Release Notes 3.1
Last Modified: 12/11/2013 at 15:22 | Release:Table of Contents
Important Considerations – Storage Controller Firmware
Important Considerations – Windows 2000 VMs
Important Considerations – unsupported VMs will not migrate
Outstanding Issues in this release
Installing Avance Release R3.1
Upgrading to Avance Release R3.1
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.7
- No additional product features
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.6
- Support for Broadcom 57810 10Gb NICs
- Added support for the Intel S1200KPR motherboard. this is a rename of the current S1200KP motherboard
- Support for Dell Broadcom 57800 2x10Gb DA/SFP+ + 2x1Gb BT Network Daughter Card (430-4428). Refer to the Installation documentation at http://avancedoc.stratus.com/site-and-system-preparation-dell/ for special BIOS settings changes that must be made in order to use the Broadcom 57800
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.5
- No additional product features
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.4
- No additional product features
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.3
- Added support for the LSI 9271-4i storage controller
- Added support for the following servers
- Dell PowerEdge OEM Ready R720
- Dell PowerEdge OEM Ready R620
- Dell PowerEdge OEM Ready R720 XD
- Dell PowerEdge OEM Ready R320
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.2
- Added support for the DL388 Gen8 servers. In some regions, HP resells the DL380 Gen8 renamed as the DL388 Gen8. This release adds support for those platforms
What’s New in Avance R3.1.1.1
- Added Support for the DELL R320/T320 Servers, See Dell hardware compatibility matrix.
- Added Support for Ubuntu 12.04 running Virtual Machines (VMs), See the documentation for special considerations when running with Ubuntu Vms.
What’s New in Avance R3.1.0.9
- Add Support for the LSI 9271-4i and LSI 9271-8i storage controllers
What’s New in Avance R3.1.0.8
- Add Support for the Dell PowerEdge R420, T420, as well as support the Intel S2400GP (Granite Pass)
- Add Support for the LSI 9266-4i Storage Controller
What’s New in Avance R3.1.0.6
- New Virtual Machine HA Load Balancing
- Automatically or manually assign virtual machines (VMs) to either physical machine through the Avance Management Console
- Provides improved overall system performance
- During normal operations, the computing resources of both servers can be used
- Load balancing speeds VM migration times
- Distributes disk reads across both nodes for improved read performance, doubles network bandwidth for writing to disk, and accelerates synchronous write replications.
- In the event of a sudden catastrophic failure of one node, dividing workload between the servers reduces potential risk to business operations.
- If upgrading to release R3.1, the license must be re-activated to enable this new feature. This will automatically occur in the first 24 hours of operation if your Avance system is connected to the internet or can be done manually as explained on the license page.
- New Rolling Reboot UI
- From the Avance Management User Interface, automatically stage and reboot the underlying system resources during upgrades and maintenance windows.
- During the process, VMs are unaffected and experience no downtime.
- Support for Red Hat 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3
- Dell Only – Extended Storage Protection:
- Improved handling of total disk loss connected to a single raid controller
- Enhanced support for storage controller faults – firmware hangs
Important Considerations – Storage Controller Firmware
Avance R3.1.1.5 includes a number of updates to LSI and Intel RAID controller firmware. If you are running one of these controllers then we strongly recommend that you perform a storage controller firmware update after you upgrade to this release. Instructions can be found on the firmware tab on the Physical Machines page.
Refer to the troubleshooting article
Hard disks can go into “foreign” or “missing” states during node reboots
for more details.
Important Considerations – Windows 2000 VMs
Avance R3.1 does not support Windows 2000 VMs. Avance release r2.1.3.11 is the last release to support Windows 2000. During the upgrade process a check is made for Windows 2000 VMs, and if any exist the upgrade will not proceed. The user will be required to abort the upgrade and recover the node.
Important Considerations – unsupported VMs will not migrate
Avance R3.1 will no longer attempt to migrate unless they are PV Aware (Linux) or run with PV Drivers (Windows). All such VMs should be listed in the Avance compatibility matrix. Any VMs in this category can be manually stopped and started on the other PM or will automatically restart in the event of loss of a physical machine. Also, note this restriction covers any VM that is booted with a recovery CD.
