Supported Environments and Policies for Actuate Big Data Analytics 5.2

Introduction

This document describes the supported environments and policies for Actuate components used as part of a BIRT Analytics deployment.

• General Policies
• BIRT Analytics Deployment Components
• Internationalization and Localization
• Supported Product Changes
• BIRT Analytics Deployment and Web Components
• Backend database
• Web Browsers for Frontend, Admin and Loader
• Database Software
• Connectors
• BIRT Analytics Obsolescence Policy
• Product Support Lifecycle
• Actuate Obsolescence Roadmap for Deployments
• Appendix A - Third-Party Products Obsolete by Vendors

Support for some platforms and third-party products will be dropped in future releases, while support for other platforms and products will be added. See Appendix A for a list of third-party products that are obsolete, or will be obsolete by vendors in the near future.

Customers must obtain any third-party products directly from their manufacturers or authorized distributors. Actuate does not distribute such products, and support for them is limited as defined in this document.

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, Actuate reserves the right to make corrections, additions, or deletions at any time.

General Policies

Supported Products

For supported third-party products, Actuate will answer technical questions, replicate problems, and provide patches and fixes for Actuate products as defined by its support policies. Products in this section appear at the sole discretion of Actuate.

Additional third-party products are supported if the vendor indicates in writing the product is fully compatible with a supported product. In general, this is true for most maintenance releases and service packs, and some minor releases.

A third-party product is supported on a particular platform (i.e. hardware and software configuration) only if the vendor supports that platform.

A third-party product is fully supported when the product vendor also supports that product. In cases where the vendor no longer supports its product, Actuate will support the product for use with Actuate only if issues can be resolved without the assistance of the product vendor.

In general, all Actuate products and custom applications in a deployment must be at the same release level.

Unsupported Products

Customers with unsupported third-party products will be asked to move to a different version in order to receive support. This will usually be the case for products known or suspected to be incompatible with a supported product. If a product is not listed, it is not supported in this release of Actuate.

The Supported Products tables and corresponding notes in the following sections explain these general policies in more detail, and highlight some exceptions.

BIRT Analytics Deployment Components

The Actuate components applicable to BIRT Analytics deployments are listed below.

Internationalization and Localization

Actuate BIRT Analytics is fully internationalized and supports Unicode. For a list of locales supported in this release, refer to the product documentation and check the Actuate e.Support web site for updates.

Actuate BIRT Analytics components are localized in Catalan, Czech, Simplified Chinese, German, English (UK), English (US), Korean, Spanish, Spanish-Mexican, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese-Brazil, Russian, Slovene and Turkish. And translated to Catalan, Simplified Chinese, German, English (US), Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian and Turkish.

Please check with your Actuate account team for availability of specific localized version.

Supported Product Changes

The following table lists supported third party products added or dropped in this release

BIRT Analytics Deployment and Web Components

This section lists hardware requirements and operating systems supported by Server and web client components, and the corresponding notes.

Recommended for best performance:

• Linux OS Server Machine (in any of the three supported distributions).
• Solid-state drive (SSD). Better on PCIe.
• Google Chrome Web Browser on the client side

Notes

General
Actuate BIRT Analytics components are 64-bit applications.

Hardware
Memory and free disk space requirements are for Actuate products only. Total memory and free disk space required should include requirements for operating system and other applications.

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2
All Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Service Packs from Microsoft are supported as long as Microsoft states that the Service Packs are compatible.

Backend database

This section lists backend database, and the corresponding notes.

Web Browsers for Frontend, Admin and Loader

This section lists web browsers versions supported for the Frontend, Admin and Loader applications.

Database Software

This section lists database software supported by BIRT Analytics, and the corresponding notes.

Database Servers - Accessible via Native Clients

Database Servers - Accessible via ODBC Drivers

General

The database servers listed above should work on any operating system as long as the database server vendor states that it supports that operating system in question. Customers should check directly with the database vendor to verify its support for the operating system.

