Geneos Upgrade Notes

Overview Copied

This document provides information about the product changes that can affect upgrading from one version of Geneos to another.

To learn more about the supported Geneos versions and new features in the Geneos 7.x release, see the following documents:

Geneos 5.x EOL

End of life for version 5.x.x is scheduled for 30 September 2025. If you are currently using version 5.x.x, we advise you to upgrade to the latest version before the EOL date.

Upgrade to Geneos 7.0.x Copied

cURL library package Copied

Beginning 7.0.x, the cURL library is now packaged in RHEL 8 and RHEL 9 builds of both Netprobe and Gateway. This does not change any existing behaviour, it is only an additional file in the package.

Netprobe required Java version Copied

Beginning 7.0.x, Netprobe requires Java 11 as the minimum supported Java version. This is necessary for the proper operation of Control-M, E4JMS, IBMi, JMX, Publisher, REST API, REST Extractor, and Uptrends plugins. However, Java 8 remains supported for Geneos versions 6.9.0 and earlier.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.9.x Copied

Updated dimensions for OpenTelemetry plugin Copied

The default OpenTelemetry attributes extracted by the OpenTelemetry plugin have been updated. This means that the dimensions and properties collected by default have changed. The plugin configuration can be modified to control which OpenTelemetry attributes are collected.

To ensure correct Geneos data mapping, it is recommended to review and adjust your plugin configuration and Gateway dynamic entity mapping configuration after upgrading.

Netprobe package Copied

Beginning with Geneos 6.9.0, the Netprobe package is available in both standard and minimal versions.

The standard package includes the Collection Agent plugins and all other plugins suitable for most cases. For example, geneos-netprobe-standard-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz. The minimum package is smaller in size and excludes the Collection Agent and all of its plugins. For example, geneos-netprobe-minimal-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.8.x Copied

Deploying Netprobe in Kubernetes Copied

The default configuration for the Netprobe helm chart (itrs/netprobe) version 6.8.0 and newer has been changed to remove the use of host ports. This means that by default the plugins Statsd, Opentelemetry, Fluentd, and Prometheus will be run in the StatefulSet pod instead of the DaemonSet pod. Additional services will be created to route data to the StatefulSet pod. This is to ensure the default Netprobe install meets the Kubernetes pod security standards for baseline and restricted modes. A new setting is added called daemonSet.runAgentPluginsOnNode, which, when set to true, will run the plugins on the DaemonSet pods, similar to the previous behavior. To fetch a list of all possible configuration options, run: helm show values itrs/netprobe.

Network plugin Copied

The following changes are applied to the Network plugin dataview column names. These changes provide consistent naming and meaning to the metrics. We recommend that you review and update any existing x-paths where these column names are used.

Note the the column names you see in the dataview may depend on the sampler configuration. For example, sampler settings showMBits and showAbsolute.

Columns names packetSendDrop and packetReceiveDrop are not available when showAbsolute is set to false (default). Instead packetSendDropRate and packetReceiveDropRate columns are added to be consistent with the rest of the rate-based metrics.

Corvil Integration Copied

Corvil Integration (geneos-cnpi) version 2.0.0 has been updated to work with Corvil XML API version 2. Ensure that the version of Corvil you are connecting to supports the version 2 API.

Device IO plugin Copied

In the Linux view of the Device IO plugin, the column cpuUtiliisation was corrected to cpuUtilisation. We recommend that you review and update any existing x-paths where this column name is used.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.7.x Copied

Collection Agent and Collection Agent plugins required Java version Copied

Beginning 6.7.x, the minimum Java version requirement for Collection Agent and Collection Agent plugins is now upgraded from Java 11 to Java 17. This may require you to upgrade the Java versions on the machines where Collection Agent is running. Please contact ITRS Support if you have any concerns regarding this.

Updated Prometheus AlertManager firing severities Copied

The firing severities of Prometheus AlertManager have been updated to use the new signal severities introduced in CA datamodel version 4. Please update these to any of the following signal severities: NONE, WARNING, or CRITICAL. See Prometheus and Alert Manager for more information.

