Archived what's new in the containers in previous years

Important new features and enhancements were introduced in the Sterling™ Order Management System Software containers in the previous years.

25 October 2024 (10.0.2409.1)

Operator and image updates

27 September 2024 (10.0.2409.0)

Operator and image updates
Stack upgrades
  • WebSphere Liberty to 24.0.0.6
Order Service: Support for Elasticsearch server 8.14.3
For Order Service, the developer tool kit now supports to set up Elasticsearch server 8.14.3. For more information, see Overriding the default docker compose properties.

14 August 2024 (10.0.2406.2)

Operator and image updates
Support to configure alternative image repository
You can now configure the pulling of images from an alternative repository to avoid docker pull limits. Two new sections each for Cassandra and Elasticsearch are introduced under devInstances parameter. For more information, see Properties of Cassandra and Properties of Elasticsearch.
Liberty access log enabled out-of-the-box
The Liberty ACCESS_FILE_NAME now defaults to /shared/logs/${OM_POD_NAME}_access.log. You can also use environment variables, similar to message and trace logs, to configure the access log and specify the log location.

18 July 2024 (10.0.2406.1)

Operator and image updates
New parameter to define probe configurations in OMEnvironment
A new parameter probeConfigs is introduced to define a list of probe configurations for readiness, liveness, and startup in OMEnvironment. The probe configurations that you define are used by the OMServer. For more information, see probeConfigs parameter.
Support to set up development instances by using PostgreSQL and ActiveMQ
You can now create and configure development instances of Sterling Order Management System containers by using PostgreSQL and ActiveMQ for test purposes only. For more information, see devInstances parameter.
Added new out-of-the-box server profiles
New server profiles including small, medium, large, huge, and massive are added to the Operator. You can choose the appropriate profile based on your CPU and memory resources. For more information, see Profiles for different workloads.

21 June 2024 (10.0.2406.0)

Operator and image updates
Enhanced multischema feature for OOB images and Operator
You can now set up multischema for OOB images and the Operator in both create and upgrade modes. For more information, see Setting up multischema by using the Operator.
Collect statistics data with the Prometheus endpoint
Sterling Order Management System Software now provides the Prometheus metrics endpoint, which is included in the smcfs.war file, to scrape statistics from an endpoint into the Prometheus format. For more information, see Prometheus statistics collection for containers.
Stack upgrades
  • IBM Java™ SDK/JRE to 8.0.8.25
  • WebSphere Liberty to 24.0.0.4

13 May 2024 (10.0.2403.2)

Operator and image updates
Added affinityAndTolerations for healthMonitor and restService
You can now define affinity and tolerations for healthMonitor and restService to optimize node pool allocation. For more information, see healthMonitor parameter and restService parameter.
Enhanced probe check functionality
  • A new probe check for liveness, readiness, and startup is introduced to ensure that the pods can establish connections to both the database and message queues. This check is performed at regular intervals.
  • A new annotation apps.oms.ibm.com/use-legacy-probe-check is introduced to switch back to the old probe (legacy) check if issues arise. For more information, see Annotations used in IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator.
Updated repository for WebSphere Liberty image
The repository for the WebSphere Liberty image is updated from docker.io/ibmcom/websphere-liberty to icr.io/appcafe/websphere-liberty to prevent pull limitations and ensure smoother operation.
Removed proxy image from Operator controller
The kube-rbac-proxy image is now removed from IBM Sterling Order Management System Operator.

12 April 2024 (10.0.2403.1)

Operator and image updates
Enhanced Operator to support multischema in containers
You can now set up multischema in your container environment by using Operator for efficient management and automation. For more information, see Setting up multischema by using the Operator.
Enhanced Dojo file minification for improved language pack creation
A new flag AP_OPTIMIZE_DOJO_MINIFICATION is added to the generateImages.sh script to enable the minification of Dojo files in containers when set to false. This ensures that the Date and UnitOfMeasure are passed correctly when you create a custom language pack. By default, AP_OPTIMIZE_DOJO_MINIFICATION is set to true.

