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Empirum 21.0 Update 3 - Release and Update Notes

About This Document

This document describes functional changes, bug fixes, known issues, modified behaviors and changed platform support that have been added since the last update. 

Please find the installation files of this version on Matrix42 Marketplace

System requirements, integration guides and instructions for installation and update are available in the Matrix42 Help Center

Software Management

Extended distribution flags and package properties

With Empirum v21 Update 3 a new distribution flag called "Optional" has been introduced. The flag can be used to "accounce" new packages in order to allow the end-users to already install them without being forced (e.g. Windows Feature Upgrade) or to create a new type of kiosk by assignment. More details about this new feature can be found in the documentation.

Also with release another package property was introduced to show end-users if a package requires a reboot or not. It can be defined in section "misc" and will be shown on the UEM Agent whenever an installation is scheduled.

UEM Agent

The latest agent with all details and information about the new features can be found here: Matrix42 Marketplace

Inventory

Inventory is now able to detect the edition of Microsoft PowerBI Report Server.

OS Installer

If you use only WinPE and no longer EPE to install your operating systems, you can delete all imported WADK and WAIK (Configuration > OS Installer > Import) permanently.

Old or unneeded PreOS packages should be deleted from the EMC and locally from the hard disk.  

Please check here in the EMC in the tab Configuration - Software Management - Depot - Matrix42 PreOS Packages and delete all unneeded PreOS packages.

Locally you can delete the same PreOS packages from the hard disk in the directory "%EmpirumServer%\Configurator$\PackageStore\PreOSPackages".

The latest WinPE with all details and information about the new features can be found here: Matrix42 Marketplace

Since Empirum version 21.0 Update 2, the WinPE driver assistant is the only option in the EMC for configuring Windows drivers. With Update 3, the following additional features have been integrated:

  • Windows 11 & Windows Server 2022 support
  • Filter for Vendor, Model and driver
  • Description field per driver model
  • the option to export drivers and delete drivers from the database
  • the option to replace or extend a Drivers.json file

You can find more detailed information in our Matrix42 Help Center

Support of Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022

The driver wizard, as well as the creation of offline boot media, also supports Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 sources with Update 3.

To install Windows 11 successfully, the computer must meet the following requirements:

  • TPM 2.0 must be enabled
  • Intel 7th Gen processors

UUX for SUEM

More details and information about UUX for SUEM can be found here: Release Notes SUEM 21.0 Update 3 

Common Changes/Enhancements

EWC

We had a very low risk by using Log4j in version 1.2.16. Nevertheless, the version has been updated to 2.17.1 There is also a new Java version (17.0.1) and a new Tomcat version (9.0.56).

Packaging Center

With the update 3 there is a new tile in the Packaging Center. The Offline PXE Image Creator is used to create a PXE boot image locally on each machine which can then be uploaded and imported via SDK or as a zip file via UUX. Afterwards it can be assigned as usual in the EMC. The tool itself is a Power Shell based application, with which you have all known options to choose from, which you know from the EMC boot configuration.

In addition to the new tile in the Packaging Center, there is also a new software package to import. The Matrix42 WinPE Support Package 1.8.11 is required on the end device to create a PXE image.

Restriction to UEFI x64 exists for the created PXE boot images

You can find more detailed information in our Matrix42 Empirum Online Help.

EMC

The following operating systems have been removed (OS-Installer - Import) and are no longer supported:

  • WinPE
  • Windows Vista and XP
  • Windows Server 2003, 2003 R2, 2008 and 2008 R2
  • Apple

For security reasons, a backup of the "PrePackages" folder has been created. This is located under %Empirum%\Configurator\PrePackages.old

In the OS Installer - Operating System Configuration section, all Windows specific operating systems have been removed. These configurations are only required for EPE installations and are therefore no longer needed. With the upcoming major release 22.0 further no longer supported and required areas will be removed from EMC. 

