ProActive DBA Release Notes

ProActive DBA

Version 8.83.2621

Release Notes

Welcome to ProActive DBA! We are confident you will find this product extremely valuable in the performance monitoring, tuning, maintenance, disaster recovery and security auditing compliance of your Sybase, Microsoft and Oracle database servers. These release notes cover the ProActive DBA products: Database Maintenance Manager, Visual Space Manager (all Editions), SQL Capture (all Editions), TimeLine 24x7 Performance Monitor, Diagnostic Monitor (all Editions), Disaster Recovery Toolset and Database Auditor.

This document contains the following sections:

Enhancements / Bug Fixes By Version

Known Problems

Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)

Enhancements/Bug Fixes By Version

Release 8.83.2621

1. Fixed a rare crash when starting the Console, due to improper sizing of a list control in the GUI.

2. Improved help text for the error code/severity field in the TimeLine Error Log Code Alert.

3. Fixed an old Console bug that could cause a crash or display a partially garbled Agent capturing error/warning message.

4. Fixed a rare Warehouse Agent crash that could occur when processing files for a server with a very long name.

5. Fixed incorrect saving of alert records that could occur when applying Global Alerts to a server using a Microsoft SQL repository database.

Release 8.83.2620

1. Fixed a crash or unneeded warning message that could occur if a server status change was received while using the Manage Captures or Manage ProActive Agents dialog.

2. Fixed a rare problem causing data for certain TimeLine tabs not to be saved, when capturing against a Sybase ASE server.

3. Fixed an Agent crash that could occur when using the Error Log Viewer window on an Oracle server.

4. Fixed wrong script path logged in error message when executing a self-monitoring O/S script on a remote Agent.

Release 8.82.2619

1. This release includes support for Sybase ASE 15.7.

2. Includes support for Sybase Replication Server versions 15.6 and 15.7.

3. Enabled support for SQL Server 2012 CTP1 through RTM.

4. Fixed Console to dynamically update server status icons in the Manage ProActive Agents, Manage Captures, and Enterprise Maintenance Mode dialogs.

5. Fixed a Console crash that could occur when right-clicking in the SQL Detail dialog.

6. Fixed incorrect saving/loading of certain repository data in the Console when using a separate Global Alerts repository database. Affected certain VSM wizard dialogs, the Task Scheduler's Delete Task History function, the Server Reports dialog and saving of VSM analysis data from a Console-based database analysis.

7. Fixed rare Agent crash that could occur if a custom alert message token was used on an alert type that doesn't support that token. Fixed double expansion of custom message tokens that could occur in some cases.

Release 8.82.2618

1. Fixed a "Failed to initialize Error Log Monitoring" error that could occur in certain cases when starting capturing on a Sybase IQ server.

2. Fixed self-monitoring failure to automatically restart captures in some cases.

3. Fixed missing login details and/or SQL that could occur when capturing certain client applications on IQ 15.4 servers.

4. Fixed ISQL window to add the current database to the Database combo box if it's not already there. This also fixes a wrong database selection when executing the next query. The Database combo box also now displays the database names in sorted order.

5. SQL Capture / TimeLine reports, alerts and exports now appear in alphabetical order in their respective configuration dialogs.

6. Added "blank leading columns" toolbar button and right mouse-click option to the Data Miner's Results grid. Other minor user interface improvements to the Data Miner.

7. Fixed missing horizontal scroll bar in the Data Miner window's Reports pane. Added support for F2 key to rename a Data Miner report. Esc and Enter keys now work to accept and cancel changes, respectively, when editing a Data Miner report name. Fixed New Report Group function to work more sensibly -- always creates a sub-group of the selected group, and you can right-click in the blank area to create a new root-level group.

8. Fixed VSM Report Filters dialog to support themed background colors/patterns.

9. Fixed Server Manager window to automatically update its capture status display when background updates occur, instead of only when the user changes selections in the server tree.

10. Increased timeout duration when stopping a capture session.

11. Fixed incorrectly repeated self-monitoring notification when modifying a server's registration.

12. Fixed Agent crash that could occur on a dynamic update if the default capture template for that server had been deleted. An error message is now shown if this occurs.

13. Fixed Agent crash that could occur on an alert that had O/S script execution enabled but where no script filename was given.

14. Fixed a bug causing Console unresponsiveness when a registered middle-tier Agent was down.

15. Fixed missing error message in certain cases when the middle-tier Agent fails to register a new server with the Turbo Agent.

16. Fixed column error when starting a capture session or fetching transaction metrics against Sybase IQ 15.4 servers.

17. Added support for processing performance data files captured from Sybase Replication Server through the ProActive DBA Warehouse (requires build 2702 or higher of the ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader).

Release 8.82.2617

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

1. Added memory usage diagnostics information.

Release 8.82.2616

1. Fixed support for capturing several SQL Server 2008 date/time parameter types that were not properly supported before.

2. The ##WST_DISCARD_EVENT## token now also skips execution of the email notification, if any.

3. Fixed rare crash or false triggering of error log alerts that could occur after dynamically updating the capture session.

4. Fixed missing or wrong computer name and/or user name that should be logged when starting, stopping or dynamically updating a capture session from the command-line or the Manage Captures dialog.

5. Fixed a bug that could prevent Sybase IQ monitor and DBSpace data and Replication Server thread and latency metrics not to get captured when starting a capture from the command-line or via self-monitoring.

6. Fixed self-monitoring failure to automatically restart captures in some cases.

7. Fixed failure in certain cases to gather performance metrics required by alerts, when those were not enabled for gathering in the performance-options dialog. Also fixed failure to enable Rep Agent thread monitoring in Sybase ASE, when enabled via a dynamic alert update.

8. Fixed a rare bug that could cause a server's self-monitoring options to become disabled as a result of failing to start a capture session.

9. Fixed temporary table error that could occur when dynamically reenabling IQ monitor-based alerts.

10. Fix to display the server performing the capture on an Agent upgrade/restart that cannot be performed because capturing is running.

11. Fixed a bug that could in prevent Sybase IQ DBSpace data from getting saved to the repository or flat files, if the IQ Monitoring performance mode was disabled.

12. Fixed potential garbled error message if initializing IQ message file monitoring failed.

13. Selecting a server folder in the Server Manager tree now lists the servers registered under that group (and any sub-groups) in the right-side pane.

14. Changed default SQL/login loading limits to 500K and 100K, respectively.

15. Fixed a bug preventing the "Maximum number of bookmarks to save" setting from getting saved and loaded in the Console's Options dialog.

16. Fixed incorrect help text for TimeLine O/S process detail list CPU % column.

17. The Console now skips enumeration of SQL Servers on the network when bringing up the Server -> Edit Registration dialog, to avoid the unnecessary delay.

18. Fixed incorrect session list data or active capture status that could occur when bringing up the Open Existing Session dialog, after the capture agent connection had gone down.

19. Fixed snapshot failure errors on a Replication Server without any replication definitions.

20. Fixed rare crash that could occur when cleaning up a capture session that had failed to start properly.

21. Added server type and name to certain error messages that are shown when starting a capture fails because a capture session is already running on that Agent or server.

Release 8.82.2615

1. Fixed overflow error that could occur in certain cases when gathering Sybase IQ status data.

2. Fixed ##WST_DISCARD_EVENT## token to skip execution of the alert O/S script, if any.

Release 8.82.2614

1. Fixed a bug causing global alerts to be applied to the wrong repository database, when using a shared or overridden global alerts repository, or when applying alerts to servers using different repository databases.

2. Fixed an incorrect "invalid number of bookmarks" error that could appear in the Console's Options dialog when closing or switching away from the SQL Capture tab.

3. Added support for Sybase IQ versions 15.3 and 15.4.

4. Fixed relative path error in certain cases, after applying a dynamic alert update to a Sybase IQ server.

5. Fixed missing error detail on failures to start IQ monitoring during dynamic alert update.

6. Fixed file handle leak when applying certain types of dynamic alerts to a Sybase IQ server.

Release 8.82.2613

1. Added new TimeLine Blocking Detail Alert, which provides details per blocking occurrence for the blocker and victim SPIDs. Supports custom message tokens to obtain information about the blocker. Currently only available for Sybase ASE.

2. Fixed a bug preventing tokens from being expanded in a custom alert message set by a user SQL script.

3. Fixed alert O/S script execution to occur after user SQL script, so that the SQL script can affect the alert message and/or other settings to be used by the O/S script.

4. Added support for filtering SQL statements on negative error codes and ranges, as used by Sybase IQ servers.

5. Fixed duplicated alert instance messages seen when multiple alerted-on instances became reset at the same time. Fixed missing newline separator between instances in this case also.

6. Fixed duration calculation error in SQL durations affecting Long Running SQL report and other Console-based SQL Capture reports, for SQL running longer than approximately 35 minutes. These durations were getting truncated and the SQL could be incorrectly dropped from Long Running SQL reports. Durations also may have been reported as zero in alert O/S script environment variables, the SQL Capture Real-Time tab graphs, and the SQL tab in TimeLine.

7. Fixed a rare case that could cause the Queue Manager to stop processing files for a server that had previously had failed files.

