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Servers Alive BETA page


Current beta build 10.3.2921
(download link)
  • Changes in the logfile (2921)
  • The filter screen did you show the correct info for the "unavailable" status (2919)
  • Addition logging added to functions that updates the tree when using the GUIONLY option (2916)
  • Experimental additions to the saif part of the HTML template based output (2915)
  • Extra logging added for services checks(2914)
  • When doing a diskspace check, and checking for a % of free space, the result was always down and the free space was shown in bytes. Fixed now.
    The result is now again correct and the free space is shown in MB by default (another measure can be set in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\DiskSpace\PercentageMeasure (string) (2913)
  • The SMTP alerts using the M365 server can now use the oAuth2 authentication protocol. You will at 1st have to create the correct credentials in Azure/M365 (doc) and use it at least 1-time from the interface of Servers Alive. (2910)
  • The SMTP alerts using the GMail server can now use the oAuth2 authentication protocol. You will at 1st have to create the correct credentials in GCP (doc) and use it at least 1-time from the interface of Servers Alive. (2910)
  • The statusbar (bottom of the GUI) will show when the next cycle will take place and how long the previous one took. When running Servers Alive in GUIONLY mode it will show when the last cycle ran and how long it took (2909)
  • The status summary can include in the subject how long that last cycle took, and this by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StatusSummary\AddCycleTimetoSubject (dword) to 1 (true).(2908)
  • When there is an EXTERNAL (ERRORLEVEL) check the output is not visible within the spawned commandbox (for speed reasons), you can however get the output into the output that is available to SA (option in the GUI per entry for this). If you set ShowCMDOutputInCMDBox to 1 in the registry, it will show the output *only* in the spawned commandbox and the output will not be available to SA (even if the GUI element for this is enabled).
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\ShowCMDOutputInCMDBox
    • 0 (false) normal behaviour of not showing the output in the cmdbox and the STDOUT redirect working as defined within the gui (per entry)
    • 1 (true) output is only visible in the cmdbox and the STDOUT will NOT be available to SA (even if the GUI element is configured to do so). This is clearly something to be used for debugging only! It will slow-down ALL the errorlevel checks.
    (2907)
  • The commands frame (start/stop/... buttons) can be hidden from the interface.(2905)
  • By default the groups stats only contain the up/down/... stats for the entries that are directly within the group. In the SETUP/General/Interface settings screen, you can now also add these to the stats of the TOP group or to all above groups.(2904)
  • The %g parameter gives the GROUP name of the group in which the entry reside, the new %gp gives the full group path of the entry.(2898)
  • The group stats in the GUI are now also updated when running Servers Alive in GUIONLY mode. (2896)
  • By setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\includeScheduledMaintenanceinMaintenanceCountersinGUI (dword) to 1, we will in the GUI in the MAINTENANCE field show the sum of the number of entries in maintenance and those in scheduled maintenance (tooltip gives the detail)
    Also now when running Servers Alive in GUIONLY mode.(2890)
  • The Filter View menu had an absolute GUI item, removed that. (2890)
  • The groups stats within the interface (as full application) will also show the schedule maintenance counter (2890)
  • The WHEN of some of the alerts can now be changed with the CHANGES WIZARD (2889)
  • The status summary can include the time the last cycle and how long that last cycle took, and this by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StatusSummary\IncludeCycleInfoInSummary (dword) to 1 (true).(2888)
  • The status summary has a new option to show all the status change entries without those going into (scheduled) maintenance or coming back out of (scheduled) maintenance (however coming from (scheduled) maintenance and going to down will be in the list).(2888)
  • In the HTML template based output you can now also how the number of entries that are in the scheduled maintenance by using this tag: <sa_nr_scheduled_maintenance> (2885)
  • By setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\includeScheduledMaintenanceinMaintenanceCountersinGUI (dword) to 1, we will in the GUI in the MAINTENANCE field show the sum of the number of entries in maintenance and those in scheduled maintenance (tooltip gives the detail) (2885)
  • Different types of alerts that show the number of entries in up/down/maintenance will now also show the number of entries that are in scheduled mainteance(2885)
  • By setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\includeVersioninKeepAlive (dword) to 1, we will include the version of Servers Alive into the subject of the keepalive/start/stop message
    It will not only show the version of Servers Alive but also if it runs as application or service, for example version 10.3.2883-Application or version 10.3.2883-Service(2883)
  • The status summary, "status change entries AND all down entries", is by default showing all the entries within the order they got loaded in memory.
    You can force this to be in 2 blocks, being a block with the entries that changed status, and a 2nd block with all the "old" down entries, and this by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StatusSummary\StatusChange_Down_Blocks (dword) to 1 (true), by default it will continue as it was.(2882)
  • The webpage generated on-the-fly by the built-in webserver (/status) can be tweaked with 4 new settings:
    • Possition of the "Last check done on..." phrase:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\dynamic_page_location_last_check (dword) 0 below | 1 above
    • Size of this "last check done" phrase can be changed:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\dynamic_page_start_last_check (string) blank=<h5>
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\dynamic_page_stop_last_check (string) blank=</h5>
      Servers Alive is not controlling if the correct stop code is used for the given start code. Using the wrong combination might result in a badly rendered HTML page.
    • Background color of the table with entries:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\dynamic_page_table_background

