This document is the Caché 4.1.16 change summary. It provides an overview of changes in this maintenance release. For detailed information on getting started, see the Caché 4.1 Release Notes (also located off the Caché installation directory in the file Docs/GCRN/GCRN.html); for information on previous 4.1 maintenance kits, see the previous change summary document (also located off the Caché installation directory in the file Docs/GCRN/prenotes.htm).
This document has several sections:
Caché and write permissions on UNIX systems
Default installations of Caché for UNIX systems are configured with
write permission on the Caché bin and csp directories enabled for all
UNIX users. In addition, Caché can be installed in a configuration that
allows UNIX users (other than “root”) in a specified group to start
and stop Caché. This can result in certain vulnerabilities if hostile
users have access to the system. The following example assumes that Caché has
been installed in /cachesys and that members of the
Present Status
The installation defaults have been changed for Caché 4.1.16 and 5.0.3. For more information, please contact the InterSystems Worldwide Response Center.
Workaround for earlier releases
Log on as “root”, change to the directory where Caché is installed, and issue the command:
chmod go-w bin
If Caché is not being used for CSP programming, and is not running in conjunction with a local Apache web server, issue the command:
chmod -R go-w csp
| Change permissions on csp and bin subdirectories | [ LRS697 ] |
Category: Installation.UNIX
Platform(s): UNIX
Description: A new script is distributed with Caché, CSP_protect. This script, located in the <cachesys>/csp directory, allows you to disable or enable write access to the CSP directory and files after installation. For a description of the issues, please see the "Security Vulnerability Notice - 27 June 2003" that appears earlier in this document. The issues are a consequence of the permissions on directories created by the installation scripts for the Caché engine, and for the CSP network daemon, browser, and other files. Prior to this release, the installation used to create
The script does change the groupid and permissions on various scripts and executables that are intended for use only by the Caché manager, but has not previously restricted directory access. The CSP_protect script is meant to be run at any time, for any UNIX version of Caché.
If you disable write access, for security purposes, currently available CSP applications and pages may be used, but no modifications are permitted. For this to be effective, you should start Caché as a non-root user but start the CSP Network Services Daemon as root.
| Note: Write access to the CSP directory and files can be enabled again via dialog with the CSP_protect script. The dialog is self-explanatory. If the CSPinstall script is rerun, or the Web Server is (re)configured for CSP during a Cache installation, CSP_protect must be rerun to again disable write access to the CSP directory and files. It is possible that some users may find the permissions on the bin directory too restrictive, since not even the Caché manager will be able to perform maintenance on the files in it unless either the id or permissions are changed by the system administrator. |
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| High | Low | No | No |
| Special Note Regarding Clustered Databases on OpenVMS |
Category: Clusters
Platform(s): OpenVMS
Description: In OpenVMS cluster configurations, 8-KB formatted databases are preferred to 2-KB formatted databases. 8-KB formatted databases have additional recoverability in the event of a cluster node crash while multiple nodes are updating the same block simultaneously.
| Special Note Regarding Linux ODBC |
Category: ODBC
Platform(s): Linux
Description: The Caché ODBC client driver for Linux is not automatically installed. For detailed instructions on how to install the client ODBC component on Linux, see the provided ODBC Configuration document (odbcconf.txt, which is located on the installation media for Linux in the /dist/ODBC/ directory). This does not affect configurations in which Caché on Linux is serving ODBC requests from other clients.
| Special Note Regarding Mag Tape Backup Performance Upgrade for Windows | [LRS675] |
Category: System.Backup/Restore
Platform(s): Windows
Description: This Caché maintenance kit includes a revision in the backup utility that significantly improves performance for certain tape devices on Windows platforms. This may, however, render Caché unable to read backups from previous maintenance kits and versions.
For tape drives such as a DLT4, the backup block was being written out as a series of much smaller blocks. This revision significantly improves performance by ensuring that a single contiguous block is written, but it also means that a backup generated on the same hardware before this fix cannot be restored by a version of Caché with this fix.
| Caution: Backups made on certain kinds of tape drives on previous versions under Windows might not be able to be restored by a version with this revision. Customers should make a new backup immediately after upgrading and/or retain a Caché instance of the prior production version. |
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Medium | Medium | Yes | Yes |
| Special Note on Class Compiler Optimizations | [ DLP689 ] |
Category: Object.Class Compiler
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Optimized the class compiler by removing redundant internal tabular information, improving inheritance management, and other features. Any class or routine that looks at the compiled class metadata will need to be recompiled.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
This section contains a list of the general changes between 4.1.15 and 4.1.16. These are listed by category in alphabetical order.
| Add ClusterCommAddr parameter to Configuration Manager | [ CFL932 ] |
Category: Config Mgr
Platform(s): OpenVMS
Description: Added the new parameter to the Cluster section. Its prompt and description depend on the value of NetworkType.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Optionally prevent creation of 2-KB databases | [ CFL933 ] |
Category: Config Mgr
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The Configuration Manager now supports a parameter (in the General area of the Advanced tab) that allows users to specify if the creation of 2-KB databases is allowed. On upgrades from previous versions, this parameter is set to “Yes”, that is, 2KB databases are allowed. For new installs, the creation of 2KB databases is not allowed by default. If needed, the user can switch the parameter on.
Similarly, the Database Wizard has changed. The block size selection is now buried at a deeper level (via Advanced button) which is enabled only if multiple sizes are allowed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Inadvertent deletion of locks via the Control Panel is now more difficult. | [ CFL930 ] |
Category: Control Panel
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Caché now prompts for confirmation when a request is made to delete a lock from the Control Panel, making it more difficult to inadvertently delete locks via the Control Panel.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| Fix PID Hex display in lock list | [ CFL944 ] |
Category: Control Panel
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, the Control Panel's formatting would sometimes inadvertently convert certain strings to decimal numbers. This has been addressed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Prevent potential loop in error trap in CSP server process | [ MAK769 ] |
Category: CSP.Web Server
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, if a process depleted its partition, then a call to BACK^%ETN to log an error could fail with a <STORE> error. In CSP-based applications, this could further result in a tight loop in the CSP server error handler. Now, %ETN logs some information and the CSP server process halts.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Fix endless loop in Explorer (rtn compare) | [ CFL927 ] |
Category: Explorer
Platform(s): ALL
Description: An issue has been addressed that caused an endless loop in Explorer when comparing a routine from a sequential file with the one in the database.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Delete stale journal lock files during install | [ LRS686 ] |
Category: Installation
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, upgrade installations from a version of Caché prior to 4.0 could fail to start journaling due to a change in the format of the cache.lck file, which is used for locking. The current change fixes the problem by removing stale cache.lck files from the chain of journal directories.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| <NOLINE> compile error will not overlay previous error | [ CDS422 ] |
Category: Languages
Platform(s): ALL
Description: An issue in the ObjectScript compiler could prevent the proper splitting of large object routines into proper-sized smaller routines. This has been corrected, so that some large routines that failed to compile now do so.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Improve DDP error messages for invalid configurations | [ DAS457 ] |
Category: Networking
Platform(s): ALL
Description: When DDP is not configured properly, error messages are more informative during startup.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Added multiple NIC support for clusters | [ GK228 ] |
Category: Networking
Platform(s): ALL
Description: This change improves reliability of cluster failover with multiple NICs by solving two issues with multiple NICs.
It is recommended to define and use this when the cluster node has multiple/ambiguous local addresses.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| Bind cluster IP to DCP cluster daemon | [ GK229 ] |
Category: Networking
Platform(s): OpenVMS
Description: With multiple NICs on OpenVMS, the DCP daemon previously communicated with the cluster member using the wrong IP address. This has been corrected.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Corrected cluster IP address validation | [ GK231 ] |
Category: Networking
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, the “Cluster” configuration CLusterCommAddr value was parsed inconsistently. This has been addressed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Place DDPMASTER in %SYS rather than implied namespace | [ TCS002 ] |
Category: Networking
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, the process DDPMASTER was starting in an implied namespace when Caché was started. This bypassed the mapping of temporary globals to CacheTemp. As a result, several temporary globals were created and stored in the MGR directory rather than CacheTemp. In some cases, at least one of these globals could grow very large and would not get cleaned out. DDPMASTER has been modified to wait until the %SYS namespace is defined; it then switches to run in %SYS.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Address Issue in %ClassDefinition to avoid losing Storage definitions | [ MC414 ] |
Category: Object
Platform(s): ALL
Description:
When using %ClassDefinition to edit storage, some parts of the storage definition were lost. This change addresses that and thereby provides improved reliability for application development.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Unicode-Multibyte conversion on a Unicode system | [ DVU361 ] |
Category: Object.ActiveX
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, if a user connected to Unicode server and received information as an syslist type 1, this information was converted to multibyte according to user's locale. As a result, characters not supported by the current locale could be corrupted. This change forces type 1 syslist strings to be treated as an packed Unicode, not a multibyte.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Modify Tru64 UNIX 5.1 CDL link procedures | [ LRS559 ] |
Category: Object.CDL
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, due to a runtime library binding error, the CDL compiler might fail to compile syntactically correct Caché ObjectScript routines. This has been corrected. Note that this change only applies to the C++ v6.3 compiler with Tru64 UNIX 5.1 or later.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| SUBSCRIPT error in %SaveData method | [ DLP1075 ] |
Category: Object.Class Compiler
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Addressed an issue in the recursive %Save() algorithm affecting saves for parent objects in parent-child relationships that have validation errors.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| %IsModifed is set because of Relate code | [ BJB266 ] |
Category: Object.Relationships
Platform(s): ALL
Description: A rare issue with %IsModified has been corrected. If you
had a class that had an independent pointer to a parent class and a child class
of the parent and you swizzled in both, then the child would think some values
had changed and it would call the %Save code.
