Published Release Notes

Required Oracle optimization parameter

To optimize performance, set the Oracle parameter optimizer_index_cost_adj to a value between 20 and 25. If this value is not set, the system can run exceedingly slowly, potentially blocking users from login.

Split schema upgrade instructions missing properties

If you upgraded from 5.x, 6.x, or 7.x using the instructions in previous versions of the upgrade guide, you may have neglected to set the properties below in your migrateSystem.properties file when you migrated your upgraded schema to the source system:

pega.rules.objects.generate=true

pega.rules.objects.apply=true

If these properties were not set during an upgrade that splits the schema, your environment does not have the indexes, triggers, and primary keys on the rules tables.

To check for this issue, see if the pr4_base and pr4_rule rules tables in your existing rules schema are missing primary keys. If they are, use the SQL scripts in the ResourceKit\MigrationRecoveryScripts directory of the release to cleanup duplicate rules that were created due to this issue. Follow the steps below to run the scripts.

To run the scripts on Microsoft SQL, Oracle, or PostgreSLQ

1. Take down any app servers using the affected schema.
2. Backup your database.
3. Replace all instances of @RULES_SCHEMA in <database>_cleanDups.sql with the name of the schema that contains the pr4_base table.
4. Run the <database>_cleanDups.sql script on the database with vendor tools (sqlPlus, SQL Server Management Studio, etc).
5. Replace all instances of @RULES_SCHEMA in <database>_fix_vw_table.sql with the name of the schema that contains the pr4_base table.
6. Run the <database>_fix_vw_table.sql script on the database with vendor tools (sqlPlus, SQL Server Management Studio, etc).
7. Generate and apply the ddl using the command line generateDDL command. Check the installation guide for your database or the upgrade guide for details about how to use the generateDDL command line script.
8. Rebuild the indexes for the tables in your rules schema using vendor tools. This is necessary so that your system runs at an optimum speed.
9. Optionally upgrade to the latest release, at this point your database is ready to be upgraded or used depending on your needs.

To run the scripts on DB2 for LUW or z/OS

1. Take down any app servers using the affected schema.
2. Backup your database.
3. Run the <database>_cleanDups.sql script on the database with vendor tools (UDB CLP, Data Studio, etc) to create the CLEANSE_RULES_DUPS stored procedure.
4. Run the query Call CLEANSE_RULES_DUPS(‘<rulesSchema>’); where <rulesSchema> is the name of schema that contains the pr4_base table.
5. After the previous step is complete drop the CLEANSE_RULES_DUPS procedure.
6. Replace all instances of @RULES_SCHEMA in <database>_fix_vw_table.sql with the name of the schema that contains the pr4_base table.
7. Run the <database>_fix_vw_table.sql script on the database with vendor tools (UDB CLP, Data Studio, etc).
8. Generate and apply the ddl using the command line generateDDL command. Check the installation guide for your database or the upgrade guide for details about how to use the generateDDL command line script.
9. Rebuild the indexes for the tables in your rules schema using vendor tools. This is necessary so that your system runs at an optimum speed.
10. Optionally upgrade to the latest release. At this point your database is ready to be upgraded or used depending on your needs.

Synchronized database and application server settings

Configure your database and application server to use the same time zone and character encoding to avoid conflicts.

System Management

The PRPC installer has been enhanced to handle additional error conditions related to partial installs and duplicate keys; additionally, the hotfix rollback feature has been improved, and the Rulebase compare tool now supports HTTP(S) environments.

• Rollback feature has been enhanced.
• RuleBase Compare will work for secure (HTTPS) environments as well as  non-secure (HTTP) environments.
• Install will gracefully handle the presence of a duplicate key during import.
• When install fails, system will set tables back to original state.
• Remote MBean methods will now work on multi-servant load-balancing systems.
• Enhancements were made to harnesses in Split Schema systems.

Custom database (DB) triggers are dropped during upgrade

The latest version of Pega 7 improves performance by no longer using database triggers to assist with System Pulse and Data-Rule-Summary processing, which is now done within the Pega 7 engine. As a result, DB triggers are no longer installed on either the pr_sys_updatescache or pr4_rule_vw tables.

When upgrading to the latest version of Pega 7, if you had previously implemented a custom database (DB) trigger on these tables, or a custom DB trigger that refers to these tables, it is removed during the upgrade process. No custom triggers are removed unless they reference these tables.

If you have custom DB triggers that reference the pr_sys_updatescache or pr4_rule_vw tables and perform other processing, those triggers must be reimplemented. When doing so, you must be careful to not modify the pr_sys_updatescache or pr4_rule_vw tables.

For more information, see Startup check removes custom DB triggers.

Identify, install, and manage hotfixes with the Hotfix Manager

Hotfixes are packages of files that address issues in Pega 7 and in participating Industry Applications. With Hotfix Manager, you can:

• Scan your system for installed and missing critical hotfixes and create a report that you can provide to Pegasystems Support for diagnostic purposes.
• Review the descriptions and contents of hotfixes.
• Install, rollback, and commit hotfixes.
• Manage hotfixes that include schema changes or require other special handling.

The Hotfix Manager replaces the Update Manager Hotfix Installer and System Scanner, both of which are deprecated. For more information, see Hotfix Manager identifies, installs, and manages hotfixes to Pega 7 and participating Industry Applications.

Enhanced product rule form for easy application packaging

The enhanced product rule form allows you to add applications in Delta mode, which includes only the patch version of the rulesets that comprise the application rule. You can also use Global exclusions to exclude one or more rules that are not associated with a ruleset version.

These enhancements allow easy packaging of non-versioned rules that are often deployed separately and reduce the need to manually add them later.

For more information, see Product rules - Completing the Contents tab.

Updated Rule-Utility-Function resolution

Rule-Utility-Function rules are now resolved based on ruleset.

Previously, if you had the same function @xyz() in different libraries in different rulesets, you could not call the function by using @xyz, because that would throw an exception.

The resolution process has since been updated so that rule resolution is now based on the highest ruleset in context. This update makes the function resolution process consistent with how rule resolution is performed for other rule types.

For more information, see Functions in expressions.

Define function input parameters on the Create or Save As forms

When creating or updating a Rule-Utility-Function ruleset in Designer Studio, use the Create or Save As forms to define or change parameters as a part of the form. The Parameters section on either of these forms allows you to set the function's name and Java type before opening the function.

Previously, you updated these fields on the Parameters tab for the function after the form was created. Moving these fields to the Create and Save As forms helps to proactively detect functions with the same signature in the same ruleset before saving the function.

For more information, see Defining function input parameters on the Create or Save As forms.

Support for Oracle TIMESTAMP data types

The Oracle TIMESTAMP data type is now fully supported throughout the Pega 7 data layer. The TIMESTAMP columns for data provide greater precision than the previously available DATE columns.

This release does not include any columns that use the TIMESTAMP data type at installation. However, after installation or upgrade:

• Any newly created columns (for example, those created when optimizing a property or defining a new table) use the TIMESTAMP column type.
• Any existing data still uses DATE values.
  • Oracle users can manually convert any existing DATE column types to use a TIMESTAMP column type instead.
  • Altering the column type for existing values in a column does not provide any greater precision for those values because they still use DATE values and not DATETIME values.

For more information, see DateTime property mapping in Oracle for Pega 7.