Aug-28-2008 - Dashboard Interface

User Interface

New Features

• Support for Elastic Block Store (EBS).  Configure and manage all of your EBS Volumes and EBS Snapshots.  Mount EBS volumes to instances at boot time with automatic zone detection.  Track the full history of an EBS volume or snapshot.  See Elastic Block Store (EBS).
• Support for Macros.  (Design -> Macros)  You can now create a macro of a deployment and then use the macro to generate a new deployment.  See Macros.  Partners have the added functionality of sharing macros with other accounts.  See Sharing Groups.
• Support for running a RightScript across multiple servers of a deployment.  Instead of manually running the same RightScript on each running server, you can now run the script on selected servers of a deployment.  See Run a RightScript on multiple servers.
• Diff and Merge buttons are now available on the ServerTemplates and RightScripts homepages.  Previously, these buttons were only available from an individual ServerTemplate or RightScript.  If you click the Merge button from the RightScripts homepage, you can now perform an advanced merge.  See Diff or compare RightScripts.
• Now you can edit any RightScript attachment within the Dashboard by using the built-in text editor.  See Edit RightScript attachments.
• Support for Sharing Groups.   Partners can now create a sharing group that contains custom components (ServerTemplates, RightScripts, and macros).  Send invitations so users can access those shared components in their own account.  See Sharing Groups.
• Support for Sub-accounts.  Partners can now set up sub-accounts that will use their AWS credentials.  See Sub-accounts.
• New 'designer' role.  The 'ec2_actor' role has been divided into two different roles: 'ec2_actor' and 'designer.'  An 'ec2_actor' will be able to launch and manage instances, as well as deployments.  A 'designer' will be able to create new ServerTemplates, RightScripts, and deployments.  By default, users who were designated as 'ec2_actor' will receive 'ec2_actor' and 'designer' privileges.

Changes and Bug Fixes

• Security Enhancements.  Credentials are now listed alphabetically by name.  Account administrators and credential owners can now see the unencrypted value by inputing the user account password.
• The properties for sharing and locking are now updated in a ServerTemplate when the revision of a RightScript is changed.
• The naming conventions that are used when cloning public RightScripts and ServerTemplates has changed.  Previously, a version number would automatically be added to the name of a cloned ServerTemplate, which was often confusing because ServerTemplates have their own version numbers.  Now when you clone a public RightScript or ServerTemplate, it will append a decimal value that will auto-increment based on any existing private items with the same name.
  

  Public Name	Cloned Name
  TemplateName	TemplateName v1
  TemplateName v2	TemplateName v2.1
  TemplateName v2.4	TemplateName v2.4.1

• The left-side navigation menu has been adjusted to use the same size font across all major browsers.
• Server credentials are now sorted alphabetically.  The list can also be filtered.  Previous and next buttons have been added to make it easier to scroll through individual credential details.
• Since Amazon only supports the public DNS addressing type, the field has been removed from the ServerTemplates and Instances Info tab.  However, the value will still be displayed in the  Terminated Instances window (Manage -> Servers -> Terminated Servers) for historical records.
• You can now properly tab to the next field after changing the input type under the ServerTemplate's Input tab.
• For Servers and Deployment homepages, the Actions and Action Inputs tabs have been renamed to Scripts and Script Inputs, respectively.  Only the names of the tabs changed; the functionality of each tab has not changed. To understand the difference between Scripts, Script Inputs, and Inputs, see the List of Inputs page for details.