Published Release Notes

Small distribution kit

A new “small” release distribution format for Maintenance Levels (ML) is now available, designed to significantly increase adoption via: 

• Minimal package size and faster download time
• Minimal install time via tactical changes to the upgrade implementation and process

This kit contains streamlined installers (both UI and command-line installers) and specialized error handling for ML updates (for example, a “small” kit will only work if an existing version of the same release is already installed). 

The kit assembly has also been automated, which includes the construction of a PRPC_Rules.jar archive containing cumulative rules since the GA release. 

A “small” kit will work for any prior ML release within a major release (for example, the “small” ML5 distribution kit will update any customer on 7.1 ML1 through 7.1 ML4).

Improved data page performance

Improvements have been made with queueing and processing of asynchronously-loaded data pages to reduce the number of calls to the database and avoid generating performance problems because of unneeded asynchronous requests.

Restricted SMA access

System Management Application (SMA) remote connections are not supported on JBoss EAP 6.x. This means SMA users may only monitor locally connected systems. Ensure that the "Local JVM Connection..." option is selected when configuring PRPC nodes:

PRServlet not required in PRPC URLs

PRServlet is no longer required in a URL when accessing PRPC. A URL typically written like this:

http://example.com/prweb/PRServlet?[QueryString]

Can instead be written like this:

http://example.com/prweb/?[QueryString]

DB2-LUW database logfile size increase

To avoid running out of logfile space due to large transaction sets during the rule base load of a Pega 7.1.x install, upgrade, or maintenance level update, systems supported by a DB2-LUW database platform should increase the LOGFILSIZ parameter to at least 4096 pages from the default size of 1000 pages.

After the size has been increased, restart the database to ensure that the new setting is loaded into the database correctly.

Unable to drop triggers for frameworks with custom rule tables

For PostgreSQL and z/OS systems, if your deployment includes a framework or application with custom rule tables (such as CPM or any applcation built on CPM), upgrading to Pega 7.1.x causes the DDL application to fail when it tries to drop the following stored procedures:

• z/OS
  • SPPR_RULE_VW_UPDATE
  • PRPC_UPDATESCACHE
• PostgreSQL
  • sppr_base_uc_del.sql
  • sppr_base_uc_ins.sql
  • sppr_base_uc_upd.sql
  • sppr4_fv_ins
  • sppr4_fv_upd

During an upgrade, a number of stored procedures must be dropped and re-added. If the framework or application has custom dependencies that call the stored procedure, this problem is likely to occur.

To correct this issue, drop the framework’s custom dependencies before upgrading and add back the dependencies following the upgrade.

For instructions about how to drop and add the dependencies for your framework and database when this problem occurs, see Troubleshooting: PRPC 7.1.6 upgrade does not drop PRPC_UPDATESCACHE stored procedure.

Adaptive Decision Manager installation changes to support delayed learning

To support delayed adaptive learning, Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM) has been enhanced with database schema changes and no longer relies on Hibernate. This change has an impact in the way ADM is set up in the Decision Management service layer: the jdbc/admDataSource resource is now superseded by jdbc/adm7DataSource.

Additionally, Pega 7.1.7 further simplifies the ADM deployment by providing a single enterprise application or web archive:

• Single EAR deployment archive that can used when deploying ADM on IBM WebSphere and Oracle WebLogic
• Single WAR deployment archive that can be used when deploying ADM on Tomcat and JBoss

Improved full text search

In Pega 7.1.7, Elasticsearch is used to provide full-text search functionality for rules, work, and data content, replacing the existing Lucene search functionality. In addition to providing search results two to five times more quickly than with Lucene Search, Elasticsearch is more scalable: with multi-threaded bulk and incremental indexing, it provides enhanced information about the search queue, the ability to host index files on multiple nodes, a more robust and expressive search parser, the ability to configure thresholds for alerts and search query time-outs, and automatic handling of replication and failover.

The search management user interface, where you can see length of queue and age of entries, which node hosts the search index, and where it is located.

After upgrading to Pega 7.1.7, the system administrator must manually migrate search functionality from Lucene Search to Elasticsearch. Note that during the switch-over and until the indexes are rebuilt, Lucene search continues to function and there is no interruption in search functions. For more information, see the Pega 7.1.7 Upgrade Guide.

Use JDBC 4 compliant drivers for better performance

For better performance, ensure that you are using JDBC 4-compliant drivers.  For more information on supported and non-supported JDBC drivers, please reference the Platform Support Guide.

Use Tomcat 7 for better performance

For better performance with a Tomcat web server, use Tomcat 7.

Tomcat 6 has a limitation that causes the server to treat the JDBC driver as if it were a JDBC 3-compliant driver, even if the system is using a JDBC 4-compliant driver. Customers using Tomcat will see better performance if they upgrade to Tomcat 7 and use a JDBC 4-compliant driver.