What's new in this release

New features and enhancements are available in IBM® Cloud Pak for Network Automation 2.2.0, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, and 2.2.5.

Backup and restore orchestration data

You can now configure IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation to back up and restore your orchestration data. You can back up the PostgreSQL database into S3-compatible object storage. You can use the orchestration data that is available in the S3 storage to restore the PostgreSQL database and recover a IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation instance in the OpenShift® cluster.

The following screen capture shows the OpenShift Container Platform page where you can start a backup immediately or schedule a backup:
OpenShift Container Platform page for creating backups

For more information, see Configuring backup and restore.

Disaster recovery

You can now read detailed documentation to help you recover from a disaster that affects a IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation deployment. Follow the steps to recover the data from your primary cluster on a recovery cluster, and then follow the steps to verify the recovered data.

For more information about how to recover, see Disaster recovery.

Using IAM for authentication

IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation now uses Identity and Access Management (IAM) for authentication and verification of user credentials. IAM is part of IBM Cloud Pak foundational services.

You can use IAM to connect an identity provider such as LDAP to IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation and manage usernames and passwords in LDAP. In this way, you can manage IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation users centrally using your organization's existing LDAP service.

For more information about using IAM for authentication, see the following topics:

Simplified storage for application data

IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation now uses PostgreSQL relational database to store application data. PostgreSQL replaces the Cassandra and Elasticsearch data stores.

Some benefits of this improvement to the product infrastructure include:
  • The management of Cloud Pak data is simplified as a single database now stores all application data.
  • The application footprint is reduced.
  • Troubleshooting of problems with your application data is now easier since all data is in a single database.
  • Using a single database for application data facilitates the implementation of a backup and restore procedure.
  • Accelerates the development of product features that rely on easy management of application data.
Plus, you get the benefits of using an advanced, open source database with a strong reputation for reliability, flexibility, and support of open technical standards.

Improved availability of microservices

You can now use asynchronous Kafka messaging to communicate between the following key IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation microservices:

  • Between the Daytona intent engine and the Brent resource manager
  • Between the SOL 005 APIs for network service instances

Using asynchronous Kafka messaging helps to achieve higher levels of availability when microservices are being upgraded or replaced.

For more information about using asynchronous Kafka messaging, see Communication between microservices.

OpenShift Container Platform 4.9 and 4.10 supported

New in 2.2.3 This release of IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation is compatible with OpenShift Container Platform 4.10, 4.9, and 4.8.

OpenShift Container Platform 4.8 supported

This release of IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation is compatible with OpenShift Container Platform 4.8, 4.7, and 4.6.

API versioning supported by orchestration API

The orchestration API now supports API versioning. The version that is supported in this release is v1, semantic version 1.0.0 or 1.0. The URLs now include /v1/. The API is maintained to be compatible with earlier versions, so URLs that do not include /v1/ still work.

For more information, see API Versioning.

Version number in Kafka messages

All messages that relate to Kafka events now include a version number in the message body. The current value of the version field is 1.0.0.

Use Cloud Pak features in IBM Automation console

You can now access IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation features by logging in to IBM Automation. For example, to view your recent assembly instances, log in to the IBM Automation platform console. From the navigation menu Navigation menu icon, click Run > Assembly instance.

You can also access features of any other IBM Cloud® Paks that are installed on the same cluster from the IBM Automation console.

The following screen capture shows the IBM Automation console Welcome page with the navigation menu open:
IBM Automation Welcome page, navigation menu open

For more information about logging in to the IBM Automation console, see Logging in to IBM Automation.

ETSI SOL 006 VNFD tool

You can now use the new ETSI SOL 006 Virtual Network Function Descriptor (VNFD) tool to onboard a VNF from a SOL 006 VNFD to IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation. Then, the VNFD can be used in a network service that is defined by IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation.

Deprecated features

The following services are deprecated in this release of IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation:
  • Watchtower
  • Relay
For more information about deprecated features, see Deprecated and removed features.