Release Notes - IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0

Content

For a list of new features in the latest SPSS Modeler release, see the topic “New Features in IBM SPSS Modeler 18.0” in the online help or Knowledge Center.

To view a list of issues corrected in this release, see the fix list.

System requirements and installation

For information regarding requirements and installation, see the Product Compatibility Report. Reports for other products can be found here.

Windows - run as administrator

If you are installing on a Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 operating system, you must use "Run as Administrator" by first right-clicking on the executable.

Ubuntu 14 and Linux

With Linux, there can be issues with installing Modeler Server on Ubuntu 14. For an explanation of the workaround please see the following: https://flexeracommunity.force.com/customer/articles/en_US/PROBLEM/Malformed-uxxxx-Encoding-Error-Generated-when-Launching-Installer

Running Text Analytics Server as a service
On Windows, running Text Analytics Server as a service requires that the directory C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Temp exists. Before installing IBM SPSS Modeler Premium Server on Windows, verify the existence of this directory and create it if needed.

Single sign-on for data sources

You can connect to databases from IBM SPSS Modeler using single sign-on. If you want to create a database connection using single sign-on, you must first use your ODBC management software to properly configure a data source and single sign-on token. Then when connecting to a database in IBM SPSS Modeler, IBM SPSS Modeler will use that same single sign-on token and the user will not be prompted to log on to the data source.

However, if the data source was not configured properly for single sign-on, IBM SPSS Modeler will prompt the user to log on to the data source. The user will still be able to access the data source after providing valid credentials.

For complete details about configuring ODBC data sources on your system with single sign-on enabled, see your database vendor documentation. Following is an example of the general steps that may be involved:

1. Configure your database so it can support Kerberos single sign-on.
2. On the IBM SPSS Modeler Server machine, create an ODBC data source and test it. The DSN connection should not require a user ID and password.
3. Connect to IBM SPSS Modeler Server using single sign-on and begin using the ODBC data source created and validate in step 2.

Single sign-on Kerberos authentication issue

If you plan to use single sign-on for SPSS Modeler on either Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, you may be affected by a known issue. As an example, you may see an error message that resembles the following: STATUS_TRUSTED_RELATIONSHIP_FAILURE

If you are affected, see the hotfix available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2526946. for an explanation and solution.

Administration Console

Previously, the Modeler Administration Console, Text Analytics Administration Console, and Statistics Administration Console were separate installations. Now they're all shipped and installed with Deployment Manager client. For more information about the consoles, see Administration Consoles.

Activating network license while in trial

If you are using a network license for SPSS Modeler 18.0 and, after applying the license using the License Authorization Wizard, the product still switches to the trial license, follow these steps to activate the network license:

1) Edit the lservrc file in your installation directory.

For Windows this is located in: <InstallationDir>\bin\lservrc
For example: C:\Program Files\IBM\SPSS\Modeler\18\bin\lservrc

For Mac this is located in: <InstallationDir>\SPSSModeler.app\Contents\bin\lservrc
For example: /Application/IBM/SPSS/Modeler/18/SPSSModeler.app/Contens/bin/lservrc

2) Add “#” at the beginning of the content.

For example, change it from:
4VEON7EJOQW5LFHJ22YQ2NY
To:
#4VEON7EJOQW5LFHJ22YQ2NY

Known problems

At time of publication, the following issues were known:

• SAS data set names - case sensitivity


On UNIX systems, SAS data set names (*.sas7bdat file types) can only be expressed in lower case characters. If a data set name uses upper case or mixed case characters, SAS will not read the data set names. Click here for more details.

Modeler Server on UNIX systems will not read or write *.sas7badt files if the filename contains upper or mixed case characters. If attempting to write to one of these files, Modeler Server will convert the filename to lower case characters prior to writing it. In order to read a *.sas7bdat file on UNIX systems, you must rename the file so that no upper case characters are present in the filename before it can be read by Modeler Server.

• Java heap space error in Modeler Server

For some tasks, when processing a large number of records, it is possible that a Java heap space error can be displayed.

If this happens, you can configure the JVM setting to increase the memory. as follows:

1. Close the stream that generated the error.
2. In the <Modeler Server installation path>\config folder, open the jvm.cfg
3. Configure the setting, the default is 256; for example: options, "-Xmx1024m"
4. Save the configuration and reopen the stream.

