APM-1456

APM

Corrected an issue preventing some users from successfully importing application profiles from the WUGSpace community.

APM-1549

APM

Corrected an issue causing an error to be displayed when attempting to access the APM Status page.

APM-1553

APM

Corrected an issue causing a scripting component (End User Monitor) configured with a threshold of one poll to be mishandled in APM.

APM-1592

APM

Corrected an issue preventing an iDrone (EUM poller) from being assigned to a new scripting component (End User Monitor) if that component was created as a copy of an existing one. The issue generated the following error, "iDrones could not be found. Check your setup."

DEP-2807

Installer

Corrected an issue causing an incorrect upgrade version number to be displayed in the installation wizard.

FLM-3504

FlowMonitor

Corrected an issue causing incorrect units to display on the X-axis of bar charts after modifying report configurations to display Flow or Packet instead of Bytes.

FLM-3504

FlowMonitor

Corrected an issue causing values exceeding 100% to be displayed when both inbound and outbound traffic for a flow source are selected.

IDRN-85

EUM Poller

Corrected an issue causing a gap of about 20 minutes when an application changes states from Up to Unknown.

WCF-542

WhatsConfigured

Corrected an issue preventing additional devices from being added to a threshold after the associated task has been configured.

WCF-581

WhatsConfigured

Corrected an issue causing WhatsConfigured to fail random device(s) if the associated task has a large number of devices assigned to it.

WUG-8520

Discovery

Corrected an issue causing multiple devices to be created when performing a VMWare scan with the Merge Level set to Always Create.

WUG-8624

UI

Corrected an issue causing Cyrillic characters to display incorrectly in some reports.

WUG-13017

SNMP

Corrected an issue causing a "notification Element not found" message being written to the error log when receiving a SNMP trap.

WUG-13236

Console

Corrected an issue in the Map View causing NULL to be displayed in the 'Select a Monitor to link' dialog when linking Active Monitors added to devices using Bulk Field Change.

WUG-13562

Active Directory

Corrected an issue causing a script timeout error message to be displayed when attempting to browse AD groups that used double byte characters.

WUG-14125

Monitors

Corrected an issue causing the folder monitor to incorrectly report a status of Up for folder size and file count.

WUG-14669

Reports

Corrected an issue causing some dashboard reports to display "No data available for X monitors on this device" when the data source (e.g., disk, CPU, interface) has been removed from the device and should not appear in the report at all.

WUG-14937

iDrone

Corrected an issue causing thousands of informational messages to be written to the logger log when an iDrone (EUM poller) is running.

WUG-14939

Monitors

Corrected an issue with potentially conflicting default values with the ping availability threshold.

WUG-15325

Reports

Corrected an issue causing the Asset Inventory report from displaying properly when exported to PDF.

WUG-15349 and WUG-15351

Reports

Corrected an issue causing the diagnostic 'Incorrect syntax near '>' message to display when WhatsUp Gold attempts to load the Ping Availability and Response reports, respectively.

WUG-15355

Mobile

Corrected an issue causing an error to be displayed in the mobile version of the Device Memory Utilization report when using Chrome or Firefox.

WUG-15411

UI

Corrected an issue causing characters to be displayed incorrectly within some dashboard reports.

WUG-15419

Monitors

Corrected an issue which allowed the user to successfully enable disk utilization performance monitors for a device without the correct credentials assigned when using the web console.

WUG-15533

UI

Corrected an issue causing dashboard report menus to display incorrectly in Firefox after the report has been repositioned on the dashboard.

WUG-15546

Reports

Corrected an issue causing the Virtual Current Utilization report from displaying properly when exported to PDF.

WUG-15555

Discovery

Corrected an issue causing the Discovery service to crash when performing an SNMP Smart Scan.

WUG-15975

UI

Corrected an issue causing text to extend beyond the defined column width if the column has been resized within some dialogs.

WUG-16077

Services

Corrected an issue causing ServiceBus service to run out of memory and subsequently crash.

WUG-16147

UI

Corrected an issue causing framing and scrolling errors in some areas of the web console when using Firefox.

WUG-16180

Actions

Corrected an issue preventing email actions containing either the %Device.ActiveMonitorUpNames or %Device.ActiveMonitordownNames percent variables from firing successfully when more than two active monitors are applied to the monitored device.

WUG-16233

UI

Corrected an issue preventing dialog windows and scroll bars from displaying properly in some areas of the web console when using Internet Explorer 11.

