Control-M upgrade

Control-M/EM and Control-M/Server software upgrades can now be installed in-place with minimal downtime. The in-place upgrade supports both annual releases and fix packs.

In-place upgrade is supported from Control-M version 9 fix pack 1 and later.

Version compatibility

The new in-place upgrade process ensures version compatibility across Control-M components, with the following guiding principles:

• Control-M 9.0.18 clients can now work in parallel with Control-M clients of previous version 9 releases. This is the default setup after you perform an upgrade. To prevent inconsistent data between versions, when version compatibility is turned on, new clients can’t use certain new features. To start using the new features, both Control-M/EM and Control-M/Server must be on version 9.0.18 and Compatibility Mode must be turned off in the CCM. This action prevents older clients from connecting.
• The new process now enables the Control-M/Server to work with earlier Control-M/EM versions. This means that the Control-M/Server can now install required fixes without requiring you to upgrade Control-M/EM. This mode is supported from Control-M/EM version 9.
• Just like in our previous releases, Control-M/EM 9.0.18 supports earlier Control-M/Server versions. To use new Control-M 9.0.18 features both Control-M/EM and Control-M/Server must be on version 9.0.18 and Compatibility Mode must be turned off in the CCM.

Client Distribution

• New client and existing client upgrades can both be triggered through the Control-M Welcome page.
• Client deploy replaces the client installation CD and allows the installation of a new client or the upgrade of an existing client.
• Client deploy presents the greatest and latest Control-M client installation in a single step, avoiding the need to install a GA version followed by a fix pack.

Application Pack deployment

• The Control-M Application Pack provides a faster and simpler deployment experience for Control-M Application plugins and is bundled with Control-M/EM.
• The Control-M Application Pack can be distributed and deployed on multiple Control-M/Agents via the CCM. Note that these Control-M/Agents must first be upgraded to Control-M version 9.0.18.
• The latest Application plug-in forms are now part of Control-M’s latest client and cannot not be installed separately.
• Control-M Application Pack currently includes the following Control-M plug-ins: Control-M Application Integrator, Control-M for Backup and Control-M for Databases. Additional Application plug-ins are planned for inclusion in future releases.

Cyclic folders

Provides a simple setup of cyclic scheduling options at the SMART folder level, including:

• The SMART folder’s behavior is similar to that of a cyclic job and all the jobs in the SMART folder are treated as a single entity.
• When you rerun the folder, all the jobs in that folder rerun and the original dependencies between them are maintained.

  NOTE: This feature is disabled when running with Compatibility Mode turned on.

End folder

This new attribute can be used to mark one or more completion points in the folder’s flow. When a job that is marked with the ‘end folder’ attribute completes, no additional jobs in this folder are submitted. After all the jobs in the folder are complete, the folder status changes to Completed.

This new attribute allows you to define a folder with a flow that has more than one potential logical end.

NOTE: This feature is disabled when running with Compatibility Mode turned on.

Variable simulation

Provides the ability to simulate variables that are resolved before or during job submission. This eliminates the need to order and execute certain jobs, which for example, check if the Variable Simulation syntax is correct. This ability covers job submission variables, system variables, user-defined variables, global variables and pool variables.

NOTE: This feature is disabled when running with Compatibility Mode turned on.

Control-M Reporting

Control-M Reports replaces the previously released Reporting Facility.

Control-M Reports comes with the following enhancements and capabilities:

• New and modern up-to-date web interface. This HTML5 web-based interface is integrated into the Control-M client and improves usability and ease of use.
• Robust BIRT engine. This up-to-date robust engine generates the reports and replaces the SAP Crystal Reports engine, which is removed during installation.
• Thin client approach. With Control-M Reports, there no need for client resources in order to generate the reports. Reports are generated on the server (using BIRT).
• Centralized methodology, which means all of the report output resides on the server.
• Report preview. With Control-M Reports, you no longer need to run the report in order to see the results. A new preview option is available and returns a sample of 25 report rows.

For migration instructions (from the existing Reporting Facility to Control-M Reports), see Control-M Reporting Facility migration.

Protected Field in the Monitoring domain

Provides the ability to disable editing of the command line and Node ID/Group fields for all non-admin users in the Monitoring domain using the ModifyJobFieldsBlock system parameter.

