…well, alright, maybe not that epic. Still, check out the changelist:

The Asynchronous Engine

Just like Nmap, the asynchronous engine can detect online hosts on the local subnet which don’t respond to ICMP ping (due to Windows firewall settings: it is the default behaviour for freshly installed desktop Windows systems). Classic engine can also do that, but it takes too long because ARP ping on latest Windows versions is slow.

And now, as you may have noticed from the first changelist item, local discovery is almost instantaneous. It takes a mere second.

New in Scanner Settings

This page of settings used to be a little cluttered. We’ve removed the scanning profile settings and made things more friendly. Be sure to notice this part:

The download link is the same, no surprizes.

And that’s it for the day. Bye!

The “list” kind of looks like a cigarette, but remember: smoking kills…
Yeah, I’d rather tell you all about the new Big Feature.

Creating and scheduling a task list

Yes, the Scheduler operates on saved task lists.

To create these, you first add some tasks to the scanner, set them up (i.e. discover nodes within ranges, enter logins and passwords, etc) and then you click Save current tasks button on the sidebar.

The result is what you see in the figure here. Each task list is saved to a separate file, named and fully prepared for launch at any time.

But until now you could only launch them by hand.
Enter Scan Scheduler!

Move your cursor over a task list to see the Schedule this task command and click it.

This opens up the Scheduler page. You can access it at any time: it waits for you in the Options window.

The scheduled task is already created for the task list you clicked earlier.
Now you want to tell TNI when and how often you need this task executed:

• Once. Just tell TNI when.
  
• Daily. Every day at specific time. Or once every N days.
  
• Weekly. On specific weekdays every N^th week.
  
• Monthly. This is a very flexible mode. For example, here we’ve set it up to run the task every second month on the first and last days of the month and also on the second Fridays of these months.
  
  A more life-like set-up, e.g. “first Monday of every month”, will work just fine, too.

For each mode you should also specify the starting date and the time of day. While you’re setting up a task, you can see the Next run label constantly updating, so that you could be sure you’ve done everything right.

Scheduler operation

For now, the Scheduler can only execute a task successfully if, when the time comes:

1. TNI is running.
2. The scanner is not being used.

These are the limitations, but we’re busy lifting them.

If something stops the scheduled scan from running on time, you will know about it from the Run log. Every task has a separate log where you can find all the details: how many nodes were scanned, how many errors were encountered, whether a run was skipped and if so, why. Also, full scan logs are saved for each successful run.

I could go on and on about how useful and convenient the new Scheduler is, but you can find it out yourself by downloading the new version of TNI.

To wrap it up, I’ll just mention the two new versions of our site: Turkish and Polish.

See you in the next post!

First, there’s this:

Then, there’s also this:

And this!

And some of all these things demand explanation and colorful illustrations. No time to waste!

New network discovery engine

Nmap is a very powerful utility, and its name speaks for itself. Incorporating its functions into TNI results in greatly improved performance and reliability of network discovery and online status detection.

Just switch to the Scanner tab, type in an IP range and expand it. It will go BOOM with discovery results. And the red/green online status LEDs in the network tree will light up much faster.

But that’s just gradual improvement, how about something fresh? With this new engine we can do some really cool and useful things, so we didn’t hesitate to implement a few tasty features.

Open ports scanning

In Scanner, you now know which of commonly-used ports are open on all the nodes you added or discovered. Even before the scanning is finished. Let me just show you how it looks:

Most useful information! The great part is, you don’t lose it when you’re done with scanning. The list of ports is saved in the asset’s summary and can be viewed or included in a report. Even better, we now have a new network tree assistant that lets you see open ports on all network assets and even search or filter your devices by open ports!

A side-note for those who underestimate the power of network assistants in TNI 2: Don’t underestimate them! It’s a great tool that lets you find things in your network without resorting to any kind of reports. Things like “all online Windows machines that have SMTP port open” are a few clicks away at any time…

Now, where were we.

Know what wasn’t scanned

So, an asset refused to be scanned. It just doesn’t feel like being scanned. But hey, it has the 80th port open! If only we could benefit from it somehow… Ahh, yes.

It’s only a screenshot, but there’s plenty of stuff you can find out from it.

In the meantime, TNI already found out quite a few things. Like OS name and device type. We use magic to do it and it works great. And you also know which ports are open there, remember? So, it’s now much easier to fix the problem and complete the scan… or maybe you already know everything you wanted about this asset, anyway? ;)

So yeah! From now on, a scan can’t fail completely. You will always know something.

This is all I had to say about the new update. Download it and enjoy!

