Summary of changes

This topic summarizes changes to the IBM Spectrum Scale™ licensed program and the IBM Spectrum Scale library.

Start of change

Summary of changes
for IBM Spectrum Scale version 5.0.0
as updated, November 2018

This release of the IBM Spectrum Scale licensed program and the IBM Spectrum Scale library includes the following improvements. All improvements are available after an upgrade, unless otherwise specified.
AFM and AFM DR-related changes

Authentication: Primary group selection configurable for AD + RFC2307 based authentication
Ability to choose primary group as set in "UNIX attributes" of a user on Active Directory introduced with AD + RFC2307 based authentication scheme. Earlier, Windows primary group was by default selected as the primary group.

Big data and analytics changes
For information on changes in IBM Spectrum Scale Big Data and Analytics support, see Big data and analytics - summary of changes.

IBM Spectrum Scale management API changes
Added the following new commands:
  • GET /perfmon/data
  • GET /filesystems/{filesystemName}/afm/state
  • DELETE /nodes/{name}
  • POST /nodes
  • GET /nodeclasses
  • POST /nodeclasses
  • DELETE /nodeclasses/{nodeclassName}
  • GET /nodeclasses/{nodeclassName}
  • PUT /nodeclasses/{nodeclassName}
  • DELETE /jobs/jobId
  • POST /filesystems/{filesystemName}/filesets/{filesetName}/psnaps
  • DELETE /filesystems/{filesystemName}/filesets/{filesetName}/psnaps/{snapshotName}
  • GET /thresholds
  • GET /thresholds/{name}
  • POST /thresholds
  • DELETE /thresholds/{name}

For more information on the API commands, see IBM Spectrum Scale management API commands. You can also access the documentation corresponding to each API command from the GUI itself. The API documentation is available in the GUI at: https://<IP address or host name of API server>:<port>/ibm/api/explorer/. For example: https://scalegui.ibm.com:443/ibm/api/explorer.

The JSON object structure is modified for the following API commands:
/cluster
rshSudoWrapper, rcpSudoWrapper: Changed type from String to Boolean
/filesets
Moved filesetName and filesystemName out of the config object.
/nfs/exports
Removed the config object and moved the attributes one level up.
/nsds and /disks
Removed the config object and moved the attributes one level up.

quorumDisk: Changed type from String to Boolean.

size, availableBlocks, availableFragments: Changed type from String to Long. Values are now in bytes.

/smb/shares
Removed the config object and moved the attributes one level up.
/snapshots
Removed the config object and moved the attributes one level up.

IBM Spectrum Scale GUI changes
The following changes are made to the GUI:
  • Added new Networks page to monitor the performance, configuration, and adapters of network configurations in the cluster. You can monitor the network performance with respect to the IP and RDMA interfaces used in the configuration. For more information, see Monitoring networks using GUI.
  • Added new Monitoring > Thresholds page to create and monitor the threshold rules that are defined in the system. For more information, see Monitoring thresholds.
  • Added Access > Remote Connections page to enable the GUI node of the local cluster to monitor the remote cluster by establishing a connection with the GUI node of the remote cluster. For more information, see Monitoring remote cluster through GUI.
  • Added Settings > Call Home page to configure call home. Configuring the call home feature helps the IBM® Support to monitor the system. Configuring call home also helps to reduce the response time of the IBM Support to resolve any issues.

    The diagnostic data that is downloaded through the Settings > Diagnostic Data can be uploaded to a problem management record (PMR) by using the call home feature in the backend. To upload the diagnostic data, right-click the relevant data set from the Previously Collected Diagnostic Data, and select Upload to PMR.

