Features Released in Software Version 3.0.2-b1001356 (December 2023)

X10 Rack Configuration

The Private Cloud Appliance X10 rack configuration ships from the factory with appliance software version 3.0.2-b1001356 or newer installed. This rack configuration is characterized by the use of Oracle Server X10 compute nodes (2U). Compared to the X9 rack configuration, the component order and cabling are slightly different. The storage and network infrastructure components are identical.

In terms of compute capacity, a 2U compute node is comparable to two 1U compute nodes. To deploy compute instances on the Oracle Server X10 compute nodes, you must select the VM.PCAStandard.E5.Flex shape, which offers adjustable CPUs, memory, and network bandwidth.

For more information about the X10 rack configuration, refer to the chapter Hardware Overview in the "Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Concepts Guide".

Platform Images

New platform images are made available for Compute Enclave users through Private Cloud Appliance installation, upgrade, and patching.

The following platform images are delivered with this Private Cloud Appliance release:

Oracle Linux 9	`uln-pca-Oracle-Linux-9-2023.08.31_0.oci`
Oracle Linux 8	`uln-pca-Oracle-Linux-8-2023.08.31_0.oci`
Oracle Linux 7.9	`uln-pca-Oracle-Linux-7.9-2023.08.31_0.oci`
Oracle Solaris 11.4	`uln-pca-Oracle-Solaris-11-2023.09.20_0.oci`

Network Load Balancer

A network load balancer provides automated layer 4 traffic distribution from one public or private entry point where incoming requests are received, to a set of backend servers in the virtual cloud network (VCN) where the requests are processed. For efficient resource management, you can attach a compute instance pool as a backend set.

Network load balancers and previously implemented (layer 7) application load balancers can coexist in your environment, and have shared resource configuration limits. The key difference is that the network load balancer operates at OSI network layer 4 and manages TCP traffic. It provides better performance but lacks the layer 7 routing intelligence. Distribution to the backend servers is controlled by a 5-tuple, 3-tuple, or 2-tuple hash policy. However, for architectural reasons these are mapped internally to a source IP hash, which ensures that a client's requests are all directed to the same backend server.

For information about layer 4 load balancing, see the chapter Network Load Balancing Overview of the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Concepts Guide. Instructions to configure network load balancers can be found in the chapter Network Load Balancers of the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide

File System Service Improvements

File System Quota

You can set a space quota on a file system when you create the file system and when you update the file system. The quota includes the data in the file system and all snapshots created under the file system. You cannot set a quota smaller than the current usage of the file system.

For more information, see "Creating a File System" and "Updating a File System" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.

File System High Performance Backing Store

By default, the backing store of a file system instance is the default pool of the attached ZFS Storage Appliance. You can specify that you want to use a high performance pool for the backing store. See poolName in "Creating a File System" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.

Block Storage Volume Performance Option

By default, block volumes have Balanced performance. When you create block storage, you can optionally enable High performance. For a comparison of Balanced Performance and High Performance, see "Block Volume Performance Options" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Concepts Guide.

Instance Pool Updates

Instance Pool Instance Attach and Detach

You can attach an existing instance to an instance pool or detach an instance that is attached to an instance pool.

When you detach an instance from a pool, you have the following choices:

Regarding the detached instance, you can choose to terminate the instance or keep the instance as a standalone instance.
Regarding the instance pool, you can choose to leave the pool as a smaller pool or create a new instance in the pool, using the instance configuration parameters for the pool.

For more information, see "Updating an Instance Pool" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.

Instance Pool Soft Stop and Soft Reboot

When you use the Compute Web UI to stop or reboot an instance pool, by default soft stop or soft reboot is selected. A dialog enables you to stop or reboot all the instances in the pool immediately.

When you use the OCI CLI, you can specify softstop or softreset.

For more information, see "Stopping and Starting Instances in an Instance Pool" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.

Compute Service Improvements

Instance Serial Console

To troubleshoot an instance that is not running, you can connect to the instance serial console as an alternative to using the instance VNC console. For more information, see "Remotely Troubleshooting an Instance by Using a Console Connection" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.

Instance Configuration from an Existing Instance

In addition to creating an instance configuration by entering values in the Compute Web UI or in a file, you can create an instance configuration by using the configuration information from an existing compute instance. See "Working with Instance Configurations" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.

More Bandwidth for Flexible Shape Instance Configurations

Maximum bandwidth for the VM.PCAStandard1.Flex shape is updated to more closely match the maximum bandwidth for fixed shapes. For 1-24 OCPUs, the maximum bandwidth is 24.6 Gbps. For 25-32 OCPUs, the maximum bandwidth is 1 Gbps per OCPU.

For the VM.PCAStandard.E5.Flex shape, maximum bandwidth for 1-24 OCPUs is 24.6 Gbps. Maximum bandwidth for 25-40 OCPUs is 1 Gbps per OCPU. Maximum bandwidth for 41-96 OCPUs is 40.0 Gbps.

IMDS Version 2 Endpoints

The Instance Metadata Service is available in two versions: version 1 and version 2. To increase the security of metadata requests, upgrade applications to use the IMDS version 2 endpoints.

New options are available in instance create and instance update to disable recognition of IMDSv1 endpoints. For more information, see "Retrieving Instance Metadata from Within the Instance" in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance User Guide.