FrameFlow 2018.6 has been released and is now available for download. This release contains a wide range of new features and functionality. In this month’s newsletter, we’ll revisit some that we covered last month and also introduce you to others that you probably have not yet seen.

SNMP Profiles for Devices

A while ago we introduced the concept of SNMP profiles. SNMP profiles let you define a common set of SNMP connection values and give them a name. Then, you can assign that profile to your SNMP event monitors and they will use the profile’s settings when they connect to perform monitoring tasks.

In FrameFlow 2018.6 we have extended SNMP profiles to the device level. So now, just like you can assign authentication profiles to a device, you can assign SNMP profiles. And just like authentication profiles, you can tell your event monitors to use device-level SNMP profiles making it a breeze to monitor equipment that has a variety of different SNMP settings.

Devices Interfaces Tab

Have you tried the new Interfaces tab for your SNMP-based devices? To activate it, go to the settings for your device and set the device type to "Switch/Router". After you apply the change, the Interfaces tab will appear. Hit the refresh button to get a list of all interfaces on the device along with some handy statistics for each one.

In v2018.6 we’ve made a number of improvements to the device interfaces tab. Previously it relied on SNMPv1 being available with a public community string. Now the interfaces tab uses whichever SNMP profile you have assigned to the device. That means you can use any community string with SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 or go ultra secure with SNMPv3. If you have not assigned a profile then it falls back on public SNMPv1.

We’ve also added a new column showing the description field for each interface and improved the display of up/down status.

Tag Choosers

Device tags have multiple uses in FrameFlow. You can use them for informational purposes such as defining contact names or locations for each device. You can also use them for alerting by defining event monitors to only check the devices that have selected tags. More and more, we are seeing how you are using hundreds of tags in your monitoring configurations. In FrameFlow 2018 we’ve enhanced the tag choosers. They now better handle large numbers of tags and we’ve added a search field to make it easier to quickly grab and assign tags to your device.