ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Package Release Notes, v.1.4.0
These release notes are for the ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Package, version 1.4.0. Refer to the release notes for previous versions for information about changes made for those releases.
Important Information
The Axeda-ThingWorx Entity Exporter (ATEE) tool was removed from the distribution bundle for the Axeda Compatibility Package in release 1.3.1. Customers who want to migrate from Axeda Platform to ThingWorx Platform should contact the PTC Axeda Transition Team for more information and guidance.
For security reasons, the ThingWorx IDM Connector is no longer available, starting with the 1.2.1 release of the Axeda Compatibility Package. In addition, the IDM Agents (formerly Questra Service Agents) moved to End of Life in June 2020.
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The ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Package for Axeda eMessage Agents Help Center is updated outside of releases. For information on what has changed in this help center, go to What's New in This Help Center?. Also, information for previous releases is available in the Release Notes section of this Help Center.
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Security
This release of the ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Package includes security-related updates, as follows:
• Fixed potential security issues, including items proactively identified by vulnerability scanning software or PTC Quality Assurance testing. Please upgrade as soon as possible to take advantage of these important improvements.
• See this technical support article for important recommendations regarding the use and update of third-party software for ThingWorx.
ACP Component Versions for Release 1.4.0
The following table shows the versions of the components included in this release of the Axeda Compatibility Package (ACP).
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Component
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Version
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ThingWorx eMessage Connector
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1.3.1
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ThingWorx Connection Services Extension (CSE)
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1.6.0
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ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Extension (ACE)
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3.0.45
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ThingWorx Remote Access Extension (RAE)
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1.3.0
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ThingWorx Utilities Core
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8.5.3-51 and other 8.5.x versions.. This version of the eMessage Connector does not support versions 9.0.x or 9.1.x of the ThingWorx Platform.
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ThingWorx SCM Extension
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8.5.3-51 and other 8.5.x versions.. This version of the eMessage Connector does not support versions 9.0.x or 9.1.x of the ThingWorx Platform.
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For Remote Access, you need to download a Remote Access Client (RAC) separately from the Axeda Compatibility Package. The latest version of the RAC is always backwards compatible with previous releases of the Remote Access Extension (RAE). If you have been using the most recent version of Axeda Desktop Viewer, you can continue to use that client via the RAC.
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Additional Software Requirements
The following table lists the additional, required software for this release of the Axeda Compatibility Package (ACP):
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Required Product
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Required Version
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Java Development Kit (JDK)
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Oracle JDK 1.8.0_u162 (64-bit)
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Linux 64-bit operating system
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Tested on Linux 64-bit version of Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
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Axeda Global Access Server
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v.6.9.2 or later
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ThingWorx Platform
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v.8.5.2 or later 8.5.x versions. This version of the eMessage Connector does not support versions 9.0.x or 9.1.x of the ThingWorx Plataform.
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ThingWorx Remote Access Client (RAC)
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Download the latest version available from the ThingWorx Remote Access Client Downloads page.
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Axeda Gateway Agent or Axeda Connector Agent
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For security reasons, PTC strongly recommends that these Axeda Agents be at v.6.6.3 or later. In addition, if you require the remote interfaces configuration from Axeda Platform, the Agents must be at version 6.8.2. Refer to the Caution below.
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For ThingWorx Asset Advisor, use the version that is compatible with your version of ThingWorx Platform. For example, if you are running ThingWorx Platform v.8.5.3, use v.8.5 of Asset Advisor. This application is available on the Software Downloads page. On the Step 1 page, select THINGWORX FOUNDATION. On the Step 2 page, expand the nodes as follows: > > to locate the latest distribution bundles for ThingWorx Apps, ThingWorx Asset Advisor integrations, and for remote sessions, the ThingWorx Asset Remoting Extension.
ThingWorx eMessage Connector, v.1.3.1, Release Notes
This release of the eMessage Connector provides support for control of remote sessions with assets through Axeda Policy Server. The other activities that Policy Server can control, such as file transfer requests, are not supported by the Connector at this time. Refer to What's New in This Help Center? for a list of new topics and a list of topics related to remote sessions that have changed for Policy Server Support.
Release Notes for the ThingWorx Extensions Included in the ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Package, v.1.4.0
The following releases of the ThingWorx Extensions provided in the ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Package have changes for compatibility with the remote access features of the Axeda Policy Server:
• Axeda Compatibility Extension (ACE), v.3.0.45
• Connection Services Extension (CSE), v.1.6.0
• Remote Access Extension (RAE), v.1.3.0
• ThingWorx Platform Utilities, v.8.5
• ThingWorx Software Content Management Extension, v.8.5
For information about the ThingWorx Utilities Core and ThingWorx SCM Extension, refer to the release notes for ThingWorx Utilities, v.8.5.
