I sort of skipped RC1 (or at least I never posted it) anyways here is a spanking brand new one which actually is not that new. Main new things are;

• the installer (Yaaaay!) it is just a quick hack so don't expect much.
• the NRPE client module now works as a "check command" (so now you can check other things from nsclient++)
• and some fixes here and there (notably NSCA modules return code)

The change log:

2008-02-26 MickeM
 + Added installer
 
2008-02-22 MickeM
 * Fixed issues in the NRPE module (now returns the correct status)
 + Added a lot of "error log" for when the packet size in NRPEListener is not correct 
    (might make it simpler to diagnose problems)

2008-02-20 MickeM
 + Added new module NRPEClient that can act as a NRPE client, might be useful for testing things and 
   eventually for relaying events.
   Usage: nsclient++ -noboot NRPEClient -H 192.168.0.1 -p 5666 -c check_something -a foo bar
   This is an early concept so don't expect much...
 * Fixed a bug in NSCA module (now it works again :)
 + Added a command wrapper for the NRPECLient module so now it can act as a check command.
   (No argument handling yet though), For a sample check out the [NRPE Client Handlers] section in NSC.ini

UPDATE Yes I know, the x64 installer build is broken... sorry, will fix tonight... :(

// MickeM

A few tweaks and fixes and some new stuff (nothing spectacular)

• New option System/NRPE section: string_length can be used to tweak return buffer size (for 0.4 we will rewrite so this is more dynamic) With this option you can set the return data for NRPE to be larger then the default 1024 bytes but this requires you to recompile the NRPE agent.
• Improvements to the PDH mutexes. Should be able to handle more load, and better, handle situations where the load becomes to high.
• Some improvements to the NSCA plug in (should work better now)
• Re factored and improved the external command handling. Should be better and more secure now as well as handle "long output".
• New module: NRPEClient to run NRPE queryes from the CLI (will soon have support for running NRPE queries from within NSClient++ (ie act as a proxy).

We are starting to come up on the 3.1 release so now would be a good time to report all bugs and problems, expect 3.1 RC during the week end and hopefully a 3.1 release end of month.

Changelog

2008-02-19 MickeM
 + Added new module NRPEClient that can act as a NRPE client, might be useful for testing things and 
   eventually for relaying events.
   Usage: nsclient++ -noboot NRPEClient -H 192.168.0.1 -p 5666 -c check_something -a foo bar
   This is an early concept so don't expect much...

2008-02-19 MickeM
 + Fixed a buffer overflow in the NRPE socket handling.
 
2008-02-18 MickeM
 + Added proper output handling to process subsystem (now you can execute programs tat return "much" data.
 + Added select support for SSL_write (now you can send "any amount of data" to the (SSL) socket.
   Since check_nrpe doesn't do this it wont work in that end, but still...

2008-02-16 MickeM
 + Re factored ExternalCommand handling so NRPE and new module does the same thing.

2008-02-14 MickeM
 + Added so commands starting in host_ (NSCA Handlers) are sent as host-commands
 * Fixed a copy constructor in NSCA Commands (now service checks are sent as service checks)

2008-02-13 MickeM
 + Added string_length to [Settings] as well (used internally) for all "injected" buffers.
 * Fixed issue with scripts result truncated after 1024 chars 
    (now they return "all" output and thus you can use the NRPE settings I added yesterday :)
 + Added hostname setting to [NSCA] section (must have been  when I did not add it before)
 + Added to NSCA truncates output when to long.

2008-02-12 MickeM
 + Added new option for the [NRPE] section string_length which is the length of the NRPE strings 
   (notice you need to recompile the check_nrpe to match this value)
 * Improved exception handling in the PDH collector (hopefully less deadlocks)

// MickeM

Finally the long awaited (not really, but was a b*tch to fix) encryption support for NSCA module has been fixed. We only support: None, Simple XOR, DES, 3DES (Triple DES), CAST-128, xTEA, BLOWFISH, TWOFISH, RC2, RIJNDAEL-128 (AES), SERPENT) as they were reasonably "straight forward" the others had various "problems" and since I dont really think anyone ever use them I decided to not spend the time to fix it (let me know if you actually use any of the missing ones and I will see if I can get it added). The important thing is that you can encrypt the data if you ask me :).

There is also a new module (CheckExternalScripts) which is similar to NRPE (I would recommend it over NRPE) in that it can run external scriupts/programs but it has been streamlined a bit and most importantly if you don't want to use NRPE (think NSCA) you can still run external scripts and such.

And finally I have improved exception handling quite a bit and hopefully things will be "more stable".

We are starting to com up on the 3.1 release so now would be a good time to report all bugs and problems... Changelog:

2008-02-11 MickeM
 + Added encryption support for NSCA module (about half of the algorithms are avalible, 
     if someone wants to use one not available let me know, and I will try to add it)

2008-02-09 MickeM
 + New module CheckExternalScripts to handle 1, external script (similar to the old NRPE but in its own module)
   - Can Check batch/vbs/programs/*
   - Works with NSCA module (if you don't want to have NRPE at the same time)
   - Simpler syntax (discarded old and added new section for alias)
   - Started to add "sample alias" to ease initial setup and give some nice ideas (please provide me with feedback on them)

2008-02-08 MickeM
 + Added some more default catch handlers (on the "core" side of plugin-calls).

2008-02-07 MickeM
 + Added default catch handlers to all wrapped plugin calls.

2008-02-05 MickeM
 * Fixed issue with checkEventLog (sometimes you got the wrong message back)

2008-02-04 MickeM
 *** Happy Birthday bogi!! :)
 * Fixed issues with performance counter rendering (mainly checkDisk)

// MickeM

Would be interesting to get some feedback on this. Since there is still a lot of issues with the locale and PDH I have decided to make a 3.1 release "soon" that will fix this (have been in the nightly a while now). ANd while I am at it I will add the following new features:

• NSCA support
• LUA Script support
• Enhancements to the eventlog check.
• Improved SysTray functions and dialog.

The NSCA support is for thos who want to use passive checks only (using this nagios-server you can have the client "phone home" with results instead of nagios asking all the time).

LUA scripts is for those who want to have a bit more control, there you can write and modify your own checks "inside" NSCP without the need for external script, don't know how interesting it is but it is there. The use-case that brought this on was: "I don't want the demon to do X can you change this?" With a LUA script you can change it :)

Enhancements to the event log check (and keep coming up with more ideas)

• A unique filter (only return 1 log entry for each problem-kind.
• Fixed "time-zone" issues (entry are now returned in the proper local time and not UTC)
• New %message% format option to display the *proper* eventlog message instead of the previous crap :)

Enhancements to the SysTray dialog are numerous: the dialog has been reworked and an API to list/describe commands have been implemented.

I would really like to get some feedback on the new modules as well as the new eventlog check., I will try to finalize some issues and have a release out by the end of February or so.

// MickeM