Question & Answer
Question
What are the known limitations in the releases of Operational Decision Manager 8.5? This page lists limitations and workarounds for the product. If your component is not listed, no limitations have been reported for it. Updated 2 June 2017.
Answer
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Rule Designer (Decision Server Rules)
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| When editing an Excel scenario file in Rule Designer, the Excel save button does not work. | Use the save button in the Rule Designer toolbar. | 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.5.1.1, 8.5.1.2 |
| The types that are derived from XML simple types do not have a binding at run time and cannot be used in the rules. To prevent errors, these types are no longer generated in the BOM. | The types that are not declared should not be used and can be ignored. | 8.5.1 |
| In decision engine mode, you cannot create a custom business rule language. | There is no workaround. | 8.5.1 |
| When using Decision Validation Services, Excel spreadsheets that contain dates prior to 1900 or 1904 produce test errors. | Excel does not support dates prior to 1/1/1900 or 1/1/1904, depending on the Excel settings. See XL: The 1900 Date System vs. the 1904 Date System. To use an older date, such as 6/15/1850, enter 15/06/1850 00:00:00:000 +0200 to use the internal date format of Decision Validation Services. | 8.5.1 |
| In Operational Decision Manager for z/OS, the PL/I importer is only supported on Windows and not on Linux, so the PL/I management feature in Rule Designer is not supported on Linux. | There is no direct workaround for the Linux platform. The only solution is to use Rule Designer on Windows to design PL/I-based rule projects. | 8.5 |
| If you use Internet Explorer 11, a security update from Microsoft can make Eclipse crash when you use the internal web browser. | Use an external web browser. | 8.5-8.5.1.1 |
| Google Chrome does not display the Rule Project Statistics Report. | Launch Google Chrome with the flag "allow-file-access-from-files." | 8.5-8.5.1.1 |
| Rule Designer does not refactor IRL functions and technical rules. | Manually fix the references in the artifacts. | 8.5 |
| The ruleflow editor might not refresh correctly. | This problem is due to a bug in Java 7: The case automatically failed due to java.lang.ClassCastException. The workaround is to define the virtual machine property as follows: Dsun.java2d.d3d=false | 8.5 |
| When you create a Rule Designer project from a release or change activity in Decision Center, you lose the package structure for the rules from Decision Center. | For an interim fix, see Operational Decision Manager V8.5: Interim Fix 1. | 8.5 |
| An SWT error occurs when you display documentation on 64-bit Redhat. | Install a compatible XULRunner version, as explained in XULRunner version issue on RHEL and CentOS systems. | 8.5 |
| The drop-down completion menu in the Intellirule editor might contain items from several domains in your BOM. | To resolve this problem, see Unexpected values in domain drop-down. | 8.5 |
Rule Execution Server
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The TCP/IP notification in the Rule Execution Server console in V8.5.1 is not compatible with Execution Units (XUs) from earlier versions. | Keep all the Rule Execution Server modules at the same version level. | 8.5.1 |
| Users had to log in to Rule Execution Server console for a secure access to the REST API for resource management. | Now, you can use the REST API through a web browser without first logging in to the Rule Execution Server console. To do so, add apiauth to the URL of the resource, instead of api: http://host:port/res/apiauth/resourceName/templateParameters?queryParameters]. | 8.5.1 |
| When you use the TCP/IP notification service with two Java virtual machines (JVMs), you receive a serialization error. | Use the same JVM with the client and the server. | 8.5 |
| Rule Execution Server returns an error message, RC-05001, when it calls rules from an application-owning region on a rule-owning region. | Execute the rules on the rule-owning region before calling rules from the application-owning region. | 8.5 |
| In a clustered environment, the Event plug-in parameters are not the same as the default parameters. | In a clustered environment, use the following settings: For the EventDestinationType parameter, use Queue instead of Topic. For the EventDestinationConnectionFactoryName parameter, use jms/WbeQueueConnectionFactory instead of jms/WbeTopicConnectionFactory. You can change the settings by using the application server administration console. | 8.5 |
