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Release Notes for Platform Process Manager 3.1

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Contents

• What's New in Process Manager Version 3.1
• Known Issues
  • Effect of daylight savings time on flows
• Learning About Process Manager Version 3.1
• Getting Technical Support
• Copyright

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What's New in Process Manager Version 3.1

Process Manager Version 3.1 has the following enhancements:

• z/OS mainframe
• Localized input
• Flow completion enhancement
• Multi-server
• Upgrade
• LDAP support
• Enhanced jhist
• Improved cache
• Trigger events
• Environment variables
• Guest account
• ARM4
• Job working directory

z/OS mainframe

You can now dispatch jobs to a mainframe and monitor their progress using FTP (file transfer protocol) technology on Microsoft® Windows® or UNIX.

Localized input

Additional support for localized input in many job and flow fields such as job name.

Flow completion enhancement

There is now a third option available when specifying flow completion attributes. You can now choose to either wait until the flow finishes before changing the state or change the state immediately and keep running the flow. The last option allows you to immediately trigger the next work item if there is one that is dependent on this flow or subflow.

• Complete any work in progress and stop running the flow. This is the default.
• Change the flow state immediately but continue running the flow until any remaining work items that can complete, complete.
• Continue running the flow and only change the state when any remaining work items that can complete, complete.

Multi-server

If you have multiple Process Manager Servers running, you can now switch your server in Calendar Editor, Flow Editor, and Flow Manager.

Upgrade

Platform Process Manager 3.1 now runs on Platform LSF version 6.2.

LDAP support

You can use an existing user name and password set up in LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) to log in to Process Manager. This feature is not supported on Windows® platforms. See Administering Platform Process Manager for more information.

Enhanced jhist

The command jhist is now a client (not server) command and can retrieve history information remotely.

Improved cache

The cache recovery of the Process Manager Server has been improved. Caching is now a snapshot process so that the cache file is updated every time a snapshot service is invoked. This significantly decreases the amount of time the Process Manager Server takes to start up (except for the first time). Also, only one cache file is created instead of many.

Trigger events

For events that have already been triggered, the Triggering Events tab of the Flow Attribute dialog shows a date and time stamp.

Environment variables

Jobs can now be submitted with environment variables that are used when the job runs.

Guest account

You can now log in with a guest account to view flows and attributes. As a guest, you have view only capabilities. Log on as "guest" (case-sensitive). There is no password.

ARM4

Process Manager now supports ARM instrumentation capability.

Job working directory

You can now specify the working directory for the job at job submission. For Windows hosts, you should specify an absolute path rather than a relative path.

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Known Issues

Process Manager Version 3.1 has the following known issues:

• When a user variable is used in a job definition's Name field, the value of the variable must be set when the flow is triggered. Otherwise the flow will fail to be triggered. For example, in Flow Manager, you may choose "Trigger" => "With Variables", or on command line use "jtrigger -v variable_list ...".
• Applies to Linux hosts when JS_TIME_ZONE is set to "client", the default. During Daylight Savings Time (in the March-November time period), some time events may trigger an hour early. This occurs when Java gets the wrong timezone information from the client machine. Solution: On the (Linux) client, edit the file /etc/sysconfig/clock and replace TIMEZONE=zone with ZONE=zone. For example, ZONE="US/Eastern".
• On Linux Redhat 7.0, due to a known java problem, scripts that run Process Manager commands and then monitor for exit code will never see an exit code 1 when it occurs--they see an exit code of 0.
• On HP, the failover feature does not work with a permanent license. Use a demo license.
• A Misschedule exception is not propagated through two consecutive link events in a flow.
• When using the Flow Editor or Flow Manager, and viewing or changing a job or job array definition, the entire job or job array definition dialog cannot be viewed if you are using a screen resolution lower than 1024 x 768. We recommend you set your resolution to 1024 x 768 or higher when using the Process Manager graphical user interface.
• When launching the graphical interfaces (Flow Editor, Calendar Editor and Flow Manager) on some UNIX systems, the user receives font not found warnings. The Java Virtual Machine user interface manager automatically determines which fonts are used on each machine. If the fonts are not available on the machine, the warning is issued. These warning messages do not affect the operation of the client.
• Process Manager does not validate the end date of a calendar expression. Consequently, if you define an end date prior to the start date, you receive no error message, but the calendar cannot be used in a time event to successfully trigger a flow or job.
• If you kill a job from the Flow Manager, the job state does not automatically refresh to reflect the change--you need to refresh manually, unless real-time status updates are being used.
• In the Flow Editor, on the Job Definition tabs, the Reset button only resets data on the current tab--it does not affect the hidden tabs. Values specified in the following fields do not reset at all when you click the Reset button:
  • Submit to queue/partition(s)--General tab
  • User name--General tab
  • Host requirements fields--Processing tab
• Some days of the week are not completely shown in the Calendar Editor for some platforms:
  • On Solaris: Mon, Wed, Thu are shown as M..., W..., T...
  • On HP: Mon, Wed are shown as M..., W...
  • On SGI: Sun, Mon, Wed are shown as S..., M..., W...
• Some historical information is not logged correctly in the following circumstances:
  • If a job or other activity has a rerun exception handler that is triggered, no information about the exit code of the job is logged.
  • When user variables are used for file transfer names, the resolved name of the file is not logged.
• When using the jsub -r command to submit and replace a flow definition, if the jsub command fails, the replacement does not occur, but the replaced flow definition is already deleted and cannot be restored.
• In the Flow Manager, it is possible for the user to have two different flows selected in the tree view and the right-hand pane. If the user selects an option in the Action menu, such as Kill, it is the flow selected in the tree view that is killed, not the one in the right-hand pane. This may not be the behavior the user expects.
• Process Manager does not support duplicate event logging in LSF. The lsb.events file must be in a shared location where the Process Manager server can locate job information.
• If a job using a rerun exception handler has a rerun delay specified, and the Process Manager restarts during the delay period (prior to rerunning the job), the job is never rerun.
• If a user tries to open the job dependency definition on the arrow coming out of the job with the variable in the job name field, the user sees an empty message dialog, prior to seeing the dependency definition. The user can click OK, to see the definition. However, the job name field is blank.
• For a successful LSF 6.2 installation on Windows Vista, a user should grant Full Control permissions to the Installation account and Read & Execute permissions to the Users group for the following files:
  • %WINDIR%\system32\cmd.exe
  • %WINDIR%\syswOW64\cmd.exe

