Contents
About this Release
Welcome to Serena Release Manager 5.0.
Refer to the New Features tab for a complete list of new features in this release.
Please note the following important information:
- Before you install Release Manager, you must install and configure SBM 10.1.3 or later as described in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide.
- Release Manager 5.0 is available in English only.
New Installations of Serena Release Manager
If this is a new installation, download Serena Business Manager 10.1.3 or later from http://www.serena.com/support and then follow the instructions in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide to install and configure Serena Business Manager. After you have verified that Serena Business Manager is installed successfully, download Serena Release Manager 5.0 from http://www.serena.com/support and follow the installation instructions in the Serena Release Manager Getting Started Guide.
About Upgrades to Version 5.0
This section describes upgrade and migration paths that are supported for this release.
Note the following important information:
- You must upgrade to SBM 10.1.3 to use Release Manager 5.0. Refer to the SBM readme for details on upgrading SBM.
- If you currently use Release Manager 4.5, please contact your account representative or Serena Support for assistance with migrating to Release Manager 5.0.
- You cannot use the Release Manager 5.0 installer to upgrade an existing Release Automation installation. You must use the Release Automation installer instead. If you have an existing installation of Release Automation version 4.5.1 or earlier that you want to use with Release Manager, see the Release Automation Readme for information on upgrading.
- If you are upgrading the Release Vault or Release Automation components of Release Manager 4.5 or earlier, refer to the Dimensions CM, ChangeMan ZMF, and Release Automation readmes, respectively.
Installer Components
The installer delivers three components:
- Solution Files – You import the
Serena Release Manager
5.0 solution file in
Application
Repository.
The
Release Manager
solution file contains the following process apps:
- RLM - Application Release
- RLM - Approvals
- RLM - Environment
- RLM - Release Train
- RLM - Runbook
- RLM - Turnover
- RLM - Manual Deployment Task
- RLM - Sample Business Request
- RLM - Sample Development Task
- Framework Files – The framework files augment your underlying SBM installation and enable certain features in the Release Manager process apps. The framework files include new templates, images, and code.
- Release Automation Files – The Release Automation piece performs the deployment activities of Release Manager. You configure Release Automation settings in SBM Configurator after you run the installer. The Release Automation files are delivered by the installer on the server that hosts SBM Common Services.
Supported Configurations
Detailed information about supported platforms and software configuration is available in the Supported Platform Matrix. As part of the pre-installation process, you are required to download certified JDBC drivers for your DBMS. The following JDBC drivers are certified for Release Manager with a native Release Automation instance:- ojdbc6_g.jar
- sqljdbc4.jar
- Web Browsers
Internet Explorer 8 is not supported for Serena Work Center. Internet Explorer 8 is supported for all other SBM Web interfaces.
Third-party Tools
For more information regarding third-party software copyrights and license information, refer to the files under "My Downloads" or "Product News" at http://www.serena.com/support.
New Features
Serena Release Manager brings control, collaboration, and automation to your release management activities by providing oversight and accountability to the various release teams in your organization. Release Manager bridges the communication and process gaps between your project management, development, and release engineering teams, while providing visibility and consistency to your entire release process.
Use Release Manager to create a repeatable process for all of your organization's releases, from mainframe and distributed applications to cloud and mobile apps.
Release Manager is powered by Serena Business Manager and includes Release Automation.
Highlights include:
New User Interface
Release Manager uses Serena Work Center, a a modern, intuitive interface that streamlines how users interact with release trains, application releases, and other release artifacts.
Release Manager can be opened using this URL: http://serverName/workcenter.
Timeline Views
Interactive, color-coded timeline views for release trains and application releases provide visibility into stage gate, milestone, and turnover status across all your release activities.
Dashboards and Reports
Built-in dashboards provide visibility into release train status by type, release train throughput, and pending exit criteria for train stage gates.
Additional robust reporting capabilities provide various views into your release data. For example, Release Manager includes graphical views of release trains by stages, release bottlenecks, and overdue milestones.
You can also create and tailor reports to meet your organization's needs, then add them to dashboards for yourself or your entire release team.
Environments
Environment calendars allow for conflict-free scheduling of turnovers and maintenance windows.
Turnovers
Use turnovers to bring governance and repeatability to your release process. Each turnover can include a sequenced set of manual and automated deployment tasks. Use runbooks to copy these deployment task sets to similar turnovers.
Deployment Hub
Release Automation provides the deployment hub, enabling Release Manager to deploy to enterprise environments through Release Automation processes and Serena ChangeMan ZMF, Serena Dimensions CM, and CA Nolio plug-ins.
Streamlined Installation and Configuration
Serena Release Manager 5.0 is now included in a solution installer that includes Serena Service Manager 5.0.
Most installation and configuration tasks are now performed using intuitive interfaces, such as the SBM Configurator and SBM Application Repository.
Release Automation is also included with the Release Manager. You can choose to run this native version or use a standalone version of Release Automation.
Integrations with SBM Process Apps
Two sample process apps are provided to serve as models for integrating your own process apps with Release Manager. The Sample Business Requests and Sample Development Tasks process apps are designed to associate these types of work items to application releases and turnovers for those releases.
Known Issues
The following issues are known in this release. For a complete list of known issues and potential workarounds, refer to the Knowledge Base.
- When users associate a release train and application release to a business request or development task, the association is not saved unless it is made from the application release or release train.
- A check box label is missing on the Update form for applications (auxiliary items). The label for the check box located below the Description field should state: "Do not use Release Automation for this application."
- Tasks created when a turnover is deployed are not deleted if the turnover is deleted.
- A login page appears when users click the Execute icon on the Task Collection grid. To work around this problem, close the dialog box and open it again by clicking the icon. This will allow users to access the process page.
- Users may need to close and reopen the Task Collection grid to see Release Automation processes for automation tasks that have completed as part of a turnover.
- Users must refresh their browser page after they change their date/time format in their user profile to see this change reflected in the Timeline views for release trains and application releases.
- Turnovers cannot be moved from the Deploying state if all deployment tasks are removed from the turnover after an initial failure. To work around this problem, fail the deployment, add deployment tasks to the turnover, and then execute the Retry transition.
- Users must be given the "Run User-Level reports" privilege on the Base Project level before they can associate items created in the Sample Business Requests or Sample Development Tasks process apps with application releases. Without this privilege, the Sample Business Requests and Sample Development Tasks items are not displayed in the Edit Business Requests or Edit Development Tasks forms.