What's new

2.6.5

Release date: 15 August 2022

This release of IBM™ UrbanCode Velocity is a maintenance release that includes various bug fixes and enhancements. This release is recommended for all customers.

Manual gates approval: The email notification is sent to all selected manual gate approvers. To get the email notification, you must select the Send email alert to any user that requires manual approval checkbox in gates modal. Additional information on this page.

2.6.4

Release date: 5 August 2022

Plugin documentation: On the home page, under help menu, updated the plug-in documentation link.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.6.3

Release date: 19 July 2022

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.6.2

Release date: 7 July 2022

Value streams: To enhance the IBM UrbanCode Velocity performance, added Contributor metrics to vsm-data-metrics feature flag. You can enable vsm-data-metrics feature flag to use contributor metrics and other metrics.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.6.1

Release date: 21 June 2022

Enhanced IBM UrbanCode Velocity performance.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.6.0

Release date: 31 May 2022

Value streams

Background service: Kubernetes and OpenShift installations can see the significant change in performance and stability of the application. Segregating the value stream metrics calculation based on the data complexity helped to improve the performance and stability.
Quick filters search: You can use search bar for searching through Releases, Sprints, Types, and Priority.

Pipelines

Improved performance to handle large data in pipelines.

Releases

RabbitMQ: Improved various RabbitMQ request to improve performance in Releases and Deployment plan.
Approving wait for approval task: Wait for approval task can be approved or rejected by designated or not designated user. For more information, see this page.
Release stories: Release stories are removed temporarily for the enhancement purpose. You can used Release readiness report for viewing the issues of the releases.

MongoDB: MongoDB version 4.0 is no longer supported. For Docker Compose, MongoDB version 4.2 is installed and upgraded automatically. For Kubernetes and OpenShift installations, you need to install or upgrade MongoDB to a supported version separately. For more information, see this page.

OpenShift installation using service template: OpenShift installation using service template is no longer supported and removed from installer. You can migrate your OpenShift installation to Helm charts during your upgrade to version 3.1.0. or later. For more information, see this page. For assistance with migration, contact support.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.8

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Release date: 28 April 2022

Deployment plan: Improved performance in deployment plan page.

Security: Fixed minor security vulnerabilities.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.7

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Release date: 12 April 2022

Deployment plan

Improved performance in deployment plan page.
Fixed deployment plan page loading time.

UrbanCode Deploy plugin: Improved deployment plan performance to enhance UrbanCode Deploy plugin performance.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.6

Release date: 29 March 2022

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

MongoDB: MongoDB is no longer shipped with the offline installation files. It is recommended to pull the MongoDB images from the MongoDB source. For sample directions, see this page.

Security

RabbitMQ - Fixed security vulnerabilities.
Added authentication to multiple queries.
Fixed multiple unprotected queries.

2.5.5

Release date: 14 March 2022

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

LDAP: On the Settings page, when you click Authentication > LDAP and then click the Import users button, you can check for valid and invalid LDAP configurations.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.4

Release date: 25 Feburary 2022

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

LDAP: On the Settings page, when you click Authentication > LDAP, the required fields are obvious and indicated with red asterisks for admins for readily editing and configuring LDAP.

Plugins

Based on the your installed version of IBM UrbanCode Velocity, plugins not compatible with that version are prevented from installing in the product. If the installed version of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is equal or greater than the product version that the plugin supports, the installation of the plugin is possible. Plugins prevented from installation are detailed for the following three scenarios:

On the Settings page, click the Plugins tab.
Locate the required plugin in the list and click the Install button.
The error Plugin is only supported on IBM UrbanCode Velocity versions equal to or greater than x.x.x is displayed on the right side of the Status field for that plugin.
On the Settings page, click the Plugins tab.
Click the Load plugin button.
In the Load a custom plugin window, click in the Plugin Image field and enter the required plugin.
Click the Submit button.
The error Plugin is only supported on IBM UrbanCode Velocity versions equal to or greater than x.x.x is displayed in the Load a custom plugin window.
On the Settings page, click the Integrations tab.
Locate the required plugin and then click on the overflow menu and select Upgrade.
In the Status field for the plugin, Upgrade failed is displayed.