Notification of extended maintenance period (LTSB)

Empirum version 19.0.3 is declared as LTSB version. Customers who are entitled to Matrix42 Premium Support thus receive an extended maintenance period beyond the release of version 21.0.0 at the end of April 2021.

Solved Issues

Problem ID Description
EMC
PRB36068 Changed values of variable configurations does not update computer.ini
PRB36150 Assignment of multiple clients is incomplete when not all clients are assignable
PRB36193 Software packages are disabled wrongly in function ‘Replace Software’ under certain circumstances
PRB36136 Function of variable ‘ReadyToInstall_Test’ does work when defined with variable configuration
PRB36415 Remove Option "Optional" for reinstallation
PRB36328 Hashes are recreated unintentionally for all packets
Personal Backup
PRB36256 PBackup 21.0.2: EVENTS.DLL missing
Patch Management
PRB36044 Successfully transfered patches via scan-package doesn't show up in PM-Log
PRB36345 Successful Windows 10 feature upgrade is not detected correctly
Misc
PRB36119 LDAP-Sync service in 1 : 1 sync mode deletes computer templates
PRB36120 WOL Service SQL TimeOut
PRB36167 Platform support for the package wizard
PRB36155 Windows 10 Education, the Inventory 21.0 does not correctly populate the "Edition" field
PRB36145 Alarm Management does not accept email address
PRB36210 Empirum AlarmManager service stops working
PRB36233 SQL Cluster communication issues - Services down
PRB36170 Communication problems Empirum ServiceStore
PRB36166 Problem with Not Qualified Clients at PXE Offline Depot
PRB36266 Setup64.exe has no digital signature
PRB36267 Corpses in the ActivationPool table trigger erroneous push jobs
PRB36249 Matrix42 Depot Helper Service creates no Matrix42FilesInfo.json Files
PRB36284 Wrong file size in "_Matrix42FileInfo.json" for "swdepot.dds" leads to broken "swdepot.dds" on clients
PRB36367/ PRB36439 WebConsole: Critical vulnerability in Apache Log4j library
PRB36425 SDK cannot import packages which were exported via EMC - "RebootRequired Error"
PRB36419 Import Package with SDK ignores Win11/Win2022
PRB36436 Empirum SDK/API does not list operating systems on SQL server 2016 and older
  PXE: Self Provisioning with unknown clients on offline depot
  PXE: Cleaning MAC8 directories via Sync extension
  Inventory incorrect detection with Dataserver 2019

Known Issues

Problem ID Description
OS Installer
  The feature "WinPE http/s Support" has current restrictions and don't support the client certificate from the agent template. Also Disk Imaging is not possible over http/s.

Changed or no longer supported Features and Platforms

  • Advanced Agent is not supported anymore.
  • UEM Agent older than version 2003.x are not supported with protocol http(s) anymore.
  • The SubDepot package no longer sets the null session shares
  • Due to performance optimizations of the PXE service, the following behavior has changed when booting computer objects known in Empirum. If the checkbox "PXE enabled" is not set when creating a computer object, the checkbox is NOT automatically set when booting the client from v21.0!

Announcements for Version V22.0  / planned Changes

  • UEM Agent configuration options

    The configuration options in the agent template AFTERREVERSE and AFTERFORCE will be discontinued with Emprium 22.0 as of May 01, 2022. We do not recommend using the mentioned options in the agent template. For more information, please refer to our Product usage guide

  • Matrix42 Device Discovery and Linux installations with EPE are put into maintenance mode with the release of Empirum 22.0 as of May 01, 2022.

    All products in maintenance mode are still usable and supported by Matrix42 Support. The product continues to receive troubleshooting. Services of the product are still possible. Matrix42 reserves the right to keep the product in maintenance mode indefinitely. For more information, please refer to our Product usage guide

Discontinuations for Version v21.0 Update 3

  • Nothing

Preliminary actions before installation


When you are downloading a Matrix42 hotfix or patch, the downloaded file may have a 'Zone.Identifier' information attached (depending on your browsers security configuration).
Please remove this 'Zone.Identifier', otherwise some problems with these files can occur (files are not loading correctly):

  1. Right-click the blocked file, and then click Properties.
  2. In the General tab, click Unblock.

To avoid the 'Zone.Identifier' in future please add the address 'https://m42marketplacemediathek.blob.core.windows.net' as a 'trusted zone' in the Internet Explorer.


