Release notes for Rational Integration Tester, Rational Test Virtualization Server, and Rational Performance Test Server, Version 8.7.0

Read about new features, system requirements, installation, known issues, and support for IBM® Rational® Integration Tester, IBM Rational Test Virtualization Server, IBM Rational Performance Test Server, version 8.7.0.

Description
New features and enhancements
System requirements
Installing Rational Integration Tester and Rational Test Control Panel 8.7.0
Installing Rational Performance Test Server 8.7.0
Installing Rational Test Virtualization Server 8.7.0
Known problems
Contacting IBM Rational Software Support
Notices and trademarks

Description

IBM Rational Test Workbench delivers end-to-end functional, regression, load, and integration testing to address the quality challenges of highly complex and integrated applications. This offering includes the following installable components:

Rational Integration Tester, a scripting-free environment for developing tests for SOA messaging and business process integration projects. Tests can be built by recording existing system behaviors or from requirements, by entering the data to send and the data that is expected in return. You can also create virtual services to remove test dependencies and enable earlier testing. Virtual services can be deployed by Rational Test Virtualization Server to provide on-demand virtualized test environments that can support all phases of the test development lifecycle.
Rational Test Control Panel, a server-based web application that provides a central repository for virtualized services. With Rational Test Control Panel, you can use virtual services that are published by Rational Integration Tester to create, share, and deploy virtualized test environments in Rational Test Virtualization Server. It also contains technology-specific components that are used by Rational Integration Tester for recording SOA message conversations, HTTP(S) and JDBC traffic, and for monitoring middleware systems under test with minimal reconfiguration of client applications.

New features and enhancements

A new Home perspective features links to videos, interactive guides, and other materials to help you get started and learn more about automated testing. If you are a new user, watch the Orientation video to become familiar with the user interface perspectives. For more information, see Getting started with Rational Integration Tester.
A new set of interactive guides provides a quick overview of many different capabilities, with new users in mind. Some guides highlight what you can do, while others run the application automatically for you.
You can now virtualize access to an IBM DB2® database on System z from a CICS COBOL program. You can use this process to create a simulation database that is used at run time and that contains data that you control. For more information, see Creating database stubs.
Watch-mode recording was added for JMS queues. You can now record JMS messages as they are added to a queue without having Rational Integration Tester subscribe to the queue and consume the messages. For more information, see Recording Java Message Service (JMS) traffic.
Sift and pass-through support was added for the JMS transport. Virtual services and live services can now run at the same time, and the virtual service can decide whether to process the JMS message or pass it through to the live system. For more information, see Sift-and-pass-through capability.
Multiple queue-based or TCP virtual services (stubs) that run on the same engine, or run in Rational Integration Tester, can subscribe to the same input and can access and filter the same set of messages. For example, multiple virtual services can subscribe to the same IBM WebSphere® MQ queue and run filters based on message content. Previously only one of the virtual services would have seen the message. For more information, see Creating a stub that manages multiple operations.
The topology discovery feature in Rational Integration Tester is now a view within the Architecture School perspective rather than a wizard. You can leave the discovery feature running and return to it to create more resources over time instead of completing the process as a continuous effort. In addition to creating physical and logical resources from the observations, the process now creates operations where appropriate, making it easier to go from discovery to the creation of tests and virtual services. You can add an observation point for WebSphere MQ by using the new "Other" section. For more information, see Topology Discovery overview.
If you use the Recording Studio Save wizard to create a stub, and a single input message for an operation results in multiple, different output messages from the live system, then the wizard automatically creates a reply-sequenced event handler in the stub. Each time the input message is received, the event handler sequences through the output messages in order. Use reply sequencing to build deterministic virtual services for regression testing. For more information, see Reply-sequenced stubs.
The use of SSL within the HTTP, TCP, and MQTT transports was significantly simplified. In most situations, much less setup is required. You can also create a certificate automatically as part of the configuration process. For more information, see Creating physical web server resources.
When you create a new logical infrastructure component, Rational Integration Tester now also automatically creates a matching physical component, if and only if both of the following conditions are true:
- The logical component is a type that can only be bound to a single type of physical component. For example, a web server is the only physical component that can be bound to a logical HTTP connection.
- No physical component of this type already exists.
In many cases, this change reduces the number of clicks needed to create a physical component, while avoiding the creation of unwanted physical resources.
The field editor for a message now contains a check box labeled "Field is optional." If the check box is selected and the value of the field is NULL, the field is not sent as part of the message. Message or container nodes are also not sent if none of their children are sent. This behavior also applies to fields that are beneath field expanders.
When you create a project in Rational Integration Tester, a default environment is created with the same name as the unqualified hostname of your computer. This improvement reduces the number of clicks required to get up and running. You can then rename the environment, select a different one, or create another one.
When creating a test action that requires a database connection, Rational Integration Tester now provides a default value for the database where possible. The default database is found by searching for a database element as:
1. A direct dependency
2. An indirect dependency through another operation
3. A direct ancestor
Support was added for AS2 and S/MIME. For more information, see Formatting a message with MIME, S/MIME, DIME, and multipart content.
Support was added for PL/I data structures. For more information, see PL/I source file overview.
Support was added for the ISO 20022 standard. To download the ISO 20022 schemas from the ISO website, you must run a tool that is included with Rational Integration Tester. For more information, see ISO 20022 schema overview.
Support was added for WebSphere MQ 8 (Distributed). Support includes the MQ exit-based transport and queue recording.
The Rational Integration Tester Platform Pack is no longer a separate component of Rational Test Workbench. All of the technology-specific tool packages are now provided by Rational Test Control Panel. For more information about the tool packages, see Rational Integration Tester tool packages.
You can now create a stub performance profile by recording events in Recording Studio. Use this feature to configure a stub that responds with the same performance characteristics as the live service that the messages were recorded from. For more information, see Importing performance data from Recording Studio.
It is now possible to view or manage domains in Rational Test Control Panel by using the REST API. For more information, see Domains REST API specification.
The Requirements Library perspective has been removed, and all functionality for creating and managing Requirements is now available in the Test Factory perspective.
The Logical view of the Architecture School perspective was improved for easier readability and more intuitive layout and function. For more information, see The Logical View.
The icons for logical and physical resources were updated.
A new "Find References" option is available when you right-click a resource in the Test Factory tree. The results show all tests and stubs that link to the resource. This option is useful for, among other things, finding which tests a requirement has been linked to.
The dialog box for applying a schema to a message was rewritten to make the process simpler and more intuitive. A preview of the selected message is also now included. See Applying schemas and formats to messages.
The CICS Transaction Server agent, which was formerly written in Java, was rewritten in native C language on the z/OS platform to make it more efficient. The agent is also now available for CICS version 4.1 and version 3.2. The older Java version was removed and the new, native version is required. For more information, see Recording and virtualizing DPL calls in CICS Transaction Server.
When you start a stub in Rational Test Virtualization Server from Rational Test Control Panel, you can now specify one of these test engine types:
Standard Engine

