title: Table Of Contents

text:
Table Of Contents
- Simplyblock: Enterprise Storage Platform for Kubernetes
- Portworx: Kubernetes Storage and Data Management
- Ceph: Open-source, Distributed Storage System
- Longhorn: Cloud-native Block Storage for Kubernetes
- NFS: File Sharing Solution for Enterprises with Heterogeneous Environments
- Make Your Kubernetes Storage Choice in 2025
- Questions and Answers
Selecting your Kubernetes persistent storage may be tough due to the many available options. Not all are geared towards enterprise setups, though. Hence, we would like to briefly introduce 5 storage solutions for Kubernetes that may meet your enterprise’s diverse storage needs.
That said, as Kubernetes adoption keeps growing in 2025, selecting the right storage solution is more important than ever. Enterprise-level features, data encryption, and high availability are at the forefront of the requirements we want to look into. The same is true for the ability to attach to multiple clients simultaneously and the built-in data loss protection.
Simplyblock: Enterprise Storage Platform for Kubernetes
Simplyblock™ is an enterprise-grade storage platform designed to cater to high-performance and scalability needs for storage in Kubernetes environments. Simplyblock is fully optimized to take advantage of modern NVMe devices. It utilizes the NVMe/TCP protocol to share its shared volumes between the storage cluster and clients, providing superior throughput and lower access latency than the alternatives.
Simplyblock is designed as a cloud-native solution and is highly integrated with Kubernetes through its Simplyblock CSI driver. It supports dynamic provisioning, snapshots, clones, volume resizing, fully integrated encryption at rest, and many more. One benefit of simplyblock is its use of NVMe over TCP which is integrated into the Linux and Windows (Server 2025 or later) kernels, meaning no additional drivers. This also means it is easy to use Simplyblock volumes outside of Kubernetes, including on Bare-Metal Kubernetes, if you also operate virtual machines and would like to unify your storage. Furthermore, simplyblock volumes support read-write multi-attach. That means they can be attached to multiple pods, VMs, or both at the same time, making it easy to share data.
Its scale-out architecture provides full multi-tenant isolation, meaning that many customers can share the same storage backend. Logical volumes can be encrypted at rest either by an encryption key per tenant or even per logical volume, providing the strongest isolation option.
Deployment-wise, simplyblock offers the best of both worlds: disaggregated and hyperconverged setups. Simplyblock’s storage engine can be deployed on either a set of separate storage nodes, building a disaggregated storage cluster, or on Kubernetes worker nodes to utilize the worker node-local storage. Simplyblock also supports a mixed setup, where workloads can benefit from ultra-low latency with worker node-local storage (node-affinity) and the security and “spill-over” of the infinite storage from the disaggregated cluster.
As the only solution presented here, simplyblock favors erasure coding over replication for high availability and fault tolerance. Erasure coding is quite similar to RAID and uses parity information to achieve data loss protection. Simplyblock distributes this parity information across cluster nodes for higher fault tolerance. That said, erasure coding has a configuration similar to a replication factor, defining how many chunks and parity information will be used per calculation. This enables the best trade-off between data protection and storage overhead, enabling secure setups with as little as 50% additional storage requirements.
Furthermore, simplyblock provides a full multi-tier solution that caters to diverse storage needs in a single system. It enables you to utilize ultra-fast flash storage devices such as NVMe alongside slower SATA/SAS SSDs. At the same time, you can manage your long-term (cold) storage with traditional HDDs or QLC-based flash storage (slower but very high capacity).
Simplyblock is a robust choice if you need scalable, high-performance block storage for use cases such as databases, CDNs (Content Delivery Network), analytics solutions, and similar. Furthermore, simplyblock offers high throughput and low access latency. With its use of erasure coding, simplyblock is a great solution for companies seeking cost-effective storage while its ease of use allows organizations to adapt quickly to changing storage demands. For businesses seeking a modern, efficient, and Kubernetes-optimized block storage solution, simplyblock offers a compelling combination of features and performance.
Portworx: Kubernetes Storage and Data Management
Portworx is a cloud-native, software-defined storage platform that is highly integrated with Kubernetes. It is an enterprise-grade, closed-source solution that was acquired and is in active development by Pure Storage. Hence, its integration with the Pure Storage hardware appliances enables a performant, scalable storage option with integrated tiering capabilities.
Portworx integrated with Kubernetes through its native CSI driver and provides important CSI features such as dynamic provisioning, snapshots, clones, resizing, and persistent or ephemeral volumes. Furthermore, Portworx supports data-at-rest encryption and disaster recovery using synchronous and asynchronous cluster replication.
To enable fault tolerance and high availability, Portworx utilizes replicas, storing copies of data on different cluster nodes. This multiplies the required disk space by the replication factor. For the connection between the storage cluster and clients, Portworx provides access via iSCSI, a fairly old protocol that isn’t necessarily optimized for fast flash storage.
For connections between Pure’s FlashArray and Portworx, you can use NVMe/TCP or NVMe-RoCE (NVMe with RDMA over Converged Ethernet) — a mouthful, I know.
