Release notes: WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B release 3.8.2

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• New features and enhancements description
• Compatibility with earlier releases
• System requirements and product compatibility
• Installation
• Known problems and limitations
• Deprecated and removed features
• Contacting IBM Support

New features and enhancements description

WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B release 3.8.2 offers the following new features and enhancements and resolved APARs.

For more information, see the referenced topics in the WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B v3.8.2 information center available from the DataPower documentation portal.

Application Optimization

• Secure Cloud Connector

The Secure Cloud Connector (SCC) can provide secure workload solutions and leverage the power of cloud computing. The SCC provides secure tunnels between a DataPower appliance in an enterprise data center and an endpoint in the cloud. The SCC can verify the identity of a remote cloud instance and provide end-to-end encryption for a wide variety of network traffic between the cloud instance and an enterprise data center. For more information, see Secure Cloud Connector configuration. Requires the Option for Application Optimization feature.

• Enhanced integration with IBM z/OS Communications Server Sysplex Distributor

Supports an IPv6 control connection from the Sysplex Distributor to send and receive information about IPv6 Distributed DVIPAs and ports. For more information, see the section on creating a Sysplex Distributor Target Control Service in the Administrators Guide. Requires the Option for Application Optimization feature.

Enhanced interoperability

• WebSphere Transformation Extender enhancements

Supports NULL value in non-XML character text items and in binary text items. For more information, see Integrating with WebSphere Transformation Extender, limitations and restrictions.

• Extension elements and functions enhancements

Enhancements to enable additional extension functions for greater compatibility with XSLT generated by WebSphere Integration Developer v7.0.
Supports the use of 60 conversion functions in XSLT. For more information, see the conversion functions section in the Extension Elements and Functions Catalog.
Supports additional math and strings EXSLT functions. For more information, see the math module and the strings module functions under EXSLT extensions in the Extension Elements and Functions Catalog.
Supports the format-date() function. For more information, see the dates and times module under EXSLT extensions in the Extension Elements and Functions Catalog.

• TIBCO EMS Front Side Handler

Subscribers to a TIBCO EMS front side handler can be made durable. These subscribers can be configured to unsubscribe when the handler is deleted or never. Incoming messages can be batched before processing by the handler. For more information see "Configuring a TIBCO EMS Handler" in the Developers Guide.

• Support complex object types using Oracle

Supports complex data types for Oracle data sources. TABLE, VARRAY and OBJECT complex data types are supported. A new integration guide (Oracle database connectivity and complex SQL data types) has been added to the documentation to explain the usage scenarios of this functionality.
The Oracle Database Connectivity Option for complex SQL data types is available for the Integration Blade XI50B platform with the SQL-ODBC licensed feature enabled. The feature is contained within firmware image-sets that have ‘dco’ in the name. Existing ‘odbc’ image-sets continue to be available. The new image set names are:

• xi3820.dco.scrypt2
• xi3820.dco.tam6.scrypt2
• xi3820.dco.tam6.tibco.scrypt2
• xi3820.dco.tam61.scrypt2
• xi3820.dco.tam61.tibco.scrypt2
• xi3820.dco.tibco.scrypt2

Enhanced security features

• Tivoli Security Policy Manager

Supports WS-Security mechanisms required by Tivoli Security Policy Manager version 7.1
For more information, see Integrating with Tivoli Security Policy Manager.

Notes:
• WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B version 3.8.2.5 is required to support Tivoli Security Policy Manager version 7.1.0.2.
• Tivoli Security Policy Manager version 7.1.0 with fix pack 7.1.0.1 is not supported.
• Branching trust chains

Supports a valcred that contains multiple certificates with the same subject name and validates all resulting paths. For more information, see technote: Validate branched certification path support .

• RADIUS

Improved handling of authentication failure when multiple RADIUS servers are configured. For more information, see technote: Multiple RADIUS servers might cause locked accounts.

• Retrieving large CRLs over HTTP or HTTPS

Supports retrieving CRLs larger than 10 MB over HTTP or HTTPS. For more information, see technote Retrieving large CRL over HTTP or HTTPS.

Enhanced connectivity

• SFTP

Supports the mkdir, rename, rmdir, and stat SFTP commands in transparent mode. For more information, see the SFTP Server Front Side Handler configuration mode section of the Command Reference Guide.


