Microsoft: Windows Server PowerPack, version 120

Version 120 of the "Microsoft: Windows Server" PowerPack  addresses a snippet argument issue that caused the "Microsoft: Windows Server IC Process Service Cache" Dynamic Application to generate too much data, and addresses an issue that prevented the "Microsoft: Windows Server BIOS Configuration" and "Microsoft: Windows Server Memory Configuration" Dynamic Applications from functioning correctly.

Minimum Required Skylar One (SL1) Version: 12.3.1

Before You Install or Upgrade

Ensure that you are running version 12.3.1 or later of Skylar One before installing the "Microsoft: Windows Server" PowerPack.

For details on upgrading Skylar One, see the relevant Skylar One Platform Release Notes.

Installing or Upgrading to this Version

By default, installing a new version of a PowerPack will overwrite all content in that PowerPack that has already been installed on the target system. You can use the Enable Selective PowerPack Field Protection setting in the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior) to prevent the new version of the PowerPack from overwriting local changes for some commonly customized fields.

If you are currently using the Dynamic Applications in this PowerPack to monitor devices, collection errors might occur for one or two polling cycles during the installation of a new version. To prevent collection errors during an upgrade, you can optionally disable collection for monitored devices before performing the following steps and re-enable collection after the upgrade.

To install this PowerPack:

1. Search for and download the PowerPack from the PowerPacks page (Product Downloads > PowerPacks & SyncPacks) at the ScienceLogic Support Site.
2. In Skylar One, go to the PowerPacks page (System > Manage > PowerPacks).
3. Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. The Import PowerPack modal appears.
4. Click Browse and navigate to the PowerPack file from step 1.
5. Select the PowerPack file and click Import. The PowerPack Installer modal displays a list of the PowerPack contents.
6. Click Install. The PowerPack is added to the PowerPack Manager page.

For more information about using the PowerPack, see the Monitoring Windows Systems with PowerShell manual.

Features

This release includes the following features:

• Dynamic Applications that collect configuration and performance data about Windows Servers
• Event Policies that are triggered when Windows Server devices meet certain status criteria
• Device Classes for each type of Windows Server

NOTE: The Device Classes include older device types that can be discovered but are no longer supported by ScienceLogic.

• Run Book Policies and Run Book Actions that align a more detailed device class with each discovered device
• A sample Credential for discovering Windows Server devices
• A Credential Test to ensure that your Windows credential works as expected

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included in this release:

• Addressed a snippet argument issue that caused the "Microsoft: Windows Server IC Process Service Cache" Dynamic Application to generate too much data. (Case: 00668041)

• Addressed an issue that prevented the "Microsoft: Windows Server BIOS Configuration" and "Microsoft: Windows Server Memory Configuration" Dynamic Applications from functioning correctly.

Known Issues and Workarounds

The following known issues affect version 120 of the "Microsoft: Windows Server" PowerPack:

• Due to Skylar One platform behavior, ScienceLogic recommends you manually update the threshold values for the SL1 Agent for Microsoft: Windows Server Template device template after installing the PowerPack.
• Windows Server Process and Service monitoring will not work in environments in which Constrained Language mode is enabled for PowerShell.
• If the list of IP addresses assigned to an interface is longer than 235 characters, the "Microsoft: Windows Server Interface Configuration" Dynamic Application will strip the list of IP addresses after 235 characters and the following will appear in the logs:

90.PoolWorker-2.Extended_Internal_Collection: Skipping IPv6 Address due to powershell collector characters limit of 235 chars. did: <did> app_id: <app_id> Interface: <if>90.PoolWorker-2.Extended_Internal_Collection: Skipping IPv4 Address due to powershell collector characters limit of 235 chars. did: <did> app_id: <app_id> Interface: <if>If an IPv4 address is invalid, the "Microsoft: Windows Server Interface Configuration" Dynamic Application will remove the address and the following notice will appear in the logs:90.PoolWorker-2.Extended_Internal_Collection: Skipping IPv4 Mask due to powershell collector characters limit of 235 chars. did: <did> app_id: <app_id> Interface: <if>

• When updating the PowerPack, in the "Microsoft: Windows Server IC Interface Inventory" Dynamic Application, corrupted IPs with empty spaces, curly brackets ({}), or ellipses (...) will need to be deleted.  Review the rows that will be deleted with the following query in the SL1 database:

  SELECT id, did, ip, netmask FROM master_dev.device_ip_addr WHERE ip REGEXP '(^([{])|([}]$)|([.]{3}$)|([...}]$)|(\\s))';

  This will display all rows that will be deleted in the next step.

  
  Use the following query in the SL1 database to delete the rows:

  DELETE FROM master_dev.device_ip_addr WHERE ip REGEXP '(^([{])|([}]$)|([.]{3}$)|([...}]$)|(\\s))';

  The deletion cannot be reversed after running this query.

• For mount point paths, all instances of "\" have been changed to "/" in the "Windows: Server IC Filesystem Inventory" and "Windows: Server IC Filesystem Performance" Dynamic Applications. Drives that are hidden will not be loaded, but will be visible in the "Microsoft: Windows Server Disk Configuration" Dynamic Application.
• The Collector Affinity setting for Windows Server internal collections Dynamic Applications (ICDAs) changes to Default if there are any changes made under the Properties tab. To keep the setting as Assigned Collector, run the following query:

UPDATE master.dynamic_app SET cu_affinity=2 WHERE ppguid IN ('<PP-GUID>');

• The "Microsoft: Windows Server Software Configuration" Dynamic Application cannot properly parse installation dates that are not in yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss format, such as "Wed Jul 05 12:41:46 EDT 2017".