Release date: 04 December 2023 (Last updated: 20 March 2024)

TetraScience has released its next version of the Tetra Data Platform (TDP), version 3.5.5. This release makes TDP user login activity available in Amazon CloudWatch Logs. No new functionality or other enhancements are included in this release.

Here are the details for what’s new in TDP v3.5.5.

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Security

TetraScience continually monitors and tests the TDP codebase to identify potential security issues. Various security updates are applied to the following areas on an ongoing basis:

• Operating systems
• Third-party libraries

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Quality Management

TetraScience is committed to creating quality software. Software is developed and tested following the ISO 9001-certified TetraScience Quality Management system. This system ensures the quality and reliability of TetraScience software while maintaining data integrity and confidentiality.

New Functionality

New functionalities are features that weren’t previously available in the TDP.

• There is no new functionality in this release.

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GxP Impact Assessment

All new TDP functionalities go through a GxP impact assessment to determine validation needs for GxP installations. New Functionality items marked with an asterisk (*) address usability, supportability, or infrastructure issues, and do not affect Intended Use for validation purposes, per this assessment. Enhancements _and _Bug Fixes do not generally affect Intended Use for validation purposes, and items marked as Beta Release are not suitable for GxP use.

Enhancements

Enhancements are modifications to existing functionality that improve performance or usability, but don't alter the function or intended use of the system. The following are new enhancements introduced in TDP v3.5.5.

Enhancements for TDP System Administration

TDP User Login Activity is Now Recorded in Amazon CloudWatch Logs

The TDP now tracks user login activity in Amazon CloudWatch Logs. For more information, or to access the logs, customers must contact their customer success manager (CSM).

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NOTE

For TDP v3.7.x and higher, user activity logs will be accessible through the TDP user interface.

Bug Fixes

There are no bug fixes in this release.

Known and Possible Issues

The following are known and possible issues for the TDP v3.5.5 release.

Data Integrations Known Issues

• When editing a user-defined Agent, customers can create a Source Type value that includes unsupported, uppercase letters. The Source Type value doesn’t allow uppercase letters normally.
• When installing a Tetra Hub on a host server that already has an AWS Systems Manager registration key, the Amazon ECS container agent startup fails. An AccessDenied error is then logged in the agent’s Amazon CloudWatch Logs. In TDP v3.6.0, the Hub installer automatically detects the issue and provides instructions to fix it.
• The Tetra Hub installation script doesn’t detect an existing Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance role on a host server if there is one. If there is an existing AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) role, the Hub’s Amazon ECS service will attempt to use it. The Hub’s Amazon ECS instance registration process fails when this happens. A fix for this issue is currently in development and testing for a future TDP v3.6.x patch release. As a workaround, customers can detach the Amazon EC2 IAM role from the Amazon EC2 instance, and then rerun the Hub installation script. For more information, see Why Did the Amazon ECS Instance Registration Process Fail During Hub Installation?
• When installing or rebooting a Tetra Hub, the Hub’s Health status incorrectly displays as CRITICAL for a short time in the TDP UI. After the TDP receives the Hub’s initial metrics and proxy status, the Hub’s status displays as Online. No action is needed, and no alarms or notifications are generated.

Data Harmonization and Engineering Known Issues

• If an IDS’s protocol doesn’t have a README file, then the ReadMe tab displays as blank on the IDS Details page for that IDS.
• On the Pipeline Manager page, pipeline trigger conditions that customers set with a text option must match all of the characters that are entered in the text field. This includes trailing spaces, if there are any.
• File edit and update operations are not supported on metadata and label names (keys) that include special characters. Metadata, tag, and label values can include special characters, but it’s recommended that customers use the approved special characters only. For more information, see Attributes.
• The File Details page sometimes displays an Unknown status for workflows that are either in a Pending or Running status. Output files that are generated by intermediate files within a task script sometimes show an Unknown status, too.

Data Access and Management Known Issues

• There is a very low risk of Amazon Athena SQL queries returning stale, incorrect data, because of multiple Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) file versions being created in rapid succession. This issue can occur when two workflows that are working on the same IDS file run and complete any of the following actions within about 20 seconds of one another:

  • Creating an IDS file
  • Adding, removing, or updating a file’s metadata and tags
  • Updating data in an IDS file

  To avoid this issue, it’s recommended that customers use labels when updating data, instead of metadata and tags. For more information about how to use labels, see Manage and Apply Attributes. (Issue #2837)

• If customers modify an existing collection of search queries by adding a new filter condition from one of the Option modals (Basic, Attributes, Data (IDS) Filters, or RAW EQL), but they don't select the Apply button, the previous, existing query is deleted. To modify the filters for an existing collection, customers must select the Apply button in the Options modal before you update the collection. For more information, see How to Save Collections and Shortcuts.

TDP System Administration Known Issues

• The latest Connector versions incorrectly log the following errors in Amazon CloudWatch Logs:
  • Error loading organization certificates. Initialization will continue, but untrusted SSL connections will fail.
  • Client is not initialized - certificate array will be empty
    These organization certificate errors have no impact and shouldn’t be logged as errors. A fix for this issue is currently in development and testing, and is scheduled for an upcoming release. There is no workaround to prevent Connectors from producing these log messages. To filter out these errors when viewing logs, customers can apply the following CloudWatch Logs Insights query filters when querying log groups. (Issue #2818)

CloudWatch Logs Insights Query Example for Filtering Organization Certificate Errors

fields @timestamp, @message, @logStream, @log
| filter message != 'Error loading organization certificates. Initialization will continue, but untrusted SSL connections will fail.'
| filter message != 'Client is not initialized - certificate array will be empty'
| sort @timestamp desc
| limit 20

Upgrade Considerations

During the upgrade, there might be a brief downtime when users won't be able to access the TDP user interface and APIs.

After the upgrade, the TetraScience team verifies that the platform infrastructure is working as expected through a combination of manual and automated tests. If any failures are detected, the issues are immediately addressed, or the release can be rolled back. Customers can also verify that TDP search functionality continues to return expected results, and that their workflows continue to run as expected.

For more information about the release schedule, including the GxP release schedule and timelines, see the Product Release Schedule.

For more details about the timing of the upgrade, customers should contact their CSM.

Other Release Notes

To view other TDP release notes, see Tetra Data Platform (TDP) Release Notes.