Product Announcement: CCS Functionality Replacement Plan within CA Client Automation

Date: September 17, 2014

This announcement communicates the plan for replacing the CA Common Services (CCS) functionality available in CA Client Automation. CCS is a component from the CA Network and Systems Management r11.2 SP2 C1 product, which is being stabilized and will no longer be in active support after September 30, 2015.

You will be able to continue using CCS after September 30, 2015 in any CA Client Automation implementations that are in active support, until such a time as you are able to upgrade to the CA Client Automation 12.9 release. Release 12.9 +1 is targeted to fully replace the CCS functionality and capabilities.

We are targeting the replacement of key portions of CCS functionality in the next two CA Client Automation releases: 12.9 and 12.9 + 1.

Until the Replacement Plan is complete, CA Client Automation Enterprise and Domain Managers may be supported on a broader range of platforms than is offered by CCS (such as Windows Server 2012 R2). In such scenarios, CA Client Automation may continue to be used without the functionality offered by CCS. Alternatively, CCS may still be installed on its supported platforms.

For a complete list of the platforms supported by CCS, please review the compatibility matrix on the CA Network and Systems Management CA Support Site page.

Following are the details regarding the use of CCS in CA Client Automation:

There are two variants of CCS that can be installed with CA Client Automation:

• CCS Full Version / Windows – used when the CA Client Automation database is SQL Server
• CCS Micro Version – the micro-version is used with CA Client Automation in three use cases:
  • When the CA Client Automation database is Oracle (this micro-version uses its own private lightweight database and can be used on the Enterprise, Domain or Scalability servers)
  • When the CA Client Automation Scalability servers are installed on Linux
  • When only Event Management and Calendars are needed

The following are the CCS functions that are targeted to be provided as alternative functionality in CA Client Automation 12.9: 

• WorldView (available only with the full version of CCS)
  • Data Transport Service (DTS) configuration: customized transfer routes, use of hop nodes, point-to-many distributions (broadcast and multicast), fallback routing, bandwidth throttling and parcels size
• High Availability Service (available only with the full version of CCS)
  • Required if a CA Client Automation Enterprise or Domain Manager is to be installed in a Windows cluster environment.
• Calendars (available with both full and micro versions of CCS)
  • Calendars are used to schedule file transfer and software distribution.

Please note that while CCS can still be used with 12.9 for these functions, we recommend you configure and use the alternative functionality that is targeted to be delivered.

CCS functionality that will not be replaced with alternative functionality in CA Client Automation:

• WorldView (available only with the full version of CCS)
  • DTS Business Process Views and 2D Maps

Please note: while you can still use WorldView from CCS in the 12.9 release, the functionality will not be supported in the 12.9 +1 release.

CCS functionality that is targeted to be replaced with functionality in CA Client Automation release 12.9 + 1:

• Discovery of unmanaged systems (available only with the full version of CCS)
  • Auto Discovery: Supports discovery of unmanaged systems (systems on which a CA Client Automation agent is not installed). Queries against unmanaged systems can be performed and reports on unmanaged systems can be generated. Infrastructure Deployment Wizard can utilize the list of unmanaged systems to target agent deployments.  
• Event Management (available with both full and micro versions of CCS)
  • CA Client Automation events are forwarded to the CCS Event Management system enabling customized message actions to be defined for specific events

Following are the details regarding the CCS functionality that will not be replaced with functionality in CA Client Automation:

• Discovery of unmanaged systems (available only with the full version of CCS)
  • Continuous Discovery: enables policy based CA Client Automation agent deployment to newly discovered, unmanaged systems.

Disclaimer: Certain information in this announcement may outline CA’s general product direction.  This announcement shall not serve to affect the rights and/or obligations of CA or its licensees under any existing or future license agreement or services agreement relating to any CA software product; or (ii) amend any product documentation or specifications for any CA software product. This announcement is based on current information and resource allocations as of September 17, 2014 and is subject to change or withdrawal by CA at any time without notice.  The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described in this announcement remain at CA’s sole discretion.

Notwithstanding anything in this announcement to the contrary, upon the general availability of any future CA product release referenced in this announcement, CA may make such release available to new licensees in the form of a regularly scheduled major product release. Such release may be made available to licensees of the product who are active subscribers to CA maintenance and support, on a when and if-available basis. The information in this announcement is not deemed to be incorporated into any contract.

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