Release Notes - GreenLight - Version 2.3.0

New Features

Maintenance

  • GreenLight now updates a file named /opt/tomcat/logs/heartbeat.log every five minutes. The content is the time of the update in milliseconds since 1970. This is aimed at providing external tools a method of monitoring the GL system. The last modified date of this file should never be older than five minutes, if Tomcat and the GL system are running.

Monitoring

  • Clusters have been added as a type of network devices. A cluster in GL can contain 1-n custom defined servers. Clusters are detected during Domino Discovery, but can also be created and edited manually. Thus, clusters in GL may not necessarily identical to clusters in the Domino Directory.
  • Cluster/Server Availability Sensor: a new sensor has been added that is currently named "Domino Cluster Availability". It is the replacement for the old sensor "Domino Availability", which will be discontinued with version 2.4.0. The new sensor is compatible with both servers as well as cluster nodes. In addition to the traditional values like availability index and latency, the sensor will offer cluster specific values like e.g. "average availability index" and "percent cluster members available".
  • Console Commands: An action is now available that allows executing of 1-n Domino console commands. It is recommended that this action is used in combination with its built in notification option, that allows sending of a mail whenever the action was triggered.
  • Domino Health: When double-clicking a server in the Domino Health Monitor, a new window will now open with specific Domino related information for the selected server. In this initial release the information has an overview character, providing quick access to data about Domino server in general, its cluster and mailing status as well as an overview about its resource utilization. This area will be constantly improved over the next versions until it extends to be a place for quickly gaining access to the more complex aspects of Domino monitoring data. The goal is that this interface should not only provide the administrator with easier access to information, but also means to research possible causes or fix reoccurring issues (in its final expansion stage).
  • Check 'mail.box' content: as part of above mentioned Domino Health (sub-category Mailing), this functionality allows the querying of server mail router boxes ('mail.box' files) for their content of dead, waiting or mails on hold. Domino statistics can sometimes be inaccurate regarding these statistics, that is why this way of an on demand query has been added.

Live Monitor

  • Domino Health Monitor Configuration: it is now possible to customize the layout of the Domino health monitor data grid. Custom categories can be added as well as custom columns for either sensors or sensor categories. These settings as well as reworked threshold preferences are stored user specific and will remain intact after log-off (sizes may vary depending on window arrangement).
    (Notice: this new feature will start out with an initial grid configuration very close to the former Domino Health grid, but the availability index will be taken from a Domino Cluster Availability sensor, not the Domino Statistics. This will have the effect that cluster nodes will be visible as well as Domino servers. Existing systems will have to create a new Domino Cluster Availability sensor to collect the data for this column)
  • Full Screen Mode: when right-clicking on the Live Monitor window header, a context menu option "Full Screen" is now available. This will maximize the window beyond usual top and bottom bars. Alerts will still be shown on the top left in a non-intrusive way. The full screen mode can be exited by clicking the icon on the top right.

Improvements

Maintenance

  • A linux cron job is now checking the heartbeat file hourly if GL services are still online. If a service interruption is detected that could have been caused by a lockup, the virtual appliance is restarted.

Domino Discovery

  • Clusters will now be detected during the discovery process.

General

  • User Preferences: this area has been slightly reworked and notification settings now have the same look and feel as the rest of the preferences
  • Sensor Creation Wizard: this wizard will now add a cluster availability sensor instead of the old availability sensor. In addition, a HTTP Access sensor will be activated on servers marked as HTTP servers. The disk statistics sensor was rescheduled to run every 30 minutes and write to the database. An additional page will allow to make cluster assignments, and a cluster availability sensor is automatically added to all the cluster nodes.
  • Mail Statistics Sensor: a number of charts have been added to this sensor's detail result display (e.g. mail size, delivery time, processing time).

Monitoring

  • Traffic Analysis Sensors: there is now an option to specify an attachment of configurable size when utilizing Domino replication or mail delivery sensors.
  • Domino Mail Delivery Sensor: mails can now be sent via SMTP gateways and it is now also usable with echo-mail services that retain the original subject.
  • Log Search Sensor: up to 100 log lines will now be retrieved by this sensor. In sensor details, those will be displayed according to selected criteria. An option has been added that the found lines can be sent per notification/eMail.

Charting

  • Charting: it is now possible to right-click an axis in any chart to specify its maximum as maximum for all axis' in the chart. Previously that was only possible for column charts.
  • Line Charts: if an axis is used by more than one data series, its maximum will be determined by visible series only.

Bug Fixes

  • DB Access Sensor charting: a problem has been fixed that would prevent creating charts for this sensor. This was merely a display problem and all historical data collected while the bug existed should now be accessible again.
  • Gray lights in network monitor: there has been a bug with sensor scheduling that could result in loosing of a measurement cycle, which in turn would result in a gray light, since a new measurement was expected but not performed. If this problem occurs in an environment, simply opening the sensor configuration and saving the sensor again will solve it.


EDIT - 28. July 2010: Added full screen feature information