    For more information, see Configuring call home using GUI.
  • Added the file system creation capabilities in GUI. Use the Files > File Systems > Create File System option to launch the Create File System wizard. In the Create File System wizard, you can specify the following details of the file system:
    • File system name
    • Storage pools
    • NSDs for the file systems
    • Failure groups
    • NSD order for data writes
    • Maximum number of Spectrum Scale clients
    • Maximum number of inodes of the root fileset
    • Whether to enable quota and scope for the quota definition
    • Whether to enable DMAPI
    • Mount point and automatic mount mode
    For more information, see Creating and managing file systems using GUI.
  • Added the aggregation levels Access Point and Filesets and removed Account for the resource type Transparent Cloud Tiering in the Monitoring > Statistics page.
  • The Files > Transparent Cloud Tiering page now displays the file systems and filesets that are mapped with the TCT services. It also shows the connection of such a container pair configuration to a cloud account and the corresponding CSAP that is configured for the cloud account.
  • Changed and updated information in the Added DMPs for TIP events page. The DMPs help the users resolve issues that are associated with the tip events. For more information, see Directed maintenance procedures for tip events.
  • Changes to capacity monitoring in the GUI
    The following changes are made to the capacity monitoring options in the GUI:
    • Moved the Capacity page from Monitoring to Files menu in the navigation and renamed the GUI page to User Capacity.
    • Only the file data user capacity can be viewed from the Files > User Capacity page. Removed the pools, filesets, file system capacity monitoring options from the Files > User Capacity page. You can monitor the capacity of these components from the respective GUI pages.
    • Replaced the GPFSPoolCap sensor with the GPFSPool sensor and separate data and metadata level capacity monitoring are introduced in the performance charts available in the Files > File Systems and Storage > Pools pages.
    • New GPFSPool-based data and metadata performance monitoring metrics are available for selection in the Files > Statistics > Edit > Capacity section. You need to select the aggregation level as Pool to view these metrics.
    For more information, see Monitoring capacity through GUI.
  • AFM monitoring changes in the GUI
    The following AFM monitoring features are introduced:
    • Provides the number of AFM filesets and the corresponding export server maps. Each export map establishes a mapping between the gateway node and the NFS host name to allow parallel data transfers from cache to home.
    • By using the Request Access option available in the Files > Active File Management or Access > Remote Connection page in the GUI, you can now establish connection with remote clusters. After establishing the connection, you can monitor the following AFM and AFM DR configuration details across clusters:
      • On home and secondary, you can see the AFM relationships configuration, health status, and performance values of the Cache and Disaster Recovery grids.
      • On the Overview tab of the detailed view, the available home and secondary inodes are available.
      • On the Overview tab of the detailed view, the details such as NFS throughput, IOPs, and latency details are available, if the protocol is NFS.
    For more information, see Monitoring AFM and AFM DR using GUI.
  • New option to create AFM peer snapshots through GUI. Use the Create Peer Snapshot option in the Files > Snapshots page to create peer snapshots. You can view and delete these peer snapshots from the Snapshots page and also from the detailed view of the Files > Active File Management page.

IBM Spectrum Scale functionality to support GDPR requirements
To understand the requirements of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance that are applicable to unstructured data storage and how IBM Spectrum Scale helps to address them, see the IBM Spectrum Scale functionality to support GDPR requirements technote.
Encryption: GSKit V8 improves cryptographic performance on IBM POWER8®
The IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) Version 8 and later improves cryptographic performance on IBM POWER8 hardware. For more information, see the IBM article GSKIT V8 Support for PKCS#11 device integration and on-CPU acceleration. The version of GSKit that is shipped with IBM Spectrum Scale v5.0.0 offers better performance on POWER8, compared with the versions shipped with earlier releases.

File audit logging
File audit logging is a new capability in IBM Spectrum Scale v5.0.0. File audit logging takes locally generated file system events and puts them on a multinode message queue from which they are consumed and written to a retention enabled fileset. These events, called lightweight events, occur at the file system level. They are protocol agnostic, which means that they capture all access to a monitored file system from protocol exports to even root access that occurs directly on nodes. File audit logging is integrated into the system health infrastructure. Alerts are generated for elements of the message queue and the processes that consume the events and create the audit logs. For more information, see Introduction to file audit logging.

File compression: The lz4 library provides fast access to compressed data
File compression supports the lz4 compression library. Lz4 is intended primarily for active data and favors read-access speed over maximized space saving. For more information, see File compression.