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Note:

If Read & Execute permissions are not set before the LSF 6.2 installation, an error message "Cannot grant 'users' group read+execute permission for file C:\\Windows\system32\cmd.exe on host <hostname>. Error=0. You may retry or click continue and do that manually after the install." is displayed. User can ignore this message and continue with the installation.

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Effect of daylight savings time on flows

There are some known issues when running flows scheduled during and around the change to and from daylight savings time.

When...	Flow runs...	Expected behavior
A flow is scheduled to run between 2 a.m and 3 a.m. on the day daylight savings time begins (the second Sunday in March)	Never	This hour is the hour that is removed to start daylight savings time in North America. No flows run. Any subflows that are scheduled to start after this flow runs also will not run.
The client and server hosts have their time changed at different times: Client before job submission, server after Server before job submission, client after	At the time defined by the client.	The server receives the time from the client at the time of job submission and does any calculations in time difference between server and client at that time. This applies on when JS_TIME_ZONE is set to client (the default). Server time is applied if JS_TIME_ZONE is changed to server.
You schedule the flow before the time change to run after the time change	At the time you scheduled (the correct time)	There is no impact. The flow is scheduled to run at 3 a.m. and it runs at 3 a.m., even after the time change.

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Learning About Process Manager Version 3.1

World Wide Web and FTP

The latest information about all other supported releases of Process Manager is available on the Platform Web site at www.platform.com.

If you have problems accessing the Platform Web site or the Platform FTP site, send email to support@platform.com.

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Getting Technical Support

Should you encounter problems or have questions regarding the use of Process Manager and scheduling jobs from SAS Management Console, please contact SAS directly. You can use one of the following methods to contact the SAS Technical Support staff.

1. Online problem/question submission:

   http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/track_intro.html

   Choose SAS Management Console as the 'Product' value.

2. E-mail problem/question submission via EMITS facility:

   http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/emits.html

   Choose SAS Management Console as the 'Product' value.

3. Telephone Support Information for North America:

   http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/telephone_support.html

4. If you are not based in North America, use the links in the following URL for information on how to contact other SAS Technical Support offices around the world:

   http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/index.html

While any SAS software user may contact Technical Support, priority is given to designated SAS support personnel at your site. (Note, you can use web-based forms to find out who the SAS support personnel are at your site or re-designate SAS support personnel at your site using links from this URL:

http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/index.html

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Copyright

© 1994-2007 Platform Computing Corporation

All rights reserved.

Although the information in this document has been carefully reviewed, Platform Computing Corporation ("Platform") does not warrant it to be free of errors or omissions. Platform reserves the right to make corrections, updates, revisions or changes to the information in this document.

UNLESS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY STATED BY PLATFORM, THE PROGRAM DESCRIBED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL PLATFORM COMPUTING BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR SPECIAL, COLLATERAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY LOST PROFITS, DATA, OR SAVINGS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM.

^TM PLATFORM COMPUTING, and the PLATFORM and LSF logos are trademarks of Platform Computing Corporation in the United States and in other jurisdictions.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

Other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

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Date Modified: July 25, 2007 Platform Computing: www.platform.com North America: +1 905 948 4297 Europe: +44 1256 370 530 Asia: +86 10 6238 1125 Toll-Free: 1-877-444-4LSF (+1 877 444 4573) Platform Support: support@platform.com Platform Information Development: doc@platform.com Copyright © 1994-2007 Platform Computing Corporation. All rights reserved.