MSC Sim Manager Enterprise
Version 2010.1.1
Release Guid e
MSC.Software Corporation
simmanager_2010.1.1_doc_relnotes.pdf
September 17, 2010
Version 2010.1.1 of the MSC Sim Manager
Enterp rise Release Gu id e contains:
MSC SimManager Enterprise (SimManager) is a
dedicated solution for modeling and executing
engineering simulation studies. SimManager
manages simulation data and processes and
creates a complete pedigree of information so
engineers know exactly how a particular study
was performed, what the results are, or how it
compares with other similar studies. This
empowers engineers with the confidence to make
knowledgeable decisions that lead to true product
innovation.
The Web user interface guides engineers to
quickly navigate data relationships, conduct
simulation activities, compare results and perform
many other key engineering tasks. The system is
designed to alleviate the engineers from low-
value-added tasks so they can spend more time on
critical engineering decisions. Key stakeholders
can quickly view critical information, collaborate
SMEN:V2010.1.1:Z:Z:Z:DC-REL-PDF
when required, and make timely decision with
confidence.
SimManager 2010.1.1 represents major
advancements in the user interface and
foundational application to provide much
improved standard functionality and usability.
Significant attention has been placed on
improving the user experience by providing a new
paradigm of user interaction. Emphasis has been
place on providing an intuitive user interface that
relies on dedicated widgets to present the
information and functions in a logical and
intuitive manner. This complements the
traditional navigation tree and provides a more
natural flow for performing work in the system.
Many new features and enhancements have been
added to SimManager 2010.1.1 including:
New User Interface: Completely restructured
and re-skinned, the UI features customizable
widgets and a modern look and feel.
Configurable Home Page: Home page
widgets can be personalized, providing users
with immediate access to key information.
Reconfigured SODs/MODs: Redesigned
Single- and Multi-Object Displays display key
information and quick launch access to tasks
common to the target objects.
Search Workspace: The Search Workspace
encapsulates all search paradigms into a single
intuitive interface. „Category Search‟ involves
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 the fast, intuitive application of filters, quickly
locating desired objects. „Build Search‟
enables conditional searches on all object
types. Any combination of search techniques
can be saved as templates for use by others.
Navigation: A configurable navigation tree is
one of several navigation options available in
SimManager 2010.1.1 and is available from the
Navigation tab of the main interface. The
tabular display of retrieved data can be
filtered and sorted by column.
Pedigree and Process Viewer (Audit Trail
Viewer): Improved technology enables
dynamic control over displayed information.
Pedigree can now be displayed in a separate,
dedicated workspace.
Server Side File Selection: When importing
data (models, input decks, results, etc), a
server side file selection option (files readable
by the server) enables faster uploads.
External Read-only Vault: An external read-
only vault can be configured which allows
SimManager to reference its data without
copying it to the SimManager vault, resulting
in faster performance.
Study: Formal studies of product performance
can now be performed on multiple variants
and multiple scenarios. Performance of a
model relative to established targets is easily
reviewed in a performance dashboard.
Work Request Framework: A work request
framework supports templates that can be
customized to customer-specific work request
tasks/activities.
Multi-Profile Support: The User Profile to be
applied during the current session can be
selected from, a list of available profiles in the
Options Page.
Administration Workspace: All information
and actions required for administrating users
and projects, assigning roles and profiles, and
configuring the portal are accessible in the
new Administration Workspace.
User Database Authentication: User
authentication (user names and passwords) is
now stored in the database and administered
via the user interface. This is the default out-
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of-the-box configuration in-lieu of an
LDAP/Active Directory system.
Monitors: User and process statistics (users
logged, process running queued, etc.) can be
monitored from within the Administrative
Workspace.
Custom Action Builder: Applications can be
wrapped directly from the web interface and
registered with SimManager for execution.
Object Type Configuration: Object types can
be created or modified from within the web
interface and activated in the system.
Online (hot) Configuration Updates: Server
configurations can be updated, edited,
published, and activated without restarting
the server.
Non-functional Enhancements: Many new
process execution, expression language and
database enhancements have been
implemented to improve the overall
robustness and performance of the system.
New Documentation Wiki: SimManager
documentation is now provided via an online
Wiki. This eliminates the static nature of the
paper-based documentation and allows the
documentation to be updated between
product release cycles.
SimManager Enterprise 2010.1.1 is an update to
version 2010 and requires a new installation if you
have 2010 or a previous version installed. If you
do not need or use the particular fixes that are
noted below, it is not required to upgrade your
system. The following is a list of notable
enhancements or known issues that were resolved:
API
1-270017091: The API m ethod ,
processConnection.addMessageWithLogFile,
correctly d isp lays the log file in MOD colu m n .
