Version 1.23 (July 2021)

Welcome to the Version 1.23.0 release of Zowe!

To see a full list of release enhancements and fixes, see New features and enhancements and Bug fixes.

Release demo: Check out the Zowe demo video for v1.23 to see a demo of what's new in this release.

Release blog: Read this blog Zowe 1.23 Release Highlights written by Joe Winchester for a deeper dive of the major enhancements and changes for this release.

Download v1.23.0 build: Want to try new features as soon as possible? You can download the v1.23.0 build from Zowe.org.

New features and enhancements

Zowe API Mediation Layer

• Authentication based server-side load balancing. A service can now configure itself with the Authentication-based load balancing scheme whereby a user is directed to the same instance of a service for a given period of time (#1576) (4ad382e), closes #1576.
• Catalog: authenticate with client certificate for /apidoc/** endpoints (#1568) (79dedfd), closes #1568
• Gateway: authenticate with client certificate for /gateway/services/** endpoint (#1568) (d0d7b0af92de20fe606076e90f48604018cdf099), closes #1568
• Make cookie samesite configurable. The configuration parameter apiml.auth.cookieProperties.cookieSameSite makes it possible for users to configure the SameSite attribute of the apimlAuthenticationToken cookie (#1545) (135904c), closes #1545
• Services can now configure their desired load balancer behavior (#1536) (db0c070), closes #1536

Zowe App Server

• Automatically create APIML static definition for ZSS when app-server is running in Docker.
• Disable impersonation for OMVS Service.
• Any HA incompatible security plugins are disabled if Zowe runs in HA mode.
• Updated proxy utility to treat PATCH similarly to PUT and POST
• Cleanup: Removed 'x-powered-by' header
• Get list of Discovery Services using environment variable, and provide the list for Eureka JS Client, in order to have it failover connection to the next one on the list when the one it's currently talking to fails.

Zowe CLI

The following enhancements were added to the core CLI:

• Expanded help text of --data-set-type on create data set command by adding an example of creating PDSE. #52
• Added a --volume-serial option to the zowe zos-files list data-set command. Use this option to filter data sets by volume serial. #61
• Removed 'z/OS' from zos-files help upload and download commands. #60
• Added new aliases for zos-files commands in delete, download, and list relating to USS files. You can now interact with uf or uss. #983

The following enhancement was added to the Imperative CLI Framework:

• Improved the way that HTTP response chunks are saved, reducing time complexity from O(n²) to O(n). This dramatically improves performance for larger requests. #618

Zowe Explorer

• Added the feature that automatically includes a missing profile in the Jobs view when submitting a job. #1386
• Added the extender documentation for KeytarApi for Secure Credential Store. #1384
• Added a new setting that enables you to hide Zowe Explorer's temporary downloads folder from a workspace. #1373
• Added the command to refresh a particular job and get the latest information and content for its spool files. #1363
• Added the function that enables you to delete multiple datasets and data set members. #1323
• Added the feature that enables you to use multiple VS Code windows for files opened via Zowe Explorer. #1347
• Added the command to refresh USS directory file names without the entire tree collapsing. #1369
• Added the refresh data set member names option. You can now retrieve a new list of members from the mainframe. #1343
• Added the best practice documentation for error handling. #1335
• Added the developer guide for adding commands to core Zowe Explorer menus. #1332
• Standardized context group names. #1340

Bug fixes

Zowe API Mediation Layer

• Fix login error handling when auth service is not available (#1579) (1221573), closes #1579
• Handle multiple discovery service instances in static refresh (#1582) (d7237ce), closes #1582
• Improve redis configuration for users (#1589) (b1f7088), closes #1589
• Properly display API Catalog status on Gateway homepage (#1581) (b8dd9cd), closes #1581
• Change order of authentication filters on Login endpoint (#1526) (3b93e9b), closes #1526
• Wrong use of certificates in ZAAS client (#1514) (964c4fa), closes #1514

Zowe App Server

• Sync state of certificate verification of zlux with keystore configuration, so that certificate verification can be turned on or off centrally.
• relativeTo parsing may have failed depending upon path length and contents, leading to skipped plugin loading.
• HTTP server did not send empty files correctly.
• Removed warning ZWED0144W about failure to read keyrings by having terminal proxy read the tls options loaded by the server instead of loading twice.
• Dynamic plugins could not be loaded due to parameter mismatch.

Zowe CLI

The following bugs were fixed in core Zowe CLI:

• Fixed inconsistencies in punctuation for command descriptions by adding missing periods. #66
• Updated Imperative version to fix web help issues.

The following bugs were fixed in the Imperative CLI Framework:

• Added missing periods at the end of command group descriptions for consistency. #55
• Fixed web help examples description typo at line 440 in packages/cmd/src/CommandPreparer.ts. #612
• Fixed Markdown special characters not being escaped in web help for descriptions of positional options and examples. #620
• Fixed subgroups not being displayed under their own heading in web help. #323

The following bug was fixed in the Secure Credential Store Plug-in:

• Updated the Keytar dependency to v7.7 to be compatible with Node.js v16.

Zowe Explorer

• Removed non-functioning code from invalid credentials for Theia #1371
• Fixed the issue with USS Search and Update Profile errors for profiles without credentials #1391
• Fixed the error message that popped up when accessing a profile from Favorites #1344
• Fixed the issue that prevented the Allocate Like feature from working correctly #1322