Verastream Host Integrator Release Notes, version 7.8 Update 2

July 2021

Verastream Host Integrator (VHI) version 7.8 Update 2 released July 2021. These release notes list the features and known issues in this release and additional product information. VHI integration encapsulates host functionality into services for rapid re-use in new applications.

What's New

Beginning with the 7.7 SP2 release, VHI contains Azul Zulu OpenJDK 1.8. Updating to this version of OpenJDK helps address security vulnerabilities, along with providing additional benefits. To debug Java source code, you need to download the src.zip file provided by Azul OpenJDK.

To download the Open JDK package installed with VHI:

• Navigate to https://www.azul.com/downloads.
• Select the correct Java 8 version in zip format. Download.
• After the download completes, the src.zip file is located in the root directory of the zip file.
• Copy it to Verastream\java\jdk-ver.

This version of VHI provides increased usability enhancements as well as addressing security vulnerabilities. Enhancements and fixes which shipped in previous releases are included in this release. All releases are cumulative.

What's New for 7.8 Update 2

General updates and configuration changes

• Addressed CVE-2021-22522 and CVE-2021-22523. Please see this security alert for more details.

What's New for 7.8 Update 1

General updates and configuration changes

• VHI now ships version 1.8.0_252 of the Java Development Kit (JDK).
• Addressed CVE-2020-11842. Please see this security alert for more details.
• The .NET Connector now negotiates all TLS protocols and is no longer limited to TLS 1.0.
• On Unix systems, the server.log file is now written to the hostintegrator/sesssrvr/logs directory.
• Previously, if you set filter column values to Not Required in the Tables dialog, a corrupted XML model resulted. This is no longer the case.

What's New for 7.8

General updates and configuration changes

• VHI now ships version 1.8.0_242 of the Java Development Kit (JDK).
• The session server and management server RMI export ports are now fixed to a documented port number by default.
• Fixed "Token is invalid" errors in the management server that could occur when replacing the management cluster keypair with a CA signed keypair.

Design Tool enhancements

• A new file format for model projects is now used by default. This provides better team coordination using source control systems. See Working Collaboratively.
• VHI now supports adding a prefix to model debug file names via the connector APIs and web services. This makes it easier to sort model debug files by category. See About Model and Environment Variables.
• A new option to select or clear all has been added to the Attributes Test dialog box.
• Vmr.exe now supports html formatted output by using the -h command line option.
• The Procedure Test dialog box is now non-modal. This means that the dialog will stay open while changes are being made to the model.
• In previous releases the Initial Design Tool window position preferences were unreliable, they now behave as described in the Settings documentation.
• Windows 7 has been removed from the list of supported platforms and is no longer supported.

What's New for 7.7 SP2 U2

General updates and configuration changes

• VHI now ships version 1.8.0_232 of the Java Development Kit (JDK).
• VHI has been upgraded to use the libncurses.so.6 shared library and no longer requires libncurses5.so.

Design Tool Enhancements

• New functionality has been added to the Import Model Elements dialog box. You now have the ability to filter and sort entities, tables, and variables using regular expressions to streamline importing model elements.
• The Event Handler API documentation has been updated and now includes the NOT operator for WaitForMultipleEvents.
• WaitForMultipleEvents now includes a THEN operator to allow for sequential event processing.
• There have been multiple small enhancements to the Design Tool Procedure Editor:
  • When hovering over a field in the Procedure Editor, the location of the field within the procedure is displayed. This feature was disabled in a previous release and has been restored.
  • You are now warned before you can delete an entity.
  • The command list for an operation is now visible when selecting the path between entities.
  See the help topic, Creating Procedures Using the Procedure Editor, under Creating Tables and Procedures in the Design Tool documentation.
• The validity of a model is now verified before using packagemodel.bat or activatemodel.bat deployment scripts.
• The Entity drop-down list updates immediately after an enitity is deleted.
• Concurrent sessions are reset each day which results in accurate email notifications.
• The Java demo directory and src.zip have been removed.
• The VHI services now use a specific, documented RMI export port for JMX configuration. This makes it more enterprise-friendly for routers, firewalls, load balancers and containers. This change should not affect user-configured RMI ports in an upgrade scenario. See Knowledge Base article: Ports used by Verastream Host Integrator 7.x
• Filtering of Tables and Model Import Elements are by default now case insensitive. See Import Model Elements.
• The Test Attributes dialog now contains a header checkbox where you can select or clear all attributes.

