Update | ClearApps Blog

Posts Tagged ‘update’

Scan bigger networks - announcing Network Inventory Advisor 3.95

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

Network Inventory Advisor is now officially ready for bigger networks. Several users reported slowdowns when scanning networks of 30000+ nodes; well, it’s surely a lot for a single network, right? But these issues should be gone by now. We rebuilt some algorithms that we used for network scanning, polished the scanning dialog a bit, and it should all be OK now.

And that’s right, there’s another update shipping now: today we are presenting Network Inventory Advisor 3.95, it’s not 4.0 yet, but it’s a huge upgrade for internal scanning engine which will also be smoothly transferred into version 4 once it goes public. Check the list of changes below, and download Network Inventory Advisor 3.95 right away here.

Network Inventory Advisor: waiting for version 4

INTRODUCED: better import from Active Directory; even offline nodes are imported to match the correct domain structure so you can scan them later
INTRODUCED: separate Software Licenses report section where you will find registration details for Windows, MS Office, Internet Explorer, etc
INTRODUCED: node skipping if it cannot be scanned for a long time (configurable in Settings)
INTRODUCED: network disk path, last bootup time and node added date as new tabular report fields
ENHANCED: software collection if it’s listed only in the registry branch of the current user (HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
ENHANCED: detection of hard drive’s serial number
ENHANCED: network scanning dialog updates immediately even for very large networks
ENHANCED: ranges of IP-addresses are now grouped into collapsible items in the scanning dialog
ENHANCED: scanning of a node or IP range can be cancelled through the right-click menu
ENHANCED: scanning AD groups that contain unsupported characters in their names
ENHANCED: no more possible slowdowns when collecting software or hard drive data from domain nodes
ENHANCED: Active Directory Organizational Units now managed better
ENHANCED: MS Office 2010 x64 registration details are now displayed and collected correctly
ENHANCED: better smart scanning by detecting more network adapters available on the host PC
ENHANCED: scanning SNMP nodes (when Linux scanning is enabled) is now faster
ENHANCED: alerts when security software is missing are now displayed properly
ENHANCED: detection of Broadcomm network adapters
FIXED: factsheet report now correctly lists MAC-address of Linux nodes
FIXED: custom fields are now available immediately after creating in tabular reports
FIXED: domain nodes could enumerate incomplete list of software titles after scanning
FIXED: memory leak attempting to scan a very large IP range; now only those nodes that were ping’ed are added to the list
FIXED: nodes are correctly scanned with an agent utility now (even if they cannot locate themselves by localhost address)
FIXED: “Go to hardware” link in Linux node’s details incorrectly navigated to Software
FIXED: several issues in wizard’s interface when importing computer lists from file
FIXED: export into HTML now works correctly with IE9 installed
FIXED: Post-scan options are now always active when required
FIXED: crashes when managing nodes with apostrophe in the name

Well, there are quite a few other changes, enhancements, new features and bug fixes in there as well. Most of them are not that obvious, but they should all add up to a better, simpler, more stable and productive experience!

Stay tuned for more news on version 4, have fun with 3.9x now!

BTW, Windows 8 dev preview is correctly scanned and easily identified as “Windows Developer Preview” by Network Inventory Advisor!

Tags: active directory, license audit, release, scanning, update, version
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Rolling Network Inventory Advisor 4 BETA soon!

Friday, July 1st, 2011

We keep getting this question over and over again lately. And we are here to deliver the official reply to all Network Inventory Advisor current and future users, so you can keep shopping with us confidently. Your upgrades are covered.

Network Inventory Advisor 4

Here’s the official message from the ClearApps team:

Yes, we are working on Network Inventory Advisor 4 already. The beta version is about to be available. And everyone buying Network Inventory Advisor 3.9 starting July 1, 2011, is getting the free upgrade to version 4 when it goes live.

For the last 6 months we’ve been redesigning and reconsidering Network Inventory Advisor from the core to the UI, and are currently testing the new interface and a number of new features internally. We have already sent the beta version to some clients to deliver minor fixes to known issues asap, and we plan on having a public beta some time soon. Meanwhile we can’t disclose any specific details about the new release, we can only let you know that we are working on:

better streamlined user interface
improved licensing audit
advanced networks management
simpler navigation
and many more enhancement and new features

If you are already a premium client of ClearApps, stay tuned to be the first to upgrade and learn about new features!

If you are going to become a new client of ClearApps - WELCOME! You are already getting version 4 for free once it’s available within our grace period promise. If you grabbed your copy of Network Inventory Advisor 4 beta by now, report bugs and send your comments here.

Thank you all for your support!

Tags: 4.0, audit, license, new version, News, update, user interface
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Small and not so small tweaks to Network Inventory Advisor

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

While Christmas and New Year are that close, and the whole our team cordially sends our congratulations to all our clients, today we are releasing a few minor and major improvements to Network Inventory Advisor.

We added the ability to inventory Linux software. Along with many internal improvements in Linux scanning, this brings Linux machines support to a new level. Now you can scan Linux nodes natively with Network Inventory Advisor. Though, by default the option to include Linux software in network-wide “All software” report is not enabled, as Linux machines are known to have hundreds of software titles different in just minor versions, which leads to multiple inclusions in the report and making it really hard to manage. So unless you really need that, you can keep the option disabled.

Linux software audit

Second, we added license status and edition details collection for all MS Office versions - another great option for license compliance experts. Additionally, we devoted some time to better Macs scanning, specifically MS Office detection on Mac OS X nodes. Since the latest update Network Inventory Advisor will not only collect MS Office details on Macs, but will also correctly position it in “All software” report for your whole network.

