Contents
What's New
What's New in Dimensions CM 12.2.1
Enhancements to Windows Explorer Integration
The following enhancements have been made:
- You can now action a request from the Windows Explorer.
- You can select a folder that is not currently under Dimensions control and perform a get operation. This fetches the selected files and also associates that folder as the Dimensions root folder for the project or stream.
- Network folder support is not enabled by default for performance reasons. This is now an option that can be selected. Performance when using network folders has also been enhanced.
- If you do not have a default comment for checking in files, and a comment is required for the item type, you are now prompted and allowed to enter one.
For details, see the User’s Guide.
Desktop Client Request Refactoring View Enhancements
The following enhancements have been made to the Changes tab on the secondary window for a request:
- There is now a button that allows you to expand or collapse entries for multiple revisions of the same item.
- There is a button that enables you to view changes made with the request for projects / streams other than the current default project / stream. An extra column is displayed showing the name of the project or stream.
- You can view the In-Response-To request for an item by selecting it and opening the request in New Window
Work Area Compatibility with Visual Studio and Eclipse Integrations
The Eclipse and Visual Studio integrations can now share work areas with the other Dimensions CM clients provided that they are not relative areas.
Upload Rules specifying the item types , item formats and owning design part for IDE projects will be used by the other Dimensions CM clients when delivering content within the scope of the IDE project’s location in the Dimensions project/stream.
Parallel Builds Jobs Submitted through the Deployment Server Queue
Build jobs can be now be submitted in parallel through the deployment server queue. This improves the throughput of build jobs in a highly stressed system. Build jobs take longer to run than deployment jobs therefore running multiple build jobs at the same time greatly increases the throughput of the deployment server queue.
For details, see the Dimensions CM Build Tools User's Guide.
Build Ordering
The default behavior of build ordering has changed. Build are now more efficient and builds that include steps that fail are able to proceed much further. Build steps can now optionally have major and minor orders. A major order is the number assigned to a group of build steps. Minor orders group the build steps in a major order.
PCMS_EVENT_DELIVER Event
The PCMS_EVENT_DELIVER event now sends a list of operations to be performed before the actual DELIVER occurs.
New OnDelivery ALF Event
A New ALF Event (OnDelivery) has been added to the Project ALF Events. For details, see the ALF Events Reference.
Fixed Issues
This section provides detailed information on fixed issues in Dimensions CM.
Fixes in Dimensions CM 12.2.1
For a complete list of fixes in Dimensions CM 12.2.1 consult the following query in the Serena Support Knowledgebase:
Fixes in Previous Releases of Dimensions CM
For a complete list of fixes in previous releases of Dimensions CM, consult the following query in the Serena Support Knowledgebase:
http://knowledgebase.serena.com/InfoCenter/index?page=content&cat=PVDIMENSIONS&channel=DEFECTS
and select the required category.
Supported Platforms
For details of supported platforms and third party integrations, see the Serena Release Plan for Dimensions CM at:
http://support.serena.com/Roadmap/Product.aspx?sel=PVDIMENSIONS
and select the link for your release.
Agent Platforms with Dimensions Build
Dimensions Build requires an upgrade to the 12.2 or 12.1 Agent for mainframe builds, and in one special case for non-mainframe builds.
A 12.2, 12.2.1, or 12.1 Agent must be installed on the mainframe if build is to be used. Note that the 12.2 or 12.1 Agent can be installed and operated alongside older versions of agents on the mainframe.
Generally a 12.2 Agent is not required for distributed builds, and older versions can be used. If however a distributed build requires rebuild rules to be established by Dimensions, rather than by another tool such as make or ant, then the 12.2 Agent must be installed. This situation would imply that in the tomcat setup file bws\WEB-INF\web.xml, the parameter brd.force.dependencies has the value true. If this is not the case, then the 12.2 agent upgrade is not essential.
