R6.0 Release Notes

ISO image

The pre-built ISO and Docker images for StarlingX release 6.0 are located at the StarlingX mirror.

Branch

The source code for StarlingX release 6.0 is available in the r/stx.6.0 branch in the StarlingX repositories.

Deployment

A system install is required to deploy StarlingX release 6.0. There is no upgrade path from previous StarlingX releases. For detailed instructions, see the R6.0 Installation Guides.

New features and enhancements

The list below provides a detailed list of new features and links to the associated user guides (if applicable).

• Kernel Upversion to 5.10

  StarlingX now supports kernel version 5.10 to include VRF and the user space tooling to configure the routing and forwarding interfaces.

  Guide: https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/networking/vrf.txt

• Platform Certificates Managed by Cert-Manager

  Platform services can now use cert-manager to simplify the management (e.g. auto-renewals) of the following Platform certificates:

  • RESTAPI /GUI certificate

  • registry.local certificate

  • OIDC/DEX certificate

  Guides:

  • Create a local CA Issuer

  • Configure REST API Applications and Web Administration Server Certificate

  • Configure Docker Registry Certificate

  • Set up OIDC Auth Applications

  • OIDC Client Dex Server Certificates

• Management of Kubernetes Root CA Certificate

  You can update Kubernetes Root CA certificate on a running system, with either an uploaded certificate or an auto-generated certificate. Orchestration is also provided for both Cloud and Distributed Cloud.

  Guides:

  • Manual Kubernetes Root CA Certificate Update

  • Kubernetes Root CA Certificate Update Cloud Orchestration

• Auditd support

  The Linux Auditing System helps system administrators track security violation events based on preconfigured audit rules. The events are recorded in a log file and the information in the log entries helps to detect misuse or unauthorized activities.

  The Linux Audit daemon, auditd, is the main component of the Linux Auditing System, and is responsible for writing the audit logs.

  Guide: Linux Auditing System

• Alarm Support for Expiring and Expired Certificates

  Expired certificates may prevent the proper operation of platform and applications running on the platform. In order to avoid expired certificates, StarlingX generates alarms for certificates that are within 30 days (default) of expiry or have already expired.

  Guide: Expiring-Soon and Expired Certificate Alarms

• Make a separate CA for Kubernetes and etcd

  This is the etcd Root CA certificate. It signs etcd server and client certificates, and kube-apiserver etcd client certificate. This is also the CA certificate used to verify various server and client certificates signed by etcd Root CA certificate. You can now provide a separate Root CA for Kubernetes and etcd.

  Guide: Etcd Certificates

• Support for stx-ceph-manager

• Ceph upversion from Mimic to Nautilus

  Upgraded the supported Ceph version to Nautilus (14.2.22).

  Guide: N/A

• Firmware Update for BMC and Retimer

  The firmware for Intel MAX 10 BMC and C827 retimer can now be updated using the device-image-upload command. A new option --retimer-included <true/false> has been added where a boolean indicates whether the BMC firmware includes a retimer firmware. A new parameter --bmc <true/false> is added to specify the functional BMC image (optional).

  Guide: Update an N3000 FPGA Image

• AIO-SX to AIO-DX Migration

  You can migrate an AIO-SX subcloud to an AIO-DX subcloud without reinstallation. This operation involves updating the system mode, adding the OAM unit IP addresses of each controller, and installing the second controller.

  Guide: Migrate an AIO-SX to an AIO-DX Subcloud

• Distributed Cloud Subcloud Rehoming

  You can move subclouds from one Distributed Cloud system to another while the current System Controller is reinstalled in a disaster recovery scenario. Another use case for the subcloud rehoming process is to add already deployed subclouds when the subclouds from multiple System Controllers are being consolidated into a single System Controller, because the rehoming playbook does not work with freshly installed/bootstrapped subclouds.

  Guide: Rehome a Subcloud

• Container Component Upversion

  The default version of a fresh install for Kubernetes is 1.21.8, while for an upgrade from 5.0, it will be 1.18.1. You will need to upgrade Kubernetes to each version up to 1.21.8 in order to be ready to upgrade to the next version of StarlingX.

  Guide: Manual Kubernetes Version Upgrade

• Use pf-bb-config to configure Intel FPGA N3000

  The pf-bb-config package is used to statically configure the baseband device within N3000 devices.

  Guide: N3000 FPGA Overview

• AIO-SX: Support for pci device/NIC replacement without host reinstall

  For replacement of N3000 or ACC100 device on a host, without requiring a host or system (in case of AIO-SX) re-install and re-configuration, in the case of the replaced device having different vendor or device ID information, see N3000 and ACC100 replacement with different vendor or device-id.

  For the replacement of a N3000 or ACC100 device on a host, without requiring a host or system (in case of AIO-SX) re-install and re-configuration, in the case of the replaced device having the same vendor and device ID information, see N3000 and ACC100 replacement with the same vendor and device-id.

  For the replacement of a NIC on a host, without requiring a host or system (in case of AIO-SX) re-install and re-configuration, in the case of the replaced NIC having the same vendor or device ID information, see NIC replacement with the same vendor and device-id.

  For the replacement of a NIC on a host, without requiring a host or system (in case of AIO-SX) re-install and re-configuration, in the case of the replaced NIC having different vendor or device ID information, see NIC replacement with a different vendor or device-id.

• Allow admin password change without controller host lock

  In a subcloud, if the CLI command returns an authentication after you source the script /etc/platform/openrc, you can verify the password on the subcloud by using the env | grep OS_PASSWORD command. If it returns the old password, you will need to run the keyring set CGCS admin command and provide the new admin password.

• Subcloud Deployment with Local Installation

  Subcloud Install is enhanced to support a local install option for Redfish supported servers that are “Prestaged” with a valid install bundle.

  Prestaging can be done manually or automated by building a self-installing “Prestaging ISO” image using the gen-prestaged-is.sh tool. This tool accepts parameters that include install bundle components and produces a “Prestaging ISO”.

  Guide: Subcloud Deployment with Local Installation

Bug status

Fixed bugs

This release provides fixes for a number of defects. Refer to the StarlingX bug database to review the R6.0 fixed defects.

Known limitations

The following are known limitations in this release. Workarounds are suggested where applicable. Note that these limitations are considered temporary and will likely be resolved in a future release.

• N/A

Release Information for other versions

You can find details about a release on the specific release page.

Version	Release Date	Notes	Status
StarlingX R6.0	2021-12	https://docs.starlingx.io/r/stx.6.0/releasenotes/index.html	Maintained
StarlingX R5.0.1	2021-09	https://docs.starlingx.io/r/stx.5.0/releasenotes/index.html	Maintained
StarlingX R5.0	2021-05	https://docs.starlingx.io/r/stx.5.0/releasenotes/index.html	Maintained
StarlingX R4.0	2020-08		EOL
StarlingX R3.0	2019-12		EOL
StarlingX R2.0.1	2019-10		EOL
StarlingX R2.0	2019-09		EOL
StarlingX R12.0	2018-10		EOL

StarlingX follows the release maintenance timelines in the StarlingX Release Plan.

The Status column uses OpenStack maintenance phase definitions.