What's new and changed in the platform

Platform updates can include new features, bug fixes, and security updates. Updates are listed in reverse chronological order so that the latest release is at the beginning of the topic.

The platform is composed of the IBM Cloud Pak® for Data platform operator and the Cloud Pak for Data control plane. Updates can be released for either or both of these components.

You can see a list of the new features for the platform and all of the services at What's new in IBM® Cloud Pak for Data.

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.3

A new version of Cloud Pak for Data was released in October 2022.

Platform components
IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator: 3.2.0
IBM Cloud Pak for Data control plane operand: 4.7.1
New features
The 4.5.3 release of the Cloud Pak for Data platform includes the following features and updates:
Disaster recovery with IBM Spectrum® Fusion
Cloud Pak for Data is now integrated with IBM Spectrum Fusion, which enables you to create online backups and to restore them to the same cluster or to a different cluster. For details, see Cloud Pak for Data online backup and restore.
Issues fixed in this release
The following issues, which were reported by customers, have been fixed in this release:

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.2

A new version of Cloud Pak for Data was released in August 2022.

Platform components
IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator: 3.1.0
IBM Cloud Pak for Data control plane operand: 4.7.0
Issues fixed in this release
The following issues are fixed in this release:
Unable to integrate with a CyberArk vault
  • Issue: If you use a custom web service URI in CyberArk, you cannot connect to the vault from Cloud Pak for Data.
  • Resolution: The Vault configuration page now includes an option to use a custom web service URI.

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.1

A new version of Cloud Pak for Data was released in July 2022.

Platform components
IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator: 3.1.0
IBM Cloud Pak for Data control plane operand: 4.5.0
Issues fixed in this release
The following issues are fixed in this release:
Unable to create or edit connections when you enforce the use of secrets
  • Issue: If you require users to use secrets for credentials when creating connections, creating or editing connections some data sources results in an error.
  • Resolution: You can now enforce the use of secrets, regardless of the connections you are creating or editing.

Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0

Platform components
IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator: 3.0.0
IBM Cloud Pak for Data control plane operand: 4.5.0

This release includes the following changes:

Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform support
You can deploy Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5 on the following versions of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform:
  • Version 4.6.29 or later fixes
  • Version 4.8.0 or later fixes
  • Version 4.10.0 or later fixes
Expanded support for IBM Spectrum storage
All of the services that are available in Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0 support IBM Spectrum Fusion and IBM Spectrum Scale Container Native storage. For details, see Persistent storage requirements for services.
Support for Amazon Elastic File System and Amazon Elastic Block Store storage
Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0 includes support for Amazon Elastic File System and Amazon Elastic Block Store:
  • Many of the services that are available in Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0 support Amazon Elastic File System storage.
  • Some services support a combination of Amazon Elastic File System and Amazon Elastic Block Store

For details, see Persistent storage requirements for services.

Installation and upgrade simplification
The new cpd-cli manage commands simplify the process of installing and upgrading Cloud Pak for Data. For example, with the cpd-cli manage commands, you can:
  • Optionally install or upgrade all of the required components and services at the same time.
  • Create the required catalog source and operator subscriptions with a single command
  • Validate that you have access to the required images in the IBM Entitled Registry.
  • Validate that the images were mirrored to your private container registry.
  • Adjust the CRI-O and kernel parameter settings on your cluster.
  • Update the global image pull secret.
  • Update the route to the platform
  • Create the recommended storage classes for Portworx and NFS
New features
Disruption-free online backups
Administrators can now create frequent backups of Cloud Pak for Data without taking Cloud Pak for Data offline. The new backup capability enables you to efficiently protect your data without sacrificing productivity.

The online backup capability relies on Container Storage Interface (CSI) snapshots, which do not require any downtime. For details, see Backing up and restoring Cloud Pak for Data.

