Ivanti Automation release notes

Release notes for the following Ivanti Automation version are in this topic:

To see release notes for earlier releases, visit these pages:

https://help.ivanti.com/res/help/en_US/IA/2020/Admin/Default.htm#cshid=relnotes

https://help.ivanti.com/res/help/en_US/IA/2019/Admin/Default.htm#cshid=relnotes

https://help.ivanti.com/res/help/en_US/IA/2018/Admin/Default.htm#cshid=relnotes

Ivanti Automation 2021.4 release notes

Resolved issues

Upgrading to Ivanti Automation 2021.x may result in unexpected behaviour

More information

Run Book jobs can't be disabled/enabled using the button from the Jobs tab

More information

Module in Runbook B waits until start when another module is executed in Runbook A and executed on the same agent

More information

Some PowerShell cmdlets fail to execute within Ivanti Automation

More information

Automation Agents offline after upgrade to 2021.3

More information

Git Setup configuration crashes on a Run-time error 5

More information

Unable to add a new Console, Dispatcher or Agent after downgrade of the Ivanti Automation environment

More information

Reverting to another version in Source Control will not revert to the previously used resources

More information

SNMP traps no longer working after 2021.2

More information

What's new

Updates for various third-party components

Ivanti Automation 2021.4 has most of the third-party components updated to the latest version.

Support for Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows Core Server, and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise

Ivanti Automation 2021.4 introduces support for the newly released versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022, along with existing versions of supported Windows operating systems, like the Core versions of the Windows Server family and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

Run elevated support added to some tasks

The tasks below have a new Run with elevated privileges option in the Security Context dialog box. If the provided credentials are not allowed to run elevated, the tasks will report an impersonation error.

  • Command (Execute)

    Windows PowerShell Script (Execute)

  • PowerShell Core (Execute)

  • Unattended Installation (Perform)

  • File (Perform Operations)

Support for GitLab local servers

Ivanti Automation 2021.4 introduces support for GitLab local servers. To connect to a local server, enter the GitLab URL containing the owner and repository.

Automatic Agent removal

The Housekeeping Dispatcher has a new task that removes agents (and optionally their job histories) that are offline for the number of days you specify. The task executes when the Dispatcher starts and every 24 hours after that. This setting is disabled by default.

Configure this in Global Settings, under Other > Automatically remove offline Agents.

Install new agent based on AD group or OU membership

A new option was introduced in the Push Deployment window in both the Console and in the Ivanti Automation Component (Deploy) task to get the Active Directory computer objects that are part of a group or OU and place them in the Target computer(s) field.

Improve filtering behavior

You can apply filters in the Job History and the Audit Trail. Starting with Ivanti Automation 2021.4, the applied filter is preserved until the Console is closed. Also, when the filter is active, its presence is signaled using a red text label in the Job History view (“Job History filter is active”) or in a modified status bar title for the Audit Trail view (“Audit Trail (Filtered)”).

Go to job source object from job history

Every time an update needs to be done on a Module, Project, or Run Book based on a job result, the Console user needs to manually go to the source of that job to do the changes. Starting with Ivanti Automation 2021.4, the Console has a new option in the Job History view, Go to definition, that will automatically switch the view to the Library section and open the job's source.

Add Confidential tag to email task

A new option was introduced to the E-mail (send) task, Sensitivity, with three options: Personal, Private and Company-Confidential that allow control over the e-mail sensitivity options. By default, none of the options is selected.

Changed default condition behavior when result is FALSE

In the Condition tab for every new task added in a Module, the default for If condition is FALSE is Skip this task.

The database revision level was updated to 83

There was a database revision level update for this release.

 

Ivanti Automation 2021.3.1 release notes

2021.3.1 release notes

Known issues

Jobs remain in scheduling after upgrading Ivanti Automation to 2021.3.1

More information

Resolved issues

Upgrading to Ivanti Automation 2021.x may result in unexpected behavior

More information

Run Book jobs can't be disabled/enabled using the button from the Jobs tab

More information

Module in Runbook wait until start when another module is executed in another Runbook executed on the same agent

More information

 

Ivanti Automation 2021.3 release notes

Known issues

Upgrading to Ivanti Automation 2021.x may result in unexpected behavior

More information

Run Book jobs can't be disabled/enabled using the button from the Jobs tab

More information

Resolved issues

The license cost in Ivanti Automation Console and Ivanti Automation Management Portal for Terminal Server and Windows Server have different values

