PlateSpin Recon 4.2 Release Notes

July 2015

PlateSpin Recon 4.2 includes new features. Many of these improvements were made in direct response to suggestions from our customers. We thank you for your time and valuable input. We hope you continue to help us ensure that our products meet all your needs. You can post feedback in the PlateSpin Recon forum on NetIQ Communities, our online community that also includes product information, blogs, and links to helpful resources.

The documentation for this product is available on the NetIQ Website in HTML and PDF formats on a page that does not require you to log in. If you have suggestions for documentation improvements, click comment on this topic at the bottom of any page in the HTML version of the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 documentation posted at the NetIQ Documentation Website.

This product contains undocumented utilities that the Technical Support team might use to diagnose or correct problems.

1.0 What’s New?

The following sections outline the key features and functions provided in this release:

1.1 Enhancements

PlateSpin Recon 4.2 includes the following enhancements:

  • Introduces offline inventory support for Windows and Linux computers. You can now import files that contain the inventory data of the computers you want to monitor to the Data Center Explorer. For more information, see Manually Importing Workloads into Data Center Explorer.

  • Adds support for new Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, and Unisys server templates.

  • Adds support for Intel Haswell processor.

1.2 Platform Support

PlateSpin Recon 4.2 includes support for the following hypervisors:

  • VMware ESXi Server 6.0, 5.5 Update 2, 5.5 Update 1

  • VMware Virtual Center 6.0, 5.5 Update 2, 5.5 Update 1

For more information about the supported platforms, see Supported Platforms in the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 User Guide.

1.3 Database Support

PlateSpin Recon 4.2 supports the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 database for installing Recon Server.

For more information about the supported databases, see System Requirements in the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 Getting Started Guide.

2.0 Installing PlateSpin Recon 4.2

To install PlateSpin Recon 4.2, see Installing PlateSpin Recon in the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 Getting Started Guide.

3.0 Upgrading to PlateSpin Recon 4.2

For instructions on downloading and upgrading to PlateSpin Recon 4.2, see Upgrading PlateSpin Recon in the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 Getting Started Guide.

The PlateSpin Recon 4.2 installer can upgrade PlateSpin Recon 4.1. Direct upgrade from earlier versions of Recon is not supported. You must first upgrade to PlateSpin Recon 4.1 and then use the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 installer to upgrade from PlateSpin Recon 4.1 to PlateSpin Recon 4.2.For information about system requirements, see System Requirements in the PlateSpin Recon 4.2 Getting Started Guide.

4.0 Known Issues

NetIQ Corporation strives to ensure our products provide quality solutions for your enterprise software needs. The following issues are currently being researched. If you need further assistance with any issue, please contact Technical Support.

4.1 Network Adapter Information for Solaris x86 Server Not Displayed

The network adapter information for a Solaris x86 server is not displayed in the Properties page of the server. This issue might affect the inventory data collection for network adapters of the Solaris x86 server, but has no effect on the consolidation planning of the server. (Bug 854751)

Workaround: None.

4.2 Incorrect Database Name Listed During Recon Server Installation

When you install the Recon server, you are prompted to select a database engine to use with Recon. However, the database engine might be incorrectly displayed as #TEMP0004.

Workaround: Specify the database server name\instance name that you provided when you installed the database. However, if you installed the embedded SQL Express 2008 R2 database through the PlateSpin Recon Installation Launcher, then specify the database name as localhost\Platespin_db. (Bug 793325)

4.3 Deleting a Container Deletes All Inventoried Virtual Machines that Reside on the Container

In the PlateSpin Recon Data Center Explorer, the virtual machines appear as child nodes of the virtual host, such as ESX or XenServer. When you delete a container, which is a virtual host, all virtual machines within that container also get deleted.

Workaround: To delete only the container, do the following:

  1. Export a snapshot of all the virtual machines within the container that you want to delete from the Recon client.

  2. Delete the container.

  3. Import the snapshot of the virtual machines in to the Recon client.

For information about working with the PlateSpin Recon snapshots, see Working with PlateSpin Recon Snapshots. (Bug 462083)

4.4 PlateSpin Recon Inventory Does Not Detect Teaming Adapter on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V

When you inventory a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V that has a Teaming Adapter configured, PlateSpin Recon does not detect the Teaming Adapter. As a result, the Teaming Adapter is not listed on the Device Properties page of the Recon client.

Workaround: None.

4.5 The Network Adapter Speed Value Is Incorrectly Displayed for an Inventoried Hyper-V Machine

When you inventory a Hyper-V machine that has an Ethernet network adapter of 10 GB or more, the speed property of the adapter gets an incorrect value regardless of the actual link speed because of the data type conversion. The value of the network adapter speed for the Hyper-V machine is incorrectly displayed as 1 Gbps in the Hyper-V properties dialog box of the Recon client.(Bug 644450)

Workaround: None.

4.6 Monitoring Windows Server 2003 Might Increase Memory Utilization on the Server

When you monitor Windows Server 2003, the memory utilization on the monitored server might increase. This is because the memory usage of the Svchost.exe process increases when other users remotely collect performance data about the monitored server.

Workaround: This is a known issue in Windows Server 2003. To troubleshoot the issue, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article ID 969701.

4.7 Prompted to Provide the PlateSpin Recon Server Login Credentials Even After the PlateSpin Recon Client is Launched on a Standalone Device

If the PlateSpin Recon Client is installed on a standalone device, you are prompted to provide the PlateSpin Recon Server login credentials even if you have selected the Use Windows Session option to log into the client.

Workaround: None. Provide the PlateSpin Recon Server credentials when you are prompted.

4.8 Monitoring a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Device Might Fail

When you monitor a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP device, you might encounter the following error:

The Counter layout for the Category specified is invalid.

One of the possible reasons is that the perfmon on this device is corrupted.

Workaround: None.

5.0 Contact Information

Our goal is to provide documentation that meets your needs. If you have suggestions for improvements, please email Documentation-Feedback@netiq.com. We value your input and look forward to hearing from you.

For detailed contact information, see the Support Contact Information Website.

For general corporate and product information, see the NetIQ Corporate Website.

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