    (2882)
  • The SMTP alerts using the GMail server can now use the oAuth2 authentication protocol. You will at 1st have to create the correct credentials in GCP (doc) and use it at least 1-time from the interface of Servers Alive. (2881)
  • The GUI of Servers Alive lets you sort the items based on any of the columns. The EDIT-RESET SORT ORDER menu item lets you get back to the initial sort order (based on the order of the entries within the entries-file)(2881)
  • Within the SETUP-General-Interface settings screen, you can now also change the color of the font used for the different statusses of an entry. The selection-box for the color, does however not show for what exactly you are trying to change the color, due to a bug within the common-controls. The 1st [...] selector is for the background, the 2nd [...] selector is for the font color. The tooltip for these selectors gives that info too.(2881)
  • For an HTTP/HTTPS check we only accepted a "200 OK" as being a correct status code. However the RFC for the hypertext transfert protocol gives more status options for a succesful request. By default we only accept the "200 OK" as being correct. You can now extend this to all codes starting with a 2 (2xx) by creating/setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\AcceptExtendedSuccesfullStatusCode (dword) to 1.(2881)
  • Some of the numeric columns didn't sort correctly.(2881)
  • GCP (Google Cloud) check added to the virtual checks(2880)
    You will need an “access key” to access your GCP subscription. You can generate this via the Google Cloud Console – IAM & Admin – Service Accounts – Manage Key Actions – Add new key – JSON – and save the generated JSON file.
    (enterprise feature)
  • Small update in the diskspace checker for very large file shares (2878)
  • The %o parameter didn't convert correctly for all entries (2876)
  • Extra logging for virtual checks. (2875)
  • The authentication on the build-in webserver didn't work correctly (2872)
  • Extra logging for the SLACK alert, and small change in the way the message is handled. (2871)

Servers Alive v10.2 was released

  • Quick new release due to what we saw as a major issue with the new mail sender
  • Smallish changes in the trap alerts(2869)
  • Via the changes wizard you can change the channel/title/message of multiple team alerts.(2866)
  • You can limit the encryption used by the build-in webserver to one via the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\Encryption (reg_sz).
    • 0 Anything suitable
    • 1 DES encryption
    • 2 3DES encryption
    • 3 AES encryption
    • 4 BLOWFISH encryption
    • 5 AES 128bit encryption
    • 6 AES 192bit encryption
    • 7 AES 256bit encryption
    • 10 DH encryption
    • 11 ADH encryption
    • 12 RC2 encryption
    • 13 RC4 encryption
    • 14 IDEA encryption
    (2865)
  • Via the setup/alerts/teams you can add a TEAMS alert to all entries.(2864)

Servers Alive v10 was released

  • Depending on the OS on which you are running Servers Alive you could get into an issue when the root certificate of the certificate of the HTTPS site you are checking expired and was replaced by a new root certificate (like we got with the letsencrypt.org root certificate). For this we added a feature were you can force your own certificatefile for all the HTTPS checks. This is done by pointing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\CertificateFile (as string) to the file that contains the certificate(s). How to get the certifcate in the correct form: Open the https site that has the root issues in Chrome. Click on lock icon left of the address, choose 'certificate'. When it opens, under 'certification path' click on root certificate so it opens in its own window. Then under 'details' tab choose copy to file, then choose base64 encoded. (2862)
  • AWS S3 checking added.(2860)
  • From the 2860 build on the beta (v9.1 beta for v10) will be limited in time. It will only be able to work in licensed mode until December 31st 2021. After that it goes back to freeware mode!
  • AWS EC2 checking added. If you want to be able to check your EC2 instance via Servers Alive you will have to create access on AWS for Servers Alive. This document described what you need to do. (2856)
  • The sa_onstatustime tag in the HTML template based output gave issues with unchecked items. (2855)
  • The URL (http/https) checker can now use Windows Integrated security for the page authentication. (2853)
  • The Hyper-V checker can check the replication status of a VM.(2851)
  • Extra logging added to the SNMP TRAP RECEIVER alerts, and fixed an issue with the SLACK alert for the SNMP TRAP RECEIVER. (2850)
  • Ignoring an alert on a holiday didn't work as expected (2849)
  • In some cases the EXTERNAL (ERRORLEVEL) checks failed with a strange error, seems to be fixed now (2848)
  • Alerts can be send Microsoft Teams (2843)
  • In some cases the authentication failures are ignored due to the authentication-ignorelist, we do log this too into the logfile. However this could cluther the logfile, by creating/setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\DoNotLogAuthenticationErrorIgnoreList (dword) to 1 we will no longer log this. (2837)
  • Weird bug that caused the alerts set on STATUS CHANGE to fail, is now fixed. (2835)
  • The HTTP/HTTPS CRC on a binary file crashed Servers Alive when running Servers Alive on Windows 2012, fixed! (2829)
  • For the SMTP alerts you can "link" the TO and/or SUBJECT and/or BODY to the default you defined within the setup. This means that if the default changes that your alert will reflect those changes too. (2827)
  • The XMPP alert (1st one - called by default Jabber), didn't convert the TO correctly (2825)
  • The interchange logging to a database didn't log all the entries when the log_per_item_checked parameter was set to 1. (2821)
  • For the alerts you can now use the %ts parameter, this will give the time/date in the following format: yyyymmddhhmmss (2820)
  • The WINPOPUP alert didn't work anymore. Re-write and now use the MSG.EXE of the operating system. Make sure to configure within the SETUP a priviledged user that is allowed to run the msg.exe command. Witin the actual alert you also have to define on what computer the popup-alert should be visible. If you leave the "on" option empty then the alert will popup on the system running Server Alive. (2811)

