Announcing IBM Support Assistant 5.0 Team Server Beta 3

IBM Support Assistant 5.0 Team Server Beta 3 is now available. It provides several new features that were not available with Beta 1 or Beta 2.

Body: Introduction
Getting Started
System Requirements

Introduction

The new IBM Support Assistant 5.0 Team Server Beta 3 brings you the next generation of IBM's popular problem determination and troubleshooting platform. This complimentary offering provides a rich set of problem determination tools and functions to help you find the root cause of software problems and enhance your productivity. Beta 3 includes several new features based on your feedback. Watch the overview video to learn more about IBM Support Assistant.

New features in Beta 3

• Updated administration console - Install, update, remove and discover tools within the new console interface.
• Secure communication - All transfers are encrypted over https to protect your data
• Authentication/Authorization - Administration functions can be restricted to a subset of users
• Quick Launch icon - Quickly identify and launch tools directly from the Files tab.
• Checksum tool - Confirm file integrity with the new checksum tool.
• Multiple file download capability - Download multiple files simultaneously.
• New UI theme - Provides a fresh new look and feel that is consistent with other IBM applications and sites.

Multiple deployment options

• Embedded server - Install and update IBM Support Assistant and problem determination tools using IBM Installation Manager.
• EAR deployment - Deploy an EAR file into your existing WebSphere® Application Server.
• Compressed zip - Install IBM Support Assistant and problem determination tools using this all in one package. (Note that automatic updates to the application and tools are not available with this package).

Additional features

• Automated data analysis - Automatically scans your case files to find common problem symptoms.
• Overview tab - Shows a summary of key version and configuration information found in each file.
• Symptoms tab - Shows a list of anomalies (i.e., symptoms) discovered during the scan as well as details for each symptom.
• Global Knowledge Base Matches tab - Shows known potential solutions for each symptom.
• Global filter - Lets you filter what's shown in all tabs based on criteria you specify.
• Example case - Includes a tutorial and sample diagnostic files to help you get started.
• Usage data gathering - Gives you the opportunity to share data about how you use IBM Support Assistant to help guide future development.
• Case management - Lets you organize diagnostic files by problem incident or other meaningful categories.
• File management - Helps you quickly navigate through files stored in cases.
• Problem determination tools - Let you troubleshoot problems with server based tools that generate analysis results reports or with web based and desktop interactive tools.
• Intuitive Web UI - Emphasizing simplicity, IBM Support Assistant allows you to easily open a browser to access the application and problem determination tools.
• Server based application - Install IBM Support Assistant once and collaborate with multiple team members. Analysis processing can now be off-loaded from your desktop.
• Single user desktop - Lets you run the IBM Support Assistant application on your desktop if you prefer a single-user mode.
• Reports tab - Provides a quick, concise view into all reports that have been generated from server based problem determination tools.
• Information Center - Expanded documentation for IBM Support Assistant and problem determination tools are now built into the application.

Problem determination tools

The number of problem determination tools continues to grow. The complete list is available here. To learn more about tools, select the Help link in the IBM Support Assistant UI to access the documentation.

Getting Started

IBM Support Assistant 5.0 Team Server Beta 3 offers three deployment options to meet your needs.

1). Install IBM Support Assistant 5.0 Team Server Beta 3 with IBM Installation Manager 1.5.2 or above. This option lets you easily apply updates and add more problem determination tools.

Installing with IBM Installation Manager - Quick steps and system requirements for installing IBM Support Assistant using IBM Installation manager can be found here.

2). Install IBM Support Assistant Team 5.0 Server Beta 3 as an EAR file into an existing WebSphere Application Server. Optional steps include deploying problem determination tools as JEE web applications.

Installing as an EAR - Quick steps and system requirements for installing IBM Support Assistant as an enterprise application can be found here.

3). Install IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0 Beta 3 using the compressed zip file. This method is an alternative in those instances where the IBM Installation Manager based install is not feasible such as for PureSystems deployments or when Internet access is not available.

Installing with the compressed zip file - Quick steps and system requirements for installing IBM Support Assistant as a stand-alone package with the embedded WAS Liberty Runtime Server can be found here.

To access these installation options click the "Download now" button.

There is a ReleaseNotes.txt file at the root directory of the install location. This file contains Quick Start information, known restrictions and system requirements. The release notes are also available here.

System Requirements

Operating System	Software	Hardware
Linux	Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Version 5 Server with Update 6 (x86-64) Package dependencies: X11 is required to generate images by some problem determination tools. *	Disk: Minimum 900MB (Additional space may be required for optional tools, logs, case artifacts and optional EAR file for enterprise deployments.) ** Memory: Minimum 512MB physical memory (1GB or more recommended depending on artifacts analyzed by diagnostic tools.) ***
Windows	Windows 2008 Server with SP2 Windows 2008 Server x64 with SP2 Windows 7 with SP1 (x86-32 and x86-64)	Disk: Minimum 900MB (Additional space may be required for optional tools, logs, case artifacts and optional EAR file for enterprise deployments.) ** Memory: Minimum 512MB physical memory (1GB or more recommended depending on artifacts analyzed by diagnostic tools.) ***

* In a headless configuration an X11 virtual frame buffer can be used. The relevant RedHat RPM is xorg-x11-server-Xvfb (See the ReleaseNotes.txt file in the IBM Support Assistant 5 install directory for more information.)

** Diagnostic files added to IBM Support Assistant 5 will require additional disk space. This may be significant if large files (such as dump files) will be managed by IBM Support Assistant and should be considered during initial planning.

*** Analysis of large files (such as dump files) can require a significant amount of memory depending on the size of the file.

---

Questions or suggestions? Log into our developerWorks forum and let us know!

IBM Certified Java Compatible