ALVAO 8.1 – Release Notes
Prior to upgrade to a new version, read the Important Warnings chapter. After that there follows a list of changes in the released versions.
Important Warnings
This section contains the description of changes in the new product version that may cause certain problems in case of upgrades from legacy versions and/or running the new version. Please read this information carefully before upgrading to the new version. We also recommend reading the list of known issues in the released versions, see Known problems.
Common for all ALVAO products
- Service Desk WebApp and Asset Portal have been merged into ALVAO WebApp.
With this the URL address has been changed: if you want to maintain the validity of old links of Service Desk WebApp (notifications) or Asset Portal (SAM notifications), use the following procedure:
- Open the Internet Information Services Manager (IIS) on the server where Service Desk WebApp or Asset Portal respectively has been located.
- Above the Default Web Site section use the Add application command from the context menu.
- Enter an alias corresponding to the former alias (e.g. ServiceDeskWebApp or AssetPortal).
- Select the corresponding (empty) folder, i.e. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ServiceDeskWebApp or C:\inetpub\wwwroot\AssetPortal respectively.
- Click OK.
- Go to the homepage of the created application.
- From the IIS section use the Http redirect command.
- Enable the Redirect the requirements into this target name option.
- Enter the ALVAO WebApp address.
Tip: If you are using Service Desk and Asset Management together, when redirecting Asset Portal add an address for the My Asset page to the end of the WebApp address. (E.g. company.com/Alvao/MyAsset).
ALVAO Asset Management
- AM – Objects Properties – dropdown list "suggests" the values according to the currently written text.
- AM – Reminders – this functionality is replaced with a new Scheduled tasks functionality.
Therefore we recommend to archive the existing reminders before the database upgrade: Open the Reminders window (Tools – Lists – Reminders in the AM Console main window) and select the Table – Analyze in MS Excel Sheet command from context menu.
- AM – Web Service – it has been separated from the portal into an individual installation package.
With that the location of the WebService has been changed to IIS. When upgrading the agents and also to the newly installed agents now enter the full address to WebService (e.g. http://server/assetwebservice/assetwebservice.asmx). When upgrading to the version 8.1 we recommend to upgrade also the AM Agents on all the computers. If you can not, for any reason, upgrade all AM Agents immediately, on IIS put into use another instance of AM WebService in its location form the previous version to maintain the Agents' functionality after upgrading the ALVAO Server to the new version. You can do it the following way:
- On the IIS server in the Default Web Site (i.e. on the drive usually in the C:\inetpub\wwwroot folder) create a new folder with a name corresponding to the name of the original AM Portal root folder. E.g. if the AM Portal had the "https://server/asset" address, name the folder "asset".
- Launch the Internet Information Services Manager (IIS) and on the created folder use the Add application command from the context menu.
- Enter an alias "assetwebservice".
- Set the physical path to the existing AM WebService application (e.g. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\AssetWebService).
- Click OK.
Note: By this can the agents in the version 8.0 having set the address to portal as http://server/asset contact the WebService on the address http://server/asset/assetwebservice/assetwebservice.asmx. Agents in the version 8.1 will contact the WebService by default on the address http://server/assetwebservice/assetwebservice.asmx.
- AM Console – License Registry – Links – the logic and architecture of links has been changed.
Warning: Prior the database upgrade it is necessary to delete cyclic links or let them be replaced by non-directional link "Related" during the upgrade.
- AM Agent – During the upgrade or installing the Agent you enter the full address of the Asset Management WebService instead of former address of the AM Portal root. WebService address is stored in the Registry in the WSUrl key, the old PortalAddress key is no longer used.
- AM Collector – Detection – if the ALVAO MS SCCM Connector module is available, the "automatic" detection method first tries to detect via MS SCCM.
ALVAO Service Desk
- SD – Knowledge base – individual articles are assigned to the services. For the correct migration of knowledge from sections into services edit the section names according to the Knowledge Migration from Sections to Services.
- SD – Search in requests – we recommend to install the Full-Text and Semantics Extractions for Search component on the SQL Server prior upgrading. This will significantly speed up the request search in the version 8.1. For details refer here.
Search in requests command may return other results than in past versions.
- SD – Assign to solver – automatic assignment to solver based on the sent message no longer occurs. This applies also for sending a message from the SD Console and ALVAO WebApp.
- SD Web Service – requires .NET Framework 4.0 installed and AppPool set for .NET 4.0.
- SD – Retrospective request resolution – Time limit for resolution can be set on all processes, by default it is set to 8 hours in the service operating hours.
You can set the time limit for retrospective resolution in the ALVAO Admin – Manage – Service Desk – Processes – Edit – Workflow – Resolved – Edit tab – Behavior tab – Time limit for resolution item. If you enter the 0 value, it will not be possible to resolve the requests retrospectively.
- SD – New request – when the request is created by operator on behalf of another user the last option in the Request submission method (Service Desk Console – New request – General tab) item is no longer remembered. Default value is set to other, i.e. the communication channel is not defined. Setting the default value of the request submission method can be changed in the ALVAO Admin – Manage – Service Desk – Settings – General tab.
- Admin – Service – Loading messages – the loading messages option has been removed from the WebDAV.
- ALVAO WebApp – Service Catalog – the Use template command has been hidden.
- Admin – Services – New/Edit – Extended – the Select room in building option has been removed. The functionality can be implemented using custom items and custom forms. Contact the ALVAO Technical Support Team if necessary.
- ALVAO WebApp – Link to the parent portal – the functionality has been transferred to own link in the main menu.
- ALVAO WebApp – The "HdTicketNew.HdTicketHdSection" option has been canceled in the configuration file. Its functionality can be replaced by the View in the Service Catalog option in the service settings on the Service Catalog tab.
ALVAO Monitoring
- MON – Database upgrade in the ALVAO Admin is necessary to launch on the computer where the ALVAO Monitoring Server service is running.
Changes in the Released Versions
8.1.700 – RTM
8.1.702 – RTM
- T41078ALVAO ALVAO 8.1 – PL translation – The non-functional Polish language localization removed temporarily. We are working on translations.
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