Servers Alive v9 was released

  • The SNMP trap receiver alerts can be ignored on weekends, to set per alert! (2801)
  • The alert (on the checks) could already be ignored on public holidays, you can now in the same way ignore the alert during the weekend (2801)
  • VMWare VM/host checking can now not only be done with PowerCli 6.0 but also with 6.5)
  • VMWare host checking is added (enterprise feature)
  • The HTTP/HTTPS check can now check for a specific status code
  • Va the PROFILE SCHEDULE you can define a schedule that is execute once a day (enterprise feature)
  • The ping check can do a LATENCY check (send one frame and alert if that one from takes more then of ms)
  • Docker container alert (start/stop) added
  • Docker container checking added (enterprise feature)
  • Extended the errorlevel check with a 3rd rule
  • Ability to select the secuirty protocol you want for the build-in webserver (including TLS 1.2).
  • additional HTML tags:
    sa_stats_uptime_short, sa_stats_downtime_short, sa_stats_maintenancetime_short, sa_stats_nondowntime_short
  • If you have your robots.txt/favicon.ico file in the c:\application data\woodstone\servers alive" folder then we will serve that one (via the build-in webserver), if the file does not exist then we won't serve a file.
    (depending on the OS you're running SA on it could also be c:\app data\... or c:\applicationdata\.... - > basidly it's the file were you have the samib.db and the groups.grp file)
  • When converting the output of a check you can now also "saved" the converted result in a custom field instead of to the actual check result, as such you can keep the actual check result (2745)
  • When converting the output of a check you can now within those scripts use the custom fields as sa_custom_value_1...sa_custom_value_7 (2745)
  • The formula used for the SNMP check can now use the content of the custom fields too. For example: ((sa_currentresult - sa_previousresult ) * 8 * 100) / ((sa_currenttimeinms - sa_previoustimeinms) * sa_custom_value_3)(2745)
  • SNMP check that is based on a formula does not have to be just FALSE, it can be any type of value that you can compare to(2745)
  • RRD graphs can be of a self-defined size (2745)
  • New var %tz added that shows the timezone in which Servers Alive is running. The timestamp within the SMTP alerts also shows the timezone. (2742)
  • You can add the HTTP(S) headers to the %e parameter for an HTTP/HTTPS check in case the status is not 200 (OK), this is controlled from within the registry via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\addHTTPHeaders (dword). With a value of 1 the headers are added. (2740)
  • The authentication for the saWeb part of Servers Alive didn't work correctly (2739)
  • The ; char didn't work correctly within the message body's of the SMTP alerts (2738)
  • The tree icon (STOP for down) didn't work anymore, fixed. (2737)
  • The # char didn't work correctly within the message body's of the SMTP alerts
  • The following tags now also work in a GROUP part of the HTML template: sa_startshorttime, sa_startlongtime, sa_startshortdate, sa_startlongdate, sa_currentlongtime, sa_currentshorttime, sa_currentlongdate, sa_currentshortdate(2734)
  • HTTPS site that were only enabled for TLS 1.0 (and not 1.1 and/or 1.2) failed with due to the SSL negotiating not correctly going to TLS 1.0. In this updated version this seems to work just fine. (2732)
  • Extra error checking done for the Virtual (ESX/Hyper-V) checks (2731)
  • External errorlevel check hanged the app in some cases (2730)
  • Hyper-V & ESX small changes for a better component clean-up
  • A TCP check that was configured to use port 0 (port that doesn't exist) it would give weird loggings and at some point even creates issues in other checks.
  • If you add an entry that points to a none-existing group you can get a runtime error
  • The virtual directories that you could define for the build-in webserver didn't work anymore.

Version 8 is officialy released

  • MS SQL checking is now SMO based and will only work with recent version like SQL 2005/2008)2012/2014. Check needs the SMO client objects from the SQL Server 2014 PowerPack. Both the ENU\x86\SharedManagementObjects.msi and the ENU\x86\SQLSysClrTypes.msi files need to be installed (2716 - until 31-dec-2015)
  • VMWare checking added. In order to work correctly you need to install the PowerCLI 6.0 from VMWare. (ENTERPRISE edition of Servers Alive only) (2716 - until 31-dec-2015)
  • Extra options for the Hyper-V check. Hyper-V logging added.(2713 - until 31-dec-2015)
  • Bugfix for PING issue with dependencies. (2710 - until 31-dec-2015)
  • PING check can now work with frames upto 2048 bytes and we can set the DON'T FRAGMENT bit (Do take in account that a none-fragmented frame can never be larger then the MTU that is defined on the NIC - that is NOT a Servers Alive limit!) (2707 - until 30-nov-2015)
  • Initial version with Hyper-V checking, we check if we can get the requested parameter, not the content of the actual paramater (2707 - until 30-nov-2015)"
  • Hyper-V alert added (start/stop an Hyper-V virtual machine). (2705 - until 30-nov-2015)
  • It's now possible to select 127.0.0.1 as SENDER IP for the SMTP mailer, this is needed when using a mailserver that is installed on the system running Servers Alive (using 127.0.0.1 as mailhost) (2704 - until 30-nov-2015)
  • VMWare alert added (start/stop an VMWare virtual machine).(2703 - until 31-oct-2015)
  • Hyper-V alert added (start/stop an Hyper-V virtual machine). Still some issues when running SA as service using the SYSTEM account.(2697 - until 31-oct-2015)
  • Smallish/cosmetic changes to the EXTERNAL (ERRORLEVEL) check. (2690 - until 30-sept-2015)
  • The EXTERNAL (ERRORLEVEL) checking type can now include in the output the content that is send to STDOUT by the app that is used for the external check. (2689 - until 30-sept-2015)
  • Internal test changes to the interchange database logging (2688 - until 30-sept-2015)
  • Due to a bug in IE the maintenance/active links in saWeb didn't work correctly. They worked a few times and then IE started to cache them and they no longer worked. Firefox for example did not have this problem. We were able to work around this issue in IE. (7.9.2681 - until 31-aug-2015)
  • Extra logging added (2678 - until 31-aug-2015)
  • Update to the Twitter alert (2676 - until 31-aug-2015)
  • If within the HTML template you used the sa_avgcycletime tag and the number of cycles since you pressed start was 0 (typicaly a GENERATE done from within the SETUP before the checking started) gave an error. (2675 - until 31-aug-2015)
  • The option to generated the HTML files from memory/cache worked the other way around then the GUI showed it (2675)
  • Slack alert added (2672 - until 31-aug-2015)
  • If within the check definition you used % parameters, they were not correctly translated in the displaystrings(2671)
  • TLS1.2 support was added to the HTTPS checksLS(2670)
  • Twitter alert not longer worked, fine-tuning was needed (2670)
  • New tag for the HTML templates, ‹sa_entriesfile› -> this will give you the path+name of the entriesfile that is being used. (2667)
  • The EXECUTIVE ALERT can now include the DOWN and MAINTENANCE entries (2666)
  • The SSH command to execute as alert can now use a KEYFILE (RSA or DSA)for the authentication(2665)
  • The REMARK field textbox will now wrap lines.(2664)
  • For both the primary and the alternate SMTP configuration you can set the SSL Start Mode. When setting it to IMPLICIT the SSL negotiation will start immediatly after the connection is established. When setting it to EXPLICIT, the connection will first be in plaintest and then explicitly start SSL negotiation through a protocol command such as STARTTLS. (2663)
  • The treeview control that is part of Microsoft's COMCTL32.OCX isn't working correctly on some Windows 8.1 system . Converted to using the MSCOMCTL.OCX instead of the COMCTL32.OCX component. (2659)
  • Updated SNMP Trap receiver - should now accept large SNMP TRAPS (2654)
  • The ERRORLEVEL check can now include two rules so you can check for more precise errorlevels. (2651)
  • For the SERVICE and PROCESS check you can now select how the authentication (if needed) is done. You can use IPC$ or Impresonation. When you select DEFAULT as authentication then the type of authentication will depend on UseimpersonateForProcessChecks (for process checks) and UseimpersonateForServiceChecks (for service checks)(2649)
  • When the trapreceiver was used on a different port then the default (162) it mostly didn't work...fixed (2640)
  • Support for SNI based HTTPS sites added.(2639)