WUG-16292 / WUG-16293

Authentication

Corrected XSS issues by changing HTML Encoding Form Post Input and corrected SQLi issues by changing SQL access to use Parameterized SQL.

WUG-16300

WhatsConnected

Corrected an issue preventing WhatsConnected topology maps from being successfully exported to WhatsUp Gold.

WUG-16316

UI

Corrected an issue preventing the user from successfully removing unwanted interface active monitors using the Restore Monitor tab in Layer-2 Group Properties dialog.

WUG-16344

Discovery

Corrected an issue causing an error to be displayed when attempting to view information about a selected device in the "Device Information" box launched from the "Show all X devices" hyperlink during Discovery.

WUG-16389

UI

Corrected an issue causing HTML code to display within frames on some web console pages.

WUG-16394

Active Directory

Corrected an issue causing errors with paging in the Browse Active Directory dialog.

WUG-16399

Active Directory

Corrected an issue preventing Search functionality from working properly in the Browse Active Directory dialog.

WUG-16734

UI

Corrected an issue causing unneeded horizontal scroll bars to appear after upgrading WhatsUp Gold.

Multiple

Localization

Corrected multiple issues applicable to translation of the WhatsUp Gold user interface.

New in WhatsUp Gold 16.4 Service Pack 1 (v16.4.1)

For more information about the WhatsUp Gold 16.4 Service Pack 1 (v16.4.1) release, see Service Pack 1 Release Notes.

System Requirements

Operating system requirements

Following are OS environment recommendations:

WhatsUp Gold supports the following Windows Server platforms:

Database requirements

Important: If you use a remote SQL database, instead of the default Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition install that occurs as part of the default WhatsUp Gold installation, refer to the WhatsUp Gold Database Migration and Management Guide for information about other WhatsUp Gold database configurations.

Note: The collation of Microsoft SQL Server being used to host WhatsUp Gold databases (WhatsUp, NetFlow, NFArchive and iDroneService) must be set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. Additionally, the collation of each of the aforementioned WhatsUp Gold databases must also be set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.

Note: For WhatsUp Gold planning purposes, future versions of WhatsUp Gold releases will not support Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

WhatsUp Gold requires a database to maintain data about monitored devices, store system configurations, and save user specified customizations. The database may be co-located with the WhatsUp Gold installation, or may be hosted on a remote machine. Data services for WhatsUp Gold can be provided by the following database servers:

If you install WhatsUp Gold on:

You have these database options:

 

 

 

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition 32-bit or 64-bit Local

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard
or Enterprise
32-bit or 64-bit
Local/Remote

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise
32-bit or 64-bit
Local/Remote

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard or Enterprise
32-bit or 64-bit
Local/Remote

Microsoft SQL Server Cluster 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, or 2012
Enterprise or Datacenter
32-bit or 64-bit
Remote only

Microsoft SQL Server 2014
Standard or Express

Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate

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Windows Server 2008 SP2

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Windows Server 2008 R2

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Circle bullet grapic Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard SP1

Windows Server 2012

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Windows Server 2012 R2

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Web server requirements

Web services are required for the web-enabled functionality and reporting provided by WhatsUp Gold:

If you install WhatsUp Gold on:

IIS version 6

IIS version 7.x

IIS version 8.x

Windows 7 Professional / Enterprise / Ultimate

 

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Windows Server 2008 SP2

 

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Windows Server 2008 R2

 

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Windows Server 2012

 

 

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Windows Server 2012 R2

 

 

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IMPORTANT web server requirements for IIS 7.x or 8

The WhatsUp Gold installer automatically installs/enables IIS 7.x or 8 on platforms where it is supported. If needed, you can verify which IIS 7.x or 8 OS features are installed/enabled and properly configured from the Turn Windows features on or off dialog. Verify that the Web Server (IIS) Roles Services listed below have been installed and are enabled.

WhatsUp Gold requires the following Web Server Role Services for IIS 7.x or 8 at a minimum:

IMPORTANT web server requirements for IIS 6

If using IIS 6 and it is not installed on the WhatsUp Gold server; install IIS 6 prior to installing WhatsUp Gold. The WhatsUp Gold installer then enables IIS 6 features automatically. For additional information about IIS 6 setup, refer to instructions from Microsoft or see using the Installing and Configuring WhatsUp Gold guide.