Activation Wizard
1-270277037: The schem a nam e is u p d ated
correctly u p on activation of cu stom p ortal.
Administration
1-270691177: Corrected "Delete
Enu m erated Item " action.
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 1-268344347: Corrected Configu ration SOD
for reviseResource action.
1-280963274: Corrected Ed it p roject nam e for
admin.project action.
1-266438072: Corrected u sability issu e for
ReviseProcedure Custom Action Builder
(CAB).
1-264706475, 1-266438072, 1-271994801:
Corrected Custom Action Builder (CAB)
issues.
1-259920607: Corrected Export AnA database
function in Classic Studio.
Clipboard
1-269887673: Corrected Fold er - Paste from
Clip board fu nction.
1-279049508: Corrected Clip board ,
PrivateView and Dialog.
Comments
1-276424614: Corrected ‘Prop agate Com m ent’
action Curve Display.
1-280195585: Corrected Cu rves d isp lay in the
KeyResu ltCu rve SOD.
Database
1-285270021: Corrected Oracle d ata sou rce
connection p ooling error w hen ru nning
Sim Process.
File Transfer
1-273214956, 1-273214932: Corrected SSFS
d efau ltH om eDir and historyDir issu es.
1-225442417: Corrected CSAE execu tion and
file transfer error for Sim Manager on AIX.
Licensing / Installation
1-286511004, 1-274569811, 1-286456167:
corrected Licensing .d ll and error m essages.
List Editor
1-267043829, 1-273117024: Corrected
ListEd itor API and u ser interface issu es.
Migration Tools
1-274560252, 1-272960029: Corrected
Proced u re m igration and revision errors.
1-272959915: Migrated m anager role d isp lays
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Ad m in Privileges on SOD correctly.
1-272959864: Corrected System Role d isp lay
in SOD.
1-272960022: Corrected Analyst u ser
p erm ission on "N ew p roced u re/ resou rce.”
1-97135457: Corrected
Project_domain_migrator u tility.
Miscellaneous
1-191569637: Corrected d u p licate object
H earBeatTracker error on im p ort.
1-272720701: Corrected registration of
Activities containing a hyp hen in the nam e.
MOD/SOD Views
1-269099942: Corrected p op u lation of
Attribu tes in new variant SOD.
1-276645760, 1-268491831, 1-269099977:
corrected MOD colu m ns behavior.
1-267697894: Corrected m any Item / Variant
u ser interface issu es.
Navigation Trees
1-268231377: Corrected N avigation tree for
reset scrolling location w hen exp and ing and
collap sing of nod es.
1-278709473: Corrected Internet Exp lorer 7
navigation tree d isp lay issu es.
1-274569818: Corrected Data View tree
d isp lay for all m od els.
Pedigree / Audit Trail
1-269043688: Corrected Ped igree Trail for
keyResu lt Object d isp lay.
Process Input Pages
1-278242811: Corrected m issing objects w hen
filtering object typ es in ‘Create Object Typ e’
d ialog.
1-269309003, 1-266436010, 1-266528671:
Corrected size of ‘Process Inp u t Page’ m od al
d ialogs.
1-272960499: Corrected sorting on Typ e
colu m n for p rom ote inp u t d ialog.
1-268214727: Corrected d efau lt valu es for
Sim u lationTyp e d ialog.
1-276742226: Ad d ed m issing AFS for Pu blish
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 key resu lt d ialog.
Rich Client
1-278459545: im p lem ented Rich Client w ith
SCA version 6.
Search
1-276334554: Corrected Exp ression m u ltip le
"\ " characters 1-274807321: Corrected Search
error - N ot Uniqu e for search criteria w ith
m u ltip le attribu tes.
1-286670927, 1-278160834: Corrected u p d ate
of search m enu for keyw ord filter 1-274560241:
Corrected Search Tab - error on accessing a
search resu lt after d iscard .
1-276739881, 1-276741912: Corrected
Rend ering issu es in Category Search w ith
Internet Exp lorer 7.
1-281633939: Corrected "Save Search As"
p erm issions error.
Web Servers
1-269741104, 1-275146864: Im p lem ented
installation for Ap ache-Tom cat-6.0 and JBOSS
w ith Java 5.
Please note that as a multi-component system
requiring a web application server, database and
file vault, SimManager should be installed only
after thoroughly reading the Installation Guide
and Administration Guide. The following are
important aspects that should be reviewed prior to
installation.
Licensing
Legacy Licenses: A new licensing model has
been implemented with SimManager 2010.