There is another important change I should mention, and it concerns the licensing of TNI 2 for our MSP clients. You can learn about the new policy and prices on this page.

And another thing.

We’ve translated our site into some new languages: Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and Czech. We have quite a choice of languages now:

Also, you can now watch TNI trailer in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese. So, if you haven’t seen the video in your first language yet, you are welcome to do so. :)

Phew. That’s it. Till next post!

Today we’ve got another update for you, just to freshen your TNI up with a few small and average-sized improvements while the big stuff is still boiling in our pot.

The download link is right here. Grab it while it’s still hot.

Till next time!

Status bar indicators, new assistants & errors highlight

The network tree just got a little fancier and a little more convenient. Take a look at this screenshot here.

Date format options

Go to Options / General and you’ll find this in Format options section:

Unchecking Use relative dates will help you if you never ever want to see “Today” or “Monday” instead of the actual date.

And the second option speaks for itself allowing you to format your dates to your heart’s desire.

Software installations report

While the next version of our Software accounting tab is still WIP, the current one constantly needs some little tweaks and additions which we try to provide ASAP. A short time ago we discovered that Software accounting tab was actually missing the most basic and useful report. Now it’s in place.

This table features every installation of software items that you select. It can be easily searched, printed or exported to Excel for further processing.

And here is your download link! As always, more to come!

Another TNI 2 update is out. This time we’ve got some changes to our licensing scheme as well as additions and improvements to the software itself.

New TNI licensing policy

We used to have a somewhat complex licensing scheme where licenses had geographical and usage restrictions. Now everything is as simple as it can be.

First, you have Limited licenses. The limitation concerns the number of nodes you can inventory (starting at the minimum of 25 nodes and going up to 2000 nodes). This does not include non-scanned and manually created assets: you can have as many of them as you need. And then, there’s an Unlimited license. It’s virtually the same, but (obviously enough) the number of allowed nodes is unlimited.

You can use any license to scan computers anywhere in the world. Besides, all licenses can now be used by MSP/ITSP (Managed Service Providers / IT Service Providers) to inventory computers of their clients. The only restriction is that the licenses can be used only by the person or the staff of the organisation that they are registered to.

Again, all licenses are now worldwide and can be used by MSPs. We hope this new licensing policy proves to be more simple and convenient for our dear customers.

Visit TNI 2 purchase page to learn about pricing.

Scanning MacOS X libraries

If you have any MacOS X assets in your storage, go ahead and rescan them after installing this update. You’ll discover a brand new category, the Libraries.

At the moment we only scan Internet Plugins group of libraries, as these turned out to be the most useful and demanded information. If you happen to need another library group scanned, don’t hesitate to tell us about it. Our development process is driven by the feedback we get from you!

Improved export to Excel

From now on after exporting a table report to Excel document you get a nicely formatted table with properly typed cells. This gives you the full power of Excel to play with.

Just in case you didn’t know: inside Excel, click on those gray arrows in table header to get access to some advanced sorting, filtering and searching options. Further, you may use conditional formatting and built-in functions of Excel to get the most vivid reports and summaries.

Let your tools cooperate!

And that was TNI 2.0.5 (1280) for you. Hope you like it!

Donald Grizzly out.

Spring has come!
Mother Nature wakes from her dream.
We? We never fell asleep in the first place!

Export of tables to Excel

Go to Table reports tab, build a table and click Export » Export to XLSX file. For now, this feature is basic and rather simple, but it will soon get better and more sophisticated. Your feedback is, as always, highly appreciated.

We are extremely proud to announce that Softinventive Lab has completed the MSPAlliance Vendor Accreditation Program. As of today, we are official members of the MSPA.

MSPAlliance is the world’s largest association for the Managed Services and Cloud Computing Industry. Being a part of this community requires years of experience, highest standards of quality of products and service and recognition among MSP clients.

We’ve done a lot of work to achieve this, and now we’re motivated to work even harder. What this means for you? Better service, better TNI and, ultimately, more fun!

Today, to celebrate some pure love and true feelings, we’re releasing TNI 2.0.4 (1241).
Take a look:

Drag-n-drop from Windows Explorer

You can now drag inventory files along with folder structure right into the network tree.

Fit columns in printable table reports

Whenever you build a table report that’s just a little bit too wide for the page, choose Fit columns from the scale menu. The table will be shrunk down to be the exact same width as the currently selected page format.

We want to wish all you IT guys and IT ladies out there to be loved and cared for!

We’ve got a lot of plans for this year. For now, enjoy your updated TNI, and we’ll see you next time.