FirstWave VM

The fastest way to run NMIS 9, Open-AudIT and the full opSuite

The FirstWave VM is a single OVA that ships with everything you need to monitor, audit and automate your network. Deploy it on the hypervisor you already run, and you can be ingesting nodes in under an hour.

Includes a free, time-unlimited licence for up to 20 nodes per module. No credit card.

Latest release

What's in the latest build

Release details

Release date
Operating system
Debian 11
Direct OVA download
Download the OVA

Component versions

NMIS
9.6.5
Open-AudIT
5.6.5
opCharts
4.9.1-4
opConfig
4.7.0
opEvents
4.6.4
opHA
5.1.4
opReports
4.6.8
opAddress
2.4.0

What's new in this build

  • opEvents: bug fixes for the Durable Escalation Queue and the Event Action Editor.
  • Administration: the Addresses column has been removed from Administration → Nodes. Addresses are visible on the Node page.

View the full release notes on the Community Wiki

Why teams choose the VM

Built for network teams who don't have time to babysit a server

Skip the build, keep the control.

The VM is a hardened Debian 11 appliance with every FirstWave module pre-installed, pre-configured and ready to license. You get the operational control of running it inside your own environment, without the days of dependency wrangling.

One stack, end to end.

NMIS 9 for fault and performance, Open-AudIT for discovery and inventory, opCharts for visualisation, opConfig for configuration management, opEvents for correlation and automation, opReports for reporting, opAddress for IPAM, and opHA for distributed deployments. Everything is pre-integrated, so cross-module workflows work on day one.

Production grade from the first boot.

The VM is the same image our customers run in MSP networks, government environments and Fortune 500 enterprises. Snapshot it, replicate it, scale it, or use it as a sandbox before rolling out to bare metal.

A free path to prove value.

The 20-node licence per module is time-unlimited, so you can prove value on a slice of your estate before scaling. When you're ready, our engineers will help size the licence and plan the rollout.

Where it runs

Runs on the hypervisor you already operate

The FirstWave VM ships as an OVA, so it deploys cleanly on every major hypervisor. Pick your platform and follow the conversion guide.

Quick start

Three steps from download to monitoring

1

Download the OVA.

Grab the latest build from the link above. The image ships with the full opSuite already installed and configured.

2

Deploy on your hypervisor.

Follow the conversion guide for your platform, then power on the appliance. Default credentials are printed in the Message of the Day on the login screen, and listed in the Default Credentials doc on the Community Wiki.

3

Run the Getting Started Wizard.

Point a browser at the VM's IP address. The wizard walks you through licensing the modules you want, and adding your first nodes (one at a time, or in bulk via the Excel import template).

A localhost node is added automatically and starts collecting metrics, events and inventory data on first boot.

Free licence

20 free nodes per module. No expiry.

Every module in the FirstWave VM ships with a free, time-unlimited licence for up to 20 nodes. That's a full production-quality network management stack for a small estate, or a fully featured lab for a larger one, at zero cost. When you're ready to grow, our team will help you size the licence and plan the rollout.

Designing a deployment? Talk to a FirstWave engineer.

Whether you're modelling a deployment for 200 nodes or 200,000, our team can walk you through:

  • Sizing and architecture for your environment
  • Migrating from Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds or PRTG
  • Distributed and high-availability deployments with opHA
  • Custom dashboards, escalations and integrations