Servers Alive v7.2.2638 has been released.



Make sure that you always have a backup of your entries file!


Features of the build BEFORE the release of v7.2:
  • SAVE as new SSH/telnet command.(2623)
  • The process check's authentication will be default use a connection to IPC$ in order to authenticated towards the remote system. In some cases this is not working correctly (due to security settings on the remote system). You can now globaly change the authentication method used for process checks by setting the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\UseimpersonateForProcessChecks (reg_dword) to 1. (2622)
  • Fixed proxy authentication bug introduced with the 2597 build (2604)
  • Better support for SSL3/TLS1.0 HTTPS enabled sites (2597)
  • The service check's authentication will be default use a connection to IPC$ in order to authenticated towards the remote system. In some cases this is not working correctly (due to security settings on the remote system). You can now globaly change the authentication method used for service checks by setting the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\UseimpersonateForServiceChecks (reg_dword) to 1. (2592)
  • The ping checker had a bug that when several pings were done that the last ping always gave a down. We observed this behaviour only on Windows 2008 and 2008R2, this seems to be fixed now. (2588)
  • First version were a change in the entries while running the GUI-Only version will be "send" to the running service too. (2588)
  • In some cases the NT PROCESS checker lost it's paramaters, fixed (2585)
  • Everywere were it's possible to use the % variables you can now use a script too. Within the SETUP: General\Custom Scripts screen you define a script, this scripts gets an ID. Within the % locations you can point to that script via (SCR=ID) for example: (SCR=2) points to the script with ID = 2. (2584)
  • Detection of the Windows 2012R2/8.1 OS was added but NOT working due to a change in the way the official MS API reports WRONG build numbers. This means that Windows 2012R2 will be detected as Windows 2012 and Windows 8.1 as Windows 8 and this until MS decided to get the correct api to tell the real OS and not a fake OS.(2583)
  • A "down" can be seen as unavailable in case of a timeout for the ping/COM/RemoteAgent/URL/Process check(2583)
  • If the SSH port was left blank for an SSH alert, then SA would crash when adding the alert, fixed (2583)
  • When adding selecting a combined check, when no other checks were defined we added the [-1] as UID, which is a none existing UID. (2583)
  • Twitter alert is now ready for the future and is based on v1.1 of the Twitter API(2581)
  • The NT Process checker will now also log the CHECKRESULT into RRD.(2580)
  • Within the definition of an check you can now use the %h, %p, %r en %w parameters. The %w will be replaced by the IP address IF that is known, else it will be replaced by the hostname (%h). If within the interface of Servers Alive you have the possibility to test a check or to browse (for a service for example), then the % parameters will NOT be replaced by their value! The replacement is only done during the checks!(2579)
  • The check description of an external errorlevel check does by default not show the parameters that are used within the commandline. You can enable/disable this by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\IncludeParametersForExternalErrorLevelDescription (string) to 1 (for enable = with the parameters) or to 0 (disable = without the parameters) (on 64 bits OS the value to change is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\IncludeParametersForExternalErrorLevelDescription) (2578)
  • Changes made to the setup while running in none checking mode (via the Remote Icon tool) will be seen by the running service without the need for a restart. (2576)
  • When running the Servers Alive service and connecting to it via the Remote Icon tool (SA in none checking mode) you will see the updates while SA (service) is checking. (2573)
  • Experimental support NTLMv2 authentication for HTTP/HTTPS checks added (2569)
  • The additional headers that can be specified within the entries file were not kept fully after an edit of the entry.(2569)
  • HTTP POSTs are done differently in case it's not within the standard format of parameter=value (2569)
  • Changes involving TEAMS and PEOPLE in the Changes Wizard didn't apply correctly. (2567)
  • GUI element added for the autoUpdateHTTPInterval parameter.(2566)
  • Update in the HTTP/HTTPS checker - removes a possible 302 loop - removes a memory leak (2565 - date May 15th 2013)
  • The SNMP FORMULA check will do extra debuglogging (2565)
  • The installer now installs the service with the path to the actual EXE inbetween quotes, without quotes it was seen as a security risk by the Nessus security scanner
  • Some of the changes in the Changes Wizard didn't apply correctly. (2564)
  • Detection of the Windows 2012 OS was added (2563)
  • Within the HTML template based output you can use the saif clause outside of sa_report part. New vars that have been introduced are sa_nr_up,sa_nr_down,sa_nr_maintenance,sa_nr_unchecked,sa_nr_unavailable and sa_nr_entries. They all give the total value based on Servers Alive not based on the entries that are part of the specific HTML output page. (2561)
  • Within the alerts you can use the %o (letter o) parameter, this will give you a description of the actual check that is done (2560)
  • The trap alerts can use the %m parameter (contains the received trap), if you want to convert the content of the %m parameter you can now this by using a script (2558)
  • Code preparation for updates to the GUI-only version of Servers Alive (2554)
  • It was no longer possible to selected multiple dates on the CALENDAR selector of the ON-CAL tab of a person (2554)
  • The URL formula check will strip the leading tags (until the BODY one) to get the number on the checked page (2549)
  • The CALENDAR selector of the ON-CALL tab of a PERSON was gone for some reason...fixed (2548)
  • The RRD graph creation BAT file for the CHECKRESULT (CR) included a double DAY tag which could give some issues (2547)
  • The sql_cmd_before command for the interchange db, is now followed by a forced commit.(2546)
  • The DOWN counter was not reset correctly when an entry came back "active" after a scheduled maintenance, resulting in alerts not to be send correctly. (2541)
  • The authentication that is used for the alerts can now also be based on a person, making password maintenance easier. (2540)
  • Additional logging added for the wsSARC connection (2539)
  • For the URL (http/https) checks you can now select the useragent to use via the interface.
    Installer will by default propose the Servers Alive useragent, Firefox 12 or Internet Explorer 7.0. More options can be added in the registry.(2537)
  • ODBC update (2536)
  • MERGE filename as new SSH/telnet command.(2533)
  • If the telephony service is not running, the app/service will start it (2531)
  • In some case a drag and drop on an item could cause the groups name to be duplicated within the tree (2528)
  • In some cases the profile schedule didn't come back correctly out of maintenance mode (2527)
  • The timeout is checked and forced differently for URL (http/https) checks (2525)
  • Nasty registry bug visible on some 64 bit systems, should be fixed now (2524)
  • When an entry pointed to an none existing entry (as being dependant on it), you could not correctly edit that entry. Fixed (2519)
  • When adding an entry to a sub-group you could get a runtime-error, fixed (2515)
  • The SMTP alerts can have a different priority per alert, and different for down and the other statusses (2514)
  • Built-in webserver can serve files that are within the same directory as the webpage it shows IF the webbrowsers refers to the initial webpage (typicaly this will be used for CSS or images) (2513)
  • If within the same cycle more then one graph-type (hour/day/week/month/year) had to be generated, then only the 1st one was generated, fixed (2512)
  • In some cases the mailer didn't send all the mails if several arrived "at the same time", fixed now (2511)
  • The date-selector on the ON-CALL tab of a person was for some weird reason no longer visible, fixed (2511)
  • The URL CRC check didn't work correctly anymore...fixed (2510)
  • When creating a new entry (with group or entry highlighted) the correct group wasn't shown in the add/edit screen (2510)
  • Within the alerts you can now use a TAB too by entering {09}(2509)
  • If an entry has a prettyname, then this was shown in the DEPENDS ON list on the ADD/EDIT entry page, without a prettyname is showed a description of the entry. By editing/adding the following registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\Dependsonwithoutprettyname (string) with value of 1 it will always show a description (on 64 bits OS the value to change is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Startup\Dependsonwithoutprettyname)(2508)
  • If an entry was part of an unexisting group, saWeb would crash with a runtime error, fixed (2508)
  • The RRD graph bat file did not include surrounding quotes which were needed for paths with spaces (2507)