Virtual Environment Support
Serena recognizes that virtualization technology provides significant utility and value to our customers. As such, Serena conducts functional testing and certifies our products using virtualization technology in addition to native environments. While Serena expects that our products will function properly when running on supported platforms in a virtualized environment as well as a native environment, there may be functional and performance limitations. Serena will not require that customers recreate and troubleshoot every issue in a non-virtualized environment, however there may be circumstances in which such action may be required. Serena will only make this request when there is reason to believe that the virtualized environment is a contributing factor to the issue. If the issue cannot be reproduced in a supported non-virtualized environment, customers will need to refer their issues to their virtualization vendor.
Installation Notes and Issues
Installing this Release
For information about installing this release please refer to the following documentation:
- Serena Dimensions CM 12.2.1 Installation Guide for Windows
- Serena Dimensions CM 12.2.1 Installation Guide for UNIX
Upgrading Previous Dimensions CM Installations
If you have installed and are using Dimensions CM 2009 R2, 12.1.x, or 12.2, you should run the Dimensions CM 12.2.1 installer to upgrade to this release. The Dimensions CM 12.2.1 installer will upgrade these existing Dimensions CM installations.
Version of Eclipse
Eclipse-based products that you wish to use with Dimensions CM 12.2.1 must be based on Eclipse version 3.5 or higher.
For example, if you are using Rational Rhapsody 7.5.2 integrated with Eclipse the version of Eclipse must be at least 3.5 and should also be supported by this version of Rhapsody.
Versions of Integrations
The following CM integrations have not been updated for Dimensions CM 12.2.1:
- DOORS
- QualityCenter
- Dimensions Connect for Remedy
- Dimensions Connect for SBM
The installer versions provided with the 12.2.1 downloads are the same as the versions that were supplied for 12.1, and these are the versions that should be used for this release.
Dimensions CM integration for Remedy
The synchronization service for the Remedy integration is not currently available for CM12.2.1. The approach that should be taken is to use the integration from CM2009R2. Note - the integration requires that a Dimensions CM2009R2 client be installed. The CM12.2.1 client must not be installed on this machine. The CM2009R2 client and Remedy integration are available on the CM2009R2 download site. If you are already running the CM2009R2 Remedy integration no action is necessary. This issue will be addressed in a patch or future release.
Java API
The use of boolean flags has been made consistent for the DeliverCommandDetails object. They are now Boolean values where a null implies that the underlying command should use the default setting as if the equivalent qualifier was not specified. This will necessitate recompiling java API applications against the Dimensions CM 12.2.1 API jars. Note that existing usage of boolean values will be supported by auto-boxing in Java, however, new usage can take advantage of the extended capability.
Upgrading Dimensions Connect for Business Manager (SBM)
You must install the Dimensions Connect for SBM integration code whenever you upgrade the Dimensions server to a new version. For example, if you upgrade the Dimensions server to a new version such as 12.2.1, you must install the 12.2.1 version of Dimensions Connect for SBM as well. If you do not, the integration may not work as expected with supported versions of SBM. For more on installing and using Dimensions Connect for SBM, please see the Dimensions CM Connect for Serena Business Manager User's Guide.
Roles Required for SQL Server 2008
Before installing Dimensions Server, the following SQL Server roles need to be allocated to the user running the install against SQL Server 2008:
- public
- sysadmin
Due to enhanced security on SQL 2008, this will also have to be done for local administrator accounts as there is no longer a BUILTIN\Administrators Login to automatically give you administrative rights on SQL Server.
Shut Down Tomcat Before a Server Upgrade
Serena Software recommends that the Serena Common Tomcat should be explicitly shut down before commencing any Dimensions software upgrade. Unfortunately, the upgrade installer is not able to automate this, so the person doing the upgrade must do it manually. If this is not done, then the Web archive (.war) files used by the upgraded Dimensions CM Web tools may not expand correctly, causing missing files in these tools.
Stopping Dimensions on Windows
When you stop the Dimensions Service on windows, the dmschedule and dmemail processes may continue to run for a period after the other processes have exited. You should ensure that these processes have actually terminated before performing an upgrade or patch installation.