8. Fixed a problem where the Target Server Off-Line alert/graph would show the server as offline if a performance metrics gathering error had occurred; now the alert and graph are triggered only if the Agent fails to connect to the target server.

9. Added workaround for incorrect packet header length captured on Windows systems with certain network cards, possibly when using TCP segmentation offload or large-send offload.

10. Added setting to control the kernel capture buffer size on Windows-based capture Agents.

Release 8.82.2611

1. Added new settings for specifying a shared repository database for Global Alert definitions. This is configured in the middle-tier Agent Configuration -> Advanced dialog.

2. Added spin-button support to the interval controls in the configuration dialogs for several alerts: Long Running SQL, Average Service Level, Average Transactions Per Minute, Rep Server Down Threads, Rep Agent Status.

Release 8.82.2610

1. Fixed incorrect "Old Version" status shown in the Manage ProActive Agents dialog for a middle-tier Agent whose status had not yet been retrieved.

2. Fixed incorrect Application Time (App. Time) values that could be shown when both SQL/login detail and alert/snapshot data were being loaded into the Console.

3. Fixed failure to show events in the Task History dialog for server-specific Warehouse pruning jobs in the Queue Manager.

4. Fixed ##WST_ALERT alert message token to use the alert's default message; it also now supports overriding the message via the MESSAGE= token. The default or overridden alert message is also used in the email notification unless overridden there.

5. Fixed incorrect message truncation when using @SQLTD, @DEMO or @DEMOALL custom alert message tokens.

6. Added new alert tokens to enable/disable alert actions configured in the GUI for the current alert.

7. Added ##WST_ALERT_MESSAGE_TOKENS## token, which evaluates to the tokenized stock alert message.

8. Email notifications sent by ##WST_ALERT SEND_EMAIL tokens to use the default recipient list and subject line, unless overridden by options in the SEND_EMAIL token.

9. Added @default custom alert message token, which expands to the default message for the current alert.

10. Added newline separators between alert message and SQL script output on ##WST_ALERT## dynamic alerts.

11. Fixed error in sending email notifications from ##WST_ALERT## dynamic alerts, when no email notifications were configured for the base alert.

Release 8.82.2609

1. Fixed incorrectly-drawn graph data in Diagnostic Monitor that could occur when a pop-up message was displayed at first after opening the window.

2. Fixed failure to show object list controls in the Diagnostic Monitor's Cache tab.

3. Fixed a rare crash that could occur when cancelling the Queue Manager's configuration dialog.

4. Fixed syntax errors generated by Data Miner on Table Usage queries containing summary aggregates on the 'execution_count' column.

5. Added workaround for a rare crash in the Data Miner when changing the selection to a different query.

6. SQL to drop and rebuild foreign key constraints is no longer included in scripts generated by the Database Maintenance Manager, when using REORG to defragment tables on Sybase ASE.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

7. Added -noalerts and -nosnapshots options for skipping alerts or timed snapshots, respectively, when processing *.tlalert input files.

8. Added -perftype option for including or excluding specific types of performance records when processing *.tlperf input files.

Release 8.82.2608

1. Fixed "script error" reported when trying to use the Agent web-based Warehouse Report server.

2. This build no longer supports using an existing session name in place of a template name when starting a capture session from the command-line. This worked previously but was undocumented.

3. Creating or using duplicate template names is no longer allowed in the Templates dialog. Each template must have a unique name. When starting a capture using a specified template name, if there is more than one template having that name, an error message will be logged and the capture session will fail to start, since it's ambiguous which template was intended.

4. Reworked the SQL Capture / TimeLine Templates dialog for better ease-of-use; added checks to prevent renaming a template to the same name as an existing template.

5. When a new server has been registered, the Start Capture dialog now automatically uses the template having the same name as the server, if one is found. There is no longer a prompt nor an option to create a new default template at that point.

6. Added custom alert message tokens for formatted metric and threshold values; the formatting method is automatic and depends on the built-in alert type.

7. Added a number of new custom alert message tokens for the Average Service Level and Average Trans. Per Minute alerts, error log alerts, Sybase IQ transaction alerts, Sybase ASE database status alerts and Sybase Rep Server alerts.

8. A default custom alert message is now supplied when you enable the custom message checkbox for an alert; this gives an example of how to format the custom message for that alert.

9. Stock alert messages are now provided for alert reset actions on all available alert types.

10. Fixed or added alert token unit indicators for a few alert types (IQ system file free space alerts, Sybase ASE transaction log hold alert, Sybase ASE resource alerts).

11. Interval values are entered and displayed in milliseconds/seconds/minutes/etc. in SQL-based alerts and in the ASE Transaction Duration alert.

12. Fixed a bug causing the "default capture" status indicator to become set or cleared incorrectly, when attempting to start a capture on an Agent that is already capturing.

Release 8.82.2607

1. Fixed excessive CPU usage when capturing certain types of parameterized SQL statements.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Reports

2. Fixed a problem that was limiting server names to 32 characters in the ProActive DBA Warehouse.

Release 8.82.2606

1. Added Client Library group-by column in the Warehouse Data Miner.

2. Fixed incorrect Data Miner queries generated when using more than one inequality operator (!=, <, <=, >, >=). Also fixed unnecessary 'group by' clause added to the SQL for Table Usage queries in certain cases.

3. Added min/max execution date summary column for SQL summary and Table Usage queries in the Data Miner.

4. Fixed failure to gather TimeLine segment space usage data on an ASE server that had one or more databases created with the 'for load' option or undergoing a 'load database' operation.

5. Added custom self-monitoring message tokens for detecting, remote and backup Agent hostname/port.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

6. Fixed another crash that could occur when surveying or saving warehouse data to an IQ 15.x server.

Release 8.82.2605

1. Fixed a crash that could occur when surveying or saving warehouse data to an IQ 15.x server.

Release 8.82.2604

1. Fixed ASE monitoring not to gather Rep Agent status unless alerts are defined which use that information.

2. Fixed failure to retrieve complete showplan for some multi-statement query batches in SQL Capture.

Release 8.82.2603

1. Fixed a crash in the Console reports configuration dialog, which could occur when no reports were already defined.

2. Fixed a rare Console crash that could occur after joining a new middle-tier Agent into the enterprise.

3. Fixed repeated errors in TimeLine that could occur when gathering space usage information on a database that was created with the 'for load' option.

4. Removed "This email message was sent by agent" text from self-monitoring notifications when using a custom message string.

5. Fixed a bug that could result in creation of duplicate flat-file export records for performance data and alerts/snapshots when switching between saving to flat-file and repository.

6. Fixed TimeLine alerts using a custom rule script not to take a snapshot or log the event to flat file or repository on an alert reset event, if the "log alert on reset" checkbox was not set.

Release 8.82.2602

1. Maintenance script generator now uses 'reorg rebuild' on all tables (APL and DOL) on ASE 15.0 and higher.

2. Fixed failure to log indication of use of default template when starting a capture session via command-line.
Added separate warning if capturing is started using a non-default template.

3. Fixed TimeLine ASE Transaction Duration alert and ASE Open Transactions Count alert to ignore secondary truncation point used by Replication Server, which was causing invalid or excessively long-duration transactions to be reported. Also changed the alert message for this alert to fit on one line, for easier readability when combining alert instances into a single message.

4. Fixed a problem causing the flat-file restriction warning to incorrectly trigger when using performance-based alerts but not saving performance data.

5. Added new TimeLine Sybase IQ User Connections Percentage alert.

6. Added new TimeLine Rep Server Partition Growth Rate alert.

7. Added on-line context-sensitive help for the Queue Manager window. Fixed some problems in handling of F1 and Shift+F1 keys for context-sensitive help.

8. Fixed incorrect threshold value reported in the stock alert message for the ASE Transaction Duration alert.

9. Fixed overflow error that could occur when saving SQL-based alerts to the repository.

10. O/S Filesystem alerts now always ignore filesystems that are not reported by the O/S as hard disk volumes.

11. Fixed an overflow error that could occur when gathering Sybase IQ transaction data.

12. Fixed a failure to pass alert metric values to scripts and custom messages when handling alert reset events on multi-instance alert types.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

13. Fixed a failure in the Loader exception handling that could fail to log a stack trace if an exception occurred.

14. Fixed a crash that could occur on AIX if a database timeout or certain other error conditions were detected.

Release 8.82.2601

1. Fixed black rectangles that would appear in the Alerts configuration dialog when running the Console on a display with 16-bit color depth (as is typically done with Remote Desktop or Terminal Server sessions).

2. Added new @demo and @demoall custom message tokens which output examples of all the supported tokens, or all the tokens supported by the current alert, respectively.

3. Fixed failure to report errors such as out-of-memory in certain cases during processing of TimeLine alerts.

4. Added custom message tokens for the remaining SQL attributes for SQL transaction-based alerts, including timing metrics, network performance values, etc.

5. Fixed potential failure in generating alert O/S script temporary files, which would also cause alert environment variables not to get set.

6. Fixed incorrect triggering of the SQL Capture Average Service Level and SQL Capture Avg. Trans Per Minute alert types, which would result in failure to retrigger the alert a second time, or triggering the alert too many times.

