Release Notes
Abstract
This document contains the latest version of Release Notes for IBM® Support Assistant Team Server V5 and includes a list of the most recent known issues.
Content
- Highlights for 5.0.2.13 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.12 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.11 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.10 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.9 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.8 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.7 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.6 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.5 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.4 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.3 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.2 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.1 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.2.0 (Fix Pack 2)
- Highlights for 5.0.1.1 (Update)
- Highlights for 5.0.1.0 (Fix Pack 1)
- Configuration Options
- Installing IBM Support Assistant
- Getting Started
- Starting and Stopping the Server
- Installing Tools
- System requirements
- Known issues
- Contacting IBM
| Highlights for 5.0.2.13 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.13 fixes multiple vulnerabilities
ISA Team Server uses IBM Semeru Runtime Open Edition and ISA 5.0.2.13 has been
updated to IBM Semeru Runtime Open Edition JDK8u352 for currency and to fix
unspecified vulnerabilities.
updated to IBM Semeru Runtime Open Edition JDK8u352 for currency and to fix
unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.13 is
updated to WebSphere Liberty 22.0.0.11 for currency and to fix unspecified
vulnerabilities.
updated to WebSphere Liberty 22.0.0.11 for currency and to fix unspecified
vulnerabilities.
Note that all desktop tools were tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (with the latest 64-bit IBM Java 8 as the system JRE) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 8.6 (with the latest 64-bit OpenJDK Java 8 as the system JRE). There was 1 tool (WebSphere Cross Component Trace Logviewer) which worked on Windows 10, but did not work on RHEL 8.6. If you need to run this tool on Linux, its possible that other versions of Linux and/or other releases of Java 8 will work better with this tool.
Note that the IBM Monitoring and Diagnostic Tools - Health Center desktop tool has
been removed from ISA, as it was out of date, & subject to several security CVEs.
It has been superseded by a newer version of the tool, which can be found here:
been removed from ISA, as it was out of date, & subject to several security CVEs.
It has been superseded by a newer version of the tool, which can be found here:
ISA Team Server was tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (x86-64) edition and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 8 Update 6 (x86-64), but other supported 64-bit versions may also work. When running on AIX, the minimum is AIX Version 7.1 (ppc-64), where the OS level is at least 7100-04.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.12 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.12 fixes multiple vulnerabilities
ISA Team Server uses IBM Semeru Runtime Open Edition and ISA 5.0.2.12 has been
updated to IBM Semeru Runtime Open Edition JDK8u302 for currency and to fix
unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.12 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 21.0.0.10 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
Note that all desktop tools were tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (with the latest 64-bit IBM Java 8 as the system JRE) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 8.4 (with the latest 64-bit OpenJDK Java 8 as the system JRE). There were 2 tools (Health Center and WebSphere Cross Component Trace Logviewer) which worked on Windows 10, but did not work on RHEL 8.4. If you need to run these tools on Linux, its possible that other versions of Linux and/or other releases of Java 8 will work better with these 2 tools.
ISA Team Server was tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (x86-64) edition and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 8 Update 4 (x86-64), but other supported 64-bit versions may also work. When running on AIX, the minimum is AIX Version 7.1 (ppc-64), where the OS level is at least 7100-04.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.11 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.11 fixes multiple vulnerabilities
ISA Team Server uses AdoptOpenJDK OpenJ9 and ISA 5.0.2.11 has been updated to AdoptOpenJDK OpenJ9 JDK8u272 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.11 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 20.0.0.11 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
This release of ISA includes changes to the tools which are included/invoked from ISA. These changes include:
- All of the desktop tools were signed with a certificate that expires on November 25th, 2020. No changes to these tools were made other than to re-sign them using a valid updated certificate.
- As part of re-signing all the desktop tools, it was discovered that some were no longer working on the latest Operating Systems and releases of Java 8, or were superseded by another tool. These tools are described in detail below.
