What's New
What's New in Dimensions Express 2009 R1.01
The following features are new in Dimensions Express 2009 R1.01
Deliver Single Files at a time
You can now deliver a single file at a time to a stream using the desktop client or the Visual Studio integration.
Automatic Merging in Eclipse
You can now automatically merge changes to local files when synchronizing your work area using the Eclipse integration to Dimensions.
What's New in Dimensions Express 2009 R1
New Parallel Development Features
Dimensions support for Parallel Development has been updated in this release to follow modern best practices in an intuitive way. New features and functions have been provided that offer an alternative environment to that provided in previous releases by Dimensions projects (which are still retained).
Streams
There is a new type of container for items, called a stream. Streams have been designed to be better suited to collaborative development using a "copy, modify, merge" process. Projects are still retained, and function as in previous releases, but are more appropriate to a "lock, modify, unlock" development process. You can configure your process model to allow users to work with: only streams, only projects, or both projects and streams.
Streams, and the features that are intended for working with them, are designed for carrying out small amounts of change and integrating them with the main body of code before starting on a new set of changes. They facilitate an iterative development process where the developers resolve any conflicts and build and test the application in their work areas before committing those changes to the repository.
Streams enforce a single line of descent. They do not contain parallel branches of the same items, and therefore it is easy to build working code from the tip revisions at any point in time. The following key features have been introduced:
- Update command: This updates your work area with the changes between the stream and the work area. If there are conflicts, you can resolve them during the Update process using the features provided by the Synchronize wizard or DM command line client
- Deliver command: This updates the stream in the repository with changes from the work area provided that there are no conflicts. If conflicts are present, then you are given the option to perform an Update to resolve those conflicts.
- Atomic Commit: The Deliver process is performed atomically, so that if any failure occurs, the whole delivery will be rolled back.
Content in a work area can originate from different streams and this information is recorded in the work area. The user can choose to deliver content originating from one or more streams into a target stream. There is also the concept of the parent stream from which a stream is created and into which it will be subsequently merged.
There is an option that you can set in the Administration Console that restricts the users of the database to either only view streams or projects as an alternative to working with both. For existing customers upgrading from a previous release of Dimensions, Streams are hidden and will need to be enabled via the Administration Console if required. There is also a new wizard that enables you to quickly create a new stream or project.
Streams are supported for both CM and Express in the desktop client, Windows Explorer plug-in, Eclipse and Visual Studio integrations and the Command-Line client. Streams have also been included into the sample process models.
The following features apply to Projects only and are not applicable to Streams
- Check out and check in
- Merge Project or Item
- Resolve Merge Conflicts
- Auto-resolve Merge Conflicts
- Use of the Project Merge tool (Project Compare is applicable to Streams)
For an overview, see the chapter "Using Streams" in the User's Guide.
Limitations on the use of streams
There are the following limitations in the use of streams:
- You cannot currently use streams when working with the web client.
- You cannot currently use Streams when working with an SCC integration
- Streams cannot be used with MVS data areas, work areas, or deployment areas.
Automatic File Conflict Resolution
Dimensions Express now has the ability to automatically resolve non-conflicting file content in the Update processes for streams.
Developer Command-Line Client
There is a new command-line client that is intended for working with streams. The syntax and commands available have been aimed at users familiar with the Subversion tool to provide a more user-friendly alternative to the existing dmcli client. A set of commands are provided to enable you to perform updates between your work area and the streams in the repository and for a number of other related tasks.
Some of the key functions you can perform are:
- Create and delete streams
- Update your work area from a stream and deliver changes in your work area to a stream.
- Display information from the repository, such as the contents of a stream, or a list of the streams or baselines in the database.
- Display differences between your work area and a stream, and update and resolve code conflicts.
- Add annotations (or comments) to files and review their history.
For details, see the Command-Line Reference.
IDE Integrations
Eclipse
The following features have been added:
- Integration with SBM (see IDM Integration below)
- Support for streams (see Streams above)
- A "Working List" feature, that allows you to maintain a list of requests that you are currently working with.
Visual Studio
There is a new integration for Visual Studio:
- Full Rich IDE functionality for Developers
- Integration with SBM (see IDM Integration below)
- Support for streams (see Streams above)
- A "Working List" feature, that allows you to maintain a list of requests that you are currently working with.
- Improved Usability and performance
- A new method of binding to improve parallel development support. A migration is needed for the new binding syntax.
All Projects in a Solution must now be in the same Dimensions project or stream.
