Published Release Notes

EAR support for JBoss EAP 6

PRPC deployment in JBoss EAP 6 as an EAR archive is now supported. 

If you need to deploy the JBoss EAR file, go to My Support Portal and submit a Support Request. GCS can assist you with the procedure.

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:

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.

Need to run script before updating Multitenant systems

When updating or upgrading a Multitenant system from Pega 7.1.5 or 7.1.6 to Pega 7.1.7, if that system uses either an Oracle or a PostgreSQL database, you may encounter the error:

“Table must be empty to add column.”

The Multitenant architecture requires an additional column on a number of the PRPC database tables (“pzTenantID”). In Pega 7.1.7, two additional PRPC tables were tenant-qualified: pc_schedule_task and pr_index_schedule_task. The Multitenant column is added to these tables by the update/upgrade process. However, Oracle and PostgreSQL do not allow the addition of a non-null column to an existing table unless the table is empty, so updating or upgrading systems on those databases displays the error detailed above.

To avoid this error, before beginning the update or upgrade, it is necessary to run a script:

• Oracle — OracleMTupgrade.sql
• PostgreSQL — PostgresMTupgrade.sql

For updates, these scripts are located in the /scripts/ddl directory.

For upgrades, these scripts are located in the /Resourcekit/AdditionalUpgradeScripts directory.

Node description cannot match application server node name

A node's Short Description should not be the same value as the application server node name. If the node's Short Description is changed to be the same value as the application server node name, then the node description is automatically changed back to the original value after a system restart.

Specify the scope for rolling back rules and data to a restore point

Create restore points to save the state of all rules and data in your system at a significant point in time, for example, before you import an application. Roll back to that restore point to return the system to that state. Now, you can filter which rule and data instances are returned to their previous state:

• System: Roll back every rule and data instance that has a history record.
• User: Roll back rule and data instances modified by a specific user. If any rule was changed by more than one user, you will see an error message and must use the system rollback.
• Application: Roll back rule and data instances in a specific application.

For more information, see Using restore points to enable error recovery.

Improved search indexing performance

Search indexing now uses a queue processor to improve indexing performance. Indexing can automatically restart if the database goes down temporarily. This saves time and manual action. As a result of using the queue processor for indexing, the following changes have been made to the Search Landing page.

• You cannot cancel indexing from the Search landing page. Cancel indexing by stopping the queue processor from the Data flow landing page.
• The progress message is not shown. View progress on the Queue Processor landing page.
• Queue processor information has been added.

For more information, see Stopping or pausing search reindexing.

More visibility of your production level

You can now see the production level of your environment in a new gadget that is available in all Pega Platform™ workspaces. To ensure that you immediately recognize your current environment, you can give it a unique name that is displayed when you click the gadget. In addition to specifying your production level and environment name on the System form in Dev Studio, you can now specify those values on the System & nodes page in Admin Studio.

For more information on Admin Studio, see Modifying your environment name and production level.

For more information on Dev Studio, see Specifying the production level.