Removal of IBM Memory Analyzer (MA) and Interactive Diagnostic Data Explorer (IDDE)
All editions of these 2 tools have been removed, as they are no longer being actively developed internally. Although IBM MA & IDDE are no longer shipped with ISA you can download and use the Eclipse Community edition of Memory Analyzer here: https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/memory-analyzer-0
If you are using an IBM Java 8 JDK, you can also install the IBM DTFJ feature to enable Memory Analyzer to analyze heap and core dumps from IBM Java 8 JDKs. The IBM DTFJ feature should be listed as an available update site within Memory
Analyzer. If not it can be manually added and the update site is located here:
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/ibmdl/export/pub/software/websphere/runtimes/tools/dtfj/
All editions of these 2 tools have been removed, as they are no longer being actively developed internally. Although IBM MA & IDDE are no longer shipped with ISA you can download and use the Eclipse Community edition of Memory Analyzer here: https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/memory-analyzer-0
If you are using an IBM Java 8 JDK, you can also install the IBM DTFJ feature to enable Memory Analyzer to analyze heap and core dumps from IBM Java 8 JDKs. The IBM DTFJ feature should be listed as an available update site within Memory
Analyzer. If not it can be manually added and the update site is located here:
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/ibmdl/export/pub/software/websphere/runtimes/tools/dtfj/
Removal of the desktop edition of IBM Garbage Collection and Memory Visualizer (GCMV)
This tool is no longer in active development internally and is superseded by the Eclipse Community edition of GCMV here:
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/ibm-monitoring-and-diagnostic-tools-garbage-collection-and-memory-visualizer-gcmv
Note that the report edition of GCMV is still available in ISA, however it is also no longer being actively developed internally. If the report tool no longer meets your needs, it is recommended to use the Eclipse Community edition described above.
This tool is no longer in active development internally and is superseded by the Eclipse Community edition of GCMV here:
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/ibm-monitoring-and-diagnostic-tools-garbage-collection-and-memory-visualizer-gcmv
Note that the report edition of GCMV is still available in ISA, however it is also no longer being actively developed internally. If the report tool no longer meets your needs, it is recommended to use the Eclipse Community edition described above.
Removal of Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux (PTAT)
This tool is quite old with no plans for future development. Due to issues in getting it to run with the latest Operating Systems and releases of Java 8, it is being removed. There is no known replacement for the functionality provided by this tool.
This tool is quite old with no plans for future development. Due to issues in getting it to run with the latest Operating Systems and releases of Java 8, it is being removed. There is no known replacement for the functionality provided by this tool.
All desktop tools were tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (with the latest 64-bit IBM Java 8 as the system JRE) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.7 (with the latest 64-bit OpenJDK Java 8 as the system JRE). There were 2 tools (Health Center and WebSphere Cross Component Trace Logviewer) which worked on Windows 10, but did not work on RHEL 7.7. If you need to run these tools on Linux, its possible that other versions of Linux and/or other releases of Java 8 will work better with these 2 tools.
ISA Team Server was tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (x86-64) edition and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7 Update 6 (x86-64), but other supported 64-bit versions may also work. When running on AIX, the minimum is AIX Version 7.1 (ppc-64), where the OS level is at least 7100-04.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.10 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.10 fixes multiple vulnerabilities
ISA Team Server uses AdoptOpenJDK OpenJ9 and ISA 5.0.2.10 has been updated to AdoptOpenJDK OpenJ9 JDK8u252 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.10 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 20.0.0.5 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server was tested on Windows 10 Enterprise (x86-64) edition and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7 Update 6 (x86-64), but other supported 64-bit versions may also work. When running on AIX, the minimum is AIX Version 7.1 (ppc-64), where the OS level is at least 7100-04.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.9 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.9 fixes multiple vulnerabilities
ISA Team Server uses IBM Java SDK and ISA 5.0.2.9 has been updated to IBM Java SDK 8.0.5.41 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.9 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 19.0.0.9 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.8 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.8 provides updates and fixes multiple vulnerabilities
This release of ISA includes enhancements when transferring your data to IBM using the 'Transfer->Secure transfer to IBM' file action. These updates include:
- A change from anonymous uploads to only uploads that are authenticated with an IBM File Transfer ID.
- Support for a new "Case" ticket type.
