This blog article will highlight some of the new features in Live Maps v5:

• Automatic Network Topology Mapping
• ‘Show Affected Live Maps’ Alert Task
• Dynamic Maps
• Integration With Service Manager 2010

Automatic Network Topology Mapping

Live Maps has been very popular for visualizing network topologies with OpsMgr. The monitored connection and layered view features  are great ways to get a complete view of your network infrastructure. In Live Maps v5 we make it even easier to map out your network. Live Maps v5 is capable of working with discovered network topology information that is stored in OpsMgr. One of the first vendors that has included this information in their product is Jalasoft.  Their R2 version of Xian Network Manager Io can discover any network connection between routers, switches and servers. Once this information is stored in OpsMgr you can use Live Maps v5 to automatically create monitored links between network devices.

‘Show Affected Live Map’ Alert Task.

Every wondered how you can see which maps are affected by a particular OpsMgr alert? In Live Maps v5 we introduce the ‘Show Affected Live Map’ alert task. The alert task shows you all the Live Maps that are affected by the device or application object of the alert.

Dynamic Maps

In Live Maps v3 we introduced the concept of dynamic list views. This allowed you to create views that are dynamically populated based on rules that can filter on any discovered property of an object. This way you can create the definition of a view once and it gets updated automatically when new objects are discovered that match the defined rule(s). Many customers have been asking for the same functionality for the more advanced drawing views that come with Live Maps. In Live Maps v5 we delivered this functionally allowing you to create maps that get updated  without touching the configuration.

System Center Service Manager 2010 Integration

We are very excited to extend the reach of Live Maps into System Center Service Manager 2010. With this integration you can directly jump from any incident to the affected Live Map, giving you all information about the impacted services, users and allowing you to directly run a corrective action to resolve the problem.

“Live Maps takes System Center, the MOF and ITIL to a whole new level,” said Clare Henry, director of product marketing, Management and Services Division at Microsoft Corp. “Service maps, like those built with Live Maps, help customers set context and drive a service orientation within their organization, making service management principles easier to embrace and utilize.”

The new version of Live Maps can be downloaded here. Customers and partners can request a v5 license key by sending an email to sales@savision.com. Free copy users can request an updated key here.