What's new and changed in Watson Query

Watson Query updates can include new features, bug fixes, and security updates. Updates are listed in reverse chronological order so that the latest release is at the beginning of the topic.

You can see a list of the new features for the platform and all of the services at What's new in IBM Cloud Pak® for Data.

Installing or upgrading Watson Query

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Related documentation:

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.6.4

A new version of Watson Query was released in March 2023 with Cloud Pak for Data 4.6.4.

Operand version: 2.0.4

This release includes the following changes.

Security fixes

CVE-2023-21830, CVE-2023-21843, CVE-2023-22809, CVE-2023-23918, CVE-2023-23919, CVE-2023-23920, CVE-2023-23931, CVE-2023-23936

CVE-2022-1996, CVE-2022-2873, CVE-2022-2879, CVE-2022-2880, CVE-2022-2964, CVE-2022-3697, CVE-2022-3821, CVE-2022-4139, CVE-2022-4415, CVE-2022-21698, CVE-2022-23491, CVE-2022-24439, CVE-2022-25881, CVE-2022-32190, CVE-2022-35737, CVE-2022-36087, CVE-2022-40303, CVE-2022-40304, CVE-2022-40898, CVE-2022-41222, CVE-2022-41715, CVE-2022-41716, CVE-2022-41717, CVE-2022-42010, CVE-2022-42011, CVE-2022-42012, CVE-2022-43680, CVE-2022-43945, CVE-2022-45787, CVE-2022-47629

CVE-2021-3733, CVE-2021-3737, CVE-2021-46848

CVE-2018-20406

CVE-2015-20107

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.6.2

A new version of Watson Query was released in January 2023 with Cloud Pak for Data 4.6.2.

Operand version: 2.0.2

This release includes the following changes.

New features

The 2.0.2 release of Watson Query includes the following features and updates:

Pass-through authentication
Tech preview This is a technology preview and is not supported for use in production environments.

You can now use pass-through authentication when you import connections to Watson Query. When you connect to and interact with data sources, you can use the personal credentials that you have associated with a platform connection, rather than using shared credentials for one user account.

For more information, see Adding connections from existing data source connections to Watson Query by using personal credentials.

Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
Security fixes

CVE-2023-0394

CVE-2022-1158, CVE-2022-1304, CVE-2022-1941, CVE-2022-2056, CVE-2022-2057, CVE-2022-2058, CVE-2022-2519, CVE-2022-2520, CVE-2022-2521, CVE-2022-2601, CVE-2022-2602, CVE-2022-2867, CVE-2022-2868, CVE-2022-2869, CVE-2022-28948, CVE-2022-2953, CVE-2022-32743, CVE-2022-3303, CVE-2022-33981, CVE-2022-3437, CVE-2022-3592, CVE-2022-3597, CVE-2022-3649, CVE-2022-37454, CVE-2022-37599, CVE-2022-37603, CVE-2022-3775, CVE-2022-37865, CVE-2022-37866, CVE-2022-3787, CVE-2022-37966, CVE-2022-37967, CVE-2022-38900, CVE-2022-39190, CVE-2022-40154, CVE-2022-40155, CVE-2022-40156, CVE-2022-41946, CVE-2022-45888, CVE-2022-46175, CVE-2022-46363, CVE-2022-46364

CVE-2021-28363, CVE-2021-3572, CVE-2021-38593

CVE-2020-15112

CVE-2018-16428

CVE-2016-3709

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.6.0

A new version of Watson Query was released in November 2022 with Cloud Pak for Data 4.6.0.

Operand version: 2.0.0

This release includes the following changes.

New features
Version 2.0.0 of the Watson Query service includes the following features and updates.
Data Virtualization is now Watson Query

The Data Virtualization service was renamed to Watson Query, and you will notice some changes in the user interface. To get started using Watson Query, click Data > Data virtualization on the navigation menu.

The IBM Data Virtualization connection is also renamed to IBM Watson Query. Your previous settings for the connection remain the same. Only the connection name has changed.

Improvements for data sources in object storage
  • You can now create connections and virtualize files for the following data sources in object storage:
  • You can now create virtualized tables from externally compressed CSV or TSV files that are stored in object storage.
  • You can now use credentials that are stored in a vault when you create a connection to a data source in object storage. For more information, see Managing secrets and vaults.
  • You can now use an optional parameter to identify a delimiter character (quoteChar) that surrounds field values in flat files. You can use this parameter for previewing and virtualizing flat files that are stored in object storage.

For more information, see Creating a virtual table from files in object storage.

Predicate pushdown improvements
Predicate pushdown is an optimization that reduces query times and memory usage. This release includes the following improvements to predicate pushdown.
  • Queries that include COUNT (DISTINCT) or GROUP BY clauses can now be pushed down with trailing blanks comparison rules for Teradata, Netezza®, Microsoft SQL Server, Db2® for z/OS®, and Db2 Database data sources.
  • Queries that include a string comparison operation such as a GROUP BY or WHERE predicate against CHAR or VARCHAR data for the Teradata data source can handle case sensitivity.
  • The Greenplum data source now supports push down of predicates.

For more information, see Supported data sources in Watson Query.

Faster cache refreshes

You can now set the refresh rate for a cache based on minutes. For example, setting the Minutes element to 5 causes the cache to refresh every 5 minutes. For more information, see Adding data caches.