The following details describe these key changes:
ISA will no longer support transferring data to IBM anonymously. Authentication will require a new IBM File Transfer ID (https://www.secure.ecurep.ibm.com/transferids/). This ID is tied to your IBMid but will be used specifically for sending files to IBM using services that do not support using an IBMid directly. There are now two extra fields for entering a File Transfer ID & Password in the dialog presented when transferring data from ISA.
For more information about this change, see the IBM's terms of service (https://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10739407).
As IBM transitions from PMRs to Cases, ISA now supports uploading files to an existing Case ticket type. This is the new ticket type used by the IBM MySupport service (https://www.ibm.com/mysupport). In addition, the optional notification via email has been removed. When files are uploaded to a case, the users associated with the case will be notified based on their MySupport notification preferences. ISA will continue to support PMR tickets in addition to this new ticket type.
ISA Team Server uses IBM Java SDK and ISA 5.0.2.8 has been updated to IBM Java SDK 8.0.5.30 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.8 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 19.0.0.3 for currency and to fix unspecified vulnerabilities.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.7 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.7 provides updates and fixes multiple vulnerabilities
This release of ISA removes built-in support for the legacy Win32/i386 platform. To use ISA on Windows, you will need a 64-bit version of Windows, whether installed via IBM Installation Manager or the all-in-one platform zips. If you currently have the Win32 version of ISA installed via Installation Manager, you will not be able to upgrade to this release. Instead, you will need a new install on 64-bit Windows. If you require ISA to run under a 32-bit JRE, you can use the ISA EAR & install it under WebSphere Application Server V8.5.0 (or higher) using a 32-bit Java 7 (or higher) JRE. Details on using the EAR deployment model can be found in the Installing section below.
There are vulnerabilities fixed in IBM® Runtime Environment Java™ Version 1.8.0 used by ISA 5.0.2.7. These issues were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in April 2018.
Vulnerability (CVE-2018-2790) An unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE related to the Java SE, Java SE Embedded Security component could allow an unauthenticated attacker to cause no confidentiality impact, low integrity impact, and no availability impact.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.7 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 18.0.0.2 for currency and to fix vulnerabilities.
Vulnerability (CVE-2017-1788) IBM WebSphere Application Server installations using Form Login could allow a remote attacker to conducts spoofing attacks.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.6 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.6 provides updates and fixes multiple vulnerabilities
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.6 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 17.0.0.4 for currency.
There are multiple vulnerabilities fixed in IBM® Runtime Environment Java™ Version 1.8.0 used by ISA 5.0.2.6. These issues were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in October 2017.
Vulnerability (CVE-2017-10295) An unspecified vulnerability related to the Java SE Networking component could allow an unauthenticated attacker to cause no confidentiality impact, low integrity impact, and no availability impact.
Vulnerability (CVE-2017-10355) An unspecified vulnerability related to the Java SE Networking component could allow an unauthenticated attacker to cause a denial of service resulting in a low availability impact using unknown attack vectors.
Vulnerability (CVE-2017-10356) An unspecified vulnerability related to the Java SE Security component could allow an unauthenticated attacker to obtain sensitive information resulting in a high confidentiality impact using unknown attack vectors.
| Highlights for 5.0.2.5 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.5 provides updates and fixes multiple vulnerabilities
The Desktop tools have been updated to replace an expiring code signing certificate.
The "Memory Analyzer [Web]" tool has been removed beginning with ISA 5.0.2.5. "Memory Analyzer [Report]" and "Memory Analyzer [Desktop]" can be used as an alternative to the Web edition of the tool.
There are multiple vulnerabilities fixed in IBM® Runtime Environment Java™ Version 1.8.0 used by ISA 5.0.2.5. These issues were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in Apr 2017.
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-9840) zlib is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an out-of-bounds pointer arithmetic in inftrees.c. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted document, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service.
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-9841) zlib is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an out-of-bounds pointer arithmetic in inftrees.c. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted document, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service.
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-9842) zlib is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an undefined left shift of negative number. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted document, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service.
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-9843) zlib is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a big-endian out-of-bounds pointer. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted document, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service.
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| Highlights for 5.0.2.4 (Update) |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.4 fixes multiple vulnerabilities.
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile and ISA 5.0.2.4 is updated to WebSphere Liberty 17.0.0.1 for currency.
