What's New in Zend Server

Zend Server 2021.3.1 includes fixes for a number of CVEs, including CVE-2023-056, CVE-2023-0568, CVE-2023-0662, and CVE-2022-31631. It also includes Windows package updates for Apache, OpenSSL, and cURL.

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Zend Server 2021.3.0 includes fixes for JobQueue, lighttpd configuration, and php-sources-zend-server packages. It also upgrades angularjs, and adds fixes for CVE-2022-37454, CVE-2022-31630, CVE-2022-31628, and CVE-2022-31629.

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New Additions and Support

• This release contains the following PHP versions: 7.1.33.12, 7.2.34.8, 7.3.33, 7.4.28
• PHP 7.4 contains the fix for CVE-2021-21708. See: https://www.php.net/ChangeLog-7.php#7.4.28
• In addition, older PHP versions 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 are updated with the latest timezone database.
• For IBM i build, the freetds library is updated to new version 1.3.9
• No Zend Server changes / fixes have been made in this release version.

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To see the full release notes for ZS2021.1.2, please visit the release notes page.

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New Additions and Support

Zend Server 2021.1.0 additions and support include:

• Freetype support for the GD (graphics) extension.
• The latest stable version of Oracle client libraries (oci8/pdo_oci).
• ODBC support to connect to DB2 on IBM i.

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To see the full release notes for ZS2021.1.0, please visit the release notes page.

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New Additions

Zend Server 2021 (ZS2021) adds support for a number of platform and language versions, including:

• PHP 7.4
• CentOS/RHEL 7.7 and 8 (both Linux and Power 8)
• Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04
• Debian 9 and 10
• IBM i 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4
• Windows Server 2016 and 2019

Among other additions, ZS2021 adds useful Redis extension directives to the Zend Server GUI, and the ability to suspend and resume individual JobQueue queues using API commands.

Updates and Fixes

• ZS2021 also introduces updates to core dependencies for Zend Server, and well as extensions. Updated extensions include IBM_db2 extensions, XDebug, PHPToolkitForIBMi, ZendServerSDK, and more.
• ZS2021 includes a number of general bug fixes, and fixes for the Zend Server UI, IBM I, ZSD, Zend Monitor, and ZRay.

See the Full Release Notes

To see the full release notes for ZS2021, please visit the release notes page.

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What's New in Zend Server 2020 for IBM i

New Additions

Zend Server 2020 (ZS2020) for IBM i features a host of exciting new features and integrations, including the addition of streamlined packaging via RPM, as well as the addition of PHP 7.4, and the MongoDB extension.

ZS2020 also adds the ability to generate and use API tokens for the WebAPI, the ability to add suspendQueues() and resumeQueues() functionality to the JobQueue API, and an installer for ZendServer management programs and the XMLSERVICE.

Changes

The new release also introduces ZS2020 for IBM i as 64bit, vs. the 32bit used in previous versions.

Fixes and Removals

ZS2020 for IBM i removes PHP 7.1, and introduces fixes for broken JobQueue API commands and broken ZRay plugins.

In addition, ZRay is no longer activated by default in the production profile.

Lastly, zs-client now supports the latest available WebAPI commands.

See the Full Release Notes

To see the full release notes for ZS2020 for IBM i, please visit the release notes page.

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What's New in Zend Server 2019.1.2

Zend Server 2019.1.2 is now available for download. This latest release provides updates for PHP versions 7.1.33.16, 7.2.34.11, 7.3.33.3, 7.2.34.12, and 7.3.33.4. It includes CVE Fixes for CVE-2022-37454, CVE-2022-31628, and CVE-2022-31629.

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What's New in Zend Server 2019.1.1

PHP Version Updates

Zend Server 2019.1.1 updates to PHP 7.1.33.15 (including TLSv1.2 support for MySQL), 7.2.34.10, and 7.3.33.2.

Security Updates

Zend Server 2019.1.1 adds CVE fixes for CVE-2022-31625 and CVE-2022-31626.

See the Full Release Notes

To see the full release notes for ZS2019.1.1, please visit the release notes page.

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New Additions and Support

• Adds support for RHEL 8 and CentOS 8.
• All PHP versions now use the most recent Olson Timezone database, ensuring that date and time operations take into account the latest changes.
• Adds WebP support for the GD extension.
• Adds the sqlsrv and pdo_sqlsrv extensions for all Linux versions.

