An IBM Storage Scale node may crash if kernel 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 (and higher el9_4 kernels) is used for RHEL 9.4

Content

According to information from Red Hat Security Advisory 2025:15668 (https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15668) for RHEL 9.4, the EUS kernel 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 (and higher el9_4 kernels) may cause IBM Storage Scale to experience a kernel crash and prevent the node that applied the patch from coming online after a reboot. Based on this advisory, the kernel 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 and higher el9_4 kernels should be avoided and not patched on IBM Storage Scale nodes until a version of IBM Storage Scale is available with the fix. 

Users Affected:

• All IBM Storage Scale users that update the RHEL 9.4 EUS kernel to 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 and higher.

• All IBM Storage Scale Container Native users that install Red Hat OpenShift z-stream updates across OpenShift 4.16 (4.16.48+), 4.17 (4.17.40+), and 4.18 (4.18.24+). 

Problem Determination:

The problem symptom is a kernel crash when you start IBM Storage Scale with RHEL 9.4 EUS kernel 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 and higher el9_4 kernels.  

Recommendations:

If you plan to install RHEL 9.4 EUS kernel update 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 or higher, then ensure Storage Scale 5.1.9.12 or 5.2.3.4 or higher are installed first before OS/kernel patching.

If you can not upgrade to 5.2.3.4 or higher, then contact IBM Support to obtain an interim fix (efix) for APAR IJ55865 for your code level.  Do not install that kernel unless you have installed the interim fix (efix) for Storage Scale or upgraded to 5.2.3.4 or higher.  If it has been already installed, you can optionally reboot to the previously used kernel to avoid this problem.

All IBM Storage Scale Container Native users running upon OpenShift 4.16, 4.17, 4.18 should update to the following before updating any OpenShift z-stream levels that install 5.14.0-427.87.1.el9_4 or later.  This equates to 4.16.48+, 4.17.40+, and 4.18.24+.  

5.2.3 stream:  update to IBM Storage Scale Container Native v5.2.3.3.2 (or higher)

• follow install or upgrade instructions in the Storage Scale Container Native 5.2.3 documentation to automatically pull the latest 5.2.3 level:  https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/scalecontainernative/5.2.3
• the instructions always point to the 5.2.3.x stream, which means that following them will always grab the latest level in that stream.

• follow install or upgrade instructions in the Storage Scale Container Native 5.2.3 documentation to automatically pull the latest 5.2.2 level:  https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/scalecontainernative/5.2.2
• the instructions always point to the 5.2.2.x stream, which means that following them will always grab the latest level in that stream. 

• follow install or upgrade instructions in the Storage Scale Container Native 5.2.3 documentation to automatically pull the latest 5.2.2 level:  https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/scalecontainernative/5.2.1
• the instructions always point to the 5.2.1.x stream, which means that following them will always grab the latest level in that stream. 

Note: 

• IBM Storage Scale that runs on RHEL 9.6 does not exhibit this problem.  

• IBM Storage Scale Container Native that runs on OpenShift 4.14, 4.15 (EOM), or 4.19 does not exhibit this problem.

Reference D.356285