IPSentry Release Notes

Current Version: 5.12.202
Released: February 2010
Revision Level: .202

Always check http://www.ipsentry.com/ for latest releases.
For Support: support@ipsentry.com
For Sales: sales@ipsentry.com
Forum: http://forums.ipsentry.com

5.x Release History

-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.12.202 - Maintenance Update and Release
February 2010
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Roll-up of hotfixes for legacy V4 configurations in several add-in components.

Update to 3rd party libraries for ping response time values.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.12.2 - Maintenance Update and Release
December 2009
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Performance Monitoring Add-In
When the computer name is left blank, the test of the item returns an error.  The add-in now updates the computer name field with the local name if left blank.

Database Connection Monitoring Add-In
The add-in will now show DSN names longer than 31 characters.  Please note that the specified limitation on data source name length is 32 characters which is 31 characters plus a null.  While IPSentry will now load and display these data sources, the naming convention does violation the specification and functionality of these data sources is unknown.

File Content Monitoring Add-In
Added security credential functionality for consistency with and access to UNC based file locations.

Network Type Monitoring - WEB PAGE - Auto Configure
Removed the URL encoding of the root path '/' character for readability when selecting auto-configure option of a WEB PAGE port on Network Type monitoring.

Reference Parent Poll Frequency Settings
Corrected an issue where a unique combination of failure counts, recovery count, and this setting enabled could cause child entries to be skipped. If using IPSentry prior to 5.12, uncheck this option within system settings.

Responder, Dash, and Telnet Port Conflicts
The selected ports now incorporate shared port functionality to avoid port conflict issues during a reset of the port and slow response by the tcp/ip stack in releasing the ports.

Duplicate message UID - POP3 Mail Queue Monitoring Add-In
On some mail servers (e.g. Exchange Server), the unique message identifier for a message is unique based on a case sensitive identification. The add-in has been corrected to utilize case sensitive matching on message UID's when evaluating whether the message is a new or previously checked message.

Internal updates for enhanced use with IPSentry IPSX Dashboard
X - Coming Soon - IPSX Dashboard

Update Recommendations
If you are using Redundant Port Monitoring, Dash Client, Telnet functionality, or require the use of the poll frequency parent reference, update to 5.12 is recommended.
If you intend to utilize the IPSentry IPSX Dashboard, version 5.12 is required for full functionality.
Various internal updates to the user interface and optimizations have also been incorporated into this update.

This list of updates is not exhaustive.  Before submitting support requests, please be sure you are running the latest version of IPSentry and that the problem persists under the current version. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.7.5 - Maintenance Update and Release  
* If running version 5.7 prior to 5.7.5 - this update is critical.
October 2009
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Corrected issue with some systems experiencing errors using DASH Server.
Timing errors could occur at random with maximum run-time during testing of 248 hours but as low as 5 hours.

Update help system to incorporate SSL Certificate Monitoring Add-In documentation.

Corrected issue with background ping alerting.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.7.4 - CRITICAL - Sept - 2009
If running version 5.7 - this update is critical.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Corrected issue with some systems experiencing error while initializing auto-responder (redundant monitoring) port.

Corrected issue where Ping test results in response time of zero ms without timeout under some network configurations.  Valid responses times now corrected.

5.7.0 - Maintenance Update and Release
August 2009

O/S: Windows 7 Tested (RTM)
Testing of IPSentry under Windows 7 RTM completed.

UPDATE: Increased IPSentry activity detection.
During some user dialogues, IPSentry activity was not being updated regularly.  Added additional heartbeat updates throughout IPSentry and add-in components.

UPDATE: Added option for background ping monitoring.
Added a user selectable option in the IPSentry System Options allowing you to specify that IPSentry utilize background ping for all ICMP-Ping entries. This functionality results in all ping type entries being evaluated in the background during a monitoring cycle with the results queued for evaluation within the cycle sequence. If you utilize ping type entries only as dependency checks, setting this option to enabled is not recommended.

UPDATE: Poll Time Completion
Added and updated poll time completion display.

UPDATE: TCP/IP NET Libraries
Updated tcp/ip and network library components throughout IPSentry and add-in components.

UPDATE: File/Directory Add-In - Path Must Exist
Added an option to specify whether the path must exist in the file/directory monitor.

UPDATE: Database Monitoring Add-In - Real Number
Added real number value comparison to Database query value monitoring.

UPDATE: Modem Connection Monitoring Add-In - Binary character data.
Added binary character data conversion to modem connection monitoring script allowing the entry of ASCII character tags for binary data.

UPDATE: Export Name/Description listing of entries.
Added option to output simple Name & Description text file of all entries with hierarchical indentation in the device editor under Tools menu.  

UPDATE: External Flag Options
Added external options currently undocumented for testing by creating .FLG (flag) files within the IPSentry application folder.  Note: The AlertsOff & ThreadPing flag files should be used with caution as they may cause unexpected results if their existence is not taken into consideration when troubleshooting issues.

ALERTSOFF.FLG
If this file exists within the application folder, ALL alerting is disabled.

CHECKNOW.FLG
The existence of this file will cause a monitoring cycle to begin immediately rather than waiting the entire delay period.  Similar to selecting Action/Check Now at the IPSentry main console.

THREADPING.FLG
The existence of this file during IPSentry startup will cause IPSentry to utilize a threaded ping monitoring capability.  All ICMP/PING entries will be tested in the background while IPSentry runs through normal processing.  For systems with huge numbers of PING tests, this functionality can drastically reduce total cycle time.