8 March 2024 (10.0.2403.0)

Operator and image updates
Enhanced image customization without --privileged flag
You no longer need to apply the --privileged flag when customizing Order Management images for Podman commands. This enhancement ensures the customization is simple and secure. For Docker, you can continue using the --privileged flag, until further notice.
Added webhook validations for following properties
  • Validation added for customerOverrides to ensure that the custom configurations that are provided by users are properly validated.
  • Validation added for jvmArgs to ensure that only valid parameters are passed to the Java virtual machine.
  • Validation added for envVars to ensure that only authorized and correct environment variables are accepted by the application.
  • bindingConfigName is now optional.

25 January 2024 (10.0.2309.2)

Operator and image updates
Important: For Order Hub and Call Center, the digest for the images is different from the one inside the case. You must use the following image and digest and not use the one inside the case.
Call Center- Professional
base:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-professional/om-call-center-base:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:cc7d81ee7d7a2e0c1ae4a2ea21f190e4ae720027197907e57d5e9347e21565c7
extn:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-professional/om-call-center-ext:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:4f9b1f2de05c3d6404b1b8bd6a9143dd7e56436b0f13b6cd601f61c0157af195
Call Center - Enterprise
base:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-enterprise/om-call-center-base:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest:sha256:cc7d81ee7d7a2e0c1ae4a2ea21f190e4ae720027197907e57d5e9347e21565c7
extn:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-enterprise/om-call-center-ext:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:4f9b1f2de05c3d6404b1b8bd6a9143dd7e56436b0f13b6cd601f61c0157af195
Order Hub- Professional
base:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-professional/om-orderhub-base:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:5c7c0ebe93e5d36222a102d7190514f9c2299c921fd906dbc5a12c2af5ef6219
extn:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-professional/om-orderhub-ext:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:d43342cec6740ddff2f972b40b5161ed04056667f2cb67e3351c4499eb61865d
Order Hub- Enterprise
base:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-enterprise/om-orderhub-base:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:5c7c0ebe93e5d36222a102d7190514f9c2299c921fd906dbc5a12c2af5ef6219
extn:
Image name: icr.io/cp/ibm-oms-enterprise/om-orderhub-ext:10.0.2309.2-amd64
Digest: sha256:d43342cec6740ddff2f972b40b5161ed04056667f2cb67e3351c4499eb61865d
Enhanced Operator installation in an airgap environment
If you encounter issues pulling images from your airgap environment, you can now generate a new catalog image and push it to your registry. For more information, see create a new catalog image.
Support to install additional packages in Liberty
A new flag --LIBERTY_ADDONS is added to install additional packages for WebSphere Application Server Liberty. Use this flag to install add-ons when you run the generateImages.sh script. For more information, run generateImages.sh --help or see Advanced image build options.
New configuration to define Horizontal Pod Autoscalers (HPAs)
Use this feature to define a list of Horizontal Pod Autoscalers (HPAs) to automatically manage the number of pods in the deployment. It is available for OMServer, Order Hub, Order Service, and Call Center in both integrated and independent modes. For more information, see horizontalPodAutoscalers parameter.
Ability to toggle between automatic and manual management of specifications through annotation
Use the newly introduced annotation named apps.oms.ibm.com/auto-managed to automatically scale the deployments with the custom resources. For more information, see Annotations used in IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator.
Support to enable Kafka based logging
A new annotation apps.oms.ibm.com/enable-kafka-logging is introduced to enable IBM Sterling Order Management System Software to send logs that are generated to a kafka topic. This feature is available for OMServer, Data Management, and Order Service only. For more information, see Configuring Kafka log parameter.
New option to specify an alias name for JWT
A new property named alias is introduced to specify a custom name for the JWT when defining your own key-pair. This property is also available for Order Service integrated and independent modes. For more information, see JWT alias in common parameter.
Enhanced data management configuration to set admin password for initial login
When you use the create mode in dataManagement, it's now essential to set the consoleAdminPassword in the secret to the password of the admin user for the database. This ensures that you are aware of the password that is needed to log in to your database for the first time. For more information, see dataManagement parameter.
Automation of initialization scripts by using additionalMounts
You can now choose to mount your initialization scripts to the pods, which allows the scripts to run automatically when the application and agent servers start. Use additionalMounts to mount initialization scripts to a specific location inside the pod. For more information, see Automation of initialization scripts by using additionalMounts.
Enhancements to ingress configuration
  • For Order Hub and Call Center, the ingress property is moved from the base and extn specification to the main specification. For more information, see orderHub parameter and callCenter parameter.
  • For Order Hub, Call Center, and Order Service, the customDomains property is moved to networking.ingress.
  • Order Service now includes ingress in integrated mode. For more information, see orderService parameter.
  • In the Order Service name, the apps.oms.ibm.com/apps=oserv label is removed, and the name of the ingress no longer includes the -ingress suffix.

