Published Release Notes

System Management Application displaying listeners that do not require any action

After installing or upgrading to Pega 7.1.7, there is an additional available listener (Data-Decision-DNode-Service:Default) that does not require any action. This listener can be safely ignored and you should not use the System Management Application to manage any of its operations or state.

• The Data-Decision-DNode-Service:Default listener is always running on every PRPC node.
• The state of this listener is internally managed by PRPC. Starting or stopping it through SMA does not have any effect on its state.

Open ports required for cluster communication

In a Pega 7 system, there can be multiple servers, or nodes, and each node can contain multiple JVMs.  In Pega 7.1.7, the port range 5701-5800 needs to be left open for cluster communication.   The number of available ports in this range needs to be greater than or equal to the greatest number of JVMs on any one node in the cluster.  So for example, if there are 3 JVMs on one node, and 7 JVMs on another node, there need to be at least 7 ports available.  By default, the system will begin with port 5701, and then look for the next port in the sequence (5702, followed by 5703).

If these ports are not available, you will see the following error:

ERROR   - PegaRULES initialization failed. Server: ABCDEF123

com.pega.pegarules.pub.context.InitializationFailedError: PRNodeImpl init failed

< . . . Java dump here . . . >

Caused by: com.hazelcast.core.HazelcastException: ServerSocket bind has failed. Hazelcast cannot start! config-port: <port>, latest-port: <port>

Password hashing using SHA-256/SHA-512

Password hashing using the SHA-256 and SHA-512 hash functions is available for use during the the Pega 7 authentication process with operator, ruleset, and update lock passwords. The SHA-256/SHA-512 hash functions join the previously available MD5 and SHA-1 hash functions.

Using SHA-256/SHA-512 hashing when creating or upgrading a password hash results in increased complexity of the hash, making it extremely difficult and time-consuming to determine hashed password values stored in a database.

Note that once you have updated your system to Pega 7.1.7 and have applied password hashing using the SHA-256/SHA-512 hash functions, reverting back to a previous version of Pega 7 is not advised as this causes hashed passwords using SHA-256/SHA-512 to fail.

See About password hashing for more information.

Recommended heap sizes

The heap is a storage area in the Java virtual machine (JVM) allocated for both short-term and long-term (shared) object storage. If the server does not have enough memory allocated to run Pega 7, the system can hang without an error message. If this occurs, your values need to be higher than the recommendations based on your server hardware and the number of other applications on the server.

Pegasystems recommends using these settings:

• Initial Heap Size (Xms): 1 GB
• Maximum Heap Size (Xmx): 12 GB (8 GB minimum)

If your application server is using the Oracle JVM, also add the PermSize and MaxPermSize settings:

• PermSize (-XX:PermSize): at least 256MB
• MaxPermSize (-XX:MaxPermSize): at least 512MB

Set the JVM memory options to increase the amount of system memory allocated to the application server running Pega 7 by selecting Designer Studio > System > Operations > System Management Application and then selecting a listed node.

See the Pega 7.1.7 Installation Guides for more information about how to make these setting changes.

Generate documents in the background

When you generate system documentation by using the Document Application wizard (Designer Studio > Application > Tools > Document), the process now runs on a server and not on your local client system. This change not only generates your document more quickly, but also allows you to multi-task within Pega 7 while your document is generating in the background. When the generation is completed, download the document to your computer.

For more information, see:

Updating customized Application Document templates with server-side document generation

Screenshot generation still runs on local client

Warning message when opening server-generated documents

Screenshot generation runs on local client

If you generate screenshots to include in your application document, this process still runs on your local client. Additionally, you are still required to use Internet Explorer to use this feature.

Warning message when opening server-generated documents

Depending on your system configuration, the following warning message might be displayed when you open a document that was generated on the server.

If you click No, certain content (for example, Table of Contents) is not populated in the document. Instead, click Yes and save the document.

The warning message that displays

Link URLs to applications, requirements, and specifications

In addition to files, you can now attach URLs to applications, requirements, and specifications by using the Add/Edit Attachment modal dialog box in Pega 7. This change allows you to link directly to dynamic content in other URL-based systems rather than link to a static file of that content.

Easily configure the live and interactive map control

The AddressMap control has been enhanced with a text input field so that users can mark a location on a map.

For example, an insurance adjuster can indicate the location of the accident when filing a case. By selecting Allow marker repositioning to change address value and dragging the marker pin, the Text Input field is automatically updated.

Derby databases are no longer supported

Previously, an embedded Derby database could be used as a file system. This setup was configured by setting storage/class/<<filesystem>>/type to "embedded" in the prconfig file.

After upgrading, storage types that are specified as "embedded" now default to the local file system.