Verastream Host Integrator 7.5 SP1 - Features, Fixes, and Release Notes

  • Document ID:7021325
  • Creation Date:05-Jun-2013
  • Modified Date:11-Mar-2018
    • Micro Focus Products:
      Verastream Host Integrator (VHI)

Environment

Verastream Host Integrator version 7.5 SP1

Situation

Verastream Host Integrator (VHI) 7.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1, version 7.5.1030) released in June 2013. This technical note describes product enhancements and fixes. If you are using a previous version, we recommend that you review this information before upgrading.

Note: For information about features in VHI 7.6, released December 2013, see KB 7021313.

Resolution

What's New in Version 7.5+SP1?

This release includes the previous version 7.5 updates (described in KB 7021251), plus the following new enhancements and fixes:

Platform Support

  • zLinux: Server Kit can now be installed on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 on IBM System z. For additional information on supported platforms, see KB 7021532.

Security Updates

  • Redacting of confidential data in troubleshooting tools: Host passwords and other sensitive data are no longer visible in the following tools:
    • Model debug messages (.vmr files) recorded by session server or Design Tool
    • Session server log (message.dat file, Administrative Console, LogExport tool)
    • UNIX syslog and Windows Event Log (session server log messages to system)
    • Email and SNMP Notifications of session server log messages

The above tools no longer contain the following data:

    • Values of model variables that have Encrypt enabled. This configuration is typically used for host passwords in model variable lists.
    • Encrypted values set in model operation commands, such as TransmitToAttrEncrypted and TransmitANSIEncrypted.
    • Values written to non-displayed terminal fields (3270/5250).
    • Values of attributes that are configured as write-only in the model.

Note: Before providing troubleshooting files to Attachmate or others, verify that sensitive data has been removed. Sensitive data may not be redacted in specific unusual configurations or host applications.

Web Applications and Web Builder

  • Optional Device ID or National Character Set codepage can be specified in the "zero footprint" built-in 3270 Terminal Session (Terminal3270) web application.
  • Improvements in 3270 and 5250 terminal screens in HTML5 web applications:
  • Autocapitalize and autocorrect disabled: When using the HTML5 web applications (Terminal and Form pages) in Apple iOS browsers, automatic capitalization and spelling correction are disabled.
  • Extended class for Java Bean and .NET Class Library projects: If you create an "Object" project in Web Builder, additional methods are available for session host screen manipulation. Java Bean uses the AppConnRejuvenationSession class (an extension of AppConnSession) and .NET 2.0 Class Library uses the HostIntegratorRejuvenationSession class (instead of HostIntegratorSession as in previous versions). For information about these additional methods, see http://docs2.attachmate.com/verastream/vhi/7.5sp1/en/rtopic/com.attachmate.vhi.help/API-javadoc/connector/com/wrq/apptrieve/appconn/AppConnRejuvenationSession.html#method_summary.

Web Services

  • WSDL target namespace is now model-specific and does not differ for pooled and non-pooled connections. This improvement avoids the need to re-import a VHI web service in your SOAP tool due to a changed connection method or pool name (and the underlying model is unchanged). Note: After upgrading, you may need to re-import VHI web services in your SOAP tool. See KB 7021323.
  • Model variables can now be read through web services with the getModelVariables web method. Enable the getModelVariables web method in Administrative Console on a server-, model-, or pool-basis. Only non-hidden model variables are returned.
  • Less "invalid input" SOAP faults when optional values are specified but not set. Certain commonly-used optional parameters are ignored when set with empty values in SOAP requests:
- Model variables userID and password
- Model variable cursorPosition
- Environment variables DomainName, ServerName, SessionID, Username

The above variables are described at http://docs2.attachmate.com/verastream/vhi/7.5sp1/en/topic/com.attachmate.vhi.help/html/reference/web_svcs_variables.xhtml.

  • WS-Addressing and WS-Resource are now disabled by default to avoid incompatibilities, such as issues described in KB 7021578 and KB 7021554. Note the following:
    • After upgrading, you may need to re-import VHI web services in your SOAP tool.
    • If you need stateful web services (multiple SOAP client calls using the same host session), you can either implement "inband" support to pass the SessionId environment variable parameter in the data payload, or enable WS-Addressing and WS-Resource in Administrative Console on a server-, model-, or pool-basis if your SOAP client supports these standards.
  • VPD ReferenceParameters fix: When calling web services from Verastream Process Designer, wsResourceCreateResponse > EndpointReference > ReferenceParameters may not be visible the first time you open the Create Copy Rule dialog. This is resolved with VHI disabling WS-Resource by default.
  • SOAP stack log4j tracing support: For web services debugging, uncomment appropriate lines in the %VHI_ROOT%\sesssrvr\services\ws\META-INF\log4j-ws.xml file. Output is written to %VHI_ROOT%\sesssrvr\logs\soap-server.log. For additional information on log4j tracing, see KB 7021322.

Design Tool

  • Recordset Options fixes: In Design Tool, a filtering rule configured in Recordset Options ("Exclude records matching condition") is no longer lost by renaming or deleting a referenced recordset field, model variable, or entity attribute. Furthermore, errors are properly displayed for the Recordset Options dialog box.
  • Telnet Terminal Type fix: In Design Tool, for models using a VT terminal type, if you set a Telnet Terminal Type (in the Advanced VT Telnet dialog), the value is now properly saved in the model file.
  • Initial cursor position is consistently saved in model snapshots: This fix enables the modeler to properly create new entity patterns relative to cursor when in offline mode (not connected to the host).

Session Server and Administrative Console

  • Server reset fix: Session server configuration is no longer reset after deploying a model with deployment descriptor specifying pool min-sessions 0. In previous versions, when the session server service was restarted, the sesssrvr.config file was treated as invalid and reset to empty defaults, resulting in downtime due to loss of the deployed models, pools, etc.
  • Configuration backup: If the session server configuration is considered invalid, it is copied to sesssrvr.config.invalid before the sesssrvr.config file is reset. Please provide the invalid file to Attachmate Technical Support for issue diagnosis.
  • Defunct host connection throttling option removed: In the Administrative Console, the "Create pooled sessions concurrently" option has been removed from Session Server and Pool Properties. Since version 7.0, to achieve the behavior of disabling this option (slowly establish host connections consecutively), you can configure each pool for "Max pending sessions" of 1. However, you can typically use much higher values without host performance impacts.

Obtaining Your Product Update

Customers with a current maintenance plan are eligible to download Verastream Host Integrator 7.5+SP1 from the Attachmate Download Library at https://download.attachmate.com/Upgrades/.

For more information on using the Download Library, see KB 7021965.

Installing Your Product Update

The product download is a full product package that can be used for new installations or to upgrade existing installations.

For more information about installing the update on an existing installation, refer to the appropriate Technical Note:

Additional Information

Legacy KB ID

This document was originally published as Attachmate Technical Note 10147.