Security Updates

• AngularJS update - picks up security updates, using the versions now shipped by OpenLogic.
• On IBM i, the admin now is on port 10280 instead of 10080. (This port has often been used in NAT slipstreaming attacks, and often locked by IBM i firewalls.)
• UI and API dependency updates to pick up dependencies with security patches.
• Apache updated to 2.4.52 on Windows (other platforms use the system-provided Apache version)

See the Full Release Notes

To see the full release notes for ZS2019.1, please visit the release notes page.

See Full Release Notes

Support for PHP 7.3

This version of Zend Server ships with a certified and secure PHP 7.3 stack, which also includes the largest amount of tested PHP extensions and libraries. All of Zend Server features and components have been fine-tuned to make sure you can easily test your PHP 7.3 code.

Still on PHP 5.6? You should upgrade to a newer PHP, to benefit from extraordinary performance improvements. Or consider Zend Server 8.5 for an extended long-term support with security fixes for PHP 5.6.

Multi PHP Version Support (7.1, 7.2 & 7.3)

For the first time, Zend Server includes more than one version of PHP that you can choose from – and even change as needed. This allows you to take advantage of the latest version of Zend Server – with the newest features, while at the same deciding when to upgrade your apps to the latest version of PHP on your own terms. In addition, this allows for a simpler, smoother PHP upgrade process – with the ability to roll back if things go wrong.  Lastly – developers can now experiment with the latest version of PHP, while still being able to develop and test against the version of PHP that’s deployed in their production environment.

Page Cache Improvements

The Page Cache subsystem was both made easier to use and at the same time more powerful. The rule engine was modernized and is now simpler and more intuitive to use. It’s now possible to add conditions based on the response headers – allowing apps to signal to Page Cache whether or not the response should be cached. Finally, new APIs were introduced to allow for cross-cluster invalidation of cached copies.

URL Insight Improvements

The URL Insight dashboard has been redesigned, with clearer visualizations, separate Requests Per Second and Response Time measurements, and a distribution of events over time. It’s now also easily possible to obtain the list of critical events associated with any of the URLs displayed in the URL Insight pane.

And More

• Z-Ray Response Body is now beautified
• Filter Z-Rays by token id and name 
• Zend Server UI is now based on Zend Framework 3 for improved performance

SEE RELEASE NOTES

Support for PHP 7.2

This version of Zend Server ships with a certified and secure PHP 7.2 stack, which also includes the largest amount of tested PHP extensions and libraries. All of Zend Server features and components have been fine-tuned to make sure you can easily test your PHP 7.2 code on Zend Server.

Still on PHP 5.x? You should upgrade to a newer PHP, to benefit from extraordinary performance improvements.

PHP FPM

PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) is an alternative PHP FastCGI implementation (on Linux) with some additional features useful for sites of any size, especially busier sites. It is recommended to be used when saving memory while keeping fast performance is a must.

A/B testing made easier with Selective Deployment

With Selective Deployment in application updates, you can select nodes of the cluster to deploy the new version to. The rest of the nodes retain the stable (old) version. You can later easily deploy the update to additional nodes or rollback. Selective Deployment gets you confidence with your new application version, by running it alongside with the current version in production. This is a great way for testing and getting feedback on new applications versions in production (e.g. A/B testing).

Secured and non-secured virtual hosts for the same application

Save apps deployment and maintenance time, by using an enhanced Virtual Hosts system that supports numerous Virtual Hosts that are attached to the same app codebase. The most popular use case is supporting secured and non-secured virtual hosts for the same application.

Page and Data Cache Pulse

Following the footsteps of Zend Server 9.1 where we introduced Job Queue Pulse, we’re now introducing Pulse for Page Cache and Data Cache. Pulse introduces analytical information, insights and reports on the caching system, with which users should understand how the cache affects their application performance. As a result, they can fine tune and optimize the caching usage, by correcting and adding rules.

Crossing jobs boundaries

Leverage the power of Job Queue, by using it for managing and running offline CLI scripts in PHP and any other scripting language. Job Queue can now manage and execute scripts using HTTP or CLI. While HTTP jobs are limited in their execution time by the web-server, CLI jobs are not. This allows running long-executing scripts.