Note that this new integration is only available for VS .Net 2005 and 2008. Only the older SCC-based integration is available for users of Visual Studio prior to 2005.
Also note that for existing customers to use this new integration they must migrate their projects using the VS Projects Migration Utility. This is included in the client installation. For details of how to use this tool, consult the Serena Dimensions 2009 R1 Visual Studio Projects Migration Guide.
Windows Explorer Integration
The Windows Explorer plug-in has been enhanced to support working with streams.
You can create a stream or project using the Create Project/Stream wizard when setting a folder as a work area.
There is a new automatic login facility that stores your login credentials so that you only need to log in to Dimensions once.
Terminology Changes
As a result of new functionality and usability changes, the following terms have been changed:
- Upload becomes Deliver
- Download becomes Update
- Update Item becomes Revise Item.
- Working Location becomes Work Area
- Working Request becomes Default Request
- Working Branch becomes Default Branch
- Cross-Project Inbox becomes Global Inbox
- Cross-Project Catalog becomes Global Catalog
- Project Baseline becomes Tip Baseline
IDM Integration
There is an important new integration to Dimensions that enables requests or issues from a third-party IDM (Issue Defect Management) tool to be used to track Dimensions items. This is a direct integration based on web services, and no synchronizations need to be performed. You can use these IDM requests to relate to changes of items as an alternative to using internal Dimensions Express requests.
For this release the integration supports issues from SBM (Serena Business Mashups). Issues from SBM can be used as an alternative to Dimensions requests. This feature is supported in the desktop client, the Windows Explorer integration, the Eclipse and Visual Studio integrations and the command-line client. In the Eclipse and Visual Studio environments you can also directly access the SBM browser to view and update issues and run reports.
The result of this is that you can configure the following options in your process model at the base database level:
- Use SBM issues to track changes
- Use Dimensions requests to track changes
- Do not use any Request Management. This means that all request-related menu items and tabs will be hidden from the user in the GUI clients.
For details, see the Process Modeling User's Guide.
Visual Enhancements
Web Client
The following enhancements have been made to the look and feel of the web client:
- Toolbar icons have been completely revised to improve recognition.
- Changes have also been made to the icons in the navigation area.
- The overall presentation, color and layout have been improved.
These changes will be extended to other Dimensions products in future releases.
Desktop Client
There have been improvements in the following areas:
- The overall appearance of the main window and Login page have been enhanced
- The pedigree display has new icons and toolbar buttons.
- The small toolbar in the grid displays has been redesigned.
Synchronize Wizard
- This tool has been enhanced to support working with streams and the new IDM integration
- The first page has been redesigned so that all the options are now on one page.
- You have the option of not displaying the details pages.
- There is new set of toolbar buttons on the file and folder differences page.
- The options displayed at the bottom of the file and folder differences page are now organized in a tabbed arrangement for better usability.
- There are new options to automatically close the wizard on successful completion and to skip the summary page.
Other Visual Enhancements
- The file merge tool has a new set of toolbar buttons and icons that are consistent with those in the Synchronize wizard.
- There is now a new icon display in the project merge tool to inform you when processing is taking place.
- The Administration Console has also had some visual enhancements reflecting those in the web client.
- The Migration Console now has a new look and feel.
RM-CM Integration
The RM-CM integration has been enhanced to:
- Associate multiple Dimensions RM projects to a Dimensions Express product.
- Associate a Dimensions RM project to multiple Dimensions Express products.
- Provide enhanced traceability reports in RM which include CM Requests.
For more details, see the Dimensions Express User's Guide, and the Dimensions Express-Dimensions RM ALM Integration Guide.
Migrations
Subversion Migration
You can now use the extended migration tools in Dimensions Express to migrate Subversion directories and objects into Dimensions. The Migration Console is a graphical front end that enables you to move data from the supported Subversion sources into Dimensions products, allowing you to define how the data is mapped into Dimensions.
The Migration Console includes the following features:
- You can migrate all or part of a Subversion repository into a Dimensions Express project hierarchy. Note: The ability to migrate Subversion repositories directly to streams will be available in an imminent patch release. You can, however, migrate content to projects and create streams from a baseline taken from those projects. For details of how to do this, see the User's guide.
- Migration preserves your Subversion repository structure.
- You can migrate your Subversion trunk, branches, and tags to separate projects.
- You can also optionally migrate tags to Dimensions baselines or attributes.