13 October 2023 (10.0.2309.1)

Changed Order Service security to use SSL
You can now configure your truststore for Order Service by using SSL inside security that is by configuring security.ssl.trust. The old way of configuring security without SSL (security.trust) is deprecated. For more information about configuring SSL, see Security section of OrderService Custom Resource.
Support for OIDC provider login
IBM Sterling Order Management System Software certified containers now supports OIDC login through the Operator. For more information about configuring the application to support OIDC login, see Supporting OIDC provider login in Operator.

29 September 2023 (10.0.2309.0)

IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising containerization
The IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising services for Inventory and Promising are now generally available through Sterling Order Management System Software Enterprise Container. With IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Standard Operator, you can deploy and manage your application on any cloud, and any platform, regardless of the provider and without compatibility issues. For more information about IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising containerization, see IBM Certified Containers.
Changes to OMEnvironment initiates pod redeployment
Now, any property changes to OMEnvironment or OMServer automatically redeploys pods for the new changes to take effect.
Resolved agent image failure issue
The agent image no longer fails with the error, /opt/ssfs/runtime/repository/xapi/template/merged/api does not exist.
Fixed invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference error
The invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference error that occurred when an order service is created in a non-integrated mode is fixed.

11 August 2023 (10.0.2306.2)

Custom annotations support
You can now add custom annotations to the deployments or pods by using the newly introduced podAnnotations spec. This spec is added to the common, OMServer, orderService, callCenter, restService, and healthMonitor parameters.
Ability to change time zone for all images
The time zone environment variable (TZ) is now supported for all the Sterling Order Management System Software images (app, agent, and base).
Logs of data management pod are saved to persistent volume
The logs of data management pod are now saved to persistent volume, <pv path>/logs/<data-management-pod-name>.log.
Support to copy pod labels to deployments
Now, the labels in the pod are also available in the deployments.
Resolved generateImages.sh failure issue
The generateImages.sh script no longer fails with status 1, when the RPM packages are latest.

13 July 2023 (10.0.2306.1)

This release only includes changes to consume the latest container images and no enhancements are made to the IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator.

16 June 2023 (10.0.2306.0)

Note: This release includes changes relating to IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator only. If you are upgrading from 1.0.4 (or earlier) version, you can directly upgrade to version 1.0.6, and skip version 1.0.5. The 1.0.6 upgrade includes all the enhancements from the 9 June 2023 release.
Auto-generated default password for fresh installation
When you install the IBM Sterling Order Management System Software on a fresh database or schema, the default password for user admin is now generated automatically. While running the data management job with create mode, a script is run by the end to reset the password for SYSTEM_USER (admin). The password is fetched from the consoleAdminPassword of spec.Secret. For more information, see configuring dataManagement.
Changes to IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator controller
A new label for the webhook service is introduced so that it selects the OMS controller manager pod only. When upgrading to Operator 1.0.5 or later, you must remove the existing cluster service version (CSV) by running the following command. This change does not impact your existing deployments.
kubectl/oc delete csv ibm-oms-<edition>.v<version>
Resolved long agent server names issue that failed Readiness Check
The property yfs.heartbeat.serverid.usegeneratedkey: true that is added by default in the IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator 1.0.5 and later, generates server IDs based on a unique random number for each JVM. This may cause the readiness check for the agent servers to fail if the agent server name is long.
Do any of the following actions to fix this issue:
  • Upgrade to IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator version 1.0.6 where there is no dependency on the OMS images.
  • Set the yfs.heartbeat.serverid.usegeneratedkey to false so that the existing working agent servers continue to function.
  • Move to the latest OMS images with tag 10.0.0.2306.0-amd64.