Recent Viewpoints

When starting up Control-M client, after Control-M client closes or crashes, you can see recently opened viewpoints.

NOTE: Only applies if you select Auto Open Viewpoint and then select Recent Viewpoints from File ->Options -> Monitoring.

Control-M Batch Impact Manager (BIM)

Two new BIM alert types were added:

• Service is OK: An alert is produced whenever a service completes successfully.
• Service late past deadline: An alert is produced whenever a service exceeds its deadline. This is different from the existing alert, which is produced as soon as the service is projected to be late, and not when it really exceeds the deadline.

Control-M Web

The Control-M Workload Change Manager web interface has been rewritten in HTML5, aligning it with industry standards.

It now supports multiple browsers on various platforms including Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari.

In addition, the two web interfaces (Workload Change Manager and Self Service) were merged into a single interface containing the following three domains:

• Planning:Define and edit your jobs and various job properties.
• Monitoring:Monitor the status of your jobs, check for problems, and perform various job actions.
• Managed File Transfer: Search for a file that was transferred with Control-M Managed File Transfer and view its job properties.

External PostgreSQL

Control-M can now work with an external PostgreSQL database owned by the customer. This support covers AWS PG RDS as well.

NOTE: This support does not cover Workload Archiving.

Amazon Linux

Control-M can now be installed on Amazon Linux. This includes Control-M/EM, Control-M/Server, and Control-M/Agent.

Live Control-M Help

Control-M help files are now hosted on the BMC Documentation portal.

These help files are generated daily and include the latest content updates, corrections, new videos, and more.

Along with this capability is the option to opt out of going online every time you invoke the help and instead use the help that was installed with the release. However, this help remains static and does not contain the content updates that are published in the live hosted help.

Communication improvements

The Control-M/EM client now connects to the Control-M/EM server using HTTP/HTTPS standards. All communication between the clients and servers is done on a single port via the Control-M Web Server.

Setting up SSL between the Control-M/EM client and Control-M/EM server was simplified even further and now only requires that you set up the Control-M Web server.

After the upgrade, if HTTPS was not configured on the Control-M Web Server prior to the upgrade, all the Control-M clients communicate using HTTP (unsecured). To go back to having a secured connection, you must set up the Control-M Web Server.

After configuring the Control-M Web Server you need to verify that the Windows keystore includes the certificate authority (CA) you used for the Control-M Web Server configuration.

The Control-M Web Server configuration tool, manage_webserver, allows you to configure ports, HTTPS, SSL, and other advanced settings. For more information, see Configuring secure communication between Control-M client applications and the Web Server.

Self-Conversion – ‘Build your own conversion

Control-M Self Conversion is a powerful application with an intuitive web interface that allows you to build new conversions from any scheduler, application, or homegrown infrastructure into Control-M folders and jobs.

Major enhancements in multiple conversion types

• CA Automic UC4: Conversion of UC4 Pre/Post scripts, MVS jobs, UC4 variables inside MVS scripts, and UC4 jobs DOC element.
• CA Automic Dollar Universe: Conversion of additional data formats and 'sap uxstr' command jobs into Control-M for SAP R3 jobs.
• CA Autosys: Conversion of additional Autosys attributes and conditions format.
• Self-Conversion: Added support for creating conditions and basic scheduling using Groovy conversion rules.

Control-M Automation API

The following are some of the major APIs enhancements:

• Exposing additional parameters for Run Order API
• Run Status API now supports searching in active jobs by JobID and neighborhood
• Disable and enable agents
• Delete folders
• Delete and get connection profiles as JSON

For additional information, see Automation API services.

An additional group of enhancements focuses on the extension of the Automation API JSON code. Some of these major enhancements include:

• Notify properties for jobs and folders
• RerunIntervals
• Additional If elements
• Support of simple folders across the APIs (in addition to SMART folders)

For additional information, see Automation API Code Reference.

Deploy descriptor

Control-M Automation API now supports the use of a deploy descriptor file to change job definition properties in JSON format before building, deploying, or running the JSON file.

Site standards enforcement

Site standards are now enforced on deployed JSON files, based on CCM definitions. The site standards must adhere to those defined in Control-M.