Migration automatically creates process model data in Dimensions, including products, users, groups, privileges, item types, design parts, projects, baselines, and relationships. For details, see the Subversion Migration Guide.
VM Migration
There is an improved VM Migration console:
- You can migrate specifying date or number of revisions
- You can map promotion groups to stages
- You can select labels in the migration process
- You can map VM groups to Dimensions roles
- The performance has been improved.
SSO
Dimensions now supports Serena Single Sign On (SSO), which can optionally be enabled for managing user authentication at the time of login. Once a user creates a Dimensions session using the SSO login process, the session will have access to all SSO-enabled tools (such as Serena Business Mashups) that are called from within the session without being prompted for authentication.
This means, for example, that if you were writing a Mashup that uses both Dimensions Express and Serena Business Mashups, they will be able to call each-other's web services without specifying user names and passwords. This capability is also used in the IDM integration with Dimensions, so that users are able to directly access Serena IDM from within a Dimensions client UI.
Web Services and ALF Events
The following Web Services have been added:
- Unrelate Items from Parts
- Is the Dimensions system CM or Express?
The following ALF Events have been added:
- Build Project Started
- Build Project Completed
- Build Baseline Started
- Build Baseline Completed
- Create Request
- Update Request
Web Services and ALF Events can use either user id and password or SSO.
For details, see the Web Services API Developer's Guide.
Enhancements to Replicator
New Default Replicator Behavior
By default, when items are replicated, as part of baseline or project replication, all relationships between the item and change requests, design parts and other items are also replicated. In addition the related items and any required placeholder items are also replicated as objects. This does not apply to the related design parts or change requests. The relationships of any dumped placeholder items are not dumped.
For details, see the Administrator's Guide.
Dimensions Build and Mainframe Enhancements
The following features and enhancements have been added to Dimensions Build:
- Build item and build request now populate work areas with the selected source item revision. For deployment areas, a warning is issued for any items, or related items, that are not at the selected build stage. These enhancements ensure the proper item revision exists in the build area before the build is executed.
- Dimensions Build now supports streams. See "Streams" above.
- The Dimensions templating language has been enhanced to pass variables between steps. Additional templater keywords such as substring and pos have been added for better string processing. Inline REXX is also now supported.
- SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is now supported on mainframe build nodes
- The following parameters have been added to web.xml:
- search.path.match.areas.logical.nodes
- Checks area logical nodes when search paths are being calculated.
- Default: true
- force.unordered.transition.execute.later
- Forces unordered transitions to be executed after transitions with a higher build order.
- Default: false
- search.path.match.areas.logical.nodes
- A new template variable has been added to the Build Request Definition (BRD) file:
- DMJOBID: displays the ID of a launched build job.
- Roles can now be assigned to build stages.
- The IMPORT and EXPORT commands have been extended to support the data settings in the Build Administration console.
- The XABC command (Unrelate Area from Build Configuration) now de-links an area from a build configuration.
- The RLIST command now has a WAIT/NOWAIT qualifier to control whether the command waits for job being queried to finish. The BLD/BLD command qualifiers BATCH/NOBATCH have also been renamed to WAIT/NOWAIT.
- A DESERV exit has been added for zOS Build which allows automatic discovery of link dependencies during a build.
- Build ordering within a configuration has been extended to support ordering final targets which have intermediate target dependencies. Previous releases only supported ordering final targets which had source item dependencies.
For details, see the Build Tools User's Guide.
Performance Enhancements
The performance of the project merge tool has been enhanced when processing large numbers of items. There is enhanced performance when creating, updating from, and delivering to projects when a large number of files is involved. All clients benefit from these improvements.
Installation and Upgrade Enhancements
This release is a full installation/upgrade. Enhancements are:
- Single CM and Express installations
- The Visual Studio integration is now installed as part of the client installation instead of requiring a separate installation.
- The need to use the Oracle SYSTEM user has been removed. The installer will prompt the user to enter the Oracle DBA user which no longer has to be the default SYSTEM.
- There is a new out-of-the-box process model
- SQL Server 2005 support has been added (There is no need for the manual procedure required in previous releases)
- Oracle 11g is now supported
- There is now a Dimensions agent for zLinux, the Linux operating system compiled to run on IBM mainframes.
Note that DB2 is no longer supported.
For details, see the Installation Guide for Windows or the Installation Guide for UNIX.
Sample Databases
During a new installation, you have the following options for the sample database:
- Typical, Stream Development: This provides sample data for teams preferring to use a "copy, modify, merge" methodology, typically used by Agile teams, where no lock is applied before code changes are made, and a single line of descent is enforced. This is the default process model.
