Universal Agent 8.1.0.0 Release Notes
Universal Agent release 8.1.0.0 contains the following high-level features. For a complete list of all the included features and fixes please refer to the Universal Agent 8.1.x Maintenance list.
Universal Agent 8.0.x is the last version in which the Debian package will support the Linux 4.15 kernel. Starting with Universal Agent 8.1.0.0, the minimum supported Linux kernel for the Debian package will be kernel version 5.15.
Universal Agent 8.1.x is the last version that will support the Linux 3.10 kernel. The Linux 3.10 kernel will no longer be supported when Universal Agent 8.1.x goes out of support in September 2028.
Universal Agent 8.1.x is the last version that will support z/OS 2.5. z/OS 2.5 will no longer be supported when Universal Agent 8.1.x goes out of support in September 2028.
The Universal Agent for SOA product will no longer be provided starting with UA 8.1.0.0.
It is still supported and available upon request for the 7.8, 7.9, and 8.0 maintenance releases, but only until March 2027. After March 2027, no defect fixes or enhancements will be provided for the Universal Agent for SOA product.
Application Integrations
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-23005 | Update Universal Agent's Python distribution | Update the Universal Agent's Python distribution to Python 3.14. |
B-23294 | Enhance UPPS's handling of invalid Integration Broker responses | UPPS now retries requests to the Integration Broker when an invalid (non-XML) response is received, providing coverage for a failure scenario not previously handled by network or application-level retry logic. When an invalid response occurs, the response content is written to stderr to support diagnosis of intermittent failures in production environments where trace mode cannot be enabled. |
Data Observability
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-23105 | Add distributed trace information to Universal Agent File Monitor tasks | Adds OpenTelemetry tracing support to Agent File Monitor tasks on Unix and Windows to help diagnose issues and provide insight to Agent File Monitor activity. A variety of spans have been added to track the full lifespan of the Agent File Monitor task. The ability to log important events such as stability and size checks, creation/deletion of files, and when the file system is polled are now exposed. To add this level of tracing, set the OTEL_ENABLE_TRACING option to debug. |
IBMz Enhancements
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-24447 | Allow JCL from an Agent's JCL_SAVE_LIBRARY to be used for z/OS task restarts. | Reruns for Universal Agent z/OS tasks can now be configured to use a prior instance's JCL, exactly as originally submitted. It is now possible to source the restarted task's JCL from the Agent's JCL_SAVE_LIBRARY, instead of the task definition's JCL Location or JCL Override Location. |
Packaging / Distribution
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-11535 | Update PTF content for z/OS maintenance deliveries | This release provides significant changes in the way Universal Agent maintenance releases for z/OS are prepared. These changes were originally introduced in the Universal Agent 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, and 8.0 May 2026 maintenance releases. Previous maintenance deliveries for some of those versions may have still provided partial PTF packages. The 8.1 release will be the first one that no longer provides partial PTF deliveries for all of its maintenance releases. Moving forward, all components subject to change after an initial .0 release will be provided in each maintenance delivery. This includes:
This change ensures that any 3pp vendor library updates -- particularly those that remediate CVEs -- are always available for any component that uses that library. This change means that cumulative PTF packages will be larger than they were in older Agent maintenance releases. This larger PTF delivery requires a change to an existing installation dataset and a change to a JCL procedure used during Universal Agent installs and upgrades. A new install job is provided in the PTF distribution to deliver both of these changes. A new job will also need to be run before the UNVMTRCV job is run, which receives the PTFs. info Please read the updated instructions for installing PTF maintenance releases in the z/OS Installation - Cumulative PTF Maintenance page before installing subsequent maintenance provided for this release. |
Platform Support
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-20752 | Update Ubuntu build platform | Migrate the Ubuntu build platform used to produce Universal Agent Debian packages to Ubuntu 22.04. This effectively updates the mininum supported version of the Debian installation for the Universal Agent 8.1.0.0 release to Linux 5.15 and higher. info Note This change required a change to the Debian distribution file name to include the build platform. For example, the UA 8.0.0.0 distribution for Debian was |
B-23577 | Certify Universal Agent for RHEL10 | Universal Agent 8.1.0.0 is certified for RedHat Enterprise Linux 10 on Intel, AArch64, PPC, and IBM Z (z/Linux, s390x). As part of this effort, certification was also completed for Universal Agent 8.0. All UA 8.0 releases starting with UA 8.0.2.0 are certified for RHEL10. |
Security
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-09341 | Change the default value for UCERT's SIGNATURE_ALGORITHM | Changes the default signature algorithm used by the Universal Certificate utility from SHA1 to SHA256. |
Workload Automation Features
Backlog | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
B-24058 | Replace zlib with zlib-ng | Replace the Universal Agent's use of the zlib compression library on Unix and Windows with the contemporary zlib-ng library. |
B-24063 | Enhanced Windows / Linux Task Features - Profile File | Add support for a Profile File option on Universal Agent tasks for Linux and Windows. When specified, the file is securely sourced or executed before the task command runs, making its environment variables visible to the command. File access is governed by the task's user context. No unauthorized access to the file will be granted. On Linux, a shell script is sourced before the command runs. On Windows, a plain key=value file or a batch script can be used. Any environment variables set by the profile file are visible to the command. |
B-24214 | The Universal Agent's service timeout should not affect uptime visibility on the Controller | When a SERVICE_TIMEOUT value is specified in the Universal Agent Server's configuration file, the connection between the Agent and the OMS Server will no longer be recycled simply due to inactivity. If the Agent and Controller can successfully exchange a message, the connection will be kept as-is. The connection will continue to be recycled when a real network disruption has occurred and the connection needs to be recovered. |
B-24501 | Enhanced Windows / Linux Task Features - Standard Out / Standard Error File Redirection | Windows and Unix/Linux tasks now support STDOUT File and STDERR File options that write the task's output streams to local files on the agent. Output continues to flow to the task instance output as before. When additional STDOUT and/or STDERR files are specified, they supplement the current behavior. If the specified files exist when the task runs, they will be overwritten by default. The ability to append to either file is available. |