by Amy Feldman, BAC Product Marketing

I’ve been in software for over 9 years and have seen many product releases.   In most cases you can tell how much is in a product release based on its version number.  A major number revision (6.0 to 7.0) usually indicates large amounts of fixes and significant enhancements.  A minor number revision (6.01 to 6.02) usually indicates bug fixes or minor changes with limited to no enhancements, a patch release.  So I thought was the case for the new HP Real User Monitor version 8.02, (part of HP Business Availability Center) a minor version or patch.  Sure, it has its share of fixes but it also has some surprising new enhancements, which in my eyes make it a big deal.

• Based on popular demand, the HP RUM probe is now supported on Windows and has expanded its Linux support to Redhat5 64 bit.  With increasing IT demands to consolidate datacenters and reduce IT costs, many IT shops have been forced to reduce the number of OS platforms supported, many choosing Linux or Windows environments.  Having the RUM probe supported on a Windows OS allows customers to easily place a RUM probe within the IT datacenter.

• In HP RUM v 7.5, we added support for non-web based applications (TCP/IP).  This allowed customers to track not only their real user sessions for their web based applications but also for those TCP/IP based applications such as SQL, LDAP, FTP, thin clients, exchange servers, or streaming media.  The HP RUM v8.02 added 7 protocol decoder packs for MS SQL, LDAP, MySQL, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, and FTP.  This allows you to see the actual protocol that was used during the request, for example the SQL code used during the request of a real user transaction.  All of these details bring you closer to figuring out a real user problem and reducing mean time to repair.   

Although the HP RUM v 8.02 may have a minor version product number it delivers major product value.  Don’t be fooled by the product number and check it out for yourself.