- Typical, Non-Stream Development: This provides sample data for teams preferring a "lock, modify, unlock" methodology, where a lock is typically applied before code changes are made. It is intended for more traditional development or for migrating from other tools such as CVS or Version manager.
- Intermediate: This model is intended for users who require a high degree of control and process in a regulatory environment.
- Custom: This is a blank database intended for Serena consultants or SCM professionals who want to construct a tailored process model from scratch,
During an upgrade, the installer will transparently upgrade your pre-2009 process model for continued use.
Fixed Issues
This section provides detailed information on fixed issues in Dimensions Express.
Fixes in Dimensions Express 2009 R1.01
| Issue Number | Description |
|---|---|
| DEF144419 | A sort problem occurs in the desktop client when using customized views with user-defined attributes. |
| DEF157656 | A user authentication error occurs when you try to log into a PAM-enabled Dimensions server using the command-line interface. |
| DEF77647 | Creating a baseline with 20,000 items takes over 24 hours on Solaris. |
| ENH107771 | It should be possible to select and synchronize a single file. Currently you must synchronize an entire directory which can be very time-consuming. |
| DEF129947 | When using the Eclipse integration on Linux, the date chooser control immediately closes. |
| DEF130764 | The /NOMETADATA parameter is ignored with the CIU command, and metadata is created. |
| DEF146848 | With Eclipse projects, you cannot create new upload rules for the design part that the project belongs to. |
| ENH151227 | It should be possible to specify a custom directory structure when downloading files and folders. |
| DEF155973 | The Windows Explorer integration performance is inadequate with very large projects. |
| DEF157146 | File content is cut off after EOF characters. |
| DEF158561 | When you rename both a directory and a file within the directory, the Synchronization Wizard incorrectly identifies the file change as an addition to the project. |
| DEF158587 | Airgap replication of a baseline does not dump files when you use -force_baseline. |
| DEF158635 | The following error appears after editing the detailed description for a request: XDATA "UPDATE_DBFILE." |
| DEF162825 | The output encoding on the MENU_SET parameter on the Web client login page is a security concern. |
| DEF164795 | "Check In Item" message appears when attempting to check an item in. |
| DEF164924, DEF166355 | When you deploy against two requests, the following error appears: "ORA-0001: unique constraint (WS_DIRS_K2) violated running Deploy" |
| DEF77218 | Mandatory attributes are not enforced when actioning items. |
| DEF96241 | Using the Web client, if the project working location is undefined, check out hangs when checking out to the root of a local drive. |
Supported Platforms
This section provides detailed information on supported platforms for Dimensions CM.
Platform Matrix
The table below displays a high level matrix of the supported platforms in the Tier 1 release of Dimensions Express 2009 R1.
|
Vendor |
OS Platform |
Hardware |
Client |
Agent |
Server |
Database* |
Oracle Runtime |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Microsoft |
Windows Vista SP1 (32-bit, x86) |
x86 IA-32 |
Y |
Business and Ultimate Editions |
||||
|
|
Windows XP Professional (32-bit, x86) |
x86 IA-32 |
Y |
|||||
|
|
Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2003 Enterprise Server (32-bit, x86) |
x86 IA-32 |
Y |
Y |
Y |
10g, 11g, 2005 |
Y |
64-bit supported in 32-bit mode only |
|
|
Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) |
64-bit |
Y |
Y |
Y |
11g, 2008 |
Client and Agent are 32-bit applications supported on 64-bit. Server is 64-bit only. Note Serena Dimensions Migration tools are not supported on Windows 2008 at this time. They can however be run on a 32-bit Windows 2003 installation connecting to the Windows 2008 Dimensions server. |
|
|
Sun |
Solaris 9 (64-bit, Sparc) |
SPARC |
Y |
Y |
||||
|
Sun |
Solaris 10 (64-bit, Sparc) |
SPARC |
Y |
Y |
||||
|
HP |
HP-UX 11.31 (64-bit, IA-64) Itanium |
Itanium |
Y |
Y |
Also called 11iVR for HP Integrity |
|||
|
HP-UX 11.23 (64-bit, PA-RISC) |
PA-RISC |
Y |
Y |
|||||
|
IBM |
AIX 5.3L (64-bit, PowerPC) - ML 02 or later |
PowerPC |
Y |
Y |
||||
|
|
AIX 6.1L (64-bit, PowerPC) - Service Pack 1 |
PowerPC |
Y |
Y |
||||
|
Linux |
Red Hat 4.8 (64-bit, x86) |
x86-64 |
Y |
Y |
This is a 32-bit application supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit |
|||
|
|
Red Hat 5.2 (64-bit, x86) |
x86-64 |
Y |
Y |
This is a 32-bit application supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit |
|||
|
SLES 9 (32-bit, x86) |
Pentium (x86) |
Y |
Y |
|||||
|
SLES 10 (zSeries) |
IBM zSeries |
Y |
Y |
|||||
|
SLES 10.2 |
Pentium (x86) |
Y |
Y |
|||||
|
SLES 10.2 |
IA-64 Itanium |
Y |
Y |
Note: Serena recommends using an up-to-date Java 5.0 or Java 6 browser plugin. The Java plugin must be correctly installed into your supported web browser.
