Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2.1 Release Notes

What's New in the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 Release

This section describes the following new features in the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release.

Sun N1 SPS Public Java API

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release includes a public Java API that enables you to integrate your custom applications or third-party products in your Sun N1 SPS environment. The public Java API provides a mechanism for executing all currently available command line interface (CLI) commands with strongly typed arguments and results. This feature provides functional parity with the CLI, along with direct access to the Sun N1 SPS infrastructure for querying and managing the Master Server.

For details about the classes and methods included in the Sun N1 SPS public Java API, see Sun N1 Service Provisioning System JavaDoc.

New Platform and OS Support for the OS Provisioning Plug-In 3.0

The OS Provisioning plug-in has been updated for the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release. The OS Provisioning plug-in 3.0 includes the following changes.

Support for provisioning RSC-based systems – The OS Provisioning plug-in 3.0 provides support for provisioning RSC-based systems such as the SunFire v480 and v880 server families.
Additional OS provisioning support – Support for provisioning the following operating systems is included in the OS Provisioning plug-in 3.0.
- Solaris 8 for SPARC based systems
- SuSE Linux Enterpise Server 9
- RedHat AS Linux 4.0 (32- and 64–bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition (32- and 64–bit), Enterprise Edition (32- and 64–bit), and WebEdition (32–bit)

For more information, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System User’s Guide for OS Provisioning Plug-In 3.1.

RedHat Linux OS Support for Sun N1 SPS Systems

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release includes RedHat Linux 3.0 (64-bit) and 4.0 (32- and 64-bit) support for Sun N1 SPS Master Servers, Remote Agents, Local Distributors, and CLI Clients.

For more information about OS support in the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release, see theSun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Installation Guide.

Automatic Upgrade for Remote Agents and Local Distributors

The new node command set enables you to use the command line interface (CLI) to upgrade your Remote Agents and Local Distributors. After you migrate the Master Server to the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release, you can use the node.au.run command to automatically upgrade specific hosts, host sets, or all the Remote Agents and Local Distributors in your Sun N1 SPS environment. For increased performance, run several separate node.au.run commands in parallel on small host subsets.

For more information, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Improvements to Error and Failure Logging

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 browser interface has been updated to provide a consolidated view of all failures and errors that occur with provisioning plans. The Plans Details Run page now lists all errors and failure on all hosts that are targeted by a plan, rather than requiring you to select the Details link for each individual host to check the provisioning status.

For more information, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 System Administration Guide and Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Plan and Component Developer’s Guide.

Improved Logging for Differential Deployments

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release enables you to configure the logging mechanism on Remote Agents to provide detailed information about the changes that occur during a differential deployment. You can edit the <logger> element in the logger_config.xml file to log the following events.

If a new file is created
If an existing file is deleted
If a file is unchanged

You can then view the log output in the agent/bin/cr_agent.out file in the home directory of the Remote Agent.

For more information about configuring logging for differential deployment, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 System Administration Guide.

Enhancements for Editing Variable Sets

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release includes the following improvements to the browser interface for editing and managing variable sets.

Presentation of variable sets as lists - For improved navigation and ease of editing, component variable sets are now presented as lists, rather than a flat view, as in previous releases. This improvement reduces the need to scroll through extensive pages of variables.
Ability to import or export variable sets to files - You can now quickly update variable sets for your components by importing variable sets from a file that defines component variables and values. You can also make your variable set available to other components by exporting the variable set to a file. The new actions Import From File and Download, accessible from the Variable Settings Edit screen, enable you to quickly import or export a variable set to a file.
Ability to clone variable sets - You can now create a copy of a variable set that varies from the default set, and share this custom copy with other objects in you Sun N1 SPS environment. The Create Copy link on the Component Variable Settings page enables you to clone the current variable set, and then edit the variable values and name of the variable set. You can then reuse this custom copy of the variable set with other objects by selecting the copy from the Variable Set drop down menu.

For more information about these enhancements, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Plan and Component Developer’s Guide and Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Operation and Provisioning Guide.

XML Schema Enhancements

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 XML schema includes the following enhancements.

The <return> step and return attribute to the <install>, <uninstall>, and <control> blocks enable you to stop the execution of specific control blocks and optionally return a value to the calling step.
You can use the <assign> step to assign new values to previously declared local variables. Use this step to with the <install>, <uninstall>, and <control> blocks to assign returned values to local variable values.
The <assignError> and <assignOutput> child elements of the <execJava> and <execNative> steps enable you to assign the value of the standard output or the standard error stream to local variables.
The <assignStatus> child element of the <execNative> step assigns the status code of the native OS command to a local variable.

For more information about these enhancements, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 XML Schema Reference Guide.

