It's Showtime! Orion NPM 10.1 is officially GA!

It’s been a long time coming (for us and well as you), but it’s finally here!   Orion NPM 10.1 is officially GA!   Hats off to all the customers who participated in the prototype reviews, betas, and release candidates. We really couldn’t have done it without you.  And, last but certainly not least, a really big shout out to all our friends in dev who worked tirelessly to deliver the very aggressive feature content and schedule we PMs set for them ;-)  

So (drum roll), for those that missed our “you asked, we listened” blog post, here’s a complete run down of all things new in 10.1:

Data Center Networking Enhancements

  • Dynamic Service Groups
    • Ability to group multiple Orion objects (e.g., nodes, interfaces, applications, etc.) into a container that can be used to visualize status.   For example, you can create a “WAN Links” Group, add several interfaces, and then set Group rollup status mode to “best” to account for link redundancy. 
    • See this post for a detailed walk-through with screen shots. 
  • Dependencies 2.0 / Basic Root Cause Analysis
    • Ability to define dependency relationships within the Orion web console.  For example, if this parent node or interface goes down, then mark all items defined as children as “unreachable” instead of “down”.   This effectively suppresses alerts on all children objects while still allowing you to use your existing alerts configured on “down” status.
    • See this post for more details.
  • VMware infrastructure monitoring
    • Visibility into the vCenter, DataCenter, and Cluster levels (in addition to ESX host and VM guest visibility already provided)
  • Cisco UCS Support (Unified Computing System)
    • Dynamically maintain the logical relationships from operating system through virtual guest and host to the Cisco UCS blade  and chassis
    • View the status of the UCS chassis hardware, such as fans and PSU’s
  • Message Center
    • Displays Syslog, Traps, Events, and Alerts in a single view where you can filter to a specific Orion object to see all pertinent messages

Fesitivus for the Rest of Us

  • Complete Active Directory (AD) Authentication Support
    • Ability to authenticate users into Orion using their individual AD account, based on their membership in an AD group, or using native Orion authentication
    • See this this post for more details.
  • PDF Views and Reports
    • Send Orion Web Console Views or Report Writer Reports as a PDF attachment to Orion users via email
    • See this post for details on how to leverage PDF exports along with several other new in 10.1 features to get charts in your reports.
  • Mobile Device and Alert Management Enhancements
    • A dedicated alert view made for mobile web browser to allow you to view and acknowledge alerts from your phone
    • Receive an email alert notification and directly from your email whether on your PC or mobile device, acknowledge that alert by clicking on a link
    • Enable, disable, and delete Advanced Alerts in the web console
    • Ability for users to add notes to alerts in the web console
    • Just like in Report Writer, you can use SQL to create advanced alerts you cannot create through the built-in trigger creation interface
  • Node and Interface details on Summary Views
    • Ability to quickly and easily add any resource from node details and interface details to Summary views
  • Multiple Interfaces or UnDPs on a single chart
    • Ability to place multiple interfaces from a single node or multiple nodes on a single chart
    • Ability to place a UnDP assigned to one node or multiple nodes to a single chart
  • Meru Wireless Controller Support
    • First class support for the Meru Wireless Controllers
    • See Controller and Thin AP stats along with connected client information
  • SQL 2008 R2 Support
  • Some other hidden tidbits and Easter eggs I will let you find on your own :)

So is that it, are we done?  For 10.1 we are, but rest assured we are not resting on our laurels .  We are already off and running and actively in the planning phase for the next release and once I have more details, I will post a new “What we are working on” blog post to make sure everyone knows where we are heading next.  For those of you thwackers, keep on thwacking your ideas, gripes, wish lists etc., cause as all of us Product Managers have said before and as indicated by above, you help shape what items we focus on next.  So until then, I hope you enjoy 10.1 as much as we are excited to deliver it to you.

*Note*
- If you have IPSLA Manager, you will need to download IPSLA 3.5.1 to upgrade
- If you have EOC 1.2, you will need to download the EOC-Orion 10.1 Compatibility Pack

Both should be available in the customer portal.

Thwack - Symbolize TM, R, and C