What's New in InterMapper 5.5?

InterMapper Reports

• New Report Types/Templates - Version 5.5 introduces report templates, predefined reports that prompt the user for key settings, and use those settings to generate a report. The result can be saved as another report. Templates are available for service level agreement, event history, dataset chart, top “N”, details, and outages. More...

  To create a new report from a template:

  1. Open InterMapper Reports from GUI or InterMapper DataCenter.

  2. From the Report window's File menu (shown at right,) choose New. The Templates list appears, as shown below.

  3. Choose a template from left side of the list. A set of parameters for each template appears on the right. You can also click Saved Reports to view a list of reports that have already been saved.

  4. Choose from the template's parameters.

  5. Click Create Report. The report loads with the selected parameters.

  

   

• New, Load, and Save Reports pages - the Load and Save pages are easier to use, and the New Report page simplifies the creation of a new report. More...

  To create a new report from a template:

  1. If you haven't stored any reports, you can start with a template.

  2. From the Report window's File menu (shown at right,) choose New. The Templates list appears, as shown below.

  3. Click to choose a template from left side of the list. A set of available parameters appears on the right. You can also click Saved Reports to view a list of reports that have already been saved.

  4. Choose from the template's available parameters.

  5. Click Create Report. The report loads with the selected parameters.

• CSV Export - InterMapper Reports now exports reports in CSV format. More...

  To export a CSV file:

  1. After viewing the report, choose CSV File from the Report window's Export menu. The result depends on your browser, but a file save action is initiated.

  2. Choose a location for the file, and click Save (again, the actual name depends on your browser.) A CSV file is saved to the specified location.

• Performance and disk usage - The database uses less disk space, adds data more quickly, and starts up faster. More...
  After the upgrade, the database initially consumes more space, but after the first weekly maintenance, its size is decreased substantially. InterMapper DataBase achieves these savings by holding raw datapoints in a new "datastore" table. If you have written SQL queries against the "datapoint" table, you need to modify your queries to use a new "load_data" function.
• Maintenance Tasks - Improvements to the daily and weekly automatic maintenance tasks allow the maintenance tasks to use a new behavior that takes less time, uses less memory, and improves the performance of subsequent database operations.

Strip Charts and InterMapper Database

• Easy Chart Creation and Viewing - In the Status Window, when you click on a chartable value, a menu pops up, allowing you to choose to create a new chart or to raise and/or go to an existing chart which contains this dataset. More...

  To create a strip chart:

  1. Open one of the status windows as described in Viewing Status Windows.

  2. Tear the status window off to create a new window.

  3. Click on any of the underlined values. If the underlined value appears any existing strip charts, a list of charts appears, along with a Create Chart option.

  

   

• More Information Available in the Chart Window - In the Chart Window, you may now right-click on a dataset legend and choose “Show Device” to have InterMapper indicate in the Map or List Views which device the dataset belongs to.
• More Information Available in the Chart View - In Chart View, datasets are now be displayed along with the charts containing them. Creation date, source, type, and the filename for the associated chart file are also displayed. You may show the chart or device associated with a dataset, rename or remove the dataset and export or delete data from the dataset. More...
  Please note, initiating InterMapper to delete data from a dataset or multiple datasets may be time-consuming, and no polling activity will take place until the deletion is complete.

  Chart list view shows the list of charts for the map.

  -- Expand the tree to view a chart's datasets.

  -- Double-click a chart name to open the chart.

  -- Right-click the Chart List button to open a particular chart without switching the view.

  Right-click on a dataset to:

  -- Show the chart containing that instance of the dataset

  -- Show the device generating the dataset

  -- Open the status window for the device generating the dataset

  -- Rename the dataset

  -- Remove the dataset

  -- Export data from the dataset

  -- Delete data from the dataset

  Right-click on a chart to:

  -- Show the chart

  -- Rename the chart

  -- Delete the chart

• New Dataset View - In the new dataset view, devices and interfaces with chartable values will be displayed in a filter on the left-hand side of the window. You may select one or more devices or interfaces; the union of the chartable values will appear on the right-hand side, along with the type and retention policy for the values. You may set or adjust retention policies for the values here. More...
  
• Easier Access to Retention Policies - The Retention Policies server settings panel now allows you to add, delete, and edit retention policy definitions directly, rather than requiring you to go to the IMDC interface. More...
  Please note, retention policies now include two "Server storage type" parameters along with the traditional database parameters: "Forever"; and "None". "Forever" means all charted or exported values are saved to a local disk file. "None" means that InterMapper polls the data but does not save it for charting or exporting.

Improved Control of Device Labels

• In both device labels and in notifier titles/messages, you may use JavaScript to generate the text for labels or notifications. JavaScript has access to variables from probes, as well as certain internal information, which may be used in the labels. For instance, you may display variables returned from a probe or device specific properties, such as comment, poll interval, etc. in a label. See Generating Label Text with JavaScript for more information. 

Layer 2 Enhancements

• IP Conflicts - InterMapper will automatically indicate IP conflicts when it finds devices with same IP address associated with more than one switch port. More...
  IP conflict - the same IP address appears at more than one place on the network.
• Ignore IP Addresses - In the "Set Behavior…" window for a device, you may uncheck "Poll this address for Layer 2 information" to ignore this IP address in the Layer 2 feature.
• Additional Flags - InterMapper will automatically detect and flag the spanning-tree root. It will also flag "loop ports" where a switch port is plugged into another port on the same switch. In addition, you may manually flag switch ports or vlans as wireless and endpoints as virtual machines by right-clicking on the switch port, vlan, or endpoint and selecting an item from the Tag submenu. More...

  Spanning tree root

  Loop - a port is connected to another port on the same switch.

  Wireless (assigned manually) - a port or VLAN has been tagged as Wireless. The Wireless icon appears next to the port in the Filters and Endpoints panes. See Manual Tagging below.

  Virtual machine (assigned manually) - a NIC has been tagged as a virtual machine. The Virtual Machine icon appears next to the NIC and any endpoints that use the NIC. See Manual Tagging below.

• Minor tweaks to the server settings dialog - The server settings Layer 2 Features panel now includes a count of the number of Layer-2-enabled maps and a link to a dialog allowing you to enable or disable Layer 2 on specific maps. More...
  

  [NN] Maps Enabled - Click this link to edit the maps for which Layer 2 is enabled. The Layer 2 Enabled Maps window appears as shown below.

  

Minor Features

• New location of InterMapper Settings folder for Windows users - InterMapper's installer places the InterMapper Settings folder in Windows' preferred location unless you specify otherwise.

  For versions 5.5 and later, the default locations are as follows:

  -- Vista and beyond: C:\ProgramData\InterMapper\InterMapper Settings , unless a different location was chosen at installation.

  -- Windows XP and Server 2003: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\InterMapper\InterMapper Settings, unless a different location was chosen at installation.

  When you upgrade to 5.5, the installer checks for an InterMapper Settings folder in the preferred location. If none is found, it attempts to move the existing Settings folder to the new location. If it fails, the upgraded version runs with the Settings folder in the old location.

  Folder name: InterMapper Settings

  Location:

  Prior to InterMapper version 5.5, the InterMapper Settings folder was stored in the top level of the InterMapper application folder unless a different location was chosen at installation.