Encryption at rest is supported with either a unique key per volume or a cluster-wide encryption key. For storage-client communication, while iSCSI should be separated into its own VLAN, remember that iSCSI itself isn’t encrypted, meaning that encryption in transit isn’t guaranteed (if not pushed through a secured channel).
As mentioned, Portworx distinguishes itself by integrating with Pure Storage appliances. This integration enables organizations to leverage the performance and reliability of Pure’s flash storage systems. This makes Portworx a compelling choice for running critical stateful applications such as databases, message queues, and analytics platforms in Kubernetes, especially if you don’t fear operating hardware appliances. While available as a pure software-defined storage solution, Portworx excels in combination with Pure’s hardware, making it a great choice for databases, high-throughput message queues, and analytical applications on Kubernetes.
Ceph: Open-source, Distributed Storage System
Ceph is a highly scalable and distributed storage solution. Run as a company-backed open-source project, Ceph presents a unified storage platform with support for block, object, and file storage. That makes it a versatile choice for a wide range of Kubernetes applications.
Ceph’s Kubernetes integration is provided through the ceph-csi driver, which brings dynamically provisioned persistent volumes and automatic lifecycle management. CSI features supported by Ceph include snapshotting, cloning, resizing, and encryption.
The architecture of Ceph is built to be self-healing and self-managing, mainly designed to enable infinite disk space scalability. The provided access latency, while not on the top end, is good enough for many use cases. Running workloads like databases, which love high IOPS and low latency, can feel a bit laggy, though. This is one of the key differences highlighted in the Simplyblock vs Ceph comparison, which explores how these two solutions handle performance, scalability, and overall efficiency. Finally, high availability and fault tolerance are implemented through replication between Ceph cluster nodes.
From the security end, Ceph supports encryption at rest via a few different options. I’d recommend using the LUKS-based (Linux Unified Key Setup) setup as it supports all of the different Ceph storage options. The communication between cluster nodes, as well as storage and client, is not encrypted by default. If you require encryption in transit (and you should), utilize SSH and SSL termination via HAproxy or similar solutions. It’s unfortunate that a storage solution as big as Ceph has no such built-in support. The same goes for multi-tenancy, which can be achieved using RADOS namespaces but isn’t an out-of-the-box solution.
Ceph is an excellent choice as your Kubernetes storage when you are looking for an open-source solution with a proven track record of enterprise deployments, infinite storage scalability, and versatile storage types. It is not a good choice if you are looking for high-performance storage with low latency and millions of IOPS.
Moreover, due to its community-driven development and support, Ceph can be operated as a cost-effective and open-source alternative to proprietary storage solutions. Whether you’re deploying in a private data center, a public cloud, or a hybrid environment, Ceph’s adaptability is a great help for managing storage in containerized ecosystems.
Commercial support for Ceph is available from Red Hat.
Longhorn: Cloud-native Block Storage for Kubernetes
Longhorn is an open-source, cloud-native storage solution specifically designed for Kubernetes. It provides block storage that focuses on flexibility and ease of use. Therefore, Longhorn deploys straight into your Kubernetes cluster, providing worker node-local storage as persistent volumes.
As a cloud-native storage solution, Longhorn provides its own CSI driver, highly integrated with Longhorn and Kubernetes. It enables dynamic provisioning and management of persistent volumes, snapshots, clones, and backups. For the latter, people seem to have some complications with restores, so make sure to test your recovery processes.
For communication between storage and clients, Longhorn uses the iSCSI protocol. A newer version of the storage engine is in the works, which enables NVMe over TCP, however, at the time of writing, this engine isn’t yet production-ready and is not recommended for production use.
Anyhow, Longhorn provides good access latency and throughput, making it a great solution for mid-size databases and similar workloads. Encryption at rest can be set up but isn’t as simple as with some alternatives. High availability and fault tolerance is achieved by replicating data between cluster nodes. That means, as with many other solutions, the required storage is multiplied by the replication factor. However, Longhorn supports incremental backups to external storage systems like S3 for easy data protection and fast recoverability in disaster scenarios.
Longhorn is a full open-source project under the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). It was originally developed by Rancher and is backed by SUSE. Hence, it’s commercially available with enterprise support as SUSE Storage.
Longhorn is a good choice if you want a lightweight, cloud-native, open-source solution that runs hyper-converged with your cluster workloads. It is usually used for smaller deployments or home labs — widely discussed on Reddit. Generally, it is not considered as robust as Ceph and, hence, is not recommended for mission-critical enterprise production workloads.
NFS: File Sharing Solution for Enterprises with Heterogeneous Environments
NFS (Network File System) is a well-known and widely adopted file-sharing protocol, inside and outside Kubernetes. That said, NFS has a proven track record showing its simplicity, reliability, and ability to provide shared access to persistent storage.