FIX: Perfmon Add-In Filter Dialogue
Corrected issues where adding/removing filters in the performance monitoring filter list resulted in an error due to incorrect identity numbering of the filter entries.

FIX: DASH Server SSL Certificate Creation
Corrected issues where changing users would result in the inability for the DASH server to obtain the SSL certificate for secure DASH communications at startup.

 

5.6.0 - Maintenance Update and Release
June 2009

UPDATE: Added Message Match Count - POP Queue Monitor
Added option to exclude POP Queue alerts based on count of matching messages in queue.

UPDATE: DASH Client - Friendly Host Name
Added the ability to give IPSentry Host a friendly name in the DASH Client. You may now apply a named alias which will appear in the DASH Client host list rather than just the IP Address.

UPDATE: DASH Client - *missing* functionality.
Added option to filter out *missing* items from the display due to host configuration changes.

UPDATE: Added SSL/Secure Option for DASH Client Connectivity
Added the option to utilize SSL for secure transmission of DASH client data.

UPDATE: Service Alert Details returned via keyword.
Changed the order of service alert details to place the problem services at the top of the list.

UPDATE: Updates to various user interface prompts.
Various user interface prompts and messages have been updated for clarity and/or correction.

UPDATE: Added static reply port for SNMP Monitoring
Added the option to specify a specific reply port for SNMP Query monitoring in order to provide finer granularity for firewall pass through. The default functionality is dynamic.

UPDATE: SNMP Device Response Update
Updated SNMP add-in to handle Unknown Source response messages from device.
e.g. Miranda's Kaleido-K2 responds with Unknown Source causing timeout.

UPDATE: Full Suspended Resource reduction.
During suspended item display, local resources are released to lower CPU utilization during display.

UPDATE: Added cycle time to end of display.
Added total monitoring cycle time to result display at end of cycle..
   
FIX: Service Monitor Security Issue
Added fix for fast connect/disconnect before service monitoring which would, in rare cases, cause an RPC error thus not allowing the service control manager to open.

FIX: Fast Close of Device Editor Window
Corrected an issue where closing the device entry editor before it was initialized could cause an application error.

FIX: Duplicate Entry Notification on Add New
When adding a new entry, a message noting that the name was a duplication might be displayed even though the entry name was unique. Corrected.

5.5.0 - Critical Maintenance Update and Release
January 2009

UPDATE: Added Scale MB or GB option.
Added drive space scale in MB or GB to drive space check option allow the drive space minimum free space to be specified in either megabytes or gigabytes.

UPDATE: Added Drive Space Keywords
Added keywords for drive space and minimum free space for gigabyte option.

UPDATE: Modem Connect Monitor - Skip Dial Feature
Added option in the Modem Connect monitor to skip dialing of a number and execute the selected scripting on the selected com port.  This option is only valid when accessing the COM port directly.

UPDATE: Parent Poll Frequency Counter
Corrected issue where parent poll frequency counter reset did not occur.

UPDATE: ODBC Add-In: UI Fix for Timeout Field
Corrected issue where blank timeout field caused error in UI.

UPDATE: SNMP Add-In: AKCP MIB Walk Issues
Modified SNMP MIB  Walk logic for AKCP Devices

UPDATE: File/Dir Add-In: Directory Attributes
Applied Hidden/System Attribute selection to Directory attributes as well as file attributes.

UPDATE: Event Log Monitor Add-In: Multiple Naming Usage
Modified to handle spaces between multiple username fields for include/exclude.

UPDATE: POP Queue Monitor
Corrected issue where the Ignore Communications Failure would not stick.

UPDATE: SQL Upsize Tool
Corrected issue where orphaned data values or childless entries in database would cause an EOF/BOF error disrupting data export.

UPDATE: Event Log Monitor - Windows 2008 Empty Log
Corrected issue where scanning an empty event log on a Windows 2008 computer, the event log monitor would return an error.
The add-in now ignores the new error.

Various UI handling updates.

5.4.5 - Maintenance Update and Release - Enhancement Update
March 2008

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Copy To for Schedules
Added option to "Copy To" for mass update of schedule configuration.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Copy To for Schedule Override
Added option to "Copy To" for mass update of schedule overrides configuration.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Copy To for General Entry Settings
Added option to "Copy To" for device entry configuration w/selective fields.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Copy To for Detailed Statistics Logging
Added option to "Copy To" for mass update of details statistics logging setting.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Copy To for HTML Auto-Output
Added option to "Copy To" for mass update of automatic HTML output report setting.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Added "Find" option in device editor
Added a 'find' feature in the device editor to allow location of an entry using a basic search specification allowing you to locate a device based on partial name or description match.  Utilize the Toolbar find or select Action / Find.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - HREF Recognition in Reporting
Automated output reporting will recognize HTTP:// and HTTPS:// in your notes fields when output is sent to the device detail for automated HTML reporting and create a link to the URL.

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Access to Service State from Main Console
You can now access the IPSentry service state directly from the Tools menu in the main IPSentry console without having to access the system options allowing for quick access to stop/start the IPSentry service manager.

UPDATE: HTTP/s Add-In - SSL Certificate Checking
The HTTP/s Enhanced Add-in can now be configured to perform SSL certificate checking. This was added during an earlier release of 5.4.

