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From:	 announce-admin@opennms.org
To:	 announce@opennms.org
Subject: [OpenNMS-Announce] OpenNMS Update v2.25
Date:	 Tue, 19 Jun 2001 18:35:42 -0400 (EDT)

====================
   OpenNMS Update
====================
  Vol 2., Issue 25
====================
   June 19, 2001
====================

   In this week's installment...
     * Project Status
          + 0.7.6 (Codename: Godot) Delayed
          + The Bugs We're Fixing
          + The Business We're Building
          + Coding Projects Underway
     * Upcoming Road Shows
     * Early Adopter Program Status
     * The Wish List


==============
Project Status
==============

0.7.6 (Codename: Godot) Delayed:

     The snowball effect has officially gotten us...

     After tagging 0.7.6 Beta 1, our testing revealed some rather
     significant bugs, including problems with socket timings with the
     DHCP poller, JSDT timeouts, and various other miscellani. As we
     paused to fix some of the more critical problems (that could
     prevent OpenNMS from running at all), we began to see some
     feature-creep toward what we are targeting as 0.8.0.

     We are still actively working on both bug-fixes to 0.7.6 to get the
     snapshot reasonably stabilized as well as some new features (which
     are primarily a re-architecting of some of the underlying data
     exchanges). As we continue this work, the release formerly known as
     0.7.6 is indefinitely pended until we can knock out some of the
     more significant issues.

     There is a current tag in CVS for 0.7.6 Beta 3 which is already
     outdated enough that I can't in good conscience point you to it.
     I'm hoping that we are at a point sometime later this week to let
     things quiesce and can tag and build, but time will tell. The other
     option is that we get so close to 0.8.0 that we actually
     pre-release that one in lieu of 0.7.6 altogether.

     Either way, we will have a significant release out the door
     sometime in the next couple of weeks. I won't make promises, only
     in an effort to avoid breaking them in the near future.

     Thanks for your patience.


The Bugs We're Fixing:

     In an effort to keep you up to speed as to what we're doing, as
     well as to provide a little insight as to the particular bugs we
     are currently trying to stomp, here's a brief rundown:

     * The DHCP poller has had some bizarre issues with timings, wherein
       it frees the socket, but the OS has not yet released it when the
       next instance of a service monitor tries to grab it.

     * JSDT, which Sun has promised to open source yet hasn't yet, is
       causing some timeout exceptions which are unexplained, yet
       consistent. This is causing some other strange behavior,
       especially within the ICMP pollers.

     * Reporting is using some fields that hadn't previously existed in
       one of our config files, and as we added them, some other things
       needed to be tweaked.

     * We discovered some odd JavaScript behaviors in the web-based event
       configurator that are being (have been?) repaired.

     * Our scalability testing (very rudimentary), exposed some start-up
       speed issues with RTC. We're doing some optimization there.

     * Installation is being tweaked so we aren't quite so
       "blow-it-away-and-re-install"-minded when it comes to the upgrade
       process.

     With a number of these bugs being performance and tuning related
     vs. straight code-fixes, many of these have proven considerably
     deeper than initially anticipated (isn't that always the case?).
     Anyway, we're working and are hoping to get out of this morass
     soon.


The Business We're Building:

     While the coding/fixing continues, there's another little project
     that continues to loom on the horizon that slowly capturing some
     cycles from the team as well--building a business around this
     technology.

     While we aren't prepared to announce details as yet, I wanted to
     mention that this project is actively underway with a phenomenal
     core team dedicated to building a unique offering with OpenNMS as a
     centerpiece. And while I'd love to claim "technical purity", there
     are a few business-related demands that are beginning to sap my
     time. But that's to be expected (and welcomed by everyone hoping
     for long-term viability of our project team).

     Hopefully, we'll be able to share more soon. In the interim, thanks
     for you sensitivity to the current demands on our time, both
     technology and business related.


Coding Projects Underway:

     * CDP/L2/Mapping -- No update.

     * Snort Integration -- With the IDMEF output plug-in announcement,
       it seems our work should be minimal. Still looking for someone to
       do this minimal work.

     * Solaris Port -- Fred Reimer has offered up his hardware and
       assistance to get OpenNMS up and running on a Sparc box. No
       further update available.