Additionally, there are new options in PrometheusTargetScrapeCollector, but these are optional.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.6.x Copied

The following changes were implemented to the behaviour of the self-monitoring views created by Gateways and Netprobes. The changes include renaming of dataviews and the data displayed by default. This will affect any existing x-paths used to query these dataviews. These changes are necessary to improve performance, particularly when large number of entities are created and removed in dynamic environments.

Gateway: Entities self-monitoring dataviews Copied

Netprobe: Dynamic Entities Health self-monitoring dataviews Copied

These updates will affect any x-paths that reference the affected dataviews. Please ensure the x-paths are updated to match the new dataviews.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.5.x Copied

Netprobe and Collection Agent using Helm charts Copied

Geneos 6.5.x now supports running a Netprobe image as a non-root user with privileged file access when the mode is DaemonSet and persistence is enabled. However, if you set the Netprobe image tag in the values file, the Helm chart will use the specified Netprobe image version.

When upgrading to this version, it is recommended to leave the Netprobe image tag setting blank in the values file, unless there is a need to use a specific version of Netprobe for troubleshooting purposes. If you use a Netprobe image that does not have privileged file access, user assignments and snoozes on dataviews from DaemonSet Netprobes will not be persisted when you reinstall the Helm chart.

The Deployment mode is no longer supported for Netprobe. To deploy a Netprobe in only one pod, you must set the mode to StatefulSet.

The following settings under the persistence section in the values file have been renamed:

The deployment section in the values file is no longer supported. Please use the statefulSet section instead. All the settings that were in the deployment section can be used in the statefulSet section and will be applied to the pods controlled by the StatefulSets.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.4.x Copied

FKM samplers created under a Dynamic Entity Copied

Beginning Geneos 6.4.0, the entity name of FKM samplers created under Dynamic Entity is no longer in the name column of the dataview. The name is now displayed in the following format: dim1.dim2. ... .dimN.eventName, where:

The Managed Entity name is also removed from the sourceAlias field of outbound stream messages. The format of the sourceAlias field is the same as mentioned above.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.3.x Copied

Netprobe and Collection Agent using Helm charts Copied

This version now supports running a Collection Agent image as a non-root user with privileged file access when either log collection or persistence, or both are enabled. To support this, the Collection Agent image tag is now determined during the installation of the Helm chart, and the agent image tag setting in the values file is left blank by default. Setting the agent image tag in the values file will force the Helm chart to use the specified Collection image version.

When upgrading to this version, the agent image tag setting should be left blank in the values file, unless there is a need to use a specific version of the Collection Agent for troubleshooting purposes.

Installing Gateway using Helm charts Copied

Beginning Geneos 6.3.0, Gateway can now be installed in the cluster with a setup file. See Installation with a setup file for more information.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.2.x Copied

SQL toolkit plugin for MySQL and MariaDB Copied

The SQL toolkit plugin 6.2.1 and newer has a timeout configuration to cancel the query after the timeout period has passed. As a result of this change, conncection to MySQL and MariaDB databases, configured with or without the new timeout setting, will require an additional connection to handle query cancellation. Please make sure this does not impact the overall maximum allowed client connections to your database.

Installing Netprobe and Collection Agent using Helm charts Copied

Note

If you had already configured a non-default persistence directory where Collection Agent DaemonSet persistence files are stored, then this issue can be ignored.

The default persistence.directory in Netprobe Helm chart version 6.2.1 and older:

persistence:
    directory: /var/lib/geneos/collection-agent-{{ .Release.Name }}

The default persistence.directory in Netprobe Helm chart version 6.2.2 and newer

persistence:
    directory: /var/lib/geneos/collection-agent-{{ .Release.Namespace }}-{{ .Release.Name }}

If you are using the default persistence directory, then upgrading to Netprobe Helm chart version 6.2.2 or newer means any existing persistence data will be lost, including pod logs that may be buffered in the pipeline store and the Kubernetes log collector position files. After upgrading, the log collector will tail existing log files instead of resuming from the last known position. However, if logs.readFromBeginning is true, then we recommend following the workaround below in order to preserve the persistence data and prevent existing pod logs from being reprocessed from the beginning.

As a workaround, you can either do one of the following:

Active Console Copied

Workspaces created in Active Console 6.2.0 and newer will have the Follow selection feature in State Tree enabled by default. This means the State Tree will automatically expand to select and identify items selected elsewhere in the Active Console. If you do not want this behavior, you can untick the Enable follow selection setting in Tools > Settings > General > State Tree.

