Release Notes

Universal Controller release 6.8.0.0 contains the following high-level features; for a complete list of all the included features and fixes, please refer to the Universal Controller 6.8.x Maintenance list.

Built-In Functions

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10370	New Function to URL Encode a String.	A new function, ${_varEncodeUrl('variable-name')}, takes the value of the specified variable as input and returns a URL encoded string, converting all non-alphanumeric characters their equivalent hexadecimal escape sequences.

Built-In Variables

Backlog	Title	Description
B-11284	Built-in variable for field "Virtual Resource Priority"	A new built-in variable, ${ops_resource_priority}, has been added to retrieve the value of task field "Virtual Resource Priority".
B-09915	Built-in variable for "Task Instance Definition ID"	A new built-in variable, ${ops_task_definition_id}, has been added to retrieve the SYSID of the "Task Definition of the Task Instance".
B-04717	Built-in variable for "Task Name at Instance Creation Time"	A new built-in variable, ${ops_task_security_name}, has been added to retrieve the value of the "Task Name at Instance Creation Time". Customers should note that if Task Name at Instance Creation Time contains a variable it may under certain circumstances resolve the variable, for example if used in an email notification.
B-10210	Built-in variable for "Top Level Workflow Name"	A new built-in variable, ${ops_top_level_workflow_name}, has been added to retrieve the value of the "Top Level Workflow Name".

Email Action Audits

Backlog	Title	Description
B-08452	Audit Email Notification Actions	Customers now have the option to Audit the status of "Task Email Notification Actions" and "System Notifications". The status of emails that are sent from Task Email Notification Actions and as System Notifications were previously only visible in the "opswise.log", a new system property has been added to allow customers to audit all notifications or just failed notifications. This option provides enhanced visibility in situations where these notification emails have failed to successfully send.

File Transfer Task Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10336	ADD UDM Move Operation to File Transfer task	A new drop down selection field "UDM Operation" has been added to the UDM File Transfer tasks when using the FORM option to allow users to select between UDM COPY and MOVE functions.

New System Operation Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10688	Enable & Disable Trigger System Operations Actions	Two new System Operation Actions have been added to allow Triggers to be Enabled and Disabled.

New Task Functions

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10785	Credential Key Location and Passphrase Functions for Resolvable Credentials	Two new functions have been added to allow access to the Credential Key Location and Passphrase fields in Resolvable Credentials. Return Key Location of a Credential: Returns a token representing the Resolvable Credential Key Location that you want to embed in a script or Universal Task. ${_credentialKeyLoc('credential-name')} Return Passphrase of a Credential: Returns a token representing the Resolvable Credential Passphrase that you want to embed script or Universal Task. ${_credentialPassphrase('credential-name')}

Backlog

Title

Description

B-10785

Credential Key Location and Passphrase Functions
for Resolvable Credentials

Two new functions have been added to allow access to the Credential Key Location and Passphrase fields in Resolvable Credentials.

Return Key Location of a Credential:

Returns a token representing the Resolvable Credential Key Location that you want to embed in a script or Universal Task.
${_credentialKeyLoc('credential-name')}

Return Passphrase of a Credential:

Returns a token representing the Resolvable Credential Passphrase that you want to embed script or Universal Task.
${_credentialPassphrase('credential-name')}

Platform Support Updates

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10642	Upgrade Packaged MySQL JDBC Driver	Upgraded MySQL JDBC driver from 8.0.12 to 8.0.18
B-11272	Upgrade Packaged Oracle JDBC Driver	Upgraded to 19.3
B-10319	Support Tomcat 9	Universal Controller version 6.7.0.0 and higher are validated to support Tomcat 9.
B-10323	Support Oracle JRE 11	Universal Controller version 6.8.0.0 and higher are validated to support Oracle JRE 11.
B-10324	Support Open JRE 11	Universal Controller version 6.8.0.0 and higher are validated to support Open JRE 11.
B-10322	Support for Microsoft SQLServer 2019	Universal Controller version 6.8.0.0 and higher are validated to support Microsoft SQLServer 2019.
B-10178	Upgrade packaged Microsoft JDBC Driver to release 8.2	Upgraded packaged Microsoft JDBC Driver to release 8.2. This required removal of support for MS SQL Server 2008.
B-10811	Validate UC Support for Oracle 19c	Universal Controller version 6.8.0.0 and higher are validated to support Oracle 19c.