Existing licenses of SimManager R3.x server
and client access that are under current
maintenance can be used with SimManager
2010. During the installation process you will
be asked to select either concurrent (legacy) or
named user licensing. If MSC SimManager
version is prior to SimManager Enterprise
R1.2, you will need to acquire SimManager
2010.1.1 software licenses. Consult with your
MSC account representative to understand the
licensing alternatives available to you.
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Network Client Access License: The network
client access license for previous SimManager
versions (referred to as concurrent or floating),
authorizes a maximum number of
simultaneous or concurrent users equivalent
to the number or licenses. While an authorized
user may login and run multiple sessions of
SimManager, each session will consume an
additional client access license. This may
result in denied access to other users if all
licenses have been consumed.
Named User License. A new named user
client license model was introduced with
SimManager 2010. Each license will be
checked out by an individual user who is
administered within the SimManager web
interface. There are two types of named user
licenses: Full Client and Limited Client.
A Full Client licenses allows full access to all
data and actions within SimManager. The
SimManager authorization and life cycle
management capabilities can then be used to
further manage user roles, access to projects
and objects and availability of actions that can
be performed.
A Limited Client license allows read-only
access to data within SimManager. While the
SimManager authorization and life cycle
management capabilities can be used to
further manage user roles, access to projects
and objects, actions are limited to searching
and viewing of information.
Installation
Installing JBOSS Web Servers
Install SimManager and activate the portal using
the standard installation procedures, but do not
run the IKB (Initialize Knowledge Base)
command. Instead, perform the following steps:
1) Modify the
<SM_INSTALL>/bin/run_classic_studio.bat file
add the following two lines to the file, the first
line preceding the Java command and second
line following the Java command.
copy <JBOSS_HOME>/server/default/lib/el-
api.jar
<JBOSS_HOME>/server/default/deploy/SimManag
er.war/WEB-INF/lib/
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 "%JAVA_HOME%/bin/java"
Special Operating Instructions
del
<JBOSS_HOME>/server/default/deploy/SimManag
er.war/WEB-INF/lib/el-api.jar
2) Run the Classic Studio to create database and
initialize the database.
Managing Heavy Usage for Tomcat / Oracle
configuration: If continuous or heavy usage
of SimManager is anticipated, it is
recommended that the following Java Opts be
set on web server startup. For Tomcat, the
Java Opts can be set in the
start_webserver.bat, The recommended Java
Opts are:
-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -
XX:+CMSIncrementalMode -
XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly -
XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=55
For a production installation, review the "Sun
Developer Network Java SE 6 tuning
recommendations" at:
http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/hot
spot/gc/gc_tuning_6.html#icms.available_opt
ions
If the SimManager portal is configured to use
a Tomcat web server and Oracle database with
DBCP Connection pooling the following
parameters must be set in the data source
definition:
connectionCacheProperties="InitialLimit=25,
MaxLimit=150,InactivityTimeout=100,MaxState
mentsLimit=100,AbandonedConnectionTimeout=1
00"
See SimM anager A dministration Guide, W eb
Server A dministration, A pplication Connection
Pooling for ad d itional inform ation.
Installation on IBM AIX 5.3 64-bit with
WebSphere 64-bit: Set Java Virtual Memory
parameters:
Initial heap size - 256m (minimum)
Maximum heap size - 512m (minimum)
set Java Opts:
-Xgcpolicy:optavgpause -Xgcpolicy:gencon
To set the JVM options for WebSphere Application
Server 6.1, you must access the WebSphere
Application Server Administrative Console. For
more information review the WebSphere
Documentation.
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User Name Case Sensitivity: The default
setting for user names is case sensitive as
specified in the Portal.properties file using
the property:
authentication.casesensitive.enabled =
true.
If case insensitive behavior is preferred for the
user login (i.e. the user name will be created in
the database as lower case), set this property
to false and ensure that all user names used
in command files are lowercase.
Enabling the Display: The SimManager
operating environment requires setting a valid
"DISPLAY" variable on the server. If your
installation is on a "headless" machine, with
no display hardware and no physical input
devices, the "X Virtual Frame Buffer" (xvfb)
can be used to provide the required display.
Refer to the SimManager Installation Guide,
Preparing for SimManager, X Virtual Frame
Buffer.
Internationalization: The "English" version of
the ApplicationResources.properties and
Message.properties files provides a complete
catalog of message and label values. "Non-
English" versions are provided as examples.
To fully internationalize the installation for a
specific language the "English" versions of
these files must be translated. Refer to
SimManager Configuration Guide, User Interface
Configuration, Internationalization and
Localization.