For scheduled events plugins, perform the following steps:

On the Settings page, click the Plugins tab.
Locate the required plugin and then click the Add integration button.
In the Add Integration window, click the Show hidden properties check box.
Click in the Initial Sync Date field to specify only pulling data after the selected date on the initial run.
Fill in the remaining required fields in the Add Integration window.
Click the Add button.

If the plugin does not support the sync feature, the Initial Sync Date field is not displayed when you click the Show hidden properties check box in the Add Integration window.

Kubernetes: Based on the responsiveness of a given Kubernetes environment, you are able to configure liveness and readiness probes and specify dynamic timeouts to prevent persistent removal of pods.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.3

Release date: 14 Feburary 2022

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Releases

On the Releases page, when you perform the following:

Click a release activity.
Click a deployment plan.
Click the Create task button.
Click the Type drop-down and select Email.
In the Create task window, fill in the required fields.
Click the Save button.
For the Email task, click the Start task icon.
Receive the email and either click the Approve or Reject button. The default function is no security enforcement via login before task is accepted or rejected.

To enable the feature flag for this functionality, perform the following:

In a browser window, enter HTTPS://hostname:port/featureflags
In the Enter a feature name to enable it text field enter authorized-approval
Click the Enable button.

Ingress controller: Installation issues for Kubernetes version 1.22 and later are resolved and upgrading from previous versions is recommended. Starting with Kubernetes version 1.19, the new resource type IngressClass is available. If your Ingress controller utilizes the IngressClass functionality, the default setting of ingress.className="nginx" works with the IngressClass functionality out of the box. If your Ingress controller does not utilizes the IngressClass functionality, specify --set ingress.className="" for it to properly function. Note: For Kubernetes version 1.19, the networking.k8s.io/v1 API was added for the Ingress resource and is utilized for the IBM UrbanCode Velocity Ingress installation. For Kubernetes version 1.22, the previous networking.k8s.io/v1beta1 API is deprecated and removed. For details on the differences between the networking.k8s.io/v1 API and networking.k8s.io/v1beta1 API, see this page.

OpenShift template to Helm migration: The OpenShift template to Helm migration is planned for IBM UrbanCode Velocity version 2.5.4 when the OpenShift template installation is no longer available. At your earliest opportunity, make the required preparations for the migration to Helm. If you require additional assistance, contact support.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.2

Release date: 10 January 2022

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Pipelines: On the Pipeline page, when you click the overflow menu on any environment except Input, you can select Override Inventory to manually modify and update a pipeline.

Releases: On the Releases page, an overall performance improvement is achieved for page loading. Functionally, the dialog box below the calendar now lists only events versus releases and events.

Roles: General performance improvements across the entire product.

Passwords

Regardless of the global permissions assigned to a user, you can modify your own password for the following conditions:

Your User type is Local.
Click Settings > Authorization > Users and then click the overflow menu and select Change password.

Security

Corrected the security issues including the following:

Fixed various security vulnerabilities prior to IBM UrbanCode Velocity version 2.5.2.
Resolved CVE-2021-45105, CVE-2021-45046, and CVE-2021-44228 log4j security vulnerabilities.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.1.iFix01

Release date: 16 December 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

2.5.1.iFix01: Fixed security vulnerability for Apache Log4j 2 / Log4Shell.

Insights update

On the Insights page, when you click the Reports tab, available reports include the following:

Pipeline snapshot
Deployment audit
Deployment duration (Beta)

Security

The 2.5.1.ifix01 addresses the issue of the security vulnerability to CVE-2021-44228, Apache Log4j 2 / Log4Shell.
Fixed security vulnerabilities.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.5.1

Note: This release has been replaced with version 2.5.1.iFix01. Version 2.5.1.iFix01 contains all updates added in version 2.5.1. All information related to version 2.5.1 is contained in the 2.5.1.iFix01 document

2.5.0

Release date: 3 November 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Insights update

On the Insights page, when you click the Reports tab, available reports include the following:

Pipeline snapshot
Deployment audit
Deployment duration (Beta)

Release deployment plans: Optimized deployment rendering for improved performance including memory, CPU, and utilization of user sessions.