Issues Fixed in This Release - ThingWorx Remote Access Client (RAC)
The following table describes the software fix for an issue in the service that grants permissions for Remote Access and that surfaced in the Remote Access Client:
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ID (SFID)
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Description
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PSPT-69989 / ACE-161 (15618880)
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Non-administrator users were not able to see the Axeda Viewer information on the Remote Access Client (RAC) due to a missing permission.
For this release, the permission has been added to the eMessageServices.GrantRemoteAccessPermissionsGAS service for non-administrator users and the System User. Now the System user can run the service to retrieve the viewer information to display on the RAC for the non-administrator users to see.
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Known Issues - ThingWorx Software Content Management (SCM) Extension
The following table lists and briefly describes known issues for the ThingWorx Software Content Management Extension and ThingWorx Platform:
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ID (SFID)
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Description
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UTL-5611
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After importing the SCM extension bundle, a warning message about the extension trying to overwrite existing entities may appear. This message is expected and does not cause an issue. You can ignore it. In addition, refer to Importing ThingWorx Utilities Core and the SCM Extension.
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UTL-5462
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Delivery target times out of the Instructions Received state when its installation date is set too far in the future. Currently, the Instructions Received timeout does not take the installation date into account. For now, be sure that installation dates and the Instructions Received timeout are configured in such a way that package installation will being on the targeted devices before the Instructions Received timeout is exceeded.
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EDGA-1853
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The Axeda Connector Agent ignores the deviceRelativePath setting for SCM deployments. The deployment of a package with the following Download instruction succeeds when it should fail:
• Destination: /
• SourceFiles: ["C:\\qsaconfig.xml"]
• RepositoryName: TW.RSM.Thing.FileRepository
This same deployment to an Axeda Gateway device or a device managed by an Axeda Gateway Agent fails as expected.
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Known Issues - eMessage Connector
The following table lists and describes the known issues for the eMessage Connector in this release:
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Issue ID
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Description
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EMX-607
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In the unlikely event of a setDataItem service call failing, the ThingWorx Platform does not receive a notification event. It would be better if the eMessage Connector could notify ThingWorx Platform of this event.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-1749
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File transfers to the ThingWorx Platform instances that are running on the Windows OS are subject to the file naming restrictions of Windows, including the use of special characters such as question mark, colon, and so on. Refer to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-1892
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eMessage XML is incomplete and does not send specific information back to the agent in the status message. This did not appear to cause issues with the Axeda agents that were tested; it is just a difference between the Axeda Platform and the eMessage Connector.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-1893
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Invalid Axeda alarms result in a blank value being written to the alarm field. Axeda Platform would reject these bad values. This is a difference between Axeda and the eMessage Connector.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2178
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In eMessage Connector, if a configuration value is not provided, the helper method that is used to obtain it (except getIntegerValue() and getLongValue()) throws a ConfigException
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2193
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Axeda Gateway agents receive too much xml when registering. Currently, a redundant SetPingServlet is returned to Gateway agents. This has no known effects on the agents.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2198
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Currently, selecting the time zone, Asia/Riyadh87, causes an error in the eMessage Connector, saying that the time zone was not valid, even though it is one of the time zones in the TimezoneMapper class.
Asia/Riyadh87 is no longer a valid time zone. There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2232
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When a download request is issued from the ThingWorx Platform with targetPath:<empty>, the job eventually transitions to a state of CANCELLED, and a null pointer exception is observed in the Connector log.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2319
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After starting the eMessage Connector, the logs directory is in a subdirectory from the current working directory and not where one would expect, at $EMESSAGE_CONNECTOR_HOME/logs.
The creation of a logs subdirectory from the current working directory is how the default logback works. It is expected that customers will create their own logback file when they deploy to place the logs in their desired location.
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EMX-2412
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NotifyPropertyUpdates invocations to the eMessage Connector are not handled, resulting in a WARN message being logged. The operation of the Connector is not affected.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2482
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When performing a download that is relative to the agent's home directory, use only the forward slash ("/") to specify the root directory and not "./". Using "./" results in the ThingWorx Platform sending an empty value to the Connector, which triggers an error being logged in the eMessage Connector. In addition, the file transfer will not complete successfully.
There are no plans to implement a change for this issue.
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EMX-2486
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Certain scenarios can create a flood of Thing look-ups to the ThingWorx Platform. The most likely cause for this situation is if an eMessage Connector fails unexpectedly and is restored while experiencing many requests per second for different agents (~10+ new agent communications per second). During this scenario the eMessage Connector can cause strain on ThingWorx Platform.
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