Mar 15, 2010

2010.1 NOW AVAILABLE!  We know it's been awhile, but we assure you it will have been worth the wait!  SNMP Informant has seen a MAJOR upgrade in both performance and functionality.  We've added support for Forefront Server, WSUS and enhanced our Citrix and Hyper-V support.  But that's not the BIG NEWS!!

We've added USER DEFINABLE OID FUNCTIONALITY!
(only available in the SNMP Informant-Premium product)

That's right!  Now you can specify your OWN OIDs and assign them to data extracted by SNMP Informant.  Data types supported include Registry entries (read), Execute (run a script remotely and get the data BACK into SNMP OIDs, and (Custom) Performance Counters!!!  THAT'S HUGE!  If your custom application exposes its own performance counters, now you can pull that data back into you Network Management Station using SNMP Informant!!

• Want more information (who wouldn't)?  Click here!

• To read the v2010.1 Change Log, click here!

• To read the v2010.1 Installation and Configuration Guide here!

Aug 24, 2009

2008.2.3 released.  Fixed Terminal Services provider, PDH providers and Citrix Provider.  For more details, see the SNMP Informant 2008.2.3 Release Notes.  Get it (and other versions) here.

Mar 31, 2009

2008.2.2 released.  Containing some bug-fixes and stability enhancements, this version is now available.  For more details, see the SNMP Informant 2008.2.2 Release Notes.  Get it (and other versions) here.

Feb 5, 2009

2008.2.1 is now available.  This maintenance release sees updates in the PDH (Performance) and WMI providers, the installer and the upgrade mechanism for the Exchange provider.  For more details, see the SNMP Informant 2008.2.1 Release Notes.

Two new white papers are available.  These write-ups explain the SNMP Informant product line, and offer a comparison against the "out-of-the-box" Microsoft SNMP extensions and WMI.  Check them out in our Support section.

Informant Systems, Inc. now Accepts American Express!  If you would prefer, we can now accept American Express, along with VISA and Mastercard directly (as an alternative payment method to PayPal).

• If you would like to purchase using a credit card, please call us at 780-908-6669, with the quantity and product(s) you would like to purchase.  Have your credit card information handy, as we will need the credit card type, the name on the card, the number, the expiry date and the 3 digit extended verification number (on the back of the card).

Jul 25, 2008

2008.2 is FINALLY here!  THANK YOU so much for your patience.  It's been a long haul, but the wait will have been worth it, we assure you!  Sporting a fresh new code-base, SNMP Informant is faster, supports more systems, is more robust, and represents our commitment to provide network administrators everywhere a serious enterprise-ready alternative to high-priced SNMP agents.

What's new with 2008.2?

• Consolidated Product Line
• New code-base
• More configuration options
• Fault tolerance enhancements to WMI providers
• Significantly faster than previous versions
• Support for Windows Server 2008/Exchange Server 2007
• Performance provider support for SQL Server 2005/2008
• Performance and WMI provider support for Citrix Presentation Server
• Single installer (validation key activates appropriate components)
• Unified Release Notes (replaces individual ChangeLogs)

For more details, see the SNMP Informant 2008.2 Release Notes

New Product/Realignment: With the release of version 2008.2, we are announcing a consolidated and more efficient product offering.  Where previously, there were 13 different SNMP Informant products, there are now just 7, making it much easier to determine and order the correct product(s).  Plus, we've built all our products into a single installer, where the validation key you enter determines the product(s) you can install.  This product realignment was announced with our pricing restructure announcement on April 28 with this release.

Mar 3, 2008

New Release: It's been a long wait, but version 2008.1 is out the door!  Informant Systems is pleased to announce this new version, which includes enhancements such as:

• Advanced Agent support for Windows Vista.
• Modified Advanced and Standard (free!) Agent Processor utilization code to match the Windows Performance Monitor and not cap the performance values to 100%.
• Application Plus Pack for ISA Server now supports ISA 2006.
• Application Plus Pack for BizTalk Server now supports BizTalk 2006.
• RPC helper timeout for WMI-Exchange and WMI-OS agents.
• Advanced Agent OIDs for CommitLimitKB and CommitLimitMB.
• Added calculations to logical and physical disk OIDs to provide useful gauge value since these values are commonly fractional (less than 1).
• Added new OIDs and modified OID types to COunter64 in WMI-OS Agent.
• New Installation and Configuration Guide.  Can be read BEFORE installing Informant.