7. Added new Sybase IQ versioning alerts based on active version size created and destroyed and other version size (in MB/GB/etc.), to complement the existing alerts which are based on the percentage of main store size.

8. Fixed failure to process Sybase ASE Transaction Duration, Open Transaction Count and Database Status alerts when space usage performance data gathering was turned off.

9. Added support for newer filesystems including 'ext4' in Linux O/S filesystem monitoring.

10. Fixed a bug preventing the "-rep" Agent command-line syntax from working.

11. Added support for using Rep Server disk partition alerts without saving disk partition performance data to flat file or repository.

12. Alert custom message help pop-up now only lists custom message tokens that are supported for the selected alert type.

13. New menu commands to locate in TimeLine and open new TimeLine window by filtering on FID and blocked-on SPID columns.

14. Fixed an incorrect error message if loading alert data from the repository failed, for example if the repository became full while writing an alert record.

15. Fixed an assert that could occur during capturing of SQL on connections that were in progress when the capture session was started.

16. Fixed a crash that could occur when an out-of-sync condition occurred during capturing.

17. Fixed a graph control bug that would cause a "hang" or high CPU usage when an invalid data point was added.

18. Minor performance improvement to processing of alerts/reports/exports during capturing.

19. Fixed failure to clean up temporary files when executing a self-monitoring O/S script on a local or remote Agent.

20. Custom notification messages are now sent to local and remote Agents when executing a self-monitoring O/S script.

21. Fixed incorrect metric values shown in stock or custom alert messages for timed retriggering of TimeLine alerts.

22. Added formatted metric and threshold custom alert message tokens, which display values in KB/MB/GB, minutes/seconds, etc., as appropriate for each TimeLine alert type. Added a number of other custom tokens for TimeLine and SQL summary-based alerts.

23. Added 'fid' column to lock snapshot for Sybase ASE versions that support it (11.5 and higher).

Release 8.82.2600

1. The ASE process snapshots now include the following new information on each process, on ASE versions that support each field:

- fid (worker process family id, available in 11.5 and higher)

- tempdb space usage for the process (available in 15.0.2 and higher)

- transaction isolation level (available in some 15.0.2 versions, and 15.0.3 and above)

- client TCP port (available in 15.5 and higher)

2. Generic TimeLine alerts now support alert reset actions, as do other alert types when using a custom rule script.

3. SQL-based alerts can now generate e-mail notifications using a stock or custom message. Custom message tokens are limited in this version, but will be expanded later.

4. Middle-tier Agents can now automatically restart SQL Capture / TimeLine monitoring on their registered servers when a Daylight Savings Time (DST) or Summer Time time change is detected. This fixes incorrect captured SQL timestamps and other times shown after the time change.

5. Self-monitoring of capture sessions and DST auto-restarting can now be optionally disabled globally and per-server, and will now only restart capturing if a prior session was in progress and had failed, not if the capture was manually stopped.

6. Added support for ##WST_SET_ALERT_MESSAGE## token, so a custom rule script can change the default alert message which is logged, sent in the e-mail notification and passed to the O/S script.

7. Fixed alert O/S script execution to work properly when using a custom rule script; previously the O/S script would execute on every check interval; now it only executes when the alert becomes triggered (or when it clears, if enabled).

8. Fixed a bug that could cause an incorrect database context to be shown for a connection that was already established when a capture session was started.

9. Fixed failure to report errors such as out-of-memory in certain cases during processing of TimeLine alerts.

10. Fixed failure to automatically enable gathering of ASE segment space usage data when using one or more space usage-based alerts.

11. Fixed to skip self-monitoring Turbo Agent checks on servers not configured to use a Turbo Agent.

12. Fixed a bug that may have caused a bogus duration in the Sybase IQ Long Running Transaction alert.

13. Improved message logging for failures to execute a local or remote O/S script as a result of a self-monitoring event.

14. Fixed a bug preventing the "-rep" Agent command-line syntax from working.

15. Session ID wildcard is now supported in the directory name field for flat-file (archive) export definitions. This helps reduce the number of files per directory when performing continuous long-term monitoring.

16. Enabled file-size limit of 100MB by default for all export types; removed unnecessary default file extension; set up alert/snapshot export to run 'gzip' by default.

17. Added "None" choice when defining backup self-monitoring Agent.

18. Fixed a Console bug that could cause high CPU usage and/or Console "hangs" while loading or displaying graph data in TimeLine. This would typically occur on ASE servers having a large number of disk devices or databases.

19. Fixed potential "results pending" message that could occur in certain cases when gathering Sybase IQ status or transaction data, and added diagnostic data for these cases.

20. Fixed TimeLine "find by Login ID" popup menu command that wasn't working.

Release 8.80.2547

1. Fixed a bug that skipped the prompt for the alert name when creating a global TimeLine Generic alert.

2. Fixed a problem that could cause spurious Sybase IQ long-running transaction alerts to be logged with incorrectly high durations.

Release 8.80.2546

1. Fixed incorrect decoding of NULL and empty-string parameter values on Microsoft SQL Servers.

Release 8.80.2545

1. Removed 255-character column length limitation in the Data Miner's query results tab.

2. Fixed potential crash or truncated data when copying list/grid control contents to the clipboard or exporting to file.

3. More improvements to capturing engine to reduce decoder pause times when using decoder threads.

4. Fixed "results pending" error in Data Miner after a previous query had returned an overflow error.

5. Added more environment variables passed to self-monitoring O/S scripts, to indicate which Agent detected the event.

6. Fixed a middle-tier Agent crash that could occur when executing a self-monitoring O/S script failed.

Release 8.80.2544

1. Improved synchronization and concurrency for flat-file export processing to improve throughput of decoder threads and reduce packet dropping.

2. Reworked handling of certain status update code, for better decoder thread performance and concurrency.

3. Reworked storage of session, SQL, login and other data for better decoder thread performance and concurrency.

4. Self-monitoring functions can now execute a script against a local or remote Agent in response to any failures that are detected.

5. Fixed a bug that caused generation of empty *.tlperf flat files when performance data was not being saved.

6. Fixed a bug that could cause duplicate SQL or login records to get written to flat files, using extra space unnecessarily.

7. Fixed a bug that could cause a login record not to be saved, if saving to repository and the repository database went offline and then came back online.

8. Fixed possible incorrect login details that could be reported on pre-existing logins, when using decoder threads. This also fixes a crash that could occur when stopping the capture session.

9. Fixed a problem that could cause "User Defined" instead of the actual segment name to appear in the DB Space tab in TimeLine for Sybase ASE servers using named segments. This would also cause Warehouse Loader "Unexpected Temp-DB Data" errors when trying to process this data.

10. Added per-server option to enable/disable self-monitoring of Turbo Agent and running capture session.

11. Fixed self-monitoring informational messages to be sent as regular priority e-mail notifications, not high priority.

12. Fixed incorrect packets-dropped count that could occur when using multiple sniffer threads.

13. Fixed rare cases where child process output could be truncated when reporting a script/command failure on an alert, export, etc.

14. Fixed ISQL window to skip compute row results instead of issuing an error message, until we add support for displaying compute results.

15. Fixed 255-character truncation of custom alert messages, and fixed incorrect handling of '@' and '@@' tokens.

16. Several speed improvements to loading performance graph data in the Console.

17. Fixed failure to report errors in saving the login data cache file when stopping a capture session; would cause "<Unknown>" login fields to appear in the next capture session.

18. Fixed garbage characters that could be introduced in RTF-format clipboard data, when copying text from a rich-edit control in ProActive DBA (e.g. from the ISQL window).

19. Fixed failure to propagate the SQL text to the New Task dialog, when scheduling a SQL script from the ISQL window.

20. Added error message for Console startup failures due to low resources, instead of exiting with no message.

21. Fixed failure to draw pie charts and legend boxes in some cases on Windows 7 systems, in the Database Information dialog.

22. Broke out middle-tier Agent self-monitoring controls to new Monitoring tab in the Agent Configuration -> Advanced dialog.

23. Removed unneeded server type indicator from Warehouse/Archive Manager window title.

24. TimeLine DB Stats list for MS SQL Server sorts by descending file size by default.

25. Enabled Custom Rule option and TimeLine Generic alert type for Global Alerts. This currently requires that a shared directory be used on all server-side Agents that will use these alerts, in order for the custom rule scripts to be propagated to all the Agents.

26. Fixed truncation of line text at 255 characters when exporting list/grid control items to file or to copying to the clipboard.

Release 8.80.2543

1. Fixed syntax error in executing user SQL scripts on non-SQL-based alerts, and timed snapshots.

2. Changed WST_ALERT_SEVERITY environment variable, ##WST_ALERT_SEVERITY## script token and @v custom message token all to report the alert severity indicator, without a "reset" indicator. The reset indicator is still available via the WST_ALERT_RESET environment variable, @wst_alertreset SQL script variable and the @r custom message token.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

1. Fixed truncation error that could occur when gathering configuration data from a Microsoft SQL Server which is part of a Windows domain.

