Published Release Notes

SAML single sign-on is easier to configure

Implementing SAML single sign-on (SSO) login authentication in your application is now less complex. You can now configure most requirements that used custom activities or Java code in previous releases from the Authentication services form.

For more information, see Creating an authentication service.

Extract data from Pega Cloud to an on-premises database

You can now use Pega^® Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX) to extract data from Pega Cloud to an on-premises relational database management system. Extracting data from Pega Cloud directly to an on-premises database improves efficiency by eliminating the need for file extraction and the development of a file extraction infrastructure.

For more information, see Extracting data from Pega Cloud to an on-premises database.

Improved connection pooling performance

HikariCP is now used for connection pooling for databases that are configured by using a URL. HikariCP improves connection pooling performance; however, more database connections might be used than in previous versions of Pega^® Platform.

As a result of the switch to HikariCP, you cannot use the System Management Application (SMA) to get diagnostic data from your application. For instructions about how to get diagnostic data by using REST services, see Obtaining connection pool diagnostic data by using REST services.

No longer supported translator configuration options

The following translator configuration options are not needed and are no longer supported. If you previously configured any of these system settings, remove them from the system settings to avoid a warning message. For example, if you set translator/useparserfamily, the following message is displayed at startup: "Translator option, 'translator/useparserfamily' is not needed and no longer supported. Remove this from the system settings."

• translator/useparserfamily
• translator/usecodegenerator
• translator/usenativedouble
• translator/optimization/use71BlockAnalysis
• translator/optimization/use71ConstantFolding
• translator/optimization/use71AssignmentTypeSimplification
• translator/optimization/use71IntrinsicFunctions
• translator/use71PropSetGeneration
• translator/use71ParserAssignment
• assembly/model/useBlock4ContiguousSets
• /translator/pandc/comparepandcalgorithms
• /translator/pandc/use6xalgorithms
• /Compatibility/CheckForTopLevelClassMismatch

In addition, the com.pega.pegarules.generation.parseoverride bootstrap option is no longer supported. Remove this option from the system settings.

Configure role dependencies to grant access rights

You can configure role dependencies in a role to grant access rights, which are inherited from the role. Role dependencies are relationships between roles that mirror an organization hierarchy or a more complex relationship among groups of operators, roles, or functional areas. Use role dependencies to simplify role configuration, minimize the number of roles needed by an access group, and minimize the number of privileges that you have to manually define for roles in your application.

For more information, see Access Role rules, Access Role form – Using the Role tab.

Improved operator security

To improve security, Pega® Platform now requires the following:

• During deployment, you must configure a password for [email protected].
• The administrator must enable new out-of-the-box operators.
• The administrator and new Pega-supplied operators must change their passwords after the first login.

These requirements replace the optional secured mode in earlier versions of Pega Platform.

System state data is saved for 90 days

System state data is now saved to the database for 90 days and can be downloaded as a JSON file. Having previous system state data available is useful for debugging system problems. Operators with the pzSystemOperationsObserver privilege can download system state data from the Cluster Management landing page for either the entire cluster or a single node. In addition, the PersistClusterState and PersistNodeState agents have been added to the Pega-RulesEngine ruleset for persisting system state data to the database.

For more information, see Downloading the system state.

Multifactor authentication now supports SMS

Multifactor authentication now supports short message service (SMS) as well as email. Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) is supported as a provider.

For more information, see Security policies settings.

Operator provisioning is supported by SAML and OpenID Connect authentication services

When you use SAML and OpenID authentication services, operators can be automatically provisioned without the need to write custom activities. Users can now be authenticated and provisioned from authentication providers that adhere to the OpenID Connect specification, such as Auth0, NetIQ, and Google.

For more information, see Configuring operator provisioning for a SAML SSO authentication service and Configuring operator provisioning for an OpenID Connect authentication service.

Support for OpenID Connect authentication

Pega^® Platform now supports authentication services that use OpenID Connect, an emerging standard for government and enterprise cloud environments. This standard facilitates interoperability among identity management solutions and authentication through authentication providers that adhere to the OpenID Connect specification, including Auth0, NetIQ, and social media sites such as Google.

For more information, see Configuring an OpenID Connect authentication service.