A number of settings in the Active Console Settings dialog are now rearranged to make it easier to use. This change only affects the appearance and grouping of settings it does not change the behavior of Active Console when opening new or existing workspaces.

Upgrade to Geneos 6.0.x Copied

Netprobe and Collection Agent Copied

Note

The configurations, metric names, and dimensions of Collection Agent and its plugins have all changed. These changes are not backward compatible. See Upgrading to Collection Agent 3.x for more information.

Gateway Copied

Note: This feature requires Gateway and Netprobe version 6.x. It is also recommended you upgrade Active Console and Gateway Setup Editor to version 6.x.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.14.x Copied

New binary file name for Netprobe package. Copied

As part of the improvements to our deployment process, the Netprobe package geneos-netprobe-5.14.x-linux-x64.no_ca.tar.gz has been renamed to geneos-netprobe-minimal-5.14.x-linux-x64.tar.gz.

Run Collection Agent via Netprobe Copied

Collection Agent and its plugins is no longer packaged with the Netprobe in Geneos 5.14.7 and the subsequent 5.x versions. If you want to run Collection Agent via Netprobe, please upgrade to the current 6.x version of Geneos.

Geneos and Obcerv connectivity Copied

Geneos 5.14.0 is the first fully supported release that is compatible with ITRS Obcerv 1.0. You might have deployed Geneos Gateway and Netprobe versions older than 5.14.0 to integrate with beta versions of Obcerv. There are several changes to both Netprobe and Gateway such as Publisher plugin settings and Obcerv connection settings, respectively. We recommend you upgrade to version 5.14.0 or newer to minimise any compatibility issues.

Updated Refinitiv RTDS Integration Copied

Geneos 5.14.0 includes an updated Refinitiv RTDS integration. This integration replaces the previous one from Geneos 4.9.0. It is recommended that Dynamic Entities using the old types are re-configured as there have been some structural changes and renaming as part of the rebranding exercise. For more information, see Refinitiv RTDS.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.12.x Copied

Apache Log4j library Copied

The Apache Log4j library in the Active Console, Web Dashboard, Terracotta Messaging integration, and VMware Monitor integration, has been upgraded to 2.17.1 to fix the security vulnerability in Apache Log4j (CVE-2021-44832). We recommend upgrading to the latest version Geneos 5.12.0 or newer.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.11.x Copied

Apache Log4j library Copied

Upgraded the Apache Log4j library to fix the following vulnerabilities:

Dynamic Entity mapping Copied

Netprobe 5.11.0 introduced changes to the Dynamic Entities wherein additional checks are now made to ensure new metric data points being added to an existing entity have a consistent set of dimensions and attributes. As a result of this change, your current Dynamic Entity mapping configuration may reject metric data points that were previously accepted.

You will see the rejected metric in the Dynamic Entity plugin dataview with the reason Entity Dimension clash. Make sure that all metric data points mapped to a single entity have the same set of dimensions and attributes.

Further, Netprobe 5.11.0 removed the old Dynamic entities > Mappings configuration that was first introduced in Geneos 5.1.0. This configuration has already been deprecated and was replaced by more simplified Dynamic entities > Mapping configuration in Geneos 5.7.0.

Publisher plugin Copied

Publisher plugin has been updated so that Success, Failed, and Lost columns no longer just accumulate the number of events. Instead, the columns now show the number of occurrence of each event for each sample interval. We recommend that you review the existing rules that you have set in the Publisher plugin configuration.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.9.x Copied

Netprobe package files per platform Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.9.1, the libssl.so.1.1 and libcrypto.so.1.1 libraries are renamed to libsslgeneos.so.1.1 and libcryptogeneos.so.1.1 respectively for generic Linux and Linux on IBM POWER8 platforms to eliminate the dependency of libcurl to these libraries, and to reduce compatibility issues such as the following scenarios:

Geneos components Copied

The additional HTTP security headers are now applied to all web responses sent on the Geneos communication ports (EMF2 ports):

This applies to all Geneos components including debug and ORB pages generated by Netprobes and Gateways.