UPDATE: Mail Transaction Add-In - Send Message only
The Mail Transaction Add-In can now be configured to just send an email message without any test for receipt thereby only checking the SNMP or Exchange server for validity of accepting email messages. This update also provides the means to send a heartbeat message from IPSentry.

UPDATE: User Interface Optimizations
Enhanced various user interface areas within the application.

UPDATE: Event Log Add-In - Item Formatting
The format of the event message items can not be formatted using a global template. When configuring the add-in, you can now specify through the use of event log keywords the format of the event message detail information that will be returned in the add-in response. Modification of the template is a global change and is not specific to each entry. A change to the event message result format will be in effect for all event log message detail results returned in the alert.

UPDATE: File and Directory Monitoring Add-In - DOS/*NIX Recurs Folder
Updated internal checks to avoid recursion of FTP folders containing reference links to parent folder. (../, ./)

FIX: File and Directory Monitoring Add-In - Test Result Message
Corrected test result message for ftp directory scan to correctly show the folders and files scanned for match.

FIX: IPSentry Application - Check Now - Ignore Schedules
Corrected an issue where using Check Now / Ignore Schedules would continue to apply the existing schedule and skip entries with a scheduled downtime.

5.4.00 - Maintenance Update and Release
February 2008

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Alert Reference Display
Added columns in the device editor to allow quick identification of the alert status for each device.  This allows you to quickly identify whether an alert configuration is Enable (Custom), Disabled, or which template the alert is referencing.

UPDATE: IPSentry Service (SRVIPSEN)
Added message DLL reference and source to Windows event log Application list.

UPDATE: Automated Output HTML - Link Identification
During output of the automated output HTML, links identified with http:// or https:// will be converted to A style links during output.

UPDATE: Drive Space Monitoring - Drive Space incompatibilities identified
During test of drive space on certain devices (rare), the free space reported by the Windows API was incorrect.  Internal code changes now handle this incompatibility.

UPDATE: Service Start Event Entry after Exiting Desktop Application
IPSentry service manager will no longer report a "not responding" event when it finds IPSentry not running.  Prior to this update, closing IPSentry from the desktop would cause the service manager to report IPSentry as not responding.  Instead, the IPSentry service manager will simply start the service instance.

UPDATE: Event Log - Full Message Text Returned
IPSentry Event Log Monitoring Add-In will now check the remote system for event message text before checking the local system for message DLL or MSG files.  This allows the event log monitor to obtain more message text information from remote event log monitoring items for filtering in the add-in configuration as well as reporting event information in the returned results.

TECH: IPSentry Add-In SDK Documentation
The documentation for developing add-ins under V5 has been released.  Please see our support forums for more information.

INSTALLER: The IPSentry Installer updated for various issues
The IPSentry installer has been updated to handle various issues with incompatible, non-registered, or invalid system files with respect to the installer itself (Vista) or in some cases, the IPSentry application.

FIX: IPSentry Graphing Tool - SQL Server Date/Time Base Server Date Variance
SQL Server bases it's time date and time for 01/01/1990, COM and most all others base the date/time 12/30/1899 thereby creating a 2 day offset error in date/time calculations during graphing.  This discrepancy is resolved when utilizing SQL Server for detailed statistics.

 

5.3.03 - Interim Maintenance Release
2008

UPDATE: IPSentry Application - Vista Issue
MS Vista would beep when the IPSentry display displayed a new line only in the active display console.

UPDATE: File Content Monitor Add-In
Added option to only scan 'new' files since last check.
e.g. All files will be accumulated, but only the files that did not exist during the last check will be scanned for content.

UPDATE: IPSentry DASH Client - Always on top.
Added option to dash client for "Always On Top" to designate the IPSentry DASH main window should not drop behind others.

UPDATE: IPSentry Email Alert - Auto MX Mail Server Address.
If the Mail Server address is left blank, IPSentry will lookup the MX address assigned to the email address(es) specified and attempt to send email directly to the recipients mail server.  Note that use of a known mail relay IP Addressed is recommended, there may be situations where you are unable to relay and must send email directly.  This functionality enhancement makes that possible.

FIX: Event Log Monitor Add-In.
Updated event ID comparison to make use of Content Id 16 bit value as displayed in event logs.  Also corrected an issue where specific Category ID as an exclusion would be ignored and then included in the 'found' events

UPDATE: DASH Server error self heal.
If the TCP/IP Stack begins reporting too many errors due to a blocking action, the DASH server will self heal with a re-initialize of the listening socket in order to clear the actions in progress causing the errors.

* Updated help system to reflect various changes in the interface.
* Various updates to clean up GUI display abnormalities.
 

5.3.01 - Maintenance Update
December 2007

UPDATE: IPSentry Device Editor
Modified drag/drop logic to allow dragging of entry in left pane without pre-selection required for normalized drag/drop functionality.

FIX: IPSentry Service Manager
Corrected an issue where inactivity within the IPSentry running process may not be correctly identified resulting in the ability for the IPSentry editor to remain in edit mode indefinitely. 

FIX: DASH Client
Corrected an issue where filtering both templates and OK (or matching state of an existing template) would result in error 35601 while re-populating the list of entries.

5.3.00 - Maintenance Update Release
November 2007

UPDATE: Add-In - IT Environmental Monitor.
Inclusion of the IT Monitor definitions file as an external configuration file now included in distribution.

UPDATE: Add-In - IT Environmental Monitor - New Senturion from Sensatronics.
The IT Environmental Monitor now supports the monitoring of Sensatronics Senturion rack mount environmental monitoring system.