WhatsUp Gold requires the following web server extension for IIS 6 at a minimum:

Framework and accessibility requirements

WhatsUp Gold requires the Microsoft .NET Framework and other Microsoft packages for scripting and software accessibility. The following are required software framework and support packages:

Requirements for Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 / and Windows Server 2012

The Microsoft .NET Framework option is required; however, the following feature/component options must NOT be enabled in the Microsoft .NET Framework options:

Important: The Microsoft .NET Framework feature/component options listed above may have been enabled automatically at the time the OS was installed. To confirm the features/components are NOT enabled, expand and review the Microsoft .NET Framework options.

To change the features/components if required, access the Microsoft .NET Framework options as follows:

Web and mobile interface requirements

The following web browsers and mobile device interfaces are supported for use with WhatsUp Gold:

Important: WhatsUp Gold does not support any version of Internet Explorer in Compatibility or Quirks mode.

WhatsVirtual supported virtual environments

The WhatsVirtual plug-in supports virtual hosts and virtual machines running on the following virtual environments:

Wireless supported devices

Important: Because of the volume of data collected and stored for WhatsUp Gold Wireless, we recommended that you use Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 or Microsoft SQL Server Cluster 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, or 2012 to store the data collected by WhatsUp Gold. See the Installing and Configuring WhatsUp Gold guide advanced options section for more information.

Wireless supports the following devices:

Important: If you are monitoring Cisco Aironet Autonomous access points we recommend that you run IOS 12.3 or newer. Inaccurate data may be report with older IOS versions.

Flow Monitor software requirements

WhatsUp Gold Flow Monitor has the same base system requirements as WhatsUp Gold. In addition, WhatsUp Gold Flow Monitor requires:

Note: WhatsUp Gold Flow Monitor performs well in most WhatsUp Gold configurations that use the default SQL Server 2008 Express Edition database. However, some data collections, over 10 GB or configurations where data is collected and archived over a long period of time, will benefit from the additional performance capabilities of other SQL Server Editions. For more information about WhatsUp Gold supported SQL databases, see the release notes Database requirements section. Also, please consult Microsoft guidelines for the SQL Server database edition that best fits your requirements.

Hardware requirement guidelines

The following hardware requirements provide minimum suggested guidelines for WhatsUp Gold installations.

Note: Because of enhanced features and capabilities, WhatsUp Gold v15 and prior users may experience increased CPU and Memory utilization with WhatsUp Gold v16 and later.

Note: Hardware requirements vary depending on the WhatsUp Gold configuration. Increasing the number of devices monitored, number of monitors, types of monitors, polling intervals, or other configuration options can result in additional load on the server and database. Hardware configuration adjustments may be required to optimize performance for your network.

 

100 Devices /
500 Monitors*
minimum required

2,500 Devices /
12,500 Monitors*
minimum required

20,000 Devices /
100,000 Monitors*
minimum required

Processor(s)

WhatsUp Gold: Dual-core
(Physical computer recommended)

WhatsUp Gold: Quad-core
(Physical computer recommended)

WhatsUp Gold Server: Eight-core
Remote SQL Server: Eight-core
(Physical computer recommended)

Processor speed

2.4 GHz or more

2.4 GHz or more

2.4 GHz or more

RAM

4 GB

8 GB

WhatsUp Gold Server: 8 GB
Dedicated SQL Server:
32 GB (64 GB recommended)

Database type

SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition

Dedicated Microsoft SQL Server 2005 / Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2 / Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Dedicated Microsoft SQL Server 2005 /
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2 / Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Hard drive

15 GB or more free space

OS/Application - 15 GB or more free space in RAID 1

Database files - 4 x 100 GB in RAID 10

OS/Application - 15 GB or more free space in RAID 1

Database files - 8 x 250 GB in RAID 10

Log files - 2 x 100 GB in RAID 0

Temp database files - 2 x 250 GB in RAID 0

For more information about moving SQL Server database and log files, see the WhatsUp Gold Database Migration and Management Guide

Network interface card

100 Mbps (1 Gbps preferred)

100 Mbps (1 Gbps preferred)

1 Gbps

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM

Required if installing from CD-ROM. Not required for download installations.

Required if installing from CD-ROM. Not required for download installations.

Required if installing from CD-ROM. Not required for download installations.