9 June 2023 (10.0.2306.0)

Deploying IBM Sterling Call Center in containers
You can now deploy the Sterling Call Center application in containers.
Enhancements in deploying Order Hub in containers
  • Order Hub routes are now created on the same domain as the appServer with the smcfs contextRoot. It does not have its own domain now. For more information about identifying the backend server, see Preparing for OrderHub deployment.
  • If you have specified the customDomains for the orderHub server, you must update them to be in the same domain as the smcfs server. For more information about customDomains, see Creating multiple ingress hosts by using customDomains.
  • Instead of a / route, route is created for each UI module (9 routes).
  • Option to add environment variables (envVars) in the containers. For more information, see Environment variables (envVars).
  • Option to disable the SSL is now available for Order Hub. If the SSL is already disabled, you must install the latest Order Hub images.
  • The URL to access Order Hub is updated. For more information about the login URL, see Preparing for OrderHub deployment.
Enhancements in deploying Order Service in containers
  • Creating multiple ingress hosts for Order Service is now supported. Use the newly introduced parameter named customDomains for Order Service to provide multiple custom domain names over which your application is exposed. For more information, see Configuring orderService parameter.
  • A new validation is added to only accept createDevInstance or contactPoints but not both.
Activate Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility as a part of Sterling Order Management System Software operator data management
A new annotation apps.oms.ibm.com/activate-iv-integration is added for the user to activate the Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility integration. For more information, see Enabling Sterling Inventory Visibility integration for Sterling Order Management System Software.
Enhanced server.xml file to make unique JSESSIONID in OMServer

The server.xml file for each application server now has unique cookieName in the <httpSession cookieName=<unique cookie name per OMServer> />. The server.xml path is /config/server.xml and the cookieName follows the format of <Upper Case Deployment Name>-JSESSIONID.

Enhancements to generateImages.sh script
Enhanced heartbeat support
  • New heartbeat probes are added to support isccs and wscdev.
  • In the Operator version 1.0.5 (and later), a property yfs.heartbeat.serverid.usegeneratedkey: true is added by default. If the property is set to true, then for each JVM, the server ID is generated based on a unique random number.

12 May 2023 (10.0.2303.2)

New annotations for ActiveMQ and data management
  • Following annotations are introduced to automatically install and configure the ActiveMQ driver.
    • apps.oms.ibm.com/activemq-install-driver
    • apps.oms.ibm.com/activemq-driver-url
  • The apps.oms.ibm.com/skip-ddls annotation is introduced to skip Database Definition Languages (DDLs) from being applied when the data manager is running.

    For more information, see Annotations used in Sterling Order Management System Operator.

Support to define servers with 0 replica

You can now create app, agent, and integration servers with 0 replica.

30 March 2023 (10.0.2303.0)

Support for passing customer overrides through configMaps by using additionalMounts

You can now use additionalMounts to pass customer overrides through a configMap. For more information, see Passing customer overrides through configMaps by using additionalMounts.

Support for creating multiple ingress hosts

Use the newly introduced parameter named customDomains to provide multiple custom domain names over which your application is exposed. With this support, the custom domains continue to point to a fixed CNAME (custom domain name) than having to update it on your domain provider, when you use sub-domains that are generated by IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator. For more information, see Creating multiple ingress hosts by using customDomains.

Added upgradeStrategy for OMServer, healthMonitor, restService, orderHub, and orderService

You can now specify the upgrade deployment strategy by using the upgradeStrategy parameter that is introduced for OMServer, healthMonitor, restService, orderHub, and orderService. Available upgradeStrategy options are RollingUpdate and Recreate.

Internal prefix for Operator annotations

Annotations that are used internally by the IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator are now prefixed as internal. As a consequence of this change, you may observe a few stale deployments of restService and healthMonitor, when upgrading the Sterling Order Management System Software Operator from 1.0.2 to 1.0.3. You can safely delete these stale deployments once the healthy deployments of restService and healthMonitor are started.

Added url parameter for DB2 and PostgreSQL

The url parameter is now added for DB2 and PostgreSQL databases. For more information, see Configuring database parameter.

Added className for common and profile for dataManagement

Added support for ingress className in common and ability to configure profile for dataManagement pods.