Additional Notable Changes and Improvements

• Z-Ray and Gallery
  • Trigger Code Trace directly from Z-Ray
  • Update Symfony 3 plugin support
  • Add Z-Ray plugin for Job Queue
  • Added RIPS Zend Sever plugin for static code and security analysis

• Windows
  • Support deployment on IIS
  • Support IIS multi apps pools

• IBM I
  • Ability to renew Zend Server license from the green-screen menu

• Page Cache
  • Added support enable and disable for rules
  • View cache size and clear entire cache, in Pulse
  • Avoid restart on rules configuration changes
  • Support reordering of rules with a simple drag-and-drop
  • General usability enhancements in rules configuration and management

• Data Cache
  • View cache size and clear entire cache, in Pulse
  • Enhanced API - fetch function can now get a callable function as a parameter:
    • zend_shm_cache_fetch (key, callable)
    • zend_disk_cache_fetch(key, callable)

• Job Queue
  • Support abort during Jobs execution or between retries
  • Show Job execution progress – new API to report completion status
  • Set different timeout setting for CLI Jobs and HTTP Jobs
  • Fixed a known issue with Job Queue during daylight saving time changes

• Monitoring
  • Added jobs reference for events that were triggered by jobs
  • Avoid restart on event rules configuration changes (except for Windows, for now)

• Zend Server Components
  • Changed setting exposure based on frequency of usage and potential risk
  • Separated between normal and advanced configuration settings
  • Show a tool-tip indication for configuration changes that require a restart

• Sample Apps
  • Updated to Drupal 8
  • Add Wiki Media

• General
  • CentOS – we switched to Systemd
  • Add Composer phar to Zend Server installation
  • GUI - all tables filters – add an option to select "Unmanaged Code"
  • Pulses – allow multi app selection in filters
  • Libraries are no longer deployed by default, but can be deployed on-demand with one-button-click
  • Re-wrote and documented Custom Authentication module to Zend Server

SEE RELEASE NOTES

Zend Server 9.1.14 is a security update release. It updates PHP to version 7.1.33.15, and includes fixes for both CVE-2022-31626 and CVE-2022-31625.

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New Additions and Support

Zend Server 9.1.13 additions and support include:

• PHP CVE fixes + TLS v.1.2 support improvement.

See Release Notes

Support for PHP 7.1

This version of Zend Server ships with a certified and secure PHP 7.1 stack, which also includes the largest amount of tested PHP extensions and libraries. All of Zend Server features and components have been fine-tuned to make sure you can easily test your PHP 7.1 code on Zend Server. 

Still on PHP 5.x? You should upgrade to PHP 7.1 to benefit from extraordinary performance improvements.

Job Queue Pulse

The Job Queue technology removes application bottlenecks and improves performance by allowing you to execute asynchronously the time-consuming jobs (e.g. credit card processing, printing, emails) apart from the user requests.

With Job Queue Pulse you can better optimize, analyze, and fine tune the asynchronous and scheduled Jobs processing. It collects the analytical information and insights obtained by monitoring the entire Job Queue system and visually presents them. Job Queue Pulse enables better resource utilization and improves the end-user experience.

Compliance: Masking personally identifiable information

This capability enables you to reproduce production issues while staying compliant with industry privacy standard. It prevents Zend Server from collecting data classified as personally identifiable information (PII), personal sensitive data, or commercially sensitive data. A set of rules can be defined to determine which data needs to be masked by the Zend Server troubleshooting components before it is stored or persisted. These rules affect all Zend Server deep data-collecting components, including Code Tracing, Monitoring, and Z-Ray.

100% uptime deployment

Improve your end-user experience with 100 percent uptime during application updates in production. The new "hot deployment" option in Zend Server Deployment allows a full update of applications without any web server restart. 

Are you rolling rapid updates of your applications? You can now deploy a lot more frequently without the downside of web server downtime.

Zend DBi bundle

Zend Server on IBM i is bundled with the new Zend DBi (MariaDB). Zend DBi is part of the enterprise-ready PHP technology stack for IBM i, which allows you to leverage open and industry-standard solutions, while keeping your web and mobile workloads on existing IBM i systems where databases, business logic, and legacy applications reside.

User interface extensibility

The Zend Server user interface features an extensibility API, allowing you to add additional screens that help you manage your web deployment. The API is fully documented, with both a plugin and samples to get you started.

Other new features and enhancements include:

• Auto-hiding main side menu of Zend Server admin console
• Improved Z-Ray loading times with optimized JS loading
• Updated apps and frameworks for PHP 7.1 support
• Functions Profiler: Improve code by analyzing function level information
• Assign Server Setup Name for easier management of multiple Zend Server environments
• Improved Data Cache capabilities – with cluster-wide invalidation support
• Monitoring Settings changes (better Route and components control)
• Moved InnoDB-based tables to use InnoDB for better support for DB backup and complying with modern standards (e.g. cloud providers)
• Ability to set “From” address for Zend Server outgoing emails
• Job Queue enhancement with visualization of failed jobs’ retries

SEE RELEASE NOTES

PHP 7 Support

This version of Zend Server ships with a certified and secure PHP 7 stack which also includes the largest amount of tested PHP extensions and libraries. All of Zend Server’s features and components, including Z-Ray, have been fine-tuned to make sure you can easily test your PHP 7 code on Zend Server.