Licence Daemon Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.9.x, the Licence Daemon detailed report is not available by default. A new command line option -report detail is required to enable a detailed report.

Gateway and Licence Daemon Copied

Both Gateway and Licence Daemon are not compatible with RHEL 6.x (kernel 2.6.32). Both components now require at least RHEL 7.x or higher.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.8.x Copied

Web Dashboard Copied

Geneos 5.8.2 introduced changes to the security.xml file in the Web Server config folder as a result of the upgraded Spring Security libraries.

When upgrading to Geneos 5.8.2 or newer, we recommend that you use this latest version of security.xml and ensure that any previous security.xml files are removed from your local machine. Otherwise, the Web Server will not run properly.

Express Report Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.8.x, the Express Reports feature of Gateway is no longer available.

This feature will continue to be available and supported for Geneos 5.7.x and older until its end of life (EOL) date on 31 December 2021.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.7.x Copied

Publisher plugin Copied

The Publisher plugin Elasticsearch configuration schema has been refactored to support additional publishing destinations.

The plugin configuration prior to version 5.7.1 is not compatible with versions 5.7.1 and higher. We recommend that you update the configuration after upgrading to Geneos 5.7.1 and higher.

Hardware plugin Copied

The following metrics in the Hardware plugin have been changed:

For more information, see Hardware documentation.

IBM i plugin Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.7.x, the severityCodeFilter metric and filters > queueNameFilter configuration in the IBM i Queue plugin have been deprecated.

The new filters for Queue library and Queue name replaces the filters > queueNameFilter.

Web Dashboard Copied

Web Dashboard requires the fontconfig package to be installed in the system to start up. Beginning Geneos 5.7.x, Web Dashboard now uses Open Sans as its default font when a required font is not available in the system.

For more information, see Fontconfig dependency in Web Dashboard documentation.

Dynamic Entities Copied

The new and simplified mapping configuration replaces the Dynamic Mapping Configuration. Any existing configurations using the previous setup will continue to work. However, we recommend you migrate to the new Dynamic Entities > Mapping:

Gateway publishing to Gateway Hub Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.7, Gateway supports publishing data to Gateway Hub without schema. This schema-less publishing of data from Gateways is supported beginning Gateway Hub 2.4.x.

If you upgrade your Gateway to version 5.7.x or higher and you have many dataviews in the Gateway without a valid schema, then it is recommended that you also upgrade Gateway Hub to version 2.4.x or higher to take advantage of the automatic inference of schema in the Gateway Hub. Gateway Hub 2.3.x and older will continue to report ingestion errors if a dataview is published without a schema.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.6.x Copied

New binary file name for Geneos third-party plugins Copied

The binary file naming convention in ITRS Downloads has been changed from <plugin><version>.tar.gz to <plugin>-<version>.tar.gz. This change applies to all Geneos versions.

New ITRS Maven repository Copied

The Maven repository has changed its location from <url>https://itrsgroup.bintray.com/collection</url> to <url>https://maven.itrsgroup.com/repository/public</url>. Please update all the existing links as they will stop working by end of February 2021.

New workspace directory in Active Console Copied

Beginning 5.6.x, now sets the new workspace default directory to the following paths:

The new default workspace directory is used when creating a new workspace, but all existing workspaces are not affected. For more information, see Workspace directory in Active Console.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.5.x Copied

New binary file name for Geneos components Copied

As part of the improvements to automate our deployment process, the binary file naming convention in ITRS Downloads has been changed from geneos-<component>-<version>.<os>.tar.gz to geneos-<component>-<version>-<os>.tar.gz. This change applies beginning 5.5.x.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.4.x Copied

Self-monitoring in Geneos Copied

Beginning 5.4.x, self-monitoring in is now enabled by default with no configuration required.

This results in an Entity being dynamically created called <gateway_name> Info which contains samplers and dataviews that are automatically enabled with no configuration required. These samplers and dataviews are created using the existing plugins which you may already have manually configured in your .

If you do not wish the to automatically create a self-monitoring Entity, you can disable this feature in the > Operating environment section.

For more information, see operatingEnvironment > selfMonitoring in Operating Environment documentation.

