Following are some of the new features introduced in ScaleIO Ready Node 2.5.
AMS support for PowerEdge 14G Servers
- AMS now manages and orchestrates ScaleIO Ready Node deployments based on PowerEdge 14G configurations.
- AMS now provides flexible NIC selection for 14G (and 13G) nodes during the following networking configuration activities:
- Deployment - data network configuration.
- Compute network configuration.
AMS management takeover of non-managed nodes
The AMS can "take ownership" of all the nodes on an existing ScaleIO Ready Node system that is currently running ScaleIO without AMS management. When the process is complete, all the servers in the system are managed with the AMS.
The take-ownership process is performed from the ScaleIO GUI together with AMS CLI/ REST command.
This feature is only supported when all of the following are present:
- PowerEdge 13G or 14G based ScaleIO Ready Nodes.
- ESXi 6.0 U3, ESXi 6.5 U1, RHEL 7.3, or RHEL 7.4.
- AMS supported networking architectures.
Firmware patching
- During deployment, AMS will patch any 13G or 14G based ScaleIO Ready Nodes with the latest approved firmware. New nodes will be automatically aligned to the latest firmware versions upon deployment.
Simplified deployment of ScaleIO Ready Nodes
With ScaleIO AMS 2.5, during deployment, you can perform the following:
- Configure DNS and NTP server addresses for all the ScaleIO OS images and hypervisors.
- Assign a name label to each node.
- Assign a location label to each node.
- Assign comments to nodes for troubleshooting purposes.
- New deployment UI provides the ability to select all, apply to all, and filter by S/N or by name.
AMS recovery improvements
Recovering an AMS server that has gone down now includes recovery of all of its nodes, as well as vCenter and ESRS information. The improved process is achieved by saving a backup of the current AMS configuration files on the MDM nodes that use them. This shortens the recovery time significantly and eliminates the need to scan nodes to build the repository.
AMS log collection improvements
You can collect logs in a ScaleIO Ready Node AMS environment using the GUI, AMS CLI, and REST API. Log collection has been enhanced in the following ways:
- In addition to the ScaleIO and AMS logs, now RAID controller, iDRAC and OS logs (including ESXi) are collected.
- You can make on-the-fly selection of which logs types to collect and on which nodes.
- The multi-phase collection process enables you to know log file size and to manage space and resource limits before they occur.
- In the deployment wizard, a log collection button was added to simplify collecting logs during this process.
Compute and network feature enhancements
- vSphere 6.5 is now supported.
- Networking flexibility enhancements:
- Any port, on any node, can now be selected for Compute networking use.
- Up to 3 vSwitches/ DVS can now be configured.
- Up to 10 VM networks can now be configured per vSwitch/ DVS.
- User experience improvements.
For more details please refer the following:
ScaleIO 2.5 Release Notes (Login required)
ScaleIO Ready Node - PowerEdge 14G - documentation (Login required)
ScaleIO Ready Node - PowerEdge 13G - documentation (Login required)