PHP 7 is significantly faster than PHP 5.6, typically 2x faster:

• PHP 7 consumes a lot less memory
• Significantly reduce hardware/server costs
• Much improved user experience thanks to trimmed response times

Code Tracing Remake

We worked really hard in order to improve and enhance the code trace feature, which helps nail down production issues with minimal effort and without having to reproduce them – akin to a black box recorder on an airplane:

• PHP 7 support
• Modern GUI implementation (replaced Flash)
• Improved performance, mainly in reducing trace load time
• Easier adjustment to complex environments with data collection profiles
• Zero configuration for manual code traces during development

Z-Ray

This version of Zend Server includes some interesting new Z-Ray features, which based on your feedback, we think you’ll enjoy using:

• Z-Ray History enables you to go back in time and use Z-Ray to analyze any of the requests made to your server in the past. To locate a specific issue, use the built-in filtering system to pin down that one request on your mind.
• Support for teamwork through easy sharing of Z-Ray reports
• With one simple click, all the valuable insight provided by Z-Ray can now be viewed on a full page, making viewing and analyzing the data much easier and faster.
• Z-Ray can now be used to debug live CLI calls in Z-Ray Live!
• XDebug support: debug with XDebug directly from Z-Ray

Server GUI

As with all major new versions of Zend Server, we’ve invested a lot in improving the user interface.

• To make it easier to locate specific Zend Server features and UI pages, a new fast navigation option was added.
• A new Zend Server plugin type enables you to add your own custom UI page using extension API.
• The architecture behind the UI is now based on a single-page structure, making navigation smoother and faster.

JobQueue

We added prioritization options, to allow control on background jobs supporting systems such as CMS, Shops, Report engines etc.

SEE RELEASE NOTES

Zend Server 8.5.20 is now available for download. This latest release updates the PHP version to 5.6.40.17, and includes fixes for CVE-2022-31628 and CVE-2022-31629.

See Release Notes

What's New in Zend Server 8.5.19

Zend Server 8.5.19 is a security update release. It updates PHP to version 5.6.40.16, and includes fixes for both CVE-2022-31626 and CVE-2022-31625.

SEE RELEASE NOTES

Gallery of Community Plugins and Add-ons

The Gallery aggregates and organizes all Z-Ray extensions and Zend Server plugins in an easy-to-use interface. This release introduces new plugins for Joomla, Doctrine2, Redis, OPcache, MariaDB, and LoS Modules; in addition to plugins for WordPress, Drupal, Magento, Zend Framework, Apigility, Laravel and Symfony.

View Gallery >

And, the new extensibility APIs allow developers to create plugins and extend Zend Server with additional custom features.

Support for Application end-users

The Live Support functionality makes it easier to troubleshoot problems with live end-users in real time, addressing issues that are not otherwise visible or reproducible.

A specific user’s session can be Z-Ray enabled, tracked and analyzed without exposing any sensitive information. The combination of these two features allows developers to get deep insights into a specific user’s requests without affecting the overall server performance and without disclosing sensitive information.

Learn more about Z-Ray >

Supercharged Job Queue Functionality

Schedule jobs based on time, priority, and even dependencies. Jobs can be deferred or executed periodically and run in parallel. The management GUI helps track the execution of jobs, their status, execution time, and output. Unlike cron jobs, Job Queue allows asynchronous execution, deferred jobs, and more. Multiple queues management facilitates the creation and management of groups of jobs that are functionally or logically related. 

App and Framework Specific Routing Logic Understanding

A built-in understanding of application request routing logic aggregates monitoring events, and displays improved results for URLs listed within URL Insight.

Enhanced Xdebug Support

Debugging in Zend Server has become a whole lot simpler with easier Xdebug management and improved go-to-source capabilities from Z-Ray. You can now easily select your preferred debugger and configure specific connection settings per debugger (Xdebug and Zend Debugger).

Intuitive User Interface

Includes a completely new menu structure, and a more modern look and feel. 

Other new features and enhancements include:

• Notifications about the environment displayed directly in Z-Ray
• Improved performance and lower memory consumption
• Increased granularity control of the data collected by Z-Ray
• New plugins display with multiple panels now consolidated under one top-level panel
• New capability to perform server-side actions from Z-Ray 
• New added support for app-independent plugins, such as Amazon EC2
• New support for Microsoft Azure

SEE RELEASE NOTES

Zend Server 9.1.15 updates PHP to 7.1.33.16, and includes fixes for CVE-2022-31628 and CVE-2022-31629

See Release Notes