Red Hat is pleased to announce the availability of the
*beta* release of 5.4 (kernel-2.6.18-155.el5) for the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 family of products including:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Advanced Platform for x86,
AMD64/Intel(r) 64, Itanium Processor Family, Power
Systems and System z
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server for x86,
AMD64/Intel(r) 64, Itanium Processor Family, Power
Systems and System z
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop for x86 and
AMD64/Intel(r)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 is in development and therefore the
contents of the beta media kit, the implemented features, and the
supported configurations are subject to change before the release
of the final product. The supplied beta packages and CD and DVD
images are intended for testing purposes only. Remember that
this early access software is not supported and is not intended
for production environments. Benchmark and performance results
cannot be published based on this beta release without explicit
approval from Red Hat.
While anaconda's "upgrade" option will perform an upgrade from
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 or 5.3 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.4 beta, there is no guarantee that the upgrade will preserve
all of a system's settings, services, and custom configurations.
For this reason, Red Hat recommends that you perform a fresh
installation rather than an upgrade. Upgrading from beta
release to the GA product is not supported.
The beta testing period is scheduled to continue through
August 13th, 2009.
Table of Contents
-----------------
Features
Technology Previews
Accessing the Software
Installation-Related Known Issues
Additional Information
Lifecycle
Documentation
Defect Reporting
Mailing Lists
Features
--------
This beta includes the following improvements:
* Hypervisor
+ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 includes full support for the KVM
(Kernel-based Virtual Machine) hypervisor. KVM is integrated
into the Linux kernel, providing a virtualization platform that
takes full advantage of the stability, features, and hardware
enablement inherent in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A wide variety
of guest operating systems are supported, including Red Hat
Enterprise Linux (versions 3-5) and Microsoft Windows (XP,
Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008). Guest operating
systems, both 32-bit and 64-bit, run without modification.
Paravirtualized disk and network drivers are provided for
enhanced I/O performance. All libvirt based tools such as virsh,
virt-install, and virt-manager support KVM.
The KVM feature is supported on x86_64 architecture hardware
platforms that employ Intel VT or AMD-V virtualization
technologies.
Note: Xen-based virtualization is included and fully supported.
However, users are strongly recommended to run only one
hypervisor at a time.
* Cluster Improvements
+ Power Systems LPAR enablement
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Advanced Platform features
(Cluster Suite GFS/GFS2) are now available on Power Systems
platform under LPAR configuration. LPAR based clusters cannot be
mixed cluster nodes of other architectures. This feature is
Technology Preview
+ SAP Resource agents
- New SAP resources agents for SAP instance and SAP database
+ Virtual Machines
- Virtual machine (vm.sh) resource agent now uses libvirt
+ Fencing improvements:
- New fencing agent for Cisco MDS SAN switches
- New fencing agent for IBM LPAR instances via HMC
* Desktop Enhancements
+ Updated ALSA audio infrastructure
- enablement for new HD audio chipsets
+ Laptop
- Improvements for docking and undocking with CDROM in dock
+ Updated graphics drivers
- Updates to i810, intel, mga, ati, and nv drivers
- New rs880 enablement
* System Enhancements
+ FUSE is fully supported
- New kernel FUSE enablers and userspace tools are present and
fully supported. However, Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not
currently include any FUSE based file systems
+ Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) enablement includes new
utilities to ease the configuration of FCoE on standard NICs.