|
*Key to Database Versions |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Vendor |
Version |
Key |
|
Oracle |
Oracle 10g Enterprise Edition |
10g |
|
Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition |
11g |
|
|
Microsoft |
SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition |
2005 |
|
SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition |
2008 |
|
Dimensions Express Server Platforms and Databases
The server components of this Dimensions Express release are supported on the platform and database combinations listed below.
Note: Dimensions Express is built and tested against Oracle 10.2.0.2 as a supplied runtime. For customers using their own Oracle installations, Serena will support Oracle 10.2.0.x and 11g.
| Platform | Version | Database |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows | 2003 Enterprise Server SP2 (32-bit), NB 64-bit only supported in 32-bit mode |
|
| Microsoft Windows | Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) |
|
** UTF8 is not supported
Optional: Applies if you want to provide access to the Dimensions Express web client or the Administration Console.
The list of supported Web servers includes:
- Microsoft Internet Information Server 6.0 for Windows 2003
- Apache HTTP Server 2.2.10
Supported Web application containers:
- Apache Tomcat 6.0
- Sun Java System Web Server 7.0 Update 1
- IBM WebSphere Application Server 7.0
Directory Servers
Optional: Applies if you want to use LDAP for user authentication.
Dimensions supports LDAP protocol v3 compliant directory servers.
Dimensions Express Client Platforms
The client components of this Dimensions Express release are supported on the platforms listed below. To use the web-based clients, you must also have a supported Web browser and Java virtual machine.
| Platform | Version | Web browser | Java plug-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows |
|
|
|
| Sun SPARC Solaris |
|
|
|
| HP-UX |
|
|
|
| IBM AIX |
|
|
|
| Red Hat |
|
|
|
| SuSE |
|
|
|
| IBM z/OS |
|
n/a | n/a |
Notes:
- * This is a 32-bit application supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit
- The Sun Java Plug-in for Windows and Solaris is available from:,
- Obtain Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 for UNIX from the relevant UNIX vendor Web sites rather than the mozilla.org or mozilla.com Web sites.
Dimensions Express Agent Platforms
The agent components of this Dimensions Express release are supported on the platforms listed below.
| Platform | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows |
|
| Sun SPARC Solaris |
|
| HP-UX |
|
| IBM AIX |
|
| IBM z/OS |
|
| Red Hat |
|
| SuSE |
|
Third Party Integrations
| Vendor | Application | Integration Method |
|---|---|---|
| IBM |
|
|
| Microsoft |
|
|
|
|
|
| Serena |
|
|
| Sybase |
|
|
| Open source |
|
|
|
|
|
| Apache |
|
|
Support for Quality Center:
From QC 10 onwards, HP will include its own proprietary version management of QC objects and there will be no ability to integrate with other tools. For this reason Dimensions CM will not support the version management integration with any release of QC in Dimensions 2009R1.01 onwards. Customers should be aware that HP will not be providing a migration path for versioned objects stored in Dimensions.
The QC Issue Sync integration will continue to be supported.
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 Express 2009 R1 Installation Guide for Windows
- Serena Dimensions Express 2009 R1 Installation Guide for UNIX
Server Installation Fails if mfc71.dll is Not Present
Dimensions server installation on Windows fails if the mfc71.dll file is not present on the system. An error messages appears stating that the mfc71.dll file was not found. If this occurs, you must locate and download the file from the Web and try again to install Dimensions. One easy way to ensure that mfc71.dll is installed is by downloading and reinstalling Internet Explorer.
