Release Notes for WhatsUp Gold 2023.0

We're excited to announce the features and enhancements implemented in version 23.0 of WhatsUp Gold. Customers helped choose and validate many of the features that went into this release, and we want to hear from you to continue to improve WhatsUp Gold. Thank you for helping make WhatsUp Gold better!

  • v2023.0.0 - JUN 16 2023
  • v2023.0.1 - JUL 18 2023
  • v2023.0.2 - NOV 1 2023

Introduction

We love your feedback

We love hearing from customers! Please join or start a discussion on the WhatsUp Gold Community, request to join and participate in pre-release activities on the Customer Validation Program (CVP), and vote on and submit your product ideas on our ideation portal.

Additional resources

  • For information on the minimum supported versions, patching/upgrade suggestions, and feature/function obsolescence, see the Product Compatibility Guide. 

  • For information on how Technical Support can help you, see the Scope of Support.

  • For information on how product security is managed, see the Security Guidelines.

What's New

The following features have been implemented in the latest version of WhatsUp Gold:

The following features have been updated and improved in the latest version of WhatsUp Gold:

Configuration Management

Multiple improvements have been made to Configuration Management security and performance, and many known issues have been addressed. Improved memory management allows for larger configurations to be archived, more devices to be added in a single task, and optimizes memory cleanup during task execution. We have added improved logging for easier troubleshooting as well as enhanced and improved reports such as creating the task history report.

NOC Viewer

The NOC Viewer allows you to use a WhatsUp Gold server as a Network Operation Center, or NOC, display. It can be configured to show nearly any area of the application as an individual slide. Slides are then compiled to create slide decks which, when launched, automatically rotate in the order and on a schedule of your choosing. Additionally, any slide deck can be launched in the NOC Viewer directly using its own URL. This allows NOC views to be easily shared with others and to be displayed on any connected device as opposed to only the WhatsUp Gold server. To access the initial NOC Viewer interface, select Dashboards > NOC Viewer from the ANALYZE menu. This launches WhatsUp Gold in NOC Viewer mode.

Scheduled Report Improvements

A new option has been added which allows users to include a scheduled report directly within the body of an email message OR export it to a directory. Exporting or attaching reports can be done using multiple formats, including CSV, TXT, XML, HTML, and ZIP.

Windows Authentication for SQL Server

When installing WhatsUp Gold, users now have the option to connect to SQL Server through a Windows account rather than having to use a separate SQL Account. When using this installation option, the user currently logged in must be a system administrator on the specified SQL Server.

Alert Center

Disk Utilization thresholds now contain more detailed information that allows users to see the total volume, size, and utilized amount. Additionally, the notification policy builder has been redesigned for a better user experience and multiple defects have been addressed.

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

Several improvements have been made across the User Interface that allows for enhanced security, greater visibility of pertinent information, and better user experience.

OpenID

WhatsUp Gold’s OpenID implementation has been improved to simplify using AD FS as an Identity Provider. In addition, multiple fixes and user experience improvements have been added.

SNMP & SSH Library

SNMP v3 credentials can now use SHA-512 for authentication protocol; additional SSH algorithms are also supported. These updates also addressed customer-raised defects as well as optimized performance.

Ping Tool

The ping tool now gives users the option to define Time to Live (TTL) and the overall user experience has been improved.

ASP Deprecation

As part of our ongoing commitment to product security, we have deprecated all ASP-based pages. While replacing these pages and reducing our attack surface, we have improved the user experience and system performance wherever possible.

IP/MAC Address Report

New filtering capabilities allow the same information to be obtained that the deprecated ASP-based tools, IP/MAC address Finder and MAC Address provided. This is to allow for improved user experience with a consolidation of data and enhanced product security.

Updated and Improved

We’re committed to building the best in class software for network and application monitoring. See a problem or an area in need of improvement? Participate and post your suggestions in the Community. We’re listening.