This feature is a Technology Preview
* Tool Enhancements
+ SystemTap - New kernel tracepoints added
+ OProfile - enablement for measurements in Java runtime
environments
* Security Enhancements
+ GnuPG-2 is included to support for FIPS 140-2 Level 1 requirements
+ FIPS 140-2 target candidate
- openssl, openssh, libgcrypt, fipscheck, openswan, hmaccalc
* Kernel Improvements
+ General Platform Support
- Added T-state notification enablement to acpi
- Updated docking driver for laptop docks
+ Arch Specific Support
- i386
- Added a synthetic TSC_RELIABLE feature bit
- Added MAP_STACK mmap flag
- Added nonstop_tsc flag in /proc/cpuinfo
- Added asm-x86_64 in i686-devel package
- Fixed memmap=X$Y does not yield new map
- Added Intel cpu 0x6f4 to perfctr1 workaround
- Re-enabled support on blacklisted boxes
- Exported powernow-k8 module parameters via sysfs
- x86_64
- Fixed int $0x80 -ENOSYS return
- Fixed panic if AMD cpu_khz is wrong
- PPC64
- Updated spufs' cell to the upstream for RHEL-5.4
- Enabled ibm,req#msi-x
- Enabled power button on blades
- Updated libspe/elfspe for Cell broadband engine management
- System Z (s390)
- Added additional card IDs to CEX2C and CEX2A
- Added Call Home data
- Added FCP performance data collection
- Added ioctls to SCSI generic devices
- Added EMC ioctl to the dasd driver
- Disabled cpu topology by default
- Upgraded version of hvc_console
- Added hvc_iucv: z/VM IUCV hypervisor console support
- Added extra kernel parameters via VMPARM
- Added NSS Support
- Added processor degradation capability
- Added ap z90crypt adapter interrupt capability
- Updated s390utils to 1.8.1
+ New kernel features include:
- Added private futexes
- Added preempt-notifiers implementation
- Included tracepoint/markers infrastructure
- Added response oriented wake up behavior to scheduler
- Fixed gettimeofday for HPET, PMTimer, TSC
- Updated NMI infrastructure to latest
- Enabled deep C states for idle efficiency for Intel's
Tylersburg chipset
- Added extend MCE banks enablement for Intel's Dunnington,
Nehalem processors
- Added ACPI tstate enablement (processor throttling control)
- Updated AMD IOMMU driver enablement for KVM and Xen
- Added Intel VT-d driver enablement for KVM and Xen
- Added SR-I/OV enablement for KVM and Xen
- Enhanced Partition Statistics
- Enabled CIFS' DFS and update CIFS to latest
- Updated Autofs4 to the latest
- Increased stack size for ia32 application
- Added kprobe-booster and return probe-booster
- Added PCI domain
- Added RAID 4/5/10 in dm-raid
+ Driver Support for Driver Updates
- Network Driver Update
- Added bonding of IPoIB interfaces to bonding driver
- Added broadcom cnic driver
- Added cnic enablement to bnx2
- Added igbvf new driver, enable 82576 virtual functions
- Added GRO feature to cxgb3 driver
- Added GRO feature to igb driver
- Added GRO feature to ixgbe driver
- Added GRO interfaces to vlan capability
- Updated cxgb3 driver for RHEL-5.4
- Updated enic driver to version 1.0.0.933
- Updated ath5k driver to F10 version
- Updated I/O AT to upstream 2.6.24
- Updated bnx2 driver to latest upstream - 1.9.3
- Updated bnx2x driver to 1.48.105
- Updated igb driver to upstream version 1.3.16-k2
- Added PF driver to igb
- Added VF driver to igb
- Updated bonding driver to upstream version 3.4.0
- Updated ixgbe driver to upstream version 2.0.8-k2
- Enabled 825559 (Niantic)
- Updated forcedeth to upstream version 0.62
- Updated sky2 driver for RHEL-5.4
- Updated tg3 to version 3.96
- Updated e1000e to version 1.0.2-k2 and enable Hanksville
- Storage Driver Updates
- Added UIO framework from upstream
- Added bitmap merge feature
- Added ALUA scsi device handler
- Added bnx2i iscsi driver
- Added cxgb3i iscsi driver
- Added LSI storage IDs
- Added md3000 and md3000i entries to rdac_dev_list
- Added mpt2sas driver
- Added netlink msg to iscsi IF to enable offload
- Updated aacraid driver to 1.1.5-2461
- Updated aic7xxx driver to increase max IO size
- Updated cciss driver
- Updated fnic fcoe driver
- Updated ipr driver to enable MSI-X interrupt
- Updated iscsi layer and drivers
- Updated libfc/fcoe
- Updated lpfc driver from version 8.2.0.38 to 8.2.0.43
- Updated MPT fusion: to version 3.04.07rh v2
- Updated megaraid driver/megasas to 4.08-RH1
- Updated mvsas to appropriate upstream changes
- Updated qla2xxx with production FCoE firmware and enablement
