Combined Agent Client Collector release notes for upgrades from Vancouver to Xanadu

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Agent Client Collector release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Vancouver to Xanadu.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading Agent Client Collector to Xanadu

Before you upgrade to Xanadu, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Xanadu, new features were introduced for Agent Client Collector.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Using the new Windows event log check Use Linux and Microsoft Exchange checks to monitor the health and performance of your system. Metric Intelligence improvements Use anomaly labels to reduce the number of false-positive anomaly alerts in Metric Intelligence. Metric Intelligence Advanced Promotion Engine Reduce the number of false-positive anomaly alerts by setting rules to determine which alerts to promote to IT alerts. Consolidate your promoted alerts into a single alert. By using alert grouping, you can reduce the number of anomaly alerts that your system receives. Discover the resources in your Kubernetes clusters continuously Starting in version 3.9.2, use Cloud Native Operations (CNO) for Visibility to discover the resources in your Kubernetes clusters continuously as an alternative to pattern-based discovery. Discover the resources in Kubernetes clusters deployed in on-premises and Cloud environments in near real-time without the need to enter any credentials in your ServiceNow instance. Ensure that the changes in the resources are promptly reported to the instance and updated in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Viewing additional platforms on the Monitoring Technology Dashboard Use the Monitoring Technology Dashboard to monitor for: AWS services GCP services VMware vSphere services Using metric connector enhancements Starting in version 3.9.0, use agent-less System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) connectors for high-performance SCOM metric integration. Application patterns for the Agent Client Collector Run application patterns through the Agent Client Collector. Application patterns enable discovering details about applications running on an agent’s host. Support for macOS endpoints Use Agent Client Collector for Visibility to support the macOS Ventura operating system. Using regular expressions in the allow list Enable complex character combinations in an allow list command string by using the use_regex parameter. Executing check commands in execv mode Enhance your security during checks by using the `execv` execution mode. Using third-party components Use the latest Sensu and osquery components with the configuration options in the acc.yml file. Enhanced system properties Starting in version 3.3.1, monitor the behavior of the Agent Client Collector policies and framework configuration with the Policy Calculation and Framework Configuration system properties. Configuration data files added to checks Starting in version 3.3.1, provide enhanced data collection in the Agent Client Collector by communicating the instance data with the agent. The configuration data files are also sent to the agent’s associated MID Server. MongoDB checks Starting in version 3.9.2, monitor the MongoDB resources with additional metrics.
Washington DC	Using metric connector enhancements Use agent-less System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) connectors for high-performance SCOM metric integration. Application patterns for the Agent Client Collector Run application patterns through the Agent Client Collector. Application patterns enable discovering details about applications running on an agent’s host. Enhanced system properties Monitor the behavior of the Agent Client Collector application with the enhanced Policy Calculation and Framework Configuration system properties, including the enhancements to agent Discovery, automatic MID Server selection, and error message logging. Configuration data files added to checks Provide the enhanced data collection in the Agent Client Collector application by communicating the instance data with the agent. The configuration data files are also sent to the agent’s associated MID Server. Mongo DB checks Monitor MongoDB resources with additional metrics that relate to the metadata, memory, and disk space. Continuously discover the resources in your Kubernetes clusters Continuously discover the resources in your Kubernetes clusters in Agent Client Collector for Visibility by using Cloud Native Operations (CNO) for Visibility. CNO for Visibility promptly reports changes in the resources to the instance and updates the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Retrieving the metrics for cloud resources Retrieve the high-performance metrics for virtual resources in the cloud by using VMware. Pull additional resources from Kubernetes clusters into the CMDB Starting in version 3.6.2, configure the Cloud Native Operations for Visibility Informer to pull additional resources from Kubernetes clusters into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), besides the resources it sends to the database by default. Create a cmdb_ci_linux_server CI for each Kubernetes node Starting in version 3.6.2, configure if you want the CNO for Visibility Informer to create a cmdb_ci_linux_server CI for each Kubernetes node. By default, the Informer creates a cmdb_ci_linux_server CI for every Kubernetes node. If this CI is redundant or interferes with other flows in your organization, you can set the associated configuration parameter to false. Define include and exclude lists of Labels and Annotations Starting in version 3.6.2, define include and exclude lists of Labels and Annotations in Kubernetes resources that the CNO for Visibility Informer pulls into the CMDB. Display the Kubernetes cluster version in the CMDB Starting in version 3.6.2, make the CNO for Visibility Informer populate