Upgrading Dimensions Express 2009 R1
If you have installed and are using Dimensions Express 2009 R1, you should run the Dimensions Express 2009 R1.01 installer to upgrade to this release. The Dimensions Express 2009 R1.01 installer will upgrade existing Dimensions Express 2009 installations.
Confusing Message Appears During Required Windows Upgrades from 2009 R1
You must upgrade any Windows client, server, and agent installations as part of the Dimensions CM 2009 R1.01 installation process. When you upgrade 2009 R1 components on Windows, a screen will appear that states the following:
"Resuming the InstallShield Wizard for Serena Dimensions Clients"
Click the Next button on this screen to continue installation. The "Resuming" wording is standard with InstallShield installation wizards for minor upgrade installers. This only occurs when upgrading from 2009 R1 to this release.
Checking the Presence of the UNIX "uncompress" Utility
Certain Dimensions Express for UNIX installation activities rely on the UNIX uncompress utility and this must be present on the UNIX machine. Most UNIX machines will have this installed as standard, and its presence can be checked with commands such as:
$ which uncompress, $ uncompress -h
If your UNIX machine does not have uncompress installed, your system administrator will need to install it before you can proceed with the installation of Dimensions Express for UNIX.
Server Memory Requirements
The following memory is required for a server installation:
- Minimum: 1 GB
- Recommended: 3 GB
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 Express 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 Express 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 Express 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.
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 key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\10.1\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
Installation Fails if There is no C: Drive (Windows)
The Dimensions Express 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 Express installation-specific information is retained in the registry for reuse on subsequent installations. If you have removed all Dimensions Express 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 following key and its contents:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serena\Dimensions\10.2.1
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.
Checking that the Installation Has Completed
On Windows platforms there is a small possibility that the installation may not in fact have worked even though the installation has appeared to complete successfully. It is recommended that you check that the expected software is listed in the Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs window following the installation. Select the entry (e.g. Serena Dimensions Express Server 2009 R1) and click on the 'Click here for support information' link to check the version number.
Error Messages when Uninstalling UNIX Client
If you are uninstalling the UNIX 2009 R1 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/2009 R1/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 10.1.x, you must first uninstall the existing 10.1.x agent before installing the 2009 R1 Windows Agent.
Upgrading Visual Studio
If you have a previous version of the Visual Studio integration installed, you must uninstall it before running the Dimensions 2009 R1 installer (which now includes the installation of the new Visual Studio integration).
Duplicate Entries in dm.cfg After Upgrade on Solaris
After performing the upgrade on a Solaris platform, multiple rows of the same entry in the dm.cfg file might have been generated. After performing this upgrade, it is advisable to check the file:
$DM_ROOT/dm.cfg
and remove any duplicate entries in case future changes made to some of those rows do not become effective because of the duplicates.
Known Issues
Default Grant Rules for Download Files from Project Privilege
When you create a new base database or upgrade an existing Dimensions 9 installation, the default grant rules for the "Download files from project" privilege include the "User holds any role on the product owning the object" rule. As a result, users are able to download and upload files from any project in the product including those to which they should not have access. To correct this, you must remove the "User holds any role on the product owning the object rule" from the grant rules for "Download files from project" privilege.
Map Error Creating a Database with Oracle 11g on AIX
You may encounter a map permission denied error when running the DMDBA commands CRDB or create_base_database on an Oracle 11g database on an AIX platform. This is due to incorrect permissions on the sqlplus binary.
To rectify the problem, change directory to $ORACLE_HOME/bin and run the following command as root:
chmod a+r sqlplus
MDHPCC0004571E Error When Creating Requests
The following error may appear when you attempt to create requests:
MDHPCC0004571E: The request was not created because it could not be entered into the system.
This intermittent error does not result in any data loss. To work around the issue, simply try again to create the request and it will succeed.
Item Libraries Cannot Reside at the Root of a Windows Drive or Share
You cannot store item libraries at the root of a Windows drive or share. This is unsupported, and many operations may fail in this case.
Trailing Whitespace in DM.CFG parameters
You may find that specifying parameters in the dm.cfg file with trailing spaces will result in an error. For example, an entry of "DM_PROG%DM_ROOT%prog\ " would result in failure to connect to a Dimensions CM application. It is advisable to make sure any entries have been correctly truncated.
Using DM_RESTORE
There is a known issue with DM_RESTORE that means that before you can use the Dimensions databases that you have restored, you need to perform the steps described below.
- Before a database is backed up using the DM_BACKUP script, please ensure that the publish views are dropped from that schema.
