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Servers Alive Changelog

What's new in Servers Alive 10.2.0.2870

Jan 27, 2022
  • General
  • Servers Alive supported on the latest Windows versions (in English - other language version might work but are not tested and not supported) - With support the latest version of Servers Alive on all Windows versions that are supported by Microsoft
  • Servers Alive installer and Servers Alive EXE file are now signed for better "security"
  • Several changes in performance
  • Alerts:
  • Microsoft Teams alert added
  • SMTP alert enhanced (defaults & security)
  • Checks:
  • AWS EC2 check added (ENTERPRISE edition only)
  • AWS S3 check added (ENTERPRISE edition only)
  • Enhanced URL check
  • Enhanced Hyper-V checker
  • Output:
  • Extended security for built-in webserver
  • Several new HTML tags

New in Servers Alive 9.0.2805 (Oct 31, 2017)

  • New - Updated
  • The SNMP trap receiver alerts can be ignored on weekends, to set per alert!
  • The alert (on the checks) could already be ignored on public holidays, you can now in the same way ignore the alert during the weekend
  • VMWare VM/host checking can now not only be done with PowerCli 6.0 but also with 6.5
  • VMWare host checking is added (enterprise feature)
  • The HTTP/HTTPS check can now check for a specific status code
  • Via the PROFILE SCHEDULE you can define a schedule that is execute once a day (enterprise feature)
  • The ping check can do a LATENCY check (send one frame and alert if that one from takes more then of ms)
  • Docker container alert (start/stop) added
  • Docker container checking added (enterprise feature)
  • Azure VM alert (start/stop) added (enterprise feature)
  • Azure VM checking added (enterprise feature)
  • Extended the errorlevel check with a 3rd rule
  • Ability to select the secuirty protocol you want for the build-in webserver (including TLS 1.2).
  • Additional HTML tags: sa_stats_uptime_short, sa_stats_downtime_short, sa_stats_maintenancetime_short, sa_stats_nondowntime_short
  • If you have your robots.txt/favicon.ico file in the c:application datawoodstoneservers alive" folder then we will serve that one (via the build-in webserver), if the file does not exist then we won't serve a file.
  • (depending on the OS you're running SA on it could also be c:app data... or c:applicationdata.... - > basidly it's the file were you have the samib.db and the groups.grp file)
  • When converting the output of a check you can now also "saved" the converted result in a custom field instead of to the actual check result, as such you can keep the actual check result
  • When converting the output of a check you can now within those scripts use the custom fields as sa_custom_value_1...sa_custom_value_7
  • The formula used for the SNMP check can now use the content of the custom fields too.
  • For example: ((sa_currentresult - sa_previousresult ) * 8 * 100) / ((sa_currenttimeinms - sa_previoustimeinms) * sa_custom_value_3)
  • SNMP check that is based on a formula does not have to be just FALSE, it can be any type of value that you can compare to
  • RRD graphs can be of a self-defined size
  • New var %tz added that shows the timezone in which Servers Alive is running. The timestamp within the SMTP alerts also shows the timezone.
  • You can add the HTTP(S) headers to the %e parameter for an HTTP/HTTPS check in case the status is not 200 (OK), this is controlled from within the registry via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeDBU ConsultingServers AliveStartupaddHTTPHeaders (dword). With a value of 1 the headers are added.
  • The following tags now also work in a GROUP part of the HTML template: sa_startshorttime, sa_startlongtime, sa_startshortdate, sa_startlongdate, sa_currentlongtime, sa_currentshorttime, sa_currentlongdate, sa_currentshortdate
  • Fixes:
  • All known bugs were fixed

New in Servers Alive 8.0.2725 (Dec 30, 2015)