Installations and upgrades: For installations and upgrades of OpenShift and Kubernetes, at the Choose the platform prompt, you are presented with Kubernetes or OpenShift (Using Helm) as the platform. You can currently install IBM UrbanCode Velocity using service templates and the process should yield successful results without encountering any issues.; Note: Starting with future versions, installations of IBM UrbanCode Velocity as an OpenShift application using service templates will be deprecated and you should prepare migration to using Helm charts. If you are planning to migrate to using Helm charts, create a support ticket here and we will help you with the transition process. Otherwise, check upcoming release notes for more details when more information is available.

New roles and global scope

When you click Settings > Authorization > Roles, roles capabilities are expanded including the following features:

Addition of new roles.
Security for Value streams, Insights, and Settings.
Assign roles and manage global roles.

Help

For the Help icon:

When you click the question mark help icon, you can select either of the following items:
- Documentation
- Getting started
  - Redesigned the Getting started page.
  - Upon initial login, all users including admin are directed to the Getting started page.
- Support portal
- Ideas portal
- Plugins
- About
Changed the Help icon to the ? icon.

Settings

The Settings icon turns yellow for either or both of the following conditions:

User authentication is not configured.
Integrations are not installed.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.4.5

Release date: 24 August 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a maintenance release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.4.4

Release date: 9 August 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a maintenance release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Value stream update: On the Value Streams page, query recalculations are minimized and performed only when required.

Settings

On the Settings page:

When you click either the Integrations or Plugins tabs, you can Search for integrations or Search for plugins by entering the integrations or plug-in names in the respective fields to list matches in either of the Name fields.
When you click either the Integrations or Plugins tabs, you can perform the following functions:
- On the Integrations tab, you can sort the Name, Status, Type, and Last sync fields in ascending or descending order by clicking on the required table header field.
- On the Plugins tab, you can sort the Name and Status fields in ascending or descending order by clicking on the required table header field.
When you click Email server:
- In the Mail server sender name field, you can enter the name.
- In the Mail server address field, you can enter a customizable alternate email address for messages sent from IBM UrbanCode Velocity.
Integration statuses polling function removed that displays a warning on the Settings icon.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.4.3

Release date: 26 July 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Value stream update: Added pr.approvals.count to query the number of approvals on a pull request to the DQL.

Pipeline update: On the Pipeline page, the manual deployment functionality is available in the auto-promotion environment.

Release update: On the Releases page, when you click a NAME, click a Plan, click the Create task button, in the Type drop-down select Delayed, in the Delay type drop-down select Delay by selecting a number of minutes, and in the Minutes field, you can enter the number of minutes between tasks.

IBM CloudPak: IBM CloudPak version 2.4.2 is released.

IBM UrbanCode Velocity login: On the IBM UrbanCode Velocity login page after an unsuccessful login attempt with error message displayed, the next attempt clears the message with a loading spinner and displays again if unsuccessful.

User Access Key Management table timestamps: When you click Settings > User Authorization > User Access Keys and hover either the Created or Last Used fields, a tooltip with a precise timestamp is displayed. The timestamp will not display when you hover over Not used. An example timestamp is Monday, February 15th 2010, 3:25:50 pm displayed in the tooltip.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.4.2

Release date: 13 July 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Reports: On the Reports page, updated the UI for an enhanced user experience.

Pipeline updates: On the Pipeline page, updated styles to improve color contrasting for versions and added buttons for alphabetical sorting of applications in ascending and descending order.

IBM CloudPak: IBM CloudPak version 2.4.2 is released.

Settings: On the Settings page for Plugins or Email Server, improved styles and wording for improved readability.

Security

When IBM UrbanCode Velocity has not been previously installed, a self-signed SSL certificate will be automatically generated for you with a duration of two years.
Fixed security issues.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.4.1

Release date: 1 July 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

MongoDB replica sets: MongoDB replica sets are supported if configured by the customer. Additional details are found here.

Security

For Docker Compose upgrades of IBM UrbanCode Velocity with a default certificate replaced with a custom certificate, the installer tracks the latter certificate and reads the associated files from the directory location.
Fixed security issues.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.4.0

Release date: 23 June 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Value stream update: Added the IN operator to the DevOps query language.

Pipeline updates

On the Pipeline page, open pipeline deployment allows you to directly deploy and launch applications in Azure DevOps.
API-driven pipeline applications enable you to effectively populate the pipeline and move dots through the system solely through build and deployment uploads. You can use either the Create new application or Use existing application options to perform the aforementioned functions.
On the Pipeline page, improved UI layout features for the join release modal windows.