MS Office Editions and License Status

Third, as you know there’s a filter in “All software” report that helps you easily filter out Allowed, Prohibited or Unclassified applications. We were always missing Must-have apps there, though this type of software was always available. Corrected!

Must-have applications filter in "All software" report

#4 - Data on SNMP-devices is also available in Tabular reports. The following fields can now be included in a report: Device Name, Description, Contact, Location, Object ID, Uptime

SNMP-devices now share their data in Tabular reports

#5 - Node reports on running Services now include “Log on as” data. Convenient to track access rights a specific service has, helps to troubleshoot software issues network-wide.

Services now list the user account they are running under

Sixth, we enhanced network mapped drives audit, especially for Windows 7 nodes. Now, mapped drives are listed for each user logged on in the scanned system.

Finally, we applied the following fixes along with a number of bugs found, isolated, neutralized and wiped off for good:

fixed incorrect behavior of post-scan options in the scanning dialog

Internet Explorer serial and product keys are now correctly differentiated

groups selection and management now works much smoother

customizable software reports could not be built, when main ribbon was minimized

software changes report now correctly includes all snapshots that match the selected date period

some nodes could be erroneously listed with ‘IS~’ prefix

We hope you like these simple changes. Follow us on Twitter @clearapps or give us feedback on our ClearApps Forum.

Happy holidays!

Tags: devices, features, linux, ms office, release, software audit, tweaks, update
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Network Inventory Advisor 3.9 updated!

Monday, October 18th, 2010

We just uploaded a new polishing release of Network Inventory Advisor 3.9.1507. This minor upgrade includes a lot of smaller features we didn’t have time to add in the previous release of version 3.9. It’s always not trivial to select features to concentrate on, since we get about 2-3 new requests and ideas from our community every day. So if you don’t see your desired feature in the following list lets discuss it via email or in the Public Forum. We’ll gladly consider each and every idea that can help you accomplish your network management tasks more effectively or make our software better.

Network Inventory Advisor 3.9.1507

What’s new in Network Inventory Advisor 3.9.1507:

INTRODUCED: asset tag for DELL nodes is now collected and displayed in the reports
INTRODUCED: if there’s Support Information in System Properties of the scanned nodes, it will be collected and displayed in the software report
ENHANCED: serial key for MS Office 2010 is now correctly inventoried
ENHANCED: software inventory for 64-bit Windows systems in agentless mode
ENHANCED: alerts on Linux nodes are now included in the network summary
ENHANCED: firewall status is now again correctly collected from Security Center
ENHANCED: now you can select multiple IP ranges for deletion in the scanning dialog
FIXED: localhost is now correctly scanned if it’s in one of the IP ranges being inventoried
FIXED: shortcuts are now removed when uninstalling Network Inventory Advisor in Windows 7
FIXED: export of “Software by version” report now polished

As always, the upgrade is simple: just download the new build, and install it over the copy that you currently have. It’s always a good idea to backup the [information] folder from the installation directory, but it’s not the must. Thank you for staying with ClearApps!

Tags: download, fixes, new, release, update, version
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Version 3.9 is out with native Linux scanning and software changes tracking

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Today we’ve released version 3.9 of Network Inventory Advisor. This release addresses a number of issues which have come up since the previous update, including the problem with correct detection of antiviruses and firewalls in Windows 7 and Vista.

Thanks go to many users who requested features and reported issues during the last couple of months… years. To that end we proudly announce that Network Inventory Advisor 3.9 now supports native scanning of Linux. Here’s how a Linux node’s report will look like:

Network Inventory Advisor - report on a Linux node (click for full size)

2 pre-requisites here: first of all, your Linux installations should be accessible via SSH (open-ssh server is highly recommended for this, it’s available by default in most Linux distributions, but might not be activated), and secondly, you still have to use your admin login. So enabling custom login for Linux nodes (either individually or for the whole group) might be a good idea.

Another feature we got a lot of requests for was software changes tracking. We’ve also included it in version 3.9. Actually we added 4 new reports on your network software. Here they are:

#1 - Software changes report: find out which software was removed or installed lately.

Network Inventory Advisor - Software changes report (click for full size)

#2 - Installed software report: see what’s installed on your nodes with all the software details.

Network Inventory Advisor - Installed software report (click for full size)

#3 - Software presence report: get a convenient overview of the nodes where certain applications are installed, or missing.

Network Inventory Advisor - Software presence report (click for full size)

#4 - Software versions report: a kind of tabular report, where software titles are columns, and computers are rows.

Network Inventory Advisor - Software versions report (click for full size)

All 4 new reports are now accessible in the Reports tab:

New reports on software

Node’s summary will now report total amount of RAM as a separate parameter. This fixes several issues with correct reporting of RAM for some virtual machines:

New line with total memory info

Here are a few of the improvements over the 3.8 version:

INTRODUCED: new alert on software change
INTRODUCED: data on antiviruses in tabular reports
INTRODUCED: SSH connection timeout for better scanning of Macs and Linux nodes
ENHANCED: status detection of Windows Defender
ENHANCED: enumerated data in tabular reports is now split by semicolon when being exported into XML
ENHANCED: visual enhancements of the Reports History
ENHANCED: several minor improvements in GUI (Windows 2000)
ENHANCED: sender can be specified for emails by the scheduler

For the full list of fixes and improvements, please, see this post on our forum.

If you are upgrading from version 3.8, it will be an absolutely smooth standard upgrade, just download and install. If your are upgrading from any earlier (prior to version 3.8) release, you will need to request an updated license code if you are a registered user.

Once again, you can get the latest version of Network Inventory Advisor from the download page.

Questions? We are always near to help.

Tags: download, linux, new, release, software changes, software reports, update, version
Posted in News, Releases | 1 Comment »