Native Database Clients

ODBC Drivers

Notes

ODBC

The Database Software table shows the vendors and versions of the ODBC drivers supported by Actuate. In addition, if a driver vendor provides a written statement that:

1. A driver can be used directly (without a driver manager) and the driver is transparent to the client application (for example, Actuate), and;
2. The driver is 100% compatible with a supported driver and;
3. The driver is compliant with ODBC 3.0 standards, and provides backward compatibility to ODBC 2.x functions, then this driver is supported.

ODBC drivers may provide different levels of functionality — Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3. Dubnium works with any driver which is at least level 2 compliant.

Connectors

This section lists other proprietary file formats supported by BIRT Analytics import module.

BIRT Analytics Obsolescence Policy

This portion of the document describes BIRT Analytics support policy for current and previous releases.

Definitions

Platform: The combination of operating system and hardware, for example Windows or Linux.

Major Release: A version of an BIRT Analytics software product with significant new functionality, minor features, supported products updates, and maintenance fixes. Naming for a Major Release uses only whole numbers, e.g. BIRT Analytics 4. It is available to all new customers and customers on maintenance. To upgrade to a Major Release, customers may need to make minor code changes.

Major Release Family: All releases within a Major Release, including Service Packs and Fix Builds. For example, BIRT Analytics 4.1, BIRT Analytics 4.1.1, are all within the BIRT Analytics 4 Major Release Family.

Service Pack: A full release upgrade to a Major Release of BIRT Analytics software product with new features, supported product updates and maintenance fixes. Naming for a Service Pack uses whole numbers followed by dot, e.g. BIRT Analytics 4.1, BIRT Analytics 4.2. A Service Pack is available to all new customers and customers on maintenance.

Fix Build: A complete release, product, set of files, or file designed to provide relief from product defects. A Fix Build is available to all customers on maintenance as a download from the Actuate Support site. A Fix is based on the latest Service Pack of a major release and customers are required to upgrade to this before applying the fix. A customer can migrate to a Fix Build within the same Major Release without code changes. Naming for a Fix Build uses whole numbers followed by dot, e.g. BIRT Analytics 4.1.1, BIRT Analytics 4.1.2

Current Release: The current Major Release. As of July 31st, 2015, the Current Release is Release 5.2.

Previous Release: 5.1

Product Support Lifecycle

Product releases are supported at different levels according to the type of release, following the lifecycle below:

Product Release Support Status

*A Fix Build is based on the latest Service Pack, and customers are required to upgrade to this before applying the fix.

Lifecycle Guidelines

All releases (Major Release, Service Pack, and Fix Build) begin at Full Support. A Major Release Family progresses through the product support lifecycle until it is Retired. The guidelines for the progression are as follows (note that these are the minimum time frames and may be extended at Actuate’s discretion):

Major Release Family

On initial shipment: Full Support. The previous Major Release Family moves to Limited Support.6 months after initial shipment of this Major Release: the previous Major Release Family moves to End of Life.36 months after initial shipment or 18 months after the initial shipment of the next Major Release, whichever occurs later: this Major Release Family is Retired.

Service Pack

On initial shipment: Full Support.

The previous Major Release Family moves to Limited Support.6 months after initial shipment of this Major Release: the previous Major Release Family moves to End of Life.36 months after initial shipment or 18 months after the initial shipment of the next Major Release, whichever occurs later: this Major Release Family is Retired.

Fix Build

On shipment: Full Support.

No effect on lifecycle of previous Service Pack or Major Release in the same Major Release Family. Previous Fix Builds in the same Major Release Family move to End of Life.

Actuate Obsolescence Roadmap for BIRT Analytics Deployments

Based on the product support lifecycle and guidelines for obsolescence, the current status and forecast for Actuate product family obsolescence are presented below.

Appendix A - Third-Party Products Obsolete by Vendors

The following third-party products are obsolete, or will be obsolete by vendors in the near future. Customers are advised to migrate away from these products. Actuate plans to drop support for these products in future releases.

Notice: This document contains information that is proprietary and confidential to OpenText™ Corporation. It intended for internal use by OpenText Corporation personnel and those who have signed a non-disclosure agreement with OpenText only. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, OpenText Corporation reserves the right to correct errors as necessary.

Copyright © 2015 by OpenText Corporation. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this document without the express written consent of OpenText Corporation is prohibited.