| The configureDCCluster scripts do not map the default user IDs to the roles. | Map the users to the roles manually: Use the WebSphere Application Server administrative console to create your groups, for example, resAdmins, resDeployers, resMonitors, rtsAdministrator, rtsConfigManager, rtsInstaller, and rtsUser. Map the users to these groups as appropriate. For each deployed WebSphere enterprise application, configure Security role to user/group mapping as needed. | 8.5 |
| The Operational Decision Manager sample based on Worklight 5.6 does not work with Worklight 6.0, the latest version of the product. | To use the sample, download and install Worklight 5.6: Click Download on the Worklight developerWorks page: IBM Worklight Foundation Follow the instructions for (Alternative) Installation from a local Eclipse archive file, and download the 5.0.6.1 .zip file instead: .iws_update_site_wde.5.0.6.1.zip. | 8.5 |
ODM on z/OS
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| When doing SMP/E APPLY on GA and FIXPACK together by using FORFMID, you can receive an S013 abend. The following message is also displayed: IEC141I 013-64,IFG0196J,HFH7143Y,APPLY,SMPDUMMY,,,NULLFILE. | Install GA and FIXPACK as two separate steps. For example, install GA first and APPLY, and then install FIXPACK and APPLY | 8.5 |
zRule Execution Server
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| When you run zRES inside a CICS 5.1 rule-owning region, the CSS log shows the following message after MINI runs successfully: A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: AD3F, Dumpid: 28/0001. | Ensure that CICS APAR PM80314 is installed on the CICS 5.1 rule-owning region. | 8.5 |
| There is a mismatch between Java versions when you execute rules in CICS 4.2 or zRES on a Java 6.0.1 JVM. You receive the following error message: JVMCFRE003 bad major version; class=xom/Loan, offset=6 while trying to load the class xom.Loan. | Set Rule Designer to use a Java 1.6 compiler to build rule projects: Go to Windows > Preference > Java > Compiler, and change the compliance level of the compiler from 1.7 to 1.6. Clean and rebuild the projects with the Java 1.6 compiler. Right-click your rule project, and click Properties > COBOL Management > COBOL Execution Object Model. Select the XOM to be updated, and click Update and OK. If you use a PL/I XOM, follow the same steps but replace COBOL with PL/I. In the RES console, open the Explorer tab, select the XOM and marshaller resources to be replaced, and click Remove. Follow the prompts to delete the selected items. Redeploy the RuleApp project that contains the regenerated XOM and marshaller to the RES console. See the attached PDF for more information:  Setup_Java6_Compliance.pdf | 8.5 |
| The SMF records display the following information: CPU4 5655-Y17 IBM DECISION MGT V750. The PID is correct, but the version number is not correct. | Ignore the version field in these records. | 8.5 |
| When running under load using zRES on a CICS JVM server, you might see the following errors in dfhjvmerr: ilog.rules.res.session.IlrSessionCreationException: An error occurred while the rule session was created: com.ibm.rules.res.xu.internal.XUException: XU client error. com.ibm.rules.res.xu.spi.internal.LocalizedResourceAllocationException: The default connection manager pool is full. ilog.rules.res.xu.pool.IlrPoolException: The pool is full. at ilog.rules.res.session.IlrJ2SESessionFactory.createStatefulSession(IlrJ2SESessionFactory.java:148) at ilog.rules.res.session.impl.IlrSessionFactoryBase.createStatefulSession(IlrSessionFactoryBase.java:158) at ilog.rules.res.session.rawdata.internal.runtime.COBOLDataRuleService.execute(COBOLDataRuleService.java:135) at ilog.rules.res.session.rawdata.internal.bytestream.ByteArrayRuleService.execute(ByteArrayRuleService.java:51) at com.ibm.rules.hbr.cics.RulesExecutionManager.execute(RulesExecutionManager.java:174) | Set the following property in ++HBRWORKDS++.SHBRPARM(HBRCICSJ) HBRPOOLMAXSIZE=20. If you have changed the value of the Threadlimit setting on the HBRJVM JVM server defined in CICS, ensure that you set the HBRPOOLMAXSIZE value to at least Threadlimit + 5. | 8.5 |
