Intermapper FAQs

How can I stop the Intermapper server from polling for a while?

The easiest way to stop Intermapper's polling for a while is to disable all the maps.

1. Open Server Settings.
2. Click the Enabled Maps tab.
3. Clear all maps. They are no longer polled or tested.

Alternatively, you can disable maps individually from the Map List by right-clicking on a map in the list and selecting the ‘Disable’ command.

How can I stop the Intermapper server? How can I restart it?

On macOS, Intermapper installs a Menu Bar Application that gives a summary of Intermapper's status, and allows you to start and stop the Intermapper daemon.

On Microsoft Windows, Intermapper installs an icon in System Tray (lower right corner) that does much the same thing.

On all Linux installations, Intermapper services should be controlled using the systemd command line interface command of systemctl. For more information, see the "Managing Intermapper Services for Linux Systems" section in the Intermapper Developer Guide.

We recommend you read the Readme file on the Downloads page for information specific to your version.

How can I move Intermapper from one server to another?

The recommended way to move Intermapper to another server is to follow these steps:

1. Install Intermapper on the new server, and stop the Intermapper service/daemon when installation is complete.
2. Stop the Intermapper service/daemon on the old server and copy your Intermapper Settings folder to the new platform, replacing the one created when you installed Intermapper on the new server.
3. On the new server, start the Intermapper service/daemon.

The default location for the  Intermapper Settings folder depends upon the platform where installed:

• Windows: C:\Program Files\Intermapper\InterMapper Settings
• macOS: /Library/Application Support/InterMapper Settings
• Linux: $HOME/Intermapper_Settings/, where $HOME is the home directory for the specified user Intermapper is running under.

Note: If you are migrating from  Mac OS X PowerPC to Mac Intel, Microsoft Windows or any other Intel-based system, please contact support@Intermapper.com prior to installing on the new platform. Additional steps are necessary in order to preserve the historical chart data when migrating between these platforms.

How can I uninstall the Intermapper server?

Each version of Intermapper comes with its own uninstaller. Find the original distribution file (or retrieve the current version from http://www.Intermapper.com/files) and use its uninstall feature. 

Why do I have trouble with Telnet using my Windows terminal program?

Q: When I use HyperTerminal to telnet into Intermapper's server, I don't see character echoes. Why not?

A: Two commonly-available Windows telnet clients, HyperTerminal and the command-line telnet client, do not work correctly with Intermapper in their default configuration. Neither of them do local echoing by default, and both refuse to turn it on when asked to do so by the Intermapper server.

Therefore, neither of these clients work out-of-the-box with Intermapper, so you need to turn on local echoing yourself.

Enabling Local Echoing in HyperTerminal

With your Intermapper session loaded, choose File > Properties. Click the Settings tab. Click the ASCII Setup... button. Check the box labelled "Echo typed characters locally". When connecting to earlier versions of Intermapper, you should also check the box labelled "Send line ends with line feeds". Later versions of Intermapper do not require this (although it won't hurt.) Click Ok to close the ASCII Setup dialog, then click Ok to put away the Properties dialog. Remember to save your session to make the new settings permanent.

Enabling On Local Echoing with Built-in Telnet Client

Start your telnet session with Intermapper. Press Ctrl+] to enable the client to process setup commands. Type "SET LOCAL_ECHO" and press Enter to turn on local echoing. Press Enter again to return to your session. I'm not aware of any way to save this setting for future sessions, so you'll need to do this each time.

Putty

A free Windows telnet client we have had good luck with is Putty. Putty is available at http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/.  Putty requires no configuration to work correctly with Intermapper. You may find this nicer to use than either of the built-in options that come with Windows.

On an Xserve, can I use the serial port for paging?

You can use the built-in serial port to drive an external modem that can in turn send page notifications. To do this, you must disable the getty process that's usually listening on that port.

On the Xserve, open this file:

/System/Library/StartupItems/SerialTerminalSupport 

At about line 72 is:

ENABLE_SERIAL_TERMINAL=$TRUE 

Change this to:

ENABLE_SERIAL_TERMINAL=$FALSE 

Re-init the system, and there should be no getty and Intermapper will get to the modem just fine. (Thanks to Charlie Winchcombe for this tip.)

How can I know that the embedded Java is secure?

The Intermapper rich client UI applications (IM-Console and IMRA) are each implemented using Java desktop facilities. For all platform combinations except for IMRA on Linux, the relevant Intermapper product bundles a Java runtime to support the application. Fortra recognizes that, although the Java platform is intensively and expertly maintained, it presents a large attack surface to a potential attacker and is therefore reasonable that security-sensitive sites seek reassurance as to the implications for their Intermapper deployments of the discovery and disclosure of security defects in the Java platform.

It is Fortra's policy in maintaining Intermapper to ensure that the bundled Java runtime is updated to a version incorporating the latest security fixes. If you cannot wait for the next Intermapper release, you can remove execute permissions from the bundled JRE and run an Intermapper application with an alternative external JDK or JRE.

Microsoft Windows and Linux Systems

To invoke Intermapper on Microsoft Windows using a version of JDK other than the one included with Intermapper, invoke the InterMapper.jar file from the installation directory (by default C:\Program Files\InterMapper) specifying the desired Java virtual machine at the Microsoft Windows command line. For example,

C:\> "C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk-11.0.5.10-hotspot\bin\java" -jar "C:\Program Files\InterMapper\InterMapper.jar"

Similarly, on Linux, run the following command:

$ /opt/java/bin/java -jar /usr/local/share/intermapper/intermapper.jar

macOS

To use an alternative version of Java on macOS systems, replace app.runtime=$APPDIR/PlugIns/Java.runtime (located in the /Library/Applications/InterMapper.app/Contents/Java/InterMapper.cfg file) with the path name of the directory where your externally-sourced JRE file resides (this should be a sub-directory of /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines).