A new, modern GUI, detailed operator privileges, a sophisticated approval system and much more: Discover the new features of BICsuite Release 2.11:
New frontend
A new frontend based on NodeJS was developed from scratch. The browser-based application has been designed as a single page application. This eliminated a significant downside of the Zope-based frontend. Using it is now also considerably more fluid and pleasant due to the lack of round-trip dialog steps. The application has a much more modern look as well. In this release, the new GUI is still being supplied as alpha software.
Approval System
By customer request, a system was implemented to enable a 4-eyes principle for critical operator interventions. At master, parent or job level, you can specify which operator interventions are subject to the 4-eyes principle, which ones only need to be checked afterwards, and which ones are not critical. If the 4-eyes principle is required, an Approval Request is entered into the system in the event of a corresponding operator intervention. A second person with Approval privileges can then either confirm or reject the action. The operation is only actually carried out after it has been confirmed by the second person. If only a subsequent check is required, the operation is carried out immediately, but an Approval Request is also entered into the system. A second person can then approve or reject the operation. The focus here is on the documentary character. A distinction can be made between the different operations. For example, a CANCEL can require the 4-eyes principle, but a RERUN or setting the Exit Status cannot.
Better frontend support for object monitoring
Watch Types and Object Monitors can be defined from the GUI. The manage_watchtype privilege is required for this.
Detailed operator privileges
In addition to the individual OPERATE privilege, detailed privileges are now also possible. The pure OPERATE privilege corresponds to the entirety of all the individual privileges and is therefore semantically synonymous with the OPERATE privilege from the previous releases. However, the OPERATE privilege can be withdrawn and privileges for individual operations can be assigned again. This can be used, for example, to prevent every operator from cancelling jobs.
Cancel with Kill
The Kill option can be specified to cancel jobs. All running jobs with a Kill program are then first killed and subsequently cancelled. A Kill recursive was required for the implementation. This operation can also be used without Cancel.
List scheduled command
A new command LIST SCHEDULED has been implemented. This can be used to determine when which batches and jobs are to be run for the specified period. As in the calendar, you can also filter by job name.
Disabled job servers
A job server can be disabled at any time. However, it will still be able to connect to the server until there are no more active jobs left. Access is then blocked.
Java compatibility
Newer Java versions (11, 13, 17 and higher) are now also supported. However, the MEMFLAGS parameter in the java.conf file must be changed when using Java 17 and higher. The setting MEMFLAGS="-XX:+UseZGC -XX:-ZUncommit" has proven itself so far.
The complete 2.11 release notes you may download as a PDF File here: Release Notes 2.11 PDF