Product Licensing

Backlog	Title	Description
E-01357	License Management and Reporting	A number of enhancements have been made to support more flexible product licensing and improved visibility and reporting for customers. Note When upgrading from a previous release, the old License will be migrated into the new License Key Table: Any Trigger component will be ignored since it is no longer supported. Days will be converted to an expiration date based upon the number of Days left in the migrated License. If Days was set to unlimited, the expiration date is set to 5 years from the upgrade. Tasks will be the same in the new License. If Agents were set to unlimited, both z/OS and Distributed Agents will also be set to unlimited. If Agents had an explicit amount, the number of current z/OS Agents in the system is set as the z/OS Agent limit and the remaining amount is allocated to Distributed Agents. Nodes will be set unlimited (-1) since it was not previously licensed. USAP and UPPS will be set to True (allowed) since it was not previously licensed. Customer will be set to "Migrated pre 6.8 License".

Reporting Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-11292	Reports : Bar Charts - Show Average Line Option	For Bar Chart report types you can now optionally show an average line in the chart. In the Report Definition form under Chart Options, simply check the Show Average option and optionally specify the average line color.
B-11293	Reports : Bar Charts - Show Threshold Line Option	For Bar Chart report types you can now optionally show a threshold line in the chart. In the Report Definition form under Chart Options, simply check the Show Threshold option, specify the Threshold Integer Value and optionally specify the average line color, and Label.

Security Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10685	Restrict view of OMS servers	OMS Server definitions now support the following security features: Business Service assignment. Security Permissions Visibility Restrictions If the "Strict Business Service Membership Read Constraints" System Property is set to "true", OMS server definitions will not be visible to users who do not have at least read permission to the OMS server. OMS Server definitions are encompassed in the following Security Roles: ops_admin ops_oms_admin ops_service
B-10352	Review accessibility of ../sc/system/development/*.	During penetration testing the following Low priority item was discovered. It was possible to access certain files in the “/opswise/opswise/sc/system/development/” directory. Files such as “ISC_DeveloperConsole.js” are readable even for an unauthenticated user. Although this is not a security vulnerability, it exposes the version of the product that is used. This has been addressed as follows: A security constraint has been added to prevent access to these files by both unauthenticated and authenticated users of the web application. Debug Modules are now excluded from the production war file.
E-01281	Security Requirements for Local Logins and Passwords	A new Administration Configuration section for Password Settings has been added to a) group local password related properties and b) provide new options to specify requirements for locally defined passwords:
B-10598	Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability	In Compatibility View, IE will perform MIME-sniffing and may interpret the content as text/html even though the content type is text/plain. The anti-MIME-sniffing header has been added to all Web Service API responses. This header prevents certain browsers from interpreting the text/plain content as text/html.

System Property Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-04057	Property for default value of Task Launch Skip Condition on trigger.	A new system property has been added to allow customers to change the default selection for the Task Launch Skip Condition when creating a new Trigger definition.
B-02385	Expose Agent Heartbeat Grace Period at Agent level and System Property level.	A new system property Agent Heartbeat Grace Period In Seconds has been added to allow the global default for the Agent Heartbeat Grace Period to be configured, this option is also configurable on the individual Agent Definition. this option controls the grace period in seconds that the controller will allow for a delayed heartbeat message.

Task History Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-11177	Include field Virtual Resource Priority in History table	The Virtual Resource Priority Field is now available in the Task History.

Task Rerun Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-08956	Allow Suppress Intermediate Failures for manual re-runs	A new "Re-run (Suppress Intermediate Failures) Permitted" System Property has been added (Default = true). When set to true specifies that in addition to the Re-run command, a Re-run (Suppress Intermediate Failures) command will be available in the client. The Re-run (Suppress Intermediate Failures) command is only applicable for task instances that qualify for Re-run and do not already have automatic Retry Options enabled. The Re-run (Suppress Intermediate Failures) option result in the following: All Actions (Abort, Email Notification, Set Variable, SNMP Notification, and System Operation) defined for the task instance on a Failed status will not be processed. Workflow conditional path processing; any Successors waiting on a failure path will not be released. Task Monitors will not be notified of the Failed status. Also, any Task Monitor task that has a Time Scope in the past will disqualify any matching task instance in the past with a Failed status if the task instance is scheduled for automatic retry and for which Suppress Intermediate Failures has been enabled. Any Workflow containing the Failed task instance will not transition to the Running/Problems status.
B-10749	Allow resetting of Operational Memo on Re-run to be optional through property configuration.	A new "Operational Memo Reset On Re-run" System Property has been added (Default = true). When set to false the Task Instance Operational Memo field will no longer be reset when the task is re-run.

Transient Agents

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10805	Transient Agent Support	In order to better support scenarios where an agent is deployed in a Docker (or other) containerized environment and is therefore is dynamic in nature, a new universal Agent UAG option was introduced with UA 6.8.0.0 to mark an agent as Transient. When a Transient agent is shutdown (i.e. goes offline) it will be deleted from the Universal controller. If the agent is reference in any task definitions the dynamic delete will fail. It should be understood that Transient agents should never be specified directly in any task definition, they are designed to accept work via an Agent Cluster, so when configuring a Universal Agent to operate in a containerized environment you should ensure that the agent registers with one or more Agent Clusters via the agent_cluster uags.conf configuration option. Optionally you may want to consider using the netname uags.conf configuration option to provide a consistent identification for the agent each time it registers.