| You see the message "SLF4J: Class path contains multiple SLF4J bindings" in the CICS dfhjvmerr log file. | You can delete the slf4j.jar files from the CLASSPATH_PREFIX in the HBRJVM JVM Profile. | 8.5 |
Decision Validation Services
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| When executing a simulation on a WebSphere Application Server-clustered Rule Execution Server (RES) and Scenario Service Provider (SSP) with a load balancer between the nodes, you get the following error message with no stack trace: Cannot execute the scenario suite ... The operation was aborted by the user. | In Teamserver, define the RES rtargeting on one particular node of the cluster. | 8.5 |
| When using Decision Validation Services, Excel spreadsheets that contain dates prior to 1900 or 1904 produce test errors. | Excel does not support dates prior to 1/1/1900 or 1/1/1904, depending on the Excel settings. See XL: The 1900 Date System vs. the 1904 Date System. To use an older date, such as 6/15/1850, enter 15/06/1850 00:00:00:000 +0200 to use the internal date format of Decision Validation Services. | 8.5 |
| The DocumentBuilder API in the Oracle JDK does not handle some XML 1.1 documents correctly. This issue includes recent Oracle JDK versions 6u43 and 7u17. | Instead of the Oracle JDK, use the IBM JDK or a recent version of Apache Xerces. For the Apache option, use the Xerces classes for XML parsing, not the JDK classes. | 8.5 |
| With a rule project that uses an XML-based Business Object Model and includes an unbounded list of elements as part of the ruleset parameter objects, you might encounter issues when you run Decision Validation Services (DVS) test suites on a WebLogic application server. You might receive an exception such as ilog.rules.dvs.common.output.IlrScenarioDataException with a cause: Argument is not an array. | Use the following solution: Copy the original jrules-res-xu-WL10.rar and jrules-ssp-WL10.ear files to a new location. Modify jrules-res-xu-WL10.rar/META-INF/ra.xml to replace xuName=default with xuName=ssp in the plug-in configuration property. Modify jrules-res-xu-WL10.rar/META-INF/weblogic-ra.xml by replacing eis/XUResourceAdapter with eis/XUResourceAdapter_SSP; jrules_xu.log with jrules_xu_ssp.log; and eis/XUConnectionFactory with eis/XUConnectionFactory_SSP. Package the modified jrules-res-xu-WL10.rar into the jrules-ssp-WL10.ear. Modify jrules-ssp-WL10.ear/META-INF/application.xml by adding the declaration jrules-res-xu-WL10.rar. Add a file, jrules-ssp-WL10.ear/META-INF/weblogic-application.xml, with the following content: <classloader-structure> <module-ref> <module-uri>jrules-ssp-server.war</module-uri> </module-ref> <module-ref> <module-uri>jrules-res-xu-WL10.rar</module-uri> </module-ref> </classloader-structure> </weblogic-application>
| 8.5 |
Decision Engine
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The decision engine literal numbers now use double precision. This fixes some confusion where classic rule engine BAL expressions were trying to guess between float or double precision, depending on the context. It is recommended that you use double precision in all cases, and not use float precision for numbers. | If you use float values from your BOM, they are unlikely to match literal values that are used in BAL rule conditions. The same holds for ruleset parameters and VarSet variables, and literals in decision tables or decision trees. If you cannot change your BOM to use double precision instead of float precision, you should use symbols with your literal values. This can be done by introducing BOM constants of the float type for each literal value in use. Instead of BOM constants, you might want to choose VarSet variables of the float type. | 8.5.1 |
Decision Engine for z/OS
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The decision engine generates an exception when it reads an archive from a previous version of Rule Designer or Decision Center. | Regenerate the archive. | 8.5 |
Business Rules Embedded
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Parameter usage analysis is not supported on decision tables. | No workaround. | 8.5 |
| The xRules sample does not run with the 64-bit JDK that is installed with the product. | Follow these instructions to solve the problem:
| 8.5 |
Decision Center
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The search index in the Business console might not always be in sync with the content of the Decision Center repository. This typically happens after a reinstallation of ODM, a migration, or a server crash. Possible symptoms:
