Chapter 3 New Features and Changes

Table of Contents

This section describes new features and changes in Oracle Linux 7.6 (aarch64). For details about the new features and changes in the initial release of Oracle Linux 7, see Oracle® Linux 7: Release Notes for Oracle Linux 7. Note that Arm architecture platforms started to be supported on Oracle Linux 7, with the Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64) release. The changes described here are subsequent to the changes described in the release notes that are provided for that initial release.

3.1 Clustering

The following clustering features, bug fixes, and enhancements are included in this update. See Oracle® Linux 7: Administrator's Guide for more information about clustering technology and support limitations.

  • Pacemaker now supports path, mount, and timer systemd unit files.  Although previous releases of Pacemaker supported service and socket systemd unit file, alternative units would fail. Pacemaker can now manage path, mount and timer systemd units, as well.

  • Pacemaker LVM resource agent updates.  New functionality and updates have been applied to the LVM resource agents for better management of shared storage across hosts. Most notably, the new LVM-activate resource agent assists with the handling of LVM management throughout the cluster and can be configured to work either with clvmd or lvmlockd, depending on your implementation.

    Options available through the new LVM-activate resource agent include:

    • tagging, equivalent to the tagging provided with the existing lvm resource agent;

    • clvmd, equivalent to using clvmd with the existing lvm resource agent;

    • system ID, a new option for using the system ID for volume group failover as an alternative to using tagging; and

    • lvmlockd, a new option to use lvmlockd and dlm for volume group sharing as an alternative to using clvmd.

    The existing lvm resource agent has also been patched to accept the volume_group_check_only parameter. This parameter can be set to limit monitoring to only volume groups, to avoid timeouts on tagged volumes. This parameter must only be used with the lvm resource agent when you are experiencing timeout issues. Do not use this parameter with the LVM-activate resource agent.

3.2 MySQL Community Packages

The MySQL Community 8.0.11 packages are available for Arm on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server.

You can install MySQL Community packages directly from ULN or the Oracle Linux yum server by enabling the appropriate channel or repository. For example, you would enable the ol7_MySQL80 repository on the Oracle Linux yum server to install the MySQL Community 8.0 packages as follows: 

# yum-config-manager --enable ol7_MySQL80

To enable the channel on ULN, use the ULN web interface to subscribe the system to the appropriate channel:

  1. Log in to https://linux.oracle.com with your ULN user name and password.

  2. On the Systems tab, click the link named for the system in the list of registered machines.

  3. On the System Details page, click Manage Subscriptions.

  4. On the System Summary page, select each required channel from the list of available channels and click the right arrow to move the channel to the list of subscribed channels.

    Subscribe the system to the ol7_aarch64_MySQL80_community channel.

  5. Click Save Subscriptions.

Note

Arm support is limited to MySQL Community 8.0.11. Channels for prior MySQL Community releases are not available for aarch64.

3.3 DTrace

DTrace has been enabled for Arm platforms and ports of the DTrace code are available in UEK R5. Refer to Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 for more information.

The DTrace user space code in the dtrace-utils package has also all been ported to run on 64-bit Arm platforms to fully enable DTrace for Oracle Linux 7.6 (aarch64)

3.4 Developer Toolchain

The Oracle Linux 7.6 (aarch64) release includes a toolchain that provides a solid developer toolset to build code for 64-bit Arm platforms and to compile modules against the provided kernel. This includes the version 7.3 of the gcc compiler that is used to build the aarch64 version of UEK R5.

Developer tools are released as a software collection that can be found in the /addons/Oscl directory repository on the provided ISO. You can install the oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection using the yum command: 

# yum install scl-utils oracle-armtoolset-1

When the oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is installed, you can enable it by running the following command: 

# scl enable oracle-armtoolset-1 bash

The oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is released as an addition to the Software Collection Library for Oracle Linux and is only available on aarch64 platforms.

Note

The oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is required if you need to build kernel modules from source.

3.5 Networking

The following networking features, bug fixes, and enhancements are included in this update:

  • IFDOWN_ON_SHUTDOWN option available in /etc/sysconfig/network.  A new option for use when configuring networking in /etc/sysconfig/network is available. You can set the IFDOWN_ON_SHUTDOWN option to no or to false to prevent all network interfaces from being taken down when the system is shut down. If this parameter is set to the default value of true, network interfaces are taken down during system shut down.

    This option can be useful in preventing mount points that use networked-based file systems, such as NFS, from becoming stale if the network is stopped before the file system is cleanly unmounted.

  • More detail in network-scripts error messages for the bonding driver.  Error messages that are related to the failure of bonding driver installation have been made more verbose when using /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts to manage an interface.

3.6 Virtualization

The following virtualization features, bug fixes, and enhancements are included in this update:

  • QEMU guest agent diagnostics enhanced.  New QEMU guest agent commands have been added to improve diagnostic capabilities in line with Virtual Desktop and Server Management daemon requirements. These include the addition of the commands: qemu-get-host-name, qemu-get-users, qemu-get-osinfo, and qemu-get-timezone.

3.7 Technology Preview

Features that are currently under technology preview when using UEK R5 are described in Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5.

This section specifies items specific to the Arm architecture and Oracle Linux 7.6 (aarch64) that are not supported but which may be made available under technology preview.

Oracle makes available an Oracle Linux 7.6 (aarch64) disk image for use on Raspberry Pi™ 3 Model B+ hardware. This disk image is available as a technology preview for developer use only and Oracle does not provide support for the disk image or the hardware. Oracle recommends that developers assist each other on the Oracle Linux for Arm community forum at https://community.oracle.com/community/technology_network_community/server_%26_storage_systems/linux/oracle-linux-for-arm

Linux Containers (LXC) are available as a technology preview and functionality may be limited.

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