2.13 What’s New (OES 2 SP2)

In addition to bug fixes, the following changes and enhancements were made for Novell Cluster Services for Linux in OES 2 SP2.

2.13.1 Improved Error Reporting

This release provides improved error reporting for file protocol errors.

2.13.2 Improved Time Calculations

This release improves the way time is calculated so that the inter-packet gap between two heartbeat packets is reduced.

This means that you will observe an increase in the instances of packets incrementing the 0x (less than one second) counter, and a decrease in the instances of packets incrementing the 1x (between one second and two seconds) counter.

For example:

cluster stats display
Report taken: startTime= Thu Jul 23 13:16:33 2009, 
        endTime= Mon Jul 27 08:44:36 2009
        node=5, name=Cluster_06, heartbeat=1, tolerance=8
        0x=645550, 1x=6, 2x=1, 3x=2, 5x=2

2.13.3 Specifying the Size of the SBD Partition

When you configure the SBD partition during the cluster configuration of a new cluster (as described in Configuring a New Cluster), you can now specify the size of the partition.

2.13.4 Customizing Translation Syntax

Beginning in OES 2 SP2, Novell Cluster Services allows you to customize the translation syntax that is used for load and unload scripts in mixed-platform situations by defining new syntax translations in the /var/opt/novell/ncs/customized_translation_syntax file that you create. The clstrlib.py script reads the additional translation syntax from the syntax file, and processes them in addition to the normal translations in the Cluster Translation Library. For information, see Customizing the Translation Syntax for Converting Load and Unload Scripts in the OES 2 SP3: Novell Cluster Services NetWare to Linux Conversion Guide.

2.13.5 Migration Tool Support for Cluster Configurations

Support was added for migrating services and data in cluster configurations by using the OES 2 SP2 Migration Tool. For instructions on using the Migration Tool to migrate services and data, see the OES 2 SP3: Migration Tool Administration Guide.

2.13.6 New iFolder Resource Template

The Novell iFolder 3.x resource template has been modified for OES 2 SP2. For information about using the new template, see Section 6.4.1, Updating the iFolder Resource Template.

2.13.7 Removed MPK Calls from the Code

MPK calls were removed from the Novell Cluster Services code. The MPK calls were replaced with POSIX and Linux functions. These changes were made in support of the MPK calls being removed from the Novell Storage Services (NSS) file system software to achieve performance enhancements for the NSS file system.

2.13.8 Cluster Restart Is No Longer Required in a Rolling Cluster Upgrade

In the OES 2 SP1 release, a cluster restart was required at the end of a rolling cluster upgrade in order to properly update the names of the nodes, as described in Section 2.14.3, Behavior Change for Adding a Node. This issue was resolved in OES 2 SP2. The rolling cluster upgrade process no long requires a cluster restart.