Enhanced data management upgrade

Data management upgrade now supports moving from legacy to continuous delivery fix pack.

Enhanced class loader to build app images with WebSphere profile as Liberty

The app image now uses WebSphere profile as Liberty during build, when setting up a fresh database with factory data, and thus improving application utilization. For more information, see example of generating app image with WebSphere profile as Liberty.

Upgraded Order Service to 10.0.2303.0

Order Service is upgraded to work with Elasticsearch server version 7.17.9 since March 2023 (10.0.2303.0). For more information, see Updating to 10.02303.0.

Completed security fixes

November 2022 (10.0.2209.1)

Support for standalone Order Hub Custom Resource
You can now deploy Order Hub independent of OMEnvironment Custom Resource. For more information about configuring Order Hub, see Order Hub (OrderHub) Custom Resource.
Support to create ad hoc OMServer resources
The OMServer resources can now be created on ad hoc basis. These OMServer resources function in conjunction with parameters such as database, storage, image, and more that are defined in the OMEnvironment Custom Resource. The ad hoc OMServer resources are not owned by the OMEnvironment.
Creating agent or integration servers as a Kubernetes Job or CronJob
A property named allowTermination.schedule is introduced for agent and integration servers. Configure the allowTermination.schedule property based on the kind of resource (Job or CronJob) that you want to create. For more information, see Agent and integration server properties.
Capability to connect Oracle using TNS name
A new parameter named url is introduced to establish connection with Oracle database using TNS name. The url parameter is applicable for Oracle database only. For more information, see Configuring database parameter.
Download updated packages for om-base image
A flag named REFRESH_RPM_CACHE is introduced to refresh the RPM cache, when generating om-base images. Setting this flag to true ensures the updated packages for installation are downloaded. For more information, see ../customization/c_OMRHOC_customizing_OMS_runtime.html#concept_ytb_vmv_rrb__gencusimage.

September 2022 (10.0.2209.0)

Installing Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation)

Sterling Store Engagement can now be installed on certified containers. For more information about the installation instructions, see Installing Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation) on certified containers.

Support for vanilla Kubernetes (k8s) cluster
The IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator now supports vanilla Kubernetes cluster.
Support for PostgreSQL database
The Sterling Order Management System Software Operator now supports PostgreSQL database. For more information about enabling PostgreSQL in Developer Toolkit, see install developer toolkit with PostgreSQL database. For more information about customizing containers for PostgreSQL, see customization runtime for PostgreSQL.
Application server startup optimization
The application server startup is optimized by deploying only the WAR files listed in the contextRoots while the other WAR files are automatically masked. This helps in saving valuable CPU and memory, and improving server startup time.

For example, Rest service that is deployed using the OOB om-app image only consumes 25% of the resources while taking about 20% of the time to start, compared to earlier deployments. This is achieved because only smcfs WAR is loaded in Liberty, while remaining WAR files (sbc, sma, isccs, wsc, isf) are masked.

Support for propertyRef in serverProperties
Support for propertyRef is added for configMaps and secrets in customerOverrides, envVars, and jvmArgs sections of serverProperties. For more information, see Configuring propertyRef parameter.
JWT private key automation
As part of OMEnvironment creation, the Sterling Order Management System Software Operator now generates JSON Web Token (JWT) private key preemptively, if it does not already exist. This capability provides seamless integration of Order service, Order hub, and more. Previously, JWT private key was generated only when JWT API was accessed.
Support for API javadocs deployment
Support for deploying API javadocs through the Sterling Order Management System Software Operator is added. For more information, see Deploying smcfsdocs.
Support for mounting additional volumes to specific pods
Additional volumes can now be mounted only to those pods that match the criteria instead of mounting to all the pods. A new property matchLabels is added to additionalMounts for configMaps, secrets, and storages. The  matchLabels are compared against podLabels to conditionally mount the additional volumes into the pods. For more information about matchLables, see Configuring additionalMounts parameter.
Capability to install reference implementation
Data management now provides the ability to install reference implementation (matrix or aurora) based on an annotation. For more information, see Annotations used in Sterling Order Management System Operator.
Note: The reference implementation is meant for development and demo purposes only.
OIDC support for developer toolkit
You can now configure the application to support OIDC provider login from the developer toolkit environment. For more information, see Supporting OIDC provider login in developer toolkit environment.
IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Order Service (General Availability)
The IBM Sterling Order Management System Software introduces a comprehensive Order Service feature that provides more scalable and robust Order Search and Order Archival capabilities by using a modernized technology stack and architecture.
Order Service is now available through certified containers. For more information about Order Service and the supported components, see Order Service overview.
Order Service (General Availability)
The IBM Sterling Order Management System Software introduces a comprehensive Order Service feature that provides more scalable and robust Order Search and Order Archival capabilities by using a modernized technology stack and architecture.
Order Service is now available through certified containers. For more information about Order Service and the supported components, see Order Service overview.