Closing the Microsoft Management Console
On Windows platforms, it is recommended that you make sure that the Microsoft Management Console (i.e. Services, Computer Management, etc.) is closed before starting an installation or upgrade. (This is the option accessed from the Windows Control Panel, or on certain versions of Windows is part of the Control Panel Administrative Tools option.)
Delay After Starting the Installer
On first starting the installation, there may be a delay of up to a minute before the first dialog appears. It may take some time for the installer to process various files in between the appearance of installer screens during the upgrade process.
Unable to Connect to Database
If during the installation, you receive an error message stating that Dimensions CM is unable to connect to the database, but it does not inform you of the reason, check the following:
- Ensure that you have entered the correct database password, and Oracle DSN if applicable.
- Ensure that the locally or remotely located RDBMS database used by Dimensions CM is active ("up") by establishing that it is running, or that you can connect to it, for example using standard RDBMS database utilities, such as sqlplus.
For more details, see the section Pre-Installation Tasks and Considerations for your platform in the Installation Guide.
Installations with Oracle 11 on AIX
There is an issue with the Oracle OCI libraries specific to Oracle 11 on AIX, which causes problems both with installation and use of Dimensions CM. To work around this issue, the Dimensions CM installer installs an Oracle 10 Instant Client which will allow Dimensions CM to connect to the Oracle 11g database. However, this workaround is currently only valid on installations where Dimensions CM and Oracle 11g are on the same physical machine. For installations where the Oracle database is remote to the Dimensions CM server, please contact Serena Support for guidance.
Windows Oracle Installation on Servers with SQL Server
If you are installing this version with SQL Server on Windows, and Oracle was installed on the system at the time of the original Dimensions installation, you will need to remove a registry key before running the installation. To do so, run regedit and remove the keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\10.x\Install\INSTALL_OracleSid
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\12.x\Install\INSTALL_OracleSid
Note: Make sure that you back up your registry before making any changes using via Registry | Export Registry File.
Oracle DBA User
It is no longer necessary to use the Oracle SYSTEM user. The installer will prompt the user to enter the Oracle DBA user, which no longer has to be the default value of SYSTEM.
In addition, the following commands no longer require DBA privileges: CRDB, DELV, DLDB, EXPM, GRTV, INCR, INSV, LSGV and REKV
Using Oracle RAC
When installing Dimensions on an Oracle RAC, Oracle sequences must be set to Ordered. Failure to do this will cause Dimensions to work incorrectly.
Dimensions Installation with Oracle 10: Service may Fail to Start
When installing 12.2.1 against Oracle 10 as a clean install (not an upgrade) the Dimensions service may fail to start. The workaround is to run:
dmdba upgrade /force
and then restart the listener manually.
Unable to upgrade Dimension server from 2009R2 to 12.2.1 on WinSer2008, SQL2008R2 (DEF202910)
A Dimensions CM server which was modified post installation to enable SSO/CAC may fail to upgrade to CM 12.2.1 with the error:
"Error2343. Specified path is empty.".
In this case it is necessary to first fix the registry and then reinstall.
The registry key to fix is this key for the current Dimensions version:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\12.2.0\INSTALL_DemoProductDir
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\12.1.0\INSTALL_DemoProductDir
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\10.3.1\INSTALL_DemoProductDir
Set the value to the location of the demo product directory, for example:
c:\Program Files\Serena\Dimensions 12.2\CM\Demo
or
c:\Program Files\Serena\Dimensions 10\CM\Demo
After making this fix it is possible to perform a proper upgrade installation as normal.
Installation Fails if There is no C: Drive (Windows)
The Dimensions CM Windows installer will fail before loading the first window in the install wizard if there is no C: drive on the machine. To work around this problem use the subst command to create a virtual C: drive.