| If you have installed Decision Center with a remote SOLR server, you need to delete the SOLR indexes that correspond to Decision Center. If you rely on the embedded SOLR server (default behavior), you must remove the directory that contains the SOLR index. By default, this directory is computed with the following Java expression: System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir") + "/decisioncenter-solr-dir". Depending on your application server, JVM and OS, this directory is either in a temp or tmp folder inside your application server installation directory, or in a global temporary directory. | All |
| Dynamic XOMs are not automatically taken into account during the merge process. A dynamic XOM is a property of the project information element, which is not versioned. The merge process takes into account only versioned elements such as rules and decision tables. It does not include properties in the project info information elements such as dynamic XOMs. | You must use the synchronization feature in Rule Designer to merge changes in the project information element of the target branch. | All |
| The Business console does not support decision tree rule artifacts. | No workaround. | All |
APAR issues for Decision Center:
| These APARs are addressed in Interim Fix 13 for ODM V8.5.1, which is available on Fix Central. For more information, see Operational Decision Manager V8.5.1: Interim Fix 13 Rev B. | 8.5.1 |
The decision table editor in the Business console does not support the following Rule Designer features:
| Features to be introduced in future releases. | 8.5-8.5.1.1 |
| When you log in with the same user ID on both the Business console and the Enterprise console, you might receive the following error when you log out of one of the consoles: SESN0008E: A user authenticated as anonymous has attempted to access a session owned by user: { }. | This issue is fixed in WebSphere Application Server 8.0.0.3 and later. To enable the fix, you need to add the following custom property to Application servers > server1 > Session management > Custom properties: InvalidateOnUnauthorizedSessionRequestException = true For more information, see Logging out results in a WebSphere Application Server error message. | 8.5 |
| When you have the Enterprise console and the Business console on the same application server, you might be forwarded to the wrong console when you log in to one of the consoles. | The WAS cookie WASRegURL stores a URL to redirect you after a login. After multiple logins, the URL can no longer point to the correct application because the cookie is shared across applications. This issue is fixed in WebSphere Application Server 8.0.0.4. To enable the fix, you need to set the following custom property in Security > Global security > Custom properties: com.ibm.websphere.security.setContextRootForFormLogin=true For more information, see PM58885: WASREQURL cookie might be overwritten if multiple login processes are performed. | 8.5 |
| The Enterprise console encounters problems with Internet Explorers 9 and 10. The decision tree editor does not work, and analysis reports lose their formatting. | The Enterprise console works with Firefox, and it might work with other web browsers, including Chrome and older versions of Internet Explorer. | 8.5 |
| The drop-down completion menu in the Intellirule editor might contain items from several domains in your BOM. | To resolve the problem, see Unexpected values in domain drop-down. | 8.5 |
Rule Solutions for Office
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| In Rule Solutions for Office Excel files, you can change the formatting of decision table cells, for example, colors and fonts. However, the formatting is not synchronized with Decision Center. | If Rule Designer was used to format the decision tables, synchronizing the files with Decision Center returns the cells to the format that was defined in Rule Designer. Only use Rule Designer to format decision table cells. | 8.5, 8.5.1 |
ODM Pattern
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| On a system running PureApplication Software 2.0 or later, attempting to apply a fix from the maintenance operation user interface raises an issue. | You can use the command line interface (CLI) to apply the Operational Decision Manager maintenance fix. See How to apply the Operational Decision Manager maintenance fix from a command line interface. | |
