Deprecation of EAR deployments in Pega Platform 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Starting with Pega Platform 8.6, EAR deployments of Pega Platform are deprecated. In the upcoming 8.7 release, EAR deployments will not be supported. The following rules that require EAR deployments will also be deprecated and no longer supported in Pega Platform 8.7:
- Connect EJB
- Connect JCA
- JCA Resource Adapter
- JMS MDB Listener
- Service EJB
With this deprecation, you can use the latest tools and keep your application up to date.
Upgrade impact
In Pega Platform 8.6, you can still create rules that require EAR deployments and update existing rules. However, after an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.7, rules that require EAR deployments are no longer supported.
What steps are required to update an application to be compatible with this change?
To prepare your application for this change well in advance of the Pega Platform 8.7 release, see the following table for a list of alternative rules and for guidance on modernizing your application.
| Deprecated rule type | Alternative rule type | Recommended configuration |
| Connect EJB | Connect REST | Substitute legacy EJB resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| Connect JCA | Connect REST | Substitute legacy JCA resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| JCA Resource Adapter | JCA resource adapters are data records that are used within the scope of a Connect JCA rule. If you replaced Connect JCA rules in your application with Connect REST rules, JCA resource adapters are no longer relevant. | No further configuration is necessary. |
| JMS MDB Listener | JMS Listener | Replace JMS MDB Listener configurations with standard JMS Listener configurations. |
| Service EJB | Service REST | Redefine your EJB services as a set of RESTful service APIs, and invoke them over HTTP/HTTPS. |
For information on the supported platforms that are affected by this deprecation, see Pega Platform 8.6 Support Guide.
Agents not running after update of EAR-based deployment
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
If you update an EAR-file deployment and your update meets both of the following criteria, you must redeploy the prpc_*.ear file for your application server after you complete the update to avoid agent-related errors:
- Updating from Pega 7.1.7, Pega 7.1.8, or Pega 7.1.9
- Updating to Pega 7.1.10, 7.1.11, 7.2, or 7.2.1
If you do not redeploy the prpc_*.ear file, you will see the agent-related issues that are described in the support article Agents are not running.
For information about redeploying, see the Pega 7 Platform Update Guide for your target version of the Pega 7 Platform.
Customized agent schedules for standard Pega Platform agents must be updated after Pega 7.2.2 to Pega Platform 7.3 upgrade
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
If you used node classification in Pega® 7.2.2, when you upgrade to Pega 7.3, node type names are automatically changed to a new name when you start a node with a node type. Agent schedules for standard Pega Platform agents are deleted and re-created with the new node type name, but any customization that you made in Pega 7.2.2 is not saved. You must manually update the agent schedules for standard Pega Platform agents in Pega 7.3.
For more information, see Node types renamed after upgrade from Pega 7.2.2 to Pega Platform 7.3 and the appropriate Deployment Guide.
Cassandra 3.11.3 support for Pega Platform
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
Increase your system's reliability and reduce its memory footprint by upgrading the internal Cassandra database to version 3.11.3.
For on-premises Pega Platform™ users, after you upgrade to Pega 8.3, it is recommended that you manually upgrade to Cassandra 3.11.3. You can upgrade to Cassandra 3.11.3 on all operating systems except IBM AIX. If you do not want to upgrade to Cassandra 3.11.3, you can continue to use Cassandra 2.1.20, which is still supported.
For Pega Cloud Services 2.13 and later versions, Cassandra automatically upgrades to version 3.11.3 after your environment is upgraded to Pega Platform 8.3.
For information on how to manually upgrade to Cassandra 3.11.3, see the Pega Platform 8.3 Upgrade Guide for your server and database at Deploy Pega Platform.
Upgrade impact
After an on-premises Pega Platform upgrade, you still have the older version of Cassandra and must manually upgrade.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
To upgrade Cassandra, you must create a prconfig setting or a dynamic system setting with the new Cassandra version and then do a rolling restart of all the Decision Data Store nodes to upgrade them to the latest version of Cassandra.
Upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x requires downtime during upgrades to Pega Infinity 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Upgrade impact statement
On-premises upgrades of Pega Infinity release 8.4.2 and later to version 8.5.1 or later on Tomcat and PostgreSQL are completed with near-zero downtime. However, upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x requires that you shut down and restart your application server.
What is required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
Hazelcast 3.x is enabled by default. For near-zero downtime upgrades, you do not need to perform any action.
For instructions about upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x, see one of the following topics:
- For near-zero downtime upgrades from Pega Infinity release 8.4.2 or later on Tomcat and PostgreSQL, see "Optional: upgrading to Pega Platform version 8.6: Upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x" in Near-zero downtime Upgrade Guide for Pega Platform version 8.4.2 and later for Tomcat and PostgreSQL.
