What you wanted to know about the end of Xian Network Manager 2012 and the Xian NM v7!

For about 10 years Xian Network Manager has been a necessary tool for System Center Operations Manager users to monitor their network. It all started in 2004, during this first approach we even had a version that ran on MOM 2000. It didn’t take too long for us to move to 2005 where Xian Network Manager showed its true potential. In the beginning, we focused mostly on bare metal monitoring of SNMP devices, but soon we added more ingredients to the mix such as Linux and UNIX monitoring, Smart Monitoring, custom rules, topology discovery and more.  Along the entire process we always took our testing seriously, our test lab was equipped with many servers and Xian NM was always tested with a large number of devices. In the past years, 1800 devices became a minimum standard.

Recently Jalasoft has faced more competition, including Operations Manager itself, in the network monitoring area which made selling more difficult. Being that we’re based in Bolivia, we noticed that a great deal of technology was unreachable by many of the businesses in Bolivia and other Latin American companies. That is why we decided to shift from a global focus to a Latin American focus. To make products more affordable we also opted to completely disconnect from Microsoft solutions. The next version of Xian Network Manager will be called Xian NM v7 and will not support any version of Operations Manager. Additionally, it will run on Linux and use PostgreSQL as it database.

We got quite a large number of questions in the past days after this news became public. Below you can find answers to the questions that arose.

When will support for Xian Network Manager 2012 end?

We will keep supporting Xian Network Manager 2012 until December 31^st 2016. After that date we will no longer ship and service packs or hotfixes. Also there will not be any tech support staff that takes care of daily support.

What does this mean for existing customers?

Customers with a valid SSA can count on technical support from us as usual until their SSA expires. Customers can extend their SSA until December 31^st 2016.

Can I still buy Xian Network Manager 2012?

You can still buy Xian Network Manager 2012, however you will need to contact sales directly for the download link and SSA will only be offered until December 31^st 2016

Are there any plans to build a connector for Operations Manager?

At this moment there are no plans on developing a connector in order for Xian NM v7 to send counters and events to System Center Operations Manager. Xian NM v7 runs independently and has its own web console that provides all the monitoring data.

Can I upgrade from Xian Network Manager 2012 to Xian NM v7?

If you are a current customer of Xian Network Manager 2012 and you have a valid SSA, you will be eligible for a free upgrade to Xian NM v7. However take into account that you no longer will be able to receive alerts and performance data about your network devices in Operations Manager.

When will Xian NM v7 be released?

At this moment we are planning on releasing Xian NM v7 end of Q1 2016.

What will happen with your licenses?

If you have purchased permanent licenses in the past, they will stay valid. You can keep using Xian NM 2012. The only difference is that no hotfixes or service packs will be distributed.

What kind of support service will be delivered until December 31st 2016?

Jalasoft will be publishing hotfixes for Xian NM  2012 until December 31^st 2016. Also customers with a valid SSA will enjoy the same technical support as you are used to, meaning that we will help you with any issue that might arise.

Will Xian NM v7 be available for clients outside of Latin America?

Yes, Xian NM v7 will be available for customers outside Latin America. Spanish and English releases will be available.

What are the main features of Xian NM v7?

-          Monitor all SNMP devices, Linux Ubuntu and Debian, Jala UPS, Jala PAC and Jala Generators.

-          Web based dashboard that runs on most browsers and mobile platforms

-          Notifications with scheduling

-          Reporting

-          Native app for Android

-          Runs on Linux with Postgresql

Fun things to do with the new Jalasoft Xian SNMP Device Simulator

Show off in front of your boss! Or How to simulate an expensive network device

Everybody who is involved in networking should have an SNMP Device Simulator!  If you do not have one, download it here! And if you have one, also keep on reading.

Of course your boss doesn't let you fool around and run your tests on the company network and who knows, he's probably right. But you're in luck, with the Jalasoft Xian SNMP Device Simulator you can choose from over 100 network devices to simulate.

If you really want to impress your boss, come along and we'll show you how to simulate a Cisco Nexus device with over 200 interfaces.  How? It's very simple.  Download and install the simulator from our website and run it. (Click images to view full size).

1. Click on the Simulate Device Icon in the toolbar.
2. Select the Cisco Software NX-OS_n9000-dk9 Device Dump.
 

3. Now select the IP address that will be used for the simulation.
 

4. Define the SNMP Version and the community string.
 

5. And lastly, select the Simulation Mode. Normal simulation will give you flat line values of the SNMP Dump file and Dynamic simulation will create randomized values based on a probability formula.
 

