Release Highlights

• Authentication for web applications (see below for requirements).

• Improved configuration.

• Communication over secure socket.

Improvements and New Features

• Pilot Data Server now has a UI with improved user accessibility to the configuration (PDS-728).

• Configuration is stored in one single file (PDS-798).

• Pilot Data Server now supports configuring authentication for the web applications it serves out (VPE-4697).

• Indexing can now be enabled/disabled on the Pilot Data Server Launcher (PDS-721).

• Added logging configuration to the Pilot Data Server Launcher (PDS-712).

• Pilot Data Server HTTPS configuration is now possible using the Pilot Data Server Launcher (PDS-633).

• The installer no longer contains UI options for configuration (PDS-773).

• The Pilot Data Server endpoint/templates is now described in a standard OpenSearch Description (PDS-604).

• The unsigned ShowEdge installer is not bundled anymore with the Pilot Data Server installer. See documentation (PDS-919).

• Execution Logic is now included in the Atom XML for templates (PDS-874).

• The log file contains more useful information (PDS-837).

• ScriptRunner service is now a 64 bit process (PDS-729).

• ScriptRunner supports HTTPS (PDS-683).

• Crop Service supports HTTPS (PDS-634).

Fixed Issues

• The model of a TL combo-template contained preview points from the leaf scene with the highest number of preview points (PDS-795).

• In Template Builder, reloading a scene that has changed "Deny Browse Up" is handled correctly (PDS-943).

• Status of the Pilot Data Server service is now correctly shown when opening the Pilot Data Server Launcher (PDS-702).

• When using the Pilot Data Server endpoint /dataelements search with the pagesize parameter, results no longer return an extra row (PDS-739).

• Fixed issue when attempting to stop service would fail (timeout), while some indexing was in progress (PDS-703, PDS-735).

• The command line installation of the PDS bundle installer, correctly supports Oracle and GH configuration (PDS-691).

• Fixed incorrect version displayed in PDS Launcher (PDS-705).

• The X-Forwarded proxy headers can now be sent in lowercase, which is in compliance with the HTTP 1.1 standard (PDS-819).

• Pre-authenticated hosts are now case insensitive (PDS-850).

• Pilot Data Server service now depends on the CodeMeter.exe service on startup, to make sure the license is checked at the right time of an automatic startup (PDS-794).

• Renaming or deleting tags did not update the timestamp on all templates using the tag, reducing the cascading database queries and events that followed these operations (PDS-988).

Known Issues

• Crop Service needs to be upgraded to the latest version to be able to be configured though the new configuration UI. The system gives no warning and nothing will happen if the Crop Service is incompatible and new configuration is applied in the UI (PDS-913).

• Viz Pilot and Media Sequencer with an Oracle backend, do not support Script Runner on HTTPS.

• The login dialog in Vizrt SSO / Keycloak is faulty when enabling "Remember me", but it is still possible to click the option (SA-136).

Recommended System Requirements

Pilot Data Server was tested with the following operating system:

• Windows Server 2022

It should run on any supported Windows Server OS as long as it is supported by Microsoft.

• Visual Microsoft C++ 2015 packages.

As Pilot Database, either of:

• Graphic Hub 3.9.3 (with Graphic Hub REST 2.9.3)

• Oracle 11g or newer (with schema version 8.4.0 or newer)

Recommended versions of other related products:

• Viz Pilot 8.9.2

• Preview Server 4.7.0

• Template Builder 3.1.0

• Oracle 19c

Identity Providers

Pilot Data Server uses the OpenID Connect Protocol (OIDC) to authenticate users. It can, in theory, be configured to integrate with any OIDC compliant identity provider.

The following providers have been tested and are supported:

• Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory)

• Vizrt SSO (Keycloak)

Existing Vizrt Products

Pilot Data Server authentication can, for now, only be used to add user access to the web applications (Viz Pilot Edge, Template Builder and DataServerConfig).

Some Vizrt products already support SSO solutions, but:

• NLE plugins do not support Viz Pilot Edge authentication.

• Current version of Viz Story (3.3) cannot be configured to use Pilot Data Server authentication.

• Although an existing Viz One installation of Vizrt SSO (Keycloak) can be configured as an identity provider for Pilot Data Server, the identity of Pilot Data Server users isn't re-used when the clients are connecting to Viz One. The current version of Viz Pilot Edge still uses the pre-authenticated hosts configured in the database settings when connecting to search providers.

Newsroom systems

Any newsroom system hosting Pilot Edge in a modern, secure browser environment should be able to utilize authentication. This requires:

• That the newsroom web hosting environment is served out over HTTPS.

• The internal web browser supports popup windows.

• The internal web browser is considered secure, when supporting the SubtleCrypto web API as specified here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SubtleCrypto.