Release Notes 62
Publication Date: 10/12/2024.
This document presents a detailed overview of the new features, functionalities, improvements and fixes integrated in WOCU-Monitoring version 62. With this update, we respond to the requests and suggestions of our users, while at the same time aligning ourselves with current market trends and needs.
1. New automatic configuration management system of WOCU-Monitoring
A significant improvement has been included in the handling of configurations regarding additions, deletions and modifications of WOCU-Monitoring’s Active. With this new functionality, changes made by users or through automatic tasks will be applied in “hot”, eliminating the need for manual actions and the consequent delay due to the need to restart the monitoring engine.
This new functionality is configurable from the Engine configuration menu, in case it is disabled, WOCU-Monitoring will behave in a way that requires manual application of the changes.
The following diagram shows how the application works.
Whenever WOCU-Monitoring detects a change, it will notify the console and in case there is no error, it will notify the automatic implementation of the change.
Warning notifications of new configurations.
Notification of implementation of the new configuration
The Config Summary view has been improved and depending on whether or not automatic mode is enabled and the status of the settings, the information displayed will vary. Two new widgets have been included. The first one shows the status of the configuration to be applied and the second one shows a summary of the current configuration and changes.
In case of error, a table with the list of errors will be displayed, with the option to export to CSV or JSON.
If the atuomatic mode is disabled, every change that WOCU-Monitoring detects will be notified by a message, and the check button will change status to inform that there are pending actions to be applied.
Yellow if all is well.
Red in case of error.
Once the errors have been corrected, a summary of the differences between the existing and the new configuration will be displayed and the reset button will be enabled.
Benefits
Automatización: Menor intervención manual, gracias a la detección automática.
Efficiency: Monitoring does not stop at any time during the implementation of changes.
Transparency: The new summary view makes it easier to understand the changes.
This functionality significantly improves the user experience, reduces errors and ensures smooth and uninterrupted operation in the management of monitored devices.
2. Monitoring by Agents.
WOCU-Monitoring introduces a new Agent Monitoring Module Designed to optimise the collection and delivery of information (log ingest) from Windows, Debian or RedHat operating systems in an autonomous, secure and efficient way.
Main features
Information collection from the computer: Agents collect data from the system on which they are installed, including information on hardware, software and running processes.
Secure Data Sending: the collected information is transmitted to a specific URL via an authenticated mechanism with Tokens, ensuring that only authorised recipients can access the data.
Centralised Management: from this module, users can:
Benefits
Increased security in data transmission.
Automation of monitoring and data collection tasks.
Simple and centralised management of agents and their authentication credentials.
3. New exclusive view of Passive Services in Monitored and Pending Assets
With the addition of agent-based monitoring, the management of Passive Services in WOCU-Monitoring has been optimised with the addition of two new unique views available in the Monitored Assets and Pending Assets sections. These are:
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From this section the user can manage passive monitoring services that are not yet running and send them to monitoring to start their asynchronous communication function in the system.
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From this section the user is able to create, edit and delete passive monitoring services for the next binding to network devices.
Both views allow for a more efficient and controlled administration of passive monitoring services.
4. Evolution of the Gconf Module: mass application of configurations
The GConf, the configuration management system of WOCU-Monitoring, incorporates in this release two new key functionalities:
Automating changes with customised templates
This involves the mass application of changes through template configuration, facilitating the management of configurations across multiple devices in an efficient manner.
To support this functionality, two new sections have been designed:
Configuration Files integrada por:
ref:configuration_template_section: allows the import and management of templates. These act as templates or configuration profiles, in which the user can freely define and edit the blocks that make up the desired configuration.
ref:configuration_files_section: allows linking templates to a configuration file, which will inherit their attributes and parameters, serving as a basis for configuring the monitored equipment.
Task status: all actions performed in the module GConf shall be audited within this view, storing the user and date of each action for traceability.
Mass application of changes to the configuration of monitored equipment
The following actions have been added to the Hosts in Assets view:
Configuration File: allows individual configuration of template-based configuration files.
Apply config: facilitates the mass binding of a specific configuration to one or more machines simultaneously.
