[xcat-user] xCAT 2.3 released after 10 years!

[Egan Ford]

xCAT 2.3 released after 10 years!

Well sort-of.  xCAT is 10 years old (tomorrow) and xCAT 2.3 was
released (today).  See the release notes
(https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/xcat/index.php?title=XCAT_2.3_Release_Notes)
for complete details.

Before we get to the highlights, a bit of housekeeping:

1.  The xCAT.org mailing list will be shutdown at the end of November
2009.  Please sign up and start using the new xcat-user list on
sourceforge.net
(https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcat-user).  During this
overlap period we will continue to review open threads, but all new
threads should be started on the new list.  After the list shutdown
the archives will also be moved.  The original xcat.org server (also
10 years old and the very first xCAT 0 node) will be retired.

2.  If you have not already checkout the new xcat.org, xcat.sf.net,
xcat.sourceforge.net (all 3 the same) web site.  Redirect all
criticism (praise) to the new mailing list.

3.  We would like to hear from all of you.  Send us a testimonial.

Thanks for 10 years.

    -- The xCAT Team


2.3 Highlights:

* Support for OS updates: SLES 10 SP3, RHEL 5.4, AIX 5.3.11, AIX 6.1.4

* x86 configurations may now try netboot using 'xNBA', a slightly
modified, branded form of gPXE, as well as including a newer version
of pxelinux.0 when applicable. This is an experimental feature and is
not guaranteed to work in all environments. This achieves:
     o linux kernels and initrds may now transferred using http
without pxelinux used (allowing better scaling, significant reduction
of likelihood of firmware hangs).  We tested this on a 3780 node
system and was able to provision (stateless) all nodes in less than 8
minutes.
     o For Linux, Xen, and VMWare stateless images, no extraneous file
transfers are requested (i.e. not searching hex-named config files for
the 'correct' one, reducing provisioning IO load due to misses and
extraneous logging).

* Improved DB utilization:
     o One DB handle per master/service node

* Pluggable pre-provisioning architecture (prescripts) to allow
customized actions to occur before a managed node is reset to fulfill
a provisioning action.  This is huge for cloud and dynamic
infrastructure.  Now your intelligence agent can have xCAT get
everything ready before pulling the trigger on provisioning.  E.g.
storage provisioning for iSCSI or VMs, network provisioning, etc...

* osimage support: Default os image definitions are stored in the
osimage, linuximage and nimimage tables for provisioning. User can
customize the image definitions such as os distro location, diskless
image root location, pkglist file location etc. to fit their needs.
Then pass the image name to nodeset, genimage or packimage commands.
Finally you can query xCAT to find out what OSes/methods are
available.  Another must for cloud and DI.

* Support for stateful ESX and stateless ESXi hypervisors, as well as
management of guests (migration requires vCenter server).  xCAT is the
only solution today that can download ESXi directly into memory.
Another plus for cloud and DI.

* Dynamic groups for noderange expansion (groups based on table values
rather than nodelist static listing)

* Automatic deployment retry - monitor if rpower/rnetboot boot
succeeded in bringing the node up and redo if necessary.

* Setting and querying power levels for system p6 servers.  xCAT, just
trying to make the world a greener place.

* Improved AIX diskless support - much better performance and scalability.

* Cluster performance monitoring solution that uses a combination of
rmc, rrdtool, and xcat.

* And much more, see the release notes.