3.8.0 Release Notes

• New Features and Improvements
  • system
  • Auto-tiering
  • OmniUI (GUI, CLI, and REST API)
  • GUI
  • Replication
  • Snapshots
  • Logging
• Fixed Issues
  • GUI
  • Snapshots
• Behavior Changes
  • Logging

New Features and Improvements

System

• The StorONE system now supports an embedded management service that does not require an external relay machine.

• The StorONE system now supports multi-system management (MSM). This is a lightweight service that you can install on a Windows machine or VM in your environment to manage multiple StorONE systems with an embedded management service (also referred to as a relay). This service is required when replicating between StorONE systems with embedded management services to act as a quorum witness, as this functionality was previously provided by the external relay.

• • The MSM settings are configured using the web UI under Inventory > Systems > Multi System Manager: 

    

• The system now supports the ability to unapprove drives from a pool so that they can be used in other pools.

  • In the web UI, under Inventory > Resources > Drives >Unapprove: 

    

• • In the CLI, you can use the resources drive unapprove command: 

    resources drives unapprove --driveId=<numbers> [--force] [--secure_erase]

• You can now attempt to revive a drive that has been marked as 'Dead'. This can occur when a drive is removed from the system, or if you unapprove the drive from an existing pool, in addition to hardware issues.

• • In the web UI, under Inventory > Resources > Drives > Revive: 

    

  • In the CLI, you can use the resources drives revive command:

    resources drives revive --driveIds=<numbers...> [--manualPool=<name>]

• Improved support for drive LEDs, adopting a more generic approach that accommodates a broader range of drive enclosures.

• Added recycle bin support for volumes. If enabled, volumes are moved to a recycle bin when deleted, until you remove the volume permanently or the time limit expires. The retention period is specified when you enable the recycle bin for the system.

• Added support for secure erase for drives. The StorONE system will use the strongest method supported by the drive:
  

  • Shred: writes random ones and zeroes to the device using the Linux shred utility.
  • SanitizeBlockErase: Sends the SCSI SANITIZE command to erase the drive, using the sg_sanitize --block command.
  • SanitizeCryptoErase: Performs a cryptographic erase, using the sg_sanitize --crypto command.
  • NvmeFormatSecureErase: Performs a secure erase using the nvme format --ses=1 command.
  • NvmeSanitizeBlockErase: Performs a secure erase block operation using the nvme sanitize -a 2 command.
  • NvmeSanitizeCryptoErase: Performs a crypto erase operation using the nvme sanitize -a 4 command.
  • The Inventory > Resources > Drives page shows the status and method of secure erase: 

    

   

• New licensing mechanism: You can now add a license via the web GUI and view license data from the GUI/CLI.

  • In  the web UI, under Administration > License: 

    

  • In the CLI, you can use the license view command to see your existing license. To upload a new license, use the license upload command: 

    license upload --username=<name> --password=<password> --fileToUpload=<licenseUpload>

• Added support for administrators to upload and upgrade versions without requiring StorONE support personnel assistance.

• Added the ability to store filesystem metadata on an SSD pool. This is useful for large filesystems in an HDD pool to speed up metadata operations.
  

  • Contact StorONE Support for assistance enabling this feature.
    

  • This feature is applicable only for new volumes created after the feature is enabled. You cannot migrate the filesystem metadata on an existing volume.
  • This feature is not currently supported with replication. Volumes created using this feature cannot be replicated, and the feature cannot be removed after volume creation. This means that if you want to replicate a volume that is using this feature, you will need to disable the feature, create a new volume, and replicate the new volume. You can migrate the data from the old volume to the new volume before or after configuring replication.
• You can now specify custom SMTP settings to be used for both notifications and multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages. In the web UI, under Administration > Notifications > Settings > Email:

  

  
  
• Floating IPs no longer require a 'Dummy' designation. 
  • When you pair a local floating IP with a remote system, it will automatically create an inactive standby interface on the target system. You no longer have to pre-create a 'Dummy' floating IP on the target system, you can just specify the interfaces on the target system to use. Under Inventory (warehouse icon) > Floatingips > Pair: 

    

Auto-tiering

• Improved system idleness determination to be based on specific drive pool utilization instead of general system performance.

• Lower tier locks for evacuation are now HA-aware. Volumes running on different controller nodes will not evacuate to the same lower tier pool simultaneously. This reduces resource contention and improves evacuation performance.

OmniUI (GUI, CLI, and REST API)

• Multi-admin approval: you can require multiple administrators to approve critical configuration changes like volume deletions.

  • In the web UI, under Administration > Action Policies > Create: 

    

  • In the CLI, you can use the command action_policies create: 

    action_policies create --entityType=<name> --operationType=<name> --admins=<numbers> --authorizedReviewers=<name...>

• Improved multi-factor authentication (MFA): only administrators can enable/disable MFA settings for other users. Also added support for automatic reconnection of MFA users after network disconnections.

• Improved configuration history to not truncate long commands, and to include which user initiated the command.

GUI

• Added more context-specific action shortcut buttons for listed elements in the GUI. For example, when you list volumes in the GUI, volume-specific action buttons, such as ‘Edit’ and ‘Delete’, are available. When you list drives, drives that support Secure Erase have a ‘Secure Erase’ button:

  

Replication

• Replication witness settings can now be configured using the CLI or GUI, and you can view the replication witness log.

  • In the web UI, under Application Volumes > Replication > Witness > Heartbeats: 

    

  • The log can be viewed by clicking the Logs button: 

    

  • The witness settings are configured under Application Volumes > Replication > Witness > Settings: 

    

Snapshots

• Added support for distributed VSS snapshots on NFS Datastores.
  

  • Takes an application-consistent snapshot for all specified VSS initiators
    

• Improved snapshot deletion scheduler to always delete a single snapshot at a time, and to allow parallel snapshot deletions if the volumes reside on different controller nodes. This improves overall system performance and reduces resource contention.

Logging

• Added an audit log for all user operations and configurations. You can view and filter audit log events.

  • In the web UI, under Administration > Audit: 

    

• You can now view the system console log using the GUI or CLI.

  • In the web UI, under Administration > Logs: 

    

    
    
• If the StorONE services are down but the web server is running, you can view the logs from the controller node's splash screen by navigating to the name or IP address of the controller node, and clicking Logs: 

  

  
  
  • This displays the console log, and you can also generate a support package to submit to StorONE support for assistance debugging an issue: 

    

• • In the CLI you can use the nodes support package command.
    

nodes support package --node <Nodename> --brief --full --logDays <NumberOfDaysLogfiles> --downloadSizeBytes <MaximumFileSizeToCreate> --hideProgress

Fixed Issues

GUI

• Fixed an issue preventing deleting host mappings using the web UI.
  

Snapshots

• Fixed issues with distributed VSS snapshots to take application-consistent snapshot for all specified VSS initiators.
  

Behavior Changes

Logging

• Evacuation messages have been removed from the console log.