%IsModified behavior improved in certain cases.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Fix <NULL VALUE> error in table compiler mapping to local array | [ DPV1989 ] |
Category: SQL
Platform(s): ALL
Description:
Certain read-only tables could not be compiled due to issues with locking. This change addresses those issues.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| DDL: Fix ALTER TABLE Create Foreign Key does not check existing rows | [ DPV1976 ] |
Category: SQL.DDL
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The sequence:
create table P(a integer primary key, b varchar(20)) create table F(one integer primary key, two integer) insert into F(one,two) values (1,1) alter table F add constraint toP foreign key(two) references P(a)
works up to Caché 4.1.6, but fails to properly return an error in Caché 4.1.9. This now returns an error -127 <FOREIGN KEY Constraint failed referential check upon creation of the constraint>.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Dropping a primary key did not delete a global | [ DPV2032 ] |
Category: SQL.DDL
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Calls to the internal routine to purge an index was not operating properly. This has been addressed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Drop Foreign Key should rebuild the Primary Key Index if collation changes | [ DPV2035 ] |
Category: SQL.DDL
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Prior to this change, when a Foreign Key is added to a table through DDL and the Foreign Key constraint references a key in the referenced table which is also the IDKEY, Caché turned the field specified in the Foreign Key constraint into a reference to the referenced table. Now Caché will no longer turn the field into a reference if there is already data in the table when the foreign key is added through DDL.
Also, when a Foreign Key is dropped from a table through DDL and the Foreign Key constraint references a key in the referenced table which is also the IDKEY, Caché turned the field specified in the Foreign Key constraint into a regular field, not a reference to the referenced table. In the case where the field was a %Library.String type, this might result in the field suddenly getting a new collation. This occurred because the default collation for a string field is SQLUpper, but the collation of an IDKEY string field is always EXACT. Now, if this reference is dropped because the foreign key is dropped through DDL and there is data in the table, Caché SQL retains the EXACT collation setting for the field.
Hence, changes which affect index ordering now cause indexes to be rebuilt.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Changes for WTS (Windows Terminal Server) licensing in ODBC | [ JCN397 ] |
Category: SQL.ODBC
Platform(s): ALL
Description: WTS license was using too many slots because there is no IP address for the client to match up with. This has been corrected. This results in better license detection for Windows Terminal Server and ODBC.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Set lockref only when needed | [ AK536 ] |
Category: SQL.Query Processing
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Improved locking for
SELECT %ID INTO :temp FROM Sample.Person WHERE Name = :K1
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Apply correct processing to IN parameters | [ AK562 ] |
Category: SQL.Query Processing
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Applied to IN the same logic used for binary operators such as '=', regarding when one argument is a field and the other is a constant/ host-variable. This normally applied only to fields of type %Date/%Time, but resulted in string operations sometimes giving incorrect results when attempting to find substrings.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Medium | No | No |
| Do not add "GROUP BY 1" to Query | [ BJB271 ] |
Category: SQL.Query Processing
Platform(s): ALL
Description: With the SQL Gateway on Caché 4.1.15, if you sent a query such as
SELECT COUNT(*) query from Table
it would be sent as
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Table GROUP BY 1
The GROUP BY should not be added to the query and has now been removed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Studio (version 4) could shut down if a server ID had a space in its name | [ DVU837 ] |
Category: Studio
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, an attempt to open a server with a space in its name could cause Studio to shut down unexpectedly. This has been addressed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Studio creates extra server connections when security checking enabled | [ MAK826 ] |
Category: Studio
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, if you enabled security checking in the Caché Control Panel, then starting Studio would challenge the user for a password; regardless of whether or not the user entered the correct password, an extra ^%cmtP0 process was created, which would run until the user finally exits Studio. Studio now correctly closes these extra processes.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Avoid invalid NEW frame following a <STORE> error | [ CDS418 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: If a <STORE> error happened while executing a NEW command, an access violation could happen during the subsequent error processing. This no longer occurs in this situation, thereby improving reliability.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Catch process "abend" signals on UNIX and clean up like Windows and OpenVMS | [ JO1444 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): UNIX
