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, and 21.3.09 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21.3.10 |  | | 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 21.3.10
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 IT 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 IT 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 IT 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:
| Orchestration platform | Ingress | Helm |
|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes 1.25 | 1.7.0 | 3.11 |
| Kubernetes 1.24 | 1.7.0 | |
| Kubernetes 1.23 | 1.6.4 | |
| OpenShift 4.12 | 1.7.0 | |
| OpenShift 4.11 | 1.7.0 | |
| OpenShift 4.10 | 1.6.4 |
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 IT 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:
| Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.10 | Product behavior in version 21.3.10 |
|---|---|---|
Changes to the structure the bmc repository that contains the
BMC Helix IT Service Management
container images | The bmc/lp00x repository contained the BMC Helix IT Service Management container images. For example, containers.bmc.com/bmc/lp00x:ARS-213006HF-202211181051-21306-HF7 | Each component has a separate repository such as ars, midtier, cmdb, and virtualchat. These repositories contain the images for the respective component, the AR System images are located in the ars repository, and the Mid Tier images are located in the midtier repository. For example, containers.bmc.com/bmc/ars:21310HF-202306221501 and containers.bmc.com/bmc/midtier:21310-RTM |
Changes to Git repository parameter in the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline | While building the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline, to specify the Git repositories location, you had to provide values for parameters such as DEVOPS_REPO, CUSTOMER_CONFIGS, PLAYBOOKS_REPO, HELM_REPO, and SMARTAPPS_HELM_REPO. | While building the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline, you only have to specify the location of the directory that contains all the Git repositories in the GIT_REPO_DIR parameter. |
Parameters removed from the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline | While building the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline, you had to provide values for the following parameters:
| These parameters are now managed through the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline code and are removed from the pipeline input to avoid parameter duplication. |
Parameters added to the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline | NA | While building the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline, you have to specify the values for following parameters:
For more information about these parameters, see |
Updates in 21.3.09
What else changed in this release
The following table lists the changes in the product behavior in this patch:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.09 | Product behavior in version 21.3.09 |
|---|---|---|
Improve subquery performance on forms by enabling Row-Level Security (RLS) on an overlay-restricted schema. | You could not apply RLS on an overlay-restricted schema. | You can apply RLS on an overlay-restricted schema. For more information, see Improving performance by using RLS algorithms. |
Updates in 21.3.06
Updated support for Kubernetes and OpenShift
BMC Helix IT 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 IT 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:
| Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.06 | Product behavior in version 21.3.06 |
|---|---|---|
Change in the Oracle database case sensitivity support | BMC Helix IT Service Management installation supported a case sensitive Oracle database. |
BMC Helix IT Service Management
installation supports a case insensitive Oracle database. For more information, see
Setting up an Oracle database
|
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:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.06 | Product behavior in version 21.3.06 |
|---|---|---|
Synchronize article flags from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround | Flagged articles in BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management were not synchronized to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround as flagged. | Flagged knowledge articles copied from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management are marked as flagged in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. Flagging comment and date are also synchronized. |
Run the multithreaded synchronization process | Knowledge articles were synchronized in a consecutive order from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. | The multithreading approach is used to synchronize multiple knowledge articles in parallel from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management. This approach boosts the performance of the synchronization tool and enables the system to migrate knowledge articles significantly faster to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. |
Updates in 21.3.05
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 IT Service Management in an Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service cluster
and
Installing BMC Helix ITSM Service Management in a Google Kubernetes Engine cluster
in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.
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:
| Product | Behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.05 | Behavior in version 21.3.05 |
|---|---|---|
| Fluent Bit |
|
|
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:
Update | Product behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.05 | Product behavior in version 21.3.05 |
|---|---|---|
Change in the HELIX_POST_DEPLOY_CONFIG parameter | HELIX_POST_DEPLOY_CONFIG parameter was used to apply force password change for the Demo user on first time login. | HELIX_POST_DEPLOY_CONFIG is a pipeline that is used to delete the Demo user. Demo user is deleted when you select the HELIX_POST_DEPLOY_CONFIG option and run the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT pipeline post-installation of BMC Helix IT Service Management . For more information, see
Performing the installation
|
Updates in 21.3.04
Enhancements to Support Assistant tool
In a fresh deployment of BMC Helix IT 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:
| Product | Behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.04 | Behavior in version 21.3.04 |
|---|---|---|
| Support Assistant tool |
|
|
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 IT 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:
Updates in 21.3.02
Seamless authentication of users from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround
Users of BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management have seamless access to knowledge articles in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. The end users can view or edit the knowledge articles according to the assignment group, visibility group, and KCS role assigned to them.
Administrators of BMC Helix Innovation Studio can modify the mapping between the permission groups in BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management with BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround user groups, role, portal and knowledge access.
To learn how to modify the access mapping, see Mapping knowledge article visibility from BMC Helix ITSM Knowledge Management with BMC Helix Knowledge Management.
Improved parity between articles in BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management and BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround
To improve parity between articles in BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management and BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround, the following knowledge article attributes are synchronized:
- Metadata fields with tags
- Doc ID
- Keywords
- Attachments
- Association with tickets
- Knowledge articles in all statuses
To learn more about the article types and attributes that are synchronized, see Synchronizing BMC applications with BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.
Support for BMC Helix ITSM Insights and BMC Helix Dashboards deployment
BMC Helix IT Service Management supports deployment of BMC Helix ITSM Insights and BMC Helix Dashboards products in your on-premises environment. The BMC Helix IT Service Management deployment pipeline provides an option to select BMC Helix ITSM Insights and BMC Helix Dashboards deployment and you can optionally deploy the products along with other ITSM applications. The option is available for fresh installation and upgrade of BMC Helix IT Service Management.
For more information, see
Performing the installation
in
BMC Helix IT Service Management
Deployment documentation.
Review the availability of BMC Service Request Management in the following table:
Deployment type | Availability of BMC Service Request Management | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| New or fresh deployment | Upgrade | Migration to SaaS | |
| SaaS |
| | - |
| On-premises | | | |
(For SaaS subscribers only) BMC Service Request Management is available only for upgrade scenarios for existing customers
For SaaS customers, starting with version 21.3.02 of BMC Helix ITSM , most of BMC Service Request Management is no longer available in new or fresh deployments of BMC Helix ITSM . We recommend that SaaS customers use BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog to create and manage service request catalog items for your end users. Work Order management continues to be delivered with BMC Helix ITSM .
Updates in 21.3.01
Automate processes by using content packages
Automate the following processes by using content packages and create services in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog by using sample services:
- Fetching payslips from a payroll system by using a Blue Prism RPA process
- Fetching payslips from a payroll system by using a UiPath RPA process
For more information, see
Automating actions performed in third-party systems by using a content package
.
(SaaS subscribers only) Downloading and installing the patch
| Download from EPD | |
|---|---|
| Patch installation |
SaaS application patching
BMC applies patches during
Maintenance windows
.
(On-premises only) Downloading and installing the patch
| Download from EPD | See
Downloading the installation files
|
|---|---|
| Patch installation | See
Upgrading BMC Helix IT Service Management to 21.3.06
|
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