More information

New Run Book window stops responding when OK is clicked without adding a job first

More information

Out of memory error when sorting Ivanti Automation agents in the Automation Console

More information

Including the Audit Trail in Instant Report causes the Ivanti Automation Console to crash

More information

Jobs scheduled in parallel are not picked up when Agent settings are changed during an already active job

More information

Recurring (CRON) Automation Job is executed multiple times before next scheduled time is set correctly

More information

Only Text Variables listed for Settings on Ivanti Automation Connector Task

More information

Repeating error in Windows EventLog after upgrade to 2021.1 - EventID 0, error, the process cannot access the file c:\program files (x86)\Automation\console\crc.dll because it is in use by another process

More information

Automation jobs on boot are not executed as the first jobs after booting the computer

More information

Linux agent failed to download resource, there is no space left

More information

Creating a Project or Run Book in the Automation Console will display an error or a non-responding Console

More information

What's new

Source control support for GitLab and various UX improvements

GitLab was added as a source control configuration option (Global Settings > Other > Git Setup). As with GitHub, just fill in the URL, token, click the Test button to see if the Console can connect to the repository, and then select a branch to be able to save the source control configuration.

Some functional and UX changes were done to the configuration window. Options for skipping the resources and some Path UX improvements are now available.

Two new options were added. A Skip resources checkbox allows the Console user to choose if the resources (the XBB file) should be pushed in source control as part of the Building Block. A Use default path option allows the Console to automatically push the current configuration into a path in source control that reflects the path in the Console. This is useful if the Console user wants to keep the same folder structure as in the Library sections. If the current folder path does not exist, the Console will create it in source control.

If the source control proxy server is different than the system proxy configuration, see the new ProxySettings section in the Registry settings topic for information on specifying custom proxy settings.

Custom field to display for an agent (Agent alias)

A new Global Setting is available in the Console to enable the Agents to collect a custom Agent name. This alternative Agent name can be located in a string registry value for the Windows Agents or a file on disk for the Linux/Unix Agents. Once the feature is enabled, the Agents will collect the alternative name within the first minute after log on. The Agent alias will be re-evaluated once every 24 hours.

The Agent alias will be present in the Agents view in Console. Agents can be searched by using this new value in all Console views that involve an Agent search (the Agents view itself, adding Agents to team, adding Agents to a Run Book job when creating one, or adding Agents to a job when scheduling one). The Agents are searchable by this new value, but once the alias is selected to be added to a Run Book job or to a scheduled job or a team, the original Agent name will be present in those views. The Job History will also report the alternative Agent name in the jobs list or in the details of a job.

IMPORTANT: If an Agent alias changes between Job executions, the job will still target the correct Agent. The Agent alias is handled as dynamic information, while the Agent NetBIOS Name is handled as static information that will have the value from the job execution time, just as before this version.

NOTE: An Agent alias cannot be more than 50 characters long.

Added support for Ivanti-built third-party Add-ons (beta)

In this version of Ivanti Automation, tasks are re-arranged in the Select task window so that only Ivanti-created add-ons will be present in the root level, while anything else (e.g.: add-ons created by a partner) will stay under the Others node, organized per partner and per task category. Also, the Add-ons view (Setup > Add-ons) will reflect the name of the vendor that signed the connector in the Vendor column.

Add-ons can now be imported directly from the Console, without needing to point to the “Ivanti Marketplace Solution Installer” tool.

Also, the Add-on creator tool is delivered along with the Console. It can be opened from the Console folder in order to create third party Add-ons. The tool was simplified to request only the Add-ons .xml configuration file, but it will also expect to find in that same location a .nuspec file having the same name as the .xml file.

A certificate will be requested when creating the Add-on .nupkg file. Please make sure that certificate has the “Issued to” field set to a relevant value (e.g.: the name of the Partner creating the Add-on.) This value will be used in the Console to place the tasks within the add-on in the proper folder inside the Select task window. This value will also be used to set the vendor name in Setup > Add-ons. This information also helps Ivanti customer support assign support requests to the right vendor. Ivanti will offer support for Ivanti-signed Add-ons.

These changes set the ground for allowing non-Ivanti Add-ons being widely used in any Automation environment.

IMPORTANT: This is a beta version. Future changes will be made based on partner feedback.

Validity checks for AD tasks

Ivanti Automation 2021.3 introduces validity checks in the Console for all Active Directory task configurations. The same checks are present in the Agent at execution time, in case a Parameter is used in the fields that are subject to AD configuration constraints. E.g.: “/\[]:;|=,+*?<>@” should not be use in the AD User name.

