PolyServe® Matrix Server Release Notes PolyServe® Matrix Server 3.1.
Copyright © 2004-2006 PolyServe, Inc. Use, reproduction and distribution of this document and the software it describes are subject to the terms of the software license agreement distributed with the product (“License Agreement”). Any use, reproduction, or distribution of this document or the described software not explicitly permitted pursuant to the License Agreement is strictly prohibited unless prior written permission from PolyServe has been received.
Contents PolyServe Matrix Server Contents of the Matrix Server 3.1.2 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Contents of the Matrix Server 3.1.1 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 New Features in Matrix Server 3.1.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Implementation Changes in Matrix Server 3.1.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 PolyServe Kernel Patches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PolyServe Matrix Server Contents of the Matrix Server 3.1.2 Release Matrix Server 3.1.2 includes the following new features: • A configurable Global Event Delay for device monitors. The delay can minimize unwanted failover/failback operations that can occur when a monitor becomes active after it has been down on all servers. • New mx server markdown command that can be used to tell Matrix Server that a server is down and does not need to be fenced.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 2 With this defect repaired, the DLM now correctly detects the unavailability of the node network address and aborts the product startup properly. • Defect 12381. Multiple processes could hang while attempting to perform write operations. • Defect 12385. Down nodes were included in aggregate values on the Performance Dashboard. • Defect 12389. Unwanted failover/failback operations occurred when a monitor became active after it had been down on all servers.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 3 • Defect 12507. After a server was fenced, an alert stating that the server should be rebooted did not always appear on the PolyServe Management Console. • Defect 12522. A method was needed to notify Matrix Server that a node is down and does not need to be fenced. • Defect 12528. UIDs used for the MSA 1500, EVA 3000, EVA 6000 and EVA 8000 arrays needed to be upgraded to the new format used by Matrix Server. • Defect 12567.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 4 continue to collect performance data from the cluster. This caused intra-cluster bandwidth consumption to go up needlessly. • Defect 12875. A flaw in mxregd’s recovery processing could cause it to not finish, which would then cause dependent components of the system to not function. • Defect 12877. The perfservice logs grew too large and could eventually fill the /var filesystem. • Defect 12892.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 5 • Defect 13241. The mx matrix destroy command could cause SANPulse to core dump. • Defect 13300. Sanpulse could terminate unexpectedly, causing MatrixServer to shut down on the node. • Defect 13316. A disk that temporarily appeared to have a different UID caused Matrix Server to shut down. • Defect 13345. mxcheck did not verify that the operating system was for a supported machine architecture. • Defect 13457.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 6 • Defect 13972. Snapshot support was enabled for new firmware on HP EVA arrays. Contents of the Matrix Server 3.1.1 Release This release includes the following new features: • A Performance Dashboard that can be used for monitoring activities such as cluster-wide resource utilization and PSFS filesystem I/O traffic. • Support for EVA snapclones.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 7 • Defect 11032. The wildcard was not a valid entry in the search field on the “Users/Groups to Add” window. • Defect 11034. The Quota Properties dialog did not always show both the owner account name and the filesystem label. • Defect 11067. On the Applications tab, a “drag and drop” operation could remove a virtual host or device monitor configured on only one server. A service monitor could also be removed. • Defect 11113.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 8 • Defect 11281. mxconfig could create more than one UI connection to ClusterPulse, causing the Management Console to crash. • Defect 11325. It was sometimes necessary to expand the top-level Matrix element on the Management Console in order to see matrix entities such as filesystems. • Defect 11420. Problems with message-queue handling could cause a temporary slowdown of Matrix Server administrative operations or could cause Matrix Server to shut down on a server.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 9 • Defect 11721. The mx service enable and mx service disable commands did not report an error when the network interfaces were not specified in the command. • Defect 11768. The--up and --down options to the mx netif status command did not work correctly. • Defect 11774. The operation to destroy a snapshot did not always complete successfully. • Defect 11831.When the Properties dialog was opened for a SHARED_FILESYSTEM monitor, a space was added to the file name.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 10 • New Emulex and QLogic HBA drivers as described in the PolyServe Matrix Server Hardware and Software Compatibility Guide. Implementation Changes in Matrix Server 3.1.0 The following implementation changes have been made in this release: • The Management Console has been enhanced with new icons and features for improved presentation and control.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 11 – An option to extend a mounted filesystem that is not using all of the available space on the underlying volume. – An option to run psfsck in read-only mode. • The Management Console now supports application tags, which you can use to group virtual hosts, service monitors and device monitors. You can view the status of applications on the Applications tab and quickly locate any underlying resources that are experiencing problems.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 12 Open Issues and Workarounds The following open issues affect Matrix Server operations. Matrix Server Defect Description 982 Service monitor attempts to start before filesystem is mounted PSFS filesystems can be configured to be mounted automatically when the system is booted. This configuration is called a persistent mount.