- For each base database restored using the non-SYSTEM method of DM_RESTORE, i.e. restoring just a single database schema, you will need to perform the following commands:
- dmdba pcms_sys/pcms_sys@<dns> grant_pcms_sys <schemaName>
- dmdba system/manager@<dns> cpas <schemaName> /new=<schemaPassword>
- Once the above has been performed for all your restored databases, then you will need to shutdown and restart your Dimensions installation.
Once you have done this, your restored databases should be ready for use.
Desktop Client Privileges Display
If you have selected the Show User Roles and Privileges option for an object, you may find that when you click on the Privileges tab, the desktop client terminates and the session expires. This is an intermittent problem.
Desktop Client Double-Click Behavior
Currently, the double-click behavior settings in the desktop client Preferences dialog User Interface tab are not being retained across sessions, requiring the user to re-apply their changes on subsequently logging in.
It is possible to make the required change by updating the appropriate registry key. For example, changing the value of
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Serena\Dimensions\10.2.1\PC Client\Configuration\ItemDoubleClick
to 1 will result in items being browsed when double-clicked. Setting it to 0 will result in a new window being opened.
Note that if you subsequently enter the User Interface tab and click OK, this will reset the registry value to 0.
Deleting Custom Tools in the Desktop Client
Custom tools in the desktop client now allow you to place an entry for a custom tool anywhere on the pulldown menus by using the Menus/Toolbar tab of the Customize dialog box, instead of having it inserted in the default location in the Tools menu. However, if you use this feature when adding a custom tool, and you subsequently want to delete it, you must first delete all entries for that tool in the pulldown menus by using the Menus/Toolbar tab before deleting the tool using the Tools tab. If you delete the tool on the Tools tab first, blank entries will remain in the Customize Menus/Toolbar dialog box.
Configuring Internet Explorer on Windows Vista to Permit File Operations in the Web Client
If you are using Internet Explorer on Windows Vista to access Dimensions web client, the enhanced security features of that browser may prevent the web client from reading or writing files to local disks. If this occurs you will probably see a message similar to
java.io.FileNotFoundException
This is because Internet Explorer on Windows Vista has Protected Mode enabled by default, and this prevents software running in the web browser from accessing the disk.
Currently, the recommended workaround for this issue is to add the Dimensions CM web server's address to the list of Trusted sites in the Trusted sites security zone. To do this, proceed as follows:
- If the Internet Explorer status bar is not visible at the bottom of the Internet Explorer window, then show it by selecting Toolbars | Status Bar from the Tools dropdown toolbar button, or View | Status Bar from the menus.
- The status bar, at the bottom of the Internet Explorer window, shows the security zone and whether Protected Mode is on or off. Assuming it is on, double click on the text Protected Mode On and a window titled Internet Security Properties will appear.
- On the Internet Security Properties window, Select the Trusted sites zone (identifiable by a large green tick icon) in the zone selector. This will enable you to change that zone's security properties. Ensure that the Enable Protected Mode checkbox is not selected for the Trusted sites zone. Click the Sites button to add to the list of Trusted sites. In the Trusted sites window, add the Dimensions CM web server's address to the list (you may need to unselect the Require server verification checkbox if your Dimensions CM web server is not configured for HTTPS).
- Once you have added the Dimensions CM web server's address to the list of Trusted sites, close and restart the Internet Explorer window. File operations in the Dimensions web client should now be permitted by the browser.
Explorer Integration and Windows Vista
The displaying of the Dimensions CM custom columns in Windows Explorer is not supported under Windows Vista. To obtain this information for a file:
- Right-click the file and select Properties.
- Click the Dimensions tab.
You can still identify the change type from the decorations added to the file icon.
Limit on Length of File Paths
Dimensions CM cannot fetch items to Windows platforms whose resulting file paths would exceed 260 characters.
Displaying Chart Reports
In order to display charts in the Dimensions CM Report builder, Adobe Flash Player 8 or above is required.
Support for Files Larger than 4 GB
Support has been added for large files (greater than 4Gb) to be stored in the repository, and to be checked in or checked out. Internally Dimensions now uses 64-bit integers to represent library file lengths. Those 64-bit library lengths are now stored as pairs consisting of low-order 32-bits and high-order 32-bits. The public view PCMS_ITEM_DATA has been enhanced to reflect this, and now has a new column, LIB_FILE_LENGTH_HI, containing the high-order 32-bits of the file length. The low-order 32-bits of the file length continue to be stored in the LIB_FILE_LENGTH column as before. This also means that the LIB_FILE_LENGTH and FILE_LENGTH item attributes can potentially refer to 64-bit values. If you store files larger than 4Gb in Dimensions, and use DTK applications/event callouts, then you will need to ensure that your code uses correct C functions for converting attribute values into 64-bit integers and vice versa. Please refer to your compiler/C library vendor reference for information how to convert 64-bit integers into null-terminated strings and vice versa. Please refer to the Developer's Reference and the Reports Guide for details.
