What s New StableNet 6.5 Enterprise and Telco
Pushing the Envelope This release of StableNet has once again seen Infosim deliver the enhancements and additional functionalities our customers are demanding. Marius Heuler, CTO Infosim
What does v6.5 deliver? 1 New Module 39 New Features 89 Enhancements 91 Resolved Issues
New Module Distributed Syslog and SNMP Trap Pre-processor
Distributed Syslog and SNMP Trap Pre-processor StableNet Agents can now receive and pre-process Syslog messages, as well as SNMP traps, allowing collection of high-volumes of Syslog messages. This enables centralised whole-network aware queries to be generated across many devices from multiple StableNet Agents using the same UI concepts with a minimum of user-training.
Distributed Syslog and SNMP Trap Pre-processor Syslog messages are displayed in the same location and format as those for SNMP Traps and Alarms in both the GUI and WebUI and use the same granular User Access Controls. Centralised analysis across all Syslog events reported from all distributed Agents handled as standard without extensive and complex setup procedures.
Distributed Syslog and SNMP Trap Pre-processor It is a simple one-click process to create a monitor against a Syslog event entry for immediate tracking of event occurrence using the same process as currently used for SNMP Trap events no new GUI familiarisation needed. Syslog measurements and monitors use the same functionality as the rest of the product and can be used by all other functions, such as fault and reporting.
Distributed Syslog and SNMP Trap Pre-processor StableNet has been further enhanced by the creation of a web portal which delivers access to the raw syslog information stored on the local Agents. Access to this information is governed by User Access Control to allow only devices that are permitted to be shown in the results. Please contact Infosim for further information on this module. This information can come from many devices spread across many Agents.
39 New Features
Discovery New and Enhanced Discovery
New and Enhanced Discovery Enhanced device importing from 3 rd party element managers. Additional templates for new manufacturers and systems, including: Ixia (formerly Anue Systems) ADVA Optical Fortinet by ZTE Microsoft Windows 8 Microsoft Windows 2008 and 2012 VMWare
New and Enhanced Discovery Complete support for new systems, for example as shown Ixia Anue Network Optimiser.
New and Enhanced Discovery Complete support for new systems, for example as shown Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 server.
Application Support New and Enhanced Application Support
New and Enhanced Application Support Support for many new applications, including: Microsoft Exchange 2010 and 2012 Microsoft Lync SAP Salesforce AS/400 Enhanced Oracle monitoring Client Agent based Log File monitoring and pre-processing Windows Event Log monitoring Remote Log File processing (also available using SSH connections)
New and Enhanced Application Support Infosim StableNet 6.5 can measure and monitor many additional metrics from within new applications such as Microsoft Exchange 2010 and 2012.
New and Enhanced Application Support Infosim StableNet 6.5 can measure and monitor many additional metrics from within new applications such as Microsoft Lync Video Conferencing and Instant Messaging platforms.
New and Enhanced Application Support Infosim StableNet 6.5 can measure and monitor many additional metrics from within new applications such as SAP ERP systems.
New and Enhanced Application Support Infosim StableNet 6.5 can measure and monitor many additional metrics from within new applications such Oracle database servers.
New and Enhanced Application Support The New Client Agent is designed to be installed locally to the applications, such as in-house bespoke software, and to pre-process the logfiles before sending the information to the StableNet server for standard processing. This ensures that only relevant information is passed to the central database reducing storage and network overheads. Enhanced parsing scripts (e.g. for logfile rotation) are available. Please contact Infosim for more details on this topic.
New and Enhanced Application Support Infosim StableNet 6.5 can measure and monitor many additional metrics from the core operating system and other applications that use the Windows Event Logging system.
New and Enhanced Application Support Infosim StableNet 6.5 can measure and monitor additional metrics and events from other applications recorded to any readable log files directly and over secure SSH connections.
Device Support New and Enhanced Device Support
New and Enhanced Device Support Additional measurement templates for many new systems, including: IBM Tape Libraries Redback devices New Cisco devices such as the Nexus (NX-OS) platforms and IOS- XR/IOS-XE based platforms. Fortinet by ZTE devices Additional NCCM support for many new systems, including: Ixia RAD Extreme
New and Enhanced Device Support Additional measurement templates for many new systems and features within existing templates such as Cisco HSRP, as shown.
New and Enhanced Device Support Full backup and restore of many new systems including, as shown, Ixia Anue platforms. Backups include all files required to restore systems to a previous state, including Text and Binary configuration files as well as other files.
Agent Support New Agent Platform Support
New Agent Platform Support Support for WMI measurements gathered by Client Agents as well as Client Agent management functionality improvements. The StableNet Agent and Client Agent is now supported on other hardware architectures including both ARM and MIPS processors, such as: AVM Fritz Box Raspberry PI (Available from the Infosim Support Site) D-Link TP-Link The use of low cost Agent hardware enables rapid deployment across large, dynamically changing or technically challenging environments. The ability to deploy StableNet on low cost hardware reduces the overall capital requirements please contact Infosim for further information.