Users with the Manage projects permission can join any project
Users with the Manage projects permission can join any project as an administrator so that they can:
  • Delete unused projects
  • Ensure that active projects have at least one owner
To join projects as an administrator, go to the Projects page, and under Your role, click Join as admin.
Set quotas on projects
In addition to setting quotas on the platform and on individual services, you can now set and enforce quotas on projects (collaborative workspaces where you work with data and other assets to accomplish a particular goal). You can set quotas to help you track your actual use against your target use. When you set quotas on a project, you specify:
  • How much vCPU and memory you want the project to use.
  • The alert threshold for vCPU and memory use.

    When you reach the alert threshold, the platform sends you an alert so that you aren't surprised by unexpected spikes in resource use.

For details, see Monitoring the platform.

Manage resources more effectively
Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5 introduces new ways to manage your cluster resources:
  • Several services support Red Hat OpenShift Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA). You can enable these services to automatically scale up and down based on user workloads. This enables you automatically to free up resources if the services are not using them to run workloads. For details, see Automatically scaling resources for services.
  • Some services can be shut down when they are not in use to prevent the services from using cluster resources. You can also shut down the services to perform maintenance. For details, see Shutting down and restarting services.
Create dynamic, attribute-based user groups.
If you integrate Cloud Pak for Data with the Identity and Access Management Service (IAM Service), you can use the following attributes to define dynamic user groups:
  • Location
  • Nationality
  • Organization
  • User type

Users are automatically added and removed from the group based on the attributes that are assigned to them on the identity provider. For example, you create a user group for people managers (user type) in the finance group (organization) in Canada (location). If Annette is hired as a people manager for the finance group in Canada, she will automatically become a member of the group. Similarly, if Rajesh is transferred to Spain, he will automatically be removed from the group.

Dynamic user groups simplify the process of managing user groups in a large organization. For details, see Managing user groups.

New Cloud Pak for Data CLI commands and reference
Starting in Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5, the cpd-cli includes new commands and a new command reference:
Manage command
You can use the cpd-cli manage command to install and manage the Cloud Pak for Data software on your Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster. You can use the cpd-cli manage to install all of the components that you need to install at the same time. For details, see Installing the Cloud Pak for Data platform and services.
Command reference
The cpd-cli commands use a combination of arguments and options. Each command has a syntax that designates both the required and optional arguments and options. The cpd-cli command reference documents the full syntax, arguments, options, and provides syntax examples for each supported command.
Command plug-ins
The cpd-cli commands are divided into the following command plug-ins.
backup-restore
Backup and restore the Cloud Pak for Data software in a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
config
Create and configure user profiles, which are required to run cpd-cli commands.
diag
Gather diagnostic information and check the health of Cloud Pak for Data services.
export-import
Migrate data, including metadata, between Cloud Pak for Data clusters.
manage
Install and manage the Cloud Pak for Data software in a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
oadp
Run backup and restore operations by calling Velero client APIs (similar to the Velero CLI).
service-instance
Manage Cloud Pak for Data service instances.
user-mgmt
Import and manage Cloud Pak for Data users and user groups.
For details, see cpd-cli command reference.
Support for Microsoft Edge
You can now use the Cloud Pak for Data web client on Microsoft Edge Version 95 and higher.
Deprecated features
Support for the Cloud Pak for Data volume backup and restore utility
It is recommended that you use the Cloud Pak for Data OADP backup and restore utility to back up and restore Cloud Pak for Data.
Submitting a request for data
The data requests (Data > Data requests) feature is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. You should consider using workflows instead.
Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
The following issues, which were reported by customers, have been fixed in Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0:
Issues fixed in this release
In addition to the customer-reported issues, the following issues are fixed in this release:
The Manage projects permissions does not work as described in the web client
  • Issue: In Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0, the description of the Manage projects permission did not align with what users were able to do.
  • Resolution: In Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5, the description in the web client aligns with what users can do.
The Manage project workloads permissions does not work as described in the web client
  • Issue: In Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0, the description of the Manage project workloads permission did not align with what users were able to do.
  • Resolution: In Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5, the description in the web client aligns with what users can do.
The Manage service instances permission does not work as described in the web client
  • Issue: In Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0, the description of the Manage service instances permission did not align with what users were able to do.
  • Resolution: In Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5, the description in the web client aligns with what users can do.