  • General:
  • Servers Alive supported on Windows 7/8/10 and Windows 2008/2012(R2) (in English - other language version might work but are not tested and not supported)
  • Servers Alive installer and Servers Alive EXE file are now signed for better "security"
  • Several changes in performance
  • Remote Icon for remote view on the system tray icon
  • Remote Icon for local administration of Servers Alive
  • Alerts:
  • SLACK alert added
  • VMWare alert added (start/stop VM)
  • Hyper-V alert added (start/stop VM)
  • Twitter alert added (ENTERPRISE edition only!)
  • SMTP (mail) can use several threads for sending, as such speeding up the mail sending
  • double XMPP sender
  • Execute command via SSH addded as new alert
  • Execute command can be done within the context of a different user
  • Checks:
  • VMWare check added (ENTERPRISE edition only!)
  • Hyper-V check added
  • SNI & TLS 1.2 support for HTTPS checks added
  • Combined check added - combine several other checks into one "complex" check
  • Native ipv6 ping check
  • Native ipv6 TCP check
  • Native ipv6 UDP check
  • Native ipv6 DNS check
  • Process, diskspace, perfmon and services check can use the PERSON feature for authentication, this make password management in Servers Alive much easier
  • URL check (http/https) can check for a status code
  • Process checker can use wildcarts
  • URL check with formula's
  • Output:
  • saWeb add-on built-in
  • Huge changes in the built-in webserver - can use SSL, authentication via PERSON feature, serve the saved HTML pages
  • Logging:
  • RRD logging of the check result - The RRD logging has been extended to include the check result
  • Interchange logging - using new database engine for faster logging and with native support for several databases (like Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, Informix, Interbase, SQLBase, mySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and ODBC)

New in Servers Alive 7.2.2627 (Oct 28, 2014)

