Wednesday, December 08, 2004

ExBPA 1.1 is now out.

ExBPA 1.1 is now out. So what's new with this release?

Here's what Paul Bowden says:
1.1 provides some improvements and refinements to the overall ExBPA experience. There are no major code changes in 1.1, we've focused mainly on usability improvements.

Here's a quick list of the improvements in 1.1:

Installation
  • You can in-place upgrade from 1.0 to 1.1 (i.e. no need to remove previous versions from Add/Remove Programs)
  • You can now specify the data directory (where the output XML files are kept)
  • Ability to launch ExBPA at the end of the MSI install
  • Incorporates the very latest ExBPA.Config.xml (configuration & rules) and ExBPA.chm files (version 1.6.3.1)

Update Checking

  • ExBPA checks to see if a new version of the binaries are available (in addition to the ExBPA.Config.xml file)
  • ExBPA can auto-download new binaries and perform in-place upgrades of the tool
  • There's a new "Cancel this check" option if you wish to bypass update checking
  • Better text and error messages

General

  • Text clean-up in the user interface. Reworded many sentences.
  • Uses a global catalog server rather than domain controller to ensure mailbox count is correct
  • Validation performed on credentials (if entered)

Scan Options

  • You can now enter an identifying label for the scan. This label will be part of the output XML filename as well.

Scan Results

  • More report options providing a better breakdown of items found
  • Non-Default Settings, Recently Changed Settings, and Baseline output is broken out into separate reports
  • 'Items of Interest' report lists out all information events
  • 'Run Time Log' shows the list of events and errors encountered during collection and analysis
  • The 'Tell me more.' links for non-problem events (such as a Non-Default setting) is more appropriate
  • Pressing CTRL-E on a node whilst in the Summary/Detailed View expands all child nodes (NOTE: This option can be resource intensive)
  • Better support for launching non-IE browsers

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