Finally, once the desired changes have been made, the system will allow you to restore the configurations stored in the equipment from WOCU-Monitoring, in an automatic and controlled manner.
5. Monitoring by asynchronous reception of events in a secured public API.
The newly developed functionality consists of a robust and scalable infrastructure that allows the reception of events through requests directed to a public API. This is protected by an authentication mechanism based on API Keys, ensuring that only authorised clients can send events.
The system is designed to be flexible and capable of receiving events of any type regardless of their origin or format, as long as they meet the established authentication and authorisation criteria and have been correctly integrated into the system.
During the reception of events, the infrastructure validates the data and processes them asynchronously in order to minimise latency and prevent overloads on the host system.
One of the main objectives of this functionality is to allow updating the state of entities or processes within our system, without requiring manual intervention or additional complex processing. This is especially useful in scenarios where events are generated by external systems that need to notify changes, such as state updates, without involving additional effort in terms of computational resources or complexity in the architecture.
In conclusion, this solution eliminates the overhead and redundancy of traditional event handling through more resource-intensive systems. In addition, the workflow is optimised by integrating events in a direct and automated way, allowing for a more efficient and agile management of the system’s internal states, thus improving both performance and overall scalability.
6. Support for Debian 12
WOCU-Monitoring now supports Debian 12, offering our users a more secure, efficient and future-proof platform. This update includes performance improvements, compatibility with modern hardware and software, and more robust security support, ensuring an up-to-date monitoring experience.
Migrating to Debian 12 ensures that your infrastructure is ready to meet technology challenges with maximum efficiency.
7. New options for displaying the inventory information of the hosts.
The Inventory section of the detail view of a Device, incorporates new data display options via the Inventory Display selector.
The user can now choose to view the inventory data in a conventional tabular format or in a JSON format, which organises the data in a nested and interactive way, allowing all parameters to expand or collapse as needed.
In addition, options for exporting and downloading inventory data in CSV and JSON format have been incorporated.
This new data representation is also available in the :ref:` overview view of a monitored Device <info-modal-host>`, enhancing the experience of browsing and analysing inventory data.
8. New Home view: more complete and functional
The Home home view has been revamped to offer a more comprehensive and functional experience. It now includes new information presented through interactive graphs and other widgets in addition to the previous ones. These elements allow quick and easy access to key data, such as detailed numerical metrics and information related to the assets and realms being monitored in real time.
The new widgets are:
To facilitate view navigation, a permanent navigation controller is incorporated, with interactive buttons that facilitate quick and direct access to the view’s widget blocks. Also added is the possibility to hide blocks, adjusting the visible space according to the user’s needs.
With this renewal, a consolidated overview with relevant information is provided in one place, providing a more complete and efficient starting point to WOCU-Monitoring.
9. New KPI for Devices, Services and Problems: Acts Count
A new KPI is incorporated in the inventories of Devices, Services and Problems called Acts Count, where the following three key parameters are collected to provide a comprehensive view of the status of the monitored assets:
Flapping state: count of assets in the inventory that experience rapid alternation of monitoring state changes, known as Flapping.
Acknowledge: Inventory asset count with the action Apply acknowledged to service applied, allowing efficient tracking of acknowledged and resolvable issues.
Downtimes: inventory asset count with the action Schedule downtime to service applied, optimising the organisation of maintenance tasks and reducing unplanned downtimes.
This KPI not only provides consolidated data, but also facilitates decision-making and prioritisation of tasks.
Monitoring packs
See our catalogue of Monitoring Packs in the following link.
Huawei WIFI controller
Design of a new pack to monitor the Huawei brand WIFI controllers. This pack obtains performance metrics of the controller itself (CPU and memory usage). As well as metrics on the health status of the APs (Access Points), radio channels, users, etc.
The pack also contains services that calculate advanced data such as the distribution of radio channels based on the noise signal level, or the distribution of failed accesses per AP. All the services included in the pack are detailed below:
CPU: monitors the CPU usage of the controller.
Memory: monitors the memory usage of the controller.
APs state: monitoriza el estado de todos los APs registrados en la controladora.