| A defect in IBM Transactional Database Pattern V1.1.0.8 produces configuration errors in the standby database when HADR is enabled. As a result, Decision Server and Decision Center return to the initial setup, which you cannot complete. Creating an SQL throws no connection to the standby database when you enable HADR for the IBM ODM Database component, and a manual takeover is done twice, for example, a takeover from Server A (primary) to Server B (standby), and then a takeover from Server B to Server A. | Run the following commands with user db2inst1 on the standby server: 1. db2 update alternate server for database ODMDB using hostname port 50000 2. db2 deactive db ODMDB 3. db2stop 4. db2start 5. db2 start hadr on db ODMDB as standby | 8.5.1 |
Installation
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The launchpad installer does not support installation from a network device. | Launchpad must be downloaded and executed locally. | 8.5.1 |
| The 8.5.1.1 fix pack can prevent the ODM sample server from running on WebSphere Application Server (WAS). | There are two ways to prevent this problem:
| 8.5.1.1 |
| With Firefox 3.5.9 and AIX 64-bit, the launchpad does not display check boxes, so the user cannot select Rule Express or the license, and cannot complete the installation. | Use Firefox 3.5.13. | 8.5.1 |
| On some Linux systems, the installer might not properly install some shortcuts. | To execute a missing shortcut, launch it from the Operational Decision Manager image installation folder. For example, to start the Decision Center Business console, navigate to ODM_HOME/images cd ODM_HOME/images and execute the starting script GettingStartedCenterBusiness Console.sh. | 8.5.1 |
| V8.5 and V8.5.1 do not include the wxssetup.response file. The documentation also refers to an incorrect variable: WAS_SDK_FEATURE_BIT_32_OR_64! | The correct commands are /WXS_Silent.xml -acceptLicense and ./imcl input /WXS_Silent.xml -acceptLicense for Windows and Linux, respectively. You must edit the WXS_Silent.xml file to set the WXS_PROFILE_ID! found in id='com.ibm.websphere.WXS.was8.v86' version='8.6.0.20121115_1941' profile='!WXS_PROFILE_ID!' .../> to the same value as WAS_PROFILE_ID!. You must also use the correct variable, either com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit or com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit, according to your WAS installation. | 8.5.1 |
| When installing the execution unit (XU) RAR for the Oracle WebLogic Servers, you might get the following warning: <Warning> <WorkManager> <BEA-002919> <Unable to find a Work Manager with name jrules-res-xu-WL12.rar. Dispatch policy jrules-res-xu-WL12.rar will map to the default Work Manager for the application jrules-res-xu-WL12.rar> | You can safely ignore the warning. If the work manager settings are not appropriate, you can create a work manager with the reported name and the appropriate settings. | 8.5-8.5.1.1 |
| Installing Decision Server fails when you extend an Eclipse installation. | You must update Eclipse SDK 3.6 to support Decision Server. For information on updating Eclipse, see Operational Decision Manager V8.5: Eclipse SDK 3.6 update site. Note: English is the only supported language when installing into an existing Eclipse. | 8.5, 8.5.1 |
| If you do not install the "Profile templates for WebSphere Application Server" repository, the server and Event Designer do not work. | Install the missing repository. | 8.5 |
| The license terms and the information center refer inconsistently to the decision engine for z/OS. | "Decision engine for z/OS" is referred to as "Decision engine for zRule Execution Server for z/OS" in the license. | 8.5 |
| The following error message appears when the information management system (IMS) uses the HBRIPREI pre-initialization routine with the WebSphere optimized local adapter (WOLA) to establish a connection to WebSphere Application Server for z/OS: User Abend 4036 (X'FC4') Reason code X'01' (1). | Do one of the following:
| 8.5 |
| Installing Decision Server fails when you extend an Eclipse installation. | You must update Eclipse SDK 3.6 to support Decision Server. For information on updating Eclipse, see Operational Decision Manager V8.5: Eclipse SDK 3.6 update site. | 8.5 |
Samples
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
The ruleset Java launcher that is used in the following samples is dedicated to the classic rule engine build mode. You cannot execute these samples in decision engine mode.
