SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2

Release Notes

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension is an enterprise-level
clustering solution to implement highly available Linux clusters and eliminate
single points of failure. This document provides a high-level overview of
features, capabilities, and limitations of SUSE Linux Enterprise High
Availability Extension 15 SP2, and highlights important product updates.

These release notes are updated periodically. The latest version of these
release notes is always available at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes (https:/
/www.suse.com/releasenotes). General documentation can be found at https://
documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15 (https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15).

Publication Date: 2020-07-29, Version: 15.2.20200729

1 About the Release Notes
2 SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension
3 Modules, Extensions, and Related Products
4 Installation and Upgrade
5 New Features, Changes & Fixes
6 Cluster
7 High-Availability Tools
8 Resources and Resource Agents
9 Storage
10 Known Issues & Workarounds
11 Removed and Deprecated Features and Packages
12 Obtaining Source Code
13 Legal Notices

1 About the Release Notes

These Release Notes are identical across all architectures, and the most recent
version is always available online at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes (https:
//www.suse.com/releasenotes).

Entries can be listed twice, if they are important and belong to more than one
section.

Release notes usually only list changes that happened between two subsequent
releases. Certain important entries from the release notes of previous product
versions are repeated. To make these entries easier to identify, they contain a
note to that effect.

However, repeated entries are provided as a courtesy only. If you are skipping
one or more service packs, check the release notes of the skipped service packs
as well. If you are only reading the release notes of the current release, you
could miss important changes.

2 SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2 is an industry-leading
open source high availability clustering system. It is designed to virtually
eliminate unplanned downtime, be easy to use and be deployed in both physical
and virtual environments. Also included is Geo Clustering for SUSE Linux
Enterprise High Availability Extension, designed to manage cluster servers in
data centers anywhere in the world. High availability clustering helps to
minimize data loss due to corruption or failure by protecting your data assets
using your existing IT infrastructure.

High availability clustering is used to automate application and data recovery.
You can use our flexible, policy-driven clustering solution to implement highly
available Linux clusters and eliminate single points of failure. Your servers
are continuously monitored, and when a fault or failure occurs, the workload is
transferred from one server to another, or the application is automatically
restarted on a known working system. This helps you maintain business
continuity and minimize unplanned downtime.

2.1 What Is New?

2.1.1 General Changes in Codestream 15

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 introduces many innovative
changes compared to SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 12. The
most important changes are listed below.

2.1.2 Changes in 15 SP2

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2 introduces changes
compared to SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension SP1. The most
important changes are listed below.

2.1.3 Changes in the Base Product

In addition to these release notes, make sure to also review the release notes
for the base product, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2. They are published
at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP2 (https://
www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP2) (these release notes are
identical across all supported hardware architectures).

2.2 Important Sections of This Document

If you are upgrading from a previous SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability
Extension release, you should review at least the following sections:

  o Section 2.5, "Support Statement for SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability
    Extension"

  o Section 4.2, "Upgrade-Related Notes"

2.3 Documentation and Other Information

2.3.1 Available on the Product Media

  o Read the READMEs on the media.

  o Get the detailed change log information about a particular package from the
    RPM (where FILENAME.rpm is the name of the RPM):

    rpm --changelog -qp FILENAME.rpm

  o Check the ChangeLog file in the top level of the media for a chronological
    log of all changes made to the updated packages.

  o Find more information in the docu directory of the media of SUSE Linux
    Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2. This directory includes the
    basic Quick Starts for SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability
    Extension 15 SP2 in PDF format.

2.3.2 Online Documentation

  o For the most up-to-date version of the documentation for SUSE Linux
    Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2, including SUSE Best
    Practices, see https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15 (https://
    documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15).

  o Find a collection of White Papers at https://www.suse.com/products/server/#
    resources (https://www.suse.com/products/server/#resources). As Resource
    Type, select White Papers.

2.4 Support and Life Cycle

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension is backed by award-winning
support from SUSE, an established technology leader with a proven history of
delivering enterprise-quality support services.

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 has a 13-year life cycle,
with 10 years of General Support and 3 years of Extended Support. The current
version (SP2) will be fully maintained and supported until 6 months after the
release of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP3.