What's New for 7.7 SP2 U1

This version of VHI provides increased usability enhancements as well as addressing security vulnerabilities.

• The Web Server Service is no longer installed by default in the Windows Server Kit.
• The Host Emulator Server is no longer installed by default in the Server Kit.
• The Java Development Kit (JDK) has been updated to version 1.8.0_222.
• Previously the buffer which allowed for validation of WaitForMultipleEvents in an Operation was not sufficient, resulting in serious errors. This buffer has been increased.
• A series of small bug fixes are included in this release:
  • You no longer receive an "Object not found in the current model" error message when clicking on a link in the VMR log viewer.
  • Previously even though a transaction completed successfully, the VMR file would show: Error [VHI 4751] No message found. This no longer occurs.
  • In the Learning to Use Host Integrator help topic, the correct image is now used when making a host connection.

Known Issues

• When installing or upgrading VHI, you may encounter this error message: "The Java scripting manager failed to initialize". The likely cause is that the value of the system environment variable, VHI_ROOT, set at install time, was not updated to the correct install folder.
• When upgrading VHI from an evaluation version to a production version, the local session server properties panel may continue to display the Limited Evaluation label. This is incorrect. You can remedy this by uninstalling the Evaluation version before you install the production version or by restarting the session server after the upgrade completes.
• After upgrading to the latest version of VHI, and restarting the session server, and then editing a session server property, you may encounter the error: "Error occurred submitting properties to the session server: Must have a connection to a VHI Server to perform this operation...". To remedy this issue, restart the management server.
• Navigating tables can cause some confusion as they no longer conform to current standards. Tables have two modes of operation; selection mode and edit mode. Use these keystrokes to navigate through the table.
  • F2 - Places the table into edit mode and starts an editor on the cell in focus. When the table is in edit mode, the contents of the cell in focus can be changed.
  • ESC - Removes the editor and places the table in selection mode and reverses any changes made in the editor.
  • Tab and Shift+Tab - Navigate the table and loop continuously to the next accessible cell. In edit mode Tab and Shift-Tab move the focus forward or backward to the next editable cell.
  • CTRL + <key-sequences> - Exits the table. For example, CTRL+TAB exits the table and proceeds to the next control in the dialog. CTRL+Shift+Tab exits the table and proceeds to the previous control in the dialog.

Resolved Issues

• In previous versions, in the Host Event Edit dialog box, when switching focus between a WaitForDisplayString event and another event in the Events panel, existing backslash characters in the String value of the Event parameters of the WaitForDisplayString operation were duplicated. This is no longer the case.
• The issue of high CPU usage during a client session disconnect while the Administrative Console is monitoring the session has been addressed. This no longer occurs.
• In the Design Tool, the Entity drop-down list no longer displays the previous entity after the screen has been updated.
• Previously, the Administrative Console did not display correct signing information. This has been corrected.
• An issue with the zLinux install program was fixed. The installer no longer uses a hard-coded path to the Java SDK.
• When upgrading the Administrative Console from an evaluation copy to a production license, an inaccurate label was previously displayed and required restarting the session server. This is no longer the case.
• Manually replacing the management cluster certificate/key pair no longer causes errors.

Micro Focus Technical Support is always available to help you with any issues you may encounter in VHI.

Installing the Product

Read the Installation Guide for information on system and installation requirements, upgrade instructions, and other helpful tips.

Contacting Micro Focus

For specific product issues, contact Micro Focus Technical Support.

Additional technical information or advice is available from several sources:

• Product documentation, Knowledge Base articles and videos - see Support for Verastream Host Integrator.
• The Micro Focus Community pages - see Micro Focus Communities.

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For information about legal notices, trademarks, disclaimers, warranties, export and other use restrictions, U.S. Government rights, patent policy, and FIPS compliance, see https://www.microfocus.com/about/legal/.

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