Release 8.80.2542

1. Added Sybase Replication Server replication latency alert.

2. Added Sybase Replication Server partition usage alerts (a per-partition alert, and a total partition space alert).

3. Fixed incorrect memory (RAM) and paging space (swap space) shown in the TimeLine O/S tab for AIX 6 systems.

4. Fixed a problem causing alert threshold values over 4GB to get truncated, affecting the O/S Filesystem Free Space alert, Sybase IQ file size alerts and Sybase ASE Database Segment Free Space alert.

5. In the alert Actions tab, the Custom Message option is now enabled regardless of whether an e-mail notification is being sent, since the custom message may be used by an O/S script.

6. Added @dn, @p, @p1, @i, @v custom alert message tokens.

7. Fixed Sybase ASE database segment space alerts to enable the proper performance gathering modes.

8. Alert reset actions now preserve the original alert severity, as indicated in the TimeLine alert list indicator, WST_ALERT_SEVERITY environment variable, etc.

9. Added WST_SQLDBCONTEXT environment variable in alert O/S scripts, and @wst_sqldbcontext variable in alert SQL scripts, to report the current database context of the alerted-on SQL statement.

10. Fixed rare Agent crash that could occur during capturing on Solaris platforms.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

1. Added Warehouse Loader option to override Sybase client SQL.INI / 'interfaces' file location.

2. Fixed missing error message detail in a few cases in the Loader where invalid flat file records were read.

Release 8.80.2541

1. Improvements to capture engine performance and throughput when using multiple decoder threads.

2. Added support for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

3. Fixed incorrect yellow checkmark "dropped packet" indicator that could be shown on SQL captured under heavy traffic conditions.

4. Added workaround for client library bug that could cause Agent crashing and/or memory corruption when monitoring an IQ 15.x server.

Release 8.80.2540

1. Fixed Console crash that could occur when exporting to HTML a Top N SQL or other report containing long SQL statement text.

Release 8.80.2539

1. Console now displays client library DLL load dependency errors, to aid in diagnosing connectivity problems.

2. Fixed another rare case that could cause an Agent crash during a capturing out-of-sync condition.

3. Added option to increase capture buffer size used by Linux agents.

Release 8.80.2538

1. TimeLine alerts now automatically enable the performance monitoring options required by each defined and enabled alert, when starting or dynamically updating a capture session. Only the performance data requested by the user will be saved to repository or flat file.

2. Fixed a bug that could cause repeated database or O/S performance samples to be gathered, if there had previously been a delay in gathering performance data due to a database timeout, etc.

3. Added "Multi-Instance Actions" checkbox, which causes multiple-instance alert types to perform the configured alert actions once per alerted-on instance (e.g. full database segment, down Rep Server thread, or full O/S filesystem, depending on the alert type).

4. Added WST_ALERT_INSTANCE environment variable to O/S scripts triggered by multi-instance alerts, and corresponding @wst_alert_instance SQL variable for SQL scripts. Custom alert message "@i" token expands to the instance name in custom e-mail notification messages.

5. Fixed Sybase ASE connection resource alerts not to count system processes in the "used" count, so the alerts trigger at the correct threshold now.

6. Added Sybase ASE Rep Agent Status alert, which alerts when a configured Rep Agent thread in ASE is down.

7. Fixed an Agent crash that could occur if a dynamic alert update failed.

8. Fixed incorrect reported alert count that could be shown for sessions in the Open Session dialog.

9. The O/S Process Count Above / Below alerts now operate as single-instance alerts. This fixes the O/S Process Count Below alert's failing to trigger when there were no matching processes at all. Also added O/S Process Count Between and Not Between alerts.

10. Changed ASE resource metrics tokens (connections, locks, open databases/objects/indexes) so that each one has a count-based metric as well as a metric based on the percentage in use out of the maximum configured value.

11. TimeLine alerts now do not trigger until metrics samples have been gathered for the full alert averaging interval defined by the user.

12. Fixed possible incorrect triggering of Rep Server error log alerts on Unix platforms.

13. If using a custom alert e-mail message, the custom message is now logged with the alert to flat file or repository as well as being used in the e-mail message, if any.

14. Added ##WST_ALERT_THRESHOLD64## token for obtaining 64-bit threshold value used by O/S filesystem alerts.

15. Fixed incorrect metric value reported by ##WST_IQ_TEMP_IO_OUT_DIRTY## token.

16. More performance improvements to capturing when using multiple decoder threads.

17. Fixed incorrectly high O/S network traffic rates shown in TimeLine and Diagnostic Monitor on some Solaris 10 systems.

18. Fixed garbled output message that could occur on Sybase IQ error log-based alerts.

19. Fixed problems with TimeLine default custom rule script generation for several alert types.

20. Added display of loaded client library path and version in the Servers tab of the Console's Options dialog, to aid in diagnosing database server connectivity problems.

21. Added Console warning if using an older Microsoft SQL Server client version that does not support named instance connections.

22. Fixed case-sensitivity issue that could cause authentication failures when trying to send an SMTP e-mail notification on certain mail servers.

23. Performance improvement when loading and displaying large sets of TimeLine graph data in the Console.

24. Fixed WST_ALERT_ERRORCODE variable to be set on ASE Error Log Text and Error Log Space Usage alerts (for SQL scripts and O/S commands/scripts executed by those alerts).

Release 8.80.2537

1. Fixed a problem that could cause unnecessary Agent CPU usage and dropped packets when capturing using multiple sniffer threads.

2. Fixed a problem in the ISQL window where it would fail to reconnect if the target server had been down and then came back up.

Release 8.80.2536

1. Minor enhancement to SQL Capture that could improve capture rate in heavy traffic conditions.

Release 8.80.2535

1. This version supports a new multi-threaded capture architecture on selected platforms (currently Solaris SPARC 64-bit and Solaris x64), for improved capture performance and reduced kernel packet dropping.

2. Fixed Sybase ASE database segment space usage monitoring and ASE process snapshot to ignore certain common error codes, such as when creating, extending or loading a database, or when a database is offline. Prevents repeated popup messages and event logs for these errors.

3. Fixed Sybase ASE resource monitoring not to include system processes in its used-connection count.

4. Fixed failure to report errors in Sybase ASE resource monitoring.

Release 8.80.2534

1. Fixed for an Agent crash that could occur when monitoring Replication Server thread data.

2. Fixed a crash that could occur in capturing of certain Microsoft SQL Server row data types.

3. Added Sybase resource usage monitoring for connections, locks and open databases/objects/indexes, with alerts and graphs in TimeLine.

4. Fixed a crash that could occur if a file was added to the Queue Manager with no command-line arguments.

5. Removed email options for timed snapshot in TimeLine configuration dialog.

6. Changed SQL Capture window to allow stopping a session when not viewing any session.

7. Fixed communication error that could result if an error occurred in requesting a dynamic capture update.

8. Added "Used %" column to Rep Server disk partition list in TimeLine.

Release 8.80.2533

1. Performance optimization to memory allocation in SQL capturing.

2. Fixed a crash in the Queue Manager window when trying to view history on a corrupt file.

3. Fixed a rare crash in the Queue Manager window when displaying items.

4. Fixed an assert in the Warehouse Agent that could occur when trying to process a file with missing command-line arguments.

Release 8.80.2532

1. Fixed crash that could occur when executing an O/S or SQL script as a result of an alert reset action.

2. Added new custom alert e-mail message tokens for alert threshold and metric values.

Release 8.80.2531

1. Added additional diagnostics and statistics gathering for multiple sniffer threads.

Release 8.80.2530

1. Fixed a problem causing middle-tier self-monitoring not to perform the configured checking.

Release 8.80.2529

1. Fixed a problem causing alerts to incorrectly and repeatedly trigger or reset after a dynamic update.

Release 8.80.2528

1. Fixed a few error conditions in error log monitoring so they do not stop the capture session.

2. Added option to override Sybase client SQL.INI / 'interfaces' file location in the Console and Agent.

3. Fixed failure to log failures in certain cases when sending SMTP e-mail notifications.

4. Minor user interfaces fixes and improvements to the Manage Captures dialog.

5. Fixed a few self-monitoring informational messages (e.g. Agent back on-line, capture back on-line), which were incorrectly logged as errors.

6. Fixed incorrect SMTP authentication settings that could be used when using the SMTP e-mail test function.

Release 8.80.2527

1. Added option to threshold-based alerts to perform alert actions when the alert condition clears (resets) in addition to when it is triggered. These are indicated by a new icon in the TimeLine alerts list.

2. New Replication Server down threads alert replaces the old count-based alert types, and gives details on the Rep Server threads which have gone down. Alerts can be triggered by individual threads, or by a server/database combination whose replication has gone down. These alerts now include a time-delay option, which causes the alert not to trigger until the relevant thread(s) have been down for a specified length of time.

3. New Sybase IQ error log space usage alert triggers on out-of-space and similar conditions logged to the Sybase IQ message log.

4. The Console now automatically supplies % symbols around error log filter strings.

5. Added option to specify a custom message string for alerts.

6. Fixed a bug that could cause a Unix-based Agent to shut down when stopping a capture session timed out.

7. Reworked Queue Manager configuration dialog for improved ease-of-use. Added setting for maximum number of running jobs, and option to turn off batching on failed files (the latter is off by default now).