Auto-generated user access keys: Integrations support the capability to auto-generate the required user access keys that is implemented on a plug-in by plug-in basis. Refer to the plug-in documentation page for the latest updates.

Security: Set administrator password at install. Existing installations via upgrades are not affected.

Reporting: On the Insights page, removed the UrbanCode Deploy Reports tab deprecated since version 2.0 and replaced with a combination of Insights dashboards and reports.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.3.6

Release date: 4 June 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Bug fix: Correct various display and filtering issues on Value Streams pages.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.3.5

Release date: 24 May 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Value stream update: Use DQL searches and VSM stage queries in the JSON to retrieve counts for fields.

Security: Fix security issues.

Bug fixes

Correct various display issues on Value Streams and Swimlane pages.
Fix issue with deployment overrides in API-driven pipelines.
Fix issue with web page navigation using browser back button.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.3.4

Release date: 12 May 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

User interface updates

Pipeline page updated to improve usability and consistency.
Value Stream page updated to maintain the search field is viewable when scrolling.
Metrics table on the Value Stream page update to improve display of large amount of metrics.

Bug fixes

Correct placement of particle details for the Swim lanes view.
Fix formatting issues for Settings page.
Fix issue with populating settings when user interface page is loaded.
Fix issue with lost of Value Stream page when deleting a values stream.
Improve swim lane view to accommodate small screens.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.3.3

Release date: 26 April 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

User interface updated for Value Streams page: Value Streams page updated to improve usability for small-size screens. The table view screens. The table allows for viewing more than three metrics in a clear layout and truncation of data. You can scroll the page left and right to view lengthy data.

Bug fixes

Refresh of job parameters often do not display on a pipeline has been fixed.
Fixed errors related to GraphQL Shield process.
Create a Value Stream page updated to show expanded legend and toggle icon to collapse and expand the legend.
User interface updated to allow selection of only one process to add to a pipeline.
Log out process updated to ensure proper processing when logged in using different web browsers and multiple tabs on same web browser.
Improve VSM page usability for small screens.
Additional search for sprint and release information performed to locate information.
User interface updated to ensure formatting consistency across the user interface.
Fixed when reloading VSM page to ensure that filters selected before the reload are persistent.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.3.2

Release date: 13 April 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Pipeline enhancement: You can now edit components for a given application on the pipeline. Using the new Manage Component button, the application's components information is displayed allowing you to add and remove components. On the Value Streams page, the Value Stream, Swim Lanes, and Pipeline tabs are now located on the right side of the page.

User interface improvements: On the dots detail page, up to three lines of the name is displayed. If there is additional information an eclipse at the end of text allows you to view more content. When displaying pipeline environment names, spaces that were included before and after typing in a name are removed when the name is displayed in the user interface.

Value Stream table enhancement: A value stream table now contains a feature that allows you to add and delete metrics, and add, rename, and delete value streams.

Bug fixes: On the dot details page corrected the owner value when the dot is unassigned. The owner value now contains unassigned instead of the Jira user who created the issue. On the deployment plans page a copyrights plan not found error prevents the user from accessing the plan.

.

2.3.1

Release date: 31 March 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Change to plug-in index file: The list of available plug-ins is controlled by the plug-in index file locate at the following URL. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UrbanCode/velocity-plugins-index/master. This is location is referenced during installation. The location of the plug-in is configurable through the PLUGINS_INDEX_URL environment variable on the reporting-consumer microservice. You do not need to change the environment variable unless your environment is behind a firewall.

Bug fix: On the Pipeline page, the application's snapshot rows display correct alternating background colors starting with white and then gray.

2.3.0

Release date: 24 March 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Security upgrades

The following have been upgraded to fix potential security vulnerabilities related to the WhiteSource plug-in used by the reporting feature:

Nginx
RabbitMQ
MongoDB

MongoDB 3.6 no longer supported: The MongoDB 3.6 is no longer supported. Click the Upgrade Notes tab for migration details.

Message provided when adding status task without statuses: When adding a status task that does not have a status, the status is not created and an error message is displayed indicating a status is needed.