If you need additional time to design, validate and test your upgrade plans,
Long Term Service Pack Support can extend the support duration. You can buy an
additional 12 to 36 months in twelve month increments. This means, you receive
a total of 3 to 5 years of support per Service Pack.

For more information, check our Support Policy page https://www.suse.com/
support/policy.html (https://www.suse.com/support/policy.html) or the Long Term
Service Pack Support Page https://www.suse.com/support/programs/
long-term-service-pack-support.html (https://www.suse.com/support/programs/
long-term-service-pack-support.html).

2.5 Support Statement for SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension

To receive support, you need an appropriate subscription with SUSE. For more
information, see https://www.suse.com/support/programs/subscriptions/?id=
SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_High_Availability_Extension (https://www.suse.com/support
/programs/subscriptions/?id=SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_High_Availability_Extension).

The following definitions apply:

L1

    Problem determination, which means technical support designed to provide
    compatibility information, usage support, ongoing maintenance, information
    gathering and basic troubleshooting using available documentation.

L2

    Problem isolation, which means technical support designed to analyze data,
    reproduce customer problems, isolate problem area and provide a resolution
    for problems not resolved by Level 1 or prepare for Level 3.

L3

    Problem resolution, which means technical support designed to resolve
    problems by engaging engineering to resolve product defects which have been
    identified by Level 2 Support.

For contracted customers and partners, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability
Extension is delivered with L3 support for all packages, except for the
following:

  o Technology Previews, see Section 2.6, "Technology Previews"

  o Sound, graphics, fonts and artwork

  o Packages that require an additional customer contract

  o Some packages shipped as part of the module Workstation Extension are
    L2-supported only

  o Packages with names ending in -devel (containing header files and similar
    developer resources) will only be supported together with their main
    packages.

SUSE will only support the usage of original packages. That is, packages that
are unchanged and not recompiled.

2.5.1 General Support

To learn about supported features and limitations, refer to the following
sections in this document:

  o Section 11, "Removed and Deprecated Features and Packages"

2.6 Technology Previews

Technology previews are packages, stacks, or features delivered by SUSE to
provide glimpses into upcoming innovations. Technology previews are included
for your convenience to give you a chance to test new technologies within your
environment. We would appreciate your feedback! If you test a technology
preview, please contact your SUSE representative and let them know about your
experience and use cases. Your input is helpful for future development.

Technology previews come with the following limitations:

  o Technology previews are still in development. Therefore, they may be
    functionally incomplete, unstable, or in other ways not suitable for
    production use.

  o Technology previews are not supported.

  o Technology previews may only be available for specific hardware
    architectures. Details and functionality of technology previews are subject
    to change. As a result, upgrading to subsequent releases of a technology
    preview may be impossible and require a fresh installation.

  o Technology previews can be removed from a product at any time. This may be
    the case, for example, if SUSE discovers that a preview does not meet the
    customer or market needs, or does not comply with enterprise standards.

3 Modules, Extensions, and Related Products

This section comprises information about modules and extensions for SUSE Linux
Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2. Modules and extensions add parts
or functionality to the system.

3.1 Modules in the SLE 15 SP2 Product Line

The SLE 15 SP2 product line is made up of modules that contain software
packages. Each module has a clearly defined scope. Modules differ in their life
cycles and update timelines.

The modules available within the product line based on SUSE Linux Enterprise
15 SP2 at the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension
15 SP2 are listed in the Modules and Extensions Quick Start at https://
documentation.suse.com/sles/15-SP2/html/SLES-all/art-modules.html (https://
documentation.suse.com/sles/15-SP2/html/SLES-all/art-modules.html).

Not all SLE modules are available with a subscription for SUSE Linux Enterprise
High Availability Extension 15 SP2 itself (see the column Available for).

For information about the availability of individual packages within modules,
see https://scc.suse.com/packages (https://scc.suse.com/packages).

3.2 Available Extensions

Extensions add extra functionality to the system and require their own
registration key, usually at additional cost. Usually, extensions have their
own release notes documents that are available from https://www.suse.com/
releasenotes (https://www.suse.com/releasenotes).

