Welcome to Nastel's support newsletter!
The Nastel team has still been busy with this month’s newsletter highlighting some of our recent updates.
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In addition to the support newsletter, be sure to follow Nastel on your favorite social media channel, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. We provide product-related updates, pertinent articles, webinars, and videos there. This newsletter is targeted at existing customers and provides general product-related updates. There is still a lot more to know about Nastel!
Updates
License expiration emails
Before your current licenses expire, the licensing team will open a support ticket which will include the licenses and instructions for applying them. The related ticket will then go into verification state waiting for confirmation that you have applied them. If you do not respond to the issue, they will periodically send a reminder. Nastel policy requires a confirmation that you have applied them. As such, we will keep reminding you until we have confirmation from someone that it has been done. You can update the ticket or simply acknowledge it by responding to the email that was sent.
Getting Product Fixes
Despite all efforts to prevent them, we know that you occasionally will run into a software defect. Our main goal is to get you past the issue. This may mean using a circumvention to address the issue temporarily until a fix can be delivered that addresses it permanently. One of the questions we often get is, when will the fix be available? We regularly release fix packs and we try to get all bug fixes into the next one of these after the defect is reported. For example, the May fix packs were just released and addressed several customer tickets. If the fix requires a database or other significant changes, that typically requires a full version which comes out less frequently. If you need the fix sooner, you can request it to be delivered directly to you outside of the normal support flow. While not always possible, we will review your request and do our best to get it to you as soon as possible. We always try to do this with as little impact as possible both to apply the fix and related to any future maintenance. Feature requests are not typically addressed in the fix packs.
See additional information here in What is the difference between a defect and a feature (enhancement)? – Nastel Technologies.
Be sure to back up before upgrading
Much too often, when a customer has a problem during an upgrade, we find that they did not take a backup before starting. Things can go wrong most often due to environmental issues such as security, running out of space, human error, and the occasional defect. A backout strategy is key to being able to return to an operational state. As an example, backing up folders is a quick way to be able to go back to the point before you started the upgrade. This is better than trying to uninstall the update because that may not work if the installation was incomplete.
The database tables are another important consideration to have a backup before you start the upgrade. Most DB systems do not support transactional changes to the tables which means if the upgrade is interrupted partway through, you cannot back it out and you cannot rerun the same upgrade script. In this case, if the cause of the interruption cannot be addressed immediately, to get back to an operational state, you restore the database and folder backups and schedule the upgrade for a later date. If the issue can be addressed immediately, the process is to restore the database and rerun the upgrade scripts.
Remember, nobody wants to be Mr. Bungle.
See additional information in Steps to ensure the success of Navigator database upgrades – Nastel Technologies.
Removing Internet explorer?
Many companies are in the process of completely removing Internet Explorer from usage. The Nastel M6 web console (m6console) and Navigator Classic (apodwmq) require IE to operate. The replacement function has been available for some time and all customers should have a plan to move off this older functionality. Contact your Technical Account Manager if you are using either of these old applications and need guidance in upgrading to current solutions.
Popular FAQs & Articles
How do you remove LDAP users that are not used?
When user automatic creation is active for your Nastel products, LDAP users are created when they try to log in for the first time.
Find out how to remove them here.
Dynamic Sensor Basics
One of the most powerful features of AutoPilot is dynamic sensors. These allow you to create sensors that automatically react to changes. There are several articles that explain how to create, use and remove them. This one introduces the basic concepts.
Middleware Performance Benchmark
Have You Ever Wondered if a Different Messaging Middleware Platform Would Perform Better for Your Business?
New for April 2022, we have just released an update to our middleware performance report including testing of the latest versions of the middleware plus some new ones.
This middleware performance benchmark report outlines the performance of these commonly used messaging middleware platforms:
- IBM MQ
- RabbitMQ
- Apache Kafka
- ActiveMQ Classic
- ActiveMQ Artemis
- Apache Pulsar
- TIBCO EMS
The report also includes details on the methodology, environment, the tests performed, results, and conclusions.
Whether you are building a new app, upgrading existing, or migrating workloads, this report will give you a new perspective.
Download the free report today!
Nastel's Blog
Have a look at our latest blog: Monitor IBM MQ Appliance Metrics.
Please read and share these recent blogs to help spread the word:
- What is Distributed Tracing?
- How can IBM Cloud Pak for Integration Enhance a Business's Security?
- What is IBM MQ Monitoring?
Click HERE to read Nastel's blog.
Nastel's Webinars & TechTalks
Podcast - i2M - IBM's Exclusive New Interview with Sam Garforth in which he discusses the need for dedicated Integration Infrastructure Management.
Click HERE to see our library of other on-demand sessions.
Keeping up with Nastel
On Thursday, December 16th, 2021, we announced Nastel Products Are Not Affected by Log4j Vulnerability Issues. Here is the press release that discusses how Nastel Technologies customers will not be exposed to any risks from this vulnerability, but enterprises are encouraged to check with their Cloud and other solution vendors to protect themselves and their data:
Nastel Products Are Not Affected by Log4j Vulnerability Issues
We want to ensure you and your colleagues can easily find all our recent press releases and other news, so here is the Nastel News archive for your convenience.
Click HERE to read Nastel news.