- Updated qla4xxx driver fault recovery
- MISC Driver Updates
- Added pci ids for new video cards
- Updated HDA driver for RHEL-5.4
- Added i5400 EDAC driver capability
- Added enablement for SB800 SMBus
- Added enablement for the Broadcom HT1100 chipset for
i2c-piix4
- Added enablement for XRC queues
- Updated core code to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated cxgb3 driver to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated ehca driver
- Updated ipath driver to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated IPoIB to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated iw_nes driver NES iWARP to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated mlx4 mlx4_ib and mlx4_core, add mlx4_en
- Updated mthca driver to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated qlgc_vnic driver to OFED 1.4.1
- Added the RDS protocol to OFED
- Updated rdma headers to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated SDP to OFED 1.4.1
- Updated SRP to OFED 1.4.1
- Added HP xw460c to bf sort pci list
- Added a new function to map BAR offsets
- Added pci*_selected_region/pci_enable_device_io|mem
- Added remove_id sysfs entry
- New SR-IOV API for Physical Function driver
- New initialize and release SR-IOV capability
- Added enablement for PCIe ARI capability
- Updated hpilo driver for RHEL-5.4
- Updated dm9601 driver to upstream fixes for 5.4
- Added enablement for Huawei's mode switch in kernel
- Updated efifb driver
Technology Previews
-------------------
Technology Preview features are included in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux to provide them with wide exposure. It is Red Hat's goal
to support these features in a future release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux. Technology Preview features are not supported
under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 subscription services and may
not be functionally complete. Red Hat welcomes customer
feedback and suggestions for Technology Previews. Advisories
will be provided for high-severity security issues in Technology
Preview features.
The following Technology Preview features are new or enhanced in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 beta. See the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.4 Release Notes for more information.
- Support for Emulex Tiger Shark converged network adapter
+ new be2net driver
- support LRO in be2net driver
- FCoE
+ FCoE on standard NICs remains a Technology Preview. New tools
in the fcoe-utils component make it easier to configure FCoE
on standard NICs. FCoE on converged network adapters remain
fully supported.
- SystemTap kernel tracepoints
+ add tracepoints to vm
+ add tracepoints to blktrace
+ add tracepoints to sunrpc
+ add tracepoints for network socket
+ add tracepoints for page cache
+ add tracepoints to scheduler
+ add dropmonitor protocol and network tracepoints
- ext4 file system / e4fsprogs
+ The ext4 filesystem Technology Preview has been refreshed
with the updated userspace tools. The ext4 filesystems are now
tagged as "ext4" instead of "ext4dev" as in the prior release.
- GCC 4.4
+ new command switches for optimizer improvements
+ OpenMP3 conformance for C, C++, and Fortran
- malloc
+ A secondary malloc implementation in glibc that is enabled
if the MALLOC_PER_THREAD environment variable is present. This
malloc implementation is a Technology Preview. The original
malloc implementation is invoked when the environment variable
is not present and is fully supported.
- CIFS DFS support
- samba3x and ctdb
+ samba3x and ctdb are provided as a Technology Preview. These
features are currently available only on the x86_64 platform.
Samba3x package provides Samba 3.3 and ctdb provides a
clustered TDB backend. Running samba3x and ctdb on a set of
cluster nodes with GFS file system will allow the export of a
clustered CIFS filesystem. These components are provided in
an alternate child channel since they conflict with files
installed from the samba package in the Server
groups.
- SPICE X11 driver
+ The SPICE X11 driver (xorg-x11-drv-qxl) is considered to be
Technology Preview
- Clustering with KVM hypervisor
+ Cluster Suite tools have been upgraded to enable automatic
hypervisor detection, but running cluster suite in conjunction
with KVM hypervisor is a Technology Preview.
