Dear Customers,

We’re pleased to announce that Dashboard v5.53 and Agent v9.8.3 RC are being released overnight, so that they’ll be available in advance of the working day tomorrow, 15^th of January. The OSX Agent updates to v1.2.1 and is on GA.

We have a number of exciting Dashboard enhancements in this release, each focusing on features you’ve requested on IdeaFactory, the forum where you can vote for and comment on product enhancements.

Here’s quick run-through of what’s new in this release!

• User Passcode Reset: Users can now reset their own password, for more convenient and secure account management, while administrators can reset passwords for users without having to specify and email them. You’ll also be able to log into the monitoring agent with standard Dashboard credentials, removing the need for Primary Access Key changes by customer support.

• Upgrade Devices from Asset Tracking: Apply a Monitoring Installation Template to existing servers and workstations on asset-tracking or MAV-only plans, and upgrade them to fully monitored devices with just a couple of clicks. This is the first in a series of updates to the Check Monitoring Templates to make them more useful in the Dashboard. Available with Agent 9.8.3 RC.

• Agent Auto-Uninstall Improvements: Remove the agent straight away instead of waiting on the next check cycle, uninstall monitoring agents that were added via Group Policy, and benefit from an altogether more thorough clean-up job when deleting devices from the Dashboard.

Check out the release video, and for detailed step by step descriptions of the new features including screenshots, please see this previous blog post.

As usual, the release also contains a number of minor feature enhancements and bug fixes, including updates to the new Site Concentrator feature we released just before Christmas, so that it handles Managed Antivirus and Patch Management updates correctly. We’ve also added an option for European customers to add their VAT number on the Company Details dialog (under Settings, General Settings) in order to comply with new EU Tax law coming into effect this month.

We hope these Dashboard enhancements prove helpful in your day-to-day management of clients, and we look forward to bringing you our next set of updates in the weeks ahead.

With Kind Regards,
The MAXfocus Team

Summary for Service Release

• Service Release focused on feature updates, bug fixes and performance enhancements, including:
  • Enhancements to user password management
  • New “Upgrade from Asset Tracking” feature
  • Enhancements to agent auto-uninstall
  • Bug fixes for new Site Concentrator
• Dashboard v5.53
• Agent v9.8.3 RC, Agent 9.8.1 stays GA. OSX Agent v1.2.1 GA

Dashboard v5.53

• FEATURE: User can reset their own password from the login screen
• FEATURE: Apply monitoring installation template to existing devices without monitoring checks or automated tasks with Upgrade from Asset Tracking feature
• UPDATE: Administrators can add users without sending out passwords
• UPDATE: Administrators can reset user passwords without having to specify the new one
• UPDATE: Users can log into the Advanced Monitoring Agent with Dashboard credentials instead of Primary Access Key (PAK)
• UPDATE: Dialog prompt to remind users may want to delete the Inactive Backup Account entry for a device when removing Managed Online Backup from a device
• UPDATE: EU customers can enter their VAT number under Company Details in order to comply with EU tax law and see the respective VAT number for their country
• UPDATE: USA customers can enter their sales tax number in order to comply with USA tax law (depending on State)
• BUGFIX: Ensure Failed Login Check displays yellow banner in the More Info dialog when the check hasn’t yet run
• BUGFIX: Ensure Monitoring Installation Template dialog displays correct icon for Failed Login Check
• BUGFIX: Correction for French translation in MOB dialog
• BUGFIX: Ensure MOB Archive feature setting can be set at device level as well as client and site level
• BUGFIX: Ensure the Weekly Reports generated for AsiaPac customers handles timezone offset correctly to avoid showing tomorrow’s date

Agent v9.8.3 (RC)

• FEATURE: Apply monitoring installation template to existing devices without monitoring checks or automated tasks with Upgrade from Asset Tracking feature
• UPDATE: Update Agent to use web service for authenticating agent login to facilitate user passcode reset
• BUGFIX: Ensure new Site Concentrator (RC) handles Managed Antivirus updated definitions correctly
• BUGFIX: Ensure new Site Concentrator (RC) handles Patch Management updates correctly

OSX Agent v1.2.1 (GA)

• UPDATE: Update Agent to use web service for authenticating agent login to facilitate user passcode reset