The following extensions are available for SUSE Linux Enterprise High
Availability Extension 15 SP2:

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching: https://www.suse.com/products/
    live-patching (https://www.suse.com/products/live-patching)

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension: https://www.suse.com/
    products/highavailability (https://www.suse.com/products/highavailability)

Additionally, there is the following extension which is not covered by SUSE
support agreements, available at no additional cost and without an extra
registration key:

  o SUSE Package Hub: https://packagehub.suse.com/ (https://packagehub.suse.com
    /)

3.3 Derived and Related Products

This sections lists derived and related products. Usually, these products have
their own release notes documents that are available from https://www.suse.com/
releasenotes (https://www.suse.com/releasenotes).

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise JeOS: https://www.suse.com/products/server/jeos
    (https://www.suse.com/products/server/jeos)

  o SUSE Enterprise Storage: https://www.suse.com/products/
    suse-enterprise-storage (https://www.suse.com/products/
    suse-enterprise-storage)

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop: https://www.suse.com/products/desktop
    (https://www.suse.com/products/desktop)

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications: https://www.suse.com/
    products/sles-for-sap (https://www.suse.com/products/sles-for-sap)

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise for High-Performance Computing: https://www.suse.com/
    products/server/hpc (https://www.suse.com/products/server/hpc)

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time: https://www.suse.com/products/realtime
    (https://www.suse.com/products/realtime)

  o SUSE Manager: https://www.suse.com/products/suse-manager (https://
    www.suse.com/products/suse-manager)

  o SUSE OpenStack Cloud: https://www.suse.com/products/suse-openstack-cloud
    (https://www.suse.com/products/suse-openstack-cloud)

4 Installation and Upgrade

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension can be deployed in several
ways:

  o Physical machine

  o Virtual host

  o Virtual machine

  o System containers

  o Application containers

4.1 Installation

This section includes information related to the initial installation of SUSE
Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2. Make sure to also review
the respective section of the release notes for the base product, SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 15 SP2 which are published at https://www.suse.com/
releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP2 (https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/
SUSE-SLES/15-SP2).

Important

Important: Installation Documentation

The following release notes contain additional notes regarding the installation
of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension. However, they do not
document the installation procedure itself.

For installation documentation, see the Installation and Setup Quick Start at
https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15/html/SLE-HA-all/
art-sleha-install-quick.html (https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15/html/
SLE-HA-all/art-sleha-install-quick.html) and the Geo Clustering Quick Start at
at https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15/html/SLE-HA-all/
art-sleha-geo-quick.html (https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15/html/
SLE-HA-all/art-sleha-geo-quick.html).

4.2 Upgrade-Related Notes

This section includes upgrade-related information for SUSE Linux Enterprise
High Availability Extension 15 SP2. Make sure to also review the respective
section of the release notes for the base product, SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 15 SP2 which are published at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/
SUSE-SLES/15-SP2 (https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP2).

Important

Important: Upgrade Documentation

The following release notes contain additional notes regarding the upgrade of
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension. However, they do not
document the upgrade procedure itself.

For upgrade documentation, see the Admin Guide at https://
documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15/html/SLE-HA-all/book-sleha-guide.html (https:/
/documentation.suse.com/sle-ha-15/html/SLE-HA-all/book-sleha-guide.html).

4.2.1 Make Sure the Current System Is Up-To-Date Before Upgrading

Upgrading the system is only supported from the most recent patch level. Make
sure the latest system updates are installed by either running zypper patch or
by starting the YaST module Online-Update. An upgrade on a system not fully
patched may fail.

4.2.2 Skipping Service Packs Requires LTSS

Skipping service packs during an upgrade is only supported if you have a Long
Term Service Pack Support contract. Otherwise you first need to upgrade to SP1
before upgrading to SP2.

