What's New in Infrastructure Agent

Overview Copied

This page contains the list of all highlights that have been recently introduced in the Infrastructure Agent.

For detailed release notes in the 2.x release versions of the ITRS Infrastructure Agent, see Infrastructure Agent 2.x Release Notes.

For more information on configuration, installation, and usage, please refer to the ITRS Infrastructure Agent documentation.

Infrastructure Agent 2.7 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The checkcounter and checkeventlog plugins now support the Crit and Warn threshold flags to enable full Nagios threshold syntax. The existing MaxCrit and MaxWarn threshold flags remain available and apply exclusive maximum thresholds (not Nagios-style) before triggering critical or warning statuses. Additionally, the checkcounter plugin can now use the MinCrit or MinWarn threshold flags for exclusive minimum thresholds. These changes provide flexibility in setting acceptable threshold limits and help retain service checks using Nagios threshold syntax during migration from the old Opsview Agent to the Infrastructure Agent.
• The checkcounter plugin now supports the same argument style used by the check_counter plugin from the old Opsview Agent. This streamlines the migration of your existing check_counter service checks to Infrastructure Agent.
• The Linux Infrastructure Agent can now import configurations from the old Opsview Agent, a functionality already supported for the Windows Infrastructure Agent. This allows efficient migration without the need to recreate your own configurations.
• The checkeventlog built-in Windows plugin has been improved to match the functionalities of the old Opsview Agent.
• The Windows Infrastructure Agent can now set up and manage appropriate firewall rules even with quiet installs.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.7.04081.

Required action for Windows

The file type, download location, and installation steps for the latest Windows Infrastructure Agent version have changed due to the installer now handling the required Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable.

The Windows Agent is now installed using an EXE installer (such as infrastructure-agent-installer-2.7.04081.exe) instead of an MSI (such as infrastructure-agent-2.7.04081.msi). License agreement acceptance is required. Use of the installer directly via the command line without a user interface remains supported. For installation instructions, see Installing the Infrastructure Agent.

As a result of this update, the download link for the latest Windows Agent previously located at https://downloads.opsview.com/infrastructure-agent/latest/infrastructure-agent-win64.msi is now at https://downloads.opsview.com/infrastructure-agent/latest/infrastructure-agent-win64.exe.

The Opsview Downloads page continues to provide links for all available versions.

Infrastructure Agent 2.6 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The Windows check_clustergroup plugin now runs successfully using the Infrastructure Agent. Ensure that environment variables are configured to support plugin execution. For more information, see Configuration.
• The Infrastructure Agent now supports calling other binaries or scripts via PowerShell. This allows you to reuse custom scripts or binaries (such as wrapper scripts) without needing to reimplement them in a single script.
• The check_ms_iis plugin now works correctly with the Infrastructure Agent, enabling secure monitoring of Microsoft IIS web servers.
• The Infrastructure Agent now includes more PowerShell access permissions, allowing you to run scripts that require certain access without restrictions.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.6.03251.

Infrastructure Agent 2.5 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The script runner has been updated to better handle plugins with standard input (STDIN_ARGS) execution type and provide relevant error messages. This helps you troubleshoot problems when using standard input with the plugins.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.5.01984.

Infrastructure Agent 2.4 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The check_windows_base plugin now handles gracefully a nonexistent file when using the file_size option.
• End-of-Life (EOL) notice for operating system support
  • Debian 12 support was introduced in version 2.1 of the Infrastructure Agent. This change was made because Debian 10 has already reached its End-of-Life (EOL) status.
  • As a result, Infrastructure Agent version 2.4 will not be supported on Debian 10. Given that Debian 10 will no longer receive security updates, it is crucial to prioritize system security by migrating to an actively supported operating system.
  • Additionally, as Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012-R2 have also reached EOL status, the Infrastructure Agent will not be supported on these operating systems starting with version 2.3 and above.
  • While older versions of the Infrastructure Agent will remain available for download for these EOL operating systems, we strongly recommend migrating to an actively supported operating system.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.4.01315.

Infrastructure Agent 2.3 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.3.00494.

