Update Existing Applications wizard will run for every upgrade
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
The upgrade process from a PRPC 5.x or 6.x system to Pega 7.1.7 now automatically runs the Update Existing Applications wizard. This may extend the time that the upgrade process takes to complete, depending on the version you are upgrading from and the number of rules in your application.
Upgrading to Pega 7.1.7 with an Oracle database requires new role permissions
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
When upgrading or updating from a prior version to Pega 7.1.7, if your system uses an Oracle database, an additional role is required to support the Reversability functionality. In addition to the Oracle privileges specified in the Install Guides, the role SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE is required. Verify that this role is present before beginning the upgrade or update.
Action required by admins for improved search
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
Starting November 13, 2014, after updating to or upgrading from a prior version to Pega 7.1.7, your system administrator must manually build all indexes for Elasticsearch before the system can automatically switch from Lucene to Elasticsearch.
It is recommended that you begin this manual re-indexing process for all enabled index types as soon as your update or upgrade is complete. The search landing page refers to Elasticsearch settings; during re-indexing, however, Lucene search continues to function to ensure that there is no interruption in search functions. When planning the re-indexing, be aware that the initial re-indexing requires significant resources on the host node and can be a lengthy process, depending on the number of rules and work objects in your system.
See the Pega 7.1.7 Upgrade Guide for information about manually indexing Elasticsearch.
Updates no longer require redeploying the prweb.war file or the application server-specific EAR file
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
Updating from Pega 7.1.7 to later versions of Pega 7 no longer requires that you redeploy the prweb.war file or the application server-specific EAR file.
Note that upgrades from versions prior to Pega 7.1.7 still require that you redeploy these files.
Agents not running after update of EAR-based deployment
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
If you update an EAR-file deployment and your update meets both of the following criteria, you must redeploy the prpc_*.ear file for your application server after you complete the update to avoid agent-related errors:
- Updating from Pega 7.1.7, Pega 7.1.8, or Pega 7.1.9
- Updating to Pega 7.1.10, 7.1.11, 7.2, or 7.2.1
If you do not redeploy the prpc_*.ear file, you will see the agent-related issues that are described in the support article Agents are not running.
For information about redeploying, see the Pega 7 Platform Update Guide for your target version of the Pega 7 Platform.
Use Page-Change-Class method to change a Page class
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
With the release of Pega Platform™ 8.3, using the Property-Set method to change the Page class shows a guardrail warning. Use the Page-Change-Class method to change the Page class instead.
For more information about the Page-Change-Class method, see Changing the class of a page and Page-Change-Class method.
Support for the decisioning-enabled NLP text analyzer in IVAs and Email Bots
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
You can now use the new intelligent natural language processing (iNLP) text analyzer in Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistants™ (IVAs) and Pega Email Bots™. This advanced text analyzer is decisioning-enabled and empowers IVA or Email Bot for all conversational channels to provide smarter responses. The decisioning capability in the system integrates text analytics with strategies, prepositions, and interaction history, to provide the context for making better next-best-action decisions.
For more information, see Use the decisioning-enabled NLP text analyzer in IVAs and Email Bots, Defining advanced Facebook text analyzer configuration and Facebook channel behavior.
Upgrade impact
Existing channels remain with the current configuration, and their current functionality does not change. Channels created after the upgrade automatically use the new text analyzer.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
The new text analyzer is enabled or disabled using a new interactive API (iAPI) selection, which is selected by default for new channels. You can disable the iAPI for new channels if you want to maintain current functionality. You can also enable it for existing channels if you want to move existing channels to the new functionality.
Changes to URL format for Pega Web Mashup
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
The format of Pega Web Mashup URLs now supports multiple mashups on a single web page. The new URL format prevents a mashup from sharing cookies with another mashup.
If you want to include multiple mashups on a single web page and one of the mashups was created before 8.3, you must regenerate the mashup to reflect the new URL format.
For more information, see <link to help topic>.
Change tracking tab removed from declare expressions
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
To simplify the configuration of a declare expression, the Change tracking tab has been removed from the declare expression rule form. To use the Change tracking tab, on the declare expression rule form, click Actions > Use legacy expression.
For more information, see Supported and unsupported configurations in simplified declare expressions.
Upgrade impact
The declare expression rules have been moved from the pr4_rule table to the new pr4_rule_declare_expression table.
The upgrade can fail if you customize the pr4_rule table, such as increasing the length of an existing column.
After a successful upgrade, the declare expression rule form is simplified and lightweight pages support declare expressions.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
Read-only data pages by default are lightweight. You could also enable lightweight pages for:
- Editable data pages by selecting the Enable option in the editable data page rule form.
- For all pages in a REST service by using the Lightweight clipboard mode in the Service REST form in the Rest API service.
Only simplified declare expressions are supported in lightweight pages. In simplified declare expressions, context-bound rules are not supported. However, a page context could be specified on the New or Save As form of declare expressions. For more information, see Declare Expression rules - Completing the New or Save As form.
Redirectguests mashup configuration has been removed
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
The authentication/redirectguests server configuration and data-pega-redirectguests attribute have been removed and are no longer required when you configure a mashup. This prevents you from needing to maintain multiple nodes to support some use cases that require the configuration value to be true and other uses cases that require the configuration value to be false.
For more information, see Configuring the Mashup channel.