Pegasus Enhancement Proposal (PEP)

PEP #: 305

Title: Release Notes for OpenPegasus 2.6.1

Created: 3 August 2007

Authors: Dave Sudlik

Status:  approved

Version History:

Version	Date	Author	Change Description
1.0	3 August 2007	Dave Sudlik	Initial Submission. Updates for 2.6.1 (from 2.6) are highlighted in this color.
1.1	8 August 2007	Dave Sudlik	Updates from review

 

Abstract: This document defines the release notes for the 2.6.1 release of the OpenPegasus CIM Server. The purpose of this PEP is simply to summarize the characteristics of this release, point to other documentation that defines the release in more detail, and provide additional information about this release that is not available in the other Pegasus documentation.

 Contents

1. Availability of this Release
2. OpenPegasus Functionality of This Release
3. Relationship to CIM/WBEM Standards
4. OpenPegasus Supported Platforms
5. Conformance with DMTF Specifications
6. OpenPegasus Bugs
7. OpenPegasus Release Control and Version Definition Documentation
8. General Documentation

Availability of this Release

This release is available in a number of forms including:

• Source release in both ZIP (and ZIP EXE) and TAR formats. These can be downloaded from the OpenPegasus Web site at www.openpegasus.org. 
• OpenPegasus  binary and source RPMs on the OpenPegasus web site.. The source RPM is  available on the OpenPegasus web site that can be used to build binaries for most LSB-compliant RPM-based Linux distributions and versions.
• The Pegasus CVS repository. The CVS tags representing this release and subsequent snapshots that are made available in the Pegasus CVS are defined on the OpenPegasus CVS repository web page (see the OpenPegasus CVS page for information) using the tags defined on the release snapshots page.

The instructions for acquiring the released code are on the Pegasus WEB site. Installation instructions are part of the README in the root of the Pegasus source tree.

OpenPegasus Functionality for This Release

Pegasus overall status by release is defined by  a Feature Status WEB Page that is available on the OpenPegasus web site .  That web page shows the Pegasus users and developers the status of the various features found in Pegasus using a simple color coded key (white, red, yellow, green) and a description of each feature.

Pegasus 2.6.1 is a "point" release, extending Pegasus 2.6 in selected areas. Normally an OpenPegasus "point" release does not contain major new pieces of functionality, but in this case one new PEP was added for IPv6 support, the description of which has been added to these Release Notes.

The major areas of development for this release  were as follows. For more information access the documented PEP:

                      Table of Major Changes for this Release

PEP	Description	Posted PEP Version
291	OpenPegasus Support for IPv6: Stage 1	1.2

The status of several components of Pegasus functionality change status between Pegasus versions. Features that have changed status can be identified by a change in color from the previous release to this release on the Feature Status WEB Page.

Finally, a significant number of internal changes and corrections were made under the control of the Pegasus bugzilla bug system. See the bug section below for more information.

IPv6 Support

IPv6 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4"). IPv6 Support for OpenPegasus is documented in PEP 291.

The IPv6 support in OpenPegasus is controlled by the PEGASUS_ENABLE_IPV6 build variable. Setting this to 'true' before building OpenPegasus will enable the IPv6 support. In 2.6.1 this variable will default to 'false' to omit the IPv6 support.

The following subsections provide some information on IPv6 support for the Linux and Windows platforms. Note that in the 2.6.1 release there is no automatic run-time detection of IPv6 support on a platform by OpenPegasus. If you build with PEGASUS_ENABLE_IPV6=true, your platform must support IPv6 or you will get a build failure (missing header files), a run-time bind() failure, or possibly some other failure. This applies to both the CIM Server and Listener components. For more information on IPv6 support for your specific platform, refer to the documentation for that platform.

