Sentinel Agent Manager 8.2 Release Notes

June 2018

Sentinel Agent Manager 8.2 resolves several previous issues.

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 Sentinel forum that also includes product information, blogs, and links to helpful resources.

The documentation for this product is available in HTML and PDF formats on a page that does not require you to log in. If you have suggestions for documentation improvements, click the Comment icon on any page in the HTML version of the documentation posted at the Sentinel Documentation page. To download this product, see the Product Downloads website.

1.0 What’s New?

The following sections outline the enhancements and issues resolved in this release:

1.1 TLS 1.2 Support

Agent Manager now supports TLS 1.2, which is a more secured communication protocol.

1.2 Software Fixes

Agent Manager Does Not Start Up When Lower Versions of TLS Are Disabled

Issue: When lower versions of TLS (all except TLSv1.2) are disabled on the Windows server where Agent Manager has been installed, Agent Manager on the SAM Central Computer and Agents stop working because communication with SQL Server breaks. (Bug 1076624)

Fix: Agent Manager now uses the Microsoft OLE DB driver for SQL Server (MSOLEDBSQL) for communication with the SQL Server database, which communicates seamlessly with TLS 1.2.

Change to Testing the Connection to a Collector Manager

When you configure Agent Manager 8.2 to forward to a Collector Manager, you can click Test Connectivity to test the connection. With this release, the testing procedure no longer uses an ICMP packet (Ping) followed by an HTTP command to the connector port. Instead, the process only relies on the HTTP command to validate whether the connection is successful. This change might cause the connectivity test to take longer when the remote end is not live or responding properly. (Bug 1009722)

Resolves an Issue Where an Upgraded Agent Fails to Function Until After a System Restart

Issue: When you upgrade an agent, the new agent might not have the same runtime as the previous version. This would cause the upgraded agent to be unusable until you restarted the server. (Bug 973647)

Fix: In this release, the upgraded agent continues to work even if the runtime is different from the previous version. However, you might not be able to access the following features until you restart the system:

  • Event log messages that were added in the version being upgraded to, if any

  • Performance counter for the agent

Resolves an Issue with Failed Agent Installation

Issue: When you install a managed agent, Microsoft’s distributed component object model (DCOM) might generate an error and the installation fails. This issue occurs because Sentinel Agent Manager searches for and replaces NETBIOS names with a DNS FQDN to counter Kerberos bugs in Microsoft Windows. However, the changes might unexpectedly corrupt the user names. (Bug 1034673)

Fix: Sentinel Agent Manager no longer performs the find and replace action for NETBIOS names. Instead, the installation process properly formats a NETBIOS name.

2.0 System Requirements

For information about hardware requirements, supported operating systems, and browsers, see the Technical Information for Sentinel page.

3.0 Installing Agent Manager 8.2

For information about installing Agent Manager 8.2, see the Agent Manager Installation Guide.

4.0 Upgrading to Agent Manager 8.2

You can upgrade to Agent Manager 8.2 from Agent Manager 8.0 or later.

Download the Agent Manager installer from the Patch Finder website. For information about upgrading to Agent Manager 8.2, see Upgrading Sentinel Agent Manager in the Agent Manager Installation Guide.

5.0 Known Issues

The following issues are currently being researched. If you need further assistance with any issue, please contact Technical Support.

5.1 Agent Manager Requires SQL Authentication When FIPS 140-2 Mode is Enabled

Issue: When FIPS 140-2 mode is enabled in your Sentinel environment, using Windows authentication for Agent Manager causes synchronization with the Agent Manager database to fail. (Bug 814452)

Workaround: Use SQL authentication for Agent Manager when FIPS 140-2 mode is enabled in your Sentinel environment.

5.2 Agent Manager Cannot Communicate with iSeries Agent

Issue: Agent Manager 7.3 introduced security improvements that break communication with the iSeries agent. Agent Manager 7.3 and later cannot collect events from the iSeries Agent.

Workaround: Do not upgrade Agent Manager. Continue to use Agent Manager 7.2 to collect data from iSeries devices.