8. Fixed errors due to empty result sets when monitoring Sybase Replication Server.

9. Fixed errors in gathering memory statistics on Replication Server 12.6.

10. Added detection of down Agent capture thread; this triggers stopping the capture, so that the problem can be detected by external scripts and/or middle-tier self-monitoring. Also fixed inability to stop or restart the capture if the capture thread had crashed.

11. Added list of down Replication Server threads in the Summary page in TimeLine.

12. Added options to increase alert governor limits per alert instance and for the entire capture session.

13. Fixed a problem in error log space usage alert pattern-matching that could fail to trigger or exclude an alert using multiple include/exclude database or segment patterns.

14. Fixed a problem causing repository "ping" test to be done too often when using error log alerts and saving alert/snapshot data to the repository instead of flat-files.

15. Fixed a problem that could cause TimeLine alerts using a custom rule script to "oscillate" or trigger incorrectly when performance metrics were not available.

16. Added @wst_alertreset and WST_ALERT_RESET variables to SQL and O/S scripts, respectively, triggered by alerts.

17. Fixed a problem causing dynamic alerts generated via the WST_ALERT token to be issued as Generic SQL alerts; now the original alert type that executed the dynamic alert script is used.

18. New Replication Server snapshot modes for Top N statements and Top N users.

19. Fixed problems in error log monitoring/alerting when the server's error log file was truncated.

20. Improvements to the fix in build 2526 for handling capturing of improperly ordered TCP packets.

21. Rep Server threads-down graphs now use "no slope" display option.

22. Fixed crash that could occur when opening a SQL Capture / TimeLine window for a Sybase Replication Server.

23. Fixed a spurious error message that could occur when trying to start or stop a capture from the Server Manager window.

24. Improved performance when selecting an alert or snapshot with a large Replication Server queue snapshot.

25. Fixed incorrect process snapshot column data for older SQL Server 2000 versions.

26. Fixed column that could fail to appear in the Stored Procedure - Most Frequently Executed report in SQL Capture.

27. Fixed errors or crash that could occur when the default printer in Windows was not set, or the printer driver did not respond correctly when trying to initialize printing.

28. Fixed Global Alerts dialog to report some error conditions in updating running capture sessions, which were not caught previously.

29. "Update Captures" dialog was renamed to "Manage Captures" to reflect the additional functions it now performs.

30. Console no longer prompts to start the Messenger service in Windows.

31. Improved formatting of tables with SQL text spanning multiple lines in various Console reports and in Replication Server queue snapshot "Top N" reports.

Release 8.80.2526

1. Fixed a rare crash that could occur during capturing of MS SQL Server cursor-based traffic.

2. Added workaround for a rare crash that could occur during capturing of out-of-order TCP packets.

3. Fix to show NULL parameters on MS SQL Server cursor-based insert statements. These could previously report parameter decoding errors in some cases.

Release 8.80.2525

1. Added support for processing data from a Microsoft SQL Server into a Sybase IQ warehouse on Unix.

Release 8.80.2524

1. Several performance improvements for reduction in decode pause times when using decoder threads.
2. Fixed failure to capture certain Oracle SQL statements.
3. Improved diagnostic information on packet capturing times.
4. Fixed incorrect Sybase and non-Sybase O/S CPU percentages in TimeLine on IQ 15 servers.
5. Fixed failure to trigger O/S Physical Memory Utilization alert.
6. Fixed TimeLine errors when monitoring an IQ server that does not have a console log file configured.
7. Fixed ##WST_OS_RAM_USED## and ##WST_OS_RAM_USED_PERCENT## tokens in custom alert SQL scripts to work properly.

Release 8.80.2523

1. Fixed crash that could occur if error log alerts were dynamically added to a capture session that did not have them previously.
2. Added ASE Database Status alert, which reports when a database is offline, marked suspect or has a corrupt page.
3. Fixed rare crash that could occur when shutting down a Windows-based Agent.
4. Agents now automatically shut down if the listener thread/process is no longer running.
5. Fixed a bug causing certain global alert settings to be dropped when saving them to a Microsoft SQL Server repository.
6. Reworked alert reset modes to be more self-explanatory: "Normal" mode now automatically sets and clears the alert when the alert condition is met or goes away. "Automatically retrigger" will repeatedly trigger the alert periodically, as long as the alert condition stays met.
7. Added support for Replication Server queue data snapshots in summary (Top-N SQL statements) or detailed modes.
8. Renamed and standardized alert names across all database types, to simplify the names and clarify the meanings of a few of the alerts.
9. Fixed crash that could occur in processing ASE space usage alerts.
10. Added option to report informational error log entries in Replication Server error log alerts. Also added coverage for thread-crash reports under the Fatal entry type selection.
11. Added new alert O/S and SQL script variables to report the parameters of error log-based alerts.
12. Fixed SQL Capture to report RPC stored procedure calls where not all of the parameters could be displayed.
13. Fixed more decoding errors in SQL2008 return sets with multiple NULL values.

Release 8.80.2522

1. Added support for Replication Server thread and queue snapshots, triggered by alerts or timed snapshots. Alert snapshot actions now reside on their own tab, which has a new format for Replication Servers. Also, the Snapshot tab has been reworked to more closely resemble the alert Action and Snapshot tabs.
2. Self-monitoring code now supports monitoring Turbo Agent up/down status and server capture status; will automatically restart capturing on a server if it's found not to be running. The monitoring is done on the middle-tier Agent, and it sends e-mail notifications for any monitored server/agent state changes.
3. Added alerts for Sybase ASE and Sybase IQ on oldest transaction duration and number of open transactions.
4. Added new Update Capture dialog, for starting, stopping or dynamically updating capture sessions on one or multiple servers at a time.
5. Added support for increased kernel buffer size on Solaris, which can help reduce kernel-level packet dropping in heavy-traffic conditions.
6. Fixed wrong timestamps that could be reported for TimeLine error log alerts (the dates would be off by one day).
7. Fixed snapshot error on SQL Server 2000 servers having a database name containing a space, dot or certain other special characters.
8. Fixed failure in some cases to trigger error log alerts on Replication Server, where a DSI EXEC or certain other thread types were involved.
9. Fixed a bug that prevented detection of duplicate alert names from working.
10. Fixed a bug causing the global alert "duplicate" function to create the new copy as a local alert.
11. Fixed incorrect column layout in the TimeLine process snapshot listing for MS SQL Server 2000 SP0 through SP2 servers.
12. Fixed a bug causing error log alert include/exclude filters not to work properly.
13. Fixed spurious alert name validation errors when using keyboard shortcuts or in certain other rare cases.
14. Report "Save As" dialogs now use Explorer-style common dialog which show "Desktop," "My Documents," and other default locations.
15. Added support for flagging alert e-mail notifications as high priority for Microsoft Outlook email clients, which use a Microsoft-specific email format for the priority setting.
16. Fixed incorrect repeating of TimeLine performance-based alerts that could occur if the alert interval was less than the metrics-gathering interval.

Release 8.80.2521

1. Fixed missing override status indicator on alerts that had local changes.

2. Fixed rare Console crash that could occur when a new middle-tier Agent has been joined into the enterprise.

3. Fixed a rare Agent crash that could occur during a capturing out-of-sync condition.

Release 8.80.2520

1. Fixed Agent crash that could occur when using the Error Log Viewer window against a Sybase Replication Server.
2. Applying Global Alerts now occurs dynamically, without having to restart the monitoring session. In the user interface, this is now called an "update" to the running capture session.
3. Rep Server latency graphs now reflect latency measurements in real-time. Also fixed a problem in associating latency information when a long-running replication failure had occurred, as well as a problem in gathering latency metrics on warm-standby database pairs.
4. Fixed a problem in monitoring space usage in database files over 2GB in size, on Microsoft SQL Server 2000 servers.
5. Added support for tracking Rep Server disk partition usage per stable queue.
6. Updated report save dialog to use Explorer-style dialog. Also fixed an error in exporting a report to a file in the root directory of a drive, and fixed the keyboard accelerator for the export function.
7. Added new alert type for long-running blocking conditions affecting at least a specified number of users.
8. Added several new alerts types for Replication Server, for alerting on cache usage, memory usage, threads down, and replication latency.
9. Fixed incorrect alert name shown in list when renaming an alert.
10. Fixed a bug causing the RSSD server list to be populated with incorrect server types, when registering a Sybase Replication Server.
11. Fixed failure in the Table Scan Analyzer to resolve the names of table-scanned tables on ASE 15.x servers.
12. Standardized separator characters used in defining TimeLine database/segment space alerts and error log space alerts. A colon (:) character is now used everywhere, and the backslash (\) character is no longer supported. Existing alert definitions will need to be updated to conform to this.
13. More fixes for capture errors in SQL2008 return sets with multiple NULL values.