Note: The "Memory Analyzer [Web]" tool does not run successfully under WebSphere Liberty 17.0.0.1. The tool does start but hangs and does not complete. "Memory Analyzer [Report]" and "Memory Analyzer [Desktop]" are not affected and can be used as an alternative to the Web edition of the tool. If you are unable to use the Report or Desktop editions of the Memory Analyzer tool, then do not upgrade to ISA 5.0.2.4.
There are multiple vulnerabilities in IBM® Runtime Environment Java™ Version 1.8.0 used by ISA 5.0.2.4. These issues were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in Jan 2017.
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-5547) An unspecified vulnerability related to the Libraries component could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service resulting in a low availability impact using unknown attack vectors.
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-2183) OpenSSL could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by an error in the DES/3DES cipher, used as a part of the SSL/TLS protocol. By capturing large amounts of encrypted traffic between the SSL/TLS server and the client, a remote attacker able to conduct a man-in-the-middle attack could exploit this vulnerability to recover the plaintext data and obtain sensitive information. This vulnerability is known as the SWEET32 Birthday attack.
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| Highlights for 5.0.2.3 (Update) |
ISA Team Server uses the IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile. Multiple vulnerabilities have been identified and corrected in the Liberty version shipped with ISA 5.0.2.3:
- Vulnerability (CVE-2016-0359) IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty is vulnerable to HTTP response splitting attacks. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability using specially-crafted URL to cause the server to return a split response, once the URL is clicked. This would allow the attacker to perform further attacks, such as Web cache poisoning, cross-site scripting, and possibly obtain sensitive information.
- Vulnerability (CVE-2016-0378) IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information caused by improper handling of exceptions when a default error page does not exist.
- Vulnerability (CVE-2016-5986) IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by the improper handling of responses under certain conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain server identification information. Responses from the server's exception (i.e before request is handled by an application) contains the "IBM WebSphere Application Server" string. Customer's security app scan flags it as a security risk.
The three vulnerabilities listed above are corrected in ISA Team Server 5.0.2.3. For more information see technical document: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21988267
Vulnerability (CVE-2016-3092) ISA Team Server uses the Apache Commons FileUpload component. Apache Commons is vulnerable to a denial of service caused by an error in the FileUpload component. By sending file upload requests, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause the server to become unresponsive. This vulnerability is corrected in Apache Commons FileUpload 1.3.2 now included in ISA Team Server 5.0.2.3. For more information see technical document: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21988279
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| Highlights for 5.0.2.2 (Update) |
- Due to continuing security enhancements, all inbound and outbound connections to ISA Team Server have been configured to accept and use only the TLSv1.2 protocol. This means that by default, you will need a web browser that is configured to use TLSv1.2 in order to connect to a Team Server instance.
- Vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-0475, CVE-2016-0466, CVE-2015-7575, CVE-2016-0448) includes the vulnerability commonly referred to as "SLOTH". There are multiple vulnerabilities in IBM® SDK Java™ Technology Edition that is shipped with IBM WebSphere Application Server. These issues were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in January 2016. These may affect some configurations of IBM WebSphere Application Server Full Profile, IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile, and IBM WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition. For details see: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21975424
- Vulnerability (CVE-2015-7450) in Apache Commons affects IBM WebSphere Application Server. An Apache Commons Collections vulnerability for handling Java object deserialization was addressed by WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition. This vulnerability does not affect the IBM HTTP Server or versions of Application Server prior to V7. For details see: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21970575
- Vulnerability (CVE-2015-2017) HTTP response splitting attack in WebSphere Application Server. There is a vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Application Server that could allow an HTTP response splitting attack in Channel. For details see: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21966837
- Vulnerability (CVE-2016-3426, CVE-2016-3427) There are multiple vulnerabilities in IBM® SDK Java™ Technology Edition that is shipped with IBM WebSphere Application Server. These issues were disclosed in the Oracle April 2016 Critical Patch Update, plus four additional vulnerabilities. For details see: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21982223
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| Highlights for 5.0.2.1 (Update) |
- Vulnerability (CVE-2015-0138) RSA-EXPORT keys" TLS/SSL client and server may affect some custom configurations of IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile shipped in IBM Support Assistant Team Server versions 5.0, 5.0.1.0, 5.0.1.1 and 5.0.2.0. You are not affected if you have not made changes to the default secure cipher list configuration shipped with ISA. However, if you have made changes to the secure cipher list configuration, make sure to apply this patch to prevent the possible vulnerability. For details see: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699865 and http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21698613.