File data: Smaller subblock sizes improve I/O performance and reduce fragmentation
Subblock sizes are smaller relative to block sizes; for example, a 4 MiB block uses 8 KiB subblocks. The same choice of data block sizes is available, but the default data block size is larger, 4 MiB instead of 256 KiB. A larger block size improves the file system performance and a smaller subblock size reduces the amount of unused space. For many business applications, the default value of 4 MiB provides the best balance of improved performance and reduced fragmentation. For more information, see mmcrfs command. This feature is supported only for file systems that are created at file system format number 18.00 (IBM Spectrum Scale 5.0.0.0) or later.

File encryption: AES-XTS encryption is faster on x86 in non-FIPS mode
On x86 architecture in non-FIPS mode, file encryption with the AES algorithm in XTS mode is faster than it was. For more information, see Encryption policy rules and Encryption and FIPS-140-2 certification.

File systems: File system rebalancing is faster
Rebalancing is implemented by a lenient round-robin method that typically runs faster than the previously used method of strict round robin. The strict round robin method is available as an option. For more information, see the topics mmrestripefile command, mmrestripefs command, mmadddisk command, and mmdeldisk command.

Installation toolkit changes
  • The installation toolkit has added support for the installation and the deployment of protocol and client nodes in a cluster that contains Elastic Storage Server (ESS). For more information, see ESS awareness with the installation toolkit.
  • The installation toolkit has added support for enabling and configuring call home. For more information, see Enabling and configuring call home using the installation toolkit.
  • The installation toolkit has added support for enabling and configuring file audit logging. For more information, see Enabling and configuring file audit logging using the installation toolkit.
  • The installation toolkit has added support for the installation and the deployment of IBM Spectrum Scale on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS nodes.
  • Start of changeThe installation toolkit has added support for the installation and the deployment of IBM Spectrum Scale on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 nodes.End of change
  • The installation toolkit has added verification of passwordless SSH during prechecks before installation, deployment, or upgrade.
  • The installation toolkit has added support for cumulative object upgrade.

mmafmctl command
The --outband parameter is deprecated.

mmcallhome command: Enhancements
Addition of -Y option
The -Y displays the command output in a parseable format with a colon (:) as a field delimiter.
Addition of --pmr option
The --pmr option allows you to upload data to existing PMRs using the mmcallhome run SendFile command. For more information, see mmcallhome command.

mmchconfig command: Enhancements
Encrypted files can be copied into an LROC device
With the lrocEnableStoringClearText attribute, you can control whether file data from encrypted files, which is held in memory as cleartext, is copied into a local read-only cache (LROC) device.
InfiniBand addresses can be specified for RDMA transfers
In the verbsPorts attribute, you can specify InfiniBand addresses for RDMA transfers between an NSD client and server.
For more information, see mmchconfig command.

mmchnsd command: Change NSDs without unmounting the file system
When you add or remove NSDs or do other operations with mmchnsd, you do not need to unmount the file system. For more information, see mmchnsd command.

mmcrfs command: Enhancements
The default data block size is 4 MiB with an 8 KiB subblock size
If no block size is specified, a file system is created with a 4 MiB block size and an 8 KiB subblock size. The minimum release level (minReleaseLevel) of the cluster must be 5.0.0 or greater when the file system is created. For more information, see the entry File data: Smaller subblock sizes improve I/O performance and reduce fragmentation earlier in this topic.
The default log file size depends on block size and metadata size
If the block size is 512 KiB or larger and the metadata block size 256 KiB or larger, then the default log file size is 32 MiB. Otherwise, the default log file size is 4 MiB or the metadata block size, whichever is larger. For more information, see mmcrfs command.
The default method for updating atime is relatime
If the minimum release level (minReleaseLevel) of the cluster is 5.0.0 or greater when the file system is created, the default method for updating atime is relatime. For more information, see mmcrfs command and mmchfs command.

mmdsh command: Several options are no longer supported
The --ignoreSignal, -I, and -d options are no longer supported. Do not use these options unless instructed to by IBM support personnel. For more information, see mmdsh command.

