Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) Release Notes (Release 5.4 ) Introduction This document covers the following topics regarding Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4 (OEL 5.4). * Changes from upstream release * New packages added by Oracle * New packages added in this release * Kernel and Driver Updates * Technology Preview Features * Known Issues * Unbreakable Linux Support For the latest updates please refer to the online version of release notes available at: http://oss.oracle.com/el5/docs/ NOTE: Upgrade of Oracle Enterprise Linux from a beta release is not supported. Further, in-place upgrade between major versions of Oracle Enterprise Linux is not supported. Oracle does not recommend to upgrade from earlier major versions of Oracle Enterprise Linux though anaconda provides an option do to this upgrade. A fresh installation is strongly recommended rather than a system upgrade between major versions. Changes from Upstream Release The following rpms are modified from the upstream . All changes are trademark and look/feel related unless otherwise noted below under the specific RPM. * anaconda Path of the Distribution changed from RedHat to Enterprise on the install CDs. * anacron * basesystem * booty * brltty * bug-buddy * clustermon * conga * crash * cyrus-imapd * eclipse * efax * filesystem * firefox * firstboot * freeipmi * gnbd-kmod * gnome-desktop * gnome-session * gpm * gstreamer * gzip * httpd * initscripts * iptraf * java-1.6.0-openjdk * jpackage-utils * jsch * kdeadmin * kdeartwork * kdebase * kdelibs * kernel Additional kernel shipped with Oracle Enterprise Linux with fixes added by Oracle mentioned in kernel and driver update section. This kernel must be installed manually. * kexec-tools * libvirt * libwvstreams * libxml2 * libxslt * memtest86+ * mkbootdisk * mkinitrd * nmap * perl-XML-Simple * piranha * pirut * procmail * python-virtinst * redhat-artwork * redhat-lsb * redhat-rpm-config * rgmanager * rhgb * rhpl * sblim * setroubleshoot * sgml-common * sgpio * sos * specspo * squirrelmail * stunnel * system-config-bind * system-config-date * system-config-httpd * system-config-kickstart * system-config-netboot * system-config-network * system-config-nfs * system-config-printer * system-config-samba * system-config-services * system-config-soundcard * system-config-users * systemtap * subversion * tftp * tog-pegasus * tux * wireshark ocfs2 related fix. * xorg-x11-server * xulrunner The following packages are removed * redhat-logos Replaced by oracle-logos * redhat-release Replaced by enterprise-release * redhat-release-notes-5Server Replaced by enterprise-release-notes-5Server * rhn-client-tools Replaced by up2date * rhnsd Replaced by up2date * yum-rhn-plugin The following documentation packages are removed * Deployment_Guide * Virtualization * Global_File_System * Cluster_Administration New Packages added by Oracle Oracle Enterprise Linux has these additional packages * enterprise-release * enterprise-release-notes * ocfs2 (1.4) * ocfs2-tools * oracle-logos * oracleasm * oracleasm-support * oracle-validated * up2date New Packages added in this release The following packages were added upstream for this release (5.4) which were not in the previous update release (5.3) * blktrace * celt051 * etherboot * fcoe-utils * fuse * gcc44 * gnupg2 * hmaccalc * iasl * kvm * libassuan * libhbaapi * libhbalinux * libksba * libpciaccess * log4cpp * pdksh * perl * pinentry * pth * qcairo * qffmpeg * qpixman * qspice * rds-tools * xorg-x11-drv-qxl * xorg-x11-xdm Kernel and Driver Updates This section covers significant changes in the kernel in this release. Bug Fixes added by Oracle * Check to see if hypervisor supports memory reservation change [orabug 7556514] * Add entropy support to igb [orabug 7607479] * Convert ENETUNREACH to ENOTCONN [orabug 7689332] * Add xen pv/bonding netconsole support [orabug 6993043] * Shrink zone patch [orabug 6086839] * Fix aacraid not to reset during kexec [orabug 8516042] * Fix failure of file creation from hpux client [orabug 7579314] Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4 ships with two sets of kernel packages. One with bug fixes added by Oracle [kernel-2.6.18-164.0.0.0.1.el5] and another unmodified kernel [kernel-2.6.18-164.el5]. The default installation installs the kernel without fixes added by Oracle.The kernel with bug fixes added by Oracle needs to be manually installed. Following are the steps required to install