Release Notes 2024.3.1

Redwood Software, Inc. is pleased to announce the update release of ActiveBatch® version 2024.3.1.

 

For details on how to upgrade, see the General Information section.

Enhancements

The following list of enhancements have been applied to Version 2024.3.1:

 

New Extensions Added

  • Databricks provides data science and engineering partners a powerful team-oriented platform for analytical queries against semi-structured data without a traditional database schema. Databricks allows users to trigger Databricks workflows, monitor their progress, stop and abort workflows.

  • Azure Data Factory is a managed cloud service that's designed for hybrid Extract-Transform-Load (ETL), Extract-Load-Transform (ELT), data integration and data transformation projects.

More Stable Job Scheduler Service

  • Individual triggers are now isolated to stop cascading issues with other triggers.

Backward Compatibility for Java-base Execution Agents

  • Both existing execution agent and the new java-based execution agents can now connect to the Job Scheduler.

Licensing Information Displayed In UI

  • View detailed information about your license include expiration dates.

Enhanced Security

  • Sensitive user data is either encrypted or excluded.

Dark Mode Improved

  • Easy on your eyes and your monitor!

Corrections

The following list of corrections have been applied to Version 2024.3.1:

 

Multiple SSH Sessions

  • The SSH Jobstep was retrying a successful connection and creating multiple windows.

Windows Buffer Overflow Protection

  • Fixed an exploit when using encrypted password data.

Moving .Net from MD5 to SHA1

  • Windows jobs were failing due to a lack of legacy support for MD5.

ActiveBatch Imports Failing

  • The import/export process is no longer dependent on the order of the objects.

Windows Event Triggers Field Not Displaying Changes

  • The Credential Field of the Event Triggers now refreshes when updated.

User Account Information Can Not Be Cleared

  • The User Account field in the Web Console Job Steps can now be cleared.

Linux Agent Crashing

  • The Linux agent was crashing with a segmentation fault due to the code in ReadDiskStatsFromFile() which is trying to read the /proc/diskstats file in AvgSystemDiskStats() to calculate the disk statistics.

Security Tab Displays Owner Incorrectly

  • When viewing the security tab on any object, the currently logged in user name was displayed instead of the job owner.

Job Toolbox Not Allowing Updates

  • Users can now select which operations show up in the jobs toolbox.

Verbose Tracing Causes False Error

  • A false error was displayed when running the IF-file job step.

 

The following list of corrections have been applied to Version 2024.3.1:

 

Improved Compatibility with OpenPGP

  • ActiveBatch PGP Job Steps has improved compatibility with external OpenPGP tools. Previously, you may have experienced situations where the ActiveBatch PGP Job Steps could not decrypt data coming from external sources.

Databricks Cloud Authentication

  • Issues with Databricks Cloud authentication when instance is not hosted on Azure have been resolved.

FTP/MFT Job Steps Error

  • FTP/MFT job steps on Windows agents. After an upgrade, you may have experienced a generic error message: "SftpException: channel open failure." We identified this issue with the adaptive connect feature in the JSCAPE client. This feature has been disabled by default to prevent these failures. This default setting can be overridden by setting #Sftp.UseAdaptiveConnect to 1.

FTPSFTPFTPS jobs Failing

  • When attempting to upload an empty file, the upload would complete but the job failed with "Attempted to divide by zero" error.

Queue Override Fails on Reference Jobs

  • When triggering a plan that contains reference jobs, the Queue override on the reference failed and sent the job to the Template Queue.

Self Service Portal

  • Where an audit policy was defined at a root folder, an issue prevented you from triggering jobs in the folder from the Self Service Portal.

SSH Job Step Error

  • In some instances, the SSH Job Step would misinterpret some characters, sending incomplete commands to the remote system. A new job variable has been created:

#SSH.IsServerWindows set to false (“0”) by default.

 

This default setting will configure prompt and line termination with Linux Server settings. This can be overridden by changing the setting to "1" to connect to a Windows SSH Server.

User Account Login Data Overwritten

  • The issue which caused the local cached credential data to override the User Account data has been resolved by removing this functionality from the ActiveBatch Console.