One of the main features of NFS is its ability to simultaneously attach volumes to many containers (and pods) with read-write access. That enables easy sharing of configuration, training data, or similar shared data sets between many instances or applications.
There are quite a few different options for integrating NFS with Kubernetes. The two main ones are the Kubernetes NFS Subdir External Provisioner. Both automatically create NFS subdirectories when new persistent volumes are requested, and the csi-driver-nfs. In addition, many storage solutions provide optimized NFS CSI drivers designed to provision shares for their respective solutions automatically. Such storage options include TrueNAS, OpenEBS, Dell EMC, and others.
High availability is one of the elements of NFS that isn’t simple, though. To make automatic failover work, additional tools like Corosync or Pacemaker need to be configured. On the client side, automount should be set up to handle automatic failover and reconnection. NFS is an old protocol from a time when those additional steps were commonplace. Today, they feel frumpy and out of place, especially compared to available alternatives.
While multi-tenancy isn’t strictly supported by NFS, using individual shares could be seen as a viable solution. However, remember that shares aren’t secured in any way. Authentication requires additional setups such as Kerberos. File access permissions shouldn’t be used as a sufficient setup for tenant isolation.
Encryption at rest with NFS comes down to the backing storage solution. NFS, as a sharing protocol, doesn’t offer anything by itself. Encryption in transit is supported, either via Kerberos or other means like TLS via stunnel. The implementation details differ per NFS provider, though. You should consult your provider’s manual.
NFS is your Kubernetes storage of choice if you need a simple, scalable, and shared file storage system that integrates seamlessly into your existing infrastructure. In the best case, you already have an NFS server set up and ready to go. Installing the CSI driver and configuring the storage class is all you need. While NFS might be a bottleneck for high-performance systems such as databases, many applications work perfectly fine. Imagine you need to scale out a WordPress-based website. There isn’t an easier way to share the same writable storage to many WP instances. That said, for organizations looking for a mature, battle-tested storage option to deliver shared storage with minimal complexity, NFS is the choice.
Make Your Kubernetes Storage Choice in 2025
Selecting the right storage solution for your Kubernetes persistent volume isn’t easy. It is an important choice to ensure performance, scalability, and reliability for your containerized workloads. Solutions like simplyblock™, Portworx, Ceph, Longhorn, and NFS offer a great set of features and are optimized for different use cases.
NFS is loved for its simplicity and easy multi-attach functionality. It is a great choice for all use cases needing shared write access. It’s not a great fit for high throughput and super-low access latency, though.
Ceph, on the other hand, is great if you need infinite scalability and don’t fear away from a slightly more complicated setup and operation. Ceph provides a robust choice for all use cases, as well as high-performance databases and similar IO-intensive applications.
Longhorn and Portworx are generally good choices for almost all types of applications. Both solutions provide good access latency and throughput. If you tend to buy hardware appliances, Portworx, in combination with Pure Storage, is the way to go. If you prefer pure software-defined storage and want to utilize storage available in your worker nodes, take a look at Longhorn.
Last but not least, simplyblock is your choice when running IO-hungry databases in or outside Kubernetes. Its use of the NVMe/TCP protocol makes it a perfect choice for pure container storage, as well as mixed environments with containers and virtual machines. Due to its low storage overhead for data protection, simplyblock is a great, cost-effective, and fast storage solution. And a bit of capacity always remains for all other storage needs, meaning a single solution will do it for you.
As Kubernetes evolves, leveraging the proper storage solution will significantly improve your application performance and resiliency. To ensure you make an informed decision for your short and long-term storage needs, consider factors like workload complexity, deployment scale, and data management needs.
Whether you are looking for a robust enterprise solution or a more simple and straightforward setup, these five options are all strong contenders to meet your Kubernetes storage demands in 2025.
Questions and Answers
The best Kubernetes storage in 2025 depends on your workload, but options like simplyblock stand out for their NVMe-over-TCP integration, dynamic provisioning, and Kubernetes-native architecture—ideal for high-performance, scalable, cloud-native apps.
Ceph offers flexibility, Longhorn is Kubernetes-focused, but simplyblock provides superior performance with built-in NVMe-over-TCP support, instant snapshots, and multi-tenant isolation. It’s designed for modern environments and optimized for databases on Kubernetes.
NVMe-over-TCP delivers high throughput and low latency over standard Ethernet, making it ideal for scalable containerized workloads. It’s the key to combining local SSD-like performance with remote storage flexibility in Kubernetes clusters.
Legacy SAN and NAS solutions often lack Kubernetes-native integration and dynamic provisioning support. Instead, software-defined storage platforms like Simplyblock are more agile, scalable, and cloud-friendly for containerized environments.
A robust CSI driver should support dynamic provisioning, snapshots, encryption, and replication. Simplyblock’s CSI plugin also supports volume resizing and high-performance backends, making it ideal for stateful Kubernetes workloads.