NCCM Enhancements Lifecycle and Vulnerability
Lifecycle and Vulnerability Full Lifecycle management of devices with key tracking dates such as End-of-sales, End-of-service and End-of-life. Lifecycle reporting for device status and financial planning across corporate depreciation targets. A separate Lifecycle notification update service is available from Infosim on an annual contract basis. A Vulnerability notification update service is also available from Infosim on an annual basis other manufacturers are possible on request.
Lifecycle Management The Lifecycle engine is able to not only locate devices based on part numbers but can also match lifecycle events on sub-components, modules and software versions. This enhancement ensures a complete visibility of lifecycle risk exposure.
Lifecycle Management Key lifecycle target dates such as End-of-Sales, End-of-Service/Support and Endof-Life can be simply tracked and linked to the original announcement issued by the hardware manufacturer. A lifecycle update service is available from Infosim on an annual contract basis.
Lifecycle Management Quick identification of all components that could affect system performance due to approaching or past EOL/EOS dates including chassis, modules and software. Enables financial planning for hardware and software refresh to reduce exposure to risk.
Vulnerability Management The StableNet vulnerability checking engine delivers the right information at the right time reducing the number of false-positives. It is not only able to check device specifications, such as make, model and subcomponents, but also able to check for specific configuration commands and real-time data that make the device vulnerable.
Vulnerability Management A vulnerability update service is available on an annual contract basis from Infosim. This service delivers complete vulnerability definitions preloaded with the relevant information such as descriptions and workarounds. This service is currently available for Cisco devices. Other devices are available on request. Please contact Infosim for more information.
Provisioning New API for Service Provisioning
New API for Service Provisioning Infosim StableNet now contains a set of APIs to enable complete service provisioning from other external systems or management platforms. Enables simple interfacing with web-based customer self-service portals to allow simple service management functions to be controlled by customers releasing technical network operations staff. These APIs are being used today by existing customers to build complete services right down to the individual device configurations with access to internal StableNet database information as well as that from external sources such as a CMDB solution.
Integrations New 3 rd Party Support and Integration Points
New 3 rd Party Support and Integration Points Complete end-to-end network and service measurement through a new detailed integration with CitraTest. New CMDB integration with FNT Command. Now includes a new stateful ticket interface with support for proxy alarms and alarm updates which is fully ITIL compliant allowing in-depth integration with corporate helpdesk and ticketing systems. Integration with Ixia Anue NTO s TCL/Expect APIs for greater centralised product management.
Reporting Enhanced reporting and weather maps
Enhanced reporting and weather maps Reports can now export data in native Microsoft Excel format including charts, graphs, tables and the raw data. WeatherMaps now support geographical mapping from Open Street Map which is available without internet access and free-of-charge, unlike the comparable services from Yahoo or Google. As Open Street Map can be used without connectivity, it is ideal for high security environments without internet access. WeatherMaps can also use external images via URL to embed any type of information at render time.
Enhanced reporting and weather maps As well as the HTML and PDF formats, reports can now be created in native Microsoft Excel format. This allows post-processing of objects, such as raw table data, within Excel as required.
Enhanced reporting and weather maps The report objects, such as graphs, tables, charts etc., are available as Excel objects as well as the underlying raw report data.
Enhanced reporting and weather maps Weather maps now support geographical mapping from Open Street Map which is available without internet access and free-of-charge.
Enhanced reporting and weather maps Items can be inserted into weather maps from external URLs and retrieved from the external source when the weather map is rendered. This enables almost any external information to be imported such as this example global traffic graph loaded in real-time from the internet.
89 Enhancements
StableNet Agent 8 Enhancements
StableNet Agent Enhancements Improved DNS resolution speed. Optimised memory management under Linux Operating Systems. Improved JAVA memory settings for Business Process Scripts. All StableNet Agent user scripts include in the installer are now included within the repository by default. The read performance of Agent stores, such as Syslog and NetFlow v9, is dramatically improved. Improved handling of NetFlow v9 template based flow information using custom templates enabling better flow analysis and reporting. Seamless StableNet Agent update process handling locked files. Improvements to the logging of Triggered Alarm Groups.
StableNet Client Agent 3 Enhancements
StableNet Client Agent Enhancements Improved Client Agent synchronisation speed and connection logging. Improved Client Agent management functionality. Enhanced Client Agent error handling and operation logging.
Device Discovery and Measurements 22 Enhancements
Device Discovery and Measurement Enhancements #1 Enhanced support for IBM TSM Tape Libraries. Enhanced support for ADVA Optical devices. Additional measurements for Redback devices. Ability to correctly identify the ZTE rebranded Fortinet firewall devices. New custom icons for Ixia device identification. Enhanced discovery of Cisco features such as HSRP. Further support for ZTE device configuration options such as VLANs. Discovery of Microsoft Windows 2012 platforms. New templates for better identification of Cisco Sensor devices. Devices older than a defined time can now be deleted from the database.
Device Discovery and Measurement Enhancements #2 Enhanced support for executing WMI measurements via Client Agents. Enhanced templates for Processor, Memory and System statistics. Improved Client Agent communication handling and timeout recovery. Historical measurements greater than a defined time can be deleted from the database. Tables now record detailed controller information to indicate if a measurement is from a device or Client Agent. PING measurements can now use device DNS names which are resolved during measurement execution. Improvements to interface for external measurements.