Video display resolution

1280 x 1024 or higher

1280 x 1024 or higher

1280 x 1024 or higher

Sound card

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

Modem and phone line

Required for pager, SMS, and beeper actions; modem pooling is not supported

Required for pager, SMS, and beeper actions; modem pooling is not supported

Required for pager, SMS, and beeper actions; modem pooling is not supported

GSM modem

Required for SMS Direct actions

Required for SMS Direct actions

Required for SMS Direct actions

*The performance for the number of devices and monitors supported is dependent upon several system variables such as server processor and memory size, polling frequency, round-trip time (RTT) for polling distance, the amount of time for which data is archived in the database, types of monitors polled (for example, SNMP-type monitors are significantly more efficient than WMI monitors), and other factors.

Poller requirements

Depending on the network environment and product deployment, WhatsUp Gold can poll up to a maximum of 20,000 devices and up to 100,000 monitors with one WhatsUp Gold server and additional pollers (additional pollers required depend on the amount of SNMP and WMI monitors). Additional pollers installed on your WhatsUp Gold system transmit active monitor and performance monitor data to the WhatsUp Gold server. Extending polling activity across multiple pollers increases the number of devices for which WhatsUp Gold can poll and collect data to send back to the WhatsUp Gold system. Using additional pollers, WhatsUp Gold can efficiently scale polling operations to a larger number of network devices, ultimately providing the capacity to monitor and manage larger networks. Additional pollers may be installed on any Windows system on the network, other than the WhatsUp Gold server. For more information, see Using additional Pollers with WhatsUp Gold.

 

Minimum required for each
additional clustered poller

 

Processor(s)

Dual-core

 

Processor speed

2 GHz

 

RAM

4 GB

 

Hard drive space for application

2 GB

 

Network interface card

100 Mbps

 

OS support

See Operating system and virtual environment requirements section above

 

Installing WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold v16.x supports direct upgrade installations from WhatsUp Gold v14.x or v15.x. If you upgrade from a previous version of WhatsUp Gold, make sure to clear the browser cache so the user interface displays the new web application pages after the upgrade. Refer to the Installing and Configuring WhatsUp Gold guide for details about installation, upgrade, repair, and uninstall.

Important: Ipswitch does not support upgrades for WhatsUp Gold custom database modifications.

If the WhatsUp Gold 16.4 installer detects database changes to your WhatsUp Gold database schema, it warns you of the issues and proceeds with the install. In future WhatsUp Gold releases, the installer will not proceed until the installer warnings are addressed.

Offline Installation and Activation

Important: If you are unable to connect to the Internet, you must use the offline installer package to install WhatsUp Gold. Download the package from the WhatsUp Gold Customer Portal using a connected machine, then run the installer on your designated server. When prompted to enter your activation number, select Use offline activation mode and proceed with the activation process. If you are an evaluator and do not have access to the Customer Portal, please contact Ipswitch Customer Service for assistance.

Note: Customers with pure IPv6 environments must use offline activation.

Configuring WhatsUp Event Log Management Reports for WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold version 15.0 and later provides integration with the WhatsUp Event Log Management central database. For access to the reports and data, you must also have WhatsUp Event Log Management products, specifically WhatsUp Event Archiver and/or WhatsUp Event Alarm, configured to send collected log data to a MS SQL Server. WhatsUp Gold accesses report data through stored procedures in the ELM database. For more information, see Using Event Log Management Reports in WhatsUp Gold.

Troubleshooting

Potential SQL Server Express installation errors

Configuring the firewall to allow WMI traffic

WhatsUp Gold uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to monitor and restart Windows Services. For each device that is assigned an NT Service Active Monitor, you must supply the Windows credentials. Also, when creating a Service Restart Action, you must supply Windows credentials for each Action. Credentials must have administrative permissions on the remote server. Local accounts with credentials that match remote accounts are no longer required to monitor remote servers.

Credentials are configured in the WhatsUp Gold Credentials Library and used in several places throughout WhatsUp Gold. They can also be associated to devices in Device Properties > Credentials, or through Bulk Field Change for Credentials.

The use of WMI could have some implications if target devices are behind a firewall. To successfully monitor and/or restart NT Services, you need to modify firewall settings so that:

  1. The RPC port (135) is open for connections.
  2. The DCOM port range is defined and open for connections.

For more Troubleshooting information, see the Troubleshooting section in the application Help or refer to the WhatsUp Gold Support Site.

For more information

Following are information resources for WhatsUp Gold. This information may be periodically updated and available on the WhatsUp Gold web site.


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