tier: cub

shelf: health

text:
Do you know the difference between a therapist and a coach?
In exploring the helping world, it can be complicated to know where to start or which direction to go. Take these two scenarios below and see where you may fit in:
In one scenario, you’re at a place in your life where you realize you need help. You feel fatigued during the day yet restless at night. You cannot silence worrisome thoughts from consuming your mind. You notice dramatic weight changes and a prolonged alter in your overall mood. Eventually, these experiencing make you withdrawn from friends and family that mean well, yet you feel they do not understand.
At this point, you may be dealing with anxiety. Anxiety is a mental health disorder that requires clinical intervention in which you would benefit from therapy.
If you are experiencing any mental health challenges, illness, or disorder, your best option is to seek therapy.
If you have had prior experience in therapy and have been diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, or any other mental health condition, do see a mental health therapist. Therapists are educated, clinically trained, and licensed to diagnose and provide treatment for mental illnesses. Therapists assess your behavioral, cognitive, emotional, mental, spiritual, and interpersonal parts of yourself and are sensitive to the interplay these aspects have on your mental health.
In a different scenario, you have specific goals in life but do not know how to attain them. You don’t know what it is, but you’ve hit a rut. You have difficulty feeling motivated. You believe you could get the work done with a little accountability. You do not experience any mental health disorder or any you are aware of. You’ve sought out advice and mentorship, but you need a bit more consistent support.
In this case, you would greatly benefit from a coach. Coaches are not required to be licensed but are certified through training.
Coaches provide education, support, and accountability.
In working with a coach, you set goals and deadlines and receive support throughout the process. You break down your big goals into measurable action items.
Can I see a therapist and a coach?
Absolutely! In fact, if you find that you would benefit from both, make sure to work with a therapist and a coach who are both willing to coordinate your care and develop a comprehensive plan as a team.
We live in a time now where mental health, personal growth, and general well-being are becoming increasingly critical now more than ever.
There are tons of resources out there, so do your research and make sure who you are working with is a good fit for you, your goals, and your mental state. Whether therapy or coaching, both are an investment in your well-being.
Still unsure of your first step?Â Â Give us a call atÂ 470-854-2944Â for a free consultation and we’ll help you get started!