this kernel 1. mount Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4 CD 1 or DVD 2. copy the rpms from /Server/oracle_updated to your system 3. install the required kernel using the rpm command, e.g. # rpm -ihv kernel-2.6.18-164.0.0.0.1.el5.x86_64.rpm Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4 ships with ocfs2 packages version 1.4. ocfs2 1.2 is not shipped with OEL 5.4. Fixes/Additions from the upstream distribution provider * A new tunable parameter /proc/sys/vm/max_writeback_pages has been added to the kernel, allowing system administrators to change the maximum number of modified pages kupdate writes to disk per iteration each time it runs. It defaults to 1024 or 4MB so that a maximum of 1024 pages get written out by each iteration of kupdate. * A new option (CONFIG_TASK_IO_ACCOUNTING=y) has been added to kernel to assist in monitoring IO statistics per process. * The rd_blocksize option in kernel's ramdisk driver is removed. * This release adds the kernel version details to oops and panic output. * The serial_reg.h file is included in the kernel_headers rpm. * Functionality has been added to sysrq-t to display backtrace information about running processes. * This update increases the maximum length of the kernel key field from the arbitrary 32 character length set in previous kernels to 255 characters. * This update addresses the security concern arising from non-root users being able to create device nodes on filesystems exported using NFSD (Network File System daemon). * Added code to produce a signature file that GRUB performs a checksum against during the boot process. * Added code to change the DSA key from 512 bit to 1024 bit for module signing. * Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA) support in device-mapper-multipath has been updated, adding explicit ALUA support for Clariion storage. * Added support for raw devices. the initscripts packages is updated to add functionality of raw devices. * The -fwrapv variable added to GCC CFLAGS in order to define wrapping behavior. Driver Updates The following portions of OpenFabrics Alliance Enterprise Distribution (OFED) have been updated to the upstream version 1.4.1-rc3 * Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) headers * Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol * Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP) * SCSI RDMA Protocol (SRP) * IP over InfiniBand (IPoIB) Additionally, the following OFED drivers have been updated to the upstream version 1.4.1-rc3: * cxgb3 and iw_cxgb3 drivers for the Chelsio T3 Family of network devices * mthca-based InfiniBand HCA (Host Channel Adapter) * qlgc_vnic driver Network * igb driver updated to version 1.3.16-k2. This update also enables GRO support for the igb driver. * igbvf driver updated to provide Virtual Function support for Intel 82576 Gigabit Ethernet Controllers. * ixgbe driver for Intel 10 Gigabit PBetaCI Express network devices updated to version 2.0.8-k2. This update also enables GRO support for the ixgbe driver. * bnx2 driver updated to version 1.9.3 * tg3 driver updated to version 3.96.. This driver update adds support for 5785F and 50610M devices. * cnic driver has been added, providing Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) support for bnx2 network devices. * bnx2x driver updated to version 1.48.105. * bnx2i driver has been added, providing iSCSI support for bnx2x network devices. * cxgb3 driver updated to enable iSCSI TCP Offload Engines (TOE) and Generic Receive Offload (GRO) support. * Intel(r) I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel(r) I/OAT) updated to version 2.6.24. * forcedeth ethernet driver for NVIDIA nForce devices updated to version 0.62. * sky2 driver updated. * enic driver updated to version 1.0.0.933. * e1000e driver updated to the upstream version 1.0.2-k2. * bonding driver updated to the latest upstream version. With this updated driver, if IPv6 has been previously disabled (install ipv6 /bin/false line in the /etc/modprobe.conf file) the bonding kernel module will fail to load. The install ipv6 /bin/false line needs to be replaced with options ipv6 "disable=1" for the module to load properly. Storage * bnx2 driver updated to support iSCSI . * bnx2i version included in this release does not support IPv6 * md driver updated to provide support for bitmap merging. * scsi driver includes the upstream scsi_dh_alua module which enables explicit asymmetric logical unit access (ALUA) support with this release. To utilize the scsi_dh_alua module when using dm-multipath, specify alua as the hardware_handler type in multipah.conf. * rdac_dev_list structure now includes md3000 and md3000i entries. * resolved panic during iSCSI iBFT installations. * cxgb3 driver updated to support iSCSI TOE devices ( cxgb3i driver include doesnot support IPv6). * new mpt2sas driver which supports the SAS-2 family of adapters from LSI Logic. * aacraid driver updated to version 1.1.5-2461. * aic7xxx driver now features an increased maximum I/O size. * cciss driver has been updated to include upstream fixes affecting memory BAR discovery, the rebuild_lun_table and the MSA2012 scan thread. * fnic driver updated to version 1.0.0.1039. * ipr driver updated to support MSI-X interrupts. * lpfc driver updated to version 8.2.0.48. * MPT fusion driver updated to version 3.04.07rh v2. * megaraid_sas driver updated to version 4.08-RH1. * mvsas driver updated to version 0.5.4. This adds support for Marvell RAID bus controllers MV64460, MV64461, and MV64462. * qla2xxx driver updated to version 8.03.00.10.05.04-k, and now supports Fibre Channel over Convergence Enhanced Ethernet adapters. qla24xx and qla25xx firmwares included in the qla2xxx driver updated to version 4.04.09. * qla4xxx driver with improved driver fault recovery. * new qlge driver to provide ethernet support for QLogic FCoE 10GB adapters. General * i5400 driver updated with added support for Error Detection And Correction (EDAC). * i2c driver for the iic-bus interface updated to support the AMD SB800 Family of products. * i2c-piix4 driver updated to support the Broadcom HT1100 chipset. * hpilo driver has been updated. * dm9601 for Davicom Ethernet Adaptors updated. Technology Preview Features The following Technology Preview features are currently not supported under Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 and may not be functionally complete. * Emulex Tiger Shark converged network adapter driver. * Systemtap Tracepoints. * Gnu Compiler version 4.4. * ext4 * glibc new MALLOC behaviour. * samba3x and ctdb on the x86_64 platform. * Clustering with KVM hypervisor. * The fence_virsh fence agent * Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) support for the Cluster Suite and the redundant ring configuration of clusters * USB passthough with the KVM hypervisor * Logical Partition (LPAR) support for the cluster-suite * xorg-x11-qxl-drv X11 video driver for the qemu QXL video accelerator These features are not suitable for production use. However, these features are included to provide the feature with wider exposure. Known Issues pirut and system-config-packages cannot be used to manage, install, and uninstall software packages. Follow the steps describe below to resolve the issue * Mount the DVD iso of the desired update of Oracle Enterprise Linux Release 5. Use the following command for mounting the DVD media inserted in /dev/cdrom # mount -r -o loop -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt Use following command to mount iso image file # mount -o loop /mnt * Create yum repository configuration file /etc/yum.repos.d/dvd.repo with following contents [dvd] name=OEL5DVD baseurl=file:///mnt/Server enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY file:///mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle * Clear and update the yum cache # yum clean all # yum update * Run pirut/system-config-packages to manage software packages Unbreakable Linux Support Oracle Enterprise Linux offers an option to keep your operating system up to date with latest operating system patches using up2date. To be able to use this option you need to have Unbreakable Linux Support. For more information please visit http://linux.oracle.com Note:Prior to using up2date, import the RPM-GPG-KEY for Oracle Enterprise Linux: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY Known Issue If updating from OEL 5 GA or RHEL 5 GA using up2date, you may encounter the following error: Unresolvable chain of dependencies: xen-3.0.3-64.el5 requires xen-hypervisor-abi = 3.1 This happens because a kernel-xen package update is needed by the xen package, but 'kernel*' is part of the up2date pkgSkipList. To get around this, add 'xen; xen-devel;' to the the pkgSkipList line in /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date and then run up2date. You can update the xen and kernel-xen packages together later via 'up2date --force xen kernel-xen'.