UPDATE: Add-In - Event Log Monitor Exclusion via Message Text.
Updated the event log monitor to continue evaluating exclusion filter characteristics after non-filtered Category / User / ID.  Previously, exclusion on ID / Message / Cat would drop out as found rather than excluded against message text - Corrected.

UPDATE: Add-In - Performance counter monitor.
Isolated the cause of invalid counter values being obtained for memory data over 2GB.  Tested against 5GB memory object for corrective testing.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Avoid Service lookup on port #'s.
Prior versions of IPSentry performed a service to name lookup during monitoring of basic network type entries using a port service number rather service name. This would cause a delay on these types of entries where the service name/number pair was not in the windows services definition.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Use of %%Time.mm%% and %m%.
Correct issue where %%time.mm%% and %m% would result in Month rather than Minute for conversion.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Added keyword usage in the network type monitor.
Added ability to use IPSentry keywords in the Data to Receive (Expected Data) in Network Type basic monitoring.

UPDATE: Dash Client - Hide Templates / Groups
Added an option to the dash client to hide/filter Template & Group entries from the display list.

UPDATE: SNMP Add-In - Extend Walk Capabilities
Updated the SNMP Add-In MIB Browser to extend the Object Walk capabilities.

TESTING: Graphing data storage to SQL Server
While the use of SQL Server and the upsizing tool for IPSentry graphing data to SQL Server is currently undocumented, this tool and configuration file have been released for preliminary testing for select customers.  Additional documentation and configuration guidelines will be provided in a future maintenance update upon successful testing, implementation, and deployment at select sites.  

 

5.2.6 - Maintenance Update Release
August 2007

UPDATE: IPSentry - Purge of monitoring logs.
Updated code to purge monitoring logs only once per day to increase overall monitoring cycle speed.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Clear Statistics Counter Cache
Updated IPSentry to refresh cache when clear all statistics is selected for consistent "Time in State" values across all entries.

UPDATE: Graphing Tool - New query selection to handle non 'point' decimal separator
The SQL Query request for data used the regional settings of the o/s for decimal separator.  Unfortunately, when a "," was used instead of a ".", the query would fail.
Corrected to adjust SQL queries to utilize "." separator only.

5.2.5 - Non Critical Update from 5.2.4

Minor installer update for Vista.
Minor Help text update.
Non-Critical update from Version 5.2.4

5.2.4 - Maintenance Update Release
August 10, 2007

UPDATE: IPSentry - Copy To for alerts.
Added a command option to alert and notification configurations to copy the current settings to one or more existing entries using the "Copy To" button.  This button allows you to bulk duplication configuration settings to multiple entries.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Drag/Drop Multiple entries to group.
Added functionality to the IPSentry device editor allowing the selection, dragging, and dropping of multiple entries into a group rather than one by one.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Return results on basic network types.
Added functionality for basic Network type entries to allow the return of the response data in the %%mach.trimres...%% keyword.  The response data returned is limited to 10KB.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Additional "Check Now" menu options.
Added options to the IPSentry console menu to start a live check of devices and specify to ignore poll frequency, downtime schedules, or select a specific entry for live test. These new options provide the functionality to quickly test the IPSentry configuration live cycle run for one or all devices regardless of their poll frequency or down time schedules.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Auto clear HTML Statistics
Added option to the system options which allows the automatic clearing of HTML Auto-Output statistics at Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Annual basis.
The basic Up/Down statistics will be clear on the first cycle at the beginning of the period. This clearing does not modify the detailed graphing statistics.

UPDATE/FIX: IPSentry Graphing Entries and Naming
Updated code to rename and re-attribute entries and data values in the graphing detail database during name change, value and type change, and etc.  In come cases, the name and exclusion could be modified and not updated. 

Removed the option to utilize "Use From" on the {default} entry - this entry now contains only Enabled or Disabled status options.

Optimized data purge/cleanup/compact routines.

UPDATE: IPSentry Graphing Database Compact
Updated the tools/compact database option to allow user selectable forced removal of deleted entries.  By default, an entry will remain in the graphing database so long as data values exist that have not expired.  Also modified the compacting tool to keep IPSentry from showing as unresponsive during the Jet Engine compact routine.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Vista Specific changes for UAC.
The IPSentry executables that require access to the primary IPSentry configuration data have been updated to require elevated privilege to "run as administrator" in order to avoid virtualization issues as well as other restrictions at various levels when running under Windows Vista.  If you were running a previous version prior to 5.2.0 on Windows Vista without "Run as Administrator" enabled, your configuration data may have been virtualized and located in the virtual store "Users\{user}AppData\Local\Virtual Store\Program Files\RGE INC\IPSentryV5\IPSDataRoot\".  This data will need to be copied into the physical location of the IPSDataRoot in the installation folder.  

The following tools and utilities may also be affected by this change assuming you installed IPSentry in the default folder "C:\Program Files\...".
Below are the files and possible locations that may need to be copied from the virtualized Vista folders to the physical folder.

• IPSentry Application (IPSentry.EXE)
  Copy \IPSDataRoot\* from the virtualized application folder to the physical IPSDataRoot folder.
  Copy License.V5 from the virtualized application folder to the folder in which IPSentry.exe resides.
  
   
• IPSentry License Manager (IPSLicMgr*.EXE)
  Copy License.V5 from the virtualized application folder to the folder in which IPSentry.exe resides.
  
