GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 8.1.1

GroundWork Monitor Enterprise | Version 8.1.1 | Release 04 Aug 2020 Update: Minor release version 8.1.1-1, see details below.

These release notes describe the new features and improvements, known issues and limitations for GroundWork Monitor 8.1.1. They also provide announcements as of version 8.1.1, including currently supported and end-of-life versions of GroundWork Monitor.

This is an interim release, and while you may see various usability improvements, there are just a few new features to announce. We did correct several issues users have pointed out, or that we found in our testing. Thanks to all those who contributed suggestions and reported issues, we love to hear from you anytime at support@gwos.com. Please read the Fixed Issues section below to see what has been addressed in this release. We recommend all users look through this section when upgrading.

New features

GroundWork Monitor 8.1.1 does't have many new major features beyond those announced for 8.1.0, which were significant (Parent Child, dual certs, etc.). Attentive users will notice the first redesign of the Home Page, and will see some new options, and a smoother workflow around some of the screens.

Events in Status Summary

There's a new Events tab on the host and service info panel that will show you the last few events recorded for the host and service you are focused on.

Fixed issues

This section describes the fixes we have included in the 8.1.1-GA release. A few more issues were fixed in the minor update 8.1.1-1 as noted.

Key	Summary	Notes
GROUNDWORK-274	Added Grafana Auth and monitor context to SLA dashboard iframe	You can now place Grafana dashboards in an iframe on the SLA dashboard
GROUNDWORK-460	Cloud Hub Connectors need About screens	Added info and versioning to Cloud Hub connectors.
GROUNDWORK-552	Make links in Event message text clickable	Useful for messages that contain hyperlinks to other systems
GROUNDWORK-644	Added "Ack Now" button for hosts in Status view	A new handy button for acknowledging hosts with issues
GROUNDWORK-672	Wrap long status text	Fixed an issue where really long status text was getting truncated in the Status Summary. We also added a "read more" link to expand it.
GROUNDWORK-705	Custom Reports for Events over time were not accurate	Fixed an issue with the SQL queries and report content
GROUNDWORK-839	cadvisor fails on SLES 15	The dependency in SLES 15 has been worked around. SLES 15 Works without error in GroundWork Monitor 8.1.1
GROUNDWORK-934	Update the Navbar and logo	The Navbar has a new look, with a new logo and a clock
GROUNDWORK-982	Enable edit features in for admin user	The admin user can now access all custom reports features by default
GROUNDWORK-994	The report_db data not adequate to generate accurate reports	We have a database in GroundWork called report_db which is used for getting availability reports. In some cases, this data was not adequate to the job, so we enhanced it.
GROUNDWORK-997	Synchronizer failure on very large datasets	The synchronizer could sometimes fail to add hosts if the dataset was too large, fiixed
GROUNDWORK-1044	Comments sent with acks to Nagios don't propagate to Foundation	Fixed an issue where comments coming in to the Nagios channel weren't getting updated in Status Summary
GROUNDWORK-1046	Elastic connector metrics auto-suggest	Fixed for easier configuration
GROUNDWORK-1062	License screen updated	We show the licensed version now, and better error messages
GROUNDWORK-1065	Speed up synchronizer	Some imports of large initial configurations could take a while to synchronize, it's much faster now
GROUNDWORK-1072	Changing master cypher breaks Nagios main connector	You can now change the master cypher without any internal apps being affected
GROUNDWORK-1073	Elastic Connector runs out of memory	Fixed a memory allocation problem
GROUNDWORK-1078	Service Names added to Event view search	You can now filter events on service names as well as message text, etc.
GROUNDWORK-1080	Versioning added to TCG connectors	We now show the version and build dates in the Status tab for all TCG connectors
GROUNDWORK-1088	Unable to add service with dependents after removal from host	Nagios dependencies couldn't be added again after being removed
GROUNDWORK-1138	Docker hosts not removed when deleted	In some cases, notably upgrades from 8.0.1, Docker connector hosts would remain after the connector was deleted, these are now removed correctly
GROUNDWORK-1146	Connection error when connecting to child server	A spurious error was being thrown when connecting to a child server from a parent
GROUNDWORK-1150	Elastic connector query on alternative index pattern gets no matches	We expended the range of the Elastic connector to match against multiple index patterns
GROUNDWORK-1176	LDAP user could not set downtime	Some LDAP users would get an error message when setting host or service downtimes, this is now fixed
GROUNDWORK-1195	Enhanced the LDAP UI and fixed UI issues	The LDAP UI is now clearer, and a couple of minor issues were fixed
GROUNDWORK-1211	Fixed issue where the wrong NOCBoard Dashboard would be displayed	The refresh of the prior dashboard could overwrite the current one. (Fixed in 8.1.1-1)
GROUNDWORK-1214	Update max size of requests to groundwork to 25mb	Really big configurations sometimes overloaded nginx. (Fixed in 8.1.1-1)
GROUNDWORK-1215	Adjusted Synchronizer error handling, serialization	Really big configurations could overload the Synchronizer, making it slow. (Fixed in 8.1.1-1)
GROUNDWORK-1225	Alpine container downloaded during install	The installer had a bug that made Internet connectivity a requirement. It no longer is. (Fixed in 8.1.1-1)
GROUNDWORK -1226	Installer was missing unattended option	Now you can run the installer with the option --unattended to get a default standalone install (Fixed in 8.1.1-1)
GROUNDWORK -1230	Downtime scheduler option re-enabled	In 8.1.1-GA, the option to schedule downtime for services with a regex was disabled. (Re-enabled in 8.1.1-1)