New caching APIs
Cache entries can be managed through REST APIs that the caching service exposes. These APIs can be invoked by any application. You can use new caching APIs to do the following tasks:
The following caching APIs are deprecated:

For more information, see Caches in the Watson Query 2.0.0 API docs.

Diagnostic logs are now stored in a dedicated persistent volume

In new Watson Query deployments, diagnostic logs for the Watson Query instance are stored in a dedicated persistent volume, which prevents overflow problems and improves reliability. For more information, see Gathering diagnostic information.

The Cloud Pak for Data CA certificate can be used in Watson Query connections
For more information, see Using a CA certificate to connect to internal servers from the platform.
Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
Security fixes

CVE-2022-0168, CVE-2022-0261, CVE-2022-0318, CVE-2022-0359, CVE-2022-0361, CVE-2022-0392, CVE-2022-0413, CVE-2022-0494, CVE-2022-0561, CVE-2022-0562, CVE-2022-0617, CVE-2022-0778, CVE-2022-0854, CVE-2022-0865, CVE-2022-0891, CVE-2022-0908, CVE-2022-0909, CVE-2022-0924, CVE-2022-1016, CVE-2022-1048, CVE-2022-1055, CVE-2022-1154, CVE-2022-1184, CVE-2022-1271, CVE-2022-1292, CVE-2022-1353, CVE-2022-1355, CVE-2022-1615, CVE-2022-1621, CVE-2022-1629, CVE-2022-1785, CVE-2022-1852, CVE-2022-1897, CVE-2022-1927, CVE-2022-2068, CVE-2022-2078, CVE-2022-2097, CVE-2022-2509, CVE-2022-2526, CVE-2022-2586, CVE-2022-2588, CVE-2022-2602, CVE-2022-2639, CVE-2022-2938, CVE-2022-3437, CVE-2022-3515, CVE-2022-3592, CVE-2022-4095, CVE-2022-20368, CVE-2022-21499, CVE-2022-21604, CVE-2022-21611, CVE-2022-21619, CVE-2022-21624, CVE-2022-21626, CVE-2022-21628, CVE-2022-21635, CVE-2022-21637, CVE-2022-21698, CVE-2022-21724, CVE-2022-21797, CVE-2022-22576, CVE-2022-22844, CVE-2022-23308, CVE-2022-23437, CVE-2022-23816, CVE-2022-23825, CVE-2022-23960, CVE-2022-24407, CVE-2022-24448, CVE-2022-25255, CVE-2022-25308, CVE-2022-25309, CVE-2022-25310, CVE-2022-26373, CVE-2022-26520, CVE-2022-27404, CVE-2022-27405, CVE-2022-27406, CVE-2022-27774, CVE-2022-27776, CVE-2022-27782, CVE-2022-27950, CVE-2022-28390, CVE-2022-28893, CVE-2022-29162, CVE-2022-29581, CVE-2022-29824, CVE-2022-29900, CVE-2022-29901, CVE-2022-30698, CVE-2022-30699, CVE-2022-31197, CVE-2022-32081, CVE-2022-32082, CVE-2022-32084, CVE-2022-32086, CVE-2022-32089, CVE-2022-32091, CVE-2022-32206, CVE-2022-32208, CVE-2022-32212, CVE-2022-32213, CVE-2022-32743, CVE-2022-32746, CVE-2022-32981, CVE-2022-33981, CVE-2022-34903, CVE-2022-36087, CVE-2022-36946, CVE-2022-37434, CVE-2022-37601, CVE-2022-38177, CVE-2022-38178, CVE-2022-38791, CVE-2022-39190, CVE-2022-39377, CVE-2022-40674, CVE-2022-41848, CVE-2022-41974, CVE-2022-42889

CVE-2021-3426, CVE-2021-3445, CVE-2021-3521, CVE-2021-3572, CVE-2021-3634, CVE-2021-3640, CVE-2021-3712, CVE-2021-3778, CVE-2021-3796, CVE-2021-3872, CVE-2021-3984, CVE-2021-4019, CVE-2021-4122, CVE-2021-4189, CVE-2021-4192, CVE-2021-4193, CVE-2021-20266, CVE-2021-20329, CVE-2021-22876, CVE-2021-22898, CVE-2021-22925, CVE-2021-23840, CVE-2021-23841, CVE-2021-25214, CVE-2021-25219, CVE-2021-25220, CVE-2021-27645, CVE-2021-30002, CVE-2021-30465, CVE-2021-33135, CVE-2021-33574, CVE-2021-35515, CVE-2021-35516, CVE-2021-35517, CVE-2021-36090, CVE-2021-36373, CVE-2021-36374, CVE-2021-42574, CVE-2021-43784, CVE-2021-45940, CVE-2021-45941

CVE-2020-10543, CVE-2020-10878, CVE-2020-12723, CVE-2020-13435, CVE-2020-14338, CVE-2020-14392, CVE-2020-14393, CVE-2020-16135, CVE-2020-17533, CVE-2020-24370, CVE-2020-35525, CVE-2020-35527, CVE-2020-36516, CVE-2020-36558

CVE-2019-5827, CVE-2019-13750, CVE-2019-13751, CVE-2019-16869, CVE-2019-17594, CVE-2019-17595, CVE-2019-18218, CVE-2019-19246, CVE-2019-19603, CVE-2019-20444, CVE-2019-20445, CVE-2019-20919

CVE-2018-2773

CVE-2017-1000487

CVE-2016-9842

CVE-2014-10402

Bug fixes
The following limitations and issues are resolved in Watson Query 2.0.0.