Wednesday, January 20, 2016

What you wanted to know about the end of Xian Network Manager 2012 and the Xian NM v7!

For about 10 years Xian Network Manager has been a necessary tool for System Center Operations Manager users to monitor their network. It all started in 2004, during this first approach we even had a version that ran on MOM 2000. It didn’t take too long for us to move to 2005 where Xian Network Manager showed its true potential. In the beginning, we focused mostly on bare metal monitoring of SNMP devices, but soon we added more ingredients to the mix such as Linux and UNIX monitoring, Smart Monitoring, custom rules, topology discovery and more.  Along the entire process we always took our testing seriously, our test lab was equipped with many servers and Xian NM was always tested with a large number of devices. In the past years, 1800 devices became a minimum standard.

Recently Jalasoft has faced more competition, including Operations Manager itself, in the network monitoring area which made selling more difficult. Being that we’re based in Bolivia, we noticed that a great deal of technology was unreachable by many of the businesses in Bolivia and other Latin American companies. That is why we decided to shift from a global focus to a Latin American focus. To make products more affordable we also opted to completely disconnect from Microsoft solutions. The next version of Xian Network Manager will be called Xian NM v7 and will not support any version of Operations Manager. Additionally, it will run on Linux and use PostgreSQL as it database.
We got quite a large number of questions in the past days after this news became public. Below you can find answers to the questions that arose.


When will support for Xian Network Manager 2012 end?
We will keep supporting Xian Network Manager 2012 until December 31st 2016. After that date we will no longer ship and service packs or hotfixes. Also there will not be any tech support staff that takes care of daily support.

What does this mean for existing customers?
Customers with a valid SSA can count on technical support from us as usual until their SSA expires. Customers can extend their SSA until December 31st 2016.

Can I still buy Xian Network Manager 2012?
You can still buy Xian Network Manager 2012, however you will need to contact sales directly for the download link and SSA will only be offered until December 31st 2016

Are there any plans to build a connector for Operations Manager?
At this moment there are no plans on developing a connector in order for Xian NM v7 to send counters and events to System Center Operations Manager. Xian NM v7 runs independently and has its own web console that provides all the monitoring data.

Can I upgrade from Xian Network Manager 2012 to Xian NM v7?
If you are a current customer of Xian Network Manager 2012 and you have a valid SSA, you will be eligible for a free upgrade to Xian NM v7. However take into account that you no longer will be able to receive alerts and performance data about your network devices in Operations Manager.

When will Xian NM v7 be released?
At this moment we are planning on releasing Xian NM v7 end of Q1 2016.

What will happen with your licenses?
If you have purchased permanent licenses in the past, they will stay valid. You can keep using Xian NM 2012. The only difference is that no hotfixes or service packs will be distributed.

What kind of support service will be delivered until December 31st 2016?
Jalasoft will be publishing hotfixes for Xian NM  2012 until December 31st 2016. Also customers with a valid SSA will enjoy the same technical support as you are used to, meaning that we will help you with any issue that might arise.

Will Xian NM v7 be available for clients outside of Latin America?
Yes, Xian NM v7 will be available for customers outside Latin America. Spanish and English releases will be available.

What are the main features of Xian NM v7?
-          Monitor all SNMP devices, Linux Ubuntu and Debian, Jala UPS, Jala PAC and Jala Generators.
-          Web based dashboard that runs on most browsers and mobile platforms
-          Notifications with scheduling
-          Reporting
-          Native app for Android
-          Runs on Linux with Postgresql