Enhanced administration

• Advanced packet capture

You can capture network traffic on specified interfaces including the loopback interface and all interfaces simultaneously. The capture can be limited in the amount of data included in each capture or filtered to capture only specific packets. For more information see the Global configuration mode in the Command Reference guide.

• Services memory status provider

A status provider allows you to monitor the memory usage of individual running services. For more information see the online help for Status > Main > Services memory usage.

• Enhanced Web Service Proxy interface

Improved WebGUI performance in the Web Service Proxy configuration when populated with a large number of WSDL files.


Resolved APARs

For a list of the APARs that WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B release 3.8.2 has resolved, see resolved APARs.

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Compatibility with earlier releases

Compatibility issues with earlier firmware releases are documented as individual technotes in the Support knowledge base. The following link launches a customized query of the live Support knowledge base. The compatibility issues that are known to exist in the current release of the WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B are provided.

View known compatibility issues for WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B.

For additional information about problems in current releases, refer to the DataPower support site.

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System requirements and product compatibility

To determine whether your appliance (machine type) supports this firmware release, refer to technote: Product model and machine type combinations supported by firmware 3.8.2.

For hardware specifications, see the installation documentation for your appliance in the DataPower SOA Appliances information center available from the DataPower documentation portal.

Product compatibility

Release 3.8.2 is compatible with the following products:

Application Optimization
Support is provided for the following IBM WebSphere Application Server, Network Deployment (ND) editions for use with Application Optimization: Application Intelligence:

• ND 6.1.0.27 plus APAR PM11618
• ND 6.1.0.33 or later
• ND 7.0.0.7 plus APAR PM11618
• ND 7.0.0.13 or later
  For more information, see APAR PM11618.

Support is provided for the following IBM WebSphere Application Server, Virtual Enterprise (VE) editions for use with Application Optimization: Application Intelligence:

• VE 6.1.1.0 plus APAR PM11623, APAR PM07024, 6.1.1.0-WS-WXD-IFPK94777_XD.pak, and 6.1.1.0-WS-WXDOP-IFPM13014.pak
• VE 6.1.1.2 or greater
  For more information, see APAR PM11623 and PM07024.

Secure Cloud Connector supports the following protocol(s):

• SSH-2 protocol defined by IETF RFC 4251

z/OS Communications Server Network Security Services server
z/OS Communications Server, V1R11

• Support for the sysplex distributor feature requires z/OS Communications Server V1R11 plus APAR PM14365 applied using SMP/E. If a PTF is not available, request a ++APAR from IBM z/OS Communications Server Level 2 support.

Notes

• The Application Optimization feature is an add-on feature and is supported on only Type 9235 appliances.
• For the AO option, ND 6.0 will continue to work with the ODCInfo_ND60.war application. However, this capability is limited to the Intelligent Load Distribution functions that were shipped in DataPower Firmware release 3.8.0. The extended Application Intelligence functions of Application Routing, Group Rollout, and Atomic Rollout require ND 6.1 or ND7.0.

Application and Web servers
Any server that conforms to the standards that the DataPower appliance supports.
Database server
Support provided for the following database servers:

• DB2: all supported versions up to 9.5
• Microsoft SQL Server: all supported versions up to 2008
• Oracle: all supported versions up to 11g R1 (11.1)
• Sybase: all supported versions up to 15

Information Management System
IBM Information Management System (IMS) versions 9 and 10
LDAP servers
Any LDAP server that is compliant with LDAP version 2 or with LDAP version 3.
Microsoft .NET Windows Communication Foundation
Microsoft .NET Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) integration has the following requirements:

• WCF 3.5 or newer
• Windows 2003 Server or newer as the KDC if using the Kerberos token feature.

iSCSI targets

• Intel iSCSI Software Target version 2.0.17
• SourceForge iSCSI Enterprise Target versions 0.4.15 and 1.4.20.1

Note: The Intel iSCSI Software Target version 2.1.0 is not a supported iSCSI target.

