Release Notes Avantra 20.5

Introduction

These release notes refer to an older version of Avantra and may no longer be accurate in the latest version. Please consult the latest release notes.

Avantra 20.5 is a major release replacing Avantra 20.2.

The current release offers some great new options, such as an all new mobile app, a Google Marketplace solution based on the Google Kubernetes Engine, outbound synchronization with the ServiceNow CMDB, native support for SAP MII, and security enhancements.

Some of the functions are only available with the Avantra Pro Edition.

What’s new in 20.5

Advanced ServiceNow Integration

  • Automatic, outbound synchronization from the Avantra SAP inventory to the ServiceNow CMDB (leveraging the ServiceNow Identification and Reconciliation module)

  • Enrich the ServiceNow information with detailed information of your SAP systems, such as Clients, ABAP software components, namespaces and licenses

  • Simple setup

Native Support of SAP MII

  • Automatic detection of SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence deployed on SAP Netweaver Java Application Servers

  • Automatic enrollment of eight new check types covering data servers, failed messages, failed and long running transactions, and schedules

New Mobile App for iOS and Android

Note: Availability date is subject to the review of the App Store and Play Store teams.

  • New development from scratch replacing the legacy XanMobile app (which Apple will pull from the App Store on June 30)

  • Native speed on both platforms, leveraging a new high performant GraphQL API

  • Support of platform specific push notifications using Google Firebase, with the option to test using sendpush user-id in the Avantra UI command box

  • Get detailed visibility on checks and systems, and confirm or turn monitoring on/off

  • Support of multiple Avantra Server installations

New Google Cloud Platform Deployment

Note: Availability date is subject to the review of the GCP Marketplace team.

  • GCP Deployment using the Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

  • Consumption-based pricing via Google Metering Service.

Enhanced Application Security

  • Message Digest Signing to avoid payload alteration after TLS termination

  • Secure unique Agent IDs prevent Agent forgery

  • All new security measures are applied transparently and automatically during the upgrade

Other New Features and Improvements

  • Agentless Monitoring can be configured without an SAP Control user for ABAP SAP Systems to support e.g. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

  • New SAP Control Alerts (_custom-check) allows to integrate more than 500 checks from SAP Control conveniently

  • New checks JavaLongRunningThreads for SAP Netweaver Java and DialogResponseTimes for SAP Netweaver ABAP and S/4HANA.

Important Notes

  • Avantra 20.5 is the last version with Windows Server 2003 support. Starting with Avantra 20.10 Windows Server 2003 is no longer supported.

  • If you upgrade from Syslink Xandria 7.3 or Avantra 20.2 to Avantra 20.5 you need to re-activate your license after the upgrade, if your Avantra Server has no Internet connectivity. See also Activation.

  • After the upgrade, the database user and password settings in .xandria/database.cfg in the installation directory of the Avantra Server will be encrypted. If you need to save the unencrypted values, please do so before you start the upgrade.

  • You cannot downgrade an Avantra Agent 20.5.x to 20.2.x easily. Please contact the Support Team if you really need to downgrade.

  • You need a Java Runtime Environment 8, 9, or 10 to run the Avantra Agent 20.2.x!

    For the Avantra Server you need a 64-bit Java Runtime Environment 8, 9, or 10.

    Java 11 or higher Runtime Environments ars still not supported yet.

    See also Avantra and Java.

  • For the upgrade of the transports, see Procedure: Import Transport Request.

See also Supported Platforms.

Compatibility

Most important facts about compatibility between different versions of Avantra and Syslink Xandria components:

  • Syslink Xandria Agents versions 6.0.31 or less are not compatible with Avantra Server 20.5 or higher. You must upgrade all operational Syslink Xandria Agents to a version 6.0.n with n≥32, or 7.1.x, or 7.3.x, or to Avantra Agent 20.2.x before you can upgrade the Avantra Server to version 20.5

  • Avantra Agents 20.5.x are not compatible with Avantra Server 20.2.x or less. In other words: You must upgrade your Avantra Server to 20.5 before you can upgrade the Avantra Agents to version 20.5.

  • You need to upgrade to Avantra Agent 20.5.x before you can import the transport request transports-for-avantra-20.5.0.zip. However, you only need to import the new transports of you are affected by one of the issues outlined in the Changes section.

See Importing the SAP Transport Request

See also the Upgrade Notes.