Easy-IP Tips & Tricks

Here are some handy tips & tricks you can use for performing common tasks in Easy-IP.

How to upgrade your database.

To upgrade your Easy-IPv6 or v7 database:

1. Run the Easy-IP Configuration Wizard.
2. Choose “Attach an existing v6 or later database”.
3. Enter your licence details, when prompted.

Your v6 or v7 database will be automatically upgraded to the latest version.

Note: To upgrade from Easy-IPv3 or v4, choose “Create new v7 database, and import an existing database”, and follow the prompts in the Import Wizard.

How to Backup & Restore your database.

Backup Database

By default, your database is backed up automatically every day at 04:00 (am). You can change the time and the frequency of the backup.

To backup your database manually, open the Server Manager and go to Tools > Manage Backups and click Backup Now.

IMPORTANT !

Always use Easy-IP to backup the database. Just copying the database file can result in corrupted data.

Restore Database

Easy-IP automatically backs up the database every day, so you just need to find the most recent backup file *.fbkz and restore that file using the Restore Database button.

1. Open the Server Manager
2. Go to Tools> Manage Backups
3. Select the most recent backup file *.fbkz
4. Click Restore Database.

IMPORTANT !

After restoring the backup, don't forget to connect to the newly restored database file *.fdb using the Configuration Wizard > Attach to existing v6 or later database.

The restored databases are stored in the following directory by default. C:\ProgramData\EasyIP\Restored databases\

How to backup the database to an external drive.

Sometimes you may want backup to a different location. Here's how to change the directory path for the backup.

1. Go to the Server Manager > Tools > Manage Backups
2. Click Settings
3. Enter the new Backup directory Path. (e.g. F:\Mybackups\)
4. Click OK
5. Click Backup Now

Wait a few moments for the backup to appear.

Click View Log to verify the backup was completed.

Browse to the new backup directory to check if the backup and logfile have been written to the new directory.

NB> You should NOT backup to a Linux server, because the disk format is different to Windows.

How to install Easy-IP in the Cloud.

Now you can deploy Easy-IPv7 on any public, or private cloud with AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.

Easy-IPv7 with ThinfinityUI enables access via any HTML5 compliant browser, from any device including; Windows, Mac, iOS or Android.

The basic steps are broadly similar, whichever cloud platform you choose...

Sign in to your AWS, Azure or Google Cloud portal.

1. Create a Virtual Machine (VM)
2. Connect to your VM via RDP
3. Download & Install Easy-IP & ThinfinityUI as normal.
4. Create Network Inbound Security rules for the VM to allow access for Easy-IP and ThinfinityUI.
5. Configure the Windows Firewall of the VM to allow TCP port 8095 and 6580.
6. Connect to Easy-IP from any browser with a URL like this: http://192.168.1.4:6580

How to perform a Host Discovery with SNMP

1. Select a Subnet in the Subnet Tree
2. Go to Tools > Host Discovery in the toolbar
3. Click Add and choose Ping, DNS Hostname and SNMP from the dropdown list.
4. Leave the Ping and DNS Hostname at the default settings. They should work fine in 90% of cases.
5. Select SNMP in the Host Discovery Options screen.
   
   

Leave the SNMP Update properties at the default settings. This populates the Notes field with the SNMP results.

1. Select Retrieval Type = Single OID from the dropdown list.
2. Click the OID … button to display the MIB OID browser.
3. Navigate to mib-2 > system > sysDescr in the MIB tree
4. Click OK
5. Click Edit SNMP Agents button to provide your SNMP credentials.
6. Click Add
   
   

In Community Properties, enter Name, SNMP Version, SNMP Read Community. Leave the other options at the default settings.

Choose Host or IP address Range, from the dropdown list,

Enter low and high IP Address or Subnet e.g. 192.168.1.0/24 (one per line)

1. Click OK in the Agent Properties
2. Click OK again in the SNMP Agent Ranges
3. Click Discover Now button in the Host Discovery Options
4. The Discovery Progress screen is displayed.
5. Click Close to finish
6. Double click on an IP Address in the Address Grid to see the results.