- For all other upgrades, see "Optional: upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x" in the appropriate upgrade guide.
Node types renamed after upgrade from Pega 7.2.2 to Pega Platform 7.3
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
If you used node classification in Pega® 7.2.2, when you upgrade to Pega 7.3, node type names are automatically changed to a new name when you start a node with a node type.
- UniversalNode becomes Universal
- WebUserNode becomes WebUser
- BackgroundProcessingNode becomes BackgroundProcessing
- BIXNode becomes BIX
- SearchNode becomes Search
If you created agents in Pega 7.2.2, agent schedules are also automatically updated with a new name during the upgrade. For more information, see Customized agent schedules for standard Pega Platform agents must be updated after Pega 7.2.2 to Pega Platform 7.3 upgrade and the appropriate Deployment Guide.
BIX ruleset is now included with Pega Platform
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
The Pega Business Intelligence Exchange™ (BIX) ruleset is now included with Pega Platform™, which eliminates the need for additional provisioning for Pega Cloud customers and for a separate BIX installation for on-premises customers. To add BIX to your application, add the Pega-BIX:<version> ruleset to your application rulesets.
For more information, see Data extraction.
Upgrade impact
After a successful upgrade, the BIX ruleset is available within Pega Platform. You should synchronize the BIX ruleset and Pega rules to avoid extraction errors.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
After the upgrade is complete, change the ruleset version for Pega Platform and BIX to use the same, latest version.
Upgraded selected third-party JAR files to support Pega Platform functionalities
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Pega Platform™ 8.6 now provides upgraded versions of the JAR files that support various functionalities within the Platform, such as generating documents or PPTX files.
Upgrade impact
If you have custom implementations and use any classes from the upgraded JAR files directly in your code or through JAR APIs, after your upgrade to Pega Platform 8.6, your application might experience unexpected run-time behavior if the upgraded JAR version lacks any elements from the previous version. For example, custom implementations can typically include activities, functions, or non-autogenerated sections. Unexpected run-time behavior might also occur when you use a third-party library that has dependencies on the upgraded JAR files. If you use only default Pega Platform functionalities without any customizations, the JAR files continue to work correctly without any additional actions.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
If you have any JAR customizations, ensure that you test the upgraded JAR files for compatibility and upgrade impact. The following table lists the upgraded JAR files that might impact your application:
| JAR file name | Upgraded version |
|---|---|
| apache-mime4j-core | 0.8.3 |
| apache-mime4j-dom | 0.8.3 |
| commons-codec | 1.15 |
| commons-collectionons4 | 4.4 |
| commons:commons-math3 | 3.6.1 |
| commons-compress | 1.20 |
| commons-lang3 | 3.9 |
| fontbox | 2.0.19 |
| httpclient | 4.5.12 |
| httpcore | 4.4.13 |
| httpmime | 4.5.12 |
| istack-commons-runtime | 3.0.8 |
| jackson-annotations | 2.10.3 |
| jackson-core | 2.10.3 |
| jackson-databind | 2.10.3 |
| jaxb-runtime | 2.3.2 |
| java-libpst | 0.9.3 |
| jcommaner | 1.78 |
| junrar | 4.0.0 |
| metadata-extractor | 2.13 |
| openjson | 1.0.11 |
| parso | 2.0.11 |
| pdfbox | 2.0.19 |
| poi | 4.1.2 |
| poi-ooxml | 4.1.2 |
| poi-ooxml-schemas | 4.1.2 |
| poi-scratchpad | 4.1.2 |
| slf4j-api | 1.7.28 |
| xmlbeans | 3.1.0 |
| xmpcore | 6.1.10 |
For more information, refer to the documentation of your JAR provider.
Search indexes require rebuilding after upgrading from Pega Platform 7.1.7 through 7.2.1
Valid from Pega Version 8.1
Pega Platform™ now supports Elasticsearch 5.6.9. If you are upgrading from Pega 7.1.7 through 7.2.1, discard your existing indexes and build new indexes in a new empty index directory. Create the search indexes by using the Search landing page or the full text indexer. If you are upgrading from Pega Platform 7.2.2 or later, no action is required. You can continue to use your existing search indexes.
For more information, see Rebuilding search indexes and Batch creation and updating of Elasticsearch index files from the command line.
Survey rules are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.4
Surveys that were created prior to version 7.4 of Pega Platform are now deprecated. As a best practice, recreate your survey by using the Survey Management landing page, and then reuse questions or question pages from your survey library.
For more information about creating surveys, see Improved survey authoring.