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 13 Defect Description 1717 Management Console does not display persistent mounts Certain error conditions can cause a server to lose access to a PSFS filesystem. When you unmount the evicted filesystem, the Management Console no longer displays persistent mount information for that filesystem. You will need to log out of the Management Console and then log back in to see the information.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 14 Defect Description 7823 Password prompt requires old password When you change the admin password on the Management Console and then export it to other servers in the matrix, you will be prompted for the password on those servers. You will need to specify the old password, not the newly assigned password. (The old password is in effect on the servers until the export operation is complete.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 15 Defect Description 8473 mxcheck asks for FibreChannel switch information When mxcheck is run, it asks for the names or addresses of the FibreChannel switches in the matrix. It uses this information to test the access to the switches. If you will not be placing FibreChannel switches under matrix control, or you do not want to test switch access at this time, simply press Enter at the prompt. mxcheck will then continue to execute.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 16 Defect Description 9615 Nodes stall waiting for locks If you are seeing alerts stating that nodes are stalled waiting for locks for a particular filesystem, the filesystem may be experiencing contention on Full Zone Bitmaps. To aid in diagnosing this problem, determine whether the following apply: • Full Zone Bitmaps (FZBMs) are enabled on the filesystem.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 17 Defect Description 10191 Using hostnames in .matrixrc file can cause connection delays When servers are specified by hostname in the .matrixrc file, long connection delays (possibly minutes per hostname entry) can occur if there is a slow or unresponsive DNS server on the network. During this time, the Management Console and mx commands might be unresponsive.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 18 Defect Description Complete the following steps: 1. Locate the following line in the mxinit.conf file: # grpcommd_start_options = { "--nodaemon", "--signalparent" }; 2. Remove the “#” symbol at the beginning of the line to uncomment it. 3. Add “--multicast 255.255.255.255” near the end of the line. Be sure to insert a comma after the “--signalparent” option. For example: grpcommd_start_options = { "--nodaemon", "--signalparent", "--multicast 255.255.255.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 19 Defect Description 12019 mxconsole RPM does not detect previous installation The mxconsole-3.1.2-.i586.rpm provided with the 64-bit version of Matrix Server does not detect a previous installation of the RPM, allowing it to be installed more than once. Before installing the 3.1.2 Management Console, be sure that it is not already installed on your system.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 20 Defect Description 12778 Emulex LUN discovery is not optimal For Emulex adapters, ensure that LUNs are being discovered by the operating system when the FC driver loads. System files such as /proc/scsi/device_info may need to be configured for your storage. 13594 Matrix Server requires that local passwd and group files be used Matrix Server requires that the pmxs user and group be present in the local /etc/passwd and /etc/group files.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 21 Defect Description 14136 mxmpconf command does not add membership partitions The mxmpconf command does not work correctly when it is used to add a membership partition. Workaround. Use the following command to add a new membership partition. Matrix Server cannot be running on any nodes of the cluster when you invoke the command. $ mprepair --add_partition PSuid/partition_number You can use the sandiskinfo command to obtain the disk uid and partition number.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 22 Defect Description 455 Parent dentries are not revalidated During path lookups, the operating system does not revalidate parent dentries when they are specified as ʺ..ʺ components. The operating system assumes that the parent dentry associated with ʺ..ʺ is always valid; however, this is not always the case in a distributed environment. For example, server A may have a process that executes cd /a/b/c.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 23 Defect Description 5024 QLogic HBA driver can disable HBAs When the qla driver is unable to log into the FC switch for a long period of time (about 50 minutes), the driver can disable the HBA. When the switch is restored, the HBA remains disabled. You will need to reboot the node to re-enable the HBA. 5814 QLogic driver can exhaust kernel memory Under certain high-stress I/O conditions, the QLogic FibreChannel driver can exhaust kernel memory.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 24 Defect Description If you log into the switch with “admin start” while Matrix Server is running, this switch problem can affect fencing operations and may cause the matrix to hang. Workaround. Avoid putting the switch into “admin start” mode while Matrix Server is running. If it is necessary to use this mode while Matrix Server is running, limit the use of the mode as much as possible.
Using Oracle with PolyServe Matrix Server PolyServe Matrix Server has undergone a high degree of Oracle performance and stress testing by the PolyServe Database Engineering team. See the PolyServe Web site for the recommended Oracle release for use with PolyServe Matrix Server. Asynchronous I/O Support While certain Linux distributions may support Asynchronous I/O for raw partitions and non-clustered filesystems, these implementations are not supported on clustered filesystems.
PolyServe Matrix Server Release Notes 26 • disk_async_io = FALSE • _lgwr_async_io = FALSE • _dbwr_async_io = FALSE If 10 DBWR slaves are not sufficient for a given workload, the Oracle session wait event “free buffer waits” will be a predominant wait event as reported through statspack or utlestat.sql. To address this, simply increase the value assigned to the init.ora parameter dbwr_io_slaves. Copyright © 1999-2006 PolyServe, Inc. All rights reserved.
