Published Release Notes

Using Kerberos authentication with your database

Pega 7 supports Kerberos functionality. Kerberos is a computer network authentication protocol which allows nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. 

To use Kerberos for authentication, you must use the command line to install or upgrade Pega 7.

To use Kerberos authentication:

1.  Change the setupDatabase.properties file.

a.  In the “Uncomment this property section” of the file, uncomment the jdbc.custom.connection.properties property.  Based on your security infrastructure, different properties may be required as parameters to this property; provide the needed properties as semicolon-delimited name/value pairs:
 

jdbc.custom.connection.properties=prop1=val1;prop2=val2;prop3=val3;
 

Example:  For an installation on a MSSQL database server from a Windows client machine (where both machines belong to the same Windows domain), using the Microsoft JDBC driver, the property may be set as follows:
 

jdbc.custom.connection.properties=integratedSecurity=true;

b.  Comment out all the username and password properties where they occur in the jdbc.custom.connection.properties file, so that they appear as follows:

# pega.jdbc.username db username
# pega.jdbc.password db password

[lines removed here]

# pega.jdbc.username=ADMIN
# pega.jdbc.password=ADMIN

2.  Set up your database to enable Kerberos functionality.  This may include additional vendor-specific JDBC driver configuration, or other setup procedures.  Check the documentation from your database vendor to determine what Kerberos setup is needed for your database.

3.  Run the command line installation or upgrade by following the instructions found in the Pega 7 Deployment guides.

Run cleanup.bat/sh script only before upgrading

Prior to upgrading the rulebase, you can optionally run the cleanup.bat/sh script to remove older rules from the database.

Run this script before you upgrade your rulebase, or the script may delete needed rulesets. For more information about running the cleanup.bat/sh script, refer to the Upgrade Guide specific to your release version.

When using Oracle 12.1.0.1, left outer joins in reports may return incorrect results

When using  Pega 7 with Oracle 12.1.0.1 , reports that use left outer joins may return incorrect results.

This is an Oracle known issue.  To resolve this behavior, upgrade to Oracle 12.1.0.2, apply the Oracle patch 16726638 by requesting it directly from Oracle, or, for Microsoft Windows installations, apply Windows Bundle patch 12.1.0.1.15 or later.

For more information in this behavior, see: https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_afrLoop=392085808201943&id=1957943.1

Unclear error message when saving shared class instance in tenant layer

If you attempt to save a shared class instance from the tenant layer, Pega 7 displays this message:

This record has x errors. Save Failed: There was a problem saving an instance of class: Error Code: <none> SQL State: <none> Message: <none>

You cannot save a shared instance from the tenant layer if that instance cannot be overridden.

Compare rule versions in a rule form

You can now compare different versions of rules from the Actions menu when you work within a rule form instead of using the Rule Compare utility. You can inspect changes that were made between versions directly on the rule form, make updates, and save any changes to the rule form.

For more information, see Rule version comparison within a rule form.

Performance improvement to BLOB support in Postgres databases

New tables that contain BLOB columns now use external storage instead of expanded storage for Postgres databases. This improvement applies to tables that are created during installation, upgrade, or during DDL and schema generation. Using external storage improves database performance.

For more information, see BLOB storage in Postgres databases.

View all nodes in a cluster from the Cluster Management landing page

Use the Cluster Management page to view information for all of the available nodes in a cluster. To view the nodes, click Designer Studio > System > Operations > Cluster Management. To access detailed information about a single node, click Actions.

For more information, see System Operations.

Automatically manage nodes in a System Management Application cluster

Instead of manually adding and deleting nodes in a cluster by using the System Management Application (SMA), you can now automatically manage nodes. You can enable Auto Node Discovery and configure it to get information about all the nodes in a cluster, add new nodes, and update the node list.

For more information, see Managing nodes automatically in a System Management Application cluster.

Logic-based assignment routing

You can now define business logic that controls when and by whom an assignment is processed in a case. By routing assignments to a specific user or group of users, you can help ensure that cases are resolved faster.

For more information, see Logic-based assignment routing.

Show multiple views of data in your application

You can now show multiple views of data in your application by adding the record editor (pxRecordsEditor) section to a layout, another section, or a cell in a layout. You can configure the section to customize the display and enable the search, import, and export capabilities of the record editor.

For more information, see Multiple views of data in the record editor section.