... and fixes such as:

• Fixed a bug where the SNMP Service would hang while uninstalling the SNMP Informant agent or stopping the Microsoft SNMP service.
• Fixed a bug where the Windows SNMP Service would not continue WALK onto the next agent when the end of the MIB was reached
• Enhanced error-checking and diagnostic logging across all agents.
• Various internal improvements (e.g., upgraded compiler, code structure improvements, etc).

For more details, see the ChangeLog for each product.

Feb 23, 2007

New Pricing Schedule: Please click here for a very important price adjustment announcement.  This pricing schedule will take effect with the release of version 2008.2 (May timeframe).

Informant Systems, Inc. can now accept VISA and Mastercard directly (as an alternative payment method to PayPal).   Within 2 weeks we will also be able to accept American Express as well.

• If you would like to purchase using this method (directly), please call 780-908-6669, with the product(s) you would like to purchase, quantity, name on the card, expiry date and 3 digit extended verification number (on the back of the card).

Feb 16, 2007

Oct 8, 2006

See each products' ChangeLog for details.

Sept 14, 2006

See product ChangeLog for details

Aug 7,2006

Added 64 bit OS support to all commercial versions!
Released new WMI-VirtualServer agent

• Advanced agent update for systems with > 4GB RAM
• Performance improvements across all agents
• Event log monitoring support in WMI-OS agent
• Web-based version checker

Check out our Products Page for more information, including ChangeLogs for each of our agents.

• Documentation update (PDF)
• Web-Site work to improve navigation

Apr 28,2006

Coming Soon:

• Advanced agent update for systems with > 4GB RAM
• Performance improvements
• 64 bit versions
• Virtual Server 2005 Agent

Thank you very much for your support.

Jan 16,2006

Added automated on-line evaluation request form!

• Now, by simply filling out a simple form, you can request a 30 day evaluation of all SNMP Informant agents.  Click here to make your request.

Oct 30,2005

  New Products Released!

• WMI-Exchange Agent - This new agent will allow you to collect Exchange operational and state statistics!  Check it out!
• MS Cluster Services Agent - This agent is great! Now you can collect status information from your Microsoft Cluster server using SNMP!
• Premium Bundle - If you are considering purchasing Site Licenses of more than one or two of our products, our new Premium Bundle might just be of interest to you!

Version Updates!

• Advanced Agent
• Application Plus Packs
• WMI Agents

Functional enhancements include those identified in the previous news release (September 2, 2005).

Please be advised that during the next month we will be notifying those customers who have purchased SNMP Informant agents during the past year of these upgrades, and will be providing them with validation keys at no charge.

Corporate Identity Change - WTCS has recently incorporated as Informant Systems, Inc.  Please bear with us as we "morph" over to our new corporate identity.  Email links will continue to work though, so if you see links to wtcs.org, please continue to use them.

Knowledge-base Article 2005-006 added - This short article briefly explains the logic behind those strange looking SNMP Informant instance OIDs, using logicaDiskFreeMegabytes as an example.

Coming soon: Automated online evaluation requests.  You'll be able to request a product to evaluate, and have the download URL and 30 day evaluation key emailed to you in minutes!  Meantime, please send an email to our Product Information email address to request an evaluation.

Sep 2,2005

Released new version of SNMP Informant-STD, with the following changes:

• Windows Event Message (Event Log) Reporting
• Checks to see if the Windows SNMP service is correctly installed.
• Optimized SNMP GETNEXT/WALK retrievals so that they are much faster and use less CPU.
• Added XML and XSD files containing the numeric and symbolic OIDs, the SNMP syntax, the SNMP index, and the description for each SNMP row. Thus, the user can use their favorite XML transformation application to translate this SNMP data to their favorite format.
• (!) Added the systemSystemUpTime OID to provide access how long the computer has been up in seconds.
• Modified GETNEXT/WALK retrievals so that it returns valid data for
  performance counters that require more than one sample (e.g., % Processor usage). Now there is no difference in how data is returned between SNMP GET and SNMP GETNEXT/WALK type queries.

All these enhancements are included in the next version updates to all our other agents (in 2 weeks), and you can expect to see the Microsoft Cluster Services and Exchange WMI agents released at that time as well.  Sorry for the delay, but (frankly) we discovered a memory leak bug in a MS COM component DLL, and are working to resolve it.