shelf: finance

text:
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has Introduced a new scheme – ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund
It is an open-ended equity scheme following the PSU theme
Accordingly, the objective of the scheme is to generate long-term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity related securities of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). However, there is no assurance or guarantee that the objectives of the scheme will be realized and the scheme does not assure or guarantee any returns.
Under normal circumstances, ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund will hold an allocation of 80% to 100% of its assets in Equity & Equity related instruments of Public Sector Undertakings, 0% to 20% in Other Equity & Equity related instruments, 0% to 20% in Debt instruments, Units of Debt Mutual Fund schemes, and Money market instruments and Preference shares and 0% to 10% of its assets in Units issued by REITs and INVITs.
As per the Scheme Information Document, the Scheme is an open ended thematic equity fund which will invest predominantly in equity and equity related securities of the PSU companies. PSU refers to any undertaking where 51% or more of the company is held by the Central Government, State Government, or jointly by the Central Government and one or more State Governments. The Scheme can invest into opportunities available across the market capitalization. The Scheme may invest up to 20% in other equities and equity related securities.
ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund’s performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE PSU TRI
The scheme will be managed by Mr. Mittul Kalawadia and Mr. Anand Sharma.
The NFO opens for subscription on August 23, 2022 and closes on September 06, 2022. The scheme will reopen for continuous sale and repurchase Within 5 Business Days from the date of allotment.
The fund’s NAV is priced at Rs 10/- per unit during the NFO period. The minimum subscription amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of any amount thereafter.
The scheme offers Regular Plan and Direct Plan each plan offers Growth and Income Distribution cum capital withdrawal option (IDCW) option.
[Read: ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund: Should You Invest in PSU Stocks?]


shelf: education

title: Letter reversals and confusions

text:
Did you know that children need a mental age of approximately 6 years old to overcome vertical reversals and seven and a half for horizontal reversals? (Harman, 1982). And that certain letters in the English alphabet are more likely to be confused? In fact, letters that are mirror images of each other, such as b/d, p/q, n/u are more likely to be confused. Other letters that are similar, such as m and n, i and j, and o and a can also be problematic for some students.
If a student struggles past the age of seven with letter reversals, he may have a visual discrimination problem which means that he/she doesn’t notice, and can’t compare features of unique symbols, like with letters, numbers, and/or words. A visual discrimination issue can be a sign of a learning disability, such as dyslexia.
Improving letter recognition with this no-print, digital, matching letter activity is a simple yet effective therapeutic activity because it helps the brain to recognize, and match, visual patterns.
Students that struggle with letter reversal and confusions, especially older learners, appreciate activities that are free from babyish images and busy worksheets and task cards, which is why the format of these cards is bare and simple.
This resource targets graphemes (letters) that are often confused (b/d, p/q, u/n, i/j, o/a). Various fonts are used to aid in the generalization of letter recognition. For further work on automaticity, you can time your student and have him/her try to beat her time by repeating the task card.
Visual learning strategies can also be beneficial to students that are struggling. Here is a free resource (visual aid of b/d) that can be a helpful tool in discriminating these mirror letters. I simply put it up on a wall in my office so that the student can refer to it when need be. I also encourage my students to have a copy on their desk at school, or in a binder for quick access.
Another quick tip is to teach the student the b/d thumbs trick! This kinesthetic tip is really useful since the student always has access to his thumbs, and is multisensory, which is best practice when working with students that have learning disabilities :)
Happy reading and please share your best practices and/or questions!