Release 8.80.2505

1. Added support for bigdatetime and bigtime data types in SQL Capture.
2. Fixed Agent crash that could occur when capturing MSSQL prepared statements with long SQL text.
3. Fixed truncated captured SQL text that could occur in certain cases on Microsoft SQL Servers.
4. Fixed capture errors in return sets having multiple NULL values on SQL Server 2008 servers.
5. Added Replication Server latency performance graphs, and total thread count and thread-down graphs.
6. Added ability to dynamically update TimeLine alert definitions (from local changes or application of global alerts), without having to restart the capture session.
7. Support for alerting on low-space notifications in Replication Server error log.
8. Added INI file entry to limit number of simultaneous running jobs in the Queue Manager.
9. Added new alert types for down Replication Server threads.
10. Added options to specify error log entry types for qualifying Replication Server error log alerts.
11. Fixed a bug causing the "Set Current Point-in-Time" menu command in TimeLine graphs not to update the alert/snapshot list selection.
12. Fixed spurious dropped-packet warning that could occur in the Console.
13. Fixed incorrect Console session updating that could occur in rare cases where a capture session was stopped and restarted quickly.
14. Added workaround for a problem with certain anti-virus (AV) software, which causes our software to only be able to run one network capture session at a time on Windows systems.

Release 8.80.2504

1. SQL Capture supports improved threading model for network capture interfaces on certain platforms, to reduce packet dropping at the kernel level.

Release 8.80.2503

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

1. Performance improvement to loading into IQ-based warehouse servers.

2. Fixed rare "warehouse inconsistency" warning that could occur when database users were dropped.

3. Added improved diagnostic information to diagnose warehouse server performance problems during loading.

Release 8.80.2502

1. Easier setup for capturing Solaris loopback traffic from within a non-global zone.
2. Fixed truncated captured SQL text that could occur in certain cases on Microsoft SQL Servers.
3. Added legend icons for global/local alert status.
4. SQL detail section in SQL Capture window now copies its contents to clipboard in RTF and text formats.

Release 8.80.2501

1. Initial version of Sybase Replication Server support, including basic SQL Capture, TimeLine performance metrics, the Server Error Log Viewer and the ISQL window.
2. User interface improvements to the Global Alerts definition and Apply dialogs, including support for deleting and renaming global alerts.
3. More improvements to error log alert processing, including support for alerting on out-of-space messages on Sybase ASE and Sybase IQ.
4. Sybase IQ error log alerting now supports triggering on message log and server log file entries.
5. Alerts configuration dialog includes icons to indicate global alerts, locally-modified alerts and alerts using temporary overrides.
6. Alert scripting options button and sub-dialog have been removed; use the Actions tab to specify all alert actions now.
7. Fixed wrong spinner range and direction in the Filters dialog for reports, exports, etc.
8. Added support for "longchar" and "longbinary" return types in the ISQL window (may not be supported on all Sybase DB-Library versions).

Release 8.80.2500

1. Improved capture performance and reduced thread contention when using multiple decoder threads.

2. Fixed a bug that caused the upgrade procedure to incorrectly install an Agent in a Console-only installation.

Release 8.70.2426

1. Fixed rare Agent crash if the target server became unregistered during monitoring.
2. Added @wst_sqltotalduration and WST_SQLTOTALDURATION variables in alert SQL and O/S scripts, respectively.
3. Fixed a rare memory overflow in AIX filesystem monitoring, on systems having a very small number of filesystems.
4. Fixed a small but continuous memory leak in the Agent, when capturing of MSSQL wait-state performance data was enabled.
5. Added override for Sybase IQ message file path, for cases where IQ doesn't report it correctly.
6. Fixed a rare Agent crash that could occur when starting a capture session failed.
7. Added option to group Most Frequent SQL and Top N SQL reports by raw SQL text instead of standardized SQL text.
8. Fixed a rare Agent assertion that could occur when capturing Microsoft SQL Server data.
9. Fixed a problem causing Sybase IQ query plans to be displayed in text instead of HTML, when viewing them in an external Internet Explorer window.

Release 8.70.2425

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

1. Fixed crashing that could occur when using certain filtering syntax.
2. Removed requirement to have whitespace characters next to filter operators in text-based filter specification files.
3. Fixed permission error that could occur when loading data into a Sybase IQ 15.x warehouse.
4. Fixed possible crash due to NULL return value when loading security types table.

Release 8.70.2424

1. Fixed error in upgrading 32-bit Solaris-based Agents on Solaris 2.5.1 through 2.7 systems.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

2. Performance improvements when loading data into a Sybase IQ warehouse.

3. Added pattern recognition for constraint and index names, and temporary table column names.

Release 8.70.2423

1. Global Alerts Apply dialogs are included in this release, for deploying Global Alerts to servers and server groups.
2. Error log alerting is supported for the IQ server log and message log files, for text and error code alert types.
3. Error log space-usage alerts may be configured with no database/segment filter, to support alerting on segment-full conditions on any database/segment.
4. Fixed rare failure to restart a capture session on Windows-based servers, which would result in an error stating the capture was already in progress.
5. The Queue Manager will no longer batch files together if they contain different types of data (SQL/login data, performance data or alert/snapshot data).
6. Reduced graphical resource usage in alerts configuration dialog.
7. Fixed rare excessive CPU usage that could occur while executing performance monitoring queries, when using decoder threads.
8. Flat files are now closed after even time-of-day boundaries when closing files every N minutes/hours.

Release 8.70.2422

1. Added improved diagnostic information for certain Agent repository failures.

2. Fixed failure to release loopback driver handle on Solaris that could occur if an alert/export O/S script or process stalled, causing subsequent failures to start a capture session.

Release 8.70.2421

1. Fixed incorrect physical memory and/or swap space sizes reported on AIX 6.1 systems.
2. Slight reduction in CPU usage when using many alert definitions in a SQL Capture / TimeLine session.

3. Added support for defining temporary alert overrides, for modifying alert settings automatically during a predefined date/time range.

4. Initial release of database error log alerting; supports alerting based on text patterns, error codes or database segment-full conditions on Sybase ASE servers.
5. Fixed failure of Unix-based agents to preserve captured login details when restarting a SQL Capture session, if the Agent was started from a different working directory than on its previous start.
6. Added option to display 'create proc' and temporary procedure executions produced by dynamic SQL statements.

7. New "Actions" alert settings tab fixes user-interface bugs and allows setting of alert actions across multiple alerts at one time.
8. Fixed possible conversion error or duplicate-key errors in Data Miner when querying SQL text columns against a Sybase IQ warehouse.
9. Minor user-interface improvements to Warehouse configuration page in Configure Agent -> Advanced dialog.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Added optional increased timeout value for potentially long-running steps such as bulk inserts, large updates, deletes, etc.
2. Performance improvements in analyzing and saving SQL detail and/or snapshot data on Unix platforms.
3. Database object surveys are done at isolation level zero, to avoid blocking/timeouts while other tables, index,es etc. are being created.
4. Miscellaneous error handling improvements and fixes.
5. Fixed rare "database inconsistency" warning that could occur due to out-of-order saving of survey data.
6. Fixed errors that could occur in saving security type or performance type information when using Open Client 15.x versions.

Release 8.70.2420

1. Fixed incorrect capture session start time shown in SQL Capture status bar area, when the capture session was started via command-line.
2. Command-line -startcapture function now uses server's default template if no template is specified. The new -default option may also be used to explicitly specify this (and to avoid problems if inadvertently running against an older Agent version that doesn't support it).
3. Added Console server right-click menu command to start a monitoring session using the server's default capture template, without opening a SQL Capture / TimeLine window. This and the stop-capture command are now allowed to be attempted even when the server status is unknown.
4. Added TimeLine alerts for "O/S process count above/below" conditions.
5. Surrounding quotes are automatically stripped from performance metric alert token parameters in custom TimeLine alerts.
6. Fixed assertion that could occur when an incorrect number of parameters was supplied to a custom performance metric alert token.
7. Added diagnostics to identify cause of rare capture stopping issue on AIX.
8. Fixed failure to time out when sending an email notification from an Agent, if the SMTP server was hung or never responded.
9. Fixed rare crash on Unix-based Agents that could occur if a child process exited as its parent process was also shutting down.
10. Fixed failure in rare cases to identify master device path when registering an ASE server.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
11. Fixed loader not to create SQL/table patterns starting with a digit, and it skips loading old patterns of this type from the warehouse.
12. Improved performance of the loader when a large number of identifier patterns are in use.

13. Fixed crash that could occur when a surveyed database was referenced that had no user entries.

Release 8.70.2419

1. Improvements to efficiency of internal locking mechanism when multiple decoder threads are used.
2. Added diagnostic information to help locate capture slowdown when using decoder threads.

Release 8.70.2418

1. Added support for copying a base Console configuration file to a new Console user's local directory, in Citrix and Terminal Server environments.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Fixed incorrect skipping of SQL detail processing that could occur when using wildcards on the command-line.
2. Added diagnostic information for data access library problems.

Release 8.70.2417

1. Fixed garbled database context that could appear on captured SQL.
2. Fixed capture Agent bottleneck resulting in high "pause" times when using multiple decoder threads.
3. Fixed crash that could occur when saving Agent diagnostic data.

Release 8.70.2416

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Fix to prevent errors due to loading invalid character data into Sybase IQ warehouse databases.

Release 8.70.2415

1. Added Server Groups feature, for user-defined multi-level server grouping.

2. Fixed error in starting Console after performing an upgrade, on Windows 7 systems.

3. Added support for environment variables in the Console configuration file path, temporary file path and TimeLine bookmark file path.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Added tempdb table tracking control.
2. Made cardinality improvements related to table aliases.
3. Enhancements to reduce memory requirements during loading/analysis process.
4. Minor improvements to pruning.

