everRun Enterprise Release 7.1.1.0 Release Notes

These release notes are for everRun Enterprise release 7.1.1.0. See the following sections:

• Important Considerations
• Known Issues
• New Features, Enhancements, and Bug Fixes
• Getting Help

Important Considerations

Upgrading From Previous Releases of everRun Enterprise

You can upgrade from everRun Enterprise release 7.0.x to everRun Enterprise release 7.1.x with no VM downtime, by following the instructions in Upgrading everRun Enterprise Software.

If you are upgrading from any other release (for example everRun Enterprise 7.1.0.0 beta release) you must perform a complete system re-install.

Guest Volumes Must be Smaller Than 2 TB

Guest volumes equal to or greater than 2 TB are not supported in this release. Guest volumes must be less than 2 TB.

The Active Directory Feature is Not Supported

The active directory feature is not supported in this release and has been removed from the everRun Availability Console. Some localized versions of the everRun Enterprise User's Guide prepared prior to the release of 7.1.0.0 may contain references to the active directory feature. For the latest information, see the English version of the everRun Enterprise User's Guide at the everRun Enterprise Downloads and Support page at http://www.stratus.com/go/support/everrun.

Optimizing Performance of A-Link Networks

Stratus recommends that you enable jumbo frames on A-Link networks by setting their Ethernet frame MTU size to 9000 bytes (by default, they are set to 1500 bytes). Doing so improves VM performance and reduces host processing overhead.

The A-Link networks must:

• Be a single Ethernet cable, point-to-point connection, or
• Have intermediate components (for example, switches) that are all fully capable of passing jumbo frame traffic.

Use AVCLI commands to enable jumbo frames. AVCLI is installed on the host system along with everRun Enterprise software. You can run AVCLI by logging onto the host through a remote console using the system IP address. Alternatively, you can install AVCLI on a remote management computer. For information about how to install AVCLI on a remote computer see AVCLI Command Overview.

To set A-Links to use jumbo frames:

1. From a remote console computer, issue the network-info command to determine the name(s) of the A-Link network(s). In the command's output, look for the names of networks that have role = A-Link . See network-info for an example.

2. Issue the network-change-mtu command to change the MTU size to the maximum value of 9000 bytes. The changes takes effect immediately. The following example changes the sync_2003 and sync_2004 A-Link networks to use jumbo frames.

   avcli network-change-mtu sync_2003 sync_2004 9000

3. Issue the network-info command to verify that the A-Links now have MTU values of 9000.

Migrating a PM or VM to an everRun Enterprise System

Migrating Windows 2012 R2 or Windows 8.x PMs or VMs from a non-everRun Enterprise system to an everRun Enterprise system is not supported. For a list of PM and VM operating systems that you can migrate, see Migrating a Physical Machine or Virtual Machine to the everRun Enterprise System.

Status of RAID Physical Disks is Not Monitored

everRun Enterprise software does not monitor the state of physical disks in a RAID set. You must use the tools supplied by the RAID controller vendor to monitor the health and status of individual physical disks in a RAID set.

Other Important everRun Enterprise Considerations

For important considerations about everRun Enterprise systems, see Important Physical Machine and Virtual Machine Considerations.

Known Issues

Replacing Physical Machines, Motherboards, NICs, or RAID Controllers

In the event of a hardware failure requiring replacement of an entire PM, everRun Enterprise supports PM replacement while VMs continue to run on the other PM thereby avoiding any guest downtime. The procedure for doing this is documented in Replacing Physical Machines, Motherboards, NICs, or RAID Controllers. After completing this procedure, perform the following steps to avoid any potential subsequent problems.

1. Open a terminal or ssh to the host OS on the PM that was not replaced. Log on as root and execute the following command:

   pkill -x spine || echo "spine restart failed"

2. The preferred PM setting can get corrupted after replacing a PM. It is not possible to tell which VMs may be impacted by this, so you must perform steps a. and b. below for each VM.
   1. In the everRun Availability Console, change the preferred PM setting to the node that the VM is not currently on. See Load Balancing and Selecting a Preferred PM for a Virtual Machine for information about how to do this.
   2. Then change the preferred PM of each VM back to the desired setting.
3. If after performing the previous step an alert appears saying that a rebalance must be performed, on the everRun Availability Console masthead click Rebalance ().

Error Message May Appear When Importing a VM to a HA-only Licensed System

When importing a VM to a system that is licensed to run only high availability (HA) VMs, deselect the option to Auto start Virtual Machine after import. Once the import completes, follow the instructions in Changing the Protection Level for a Virtual Machine (HA or FT) to reconfigure the VM's protection level to HA. Then click Start to start the VM.

If this option remains selected, the import will proceed but a message displays, stating that an error occurred. Contrary to the error message, the import operation actually succeeded. Follow the instructions in the previous paragraph to reconfigure and start the VM.

Using Internet Explorer Can't Change Volume Name During VM Import or Restore

When using the everRun Availability Console with Internet Explorer version 10.0.9200.16844, you cannot specify a new volume name while performing a VM import or restore operation.

Unsupported Network Adapter Card and Chip

Due to the issue outlined at http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=migr-5093183, everRun does not support the following network adapter card and chip:

• The Broadcom NetXtreme II Dual Port 10GBase-T Network Adapter, IBM part number 49Y7910
• Any other NICs which use the Broadcom BCM57712 Ethernet hardware chip.

Do Not Use the ifdown Command

Do not issue the ifdown command from an everRun Enterprise physical machine's host OS to temporarily bring down a VM's business (ibizx) network connection. Doing so will disconnect the physical interface from its bridge and cause the VM to become unreachable over the network. Instead, use the ifconfig down command.

New Features, Enhancements, and Bug Fixes

Major new features, enhancements, and bug fixes are listed below under the release in which they became available.

Fixed in everRun Enterprise Release 7.1.1.0

• bz26478 – Virtual bridge is issuing unexpected IGMP query packets that may cause a multicast traffic outage to a VM.

New in everRun Enterprise Release 7.1.0.0

• Official support of HA guests (was a technology preview in everRun Enterprise 7.0.x)

• Official support of split-site operation (was a technology preview in everRun Enterprise 7.0.x)

• Official support of quorum servers (was a technology preview in everRun Enterprise 7.0.x). Quorum server is an optional Windows-based service running on non-everRun Enterprise systems which increase overall system availability and protect against partition in time and split-brain scenarios.

• Support of 12 VMs (4 FT VMs maximum)

• Support for replacing a NIC or an everRun Enterprise physical machine without any guest VM downtime

• Support for guests running the SuSE operating system

• Enhancement to present virtual SandyBridge family processor to guest OSs

• Improved presentation of virtual sockets and virtual CPUs to the guest to aid with (virtual) socket based software licenses

• Other serviceability, robustness, and usability improvements

Getting Help

If you have a technical question about everRun Enterprise software, you can find the latest documentation at http://www.stratus.com/go/support/everrun.

If you are unable to resolve your questions with the online documentation, and the system is covered by a service agreement, please contact everRun Enterprise Customer Support or your authorized Stratus service representative. For information, see the everRun Enterprise Downloads and Support page at http://www.stratus.com/go/support/everrun.