AP by SSID: shows the number of APs serving each SSID.
APs distribution by load: shows the distribution of APs based on their load.
APs distribution by station access failure: shows the distribution of APs based on the percentage of station access failures.
APs distribution by station logout: shows the distribution of APs based on the percentage of forced logouts they have had.
Downlink retransmissions by SSID: shows the number of retransmitted frames per SSID.
Radio with channel utilisation >70%: gets the number of radio channels with a utilisation percentage higher than 70%.
Downlink packet loss >5% users: monitors the number of users with a downlink packet loss rate greater than 5%, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Downlink retransmission percent >50% users: monitors the number of users with a retransmitted downlink packet rate greater than 50%, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Radio with interference >40%: monitors radio channels with an interference level greater than 40%, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Radio with load >40: monitors radio channels with a load level greater than 40, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Radio with noise strength >-80dBm: monitors radio channels with a noise level greater than -80dBm, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Downlink negotiation rate <12Mbps users: shows the number of users who have negotiated a downlink rate below 12Mbps, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Users with low SNR: shows the number of users with low signal/noise level, differentiating between the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.
Radio distribution by channel utilisation: shows the distribution of radio channels based on channel utilisation. The ranges are: less than 50%, between 50% and 70%, and greater than 70%.
Radio distribution by downlink packet loss: shows the distribution of radio channels based on the percentage of downlink packets lost. The ranges are: less than 2%, between 2% and 5%, and greater than 5%.
Radio distribution by interference: obtains the distribution of radio channels based on the level of interference. The ranges are: less than 20%, between 20% and 40%, and greater than 40%.
Radio distribution by noise strength: obtains the distribution of radio channels based on the noise level. The ranges are: less than -100dBm, between -100dBm and -80dBm, and greater than -80dBm.
Total users: shows the total number of users connected.
Users by AP: shows the number of connected users per AP.
Users by band: shows the number of connected users by frequency band (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz).
Users by SSID: shows the number of connected users by SSID.
HWgroup Poseidon2
A new pack has been developed to monitor the status and value of sensors installed in HW-Group brand devices, namely Poseidon2 equipment.
The pack allows you to discover and select the sensors installed in the equipment. To do this, the discover itself consults the limit_min and limit_max parameters configured, and based on these values, creates the range-type thresholds in WOCU-Monitoring, so that the services associated with each sensor alert without the need to configure anything additional.
The monitoring pack creates a service for each selected sensor. The service will display both the sensor status and the last measured value.
Extreme Networks Hardware Health
The new Extreme-networks-hw-health pack has been developed to monitor the hardware health of Extreme Networks branded equipment.
The services offered are as follows:
Fan: gets the status and speed of the fans.
Power Supply: obtains the status of the power supplies.
Temperature: see the measurement for all temperature sensors.
APC EPDU
A new pack has been created to monitor APC brand manageable rack power distribution units (PDUs) <https://www.se.com/es/es/product-range/66423-easy-metered-rack-pdu/?parent-subcategory-id=7410&filter=business-3-sais-y-soluciones-para-centros-de-datos-y-redes#products>`_ brand manageable rack power distribution units (PDUs) <https://www.se.com/es/es/product-range/66423-easy-metered-rack-pdu/?parent-subcategory-id=7410&filter=business-3-sais-y-soluciones-para-centros-de-datos-y-redes#products>`_ brand manageable rack power distribution units (PDUs).
The pack allows you to discover and select the outlets (sockets) you want to monitor from the pack’s configuration window:
The services offered are:
PDU Energy Consumption: monitors the total energy consumed by the PDU.
PDU Load Status: monitors the overall load status of the PDU (Normal, near Overload, Overload, etc.).
PDU Power Consumption: monitors the total power in Watts consumed in the PDU.
Phases and Banks Load Status: monitors the load status of each Phase and Bank of the PDU.
Power Supplies Status: monitors the status of each power supply included in the PDU.
Outlet Current: monitors the current consumption in Amps of a specific outlet.
Outlet Energy: monitors the energy consumption in Kw/h of a specific outlet.
Outlet Load Status: monitors the load status of a specific outlet.