The Address Type, Hostname and Notes field should be populated automatically.

Now you're in the Records Editor, you can add additional information like Owner, Location, Phone Number, etc.

Click the Apply button to save the changes.

How to set up a Remote Discovery Bot

In the Server Manager, go to Tools > Discovery Bots

1. Click Add Bot
2. Enter a Name for the Bot
3. Enter the IP Address of the remote PC where the Discovery Bot is installed.
4. Enter a Shared Key manually or click Generate for a random secure key.
5. Click OK to save.

Once you have installed the Discovery Bot agent on the remote PC.

1. On the remote PC, click the green Discovery Bot icon in the System Tray
2. Right-Click > Settings
3. Enter the IP Address of the main Easy-IP server
4. Enter a name for this Remote Discovery Bot. - This must be the same as the name you entered in the Server Manager
5. Enter the Shared Key - This must be the same as the key you entered in the Server Manager

To run a Discovery using the Bot:

1. Create a Host Discovery on the server and click Discover via Bot, then OK.
2. Look in the log to verify the Discovery was OK.

or

1. On the remote PC, click the green Discovery Bot icon in the System Tray
2. Right-Click > Show

How to import IP addresses from a spreadsheet

1. Go to Tools > Import
2. Select Excel spreadsheet (xls format).
3. Enter the name of the file you want to import.
4. Click Next
5. Select a Worksheet from the dropdown list.
6. Select the the IP Address column
7. Select the Subnet Mask column

NB> The column names must be different. Everything else can be left at the default settings.

1. Click Next to continue. The Column/Field screen will be displayed.
2. Click Add Pairing to match the column names in the spreadsheet to the field names in the database.
3. Click Auto Add, to match source & destination fields with the same name.
4. Click Next to continue. - The Advanced Options screen will be displayed.
5. Click Next to continue - The Data Preview screen will be displayed.
6. Check your import data looks OK.
7. View the Conversion Log Tab to see if there any errors.
8. Click Next to continue. - The Import Destination screen will be displayed.
9. Select the folder or Autonomous Network where you want the data to be imported.
10. Click Import. - The Import Progress screen will be displayed. This tells you how many Subnets & IP Addresses will be imported.
11. Click Finish to end and return to the main Client screen.

Check the Subnets and IP Addresses have been imported successfully.

How to export data from the Grid to Excel format

To quickly export the contents of the Address Grid to Excel, just click the green Excel icon in the top right corner of the Address Grid.

How to add a custom field.

Here's how to add a custom field called VLAN to the Subnet Grid:

1. Go to Server Manager > Tools
2. Fields and Properties > Add Field
3. Enter a name, field type and size.
4. Click OK
5. Restart the Server when prompted.

Open the Client and the new field will appear in the Subnet Grid.

To add fields to the Address Grid, choose Addresses from the Table dropdown box.

How to customize the column layout.

In the Easy-IP Client, go to Grid Views> Load Grid View Settings. You'll see a number of predefined views.

The views are specific to Subnet or Address grids.

• .esvs files are for the Subnet grid
• .eavs files are for the Address grid

To create your own custom view, rearrange the columns as desired, group by a column heading, or sort a column.
When you're happy with the layout, click Save Grid View Settings.

Once saved, your new Custom View should appear in the list of Grid Views for quick access at any time.

Tip

You can display as many or as few columns as you want.

Click the Field Chooser in the top left corner of the grid (next to the IP address column) and you'll see a drop-down list of all the columns.
Just uncheck the columns you don't want to be displayed.

How to create linked IP addresses.

Easy-IP allows you to create linked IP addresses.