Updated and Improved in v23.0.0

Feature Area Item Description
Configuration Management WUG-14112 Double clicking on OK button after adding a device group to an existent Configuration Manager task deletes all devices from the task
Logs WUG-13893 Frequent Critical error in live acivity log "Unable to retrieve state change events from the queue.System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. "
Roles WUG-13761 Fortinet FGT_61E firewall getting discovered with role Router
Roles WUG-13723 Custom Subrole using SNMP object has a child that contains rule fails
Monitors WUG-13699 All custom monitors are not detected except of those we setting "always applied" will appear. If we run the discovery with snmp v1/2 it is working. If we perform the scan withv3 cred, Unable to get the customized monitor.
Roles WUG-13651 A role match can occur for the Router role if "Cisco IOS Software" is included in the system description.
Services WUG-13357 networkviewerdataservice.exe' is crashing every few minutes
Reports WUG-13283 Linux server disk utilization volume "/" shows as "2F (52)" in reports
Security WUG-13235 Security Concern regarding PhantomJS
Monitors WUG-13234 Cannot acknowledge passive monitors using the acknowledge all link under Passive Monitors. Toast error appears showing Acknowledgement failed
Services WUG-13197 NmService crashing constantly and server CPU spiking after upgrade to 22.1. Passive monitor error log and general error log full of errors
Upgrade WUG-13168 Upgrading to v22.1. Fails due to a database issue
Tools WUG-13167 CLONE - Attempting to use the new MIB Walker Beta returns the error 'MIB Walk Failed. Value was either too large or too small for an Int32'
Upgrade WUG-13160 CLONE - SNMP memory performance monitor not loading data after upgrade to 22.1
Monitors WUG-13140 Passive Monitor for Windows Events Not Working as expected
Monitors WUG-13050 Interface active monitors do not respect critical monitors in 22.1
Upgrade WUG-13033 After upgrading to 22.1 customers report that the assets under inventory for newly discovered switches are NOT being added. Worked in 22.0.2
Reports WUG-12988 Actions Applied report is empty in 22.1 (blank)
Log Management WUG-12971 Log Management Syslog Filter Bulk Apply breaks the source filtering
Monitors WUG-12969 SNMP active monitor shows as Down although we can walk the OID and the monitor tests fine from monitors library
Discovery WUG-12965 Azure Discovery only processing a portion of the devices found
Alert Center WUG-12744 NTA alert center threshold not honoring the exclusion list.
Database WUG-12740 Data is not being written to Archive Database
Authentication WUG-12725 AD FS OIDC, Access Token, Issuer Non-standard behavior
Authentication WUG-12716 AD FS OIDC - Add parameters "Resource" on frontend to access token request ( value of "Audience" in Backend)
Database WUG-12714 WhatsUp Fails to Login to Database
Device Properties WUG-12664 Device Properties - Task Created (whatsconfig) is sorting by string NOT date
Authentication WUG-12639 OIDC authentication for ADFS does not support "?" in redirect URL's
APIs WUG-12068 API - The PUT for /api/v1/devices/{deviceId}/properties doesn't work since upgrading from 22.0.1 to 22.0.2
Logs WUG-11818 WUG Activity log filling with EventID 1000 Ipswitch WhatsUp Engine
Authentication WUG-11791 OIDC authentication broken for ADFS in 22.0.1. Last worked in 21.0.3
Monitors WUG-11206 Windows EventLog Passive Monitor Stopped working after Upgrade to v22.0
Actions WUG-11132 Action triggered email subject truncated at 78 characters after upgrade to v22
MIBs WUG-9032 Default MIBs shipped with the product are having warnings. A customer raised a concern and expecting MIB files with no warnings and errors.
Configuration Management WUG-9031 Configuration Management archive size limit for the compare feature
Configuration Management WUG-8846 Cannot add new scheduled task through WhatsConfigured
Upgrade WUG-7049 Poller Lag after upgrading from 16.x to 19.2
Monitors WUG-6383 Flapping monitors on Cisco Nexus9000 C9396TX
Credentials WUG-5381 Cisco 2960 switch shows down interfaces when using SNMPv3 credential
Configuration Management WUG-2524 Verify integrity of WhatsConfigured data 'XmlTaskParams" in ConfigTaskSchedule table
Configuration Management WUG-1913 configuration management task library
Reports WUG-937 (Total Numbers of Reports 1) Typo in Task Library
Roles WUG-866 APC ATS device gets UPS subrole but is not a UPS
Configuration Management WUG-764 New Scheduled Configuration Task is limited to small number of devices
Configuration Management WUG-744 Config Management Task log Task Filter shows removed Task
Configuration Management WUG-743 Detect configuration changes on a device can cause OutOfMemory exception if there are alot of configs to compare
Reports WUG-574 Archive Policy Audit shows audit is successfull when it fails ...
Network Traffic Analysis WUG-14296 "Network Traffic Analyzer Failed Connections Exceeds" threshold doesn't respect exceptions
Configuration Management WUG-14241 Importing existing script results in the script being loaded without a key
Configuration Management WUG-14230 Custom script fails in debugger with unknown error

Updated and Improved in v23.0.1

Feature Area Item Description
Logging WUG-14467 Excessive logging being generated by the StateManager

Updated and Improved in v23.0.2

Feature Area Item Description
Authentication WUG-13692 Corrected an OpenID issue preventing customers from successfully authenticating against the U.S. government Azure national cloud.
Authentication WUG-13733

Corrected an OpenID issue preventing usage of SSO and PIV cards.
Device Groups WUG-14527 Corrected an issue preventing Layer2 Dynamic Groups from appearing and/or being successfully applied.