Release 8.70.2414

1. Improvements to capture performance on large SMP systems.
2. Added TimeLine alert on database segment space usage percentage and database segment free space.

Release 8.70.2412

1. Fixed incorrect duration passed to alert SQL and O/S scripts via the WST_SQL_DURATION variable.
2. Fixed incorrect sorting of size/space columns in the Data Miner's results grid.
3. Fixed rare crash when capturing using decoder threads.
4. Added option to capture on interfaces not marked 'up'.
5. Added improved capture timing metrics for diagnosing low capture rates.
6. Fixed assert that could occur when capturing certain connection information on Oracle servers.
7. Fixed "exclude incomplete SQL" option for SQL-based alerts, to exclude pending (still-executing) SQL instead of SQL that were not captured completely (the latter type is not excluded now).
8. Added TimeLine alert for operating system filesystem space usage; added gathering of O/S filesystem space-usage data, when one or more filesystem alerts are being used. By default, gathers data on local hard disk filesystems unless specific filesystems of other types are requested.
9. Improvements to capturing of certain binary and XML parameter types on ASE and MS SQL Servers, and in capturing of certain ODBC SQL parameters. Fixed capturing of precision/scale values on decimal and numeric types on ASE and IQ servers.
10. Fixed a problem in capturing SQL for certain dynamic cursor operations on ASE servers.

11. Fixed incorrect capturing of default pararameter values to stored procedures on MSSQL servers.

Release 8.70.2411

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Added option to change prune batch size.

Release 8.70.2410

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Fixed crash that could occur when table names containing brackets were being processed.

Release 8.70.2409

1. Fixed incorrect "Failed to retrieve all performance information groups" error that could occur when monitoring performance metrics on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or 2000 servers.
2. Fixed mouse-hover tooltip not to move dynamically in MSSQL Wait Statistics tab in TimeLine.
3. Fixes to remove delays when closing the Console and one or more Agents in the enterprise are inaccessible.
4. Fixed TimeLine network transmit/receive bytes per second graph sets on Sybase IQ servers which were incorrectly reversed.
5. Fixed a few rare screen Console display glitches in table-based reports, report headings, etc.

Release 8.70.2408

1. Improved support for identifying preexisting connections when starting a SQL Capture session against ASE 15.5 or later server versions; existing connections should be correctly identified in virtually all cases on 15.5 or higher server versions now.
2. Added more filters to web-based Warehouse Reports; also fixed missing "processing" image while waiting for reports to process.
3. Fixed potential delays between evaluation license expiration pop-up notifications in the Console.
4. Added Top-N Most Frequently Executed Stored Procedure Report and DBM Activity Report to the web-based and Console-based Warehouse Reports and the Data Miner window.
5. Fixed long delay or apparent hang in the Console when loading very large task results text into the Task History dialog.
6. Fixed crash or error that would occur when trying to process a web-based Warehouse Report.

Release 8.70.2407

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Added -dbretry option to configure the number of IQ single-writer retries and the interval between retries.
2. Added support for tracking MOUNT/UNMOUNT DATABASE and BEGIN/COMMIT/ROLLBACK/SAVE TRAN[SACTION] commands as DBM activities.
3. Broke out DISK commands into separate codes for mapping to sysaudits events.
4. CHECKPOINT and QUIESCE activities now report which database was affected; REORG activity now tracks the affected table.
5. Fixed assert that could occur during identification of SQL identifier patterns.
6. Flat-file SQL text filter now operates on standardized SQL text instead of raw SQL text.

7. Fixed incorrect zero values shown in MS Reports version of Stored Procedure Comparison report.
8. Added tracking of SET and USE statements as DBM activities.
9. Fixed table names reported as "<?>" which could result from processing joins against temporary tables or against columns that could not be tracked to the joined table.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Reports Release 8.70.2707.1020025 (powered by Microsoft Reporting Services)
1. Bumped version number to match ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader.
2. Fixed incorrect zero values shown in MS Reports version of Stored Procedure Comparison report.

Release 8.70.2406
1. Fix to show Turbo Agent startup wizard instead of installation wizard, when editing a server's registration or registering a new server.
2. Fixed inability to edit server registration settings (including logon info) if the configured repository logon info was incorrect, or other repository errors occurred.
3. Fixed new-server registration and edit-registration functions to start the existing Turbo Agent on the registered server, if one is present, before attempting to install a new Agent binary.
4. Fixed incorrectly large engine-usage percentage and other values on the TimeLine database server main tab, when the monitored database server had been off-line or inaccessible for a long period of time.
5. Fixed rare Agent crash that could occur after the performance metrics flat file export had been suspended for a period of time and then started again.
6. Fixed failure to write MSSQL performance data with certain unusual combinations of monitoring options.
7. Fixed rare crash that could occur in retrieving license information from an Agent or when starting a SQL Capture session.
8. Fix to show scroll bars when necessary in the Data Miner window.
9. Fixed silent failure to capture data in Locks, Transactions, General and Cache tabs in TimeLine, for named SQL Server instances.
10. Fixed rare bug that could stop a capture session incorrectly with a "size of destination is less than size needed" error.
11. Reduced delays in Console when middle-tier agents are down or inaccessible.
12. Increased timeout duration when configuring ProActive Agents, to avoid timing out when a large number of servers are registered.

13. Added save/export options to Data Miner results list control.

Release 8.70.2405
1. Fixed error in 'dump tran' command that could occur against SQL Server 2008 monitored servers or repository servers.
2. Fixed missing part of e-mail notification when Queue Manager goes off-line due to an error.
3. Fixed rare Warehouse Agent crash that could occur while modifying queued items.
4. Fixed crash at Agent startup that would occur when upgrading old-format queue data files.
5. Fixed Queue Manager to consider execute-after time when deciding which files to batch together.
6. Modify function in the Queue Manager now reports an error if any of the items requested to be modified are already running.
7. Removed unneeded status dialog that could appear after modifying items in the Queue Manager.
8. Fixed incorrect resetting of Pruning job retry count and interval settings.
9. Fixed error in performing TimeLine process snapshot on Sybase IQ servers having very high transaction ID (TxnID) numbers.
10. Fixed missing Agent name/port in error message when connection to Warehouse Agent fails during loading of flat-file data.

11. Fixed rare Console crash that could occur on systems using East Asian character sets.

12. Turbo Agent installer builds status script to use /usr/bin/ps on Solaris systems, so the script works on systems that default to the Berkeley-compatible 'ps' version.

13. Added option to include SQL text with line numbers in showplan / statistics output in ISQL window.

Release 8.70.2404

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Added log truncation for MSSQL 2008 R2 transaction logs.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Reports Release 8.70.2704.1020024 (powered by Microsoft Reporting Services)
1. Bumped version number to match ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader.

Release 8.70.2403

ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader
1. Fix to treat problems in retrieving ASE warehouse 'truncate on checkpoint' setting as non-fatal.
2. Improvements to index structure on a few warehouse tables.

ProActive DBA Warehouse Reports Release 8.70.2403.1020023 (powered by Microsoft Reporting Services)
1. Fixed some minor issues when Sybase IQ is used as a PDW.

Release 8.70.2402
ProActive DBA Warehouse Loader

1. Added support for "no connection" for surveys.
2. Added table name pattern matching.
3. Enhanced Pruning of old ProActive DBA Warehouse data.
4. Added database-defined user/login role based filtering.
5. Various optimizations to improve loading and pruning performance.

Release 8.61.2401

1. Pruning jobs now appear in the Queue Manager window when a server filter is applied.
2. Removed warning about duplicate command jobs when adding a Pruning job.
3. Added option to include SQL batch text with I/O statistics information in ISQL window for ASE servers.
4. Fixed incorrect batching of deferred files in Queue Manager.
5. Fixed incorrect retry settings passed to Warehouse Agent when queueing files.
6. Fixed rare Agent failures in writing flat-file data.
7. Fixed failure to wait until the retry interval had elapsed, on TimeLine Alerts having an automatic retry interval defined.
8. Fixed incorrect block character that could show instead of the correct password character in password-style edit fields on certain systems using XP themes.
9. Added support for ##WST_EMAIL_OUTPUT## token, to cause alert SQL script output to be included in an e-mail notification sent by the alert; also added EMAIL_OUTPUT option to ##WST_ALERT## token, to include SQL script output in a dynamic alert's e-mail notification.
10. Fixed handling of repeated parameters used in certain language environments such as Embedded SQL/COBOL.
11. Fixed incorrect datatype length shown in captured SQL or stored proc parameter datatype information.