Example uses for this feature are:

• Dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
• Network Address Translation (NAT)
• Multiple IP Addresses associated with a single VM
• One to One or One to Many

1. To link IP addresses, select the IP Address in the data grid then right click and select Mark Selected IP Addresses.
2. Next, select the IP address(es) you want to link it to and select Link Marked IP addresses.
3. You should be prompted for a link name.
4. Click OK.
5. To delete the links, select them in the Linked IP Addresses tab and Right-Click> Delete.

How to add a URL to any field.

You can add a URL for any web address directly into a field, then just click on the URL to go directly to the web page.

1. Go to Server Manager> Tools> Fields and Properties.
2. Select the desired field with your cursor.
3. Click Edit Field Properties
4. Check Display as URL
5. Click OK to save.

How remove Easy-IPv7 completely.

Here is the procedure to remove all traces of Easy-IPv7 on your system.

1. Uninstall all Easy-IP and Firebird programs.

• Discovery Bot
• V7 Client
• V7 Server
• V7 Server Manager
• IP NetTools
• Also any Firebird Programs.

2. Delete these directories manually:

• C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents\EasyIP
• C:\Program Files\Easy-IP
• C:\Program Files\IPNetTools
• C:\ProgramData\EasyIP
• C:\ProgramData\firebird

NB> Files may be in C:\Program Files (x86) on a 64bit machine.

Also look for any other \Firebird directories and delete those too. They may be left over from previous installations.

3. Start the Registry Editor – regedit

Delete these registry keys:

• HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Easy-IP
• HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Easy-IP

Also look for any \Firebird registry keys and delete those too.

4. Delete all Firebird dlls.

NB> Search your hard disk for these files.
They may be in various locations or may not exist at all, depending which version of Easy-IP is installed.

• fbembed.dll
• firebird.dll
• ib_util.dll
• icudt30.dll
• icuin30.dll
• icuuc30.dll

5. Delete MS runtime dlls.

• C:\system\win32\msvcr80.dll
• C:\system\win32\msvcp80.dll

NB> These two files may be in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 on a 64bit machine.

6. Now you have a clean machine ready to install the new version.

How to change an existing subnet from /24 to /23

It's not possible to do this directly, but there is a workaround, as follows:

1. Export the /24 to XML format.
2. Delete the original /24 in the Subnet Tree.
3. Edit the XML file and change the subnet mask to /23.
4. Change the parameter F1=24 to F1=23.
5. Save the changes.
6. Import the new XML file.

How to deploy the Easy-IP Client with SCCM

I've been asked to deploy the Easy-IP Client application through System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) which is done silently without any user interaction.
Is there standalone MSI installer for the Easy-IP Client?

~

We don't have an MSI installer, but you can run the Client only installer silently.

If you only want to install the v7 Client, use the Client only installer, not the Server installer.
Download the v7 Client only installer  - EasyIPv7ClientSetupWin32.exe

Then run it with one of the following command line parameters:

• /SILENT – Runs the installer showing the UI, but accepting all the default settings.
• /VERYSILENT – Runs the installer hiding the UI, but accepting all the default settings.

All the available command line parameters are explained here:
http://www.jrsoftware.org/ishelp/index.php?topic=setupcmdline

How to display a list of all user accounts

1. In the Easy-IP Client, go to Tools> Reports and choose User List Report
2. Select CSV or XLS format from the dropdown list.
3. Then press Export Now button

NB> You have to be logged into Easy-IP with Full Administrator rights.

This report is only available to Administrators.

How to auto-number text sequentially

The Field Value Generator lets you auto-number text within a field.
For example, the hostnames of devices should be called server001, server002, server003 and so on.

Right-Click the Data Grid context menu and choose Field Value Generator.