4.2.3 Terminology Changes in the Upgrade Documentation

To increase consistency and better distinguish types of upgrades, the
terminology in the product documentation has been changed:

  o Cluster Rolling Upgrade (previously, Rolling Upgrade): You take the first
    node offline, upgrade it and bring it back online to join the cluster. Then
    you continue one by one until all cluster nodes are upgraded to a major
    version.

  o Cluster Offline Upgrade (previously, Offline Migration): You need to take
    all nodes offline and upgrade the cluster as a whole (incurring cluster
    downtime), before you can bring all nodes back online.

This change has been applied to the documentation for SUSE Linux Enterprise
High Availability Extension 15 GA and later.

4.3 For More Information

For more information, see Section 5, "New Features, Changes & Fixes" and the
sections relating to your respective hardware architecture.

5 New Features, Changes & Fixes

Information in this section applies to all architectures supported by SUSE
Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2 unless noted otherwise.

6 Cluster

This section lists cluster-related information for SUSE Linux Enterprise High
Availability Extension 15 SP2.

6.1 To Take Down Cluster Nodes, Always Use crm cluster stop

In previous versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension, you
could stop a cluster node by only executing systemctl stop pacemaker. The
Corosync service would then automatically quit in response.

However, this behavior of Corosync was problematic in rare edge cases when SBD
was used as the fencing mechanism: If the Pacemaker service failed more often
in a short time than allowed by systemd's StartLimitBurst, systemd would not
restart Pacemaker anymore. In consequence, the Corosync and SBD services would
be stopped and the node would unexpectedly go offline while still holding
resources. With SBD not running, the node could also not be fenced anymore.

To avoid this issue, starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability
Extension 15 SP2, the Corosync service will no longer be stopped when the
Pacemaker service fails.

For starting, stopping, and restarting cluster nodes, we recommend consistently
using the commands crm cluster start, crm cluster stop, and crm cluster
restart.

If you want to continue to use systemctl commands, make sure to read the SUSE
blog post SUSE High Availability Cluster Services - How to stop, start or view
the status (https://www.suse.com/c/
suse-high-availability-cluster-services-how-to-stop-start-or-view-the-status/).

7 High-Availability Tools

This section list information related to the high-availibility tools of SUSE
Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2.

8 Resources and Resource Agents

This section lists information related to resources and resource agents in SUSE
Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP2.

9 Storage

This section list storage-related information for SUSE Linux Enterprise High
Availability Extension 15 SP2.

10 Known Issues & Workarounds

This is a list of known issues for this release.

11 Removed and Deprecated Features and Packages

This section lists features and packages that got removed from SUSE Linux
Enterprise High Availability Extension or will be removed in upcoming versions.

11.1 Removed Features and Packages

The following features and packages had been deprecated with a previous release
and have been removed with SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability
Extension 15 SP2.

11.1.1 lvm2-cmirrord and lvm2-clvm Have Been Removed

With the upgrade to lvm2 2.03, the packages lvm2-clvm and lvm2-cmirrord that
were deprecated in SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension15 GA have
been removed.

11.2 Deprecated Features and Packages

The following features and packages are deprecated and will be removed with a
future service pack of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension.

12 Obtaining Source Code

This SUSE product includes materials licensed to SUSE under the GNU General
Public License (GPL). The GPL requires SUSE to provide the source code that
corresponds to the GPL-licensed material. The source code is available for
download at https://www.suse.com/download/sle-ha/ (https://www.suse.com/
download/sle-ha/) on Medium 2. For up to three years after distribution of the
SUSE product, upon request, SUSE will mail a copy of the source code. Send
requests by e-mail to sle_source_request@suse.com
(mailto:sle_source_request@suse.com).

13 Legal Notices

SUSE makes no representations or warranties with regard to the contents or use
of this documentation, and specifically disclaims any express or implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further,
SUSE reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes to its
content, at any time, without the obligation to notify any person or entity of
such revisions or changes.

Further, SUSE makes no representations or warranties with regard to any
software, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, SUSE reserves
the right to make changes to any and all parts of SUSE software, at any time,
without any obligation to notify any person or entity of such changes.

Any products or technical information provided under this Agreement may be
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necessary export approvals.

Copyright (C) 2010-2019 SUSE LLC.

This release notes document is licensed under a Creative Commons
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have received a copy of the license along with this document. If not, see
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