SystemTools 'ToolNews' - June 5, 2014 - Hyena 11.0 has Arrived

1. Hyena
• Hyena 11.0 has arrived
  • Introducing 'Active Task'
  • New Microsoft Exchange features
• Hyena 10.5 updated to rev 'F'
2. Tips
• Getting the computer serial number and more
• Filtering the right window results
3. Hyena Maintenance
4. Resources
• SystemTools' discussion board
• Help us keep you informed
• Help us spread the word !
5. Contact Information

Hyena 11.0 has arrived

Hyena v11.0 is now available for downloading. In development for nearly a year, Hyena v11 introduces new features both in Active Directory mass updating as well as new extended Microsoft Exchange features. These two new capabilities are discussed in more detail below.

Hyena v11.0 is available as a free update if your maintenance expiration date is after May 15, 2014. See the 'Hyena Maintenance' topic below for information on updating and how to check the maintenance expiration date. Any customer which purchased a Hyena v10.5 license is eligible for a free upgrade to v11.0 as well.

Introducing 'Active Task'

Hyena's new Active Task feature adds a new range of capabilities for mass Active Directory updating, including creating new directory objects. While similar in some respect to the 'Active Editor' feature introduced last year, the Active Task component is not restricted to any particular Hyena view or query. Rather, a delimited text input file, along with a few settings, are all that is needed to create or modify directory objects. A list of the feature highlights includes:

• Import Active Directory updates and create new Directory objects from delimited text input files.
• Easy task-based configuration; task settings automatically saved for repeated execution.
• Optional user home directory creation and security settings.
• Modify nearly any AD attribute including text, numeric, true/false, terminal server, user photo and more.
• Extensive validation and logging to reduce errors.

Moreover, we've designed the Active Task component for future expansion, providing a platform that can be used for local computer administration as well. We intend to add to and expand the Active Task feature in upcoming releases.

The new Active Task feature is an example of our commitment to both provide value to existing Hyena users as well as to continue to provide system administrators new capabilities for years to come.

For a quick view of the main Active Task interface, click here.

New Microsoft Exchange Features

Hyena v11.0 contains a number of enhancements to our Microsoft Exchange integration features including:

Management of mailbox Retention Policy - Retention Policies can be included in the mailbox template, modified on the Mailbox Properties, and specified during mailbox creation.

Archive Options - Mailbox Properties now includes the archive properties, plus the ability to create a local or remote archive.

New Exchange Properties - Also added were Exchange Properties for universal (distribution) groups, and contact objects.

Note that Exchange management features are part of the Hyena Enterprise Edition only. For more information on Hyena's Exchange capabilities, click here.

Hyena 10.5 Updated to rev 'F'

We've made the final revision to Hyena v10.5 (rev 'F'). A full revision history of 10.5 follows. Note also that all of these changes and updates are also part of Hyena v11.0:

• Rev 'B' - Added up/down button to the query builder used to select the directory attributes for the Group Member Matrix dialog.

• Rev 'B' - Corrected a problem when double-clicking on the Members object under a group in the left window that caused the resulting display to show indirect members (incorrect view)

• Rev 'C' - Fixed crash/field selection when using up/down buttons on Group Member Matrix query builder

• Rev 'C' - Fixed computer, group, and OU/container "Managed By" to allow entry of built-in security objects, as well as security-enabled groups.

• Rev 'C' - Worked around problem with Microsoft object picker dialog improperly escaping the forward slash character, causing errors when changing the Managed By property

• Rev 'C' - Changed default behavior in Hyena and Exporter Pro to migrate and find configuration files in the user's profile directory.

• Rev 'D' - Removed 'Check for Updates' button on Licensing Verify dialog if license entered on program startup.

• Rev 'D' - Added new Advanced Setting - UseNetbiosOnTseFunctions - See the Advanced Registry Settings topic for more information in Hyena's help file.

• Rev 'D' - Added new Advanced Setting - HideNonDsEnabledRoDCs - See the Advanced Registry Settings topic for more information in Hyena's help file.

• Rev 'E' - Fixed problem when query was modified while viewing group members

• Rev 'E' - Corrected issue with leading character being truncated when displaying the name of the Exchange mailbox database

• Rev 'E' - Increased the amount of storage space available on the list window filtering controls

• Rev 'F' - Corrected issue with Hyena crashing when reading non-EVTX (non-Crimson) event logs when the event message string contained placeholders, but the event developer did not include the message placeholders in the event data. This mainly affected ma-formed event messages from 3rd party providers.

• Rev 'F' - Enabled directory attribute placeholders to be used in the Active Editor for multi-valued attributes.

• Rev 'F' - Changed the behavior of the old AT-style job scheduler to not add the current date to jobs to prevent the AT-style jobs from being erroneously created as monthly jobs under the newer task scheduling systems.