Update PowerShell Core to v7.0.6

The PowerShell Core task will now make use of version 7.0.6 instead of 7.0.3.

Environment variable team rule for the Linux/Unix Agent (not the MacOS agent)

In this version, the Linux/Unix Agent (not the MacOS agent), will load the environment variables defined in /etc/res/resamad.env. These environment variables will be used to join a Team based on environment variables rules, but also as part of the command execute task.

Below is an example of resamad.env content:

export reswisdom=/shared

export test_var1=value1

export test_var2="value 2"

New registry value that allows the Agent to check for properties during a job

We have added a new registry value, AllowChangingPropertiesDuringJob. Use this to allow the Agent to check for properties during a job. For more information, see Registry settings.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS support has ended

As of April 2021, this version of Ubuntu is no longer supported.

The database revision level was updated to 82

There was a database revision level update for this release.

 

Ivanti Automation 2021.2 release notes

Known issues

Out of memory error when sorting Ivanti Automation agents in the Automation Console

More information

Upgrading to Ivanti Automation 2021.x may result in unexpected behavior

More information

Resolved issues

Scheduling a job to an Agent results in executing a job scheduled on boot for the same Agent

More information

Delete Ivanti Automation Job Results returns an error: Cannot find the object "tmpDJR********" because it does not exist or you do not have permissions

More information

Variable used in a parameter and in a condition is not working in a runbook when executed from an Agent+

More information

Get-ResParam is not working when using Project parameter with set function

More information

Ivanti Automation Agent reports incorrect local time on agent in the Automation Console

More information

Add-on tasks in Ivanti Automation are not searchable via the Instant Search field

More information

Several tasks in the Automation Console are missing in the Select Task window

More information

Condition based on parameter list doesn’t show all values and has incorrect window size

More information

Automation PowerShell script containing a special character does not function correct

More information

The PowerShell Core task does not work with double percentage signs

More information

Running the PSCore command "[System.Environment]OSVersion.Version" does not return correct information

More information

The Global Variable window is only showing text entries in the Service Properties task

More information

A Credential type parameter is not working when set with a Global Variable and it is used in a task with a condition to set the parameter value

More information

What's new

E-mail notification for offline dispatcher(s)

A new Global Setting was introduced where e-mail settings can be configured. When a dispatcher goes offline, an e-mail is sent by the Housekeeping Dispatcher using the configured options to notify the user about the offline dispatcher. The e-mail will contain only the Dispatcher(s) that went offline recently. For example, if the Dispatcher service is stopped manually, an e-mail will be sent within one minute, while if the Dispatcher is killed for whatever reason, it will be reported as offline only after five minutes because the Housekeeping Dispatcher does not know what happened to it and will consider it as offline after five minutes of inactivity.

Add Agents to a Team using a list

All the Agent related views now have a changed Agent Search input field that will accept a list of semicolon separated Agent names. This will facilitate a more flexible way of adding Agents into Teams. If the list contains names that are not present in the environment or more agents correspond to the same name, a pop-up will report these names. If the are more than five names in this list, a file will be created on disk containing the list with the agent names grouped per type of issue.

IMPORTANT: When such list of semicolon separated Agent names is used, the Console will do a exact match search for each name in the list.

Export to CSV

In most views in the Console, you can use the Export to CSV button from the command bar to get the content of the current view into a CSV file. All views from Jobs, Library and Topology sections have this button available, while from the Administration section only the Audit Trail view has it.

Source control for current configuration

Ivanti Automation 2021.2 introduces a new Global Setting where a GitHub/GitLab connection can be configured. Version 2021.2 supports GitHub only, with GitLab support planned for 2021.3.

When using GitHub/GitLab, Console users with write access to the Library section will be able to export the current configuration to GitHub/GitLab source control.

For more information, see this help topic.

Limit the number of parallel jobs

A new Global Setting was introduced to limit the number of parallel jobs. In the Scheduling section of Global Settings, the default number of parallel jobs that can be executed by an agent is 10. Use this setting to allow the Agent to execute a different number of jobs in parallel.

Support VMware Horizon (8) Instant Clones

In this version VMWare Horizon (8) Instant Clones can be used.

PowerShell Core support for MacOS agent

The macOS Agent now supports the execution of PowerShell Core tasks. This requires .NET Core runtime version 3.1 or higher on Agents.