     * NT/2K Port -- Weave is looking for someone to help with
       autoconf/automake-ing the new ICMPD, and part of this effort will
       eventually lead to getting it built for Win32. Any takers?

     * SNMP Poller/Data Collection -- Please send your Cricket/MRTG/*
       SNMP data collection configurations to us for inclusion in our
       DataCollections.xml.

     * User Interfaces -- Larry, Jacinta, and Jason are wailing on the
       interfaces. Looking good!

     * New Pollers/Plug-Ins -- SMB and DHCP are in for 0.7.6.

     * Agent Technologies -- We have two efforts at play here. Craig is
       looking for someone to hand his Jabber-based agent architecture
       off to, and I'd like to talk to anyone interested in building out
       a compatible interface to allow us to use the NetSaint agents.
       Anyone out there familiar enough to help here?

     * Bug Fixing, RTC-Style -- The mechanism for sharing data between
       RTC and Tomcat has changed in CVS. If you are seeing strange
       results, please open a bug in Bugzilla.

     * JSDT Replacement -- Starting to review potential alternatives to
       JSDT, should the need arise. Anybody have any experience with
       JMS/OpenJMS?

     * Stefan Wasilewski has bellied up to the DEB-building bar, but I
       haven't heard anything since.


===================
Upcoming Road Shows
===================

   The OpenView Forum was a great place to see people, but attendance was
   down considerably and there were still no real ground-breaking
   technologies to see on the show floor. My personal Best of Show award
   this year goes to, for the second year in a row, OpenNMS! Woo-hoo!

     * July 25 - O'Reilly Open Source Convention, San Diego, CA

     * August 28-30 - Linux World Expo, San Francisco, CA

     * October 30-November 1 (UNCONFIRMED) - Linux World Expo, Frankfurt,
       Germany

   For additional details on these appearances and others, check out the
   web site at http://www.opennms.org/sections/opennms/events


======================================================
Early Adopter Program Status - Courtesy Jeff Schneider
======================================================

   The planned upgrade of all Early Adopters to 0.7.6 was stymied by the
   distinct lack of version 0.7.6.

   Everyone in the program has now officially joined the rest of the
   world in wild anticipation of the next stable/unstable releases.
   There's good stuff in the works (I've seen it!)

   Following the release and a round of CYA testing, we'll be back in
   touch to start getting folks up to the "latest and greatest".

     * Tip Of The Week *

     Running "killall java" is not the recommended strategy for exiting
     OpenNMS. However, should you find yourself in a predicament where
     nothing else seems to work...remember that a "./opennms.sh scm
     clean" will take care of the portmapper registration for you.


=============
The Wish List
=============

   And now, on with the list...

     * I've heard rumblings about GETBULK support in the SNMP poller and
       CAPSD. Interested?

     * Our new ICMPD needs to be compiled for Win32. Got an appropriate
       environment that you can help?

     * In the 0.7.5 release (and CVS), checkout the TODO file

     * Any progress reports on testing notifications?

     * New Data Collection configs wanted for the DataCollection.xml

     * Any interest in more TCP pollers? Let us know (or better yet,
       build one yourself...)

     * Want to build some bridges between NetSaint and OpenNMS?

     * Documentation and development your game? How about a white paper
       on how to extend OpenNMS with custom pollers, custom configs,
       and/or your own scripts/code.

     * Any additional help we can get proving our documentation either
       right or wrong is appreciated. Thanks.

     * Got any creative applications for OpenNMS that we haven't
       considered? Let us know!

     * A Security analysis of OpenNMS?

     * Got an environment that could stress test OpenNMS, from a
       scalability perspective? We'd love the feedback!


=============
Afterthoughts
=============

   For those of you who missed your fix of my witty repartee last week,
   my apologies. I found myself in beautiful New Orleans, LA with a
   bright, shiny new Linux kernel (2.4.5) with PCMCIA services that
   didn't like my current version of pppd. So no dial-up. And my other
   option for Internet access was $7.50 to sit down and $3 a minute, and
   I just don't type fast enough to make that worth anybody's while.

   And with Bourbon Street 3 blocks away, I didn't even do the math.

   I'm back to work. Be patient, there's good stuff a-comin'!

It's always nice to see strip clubs welcoming Baptist conventioneers,

Shane O.
========
Shane O'Donnell
OpenNMS.org
shaneo@opennms.org
==================
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