Features of the build BEFORE the release of v7:
  • Updates in the installer
  • Bug fixed in the STATS screen, were it some case it could give a runtime error (2502)
  • Speed optimalisation for the LOAD HOST and at the end of a cycle (2502)
  • SSH command as alert was added (2501)
  • Beta is limited to working in registered mode (assuming it finds the license) until the end of March 2012 (2501)
  • The mail part of Servers Alive can now work with several mailer threads, this can decrease the time to send a large number of alerts (2500).
    In the 2500 build you could get a pop-up with some copyright info when using the mail, this is fixed in the 2501 build.
  • Update to the INTERCHANGE database logging should make it quicker, now also with native supported for some databases.(2497)
    • Oracle
      Connection string: database name as specified in the TNSNAMES.ORA file
      Requires: OCI 7.3 or higher, it will first try OCI 8
    • SQL Server
      Connection string:
        "" (empty) or "@" connects to the default database on the local server
       databasename or @databasename: connects to databasename on the local server
       servername@ connects to the default database on servername
       servername@databasename connects to databasename on servername
      to connect to a named instance of SQL server us servername\instancename instead of servername
      Requires: OleDB v2.5 or higer
    • Sybase
      Connection string:
        "" (empty) or "@" connects to the default database on the local server
       databasename or @databasename: connects to databasename on the local server
       servername@ connects to the default database on servername
       servername@databasename connects to databasename on servername
      Requires: OpenClient 10.0 or higher
    • DB2
      Connection string: any valid db2 connection string
      Requires: DB2 CLI v6.X or higher
    • Informix
      Connection string: any valid Informix  connection string
      Requires: Informix CLI v2.X or higher
    • Interbase
      Connection string:
      for a local database use a filename
      for a remote server using TCP/IP: servername:filename
      Requires: API version 5. X or higher
    • SQLBase
      Connection string: databasename as specified in the sql.ini file
      Requires: CAPI v6.x or higher
    • MySQL
      Connection string:
        "" (empty) or "@" connects to the default database on the local server
       databasename or @databasename: connects to databasename on the local server
       servername@ connects to the default database on servername
       servername@databasename connects to databasename on servername
      Requires: mySQL C API v3.23 or higher
    • PostreSQL
      Connection string:
        "" (empty) or "@" connects to the default database on the local server
       databasename or @databasename: connects to databasename on the local server
       servername@ connects to the default database on servername
       servername@databasename connects to databasename on servername
      Requires: libpq v7.1 or higher
    • ODBC
      Connection string: any valid ODBC string
      Requires: ODBC v3.X or higher
    • SQLIte
      Connection string: path to a SQLIte database file
      Requires: SQLIte v3.x or higher
  • Updated Remote Client for Servers Alive - client can now start SA in none-checking mode and can (re)start the Servers Alive service
  • Changes Wizard can change the TO and BODY part of the following alerts: other mail, SMS, SNPP, sMPP, Notepage, Numeric paging, twitter, msn, xmpp, popup (2495)
  • Changes Wizard can change for the alerts based on the primary/alternate email, the TO, SUBJECT and BODY part (2494)
  • Trapreceiver now has a trap viewer (can be accessed via the setup screen of the trap receiver) (2493)
  • Beta is limited to working in registered mode (assuming it finds the license) until the end of February 2012 (2492)
  • For the trap-alerts we have other % parameters:
    • %h: name of the system running Servers Alive
    • %t: time the trap was received
    • %d: date the trap was received
    • %m: received SNMP trap
    • %r: rule that was triggered
    • %s: name/ip of the source of the snmp trap
    • %a: name/ip of the agent sending the trap
    (2491)
  • The trap-alert now contains the ENTERPRISE OID too (2488)
  • Schedule profile added (ENTERPRISE edition only!). It's possible via the EDIT menu to create a SCHEDULE and to use that schedule for different entries.(2486)
  • Beta is limited to working in registered mode (assuming it finds the license) until the end of January 2012 (2481
  • the SORT option of the template can use GUI too. When GUI is used all other sort options are ignored(2478)
  • sa_if can use sa_levelsdeep too (2475)
  • Sort-order in saweb follows the same order as the GUI (2474)
  • New HTML tag added for the HTML template based output. <sa_group_activemaintenancebutton>: this will show an active/maintenance link for the group. (tag only valid in group header/footer). If the link is clicked we will change the status and re-generate the saved html page. (2471)
  • SETUP file is SIGNED now (Dec-13-2011)
  • Smallish changes in the Twitter GUI of the setup (2470)
  • Twitter alert has been added. In combination with the new %c1...%c7 paremeters you can even add the coordinates of were the actual system that you're monitoring is located by giving the coordinates via the custom fields (2469)
  • Beta is limited to working in registered mode (assuming it finds the license) until the end of 2011 (2467)