E4JMS plugin Copied

Beginning 5.4.x, the E4JMS plugin supports SSL client authentication. This feature introduces breaking changes to the E4JMS plugin SSL implementation for older versions.

If you are using SSL connections on your E4JMS plugins, you must update your configuration when using the new schema.

For more information, see E4JMS Plugin Technical Reference.

File Keyword Monitor plugin Copied

Beginning 5.4.x, the plugin uses Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) by default. Be aware that this may introduce breaking changes in your implementation.

For more information, see the following documentation in the :

Upgrade to Geneos 5.2.x Copied

State Tracker plugin Copied

The Rewind option in is now disabled by default.

For more information, see trackerGroup > trackers > tracker > rewind in Technical Reference. If you enable this option, this may cause a sudden increase in your CPU usage with no known changes in the monitored file. Since the State Tracker will track the monitored file from the beginning, and not when the file grows for new events.

Dynamic Entities Copied

and have each been updated to support licensing of plugins. All three of these components must be updated to 5.2.x or higher for the feature to be supported in .

plugins require an additional licence to use. Please contact your Account Manager or Sales.

Gateway and Licence Daemon Copied

If you are upgrading to 5.2.x or higher, you must also upgrade to version 5.2.x or higher.

StatsD Plugin Copied

The configuration in the packaged (collection-agent.yml) now uses the default protocol UDP and port 8125. Previously, this was set to protocol TCP and port 7780.

Upgrade to Geneos 5.0.x Copied

Important Copied

If you have any question or concerns, please contact ITRS Support.

Netprobe Copied

The Hardware plugin now uses a new method of obtaining memoryAvailable and memoryAvailablePct for Linux platforms. The metrics are now based on the same calculation Linux uses to calculate the memAvailable field in /proc/meminfo. For more information, see the Hardware Plugin documentation.

Ensure that any affected Gateway rules and thresholds are reviewed.

Gateway Copied

Gateway 5.0 cannot publish data to Gateway Hub 1.4 or older versions. This is due to the changes in the publishing format in order to improve performance.

Gateway Setup Editor now enables the Simplified Comments by default. With simplifiedComments enabled, GSE removes all icons that indicate comments. You can only add, edit, or remove comments on named components in the Navigation panel.

The API for centralised configuration has changed since Early Access. Upgrade to Gateway 5.0 to use the centralised configuration with Gateway Hub 1.6 and above.

Active Console Copied

Active Console 5.0 now supports a new light theme user interface. The Look and Feel in the Advanced settings has been removed.

Platforms and settings changes Copied

Beginning with version 5.0, these Gateway settings are deprecated:

Changes to default Gateway configuration in version 5.0:

Upgrade to Geneos 4.x.x Copied

Caution

End of life for 4.x.x is 31 May 2023. If you are using 4.x.x, we advise you to upgrade to 5.x.x or newer.

Upgrade to Geneos 4.11.x Copied

In the Gateway, the behaviour of the _COMMENT environment variable has changed for actions fired by the unassignment of a data item. Previously, the comment provided when the item was assigned was placed in the _COMMENT environment variable for both assignment and unassignment events. It is now possible to configure Gateways to require comments for both assignment and unassignment events. This means for actions fired by unassignment events, the comment provided when the item is unassigned is placed in the _COMMENT environment variable. The comment that was provided when the item was originally assigned is now moved to a new environment variable called _PREVIOUS_COMMENT.

Improved the Context Sensitive Help (CSH) for Gateway Setup Editor (Gateway Setup Editor) that is based on the specific content available online. Context sensitive help will launch your default browser to access the content online. To know more about this, see Host the documentation locally to use GSE context-sensitive help in Gateway Setup Editor.

Upgrade to Geneos 4.7.x Copied

Geneos 4.7.x release introduces changes to the way arguments are parsed to Commands, Actions, and Effects.

These changes were required to provide consistent behaviour and understanding across both Netprobe and Gateway to simplify user experience.

We strongly recommend you check the configuration and behaviour of any Commands, Actions, and Effects before deploying to production.

For more information, see Commands, Actions and Effects.

Upgrade to Geneos 4.0.x Copied

The following changes are introduced to Geneos 4.0.x packages:

image

["Geneos"] ["Release Notes", "Upgrade Notes"]

Was this topic helpful?