Infrastructure Agent 2.2 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• Custom configuration files now have the proper ownership set to utilize the non-root user on Linux systems. You can now use your custom configuration files without encountering any permission issues.
• The –ExcludeService argument for the check_services Windows plugin now properly excludes the services you specify.
• End-of-Life (EOL) notice for operating system support
  • Debian 12 support was introduced in the 2.1 release of the Infrastructure Agent. This change was made because Debian 10 has already reached its End-of-Life (EOL). Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012-R2 have also reached EOL.
  • As a result, future Infrastructure Agent version 2.3 will not be supported on Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012-R2. Additionally, future Infrastructure Agent version 2.4 will not be supported on Debian 10.
  • While downloads of older versions will continue to be available for these operating systems, we strongly recommend migrating to an actively supported operating system.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.2.48243.

Infrastructure Agent 2.1 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• Infrastructure Agent can now be deployed on Debian 12 systems.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.1.46997.

Infrastructure Agent 2.0 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• Infrastructure Agent can now be deployed on Ubuntu 22 systems.
• Infrastructure Agent no longer runs as the root user on your monitored hosts.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 2.0.45314.

Infrastructure Agent 1.3 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• Updated the MySQL library requirements for the Infrastructure Agent check_mysql and check_mysql_query plugins.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 1.3.43440.

Infrastructure Agent 1.2 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• Operating system support starting 9 April 2024
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 has been added as a supported operating system for the Infrastructure Agent to be deployed on.
  • Oracle Linux (OL) 9 has been added as a supported operating system for the Infrastructure Agent to be deployed on.
• The initial version of the Infrastructure Agent included in this release was 1.2.37667.

Infrastructure Agent 1.1 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The Infrastructure Agent documentation now includes a list of plugins available in the Linux and Windows builds of the Infrastructure Agent, along with their corresponding help text.
• An alias has been created for all nsc_* plugins. This change also renamed the nsc_checkcpu plugin to checkcpu. See the following updates in the Configuration and Installation and operation documentations.
• The Infrastructure Agent included in this release is version 1.1.35674.

Infrastructure Agent 1.0 Copied

These are the highlights of this release:

• The ITRS Infrastructure Agent has successfully passed beta testing and can now be used as a stable alternative to the Opsview and NSClient agents. We recommend that new and existing users use the ITRS Infrastructure Agent for new monitoring deployments, even though the Opsview Agent is still supported and available.
• You can download pre-built packages of the Infrastructure Agent from the Agents Downloads website, or you can build the agent from source on ITRS Infrastructure Agent GitHub.

For more information, see ITRS Infrastructure Agent documentation.

The ITRS Infrastructure Agent is a new way to monitor your IT infrastructure. It can be installed on servers running on either Windows or Linux systems. Additionally, it offers a number of advantages over the existing agents, including:

• Easy to install and configure. There are multiple ways to install the agent on Linux systems, including using RPM, DEB, building from source, or downloading it directly from the Agents Downloads website. On Windows systems, the agent can be installed using MSI packages. The Infrastructure Agent can be used on monitored hosts with older Opsview versions, even if you do not upgrade to the latest version. However, we recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of Opsview to ensure that all changes, including security fixes and new features, will work correctly with the Infrastructure Agent.
• Highly flexible. The Infrastructure Agent can be used to monitor a wide range of systems. It can be extended with additional plugins from third-party sources or developed in-house, making it even more versatile.
• Enhanced security. Encrypted traffic and certificate usage are now enforced by default, which helps to protect the privacy and integrity of data transmitted between the agent and the monitoring server. Additionally, the agent will create self-signed certificates upon installation if no certificates have been created by the user, which makes it easier to get started with the agent. Finally, new and more secure ciphers have been added to the agent, which further enhances its security.
• Performance improvements. The new agent performs significantly better than the previous Opsview Agents on both Linux and Windows systems. This means that the agent can now handle queries more quickly and at a shorter interval without using more system resources.
• Convenient migration. The Infrastructure Agent can import configuration from the old Opsview Agents, which means that your settings for allowed hosts, port numbers, and command configuration will be imported into the new agent. This makes migrating from the old agent to the new agent much easier.
• UTF-8 support. The new agent now supports UTF-8 characters in plugin output.