| There are technical limitations for Authoring/Custom business rule language, Business rule management/Custom report, Rule Engine Integration/Multiple projects, and Rule Engine Integration/XML binding. For the others, the sample code can be modified to run with the decision engine. | 8.5.1 |
| The administration console welcome page shows a stack trace. | The stack trace has no effect on the operation of the console or the samples. | 8.5 |
| Sample Server (startserver.sh) fails to launch on Linux or UNIX if WBE is installed. | Do the following actions:
| 8.5 |
Documentation
| Limitation | Comment or workaround | Version(s) |
|---|---|---|
| In the Rule Designer tutorial "Defining a vocabulary," the code sample in Step 3c of "Task 4: Extending the Business Object Model" contains a typo: age-- | Change age-- to age = age -1 or age -=1. | All |
| The Education Assistant link on the welcome page no longer works. | Operational Decision Manager (ODM) Online Education replaces IBM Education Assistant. | |
| The tutorial documentation refers to the classic rule engine, but not to the decision engine. | You can run the tutorials with either engine. | 8.5.1 |
| The documentation wrongly states that the ruleset property monitoring.inout.filters is available for both the classic rule engine and the decision engine. | The property is only available for the classic rule engine. See Predefined ruleset and RuleApp properties. | 8.5.1 |
| The Decision Server Rules documentation incorrectly refers to the attribute IlrXmlHelper.SCHEMA_PARSER. | The documentation should refer to resources.put ( IlrXmlHelper?.XML_SCHEMA_PARSER_OBJECT, parser ). See Configuring the XML parser. | 8.5.1 |
| The installation documentation states that the user can install the OW repository of profile templates by using the silent file OW_Silent.xml, which is in the launchpad directory <InstallDir>/diskX/responsefiles. | This installation is possible only when installing an existing Installation Manager profile in which Decision Server or Decision Center is already installed. See Setting the response file for Profile templates for WebSphere Application Server. | 8.5, 8.5.1 |
| The documentation does not provide the correct location for the preference properties for the Solr search engine. | The preferences.properties for Solr should be in decisioncenter.war under WEB-INF/classes/com/ibm/rules/decisioncenter/web/search/preferences.properties. | 8.5, 8.5.1 |
| The Scenario Service Provider (SSP) archive must be on the same host and port as the Rule Execution Server console. | The documentation does not clearly state where to place the archive. Unless the IlrSSPResolver API is used, the SSP archive and Rule Execution Server console must use the same host and port. See Step 2: Deploying the Decision Validation Services archive. | 8.5 |
| The documentation refers to jrules-res-session-<appserver>.jar under the directories <InstallDir>/executionserver/applicationservers/<appserver>. This .jar cannot be found for the WAS 7 or 8 application server directories. | The correct paths for the rule session .jar files are <InstallDir>/executionserver/lib/jrules-res-session-java.jar and <InstallDir>/executionserver/applicationservers/<appserver>/jrules-res-session-ejb3-<appserver>.jar, and not <InstallDir>/executionserver/applicationservers/<appserver>/jrules-res-session-<appserver>.jar. | 8.5 |
| The documentation for choosing a XU connection factory when deploying the Rule Execution Server console on WAS and other application servers provides an incorrect configuration order. | You must deploy the MBeans descriptors and XU RAR file before you deploy the management EAR file. | 8.5 |
| The Business Rules Embedded tutorial wrongly directs the user to select a root directory, instead of an archive file. See Importing into Rule Designer. | Instead of Select root directory, use Select archive file in step 3. | 8.5 |
| The documentation incorrectly lists "IBM Operational Decision Manager Trial V8.5 64b - PAYG" as an image type available in the SmartCloud Enterprise catalog. See IBM ODM images in IBM SmartCloud Enterprise. | This image type is not available in the IBM SmartCloud Enterprise catalog. | 8.5 |
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Document Information
Modified date:
15 June 2018
UID
swg21691494