Automic Workload Automation 12.1 Release Highlights

As of version 12 Automic product Release Notes can be found online as part of the online Release Notes.

Release Notes

Visit Release Notes and select the Component, Sub-Component as well as the versions to be compared to get the list of new features, fixed bugs and known issues.

Checking Application, Platform and Database Compatibility

Visit Automic Compatibility Matrix and select the Product, Component, Sub-Component and Version to check which applications, platforms and databases are compatible.

Release Policy

Automic recommends that you always install the latest Service Pack or Hotfix. Both contain valuable corrections and bug fixes between Major and Minor Releases, where new features and enhancements are introduced.

The software version information consists of the following identifiers, as shown in this example:

12.1.0 HF 1

• Major Release: 12

  This is the main version of a software release. It is identified by the first segment of the entire version number.

• Minor Release: 1

  This includes new features, modifications and corrections that may contain major changes such as database modifications. It is identified by the second segment of the entire version number.

Major and Minor releases for Automation Engine are feature releases supplied at 9-month intervals.

• Service Pack: 0

  This is a patch for a release and contains corrections for errors. New features or modifications are not included. Service packs are identified by the third segment of the entire version number.

• Hotfix: HF1

  This is a minor sub-release to remove malfunctions and defects. Hotfixes are indicated by an HF number after the version number.

Service Packs and Hotfixes are maintenance releases supplied at 4-month intervals.

Important!

• The Automation Engine and the Automic Web Interface components must have the same service pack/hotfix version number.

• When a hotfix is issued for the AWI or the AE component, there is either a confirmation that there are no incompatibility issues, or an equivalent hotfix for both components is released at the same time.

• If a hotfix has been released for both components, you should upgrade both components to ensure compatibility.

• In case of any doubt, components bundled together in a download offering are tested for compatibility. An offering always contains the same service pack/hotfix version of the AE and AWI components.

  For more information, see Automic Compatibility Matrix.

Release Highlights

Click here to view our short introductory video on what's new.

Automation Engine

• A single Automation Engine instance can now handle up to 500,000 Agents! This enhancement goes along with various connectivity and workload-balancing improvements:

  • Improved on- and offboarding of new Agents or Agent reconnections. One communication process (CP) can handle up to 99,999 Agent connections on almost all platforms. See Establishing a Connection for more details.
  • Improved load balancing within CPs. A new table is now automatically created in the database when you are using more than five CPs. No manual intervention is required anymore.
  • For users who run the Automation Engine with an MS SQL Server, Automic now provides an alternative database schema for the Automation Engine which splits the classic Automation Engine into two separate databases in order to improve ghost clean-up processes. See: Integrating an alternative MS SQL Server DB Schema
  • To improve performance, the communication processes now process the Agents‘ life-sign messages by default, which is important when thousands of Agents try to log on at the same time. See the AE’s INI-file section srvquery= for further details.
  • New keys can be set for Java-based, Windows and Unix Agents in the system variable UC_HOSTCHAR_DEFAULT: CHANGE_LOGGING_DAYS and CHANGE_LOGGING_MB
  • IP dual stack available: The Automation Engine is now fully IPv6 compatible while IPv4 can still be used.

• Increased login security is now guaranteed through changes in password requirements and enhanced encryption algorithms. Read all about it at Advanced Security: Encryption and Authentication.

• Improvements in Zero Downtime Upgrade (ZDU): You can now use the new Automic Web Interface to upgrade from version 12 onwards! Note that you do it in Client 0 now exclusively instead of your own Client.

• Enhancements in Centralized Agent Upgrades (CAU):

  • The Service Manager (SM) is now included in the upgrade process! After the agent upgrade, the SM checks if the Agent has new SM binaries. If so, the SMs upgrade and restart themselves using binaries that have been downloaded by the Agent. Services controlled by the SM do not have to be restarted.
  • You can now skip the upgrade of Agents that you initially registered for an upgrade if they are in the status Waiting for host.

New REST API

• The AE REST API is an easy consumable and standardized API for developers. It provides an interface for third party applications to interact with the Automation Engine and allows the user to target it not only from Java, but from many programming languages.
• The AE REST API has a dedicated Java Communication Process (JCP) to handle the REST calls and currently supports the execution and monitoring of executions as well as the Advanced Object Search.

