The development team at Fastvue have been hard at work over the past year updating WebSpy Vantage for the latest .NET Framework, improving performance, integrating Fastvue’s innovative Site Clean engine, and more!
WebSpy Vantage 3.0 is now available from our download page.
New Features in WebSpy Vantage 3.0
The following major features have been introduced in WebSpy Vantage 3.0.
Updated User Interface
The most noticeable change is that WebSpy Vantage 3.0 and the Web Module have received an updated look and feel. General navigation remains the same, so the experience is very familiar if you’re used to v2.2. We hope you like it!
Viewing a report in the WebSpy Vantage Web Module.
Analyzing data on the Analysis tab in WebSpy Vantage.
Fastvue Site Clean Integration
A common requirement when reporting on web-based log files, such as those from a proxy server or web gateway, is to view a clean list of websites that represent what people actually browsed, rather than showing every background CDN site or advertising widget.
WebSpy Vantage 3.0 integrates the Fastvue Site Clean engine that cleans a majority of web traffic. Replace any Site Domain columns in your report templates with the Origin Domain summary to see the results. Results are improved dramatically if your log files contain referrer URLs.
Built for .NET 4.6
WebSpy Vantage is now compiled for the .NET 4.6 framework, which brings with it a range of performance benefits including more efficient memory management and faster import and reporting speeds.
Performance
In addition to the performance improvements through the upgraded .NET framework, the reports engine is now up to 90% faster in certain reporting situations. The improvement is most notable when publishing reports to the Web Module ‘for each manager’ in your organization, or ‘for each group’ (departments, offices etc), where the number of groups are in the hundreds.
New Report Templates
A new range of report templates have been added for the following log file formats:
- Palo Alto Networks (both Threat/URL and Traffic logs)
- Fortinet
- WatchGuard
- McAfee Web Gateway
- Cisco ASA with FirePOWER
- Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA – previously IronPort)
There are also new templates for any ‘web’ based formats (any supported log file that contain URLs, Usernames and Timestamps).
Vantage 2.2 users: After using the migration wizard to copy your settings from Vantage 2.2, you will not have these new templates but you can open them manually. Go to the Upgrading Existing Installations tab on our Getting Started page, for further instructions on upgrading from 2.2 to 3.0, including loading the new templates and aliases.
SCP / SFTP importing
Log files can now be directly imported over SCP / SFTP. Specify the server, path, port and file mask, along with either a username and password, or a username, identity file and passphrase. Also supports Gzip over SFTP.
Improved Organization Import from LDAP
Several improvements have been made to the Import Organization from LDAP wizard to make mapping log data to Active Directory objects easier.
You can now import from the ‘default domain controller’, rather than a hard-set server name or IP making the import more fault tolerant to changes in your infrastructure.
The new ‘Use the default domain controller’ option.
The ‘User Details’ page now has an ‘Active Directory Defaults’ option that imports the most common username formats both with and without domain prefixes accounting for most log analysis situations. Previously you needed to know how usernames were represented in your log file (raw login name, domain\username, domain\username@auth etc), and prefix/suffix the appropriate text around the username. This change removes that requirement so it all ‘just works’ the first time around for most cases. If you need to make any adjustments to match AD users to your log data, click the Custom option to change the attributes imported along with and prefix/suffix options.
The new ‘Use Active Directory Defaults’ option.
Users that do not belong to a group are now imported into an ‘Ungrouped’ group. This lets you easily see users that do not have a ‘department’ or ‘office’ configured in Active Directory, and correct those issues if necessary. Previously, users that did not have a group configured would not be imported or reported on, unless you removed the group from the Grouping page.
Importing and Viewing Ungroups Users.
Note: WebSpy Vantage Ultimate’s licensing is based on the number of users imported. If you have a large number of users that do not belong to one of your configured groups, this change will impact the total number of users imported. You can disable this behavior on the ‘Grouping’ page of the Import Organization wizard.
URL Parsing Supports New Generic Top Level Domains (new gTLDs)
With new Generic Top Level Domains (New gTLDs) continually being released (think, .ninja, .guru, .walmart, .google etc), parsing URLs into domains, sub-domains and TLDs required a new approach.
WebSpy Vantage now uses the list of public suffixes published by publicsuffix.org to correctly parse URLs into domain components.
WebSpy Vantage automatically receives updates to the public suffixes list behind the scenes.
Other Notable Improvements and Fixes in WebSpy Vantage 3.0
In addition to new features, the following notable improvements have been made.
