21.3 patches

Review the fixes and updates in this patch in  BMC Helix Innovation Suite  21.3 that might impact your users.

New features and enhancements were delivered in versions 21.3 and 21.3.01, 21.3.02, 21.3.03, 21.3.04, 21.3.05, 21.3.06, 213.07, 21.3.08, 21.3.9, 21.3.10, and 21.3.11 for SaaS subscribers. Starting with the 21.3.06 patch release, these features and enhancements are also available for on-premises customers. 

Available patches

Patch version	SaaS	On premises	Defect fixes	Updates
21.3.11			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.11
21.3.10			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.10
21.3.09			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.09
21.3.08			Known and corrected issues	None
21.3.07			Known and corrected issues	None
21.3.06			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.06
21.3.05			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.05
21.3.04			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.04
21.3.03			Known and corrected issues	None
21.3.02			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.02
21.3.01			Known and corrected issues	Updates in 21.3.01

Updates in 21.3.11

(Controlled availability customers only) Facilitate application access to users having different email domains 

Allow multiple users having different email domains and authentication mechanisms to access the same application URL by enabling BMC Helix Single Sign-On  based multiple service providers (MSP) in your environment. 

MSP incorporates a robust authentication mechanism, ensuring an exclusive and secure access to the application.

After configuring the authorization patterns, when you enable MSP in your environment and access BMC Helix ITSM applications, BMC Helix CMDB , BMC Digital Workplace , and BMC Live Chat , the following  screen asking for user authorization is displayed:

Enter your user name to complete the authorization and then you are redirected to the following application login screen asking for your application login credentials for authentication:

For information about enabling BMC Helix Single Sign-On  based MSP in BMC Helix Innovation Suite  application, see Facilitating application access to users having different email domains.

What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch: 

Updates in 21.3.10

Select a row-level security algorithm for fast data retrieval

Select from multiple, row level security (RLS) algorithms to enhance row level access control and improve server performance by retrieving the record data faster. For more information, see Improving data retrieval performance by selecting a row level security algorithm .

Support for Kubernetes 1.25 and OpenShift 4.12

BMC Helix Service Management deployment supports Kubernetes version 1.25 and OpenShift version 4.12. 

The supported versions of Kubernetes and OpenShift are as follows:

• Kubernetes versions - 1.23 – 1.25
  

  Important

  If you are using BMC Helix Service Management in Kubernetes version 1.25, make sure that you use the baseline pod security standard when you enable pod security standards in your namespace.
• OpenShift versions - 4.10 – 4.12

For more information, see System requirements .

Support for Ingress controller 1.7.0 and Helm 3.11

BMC Helix Service Management deployment supports Ingress controller versions 1.6.4 and 1.7.0, and Helm version 3.11. 

Supported Ingress and Helm versions with the orchestration platforms are as follows:

For more information, see System requirements .

Migration of container images to the Alpine operating system

All the BMC Helix Innovation Suite and applications container images that are hosted on the BMC Docker Trusted Registry (DTR) have been migrated from CentOS to the Alpine operating system.

Additional products available for on-premises installation

The following products are available in BMC Helix Service Management , and you can install them in your on-premises environment:

• BMC Helix Portfolio Management (HPM)
• BMC Helix Customer Service Management (CSM)

For more information, see Performing the BMC Helix IT Service Management installation .

What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch: 

Updates in 21.3.09

What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch: 

Updates in 21.3.06

Updated support for Kubernetes and OpenShift

BMC Helix Service Management deployment supports the following additional Kubernetes and OpenShift versions:

• Kubernetes versions - 1.18 – 1.23
• OpenShift versions - 4.6 – 4.10 

For more information, see   System requirements in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

Support for self-signed and CA signed certificates

Use a custom self-signed or CA signed certificates to use HTTPS communication for Service Management applications.

For more information, see the CACERTS_FILE parameter in   Performing the installation and  Applying security certificates to your applications in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

Updated support for Nginx Ingress Controller

BMC Helix Service Management deployment supports  Nginx Ingress Controller version 1.2.0 in addition to support for version 0.32.

For more information, see System requirements   in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

Automated setting up of BMC Deployment Engine

You can set up BMC Deployment Engine by using an automated script that simplifies the set up process. 