Things You Should Know

Important: After upgrading WhatsUp Gold, please restart the WhatsUp Gold server and clear the cache and local storage for browsers on all machines that will access the WhatsUp Gold server.
Important: To monitor a MySQL database, download and install the MySQL .NET Connector on the WhatsUp Gold machine. Please note, the latest version of WhatsUp Gold only supports MySQL .NET Connector version 8.0.21 due to potential compatibility issues. If you are using application monitoring features and/or SQL Query active or performance monitors, you must download and upgrade your connector from version 5.2.5 to 8.0.21. The MySQL .NET Connector can be downloaded here: https://downloads.mysql.com/archives/cnet/.
Important: If Agents were deployed and in use prior to upgrading WhatsUp Gold, they must be redeployed to apply any available fixes or updated functionality. To redeploy agents and fully complete your upgrade of WhatsUp Gold, ensure you are logged in to WhatsUp Gold using an admin account with permissions to deploy WhatsUp Gold Agents. Next, navigate to SETTINGS > WhatsUp Gold Agent > Agent Library from the main menu. Select all existing agents displayed in the library, then click Deploy Agent. This process updates agents in batches of five. If you have a large quantity deployed, this process can take several minutes to complete.

Please also see the following additional WhatsUp Gold documentation:

Lifecycle Information

Lifecycle Policy Guide

Product Compatibility Guide

Ideation Portal

Scope of Support

Security Guidelines

System Requirements

Hardware requirement guidelines

Hardware requirements vary depending on the WhatsUp Gold configuration. Increasing the number of devices monitored, number of monitors, types of monitors, polling intervals, or other configuration options can result in additional load on the server and database. Hardware configuration adjustments may be required to optimize performance for your network.

Minimum server recommendations

100 Devices / 500 Metrics* minimum required

2,500 Devices / 12,500 Metrics* minimum required

20,000 Devices / 100,000 Metrics* minimum required

Processor(s)

Quad-core

Quad-core

Quad-core

Processor speed

2.6 GHz or more

2.6 GHz or more

2.6 GHz or more

RAM

8 GB

16 GB

WhatsUp Gold Server: 16 GB

Dedicated SQL Server: 32 GB (64 GB recommended)

Database type

SQL Server 2017 Express Edition

Dedicated SQL Server 2017/2019/2022

Dedicated SQL Server 2017/2019/2022

Hard drive

25 GB or more free space

OS/Application - 15 GB or more free space in RAID 1

Database files - 4 x 100 GB in RAID 10

OS/Application - 15 GB or more free space in RAID 1

Database files - 8 x 250 GB in RAID 10

Log files - 2 x 100 GB in RAID 0

Temp database files - 2 x 250 GB in RAID 0

For more information about moving SQL Server database and log files, see the WhatsUp Gold Database Migration Guide.

Network interface card

Minimum 100 Mbps (1 Gbps preferred)

100 Mbps (1 Gbps preferred)

1 Gbps

Sound card

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

* Each data point stored in the database counts as a metric, and WhatsUp Gold may collect more than one metric per monitor.

Recommendations for accessing WhatsUp Gold

We recommend accessing the WhatsUp Gold server using a browser installed on a remote machine. The following specifications are recommended for optimal performance when accessing the WhatsUp Gold server.

100 Devices / 500 Metrics minimum required

2,500 Devices / 12,500 Metrics minimum required

20,000 Devices / 100,000 Metrics minimum required

RAM

8 GB

8 GB

16 GB

Processor

Quad-core

Quad-core

Quad-core

Video display resolution

1920x1080 or higher

1920x1080 or higher

1920x1080 or higher

Sound card

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions

Operating system requirements

WhatsUp Gold supports the following Windows Server platforms:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2022
Important: Currently, Log Management central event collection is not supported on Windows Server 2022. There is a known issue that can potentially result in missed logs. As a workaround, you can use all agent-based event collection. For additional information, please see WhatsUp Gold Agent Overview in the WhatsUp Gold help system.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Additionally,

  • For evaluation purposes, WhatsUp Gold operates on Windows 10. However, production level support requires Windows Server versions only. See below for supported Windows Server platforms.
  • Installing WhatsUp Gold on a domain controller is not recommended or supported.
  • If WhatsUp Gold is hosted in virtual environments, to prevent licensing issues, make sure that you assign a static MAC address to the virtual machine on which WhatsUp Gold is operating. Refer to your virtual machine software help documentation for information about assigning a static MAC address for the virtual machine.
  • WhatsUp Gold requires quad-core processors @ 2.6 GHz (min). If you are installing WhatsUp Gold on a virtual machine, make sure that your guest VM has at least four CPU cores allocated to it. Refer to additional Hardware requirements guidelines.

