Agent Release Notes¶
Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation
See Alation Cloud Service Compatibility for information about which versions of Alation Cloud Service are supported by each version of the Agent. To get the latest Alation Agent features and fixes, we recommend upgrading to the latest version of the Alation Agent that’s compatible with your version of Alation Cloud Service.
Release 1.7.3.4537¶
This patch release addresses a security vulnerability. (AL-166476)
Release 1.7.3.4452¶
The Alation Agent now creates the “alationdocker” Linux group (GID 41414). This group is used to access the Docker API socket from within the “agent” container running within Docker. This change was made in order ensure that external systems, such as SSSD, do not interfere with the operation of the Alation Agent by enforcing its own group IDs for well-known groups (such as the “docker” group). Users of the Alation Agent should take care to not delete, or otherwise modify, this group.
Release 1.7.2.4360¶
When the Alation Agent receives requests from Alation Cloud Service to connect to an on-premises data source, the Agent can now connect to AWS Secret Manager vaults within your Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) using an instance-based IAM role. This feature allows you to keep your data source credentials within your VPC so that they never traverse the Alation Cloud Service infrastructure. Moreover, these credentials will not be persisted in any Alation components, including the Alation Agent. For more information, see Integration with AWS Secrets Manager for Data Source Authentication Using OCF Connector.
To use this feature, you must meet the following requirements:
You must be an Alation Cloud Service customer on the cloud-native architecture.
You must be using Alation Agent version 1.7.2.4360 or later. For help installing the Alation Agent, see Install the Alation Agent.
To access AWS Secrets Manager using an IAM instance profile:
You must be on Alation Cloud Service version 2024.1.4 or later.
Your Alation Agent must be installed on an Amazon EC2 instance.
You must install Authentication Service Add-on version 5.14.0.1882 or later on the Alation Agent.
To access AWS Secrets Manager using an IAM user’s credentials:
You must be on Alation Cloud Service version 2024.1.5 or later.
You must install Authentication Service Add-on version 5.14.0.1968 or later on the Alation Agent.
You must have a supporting OCF connector installed on the Agent. To find out if a specific connector supports this feature, see the documentation for the specific connector in the Open Connector Framework (OCF) Overview section.
Note
You can use the Native Data Sources API to migrate a data source from an OCF connector that’s not on an Alation Agent to an OCF connector that is on an Alation Agent.
(AL-149546)
Release 1.7.0.4045¶
Notifications for Alation Agent’s loss of connection and certificate expirations are now enabled by default for Server Admins. Existing preferences for Server Admins who have previously configured these notifications will remain unchanged. These notifications were previously opt-in by default. The change to opt-out by default aims to improve awareness and response to these important system events. Server Admins can adjust the notification settings under the Notifications tab on the Account Settings page. (AL-153656)
The Agent diagnostic tooling for “ping” and TCP handshakes now support integrations with HTTP CONNECT proxies. (AL-151161)
The test connection dialog for ETL data sources now indicates when the Agent is in polling mode. (AL-149017)
Corrected an issue which would cause the connector application gateway to hang upon startup when operating for on-premise installations. (AL-154860)
Release 1.6.1.3465¶
Polling Mode UI¶
We’ve made some improvements in the Alation UI to help you understand when an Agent is in polling mode and how that could affect your connection:
The Agent Dashboard indicates whether the Agent is in polling mode.
When viewing connector details on the Connector Dashboard, you can see whether the connector is on an Agent that is in polling mode.
When testing RDBMS data source connections on the data source settings page, you can see whether the data source is connected through an Agent that is in polling mode.
Release 1.6.1.3288¶
Polling Mode¶
The Alation Agent now supports connecting to Alation Cloud Service via polling mode.
Release 1.5.1.2863¶
Support for More Operating Systems¶
The Alation Agent now officially supports more operating systems:
Debian 11
Red Hat 9
Ubuntu 22
For a complete list of supported operating systems, see the Agent system requirements.
Diagnostic Tool Improvements¶
The built-in diagnostic tool now checks that /etc/hosts is configured correctly. A missing or incorrect /etc/hosts file can disrupt the connection between Alation Cloud Services and the Alation Agent.
Release 1.5.0.2541¶
Diagnostic Tool¶
Is your Agent in a disconnected state? We’ve added a new diagnostic tool to the Agent that will help you troubleshoot connectivity issues. See the Troubleshooting topic for details on working with the diagnostic tool.
Release 1.3.0.1536¶
Bug Fixes¶
We fixed an issue where the Agent was failing to close old network connections when establishing failover connections to Alation Cloud Service.
Release 1.2.1.1168¶
Improved Reliability¶
The Alation Agent now establishes multiple failover connections to Alation Cloud Service for improved uptime and performance.
Support for Basic Authentication with Proxy¶
The Alation Agent now works with HTTP CONNECT proxies that require basic authentication. On the Agent machine, edit the /etc/hydra/hydra.toml file to include the following line:
web_proxy = "<username>:<password>@<proxy-address>:<proxy-port>"
Replace the parts in angle brackets with the appropriate information for your proxy.
See the Agent installation instructions for more details on configuring the Agent to work with a proxy.
Bug Fixes¶
We fixed an issue where the Agent could sometimes report an ERROR.E1000, which would prevent connectors from being installed. Upgrading to version 1.2.1.1168 resolves this issue.
Release 1.2.1.1120¶
Compose Support¶
The Alation Agent now supports Compose connections to on-premise data sources. This support includes:
Query execution in Compose
Query forms
Scheduled queries
Excel live reports
Data upload
Compose Compatibility with the Agent
In order to use Compose with the Alation Agent, you must:
Be on Alation Cloud Service version 2022.4 or later.
Have Alation Agent version 1.2.1.868 or newer installed. Agent version 1.2.0.815 does not support Compose.
Have a supporting version of the relevant connector installed on the Agent. See the documentation for individual OCF connectors to find out if a particular connector can connect to Compose through the Alation Agent.
Release 1.2.1.868¶
Multiple Agent Installations¶
Alation now supports multiple Alation Agent installations per cloud instance. Multiple Agents may be required if data sources are in different geographical locations, network segments, or security zones. A Server Admin for a cloud instance can now install Alation Agent multiple times to enable connection to on-premise data sources from the catalog.
Agent Enhancements¶
Users can now delete an Agent even when the certificate is revoked.
The default port of 80 for
web_proxyis now honored by the Agent. Previously port 80 was incorrectly ignored and defaulted to 3128.