Automic Web Interface

• Introduced with version 12.0, the Automic Web Interface is now the Automation Engine's central web interface. It provides user-friendly access to the all features and functions and serves all automation use cases.

• Significant improvements have been made to the appearance and organization of our product documentation, our main goal being to help you easily locate the information that matters to you:

  • More intuitive structure and consistent design to help you find and digest the information.

  • Real world Use Cases and Examples.

  • Context-Sensitive Help at two levels.

    • Every page and sub page provides direct access to the topic in the product documentation that deals with it.
    • Direct access to the Automic Scripting Guide from within the Script Editor. Simply hover your mouse over the script element for which you need help and select Search in help. The topic that describes that particular element opens up.

• The new Script Editor has been greatly improved as well:

  • The Redo, Undo and Reformat All functions have been added.
  • Scripts can now be easily imported from within the editor.
  • The Autocomplete function now helps you when writing your scripts.
  • Furthermore, you can open object from within the editor by simply right-clicking their names and selecting the Open option from the context menu.

  Learn more about it here: Working with the Script Editor.

• Several new features make your work with the Workflow Editor and the Workflow Monitor much easier.

  • A mini map is now available that helps you find your way in large Workflows. Read all about it here: Interactive Navigation within Large Workflows.
  • Finding tasks for connecting them in large Workflows that expand beyond its visible part is much easier now. An additional option is available when right-clicking a task that helps you find the task you want to link to. Take a look at Connecting Distant Tasks in Large Workflowsfor more information.
  • The information you find on the task boxes in Workflows has been reworked; a number of improved visual aids help you see the key task data at a glance. Find the details here: Information Elements in the Task Boxes.

• The Workflow Monitor provides a wide range of new functions. Now you can add, replace, move and connect tasks in active Workflows at runtime. See Modifying Active Workflows at Runtime for the details.

• Powered by Apache Lucene, the new Advanced Object Search is now much faster and more reliable, providing multiple filter possibilities for finding objects as quickly as possible. Find detailed information here: Advanced Object Search.

• The SAP integration has been enhanced as follows:

  • The wizard for SAP jobs (SAP Forms) provides more predefined SAP functions
  • In addition, it also allows you to import code that is already available in jobs in the SAP system directly into the Automation Engine job. Take a look at Importing Jobs for more details.
  • This version integrates with the SAP Criteria Manager for R3 and ABAP jobs and allows you define and work with profiles and conditions for events directly from within the Automation Engine. Have a look at Working with the Criteria Manager in AWI.

• The PeopleSoft integration has also been improved:

  • You can now delete an executed job in the PS Process Scheduler directly from AWI.
  • For more comfort and transparency, you can now restart a failed PS job using the same PS Process Instance number instead of starting a new job.
  • Now, output files created by PeopleSoft can be registered in the Automation Engine and are accessible as external reports.

  Read all about it at PeopleSoft Jobs as well as at PeopleSoft Jobs - Child Processes and PeopleSoft Forms.

• With the JMX integration, JMX functions can be executed directly from within the Automation Engine. This version provides a lot of sets of predefined commands that allow you to build scripts for JMX jobs. See JMX Forms.

• The new My Catalog allows users to store their favorite objects in a dedicated tab for easy access. The Activities pane provides detailed information on the progress of active tasks, whereas the History pane gives the details of past executions. See My Catalog.
• The password length for a Login Object (LOGIN) is now unlimited and all characters are allowed (including commas). To accommodate commas in passwords, the MODIFY_OBJECT script function allows you to define up to three passwords to add or delete using the "ADD1", "ADD2", "ADD3" or "DEL1", "DEL2" and "DEL3" actions.
• To conform with our customers‘ security policies, we now provide a separation of privileges for Unix agents. The user who owns the listener can be configured and no longer has to be a root or super-user (default 65534 = nfsnobody). The user behavior for connecting to the agent listener (e.g. File Transfer) has not been changed.
• The existing Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) functionality has been enhanced as follows:
  • The Agents' Service Managers can be upgraded during CAU. For more information, see Centralized Agent Upgrade.
  • An active upgrade waiting for completion of running tasks on an Agent can be skipped by context menu. For more information, see MODIFY_SYSTEM.
• The latest releases of the following Rapid Automation (RA) Agents are compatible with the Automic Web Interface in version 12.1:
• Business Objects
• FTP
• Hadoop
• Hyperion EPMA
• Hyperion ESSBASE
• Hyperion FDMEE
• Hyperion FM
• Hyperion Planning
• Informatica
• JD Edwards
• JMS
• Oracle E-Business Suite
• Oracle Retail
• Web Service REST
• Web Service SOAP