Release 8.61.2400

1. Added support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 installations; Console now supports visual theme styles on Windows 7, Vista and XP.
2. Fixed incorrect filtering by date/time in Console-based reports, when using a SQL Detail date/time filter as well.
3. Added SQL status "dropped packet" icon, which indicates that one or more packets were dropped while capturing that SQL statement.
4. Fixed inability to unregister Agents in the enterprise in certain cases.
5. Fixed Console failure to load real-time snapshot/alert updates when another data stream (SQL/logins or performance data) became suspended.
6. Fixed failure to report user temporary databases in Sybase ASE DBSpace tab in TimeLine, in certain cases.
7. Fixed failure to load some or all flat files in the selected date/time range when loading from an Archive Server.
8. Removed date/time controls from Console SQL Filter dialog, Console Reports dialog and elsewhere. Date/time filtering is now only done via the Open Session dialog, to avoid confusion and fix problems in Console report date/time filtering.
9. Added support for lock snapshots on IQ 15.0 through 15.1.
10. Added support for capturing UTF-16 Unicode SQL/cursor parameters and BLOB types on ASE, and "variant" and UDT data types on Microsoft SQL Server.
11. Bulk inserts and text/image writes on Sybase ASE and Microsoft SQL Server are now each reported as a single transaction instead of two; timing metrics, byte/packet counts, etc. are reported under the single transaction.
12. Fixed failure to capture JDBC prepared statement executions in certain cases on Microsoft SQL Server.
13. Improved identification of logon domain on captured SQL Server logins.

Release 8.60.2360

1. Fixed parsing error when using the IQ Monitor mode in TimeLine against an IQ 12.7 ESD7 or later server version.
2. Removed unnecessary prompt for master device path when registering Sybase ASE server versions 12.5.2 or higher.
3. Fixed Enter key to load the filename entered in the Server Error Log Viewer's toolbar combo box.
4. Fixed Error Log Viewer to correctly format older Sybase stack trace formats. Also now displays SPID for error log entries on Microsoft SQL Server error logs. Fixed incorrect icon display on certain error log entry types. Fixed incorrect File->Open menu command behavior.
5. Fix to reduce the likelihood of an out-of-memory condition when loading large amounts of SQL detail or performance data into the Console. Added better error description in this case.

Release 8.60.2359

1. Fixed "Open New Window" right-click menu command in TimeLine alert/snapshot list to use current point-in-time as the reference time if no alert/snapshot is selected (fixes Console assertion in this case also).

Release 8.60.2357

1. Added retries and diagnostic information when Queue Manager is unable to save data files.
2. Added "heartbeat" monitor for SQL Capture / TimeLine processes; the -showcapture command uses these to detect a hung SQL Capture session or failure to write to flat file streams or to the repository.
3. Fixed conversion error that could occur in processing DBSpace data on Sybase IQ servers.
4. Fixed incorrect timestamps in O/S and SQL Capture performance data that could occur if the repository went off-line for a long period of time.
5. Fixed wrong sorting in a few columns in the DB Space tab in TimeLine for Sybase ASE.

Release 8.60.2354

1. Initial release supporting Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.

2. Fixed setup error when installing an evaluation version to a directory other than the default.

3. Added priority setting when queueing files to the Warehouse/Archive Manager.

Release 8.60.2352

1. Added support for Windows 2008 server platforms.

2. Fixed lowered capture rate that could occur in certain network environments on Solaris.

3. Fixed incorrect failure message when retrieving capture status via Agent -showcapture command.

Release 8.60.2351

1. Fixed inability to execute scheduled SQL script tasks on IQ reader nodes. Also fixed missing error messages in this case.
2. Fixed Console warning about Oracle OCI DLL load failure that could appear even when the Oracle client library setting was disabled.
3. Fixed error in getting repository or warehouse database space info if an "alter database", dump/load, etc. was in progress.
4. Fixed error that could occur when saving SQL detail to the repository on 64-bit platforms.
5. Fixed incorrect error about target server connection when gathering O/S or SQL Capture performance statistics, which would result in the capture session stopping.
6. Fixed incorrect data and index space usage information shown in the Database Information window for ASE 15.x servers (pre-15.x servers could be affected too, for databases where duplicate index names exist).
7. Added toolbar buttons to ISQL window for text and grid results modes.
8. More performance improvements to loading of TimeLine graph data in the Console; memory usage is reduced somewhat when loading disk, engine and/or cache detail.
9. Fixed endless loop that could occur when trying to close the Task Scheduler window, if the ProActive Agent was inaccessible.
10. Fixed failure to filter by date/time properly when loading SQL Capture or TimeLine data.
11. Fixed incorrect error message or crash that could happen when specifying a UNC path for TimeLine flat files.
12. Fixed crash that could occur in the ISQL window if a query returned an unsupported data type.
13. Fixed missing error description when the Error Log Viewer window failed to locate the default server error log file.
14. Fixed incorrect sorting on several columns in the Running SQL list in TimeLine.
15. Fixed a Console crash that could occur while viewing a live session and sorting the SQL Detail list on the App Time column.
16. Fixed delay at start of loading flat file data into the Console, if the Warehouse Agent setting was enabled but no Warehouse Agent was configured.
17. Fixed incorrect or missing IP address field that could occur in process snapshots on Microsoft SQL Server.
18. Fixed a problem causing filesystem free-space threshold check not to work after a filesystem export had been suspended.
19. Fixed a rare case where low-free-space notifications could incorrectly get sent.
20. Fixed incorrect client timings and byte/packet counts shown in certain cases on MSSQL cursor queries.
21. Fixed a bug that could cause SQL not to be captured on ASE connections in certain situations where Unicode datatypes were used.
22. Fixed incorrect truncation of O/S script or process output logged by Queue Manager.
23. Fixed missing SQL parameter datatype information for certain types of ASE prepared statements.
24. Fixed crashing in capture Agent that could occur in certain cases on ASE servers.

Known Problems

Sybase Open Client 12.5.1

As of 12.5.1, DB-Library is no longer included on the Open Client Runtime CD. It is now located on the Open Client SDK CD. You can also download it from our web site at http://proactivedba.com/Support/index_open_client_runtime.htm.

Sybase Connect Timeout

Sybase DB-Library (through at least version 11.5) has a bug that, when using a database connect timeout of less than 60 seconds, can cause memory corruption to occur in any client application, including ProActive DBA. Because of this, we recommend using the standard timeout setting of 60 seconds (settable in the Console's Options dialog) to prevent application failures and/or crashes. Sybase has informed us that they are working to correct this problem (Case # 1032 9652).

International Operating System Support

Currently, only an English (U.S.) version of ProActive DBA is available. This release has been extensively tested on numerous international versions of Windows NT and Windows 95, and works properly on these versions. Depending on the fonts and display options you have selected, certain display elements in a few places in the program may not appear in the correct position. We expect to have this corrected in a future release.

Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I see all of the Frequently-Asked Questions?

A: Yes. Please visit http://proactivedba.com/faq

Q: I'm anxious to see all the great reports and screens in ProActive DBA! What's the quickest way?

A: Please review the Evaluation Guides and User's Manual.

Q: On which machine should I run the ProActive Agent?

A: It is best to run the ProActive Agent on the same machine as each SQL Server; this way, database analysis tasks run fastest and with the least network traffic, since all activity takes place on the local machine. However, since Unix versions of the ProActive Agent are not currently available, this option is only possible on Windows NT SQL Servers. Another option is to have each ProActive Agent handle multiple Unix or NT SQL Servers. This still gives good performance, up to five to ten SQL Servers per Agent, depending on the speed of the Agent machine and the size of the database servers assigned to it. Some Unix-only shops may not have an NT machine available, in which case the Agent can run on a Windows 95 system, although Windows 95 is not as secure a server platform as NT.

Q: What database should I use for the ProActive Agent repositories?

A: We recommend having all ProActive Agents in your enterprise share a single repository. This gives you the most flexibility in assigning SQL Servers to the ProActive Agents, and reassigning SQL Servers from one Agent to another at any time, since the repository information gathered on the servers will remain in the same place. You may, however, distribute the repository information across several servers (e.g. one repository database per group of ProActive Agents) or, at the extreme, give each ProActive Agent a separate repository database. The Agent repositories do not receive very heavy traffic, so a small NT SQL Server should suffice in most situations.

Q: What should I do if the program crashes or I encounter a bug?

A: White Sands Technology, Inc. strives to provide the highest quality software. Like our product name suggests, we too are very proactive about fixing bugs in our products. If you encounter any kind of abnormal program functionality or receive an application exception or assertion, please contact us immediately so we can open a case for it. Additionally, unlike most software products on the market, ProActive DBA is designed to catch program exceptions and to attempt automatic recovery. Sometimes, however, the exception is too severe and a Program Exception window is shown. Should you receive one of these Program Exception windows, it will give you the opportunity to continue program operation. Sometimes, it is possible to continue without further problems.

When a Program Exception occurs, a debug log file will be generated containing the memory address that caused the exception, a dump of the CPU registers, and a programmatic stack and code dump. ProActive DBA is very remarkable in that it generates this log file which assists us in diagnosing the problem. When most 3rd party applications cause an exception (commonly known as a GPF or UAE) due to a program bug, you will usually receive the standard Windows 98 or Windows NT exception dialog. This dialog provides very little information and is not usually useful to programmers in problem resolution. Since White Sands is very interested in learning about bugs and fixing them, our developers have gone to extremes in building this Crash Log to help them get as much information about where and why the bug occurred.

Should you encounter a bug, please e-mail us the details at support@whitesands.com and we'll open a case promptly. If you encounter a program crash, please follow the instructions here.

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