- Vulnerability (CVE-2015-4000). The Logjam Attack on TLS connections using the Diffie-Hellman (DH) key exchange protocol affects IBM® Support Assistant versions 5.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.1.1 and 5.0.2.0. These were disclosed as part of the IBM Security Bulletin http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21959500.
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| Highlights for 5.0.2.0 (Fix Pack 2) |
- IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.0 includes fixes for multiple vulnerabilities in the IBM® SDK Java™ Technology Edition that is shipped with IBM Support Assistant Team Server versions 5.0, 5.0.1.0, and 5.0.1.1. These were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in October 2014 and January 2015. See http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21698120 for details.
- IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.2.0 fixes a problem that prevented uploading files to IBM via secure transfer through a proxy.
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| Highlights for 5.0.1.1 (Update) |
- IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.1.1 includes fixes for multiple vulnerabilities in the IBM® SDK Java™ Technology Edition that is shipped with IBM Support Assistant Team Server versions 5.0 and 5.0.1.0. These issues were disclosed as part of the IBM Java SDK updates in July 2014. See Security Bulletin: Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM Java SDK affect IBM Support Assistant Team Server July 2014 CPU for details.
- A fix has been provided in IBM Support Assistant Team Server 5.0.1.1 to disable SSL v3 which addresses the SSL Vulnerability described in our Security Bulletin: Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in SSLv3 affects IBM Support Assistant Team Server (CVE-2014-3566)
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| Highlights for 5.0.1.0 (Fix Pack 1) |
System Requirements
- With the introduction of Fix Pack 1 for IBM Support Assistant Team Server support is being removed for older browsers.
Internet Explorer 8 has known display and performance problems with the rich experience provided by IBM Support Assistant and will no longer be supported.
Firefox 17 ESR is no longer supported by Mozilla and will not be supported by IBM Support Assistant Team Server.
New Enhancements
- New ability to upload case files directly to IBM Support PMRs from the IBM Support Assistant Team Server user interface. This commonly requested feature is available from the context menu in the Files tab (Transfer > Secure transfer to IBM)
- Uploading files to IBM Support Assistant Team Sever now handles files exceeding 2 GB in size, multiple uploads, and pause/resume capabilities. Note: This feature only works with newer browsers.
- IBM Support Assistant Team Server now provides "Latest News" to keep you up to date with the latest information about IBM Support Assistant and problem determination tools. See the 'i' information icon in the application banner to access the latest news.
- Desktop tools provide new parameters which allow you to customize the minimum and maximum heap sizes.
- New screen shot support for Problem Determination tools in IBM Support Assistant Team Server so that you can get a better idea of the tool user interface.
- IBM Support Assistant Team Server provides support for additional types of problem determination tools. These provide bookmarks to tools which are hosted or downloadable outside of IBM Support Assistant, as well as providing update site locations for Eclipse plug-in tools.
- Several bug fixes and usability improvements.
Restriction changes
- The restriction for installing IBM Support Assistant Team Server on C: drive on Windows systems has now been lifted. Users may now install on drives other than C:
- Case number restrictions have been lifted. Users are no longer restricted to the 9999 case limitation.
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| Configuration Options |
By default the IBM Support Assistant Team Server application will look under the directory <ISA_install>/ISA5/isa as the location for "case files". To change the location for these files, modify the 'filestore.root' property in the file $HOME/isa.properties (you may need to create this file).
Example:
- filestore.root=/projects/isa
After changing the value of filestore.root, make sure that the directory it points to is writable and contains:
sub-directory 'cases'
sub-directory 'log' containing sub directory 'tools'
Example of a complete directory structure
- /projects
- /isa
- /cases
/log- /tools
- /cases
- /isa
Maximum heap size for problem determination tools
Some problem determination tools require a large heap to analyze diagnostic files. For example, heap analysis tools such as Memory Analyzer need a large heap to analyze very large heap dumps. See Installing Tools for information on setting JVM arguments and other configuration properties. You can set heap sizes for desktop tools at runtime.