  • SAVE as new SSH/telnet command.
  • The process check's authentication will be default use a connection to IPC$ in order to authenticated towards the remote system. In some cases this is not working correctly (due to security settings on the remote system). You can now globaly change the authentication method used for process checks by setting the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\UseimpersonateForProcessChecks (reg_dword) to 1.
  • The service check's authentication will be default use a connection to IPC$ in order to authenticated towards the remote system. In some cases this is not working correctly (due to security settings on the remote system). You can now globaly change the authentication method used for service checks by setting the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\UseimpersonateForServiceChecks (reg_dword) to 1.
  • Everywere were it's possible to use the % variables you can now use a script too. Within the SETUP: General\Custom Scripts screen you define a script, this scripts gets an ID. Within the % locations you can point to that script via (SCR=ID) for example: (SCR=2) points to the script with ID = 2.
  • Twitter alert is now ready for the future and is based on v1.1 of the Twitter API
  • The NT Process checker will now also log the CHECKRESULT into RRD.
  • Within the definition of an check you can now use the %h, %p, %r en %w parameters. The %w will be replaced by the IP address IF that is known, else it will be replaced by the hostname (%h). If within the interface of Servers Alive you have the possibility to test a check or to browse (for a service for example), then the % parameters will NOT be replaced by their value! The replacement is only done during the checks!
  • The check description of an external errorlevel check does by default not show the parameters that are used within the commandline. You can enable/disable this by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\IncludeParametersForExternalErrorLevelDescription (string) to 1 (for enable = with the parameters) or to 0 (disable = without the parameters) (on 64 bits OS the value to change is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\IncludeParametersForExternalErrorLevelDescription)
  • Changes made to the setup while running in none checking mode (via the Remote Icon tool) will be seen by the running service without the need for a restart.
  • When running the Servers Alive service and connecting to it via the Remote Icon tool (SA in none checking mode) you will see the updates while SA (service) is checking.
  • Experimental support NTLMv2 authentication for HTTP/HTTPS checks added
  • GUI element added for the autoUpdateHTTPInterval parameter.
  • Detection of the Windows 2012 OS was added
  • Within the HTML template based output you can use the saif clause outside of sa_report part. New vars that have been introduced are sa_nr_up,sa_nr_down,sa_nr_maintenance,sa_nr_unchecked,sa_nr_unavailable and sa_nr_entries. They all give the total value based on Servers Alive not based on the entries that are part of the specific HTML output page.
  • Within the alerts you can use the %o (letter o) parameter, this will give you a description of the actual check that is done.
  • The trap alerts can use the %m parameter (contains the received trap), if you want to convert the content of the %m parameter you can now this by using a script.
  • The URL formula check will strip the leading tags (until the BODY one) to get the number on the checked page
  • The authentication that is used for the alerts can now also be based on a person, making password maintenance easier.
  • For the URL (http/https) checks you can now select the useragent to use via the interface.
  • Installer will by default propose the Servers Alive useragent, Firefox 12 or Internet Explorer 7.0. More options can be added in the registry.
  • MERGE filename as new SSH/telnet command.
  • If the telephony service is not running, the app/service will start it
  • The SMTP alerts can have a different priority per alert, and different for down and the other statusses
  • Built-in webserver can serve files that are within the same directory as the webpage it shows IF the webbrowsers refers to the initial webpage (typicaly this will be used for CSS or images)
  • Within the alerts you can now use a TAB too by entering {09}
  • If an entry has a prettyname, then this was shown in the DEPENDS ON list on the ADD/EDIT entry page, without a prettyname is showed a description of the entry. By editing/adding the following registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\Dependsonwithoutprettyname (string) with value of 1 it will always show a description (on 64 bits OS the value to change is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\Dependsonwithoutprettyname)
  • Speed optimalisation for the LOAD HOST and at the end of a cycle
  • SSH command as alert was added
  • The mail part of Servers Alive can now work with several mailer threads, this can decrease the time to send a large number of alerts
  • Update to the INTERCHANGE database logging should make it quicker, now also with native supported for some databases. (like Oracle, MsSQL, Sybase, DB2, mySQL, SQLite, Informix,...
  • Changes Wizard can change the TO and BODY part of the following alerts: other mail, SMS, SNPP, sMPP, Notepage, Numeric paging, twitter, msn, xmpp, popup
  • Changes Wizard can change for the alerts based on the primary/alternate email, the TO, SUBJECT and BODY part
  • Trapreceiver now has a trap viewer (can be accessed via the setup screen of the trap receiver)
  • For the trap-alerts we have other % parameters
  • h: name of the system running Servers Alive
  • t: time the trap was received
  • d: date the trap was received
  • m: received SNMP trap
  • r: rule that was triggered
  • s: name/ip of the source of the snmp trap
  • a: name/ip of the agent sending the trap
  • The trap-alert now contains the ENTERPRISE OID too
  • Schedule profile added (ENTERPRISE edition only!). It's possible via the EDIT menu to create a SCHEDULE and to use that schedule for different entries.
  • The SORT option of the template can use GUI too. When GUI is used all other sort options are ignored
  • sa_if can use sa_levelsdeep too
  • New HTML tag added for the HTML template based output. : this will show an active/maintenance link for the group. (tag only valid in group header/footer). If the link is clicked we will change the status and re-generate the saved html page.
  • Twitter alert has been added (ENTERPRISE edition only!). In combination with the new �...� paremeters you can even add the coordinates of were the actual system that you're monitoring is located by giving the coordinates via the custom fields
  • Via the SAWeb interface you can now set the group's entries to maintenance or active, all at once, works in the same way as the option in the real GUI
  • SAWeb output shows groups names too now
  • The % parameters are extended with � .. �, they give the value of custom field 1,..., custom field 7
  • In saWeb we show some extra indentations in order to see the dependencies
  • Deleting multiple entries from within the GUI is now possible
  • Support for Virtual Directories has been added to our built-in webserver. From our point of view although the feature is usefull, we don't think it will be used a lot....we think it will only be used for images. Meaning that in most cases people will only need 1 virtual directory. That's why we decided that at this point we will not create a GUI for it.
  • You will have to create the virtual directory definition within the registry.
  • Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer create a new key called VirtualDirectory
  • Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\VirtualDirectory create a new key with the name of the virtual directory (for example images), and under this key create a new value (string) with the name "Path" and as value give it the path were the virtual directory should be pointing too. (for example c:\files\images\).
  • New HTML tag added for the HTML template based output. : this will show an active/maintenance link for the entry. If the link is clicked we will change the status and re-generate the saved html page.
  • The URL check can now use a formula too. Currently within the formula you can only use sa_currentresult. This will typicaly be used with URL that return a simply NUMBER (and not a real page), and were you want to see if that number fits certain ranges/values. For example if you want to get a DOWN when the retrieved value is not between 10 and 50, then you would set as formula sa_currentresult>10 and sa_currentresult

New in Servers Alive 6.2053 (Oct 26, 2006)

  • Enterprise edition - 5,000 entries - $299 USD