Backlog

Title

Description

B-10805

Transient Agent Support

In order to better support scenarios where an agent is deployed in a Docker (or other) containerized environment and is therefore is dynamic in nature, a new universal Agent UAG option was introduced with UA 6.8.0.0 to mark an agent as Transient. When a Transient agent is shutdown (i.e. goes offline) it will be deleted from the Universal controller.

If the agent is reference in any task definitions the dynamic delete will fail. It should be understood that Transient agents should never be specified directly in any task definition, they are designed to accept work via an Agent Cluster, so when configuring a Universal Agent to operate in a containerized environment you should ensure that the agent registers with one or more Agent Clusters via the agent_cluster uags.conf configuration option. Optionally you may want to consider using the netname uags.conf configuration option to provide a consistent identification for the agent each time it registers.

Universal Task Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10773	Built-in Universal Templates	Certain Universal Templates created and maintained by Stonebranch are now available directly within the Universal Controller product package. A new Administration, Server Operation called List/Load Built-in Universal Templates has been added to allow customer to activate these Universal templates. Listing and Loading the Built-in Universal Templates will require the ops_admin role or the ops_server_operation_admin role. After activating a Built-in Universal Template user's with active sessions can Refresh their Navigation Tree to display the new Universal Task under the Automation Center tree menu. Documentation for the Built-in Universal Templates is available here. Built-in Universal Templates are READ only. If you require to make changes or use the template as a basis for your own Universal Task you will need to first copy the Built-in Universal Template to create your own Universal Template, Stonebranch will not provide support for any templates you create. Built-in Universal Templates cannot be promoted as they may be Universal Controller version specific, however tasks created from a Built-in Universal Template can be promoted to a Universal Controller instance that is at the same or higher version. When promoting a Universal Task that references a built-in Universal Template, the Universal Template will be included in the promotion payload to ensure that the Universal Task is compliant with the built-in Universal Template on the Promotion Target as well as for auditing and reconciling differences between the incoming built-in Universal Template and the original built-in Universal Template. Note, however, the original built-in Universal Template will never updated via promotion. Bulk export and import considerations, the bulk export and import of Universal Controller artifacts is designed for use when applying upgrades to a Universal Controller instance, the importer will fail if a Universal Template exists with the same name or SYSID as the built-in Universal Template being imported.
B-09772	Universal Template - Role for Universal Template View only	A new role, ops_universal_template_view, has been introduced to authorize read-only access to Universal Templates. The following changes are expected if a user without the ops_template_admin role is granted the ops_universal_template_view role. Create, Update, and Delete operations will remain prohibited for Universal Template records. Read authorization for a Universal Template record will be granted. This includes related data such as Universal Template Field and Universal Template Field Choice records. The ops_universal_template_admin role will contain the new ops_universal_template_view role.

Backlog

Title

Description

B-10773

Built-in Universal Templates

Certain Universal Templates created and maintained by Stonebranch are now available directly within the Universal Controller product package. A new Administration, Server Operation called List/Load Built-in Universal Templates has been added to allow customer to activate these Universal templates. Listing and Loading the Built-in Universal Templates will require the ops_admin role or the ops_server_operation_admin role.

After activating a Built-in Universal Template user's with active sessions can Refresh their Navigation Tree to display the new Universal Task under the Automation Center tree menu. Documentation for the Built-in Universal Templates is available here.

Built-in Universal Templates are READ only. If you require to make changes or use the template as a basis for your own Universal Task you will need to first copy the Built-in Universal Template to create your own Universal Template, Stonebranch will not provide support for any templates you create.

Built-in Universal Templates cannot be promoted as they may be Universal Controller version specific, however tasks created from a Built-in Universal Template can be promoted to a Universal Controller instance that is at the same or higher version. When promoting a Universal Task that references a built-in Universal Template, the Universal Template will be included in the promotion payload to ensure that the Universal Task is compliant with the built-in Universal Template on the Promotion Target as well as for auditing and reconciling differences between the incoming built-in Universal Template and the original built-in Universal Template. Note, however, the original built-in Universal Template will never updated via promotion.

Bulk export and import considerations, the bulk export and import of Universal Controller artifacts is designed for use when applying upgrades to a Universal Controller instance, the importer will fail if a Universal Template exists with the same name or SYSID as the built-in Universal Template being imported.

B-09772

Universal Template - Role for Universal Template View only

A new role, ops_universal_template_view, has been introduced to authorize read-only access to Universal Templates.

