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ipMonitor Version 8 was released on July 19, 2006. If you already own ipMonitor 7.0 or ipMonitor 7.5 and your Service Plan is set to expire on or after July 19, 2006, your account is automatically "Version 8 Ready".

To help facilitate the upgrade process, your "Version 8 Ready" ipMonitor licenses are automatically "Parked". This is a courtesy we extend to all customers who had a valid Service Plan at the time of the ipMonitor 8 release.

To view your licenses, log in to http://support.ipmonitor.com and click the My Licenses link. The License Manager screen will look similar to the following:

Note: If you renewed a Service Plan that expired prior to July 19, 2006, your licenses will not be "Parked".

The "Parked" license status allows you to license an ipMonitor 8.0 installation on a separate machine while your existing version 7.x installation continues to run.

If at least one of your Service Plans is designated as "Version 8 Ready", you'll be able to download and install ipMonitor 8 from the ipMonitor Support Portal.

Note: In the event that your Service Plan has expired, send an email to renew@ipmonitor.com, or call 1.819.772.2076 to discuss renewal options. An Account Manager will be happy to assist you.

To download and install ipMonitor 8, proceed with the following:

1. Log in to http://support.ipmonitor.com using your existing account and password information.
2. Click the Downloads & Resources link.
3. Download the newest version of ipMonitor by clicking the download link located in the first section of the page.
4. Save the ipm8setup_xxxx.exe file to the machine that will host the new ipMonitor 8.0 installation.
5. Double-click ipm8setup_xxxx.exe to begin the install process.

ipMonitor's Backup and Restore capabilities make it easy to migrate your current settings from one installation to the other:

1. Log in to the ipMonitor 7.x Administration web interface.
2. Click the Automation menu option and select Maintenance Schedules, then click the Recurring ipMonitor Maintenance link.
3. Choose or create an Encryption Credential by clicking the Select... button. This is a necessary step in order to archive the Credentials Database.
4. Click the Backup Now button located on the menu bar, and save the resulting file on the ipMonitor 8 host machine. If this is not possible, you will need to manually transfer the file to the ipMonitor 8 system.

To restore the backup file created through the Internal Maintenance archiving process, proceed with the following:

1. Log in to http://support.ipmonitor.com using your existing account and password information.
2. Click the Downloads & Resources link.
3. Download the ipMonitor 8 Backup-Restore Utility.
4. Extract the contents of the ipm8restore.zip file to the location of your choice on the ipMonitor 8 host machine.
5. Double-click the ipm8restore.exe file to launch the ipMonitor Backup-Restore Utility, and follow the instructions provided to restore your configuration settings.

Note: This simple, automated method allows you to transfer your current ipMonitor 7 settings to the ipMonitor 8 installation. If you've used an Encryption Credential, your Credentials Database will also be restored.

Before proceeding with a manual migration, please note that when using this method, your Credentials Database will not be restored. You will need to re-configure each Credential manually.

First, ensure that you can answer the following questions:

• What account space is the "ipmonitor7" Service running under?
• What account name, password and usage restrictions are used by each Credential currently configured?

When you're ready to migrate your existing configuration settings to the new installation, proceed with the following:

1. Stop the "ipmonitor7" Service on the ipMonitor 7.x installation.
2. Stop the "ipmonitorsrv" Service on the ipMonitor 8.0 installation.
3. Copy the following folders, including any sub-folders and files, from the old installation to the new location:
   
   \config
   \db
   \historic
   \logs
   \state
   internal\mib_base.bxml *
4. Delete the following file from the new installation directory: \ipMonitor8\config\cred\credentials.db

* If a custom SNMP Database was created in the Support Portal.

Note: Credentials are not exportable. They are encrypted to the system, and cannot be used once manually moved to a new installation directory. Deleting the credentials.db file will enable you to view which Credentials were used for particular Monitors. You will then need to re-configure the username and password and select the proper usage restrictions for each Credential.

5. Start the "ipmonitor7" Service for the ipMonitor 7.x installation.
6. Start the "ipmonitorsrv" Service for the ipMonitor 8 installation.

Moving your license to the ipMonitor 8.0 system is as simple as licensing your installation normally:

1. On the ipMonitor 8 system, launch the ipMonitor 8 Configuration Program from the Windows Start menu:
   
   Start --> Programs --> All Programs --> ipMonitor8 --> Configure ipMonitor 8
2. Click the Software Licensing link.
3. Click the Click here to License ipMonitor button.
4. Select the Direct Communication method.
5. Enter the User Name and Password of your Support Portal account to connect to the License Manager.
6. Select the desired license.
7. Click Next to complete Licensing ipMonitor.

Note: For additional, in-depth information on performing this step, refer to the Administrator Guide document titled Licensing ipMonitor.

If you implement the Migration Strategy outlined here, be aware of the following:

• If the ipMonitor 7.x installation is uninstalled or its system experiences hardware failure, you will not be able to re-install a secondary copy of ipMonitor 7.x. To continue running two separate installations of ipMonitor, you will have to purchase a second license, in accordance to the EULA.
• Since two installations are now running, two sets of Alerts can potentially be triggered when a problem is detected. We recommend disabling one installation's set of Alerts to prevent this issue from occurring.
• If you have any Service Monitors set to monitor the "ipMonitor7" Service, you will need to change them to monitor "ipMonitorSrv" in ipMonitor 8.
• Since the web-based user interface has been completely updated and fully streamlined for ease of use in ipMonitor 8, Administrators may find it confusing to use both versions of the software. For this reason, we recommend making the permanent switch to ipMonitor 8 as soon as you're able to do so.

For information on other features and concepts related to those discussed in this article, refer to the following ipMonitor resources:

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Last Updated: August 25, 2006 | What did you think of this topic?