I am extremely happy to announce the availability of Horizon 18, codenamed “Tardigrade”. Ben is responsible for naming our releases and he’s decided that the theme for Horizon 18 will be animals. The name “Tardigrade” was suggested in the IRC channel by Uberpenguin, and while they aren’t the prettiest things, Wikipedia describes them as “perhaps the most durable of known organisms” so in the context of OpenNMS that is appropriate.

I am also happy to see the Horizon program working. When we split OpenNMS into Horizon and Meridian, the main reason was to drive faster development. Now instead of a new stable release every 18 months, we are getting them out every 3 to 4 months. And these are great releases – not just major releases in name only.

The first thing you’ll notice if you log in to Horizon 18 as a user in the admin role is that we’ve added a new “opt-in” feature that let’s us know a little bit about how OpenNMS is being used by people. We hope that most of you will choose to send us this information, and in the spirit of the Open Source Way we’ve made all of the statistics available publicly.

One of the key things we are looking for is the list of SNMP Object IDs. This will let us know what devices are being monitored by our users and to increase their level of support. Of course, this requires that your OpenNMS instance be able to reach the stats server on the Internet, and you can change your choice at any time on the Configuration admin page under “Data Choices”. It will only send this information once every 24 hours, so we don’t expect it to impact network traffic at all.

Once you’ve opted in, the next thing you’ll probably notice is new problem lists on the home page listing “services” and “applications”.

This related to the major feature addition in Horizon 18 of the Business Service Monitor (BSM).

As people move from treating servers as pets to treating them like cattle, the emphasis has shifted to understanding how well applications and microservices are running as a whole instead of focusing on individual devices. The BSM allows you to configure these services and then leverage all the usual OpenNMS crunchy goodness as you would a legacy service like HTTP running on a particular box. The above screenshot comes from some prototype work Jesse has been doing with integrating OpenNMS with OpenDaylight. As you can see at a glance, while the ICMP service is down on a particular device, the overall Network Fabric is still functioning perfectly.

Another thing I’m extremely proud of is the increase in the quality of documentation. Ronny and the rest of the documentation team are doing a great job, and we’ve made it a requirement that new features aren’t complete without documentation. Please check out the release notes as an example. It contains a pretty comprehensive lists of changes in 18.

A few I’d like to point out:

• Support for Elasticsearch 1.0. OpenNMS can now export data to Elasticsearch. Support for later versions coming.
• Trouble Ticketing API support for IBM’s Tivoli Service Request Manager (TSRM).
• A new Karaf plugin manager to allow users to add and remove plugins from a running OpenNMS instance. This is pretty cool stuff, although we’re still looking for that killer plugin.

Horizon 17 is one of the most powerful and stable releases of OpenNMS ever, and we hope to continue that tradition with Horizon 18. Hats off to the team for such great work.

Here is a list of all the issues addressed in Horizon 18:

