Published Release Notes

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.

Updated Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in

Starting in this release, Pega 7 features that integrate with the Word merge capability are now cross-browser. ActiveX controls (which are only compatible with Internet Explorer) have been replaced with Microsoft Silverlight. This plug-in must be downloaded separately from Microsoft because it is not shipped with Pega 7.

Common features that are affected by this change include the Specification form and Case Type landing page.

Prior to using these features, see the release note Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in for more information about setting up their client systems.

End of support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 in Pega 7.2.1

In accordance with Microsoft’s announcement to discontinue support for Internet Explorer 9, Pega 7.2.1 will not support Internet Explorer 9. You should not upgrade to Pega 7.2.1 if you are still using Internet Explorer 9. Otherwise, upgrade to Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 or later, or use Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or Mozilla Firefox, which support certain HTML5 and CSS3 standards not supported in Internet Explorer 9.

For more information about browser support, see the Platform Support Guide or contact Pegasystems Global Customer Support.

Discontinued support for multithreaded requestors

Multithreaded requestors are no longer supported in the Pega 7 Platform. Multithreading was previously specified by the prconfig setting initialization/allowMultiplePRThreads. If this setting is set to true when you upgrade to Pega 7.2.1, errors occur during the quiesce process.

Child case queries can be slow after upgrade

After upgrading, performance might be slow when you run queries on child cases for work tables that existed prior to the upgrade. This issue is often indicated by PEGA0005 (query time exceeded limit) alerts that can be correlated to these queries in the logs. To resolve the issue, add a database index to each of your work tables by using a multicolumn index on the pxCoverInsKey, pxObjClass, and pyStatusWork columns.

For more information, see Performance improvements for child case queries.

The UpdateAdaptiveModels agent causes an exception after Pega 7.2 to 7.2.1 upgrade

After the Pega 7 Platform is upgraded from version 7.2 to 7.2.1, the log files might show an error that is caused by the UpdateAdaptiveModels agent. This agent is enabled by default and is responsible for updating scoring models in the Pega 7 Platform. If you use adaptive models in your solution, you can avoid this error by configuring the Adaptive Decision Manager service. If you do not use adaptive models, disable the UpdateAdaptiveModels agent.

For more information, see Configuring the Adaptive Decision Manager service and Pega-DecisionEngine agents.

Reconfiguration of the Adaptive Decision Manager service after upgrade to Pega 7.2.1

After you upgrade the Pega 7 Platform to version 7.2.1, you need to reconfigure the Adaptive Decision Manager service. Beginning with Pega 7.2.1, the Adaptive Decision Management (ADM) service is native to the Pega 7 Platform and is supported by the Decision data node infrastructure.

For more information, see Services landing page.

Gadget configuration by using IAC gateway console is no longer supported

The Internet Application Composer (IAC) gateway was deprecated in Pega Platform™ 7.2.1 and is no longer supported. The IAC was used to embed a Pega Platform application, such as a gadget, on the pages of a web application that was located on your intranet, extranet, or internet site.

Upgrade impact

After an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.5, the configuration of gadgets through the IAC gateway console is no longer supported.

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

To make subsequent changes to your current web mashup, use Pega Web Mashup. 

For more information, see Tutorial: Creating a mashup with Pega Web Mashup.

Naming pattern changed for file data sets

File data sets are used to import from and export data to a file repository. In case of data export, prior to version 8.6.3, the first file exported had the same file name that was provided by the user in the data set, and any subsequent file exported to the repository had a unique identifier appended to it. Starting in Pega Platform version 8.6.3, each file has a unique identifier, automatically generated based on the data flow node, thread ID, and timestamp.

Upgrade impact

If your process to consume output files expects files with a specific name, it may not be able to process the resulting files correctly.

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

If you have configured the process before updating to Pega Platform version 8.6.3, but the exported files are no longer recognized by downstream processing logic after the upgrade, ensure that the downstream tool is configured to recognize the files by a pattern rather than the full name. For example, when referring to files exported to the repository, use the * character to indicate a pattern instead of using the full file name. For example, use Export*.csv to refer to the files.