Outlet Power: monitoriza el consumo de potencia en Watios de un enchufe específico.
Linux SNMP conntrack y Linux SSH conntrack
Two new packs have been added to the catalogue to monitor the use of Conntrack for Linux.
Linux-snmp-conntrack gets the information via SNMP, while Linux-ssh-conntrack gets it via SSH. Both packs deploy a single service that displays the percentage of Conntrack usage.
Other improvements and fixes
Every new version is full of small changes, fixes and optimisations that should be briefly highlighted. We list the most notable ones in this release:
The Persistent Comment field has been removed from the acknowledged_status> and Add/Show comments actions in Devices and Services. This decision was made after observing that their functionality was not useful on automatic system restarts.
Updated the Access to WOCU view, increasing the size of the main logo to make them more visible.
The binary system used to indicate the activation or deactivation of the Enabled_Notifications parameter notifications, present in Module Engine Config, has been updated. Now, a green tick will be shown to indicate that the option is active and a red cross when it is disabled. This system, already used in the rest of the tool, is more intuitive and understandable for the user.
A user interface enhancement has been implemented to facilitate navigation in multi-level and sub-section views. Menu subsections are now highlighted with a lime colour, allowing users to more easily identify where they are located. This update aims to improve the user experience in situations where the navigation structure can be complex, ensuring that it is more intuitive and efficient to move within the application.
Fixed a bug that occurred when searching from the navigation bar and when querying items in capital letters in certain tables in the application.
The Active checks field of the Last Check widget correctly redisplays whether or not operability checks are active for a given Device.
The spacing between legends and graphs of several KPIs of the application has been adjusted to improve their comprehension and visual clarity, optimising the presentation without affecting their functionality.
Fixed an issue that prevented the Show events action for Devices and Services from correctly redirecting the user to their respective Events views. Events collected over the last 24 hours are now displayed properly.
New data upload spinner, designed with the WOCU-Monitoring logo to reinforce our visual identity, unifying the design of the application.
Fixed a bug that did not allow the search for capitalised words in certain tables of the application. With this update, the accuracy of the results is improved regardless of the text format.
The Downtimes view in the Hosts by host Availability pane now correctly displays information related to the Include Down Times option (if enabled).
In the Host Groups Inventory, the Hosts and Services columns correctly redirect the user to their respective inventories: Hosts Inventory and Services Inventory.
The view of Detailed information on the Host Group has been adjusted to ensure that the data displayed fits the space available, avoiding mismatches in the table that make it difficult to read.
Fixed a bug that prevented alphabetical sorting of columns in the Hosts in Assets table when clicked on.
Reporting for more than 31 days is again possible for the month of October. Now, the creation of reports for this period is performed correctly, even considering that October has 31 days and 1 additional hour (due to the adjustment for the time change).
The display of the value of the Tags column in the Pending Assets table has been restored.
The display of the Dashboards has been improved to improve user interaction and comfort within this module.
Upgraded software
As always, other pieces of software have been incorporated and updated in this new version of WOCU-Monitoring:
Software |
Previous version |
Current version |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
nodejs |
14.17.0 |
18.18.1 |
|
erlang |
22.3 |
26.2.5.5 |
|
libevent |
2.1.8 |
2.1.12 |
https://github.com/libevent/libevent/releases/tag/release-2.1.12-stable |
libzmq |
4.3.4 |
4.3.5 |
|
perl |
5.30.0 |
5.36.0 |
|
rabbitmq |
3.8.11 |
4.0.3 |
https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/releases/tag/v4.0.3 |
thruk-libs |
2.40 |
3.14.2 |
Sobre WOCU-Monitoring
WOCU-Monitoring <https://wocu-monitoring.com>`_ is a multi-purpose monitoring tool that integrates the latest Open Source technologies for monitoring, visualisation, metrics plotting and log management, providing a wide visibility on the status and availability of network elements, servers, databases and workstations (among others) using customised Monitoring Packs.
In addition to the Free version, the WOCU-Monitoring version called Enterprise allows deployments of thousands of IP devices, in a distributed environment, with customisations tailored to each customer’s infrastructure.