WebSphere eXtreme Scale 8.6.2 release

Content

1. ORB transport protocol is no longer supported.
2. With Java 8+ Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) is not supported currently.
3. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published Special Publications 800-131a (SP800-131a), which defines a standard for levels of data protection with transport layer security (TLS) is not supported with Java 8+.
4. WebSphere eXtreme Scale standalone Monitoring console can not be run with IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition Java 11 or 17 . It can only be run with IBM Java 8.
5. As we are not bundling java by default with WebSphere eXtreme Scale standalone (server and client) and XSLD (eXtreme Scale Liberty Deployment) installations, upgrade from 8.6.1 to 8.6.2 for WebSphere eXtreme Scale standalone server and client and XSLD (eXtreme Scale Liberty Deployment) installation is not possible by applying the refresh pack. You must uninstall previous version first before installing the latest version (8.6.2.0).
   We have documented detailed steps for upgrading from 8.6.1 to 8.6.2 for WebSphere eXtreme Scale standalone server and XSLD (eXtreme Scale Liberty Deployment) installation without interrupting service. Since Java is not installed by default with the WebSphere eXtreme Scale Liberty client or the WebSphere eXtreme Scale traditional WebSphere (tWAS) server and client installations, upgrading from version 8.6.1 to 8.6.2 can be done by applying the refresh pack without needing to uninstall the previous version.
   - Rolling Update XSLD fix packs using IBM Installation Manager.
   - Rolling Update Standalone fix packs using IBM Installation Manager.
6. As Java will not be installed by default with WebSphere eXtreme Scale standalone server and client and XSLD (eXtreme Scale Liberty Deployment) installation from 8.6.2, the installation process for these installation has changed little bit . Refer to the below link for installing WebShere eXtreme Scale standalone server and client and XSLD (eXtreme Scale Liberty Deployment) installation along with java.
   - IBM Installation Manager and WebSphere eXtreme Scale product offerings.
   - Installing XSLD / Creating a cache member group.
7. For running WebSphere eXtreme Scale client with IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition 11 and 17 , the below list of add opens should be added as JVM options while starting the client process .

8. --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.math=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.security.cert=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.net=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.sql/java.sql=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.management/javax.management=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/sun.util.calendar=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/javax.security.auth=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/javax.security.auth.login=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent.atomic=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.security=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent.locks=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/sun.security.provider=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/java.lang.reflect=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/sun.security.util=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.base/jdk.internal.misc=ALL-UNNAMED
   --add-opens=java.management/com.ibm.java.lang.management.internal=ALL-UNNAMED

   Note: WebSphere eXtreme Scale client is not supported with Java 17+ yet.
9. From WebSphere Liberty version 24.0.0.9, Liberty performs hostname verification on SSL certificates. Therefore, the default SSL certificates that are bundled with XSLD are no longer applicable. To fix the issue, default value verifyHostname="false" is set in the XSLD sslConfig.xml file. For more details, see Hostname verification for Liberty.
10. For Windows, in this release, the Watchdog process will no longer run as a Windows service. If the Watchdog process itself is down, it will not restart unavailable servers. In such cases, customers must manually restart it using startXSLD.bat or startXSServer.bat <serverName>. When the Watchdog is running, it continues to automatically restart servers as in previous releases.