Release Note for systems built with IBM Spectrum Virtualize

This is the release note for the 8.4.1 release and details the issues resolved in v8.4.1.0.

Note: This release is a Non-Long Term Support (Non-LTS) release. Non-LTS code levels are not intended to receive any PTFs. If issues are encountered the only resolution is likely to be upgrade to a later LTS or Non-LTS release.

For details of the new Continuous Development release strategy refer to the Spectrum Virtualize Family of Products Upgrade Planning page.

This document was last updated on 16 May 2022.

  1. New Features
  2. Known Issues and Restrictions
  3. Issues Resolved
    1. APARs Resolved
  4. Useful Links

Note. Detailed build version numbers are included in the Update Matrices in the Useful Links section.


1. New Features

The following new features have been introduced in the 8.4.1 release:

2. Known Issues and Restrictions

Note: For clarity, the terms "node" and "canister" are used interchangeably.
Details Introduced

There is an existing limit on the number of files that can be returned by the CLI of approximately 780 entries. In many configurations this limit is of no concern. However, due to a problem with hot-spare node I/O stats files, 8-node clusters with many hardware upgrades or multiple spare nodes may see up to 900 I/O stats files. As a consequence the data collector for Storage Insights and Spectrum Control cannot list or download the required set of performance statistics data. The result is that there are many gaps in the performance data, leading to errors with the performance monitoring tools and a lack of performance history.

The workaround is to remove the files associated with spare nodes or previously/updated hardware using the cleardumps command (or to cleardumps the entire iostats directory).

This is a known issue that will be lifted in a future release. The fix can be tracked using APAR HU02403.

 8.4.0.0

Systems, with NPIV enabled, presenting storage to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) hosts running the ibmvfc driver on IBM Power can experience path loss or read-only file system events.

This is cause by issues within the ibmvfc driver and VIOS code.

Refer to this troubleshooting page for more information.

 n/a
If an update stalls or fails then contact IBM Support for further assistance n/a

3. Issues Resolved

This release contains all of the fixes included in the 8.4.0.2 release, plus the following additional fixes.

A release may contain fixes for security issues, fixes for APARs or both. Consult the table below to understand the complete set of fixes included in the release.

3.1 APARs Resolved

Show details for all APARs
APAR Affected Products Severity Description Resolved in Feature Tags
HU02340 All HIPER High replication workloads can cause multiple warmstarts with a loss of access at the partner cluster (show details)
Symptom Loss of Access to Data
Environment Systems running v8.3.1 or later using IP Replication
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 IP Replication
HU02374 SVC, V5000, V7000 Critical Hosts with Emulex 16Gbps HBAs may become unable to communicate with a system with 8Gbps Fibre Channel ports, after the host HBA is upgraded to firmware version 12.8.364.11. This does not apply to systems with 16Gb or 32Gb Fibre Channel ports (show details)
Symptom Loss of Access to Data
Environment Systems with 8Gbps Fibre Channel ports
Trigger Host Emulex 16Gbps HBA is upgraded to firmware version 12.8.364.11
Workaround Do not upgrade host HBA to firmware version 12.8.364.11
8.4.1.0 Hosts
HU02319 All High Importance The GUI can become unresponsive (show details)
Symptom None
Environment Systems running v8.4.0.1, or later, using remote copy without 3-site replication
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 Graphical User Interface
HU02326 SVC High Importance Delays in passing messages between nodes in an I/O group can adversely impact write performance (show details)
Symptom Performance
Environment SVC systems running v8.2.1 or later
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 Performance
HU02360 All High Importance Cloud Callhome may stop working and provide no indication of this in the event log. For more details refer to this Flash (show details)
Symptom Degraded Operation
Environment Systems running v8.3 or later
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 System Monitoring
HU02362 SVC, FS9200, FS9100, FS7200, FS5100, FS5200, V7000, V5100 High Importance When the RAID scrub process encounters bad grains, the peak response time for reads and writes can be adversely impacted (show details)
Symptom Performance
Environment Systems running v8.2 or later using NVMe drives
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 RAID
HU02376 All High Importance FlashCopy maps may get stuck at 99% due to inconsistent metadata accounting between nodes (show details)
Symptom Degraded Operation
Environment Systems running v8.2.1 or later using FlashCopy
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 FlashCopy
HU02325 All Suggested Tier 2 and Tier 3 recoveries can fail due to node warmstarts (show details)
Symptom None
Environment Systems running v8.4 with remote (LDAP) users that were created at v8.3.1 or earlier
Trigger None
Workaround Recreate all remote users after upgrading to v8.4
8.4.1.0 Reliability Availability Serviceability
HU02331 All Suggested Due to a threshold issue an error code 3400 may appear too often in the event log (show details)
Symptom None
Environment Systems using compression cards
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 Compression
HU02332 & HU02336 All Suggested When an I/O is received, from a host, with invalid or inconsistent SCSI data but a good checksum it may cause a node warmstart (show details)
Symptom Single Node Warmstart
Environment Systems running v7.8 or later
Trigger None
Workaround None
8.4.1.0 Hosts
HU02335 All Suggested Cannot properly set the site for a host in a multi-site configuration (hyperswap or stretched) via the GUI (show details)
Symptom Configuration
Environment Systems running code older then 8.4.0.7
Trigger None
Workaround Upgrade to 8.4.0.7 or 8.4.1.0 or higher
8.4.1.0 3-Site, GUI, Graphical User Interface, HyperSwap

4. Useful Links

Description Link
Support Websites
Update Matrices, including detailed build version
Support Information pages providing links to the following information:
  • Interoperability information
  • Product documentation
  • Limitations and restrictions, including maximum configuration limits
Spectrum Virtualize Family of Products Inter-System Metro Mirror and Global Mirror Compatibility Cross Reference
Software Upgrade Test Utility
Software Upgrade Planning