API-driven pipeline: API-driven pipeline applications enable you to populate the pipeline and move dots through the system using build and deployment uploads.

Improved content snapshots visibility on a pipeline: Components and associated component versions are now visible on the pipeline for IBM™ UrbanCode™ Deploy.

Performance improvements: Improved performance resulting in load reduction of CPU usage.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.2.5

Release date: 3 March 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a maintenance release. There are no new enhancements. This release is recommended for all customers.

MongoDB version 3.6 end of support: The MongoDB version 3.6 has reached end of life and all MongoDB 3.6 instances must be upgraded to MongoDB 4.0 for IBM UrbanCode Velocity 2.3.0 to start. This upgrade applies only if you are running IBM UrbanCode Velocity in a Docker Compose environment.

If you are upgrading or have ever upgraded from a IBM UrbanCode Velocity version prior to v1.4.5, which was released in March 2020, you must migrate your MongoDB. The procedure to complete is described in the following table. The procedure depends on several items.


	Scenario 1	Scenario 2	Scenario 3
IBM UrbanCode Velocity version	1.4.4 or earlier	Upgraded from 1.4.4 or earlier to a version between 1.4.5 to 2.2.4	New installation of 1.4.5 or higher
MongoDB version	3.4	3.6	3.6
MongoDB compatibility flag version	3.4	3.4	3.6
Solution A	Upgrade to version 2.2.5, then to 2.3.0	Upgrade to version 2.2.5, then to 2.3.0	Upgrade directly to version 2.3.0
Solution B	N/A	Run MongoDB command `db.adminCommand( { setFeatureCompatibilityVersion: 3.6 } )` to set compatibility flag to version 3.6, then upgrade to version 2.3.0	N/A
Solution C	Contact support.	Contact support.	N/A

Note:

Refer to the MongoDB site for details on the setFeatureCompatibilityVersion flag.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.2.4

Release date: 19 Feburary 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Improved sprint report: On the State of Sprint Report page you can now displays sprint issues in a table format by clicking View issues in sprint.

Bug fixes: Corrected situation where a blank page displayed when an error occurs. Instead of blank page an error message is displayed.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.2.3

Release date: 5 Feburary 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

User management enhancement: You are now able to delete LDAP and SSO users from the Users page. When deleted the user is removed from any groups or teams that the user is a member.

Enhancement to lead-time and cycle-time metrics: Different end stages for gathering lead-time and cycle-time metrics can now be specified.

Modify configuration enhancement: Prior to this release to modify a configuration, you must delete it and reconfigure. Now, an Edit Configuration action item is now available to add and remove environments. Bug fixes Custom metrics now support calculation of average and mean data. The setting collapseMultipleDailyRuns must be set to true.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.2.2

Release date: 26 Janauary 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

License improvements: The use of multiple Rational License servers is supported by specifying each server separated with a colons regardless of the system platform being used. In prior IBM UrbanCode Velocity versions, you must use the appropriate separator based on platform.

Bug fixes

Issue with dots not moving to next stage when a newer version is in the same stage as the old version is fixed.
The Selected Versions field is now populated with the correct values instead of values from another version.
GraphQL Playground now works in offline scenarios.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.2.1

Release date: 14 Janauary 2021

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Documentation improvement: Documentation for several Insight metric as been updated for clarity. See Insights metric chart reference.

Software updates

RabbitMQ upgraded to version 3.8.9
Nginx upgraded to version 1.19

Bug fixes

All associated applications are deleted when deleting a pipeline.
When deleting an integration, a confirmation dialogue is displayed before the deletion is completed.
The The pre-install.yaml file has been renamed to pre-install-for-cluster.yml.
When copying a release all templates are copied.
When installing on OpenShift version 4.4 and later, the OpenShift templates no longer need to be manually modified prior to installation.
Note: Red Hat dropped support for OpenShift version 4.3 in December 2020. Beginning with this release, it is no longer supported in IBM UrbanCode Velocity.
Performance improvements made for faster loading of the Home page.
Selecting versions for a deployment template displays its own values versus those of a previously selected version.
LDAP connections timing out corrected with added reconnect setting to the client.
Permission needed to create cluster resources and to create resources at the namespace level permission is needed at the namespace level.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.2.0

Release date: 17 December 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

User interface enhancements: New dashboard table view provides for filtering dashboards. You can filter the table to see only those dashboards you own. The new Create Dashboard wizard available on the Insights tab. The wizard guides though the dashboard creation process.