Update 3 removes several old operating systems and language packs from EMC. Please check and delete the following versions before installation:

  • WinPE
  • Windows Vista and XP
  • Windows Server 2003, 2003 R2, 2008 and 2008 R2
  • Apple

 

Installation Steps

  1. Log on to the Matrix42 Empirum Master Server using an administrative account.
  2. Make sure, that a backup of your location database and your installation directory (e.g. D:\Empirum) does exist.
  3. Copy the Matrix42_Empirum_21.0_Update3.exe to a temporary folder of the Empirum Master Server.
  4. Run the Matrix42_Empirum_21.0_Update3.exe with elevated rights (Run as administrator).
  5. If the system requires a reboot, please reboot.

All necessary Empirum Services on the Master Server will be uninstalled during the installation.

Post-installation Steps


Due to changes on variables all INI files are rewritten.
The hashes of the Matrix42 software packages will be recreated.

  1. Start Empirum DBUtil and logon to EmpLocation and your location database.
    Confirm the location table structure update.
  2. Update your location DB using the Update Tables action.
  3. Select the services (except PXE/TFTP, DeviceDiscovery) which are required for your installation and then click Install.
  4. Now install the services PXE/TFTP, DeviceDiscovery (if used) on the master server.
  5. Reinstall the DeviceDiscovery service on all Empirum depot servers (if used).
  6. If the Empirum ServiceBus service is used and installed, you must now reinstall it again.
  7. Check the build information for the Empirum package "Matrix42 Patch-Management Client Scan 21.0" with the Empirum Package Editor for "Build = MX1" and save the package if necessary.
  8. Check the build information for the Empirum package "Matrix42 Patch-Management Client Fix 21.0" with the Empirum Package Editor for "Build = MX1" and save the package if necessary.
  9. On the Empirum Server run EMC > Configuration > Software Management > Depot > Tools > Check Versions to apply the changes of updated package properties (Personal Backup and Patch Management).
  10. Reinstall all Empirum Subdepot and Empirum Subdepot PXE services (if used) on existing Empirum depot servers. You can use the Subdepot PXE Service package instead of updating the services via DBUtil manually.
  11. Reinstall the Empirum package Empirum Management Console 21.0 (EMC) on all affected computers. The EMC will be updated on your Empirum master server automatically during the update.


ODBC Driver Update to "ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server" is only necessary when using Microsoft SQL Server 2012-2017:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50420

ODBC driver update to "ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server" is only necessary when using Microsoft SQL Server 2019:
https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/download/details.aspx?id=56567

Existing boot configurations that already use an agent template (with "HTTPS" and "Trust only trusted server certificates" enabled) will be displayed with a warning sign the next time they are opened because no fingerprints have been stored yet.

Updated Software Packages

The following Empirum software packages are updated but are not assigned a new version number. You need to update (reinstall) the following packages:

Infrastructure Packages:

  • Empirum Subdepot 21.0
    • Sync Templates: ESubdepot_OS, ESubdepot_OS_QuickSync_Day & ESubdepot_OS_QuickSync_Night
  • Empirum Subdepot PXE Service 21.0
  • Empirum Subdepot WOL Service 21.0

Client Packages:

  • Empirum AUT Service 21.0
  • Empirum Inventory 21.0
  • Empirum Management Console 21.0
  • Empirum Packaging Center 21.0 (new OS Catalog & Offline PXE Image Creator)
  • Empirum Personal Backup 21.0
  • Empirum Web Console 21.0
  • Matrix42 Patch-Management Client Scan 21.0
  • Matrix42 Patch-Management Client Fix 21.0

 

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