  • Via the SAWeb interface you can now set the group's entries to maintenance or active, all at once, works in the same way as the option in the real GUI (2466)
  • SAWeb output shows groups names too now (2465)
  • The % parameters are extended with %c1 .. %c7, they give the value of custom field 1,..., custom field 7. (2465)
  • Twitter screen in setup is in preparation for the Twitter alert. (2463)
  • Fix in the way saWeb displays the entries (2463)
  • The TEST SEND for the 2nd XMPP 'server' didn't work. (2460)
  • GUI updates for the XMPP alerts (2460)
  • In some cases the IP address that was used as 'source' for the mailserver was set to 0.0.0.0 instead of the actual IP address of the system, sending with 0.0.0.0 as source won't work. This should be fixed now. (2457)
  • In some cases the URL (http/https) checker did not remove the .REQ files that it needs for its checks. Not removing these files results in a slow-down of Servers Alive and in a big waste of diskspace (which can result in server that isn't able to work correctly anymore). (2456)
  • In saWeb we show some extra indentations in order to see the dependencies (2455)
  • Deleting multiple entries from within the GUI is now possible (2452)
  • Support for Virtual Directories has been added to our built-in webserver. From our point of view although the feature is usefull, we don't think it will be used a lot....we think it will only be used for images. Meaning that in most cases people will only need 1 virtual directory. That's why we decided that at this point we will not create a GUI for it.
    You will have to create the virtual directory definition within the registry.
    Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer create a new key called VirtualDirectory
    Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\VirtualDirectory create a new key with the name of the virtual directory (for example images), and under this key create a new value (string) with the name "Path" and as value give it the path were the virtual directory should be pointing too. (for example c:\files\images\). (2451)
  • New HTML tag added for the HTML template based output. <sa_activemaintenancebutton>: this will show an active/maintenance link for the entry. If the link is clicked we will change the status and re-generate the saved html page. (2448)
  • The URL check can now use a formula too. Currently within the formula you can only use sa_currentresult. This will typicaly be used with URL that return a simply NUMBER (and not a real page), and were you want to see if that number fits certain ranges/values. For example if you want to get a DOWN when the retrieved value is not between 10 and 50, then you would set as formula sa_currentresult>10 and sa_currentresult<50 (2447)
  • The telnet/ssh interface has a new command called CONVERT PEOPLE. With this you can change the authentication settings for the service/process/diskspace/perfmon checks from using a username/password to using a PERSON. Using a person makes password management easier. The change will be done if the USERID giving for the PERSON matches the username given for the authentication. (2443)
    Note: before doing this type of mass changes to your entries, make sure to have a backup of your entries. Also do not forget to SAVE the changes once done.
  • Small change to the URL check in order to accept additional headers were the value of the header had a : in it (typicaly for the Referer header)(2442)
  • The order in which the checks were done wasn't always correct (2441)
  • In some cases when opening a large file and then opening a smaller entriesfile, the sort order that was used for the checks wasn't always correct(2437)
  • In some cases were there was an issue with the group of an entry, the EDIT screen show wrong data.(2437)
  • The COMMAND TO EXECUTE alert can now execute your command within the context of a different user then the one running Servers Alive (2432)
  • Specific logging for the AT+C protocol was added. In order to get the logging you will have to create a string called ATCLogfile under the Servers Alive\Paging registry(2432)
  • Within the ADD/EDIT entry screen, the GROUPS are now showing their full path and alpha sorted, making it easier to find the correct group (2432)
  • In cases were the group-path was too long, the sort order within the webpage wasn't correct and caused the same group to be visible several times on the HTML template based output. We increased the default size we use within the sort for the group path from 30 to 250 chars.(2424)
  • The RRD CREATE script will not overwrite the existing db file(s) (2423)
  • The /status?status=all URL of the build-in webserver only showed the down hosts instead of all hosts (2422)
  • Updates in the installer
  • RRD checkresult logging will try to do this for the COM-checks too. For the *nix DISKSPACE checking and for the CountFiles COM check there is an update on the add-ons page. The diskspace check will need a config changes. (2421)
  • Build-in PING check can now ping over ipv6 too (2419)
  • ping checker includes a fix for the memory leak documented in MS KB ID: 2384321(2419)
  • Smallish change to the RTSP checker making it much faster(2418)
  • A new internal command was added as alert. You can now as an alert load another entries file and start the checking of it (2417)
  • RRD updating/graphing has been changed. The updates will be done via 3 command-boxes instead of 1. The generation of the graphs will be done on different intervals depending on the hour/day/week/month/year type of graph. We do forsee the usage of a BAT directory and you will need to re-generate the GRAPH scripts.(2416)