Known issues

This section lists any known issues and limitations with work-arounds.

Category	Title	Description	Work-around
Monitoring Plugins	Some plugins may not work	The plugins included with GroundWork Monitor 8.1.1 are incompletely tested	If you encounter a plugin you need to work that doesn't, please file a support case. We will get you a working version as soon as possible, and include it in later releases.
LDAP	Cannot delete user created by LDAP sync	If you sync LDAP to GroundWork, the users who log in are imported. There's not much point in deleting them unless you disconnect the LDAP server, but even if you do so, the delete function isn't working.	There is a work-around, but then again there's no harm in leaving these user accounts alone. They will fail login once the LDAP server is inactive. If you really must delete them, please contact support.
Business Service Monitoring	Default bsm-service-01 configured but empty	The service bsm-service-01 on host bsm-host is included as an example of Business Service Monitoring. It is in the unknown state as the member list is empty.	You can remove this (or add members) by going to the Configuration > BSM and SLAs > BSM > Manage Groups, and clicking the delete icon next to the group.
Acknowledgements	Notify Contacts check box does not work	There is a Notify Contacts checkbox on the Acknowledgment modal dialog that does not work	Do not use this checkbox, It will be removed in a future version.
Connectors/TCG	Monitored and Graph check boxes do not stop monitoring or graphing	The new Elastic connector has a metrics selection that allows you to define and then disable a given metrics monitoring and graphing function. Unchecking these options (disabling the monitoring and graphing) has no effect.	For now, do not define metrics that you do not wish to see in the Status Summary.
Nagios Container	It's possible to overload the Nagios instance in GroundWork	Nagios uses workers that communicate with the services it runs. In some cases the default provisioning isn't enough to keep up with a really active alert stream.	You can override the default provisioning of workers in Nagios with the check_workers directive. See How to configure check_workers.
Docker Connector	Docker connector does not detect service unknown on down containers	Theres a bit of a strange look when a container goes down, since the services for memory and CPU etc. remain in an OK state.	Use a ping to the container address to make sure you know and get notified when a container dies.

Announcements

Supported Versions

Current supported versions of GroundWork Monitor Enterprise include the latest versions 8.1.1, 8.1.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.0, and version 7.2.1. Support for version 7.2.1 will expire December 31, 2021.

For supported architectures and browser compatibility see System Requirements.

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