4.2.0 Enterprise Edition released

[resplin]

Today the engineering team released Enterprise Edition 4.2.0 with a limited set of tested and supported stack components.

There has been some concern about what the plan is for the final supported stack. I am starting this thread to have that conversation. I am not on the team that makes decisions around the supported stack, so nothing I say is official, but I can hopefully answer some questions.

* This is the same strategy we used in the last few releases to balance timeliness with fully supported and tested deployments.
* The components of the supported and tested stacks for 4.2.0 are the stacks most widely used by our customers.
* Further components will be tested and supported in the next two service packs: 4.2.1 and 4.2.2.
* Those releases will probably not happen until early next year.
* There have been a lot of concerns over PostgreSQL not being on the supported stack list. That might be a mistake. I am looking into it.
* We have not released a formal plan for what will eventually be supported because we are still gathering customer feedback and making those decisions. We needed to get the initial release out before finalizing that plan.

We are very excited about this release. We believe it is the most stable and feature-rich release of Alfresco ever. We look forward to seeing how you put it to use!

Richard

[mrogers]

Lets be clear. 4.2 runs on PostgreSQL. However it looks like the first priority was to get mysql and oracle fully tested.  

[jpfi]

Hi,
my concern is, that some stack most of our customers use is not marked as supported:
- Kerberos SSO
- IE8 & IE10
- MS Office 2010 & 2013
- MSSQL Server

I can accept, that not all stacks are officially supported from day zero, but I would like to get more detailed information when & if these stacks will be supported in 4.2 and if they are just not supported because they weren't fully tested or if there are known issues with these components.

Cheers, Jan

[resplin]

I know that both PostgreSQL and Office 2010 have completed most testing with no reported issues. We simply didn't want to hold up the release to finish.

I  don't know of the status of the other items you listed. If you have a specific question and you need a quick response, you can contact support and have them research it for you.

We are working on a formal communication for the remaining stacks.

Thanks,

Richard

[loftux]

First, lets be clear about one thing; The long awaited 4.2 Enterprise will be an awesome release. I've only had the opportunity to run 4.2.e Community, but is so far the best version I've worked with. I'm sure Enterprise will be just as good, with all the added Enterprise benefits.

Now for the "Supported Platforms" document. It does have an unclear purpose. Is it to say that if you run the stated version with some component that are not ticked off you will not get support? Or is it to say use at your own riskt when not ticked? Something else?
What happened here is that after 4.2 being announced about a year ago and finally released, this document communicates that you cannot really use 4.2. This since there are so few ticked boxes that it is virtually impossible to use without hitting one of those non ticked off components. Do enterprise customers have to wait another 2 months before 4.2 is actually available (read usable)?

So this document can improve in many ways.

* Clarify its intended use
* Publish as a web page where you can drill down to version and components. The 18 page long document is very hard to get an overview of the components. Or at least make it shorter, different font and layout you can get it down to half the size.
* Make it less static. I can see that QA didn't get enough time to test all stacks before release, but once they catch up, update the document with new info. That is, do not wait for next alfresco release (if not needed due to bug) before ticking off support
* Every box shall have info. Now it is ticked or not. It should have different levels, something like: Fully Supported, Limited testing only, Tested but with known issue, Supported in future release, No longer supported.
Those "levels" are just examples, but communicates what is going on. For now, your customers are left not knowing when and if they will be able to use it with their preferred stack.

In its current state this document is more confusing than helpful. When you look at the supported components it says that you have released an unfinished product. I am however sure that this is not the case.

Hope this have been constructive feedback.
Cheers, Peter

[resplin]

Thank you for the feedback. We have tried a number of different layouts for the supported stacks document over the years, and we still have to improve there. You provide here some clear advice that I will pass on to the team.

I can address two of your points.

* The <a href="http://www.alfresco.com/cmis/views/workspace%253A%252F%252FSpacesStore%252F2234da57-ad13-4ee3-8332-6...">FAQ document</a> answers some of your questions. It is downloadable from <a href="http://www.alfresco.com/services/subscription/supported-platforms">the same page as the supported stacks</a>.

<blockquote>
- I want to use an unsupported platforms. I have tested it and it works, am I supported?
If you wish to use a component that we have not tested, Alfresco Support will test any issues against a similar supported component. If the issue
remains, we will support you as normal. If the issue does not occur on a supported stack, the advice will be to migrate. Having a test server with a
supported stack to validate issues will help you to mitigate this risk.
</blockquote>

The Support Handbook available through the support portal has more detailed information on this topic.

* The QA team does update this document as they perform testing, but we don't send a formal communication for every update. As you pointed out, if reliable support requires a product change it will need to wait for the next service pack.

We can continue this conversation.

Thanks,

Richard

[resplin]

Product management got their plan for the 4.2 supported platforms posted next to the supported stacks document.

http://www.alfresco.com/services/subscription/supported-platforms
-> Alfresco4.2StackCertificationPlan.pdf

Direct link:
http://www.alfresco.com/cmis/views/workspace%253A%252F%252FSpacesStore%252F21fd0f14-0087-4ce2-85e9-0...

I believe this answers most of the questions raised in this discussion. I look forward to continuing the discussion with you at Alfresco Summit.

[jpfi]

richard, thx for your help & efforts!
+1 regarding peter's supported platform doc improvement proposals
cu in Barcelona

[jspuchau]

Hi,

Just one question. checking the Supported Stacks and the Stack Certification Plan and it seems Alfresco 4.2 is not going to support OpenOffice anymore.

Which is the component that is going to replace OpenOffice features? LibreOffice? Transformation Server?

Regards and thanks for the info.

[resplin]

The installers now embed LibreOffice, and I believe that is what the QA team tests with.

I will ask about adding that to the supported platforms document.