For Rapid Automation Agent documentation, see the Automic Hosted Documentation.

• The License Reporting Tool (LRT) has been updated. LRT is the successor of the "Usage Reporting Tool", which was previously distributed with the Automation Engine. Compared to the "Usage Reporting Tool", LRT 2.1.0 offers the following improvements:
  • Cross-version compatibility: LRT is now compatible with Automation Engine 10.0.8 - 12.1. This means you can use one version of LRT to gather usage data from different Automation Engine versions (e.g. test/production systems). For more information on of Automic software compatibility, see the Compatibility Matrix.
  • Massive speed improvements: Due to query parallelization, LRT is up to 400% faster.
  • Incremental reports using time ranges: Customers with large Automation Engine databases benefit from incremental reports that only consider the usage data in a specific time range (e.g. last month). This incremental approach can speed up LRT even more than query parallelization and makes it easy to schedule the report generation in Automation Engine.
  • Improved command-line interface: The new command-line API is more intuitive and responsive. This way you will know what LRT is doing and you can intervene in case of unexpected stalls.
  • Defaults to the last three years: To shorten the LRT runtime and reduce the size of the license reports, the default start date for usage reports is changed from 01-01-2007 to 01-01-(CURRENT_YEAR - 3). If you need a longer report period, you can still set an earlier start date using the -s option.

  For License Reporting Tool documentation, see the Automic Hosted Documentation.

• Modifying Jobs, even if they have already been generated, is now possible from the Jobs Monitor (note for users of older Automation Engine versions: previously this function was called Open generated Job). Read all about it at Monitoring Jobs.

TEMENOS T24 Integration

Implemented using the Action Pack technology, the TEMENOS T24 integration now provides a complete set of actions to automate processes. The actions are implemented in Workflows. Their monitoring is implemented in the Analytics Dashboards.

Analytics and Reporting on External Data

• Analytics & Reporting on AWA/ARA Data introduced with version 12 as part of platform.

  • Analytics & Reporting is now able to include data from external sources. Learn more here: Creating dynamic charts based on an EXEC VARA
  • Reuse existing platform capabilities for data integration (VARA.SQL, VARA.SQLI, VARA.EXECUTE,…). Learn more here: Creating dynamic charts using SQLi VARA Objects
  • Visualize metrics from automated systems or from business processes.
  • Can be used in package solutions like: Temenos /Disaster recovery / ...

Event Engine

• Enables the Automation Engine to respond to more sophisticated event triggers.
  • Reduces overhead of manually scripting and system overhead of processing IF-THEN-LOGIC. Learn more here: Defining a Simple Rule
  • Allows you to process rules against any Automic object. Not limited to tasks and Workflows.
  • Exposes as much event processing as required vs full complex event processing. Learn more here:Getting Started with the Event Engine
  • Supports up to 50,000 events per second.
  • Enables use of intelligent automation.
  • Capture event flow from multiple services and devices to correlate source of failure and start automated recovery. Learn more here: Defining a State Change Rule
  • Proactively engage retail and service provider customers in real-time by automatically detecting and responding to their behavior.

DCS (Data Service Collection)

• Data Collection Service (DCS) is a feature where One Automation collects data on its internal mechanisms and its IT environment. The data can be automatically sent to Automic. You can also access the data and use it for internal purposes. Learn more here: Data Collection Services (DCS)
• By sharing data with Automic, you help Automic build knowledge from customer environments and work on enhancements on products and services. The data sharing mechanism is secure and auditable. Learn more here: Performance Check
• Internally, data can be exported from One Automation and sent to a third-party reporting application for example. Learn more here: How to use collected data internally