Description: If a Caché process on UNIX gets a segmentation fault, Caché performs appropriate clean-up tasks in a manner analogous to the already existing functionality for Windows and OpenVMS. This eliminates ghost processes.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Count of available buffers could get out of sync in panic mode | [ JO1694 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): All
Description: In the unlikely event that a system runs out of global buffers and enters panic mode, it was possible for the count of available buffers to get out of sync. In even rarer circumstances, this could possibly have lead to a system hang but most likely would go unnoticed. A notation is made in the console log file each time a system enters panic mode.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Change the generation of the network shared memory section name on OpenVMS | [ JO1699 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): Alpha OpenVMS
Description: The method for generating the shared memory section names on OpenVMS has been changed to avoid problems when OpenVMS allows multiple processes to have the same process name. The prior method used the conflict in process names to detect that another instance of Caché was running. A limitation which arises from this change is that name the device which Caché is installed on (eg. where the manager directory resides) cannot be longer than 16 bytes excluding the trailing “:” but including a leading “_”. This should not pose a problem for any sites but Caché will refuse to start up after displaying an error message if this is the case. Caché must be installed on a device with a name of 16 bytes or less (OpenVMS only).
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Address multiple installation issue | [ JO1700 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): Alpha OpenVMS
Description: An issue has been resolved on OpenVMS systems which install multiple copies of Caché where each copy of Caché starts up under a different UIC group and both installations have networking configured or attempt to use a performance monitoring facility such as ^PERFMON.
Previously, the second installation to start up would not detect that the first installation was running and there would be confusion about the name of the network shared memory section. The result would be that the second installation would not start up properly and would delete the network shared memory section of the first installation upon shutdown.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Rolling journal restores for clusters & new backup jrn restore dialogue | [ JO1717 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: There is a new interface for performing cluster journal restores to perform some specific operations. To use it, run CLUMENU^JRNRESTO; more details on it appear below.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Address display for 4 digit years in showdata and test for starting journal file in findfiles | [ JO1719 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The display of the journal files which will be restored for a cluster journal restore has been changed to prevent lines from wrapping with 4 digit years. The code that finds the starting place during a cluster journal restore following a cluster backup restore has been corrected to work in the case where the journal files are not in the same place as when the backup was performed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | Yes |
| Add access mode so Caché can use the correct exit handler | [ JO1720 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The OpenVMS exit handler code has been changed to avoid logging system service exceptions in certain circumstances when a Caché process exits on systems running OpenVMS 7.3-1.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Add code to exit handler to shut down process when it's invoked | [ JO1721 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): Alpha OpenVMS
Description: The Caché exit handler on OpenVMS has been updated to simulate a RESJOB if the exit handler decides not to exit. This generally relates only to batch jobs which are terminated with delete/entry.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | Yes |
| checkpid() for OpenVMS now only checks whether pid exists (like UNIX and Windows) | [ JO1735 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The function $ZU(67,1,pid) releases a job table slot in use by a “dead” job, will not consider a job dead as long as the process id exists on the system. Caché has been updated to handle this situation on OpenVMS in the same way as on Windows and UNIX.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Resolve long global subscript issues in 2-KB databases | [ JO1742 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: An issue has been addressed which could result in database degradation for 2-KB databases. In certain circumstances, a global reference which would otherwise generate a <SUBSCRIPT> error (because it was too long) would get applied to the database resulting in corrupted indexes.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Medium | Low | No | No |
| Fix $ZHOROLOG calculation on fast Windows machines | [ LRS678 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: An issue that caused the $ZHorolog special variable to return negative values on a Windows machine with a 2.1GHz processor or faster has been addressed. As $ZHOROLOG is generally used in internal application timing, it is unlikely this will affect a production application.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Avoid accvio in $ZIO if the principal device can't be identified | [ LRS705 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: A change has been made that minimizes the potential for an unexpected shutdown when LOGIN^%ZSTART is unable to identify the principal device.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| INTEGRIT does not find a <DATABASE> error | [ LFT1113 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: This improves integrity checking by checking the consistency of data blocks that have no right link.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Avoid possible hang with JOB command | [ NGA109 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): All