The following changes are expected if a user without the ops_template_admin role is granted the ops_universal_template_view role.

Create, Update, and Delete operations will remain prohibited for Universal Template records.
Read authorization for a Universal Template record will be granted.
- This includes related data such as Universal Template Field and Universal Template Field Choice records.

The ops_universal_template_admin role will contain the new ops_universal_template_view role.

User Interface Changes

Backlog	Title	Description
B-11189	Relabel File Monitor and FTP File Monitor Tasks and Triggers	The following definition types have been relabeled: File Monitor Tasks = Agent File Monitor Tasks File Monitor Triggers = Agent File Monitor Triggers FTP File Monitor = Remote File Monitor Tasks FTP File Monitor Triggers = Remote File Monitor Triggers
B-11178	Address behavior change in Chrome with respect to icons appearing as "..."	Users using Chrome may have noticed issues displaying icons in the Universal Controller interface when not using a zoom level of 100%. This issue was introduced in Chrome Version 77.0.3865.75 (Official Build). This has been resolved so that icons now display correctly at all zoom levels.
B-10812	Task Agent & Agent Cluster User Interface Enhancements	The definition of Agent, Agent Cluster, Agent Cluster Broadcast, Agent Credential, and related options for all tasks has been moved to it's own section in the task definition form.
B-11211	System wide user notifications	System Administrators now have the ability to send system wide notifications to users when they login. A new System Property "Login Notification" has been added to allow the system admins to define a message that will be displayed when a users completes a successful login to the Universal Controller. When a user logs into the Universal Controller the defined message will be displayed in the "Console" window, the console window will need to be manually closed by the user.
B-10743	Add multi-update support for Scripts.	Scrips now support the "Update" and "Update Filtered" options for multi-update. The following fields are supported: Description Member of business services Resolve UAC variables
B-11394	Show Variables: Add agent name not just id in variables section of a task instance and make it available by API call	The following variables have been added to the Show Variables option and will also be returned by the "List Task Instance Variables" Web Service API: ops_agent_ip ops_agent_mode ops_agent_name ops_agent_queue_name
B-10741	Add Hold Reason to Launch Task with Variable when Hold on Start is enabled	When Launching a Task With Variables and specifying the Hold on Stat option users can now optionally enter the Hold Reason.
B-11230	Confirmation Prompt on Trigger Enable/Disable	A new System Property Confirm Enable/Disable Trigger Command has been added to control whether a confirmation prompt issued when Enabling or Disabling a Trigger, the default value of this new property is yes.
B-10817	Support Assign/Unassign of Trigger Execution Users when selecting multiple triggers and then right-click.	Assign Execution User For this command, multi-selection is now supported. Unassign Execution User As long as all selected records have an assigned execution user, multi-selection is allowed.

Virtual Resource Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10315	Increase the "volume" of Virtual Resource Priority to 1-100	Virtual Resource Priorities can now be specified in the range 1 to 100 (previously 1 to 10).

Web Service API

Backlog	Title	Description
B-10742	Web Service API : Task Instance Update Operational Memo	This feature supports updates to the Operational Memo field of a failed task instance automatically via an API call.
B-05250	Web Service API : Bundleless Promotion	The new Promote Web Service API supports directly promoting (i.e. without a bundle) one or more items of a specific type to a promotion target. The existing List Web Service APIs can be used to query for definitions based on specific criteria (e.g. Member of Business Services); the output can now be used to promote the matching items using the new Promote Web Service API.

Backlog

Title

Description

B-10742

Web Service API : Task Instance Update Operational Memo

This feature supports updates to the Operational Memo field of a failed task instance automatically via an API call.

B-05250

Web Service API : Bundleless Promotion

The new Promote Web Service API supports directly promoting (i.e. without a bundle) one or more items of a specific type to a promotion target.

The existing List Web Service APIs can be used to query for definitions based on specific criteria (e.g. Member of Business Services); the output can now be used to promote the matching items using the new Promote Web Service API.

Workload Analytics Enhancements

Backlog	Title	Description
B-09726	Late finish Enhancements	Late Finish and Early Finish options can now be set to compare against the Tasks Average Duration. The User Estimated Duration field will be required for Early Finish Type Average Duration or Late Finish Type Average Duration. The User Estimated Duration will be used when the Average Duration is not available; for example, on the first launch of a task. When selecting the Average Duration, you have the option to use the Average Duration as is or specify a duration or percentage offset, for example Late Finish based on average Duration plus 1 minute, or Late finish based on average Duration plus 20%.
B-05280	Additional logging information in Controller log (late start/finish)	Late Start or Finish events now create log entries for cases where log file monitoring is used for integration with external tools.

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