Port configuration
The default port used for the IBM Support Assistant application is 10911 and users will automatically be redirected to a secure port at 10943.
These ports may be changed by modifying the following property values in the $HOME/isa.properties file (you may need to create this file).
- - opt.isa.server.http.port=10911
- opt.isa.server.https.port=10943
The default ports used for web tools such as Memory Analyzer are set in their individual properties files. See Installing Tools for information on setting port values and other configuration properties.
You may need to modify your firewall configuration to allow access to the ports used by IBM Support Assistant and any tools that run on the server(s).
X11 DISPLAY
On Linux, IBM Support Assistant makes use of X11 to generate images included in problem determination analysis output. If the DISPLAY environment variable is not valid, then some analysis output may indicate:
- Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
xorg-x11-server-Xvfb-1.1.1-48.76.el5_6.4
With this RPM installed, a virtual frame buffer accessible by way of "DISPLAY=:1" can be set up with the command:
/usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1024x768x16 &
If DISPLAY is not set, then ISA will try "DISPLAY=:1" as a default.
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| Installing IBM Support Assistant |
IBM Support Assistant Team Server v5 is now installed with IBM Installation Manager 1.8.0 or later.
Note: You can use IBM Installation Manager with a 32-bit or 64-bit architecture to install, update, or uninstall IBM Support Assistant Team Server and problem determination tools on Windows. However, you may see a warning stating that some packages are not supported with IBM Installation Manager 64-bit. There are no known problems using the 64-bit architecture, so you can safely ignore the message and proceed. To determine the architecture for IBM Installation Manager, click "Help -> About IBM Installation Manager" in the menu bar.
Detailed instructions for installing with IBM Installation Manager are available here: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27039277
EAR deployment
Using the WebSphere Application Server admin console, you can install the IBM Support Assistant JEE application in an existing WebSphere Application Server just as you would install other enterprise applications. The 'fast path' install via the admin console can typically be used. You will also need to separately install individual tool WAR files for some analysis tools.
The IBM Support Assistant EAR file and tool WAR files are obtained using IBM Installation Manager. The required EAR file is an optional in the IBM Installation Manager when installing IBM Support Assistant. There is not a separate installation package for the EAR deployment option and you will need to follow standard enterprise application deployment steps. Please refer to your WebSphere Application Server instructions for documentation on how to deploy EAR files.
The WAR files for tools are available in the <ISA_install>/ISA5/wlp/usr/servers/isa/dropins folder on the file system. These WAR files can be deployed to an existing WebSphere Application Server using standard web application deployment steps. Note that not all tools are delivered as WAR files - primarily desktop tools which are started via Java Web Start are deployed as WAR files. Many other tools, such as report generator tools, are installed into the <ISA_install>/ISA5/ToolBox folder and will not require deployment to WebSphere Application Server.
Detailed instructions for the EAR deployment option are available here: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27039275
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| Getting Started |
If the example case is deleted and you would like to restore it, you can simply unzip the 0000_example_case.zip file found in the <ISA_install>/ISA5/isa/cases directory. You may need to refresh your browser to pick up the '0000' example case from the file system.
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| Starting and Stopping the Server |
Windows environments:
Start Server:
- To access shortcut icons for typical Windows installations, click on Start->All Programs->IBM Support Assistant 5 ->Start IBM Support Assistant 5, or you may open a command prompt and change the current directory to the <ISA_install>/ISA5 folder and run the start_isa.bat script to start the server.
Stop Server:
- To access shortcut icons for typical Windows installations, click on Start->All Programs->IBM Support Assistant 5 ->Stop IBM Support Assistant 5, or you may open a command prompt and change the current directory to the <ISA_install>/ISA5 folder and run the stop_isa.bat script to start the server.