Database requirements

Important: As part of the upgrade to WhatsUp Gold the SQL Server Express database included with WhatsUp Gold will be updated to SQL Server 2017 Express.
Important: If you use a remote SQL database, instead of the default install that occurs as part of the default WhatsUp Gold installation, refer to the WhatsUp Gold Database Migration and Management Guide for information about other WhatsUp Gold database configurations.
Note: The collation of Microsoft SQL Server being used to host WhatsUp Gold databases should be set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. Latin1_General_CI_AS collation is allowed during upgrades, but is not recommended as it could cause errors in operation. Additionally, the collation of each of the aforementioned WhatsUp Gold databases should also be set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.Latin1_General_CI_AS collation is allowed during upgrades, but is not recommended as it could cause errors in operation.

WhatsUp Gold requires a database to maintain data about monitored devices, store system configurations, and save user specified customizations. The database may be co-located with the WhatsUp Gold installation, or may be hosted on a remote machine. Data services for WhatsUp Gold can be provided by the following database servers. The following database versions are supported:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2017
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2019
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2022

Web server requirements

The WhatsUp Gold installer automatically installs/enables IIS on platforms where it is supported.

WhatsUp Gold requires the following Web Server Role Services for IIS at a minimum:

  • Web Server
  • ASP .NET
  • Static Content
  • HTTP Redirection
  • Default Document

Framework requirements

WhatsUp Gold requires the Microsoft .NET Framework and other Microsoft packages for scripting. The following are required software framework and support packages:

  • .NET 4.7.2, included in installation program.
  • PowerShell 2.0 (Optionally required for PowerShell scripting. Not included in the WhatsUp Gold installer. Refer to the Microsoft MSDN web site for more information about installing PowerShell).
  • Microsoft Windows Scripting Host v5.7 (or later).
  • Microsoft SAPI 5.1 (required for Text-to-Speech actions).
Important: The Microsoft .NET Framework option is required. However, the following feature/component options cannot be enabled in the Microsoft .NET Framework options: .NET Framework Windows Communication Foundation HTTP Activation and Windows Communication Foundation Non-HTTP Activation.

Web interface requirements

The following web browsers are currently supported for use with WhatsUp Gold:

  • Microsoft Edge
  • Google Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox
    Tip: does not support any version of Internet Explorer in Compatibility or Quirks mode.

Log Management Requirements

The WhatsUp Gold Log Management feature collects log data from monitored devices and stores that data for reporting and analysis in an Elasticsearch database, which can be either installed locally on the WhatsUp Gold server, or can be a remote instance of Elasticsearch.

The WhatsUp Gold server requires the following to support a remote Elasticsearch instance:

  • CPU speed >= 2.6 GHz
  • CPU count >= 8 cores
  • RAM >= 16 GB

The WhatsUp Gold server requires the following to support a local Elasticsearch instance:

  • CPU speed >= 2.6 GHz
  • CPU count >= 8 cores
  • RAM >= 32 GB
  • Disk space >= 585 GB

Poller requirements

Depending on the network environment and product deployment, WhatsUp Gold can poll up to a maximum of 20,000 devices and up to 100,000 metrics with one WhatsUp Gold server and additional pollers (additional pollers required depend on the number of metrics). Additional pollers installed on your WhatsUp Gold system transmit active monitor and performance monitor data to the WhatsUp Gold server. Extending polling activity across multiple pollers increases the number of devices for which WhatsUp Gold can poll and collect data to send back to the WhatsUp Gold system. Using additional pollers, WhatsUp Gold can efficiently scale polling operations to a larger number of network devices, ultimately providing the capacity to monitor and manage larger networks. Additional pollers may be installed on any Windows system on the network, other than the WhatsUp Gold server.

Minimum required for each additional poller

Processor(s)

Quad-core

RAM

4 GB

Hard drive space for application

2 GB

OS requirements

See Operating system requirements section above

Installing WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold 23.0 supports direct upgrade installations from WhatsUp Gold v20.0.2 and newer. Refer to the Installing WhatsUp Gold guide for details about installation, upgrade, repair, and uninstall. As always, before performing an upgrade be sure to back up your database, if using the SQL Express database included in WhatsUp Gold this can be done by the installer/updater before proceeding with the upgrade.

Important: Upgrades for WhatsUp Gold custom database modifications are not supported.If the WhatsUp Gold installer detects database changes to your WhatsUp Gold database schema, it warns you of the issues and proceeds with the install. In future WhatsUp Gold releases, the installer will not proceed until the installer warnings are addressed.

Offline Installation and Activation

Important: Download the package from your account using a connected machine, then run the installer on your designated server. When prompted to enter your activation number, select Use offline activation mode and proceed with the activation process. If you are an evaluator and do not have access to an account, please contact Customer Service for assistance.
Note: Customers with pure IPv6 environments must use offline activation.

End of life information

To see the list of currently supported versions of WhatsUp Gold, please refer to the Product Life Cycle page.