All OpenPegasus externals that support either a hostname or an IP address as input have been updated to allow an IPv6 address to be specified. If the required input is just an IP address (eg. no optional or required port number), then the IPv6 address must be specified without brackets. For example, the OpenPegasus osinfo client (which returns information about the OS running on a host system) takes separate host and port options. In this case a host with an IPv6-configured network interface would be specified as:

But the cimcli command, which takes an optional "location" option including an optional port number, requires the IPv6 address to be delimited with brackets, for example:

or

For more information on specifying IPv6 addresses, refer to IETF RFC 2373 - IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture and IETF RFC 2732 - Format for Literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's.

IPv6 on Linux

Modern Linux distributions already contain IPv6-ready kernels, the IPv6 capability is generally compiled as a module, but it's possible that this module is not loaded automatically on startup.

Note: you shouldn't anymore use kernel series 2.2.x, because it's not IPv6-up-to-date anymore. Also the IPv6 support in series 2.4.x is no longer improved according to definitions in latest RFCs. It's recommend to use series 2.6.x now.

To check whether your current running kernel supports IPv6, take a look into your /proc filesystem. The entry /proc/net/if_inet6 must exist. A short automated test looks like:

For more information on enabling IPv6 in the Linux kernel and configuring network interfaces, refer to The Linux Documentation Project's IPv6 HOWTO.

Warning: There is currently an open issue with RedHat to address a problem that is seen intermittently on RHEL5 and SLES10 systems. This problem is described in Pegasus bug 6586 and RedHat bug 248052, and manifests itself as an intermittent IPv6 socket failure. You should be aware that OpenPegasus with IPv6 enabled may be significantly impacted in these environments.

IPv6 on Windows

Microsoft provides supported IPv6 implementations for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP with Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2), and Windows CE .NET 4.1 and later.

On Windows XP, you can use the ipv6.exe tool to install, uninstall, and query your IPv6 configuration. For example:


Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 support an integrated IPv4 and IPv6 implementation known as the Next Generation TCP/IP stack. Note that the OpenPegasus IPv6 support in 2.6.1 has not yet been tested on Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.

For more information on installing, configuring, and using IPv6 on Windows platforms, refer to the document IPv6 for Microsoft Windows: Frequently Asked Questions.

Testing your OpenPegasus IPv6 support

As part of the OpenPegasus automated tests, the TestClient, g11ntest, and IndicationStressTest test clients were modified to run tests using the IPv6 loopback address (::1) if PEGASUS_ENABLE_IPV6=true.

You can also perform manual tests using the IPv6 loopback or a real IPv6-configured network interface. For example, using the IPv6 loopback on a system with OpenPegasus running on the wbem standard http port of 5988:

OpenPegasus Relationship to CIM/WBEM Standards

Pegasus was designed and implemented to comply with the DMTF CIM/WBEM specifications The following table defines the level of the DMTF specifications to which this version of Pegasus aims to conform today.

DMTF Specification	Specification Version
DSP 0004 - CIM Infrastructure Specification	Version 2.3 Final, 4 October 2005
DSP 0200 - CIM Operations over HTTP	1.2.0, preliminary, 9 December 2004
DSP 0201 - Representation of CIM in XML	2.2.0, preliminary, December 2004
DSP 0202 - CIM Query Language Specification	1.0.0, preliminary, 9 December 2004
DSP 0205 - WBEM Discovery using SLP	1.0, preliminary, 27 January 2004
DSP 0206 - WBEM SLP Template	1.0.0, Preliminary, January 2004
CIM Schema	2.9 Final, Jan. 2005 ( default) 2.13.1 (available in pegasus CVS)

Conformance Exceptions to DMTF Specifications

It is a major goal of the OpenPegasus project to both drive and utilize the DMTF CIM/WBEM specifications.  However, today there are a number of known differences.  As of this release, some of the differences include the following:

1. Provider Registration - Pegasus supports registration through a set of Pegasus Provider registration classes rather than support the DMTF defined Provider Qualifier. Pegasus will not support this qualifier in the future. See the readme for more information on provider registration.  This is not a deviation from the specifications but is a different method of registration than many CIM Servers and means that the the provider qualifier is unused in Pegasus.
2.  Indications -Today Pegasus supports process indications and lifecycle indications when defined specifically by providers. Pegasus does not support lifecycle indications if they are not defined by the provider or for changes to CIM Classes.  For more information see the Pegasus CVS file   pegasus/src/Unsupported/LifecycleIndicationProvider/README.LifecycleIndications.htm.

