Axeda Compatibility Package for Axeda eMessage Agents: Release Notes, v.1.1.0
The Axeda Compatibility Package (ACP) is the collection of ThingWorx products that Axeda customers need to transition from Axeda Platform to ThingWorx Platform
What's New in This Release?
This release provides updates to the ThingWorx eMessage Connector, the ThingWorx Axeda-ThingWorx Entity Exporter, the ThingWorx Connection Services Extension, and the ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Extension. Refer to the sections below for more inforamtion.
Enhancements to ACP Extensions
Here are the details of the new entities provided in the extensions:
• The Connection Services Extension (CSE) has new entities to support the ThingWorx Protocol Adapter Toolkit (PAT):
◦ Thing Templates — ProtocolAdapter and ProtocolAdapterWithAvailability
◦ Thing Shape — ProtocolAdapterWithAvailability Thing Shape
◦ Data Shapes — ProtocolAdapterAvailabilityDataShape
◦ Thing — ConnectionServicesHub Thing with the following services for granting permissions for Connectors:
▪ GrantConnectorPermissions
▪ GrantThingTemplatePermissions
◦ Subsystem — ProtocolAdapterSubsystem (provides support for the PAT)
• The Axeda Compatibility Extension (ACE) has a new Thing that provides services for granting permissions to the eMessage Connector. You no longer need to set up these permissions manually. The eMessageServices Thing provides the following services for granting the required ThingWorx permissions and entity visibility to the eMessage Connector:
◦ GrantEMessageConnectorPermissions
◦ GrantFileDownloadPermissions
◦ GrantFileUploadPermissions
New SCM Support
This release of the Axeda Compatibility Package includes the ThingWorx eMessage Connector v.1.1.0. This version of the eMessage Connector adds support for Software Content Management (SCM) so that users can send instruction-based packages from the ThingWorx Platform to their agent assets.
The 8.3.0 version of ThingWorx Utilities in the Axeda Compatibility Package includes a new Software Content Management (SCM) module that provides the following SCM tools for Axeda eMessage agents (Axeda Gateway and Axeda Connector) only:
• Package creation tools that enable you to create instruction-based packages, with support for the following instructions only:
◦ Download Instruction
◦ Execute Instruction
◦ Restart Instruction
• Package deployment tools
For information on using the SCM feature, refer to the ThingWorx Utilities Help Center.
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ThingWorx Utilities is compatible only with the matching version of ThingWorx Platform. It is not compatible with earlier or later releases
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ACP Component Versions
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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1.1.0
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Axeda-ThingWorx Entity Exporter (ATEE)
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1.1.0
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ThingWorx Connection Services Extension (CSE)
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1.5.4
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ThingWorx Axeda Compatibility Extension (ACE)
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2.4.17
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ThingWorx Utilities
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8.3.0
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This release of the Axeda Compatibility Package contains the FULL 8.3.0 set of ThingWorx Utilities. If you install the bundle included in the package, you do not need to use the installation guide for the Utilities. Instructions are provided in the Help Center for the Axeda Compatibility Package.
If you do look at the installation guide for ThingWorx Utilities 8.3.0, you will discover that ThingWorx Utilities is now available in separate packages. If, for some reason, you need to install ThingWorx Utilities by downloading from the PTC Support site, follow the instructions in that guide. It provides the details about the packages and instructions for importing them, in the order in which they should be imported into ThingWorx Platform. The guide is available through the Reference Documents page of the new PTC Support portal.
Although you should not need them, the new set of ThingWorx Utilities packages for 8.3.0 are available on the PTC Support site, under > > > > > .
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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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v.1.8.0_u162 (64-bit)
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Linux 64-bit operating system
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Tested on Linux 64-bit platforms
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Axeda Platform
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v.6.9.0 or later to export users; otherwise, 6.8.0 or later
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ThingWorx Platform
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8.3.0
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Apache Tomcat
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8.5.13 (64-bit)
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Axeda Gateway Agent or Axeda Connector Agent
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v.5.3.1 or later
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Issues Fixed in This Release
The following tables list and briefly describe the issues that have been fixed in this release of the Axeda Compatibility Package
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Issue Id
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Description
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EMX-2197
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Agent registration differs between Axeda Platform and eMessage Connector. The eMessage Connector parses the "t=" attribute during registration (<Re>) tag to set the "First Registration" and "Latest Registration" properties. The Axeda Platform completely ignores the "t=" attribute and simply uses current time (System.currentTimeMillis()) to set the registration time.
RESOLUTION: The eMessage Connector registration functionality now works similar to that of the Axeda Platform. The eMessage Connector parses the t= attribute in the registration tag (<Re> to set the First Registration and Latest Registration properties. Note that the Step 5. Registration Message step of the eMessage Connector smoke test has been revised as part of the resolution of this issue.
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EMX-2473
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Smoke test is not re-runnable.
This issue should not occur. To ensure that you do not encounter it, wait a few minutes between runs of the smoke test. Running the smoke test over and over within seconds may yield inconsistent results. The smoke test is not meant to be run over and over in quick succession.
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Issue ID
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Case ID
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Description
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|---|---|---|
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ATEE-168
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13647337
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Unable to export User passwords on 6.9 Axeda Platforms when Central Administrator is configured.
RESOLUTION: This release provides fixes for handling when user password hashes are not present in Axeda’s internal User Store.
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ATEE-170
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13647337
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ATEE Exports empty Users as part of User Groups
ATEE was incorrectly adding empty entries to XML when User Groups had more members than were being exported.
RESOLUTION: ATEE now correctly exports User Groups and Users.
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Known Issues - Axeda-ThingWorx Entity Exporter (ATEE)
The following table describes the known issue for ATEE operating with Axeda Platform:
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Issue ID
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Case
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Description
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CORE-4376
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113580
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Gateway Asset Link is missing
This issue affects Axeda Platform, versions 6.8.0, 6.8.1, and 6.8.2, and impacts the Axeda-ThingWorx Entity Exporter (ATEE) as follows:
• Prevents the ATEE from populating the Managed Devices INFOTABLE on Things that represent Axeda Gateway entities in ThingWorx.
• Prevents the ATEE from populating the gatewayId on Things that represent Axeda Managed Device entities in ThingWorx.
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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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|---|---|
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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EMX-3011 and EMX-3038
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The Axeda Deployment Utility does not work with the eMessage Connector. When a user deploys the changes, the DU hangs.
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EMX-3083
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Older agents using protocols that have been deemed insecure may experience issues connecting, such as agents utilizing SSLv2Hello. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming release.
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Known Issues - ThingWorx Utilities SCM
The following table lists and briefly describes known issues for the SCM module of ThingWorx Utilities in this release:
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Issue ID
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Description
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|---|---|
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UTL-5173
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Specifying a Download instruction with a file that is not compressed in the tar.gz format and also selecting the check box next to the option, "Agent should uncompress this file after downloading" results in the file not being downloaded correctly to the agent. Specify the uncompress option ONLY for files that are in the tar.gz format.
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UTL-5181
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If the File Transfer Subsystem is restarted during a file download, the platform is not able to cleanly terminate the download, causing the delivery target to be stuck in a non-terminal state until it times out.
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