ACL GRC Analytics Exchange 13 Release Notes

ACL GRC Analytics Exchange 13 includes upgrades to Apache TomEE and PostgreSQL, and includes support for new ACLScript functionality released with ACL Analytics 13.

Software release November 2017

Patch release 13.0.1 December 2017

Patch release 13.0.3 April 2018

Patch release 13.1 August 2018

Patch release 13.1.1 September 2018 (if you have not installed the 13.1 patch, running the 13.1.1 patch includes the 13.1 updates)

Important

  • If you are renewing an expired subscription, you must deactivate and then reactivate your instance of AX Server to complete the renewal process. Learn more >
  • PostgreSQL upgraded to version 9.3.19. If you maintain PostgreSQL and AX Server on different machines, you must upgrade PostgreSQL first. Learn more >
  • Java updated to JRE version 8u141. Learn more >
  • Apache TomEE upgraded to version 7.0.3 (Tomcat version 8.5.11). Learn more >
  • Central Authentication Service (CAS) upgraded to version 5.1.4
  • The 13.1 engine update is a patch update to make the analytic engine that runs inside AX Server compatible with ACL Analytics version 13.1. This update does not include upgrades to core AX Server components.

    The patch installer is larger than a typical engine update installer due to the security enhancements in the ACL connectors. Download times and install times may be slightly longer due to increased size.

  • If you run the 13.1 engine update installer and subsequently want to uninstall AX Server, do the following:

    1. Uninstall AX Server following the documented procedure. For more information, see Uninstall AX Server.
    2. Manually remove the ACL\ACL Connectors and ACL\App\Data Access folders from the machine.
  • As part of the 13.1 engine update, components with known vulnerabilities are removed or identified. The following Microsoft components have known vulnerabilities and can be manually removed:
    • Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010
    • three files that are part of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008:
      • msvcm90.dll
      • msvcp90.dll
      • msvcr90.dll

      The .dll files are located in a subfolder in the C:\Windows\WinSxS directory.

      ACL GRC Analytics Exchange running the 13.1 analytics engine does not use these components and uninstalling them does not impact the application.

    Caution

    Only uninstall the Microsoft components if you know that they are not used by any other application on your server.

  • The Concur connector no longer supports authentication without a Concur access token. Any scripts currently configured with user credentials that do not include a token must be updated to use a Concur access token.

  • The Concur connector now requires that you specify the host name of Concur's API server when connecting. As of the 13.1 patch update, this value is "https://www.concursolutions.com".

    Existing scripts that use the native Concur connector and an access token continue to work. However, if you are using a DSN connection, you must specify a host name in the Host field for the connection to succeed.

New

  • New system variable AXRunByUser available in scripts and stores the user name of the account that runs the analytic in the format "domain\username".
  • New settings in aclAuditExchange.xml that disable CSV exports from AX Web Client and table connections from Add-In for Excel. Learn more >
  • APPEND command that combines records from multiple tables into a new table.
  • New ACL Connectors for importing data from the following external sources:
    • Active Directory
    • Email
    • Exchange
    • Twitter
    • ServiceNow
    • MySQL
  • Classical variables sampling (CVS) with stratified populations (CVSPREPARE, CVSSAMPLE, CVSEVALUATE)
  • RCOMMAND that passes a list of fields to an external R script for analysis and creates a new table in ACL.

Enhanced

  • The patch installer that upgrades the analytic engine to 13.1 updates the following components to more secure versions:
    • a more recent version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (10.0.40219.325 replaces 10.0.40219.1)
    • Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 replaces Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010
  • The patch installer that upgrades the analytic engine to 13.1 improves the security of the following connectors:
    Amazon DynamoDBApache HBaseConcurMongoDB
    Amazon RedshiftApache HiveCouchbaseOracle
    Apache CassandraApache SparkGoogle BigQuerySalesforce

    Apache Drill

    		Cloudera ImpalaMicrosoft SQL ServerTeradata
  • You can now change the supported TLS versions that the ACL Connector for Analytics Exchange server component uses to connect with AX Server. Learn more >
  • Limited support for Python versions other than the default supported version 3.5.x. Learn more >
  • Import multiple Excel worksheets using a single IMPORT command.
  • The ALLFIELDS parameter has been added to the IMPORT EXCEL command, allowing you to import all fields in an Excel worksheet without having to define them individually.
  • The Presort option on the Join command now uses the specified-field approach to sorting introduced in ACL 12.5.
  • Cross-tabulating now supports numeric key fields. Previously only character key fields were supported.
  • R functions now accept variables when specifying the R script or R code to run.
  • Connections to Concur now include a User Param setting that imports data from the expense module for specific user accounts, or for all accounts.

Fixed

  • The patch installer that updates the analytic engine to 13.1.1 corrects the following issue:

    The SQL Server connector does not support named instances and you cannot use the format "serverName\instanceName" when establishing a connection.

    After running the 13.1.1 patch installer, you can connect to named instances using the format "serverName\instanceName".

  • The patch installer that updates the analytic engine to 13.1 corrects the following customer-reported issues:
    • Python commands are running twice when called
    • Concur connector performance is improved when filtering data using '<', '>', and '>=' operators on the following fields: Last_Modified_Date, Create_Date, User_Defined_Date, Submit_Date, Processing_Payment_Date, Paid_Date. (ADA-1226)

  • The patch installer that updates the analytic engine to 13.0.3 corrects the following customer-reported issues:

    • Using the RECOFFSET( ) function on a table with an index applied can produce unreliable results
    • The SAVE TABLELIST command doesn't display all the tables after a manual import of multiple Excel worksheets
    • The UNMATCHED join type fails with certain combinations of data and ACLScript syntax

    • Garbled text appears when using the ACCESSDATA command to import Arabic data from an IBM AS/400 server

    You can run this patch against version 13.0.0 or 13.0.1 to upgrade your server to the latest version of the analytic engine. Note that there is no version 13.0.2.

    To install the patch update, see Update AX Server to ACL Analytics 13.0.3

  • The patch installer that updates the analytic engine to 13.0.1 corrects the following customer-reported issues:

    • The APPEND command is duplicating a single record after every block of 10,000 records in the output table
    • The dialog box that appears when overwriting an index on a table is not showing the correct information
    • In the ACCESSDATA command, removing a system-generated space before the SOURCE or SQL_QUERY keywords causes the command to fail
  • ACLCrystal.dll file removed from analytic_engine folder on AX Server.
  • CAS logging omits expected items so that cas.log file does not grow unnecessarily.
  • Notification that deactivation and reactivation required when renewing a subscription.
  • testOnBorrow = true setting added to AclAuditExchangeQuartzPool in ACL\App|Tomcat\conf\tomee.xml to avoid Quartz errors that require service restart.
  • Unused port 8009 disabled.
  • Re-activation when cloning an instance of AX Server can be accomplished through the AX Server Configuration web application and Launchpad.
  • Salesforce and Amazon Redshift connectors now support SSL version 1.0.2.

Unresolved

  • If you are using an Oracle database with AX Server and you require an encrypted connection using SSL, you must remove the following entry from the aclDatabase.xml configuration file and then restart the Analytics Exchange Service: 
    <entry key="connectionProperties">oracle.net.ssl_cipher_suites=(SSL_DH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,SSL_DH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_MD5)</entry>

    Learn more >

  • If you are using an Oracle database with AX Server and you require an encrypted connection using SSL, you must run the provided Oracle database scripts manually instead of through the AX Server installation process. Learn more >

(C) ACL Services Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Thursday, October 4, 2018