Software Configuration Manager

MetaLink Users: Do you use Software Configuration Manager (SCM)? If so, Oracle wants your help.

We're working to improve the MetaLink user interface, and we want your feedback.

Oracle would like to watch you online and listen to your comments as you:
1. File a Service Request (SR), or
2. Search the Knowledge Base
Using these new features in the SCM tab of MetaLink.

WHAT WE'D LIKE YOU TO DO
a. The next time you file a SR or search knowledge from the SCM tab, call us (see CONTACTING US below).
b. We'll set up a teleconference and web conference, to allow us to watch and listen.
c. You'll talk about your thoughts as you progress through your work to file an SR or search knowledge.
d. Answer a few questions when you're done.
e. If you wish, we would also like to hear your thoughts on other parts of MetaLink.

WHO MAY PARTICIPATE
Sessions are open to all MetaLink users who use -- or are interested in using -- the SCM tab.
You must have Adobe's free Flash player 9 installed and working on your browser.

CONTACTING US
Call Meadow Consulting to schedule an appointment, or just call when you're ready to start. See AVAILABLE TIMES below.

If we don't answer your call immediately, leave a telephone number, email, or Yahoo IM where you can be
reached and expect a return call within 30 minutes (usually less than 5 minutes).

Yahoo IM: meadow_research@sbcglobal.net
Email: meadow.consulting@gmail.com
Phone: +1 (408) 786-5314
Skype: meadow.consulting

AVAILABLE TIMES
July 28 through August 12, 2008
6:00am - 8:30am PDT --> 3pm - 5:30pm CEST
10:00am - 2:00pm PDT --> 7pm - 11:00pm CEST
7:00pm - 11:00pm PDT --> 3am - 8:00am CEST

PRIVACY NOTICE
All sessions will be recorded. Recordings will be available only to Oracle and Meadow Consulting. Meadow Consulting is an independent research company, hired by Oracle to conduct this research. All information is covered by a Non-Disclosure Agreement between Oracle and Meadow Consulting.

Your honest inputs will go directly to the Oracle team working on these processes, and your participation will make a real difference in the future of MetaLink!

We've heard your feedback and your requests, and spent countless hours designing, building, and testing, and the result is now live: welcome to the latest release of Software Configuration Manager!

Like previous releases, this one takes features that you may have been used to using, and makes them easier to use and more integrated with your overall SCM experience.  The full functionality of both the Service Request and Knowledge sections of the "classic" MetaLink are now available as tabs in SCM -- but (hopefully!) with better usability, simpler, and more intuitive.  As an example, compare the "classic" method for creating a new SR to the new SR wizard now in SCM; I think you'll like what you see!

But that's not all that's new; user thoughts and reactions have been coming to us through the "Feedback" link in the top corner of the dashboard, and we've been paying attention.  For instance, the user community has asked for a print-friendly view of data tables, which is now available from the "gear" menu of dashboard regions.  You've asked for the ability to view historical snapshots of how your targets were configured, and compare between different time points -- that's now available for all targets (either by drilling into a configuration's components, or directly via the brand new Targets region) .  And more -- just explore around and see.

Please keep the feedback coming, both through SCM and through the blog.  And enjoy the newest SCM, which should make the support experience even that much better and easier to use.

One of the features that we've added in this newest release is the ability to pick and choose which
columns are shown in several of your dashboard regions. 

You may notice a downward-facing triangle icon on the right side of the region header for the SR, Configurations, and Projects region types.  That icon opens a menu that lets you perform actions on that region (like copy the contents of
the region to the clipboard).  Through that menu, you can see a list of all the columns that are supported for that region, and can pick and choose which among them you want displayed.  So, for instance, if you want to make sure to see how long it's been since a configuration had data collected, but you aren't as concerned about immediately seeing the number of critical issues, you can use the column selector to show just the columns you're interested in.

Did you know that you can set up PowerView filters to operate on custom-defined attributes?

If you (or someone in your organization with the appropriate administrative permissions) clicks on the "Administration" link in the top right of SCM, you can define custom attributes that can apply to your configurations.  For example, let's say that you create a yes/no type custom attribute called "Mission Critical".  You can then set the value of that attribute for all the configurations for which it's appropriate. 