User Interface: SimManager 2010.1.1
introduces significant changes in the UI
framework and presentation layer. If you have
a previous version of SimManager you must
migrate all existing portals and databases in
accordance with the SimManager Migration
Guide. You can view this guide at:
https://wiki.mscsoftware.com/display/S
M/SimManager+Migration+Guide.
JSF: The default SimManager 2010.1.1
presentation layer is Java Server Faces (JSF),
which is a well supported and documented
open source standard specification that
provides capabilities and performance
improvements. SimManager uses the Apache
MyFaces implementation of the JSF 1.1
specification and the Apache Tomahawk
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 extensions. Upgrading an existing customized
portal to JSF may require significant effort.
Consult your MSC. Software representative
before initiating this effort.
Struts / Velocity: The Struts/Velocity-based
architecture is no longer supported.
Filter Actions: By default, the System and
Process actions are NOT be filtered in the
display tables (MODs). If the user clicks on an
individual action for which he has insufficient
privileges, an error message will be displayed.
This change improves performance in portals
possessing a large number of actions. This
property is controlled by the Options Menu,
“Filter Actions” option. Note: If using an
existing database, the value for “Filter
Actions” is controlled by the user's
preferences stored in the database.
Application Integration: SimManager
2010.1.1 is delivered with SCA-wrapped
components for use when integrating with
external applications. Included is a sample
client integration that runs on Windows
platforms.
Client Compatibility: SimManager 2010.1.1
does not support the client integrations for
SimManager R3.x. SimManager 2010.1.1 is
compatible with Patran 2010.2. Compatible
versions of other MSC products will be
announced when available.
The following are significant software issues
which you may encounter during your use of the
program:
Installation and Startup Issues
The installation location for SimManager
cannot contain any spaces in the path. (1-
52231916)
Solution:
Initiate the activation wizard manually from the
bin directory. <SimManager install>/bin /
run_activationwizard.sh . This launches
the activation wizard .Proceed in accordance with
published installation instructions,
Tomcat console error when you login to the
portal as any user. (1-281294153)
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Solution: Increase log level in log4j.xml.
Linu x installer som etim es fails to lau nch
activation w izard after the installation
com p letes. (1-286643174)
Solution: Initiate the activation wizard manually
from the bin directory. <SimManager
install>/bin / run_activationwizard.sh .
This launches the activation wizard .Proceed in
accordance with published installation
instructions,
Migration Issues
Improperly migrated data for integrated
applications and bulk import. (1-272959985, 1-
286278829, 1-286761902, 1-284555723, 1-
284555771 )
Solution: See "Migration Guide" for instructions,
limitations and solutions.
User Interface Issues
"Delete" action for revised model fails if initial
model is not deleted. (1-286789322)
If user subscribes for revision change
notification on model the model cannot be
deleted. (1-286789102)
If the browser fails to respond during page
navigation or processing, you can typically
resume operation by clicking the browser back
button which should return you to the
Homepage.
Private view, Save and Delete, functions are
not applicable and do not work for tables with
an SOD (Single Object Display). (1-271347916,
1-271347908)
Calendar is not accessible within frame of
input form.( 1-284616937)
Solution: add following lines to custom.css and
restart server -
.rich-calendar-popup {
top: 200px !important;
}
The calendar will always be displayed 200 pixels
from the top of the modal form.
The "Edit Model" additional input tab does
not correctly indicate the file "type", i.e.
SMFILE, etc. (1-273215057)
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 Solution: Change the file type to the correct "type"
by selecting the proper icon.
The "Edit Model" action will create an
additional file attachment if a file role is
changed. (1-272450546)
Solution: Remove existing file and add file again
with required file role.
Revise Model (or Edit Model) action: When
adding an additional model, subsequent files
must be selected as SMFile. (1-287147481)
Dashboard for Study SOD does not display
correctly for IE 7 browsers. (1-284465897)
Administration and Configuration Issues
Publishing a SimActivity will fail if the
procedure contains input and output
parameters with the same name. (1-265523991)
Import and Export Data Issues
Export data fails to export comments correctly.
(1-212704620)
Import PLM - XML fails on WebSphere AIX.
(1-287275494)
Bulk data Import of directory structure fails
on WebSphere AIX. (1-287275483)
Duplicate Bulk data Import with simulation
fails with internal SimManager error. (1-
286278896)
Integration and Process Issues
If you find that a process has failed or is no
longer running, but the status is "Running",
you can navigate to the process SOD and "kill"
the process. This will set the status to "Failed"
and you can then "discard" the process.
Refresh action is d isp layed on p rocess SOD
w hich has ru n to com p letion. This can be
ignored . (1-281083889)
Status of child step process is not updated
when you pause SimProcess, launch
waitingForInput state, and process completes.