Linux environments:
Start Server:
- Linux IBM Installation Manager only supports the IBM Support Assistant 5.0 desktop quick launch icon for GNOME2 and KDE3 desktops. If you are using a GNOME2 or KDE3 desktop, simply start the server by clicking on the Start IBM Support Assistant 5 icon from the Application or Development folder. The shortcut requires /usr/bin/xterm to be installed (for example, via 'yum install xterm') in order to work correctly. If you are not running a GNOME2 or KDE3 desktop, then open a terminal window and change the current directory to <ISA_install>/ISA5.
Then run the start_isa.sh script to start the server.
Stop Server:
- If you are using a GNOME2 or KDE3 desktop, simply stop the server by clicking on the Stop IBM Support Assistant 5 icon from the Application or Development folder. The shortcut requires /usr/bin/xterm to be installed (for example, via 'yum install xterm') in order to work correctly. If you are not running a GNOME2 or KDE3 desktop, then open a terminal window and change the current directory to <ISA_install>/ISA5. Then run the stop_isa.sh script to start the server.
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| Installing Tools |
- Problem determination tools can be installed, updated and uninstalled through the IBM Support Assistant Tools Administration view in addition to using IBM Installation Manager. Refer to the IBM Support Assistant Knowledge Center for details on using the Tools Administration view to manage tools.
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- Note: Managing tools through the Tools Administration view is possible only if IBM Support Assistant was installed with IBM Installation Manager.
- Many tools are configurable through a properties file. For example, some tools allow you to change the default JVM arguments. Each configurable tool has a properties file located in '<ISA_install>/ISA5/ToolBox/<tool_ID>/<tool_ID>.properties'. A tool's ID is available in its entry on the Tools Administration tab. See "Configuring IBM Support Assistant" in the IBM Support Assistant Knowledge Center for details on setting property values for PD tools.
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- Note: properties files are used only for report and Web tools.
| System Requirements |
- Linux RedHat 6 Update 5 (x86-64) - See configuration notes above about X11 display requirements
- Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 with SP1, or Windows 7 with SP1 (x86-32 and x86-64)
- AIX V7.1 (ppc-64)
Hard disk space
- Minimum 900MB (additional space may be required for optional tool add-ons, logs, case artifacts and optional EAR file for enterprise deployments)
Memory
- Minimum 512MB physical memory (1GB or more recommended, depending on artifacts analyzed by diagnostic tools).
Browsers
- Internet Explorer 9 or 10
- Firefox 24 ESR or higher
- Google Chrome Version 28 or higher
WebSphere Application Servers
- When deploying IBM Support Assistant as an EAR into an existing WebSphere Application Server, v7.0.0.21 or higher is required.
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| Known Limitations |
- The product does not support installation into a directory path that contains '.' characters or space characters.
- When extracting the all-in-one zip to a long path name in Windows on C: drive, then the unzip will fail to extract several Health Center files because they are too long. To avoid this issue, IBM recommends extracting to a short path (e.g., C:\IBM\ISA5).
- When extracting all-in-one tar.gz on AIX, you must use GNU `tar' to extract the contents due to limitations in the AIX 'tar' command's ability to handle long path names in the tar.gz file. (GNU `tar' for AIX can be downloaded from ftp.software.ibm.com. Select the latest version available under:
/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc/tar/) - The 'filestore.root'' property in isa.properties is case-sensitive and requires the exact path to work properly.
- (e.g. filestore.root=c:\ISA5 versus filestore.root=c:\isa5)
- If configuring isa.properties on a Windows installation, all backslashes in a file path should be changed to double-backslashes ('\') or single forward slashes ('/')
- If deploying the IBM Support Assistant tools to an existing WebSphere Application Server, the Deployment Manager heap size should be increased to 512 MB to accommodate WAR files over 50 MB.
- When installing or upgrading a tool with the IBM Support Assistant Administration Console, you are prompted to enter your IBM ID and password. If your browser's auto-complete function is enabled, you will be prompted to save your user ID and password in the browser's password manager. Once saved, the next time the install or upgrade dialog is displayed, you will be able to use the saved information. Your user ID and password are saved on all supported browsers, however, on Internet Explorer 9, if the install or upgrade dialog is displayed a second time before reloading the Administration Console and the same user ID is selected, the password field will not be automatically filled in as expected.
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- Workaround:
Because the information has been saved, simply reload the Administration Console page in the browser window. The next time the install or upgrade dialog is displayed, you will see the last saved password automatically filled for your IBM ID.