Changing the IDM Provider
When using the Administration Console to access for configuring the IDM request provider, the changes you make may not be immediately reflected in the dmappsrv processes for other users. Therefore, when changing the default IDM tool instance, you should make sure that no clients are connected to the server at the time that the change is being made.
Error Message When Using Exported Database
If you have exported a database using the cm_typical process model to a database using MS SQL Server with a different process model installed, you may receive an error such as the following when logging in to the desktop client:
Error: Failed to Query Request Provider Instance Information., NCL0004747E Error: Failed to execute RPC 135.
You can click OK to dismisses the error and continue without any problems.
ALF Events Declaration for Mashup Tool
After the Mashup Tool is exported into Mashup Composer, the Instance field ( <db_name>@<server>-<db_connection>) must be correctly specified; it should be like CM_TYPICAL@MY_HOST_NAME-DIM10. Also, if the mashup contains a Mashup Tool from Dimensions CM 10.1.3.x that has been upgraded to 2009 R1, you should ensure that the Version field contains 2009. See the Web Services API Developer's Guide for details.
Visual Studio Menu Options
You may find that after you have restarted Visual Studio following a crash, Source Control operations are not present in the menus for a controlled solution after loading the solution. In this case, the "Set Repository Bindings" menu option on the solution should be used to reinstate the bindings and re-enable source control operations.
Changing Item Types in Eclipse
If you have changed any item types in Dimensions CM, you may receive errors when checking out items of that type. If this occurs, you need to close and restart Eclipse.
Installing Dimensions for Eclipse into RAD and Eclipse
Before installing the new version of the rich integration to Eclipse IDEs, uninstall any previous versions. After uninstalling, ensure that the following directory has been removed:
<Dimensions 10.1.x installation location>\Integrations\RichEclipse3.x
The Dimensions 2009 integration will be installed to a different location.
Mapping Design Parts in the Serena Business Mashup Integration
When mapping a Serena Business Mashup field against the design part, you must make sure that this field (or its selection list) always contains the full design part specification, not just the design part ID (for example: CM_QLARIUS:CM_QLARIUS.A;1).
Error Message when Displaying Requirements in a Baseline
If you have created a baseline in Dimensions CM based on a requirements collection, and you subsequently replace one of the requirements in that collection in RM, you may encounter a database error message, like the following example, when opening the baseline in CM:
DBI0004527E DBIO: Database I/O error occurred
SQL-1(85015) ORA-00001: unique constraint (QLARIUS_CM.RTM_OBJECT_K2) violated
The requirements, however, will still be displayed correctly, and the message can be ignored.
IDM Integration does not Support some Reports
This release does not support running IDM reports:
- With Query At Runtime parameters.
- Based on Auxiliary (non Change Requests) tables.
Using the CM Typical Process Model with Visual Studio
The CM Typical demonstration process model does include Visual Studio solutions, however these are all managed using the old Source Code Control (SCC) integration rather than the current Visual Studio Integration Partner (VSIP) integration. To properly evaluate the Visual Studio integration with the CM Typical process model, create new solutions in Visual Studio and add them to source control.
Merging Items in the Visual Studio Rich Integration
With certain types of directory structures where solutions have individual work area metadata and are not under a higher level work area, using the item Merge option may result in the merged file being incorrectly shown as moved. To correct this, you may need to reopen the solutions from source control.
Privilege Caching
To improve performance, Dimensions CM application servers now cache some privilege and role information. In general, this information is refreshed only when an application server is allocated to a session, i.e. on connection or when an idle session is reactivated. If any privilege assignments are updated in the Administration Console, the changes may not take effect during existing client sessions. In this case, the user will need to restart the client session for the new privilege settings to apply.
This behavior can be changed by setting certain variables in the file. For further details, see the Administrator's Guide.
Area Owner Unable to Update Area Properties
If you are the user who defined an area, but when you attempt to update its properties you receive an error stating that the "Update Work Area Properties" privilege is needed, you will need to have that privilege granted to your user.