** Release Candidate Agent v9.12.1 was released on October 1. **

Our next release sees two of the most requested feature improvements arrive in the Dashboard: A brand new Device Search, and a much faster ‘Last Response’ time after servers and workstations start up. As usual, we also have a number of customer support priorities going out in this release, including several updates to the Bitdefender-powered Managed Antivirus engine.

Here’s a summary of the two new features in this release:

1. Device Search: Search for devices across Client, Site, Device, Description, Username and Operating System details to quickly find a specific device, or to bring up a list of related servers or workstations. Multi-select devices to perform bulk actions, for instance add checks and tasks via a Monitoring Template, schedule a reboot, run a task, etc.

2. Faster Agent check-in after a device starts up: We’ve enhanced the Monitoring Agent so it now ‘phones home’ as soon as the Agent service starts, so devices show online again more quickly in the Dashboard, instead of waiting on the next check cycle. (Note this update requires the new RC Agent.)

We’re also hard at work to enhance Monitoring Templates so it’s easier to bulk manage individual Tasks – we appreciate we lost some of that functionality with our last update, so we’re working on an easy-to-use bulk edit feature for Tasks that you can use at Client, Site and Device level. What’s more, you’ll be able to use this with the new device search: For example, use search to pull up a list of related devices across clients and sites, then bulk edit any of the Tasks on those devices. We’re fast tracking this enhancement to get it in your hands as quickly as possible, and we’ll continue to build from there.

We had planned to update the current RC agent to GA so that you can roll the new Monitoring Template capabilities out across clients. Unfortunately, we’ve come across an issue with the current RC agent that we feel we have to address before we can rightfully say it’s ready for GA. We’ve therefore had to make the difficult decision to hold off going GA. We’re resolving the issue so that we can turn the Agent GA at the earliest opportunity.

All the details on the new Device Search feature…
Use the brand new search option to find devices straight away, instead of paging through lists to get to the right one. For example, quickly find the right workstation when a client phones into support, just by typing in their username.

You can also use the search to pull up lists of related devices and perform bulk actions on those machines. For example, you can run an AV scan on a group of servers, or add a Monitoring Template to workstations on the same OS. You can search for a set of devices and schedule a reboot, or put them into Maintenance Mode and run a task, all with just a few clicks. 

Here’s how it works…  

1. You’ll see a new search box at the top of the Servers and Workstations tab (1).

2. There’s also a new Operating System column which can be included in the search. Click the Columns dropdown to turn it on (2). You can now also turn the Client and Site columns off if you prefer. Of course, you can resize and drag and drop the columns around to suit your layout preferences.

3. Type in your search terms, and it will automatically start to search through the devices as you go, highlighting the terms it’s matching on in bold (3).

4. Once you’ve found the right device or have the selection of devices you were looking for, you can perform all the usual tasks, for example run a Managed Antivirus Deep Scan (4) or push down a new set of Checks and Tasks with a Monitoring Template (5).

Here are a few more specifics about the new search feature:

• The search looks across the following columns: Client, Site, Device Name, Description, Username (for Workstations) and Operating System. For a column to be included in the search it has to be turned on via the Columns dropdown menu.

• The search runs within the selected Client or Site in the Client Tree, and will run within the selected device view, e.g. you can search across all Problem Workstations at a particular Site.

• The search runs across the pages in the North Pane, it’s not limited to just the 50 on show.

• It’s a straight-forward, case-insensitive string match which is wildcarded at the front and end. E.g. a search for ‘pro’ will match “Windows 10 Professional”, “Windows Pro”, “WINPROX”, etc.

• It’s not currently possible to use Boolean search operators such as AND, OR, NOT or quote marks in your search.

And here’s how the improved Agent check-in works…
Note that this feature improvement requires RC Agent v9.12.1

Before:
When a workstation or server started up, the Agent would check into the Dashboard on the next scheduled check cycle. During that time, the Dashboard would report that a device was offline or overdue in the “Last Response” column. For Workstations in particular, this could mean quite a delay before the device showed as online again. And after!
Now the Advanced Monitoring Agent will send a message up to the Dashboard to say “I’m back” as soon as the Agent service starts while the machine is booting up, instead of waiting on the next check cycle. It means the “Last Response” column in the Dashboard will update much more quickly, often within seconds, and more accurately reflect the current status of the devices.Note that the check results will still update on the next scheduled check cycle, to avoid burdening the machine that’s still booting up with additional processing.

Thanks for the great feedback…
The two new features in this release were clear favourites over on the MAXfocus Ideas site: Thanks for the votes and comments for device search and for the faster Agent check-in. Please keep the feedback coming – one of the areas we’d like to enhance in the future is to add more data points to the device search, so if you have any thoughts or recommendations, submit a new Idea and help us build a better Dashboard.

And finally…
The staging release notes are below. Please note that staging release notes are subject to change. Final release notes will go out with the release.

Summary for Service Release
– Service release focused on new features, bug fixes and performance
– Dashboard v6.5
– Agent v9.12.1 RC, Agent v9.10.2 stays GA

Dashboard 6.5
FEATURE: A new device search for servers and workstations
UPDATE: Faster Agent check-in after a server or workstations starts up
UPDATE: Update on the ‘More information’ dialog for just-edited Checks to show new warning message, replacing the previous warning message and the last check info
BUGFIX: Ensure the Client Monthly report shows the correct chart labels
BUGFIX: Ensure edited notes are only visible on the devices they apply to
BUGFIX: Resolve edge case to ensure that a failed check shows the correct failed check status in the North Pane
BUGFIX: Ensure the north pane columns resize correctly
BUGFIX: Remove unnecessary scrollbar in IE in the south pane
BUGFIX: Ensure the Client Monthly Reports can be re-generated
BUGFIX: Ensure saving the MAV BD policy doesn’t alter scan times for non-standard time zones (time zones that are offset by 30 minutes)
BUGFIX: Allow commas to be used in Bitdefender exclusions
BUGFIX: Extend MAV download time for slow networks
BUGFIX: Correct an issue where MAV Bitdefender installations and definition updates are being blocked by an IE Proxy connection, resulting in an error that the action was refused by 127.0.0.1:xxxx
BUGFIX:  Correct devices from scanning after startup if Run Missed Scans after Startup is unchecked
BUGFIX: Ensure Active Protection is on if custom file extensions are selected but no custom extensions have been added by the user

Agent 9.12.1 RC
UPDATE: Faster Agent check-in after a server or workstations starts up
BUGFIX: Ensure a Monitoring Template with tasks applies the tasks on devices that have not previously had tasks on them
BUGFIX: Ensure all Take Control sessions display the computer name