For more information, see  Setting up BMC Deployment Engine   in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch: 

Rebrand PWA screens 

Rebrand Progressive Web Application (PWA) screens according to your company standards and requirements by using custom cascading style sheet (CSS) files and images. To learn more, see Rebranding Progressive Web Application screens .

Synchronize articles in multiple languages from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround

Have your localized knowledge articles copied to the respective translation languages in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. The synchronization tool automatically migrates articles written in languages other than English to the corresponding translations in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

You can leverage multilanguage synchronization capabilities for common locales that are supported by BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management and your portal in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

To learn more about synchronizing localizations, see  How localizations are synchronized .

Separate migration options for synchronizing knowledge articles

Streamline the synchronization process from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround by using performance-oriented and precise synchronization options. You can select between three distinct synchronization options to achieve the following results:

• Copy the folders only (Folder contents are not copied)—Create the folder structure only.
• Sync all (Override)—Migrate all content to created folders.
• Sync changes only—Copy only the new or changed articles to avoid overriding knowledge articles updated directly in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

For more information about the available synchronization options, see  Synchronizing the knowledge bases .

What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch: 

Updates in 21.3.05

Automatically unlock the BMC Helix Innovation Suite  account

When the BMC Helix Innovation Suite  account is locked due to failed password attempts, you can automatically unlock your account, without the help of an administrator.

In Centralized Configuration, administrators use the Max Number of Automatic Unlock setting to set the number of attempts for incorrect password, and the Automatic Time To Unlock setting to set the time interval for automatic unlock.

For more information, see Enabling automatic password unlocking.

Support for Amazon EKS, GKE and OKE platforms

BMC Helix ITSM  supports deployment on the following Kubernetes clusters:

• Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE)

For more information, see 

Installing BMC Helix ITSM Service Management in a Google Kubernetes Engine cluster

Execute arbitrary commands by using the Run Process action

The Run Process action runs the system commands and extracts passwords that are attached as part of the BMC Helix Innovation Suite container. An administrator or an application business analyst can use the Run-Process-White-List setting to configure a list of all the commands that are trusted and can be safely executed by using the Run Process action.

Commands that are not trusted are not executed by using the Run Process action. For more information, see Configuration settings N-R .

Rollback deployment

When updating BMC Helix ITSM from the version 21.3.04 to 21.3.05, if any of the HELIX_PLATFORM_DEPLOY, HELIX_NONPLATFORM_DEPLOY, or HELIX_SMARTAPPS_DEPLOY pipelines fail, you can rollback back to the last successful deployed version of the platform and applications by using the rollback option.

For more information, see  Applying patches in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

Updates to Fluent Bit deployment

In a fresh deployment of BMC Helix ITSM , Fluent Bit is deployed as a sidecar container in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite  namespace. 

The following table lists the changes in the product deployment behavior:

For more information, see  Performing the installation and  Viewing and collecting critical logs by using the Kibana dashboard in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

Enhancements to Support Assistant tool

Use a custom role in your BMC Helix Innovation Suite namespace to install the Support Assistant tool.

For more information, see  Performing the installation   in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch: 

Updates in 21.3.04

Enhancements to Support Assistant tool

In a fresh deployment of BMC Helix Service Management , Support Assistant tool is deployed as a sidecar container in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite namespace. 

The following table lists the changes in the product deployment behavior:

For more information, see Performing the installation and Viewing and collecting logs by using the Support Assistant tool in Deployment documentation.

Support for deployment size templates

BMC Helix Service Management  deployment supports four different sizing profiles: Compact, Small, Medium, and Large. 

For more information, see Sizing and scalability considerations in Deployment doucmentation. 

Support for PostgreSQL database encryption

BMC Helix Innovation Suite supports PostgreSQL 13.5 database with disk level encryption.

Documentation updates

Documentation improvements to the following use cases in BMC Helix Innovation Suite documentation:

• Integrating third-party products with BMC Helix Innovation Suite by using REST APIs
• Using Email Engine to enable email driven business processes
• Using Approval Server to automate the approval-driven business processes
• Using BMC Helix Innovation Suite to enable business process automation

Updates in 21.3.02

Updates in 21.3.01

(SaaS subscribers only) Downloading and installing the patch

SaaS application patching

BMC applies patches during Maintenance windows .

(On-premises only) Downloading and installing the patch