FrameFlow Newsletter - July 2017
Keep Up to Date on the Latest FrameFlow News
Current Release: v2017.5
Version 2017.5 is our current latest and greatest release. We are always hard at work finding and fixing any and all reported issues. Accordingly, this release includes fixes for a number of issues and it also squeezes in one new feature: Bandwidth graphs now include a 95th percentile indicator. The 95th percentile calculation is an industry standard used for billing or just generally for measuring the utilization on a particular link.
Road Map
The feedback we’ve received tells us that a lot of you are really enjoying the performance gains and new features that we’ve rolled out in recent 2017 releases. We’ve also appreciated the patience and understanding that everyone has offered while we sorted out various issues that have affected some monitoring configurations.
The focus of the last few releases has been on stability and bug squashing but we wanted to let you know that we’ve also been busy adding some great new features. Today we can share with you a few details about what’s coming your way in the next major release.
Coming Soon: SNMP Profiles
With network security becoming a focus in organizations both big and small, SNMP is being scrutinized more carefully by security experts. We’re seeing a lot of organizations that are moving away from SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c in favor of SNMPv3 so they can take advantage of the security features that it offers.
With v1 and v2 all you need to do is enter your community string and, bang, you’re connected to the device. It was simple and easy to do while setting up your FrameFlow event monitors. With SNMPv3 there can be two separate passphrases, a username and several protocols to select. It’s a pain to re-enter those every time so we’re going to fix that. We’re adding support for SNMP profiles which let you collect all those settings into a single profile and assign it to multiple monitors. It works just like authentication profiles but for SNMP!
Coming Soon: Report Builder Reboot
In v2017.1 we introduced a new report builder. With it you can visually design your reports so that each contains the exact view of long term trends that you need. With it came the concept of report templates. Templates allowed you to reuse a single report design in multiple reports. The trouble was that most of the report options now belonged in the elements of the report template leaving you with not much to select in the report settings.
We’re working to unify reports and templates so they work more like they did in previous releases while still preserving the visual report builder and other recent enhancements. Along the way we’re applying some of the standard user interface elements that you see in other parts of the interface to make sure you have consistent experience in the FrameFlow interface.
Coming Soon: User Interface Reboot
Sure, the new report builder is going to be great but we’ve also been looking at everything else in the interface too. It’s been a couple of years since we last made any major structural changes and since then what people expect from a modern web UI has changed.
We’ve been working to bring related items together in the UI and add more consistency across each of the major modules. We’re reworking the breadcrumbs which show where you are in the UI, updating icon designs and making better use of available screen real estate.
Don’t hold us to it because much will change before the final release but here is an example some of the changes:
It’s going to be a big update but the flow of operations and structure will still be very familiar to anyone who has used FrameFlow before.
Scheduling
We’re targeting mid-September for the next major update. It sounds like a long time away but if you think about it, tomorrow is August 1st and mid-September is less than eight weeks away.
Between now and then we’re planning at least one more incremental update with a few new features. In a short time we’ll have a pre-release available and if you’re keen to get an early look at it, send email to support@frameflow.com and we’ll make sure you are on the list.
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