SystemTools 'ToolNews' - June 15, 2011 - Hyena v8.6 Updates and More

1. Hyena v8.6 Released
2. Other Updates
• Hyena v8.5 Updated
• TSCMD Updated
• DumpSec Updated
3. Tips
• Windows Domain Types
• Using DNS Computer Paths
4. Hyena Maintenance
5. Resources
• SystemTools' Discussion Board
• Help Us Keep You Informed
6. Contact Information

Hyena v8.6 has been released. New features in Hyena v8.6 include:

Processing Multiple Placeholders in 'Manage Directory Attributes' Function

The parameter replacement mechanism (Placeholder) in the Manage Directory Attributes function has been extended to allowing processing multiple AD attribute placeholders. For example, to change the 'DisplayName' attribute of a user or set of users to be the contents of the first name, underscore, then the last name, and with the user having a first name of "Blake" and a last name of "Edwards", use:

%GivenName%_%sn%

This will produce "Blake_Edwards" as a value which will then be written to the DisplayName attribute (or any attribute selected).

New Advanced Settings

Two new advanced settings have been added, which can be set under Tools > Settings > Advanced : ForceWindows7RAS and HideFileReparsePoints. The ForceWindows7RAS setting will cause Hyena to re-enable the missing Dialin tab on Windows 7. Microsoft may have addressed some of the problems with various Windows 7 patches related to RAS functionality. This option can be used to test to see if the missing Dialin properties can be re-enabled in your particular environment successfully.

The HideFileReparsePoints setting will hide the file system reparse points, also called junction points, when viewing remote system directories. These directories are generally virtual directories and their contents cannot normally be viewed. By default, Hyena will always show junction points, and v8.6 now will also show a different icon for these directories (Windows Explorer does the same, if you turn on the option to show all system files).

See the Hyena documentation on the specifics for both of these settings.

Enhanced user group membership view

Active Directory user group memberships now can be viewed through the user right-click context menu, on the Account Functions menu, by selecting the new 'View Group Memberships' menu option. This new menu option is available in either the left or right window, therefore making it available for multiple users. Due to adding the user group membership view for multiple users, the UserName has been added to the right window view.

To receive a free update to Hyena v8.6, your maintenance expiration date must be after May 1, 2011. See the 'Hyena Maintenance' topic below for information on updating and how to check the maintenance expiration date.

Anyone who purchased a Hyena v8.5 license is eligible for a free upgrade to v8.6.

Hyena v8.6 can be downloaded from http://www.systemtools.com/hyena/download.htm. x86 and x64 downloads are available in English, French, German, and Spanish.

The current revision level of Hyena v8.6 is rev 'C'. Two problems were discovered in the initial release; the problem addressed in rev 'C' was the inability to execute Active Directory queries from the context menu for AD objects. Anyone using Hyena v8.6 is advised to update to rev 'C' to prevent this issue.

Hyena v8.5 Updated

Hyena v8.5 has been updated to Rev 'D'. The changes in Hyena v8.5 since the initial release are:

• Rev 'B' - Fixed error when displaying the shell property sheet for some AD objects, preventing the Properties from being displayed.
• Rev 'B' - Allowed hidden published AD shares to be displayed in OU contents.
• Rev 'C' - Fixed the Edit > Copy function to include the group name when copying group members.
• Rev 'C' - Fixed the Performance view for Processes to eliminate the problem of negative statistics on some counters (eg. %CPU) when the display was sorted.
• Rev 'C' - Corrected the internal version used for update checking to be v8.5.2; Rev 'B' did not have the correct internal version.
• Rev 'D' - Fixed an error when deleting remote registry keys on Windows XP computers from a Windows Vista or later client.

Hyena v8.5 can be downloaded from http://www.systemtools.com/hyena/download.htm. x86 and x64 downloads are available in English, French, German, and Spanish. All revisions of Hyena v8.5 are free for any existing v8.5 license.

TSCMD Updated

Our free utility TSCMD has been updated to support these improvements:

1. The terminalserverhomedirdrive setting can now be set to just a letter and the : will be automatically appended.
2. You can now put in " ~DEL" for a new value, which will cause the current value to be removed.

DumpSec Updated

Another free utility, DumpSec (formerly named DumpACL), has been updated to no longer go into an endless loop when retrieving global group information. DumpSec remains an extremely popular utility for quick reporting of user and group information and this change should be a welcome change to a lot of users.

Windows Domain Types

One item that our support team gets a lot of inquiries about is having the domain type in Hyena set incorrectly. Hyena still supports old NT-style domains, although nearly everyone has migrated by now to an Active Directory domain structure. We still get occasional inquiries from users who have the domain type set to a 'Windows Domain' and as a result, are losing a lot of functionality.

To verify the domain type, select File > Manage Object View (or click the first toolbar button), and click on the domain(s) you have listed in Hyena. The domain type should be set to Windows 2000/2003/2008 domain and not the older "Windows Domain" style, unless you really do have an older Windows NT domain.

We are investigating how this happens as it appears that something in Hyena during the automatic current domain inclusion or manually adding domains is causing the domain type to default to the wrong type.

Using DNS Computer Paths

Another related item to the domain type is to use DNS names instead of Netbios names for all computer-related functions. All of Hyena's computer operations, for example, looking at services, disk space, registry information, etc. need to use a network path to access the Microsoft functions which return this information. By default, Hyena will use a Netbios style network path, (ie \\computername), instead of a DNS name, for example, \\computername.mydomain.com. In most sites, either network path style will work, but for some environments, the DNS name format can result in faster access.

To use DNS paths, go to Tools > Settings > Active Directory, and enable the option "Use DNS computer paths". This setting only effects access to computers retrieved from an Active Directory domain, for example, from the All Computers objects or through a container/OU.

All Hyena licenses have a built-in maintenance expiration date, which can be displayed under the Tools > Settings > Licensing dialog. The maintenance expiration date determines whether new releases can be installed with the active license. If your maintenance has recently expired or about to expire, it can be renewed now. For maintenance information and renewal options, visit:

http://www.systemtools.com/hyena/maint_main.htm

If you prefer to get an email quotation on maintenance renewal, send your current license information to sales@systemtools.com and request a maintenance renewal quote. You can easily get the current license information under Hyena's Tools > Settings > Licensing menu.

If your maintenance expiration date is before May 1, 2011, the upgrade cost is only 50% of the licensing cost, which includes one year of maintenance.
Maintenance expirations on or after May 1, 2011 can be renewed now.

SystemTools' Discussion Board

Our online discussion board, with thousands of postings, is a great online resource for all Hyena users. Our discussion board can be both a source for solutions to frequently encountered problems, but also a place to learn how others use many of Hyena's features. To access our discussion board, visit:

http://www.systemtools.com/discussionboard

There is also a link on Hyena's Help menu (Help > Online Discussion Board) to go directly to our discussion board.

Help Us Keep You Informed

Help us keep you and other users in your organization informed of updates and releases of SystemTools products.

Any Hyena user can register for this newsletter (ToolNews) by selecting "Newsletter Signup" on Hyena's Help menu. You can also go directly to
http://www.systemtools.com/news.htm as well. We could also use the help of our existing customers by passing along this newsletter to other Hyena users within your company. To register, they can either use the 'Newsletter Signup' procedure on the help menu, or regardless of what version they are using, simply send an email to join-systemtools@laser.sparklist.com .

We use an automated email list server to handle sending this newsletter, including subscribing and unsubscribing. All new subscriptions require confirmation, and we will never share our newsletter email list with anyone.

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