shelf: home-craft

title: Kitchen Roll Holder

text:
Kitchen Roll Holder
Kitchen Roll Holder
_Introducing the Majestic Marble Kitchen Roll Holder_
_A Masterpiece of Pakistani Craftsmanship_
In the heart of Pakistan’s finest marble quarries, our skilled artisans carefully selected the most exquisite marble to create a true masterpiece – the Marble Kitchen Roll Holder. This stunning piece is not just a functional accessory, but a work of art that will elevate your home decor with its elegance and sophistication.
_Handcrafted to Perfection_
With precision and dedication, our craftsmen hand-sculpted this beautiful Kitchen Roll holder from a single block of marble, showcasing the unique veining patterns and rich color palette of this natural wonder. Every detail, from the smooth curves to the delicate edges, is a testament to the artisan’s skill and passion.
_Elegant and Practical_
Our Marble Kitchen Roll Holder is designed to hold tissues, toilet paper, or paper towels, adding a touch of luxury to your bathroom, bedroom, or office. Its sleek design and smooth surface make it easy to clean and maintain, ensuring it remains a beautiful addition to your home for years to come.
Uses and Functionality
_Versatile and Convenient_
Use your Marble Kitchen Roll Holder in various settings:
– Bathroom: Add a touch of elegance to your bathroom countertop.
– Bedroom: Place it on your bedside table or dresser.
– Office: Elevate your workspace with a luxurious and functional accessory.
– Living Room: Use it as a decorative piece or to hold tissues for guests.
_Effective and Practical_
Our Marble Kitchen Roll Holder is designed for everyday use, providing:
– Convenience: Keeps tissues within easy reach.
– Durability: Resistant to scratches and cracks.
– Easy maintenance: Simple to clean and maintain.
– Versatility: Suitable for various settings and uses.
_Great Value for Money_
Investing in our Marble Kitchen Roll Holder means:
– Owning a handcrafted, unique piece of art.
– Enjoying a functional and practical accessory.
– Adding a touch of luxury to your home or office.
– Receiving a high-quality product at an affordable price.
Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to elevate your home decor and add a touch of luxury to your daily life with a stunning piece of Pakistani craftsmanship!
_Order Now and Experience the Luxury!_


shelf: history-culture

title: A renaissance cadaverous what the renaissance exhibition at the museion in bolzano looks like

text:
The Reinassance exhibition at the Museion in Bolzano presents fifteen artists under 35 working in northern Italy. The occasion for the exhibition is a grant of 60,000 Swiss francs, which the Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation awards each year in collaboration with a European exhibition institution - Museion was chosen for 2024 - to an artist, or artists, up to thirty-five years old from the selected region. However, in the exhibition, rather than a sense of “rebirth,” there is a cadaverous atmosphere, where the formal and conceptual codes of the last century are reworked by the artists in predictable ways, closer to a form of “art necrophilia” than to a sense of birth and rebirth.
Reinforcing this grave and mournful atmosphere come several large black curtains that go to divide the museum’s exhibition space, usually resembling a large white cube. The reworking of the ready-made and the found object reconnect us to the 1950s atmospheres of Nouveau Réalisme and to the more predictable Duchampian forms of reworking (Isabella Costabile, Davide Stucchi and Raphael Pohl are on display). We continue in the exhibition with sudden turns toward pictorial (Giorgia Garzilli) and photographic (Jim C. Nedd) forms that are still predictable and domesticated, and thus incapable of confronting and dialoguing with the viewer’s contemporaneity.
In the works on display, the continuous reworking of the past is something of an end in itself, incapable of representing a bridge to confront our present. The all too didactic and predictable references to “gender fluidity” (Luca Piscopo) and “environmentalist issues” (Tobias Tavella) are not enough: in these cases, the opera device deals with these certainly interesting themes in hasty ways, unable to compete with a much more complex contemporary present in which simple reality seems to far outweigh anything that can climb the pedestal of representation.
The surely most significant work in the exhibition is by Moroccan-born Italian artist Monia Ben Hamouda, who also won the foundation’s prize. A series of powders and spices placed on the ground with pictorial sense carpet a suspended sculpture that refers to Arabic writing and imagery. The smell of spices should not surprise us too much: it is an idea widely developed by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto back in the 1990s. Beyond that, the work looks like an exotic jewelry capable of striking and surprising the Western viewer who obviously cannot understand anything of the inscriptions in the work, but who takes pleasure through easy exoticism. However, the Moroccan artist, as well as another artist in the exhibition, namely Binta Diaw, risk becoming objects for a new Western colonialism that rewards and appreciates certain artistic solutions as forms of pleasing exotic decorativism.
Renaissance represents a litmus test of a generation under 35, which extends far beyond Northern Italy, however, and which invests all the international artistic production that we can count in the sphere of contemporary art. A lost generation, unable to deal effectively with its own present, is forced to elaborate in an end in itself the codes of the past inherited from its fathers and grandfathers. An inability of the contemporary artist to “rethink himself” with respect to an overly varied and complex contemporaneity. The exhibition expresses no sense of rebirth but, on the contrary, expresses a sense of crisis and death, probably intended, and to which curators and museum directors can only become passive spectators and witnesses.
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.