SPSS Modeler Entity Analytics

• Repositories not removed when Entity Analytics is uninstalled

Before uninstalling Entity Analytics, note that any repositories that were created are not removed when Entity Analytics is uninstalled. These repositories will be available if Entity Analytics is later reinstalled.

To delete a repository, follow the instructions in the "Entity Analytics tasks" section of the Entity Analytics User Guide. Use the procedure "Deleting an entity repository" or "Deleting a repository when unable to connect to it" as appropriate.

Note that the delete_repository.bat or delete_repository.sh scripts are located in the "<modeler_install_dir>/ext/bin/pasw.entityanalytics" directory.

Also note that DB2 is not uninstalled when you uninstall EA. For details on how to uninstall DB2 see: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEPGG_10.5.0/com.ibm.db2.luw.qb.server.doc/doc/c0059726.html

Modeling nodes

• Record ID field.

Passing a non-numeric Record ID field into a modeling algorithm may cause a stream to execute slowly. The Record ID field is not a requirement for modeling, so we recommend filtering out the field.
• Data Collection Source and Export nodes do not support Mac OS.

This is because the underlying processes do not support Mac OS.

Integration with IBM SPSS Collaboration and Deployment Services

• SmartScore Score Provider provides different scoring results.

The current IBM SPSS Collaboration and Deployment Services SmartScore Score Provider (used for processing PMML files) provides different scoring results, when compared to previous versions, for streams that contain C&RT, CHAID, and C5.0 models. The scoring discrepancies are the result of the updated scoring provider that uses the PMML confidence or probability. The PMML confidence or probability values are correct and should always be used (previous IBM SPSS Collaboration and Deployment Services version did not use the values).
• Analytic Data Views do not currently support the TM1 node.

Multi-byte data

• Inserting multibyte data into Teradata from SPSS Modeler Server.

To insert multibyte data into a Teradata database from SPSS Modeler Server, use the following configuration:

1. Run the server in Unicode.

2. Set the Teradata user default character set to UNICODE using tdadmin.

3. Configure CharacterSet=UTF8 (UNIX DSN), or set the Session Character Set to UTF-8 (Windows DSN).

4. Ensure that there are only ASCII characters in the column names.

• String Collation.

String sorting and comparison use the ICU 4.8.1 collation service for the system locale. Japanese collation does not distinguish half-width from full-width Katakana.

SPSS Modeler Text Analytics

• Linux on x64 - openMP support requires the customer to install a separate package.

Modeler Client can run out of memory after multiple Text Analytics Interactive Workbench sessions have been run without restarting the application. Monitor the memory usage in the status line and, if running low, close and re-open Modeler Client.

Linux Red Hat x64 support


For Red Hat Linux, openMP support requires the package "libgomp-4.4.4-13.el5", which is available from the RedHat website: https://rhn.redhat.com/network/software/search.pxt

Linux SuSe x64 support


For SuSe11, openMP support requires the package "libgomp43 4.3.3_20081022", which is available from the SuSe website: http://www.suse.com/LinuxPackages/packageRouter.jsp?product=server&version=11&service_pack=&architecture=i386&package_name=index_group.

The package is for the GNU compiler collection OpenMP runtime library, and is available from the section titled: "Development/Libraries/Parallel"


• Sentiment secondary analyzer not working on Windows 32-bit.
  If performing the following tasks, you may receive errors on Windows 32-bit.
  
  1. Generate a concept model directly with the Sentiment secondary analyzer selected.
  2. Connect the newly created Concept model and Preview it.
  3. Build an Interactive Model, with TLA and Sentiment secondary analyzer enabled.
  4. Run a TLA node with Sentiment secondary analyzer enabled.
  
  To resolve, we recommend changing the JVM settings -Xmx320m and -Xms64bit in the file <Modeler_Install_Dir>\config\jvm.cfg.
  

Related information

Technical Support is available to maintenance customers. Customers may contact Technical Support for assistance in using IBM Corp. products or for installation help for one of the supported hardware environments. To reach Technical Support, see the IBM Corp. web site at http://www.ibm.com/support. We recommend that you check the support site for updates.

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