Resuming Import from Gzip Files
Vantage 3.0 now remembers its position when importing logs within gzip files and can resume from that position if the import is stopped, or if the log file is appended to.
Improved Event Log Support
The underlying technology and user interface for importing Windows Event Logs has been updated, streamlining the process of importing all, or selected event logs from one or many machines.
PDF Report Fixes
The PDF report engine has also received an update fixing many PDF generation errors in the process.
Loader Changes
New Loader Groups are continually being added to the software. It is recommended that you check for updates regularly (using Tools | Check for updates). Most notable changes include:
- Cisco Meraki (new)
- Untangle (new)
- Sophos XG (improved)
- Palo Alto Networks (Improved)
- Fortinet (Improved)
- SonicWall (v 6.5)
Need a Syslog Server?
Most devices support syslog as a method of exporting log data to another machine. WebSpy Vantage does not directly consume syslog messages, however we have a free utility to collect syslog messages and log them to text files, which WebSpy Vantage can then import on a schedule.
It is called Fastvue Syslog, and it’s simple, free and unlimited meaning you can log as much data as you need, from as many devices as you like, without paying a cent. Download it from https://www.fastvue.co/syslog
Full Release Notes
For a comprehensive list of changes, please see the release notes section in our Support Portal.
Getting Started & Upgrade Instructions
For all information regarding WebSpy Vantage 3.0’s system requirements, along with installation and upgrade instructions, please go to our Getting Started Guide and select either the New Installations or Upgrading Existing Installations tab.
What About Vantage 2.2?
Vantage 2.2 (Ultimate, Premium and Giga) will continue to receive critical bug fixes until 1st of July 2019, but no new features are planned for this version. All new features, including new or updated log file support, will be made in Vantage Ultimate 3.0.
All customers on an existing Vantage subscription (including Vantage Premium and Vantage Giga customers) can upgrade and start using Vantage Ultimate 3.0 today as part of your existing subscription. Vantage Ultimate customers can simply use their existing serial number to unlock the software via the Registration dialog.
Vantage Premium and Vantage Giga customers just need to request a new Vantage Ultimate serial number from WebSpy Sales. This serial number activates your Vantage Ultimate subscription, expiring on the same date as your existing Vantage Premium or Vantage Giga subscription.
End of Life for Vantage Premium and Vantage Giga
As of the 1st of July 2019, our Vantage Premium and Vantage Giga products will be officially discontinued. Vantage Ultimate is the only version WebSpy is offering moving forward, and will be referred to as ‘WebSpy Vantage’.
Upgrade options vary depending on your current license type.
| License Type | Migration Options |
|---|---|
Existing Subscriptions |
All customers on an existing subscription of Vantage Premium or Vantage Giga can upgrade to Vantage Ultimate 3.0 today, free of charge. Just request a new Vantage Ultimate serial number from WebSpy Sales.
This serial number activates your Vantage Ultimate subscription, expiring on the same date as your existing Vantage Premium or Vantage Giga subscription. When your subscription expires, you will be able to renew your subscription to WebSpy Vantage Ultimate at the same price as your last Vantage Premium or Vantage Giga renewal (a significant discount). Further renewals will include a special ‘grandfathered’ discount. Please discuss this with your account manager. |
Perpetual Licenses with Current Software Assurance |
If you own a perpetual license of Vantage Giga or Vantage Premium with existing software assurance, you can start using Vantage Ultimate today, free of charge. Just request a new Vantage Ultimate Serial Number from WebSpy Sales.
This serial number activates your Vantage Ultimate subscription, expiring on the same date as your existing software assurance contract. When your subscription expires, you will be able to renew your subscription to WebSpy Vantage Ultimate at a special grandfathered subscription price (a significant discount). Please discuss this with your account manager.
|
Perpetual Licenses without Current Software Assurance |
If you own a perpetual license of Vantage Premium or Vantage Giga without existing software assurance, you can upgrade to Vantage Ultimate 3.0 at a special grandfathered subscription price (a significant discount). Please discuss this with your account manager
|
If you choose not to upgrade, WebSpy/Fastvue will endeavour to offer support for the remainder of your subscription or software assurance contract, but after 1st of July 2019, all software fixes will only be available in Vantage Ultimate 3.0.
WebSpy/Fastvue will also continue to honour registrations (unlocks) of existing perpetual licenses and existing subscriptions that expire beyond the 1st of July 2019.
Download WebSpy Vantage 3.0 Now
So what are you waiting for? Head over to our download page and get started with WebSpy Vantage 3.0 today!