the field in the cmdb_ci_kubernetes_cluster CI that shows the Kubernetes cluster version. Add custom Labels and Annotations to Kubernetes resources Starting in version 3.6.2, CNO for Visibility enables you to add custom Labels and Annotations to all your resources deployed in the Kubernetes cluster. Secure check verification through the allow-list Starting in version 3.5.1, enhance your system's security by verifying checks only with the allow-list from your global configurations. An allow-list from installed plugins is not used. Add a self-signed certificate to your operating system's truststore Starting in version 3.5.1, enhance security by adding a self-signed certificate to your OS's trust store. Clear agent assets Starting in version 3.5.1, remove an agent's plugin files by selecting Clear Assets on the UI, instead of removing the plugins manually. New Linux and Windows checks supported Starting in version 3.5.1, Agent Client Collector supports additional Linux and Windows checks.
Xanadu	Load the allow list only from a configuration file Enhance system security by loading the allow list from the file specified in the allow-list parameter of the configuration file while ignoring the allow lists that are bundled with the plugins. Configure agent log level from the instance Configure the agent log level from the ServiceNow instance without having to access the acc.yml configuration file. Ensure secure agent connections Ensure that your agent connections are secure by adding a self-signed certificate to your operating system's truststore, which verifies that the certificate is authentic. Update existing assets Update your Agent Client Collector (ACC) plugins to the latest version by removing your existing plugins before reinstalling. Use expanded Linux and Windows checks Enable enhanced check functionality by using the expanded Linux and Windows checks provided with the system. Upgrade Agent Client Collector for Kubernetes – Visibility Informers remotely Starting in version 3.6.3, upgrade Informer pods in Kubernetes clusters remotely from the ServiceNow instance to avoid dependence on your Kubernetes admin. Override Informer parameters from the Instance Starting in version 3.6.3, control CNO for Visibility Informer execution parameters from the ServiceNow instance to avoid dependence on your Kubernetes admin. Store Instance credentials in Microsoft Azure Vault when Informer uses Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Starting in version 3.6.3, if your organization uses AKS, you can store the secret in the Microsoft Azure Vault. The Informer then pulls the ServiceNow credentials for accessing your instance from the Azure Vault. Enable Informer to connect to the instance using OAuth2.0 authorization Starting in version 3.6.3, the Informer can use OAuth2.0 authorization to connect to the ServiceNow instance for enhanced security. Enable expanded processing for the MID server on Network Interface Controllers (NICs) during keepalive operation Starting in version 3.6.3, benefit from enhanced stability when running a keepalive operation by using the enhanced MID Server capability to configure the number of Network Interface Controllers (NICs) that can be monitored by a keepalive operation. Upgrade Agent Client Collector manually on a macOS system Starting in version 3.6.3, run the consolidated upgrade procedure manually for the Agent Client Collector in a macOS environment. Configure the Dynatrace connector instance Starting in version 3.6.3, Event Management supports collecting raw metric data collection using the Dynatrace metric connector Consolidate agent errors Starting in version 4.1.0, view errors for all agents on the Agent Error Messages page. Additionally, you can view errors per individual agent by selecting the agent and selecting the ACC Error Messages tab . Use Linux commands to enable additional system capabilities beyond your permission level Starting in version 4.1.0, use Linux commands to grant enhanced permissions, which are enabled once the installation `.exe` file is executed. These enhanced capabilities are provided securely, ensuring that there is no security risk to your environment. Use the new Windows event check for enhanced event details Starting in version 3.12.0, use the new Windows event check to collect and filter Windows event logs. Use the network port check to determine port availability Starting in version 3.12.0, use the Network port check to create events for all ports of a specified host address, which indicates whether each port is available or in use. Enjoy multi-architecture support for docker image Starting in version 3.9.0 (Informer version 2.3.0), the docker image supports both arm64 and amd64 architectures. Upgrading from the previous image to the new one will not cause any disruptions. However, the new image requires more storage space in your image repository than the previous one. Change the Informer's extensibility settings from the instance Starting in version 3.9.0 (Informer version 2.3.0), update the Informer's extensibility configuration directly from the Instance using the Additional resources ConfigMap parameter. By providing a JSON map with keys such as `resources`, `mappings`, and `mappings_oob`, you can instruct Cloud Native Operations for Visibility to retrieve additional information. If one of these keys exists and the system finds a change, it patches the ConfigMap and restarts the Informer. View the OpenShift version in the Cluster version field on the Kubernetes Cluster CI Starting in version 3.9.0 (Informer version 2.3.0), see the OpenShift version and the Kubernetes Cluster version in one place. OpenShift operates on top of Kubernetes, so there's an OpenShift version and a Kubernetes Cluster version. By installing the Informer with the --set openShift=true flag, the system adds the OpenShift version number to the cluster_version field on the Kubernetes Cluster CI in addition to the Kubernetes Cluster version.

