This section describes functional changes, improvements and bug fixes compared to the previous release.
As of Release 2.3.4, a separate command line tool is provided to manage the Controller Software update process. The phased approach remains, where management nodes, compute nodes and other rack components are updated in separate procedures. In this initial release, the Oracle PCA Upgrader handles the management node upgrades.
The new Oracle PCA Upgrader groups and automates sets of tasks that were previously executed as scripted or manual steps. It is more robust and easily extensible, and provides a much better overall upgrade experience. It is provided as a stand-alone application, with its own release and update schedule.
For additional information and usage guidelines and instructions, refer to the section Oracle PCA 2.3 – Using the Oracle PCA Upgrader in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Administrator's Guide, as well as the support note with Doc ID 2442664.1.
New ILOM patches are available on My Oracle Support for the various generations of server hardware supported by Oracle Private Cloud Appliance. These include security fixes for the side channel CPU vulnerabilities collectively named Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS).
The patches listed in the table below were tested and approved for installation on Oracle Private Cloud Appliance components. However, the patches are not included in the qualified firmware table, because they are not part of a Controller Software release, and are not available in the ISO image of any given release. The patches must be downloaded separately from My Oracle Support before installation.
Component | Firmware Level | My Oracle Support Patch ID |
|---|---|---|
Oracle Server X7-2 | ILOM: 4.0.4.40 r130348 BIOS: 41.06.03.00 | 29782147 Oracle Server X7-2 SW 1.5.0 - FIRMWARE PACK (Patch) 29782146 Oracle Server X7-2 SW 1.5.0 - ALL PACKS (Patch) |
Oracle Server X6-2 | ILOM: 4.0.4.37-r130617 BIOS: 38.13.02.00 | 29813919 Oracle Server X6-2 SW 2.4.1 - FIRMWARE PACK (Patch) 29813918 Oracle Server X6-2 SW 2.4.1 - ALL PACKS (Patch) |
Oracle Server X5-2 | ILOM: 4.0.4.37-r130617 BIOS: 30.15.03.00 | 29814669 Oracle Server X5-2 SW 2.3.1 - FIRMWARE PACK (Patch) 29814745 Oracle Server X5-2 SW 2.3.1 - ORACLE SYSTEM ASSISTANT UPDATER (Patch) |
Sun Server X4-2 | ILOM: 4.0.4.41 r130359 BIOS: 25.08.01.00 | 29781886 Oracle Sun Server X4-2 SW 2.1.1 - FIRMWARE PACK (Patch) 29781928 Oracle Sun Server X4-2 SW 2.1.1 - ORACLE SYSTEM ASSISTANT UPDATER (Patch) |
Sun Server X3-2 | ILOM: 4.0.4.22.a r131191 BIOS: 17.16.02.00 | 29946423 Oracle Sun Server X3-2 SW 2.1.1 - FIRMWARE PACK 29946487 Oracle Sun Server X3-2 SW 2.1.1 - ORACLE SYSTEM ASSISTANT UPDATER |
To improve Oracle PCA supportability, reliability and security, Oracle has introduced a standardized approach to component firmware. As part of the test process prior to a software release, combinations of component firmware are tested on all applicable hardware platforms. This results in a fully qualified set of firmware for the appliance, corresponding to a software release. Customers who upgrade to a particular software release, are expected to also install all the qualified firmware upgrades delivered as part of the controller software.
An overview of qualified firmware is also included in the Release Notes. See Chapter 5, Firmware Qualification.
The Oracle PCA Release 2.3.4 software includes an updated operating system and kernel for all management and compute nodes: Oracle Linux 6 Update 9 with UEK Release 4 Update 7, and Oracle VM Server Release 3.4.5. These contain important bug fixes to improve stability and compatibility, and eliminate a number of vulnerabilities.
Oracle VM Manager and Oracle VM Server have been upgraded to Release 3.4.5. This allows Oracle PCA to take advantage of the latest functional enhancements and bug fixes in Oracle VM. For a detailed description of what has changed in Release 3.4.5, refer to the Oracle VM Release Notes in the Oracle VM 3.4 documentation library.
After the upgrade to Oracle VM Server Release 3.4.5, compute nodes can take advantage of Ksplice patching for kernel, Xen and userspace. All required information and instructions will be made available in the support note with Doc ID 2480799.1.
The following table lists bugs that have been fixed in Oracle PCA Release 2.3.4.
Table 2.1 List of Fixed Bugs
Bug ID | Description |
|---|---|
27470682 | “Compute Node Provisioning Fails Because Maximum Nodes Per Tenant Group Is Exceeded” In certain cases, compute nodes were not removed from the tenant group database during deprovisioning, making it appear as if a tenant group contained more nodes than was the case. Additional code checks ensure that entries in the tenant group database are maintained accurately, so that no compute nodes remain listed despite successful removal from their respective tenant groups. |
27117833 | “SAN Server Refresh Operations Fail Due to Timeout on Systems with Many LUN Paths” For storage refresh operations, there are fixed and adaptive timeout parameters to determine when an error must be reported for an unusually long refresh process. These parameters have been revised and optimized to avoid premature timeouts on large systems with a large number of compute nodes and many LUN paths. |
28671928 | “Management Node Cannot Be Shut Down While Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Agent Is Running” Secondary management node services, such as the Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Agent, are stopped when the master management node goes offline, and are brought back up on the other management node after it has taken over the master role. Previously, it was possible for the Agent service to keep running from shared storage until after all management services had been started on the new master, resulting in two active instances of the Agent and causing the rebooting management node to hang. The code has been improved to ensure that the Agent is effectively stopped before the second management node is allowed to take over the master role. |
23314985 | “ILOM Host Names Are Not Set” For convenient system identification, a host name is now configured for all ILOMs in an Oracle PCA rack. This makes service and support operations easier and makes log files simpler to search and interpret. |
23522020 | “Diagnose ILOM CLI Command Does Not Check Management Nodes”
The functionality of CLI command |
24575704 | “Diagnostic Data Collection Must Include Output From All Relevant CLI Commands”
The functionality of the command used to collect
diagnostic information for service and support
purposes – pca-diag – has
been expanded. It now saves the terminal output from
all |
27158036 | “Recent Component Firmware Not Available on Oracle PCA ISO Image” The Oracle PCA ISO image contains a set of qualified firmware versions. The firmware policy has changed: the items on the qualified list are no longer optional and should be installed as soon as possible after successful update of the controller software. |
27629568 | “Screen Is Not Available on Management Nodes” Screen has proven to be useful in debugging through multiple remote shell sessions. It is now included in the standard compute node and management node packages. |
27685001 | “Windows VM Crashes During ZFS Storage Head Failover” Certain versions of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Server 2012 and 2016, may crash when a failover in the ZFS storage appliance occurs, due to an issue in the Oracle VM PV Drivers. The base bug has been fixed, and the problem no longer occurs in Oracle VM 3.4.5, which is part of Oracle PCA Release 2.3.4. |