- Clustering on System P (LPAR)
+ Cluster Suite tools have been upgraded to enable fencing via
HMC. Cluster Suite and GFS/GFS2 on LPARs but is a Technology
Preview.
GPL Version 3 Licensed Components
---------------------------------
The following packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 are
licensed under GNU General Public License Version 3 (GPLv3):
* gcc44-4.4.0-6.el5
* gcc44-c++-4.4.0-6.el5
* gcc44-gfortran-4.4.0-6.el5
* gdb-6.8-23.el5
* lftp-3.7.11-4.el5
The following are licensed with GPLV3 with GCC Runtime
Exception noted here:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gcc-exception.html
* libgfortran44-4.4.0-6.el5
* libstdc++44-devel-4.4.0-6.el5
* libgomp-4.4.0-6.el5
Installing the Software / Installation Numbers
----------------------------------------------
The ISO images contain the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 core
and optional components. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 requires
users to enter an Installation Number that guides the Installer
to include the correct components. In the GA release, the
Installation Number will be associated with your subscription
entitlement. If you plan to install multiple systems using a
kickstart file, you can embed an Installation Number in that
kickstart file.
If an Installation Number is not entered, a core Server or
Desktop will be installed by default. Additional functionality
can be added manually or via RHN at a later time.
The following installation numbers should be used for the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.4 beta release:
Server:
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux (Server including virtualization):
2515-dd4e-2152-25dd
+ Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform:
49af-8941-4d14-7589
Client:
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop:
6602-66e2-6741-9c67
+ Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop + Workstation Option:
da31-22af-db7e-dd23
+ Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop + Workstation + Multi OS
Option (Virtualization):
7fcc-4355-7e9b-bc42
+ Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop + Multi OS Option
(Virtualization):
fed6-7649-ff91-8c77
Known Issues
------------
The following are known issues in the beta release:
440240 - request to add chroot sftp capabilty into openssh-server
502573 - blktrace run makes the machine unresponsive
502901 - glibc: malloc() is not thread safe
503719 - %postun(rhnsd-4.6.1-1.el5.i386) scriptlet failed, exit
status 6
504091 - X cannot start with installed qxl driver
504335 - GFS2: SPECsfs workload runs on BIGI test bed failing at
data laydown time
504704 - dlfcn.h fails pedantic tests
506140 - GFS2: Filesystem deadlock when running SPECsfs on BIGI
test bed
506511 - performance regression running Iozone with different I/O
options on RHEL54 kernels
506742 - Problem reaching default gateway when IP is changed
506792 - Update lpfc to version 8.2.0.46 (fixes
only)
506898 - Installer prompts for network info when running on system
with 1 CPU and <=2G of storage
506973 - openswan has depsolving problems, yum update fails
507378 - update Scalar::Util to the latest cpan release
507596 - "fsck.gfs2: invalid option -- a" on boot when mounting root
formated as gfs2
507891 - Installation freezes on ia64/xen/fv
507893 - /sbin/mount.gfs2: can't find /proc/mounts entry for
directory /
508074 - rpm -Va --root /external_folder fails sometimes
508404 - LRO/Jumbo frame: Support the Emulex Tiger Shark adapter
508806 - GFS2 panics while shrinking the glock cache.
508840 - puplet not functioning - yum-updatesd hangs on user
logout/login
- KVM hypervisor cannot be selected as an option during a graphical
install. Kickstart based installs can select the appropriate
group "@kvm".
- FUSE kernel module is not present in the beta release
Please consult the Beta Release Notes for any other known issues.
Additional Information
----------------------
Additional information is provided below on Documentation,
Bug Reporting, Mailing Lists, and Package Version List.
Thank you for participating in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4
beta program.
Sincerely,
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Team
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation
-------------
Release notes for this beta are available on the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 site at:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/
The Release Notes are also on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
installed system in the redhat-release-notes package.