Enhancement added to lead time and cycle time table: Detail information can be attain from metrics for lead time and cycle time metrics.

Additional value stream and swim lane filters: You can now view by options dots by releases, types, sprints, and priority.

New IBM DevOps for IBM Cloud Pak release: IBM DevOps for IBM Cloud Pak 2.1 is now available on the IBM cloud channels. The Cloud Pack for Applications DevOps Add-on V2.1 includes the latest versions of: IBM UrbanCode Velocity, IBM UrbanCode Deploy, and IBM Rational Test Automation Server (RTAS).

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.1.3

Release date: 17 November 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

New Release Executor role: A Release Executor added with the permission to start a task. This permission allows a user to start, stop or skip a task. The user cannot modify a task. Improvement to Deployment Audit report form Entering information for deployment audit report is easier. User input fields added to the form, you can select report filters instead of entering strings. The data entered can be saved as default values for future use.

Bug fixes

The following bug fixes are included in this release:

Fixed issues with auto promotion from the Input and Dev environments not working.
LatestRuleExecutions specifiable by versionId to display failed rules
Redeployment to same version is not working for Input to Stage auto promotion
Tiger Devops: Post Upgrade to v2.1.0 Release-events-api pod restarting
Spike: Jenkins task not receiving updates
Automated Gates: Incorrect Unit Test Failure
DQL search result returning many particles causes the force to slow down
Support for TrendMicro "data recalculating" bug in VSM

2.1.2

Release date: 6 November 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Auto-promotion of IBM UrbanCode Deploy Applications: You can now auto-promote IBM UrbanCode Deploy applications that are in the pipeline from the input to stage environments.

Known problems

The release-events-api performance issues in Kubernetes or OpenShift installations with explicit overrides of limits and requests for memory allocations in the deployment might be caused by the overrides. The following workaround provides guidelines to address the loss of system stability that is associated with the non-default settings that were set during configuration. This issue is typical only when the preceding explicit overrides are implemented in the configuration. If more than 2 GBs of memory are required, perform the following procedure:

Determine the memory requirement.
Under spec > template > spec > containers in your YAML file, locate the following line.
```
image:
    urbancode/velocity-se-release-events-api:x.x.x.xx
```

Add the command override as a sibling entry to the line located in the previous step. The command is shown below.

```

image: urbancode/velocity-se-release-events-api:x.x.x.xx
 command:
   - node
   - --max-old-space-size=xxxx
   - /release-events-api/release-events-api.min.js

```

Enter the maximum memory requirement in the appropriate units on the command line. Replace the maximum_size variable with your value.

Bug fixes

Corrected the following error VSM load error when ParticleViewMode.sprints is stored as null.

GraphQL Error: Expected Iterable, but did not find one for field
        ParticleViewMode.sprints

2.1.1

Release date: 19 October 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Value stream updates: Long value stream names now wrap in table on All Value Streams tab when displayed in View list layout. On Value stream tab under Legend, sprints are now displayed with the current sprint first followed by the previous four sprints. When creating a new value stream and an integration using a VSM JSON file that defines a single integration and an associated link rule, the JSON file is accepted and the corresponding link rule between the two integrations is created. Improved DLQ validation The DQL queries containing double equal signs (= =) are identified during validation, preventing the uploading of an incorrect VSM file.

Bug fixes

Fixed inaccurate display of Dashboards bar chart representations for a single run or multiple runs in a single day.
Corrected issue of the Pipeline page not loading when navigating to the Value stream tab and then quickly switching to the Pipeline tab while the value stream is still loading.
For a Jenkins version that has been successfully deployed to an environment, repeat deployments are eliminated when there are numerous applications in the pipeline. None is displayed for the selected version instead of the same version available for a repeat deployment.
Issue with pull request (PR) history loss for an issue in the VSM has been fixed to link and access any PR historical data attached to the item.

