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Empirum 21.0 Update 1 - 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

UEM Agent

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

Package Wizard

  • Easier integration of newly generated packages.
    During the package creation process, additional package properties, such as operating system, description, etc., are now prompted.
    All packages created with the Package Wizard are now saved in import/export format or direct in a ZIP format.
    This allows a direct import of the created packages via Empirum Management Console (EMC), UUX for SUEM or the Empirum SDK.
  • Support for the following 2 package types has been removed:
    - VMware ThinApp (not supported anymore)
    - Local printers (modern printer drivers are deployed as regular software packages)

Empirum Subdepot Webservice Configuration

Removed the legacy WSServer component which was used for several http/http requests from the Advanced Agent and older UEM Agents. This provides higher compatibility, performance and better scalability.

Make sure no Advanced Agent or UEM Agent older than 2003.x which use the http/https protocol are used before updating the Empirum Subdepot Webservice Configuration 21.0 package on the depot servers.

UEM Depot Sync

The new depot synchronization has been optimized to use pre-calculated file lists and hashes in order to download files and folders from the (master) server. Therefore it is necessary to ensure that hashes are re-generated whenever, e.g. a package or an OS import gets modified directly on the file system.

Besides normal software packages, also Patch Management and OS Installer related mass data are now using this kind of optimization. 

INVENTORY

  • The new detailed inventory information for the operating system (Platform, Operating System Name, Edition, Language, Version, Build, Architecture) are now detected by the Inventory (Windows/Linux) and this information will be also transferred via the Enterprise Service Bus (if in use).
    These new fields are also available as filter criteria.

PATCH MANaGEMENT

  • AutoApprove no longer considers all preview patches when assigning them to patch groups (default).
    This behavior can be deactivated via an option in the database.
  • All Patch Management relevant actions of EMC are now processed in a timely manner (new queue for processing),
    so that there are no longer delays due to the import of PM scan files.
  • A possibility was provided in the Scan.inf/Fix.inf that the customer can intervene in the selection of the download source via variable (DOWNLOAD_ORDER)
    for the patches (vendor, infrastructure or vice versa).
    This possibility can be used via the PreScan.inf and PreSettings.inf by removing the suffix ".sample". Before this can be done, however, on customer side
    adjustments must be made in the files PreScan.inf und PreSettings.inf to determine the optimal download source.

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

The WinPE Driver Assistant is now available as an additional option in EMC. Under Configurations there is the Driver Assistant. The functionality is the same as for the previous driver assistant.

A mixed operation of both assistants is not recommended!

When creating a boot configuration, an alternative Empirum API server name for self provisioning can now be specified. This overrides the settings in DBUtil for the API server name.

Our Offline Boot Medium Wizard in the EMC now automatically detects whether the EMC has been started as administrator or not. If the EMC was started as administrator, you can use the full functionality. If you do NOT start the EMC as administrator, you can only create an ISO. More information can be found here: Boot Configurations - WinPE

In the EMC we improved the workflow of the Variable Configurations. More information about the visible changes can be found here: Variable Configurations

In the Empirum Packaging Center you can find the Prepacked OS Wizard. This was released with the last release. In addition to the already available functions, you can now directly create a ZIP archive which can then be uploaded via UUX for SUEM.

You need an installed WADK and WinPE on this computer.

UUX for SUEM

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

Common Changes/Enhancements

Depotserver Helper Service

This service helps to generate file lists for the UEM Agent as well as for the UEM Depot Sync. It is necessary to ensure its run. With this version v21 Update 1 it monitors and tracks all changes of patch management files to be used for an optimized UEM Depot sync.

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
Software Management
PRB35698 No access to WEB.config in IIS
PRB35684 UEM Agent: Problem with files > 2GB with package validation activated
Patch Management
PRB35665 Cannot process scanned preview patches into database
PRB35460 Operations in PM Console are very slow in large environments
PRB35640 Scrollbar missing within PM search window
PRB35712 Console operations will not be processed in time
Misc
PRB35643 Activation service does not write huge amount of assigned depot server to computer.ini
PRB35699 Empirum -> Database backup from Empirum not possible
PRB35831 Offline PXE and  PXEOff Stat Problem
PRB35683 EWC: Option "PXE enabled" cannot be activated

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 V21.0 Update 2 / planned Changes

  • Not yet defined.

Discontinuations for Version v21.0 Update 1

  • Not yet defined.

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.

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. Close DBUtil and all connected Empirum Management Consoles (EMC).
  4. Copy the Matrix42_Empirum_21.0_Update1.exe to a temporary folder of the Empirum Master Server.
  5. Run the Matrix42_Empirum_21.0_Update1.exe with elevated rights (Run as administrator).
  6. 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.

  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. 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).
  8. 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.
  9. 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
  • Empirum Subdepot PXE Service 21.0
  • Empirum Subdepot Webservices Configuration 21.0

Client Packages:

  • Empirum Management Console 21.0
  • Empirum Inventory 21.0
  • Empirum Packaging Center 21.0
  • Matrix42 Patch-Management Client Scan 21.0
  • Matrix42 Patch-Management Client Fix 21.0
  • Empirum Web Console 21.0
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