   
• IPSentry Graphing Tool (IPSGrapher.EXE)
  Copy IPSGCONFIG.XML from the virtualized application folder to the folder in which IPSentry.exe resides.
  Copy ChartConfig\*.xml from the virtualized application folder to the folder in which IPSentry.exe resides.

If you originally installed IPSentry in an unrestricted folder (e.g. C:\IPSentry), this change in 5.2 should not have any effect.

UPDATE: IPSentry - Vista Installation.
During install on Vista systems and depending on the audio drivers installed, an error would be thrown by the o/s when exiting the IPSentry Media Setup.  This does error did not adversely affect the installation process

FIX: IPSentry - Mapped drive letter disappears
When configuring the Drive space monitor for a UNC share and selecting the option to utilize a mapped drive, the selected drive letter would appear blank when the entry was selected for editing.

FIX: IPSentry - Apply option not updated.
During configuration of a network entry, changing the state of some check boxes would not trigger the change flag to enable the "APPLY" button.

FIX: File Content Monitoring Add-In
Corrected an issue where XML data element is unrecognized and would cause an error 91 in the File Content Monitoring add-in.

FIX: Network Time Monitoring Add-In
Corrected an issue where selecting "Remove" during time server selection would result in error and termination.

UPDATE: Event Log Monitoring Add-In
Changed interpretation of event messages with no event type (null) to be considered Informational rather than Error type.  This change provides consistency with the way in which windows event viewer interprets event message with a null message type.

UPDATE: File & Directory Monitor Add-In
Added options to the filer options to trigger alert if the count has Increased or Decreased.  This functionality allows the detection of deleted or new files.

UPDATE: IPSentry Graphing Tool - Auto-Run Schedules.
The IPSentry Graphing Tool now allows you to apply a schedule definition to each report and configure the graphing tool to run as a schedule task under the windows task scheduler. Note that the schedule task will run once per hour, on the hour, and generate any reports scheduled to be run at that time or earlier.

UPDATE: IPSentry Dash Client - Auto Populate.
The IPSentry Dash client now provides the option to automatically populate entries to synchronize with the selected host.

5.1.2 - Maintenance Release
March 21, 2007

FIX: Date/Time Reporting
Time format on last entries was storing the "mm" as month instead of minutes thus causing Last Poll dates/times to be incorrect.
 

5.1.1 - Maintenance Release
March 2007

UPDATE: New operating system compatibility testing on Vista
IPSentry 5.1 has been tested under Windows Vista (English) and found to function with minor prerequisite requirements.
The most important requirement is that the following files be flagged to "Run as Administrator"

IPSentry.EXE
IPSGrapher.EXE
IPSLicMgrV5.EXE
iShutDN.EXE
SrvIPSen.EXE

AND Provide Read, Write, Modify, Change, Delete, Execute rights to the local Users group on the IPSentryV5 folder and subfolders.

Failure to attribute these files with Run as Administrator rights may result in configuration data being placed in the virtual store thus being made unavailable to other applications and utilities which depend on these files being in the IPSDataRoot folder.

UPDATE: Schedule Override Option
Version 5.1 now includes a schedule override which allows you to override the existing schedule to make an entry inactive during specific times on days of week, days of month, or specific dates. This allows planned outages to be pre-scheduled within IPSentry for inactive monitoring.

UPDATE: Retry count option applied to standard Network type entries
Version 5.1 now includes a field for Retry Count on basic network port monitoring entries.

UPDATE: Custom Attribute fields for device entries.
Version 5.1 now includes a set of 10 customizable entry attribute fields that can be applied to each entry and used by the IPSentry keyword processor. This allows for customized attribute values which are unique to your configuration requirements and are specific to the entries.

UPDATE: Selection of ICMP.DLL or Winsock based ping in configuration.
Version 5.1 now includes an option to specify that an entry use the windows ICMP.DLL instead of Winsock ping. This will be required to be checked under Vista and may be utilized under various network topologies which may require this packet type.
This replaces the undocumented use of "IPSUSEICMP3" and "IPSUSEICMPDLL" system environment variables.

UPDATE: System Options loaded after configuration restore
The IPSentry system configuration options are now loaded after performing a restore of a .IPZ file.

FIX: {*}.DYN.XML Files grown uncontrollably
Due to an XML storage error, the {*}.dyn.xml files would grow continually making the system extremely slow and memory resource intensive.
After installing 5.1, you may wish to delete the *.DYN.XML file in the IPSDataRoot folder.
*WARNING* Deleting these files will have the same effect as selecting "Tools, Clear, Up-Time Counters" from the IPSentry main menu.

FIX: TCP Script Monitoring Add-In
Corrected problem where the return code would evaluate to 'success' after processing of the add-in monitoring.

FIX: Corrected time calculation for various time separators.
On systems using the non-conforming ":" as a time separator, the resulting times would always be UTC even when compared to local time.
This would cause a perpetual state of failure and perpetual pause of monitoring.

FIX: TCP Event Log Monitoring Add-In
Corrected problem where the event code AND the event ID will be compared against the Event ID list used in the event filters.
Some event ID's contain additional bit values applied to the event code causing a mismatch to the event id and thereby would not be recognized.

FIX: File & Directory Monitoring Add-In
Corrected problem where the byte scale of GB would return the value in MB in the result.

Corrected a problem where legacy version 4.x Add-In Args imported during conversion could cause 'overflow' error if the MinValue or MaxValue elements exceeded 2 billion.

