What's new in tc Server 4.1

tc Server 4.1 has many changes. For a complete list of changes please see the tc Server 4.1 Release Notes

The most significant changes are

• Kubernetes Friendly Features - We have enhanced VMware tc Server to be easier to use with Kubernetes
• New tc Server commands - We have added new commands to the tcserver command to make it even easier to manager tc Runtime (Tomcat) instances.
• Debian/Ubuntu package - We are offering .deb packages in addition to .rpm, .tar.gz, and .zip.
• Single Property Encoding Method - We have removed deprecated obfuscation methods.
• Java 8 Requirements for tcserver command - The tcserver command now requires a minimum of Java 8 to run.

If you are unfamiliar with the new features of VMware tc Server 4.0 please see What's new in tc Server 4.0.

Kubernetes Friendly Features

We have made enhancements to ease the use of VMware tc Server with Kubernetes. These include the following:

• Create, deploy, run in a single command - A new tc Runtime (Tomcat) instance may be created, an application deployed, and run with a single invocation of the tcserver command.
• YAML File format support for an instance descriptor file - Previously, the instance descriptor file format was only a java .properties file. We have added YAML as a supported format.
• Remote file locations supported - An instance descriptor file may be a remote file (https). Similarly the webapp deployed when an instance is created may also be retrieved via a remote URL.
• Support for environment variables as properties - This allows kubernetes configmaps and secrets to be read as environment variables available to the tc Runtime (Tomcat) instance.
• Runtimes and Templates on demand - If a tc Runtime (tomcat) version is specified that isn't found locally the version will be checked for in the remote tc Runtime Repository and if found that version will be downloaded and installed as part of the tc Runtime (tomcat) instance creation process. Similarly, if a template name is specified that doesn't exist locally the tc Server Template Repository is checked for that template and if found it is downloaded and installed as part of instance creation.

Please see our Kubernetes Howto

New tc Server commands

The following new commands have been added:

• destroy
• logs
• get-property

See tcserver Command Reference for a list of all commands.

Debian/Ubuntu package

We now provided .deb packages for VMware tc Server and Runtimes. These are only available for download via VMware Tanzu Network

Single Property Encoding Method

We have previously offered multiple options for obfuscating properties. These methods were difficult to use and may have required installing additional java software. We have have removed those methods (s2enc and tcenc) from 4.1.0. The only supported method is pbkdf2

Java 8 Requirements

The tcserver command now requires a minimum of a Java 8 JVM to run. It is still possible to run an instance with a Java version older by specifying the --java-home option and pointing to a Java 6 or 7 JRE.