3.  IncludeQualifiers option on Instance Operations  - The DMTF specifications have deprecated the use of qualifiers on instance operations with the 1.2 CIM Operations Specification.  Some CIM Client implementations expect instances returned from the CIM Server to include the qualifiers defined in the class definition (such as KEY qualifiers on properties).   Pegasus today expects the provider to complete the qualifiers on instances in accordance with the specification and generally the interpretation is that Pegasus applies class level qualifiers when the includeInstance parameter is supplied on instance operations.  However, Pegasus today is inconsistent in the return of qualifiers so that the user should NOT depend on Pegasus accurately honoring the includeQualifier parameter for instance operations.  In the future it is expected that Pegasus will deprecate the use of qualifiers on instance operations completely.

4. LocalOnly option on instance Operations - With the 1.1 version of Specification for CIM Operations over HTTP, the definition of the LocalOnly parameter for the GetInstance and EnumerateInstances operations was modified. This change was incorrect, resulted in reduced functionality and introduced a number of backward compatibility issues. As a result of issues introduced by this change, we strongly recommend that CIM Clients set LocalOnly = false and do not rely on the use of this parameter to filter the set of set of properties returned. See Appendix C of this specification for more information.

5. MultiRequest Oprations - Pegasus does not support the DMTF defined MultiRequest Operation option.

6. MOFCompiler namespace pragma - The Pegasus compiler does not support the namespace pragma.

7. Pegasus implements chunking based on the DSP0200 1.2.0 preliminary spec. Refer to bug 6760 for more details.
   

OpenPegasus Supported Platforms

Each OpenPegasus release lists as 'active' platforms those hardware/software platforms that have recognized ports for the Pegasus code base including a maintainer for the platform that will be willing to regularly document issues and/or fix defects as the Pegasus code base is changed.  Pegasus may be operable on other platforms (ex. Windows 98) but without a group to provide the role of test and maintenance, correct operation of  Pegasus cannot be assured.  In all cases, including the active platforms, it is the responsibility of the entity that packages and/or compiles OpenPegasus for shipment or deployment, to read, and actively monitor the Pegasus bugzilla database for a list of relevant defects that affect their platform.   The platforms that are considered 'active' for this Pegasus release are:
 

Platform and OS	Compilers
HP-UX	HP aC++ B3910B
Linux on Power	gcc
zLinux	gcc
Linux Itanium	gcc
Linux IA-32, X86_64	gcc (versions 2.9x, 3.xx, 4.xx)
Windows 2000	Microsoft Visual C++ Ver 6 and Microsoft .Net compiler Version.   Works on VC .NET 2003 (aka v7.1)
Windows XP, Windows 2003	Microsoft Visual C++ Ver. 6 and Microsoft .Net compiler Version 7.1
MacOS version 10.2 and higher	gcc 3.3, gcc 4.01
HP OpenVMS Alpha	HP C++ V7.3-009 for OpenVMS Alpha and above
HP OpenVMS IA64	HP C++ V7.2-021 on OpenVMS IA64 and above
Solaris 8	GNU  2.95.3,  Sun CC compiler V 5.8. Note that the latest thread patch (108993) may be required. (see Pegasus bug 4632)
Solaris 9	GNU  2.95.3, Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 C++ 5.3, patch 111685-22 2005/04/09

Platform patches

The following is a list of platform patches Pegasus requires.

