Better than Ever: Softshare ECS 6.0!

Architecture and Processing Enhancements

• New message bus architecture. The Softshare ECS 6.0 service was rewritten for enhanced performance and improved work distribution. The new architecture puts all of the work to be done onto a message bus. The message bus router manages the distribution of work, sorting the work by priority and, if multiple ECS servers exist, determining which server to release the work to.
• Work prioritization. For standard and enterprise edition users, work prioritization can be determined by you according to a task’s importance to your organization.
• Scale-out processing. With ECS 6.0 Enterprise’s new scale-out processing capabilities, load can be distributed over multiple servers, allowing ECS to handle more traffic and respond faster.
• Integrated failover. With ECS 6.0 Enterprise’s new integrated failover capabilities, a backup controller can be specified that will take over in the event of a hardware failure, reducing system downtime.
• New exception handling system. The new exception handling system is event oriented rather than log oriented. As a result, you can govern the number of notifications received for a single fault (i.e. prevent message swarms). In addition, the system's new awareness of events allows you to create your own custom data exceptions. For example, you could watch for the absence of data rather than for faults associated with the presence of data.
• Reduced reliance on the file system. In ECS 6.0, many of the file system requirements have been moved to the database. The ECS database requirements will increase significantly with this new release because the sessions logs and all batch contents and headers will be stored in the database rather than on the file system. Additionally, the archived data will be stored in an archive database. While we have reduced the reliance on the Windows file system, you should be aware of the additional database size requirements.

Management Console Enhancements

• Multiple server management. Say good-bye to the Switch Server command! In 6.0, all registered servers (and their configurations) are visible and available.
• Project management. ECS configurations such as input channels and event rules can be organized as projects, giving you a better feel for related processes and data.
• Configuration import and export. In 6.0, ECS configurations (input channels, output channels, etc.) can be exported for import into other ECS servers.
• Message bus and operations tracing. You can continuously trace message bus activities and/or operations activities for the current active server from Management Console’s new Trace Window.
• Search. Quickly find a configuration item based on its title using the new search feature.
• Integrated session logs. Session logs are available for viewing from the channel’s properties.

Data Administrator Enhancements

• Viewing archived data. In ECS 6.0, archived data is viewed right from Data Administrator (replacing the EAR Viewer utility as the archive access tool). Not only does this allow for easy viewing of archived data, but for easy restoration and restaging of archived data as well.
• Convenient filtering. When opening Data Administrator from Management Console, you can automatically filter data based on the configuration or project that is selected in Management Console. For example, right-clicking on a file input channel in Management Console and selecting “View in Data Administrator” from the context menu that appears will launch Data Administrator with only those batches displayed that arrived on the selected input channel.

ECS Status Monitor Enhancements

Previously called ECS Status Utility, the new ECS Status Monitor has a brand new name to go with its brand new (and expanded) feature set, which includes the ability to view and filter current and pending activity, as well as directly affect current processes. For example, you can change data priority, pause and delete work on the bus, pause and resume data channels and servers, and view ECS activity in a graphical format.

Security Enhancements

• Improved handling of cryptographic data. The days of fighting with the Microsoft Certificate Store are over. In ECS 6.0, public and private security certificates are managed by a fully integrated certificate management infrastructure.
• Support for SFTP. The standard and enterprise editions of ECS have long supported FTP/S, but with 6.0, there’s one more FTP communications standard to throw into the mix: SFTP. SFTP is based on SSH (secure shell) for session security and is a packet-oriented protocol.

WebECS Enhancements

For standard and enterprise users, WebECS is now embedded and installed with the service. This tight integration with the service makes WebECS faster and allows WebECS to support not only all the great new 6.0 enhancements, but a couple of features from the prior 5.0 version that it previously wasn’t able to.

ECS Server System Requirements

*Maximum recommended batch size should not exceed 125 MB; actual limits may be larger depending on server's available virtual memory

ECS Client System Requirements

Softshare Delta 5.0

To learn more about the new Delta 5.0 version, visit the Delta 5.0 enhancements Web page or download the enhancements PDF.