October2011 Preview 2 Release Notes

Summary

This release is {{#switch: {{{1}}} | CA = in a state of controlled availability (see release terminology). | GA = in a state of general availability (see release terminology). | no longer recommended for upgrades. If you want to upgrade an instance, consider a current version. }} {{#if: | {{#switch: {{{2}}} | public = To upgrade your instance, request an upgrade | For more information about how to upgrade your instance, see Requesting an Upgrade }}.}} For the October2011 Preview 2 release:

Build date: 08-05-2011_1049

Build tag: glide-october2011-preview2-08-03-2011

Note: See how to determine the version on your instance.

Upgrade Recommendations

Production instances should run on major releases. Major releases go through the greatest amount of testing and are mostly widely used by the customer base. Customers may want to run a preview release on a production instance in limited cases, such as when functionality in the preview is critical to business processes or when the preview is installed during an implementation and an upgrade would constitute a major change before go-live.

New in This Preview

The October2011 Preview 2 release contains the following new or improved functionality.

Feature	Description	Activated
ODBC Driver
ODBC Data Source Administrator properties	debug: Writes all HTTP-related network communication traffic to the ISQL console window. gzip: Compresses all network data.	Automatic for all instances
ODBC Version Checking	A new tool checks the build date and time of the ODBC driver.	ODBC driver installation
MID Server
MID Server Capability	The Resolve DNS capability resolves any DNS name into an IP address using a partial string match.	Request Runbook Automation plugin
Scripted Value Matching	The Capability Value Tests module enables administrators to create capabilities that find devices using values that do not require exact string matching.	Request Runbook Automation plugin
Runbook Automation
Runbook PowerShell Activities	Change Service State: Starts or stops a Windows service on a remote machine. Install: Installs an application on a Windows target machine. Uninstall: Uninstalls an application from a Windows target machine.	Request Runbook Automation plugin
Resolve DNS Name activity	Takes an IP address or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), which it resolves into one or more IP addresses.	Request Runbook Automation plugin
Platform Administration
Image upload enhancements	Image metadata (width, height, size, and format) is now stored automatically when a new image is uploaded. A category field is available to organize the image library. Also, a message now appears when an uploaded image may not be supported in Internet Explorer browsers.	Automatic for all instances
Workflow Timelines	Provides a timeline view of history activities associated with a Workflow context. Timelines display a linear calendar of activities, such as tasks and approvals, defined by their start and end dates.	Automatic for all instances
Rollback To Workflow activity	Transitions (rolls back) directly to the activity specified by the transition line arrow. This activity determines which activities to reset based on the actual workflow sequence (transition line attachments) of activities between itself and the transitioned to activity and not on the execution order.	Automatic for all instances
Workflow execution path tracking	A new highlighting feature in the Workflow Activity History enables administrators to troubleshoot workflows. A UI Action in the right-click context menu colorizes execution and rollback paths to help locate activities that might have been left in an unresolved state after a workflow completes.	Automatic for all instances
Data Policy	Enables administrators to apply field controls to data brought into the system from import sets or from any SOAP Web Service (direct or import set). These controls apply to records imported by a browser connected to the instance or through the server from an external system.	Administrator-installable plugin
Attachment events	The following events for attachments are included in this release: attachment.uploaded: An attachment has been uploaded. If multiple attachments are uploaded to a record at one time, each attachment triggers a separate event. attachment.deleted: An attachment has been deleted. This event is also triggered when the record containing the attachment is deleted. If a record is deleted that contains multiple attachments, a separate event is triggered for each attachment in the deleted record.	Automatic for all instances
Discovery
DNS Name Resolver probe	Resolves DNS names into IP addresses for both Runbook and Discovery.	Request Runbook Automation or Discovery plugin
Managed Documents
Managed Documents	High security settings now supported in Managed Documents.	Automatic for all instances

Other Notable Changes

This release includes the following minor enhancements or performance improvements.

