Release notes for IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server

This document includes information about What’s new, installation and upgrade instructions, known issues, and contact information of IBM Customer Support.

Contents

Product description

You can find the description of IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server.

Rational® Test Automation Server is a server that includes capabilities such as project and role-based security, Docker-based distribution and installation, and running of test cases. For more information about the server, see IBM Rational Test Automation Server overview.

What's new

You can find information about the features introduced in this release of Rational® Test Automation Server.

The following sections list the new features, enhancements or other changes made in this release.
  • Installing server software on Azure Kubernetes Service

    You can now install Rational® Test Automation Server on Azure Kubernetes Service that has a Kubernetes environment to run functional, integration, and performance tests.

  • Support to view or hide license details

    As a system administrator or team space owner, you can now view or hide the details of the License Server on the License Configuration page.

  • Enhancement to publishing of datasets from Rational® Test Automation Server

    Rational® Test Automation Server now provides the capability to publish a dataset subsequent to publications from other users when the changes made to the datasets do not conflict with the changes made by the other users.

  • Viewing or editing load test profile details for Schedules

    You can now view the load test profile details for the Schedules that you added in Rational® Performance Tester in the Description column on the Author > Tests page. You can also edit the load test profile details if you do not want to run the Schedules with the configured profile.

  • Adding notes to a test result

    You can now add notes to a test result and group these notes into a discussion in the Details panel on the Results page. You can also perform a search for specific content in the notes.

  • Enhanced the option to export queries from Rational® Test Automation Server

    Previously, you were able to export the queries that you created from Rational® Test Automation Server as a curl command. You can now use the Export option to export the queries to Shell, Curl, or PowerShell scripts. You can now select the script, the output format, and the number of results that are returned by the query.

  • Enhanced the viewing of test logs

    Previously, the test log displayed all the activities that were captured for a test run and viewing the essential information was tedious. You can now select a view that filters the activities that you might be interested in as a tester. You can however, view all the activities that are captured for a test run by switching off the filter.

    The Test Log page now displays the view correctly when you return to the page after viewing another page on the server UI. You can also use an option on the UI to view the test log list.

  • Viewing attachments in the test log

    You can now view the attachments such as images, documents, PDFs, scripts, json or xml files, that are captured by the test log. You can view the attachments that are supported for display in a web browser. You can also copy or download the attachments to your computer.

  • Viewing the test run duration and time from test logs

    After you run a test, you can view the calendar time and the duration for each of the test steps from the test log.

  • Enhancements to integration plugins
    While you configure test runs from the integrated product, you can now use additional parameters such as: Datasets, Labels, Secret Collection, Start Date, and Variables in the following integration plugins:
    • Azure DevOps
    • UrbanCode™ Deploy
    • Jenkins
  • Support to run virtual services by using server plugins

    Previously, you were able to run test assets that were in your project on Rational® Test Automation Server from the integrated applications by using the server plugins. You can now run or start instances of virtual service resources that are in your project on Rational® Test Automation Server from integrated applications such as Jenkins, Azure DevOps, and UrbanCode Deploy.

  • Support to run additional test assets from Jenkins
    You can now run the following types of test assets from the Jenkins server by using the Rational® Test Automation Server Jenkins plugin:
    • API tests
    • Functional tests
    • Performance tests
    • Virtual services
  • Viewing test run results on the Azure test plans dashboard

    When you use the IBM® Rational® Test Workbench Azure extension in Azure pipelines to run tests on Rational® Test Automation Server, you can view the test results on the Jobs page. If you want to view the results of the test runs on the test plans dashboard, you must set up test plans with test cases for your project in Azure. You must also provide details about the Azure server, your personal access token, the Azure project, the test case, and the test plan while you configure the test run for the test results to display on the test plans dashboard.

Deprecated capabilities

The following capabilities are deprecated. IBM will no longer invest in enhancing these capabilities and is planning to remove them in a future release. If you have any concerns, contact either an IBM representative or your IBM Client Support team for this program:
  • The following capabilities are deprecated in this release:

    • Use of Jaeger to display test logs is deprecated.

Removed capabilities

The following capabilities that were announced in previous releases as deprecated are removed in this release:

  • No capabilities were removed in this release.

Installing and upgrading

You can find information about the installation and upgrade instructions for Rational® Test Automation Server.

Installing Rational® Test Automation Server

For instructions about installing the software, see Installation of the server software.

Upgrading of Rational® Test Automation Server

For instructions about upgrading the software, see Server software upgrade methods.

Known issues

You can find information about the known issues identified in this release of Rational® Test Automation Server.

Table 1. Release documents - Fix list and known issues
Product Download document Knowledge Base
Rational® Test Automation Server Release document Knowledge articles

Known problems are documented in the download document for each product and in the form of individual technotes in the Support Knowledge Base:

The knowledge base is continually updated as problems are discovered and resolved. By searching the knowledge base, you can quickly find workarounds or solutions to problems.

Contacting IBM Rational Software Support

You can find information about Contacting IBM Rational Software Support.

  • For contact information and guidelines or reference materials that you might need when you require support, read the IBM Support Guide.

  • For personalized support that includes notifications of significant upgrades, subscribe to Product notification.

  • Before you contact IBM Rational Software Support, you must gather the background information that you might need to describe your problem. When you describe a problem to an IBM software support specialist, be as specific as possible and include all relevant background information so that the specialist can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions:
    • What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
    • Do you have logs, traces, or messages that are related to the problem?
    • Can you reproduce the problem? If so, what steps do you take to reproduce it?
    • Is there a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to describe the workaround.