Registry Keys not Deleted During Uninstallation (Windows)
Some Dimensions CM installation-specific information is retained in the registry for reuse on subsequent installations. If you have removed all Dimensions CM products from your system, you may also wish to remove this registry information. To do so, backup your Windows registry, run regedit, and remove the registry keys and their contents:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\10.x
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\12.x
UNIX Installer Sometimes Displays Certain Letters in Passwords
The UNIX installer sometimes displays certain letters in passwords. Typically, only one letter is visible. This is a known InstallShield issue. This only affects the on-screen display of passwords during installation. Passwords will not be stored in clear text as a result of the installation.
Solaris Installer Displays License Agreement Incorrectly when Run in Console Mode
When running the Solaris installer in console mode, the license agreement may contain incorrectly displayed characters. This happens if the default locale is not UTF-8.
To overcome this problem, you need to make sure your shell is capable of displaying UTF-8
On the system select Terminal | Set character encoding: Unicode(UTF-8)
or to override the locale use the command:
LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8" ./<dimensionsInstaller>
Eclipse Installer Displays License Agreement Incorrectly on Windows Machine with Korean Localization
When running the Eclipse installer on a Windows machine with Korean Localization in console mode, some characters in the license agreement are not displayed correctly. They are displayed correctly when the installer is not run in console mode. If you want to view the EULA, this is located in the downloaded zip file.
HPUX Install Logs: "product bean DimensionsServerFeature does not exist" (DEF208513)
When performing a clean install on either HPUX pa-risc or ia64 the logfile generated in the installation location (
(Sep 30, 2011 4:31:00 AM), Install, com.installshield.product.wizardbeans.SetProductBeanPropertyAction, wrn, Unable to set product bean property DimensionsServerFeature.active ServiceException: (error code = 315; message = "product bean DimensionsServerFeature does not exist"; severity = 0)
Error Messages when Uninstalling UNIX Client
If you are uninstalling the UNIX 12.2.1 client from a directory beneath the root directory of the installation that you are uninstalling, you may receive some spurious messages, such as:
/opt/serena/dimensions/12.2.1/common/tomcat/6.0/conf/server.xml exists on this system and it has been modified since installation. Do you want to remove this file?
and
rm: cannot determine if this is an ancestor of the current working directory /tmp/istemp495138092221 bash-2.05# id uid=0(root) gid=1(other)
The uninstallation will nevertheless complete successfully and the messages can be ignored. Additionally, the following errors can be safely ignored:
cat: cannot open /tmp/istemp4482139051720/chunk2 , /tmp/istemp4482139051720/chunk1: No such file or directory , /tmp/istemp4482139051720/chunk2: No such file or directory
Upgrading Windows Agent
If you are upgrading a Windows Agent from version 2009 R2, or 12.1.x, you must first uninstall the existing agent before installing the 12.2.1 Windows Agent.
Installation Fails if Path Includes Reserved OS Words
If you customize the installation path, do not include reserved operating system terms such as “nul” in the path. Installation will fail in this case.
Upgrading of an Existing SSO/CAC installation
During an upgrade, you will be prompted for various details for your SOS/CAC configuration as you would for a fresh install. These details will be applied to your 12.2.1 installation. If however, you have made any manual edits to the .xml files in your previous installation, those files will be saved in:
$DM_ROOT%/../common/tomcat/6.0/SSO.pre12.2.1
You will need to merge/reapply any edits you previously made to these files.
Known Issues
This section contains a list of known issues that you should be aware of.
Deprecated Features
Serena announces End of Development for Dimensions Connect for Remedy. Customers who still need to use this product should continue to use Dimensions CM 2009 R2.
With Serena's orchestrated ALM strategy, Serena intends to deliver comparable and better ALM - ITSM integration through an orchestrated SBM solution within 12 months.
Compiler Versions for Sample Trigger Events
There are a number of examples provided for the Dimensions CM Events Callout Interface. These are described in Chapter 5 of the Developer’s Reference.
