What's new in Maximo Manage 8.4

Support for Java Servlet Specification 3.1

To enhance security, Maximo Manage now uses Java™ Servlet Specification 3.1 for all web modules.

Database encryption updates

The following features are added for database encryption:

Ability to view encryption history

When you encrypt or reencrypt the database, an entry is logged in the syschangetracker table, and you can view the history for database encryption. For more information, see Viewing database history.

Automatic generation of encryption keys

By default, if encryption keys are not specified when you activate Maximo Manage with a fresh database, new encryption keys are automatically generated. If you do not want to automatically generate encryption keys, you can set the autoGenerateEncryptionKeys property to false. For more information, see Disabling auto-generation of encryption keys.

Ability to reset fields with crypto and cryptox encryption

If you inadvertently lose your crypto and cryptox encryption keys, you can run a reset script that clears the fields with crypto and cryptox encryption. Then, you can then restart the server and reset your data. For more information, see Resetting the crypto and cryptox fields in the database.

User management updates

In Maximo Application Suite 8.7 and earlier, users were created with a single username. Effective with Maximo Application Suite 8.8, when a user is created in Maximo Application Suite, a display name and a user ID are created. The user ID is a primary key that identifies a user, and it cannot be changed after the user is created. An option is also available to make a user's login ID be the same as the unique user ID or to create a custom login ID such as an email address. Login IDs can be updated if necessary. When user synchronization occurs, the Login ID that is specified in Maximo Application Suite becomes the login ID in Maximo Manage. The user ID in Maximo Application Suite becomes the user ID and the person ID in Maximo Manage.

New Count Books application

You use the new Count Books application to select inventory for periodic counting and to record the results of physical counts. You can then reconcile discrepancies between expected and actual quantities. For more information, see Count Books application.

Ability to stream WebSphere Application Server Liberty logs

You can stream WebSphere® Application Server Liberty logs for server bundles by constructing a URL that you can use in a browser or other tool that you use for REST API calls. For more information, see Sending log output to S3 Cloud Object Storage.

Ability to scale Java Message Service (JMS)

You can now configure multiple JMS servers and add custom message queues as needed. For more information, see Configuring JMS server.

Documentation for automation scripting

Scripting allows you to customize the product without going through system downtime and a steep learning curve. You can customize Maximo using the Maximo scripting framework. For more information, see Maximo autoscripting.

Ability to test automation scripts

You can test automation scripts after you create them. It is possible to test different types of scripts like object launch scripts, attribute launch scripts, integration scripts, and REST scripts. For more information, see Testing automation scripts.

Ability to configure requests and limits for ephemeral storage

By default, ephemeral storage is allocated for the administrative and server bundle builds when Maximo Manage is deployed. Effective with this release, administrators can modify the requests and also limit the amount of ephemeral storage that is provisioned. For more information, see Configuring ephemeral storage.

Metrics are added to the monitoring dashboard

The monitoring agent provides metrics for application usage and performance. Additional metrics were added in Maximo Manage 8.5. For more information, see Monitoring metrics.

OAuth access is supported for the WEBSERVICE-JAX-WS web service handler

If you use the WEBSERVICE-JAX-WS web service handler, you can configure an OAuth authentication service to provide secure delegated access to Maximo Manage data. For more information, see Configuring OAuth access.

Ability to provide Java virtual machine (JVM) options when you deploy Maximo Manage

You can now specify JVM options when you specify additional configurations for a server bundle in the Maximo Manage workspace. For more information, see Configuring JVM options.

Documentation for configuring Grafana dashboards

Maximo Manage includes a monitoring agent that collects statistics about application usage and performance. Administrators can configure the Prometheus monitoring service and then use Grafana visualization software to view usage data that the agent collects. For more information, see Configuring Grafana dashboards.