What's new in this release of Server Automation
This release of BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation contains several new features.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Email notification | You can configure Server Automation to send notification email on the execution status of your automation plans. See Configuring email notification for Server Automation. |
| Enable prefetching option downloads only relevant content | Previously, if you scheduled a plan and selected Enable prefetching, the system created a download step and downloaded the content for each Fixlet, Task, or Baseline component that contained download content. Now, if you schedule a plan and choose the Enable prefetching, the system creates a download action for each step that has download content, but only the steps which are relevant at the time of submission of the plan are downloaded. This helps minimize network traffic by downloading only the content that is relevant and required to execute the plan steps. For more information, see Running an Automation Plan. |
| Cluster patching solution for WebSphere® Application Server | The cluster patching solutions on Microsoft® Windows® have been expanded to enable automated
patching of WebSphere Application
Server clusters for
WebSphere Application
Server versions 8.0, 8.5, and
8.5.5. The cluster patching content manages the cluster as the underlying operating system or the
WebSphere Application
Server middleware is patched. For
more information, see Patching IBM WebSphere Application Server clusters on Microsoft Windows. See also the new sample plans for automating patching of WebSphere Application Server clusters. |
| WebSphere Application Server patching | You can automate patching of standalone nodes of WebSphere Application Server versions 8.0, 8.5, and 8.5.5. For more information, see Patching IBM WebSphere Application Server on Windows standalone. To view sample plans, see Sample Plan: IBM WebSphere Application Server Standalone - OS patching and Sample Plan: IBM WebSphere Application Server standalone - Middleware patching. |
| Advanced Patching site | New advanced patching content is available in a new BigFix site called Advanced
Patching. This is not exclusively a Server Automation site but the patch content available
in this site is suitable for inclusion in Automation Plans to automate patching of WebSphere Application
Server. To access the content, subscribe to
the Advanced Patching site. This site contains the following patching content
for WebSphere Application
Server:
For information about the supported download methods for advanced patching, see Supported download methods in the Advanced Patching site. |
| Enhancements to Microsoft Exchange cluster patching solution | The Server Automation cluster patching solution for Microsoft Exchange has been enhanced to include optional steps to check the status of a File Share Witness (if configured) and check the status and start services on Microsoft Exchange. For more information, see Check if File Share Witness is accessible. To view related sample plans, see Sample Plan: Microsoft Exchange 2007 Mailbox Cluster - Middleware Patching and Sample Plan: Microsoft Exchange 2010 or 2013 DAG Cluster - Middleware Patching. |
| User interface improvements | The Take Automation Plan Action user interface has been streamlined and improved. |
| Quality improvements and enhancements | Several defects have been fixed and quality enhancements have been included in this release. |
| New sample Automation Plans | Several new sample automation plans have been added. Also, existing sample plans have been updated and improved. For more information about the Server Automation sample plans, see Sample automation plans. |