Summary
If AWI 12.3.4 is used with AE 12.3.2 HF2, object search will not work at all.
Broadcom has withdrawn support for running the AE and AWI on different fix levels within the same minor release.
Broadcom claims it has never officially supported running the AE and AWI on different fix levels within the same minor release.
Background
We recently upgraded the AWI of one of our systems to 12.3.4 to take advantage of some recent AWI bug fixes. Unfortunately, we ran into problems immediately. Object search did not work at all.
Root cause
Between 12.3.2 HF2 and 12.3.4, a new parameter,
update_index, was added to the schema of the JSON payload accepted by the
object search REST API of the Automation Engine. This as-yet-undocumented feature presumably allows REST clients to instruct the Java Communications Process to rebuild its Lucene index of AE objects and thereby increase the reliability of subsequent search results.
AWI 12.3.4 now sends this parameter with
every object search. JCP 12.3.2 HF2 does not understand the parameter though, and returns error
45106.
U045106 The request is invalid and cannot be processed by the Automation Engine.
This is why object search doesn't work. The newer AWI sends a parameter the older JCP doesn't understand.
Example
Here is an example of a JSON payload sent by AWI 12.3.4.
{
"sort_columns": {
"name": true
},
"start_at": 0,
"filters": [
{
"object_name": "jobp",
"filter_identifier": "object_name"
}
],
"max_results": 5,
"update_index": false
}The above payload is rejected by JCP 12.3.2 HF2. It presumably works fine with JCP 12.3.4 but I have not installed AE 12.3.4 yet so I cannot confirm this. Remove the
update_index parameter, and the payload will be accepted.
Impact
Until very recently, Broadcom supported running different components of an AWA system at different fix pack levels, as long as they were the same major and minor release. Broadcom is now eliminating within-minor-release interoperability, and is demanding that customers
upgrade AE & AWI simultaneously, even when just installing fix packs. The aforelinked documentation page does not make this point clear, but Broadcom Support confirmed this detail to me twice, stating explicitly that within-minor-release interoperability is no longer supported as of AWA 12.3.3.)
When multiple distinct components must be upgraded at the same time, this increases the time and cost required to test and prepare the upgrade. It also increases downtime, complicates problem diagnosis, and adds operational risk.
The
elimination of failure to guarantee within-minor-release interoperability was likely motivated by more cost-cutting at Broadcom; guaranteeing interoperability requires more testing on their end. The result is that these costs are now shifted to Broadcom's customers.