View Agents That Have Not Been Online for a period of time

In the Console's Agents view, a new option was introduced to filter out Agents that have the “Last Contact” before a specific date. This is useful when Agents that are offline for some time need to be removed from the environment and also from AD. Filter out the Agents, export the list as a CSV file, then select all the Agents (CTRL+A) and follow the normal removal process. Use the CSV file to generate a parameter file to be used with the AD Computer (remove) task to remove the computer objects from AD also.

Auto-Create Project or Runbook from selected Module/Project

A new option is available to auto-create a Project or Runbook from a selected Module/Project. Select the source object and right-click on it to access the Create Project and/or Create Run Book options, or click the new options using the command bar buttons. If parameters are present in the source object, links will also be created, of type “both ways”.

WebService (Invoke) task has a Timeout option

Before this version, the timeout was 60 seconds and unconfigurable. In situations where big workloads are generated through the task, use this option to avoid the task failing because of a timeout.

Updated AIX packages

In this version, the AIX packages contain more built-in dependencies. This will ease the deployment of the agent on new systems that have minimal installed packages.

Oracle support re-enabled, Amazon RDS support added

Starting with this version, environments using Oracle DBs will be able to upgrade and make use of the latest features. Also, support for Amazon RDS is added. Make sure an empty Amazon RDS database is referenced in the Connect Wizard.

Global Variable delete checks

When a Global Variable is removed, checks are done to see if it is used as part of a Module/Project/Run Book configuration or if it has any usage in Job History. Global Variables that are part of the current object configuration cannot be removed.

If the Global Variable is not part of any configuration but has Job History usage records (e.g.: it was references at schedule time, as value for a parameter), a message will be presented to the user with this information. In this case, the Global Variable can be removed if the user decides to continue.

New registry keys for controlling Dispatcher behavior

The keys are CheckForChangesInterval, DisablePush, GetBootTime, ConnectionPooling, and ConnectionTimeout. You can see the details here: https://help.ivanti.com/res/help/en_US/IA/2021/Admin/Content/45885.htm

The database revision level was updated to 81

There was a database revision level update for this release.

 

Ivanti Automation 2021.1 release notes

Known issues

Several tasks in the Automation Console are missing in the Select Task window

More information

Add-on tasks in are not searchable via the Instant Search field

More information

Deleting Ivanti Automation Job Results returns an error “Cannot find the object tmpDJR because it does not exist or you do not have permissions”

More information

Upgrading to Ivanti Automation 2021.x may result in unexpected behavior

More information

Resolved issues

The results of a search for Agents are loaded very slowly in the Automation Management web Portal

More information

The Prepare for image feature is not properly executed until the Ivanti Automation agent has been rebooted

More information

Error: 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object' is displayed upon opening a Runbook in the Management Portal

More information

The parameters are not available when rescheduling a job that was scheduled via the API

More information

Random Ivanti Automation Agents consume a lot of memory

More information

The Query Local Group Evaluator does not write the retrieved information to a parameter

More information

Condition is not evaluated at the reschedule of a job

More information

Number of agents changes to 0 in an active Ivanti Automation Console

More information

Checkmark at "user cannot change password" not set when executed via an Ivanti Automation module

More information

The Automation Download Resource task fails with the error: 'Failed to extract <filename> CRC check failed'

More information

Linux packages from an older version are removed after running the Automation Upgrade Pack

More information

Parameter is hidden when scheduling a job if Get-ResParam is used in the PowerShell script

More information

Job History and Audit Trail filtering is not functional for AzureDB

More information

Filter does not return data if filter criteria contains a specific character

More information

Error: "frmTaskWebService.fxmlLoadWSDLInfo: 91 - Object or variable or With block variable not set" when trying to connect via the Invoke Web Service task

More information

Error: "Mapping types" appears in the Automation Management Portal upon opening a Module

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Ivanti Automation Upgrade Pack does not check for supported MSSQL server versions

More information

Copying and Pasting one or more tasks in a new and empty module will provide an error

More information

The Ivanti Automation 2020.2 or higher console service generates a relevant amount of network traffic

More information

Ivanti Automation condition on task will be remove after copying the task more than once

More information

Ivanti Automation Console hangs when trying to query apply a large registry key

More information

The value of a global parameter in a PowerShell task isn't populated if the name is partially equal to a different parameter

More information

What's new

Dropped support for RedHat and CentOS v6

Ivanti Automation 2021.1 will not have packages for RedHat v6 and CentOS v6. These versions are no longer supported by the OS vendor.