Getting the computer serial number and more

Recently we've received a number of support cases where customers wanted to get the serial numbers of the computers in Active Directory (AD). While AD does not store this type of information, the serial number and other useful information can usually be retrieved using the WMI class 'Win32_SystemEnclosure'.

Note: WMI is a Hyena Enterprise-only feature. To check the license type, select Tools > Settings > Licensing and verify under the licensing options if WMI Integration is set to 'licensed'. To upgrade from a Standard Edition license, contact sales@systemtools.com.

First, to verify that WMI works in your environment, find a typical computer in Hyena's left window, expand it, then expand the WMI node. See if there is an existing query class for "Win32_SystemEnclosure". If you don't find one, right click on the main WMI node, select 'Execute Query...", click the 'New' button, then enter the following:

WMI Query Name - System Enclosure
WMI Namespace - (leave blank)
WMI Class - Win32_SystemEnclosure

Click OK to add the class, then choose the Properties you want to view. Make sure you include the '__SERVER', SerialNumber, Manufacturer, ChassisTypes, and any other properties of interest. You can always add all of the properties to see what is returned and then remove unneeded properties later.

Then click 'Execute Query'.

To execute a WMI query on multiple computers, simply multi-select them in Hyena's right window, select WMI > Execute Query... and select your query to execute. If lengthy delays or errors are returned, try turning on the Ping options under Tools > Settings > View > Ping Options to skip offline computers, or to suppress error messages, select Tools > Settings > Logging and change the error suppression option for the 'WMI - Run Query' setting.

Another useful property in this class is 'ChassisTypes', which can show whether the computer is a tower, laptop, etc.

For more information on the Win32_SystemEnclosure class, click here.

Filtering the right window results

Hyena's Filtering function makes quick work of finding and filtering the right window results from any AD query or system display.

The Filter function can only be accessed by clicking the filter button on the toolbar (shown at left). For example, if the Services for a computer are displayed, clicking the Filter toolbar button will insert a row of 'filtering cells' under the right window column headers. Entering a text value such as "event" in the 'Display Name' column and pressing Enter will filter the results to only those rows where the word 'event' appears in the display name. The filtering is not case sensitive and has a number of options. For a full list of available options using wildcards, exact matching, finding blank values, and more see the "Filtering Data" topic in Hyena's help file under "Using Hyena - Functions > Filtering Data".

While we've mentioned Filtering in our tips before, what's new is that we addressed a limitation recently that now allows the filtering cell to accept a paste (Control-V) operation. This is most useful when trying to retrieve Active Directory or other information where the data to search for comes from an email or external source, and a cut-and-paste operation can be used to save some typing.

All Hyena licenses have a built-in maintenance expiration date, which can be displayed under the Tools > Settings > Licensing dialog. The maintenance expiration date determines whether new releases can be installed with the active license. If your maintenance has recently expired or is about to expire, it can be renewed now. For maintenance information and renewal options, visit:

http://www.systemtools.com/hyena/maint_main.htm

If you prefer to get an email quotation on maintenance renewal, send your current license information to sales@systemtools.com and request a maintenance renewal quote. You can easily get the current license information under Hyena's Tools > Settings > Licensing dialog.

If your maintenance expiration date is before May 15, 2014, the upgrade cost is only 50% of the licensing cost, which includes one year of maintenance. Maintenance expirations on or after May 15, 2014 can be renewed now.

SystemTools' discussion board

Our online discussion board, with thousands of postings, is a great online resource for all Hyena users. Our discussion board can be both a source for solutions to frequently encountered problems and a place to learn how others use many of Hyena's features. To access our discussion board, visit:

http://www.systemtools.com/toolboard

There is also a link on Hyena's Help menu (Help > Online Discussion Board) to go directly to our discussion board.

Help us keep you informed

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Help us spread the word !

For over 16 years Hyena has helped tens of thousands of IT managers, administrators, help desk personnel, and auditors simplify the management and reporting of Windows. We have found over and over that the number one source of newcomers to our products has come from word-of-mouth of other happy users. The entire SystemTools Software family and community would very much appreciate it if you would mention Hyena to friends and associates that you feel could use it to simplify their jobs as well.

As our user base has grown, the amount and quality of feature recommendations has grown as well, making for an even better product for existing and future users. Simply put, the more we grow the exposure of SystemTools Software products, the more return you get from your investment.

Thank you for your help in keeping Hyena improving and growing !

Sales - sales@systemtools.com
Support - support@systemtools.com
Telephone - 1-877-SYS-TOOL (1-877-797-8665) or International Customers - 1-830-779-2349

SystemTools Software Inc.
P.O. Box 1209
La Vernia, TX 78121

Thank you for your support.