To Auto-Number text within a field, follow these steps:

1. Select the records for which you want to generate sequentially numbered values.
2. Choose a field from the drop-down list.
3. Enter a number in the Start Index box. ie. if you want to start the number sequence at 1, then enter 1.
4. Enter a number for the zero padding. ie. Enter ‘2’ if you need the text to read server001, or enter ‘3’ to make the text read server0001.
5. Enter the text you wish to appear in the field. ie. if you want the text to read “server”, then enter “server”.
6. The text and the index number will then appear in the Preview box. Click OK to generate the values.

How to reset the Client View

To reset the Client View, go to the View Tab > Reset Docking Layout.

Answer “Yes”, when asked if you want to reset.

All the Windows will be restored to the default settings, next time you login.

How to make custom reports available to all end users.

You can use Copy Files to users in the Server Manager.

1. Go to Server Manager >Tools >Virtual Server Files
2. Select Administrator > Reports subdirectory
3. Choose the custom reports you want to copy
4. Click Copy Files to Users

How to add a Favourite.

Favourites allows you to create a shortcut to frequently accessed Subnets.

You can mark any network or a folder as Favourite, and access the Favourites list with a single mouse click.

1. To add a Favourite, select a network or a folder, then press the F7 key or click Add Favourites.
2. Enter a description for the Favourite and click OK.

The shortcut will appear in your Favourites list.

How to encrypt data between the Server and the Client.

Sometimes you may need to encrypt data between the Server & the PC Client, for security reasons.

1. Go to Server Manager>Tools > Server Settings
2. Check the box marked Encrypt data between client and server
3. Enter the password.
4. Click OK to save.
5. Now restart the Easy-IP Server for the new setting to take effect.

When you next login you will be prompted to enter the Encryption password.

How to enable SSL in the Easy-IP Server

1. In the Server Manager go to Tools> Server Settings > Primary Server
2. Enter an unused port number for the SSL port and click OK
3. In the Server Manager go to Tools> Server Settings > SSL
4. Download XCA and create a .crt file and a .pem file.
5. Enter the path to .crt file.
6. Restart the Easy-IP Server
7. Connect via the Easy-IP Client.

The connection string for SSL should be in the format:

eips://ipaddress: portnumber

eg. eips://127.0.0.1:8097

How to search for free subnets.

You can search using a wildcard to show all subnets between 10.0.50.0 – 10.255.50.0.

1. Click F3 or choose Advanced Search from the Search dropdown.
2. Select Native Search and Regular Expression
3. Enter “10.[0-9]{1,3}.50.0” (including the quote marks) and click Search button.

How to search for any text embedded within a larger block of text.

Here is an example of how to search for the text string 0864 within the larger text string DS1IT-16250864

1. Choose Advanced Search from the dropdown options or press F3.
2. Select Native Search instead of Full Text
3. Enter 0864 next to the magnifying glass.
4. Press Search button or Enter

How to use the Search filter.

Lets say you want to find all subnets in a class B subnet 134.65.x.x with a /24 mask…

1. Simply type in 134.065 in the Search box to display all 134.065.x.x subnets.
2. To display only those subnets with a /24 mask, click the yellow filter button at the bottom of the Grid.
3. Click the box to add a new condition.
4. Select the field from the drop-down list.
5. Choose the SQL Operator.
6. Enter the required text.

Now add the /24 mask and it will display only /24 subnets.

You can export the results to Excel format by clicking the Excel icon at the top right of the Address Grid.

How to write your own custom SQL report.

The Report Editor makes it simple to create custom SQL reports, based on any fields you choose.

Here's how to do it…

1. Put your cursor at the top of the Subnet Tree
2. Go to Tools> Reports and click New Report
3. The Edit Report screen should appear.
4. Copy & Paste the sample SQL text below.
5. Click Execute Query button.
6. Click the Results Tab to view the results.

You can export or save the report for future use.

Sample SQL script to display all VLANs in London.

SELECT *
FROM V_SUBNETS_USER
WHERE SITE = 'London'
AND LOCAL_INTERFACE LIKE 'Vlan%'
ORDER BY LOCAL_INTERFACE;