Summary of changes

This topic summarizes changes to the IBM Storage Scale licensed program and the IBM Storage Scale library. Within each topic, these markers ( ) surrounding text or illustrations indicate technical changes or additions that are made to the previous edition of the information.

Summary of changes
for IBM Storage Scale 5.1.8
as updated, July 2023
This release of the IBM Storage Scale licensed program and the IBM Storage Scale library includes the following improvements. All improvements are available after an upgrade, unless otherwise specified.
IBM Storage product branding
IBM Spectrum Scale has been rebranded to IBM Storage Scale.
License/Edition related changes
IBM Storage Scale Data Management Edition and IBM Storage Scale Erasure Code Edition entitle clients to use IBM Storage Fusion Data Cataloging Services. IBM Storage Fusion Data Cataloging Services provides unified metadata management and insights for heterogeneous unstructured data, on-premises and in the cloud. For more information, see the Data Cataloging topic in IBM Storage Fusion documentation.
AFM and AFM DR-related changes
  • Two options are added to the mmafmctl device prefetch command.
    • The --skip-dir-list-file option provides granular control over prefetching directories.
    • The --empty-ptrash option cleans an AFM directory and makes available more space.
    For more information, see mmafmctl command.
  • From IBM Storage Scale 5.1.8.1, RHEL 9.2 is supported on an AFM home/secondary site that uses the NFS protocol.
AFM to Cloud Object Storage
Data replication from a file system to a cloud object storage is supported with the AFM to cloud object storage manual updates mode. For more information, see Replication by using the manual updates mode of the AFM to cloud object storage, Configuring the replication at the file system level by using the manual updates mode of the AFM to cloud object storage, and Evicting data or objects by using the manual updates mode of the AFM to cloud object storage.
Big data and analytics changes
For information on changes in IBM Storage Scale Big Data and Analytics support and HDFS protocol, see Big Data and Analytics - summary of changes.

IBM Storage Scale Container Storage Interface driver changes
For information on changes in the IBM Storage Scale Container Storage Interface driver, see IBM Storage Scale Container Storage Interface driver - Summary of changes.

IBM Storage Scale Container Native Storage Access changes
For information on changes in the IBM Storage Scale Container Native Storage Access, see IBM Storage Scale Container Native Storage Access - Summary of changes.

IBM Storage Scale Erasure Code Edition changes
For information on changes in the IBM Storage Scale Erasure Code Edition, see IBM Storage Scale Erasure Code Edition - Summary of changes.

File system core improvements
Multi-rail over TCP (MROT) enhancement
Refined the logic for determining when to recover down IP pairs. If a node with down IP pairs leaves a cluster, it is not necessary to recover down IP pairs.
Support for IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager (GKLM) 4.2.0.1

IBM Storage Scale 5.1.8 supports IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager (GKLM) 4.2.0.1 or later. GKLM V4.2.0.0 is not supported.

Installation toolkit changes
  • Extended operating system certification and support.
  • Problem determination enhancement in the installation and upgrade process.
Deploying IBM Storage Scale on the public cloud using cloudkit
  • Included support for encryption-at-rest.
  • Included support for airgap setup.
Management API changes
The below endpoints are modified:
  • Filesystems/{filesystemName}/filesets/{filesetName}/directoryCopy/{sourcePath}: PUT
  • Filesystems/{filesystemName}/filesets/{filesetName}/snapshotCopy/{snapshotName}/path/{sourcePath}: PUT
  • Filesystems/{filesystemName}/directoryCopy/{sourcePath}: PUT
  • /scalemgmt/v2/usermgmt/changepassword : PUT
For more information, see IBM Storage Scale management API endpoints.
Management GUI changes
Rebranded "IBM Spectrum Scale" to "IBM Storage Scale".
File system protocol changes
  • Updated SMB on IBM Storage Scale to upstream the SMB 4.17 version. The performance of SMB 4.17 version is better than the performance of the SMB 4.16 version. However, the SMB 4.17 performance is not as good as of the SMB 4.12 version.
System health changes

  • No new events added.

Commands, data types, and programming APIs
The following section lists the modifications to the documented commands, structures, and subroutines:
New commands
There are no new commands.
New structures
  • Added a new column for call home triggered events and restructured event tables for all components.
New subroutines
There are no new subroutines.
New user exits
There are no new user exits.
Changed commands
  • cloudkit
  • Start of changemmaddnodeEnd of change
  • mmafmcosconfig
  • mmafmctl
  • Start of changemmapplypolicyEnd of change
  • mmchfileset
  • mmcrfs
  • Start of changemmcrnsdEnd of change
  • Start of changemmlsclusterEnd of change
  • mmnfs
Changed structures
There are no changed structures.
Changed subroutines
Deleted commands
There are no deleted commands.
Deleted structures
There are no deleted structures.
Deleted subroutines
There are no deleted subroutines.
Messages
The following are the new, changed, and deleted messages:
New messages
6027-2054, 6027-2055, 6027-3269, and 6027-3338
Changed messages
There are no changed messages.
Deleted messages
There are no deleted messages.