Activate 8.3 Release Notes

We are excited to announce the release of Activate 8.3! 

This release introduces significant enhancements, particularly focusing on strengthening support for cloud-only and domainless environments, improving the installer experience, refining the user interface, updating APIs, and addressing key bug fixes.

This version represents a major step in making Activate even more flexible and powerful for managing identities and access in modern IT landscapes, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid. Activate automates tasks like onboarding, offboarding, distribution list management, password management, and data access management, freeing up IT teams and providing instant service.

Here's a summary of the key updates in version 8.3:

Enhanced Cloud & Domainless Support

A central theme of this release is the comprehensive improvement of Activate's functionality in cloud-only and domainless setups.

• Installer Flexibility: Administrators now have more control during the initial installation, able to pick between using On-Premise AD or Azure / Entra ID for authentication, rather than this choice being dictated by domain connectivity.
• Improved Azure Configuration: A new interface has been introduced to the installer for capturing details about Azure connections, including Login and Graph API details, simplifying the setup for domainless environments. An app registration test dialog was added to the installer to allow testing authentication when connecting via Azure.
• Domainless Installer Stability: Various issues throughout the installer that previously didn't work correctly for a domainless setup have been fixed, officially supporting Azure Only / Domainless setups where Activate is installed outside of a domain and connects only to Azure. This includes fixing a bug where an installer message would show if a local user was not a member of admins on an Azure-only instance installed on a domain-connected machine, resolving issues where the connected domain showed up unexpectedly, and ensuring the Azure user is loaded instead of the domain user in such scenarios.
• Desktop Studio Access & Management:
  • If Activate is configured solely for Azure authentication, a new login dialog is displayed before accessing Activate's Desktop Administrator.
  • Users logged in via Azure / Entra ID can now logout of Activate Desktop Administrator through the new user control center.
  • Security has been further strengthened for access to Activate Administrator with Azure users; attempts to login to Desktop Studio will now return an error if the user is not in the Azure Activate Admins group.
• Cloud User & Mailbox Management: Core tasks for managing users and mailboxes have been enhanced to support cloud-only scenarios. This includes enhanced scripts for deleting mailboxes, creating mailboxes, archiving mail, archiving drives, archiving users, deleting utilities, and deleting users for cloud users. The workflow for creating mailboxes has been enhanced to retry on errors during the PostCreateScript for better support of cloud users. Enhancements were added to the CreateScript of Create User to support cloud-only users.
• Cloud Resource Configuration: The IdentityProvider on Office365 Exchange Server is now set out-of-the-box to point at the Azure external directory. A default exchange server pointing at the Office365 resource has been added for the Azure external directory.
• Entra ID Sync & User Properties: Support has been added for syncing more user properties from Entra ID via the CustomSchema. The Web.User.Properties.Details view has been enhanced to correctly show properties for cloud users.
• Cloud Object Logic: The logic for the IsCloudObject field on ProvisioningDirectoryEntry has been improved to use the DistinguishedName as the basis for determining if an object is cloud-based.
• Multi-Tenant Exchange Selection: Activate now accurately selects the correct Exchange Server for users in multi-tenant environments.
• Distribution List Creation: An issue where duplicate distribution lists could be observed when creating them in a domainless environment via Activate has been resolved by saving the ExternalDirectoryObjectId instead of Guid.
• Cloud-Only User Template: A new out-of-the-box User type template for Cloud Only employees has been created as a configuration reference.
• IIS Configuration: Windows Authentication is now only enabled in IIS (Activate Web) when Activate is configured to use AD Authentication in the installer.

Installer Enhancements

Several improvements have been made to streamline the installation process.

• Default Values Install Support: Users can now provide a set of defaults during the installer, enabling rapid and consistent installs
• Simplified Input: Redundant password text fields were removed from the Application Pool and Orchestrator Service installer pages.
• Prerequisites Visibility: A link to Activate's recommended prerequisites has been added to the initial installer page, making it easier for users to confirm readiness.
• Improved Error Reporting: More information, including the underlying error in the dialog, has been added to error dialogs during the installer to help diagnose issues quicker.
• Self-Signed Certificate Creation: An issue in the installer where newly created self-signed certificates could not be found has been resolved.
• Database Upgrade Prompt: The installer now only prompts for upgrading the database if there are required pending database changes.

User Experience Improvements

Updates to the user interface and interaction points enhance usability.

• Splash Screen Feedback: Feedback has been added to the splash screen of Activate Administrator to provide details to the user about the startup process, improving visibility when the application is loading.
• Desktop Admin User Center: A new user control center has been added in Desktop Studio, giving administrator users easy access to their account details and the ability to access their web user profile.
• Persistent Impersonation Banner: While impersonating another user, the impersonate banner now persists across every web page.
• Virtualized Tree View Fixes: An issue where the beta Virtualized Tree View did not work correctly in popups, such as in Select Object controls, has been improved. The new tree list control now shows a spinner when sub-items are loading, indicating Activate is waiting for a server response.
• Installer Navigation: An issue where the back button wouldn't work on the AD Group picker on the installer has been fixed.
• Job Log Observability: The source location is now stored and displayed with logged information in the Job Log, allowing administrators to see where job logs originated (e.g., which script or workflow location).

API Updates

• Microsoft Graph API: Activate's Microsoft Graph API has been updated to v5.76.0. The previous version was v5.49.0.

Activate To Links

Activate To Links are a new feature in Activate that allow you to create shortcut URLs — short, memorable links that redirect users to specific tools, dashboards, articles, or other resources within your Activate environment. 

e.g. Creating a String parameter named "give-feedback" with the value "/Job/new?id=123" under this resource would allow navigation to the site using a URL like https://activate.mycompany.com/to/give-feedback. Read more about Activate To Links here.

Bug Fixes

Specific issues identified have also been resolved.

• Remove Mailbox Job Title: An expression was corrected in the title of the Mailboxes > Remove Access job, where the number "3" was incorrectly set as the separator instead of a comma.