shelf: civic-law

title: Malaysian ex pm najib arrives in court for graft verdict

text:
Ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak arrived at court Tuesday for a verdict in the first of several corruption trials linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund.
The outcome is widely seen as a test of the rule of law five months after a new government took power. Najib’s Malay party returned to office as a key player in the new ruling alliance, less than two years after its shocking ouster in 2018 elections driven by public anger over the 1MDB scandal.
Security was tight at the courthouse, with the public barred from entering and staff spraying hand sanitizer for media outside. A crowd of supporters was gathering as Najib, wearing a mask and beige suit, entered the building.
Najib, 67, said in a Facebook post late Monday that he was prepared to fight to the end. He said he would appeal if he was found guilty, and expects prosecutors to appeal if he was acquitted.
“From day one, I have said this is the chance for me to clear my name," he wrote. “Whatever the decision in the High Court tomorrow, it does not end here ... after this, we will go to the Court of Appeal. I am ready."
Najib faces a total of 42 charges in five separate graft trials linked to the 1MDB saga and may be sentenced to years in prison if convicted in the first trial alone.
Analysts said the ruling could affect Najib’s other trials and send a signal to the business community about the strength of Malaysia’s legal system in tackling international financial crime.
The verdict will also test current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was fired as Najib’s deputy in 2016 for speaking out on the 1MDB scandal but now relies on Najib’s party for support. Najib’s party is the biggest bloc in the current Malay nationalist alliance, which was formed in March after a political coup by Muhyiddin’s party toppled the former reformist government.


shelf: science-engineering

title: 409

text:
Columbia University, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering college Yang Yuan developed a new way to improve energy density lithium ion batteries. He three layer structure of the electrode can remain stable in the bare air environment, and thus make the battery more lasting and further reduce the manufacturing cost. The energy density of lithium batteries can be increased 10-30%, related papers in early October, published in the journal Nano Letters.
Graphite/PMMA/Li three layer electrode in the battery electrolyte soaked for 24 hours before (left) and after (right). Before immersed in electrolyte, three layer electrode is stable in the air. After soaking, lithium reaction with graphite, the color yellow.
"When the lithium battery charge for the first time, they lost in the first cycle up to 5-20% of the energy", Yang Yuan said, "through the improvement of the structure, we have been able to avoid this kind of loss. At the same time, our method has great potential, in terms of increasing battery life is expected to be used in portable electronic devices and electric vehicles."
After being produced during the first charge would be part of the lithium battery electrolyte as the reduction reaction, from a liquid into a solid, and adhere to the cathode of the battery. This process is irreversible, reduces battery stored energy.
Under the existing electrode manufacturing technology, it is a process to take losses of about 10%, but for the next generation of high capacity anode materials, such as silicon, loss will be 20-30%, this is will reduce the actual capacity of the battery.
To compensate for the initial loss, the traditional way is to add some rich lithium in electrode materials. However, because most of this kind of material in the air environment is not stable, so must be made in completely no moisture in the dry air, thus greatly increased the manufacturing cost of the battery.
Yang Yuan development of the three layers of the electrode structure is to ensure that the electrodes can complete manufacturing under the ordinary air environment.
First of all, he USES a layer of "PMMA" (that is, the common organic glass materials), lithium to cut off contact with air and water; Then add a layer of artificial graphite on PMMA polymer or silica nanoparticles such as active material; Finally, he let PMMA polymer layer dissolved in electrolyte battery, which will be conducting lithium and electrode materials.
Yang Yuan explained: "so that we can avoid the instability of the air between lithium and lithium electrode contact. Adopting the structure of the electrode can be done in the general air environment, easier to achieve volume production of battery electrodes."
Three layers structure of electrode production process: PMMA in the initial state to ensure lithium will not react with moisture in the air. After the PMMA by battery electrolyte solution, graphite contact with lithium to compensate for initial loss caused due to the reduction of electrolyte.
Yang Yuan methods will existing graphite electrode loss reduced from 8% to 0.3%, the silicon electrode loss reduced from 13% to 15% (negative said due to add the new lithium materials, lead to the capacity of the battery instructs the initial state, and the increased). Excess capacity loss of lithium can compensate then loops, so it can further enhance the cycle life of the battery.
Energy density of lithium ion battery (or capacity) in the past 25 years has been maintained a 5-7% annual growth rate, and Yang Yuan research results to further improve the growth provides feasibility plan. His team is trying to reduce the thickness of the PMMA coating now, in order to reduce its are lower proportion of lithium battery, and try to realize industrial production.
Hai-liang wang, assistant professor of chemistry at Yale university said: "three layer electrode structure design is very clever, can under the ordinary air environment in the production of lithium metal electrodes. The electrode of the initial coulombic efficiency has always been a big problem in the lithium ion battery industry, so this kind of simple and effective compensation technology is bound to arouse people‘s great interest."