Further information regarding Pegasus support on IBM platforms can be found at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r1/en_US/index.htm?info/icmain.htm

Further information regarding Pegasus support on HP platforms can be found at: http://www.hp.com/go/wbem.

Pegasus Defects

The Pegasus bugzilla database documents any defects found in Pegasus and  is available through the following link:  OpenPegasus bugzilla database.  Note that all changes  committed for this release have been marked with the keyword 2.6.1_APPROVED so that all changes for this release can be found with the following bug search. Effective with the start of the Pegasus 2.6 work, all changes to the CVS tree were documented through bugs.  Thus bugs were filed not only for bugs and their corresponding fixes but also as part of the process of committing new code representing the work on PEPs done for Pegasus 2.6.  Therefore, a search of the bugzilla base for bugs with the tag 2.6.1_APPROVED will yield all changes to the Pegasus RELEASE_2_6-branch CVS branch since Pegasus 2.6.0.

    - Changes for Pegasus 2.6.1 point release (bugs Tagged 2.6.1_APPROVED)  Pegasus 2.6.1_APPROVED bug list

2.6.1 bugs of special interest:

• Bug 6643 changed the way OpenPegasus loads libraries (such as providers) in a POSIX environment. The dlopen() call was changed to include the RTLD_GLOBAL option for all POSIX platforms except VMS.
  

Pegasus Release Control and Version Definition Documentation

The Pegasus project is controlled largely through a set of documents (PEPs) that serve as the definition and review mechanism for new and modified Pegasus functionality and for the definition and documentation of releases.

Specifically the following PEPs define the characteristics of the Pegasus 2.6 release. These PEPs are available as OpenPegasus Approved PEPs.
For this 2.6.1 point release, only this document, the 2.6.1 Release Notes, was updated. All other references should be back to the 2.6 release PEPs.

1. PEP 218 - OpenPegasus 2.6 Release Definition - This PEP is used throughout the development of this version as the control point for functionality that will go into the release and points to all of the PEPs that represent the Pegasus  functionality changes for this version of Pegasus.
2. PEP 277 -  OpenPegasus 2.6 Build and Configuration Options  for Selected Platforms
3. PEP 278 OpenPegaus 2.6 External Interfaces - Lists the public interfaces for clients and providers that are considered external and therefore "frozen".
   
4. PEP 279 - OpenPegasus 2.6 SDK Packaging Definition - Defines the recommended set of files for inclusion in the OpenPegasus SDK
5. PEP 280 - Pegasus  2.6 Runtime Packaging Definition - Defines the recommended set of files for inclusion in this OpenPegasus release.
6. PEP 305 - Pegasus 2.6.1 Release Notes (This document located in the approved PEP repository and the OpenPegasus source tree root directory)
   
7. PEP 289  - Pegasus 2.6 readme.txt (Located in PEP repository and also in the OpenPegasus source tree root directory).

General Documentation

The following documentation is available for the this Pegasus release:

• Utilities - A combination of help generally available with the -h option for each command and HTML documentation for most of the tools.
• API and  usage documentation - See the header files and the HTML  API documentation that is on the web site. The best API usage documentation is the existing utilities and test programs and the examples in the API documentation.  In particular the Common/tests unit tests contain extensive examples of the use of the Common APIs.
• Building and Debugging Providers - Readme.html in the Pegasus Root Directory, API documentation, and documentation from the Pegasus Technical Workshop which is available on the Pegasus web site.
• Building and Debugging Clients - API documentation and the documentation on the Pegasus Technical Workshop which is available on the Pegasus web site.
• Compiler operation and commands - compiler help (cimmofl -h)
• PEPs - The features of Pegasus that have been installed in this and the previous few versions are defined by Pegasus PEPs that are available on the OpenPegasus web site.  While these are the original design documents largely and use in the process of defining and approving the overall characteristics of new functionality, they serve as a guide to the design and implementation of these features.