2.1.0

Release date: 1 October 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Forward proxy support: Forward proxy communication with IBM UrbanCode Deploy is now supported. While a reverse proxy is not fully supported a fallback mechanism is in place. The fallback mechanism eliminates the need for callbacks from IBM UrbanCode Deploy. This allows for a more robust communications with IBM UrbanCode Deploy.

Required software updates: The Jenkins UrbanCode Velocity plug-in is now prerequisite and must be installed. The allows for running Jenkins jobs as a part of a deployment plan in UrbanCode Velocity. Version 2.1.0 of the plug-in is required. For more information about the plugin, see the Jenkins website.

Metrics updated: Add Distribution metric to Insights, metrics bar, and VSM table.

Auto-promotion enhancements: Support added for automatic promotion of builds and deployments to the next pipeline environment provided that environment gates and requirements are met. If requirements are not met, the gate fails and is not automatically promoted. A manual deployment is still possible with the right user permissions.

Bug fixes: Fix to correctly display Group by: Week data in a chart.

2.0.6

Release date: 11 September 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Report data updates: Added load and contributor information to the metrics bar. You can view the average contributors and load for selected time period against a previous period.

Added: Throughput metric data to the metrics bar and value stream table.

Update to deployment plan: You can now pass application list as properties for UrbanCode Deploy and Jenkins tasks.

New Security Audit report: Report added to provide information about users and group associated with a team. The report included user permission and role information.

Bug fixes

Problems with formatting of the Versions table and data have been corrected. The table now correctly displays the application and version.
In the About this Stage dialogue box contains a query to filter the stage fixed to display the correct data.
Issued fixed when running concurrent UrbanCode Deploy tasks and one of the tasks takes a long time to complete which caused other tasks not to complete.

2.0.5

Release date: 31 August 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Jenkins processing updates: Jenkins tasks are automatically failed if the integration with the Jenkins server is not available.

Deployment plan update: Release participants can now see list of assigned users and groups on deployment plan tasks.

Bug fixes: Fixed problem when the dot history sometimes does not display. Fixed issue with applicable tasks not displaying unless the Applicable button is toggled.

2.0.4

Release date: 18 August 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

License sharing: Starting with UrbanCode Release version 6.2.4.1 and IBM UrbanCode Velocity 2.0.4 a single pool of floating and authorized licenses can be shared by users of the two products. For example, an user assigned a authorized user license type can use the same license for accessing both UrbanCode Release and IBM UrbanCode Velocity. IBM UrbanCode Velocity users can now be assigned an authorize license key by selecting Reserve License on the Users page.

Value stream updates: A value streams Favorite list can be create by marking a value stream as a favorite. The list can be prioritize to quickly locate a value stream. Support added for issue.sprints.active as a stage query to the DevOps query language.

New Pipeline Designer role: The new Pipeline Designer role allows a user to edit a pipeline but not able to run it.

Gate enhancement: The rules and reason for failure is displayed when a gate fails.

Performance updates

The time it takes to load a list of Jenkins jobs when mapping a list to environment has been improved.
Improved load time of previous environment versions in pipelines.

Bug fixes

Fixed overflow of application list when working with Jenkins jobs in pipelines.
Integration containers are now automatically terminated if not needed. It used to be possible for integration containers to become orphaned and use system resources eventually causing MongoDB to crash.
Fixed issue with VSM link rule integration names not updating if the integration name is changed separately.

2.0.3

Release date: 3 August 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Performance updates

Improvements made for paginating user tables to increase performance when loading user lists.
The time it takes to load a list of Jenkins jobs when mapping a list to environment has been improved.
Improvements made to processing of manual tasks to improve processing time and eliminate an error exception logged when an imported task did not have the groupsAndUsers property defined.

Plug-in updates: Parser type plug-in code has been updated to fix a problem with the NPM wrapper when there are no plug-in properties.

Bug fixes

Integration with IBM UrbanCode Deploy 7.1.0.1 fails with HTTP status code 500. This has been resolved by IBM UrbanCode Deploy 7.1.0.1iFix01.
Bottleneck detection errors are not handled well for value streams with data creation errors. Algorithm updated and more verbose reporting when bottleneck detected.
Edit icon does not display when hovering over chart.

2.0.2

Release date: 21 July 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Key Features/Enhancements

Deployment plans can add task dependencies from the UI.
Plugin image versions are now displayed on plugin page.
Improved reserved participants to include LDAP and SSO users and check reservation availability.
Added LDAP and SSO users alongside local users in a single users list.
Bottleneck detection is now based on Lead Time definition.