Feature	Description
Process Applications
Service catalog	A new field called Order to cart is available for configuring order guides. This feature allows users to add order guides to their cart and then continue shopping. Previously, users had to check out immediately after completing an order guide. Note: This only works when the Two step check box is also set to true.
IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance	The following enhancements have been made to Audits: The new Audit Activity [grc_activity] table allows users performing an audit to assign and track tasks and activities within an audit. The new Audit Requirements [grc_audit_requirement] table allows auditors to specify which Authoritative Source Content [grc_authoritative_source] requirements are in scope for compliance during an audit instance. Each Audit Requirement can be associated with an Audit Definition, and when an Audit Instance is created, the requirement is attached to the audit instance to allow auditors to mark compliance or non-compliance.
Certification task preview link	"Preview Certification Tasks" form link UI Action on Certification Schedule form - when clicked, saves and reloads current record, and simulates execution of the cert schedule, displaying an infoMessage about which cert tasks WOULD have been created on execution.
Change Management Collision Detector - field requirements	The start_date and end_date fields are no longer mandatory as part of the Change Collision plugin.
Change Management Collision Detector - change date tracking	The last_checked field was added to Conflict records for the Change Collision plugin. The default value is now. This indicates when the change was last checked for conflicts.
Change Management Collision Detector - field label change	The name of the Collision Properties module was changed to Conflict Properties. The role required to access Conflict Properties was changed from itil to itil_admin.
Change Management Collision Detector - role change	Read ACL for conflict table now require the itil role This lets itil users see the conflict records with High Security Settings plugin activated. The itil role is required for the Check Conflicts UI Action.
Change Management Collision Detector - ACL changes	Added Write, Create and Delete ACLs for the conflict table, included with the Change Management Collision Detector plugin, requiring the admin role. Other users do not require direct access to create, write or delete Conflict records.
Priority Lookup plugin	The Priority Lookup plugin lookup table replaces the existing calculatePriority business rule script for calculating priority based on impact/urgency. The calculatePriority business rule was changed to query this lookup table. Also, an ACL as added to the Priority Lookup plugin to make incident.priority read-only. This plugin in now automatic for all new instances.
Affected CIs business rules	Two new business rules were added for instances created after the June 2011 release: A rule on the Task table copies the CI on the form to the Affected CIs Related List and keeps it synchronized. If the CI on the form changes, the old one is removed from the related list and the new one is added. A rule on the task_ci table prevents removal of an Affected CI if it is for the CI on the task form, keeping things synchronized.
Platform Administration
Customizing banner logo	Two new properties control customization of the URL and target frame used when clicking the banner logo: glide.banner.image.url and glide.banner.image.url_target.
Schedules	Moved cmn_schedule_blackout.description column up to the Schedule [cmn_schedule] table.
Showing schedules	There is now a Show Schedule UI Action link on the Schedule form.
Interceptors - UI Action	The Try It UI Action was added for Interceptors (sys_wizard table). Access the UI Action from a form button or a list context menu.
Interceptors - synchronize roles	Two new business rules synchronize roles and active fields for table-specific CMDB modules with their corresponding cmdb_ci.do Interceptor answers. For example, if you deactivate the Tomcat module in the CMDB application, or modify the roles, do the same to the Tomcat interceptor option for the cmdb_ci interceptor. This behavior is controlled by a new property, glide.ecmdb.synch_modules_with_interceptor, which is set to true by default. The business rules and property are available for instances created after the June 2011 release.
Show Related Tasks decoration	The show_related_tasks decoration is enabled on the task.cmdb_ci table by default for new instances . Existing instances can modify the ref_contributions attribute for the field to add the decoration. Ref contributions must be semicolon-separated: e.g. ref_contributions=task_show_ci_map;show_related_tasks.
Show Related Records decoration	A UI Macro was added to create a show_related_records decoration. When added to the cmdb_ci field (Incident form), the UI Macro displays a decoration if the selected CI has active related tasks (related by the task_ci m2m table). Click the decoration to display a GlideDialogWindow showing a list of those tasks grouped by Class.
Deactivate multiple modules easily	A new UI Action called Change active state on the sys_app_module table adds a list choice action and an option in the list context menu to deactivate multiple modules at once.
Security
Viewing watch lists	The incident query business rule was modified to let ESS users see Incidents if they're on the watch list.
Write ACLs changed	The incident Write ACL in the Best Practice - Incident Resolution Workflow plugin was modified to make Closed incidents read-only for non-administrators.
Templates	A new property called glide.template.max_context specifies the maximum number of Templates (default: 15) that is displayed in a form's context menu. If more than this number are available, click the Apply Template context menu option to open the reference list of Templates.
Discovery
MSSQL instance names	Discovery correctly returns all MSSQL instances (with their actual SQL name) that are running on the same machine and their corresponding catalogs (using the SQLDMO object). Also, for SQL 2000 servers, Discovery can match instance names up by looking up the process ID.
User Interface
Embedded HTML images	Images available for embedding in HTML fields now show a category, which can be viewed in the lookup list. Also, the lookup list displays a thumbnail view of the image.

Fixes

See Fixes for a list of issues fixed in the October2011 Preview 2 release (logged in users only).