12.7 enhancements

This section contains information about enhancements in version 12.7 of the BMC Client Management product.

Replacement for Java Web Start

Patch 4 for BMC Client Management version 12.7 introduces a replacement for Java Web Start.

Oracle recently announced a major change to their licensing policy and release cadence for Java SE (Standard Edition including both JDK and JRE). BMC Client Management earlier included Oracle Java (JRE) for some server processes and the Administration Console. To minimize impact of the new Oracle licensing change for users, BMC Client Management now provides support for OpenJDK through the web start installer. The web start installer is a replacement for Java Web Start, and provides the following advantages:

• Provides an easier way to install the BMC Client Management Console, with fewer installation steps.
• Ensures that the console is always up-to-date. 

If you use BMC Remedyforce or BMC FootPrints with BMC Client Management, you must wait until the release of BMC Remedyforce Winter 19 or BMC FootPrints version 20.19.01 before upgrading to BMC Client Management 12.7 patch 4 in order to launch the BCM console from BMC Remedyforce and BMC FootPrints. The current releases of BMC Footprints and BMC Remedyforce are not compatible with BMC Client Management 12.7 patch 4, due to the introduction of the new BMC Client Management web start installer.

For more information, see Downloading and installing the BMC Helix Client Management console.

New software catalog 

The software catalog in the BMC Client Management 12.7 release has been replaced with Flexera Application Recognition library. Flexera provides a normalized software catalog with standard naming conventions used to identify software publishers and titles. The Flexera software catalog supports Windows, Mac OS, and Linux applications.

For information on changes in the software catalog if you are upgrading to BMC Client Management 12.7, see Upgrading.

Security enhancements 

Client Management 12.7 provides the following security enhancements:

• Use of the SMB1 protocol was replaced by SMB2 and SMB3.
• For fresh installations, the previously used bespoke password encryption is replaced with AES for additional security. 
• When Master server is upgraded, the legacy cryptography is used, and the new encryption needs to be manually activated by selecting the appropriate option for Security Level settings. For more information on activating this option, see Managing security settings.

Enhancements to Patch Management 

Patch management in 12.7 includes the following enhancements:

• Additional selection criteria for patch groups:

  • Patch Type

  • Option to Select All or any combination of products.

  Prior to 12.7 the options were available only for patch jobs.

• New button to clear bulletin dates without resetting the other criteria for patch groups. Prior to 12.7, only a Reset button was available, which reset all selected filter criteria

• Ability to Block Patch Installation for Patch Jobs. Prior to 12.7, this option was available only for patch deployments 

Relay lists defined with multiple relay servers 

Client Management agents can choose from multiple relay servers to connect to during startup. The list of relay servers are defined in a Relay List. This ability to define multiple relay servers allows administrators to easily and effectively manage their networks running Client Management agents.

Prior to 12.7 release, only the master server was the default relay list server. If another device was to be used as the relay list server, the administrator needed to manually store the the relay list to that device.

For more information, refer to Managing relay lists. 

Enhancements to remote control 

The enhanced remote control feature provides 

• The ability to define remote control access rights for administrators.
• The ability to show an end user when their system is being controlled
• The ability for end users to disconnect remote control sessions. 
• The ability to define the maximum time administrators can be logged in without performing any activity on the remote session.
• The largest possible view of the computer the administrator is controlling while maintaining the aspect ratio – ‘Fit to screen’.
  
• The ability to to view the remote session on your screen including information about users who are connected.
• An Auto Logout preference for the web console.

For more information, refer to Managing devices remotely.