Device Discovery and Measurement Enhancements #3 Enhanced XML based discovery including Multi-Script, WMI, SNMP and External tables based measurement definitions. Added a new XML monitor-update element to allow updating of any monitor without having to perform a complete device discovery (see also monitoroverride ). Added new pre- and post-discovery filters to identify devices that will be discovered and device that once discovered match specific requirements, such as Operating Systems or Vendor. Simple discovery files can now reference external CSV data-sources to create device measurements. Enhanced functionality of the XML discovery process.
Fault Management 7 Enhancements
Fault Management Enhancements Improved handling of stateful IDs within SNMP Trap OIDs as well as values. Better detection and handling of devices and measurements for neighbours when placed into maintenance mode. Use of a default SNMP/Syslog filter can be applied when no other filters are applicable. Import and export of SNMP Trap Templates now supports the stateful option. Alarms can now be cleared or acknowledged by AlarmId using external API call. Added confirmation requirement to clear alarms in the alarms table. Removed the Repeat Alarm flag due to adverse effects on Root Cause Analysis.
Device Backup and Configuration 13 Enhancements
Device Backup and Configuration Enhancements #1 Updated CLI device handling sub-systems for better Telnet and SSH device interaction. Option to use a separate backup and restore repository server to hold configuration files. Added specific device names to error messages. Job Results dialog now shows improved information for successful and failed devices. Support for SCP restoration of configuration files to Cisco devices. Support for the complete OS update on Cisco devices. Support for Configuration Backup and Restore for ZTE devices.
Device Backup and Configuration Enhancements #2 Support for Configuration Backup and Restore for Fortinet Firewall devices. Support for Configuration Backup and Restore for Extreme devices. Support for Configuration Backup of RAD devices. User script version numbering now follows the same method as used by all other elements such as SNMP Templates. Improved log messages regarding connectivity issues. New option to search backup files for specific text. Added upper limit value to reduce the number of configuration files displayed for performance improvement.
Policy, Lifecycle and Vulnerability 2 Enhancements
Policy, Lifecycle and Vulnerability Enhancements New dialog for lifecycle entry handling allowing creation, editing, import, export and deletion of lifecycle information such as End-of-life, End-of-sales and Endof-services. Added a new source field to indicate the source of the vulnerability alert such as CERT.
Job Management 6 Enhancements
Job Management Enhancements Job status information is now updated using the current server status rather than the status known to the GUI. Display of job summary and settings before a manual job execution. Allow the aborting or cancelling of running jobs. Job now only executed on devices visible to the job creator or executor rather than an administrator. Improved job table sorting and filtering. Added a refresh button to the job results dialog box.
Reporting and Weathermaps 7 Enhancements
Reporting and WeatherMaps Enhancements Netflow history settings now allow a time-scale range of flow data for the last N flows relative to report execution time. Add a new report type of Audit Report. Reports can now be created in native Microsoft Excel format including charts, graphs, tables as well as the raw data. Open Street Maps are now available within WeatherMaps and do not require internet access to render. Images in WeatherMaps can now be fetched by URL at report render time. Added a batch report import/export function to enable substitution parameters for report templates. Rows within the Report Wizard can now be cloned.
User Interface 11 Enhancements
User Interface Enhancements #1 Discovered and Auto-Measured Services have been moved from the Default Properties list to the Options menu. Improved Inventory Theme to allow access to measurements and monitor tables. Improved handling of errors when importing MIB files. Table columns can be reordered using the Order Columns option in the context menu. Multiple GUI improvements to Mac OS X appearance. Many updates, changes and improvements to dialog messages, error messages and logging messages. Improvements to the Maintenance dialog.
User Interface Enhancements #2 All tables now have search fields to enable filtering on every table column. Any XML based templates, such as those used for Configuration Jobs, Business Processes etc., will now display the description field. Manual ticket creation will now use the alarm time rather than the GUI time. Templates can now be viewed directly in the GUI.
Java GUI 2 Enhancements
Java GUI Enhancements Improvements to job cloning functions. Introduction of QR codes for improved GUI usability on smart phones.
Platform 8 Enhancements
Platform Enhancements All Java processes are now accurately tracked and terminated on StableNet Agent shutdown. New credentials cache added to prevent overload of external authentication services, such as LDAP, TACACS+, Radius etc., by mass user interaction. Updated About information to display better licence information. New WebGUI Clone Device Job security role. New Template Management roles. All log messages can now be 2048 characters in length. Server log files can now be accessed or downloaded from within the GUI. All XML Templates are now checked against the relevant schema on importing.
Additional Notes
Notes Customers with an existing valid maintenance contract may upgrade free of charge as per the terms and conditions of their contract. When upgrading, an updated licence file may be required to complete the process depending on the current version in use. The upgrade will make adjustments to the database tables. While this process is fully automatic, it will require some time to complete and sufficient available storage space on the database server. The StableNet GUI is no longer supported on 32 bit architecture platforms due to an increased resource requirement to ensure suitable performance. This limitation does not affect the WebGUI version of the interface.
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