Changes

Between your current release family and Xanadu, some changes were made to existing Agent Client Collector features.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Automatic loading of the allow list after check execution When executing a check, the allow list loads automatically. You don't need to restart the agent. Automatic MID Server selection Starting in version 3.3.1: Receive additional MID Server information to be used as alternative points of communication during automatic MID Server selection. Automatic MID Server selection is off by default. Retrieving metrics for cloud resources Starting in version 3.3.1, use Azure checks and policies to retrieve metrics for virtual resources in the cloud. Monitoring Technology Dashboards Starting in version 3.3.1: Filter metrics by selected CI in the AWS and GCP Monitoring Technology Dashboards. Use the updated Monitoring Technology Dashboard for Azure. The dashboard contains additional tabs which provide more information on your Azure infrastructure. Viewing Monitoring Technology Dashboards requires the dashboard_admin role in addition to the existing agent_client_collector_admin role. Metric rules Starting in version 3.9.0, configure manual thresholds for generating metric alerts using the Metric Rules feature instead of the Static Thresholds UI. SNMP checks Starting in version 3.9.2, SNMP checks work by default with v3.
Washington DC	Automatic MID Server selection Receive additional MID Server information to be used as alternative points of communication during automatic MID Server selection. Automatic MID Server selection is off by default. Metric rules Configure manual thresholds for generating metric alerts using the Metric Rules feature instead of the Static Thresholds UI. Retrieving the metrics for cloud resources Use Azure checks and policies to retrieve high-performance metrics for the virtual resources in the cloud. Monitoring Technology Dashboards Filter metrics by the selected configuration item (CI) in the AWS and GCP Monitoring Technology Dashboards. Use the updated Monitoring Technology Dashboard for Azure. The dashboard contains additional tabs which provide more information on your Azure infrastructure. Viewing Monitoring Technology Dashboards requires the dashboard_admin role in addition to the existing agent_client_collector_admin role. Agent table cleaner Delete the agent records that have been disconnected or inactive for more than 30 days by using the Autoflush form. SNMP checks SNMP checks work by default with v3. Set the agent log level Starting in version 3.5.1, configure the agent log level through the ServiceNow® instance, without needing to access the acc.yml configuration file. Host system requirements for Agent Client Collector Monitoring Starting in version 3.5.1, utilize the updated minimum host system requirements when installing Agent Client Collector Monitoring. Import a script include to enable using the Instance scan Starting in version 3.5.1, import global.ACCInstanceScanUtil to enable using the Instance scan feature, as described in the KB1630132 knowledge base article.
Xanadu	Use the updated Windows event check Starting in version 3.12.0, the Windows event check `os.windows.check-event-log` has been renamed `os.windows.check-event-log-count` and has enhanced data gathering capabilities. Updated plugin dependency Starting in version 4.1.0, the Service Error Management plugin is dependent on the ACC-F scoped app. The plugin gets installed automatically when the customer installs the ACC-F scoped app from the ServiceNow store. New allow list parameter for checks running in shell execution mode Starting in version 4.1.0, when running a check in with execution mode (Exec Mode) set to shell, add the allow_shell parameter and set it to true for the allow list entry corresponding to the check.

Removed

Between your current release family and Xanadu, some Agent Client Collector features or functionality were removed.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	AWS and Azure connectors are not supported in Metric Intelligence. Starting in version 3.3.1, the Azure Monitoring Technology Dashboard has been deprecated with the update of the Azure policies.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Xanadu, some Agent Client Collector features or functionality were deprecated.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate Agent Client Collector.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Agent Client Collector is available with the activation of the Agent Client Collector Framework plugin (sn_agent) and the Agent Client Collector Monitoring plugin (sn_itmon) in an instance on which Event Management is installed.
Washington DC	Agent Client Collector is available with activation of the Agent Client Collector Framework plugin (sn_agent) and the Agent Client Collector Monitoring plugin (sn_itmon) in an instance on which Event Management is installed.
Xanadu	Agent Client Collector is available with activation of the Agent Client Collector Framework plugin (sn_agent) and the Agent Client Collector Monitoring plugin (sn_itmon) in an instance on which Event Management is installed.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Agent Client Collector we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Agent Client Collector we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Agent Client Collector, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Agent Client Collector we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Agent Client Collector we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Organize your monitored components by viewing the dashboards for each monitored technology. Monitor the health and performance of your system with the Windows log monitoring checks. Get faster recovery times for your anomaly alerts. See Agent Client Collector for more information.
Washington DC	Use the enhanced system properties for agent Discovery, automatic MID Server selection, and error message logging to monitor the Agent Client Collector policies and framework configuration. Use the configuration data files to provide the data from an instance directly to an agent. Retrieve the metrics for Azure policies in the cloud. See Agent Client Collector for more information.
Xanadu	Ensure secure agent connections by adding a self-signed certificate. Enhance check functionality by using expanded Linux and Windows checks, enabling you to gather additional information on your Linux and Windows servers. Upgrade the Cloud Native Operations for Visibility Informer from the ServiceNow instance. Store Instance credentials in the Microsoft Azure Vault when Informer uses Azure Kubernetes Engine (AKS). Enjoy multi-architecture support for docker image. See Agent Client Collector for more information.