Suomi.fi Data Exchange Layer’s latest software version 7.4.2 to be deployed in production

The central server environment of the Data Exchange Layer will be updated to the new version 7.4.2 for production on 22 May 2024.

The update will bring significant changes to the Data Exchange Layer that require your attention. The changes are detailed in this message.

Forced minimum version

From version 7.4.2 onwards, the Data Exchange Layer requires security servers to use a minimum software version of X-Road to ensure security. After the 7.4.2 update, the central servers will require at least X-Road version 6.20.0 from security servers in all environments (development, testing and production). If your organisation is running an older version, you must update your security server to at least version 6.20.0 before 22 May 2024. Without the update, connections to the Data Exchange Layer and its services will be interrupted on 22 May 2024.

In the future, the Data Exchange Layer will increase the required minimum version in connection with each X-road software update: when the central servers move to version 7.5 (tentatively scheduled for autumn 2024), the minimum version required will be X-Road 7.0.4.

Actions for organisations using the services:

Make sure that your security server uses at least the minimum versions defined by both the central servers (version 6.20.0 from 22 May 2024 onwards) and your service providers. Each service provider determines the minimum version it requires independently.

If you are using a version that is no longer supported, connections to the Data Exchange Layer and its services will be lost.

You can check the X-Road version used by your security server by logging in to the interface using a browser. You can see the version information at the bottom of the ‘Clients’ interface. You can also use the following commands to check the version information via the command line:

#RHEL 7/8 operating system
yum list xroad*

#Ubuntu 20.04LTS/22.04LTS operating systems
apt list xroad*

Actions for organisations offering services:

As a service provider. when you upgrade your security server to X-Road 7.4.x or later, the new default settings are set for your service provider's security servers. With these default settings, you will require at least X-Road version 7.2. of the security servers of your customers who use your services. If the security server of a customer using your service is running a version older than X-Road 7.2.x, communications will be completely interrupted between the service provider and the user.

After the update, you can specify the minimum X-Road version through which calls can be made to the security server that provides your services.

If necessary, you can also specify a lower minimum version than the default. If action is not taken, security servers that use X-Road version 7.2 or earlier will no longer be able to call your service for information retrieval after the update.

To change the default setting from 7.2.0 to the desired version, add the line below to the [proxy] section of the /etc/xroad/conf.d/local.ini file:

server-min-supported-client-version=6.20.0

In the above example, the service provider requires at least version 6.20.0 of the customer’s security server, but as the service provider, you can define the minimum version you require independently. You can find the different versions of X-Road and their release notes hereOpens in a new window..

As a service provider, you should contact the organisations using your services about the minimum version that you will require moving forward, so that customers using your service can move to the required version in time. If possible, we recommend that you first define a low minimum version number so that your customers have enough time to move to a newer version. If an organisation that uses your service does not update its security server to the minimum version you require, communications will be completely interrupted between the service provider and the user.

Upgrading to the new version is only supported from version 7.2.x or 7.3.x.

You can find the detailed release notes for the new version at the following address:

• https://nordic-institute.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/XRDKB/pages/279511050/X-Road+v7.4.0+Release+Notes
• https://nordic-institute.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/XRDKB/pages/345800712/X-Road+v7.4.1+Release+Notes
• https://nordic-institute.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/XRDKB/pages/414187521/X-Road+v7.4.2+Release+Notes

The development environment (FI-DEV) has been updated to version 7.4.2 on 2 April 2024 and the testing environment (FI-TEST) on 9 April 2024.

After the update of the central server environments, the maintenance service will send more detailed instructions regarding the update to the technical contact persons for the security servers.

If you have any questions relating to installing and updating to the new version, please contact palveluvayla@palveluvayla.fi.