Bug Reporting
-------------
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Beta testers who have assigned
Technical Account Managers (TAMs) should report all bugs with
this beta release using your current Issue Tracker account.
All other beta users should report bugs using Red Hat's
Bugzilla. To report and query for bugs in this Beta release,
you need a Bugzilla account with access to the "Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5" product.
To report a bug via Bugzilla:
1. Login to the Bugzilla home page at http://bugzilla.redhat.com.
If you don't have an existing account, simply create one by
going to this page:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/createaccount.cgi
2. On the Bugzilla home page, choose the "New" tab. Proceed to
Step 3, "Choosing Your Product" by clicking that button at
the bottom of the page.
3. Choose Product "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5".
4. Choose Version "5.4".
5. Choose the component against which you wish to report a
problem, such as kernel, glibc, etc. If you do not know the
component or want to file a bug against the general product,
choose "distribution" as the component.
6. Choose the platform, such as: "All", "x86_64", etc.
7. Provide the information about the problem you're reporting
by entering information in the appropriate fields. In the
Summary field, provide a clear and descriptive abstract of
the issue. In the Description field, state clearly that you
are using a *Beta* package and provide the full package
versions of any components you are experiencing problems
with (as packages may be updated).
8. Check to make sure that all information is accurate and
click the "Commit" button to submit your problem report.
Mailing Lists
-------------
Red Hat has a public mailing list for communication during
this and all future Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 beta programs.
* rhelv5-announce redhat com
A low-volume, moderated, announcement-only mailing list.
Red Hat will use this list to communicate one-way
information about Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 beta programs,
such as notifications when releases are available or
solicitations for beta feedback. Subscribe at:
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhelv5-announce
* rhelv5-beta-list redhat com
A public general discussion mailing list for beta testers
of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 releases. Subscribe at:
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhelv5-beta-list
Package Version List
--------------------
New packages added in this release include:
blktrace
blktrace is a block layer IO tracing mechanism.
etherboot
A network bootloader used for support Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
platforms
fcoe-utils
Utilities for fibre channel over ethernet
libhbaapi
SNIA HBAAPI library, used by fcoe-utils
libhbalinux
SNIA HBAAPI vendor library, used by fcoe-utils
libpciaccess
Abstraction layer for PCI access, used by libhbalinux
fuse
FUSE userspace space utilities
gcc44
GCC 4.4 compiler
gnupg2
gnupg2 for pgp support and FIPS 140-2 target
pth
GNU portable threads used by gnupg2
libassuan
IPC library used by gnupg2
pinentry
A collection of dialog programs to read passphrases and PINs in a secure
manner, used by gnupg2
libksba
Libksba is a CMS and X.509 access library, used by gnupg2
hmaccalc
Tools to compute and verify HMAC values using SHA algorithms
kvm
KVM hypervisor
iasl
Provide ACPI Source Language (ASL) to ACPI Machine
Language (AML) complier and disassembler, used by KVM
celt051
A codec for low-latency communications. Used in SPICE
qcairo
A version of the Cairo 2D graphics library with support for the SPICE
protocol, used by KVM
qffmpeg
Unencumbered codecs for SPICE protocol support, used by KVM
qpixman
Pixel manipulation library for X and Cairo, used by KVM
qspice
SPICE server and libraries for KVM
xorg-x11-drv-qxl
Add Tech Preview xorg-x11-drv-qxl package to support SPICE
log4cpp
A library of C++ classes for flexible logging, used by KVM
virtio-win
Windows network and storage drivers for KVM guests
pdksh
Support for older ksh88 syntax applications.
perl-Sys-Virt
perl-Sys-Virt provides a perl language binding for libvirt
rds-tools
Support Oracle's RDS sockets API, part of the OFED stack
samba3x
Samba 3.3
ctdb
Clustered tdb (ctdb) provides support for clustered Samba implementations
xorg-x11-xdm
Added xdm as a standalone package
For a full list of packages changed or removed in this release,
please consult the release notes.
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