Jun 28, 2005

Added new Knowledge-base article (2005-004)

• With more and more people using SNMP Informant with products like Cacti (see previous news item), we thought that providing a little insight into how SNMP Informant indexing is done would be a helpful.

Apr 29, 2005

Slight facelift to the SNMP Informant Site, most notably a new menu-bar color-scheme.

Added new Knowledge-base article (2005-003)

• This article allows you to instantly download several sample MRTG config (.CFG) files for use with SNMP Informant Advanced.  Maybe soon we can get some definition files for CACTI?

We've got a new WMI Exchange agent in the works.  This one lets you get at operational (i.e. not performance) data, like Mailbox, Public Folder, Queued Messages, Server information and more!  Check out the MIB Tree here.  Stay tuned.  We expect to release it in about 3 to 4 weeks.  Maybe sooner.

We've also got the NLB  (Network Load Balancing) Agent coming as well.  Estimated time to launch is 6 to 8 weeks.

Apr 1, 2005

No April Fools' Joke here!  The new WMI-OS agent v1.1.1 is finally available!  Our most ambitious and functional agent to date, this version supports SNMP SET commands to:

• provide service control (stop/start/pause)
• initiate remote program execution (scripts, programs etc. from a secured directory)
• perform system restarts (graceful and forced)

In addition, this new version sees a performance increase in GET and GETNEXT commands.

All in all, this is one value-packed SNMP agent!

Also, we fixed a few bugs:

• DATETIME now returns correct value.
• Wide-character to UTF-8 conversion works correctly.
• Values for SNMP GETs now update properly.
• Null values in GETNEXT handled properly.

(current customers will get a free upgrade to the new version)

The WMI-HW agent has been recompiled (to version 1.1.1), to take advantage of the same performance enhancements as the OS agent.

Mar 7, 2005

New SQL APP v 1.2.1 released!  We fixed a bug where the agent would not identify the SQL Server Name Instances on non-English OS.  Thanks to T.S. for his assistance and helping us in our efforts to make SNMP Informant the best value-priced SNMP agent in the market today!

We expect to release the new WMI-OS Agent within the next 2 weeks.  This agent will support SNMP SETS to stops and start services, as well as spawn processes.  That's right!  Soon, using the SNMP Informant WMI Agent for OS, you'll be able to send an SNMP SET (from your NMS), pass a parameter, and start a remote script or program.  Just think!  Using SNMP Informant, you can turn reactive monitoring into proactive management without spending an arm and a leg!

Jan 11, 2005

Dec 8, 2004

Hey!  We finally got the surveys back on line!  Take a moment and fill them out.  It helps us understand where you are coming from.

Heads up!  Stay tuned for some added functionality to the WMI agent that will blow your socks off!  We can't give you details, but in the works is some limited control (SET) functionality!

Nov 14, 2004

First of all, we are excited to announce that the new SNMP Informant-WMI agents are now available!  These agents open up your windows system to SNMP in a way seldom seen.  If you are interested in asset management and/or system configuration, please check them out today!

Next, we'd like to let you know that we have released a new version (1.2) of the SQL Server APP!  This newest release of the agent boasts support for MSDE 2005, and SQL Server 2005, along with support for multiple named instances!  Previous customers who purchased the SQL APP within the past year will get the upgrade free of charge!  Please allow a few weeks for us to notify all registered SQL Server APP users via email.

Finally, we've started a small knowledge-base to help you with your SNMP Informant implementation.

Jul 6, 2004

Countdown: In less than a month, we will be releasing SNMP Informant-WMI, 2 revolutionary agents that allow you to collect Windows WMI information using SNMP.  Click here for details!

SNMP Informant-STD's monthly download volume has increased from 1100 to over 1400 in the past month!  Thank you very much!

May 29, 2004 

We'd also like to take some space here to thank the many new and returning customers for their support.  We value your business, and will continue to do our best to provide a reliable and cost-efficient SNMP monitoring agent.

OS Versions      Management Applications

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And in the SNMP Informant development labs, things have not been slow either.  Look to see some new releases in the near future!

• The released of ISA Server APP v1.0 - See the Functionality Page for counters supported!
• The large integer fix - see the Support forums for details on this!
• The internationalization of the product as a whole - There still might be a few bugs to work out of this one, as we are limited to the languages we can test.

We would like to thank the many users and testers of SNMP Informant for their valuable feedback!

In addition, SNMP Informant has been integrated into Net-Sonar so you can see a real live example of the data you can extract using our agents!  See the Demo Page for more information!