6. Now the Cisco Nexus will appear on the list of simulated devices.
 

And that's all! Now the only thing missing is to discover the device using your favorite network monitoring tool, which we hope is Jalasoft Xian Network Manager.  If it's not, no hard feelings...well, maybe a little, but we're willing to overlook your slip up and welcome you into the Xian NM family!

Next week...more fun things to do with the Jalasoft Xian SNMP Device Simulator!

If you have any questions/requests, do not hesitate to contact us at 1-888-402-6717 or sales@jalasoft.com.

Get Your Fall On! Take advantage of our Fall promotion

Jalasoft has officially started its Fall promotion. Get a 30% discount on all our products. Don't wait and GET YOUR FALL ON!

Our discount applies to all of our products: Xian Network Manager (Xian NM), Xian Wings, and the SNMP Device Simulator.

Why take advantage of our promotion?

• Jalasoft has over 10 years of experience building solutions for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager. We are a GOLD Partner in Application Development.
• Xian NM and Wings are both robust solutions for System Center Operations Manager deployed at several fortune 500 companies. Stay on the edge!
• Xian NM and Wings support small to large scale environments of  up to > 3000 devices.
• Monitor ANY SNMP device.
• Monitor NetFlow & SFlow, including devices with NetFlow versions V5 and V9.
• Draw topology diagrams directly through Xian NM.
• Simulate any SNMP device in seconds with the SNMP Device Simulator.
• Service.  We guarantee that you'll get a person on the phone to answer your questions.

Want to jump on board? Please contact our sales reps at sales@jalasoft.com or call us at 1-888-402-6717.

 

Xian NM SP4 is here! Topology Diagram, dashboard for all SMPs, Flow improvements and more.

New features to drastically improve your experience monitoring a network of any size:

Topology diagram: 

Topology diagram is a new feature that lets users insert Operations Diagrams into OpsMgr and these diagrams can include automatic and/or manual relationships between the objects. So basically a user draws a diagram on the Xian NM console that includes any monitored OpsMgr object and reviews the results on the OpsMgr console inside a dashboard with two widgets; Topology widget which displays a diagram with the objects states and relationships states; and Relationship alerts which display alerts related to the relationships and the relationships display colors according to their states (Green: Healthy, Red: Alert/Critical, Yellow: Warning, Blue: Not monitored, Black: Maintenance).  The topology diagram feature works for all the OpsMgr 2012 distributions. Click image to view full size.

Dashboard for all SMPs:

Another new feature can be found on the Xian NM smart management packs (SMP) where an out of the box dashboard per each device type displays monitoring information from the monitoring devices of such category. The dashboards include the following widgets: states, alerts, details, performance graphs and objects by performance.

This feature works for all the OpsMgr 2012 distributions. Click image to view full size.

Update server for IP address resolving:

A new service called Xian NM Update server translates external IP addresses listened by the Flow monitoring feature into their domain or website names in order to give a clear idea of the sites the internal computers talk to. This service gets connected through internet to our Jalasoft Update server (web service) to resolve these IP addresses into website names in order to have such names on the Flow alerts and performance data displayed on the OpsMgr console. 

IPFIX support for Flow monitoring:

An additional NetFlow technology version is now supported on Flow monitoring: IPFIX NetFlow; so devices running this NetFlow version can now be monitored by our Flow Monitor feature along with NetFlow V5 and V9, as well as SFlow.

Application ports naming:

It is possible to assign a name to any desired port that is been monitored through the Flow monitoring feature, so a proper name now displays on the OpsMgr console for the alerts or performance counters associated to those ports.  Click image to view full size.

Other enhancements:

Topology discovery via SNMP monitoring.  Before Xian NM 2012 SP4, we had to provide TELNET or SSH credentials to the Topology Discovery Task feature to discover devices located in different VLANs, now these credentials are no longer required since devices on different VLANs are discovered through SNMP only.  

Flow configuration section.  The different flow configurations like Filters, IP groups, Unknown IP addresses are now unified under the Flow node within the Configuration section of the Xian NM console.

Duplicated objects on the Xian NM reports.  Xian NM reports now do not display repeated device names on the devices selection when configuring a report.  Note that only devices will not be repeated, but elements that have been added and removed will keep showing.