June 2022 (10.0.2206.0)

IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator (General Availability)
The IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator is now generally available. The Operator manages and automates the life cycle of your IBM Sterling Order Management System Software. The Operator provides custom resources to specify required application state and automatically creates/updates the Kubernetes resources to achieve the expected state. It is designed to have all the features of the Helm charts and more. For more information about the Operator, see Introduction to Sterling Order Management System Software Operator.
IBM Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation) containerization
The IBM Sterling Store Engagement is now available through certified containers. For more information about Sterling Store Engagement, see Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation).
Order Hub containerization
The Order Hub is now available through certified containers. For more information about Order Hub containerization, see Configuring Order Hub parameter.
Introduced Order Service in the developer toolkit
Order Service is now available in the certified containers developer toolkit. For more information about Order Service in certified containers developer toolkit, see Setting up the containerized developer toolkit environment.
Introduced Order Hub in the developer toolkit
The Order Hub is now available in the certified containers developer toolkit. For more information about Order Hub in certified containers developer toolkit, see Setting up the containerized developer toolkit environment.
Deploying Order Hub customizations
You can deploy your customizations so other users can use your customizations. For more information, see Deploying customizations.
Workload segregation for task queue agents
The workload segregation feature is now available for task queue agents to segregate workload by creating jobs with different segregation patterns. You can configure segregation patterns in the agent criteria of the task queue agents to process matching jobs.

The workflow segregation feature helps you process jobs with different workload and separate business flows in separate agent servers. You also have a flexibility to prioritize and run a particular type of workload with required resources to scale up the agent processing.

For more information, see Workload segregation for task queue agents.

Order size and Segregation filter indicators
New attributes are made available to apply different business flows for order processing. The order and release related API output, event data, and user exit input are enhanced to provide the following attributes:
  • Order attributes - IsLargeOrder, IsVeryLargeOrder, OrderSegregationFilter
  • Release attributes - IsLargeRelease, IsVeryLargeRelease, ReleaseSegregationFilter

    For more information about the order and release attributes, see Order and Release related API Javadoc.

    These indicators are also available as condition builder attributes so that you can easily add conditions in your order processing model. For more information about these attributes, see Condition builder attributes.

March 2022

IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Operator (Beta version)
Sterling Order Management System Software Operator is now available. For more information, see Sterling Order Management System Software Operator.

February 2022

Introduced IBM Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation) in the developer toolkit
Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation) is now available only in the developer toolkit for IBM Sterling Order Management System Software users. You can use Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation) to perform various customer service, order fulfillment, and inventory management tasks. For more information, see Using IBM Sterling Store Engagement (Next-generation).

In this release, Store Inventory Management is not supported in IBM Sterling Order Management System Software. For more information about the unsupported features, see Key capabilities of Sterling Store Engagement.

Introduced Order Hub in the developer toolkit
Order Hub is now available in the developer toolkit. You can use Order Hub to manage your fulfillment network and complete tasks like configuring node capacity, resolving exceptions, or creating orders. For more information about setting up Order Hub in the toolkit, see Overriding the default docker compose properties. For more information about how to use Order Hub, see Using Order Hub.
Updates to Db2 and MQ parts
The Db2 and MQ part numbers are updated to be in line with the latest support policies. For more information, see Downloading entitled packages.

October 2021

IBM Sterling Order Management System Software Order Service (Beta version)
Sterling Order Management System Software introduces a comprehensive Order Service feature that provides more scalable and robust order search and archive capabilities by using a modernized technology stack and architecture.