Release Notes – OpenNMS – Version 18.0.0

Bug

• [NMS-3489] – "ADD NODE" produces "too much" config
• [NMS-4845] – RrdUtils.createRRD log message is unclear
• [NMS-5788] – model-importer.properties should be deprecated and removed
• [NMS-5839] – Bring WaterfallExecutor logging on par with RunnableConsumerThreadPool
• [NMS-5915] – The retry handler used with HttpClient is not going to do what we expect
• [NMS-5970] – No HTML title on Topology Map
• [NMS-6344] – provision.pl does not import requisitions with spaces in the name
• [NMS-6549] – Eventd does not honor reloadDaemonConfig event
• [NMS-6623] – Update JNA.jar library to support ARM based systems
• [NMS-7263] – jaxb.properties not included in jar
• [NMS-7471] – SNMP Plugin tests regularly failing
• [NMS-7525] – ArrayOutOfBounds Exception in Topology Map when selecting bridge-port
• [NMS-7582] – non RFC conform behaviour of SmtpMonitor
• [NMS-7731] – Remote poller dies when trying to use the PageSequenceMonitor
• [NMS-7763] – Bridge Data is not Collected on Cisco Nexus
• [NMS-7792] – NPE in JmxRrdMigratorOffline
• [NMS-7846] – Slow LinkdTopologyProvider/EnhancedLinkdTopologyProvider in bigger enviroments
• [NMS-7871] – Enlinkd bridge discovery creates erroneous entries in the Bridge Forwarding Tables of unrelated switches when host is a kvm virtual host
• [NMS-7872] – 303 See Other on requisitions response breaks the usage of the Requisitions ReST API
• [NMS-7880] – Integration tests in org.opennms.core.test-api.karaf have incomplete dependencies
• [NMS-7918] – Slow BridgeBridgeTopologie discovery with enlinkd.
• [NMS-7922] – Null pointer exceptions with whitespace in requisition name
• [NMS-7959] – Bouncycastle JARs break large-key crypto operations
• [NMS-7967] – XML namespace locations are not set correctly for namespaces cm, and ext
• [NMS-7975] – Rest API v2 returns http-404 (not found) for http-204 (no content) cases
• [NMS-8003] – Topology-UI shows LLDP links not correct
• [NMS-8018] – Vacuumd sends automation events before transaction is closed
• [NMS-8056] – opennms-setup.karaf shouldn't try to start ActiveMQ
• [NMS-8057] – Add the org.opennms.features.activemq.broker .xml and .cfg files to the Minion repo webapp
• [NMS-8058] – Poll all interface w/o critical service is incorrect
• [NMS-8072] – NullPointerException for NodeDiscoveryBridge
• [NMS-8079] – The OnmsDaoContainer does not update its cache correctly, leading to a NumberFormatException
• [NMS-8080] – VLAN name is not displayed
• [NMS-8086] – Provisioning Requisitions with spaces in their name.
• [NMS-8096] – JMX detector connection errors use wrong log level
• [NMS-8098] – PageSequenceMonitor sometimes gives poor failure reasons
• [NMS-8104] – init script checkXmlFiles() fails to pick up errors
• [NMS-8116] – Heat map Alarms/Categories do not show all categories
• [NMS-8118] – CXF returning 204 on NULL responses, rather than 404
• [NMS-8125] – Memory leak when using Groovy + BSF
• [NMS-8128] – NPE if provisioning requisition name has spaces
• [NMS-8137] – OpenNMS incorrectly discovers VLANs
• [NMS-8146] – "Show interfaces" link forgets the filters in some circumstances
• [NMS-8167] – Cannot search by MAC address
• [NMS-8168] – Vaadin Applications do not show OpenNMS favicon
• [NMS-8189] – Wrong interface status color on node detail page
• [NMS-8194] – Return an HTTP 303 for PUT/POST request on a ReST API is a bad practice
• [NMS-8198] – Provisioning UI indication for changed nodes is too bright
• [NMS-8208] – Upgrade maven-bundle-plugin to v3.0.1
• [NMS-8214] – AlarmdIT.testPersistManyAlarmsAtOnce() test ordering issue?
• [NMS-8215] – Chart servlet reloads Notifd config instead of Charts config
• [NMS-8216] – Discovery config screen problems in latest code
• [NMS-8221] – Operation "Refresh Now" and "Automatic Refresh" referesh the UI differently
• [NMS-8224] – JasperReports measurements data-source step returning null
• [NMS-8235] – Jaspersoft Studio cannot be used anymore to debug/create new reports
• [NMS-8240] – Requisition synchronization is failing due to space in requisition name
• [NMS-8248] – Many Rcsript (RScript) files in OPENNMS_DATA/tmp
• [NMS-8257] – Test flapping: ForeignSourceRestServiceIT.testForeignSources()
• [NMS-8272] – snmp4j does not process agent responses
• [NMS-8273] – %post error when Minion host.key already exists
• [NMS-8274] – All the defined Statsd's reports are being executed even if they are disabled.
• [NMS-8277] – %post failure in opennms-minion-features-core: sed not found
• [NMS-8293] – Config Tester Tool doesn't check some of the core configuration files
• [NMS-8298] – Label of Vertex is too short in some cases
• [NMS-8299] – Topology UI recenters even if Manual Layout is selected
• [NMS-8300] – Center on Selection no longer works in STUI
• [NMS-8301] – v2 Rest Services are deployed twice to the WEB-INF/lib directory
• [NMS-8302] – Json deserialization throws "unknown property" exception due to usage of wrong Jax-rs Provider
• [NMS-8304] – An error on threshd-configuration.xml breaks Collectd when reloading thresholds configuration
• [NMS-8313] – Pan moving in Topology UI automatically recenters
• [NMS-8314] – Weird zoom behavior in Topology UI using mouse wheel
• [NMS-8320] – Ping is available for HTTP services
• [NMS-8324] – Friendly name of an IP service is never shown in BSM
• [NMS-8330] – Switching Topology Providers causes Exception
• [NMS-8335] – Focal points are no longer persisted
• [NMS-8337] – Non-existing resources or attributes break JasperReports when using the Measurements API
• [NMS-8353] – Plugin Manager fails to load
• [NMS-8361] – Incorrect documentation for org.opennms.newts.query.heartbeat
• [NMS-8371] – The contents of the info panel should refresh when the vertices and edges are refreshed
• [NMS-8373] – The placeholder {diffTime} is not supported by Backshift.
• [NMS-8374] – The logic to find event definitions confuses the Event Translator when translating SNMP Traps
• [NMS-8375] – License / copyright situation in release notes introduction needs simplifying
• [NMS-8379] – Sluggish performance with Cassandra driver
• [NMS-8383] – jmxconfiggenerator feature has unnecessary includes
• [NMS-8386] – Requisitioning UI fails to load in modern browsers if used behind a proxy
• [NMS-8388] – Document resources ReST service
• [NMS-8389] – Heatmap is not showing
• [NMS-8394] – NoSuchElement exception when loading the TopologyUI
• [NMS-8395] – Logging improvements to Notifd
• [NMS-8401] – There are errors on the graph definitions for OpenNMS JMX statistics
• [NMS-8403] – Document styles of identifying nodes in resource IDs