mmfsck command: Display an interim status report at any time
While a long-running instance of mmfsck is in progress, you can start another instance of mmfsck with the --status-report parameter to display current status information from all the nodes that are participating in the mmfsck run. For more information, see mmfsck command.

mmgetstate command: Display the unresponsive state
The command returns the unresponsive state when the GPFS daemon is running but is not responding. For more information, see mmgetstate command.

mmhealth command: Addition to measurement options
Measurement options for filesystem, SMB node, and NFS node has been added to the mmhealth command. For more information, see mmhealth command.

mmkeyserv command: The simplified setup method supports certificate chains from a certificate authority.
In the simplified setup, with the --kmip-cert parameter, you can set up encryption with IBM® Security Key Lifecycle Manager (SKLM) as the key management server and with a certificate signed by a certificate authority (CA) on the KMIP port of the SKLM server. For more information, see mmkeyserv command.

mmnetverify command: Enhancements
Verify the network operation of nodes in a subnet
With the --subnets parameters, you can specify the subnet addresses of the nodes that you want to verify.
Verify that nodes can handle a new MTU size
With the ping-packet-size parameter, you can specify the size of the ICMP echo request packets that are sent between local node and the target node during the ping test.
For more information, see mmnetverify command.

mmpmon command: Enhancements
A new option loc_io_s is added to mmpmon command. It stands for locality I/O statistics.

mmtracectl command: Display the tracing status
The --status parameter displays the tracing status of the specified nodes. For more information, see mmtracectl command.

Threshold monitoring enhancements
If multiple thresholds rules have overlapping entities for the same metrics, only one of the concurrent rules is made actively eligible. For more information, see the New features for threshold monitoring section in Threshold monitoring for system health.

NFS: Dynamic export changes
You can dynamically change the export configuration without restarting the NFS service. For more information, see Changing NFS export configuration.

Object changes
The following changes have been done.
  • Object protocol support is extended to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
  • The sudo wrapper for object is added on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
  • Cumulative object upgrades from older versions are supported.
  • Object snap enhancement are done to contain Keystone logs.

Protocol support: Enhanced
NFS, SMB, and object support is extended to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

Setting up a system for storing crash files for Ubuntu
Support is added to set up a system for storing crash files for Ubuntu. For more information, see Setting up an Ubuntu system to capture crash files.

SMB: DFS redirects for SMB shares
New option to configure DFS redirects for SMB shares. For more information, see mmsmb command.

SMB: SMB server upgrade changes
Two events on CTDB version match/mismatch are added to the RAS events. For more information, see Events.

Sudo wrappers: Root-level processes can call administration commands directly
Root-level background processes, such as cron and callback programs, can successfully call administration commands directly rather than through sudo when sudo wrappers are enabled. For more information, see Root-level processes that call administration commands directly.

Cloud services changes
The following enhancements are made:
  • A new robust set of CLI functions, which allow for much greater configuration of the system.
  • Support for multiple cloud storage accounts
  • Support for multiple file systems or filesets per node group
  • Enhanced support for large file systems provided by container spillover
  • Support for associating file sets with containers for enhanced granularity
  • Multiple URL and region support at the node level
  • Support for creating a Cloud services separately for tiering and sharing operations. For more information, see Creating Cloud services.
  • Unique encryption key per cloud container
  • Support for remotely mounted clients. For more information, see Setting up Transparent cloud tiering service on a remotely mounted client.
  • Support for Amazon S3 regions requiring Sigv4 security support, including the US government cloud region.
  • Ability to enable or disable transparent recall for files for a given file system instantly, without having to rewrite a policy.
  • Support for backing up and restoring the Cloud services configuration in case of any disaster. For more information, see Backing up the Cloud services configuration.
  • Support for backing up the Cloud services database to the cloud. For more information, see Backing up the Transparent cloud tiering database to the cloud.
  • Support for restoring Transparent cloud tiering service on an identical backup cluster. For more information, see Restoring Transparent cloud tiering service on a backup cluster.
  • Support for checking the integrity of the Cloud services database after any system crash or outage. For more information, see Checking the Cloud services database integrity.
  • Support for auditing events relating to each operation performed in Cloud services. For more information, see Cloud services audit events.