Multiple stubs that share an environment can use the standard engine simultaneously.

Dedicated Engine

You can assign a specific engine and JVM parameters to an individual stub. Advanced users can take advantage of this option to have a finer level of control over the JVM that runs the stub.

For more information, see Rational Test Control Panel: Start stub window
Support was added for Software AG webMethods Integration Server and Broker version 9.6 and version 9.7.
Support was added for JDBC Virtualization from within Software AG's webMethods Integration Server. Both wmDB and JDBC Adapter configuration connections are supported.
Support was added for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in most transports. For limitations and other information see Configuring the HTTP proxy for IPv6.
Support was added for HP Quality Center 12.0. For more information, see Setting up HP Quality Center 11.x and 12.0 client.
You can now run Rational Integration Tester, Rational Test Virtualization Server, and Rational Performance Test Server on Windows Server 2012.
You can now use Oracle 12 as a results database.
Configuration for the WebSphere MQ transport has been simplified. You can now select the Queue Manager name from a filtered list rather than having to type the full name by hand.
When you search recorded events by using Ctrl-F in the Recording Studio perspective, if the "Search header" option is selected, then the event description will also be searched.

System requirements

For system requirements specific to this release of Rational Test Workbench, see the system requirements document at System Requirements for Rational Test Workbench.

Installing Rational Integration Tester and Rational Test Control Panel 8.7.0

You cannot directly upgrade Rational Integration Tester and Rational Test Control Panel packages from any of the earlier versions to 8.7. You must uninstall the existing version and then install the version 8.7 package. For information about the upgrade requirements, see:

For instructions on installing, see:

Installing Rational Performance Test Server 8.7.0

You cannot directly upgrade Rational Performance Test Server packages from any of the earlier versions to 8.7. You must uninstall the existing version and then install the version 8.7 package. To install Rational Performance Test Server, you must install Rational Integration Tester Agent in the appropriate mode. For information about installation, see Installing Rational Performance Test Server.

Installing Rational Test Virtualization Server 8.7.0

You cannot directly upgrade Rational Test Virtualization Server packages from any of the earlier versions to 8.7. You must uninstall the existing version and then install the version 8.7 package. To install Rational Test Virtualization Server, you must install Rational Integration Tester Agent in the appropriate mode. For information about installation, see Installing Rational Test Virtualization Server.

Known problems

Known problems are documented in the download document for each product and in the form of individual technotes in the Support Knowledge Base:

Table 1. Download documents and technotes
Product	Download document	Knowledge Base
Rational Test Workbench	http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24039414	http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/all_troubleshooting_links/rational/rational_test_workbench?productContext=-1242920191
Rational Test Virtualization Server	http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24039416	http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/all_troubleshooting_links/rational/rational_test_virtualization_server?productContext=-1234805781
IBM Rational Performance Test Server	http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24039417	http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/product/rational/rational_performance_test_server?productContext=-1563869467

The knowledge base is continually updated as problems are discovered and resolved. By searching the knowledge base, you can quickly find workarounds or solutions to problems.

Contacting IBM Rational Software Support

IBM Rational Software Support provides you with technical assistance.

For contact information and guidelines or reference materials that you will need when you require support, read the IBM Software Support Handbook.

For personalized support, including notifications of significant upgrades, register at http://www.ibm.com/support/mysupport/.

For Rational software product news, events, and other information, visit the IBM Rational Software Web site.

Before you contact IBM Rational Software Support, gather the background information that you will need to describe your problem. When describing a problem to an IBM software support specialist, be as specific as possible and include all relevant background information so that the specialist can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions:

What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
Do you have logs, traces, or messages that are related to the problem?
Can you reproduce the problem? If so, what steps do you take to reproduce it?
Is there a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to describe the workaround.

Notices and trademarks

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