SFTP clients
The following SFTP clients are supported:

• SSH Secure Shell OpenVMS (V5.5) 3.2.0 - SFTP protocol V3 (Tested on OpenVMS Industry Standard 64 Operating System, Version V8.3 )
• CuteFTP Professional 8.3
• OpenSSH 3.9p1 (Red Hat Linux® ES V4.8)
• OpenSSH 4.3p2 (Red Hat Linux® ES V5.5)
• OpenSSH 3.8.1p1 (Windows XP)
• PuTTY PSFTP, version 0.60
• SmartFTP, version 4.0.
• Sun Microsystems, Sun_SSH_1.1.1

SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) Support
The supported protocols are as follows:

• SSH-2 protocol defined by IETF RFC 4251
• SFTP version 3 defined by the draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-02.txt Internet-Draft

TIBCO Enterprise Message Service
TIBCO Enterprise Message Service (EMS), versions 4.3, 4.4, and 5.0
Tivoli Access Manager
IBM Tivoli Access Manager, versions 6.0 and 6.1
Tivoli Federated Identity Manager
IBM Tivoli Federated Identity Manager, versions 6.0.1, 6.1 and 6.2
Tivoli Security Policy Manager
IBM Tivoli Security Policy Manager, version 7.0 Fixpack 2 and version 7.1.0.2
Notes:

• WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B version 3.8.2.5 is required to support Tivoli Security Policy Manager version 7.1.0.2.
• Tivoli Security Policy Manager version 7.1.0 with fix pack 7.1.0.1 is not supported.

Web browsers
Microsoft Internet Explorer, versions 6 and 7 and 8, and Firefox, version 3.5
WebSphere Java Message Service
IBM WebSphere Java Message Service (JMS), Version 7.0
WebSphere MQ
IBM WebSphere MQ, versions 6.0 and 7.0, as a remote server.
WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR)
Support is provided for the following IBM WebSphere Service Registry and Repository releases (minimum versions):

• WSRR 7.5 with DataPower firmware fix pack 3.8.2.12 or later
• WSRR 7.0.0.2 (which include APAR IZ71003)
• WSRR 6.3.0.2 plus APAR IZ71003
• WSRR 6.2.0.3 plus APAR IZ71003
• WSRR 6.1.0.5 (limited support for WSRR Subscriptions features)
• WSRR 6.0.2.2 (limited support for WSRR Subscriptions features)

Contact IBM WSRR Support for access to APAR IZ71003 and the latest FixPacks.

• Support is provided for WS-Policy Attachment files authored with WSRR Policy Editor 6.2.0.3 plus APAR IZ71003 or later.
• Supports implementing Web Service Proxy configurations with WSDL files returned from a WSRR Saved Search when the WSRR server is WSRR 6.2.0.3 plus APAR IZ71003 or later.

WebSphere Transformation Extender

• To create maps or recompile existing maps to run in the recommended DPA (DataPower Appliance) mode with extended support for component rules, use WebSphere Transformation Extender Design Studio version 8.3.0.2 or later. With version 8.3.0.2 and later, support for component rules is extended beyond support for constant and ODO-style (OCCURS DEPENDING ON) component rules. Support for component rules has the same restrictions as map rules. With version 8.3.0.3, support for NULL value is extended to non-XML character text beyond support in binary text.
• To create maps or recompile existing maps to run in the recommended DPA mode with the more limited support for constant and ODO-style component rules, use one of the following versions of WebSphere Transformation Extender Design Studio:
• Version 8.3.0.2 or later
• Version 8.2.0.4 with IF3

XML Tools
Any XML tool that generates XSLT 1.0 for XML-to-XML. For non-XML, WebSphere Transformation Extender (WTX) version 8.1.0.3 and version 8.2.0.4.

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Installation

For WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B installation, see the IBM BladeCenter Information Center.

For installation instructions, see the upgrade and rollback documentation in the DataPower SOA Appliances information center available from the DataPower documentation portal.

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Known problems and limitations

Known problems and limitations are documented as individual technotes in the Support knowledge base. As problems are discovered and resolved, the IBM Support team updates the knowledge base. By searching the knowledge base, you can quickly find workarounds or solutions to problems.
The following link launches a customized query of the live Support knowledge base. The limitations and problems that are known to exist in the current release of the WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B are provided with a workaround, if available.

View known problems and limitation for WebSphere DataPower Integration Blade XI50B.

For additional information about problems in current releases, refer to the DataPower support site.

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Deprecated and removed features

This section summarizes deprecated and removed features in the product offerings comprising WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances release 3.8.2. The following information summarizes what is deprecated. Where possible, a recommended migration action is provided.

View deprecated features for WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances

The following information summarizes what is removed. Where possible, a recommended migration action is provided.

View removed features for WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances

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Contacting IBM Support

To report a problem to IBM Support, refer to Contacting IBM WebSphere DataPower Appliances Support.

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