  • The db interchange logger stopped if the remark had to be logged as was larger then 200 chars. By default the size that we declare for the REMARK field in the interchange db is still 200 bytes. You can however change this via the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\Interchange\db_Remark_size (string)), the logging will also be limited to 200 chars (or to the value given in the registry) (2410).
  • When using the none-threaded checking mode, the TCP check failed all the time.(2409)
  • Installer bug fixed were the "old" samib.db and groups.grp were copied to the wrong location in case of an "upgrade"
  • Fix in the STATUS SUMMARY mails, were the body wasn't always correct (2407)
  • Sort order wasn't always correct with using the HTML templates for the output (2407)
  • You can configure via the setup/built-in servers/web server if all entries or just the up/down/maintenance/down_and_maintenance entries should be on the status page. (2405)
  • The FIND option in the main GUI didn't work correctly with the "Match case" option disabled (2401)
  • Fixes in the perfmon checks (problem introduced during previous beta builds) (2400)
  • The mailsender will by default use the DNS servers defined on the OS level when using the Direct Send option. However if you want to use specific DNS servers then you can force this via the registry.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\SMTP\Primary_DNS_to_use (string)
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\SMTP\Primary_DNS_to_use_2 (string)
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\SMTP\Alternate_DNS_to_use (string)
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\SMTP\Alternate_DNS_to_use_2 (string)
    (2398)
  • The "status summary" option has been extended with an option to send an "OK" message when NO downs are detected (if there are down, the downs are ofcourse send) (2398)
  • In the HELP menu we removed an debug menu option (2398)
  • You can have 2 sets of XMPP servers, typicaly used for GTalk and an inhouse XMPP server (2396)
  • From the Remote Icon app you can now start Servers Alive is none checking mode (2396)
  • The WHEN tab of the alerts now have a "status change" option too, this means that the alert is send each time there is a status change. This can cause a lot of alerts, going from unchecked to up for example is also a status change!! (2392)
  • Woodstone's Servers Alive Remote Client (wsSARC) was added to the Servers Alive installer. This will enable you to get the system-tray icon of Servers Alive in cases were desktop interaction was not possible AND on remote systems. (2391)
  • If no COM checks were installed on the system, the XML export wasn't done correctly (fixed - 2379)
  • When doing a FILE-SAVE after doing a FILE-EXPORT-XML, overwrites the XML file with the entries file.(fixed - 2379)
  • The ‹opp› part of the XML file could contain bad XML syntax (fixed - 2379)
  • ‹sa_onstatusminutes› tag added, can also be used within the sa_if statements. (2377)
  • TCP checks can be done over ipv6 too(2377)
  • UDP checks can be done over ipv6 too(2377)
  • DNS checks can be done over ipv6 too(2377)
  • Built-in webserver can use SSL/HTTPS too(2373)
  • If authentication is enabled for the built-in webserver, then make sure to enable it for each PERSON that is allowed to access saweb.(2373)
  • Packet size of the PING checks can be set for each ping check entry.(2370)
  • Updates to the installer
  • The subject of the keepalive mails can be changed via the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\SMTP\KeepAliveSubject (string))
  • User authentication didn't work correctly for perfmon checks.
  • When using user (people) based authentication we disable the password field (making it clearer)
  • You can set an entry to go into maintenance after a specific time (until a specific time was already possible)
  • Authentication based on the settings of a PERSON (more central user management for Windows authentication) is now possible for service, process, perfmon and diskspace checks. (2363)
  • OS detection sees Windows 7 and 2008 too
  • Somehow the calender on the "on call" tab of a person was gone....restored it
  • Updated controls for saWeb
  • Preparations for the Servers Alive Remote Icon/Client (gui ready-client not yet)
  • New installer
  • MSN sender fixed
  • No firewall rules are added for allowing access to the Servers Alive application!
  • saWeb changes: start/stop/pause/update is now possible and each entry contains a link to the entry on which it depends (if any) (build 2354)
  • The drag & drop of entries didn't work anymore, fixed now. (2353)
  • 2351 is a fix for a bug introducted in the 2350 build (TCP checks no longer worked)
  • In some cases not all the SA based tags within the HTML templates were correctly replaced, fixed.(2347)
  • When removing entries all entries from a group (and subgroups) some of the entries were not removed and re-appeared in the default group (1st) group, fixed. (2346)