For more information about Order Service and the supported components, see Order Service overview.

September 2021

Withdrawal of Power architecture images
Effective September 2021, the Power architecture images are withdrawn.
Enabled Oracle database for developer toolkit
The application is enhanced to enable Oracle database for developer toolkit. You can now configure the developer toolkit to use a compatible Oracle database version. For more information about the support for developer toolkit for Oracle database, see Customizing the developer toolkit for Oracle database.

June 2021

Integrated Developer Toolkit
As part of this release, IBM provides the Integrated Developer Toolkit for Sterling Order Management System Software. The new Integrated Developer Toolkit reduces the complexity and enables the SI developers to set up a developer environment with ease. The Integrated Developer Toolkit setup takes care of setting up and configuring the middleware along with Sterling Order Management System Software runtime. For more information about the Integrated Developer Toolkit by using Docker compose, see Setting up the Integrated Developer Toolkit environment.
Note: The documentation provided for Developer Toolkit as part of Do It Yourself (DIY) model is different from this new Integrated Developer Toolkit.

For more information about the image tag versions, see Software Product Compatibility Reports.

Use a local copy of WebSphere Liberty
A new argument, --LIBERTY_IMG is included in generateImages.sh. When building the om-app image, pass this argument to generateImages.sh with the value of liberty image in the format <registry>/<image-name>. This enables you to use a copy of Liberty image from a local registry instead of downloading the Liberty image from Docker hub.

For more details about all available arguments, run the command, generateImages.sh -- help.

Connect to Db2 over a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) port
The global.database.ssl parameter is exposed in values.yaml to indicate whether Db2 is connected over SSL. If you set the value to ‘true’, specify the Db2 SSL port number for the global.database.port parameter. By default, the Db2 SSL port number is set to 50001.

For more information about connecting to Db2 over an SSL port, see Readme file.

When configuring Db2 for SSL, ensure that you use TLS version 1.2 by running the following command:
db2 update dbm cfg using SSL_VERSIONS TLSV12

For more information about configuring Db2 for SSL, see Configuring Db2 for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

March 2021

Updates to container images
The Sterling Order Management System Software container images are updated to fix pack 21. Also, Sterling Call Center is updated to fix pack 6 and Sterling Store Engagement (Legacy) is updated to fix pack 9. For more information about the image tag versions, see Software Product Compatibility Reports.

For more information about obtaining images, see Obtaining Sterling Order Management System Software images.

Override application and agent server names
The Helm chart provides the ability to override the application and agent server names to control the length of resource names.
Install certified containers in an air gap environment
You can install certified containers in an air gap environment where your OpenShift® Container Platform or Kubernetes cluster does not have access to the internet. For more information about air gap installation, see Installing certified containers in an air gap environment.
Manage SSL certificates for third-party integrations
To secure external connections, the Helm chart provides the ability to integrate SSL certificates for third-party integrations such as payments. For more information about configuring SSL to secure external connections, see the Readme file.
Generate JVM thread and heap dumps
The certified container images are shipped with utilities for capturing JVM thread and heap dumps. For more information about generating JVM thread and heap dumps, see Generating JVM thread and heap dumps.
Performance recommendations
IBM has evaluated the hardware requirements for achieving specific throughput with IBM Sterling Order Management System Software on OpenShift Container Platform. For more information about the performance recommendations, in the Readme file see "Recommended requirements" section.

December 2020

Updated Sterling Order Management System Software Helm chart
The Sterling Order Management System Software Helm chart is enhanced to include the following functionality:
  • The Sterling Order Management System Software Helm chart allows to add custom ConfigMaps and Secrets as volumeMount on the pods.
  • The deployment strategy is available as a configuration parameter in values.yaml for both Application Server and Agent Server deployments.
Support for Red Hat® OpenShift Container Platform version 4.6
The support for Helm UI in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform catalog version 4.6 enables you to configure your own Helm chart repository in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.
Attention: When deploying the Application server pods, if you want to use decimal values ensure to change the type to number in the values.schema.json file that is located in /properties/appserver/properties/resources/properties/limits/properties/