- Workaround:
- Tools which are hosted outside of IBM Support Assistant, downloadable from external sites, or provided as update site locations for Eclipse plug-ins are not included in the all-in-one zip offering.
- IBM Support Assistant requires fully qualified domain names when starting sessions with Web tools. If you attempt to launch a Web tool and the host name in the URL for the tool's browser window doesn't match the IBM Support Assistant's host name, then you may need to update your DNS configuration or 'hosts' file.
- When you install web tools such as "Memory Analyzer [Web]" you must restart IBM Support Assistant before the tool can be used. This is necessary because web tools run in separate application servers which are started at the same time as IBM Support Assistant.
- Periodically a 404 error may be returned when you launch Memory Analyzer Web Edition. If this occurs then stop IBM Support Assistant and restart it.
- Memory Analyzer [Web] does not support Internet Explorer 9 or Firefox 29 and later.
Desktop Tools
- NOTE: Java Web Start technology is used to launch desktop tools from a browser as Java processes. They do not require or use a Java browser plug-in. Instead, desktop tools run as a normal Java processes on your workstation, not in your browser. Your workstation only needs a Java Runtime Environment to launch desktop tools.
- When running desktop tools with Oracle Java 1.7 update 7 on Windows 7 64-bit you might see a security warning saying that the application's digital signature has expired. Then if you click the "Run" button you might see a pop-up with the message "Failed to validate certificate. The application will not be executed." The problem is related to online certificate validation and Oracle has documented a workaround in their bug database: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=7197652.
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- Note that after implementing the workaround you might still see the security warning saying that the certificate has expired, but the tool should launch successfully.
- When IBM Support Assistant launches the Health Center via Java Web Start into an Oracle JRE, the tool fails to connect to health center agents running in IBM JVMs. You can work around the problem by changing the transport protocol the health center agent uses to communicate with Java applications. To change the transport protocol set the following argument on any IBM JVMs the Health Center will monitor.
- -Xhealthcenter:transport=jrmp
- For additional information about this workaround, see technote:
www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21622012
- The desktop editions of Health Center, Memory Analyzer, and Garbage Collection and Memory Visualizer (GCMV) currently run only on Windows and they require a Java 7 runtime environment.
- The Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux currently runs only in a Java 6 runtime environment.
- The Automated Analysis stores all of its data within a database file that is kept within each specific case. Therefore, when ISA case files are copied from one server to another, the case directory location must remain consistent or the Automated Analysis will not find the referenced files. To bring the files back into sync Automated Analysis will need to be re-run on the target server.
- In some instances the left and right side of the User Interface on the Tool Administration panel will not be in sync. This sometimes happens when you try to use a filter Tag. For example, the Install button is visible, although the selected tool has already been installed or the un-install button is visible, although the tool has never been installed. If you run into this scenario, you can simply select "All Tags" to resolve the issue.
- When you launch a report or Web tool from the Tools tab, the launch dialog includes a Browse button for selecting the artifacts to be analyzed. The Launch button on the dialog is disabled by default and should remain disabled until at least one artifact is selected. However, if you click the Browse button and then click OK or Cancel without selecting any files or folders, the Launch button on the launch dialog will be enabled when the file browser closes. That means you could submit a request to run a tool with no artifacts selected and when that happens the server returns an error saying that the path to the file is invalid.
- BiDi mirroring of the user interface is not supported.
- When using the file action 'Compress' along with the 'gzip' compression method on a single file, the application will automatically append the file extension '.gz' to whatever is specified in the 'Archive file name' input field. When the file action 'Unpack' is invoked against a file that ends with '.gz', the new uncompressed file's name will not include the '.gz' file extension.
- After upgrading to 5.0.1, the automated analysis detail pane may be empty for files that had previously been analyzed. This issue will only occur when Team Server is installed on a Windows system and the filestore.root configuration property had specified a lower case drive letter (e.g. filestore.root=c:/isa). To correct this issue, simply rescan the case and reload the case when the scan is complete.
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| Contacting IBM |
Enjoy!
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Document Information
Modified date:
15 December 2022
UID
ibm16848145