Enhancement

• [NMS-2504] – Create a better landing page for Configure Discovery aftermath
• [NMS-4229] – Detect tables with Provisiond SNMP detector
• [NMS-5077] – Allow other services to work with Path Outages other than ICMP
• [NMS-5905] – Add ifAlias to bridge Link Interface Info
• [NMS-5979] – Make the Provisioning Requisitions "Node Quick-Add" look pretty
• [NMS-7123] – Expose SNMP4J 2.x noGetBulk and allowSnmpV2cInV1 capabilities
• [NMS-7446] – Enhance Bridge Link Object Model
• [NMS-7447] – Update BridgeTopology to use the new Object Model
• [NMS-7448] – Update Bridge Topology Discovery Strategy
• [NMS-7756] – Change icon for Dell PowerConnector switch
• [NMS-7798] – Add Sonicwall Firewall Events
• [NMS-7903] – Elasticsearch event and alarm forwarder
• [NMS-7950] – Create an overview for the developers guide
• [NMS-7965] – Add support for setting system properties via user supplied .properties files
• [NMS-7976] – Merge OSGi Plugin Manager into Admin UI
• [NMS-7980] – provide HTTPS Quicklaunch into node page
• [NMS-8015] – Remove Dependencies on RXTX
• [NMS-8041] – Refactor Enhanced Linkd Topology
• [NMS-8044] – Provide link for Microsoft RDP connections
• [NMS-8063] – Update asciidoc dependencies to latest 1.5.3
• [NMS-8076] – Allow user to access local documentation from OpenNMS Jetty Webapp
• [NMS-8077] – Add NetGear Prosafe Smart switch SNMP trap events and syslog events
• [NMS-8092] – Add OpenWrt syslog and related event definitions
• [NMS-8129] – Disallow restricted characters from foreign source and foreign ID
• [NMS-8149] – Update asciidoctorj to 1.5.4 and asciidoctorjPdf to 1.5.0-alpha.11
• [NMS-8152] – Collect and publish anonymous statistics to stats.opennms.org
• [NMS-8160] – Remove Quick-Add node to avoid confusions and avoid breaking the ReST API
• [NMS-8163] – Requisitions UI Enhancements
• [NMS-8179] – ifIndex >= 2^31
• [NMS-8182] – Add HTTPS as quick-link on the node page
• [NMS-8205] – Generate events for alarm lifecycle changes
• [NMS-8209] – Upgrade junit to v4.12
• [NMS-8210] – Add support for calculating the derivative with a Measurements API Filter
• [NMS-8211] – Add support for retrieving nodes with a filter expression via the ReST API
• [NMS-8218] – External event source tweaks to admin guide
• [NMS-8219] – Copyright bump on asciidoc docs
• [NMS-8225] – Integrate the Minion container and packages into the mainline OpenNMS build
• [NMS-8226] – Upgrade SNMP4J to version 2.4
• [NMS-8238] – Topology providers should provide a description for display
• [NMS-8251] – Parameterize product name in asciidoc docs
• [NMS-8259] – Cleanup testdata in SnmpDetector tests
• [NMS-8265] – SNMP collection systemDefs for Cisco ASA5525-X, ASA5515-X
• [NMS-8266] – SNMP collection systemDefs for Juniper SRX210he2, SRX100h
• [NMS-8267] – Create documentation for SNMP detector
• [NMS-8271] – Enable correlation engines to register for all events
• [NMS-8296] – Be able to re-order the policies on a requisition through the UI
• [NMS-8334] – Implement org.opennms.timeseries.strategy=evaluate to facilitate the sizing process
• [NMS-8336] – Set the required fields when not specified while adding events through ReST
• [NMS-8349] – Update screenshots with 18 theme in user documentation
• [NMS-8365] – Add metric counter for drop counts when the ring buffer is full
• [NMS-8377] – Applying some organizational changes on the Requisitions UI (Grunt, JSHint, Dist)

Story

• [NMS-7940] – Cleanup docs modules

Task

• [NMS-8236] – Move the "vaadin-extender-service" module to opennms code base