Display issue corrected when selecting a byte scale on the 'General Settings' tab, the scale will be updated immediately on the 'Filter Criteria' tab.

Corrected issue where the keyword conversion on the file name specification was not correctly referenced during a file scan.
e.g. %yyyy%%mm%%dd%.log may not recognize 20061201.log as existing.

FIX: POP Mail Queue Monitoring Add-In
Fixed 'new' message selection allowing only "new" messages to be validated against the filter specification.
In some cases, unless a message was marked as 'read' in a mailbox and or removed from the mailbox, the message would be re-evaluated on subsequent checks of the mailbox.

FIX: Database Connection and Query Monitoring Add-In
Corrected issue where the "Execute Only" flag would not stick within the query configuration.

FIX: Misc corrections and visual queue updates.
Various trivial updates have also been applied.
 

5.0.30 - 5.x Maintenance Release
October 10, 2006

UPDATE: Smaller unique new entry names.
Reduced the size of New item entry names when add-in new entries. No longer appending the unique ID.
 

FIX: Event Log Monitor = Corrupted 'CONTAINS' value.
When configuring the "CONTAINS" value within a filter, the value would be base64 encoded during XML parsing. This value is stored un encoded so the data would be corrupt.
 

FIX: SNMP Monitoring - 3rd party SNMP agent port conflict
When running a 3rd party SNMP agent on the same system as IPSentry, port #161 would be blocked and unusable by the IPSentry SNMP agent. IPSentry SNMP Agent 5.0.28 will now select an unused port on which to bind for sending the SNMP Trap.
Future updates (5.1 and later) will contain a user-defined "Local Port" value allowing the user to specify the local port from which to send SNMP traps.
 

FIX: SNMP Monitoring - Add-In Error: 457
Multiple QUERY configurations generating Add-In Error: 457 - This key is already associated with an element of this collection
 

FIX: SNMP Monitoring - Keyword replacement fix
V4/V5 Keywords corrected in message data.
 

FIX: SNMP Monitoring - Since Last Trigger comparison filter.
When configuring an SNMP Object filter to utilize "Since Last Trigger", the add-in would not store this setting thus using the "Since Last Check" option for all delta monitors.
 

FIX: SNMP Monitoring - Unable to remove SNMP filter from filter list.
Deletion of an SNMP Filter item from the list would not be removed and would allow only the editing of the filter.
 

FIX: Removing reference monitor item removes all items.
When selecting to remove a specific item from the Reference type monitor reference list, all items would be removed.
 

UPDATE: Removed detail verbose response data from graph DB.
The verbose response data has been removed from the graphing detail database. This data was not used by the graphing tools and has been made obsolete. This update provided a substantially reduced database size for highly active monitoring.
 

FIX: HTTP/s Web Monitor = Proxy Bypass Error.
The proxy bypass collection was being misinterpreted in previous versions generating a failure. This has been corrected.
 

* Various other internal updates correcting some visual queues and resource utilizations and internal logic not outlined / detailed.

5.0.26 - 5.x Maintenance Release
August 15, 2006

UPDATE: Added "Add Copy" to device action menu.
The action menu within the IPSentry Device Editor now contains an option to ADD COPY.  Selection this option will add a new entry to the list of devices by creating a duplicate of the currently selected entry.

UPDATE: Added "Compact Database" to tools menu.
The Tools menu within the IPSentry Active Display Console now contains an option to compact the details database.  While IPSentry will remove outdated detail data from the database, this option will remove data associated with the unused spaced thereby shrinking the overall size of the database.

UPDATE: Removed TCP Listener initialization event error.
Upon disconnection from the IPSentry telnet interface, the remote listener would arbitrarily attempt to re-initialize the socket for listening.  Because the socket was already listening, you would receive an application error in the event log although the error was an expected error and should be ignored.

UPDATE: Mail Transaction Monitoring Add-In - Added file attachment option.
We have added the option to attach a file to the test email in order to allow testing of mail file scanning in conjunction with general mail transport testing.

UPDATE: Event log monitor - truncated during scan on active event logs.
During event log evaluation of very active event logs (e.g. Security), it would be possible that the event log was truncated by the operating system.  This would cause the event log monitor to report this issue and stop checking the event log during that cycle.  This was by design in order to obtain a new base-line record on the next cycle.   This update will now re-calculate the base line if the log file is truncated by the O/S and continue scanning so long as the record number to be scanned still exists within the event log.

UPDATE: Default statistics HTML output display.
The default statistics HTML output display for new installations is ordered first by State (Critical, Suspended, OK) and then by name.

FIX: SNMP Alerting error correction.
In the event that an add-in reported a failure extremely quickly, a dependent of that entry may not return the proper evaluation of state thereby allowing the test to continue even though the parent is in a failed state.

FIX: SNMP Alerting error correction.
The SNMP Alert Trap would be sent successfully but report a failure without reason during the alert and alert test process.  This issue has been corrected.

FIX: IT Environmental Monitor.
The Timeout value would stick at 10 seconds regardless of the setting for model E & C units.  This problem has been corrected.

 

5.0.22 - 5.x Maintenance Release
July 10, 2006

INTL: International numeric configuration and license retrieval issue.
Dependent upon the language and numeric formatting specified within regional system settings, license codes would be accepted but would not be retrieved during a license check within IPSentry.