Then, when you're using the PowerView panel to create filters to show the configurations you're interested in, notice that the drop-down list of filters contains an option for your organization.  And inside that organization item, it shows the custom attributes that have been defined.  That way (as per our example), you can specify a PowerView filter showing only those configs where "Mission Critical" is true. 

And of course, you can combine a custom attribute filter with any of the other filters (Lifecycle, Target Type, etc.) to get even more granular control over what you're seeing on your SCM dashboard.

As of today, Oracle and the SCM team are proud to announce the release of an updated SCM interface!  We've put in a lot of work over the last several months, adding new features, fixing bugs, and addressing requests that have come in from our users. 

This release concentrates on ways that allow you to personalize your support experience.  Right off the bat, you'll probably notice the PowerView panel up on the top of your dashboard -- you can apply PowerView filters, alone or in combinations, to apply powerful global filters to show only information you care about.  You can create custom configuration attributes for targets; you can pick and choose which columns are shown in your dashboard regions; you can even create regions consisting entirely of web content that you define.

As you use these (and other) new features, please continue giving us your feedback -- either through the Feedback link on SCM itself, or here through the blog.  All of your comments are valuable, and help us develop and prioritize new features, so that future releases continue improving.  And thanks for using SCM!

Some of you may have noticed that the OCM (Oracle Configuration Manager) software, which is the collector mechanism used by SCM, had a bug in the latest AIX release, 10.2.7.  (And thanks to those who have pointed it out.)  We've fixed that bug and put out a new release of the 10.2.7 AIX distribution; the updated release is now available for download on both the SCM Collectors tab and the Metalink patch download interface.

As you may have noticed, the previous Configuration Support Manager interface is completely gone now; and to celebrate, we now have a new name.  Welcome to Software Configuration Manager -- the aspect of Oracle Support that gives you a personalized and customizable way to simplify your configuration management, resolve problems more quickly, and address potential issues.

As some of you may have noticed, or read in the alert box on MetaLink's CSM tab, the ability to create and use manual configurations is being phased out.  The consequence of that is that CSM v2 does not have any functionality to manually create new configurations; and, any manual configurations that had been previously created using the v1 interface will not be shown.

We've decided to take this step to improve the overall reliability of the configuration data found in CSM, which benefits both our customers and Oracle Support.  By using OCM -- Oracle Configuration Manager -- to collect and upload configuration details automatically, the data shown through CSM is known to be accurate and up-to-date.  And for those customers who don't have internet connections from their systems for automatic uploading, the ability to upload disconnected-mode configuration collections will be available before CSM v2 completely replaces v1.

After months of hard work, the Oracle team is extremely proud to announce that version 2 of Configuration Support Manager has just been released as a beta to the general public!  This release incorporates innumerable bug fixes, feedback from customers and other users, and filling out a significant portion of the feature set we've planned for this new version of CSM. 

If you haven't already seen the beta, just log into Oracle MetaLink and click on the Configuration Support Manager tab -- you'll see an advertisement on that page that will allow you to open up the new interface to give it a test drive.  Take a look, try it out, read the FAQ and Getting Started guide, and let us know what you think!

This being the Configuration Support Manager, obviously having access to your configurations is pretty important.  So we've devoted a good chunk of screen real estate to the region displaying the configurations from your environment. 

As you probably know, CSM integrates with the OCM (Oracle Configuration Manager) collector tool to automatically discover configuration settings and changes to those settings, and upload the details.  (By the way -- check out the "Collectors" top-level tab in the upper right corner to deploy the collector to new systems.)  These configuration items are summarized in the region on the main dashboard page.

If you select a particular configuration, you'll notice that the screen you get looks a lot like the main dashboard: in fact, you're getting a dashboard with information specific to this configuration.  So now you have a view with SRs, system health, patch advice, etc. that relates just to this configuration as opposed to the system-wide view.  One of the common pieces of feedback that we've accumulated over time is that dashboard views are good, so we've tried to give you easy access to different kinds!