Oracle Connection Jobs Failing

  • Creating an LOB Oracle Adapter was failing with a NULL password error message.

Error When Creating new SSIS Job Step

  • Package Source selection failed with the error "Specified Cast is not valid".

 

General Information

Please see the ActiveBatch Installation and Administrator’s Guide Product Compatibility Matrix to make sure your database and operating systems are supported in 2024.3

 

Before you begin to consider the upgrade process, make sure your ActiveBatch environment is running on a version that has been thoroughly tested to support the upgrade procedure. See more details below.

 

Note about version numbers

 

In the past, ActiveBatch major-release version numbers increased by 1 (e.g. Version 11, Version 12). Last year, we released our first major-release using a new calendar-based versioning system. It is based on the year and the quarter within the year (e.g. 2024.3).

 

This current release is numbered 2024.3, since it is being released this year, in the third quarter.

 

Currently, the various user interfaces do not display the new version numbering system, but rather, you will see version 14 (our internal version number). This will change in a future release, where the UI will match the new numbering scheme. Until then:

 

2023.2 = 14.0.0

2023.3 = 14.0.1

2024.2 = 14.0.2

2024.3 = 14.0.3 (after you upgrade)

 

Locating your version information

 

  • The thick console internal version number is displayed on AbatConsole's Start Page.

  • The Web Console internal version is displayed when clicking on the About ActiveBatch icon (located at the top far-right of the UI, second from the left).

  • The Job Scheduler internal version is displayed on the Job Scheduler Information page (see Views > Job Scheduler Information).

  • The Execution Agent internal version is displayed on the Execution Queue object - see Properties > Machine Characteristics > AbatVersionId.

 

Upgrading from version 2023.x to 2024.3

 

You can upgrade from 2023.x, 2024.x to 2024.3. This release should be treated like a service pack upgrade. For more information, refer to the ActiveBatch Installation and Administrator's Guide. See the Service Packs and Installation Maintenance Operations section.

 

Upgrading from version 12 SP9 to 2024.x

 

You can upgrade from Version 12 SP9 to 2024.x. You do not need to upgrade to 2023.3. To upgrade to 2024.3, your current Scheduler must be running V12 SP9. If you are not running on the latest service pack, please review the following KB article: Upgrading ActiveBatch V12 to the Latest Service Pack.

 

Once you are on the latest V12 service pack, please see the ActiveBatch Installation and Administrator’s Guide. It provides all the details required to upgrade from V12 SP9 to 2024.3. See the section named Upgrading from V12.

 

Upgrading from version 11 SP5 to 2024.x

 

You cannot upgrade from Version 11 to 2024.x directly. You must upgrade from V11 SP5 to V12 SP9 first. From there, you can upgrade to 2024.x. Please see the ActiveBatch Installation and Administrator's Guide - Upgrading from V11 for more information on this topic.

 

Product End-of-Maintenance and End-of-Life

End-of-Maintenance (EOM)

The EOM date is defined as the point at which the software will no longer receive updates or bug fixes, but support will still be available to you. EOM happens 12 months after the release date, and notifications will be sent to you before that date. Updates or patches for software applications that have reached their EOM date will no longer be provided.

End-of-Support (EOS) or End-of-Life (EOL)

The EOS date is defined as the point at which the software will no longer be supported, and no further updates or bug fixes will be provided. EOS happens 18 months after the EOM date, as described in the documentation at the time of the release.

  • EOM for 2024.2 is May 29, 2025.
  • EOL/EOS for 2024.2 is October 28, 2026.
  • EOM for 2024.3 is August 29, 2025.
  • EOL/EOS for 2024.3 is March 2, 2027.
  • EOM for 2024.4 is Nov 20, 2025.
  • EOL for 2024.4 is May 20, 2027.
  • EOM for 2025.1 is February 21, 2026.
  • EOL for 2025.1 is Sept 1, 2027.

End-of-Life (EOL) for other versions

  • EOL for V11 was June 30, 2024
  • EOL for V12 was Nov 30, 2024

Contact Information

If you encounter any problems with ActiveBatch and are under the Product Warranty or post-warranty maintenance service plan, contact Redwood at support@redwood.com or visit our website at http://www.redwood.com.