Commands for Checking Dependencies Between Installed Components

The new cdb.ic command set enables you to check the relationships between the components that are currently installed. Two new commands are provided to check dependencies between installed components.

cdb.ic.ldo – This command identifies the installed components on which a specified component depends.
cdb.ic.lod – This command identifies the installed components that depend on a specified component.

For more information on these commands, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Permission Requirements for Deleting Run Histories

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release provides additional methods to restrict the ability to delete run histories for each plan or comparison that you run. You can use two different methods to enable users to delete run histories.

Assign the user to the admin group
Enable the Delete Run History folder permission on specific host sets.

For more information, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 System Administration Guide.

SSL Keystore Refreshing Enhancement

In past releases, you needed to restart Master Servers and Local Distributors after adding a Remote Agent with SSL authentication to update the SSL keystores. In this release, the Master Server and Local Distributor check for changes to the keystore each time these systems attempt to connect to another Sun N1 SPS application, eliminating the need for system restarts.

For more information, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Installation Guide.

Component Type Extensibility

You can now extend Sun N1 SPS component types and browse for these extensions in your N1 SPS environment without including the component type in a plug-in.

For more information about component types, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 XML Schema Reference Guide.

Plug-Ins Included in the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 Release

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release includes a series of tested and supported application models to enable you to provision a variety of third party applications. These modelled components and plans are packaged as plug-ins to the Sun N1 SPS software.

The Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release includes the following plug-ins.

BEA WebLogic 6 and WebLogic 7 Plug-In 2.0
BEA WebLogic 8 Plug-In 3.0
Linux Plug-In 2.0
OS Provisioning Plug-In 3.0
Oracle App Server 10g Plug-In 2.0
Oracle 9i and 10g Database Plug-In 3.0
Solaris Plug-In 4.0
Sun Java System App Server 8.1 Plug-In 3.0
Sun Java System Web Server 6.0 Plug-In 3.0
WebSphere 5.1 Plug-In 3.0
Windows 2000 Plug-In 3.0

For more information about how to use plug-ins to provision these applications, see the N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Plug-in Collection.

Package Delivery of Sun N1 SPS Plug-ins

Starting with the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 release, plug-ins are included on the Sun N1 SPS DVD in native OS packages. The package delivery of plug-ins facilitates the patching and version tracking of the plug-ins in your Sun N1 SPS environment.

To install Sun N1 SPS plug-ins on your Master Server, you first must add the package to the system, then import the plug-in Java archive (JAR) file into your Sun N1 SPS environment.

For more information about adding plug-in packages to your Master Server, see the appropriate plug-in documentation in the N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 Plug-in Collection.

WebLogic 8 Plug-In Demo Application

The WebLogic 8 plug-in 3.0 includes a demo application that illustrates how to deploy the BEA WebLogic 8 software and a custom application. The Avitek Medical Records demo application demonstrates how to use the plug-in to perform the following tasks.

Set up a WebLogic database data source
Configure the JMS and JDBC resources for the WebLogic Managed Server
Deploy an enterprise application (EAR) to your Managed Server

For more information about the Avitek Medical Records demo application, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System User’s Guide for BEA WebLogic 8 Plug-In 3.0.

Oracle Database Plug-In 3.0 Enhancements

The Oracle Database plug-in 3.0 includes the following improvements.

The Start, Stop, and Verify component procedures enable you to start, stop, and check the status of your Oracle 9i or 10g database.
The Oracle 10g Database plug-in no longer depends on the Oracle 9i Database plug-in. You can install and use the Oracle 10g Database plug-in without installing the Oracle 9i Database plug-in on the same system.

For more information about the Oracle Database plug-in 3.0, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System User’s Guide for Oracle Database Plug-In 3.0.

WebSphere 5.1 Plug-In 3.0 Enhancements

The WebSphere 5.1 plug-in 3.0 includes the following improvements.

You can now use the deployment manager target to browse for and export existing Data Source and JDBC configurations.
The plug-in enables you to create and delete J2C authentication aliases.
The WebSphere 5.1 plug-in 3.0 includes a demo application the demonstrates how to deploy the WebSphere 5.1 software and a sample online stock brokerage application. the Trade3 demo application to perform the following tasks.
- Capture an enterprise application (EAR)
- Configure the data source and JMS resources for the application
- Deploy the application to an application server.
Note –
The Trade3 application is not included on the Sun N1 SPS 5.2 product media. To use the WebSphere 5.1 plug-in demo application, you must download the Trade3 application from the WebSphere web site.

For more information about the WebSphere 5.1 plug-in, see the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System User’s Guide for WebSphere Plug-In 3.0.