New Features and Functionality (3.1)

Owned by Jenni Wallin
Last updated: Oct 16, 2023
4 min read

In this section you can see information about the new features and functionality in this release.

New Features

The following new features are available in this release.

New User Interface: Desktop Online

Issue number(s):  XE-9715

In this release we are introducing a brand-new user interface. From this point, this new interface will be known as Desktop Online. Our new Desktop Online user interface is accessible using a web browser and offers same functionalities as Desktop Client (Desktop) along with some exclusive functionality, like Archive Inspector (3.1).

The Desktop Online user interface will bring a new, modern look and feel to Usage Engine and will have the advantage of not requiring a local client installation, just take your pick of browser from Microsoft Edge, Chrome or Firefox. Another key benefit of this new interface is that it will be fully accessible for users using screen readers or keyboard navigation. This first release is a big step forward to comply with accessibility requirements according to WCAG 2.1 AA, with full adherence to the standard coming in a subsequent release.

This  Desktop Online user interface is undergoing heavy development and will continue to be developed bringing new functionality to the interface in future releases. While the Desktop Online user interface is being developed, the Desktop Client and its web based version, Web Desktop will continue to be available for use and will function in the same way as in the previous versions. See Desktop Online User Interface (3.1) for more information.

Archive Inspector

Issue number(s): XE-2308

In this release there is a new feature Archive inspector available that enables you to locate files in the archive.

Archive Inspector is exclusively available in Desktop Online User Interface.

See Archive Inspector (3.1) for more information.

Conditional Trace 2.0

Issue number(s): XE-9339

Conditional Trace has been rewritten to track all UDRs in a workflow that match the applied filter criteria, for instance if all UDRs originating from a particular set of users need to be monitored as they flow through the system.

The new versions is designed to provide plug-and-play interoperability with Jaeger, a state-of-the-art trace logging system. This provides complete trace logs and a rich set of filtering and troubleshooting tools.

See Conditional Trace User's Guide (3.1) for more information.

Websocket Agents

Issue number(s): XE-2273

There are now a Websocket Server and a Websocket Client agent available.

WebSocket is a protocol that enables bidirectional communication over a single TCP connection. The WebSocket protocol makes it easier to send real-time data to and from the server by enabling content to be sent to the client without the client having to make a request.

In the agent’s configuration dialogs you can select if you want to use TLS encryption or not.

There are four different UDR types that are specific for the Websocket agents:

  • NewConnection – which is routed into the workflow when receiving a handshake request.
  • CloseConnection – which is routed into the workflow when receiving a closing handshake request, or sent from the workflow in order to close an existing connection.
  • BinaryMessage – which is used for exchanging data in binary format between the server and client.
  • TextMessage – which is used for exchanging data in text format between the server and client.

The agents are compliant with the WebSocket protocol according to specification RFC 6455.

For further information, see Websocket Agents (3.1).

Data Hub

Issue number(s): XE-9284

Data Hub provides the ability to store and query large amounts of data processed by MediationZone.

Typical usage of Data Hub includes:

  • Data tracing
  • Temporary archiving
  • Analytics
  • Integration with external systems
  • Staging data for further processing 

Data Hub requires access to Cloudera Impala, which provides high-performance, low-latency SQL queries on data stored in an Hadoop filesystem (HDFS). 

The Data Hub agent bulk loads data in CSV files to HDFS and then inserts it into a Parquet table in the Impala database.

For further information, see Data Hub(3.1).

SQL Based Storage for Batch Aggregation

Issue number(s): XE-7006

When configuring Aggregation profiles for batch based aggregation, you can now have SQL as an available storage option.

See Aggregation Profile (3.1) and Aggregation Inspector(3.1) for more information.

AWS Graviton Compatibility

Issue number(s): DOT-643

Usage Engine now supports deployment in AWS Graviton processors which is designed to deliver best price performance when running in Amazon EC2.

5G PCF Session Management Policy Rules Example

Issue number(s): XE-9326

Included in Development Toolkit, there is now an example of a data model for setting up 5G PCF Session Management Policy Rules included. Once compiled and committed into the system, the different parts of the data model will be available in the PCC Extensions section in the Desktop Online interface.

See PCC Extensions (3.1) for more information.

Enhancements

The following enhancement of existing feature has been included in this release.

Kafka Headers and Timestamps

Issue number(s): XE-9391

Two new fields have been added to the KafkaUDR and KafkaResponseUDR; headers and timestamp.

Timestamp can be used to populate the UDRs with the timestamp from the ConsumerRecord, or to set the timestamp in the ProducerRecord.

The headers field can contain a list of KafkaHeaderUDRs, which is a new UDR type for Kafka, and is a key-value pair for Kafka Headers.

See New Features and Functionality (3.1) for more information.

Data Veracity Supports Oracle 19c

Issue number(s): XE-7869

Data Veracity now supports the use of Oracle 19c. 

Data Veracity performance tuning tips has also been update to include suggestions on how to index the fields in Oracle.

For further information, see Data Veracity (3.1).

GCP PubSub Agents Endpoint

Issue number(s): XE-7545

Both GCP PubSub Publisher and Subscriber agents now allow users to specify the endpoint.

The default value is pubsub.googleapis.com:443 and users are allowed to specify a private endpoint or even a different endpoint if required.

For further information, see GCP PubSub Publisher Agent(3.1) and GCP PubSub Subscriber Agent(3.1).