New features

Each release offers new functionalities and improvements. Read this information for a high-level summary of the new features introduced in the Fusion Data Foundation 4.21 release.

CNSA integration with Fusion Data Foundation

IBM Fusion 2.13 introduces integration between Fusion Data Foundation and Container Native Storage Access (CNSA) by using the remote mount feature. This feature enables Fusion Data Foundation to deploy and manage the required IBM Storage Scale or Global Data Platform resources during installation. It also allows administrators to configure and attach external IBM Storage Scale clusters directly from the Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform 4.21 user interface.

The integration simplifies the installation, upgrade, and lifecycle management of remote mount functionality across IBM Fusion deployments, supports seamless upgrades and migrations from earlier releases, and ensures continuity for existing workloads while enabling a unified, UI‑driven storage management experience.

IBM Fusion Access for Storage Area Network (SAN) integration with Fusion Data Foundation

IBM Fusion 2.13 introduces IBM Fusion Access for SAN as a Fusion Data Foundation capability. This feature integrates the existing SAN storage operator into the Fusion Data Foundation workflow, providing a unified external SAN integration for OpenShift Virtualization on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.21.

This integration simplifies deployment and management of external SAN storage by enabling it to be configured and managed through Fusion Data Foundation.

Disaster Recovery

Hybrid cloud support for secondary Fusion Data Foundation clusters

Support has been added for pairing an on‑premises Fusion Data Foundation deployment with a secondary cluster in the cloud, enabling hybrid disaster recovery and workload flexibility. This capability allows on‑prem environments such as Bare Metal and vSphere to integrate with cloud platforms including Azure and Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO), expanding Fusion Data Foundation's support for hybrid deployment scenarios.

For more information, see Hybrid cloud Regional-DR solution.

Multi-volume consistency for disaster recovery

Multi-volume consistency group support is now fully supported again for both, RBD and CephFS volumes. Consistency groups are used by default for all newly protected applications. Already protected non-CG applications on an upgraded cluster applications should be unprotected and protected again to migrate to consistency groups.

Support for CephFS volumes using non‑default StorageClasses

Fusion Data Foundation DR solution supports data replication for CephFS volumes that use multiple or non‑default StorageClasses, such as replica‑2 file storage. This enhancement enables disaster recovery for workloads backed by customized CephFS configurations, including cases where different pools or secrets require separate StorageClass, VolumeSnapshotClass, and VolumeReplicationClass resources.

Enhanced disaster recovery capabilities in the RHACM KubeVirt UI

Disaster recovery integration for virtual machines

The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes (RHACM) KubeVirt UI now integrates Fusion Data Foundation disaster recovery, allowing users to view VM protection status and initiate DR protection directly from the VM view. This capability is available for both GitOps‑managed and discovered VMs, with disabled actions providing guidance when prerequisites are not met.

Improved visibility for failover and relocate operations

The RHACM UI now surfaces detailed, step‑by‑step progression for disaster recovery failover and relocate workflows using progression data from Ramen. Enhanced modals show each operation phase, status indicators, and any associated errors, improving transparency, troubleshooting speed, and overall observability of DR processes.

Networking

IPv6 support for Multus networks

Multus supports IPv6, allowing customers to configure their Multus networks as IPv4‑only or IPv6‑only. This enhancement improves network flexibility and supports modern dual‑stack deployment needs. Both Multus networks must use the same IP family when multiple networks are configured.

IPv6 support for external mode

Fusion Data Foundation clusters deployed in external mode now support single‑stack IPv6, in addition to IPv4, enabling deployments in environments where IPv6 is required with limited IPv4 availability. This enhancement aligns Fusion Data Foundation external mode with OpenShift's IPv6 capabilities and expands deployment flexibility for customers operating in IPv6‑centric infrastructures.