Bug Fixes

Gating is now applied when trying to join a release.
Fixed issue where, a brandnew snapshot not being synced, could prevent autopromotion in pipelines.
Fixed issue where a previous input version could still appear as pipeline input.
Fixes an issue where properties were not displayed if pipeline stages were skipped.
Fixed an issue where dots needed to unlink properly to show in the correct stage.
Fixed an issue where dots could show in wrong stage if team issues were linked to multiple integration IDs.
Fixed an issue that only counted active users for the reserved participant count.
Fixed issue that prevented parser plugin updates from taking effect.
New upgrade script to remove overlinking from history so that long histories can show.

2.0.1

Release date: 7 July 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Key Features/Enhancements

Added deployment plan visibility into task pre-requisites and dependencies.
Improved UI to display LDAP and SSO user list.
The UCD Status Task was improved to only list UCD integration statuses participating in the deployment plan.

Bug Fixes

Fixed issue with reporting consumer service reconnecting to database.
Fixed issue with defaultValue for plugin SDK custom properties not displaying in configuration UI.
Fixed an issue where a Jenkins deployment would use the previous stage version rather than a selected version.
Fixed an issue where Jenkins jobs might remain in progress if multiple jobs were being run in parallel.
Fixed an issue with pipeline scheduled deployments where the select all applications would not deploy all applications.
Fixed a problem with VSM issue filters causing an incorrect issue count displayed in the stage context menu.
Removed duplicate events from VSM history.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.

2.0.0

Release date: 23 June 2020

This release of IBM UrbanCode Velocity is a major release and includes bug fixes. This release is recommended for all customers.

Scalability of services: The main IBM UrbanCode Velocity services can now scale to handle larger installations and greater amounts of data.

Locking of releases: The release manger can change a release status to lock. No changes can be made to the release after it is locked. Request for changes must be This gives the release manager control over last minute changes and ensures no changes are made after a final review. The lock is set on the Release Overflow page.

Environment gating: Users can now manually approve versions and gate environments based on approvals. The gate fails if approval requirements are not met. If a version does not pass all approvals the release manager can override the deployment. This feature provides for governance and compliance of open source tools and fragmented tools. This feature is located on the Environment Overflow page.

Built in reports: A new State of Sprint report allows for gathering statics of the value stream in relationship to a sprint. This report is helpful to a scrum master or manager in reducing risk of the current sprint and look at older sprints. You can access the report on the Reports page.

Plug-in SDK: Using the plug-in SDK you can create your own plug-ins and upload them to IBM UrbanCode Velocity. To access to the plug-in SDK, click Settings > Integrations > Download Plugin SDK.

Bottleneck detection

Using machine learning, the model looks at current and previous state of a value stream to determine which stage the user should focus on first. This algorithm is always updating with new information to locate the next largest bottleneck. Types of bottlenecks include:

Long Wait Time - the average time of stage is longer than any other by a substantial amount
Batching - items pile up then are released at the same time
In-Flow and out-flow mismatch

See the Value Stream page Metrics Bar or Metrics Table fields.

Contributor and Load Metrics

Two new metrics are now available: Contributor Count and Load Count

Contributor count shows how many users are working on items in the Value Stream. The metric is based off the stages in Lead Time (work select -> customer) and counts how many unique individual owned items in those stages. Allows the tool to compare other metrics to rationalize about other metrics.
Load is also based off Lead Time and is a count of all the items in the stages at any given time. This allows you to see if there is a correlation of how much work is truly in progress vs how much is getting done. Usually there is a sweet spot to not give too much work and get the right amount out. With both our metrics are in a state where we can start rationalizing about different strategies without customers and how to use them correctly. See the Value Stream page Metrics Bar or Metrics Table fields

Software upgrades: IBM UrbanCode Velocity v2.0.0 supports MongoDB server versions: 3.6, 4.0, and 4.2. Docker Compose installations automatically upgrade to 3.6. Helm installations require manual upgrade or installation of the MongoDB server to 3.6 or later. New Helm installations use MongoDB 4.2 according to the Helm chart.

For information about bug fixes, see this page.