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This documentation supports the 21.3 version of Action Request System.

To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Action Request System 21.3 Release notes and notices

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, and 21.3.06 for SaaS subscribers. Starting with the 21.3.06 patch release, these features and enhancements are also available for on-premises customers. 


Related topics

Known and corrected issues

21.3 enhancements

Available patches

Patch versionSaaSOn premisesDefect fixesUpdates
21.3.08(tick)
Known and corrected issuesNone
21.3.07(tick)
Known and corrected issuesNone
21.3.06(tick)(tick)Known and corrected issuesUpdates in 21.3.06
21.3.05(tick)(tick)Known and corrected issuesUpdates in 21.3.05
21.3.04(tick)(tick)Known and corrected issuesUpdates in 21.3.04
21.3.03(tick)
Known and corrected issuesNone
21.3.02(tick)(tick)Known and corrected issuesUpdates in 21.3.02
21.3.01(tick)
Known and corrected issuesUpdates in 21.3.01


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: 

UpdateProduct behavior in versions earlier than 21.3.06Product 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 in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation..


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
  • Deployed as root container
  • Required cluster administrator privileges for deployment
  • Deployed as sidecar container with non-root privilege
  • Does not require cluster administrator privileges for deployment

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
  • Deployed as root container
  • Required cluster administrator privileges for deployment
  • Deployed as non-root container 
  • Does not require cluster administrator privileges for deployment
  • Requires namespace level permissions for deployment

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 deploymentUpgradeMigration to SaaS
SaaS

(error)

(tick)-
On-premises(tick)(tick)(tick)

(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

See Setting up your IDE and installing BMC Helix Innovation Studio SDK .

Patch installation

See Upgrading BMC Helix Innovation Studio SDK to 21.30.08 .

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 in  BMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment documentation.

Patch installation

See Upgrading BMC Helix IT Service Management to 21.3.06 in  BMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment documentation.

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Last modified by Anagha Deshpande on Jan 23, 2023
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