New Microsoft SCCM task

Ivanti Automation 2021.1 introduces a new task for Microsoft SCCM – query server. This will return any available Applications and Collections from the specified SCCM server. More info here.

PowerShell 7 support for Linux

Ivanti Automation 2021.1 introduces support for Microsoft PowerShell Core 7 on Linux agents. The following packages have Microsoft PowerShell Core 7 built-in:

  • Ubuntu 20.04 x86_64

  • Ubuntu 18.04 x86_64

  • Ubuntu 16.04 x86_64

  • CentOS 8 x86_64

  • CentOS 7 x86_64

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 x86_64

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 x86_64

  • SUSE 15 x86_64

  • SUSE 12 x86_64

The only prerequisite for the PowerShell Core task to properly execute on these agents also is .NET Runtime 3.1+.

Dispatcher Web API support for RBAC

Role-based access control configuration will be taken into account by Ivanti Automation 2021.1 Dispatcher when various Web API calls are executed. Until this version, Web API calls could be made using an Ivanti Automation authentication account with no respect to the account access configuration. That was inflexible and a security risk. In 2021.1, the Ivanti Automation Dispatcher will execute the Web API calls only if the specified account has the appropriate access configured in the Administration > Security section. More info here.

Dispatcher Web API upload/edit/delete resource capability

New Dispatcher Web API calls were added in Ivanti Automation 2021.1 – upload/edit/delete resource from the Datastore. This is useful in situations where the environment management is separated by the rest of the infrastructure (Eg: Agent and Dispatcher machines do not have network connectivity to Console machines). Tools like Postman or PowerShell can be used to upload/edit/delete resources to/from the environment from machines that have access to the Dispatcher. More info here.

Upload resource task

Ivanti Automation 2021.1 introduces a new task – Upload Resource. Multiple resources can be added at the same time using the task. More info here.

Export command line support for modules and projects

Using Ivanti Automation 2021.1, you will be able to generate Building Blocks for a Module or a Project. Set “objecttype” to “module” or “project” and specify the correct object GUID in the “objectGUID” command switch to create a Building Block based on a Module or Project. More info here.

On schedule job notification

When a job is scheduled using the Console, in Ivanti Automation 2021.1 a new tab was introduced to configure the e-mail Notification for the scheduled job. This tab will inherit the Global Settings configuration for SMTP job notifications. This way, the Console user that scheduled the job can set customized notification settings.

Timestamp and usage for Resources and Global Variables

Ivanti Automation 2021.1 Console is able to report when was the last time a Resource or a Global Variable was part of a scheduled job and for how many times the Resource or the Global Variable was part of a scheduled job. Also, Usage tab was introduced for Global Variables. Resources already have this tab available.

All this information will facilitate the Console user the decision to remove Resources and Global Variables from the Datastore.

Various UI improvements
  • Job results extended information: Ivanti Automation 2021.1 Console reports job GUIDs in the Job Results UI.

  • Move to top/bottom: Ivanti Automation 2021.1 Console introduces new buttons to move an object to the top or to the bottom of the list were added. Tasks within a module, modules within a project and jobs within a Run Book can be moved using the new buttons.

  • Cut & Paste: Modules within a Project or Jobs withing a Run Book can be moved on specific location in Ivanti Automation 2021.1 Console using the new Cut & Paste functionality. Simply select the object(s) to be moved, press CTRL + X or select “Cut” from the context menu at right-click, select the object below which the previously selected object(s) should be moved and press CTRL + V or select “Paste” from the context menu at right-click.

  • Agent configuration screen: Help was introduced in the Agent configuration screen to offer better understanding on how this screen can be used, especially when it comes to the new format of dispatcher in the Dispatcher Address List – https://<dispatcher>:3165/<EnvGUID>.

Ivanti now gathers some additional customer data through telemetry

Ivanti now gathers telemetry for these items. For a complete list of telemetry items, see Telemetry.

  • The number of jobs scheduled using the Management Portal

  • The number of times someone is logging in the Management Portal

  • The version of the Management Portal

Improved domain name evaluation at agent logon

A new method was introduced to get the NetBIOS Domain Name value, along with a retry mechanism, to better accommodate situations where this information cannot be found using the already existing methods.

Dropped OrganizationID from Licensing Server configuration

There is no need for the LEA OrganizationID to be configured in the Ivanti License Server anymore in order to make use of the new licensing mechanism.

The database revision level was updated to 80

There was a database revision level update for this release.