Description: A possible hang caused by a job holding a global buffer while trying to job off another process has been addressed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Let network daemon keep list of locks granted by it so it could handle some deadlock issues | [ SML331 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The network daemons (DCP, DDP and DTM) now keep the list of locks granted by the daemon for the remote client system. This improves overall lock management.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Let network daemon keep list of locks granted by it so it could handle some deadlock issues | [ SML331 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The network daemons (DCP, DDP and DTM) now keep the list of locks granted by the daemon for the remote client system. This improves overall lock management.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Fix for DDPDMN crash over DCP cluster connection when the cluster DCP connection is down | [ SML370 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: This change addresses an issue for DCP clusters. When a DSM or MSM system locks a global in a clustered database on a slave node, and when the DCP connection to the master is down, then the DDP daemon on the slave node could get an access violation. This no longer happens.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Fix possible stranded lock in DELOCK_NEED state. | [ SML376 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): ALL
Description: This prevents a possible stranded lock in DELOCK_NEED state on a DCP client after a DCP connection is re-established.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Expand DDP Lock Table Size for 64-Bit Platforms | [ SML393 ] |
Category: System
Platform(s): OpenVMS, Tru64
Description: On 64-bit platforms, the table of pending lock requests can become too small to contain all the lock requests from nodes in the cluster. This caused interference among nodes trying to manipulate the table and resulted in some requests for locks being ignored. This change addresses the situation.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Backup restore information is now saved in a global for future retrieval by journal restore | [ HYY597 ] |
Category: System.Backup/Restore
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The following information about backup restore is now saved in the global node ^SYS("RESTORE","BACKUP",<time>,...): the backup device to restore from; the backup time in $Horolog format; the database target(s); the database mount state; and the offset.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| Fix minor performance bug in Unicode cluster routine purge | [ JO1686 ] |
Category: System.Cluster Specific
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, having a cluster-mounted database with certain kinds of names would cause other cluster members remove some routines from their buffer pool unnecessarily. This has been addressed, thereby improving performance.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Treat a cluster member as a remote system in dispatch_method_or_property | [ JO1693 ] |
Category: System.Cluster Specific
Platform(s): All
Description: In a cluster, if one cluster member recompiles a class then the other cluster members need to invalidate the class if it is loaded so that they can reload the (new) class descriptor.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Medium | Low | Yes | No |
| Possible hang if there are no buffers available | [ JO1696 ] |
Category: System.Cluster Specific
Platform(s): All
Description: Previously, there was a problem which, under particular and unusual circumstances, could cause a system hang on a Caché cluster. This occurred when the write daemon entered panic mode because there were zero free buffers. This has been resolved.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Increase the timeout in JRNMARK for cluster operations from 10->30 sec | [ JO1724 ] |
Category: System.Cluster Specific
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The timeout for switching journal files and writing markers during a cluster backup has been increased to avoid <READ> errors from the JRNMARK routine.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Removed inconsistent behavior reading the NULL device | [ SAP026 ] |
Category: System.I/O Device
Platform(s): OpenVMS
Description: Previously, on Caché on OpenVMS, reading the NULL device ("NL:") would generate a <COMMAND> error. It now returns a string with zero length, making it consistent with Caché on UNIX and Windows.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| Newly Created Journal File Names Are Now Stored in Canonical Form. | [ HYY592 ] |
Category: System.Journaling
Platform(s): ALL
Description: Previously, there were <ENDOFFILE> errors during block-mode shadowing; these have been addressed.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| Making journal markers on cluster systems act like cluster journal sequence barriers | [ HYY600 ] |
Category: System.Journaling
Platform(s): ALL
Description: To set a journal marker effective cluster wide, use the following routine
$$CLUSET^JRNMARK(id,text,swset)
where
If successful, the routine returns the location of the marker, i.e., the offset of the marker in the journal file and the journal file name, delimited by comma (','). Otherwise, it returns an error code (<=0) and error message, also delimited by comma.
