iPlanetTM Process Manager

Version 6.0 Service Pack 2

Release Notes

Updated May 14, 2001

Contents

What's New

System Requirements

Process Manager 6.0 Service Pack 2 runs on the following platforms:

Database Support

Third Party JDBC Drivers Support

Installation and Migration

Upgrading from iPlanet Application Server Version 6.0 Service Pack 2 to Process Manager Version 6.0 Service Pack 2:

Upgrading from a prior release of Process Manager to Process Manager Version 6.0 Service Pack 2:

For more detailed installation instructions, consult the Process Manager Installation Guide.

Issues and Limitations

Resolved Issues

The following issues have been resolved in the iPlanet Process Manager Version 6.0 Service Pack 2 release.

ID Summary
520967 This problem can be seen in clusters that hold process applications containing sub-processes that are heavily automated. In these type of process instances, one of the clusters seems to be hung for a period of about 10-12 minutes, then it completes successfully. This can be verified via the "Search tab" in Express. One of the work items belonging to a sub-process seems to be stuck at a random node in the sub process.
Explanation: An exception in the PM engine causes the work item associated with a random node to be saved in a "stranded" or "stuck" state. Additionally, the Process Manager/Application Server timer thread that is configured to run every two minutes attempts to complete all work items stranded prior to the last 10 minutes. Hence the user may see a delay of a 10-12 minutes before the "stranded" work item completes. All the "stranded" work items will eventually get completed.
522518 The Process Engine is now able to consistently handle the exceptions thrown by the custom fields.
528014 Changes made in the Builder are now displayed in the Process Express after deployment. It is no longer necessary to restart the Application Server.
532974 The data dictionary field maximum length has been increased to 30 characters.
534055 When executing a WorkItem with a process instance that does not have an authenticated user, the IPMApplication.execute(IWorkItem) now throws an exception as expected.

Known Issues

The following issues, listed by category, have been addressed in this release and a workaround is provided.

Known Overall Process Manager Issues

ID Summary
530976 In a cluster setup if the application server root (directory path) of one server is different than the other, then Administrator and Busniness Manager throw exceptions.
Workaround: The Process Manager installation home directory paths should be same. For example, if the home directory of the Primary server is /iPlanet/iPM6, then the Secondary server should have the same home directoty /iPlanet/iPM6.
532984 Problem: The user may not see work items that have been assigned to him, on the worklist, upon logging in.
Replication steps: Instantiate a process and create a few workitem assignments. The Process should use the toGroup() JavaScript API in the assignment scripts. Restart the KJS server and log into the Express interface again as one of the users that have an assignment. Access the worklist without instantiating any process application. The workitems are probably missing. This problem may also manifest itself as follows: An IFinder.findWorkItems(IParticipant, ...) invocation may not return the above created workitems if it was invoked prior to the corresponding Process Applications were instantiated inside the same KJS.
Description: For an existing set of deployed applications on a cluster that is running inside an iAS instance that has just been started (no deployments after start), the above problem has been resolved. For a newly deployed application, running inside a cluster, on an iAS instance involving more than one KJS engine, the user may still see the above problem.
Workaround: Restart the iAS cluster after deploying the application. This problem will have a more complete fix in a future release.
534914 The Process Manager Administrator, Express, and Business Manager components allow any user in the Corporate Directory to login.
Workaround: This will be corrected in a future release.
537862 Deployment Manager does not throw an exception when an application with invalid iasejbref tags is deployed.
How to Detect: Run KJS in console mode and look for the stack trace thrown.
Workaround: Uninstall the application from the Process Manager cluster, correct errors in the ias-ejb-ref tags and redeploy the application.

Known Process Administrator Issues

ID Summary
404161 Changing the corporate directory does not update the iPlanet Application Server registry. As a result, corporate directory remains the same even if it is successfully changed through the Administrator.
Workaround: The iPlanet Application Server must be defined to use the same corporate directory as the Process Manager. Changing the cluster definitions in the Process Manager does not update the Application Server principal database. Limited support is available for changing the corporate directory configuration of the iPlanet Application Server. Full support will be available in a future release.
536380 Process Manager does not support cluster creation with the username/password specified as part of the database URL for Oracle Type 4.
Workaround: When creating a cluster, always enter the username and password in the appropriate fields. Do not enter the username/password as part of the database URL.
537726 Deployment Manager does not throw an exception when an application with invalid iasejbref tags is deployed.
Workaround: This will be corrected in a future release.

Known Process Builder Issues

ID Summary
533343 Using wrong char-sets/MIME-type/Media Type in Mail Notifications.
Workaround: Append the following to the end of the subject field: \nContent-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1.
535685 The behavior of work item role assignments using the JavaScript toGroup() API has changed wef. 6.0. toGroup() returns a qualified role name instead of an array of users.
Workaround: If you want to assign specific users to an assignee list of a WorkItem, return an array of users directly from the assignment script instead of using toGroup(). To incrementally add multiple groups to the group of assignees, use WorkItem.addGroupAssignee(grpName).
537878 In an application using Oracle third party drivers (Type 2 and 4) while attempting to query process information, an SQL exception message is encountered stating that maximum open cursors has been exceeded.
Workaround: The number of cursors one client can open at a time on a connection is limited to 50 (default). You must explicitly close the statement, by using the method stmt.close() to close and freeup the cursors. If you don't explicitly close these cursors, you will eventually run into this error message. Increasing the "OPEN_CURSORS" limit can help you avoid the problem. It is your responsibilty to explicitly close out cursors that you no longer need.

Known API Issues

ID Summary
536558
536003		 When using the Informix Third Party driver with Process Manager, calling a method on IFinder from a Custom Activity results in the following exception:
Exception: SQL exception encountered (PM_SQL_EXCEPTION)
Description: A SQL exception has occurred while performing a database operation in the object "Finder", method "findWorkItems( ProcessInstancePK )". The error reported from the JDBC layer is: java.sql.SQLException: Could not do a physical-order read to fetch next row.
Workaround: IWorkItem.release() method should not be called on read-only work items that are returned by methods on IFinder.

Known Process Manager Sample Issues

ID Summary
533786 The sample applications (datasheet and Office setup) contains pre-existing objects under user groups and roles.
Workaround: Open the DataSheet and Office Setup applications in the Builder. Before deployment, point them towards a valid corp directory. This removes the stale roles from the list.
535197 The getCurrentActivityCN() method in the Office Setup Sample Application has been deprecated.
Workaround: Use getNodeName() instead.

Known Documentation Issues

ID Summary
388403 In the Process Administrator's and Business Manager's Guide it states that the database password can be changed by using the Change Cluster Information tab.
Workaround: The database password CANNOT be changed using the Change Cluster Information tab. This will be corrected in a future release.
392235 Help link for the Export Application window does not work.
Workaround: This will be corrected in a future release.

Reporting Problems

Online and telephone Technical support can be found at: http://iplanet.com/support/online/

For More Information

For all iPlanet Process Manager documentation, including the Installation Guide, and updated release notes, refer to: http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/pae.html

Newsgroup

Process Manager now has its own newsgroup. Please post questions to: snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.server.processmanager

Copyright © 2000 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Some preexisting portions copyright © 2000 Netscape Communications Corp. All rights reserved.