Vocera Communications System Release Notes
Vocera Voice Server Version 5.6.0.181
Updated: May 19, 2023
What's New
The Vocera Voice Server 5.6.x
platform has new features and enhancements.
This section summarizes prominent features and functionality for each release.
What's New in 5.6.0
The following list displays new features in this version of the Vocera Voice Server.
Vocera Voice User Interface
- B3000 and B3000n badges can now send text messages using
speech-to-text.
- Smartbadge users can manage certain device settings with voice
commands, such as enabling DND and PPE mode, adjusting volume, and checking battery level.
PPE Mode provides default settings optimized for wearing the device under Personal
Protective Equipment; settings can be adjusted by users and preserved for future use.
- The “Dial an extension” voice command can now be configured to support
extensions less than or equal to 10 digits long through the TelExtensionLength server
property.
Vocera Voice Server
- Vocera web applications such as the Administration Console and Staff
Assignment can run in the latest Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser. Other browsers
such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have been lightly tested and should also
work.
-
Vocera Voice Server has been
optimized to work more efficiently within the 8GB memory requirement.
-
Vocera Voice Server can be
configured to use MS Graph as a mail host.
- Calls forwarded through the forward-all or forward-unanswered options
will now be reported in call logs and through the “Who Called” voice dialog.
- Groups configured to use the “forward to off network group member” can
now be configured to use round-robin call scheduling.
- An alert email will now be sent to the administrator prior to the
expiration of the server’s SSL/TLS certificate.
Third-party Software Versions
The following third-party software versions are included in this release and provide 64-bit
compatibility or security enhancements:
3rd-party Software |
Version |
Apache HTTP Server |
2.4.46 |
Apache Tomcat |
9.0.44 |
JRE (Zulu built on OpenJDK) |
1.8.0_282-b08 (Zulu JDK 8.52.0.23) |
MySQL Server |
8.0.23 (VS)/5.7.33 (VRS) |
ODBC Connector |
Not installed; used at install-time only |
TLS |
1.3 and 1.2 |
PJSIP |
2.9 |
Vocera Firmware Versions
The following firmware versions are included in this release:
Vocera Device |
Firmware Build Number |
V5000 |
5.0.6.28 |
B3000n |
4.3.3.18 |
B3000 |
3.1.3.13 |
B2000 |
604 |
Prerequisites and Reminders
Before you install Vocera Voice Server along with
its components and consoles, ensure that the following prerequisites are met.
Prerequisites for Vocera Voice Server and server
components:
-
Verify that you have one of the following Vocera products installed, if you
are upgrading from an earlier version of Vocera:
- Vocera Server Version 5.x (5.0.1 or later)
- The GA release or any service pack of Vocera Server 4.3 or 4.4
- Verify that you have turned the Compatibility Mode off in the browser, if you
are using any of the following consoles:
- Administration Console
- User Console
- Staff Assignment Console
- Report Server Console
- Perform one of the following to get a telephony connection to Vocera Voice Server
5.x:
- If you have an analog or digital PBX, connect to the Vocera SIP
Telephony Gateway through a hardware gateway such as the Sangoma Media
Gateway.
- If you have a SIP PBX, connect to the Vocera SIP Telephony Gateway
directly.
Installation
Follow these instructions to install Vocera Voice Server or upgrade it to
the latest version. .
Installation prerequisites
- If Vocera Secure Texting (VST)
is installed in your environment, you must uninstall the Vocera Secure Texting Sync Connector
before you upgrade to the latest version of Vocera Voice Server.
Re-install the Vocera Secure Texting Sync Connector
after you complete the Vocera Voice Server
upgrade.
See How to Uninstall the Vocera Secure Texting Sync
Connector in the VST Vocera Administrator Guide.
- Ensure that you download and install the latest version of the Vocera Secure Texting Sync Connector.
- Ensure that you have installed an English-based language pack in Windows Operating
System where you are installing Vocera Voice Server and any
subsequent Vocera localization packs.
To install or upgrade:
Note: While installing or uninstalling, you can be repeatedly presented with pop-up messages
instructing you to reboot for changes to be applied. Do not reboot when prompted. Wait
until the installation is complete to reboot.
- To perform a new installation, follow the steps described in the Running theVocera Voice Server
Installation Program section of the Vocera Voice Server Installation
Guide.
- To upgrade from previous Vocera versions, follow the steps described in Upgrading
Vocera Voice Server
to Version 5.6.0 section of the Vocera Voice Server Installation
Guide.
Note: Your previous system configuration remains in the database that is
restored at the end of the upgrade. Because some 4.x features have been
deprecated.
- Update the values in your database as follows:
- Open the Vocera Voice Server
Administration Console and navigate to the System > Preferences
page.
- Choose Save Changes.
The server updates
your database and removes any settings for deprecated
features.
- Convert custom names directory:
- If you are upgrading from a version 4.x deployment and have a custom
names dictionary, convert the custom names directory to the version
5.x format manually.
- If you are upgrading from version 5.x and have a custom names
dictionary, no conversion is required.
