NCM 2023.3 release notes
Release date: July 25, 2023
These release notes were updated on December 12, 2023.
Here's what's new in Network Configuration Manager 2023.3.
Network Configuration Manager runs on the SolarWinds Platform.
Learn more
- For information on the latest hotfixes, see NCM hotfixes.
- For information about requirements, see NCM system requirements.
- For information about working with NCM, see the NCM Administrator Guide.
New features and improvements in NCM
For information about new features and fixes in the SolarWinds Platform, see the SolarWinds Platform 2023.3 Release Notes.
Security audit
NCM improves the auditing of important user actions such as manually uploading or downloading a config, running a script, creating and running jobs, managing reports, and creating policy compliance reports.
Location of imported firmware vulnerability files
As a security enhancement, firmware vulnerability files are placed in a specific location. You can no longer specify a different location on the Firmware Vulnerability Settings page. The location is:
C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\NCM\Vuln\Json
If you have problems with this location, contact Support.
Fixes
For information about new features and fixes in the SolarWinds Platform, see the SolarWinds Platform 2023.3 Release Notes.
| Case number | Description |
|---|---|
| 01311086, 01358062 |
If one transfer hangs in a configuration transfer job, the NCM Configuration Management page no longer shows a Timeout error for every transfer included in the job. |
| N/A |
When the Config Summary page is customized and some widgets are removed, upgrading does not add these widgets back. |
| 01270518, 01322300, 01378770 |
When you open the End of Support page, a refresh does not start automatically. Refresh operations finish in the expected amount of time. |
| 01224099, 01316796 | Percentages are shown as whole numbers in NCM widgets such as Overall Configuration Changes Snapshot, Overall Running vs. Startup Config Conflicts, and Overall Devices Backed Up vs. Not Backed Up. Percentages no longer include a long string of decimals. |
Installation or upgrade
For new installations, you can download the installation file from the product page on https://www.solarwinds.com or from the Customer Portal. For more information, see Get the installer.
For upgrades, go to Settings > My Deployment to initiate the upgrade. The SolarWinds Installer upgrades your entire deployment (all SolarWinds Platform products and any scalability engines).
For more information, see the SolarWinds Platform Product Installation and Upgrade Guide.
Before you upgrade!
If you are upgrading from NCM 2023.2.0 or earlier, be aware that NCM 2023.2.1 included a change to real-time change detection (RTCD). The program RTNForwarder.exe is no longer used by RTCD. The Log Viewer (LV) and Log Analyzer (LA) now include a new action that is used instead.
During an upgrade, the installer automatically updates any LV or LA rules that launched RTNForwarder.exe to perform the new action instead. If you have any SolarWinds Platform alerts configured to launch RTNForwarder.exe as an action, that action is disabled.
For details, see the NCM 2023.2.1 Release Notes.
End of life
| Version | EoL announcement | EoE effective date | EoL effective date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020.2.6 | April 18, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM 2020.2.6 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | May 18, 2023: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM 2020.2.6 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | May 18, 2024: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM 2020.2.6 |
| 2020.2.5 | January 18, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM 2020.2.5 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | February 17, 2023: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM 2020.2.5 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | February 17, 2024: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM 2020.2.5. |
| 2020.2.4 | October 19, 2022: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM 2020.2.4 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | November 18, 2022: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM 2020.2.4 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | November 18, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM 2020.2.4. |
| 2020.2.1 | October 19, 2022: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM 2020.2.1 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | November 18, 2022: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM 2020.2.1 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | November 18, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM 2020.2.1. |
| 2020.2 | October 19, 2022: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM 2020.2 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | November 18, 2022: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM 2020.2 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | November 18, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM 2020.2. |
| 2019.4 | July 27, 2022: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM version 2019.4 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | August 26, 2022: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM version 2019.4 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | August 26, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM version 2019.4. |
| 8.0 | July 27, 2022: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers on NCM version 8.0 should begin transitioning to the latest version of NCM. | August 26, 2022: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs for NCM version 8.0 will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. | August 26, 2023: End-of-Life (EoL) – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for NCM version 8.0. |
See the End of Life Policy for information about SolarWinds product life cycle phases. To see EoL dates for earlier NCM versions, see NCM release history.
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