INTL: International numeric configuration unique entry ID invalid.
Dependent upon the language and numeric formatting specified within regional system settings, the unique identifier format for entries would be invalid due to lack of numeric separator within IPSentry.

INTL: International numeric configuration suspended date.
Dependent upon the language and numeric formatting specified within regional system settings, the suspended date/time calculation would generate an error while suspending an entry within IPSentry.

INTL: International date format of dd/mm/yyyy invalidates graphing database entry..
Setting of the regional system date format to dd/mm/yyyy would cause the dates within the graphing detail database to be stored in the specified format as opposed to known date format.  Queries during report graph generation would receive comparison dates ad yyyyddmm rather than yyyymmdd causing date/time selections of sample data to be incorrect or unavailable.

DISPLAY: Entry names accumulating in the clear statistics entry list
When selecting to clear statistics from the Tools, Clear, Up-Time Statistics menu, the entries would be listed multiple times each time this option was selected.  Entries now appear only once.

FIX: Telnet 'LIST' command non-functioning
The LIST command issued during a telnet session would cause the telnet interface to become non-responsive.  Corrected in v5.0.22.

UPDATE: HTTP/s Enhanced Web Monitor - Version 4 Configuration Problem Extended
Extended V4 issue where the format of the XML configuration generated under V4 violates XML specification in V5. The FLD element could contain multiple occurrences of the PAIR attribute which would cause the configuration to not be parsed properly.

5.0.21 - 5.x Maintenance Release
July 1, 2006

UPDATE: Telnet access
Multiple connections to telnet client will be declined.

UPDATE: Device Editor main listing.
When selecting Un Grouped / List mode, the selection will now be retained when exiting and re-entering the device editor.

UPDATE: New Entries in Ungrouped mode.
When adding new entries in the device editor, they will no longer be grouped under the parent when in Ungrouped view mode.

UPDATE: Entry Editor Cancel Prompt.
Cancel button will close form without prompting if no changes have been made.

UPDATE: Keywords for Drive Space.
Keyword %%mach.drive.availmb%% now correctly outputs the space available in MB.
Keyword %%mach.drive.availgb%% now correctly outputs the space available in GB.
Keyword %%mach.drive.availkb%% outputs the space available in KB based on calculated value from MB
Keyword %%mach.drive.avail%% outputs the space available in MB

UPDATE: Documentation
Updated help system to reflect possible phone # formats to use in your pager Dial Number setup.

UPDATE: Backup/Restore Browse
During backup and restore and selecting "Browse", the dialogue title will display the action being taken (Restore From / Backup To).

UPDATE: Entry Editor Title
The Entry Name is now displayed in the title of the Entry Editor.

FIX: Telnet access
Corrects an issue where no end-of-line feeds would be output to a telnet client when IPSentry was running as a service.

FIX: MO*.LOG - Reference type entry logged invalid state.
Corrected issue where the logged record for a Reference Monitor in the MO*.LOG files would show "OK" as the result regardless of the state actually detected.

FIX: Incorrect value in "Poll Frequency" fields if value greater than 999 minutes
Corrected issue where the poll frequency value greater than 999 minutes would be stripped of the trailing digit. (1440 would be displayed as 144)

FIX: HTTP/s Enhanced Web Monitor - Version 4 Configuration Problem
Corrected an issue where the format of the XML configuration generated under V4 violates XML specification in V5. The FLD element could contain multiple occurrences of the PAIR attribute which would cause the configuration to not be parsed properly.

UPDATE: Event Log Monitor - Added logic to avoid corrupt registry issue
Logic was added to avoid an error where the Source information referenced by an even log entry had been removed from the registry (uninstall of software, etc..)

FIX: Event Log Monitor - Event Type would not 'stick'
When selecting "Add" for a new filter entry, the event type selection would not stick.  This would result in having to select "Modify" to make the event type selection stay within the list.

FIX: Event Log Monitor - Ordering of Include/Exclude interferes with filtering
Depending on the order of the Include/Exclude and other factors, the end of the log scan could be reached prematurely.

UPDATE: DASH Client - Refresh All available.
You can now select to refresh all hosts by highlighting the {all} item and selecting refresh.

UPDATE: DASH Client - Refresh Cancellation available.
You can now cancel refreshing of hosts by pressing ESC while the DASH Client is open.

UPDATE: DASH Client - Notes/Details while displaying ALL entries.
You can now view details, notes, suspend, resume, and notate an entry while viewing ALL hosts.

UPDATE: DASH Client - Added "Details" to "Entry" menu.
The Entry menu now contains a 'details' selection allowing detail view from right-click on entry or from Entry menu item.

 

5.0.20 - 5.x Maintenance Release
June 27, 2006

FIX: First Layer Dependency Issue.
Corrects an issue first level failure (under {default}) not detected as parent dependency failure - required 'group' item as parent.

FIX: "Recovery Alert" checkbox in paging configuration.
Corrects an issue where the checkbox noting recover alert in the pager configuration does not stick during edit.
The recovery is and count is recognized, but the checkbox remains unchecked when reloading the editor.

FIX: Error 91 during service restart (Add-In - Service State Controller)
Corrects an issue where controlling a service with the service state add-in generates an error 91.

5.0.19 - 5.x Maintenance Release
June 26, 2006

UPD: Added Attempts, Failures, Rate% to Cumulative Totals
The cumulative totals for the statistics report now contain the overall (Cumulative) attempts/failures/success rate of all devices in the report group.