The compiler versions that are needed to build triggers with the examples are as follows:
AIX: XL C/C++ for AIX, V11.1 (11.1.0.0)
Linux RH64: GCC 3.4.6 (20060404)
Solaris: Sun C/C++ for SunOS-Sparc U5.10 (2009/06/03)
Win32: (Microsoft Visual Studio 2008) Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 15.00.30729.01 for 80x86Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Win64: (Microsoft Visual Studio 2008) Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 15.00.30729.01 for x64Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
No Connection After Configuring CAC Login for Visual Studio (DEF196288)
You may have a problem logging in to Visual Studio on the first occasion after you have configured a Dimensions server using CAC. There may be no connection when logging in to Visual Studio using a Smart Card and entering a valid certificate. In this case do the following:
- Create a new Smart Card connection by clicking Login on the Login window (as there is no OK button to save the newly created connection).
- Open the Login window again, select this connection, and Log in.
- This time you will be able to connect successfully.
Error Opening Help from Visual Studio with .NET 4.0 installed
An exception occurs when the online help is opened from the Visual Studio integration when .NET Framework 4.0 only is installed. This is related to the issue described in:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff602939.aspx
The help does work correctly with .NET Framework 3.5 and all the patches applied.
The problem can be overcome by editing the application config file and adding <supportedRuntime> elements as described in the above article for versions 2.0, 3.5, and 4.0, in that order.
Large Deployments Fail on First Deployment After the Database Upgrade (DEF198537)
If you have upgraded from a pre-12.1 database you may encounter a problem where a large deployment with many areas will fail on the first occasion for a given project.
The workaround is to precede a large first deployment with a much smaller first deployment, for example by updating or refactoring an item already existing in each of the areas,
Alternatively, issue the following command from the dmcli client:
XDATA UPGRADE /PARAM=(CLASS=WORKSET,NAME=<project_name>,UPGRADE_TYPE=PVN)
where project_name should be replaced by the name of the actual project or stream.
Commit Move of Controlled File Moved to New Folder (DEF220771)
If you move a controlled file to an uncontrolled folder in an Eclipse project shared with a Dimensions project and use the commit move operation, a conflict will be shown in the synchronize view. This change can be successfully delivered directly from the synchronization view deliver operation without using commit move. The conflict, if present, can be removed from the synchronization view by using either the mark as merged or override and deliver operations.
Eclipse Marker File Appears in List of Work Area Files (DEF219117)
When an Eclipse work area has been updated by a non-eclipse Dimensions client (which is valid for full work areas which are inter-client compatible) the Eclipse marker file (<project_name>.ecl) might be visible in the list of files to be written to the work area.
When the user in Eclipse does a local refresh (context menu ->Refresh) or refresh status (context menu->Refresh Status ) for the first time, the .ecl file might be visible under some circumstances in the resource tree on the views (except Synchronize view). This is transient behavior and the second time the user refreshes local/status, this ecl file will be hidden and never shown again.
Although this file is visible in the resource tree (on the first refresh) it is nevertheless not presented on the Synchronize view and will be never appear again.
Set dbio_trace Command Does not Work for Username Containing a Slash
If you are logged into Dimensions with a username that contains a slash (for example domainx\myuser) and run the command set dbio_trace on, no logs are generated.
To overcome this problem, create a directory with the same name as the text preceding the slash, (for example domainx) under the folder $DM_ROOT/logs.
Cancel Button not Functioning in Action Request Wizard from Windows Explorer (DEF218310)
When you are actioning a request via the Dimensions CM Windows Explorer integration, you may encounter a problem where the Cancel button does not function in the Action Request wizard.
The solution is to ensure that the setting for Protected Mode in Internet Explorer is the same for both Internet and Local intranet zones. You need to make sure that, on the Security tab of Internet Options, Enable Protected Mode is either selected for both Internet and Local intranet, or deselected for both of these zones.
Action Driven Promotion requires administrator privileges on Windows 2003
Dimensions CM 12.2.1 uses an embedded event process to perform action driven promotion. If you intend to use this functionality on a Windows 2003 system the Dimensions CM users must be members of the local administrators group.