Release Notes

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The IBM® Connect:Direct® Web Service Release Notes document supplements IBM Connect:Direct Web Service documentation. Release notes are updated with each release of the product and contains product requirements, as well as other information pertinent to installing and implementing Connect:Direct Web Services.

New Features and Enhancements

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IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services and its related software have the following features and enhancements:

FixPack 4 (v6.4.0.4)

New Features and Enhancements
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services 6.4.0.4 has the following features and enhancements:
  1. User Interface Enhancements:
    • Updated banner.
    • More efficient use of screen space.
    • Records per page retained during login session using records.per.page.list. For more information, refer to Configuring application.properties.
    • Default records per page and dropdown list can be set via default.number.of.records.per.page. For more information, refer to Configuring application.properties.
    • Refined labels and error messages on the screens for better clarity.
    • Native Command UI improved layout for better visibility of command execution and results.
    • Statistics View improved with refined layout, data presentation, enhanced filtering and sorting capabilities.
    • Red primary buttons in warning dialogs clearly indicate critical actions.
    • Tabbed navigation introduced on the Transfers page.
    • Multi-step forms used to reduce scrolling while configuring users and partners.
    Note: These updates enhance the user experience. Tasks can be performed as usual.
  2. Apply Changes and Discard Changes APIs added to the Watch Directory and File Agent Rules API collection.

FixPack 2 (v6.4.0.2)

New Features and Enhancements
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services 6.4.0.2 has the following features and enhancements:
  1. Multi-release of held transfers:
    Users can release multiple held transfers from the web console. To do this, log in to User Functions, navigate to Transfers > All Transfers, select multiple transfers, and click on the Release All icon located above the list of transfers.
  2. Multi-delete of transfers:
    Users can delete multiple transfers from the web console. To do this, log in to User Functions, navigate to Transfers > All Transfers, select multiple transfers, and click on the Delete icon located above the list of transfers.
  3. Export complete chain Certificate with private key:
    Users can export PEM or P12 complete chain certificate data with a private key via REST API or CDWS UI Admin login.
  4. Improved Log Browsing Experience:
    Users can now browse scheduler logs separately from REST API logs, making log management more structured and efficient.
  5. Certificate Signing Request (CSR):
    The CDWS Admin UI now includes the CSR UI, allowing users to create and renew certificate signing requests seamlessly.

    Using the API Proxying feature, multiple users (certs) can be used in cert-based authentication. For more details, refer to Certificate Signing Request REST API.

  6. Init Params Updates with JSON Fields:
    Users can now update required data using single JSON fields, simplifying data modifications and reducing complexity. For more details, refer to Init Parms Rest API
  7. Built In Copy Command:
    Users will be able to perform a simple transfer to send or receive files between nodes and verify the statistics data with a single API execution. For more details, refer to Built In Copy REST API.
  8. Support of Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) and Single Sign-On (SSO) extended to IBM Connect:Direct Windows starting from v6.4.0.2. For more details, refer to Configuring IdP Login for Stand-alone Connect:Direct Web Services and Configuring IdP Login for Integrated Connect:Direct Web Services.
  9. Support of API Proxy creation from web console to enable MFA and SSO login. For more details, refer to Configuring IdP Login for Stand-alone Connect:Direct Web Services and Configuring IdP Login for Integrated Connect:Direct Web Services.

    • Navigate to Settings > Users > New API Proxy User Id > Create

Base Release (v6.4)

New Features and Enhancements
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services 6.4 has the following features and enhancements:
  1. IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Unix supports Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) and Single Sign-On (SSO) using any IdP provider which adheres SAML 2.0 authentication protocol. For more details, refer to Configuring IdP Login for Stand-alone Connect:Direct Web Services.
    Web console provides support for managing IdP configuration
    • Navigate to Configuration > IdP Configuration.
  2. Increased config file size in Integrated File Agent: The size of Default_config.json in the Integrated File Agent has been increased. The size of Integrated File Agent config file may now go up to 2 MB for IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Microsoft Windows and IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Unix servers.
  3. Emergency Restore support for IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Windows through IBM Sterling Control Center Director using initialization parameters from web console
    • Navigate to Settings > Initialization Parameter > Install Agent.
  4. Support of API Proxy creation from web console to enable MFA and SSO login. For more details, refer to Configuring IdP Login for Stand-alone Connect:Direct Web Services
    • Navigate to Settings > New Remote User Id > Create > API Proxy > Yes.

Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements

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IBM Connect:Direct Web Service and its related software require the following hardware and software. For detailed Software Product Compatibility Reports for Connect:Direct Web Services see, https://www.ibm.com/software/reports/compatibility/clarity/softwareReqsForProduct.html.

Table 1.
Hardware Software
For a UNIX operating system:
  • Disk Space (min.):
    • Installation - 5 GB
    • Upgrade - 8 GB
  • RAM (min):
    • Installation/Upgrade - 4 GB
  • CPU (min): 4 cores
 IBM Connect:Direct Web Service can be installed on the following 64-bit Operating Systems:
  • RedHat Enterprise Linux Server 8 (8.8 and above)
  • RedHat Enterprise Linux Server 9 (9.2 and above)
  • IBM System pSeries (Power 8 and greater) AIX 7.2 TL5 and greater
  • IBM System pSeries (Power 8 and greater) AIX 7.3 TL1 and greater
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP 6 and above
  • Linux zSeries Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 8 (8.8 and above)
  • Linux zSeries Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 9 (9.2 and above)
For a Windows operating system:
  • Disk Space (min.):
    • Installation - 5 GB
    • Upgrade - 8 GB
  • RAM (min):
    • Installation/Upgrade - 4 GB
  • CPU (min): 4 cores
  • MS-Windows server 2022
  • MS-Windows 11
  • MS-Windows 10

Browser Compatibility

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The following table shows the browser versions compatible with the IBM Connect:Direct Web Console:

Table 2. Compatible browser with version
Browser Version supported
Google Chrome (recommended) 94.0.4606.61 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Mozilla Firefox 104.0.1 (64-bit)
Microsoft Edge (Chromium) 110.0.1587.63 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Note: Recommended Web Console resolution is: 1366 * 768p (desktop applications only).

The application is best viewed when the zoom is set to a default 100% in the browser setting.

Note: IBM Connect:Direct Web Console displays content only in English language. The Web Console displays Date/Time information in user's local time zone.

Known Limitations and Restrictions

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IBM Connect:Direct Web Services has the following known restrictions:

  • Upgrade from Connect:Direct Web Services v5.3 (1.0.0) is currently not supported. To install latest version,uninstall v5.3 and then install the latest one.
  • Currently, Connect:Direct Web Console content is only available in English language.
  • Once the partner is created or updated with FASP fields, the user will not be able to reset these fields with empty values.
IBM Connect:Direct Web Services has the following known limitations:

  • ICDWS 6.3 and 6.4 cannot be used at the same time in the same browser.

    Workaround:

    • Open ICDWS 6.3 and 6.4 in different browsers.
    • When using the same browser, open one ICDWS version in a regular tab and the other version in a private tab.
    • Note that opening both versions in either private tabs or regular tabs does not work, and the message "Current session has been logged out due to another active session or token is expired." will be displayed as per the behavior.

Security Considerations

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You should evaluate security consideration as per your enterprise policy and should take necessary steps to harden it.
  • For security reasons, you must change your default administrator password immediately on your first login. If you wish to change again, use Reset Password option under the Admin view.
  • If you configure and integrate your own Keystore/Truststore other than the default one, you will be responsible for its security and protection.
  • An Admin/CD user trying to login to CDWS will be blocked after N login failures. The value ‘N’ is now configurable via application.properties.
  • File Permission: The permission of the file system is handled by the Operating System itself. Only the user who installed the CDWS and the admin user will have permission to change any data.
  • Encrypted Data: The encryption/decryption logic is already in place (uses CD security library) and the secured data like passwords, token details are stored in JSON file in the encrypted format.