1.2.21 Features

Exascale contains infrastructure to track and manage software features throughout the Exascale cluster, which is used automatically by Exascale software to ensure compatibility between all services across the Exascale cluster.

For example, consider the possible introduction of a new security protocol for communications between Exascale software services across different servers in an Exascale cluster. Clearly, communications would break if one server started using the new communications protocol before all servers were updated with the capability to understand it. By using the infrastructure to track and manage software features, the Exascale software can be updated to facilitate the new protocol, but the feature can remain disabled until the entire cluster is ready to support it.

The infrastructure to track and manage Exascale software features is mostly internal, but Exascale administrators can view the metadata associated with software features. Additionally, administrators have some manual controls, such as the ability to manually enable a disabled feature, but these controls are typically reserved for use under the guidance of Oracle Support.