To set a journal marker on a non-clustered system, use
$$ADD^JRNMARK(id,text)
with similar parameters and return values.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| Improve user interface to cluster dejournal | [ JFP073 ] |
Category: Utilities
Platform(s): ALL
Description: There have been enhancements to the cluster dejournaling user interface.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| GBLOCKCOPY translates collation into an subscript-level-mapped destination (such as ROUTINE global) | [ PWC746 ] |
Category: Utilities
Platform(s): ALL
Description: An issue was corrected that caused GBLOCKCOPY to corrupt a global. For the issue to occur,
In particular, this addresses an issue with copying the ^ROUTINE global from an ISM system to a Caché namespace.
It eliminates a possibility for data corruption.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | Yes | No |
| WRC Caché “Buttons” Now Available | [ RFA009 ] |
Category: Utilities
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The Caché Buttons are a set of tools that make it easier for users to collect technical information to include with questions sent to InterSystems Worldwide Response Center. They are available at http://www.intersystems.com/support/utilities/buttons.html.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | No |
| interface improvements to Journal Restore utility | [ TCS004 ] |
Category: Utilities
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The journal restore utility, mainly for cluster journal restores, has been enhanced to recognize “^” at a prompt as meaning back up to the prior question. Some prompts also accept ? to display additional help. When ^ or ? are available they are displayed after the default response in []'s as in [^] or [^?]. The YES/NO questions support ^ although they do not display [^].
The correct starting sequence number for a dejournal is the highest number among the starting sequence number for each journal file (not the default).
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| Prompt on next line for JRNSTART and JRNSWTCH | [ TCS005 ] |
Category: Utilities
Platform(s): ALL
Description: The prompts in Journal Start (JRNSTART) and Journal Switch (JRNSWTCH) now accept user input on a separate line from their prompt. This improves readability.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
| Enhancements to %GD, %GDOLD, and %GSET | [ TCS007 ] |
Category: Utilities
Platform(s): ALL
Description: These routines now include pagination and some on-line help describing how to select/de-select globals.
| Likelihood of happening |
Risk
this change introduces new problems |
Distributed
in ad hoc release and installed in production |
This
change is an enhancement |
| Low | Low | No | Yes |
This maintenance kit includes a new interface for performing cluster journal restores to perform some specific operations. This interface is accessed by running CLUMENU^JRNRESTO in the %SYS namespace of the Caché Terminal. This invokes a menu that includes the following options:
This allows you to run the “classic” cluster journal restore. This is the same as running ^JRNRESTO. The user specifies the information required to find the journal files for all the cluster members, the starting and ending journal file for each cluster member, the starting and ending sequence number for the restore, and all the databases/globals to be processed, as well as any redirection information if some/all databases are not going to be restored to the same location as is recorded in the journal. This interface assumes that the system that is running ^JRNRESTO as one of the “sources” of data for the restore.
Produce a single common format output file from the cluster journal files. JCONVERT takes a journal file from a single system and writes it out in a common format which lets it be read by %JREAD. This is useful for restoring journal files across versions of Caché where the journal files are not compatible (for example, as part of an “almost rolling” upgrade) or as part of failing back to an earlier release. It can also be used to write out the journal file in a way that it can be loaded into another platform such as DSM. The user interface for this is the same as option 1 above with some additional questions related to what to include in the output file, the output file format, etc.
Restore the journal files after a Caché backup restore. This is the same as the restore performed by DBREST after a cluster backup restore but there was no way to run it independently of restoring a backup (for example, in case something goes wrong and you need to restart the journal restore). One difference between this option and restoring using ^DBREST is that this option does not start with the list of databases contained in the backup; the database list must be entered by the user. It will offer to include all currently cluster-mounted databases in the restore but if this is really being run after restoring a backup then the databases restored by the backup are going to be privately mounted unless the mount state was changed by the user (for example, the restore mounts them privately and leaves them privately mounted when its done).
Options 4 through 8 relate to a new type of operation termed a “rolling journal restore.” This is an operation that is performed on a regular basis such as daily, weekly, etc... to replay the journal of the main system against another system to keep it up to date. This is similar to the functionality provided by the Caché shadowing technology. Rolling operations can either restore the journal directly to the system or they can produce a common format journal file for replaying with %JREAD. None of these operations assume that the current machine is supplying data for the operation (although it can). This means that there are no questions “about this system” and “about the other systems”; it simply asks you to describe the cluster, where to find the files, etc.
Two types of rolling operations are supported:
The basic process of rolling operations is:
Part of the goal of the user interface for this functionality is to simpl