  • A entry that has,within its definition a "link" towards an unexisting group was shown in the last added group instead of within the default (1st) group.(2345)
  • The EDIT-IMPORT option could get into a loop or produce false results when using the KEEP option (2344)
  • The context menu on a group now also has the option to remove all entries and subgroups (and entries) (2344)
  • The SNMP trapreceiver now converts low and high ascci within the received data to HEX values. (2342)
  • In some cases the HTML output lists 00 as page instead of 0. A "replace" didn't work on that, this is now fixed (2339)
  • The SNPP sender can work with snpp gateways that need authentication. You will have to create a custom command within the registry:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\SNPP\CustomCommand (string)
    with as value
    LOGI username password (2337)
  • Process check accepts wildcarts. If you look for a process with the name ??tepad it will give an UP on notepad. (2334)
  • In the HTTP POST alert we only replaced the % parameters within the data to post, this is now also done within the URL. (2333)
  • The PING checks will not update the screen during the checkcycle, this could solve the '~' issue that some people were still seeing with the ping check (2332)
  • New checktype introduced, called COMBINED CHECK. Basicly this is a boolean check were you can combined all the other checks. The COMBINED checks will only be done at the end of a cycle when all other entries are already done. Currently you have to manualy enter the boolean-expression.
    Syntax is rather simpel. You can use AND and OR and NOT and (). To reference an entry you have to know it's uniqueID.
    Example: [2] = down or [3]= down
    => will give an up if the entry with UID 2 or the entry with UID 3 is down.
    (2331)
  • The SNMP TRAP Receiver alert can now work on a part of the enterprise OID, if you enter for example 1.2.3.4.5.* then it will be triggered on all enterprise oids that start with 1.2.3.4.5.
    Do know that only SNMPv1 traps contain an enterprise OID! (2327)
  • The "only repeat after ... minutes" for the executive alerts didn't always work as expected, should be fixed (2327)
  • By default the built-in webserver listens to all IPs that are configured on the system. Via the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\WebServer\BindIP (string)) you can define to what IP the server should listen. If you give an invalid address then we will default back to listen to all addresses. (2323)
  • A new alert was added - "Export setup to .REG file" (Execute Command - Internal Servers Alive command) - this will typicaly be used to generate a .REG file that will be included into a backup. (2322)
  • SNMP trap receiver is now limited to keeping a max of 32000 traps. And a few other smallish fixes in the SNMP trap receiver. (2321)
  • Built-in version of saWeb can filter on the group (2320)
  • The URL check can now be configured to just check if the status code is acceptable, acceptable based on a list you give.(2319)
  • By default a user with a blank password will not be able to login to the built-in webserver, this can be changed via the setup. (that is with authentication enabled ofcourse :-)) (2318)
  • Built-in webserver can use authentication. As user it will allow the PEOPLE that are defined. Don't forget to add a password to them!! (2316)
    (near future we will add options to allow certain people for certain pages).
  • Major change in the built-in webserver. The webserver is now able to serve the pages that are generated by SA too. For example for the "Default Page" you should use as URL: http://myhost:4310/default page
    This will only work if the user running Servers Alive has access to the file (which will in most cases only be the case if the file is local)
    More changes/features will be done in the near future.(2314)
  • Via the F3 key you can do a FIND NEXT.(2312)
  • It's now possible to change the name of a person via the GUI too (2311)
  • In some cases the executive alerts could send the alert over and over again, which was correct based on the rules set, this can now be stopped for 'some' time.(2308).
  • In some cases we were unable to list the modems attached to your system, we now try in an alternate way to do this too (2305).
  • You can add a wait at the end of each HTTP POST/GET alert by adding/editing the following registry value: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DBU Consulting\Servers Alive\StartUp\HTTPAlertWaitAtEnd (string) (2303)
  • The ‹sa_group_name› tag now also works in the entries-part of the HTML template based output (and no longer only in the group header/footer part) (2302)
  • Fixed the scrolling of the SNMP trap receiver alerts (2301)
  • Alerts on the SNMP trap receiver can also filter on the generic and specific type (of the received trap) (2300)
  • Uptime logging bug fixed
  • Primary and alternate SMTP PORT are now accesible from the GUI (advanced) (2297)
  • Check TOS byte consistency option added to the PING check (2290)

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