Release Notes V-Cube & V-Cube+ 6.8.2

Collax V-Cube / Collax V-Cube+
23.03.2015

Installation Notes

Install Update within Cluster

Please read the following release notes carefully, before continuing. When installing this update on a Collax V-Cube+ cluster the following steps have to be performed:

/ Important information

Please have a look at the Collax V-Cube 6.8.22 Release Notes if the nodes have Version 6.8.20 or above and haven’t been updated yet. For this update, it is necessary that both nodes are set in maintenance mode simultaneously.

Procedure

  1. Click at High Availability within the Dashboard.
  2. Select the other (not the local) V-Cube+ node and change into the Start Maintenance dialog.
  3. Now, put this other node into maintenance mode by confirming the query in the dialog. Wait until the maintenance mode is reached. Depending on the number of virtual machines and hard disk, this can take some time. Virtual machines will be migrated live, which can take a few minutes depending on the size of the RAM. The progress will be displayed in the list of background activities.
  4. Close the dialog.
  5. In the list of nodes, select again the other node whose software is to be updated by right-clicking it.
  6. Change to System Update ….
  7. Click Check for Updates. The completion will be displayed as “100%”.
  8. Click Download and Install. This function will download the latest software packages from the update server and install them. The completion will be displayed as Install - 100%.
  9. Close the dialog and set the node to active.
  10. Please repeat this procedure for the local node.

Install Update on a Collax V-Cube

To install this update on a Collax V-Cube without a Cluster interconnection please follow these steps:

Procedure

  1. Please read this document before proceeding to the next step.
  2. Please have a look at the Collax V-Cube 6.8.14 Release Notes if the nodes have Version 6.8.12 or above and haven’t been updated yet.
  3. Please shut down all virtual machines before continuing with the following steps.
  4. In the administration interface go to Menu → Status/Maintenance → Software → System Update and then click Get Package List. This will then download the listed update packages. The successful update of the package list is indicated by the message “Done!”.
  5. Click Get Packages to download the software packages.
  6. Click Install. This action installs the update. The end of this process is indicated by the message Done!.
  7. A new kernel is going to be installed. The system will be rebooted automatically after installing the update. An appropriate note will be shown once the update process is completed.
  8. If the server is updated and booted the virtual machines can be started again.

New in this Version

Security: Linux Kernel 3.10.64

This update installs Linux kernel 3.10.64.

V-Cube+: Network Configuration reloaded

Various network configuration setups can be realized with the Collax V-Cube+ Cluster. Connecting virtual networks to physical networks or increasing throughput for virtual networks and various other congifurations can be realized. The configuration has yet been accomplished through the local setup of the Cluster nodes. Within this release the further network configuration will be managed easily through the Cluster Administration Interface.

V-Cube+: OCFS2 File System and Cluster Share

The Cluster Share with its filesystem OCFS2 is used to provide storage space for all Cluster Nodes. Within this release numerous patches for ocfs2 are integrated. The patches increase the stability of the Cluster filesystem.

GUI: Configuration GUI

The modern configuration GUI has been clearly arranged now. Especially the filter table search and list sorting has been rearranged to make the installation more user friendly.

GUI: GUI performance

The configuration GUI has been optimized. The access time could be improved.

GUI: Input Field Validation

The dialog Virtual Machines serves the management of the virtual machines in the cluster. The input field RAM shows the amount of allocated virtual RAM. The validation of wrong input has been optimized.

Misc: Important System Components

The following important system components will be installed with this update.

  • Berkeley Internet Name Domain Server bind 9.9.7
  • Software component job-notifyd
  • Software component zk-agent
  • libc6 library security fix
  • Datenbank mySQL 5.5.42
  • Network Time Protocol Daemon ntpd security fix
  • openssl 1.0.2a
  • openais fix
  • wget security fix

Issues Fixed in this Version

Security: Glibc - Ghost

In the source code of the Standard-C-Library Glibc security holes have been discovered. This hole will be closed within this Collax software update.

Assigned Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) number:

CVE-2015-0235

Security: OpenSSL - Security Vulnerability

In the source code of the cryptography toolkit OpenSSL security holes have been discovered. These holes will be closed within this Collax software update to OpenSSL 1.0.2a.

V-Cube+: UPS-Service

In the dialog UPS-Service, the access permission can be set for the UPS administration service for networks. Access to the UPS service is useful if a UPS is connected to the local server and information on power failures is to be forwarded to other nodes in the network. Due to an error the permission could be removed under certain circumstances after an configuration activation. With this update this is fixed and a patch is being implemented.

System Management: Cluster Share Monitoring

When trying to write to an erroneus backuptarget, it could lead to an delay when accessing the clustershare. As a result the clustershare monitoring resource started many processes leading to an overload of the system resources. With this update the suitable check is corrected.

Notes

Virtualization: Number of CPU Sockets for VMs with Windows Server 2012/Windows 8 and 2012R2/8.1

The number of cpu sockets for virtual machines with the operating system Windows Server 2012/Windows 8 and 2012R2/8.1 must be set to one. Otherwise the installation will stop with a blue screen. The number of CPU cores may be set higher than one.

Misc: Windows Setup notes Error Message 0x80300001

If Windows Server 2008 R2 and above is to be installed on Virtio hard disks using the Virtio driver CD for Windows, Windows reports the error code 0x80300001. The error message occurs if the partitions are recognized and the user clicks the button Next. The message means, that the installation CD of Windows needs to be inserted again.