Documented commands, structures, and subroutines
The following lists the modifications to the documented commands, structures, and subroutines:
New commands
These commands are new in this release.
  • mmaudit
  • mmmsgqueue
New structures
There are no new structures.
New subroutines
There are no new subroutines.
Changed commands
The following commands were changed:
  • mmafmctl
  • mmadddisk
  • mmcallhome
  • mmchattr
  • mmchcluster
  • mmchconfig
  • mmchfs
  • mmchnsd
  • mmcloudgateway
  • mmcrcluster
  • mmcrfs
  • mmdeldisk
  • mmdsh
  • mmfsck
  • mmgetstate
  • mmkeyserv
  • mmnetverify
  • mmnfs
  • mmpmon
  • mmrestripefile
  • mmrestripefs
  • mmsmb
  • mmtracectl
  • mmuserauth
  • spectrumscale
Changed structures
There are no changed structures.
Changed subroutines
There are no changed subroutines.
Deleted commands
mmrest
Deleted structures
There are no deleted structures.
Deleted subroutines
There are no deleted subroutines.
Messages
The following are the new, changed, and deleted messages:
New messages
6027-1264, 6027-1757, 6027-2394, 6027-2395, 6027-2396, 6027-2397, 6027-2398, 6027-2399, 6027-2400, 6027-2401, 6027-3259, 6027-3408, 6027-3597, 6027-3598, 6027-3599, 6027-3600, 6027-3601, 6027-3602, 6027-3603, 6027-3604, 6027-3730, 6027-3921, 6027-3922, 6027-3923, 6027-3924, 6027-3925, 6027-3926, 6027-3927, 6027-3928, 6027-3929, 6027-3930, 6027-3931, and 6027-4019.
Changed messages
6027-928
Deleted messages
None.
Changes in documentation
Separate sections for installing and upgrading documentation
The Installing and upgrading section is split into two separate sections:
  • Installing
  • Upgrading

Terminology change in upgrade documentation
In the upgrade documentation, the instances of "migration" are replaced with "upgrade".

Product name changes
The following product name changes are done:
  • z System is renamed to IBM Z
  • Linux on IBM Z is renamed to Linux on Z

List of documentation changes in product guides and respective Knowledge Center sections

The following is a list of documentation changes including changes in topic titles, changes in placement of topics, and deleted topics:

Table 1. List of changes in documentation
Guide Knowledge center section List of changes
Concepts, Planning, and Installation Guide Product overview The following sub-sections are moved from the Introduction to Cloud services topic to Library and related publications → Applying IBM Spectrum Scale:
  • Transparent cloud tiering use cases
  • Supported Cloud data sharing use cases
  • Supported WORM storage use cases
Installing
  • Creating a user-defined node class for Transparent cloud tiering or Cloud data sharing topic is moved from the Configuring section to the Installing section
  • The IBM Spectrum Scale packaging overview topic is moved one level up.
  • The following topics and their sub-topics are removed. The content in these topics is now covered in Manually installing IBM Spectrum Scale and deploying protocols on Linux nodes and its sub-topics.
    • Manually installing IBM Spectrum Scale on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x systems
    • Manually installing IBM Spectrum Scale on SLES 12 systems
Upgrading The upgrade topics have been reordered to bring out the upgrade flow more clearly and separate manual and installation toolkit topics clearly.
Administration Guide Configuring The following topics are removed from the Configuring and tuning your system for Cloud services section:
  • Pre-validating the cloud account settings
  • Associating a file system with Cloud services nodes
Administering Moved the Manual recovery of Transparent cloud tiering database topic under Administering files for Transparent cloud tiering section
Changes in the Library and related publications section

A Video resources topic was added in this section. This topic contains links to IBM Spectrum Scale videos.

End of change