(1-286302820)
CSAE/SFTP does not pass the client key for
SFTP file transfer correctly. (1-274854023)
When using CMS, Authentication Manager
must be set to
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authentication.manager.class
=AllowAllAuthenticationManagerImpl in
the portal.properties file. (1-275066008)
Ru nning CSAE w ith Sim Manager ru nning on
WebSp here on all p latform s excep t Wind ow s
fails to lau nch the CSAE client from the u ser
brow ser.(1-286748396)
List Editor Issues
The List Editor does not handle custom events
correctly. (1-208974441)
Enable/disable copy button in the List Editor
is not handled correctly. (1-219715976)
Search Issues
Load (Saved Query) fails and will persist a
busy dialog. (1-274807272)
Solution: Cancel "busy" dialog. Go to Search tab
and execute "run search".
The initial input dialog for build search may
persist when changing tabs. (1-267697920)
Solution: Cancel the dialog and proceed.
Dialogs may display as part of page (instead
of as pop-ups) after "New Object Type" with
extended attributes has been performed in
same session. (1-269778968)
Solution: Logout and re-login.
If a search result returns an object SOD (Single
Object Display) the "relations" tab may not
display correctly if the result is "no rows
found" or a single row. (1-274510080)
Solution: Redisplay the SOD using Actions-Open
or by selecting the breadcrumb.
Search Tab - "Multiple Search Result" function
may not filter or refresh correctly. (1-
287146985, 1-287294643, 1-287311050, 1-
286979706, 1-287029108, 1-284352182)
Name is not displayed for background search
objects. (1-279738460, 1-268840940)
For details on supported middleware and
hardware configuration refer to the SimManager
Installation Guide on the SimManager
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Documentation Wiki. In summary, SimManager
2010.1.1 supports the following configurations:
32-bit: x86
Windows 2003 Server
Tomcat 5.5.28
Red Hat JBoss 4.2.3 GA
Oracle 10g R2
Linux: Red Hat Enterprise 4.4 (2.6 Kernel)
Tomcat 5.5.28
Oracle 10g R2
64-bit: x86 (AKA x64)
Windows 2008 Server R2
Tomcat 6.0.26
SQL Server 2008 SP1
Linux: Red Hat Enterprise 5 (2.6 Kernel).
Tomcat 6.0.26
Solaris: SunOS 5.10
Tomcat 5.5.28
WebSphere Application Server ND (64 bit)
Oracle 11g R1
64 bit: AIX
AIX 5.3 TL 8
WebSphere Application Server ND (64 bit)
DB2 9.7 FP 1
Supported Browsers:
Internet Explorer version 7 & 8 (compatibility
mode only), Mozilla Firefox 3.0, 3.5
Certain third-party software applications must be
installed, prior to installation of SimManager
Enterprise. Please refer to the MSC SimManager
2010 Installation Guide for applications, versions
and installation sequence.
The SimManager documentation has been
converted to a new online wiki. This provides a
much more dynamic environment where changes,
additions, and corrections can be made to the
documentation in a timely manner. Post-release
updates will be made on an as-needed basis.
SMEN:V2010.1.1:Z:Z:Z:DC-REL-PDF
The wiki is available at the following URL:
https://wiki.mscsoftware.com.
A user account and password is required. Please
contact wikisupport@mscsoftware.com to request
a user login/password. Once your contact
information has been validated, you will be
notified by email with your login information.
For your convenience, a pdf version of the
Installation, Administration and User‟s Guide are
available on the MSC Solutions Download Center
(SDC) at: https://mscsoftware.subscribenet.com/.
Note: the most up to date versions of these guides
will be on the SimManager documentation wiki.
For access to the MSC Solutions Download Center,
please check with your local MSC.Software sales
office for information regarding your company‟s
access and enablement.
If more information is required about the system,
please refer to the SimManager documentation wiki
at https://wiki.mscsoftware.com.
For additional technical support, the new MSC
SimCompanion support website is the ideal place
to start: http://simcompanion.mscsoftware.com.
It contains:
Product News
Technical Articles (FAQs, Examples,
Technical Publications, etc.)
Product Information and Documentation
(Release guides, Hardware & Software
Requirements, etc.)
Known Issues
Product Updates
Webinars and Multimedia
Leverage the VPD Community discussion forums,
http://forums.mscsoftware.com, which enable
you to post questions for your MSC Software
products and receive answers from other users
worldwide.
Contact your local support center for personalized
support via the web, email, or phone by clicking
the Support Contact Information link within
SimCompanion.
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