UPD: Added "Don't ask me again." option for FQDN translation.
When entering a fully qualified domain name or non-ip address in the "IP Address" field for Network type entries, you are prompted as to whether or not you wish to convert the name to an IP Address.  The purpose of using an IP Address is to avoid alerts due to DNS lookup failures.
This update gives you the option to stop this prompting and leave the entry as entered with no lookup of IP Address.

UPD: Schedule Editor - Referenced Entry Display.
When accessing the schedule editor for entries using a referenced schedule, the information will be updated to display the schedule in use by the referenced entry.  Also enabled access to view all days schedules as well as disable buttons that are not usable in a reference schedule (Add, Modify, Remove, etc...)

UPD: Increase TO/Subject Fields in Email Configuration
This update increases the maximum number of characters in the TO and SUBJECT fields from 128 to 32k allowing for very long subjects and mail recipient CC and BCC lists.

SPC: NT4 Specific Issue - System Service Selection
This update corrects an issue where the ADVAPI32.DLL on NT4 systems did not contain the correct entry point available under XP, 2000, and 2003 O/S's.
A new srvmgr.dll has been added to the distribution for compatibility with NT4.

SPC: Statistics Output Reporting
Added option to strip braces, dashes, and decimal separators from file name references.
In order to enable this feature, set the system environment variable "IPSIIS5UID=TRUE"
Only required when outputting report structure to systems not capable of using the brace character within the URL.

SPC: Graphing Output
Added option to strip braces, dashes, and decimal separators from file name references.
In order to enable this feature, set the system environment variable "IPSIIS5UID=TRUE"
Only required when outputting report structure to systems not capable of using the brace character within the URL.

FIX: IPSGrapher.EXE continues running when stopped using [X] rather than File/Exit.
Corrects an issue where the running instance of IPSGrapher.exe continues to show in the process list. Required process kill or use of File/Exit to terminate application

FIX: Stopping SRVIPSEN leaves IPSentry.exe running.
Corrects an issue where the running service instance of IPSentry.exe would not recognize the stop request from the service manager.

FIX: IT Environmental Monitor Add-In: Invalid Port
Corrects an issue where setting the port field for use with the model F2 would be set to zero during subsequent edits after saving the configuration.  This issue did not affect monitoring of network based modules such as the E, EM, and CM series units.

FIX: Add-In Alert Test and alert schedule Recovery/Max issues.
Corrects an issue where the recovery count, and max alerts were not being recognized or reset when utilizing the Add-In alerting with these options set.
Also corrects an issue where hitting "TEST" on the add-in alert would test the configured alert for the next highest alert in the list relative to the selected item.

FIX: Add-In - File/Dir Monitor - Browse Buttons
Corrects issue where Browse buttons in the File/Dir monitor perform no action.
 

5.0.16 - 5.x Maintenance Release
June 15, 2006

UPD: Changed license entry to allow paste of license code.
Version 5.0.16 will now allow the pasting of license key / serial number information. The fields are no longer individual formatted entries and should allow much faster entry of various license codes for IPSentry and associated add-in components.

FIX: Applies To: 5.0.14 and Earlier - Add-In Alerting
Corrects an issue where hitting the "TEST" button in the Add-In tab would attempt to check the next item in the list rather than the item selected. If you only had one alert, it would test successful from the Add-Alert tab, but would not actually perform the test.

Also corrected an issue where the Max Alert value for an individual add-in alert was not being recognized.

FIX: Applies To: 5.0.14 and Earlier - Performance Monitor - Unrecognized converted args of /FILE=
Corrects an issue where previous versions utilized the "/FILE=" pointing to an external file for the performance data configuration settings. This problem would cause a Bad File Name or Number error to be generated.

FIX: Applies To: 5.0.14 and Earlier - System Date format of dd.MM.yyyy is not acceptable for SQL Query.
Corrects an issue where the system date format of dd.MM.yyyy (as set in the regional settings under control panel) was unrecognized by the standard SQL query text causing a failure to add date values to the graphing database.

FIX: Applies To: 5.0.13 and Earlier - Down Time Schedule issue in 5.0.13 and earlier.

Corrects issue where the downtime schedule was recognizing only the latest time frame as active and marking remaining time as schedule downtime.

FIX: Applies To: 5.0.13 and Earlier V4toV5 Conversion of corrupt MUID Index (Very old 4.x version issue).

Within the last 6 years of the Version 4.x series of IPSentry, a version of IPSentry created duplicate ID entries for machine entries.  This was an unanticipated issue for which the V4toV5 conversion was not prepared to handle.  This contains an updated converted to handle duplicated ID's and reassigns a unique identifier.

5.0.13 - 5.x Maintenance Release
June 14, 2006

Fix: Applies To: 5.0.12 - File & Directory Monitor Add-In:
Corrects an inconsistency in checking for modified files "Within Last" time frame to act functionally equivalent to IPSentry V4.

In Version 5.0.12, the modification is being detected only once. The date/time is then cached to check for further modifications.

In Version 5.0.13, selecting "Within Last" will be the comparison against the current date and time and will disregard the last check date/time of the file.

Size & Existence will still be related to the Last Check date/time if the date/time of the file does not change between cycles.

Fix: Applies To: 5.0.12 - Drive Space Monitoring
Corrects an issue with drive space monitoring and drive mappings during Drive Space checks reporting "Bad Device" due to an inserted space in the drive map field.

5.0.12 - 5.0 Public Release
June 12, 2006