Outstanding Issues in this release
| Case Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 20420 | Windows VM with three or more drives may crash after installation of PV drivers |
| 20571 | Installation of Windows PV drivers while running Kaspersky anti-virus software may make the VM unbootable |
Issues Fixed in this release
| Case Number | Fix in Release | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 21833 | 3.1.1.7 | Avance install may fail on IBM systems with more than 8 drives |
| 21806 | 3.1.1.6 | Avance SNMP traps do not conform to SNMP V2 |
| 21738, 20350 | 3.1.1.6 | Systems with Emulex Corporation OneConnect 10Gb NICs have been known to experience mis-wired alerts |
| 21807 | 3.1.1.6 | Security Scan may identify CVE security vulnerabilities |
| 21775 | 3.1.1.5 | Upgrade may fail on HP servers with multiple storage controllers |
| 21692 | 3.1.1.5 | HP iLO3 firmware 1.50 and 1.55 may report false temperature and fan issues |
| 21791 | 3.1.1.5 | In rare instances large amounts of disk space can be consumed by Avance Log files |
| 21789 | 3.1.1.5 | Google Chrome might not render the Avance Management Console correctly |
| 21742 | 3.1.1.5 | Alert 60122, unit syncing too long, sends e-alert with blank subject line |
| 21659 | 3.1.1.4 | When BIOS clock resets to factory default the node under repair never gets to running state |
| 21403 | 3.1.1.4 | Unit Shutdown does not complete on IBM M4 Generation Systems |
| 21695 | 3.1.1.4 | Non ASCII characters in login or owner information change to ??? |
| 21308 | 3.1.1.3 | A failed node cannot be recovered without onsite intervention |
| 21629 | 3.1.1.2 | Upgrade fails because platform not recognized[1] |
| 21401 | 3.1.1.2 | Upgrade stalls at 46% leaving both nodes in maintenance mode |
| 21314 | 3.1.1.2 | Upgrade stalls because node fails to reboot at end of upgrade |
| 21518 | 3.1.1.2 | Network faults may not be detected on systems with more than 10 network ports |
| 21310 | 3.1.1.1 | Inserting a bootable USB interferes with the enumeration and sizing of logical disks. |
| 21353 | 3.1.1.1 | VM cannot boot from Live CD unless it is running on the primary node. |
| 21138 | 3.1.1.1 | Emergency Console does not work on the LiveCD, making the extraction of diagnostic files difficult. |
| 21311 | 3.1.0.9 | File leak in Avance management stack can result in a node being predicted to fail and require that the node be recovered |
| 21362 | 3.1.0.9 | Citrix VM Network Connectivity issues and DOS security vulnerabilities |
| 21226 | 3.1.0.9 | VMs may hang during boot and require a manual reboot, requires PV driver update to fix |
| 20604 | 3.1.0.9 | VCDs cannot be created using the DVD drive on HP Gen8 platforms |
| 21171 | 3.1.0.8 | Upgrading to R3.1.0.6 may fail or leave the system in a state where VMS will not migrate |
| 21171 | 3.1.0.8 | Node Replace or Recover on R3.1.0.6 may leave the system in a state where VMS will not migrate |
| 21282 | 3.1.0.8 | Enhanced Storage Protection cannot be enabled after upgrade to R3.1.0.6 |
| 21239 | 3.1.0.8 | Agg Thrm Mgn Sensors may show Warning or Fatal on Intel Servers |
| 19763 | 3.1.0.6 | Correctable ECC errors do not result in migration on IBM systems |
| 20619 | 3.1.0.6 | Power Supply Reports as Not Present |
Installing Avance Release R3.1
Avance requires a DVD for installation, please review the documents below and follow all preparation, installation and configuration instructions:
Upgrading to Avance Release R3.1
Refer to the Avance Software Upgrade Guide for Important Considerations regarding this upgrade along with detailed instructions.
Important: If you are running a Windows VM with three or more drives or you are running Kaspersky anti-virus software in your VM refer to the the Avance Software Upgrade Guide prior to starting upgrade for special instructions. Failure to adhere to these instructions may result in a corrupted boot disk that can be time consuming to recover.
Enterprise Management – Avance CLI and MIB
New Avance 3.0 CLI and MIB versions must be downloaded and installed into your management solutions. These versions are backwards compatible with all previous releases of Avance
Known problems
For the latest known issues:
- Login to the Avance Customer or Partner Portal.
- Click on Search for known issues under technical support.
- Select release 3.0 and optionally an issue type.
Getting Help
If you have a technical question about Avance system software, you can find the latest technical information about your Avance system by signing into online product support at the Stratus Avance support Web site, http://avance-productinfo.stratus.com.
If you are unable to resolve your questions with the help available at the online site, and the system is covered by a service agreement, please contact the customer support or your authorized Stratus service representative. For information, see: http://www.stratus.com/Stratus/Home/Services/CustomerSupport.