Fixed Issues
The following list contains fixes and improvements made to the Vocera Voice Server 5.6.x
platform.
What's Fixed in 5.6.0
The following list includes items fixed or improved in this version of the Vocera Voice Server.
- VCXP-11172: In the AE locale, VRS cannot retrieve data for less than one day.
The date format prevented VRS from retrieving the data. This situation no longer occurs.
- VCXP-11175/CASE-1805: Active VS takes a long time to shut down after cluster failover
Fixed the issue by making sure that the thread monitor now intervenes in a more timely
manner.
- VCXP-11907/CASE-2098: System runs out of speech ports because Nuance does not release them properly.
This issue has been fixed by installing a Nuance patch.
- VCXP-12125/CASE-2146: Newly active node sometimes fails after a failover occurs.
This problem resulted from a timing issue that occurred when a user was deleted
while the system was searching to find a user who had a reminder.
- CRVC-17560: When a V5000 broadcasts to a group, the screen of the initiating device incorrectly
displays the name of the initiating user instead of the group name.
The initiator's Smartbadge now
correctly displays the group name.
- CRVC-17632: The server may hang in an infinite loop when attempting to create a binary log for the VRS.
This problem no longer occurs.
The server no longer adds badge logs of type "binary" to the report logs.
The binary logs still appear in the log-* files for SLR consumption.
- CRVC-18572: When two or more sites are on different SSIDs and a device roams to a different site,
the device does not always connect to the new SSID.
This problem no longer
occurs.
- CRVC-18801/CASE-1672: V5000 devices in a site whose time zone differs from the VS time
zone display the VS time instead of local time.
This issue no longer occurs
- CRVC-19357: In some situations, predictive search in the Administration Console does not
display auto-complete results.
The auto-complete results are now visible
- CRVC-19460: Both active and standby nodes may fail when recording a message for multiple
users with long internal IDs.
Fixed the issue by increasing the length of the allowed concatenated names.
- CRVC-19505: Calls to a V5000 in DND do not follow expected forwarding behavior.
This problem
no longer occurs.
- CRVC-19660: Genie continues to prompt for message response after soft button response on
Gen5.
This problem no longer occurs.
- CRVC-19713: When incoming mail settings pull from Office 365 using IMAP, the VS
sometimes stops pulling mail after a failover occurs.
Fixed by implementing better handling of the properties files.
- CRVC-20035: When a V5000 device is in a group call such as a broadcast and another call comes
in, the device sometimes gets into a bad call waiting state, causing the server to fail.
This problem no longer
occurs.
- CRVC-20197: The call forwarding feature sometimes gets into an invalid state, causing
the Voice Server to fail.
This problem no longer occurs.
- CRVC-20449: Voice Server occasionally sets the "last seen on network" time for V5000
devices incorrectly.
When this issue occurred, the "last seen on network" value was erroneously
set to the server start time.
-
CRVC-20982/CASE-2296: In rare situations, users may experience a delay before receiving the Genie prompt
when the system contains a very large number of users (~10,000) and the Group of users permitted
to add themselves to this group permission is set to "Everyone Everywhere".
This situation was fixed by optimizing the performance of the operation that searched for group permissions.
Known Issues
A few issues are known to exist in the Vocera Voice Server 5.6.x platform
and this section summarizes all the known issues in the release.
Known Issues in the Vocera Voice Server
This section summarizes known product defects and limitations, including any
workarounds we may have, for the Vocera Voice Server 5.6.x
platform.
- CRVC-21118 A race condition involving VCS dialing an extension and
immediately hanging up can cause the VCG to stop sending keepalive signals to
VMP. Once this occurs, the VCG will no longer properly process calls and will
need to be restarted.
- CRVC-20856 If an unexpected RTP stream comes in to VSTG on the same
IP:Port as an existing call, then this stream will mix with the existing stream
and cause choppy audio.
Workaround: Locate the source of the unexpected RTP
stream and prevent it from sending to the VSTG or block it.
- CRVC-20580 When accessing a Web console in Internet Explorer, users are
unable to select multiple entities in a table using Shift + arrow
keys.
Workaround: Select multiple entities using Ctrl key + right mouse
click.
- CRVC-20639 When accessing a Web console in Internet Explorer, users are
unable to use arrow keys to select a desired result from autocomplete
suggestions that appear for a search input field.
Select the desired result
using mouse click.
- CRVC-17551 After configuring the authentication type as EAP-TLS with
custom certificates, the Client Key Password and
Username fields become mandatory for Non-EAP-TLS with
custom certificates type of authentication.
Workaround: Select
BPE > Security Settings >
Authentication Type >
EAPTLS, uncheck Use Custom EAP-TLS
Certificates, configure all the required fields, and click
Submit.
- VCXP-5998 Voice reminder commands are not available to users accessing
Genie over VAA Direct Access.
- CRVC-19985 In deployments where the Vocera Server and VMP Server
installations have mismatched versions, VCS and Smartbadge clients do not show
new call log records. Once the servers are on the same version, the problem will
be resolved.
- CRVC-25117 The Minibadge LED does not blink when receiving a voice
message.