September 2020

Support for Little Endian Power (ppc64le) architecture
The Sterling Order Management System Software images are available for Linux® on x86-64 bit CPU architecture and Linux® on Power Systems 64-bit LE (Little Endian).
Note: Ensure that the nodes in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster are of the same architecture for both x86-64 and ppc64le.
Security annotations
Provision to add additional annotations and labels for Ingress and Service Kubernetes resources. For more information about adding annotations, see the Readme file.
Storage class for Persistent Volume
Pass the storageClassName attribute in values.yaml for Persistent Volume claim. For more information about storageClassName, see the Readme file.
Javadoc as an application image
Javadoc can be generated as an application image. For more information about generating Javadoc as an application image, see Generating Javadoc.
Language packs
The om-base image is bundled with Sterling Order Management System Software language packs. For more information about applying language packs, see Applying language packs.
Fix pack factory setup
The Helm chart conditionally applies fix pack factory setup based on the values provided.
Active MQ client driver
The om-base and om-agent images are bundled with activemq client.

April 2020

Downloading the Helm chart from Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Helm catalog
Starting Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.4, Helm charts are integrated with the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Helm catalog that enables to install Sterling Order Management System Software from Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Helm catalog.
For more information about installing Sterling Order Management System Software from Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Helm catalog, see Downloading the Helm chart.

March 2020

Revised support policy for certified containers
The support policy is revised for Sterling Order Management System Software certified containers. For more information, see Support policy for container delivery models.
Obtain Sterling Order Management System Software images from IBM Entitled Registry
The Sterling Order Management System Software images are now available for download from IBM Entitled Registry. This allows installation from a central repository rather than requiring downloads from Passport Advantage. For more information, see Obtaining Sterling Order Management System Software images.
Upgrade from non-container model to a container model
You can upgrade IBM Sterling Order Management System Software version 10.0 on OpenShift Container Platform cluster. For more information, see Upgrading your Sterling Order Management System Software environment for OpenShift Container Platform.
Support for Oracle database
You can deploy Sterling Order Management System Software on OpenShift Container Platform for Oracle database by using the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Management Console. For more information about Oracle database, see Customized certified containers.
Generate deployment patterns
The generateImages.sh script is enhanced that allows you to build independent images for each of the applications. For more information about generating deployment patterns, see Advanced image build options and deployment patterns.
Build differential images
You can build differential image so that only the modified content with respect to a reference image is skimmed into a new differential layer and a new image is created for further deployment. For more information about building differential images, see Advanced image build options and deployment patterns.
Combine image build modes
The generateImages.sh script is enhanced to build both applications and agent images at once on running the script. For more information about combining image build modes, see Advanced image build options and deployment patterns.
Migrate to Helm version 3
The Sterling Order Management System Software Helm chart additionally supports Helm version 3 along with Helm version 2. It is recommended that you migrate your deployments to Helm version 3. For more information about the migration instructions, see the Helm documentation.
Deploy a stand-alone REST API service
The Helm chart allows you to create a stand-alone deployment of om-app image and dedicate for REST services. For more information about deploying multiple application images, see Readme file.

December 2019

Integrate with IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility
Sterling Order Management System Software introduces phase 2 integration that is applicable only for new deployments, and not applicable for any existing deployments that uses IBM Sterling Global Inventory Visibility. In phase 2 integration, the supply, demand, and reservation data is stored only in IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility, and therefore, IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising Inventory Visibility is the master of inventory and reservations.
Learn more....

November 2019

Deploy Sterling Order Management System Software on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform
Sterling Order Management System Software is now fully supported on the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. You can configure and deploy the Sterling Order Management System Software images for both Professional and Enterprise Editions on a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
Learn more...
Product name changes
The product name for IBM Order Management Software has changed to IBM Sterling Order Management System Software.

December 2018

Control scheduling of pods
Sterling Order Management System Software is updated to provide support for node affinity, pod affinity, pod anti-affinity, and toleration to support control scheduling of pods and ensure maximum resiliency.
Generate Ingress TLS
For a non-production deployment, the process of generating an Ingress TLS is automated.
Kubernetes and Helm labels are supported
The labels and annotations are updated to the format that is recommended by Kubernetes to comply with Helm or Kubernetes best practices.
Learn more...
Custom environment variables
Sterling Order Management System Software provides the capability to specify the custom environment variables.