shelf: software-docs

title: New features

text:
Introduced the ability to download backups from Google Cloud Storage and ingest them from a multi-node staging server. These features will allow for faster ingestion and better dataset snapshots.IBM Db2
Certified IBM AIX v7.2 on POWER9 hardware.MySQL
Certified MySQL and Percona v8.0 on RHEL v8.9 and lower. In addition, potentially sensitive data has been redacted during the generation of support bundles.
Automatic restart for VDB and vPDBs in Oracle RAC environment
This release supports automatic restart of virtual sources in an Oracle RAC environment. If this feature is enabled for an Oracle virtual source in a RAC environment, the VDB or vPDB instance on a cluster node will be automatically restarted whenever that node is rebooted.iSCSI encryption
The data transfer between Continuous Data and target/staging environments takes place through NFS and iSCSI. In efforts to maintain the highest security standards, this release brings the ability to encrypt iSCSI traffic.Windows connector cipher enhancements
To help enhance the user experience of configuring Windows connector ciphers, this release removes the need to manually configure the PREFERREDCIPHERSUITES files in lieu of a newly implemented API, accessible via CLI. This API accepts a list of preferred ciphers and automatically updates the PREFERREDCIPHERSUITES file on all Windows host or specified hosts, if provided. By connecting to each host via the connector, the API replaces the existing preferred cipher list.MySQL
Amazon Linux 2 host environments are now supported, in addition to the Staging Push linking strategy for AWS RDS and RDS Aurora. Fixes have also been implemented to resolve invalid special characters in the my.cnf file and the immutable backup folder for Delphix-initiated backup linking.Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS)
Added support to specify a Disaster Recovery node or Intermediate Server to support linking for disaster recovery scenarios. In addition, the Application Tier password updates now occur following the Enable/Disable operations to hasten the rotation process.
Engine object limit
The number of objects a Delphix Continuous Data Engine can manage has been expanded from 400 to 750.Password Vault credential cache
The Password Vault implementation sees continued improvements with the enablement of credential caching. This reduces the frequency of credential retrievals by the Delphix Continuous Data Engine that occur for each environment access request, ultimately minimizing excessive calls to the vault, thus enhancing performance.PostgreSQL
Provisioning datasets from existing PostgreSQL dSources is now supported. More information can be found in the Provisioning a PostgreSQL VDB section.Kubernetes driver
Provisioning a PostgreSQL data set via the Kubernetes (K8) Driver from an existing PostgreSQL dSource is now supported. With this, volume cloning and tagging VDBs is also supported. More information can be found in the Kubernetes (K8) driver documentation.Certifications
Oracle 11gR2 on RHEL 8.10 (22.214.171.124+)
Oracle 12cR1 on RHEL 8.10 (126.96.36.199+)
Oracle 12cR2 on RHEL 8.10 (188.8.131.52+)
Oracle 19c on RHEL 8.10 (184.108.40.206+)
Oracle 21c on RHEL 8.10 (220.127.116.11+)
Elastic data for GCP
Support has been expanded to elastic data for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) object storage. Initially, support was limited to GCP block storage.Password Vault cache
Configurable caching is introduced to reduce vault access requests by the Delphix Continuous Data engine.Sybase TLS/SSL
Delphix Continuous Data now supports security protocols for ASE instances that only use TLS/SSL connections authenticating via a client certificate.PostgreSQL
Certification has been added for RHEL 9.x.Documentation
Broad improvements continue across multiple areas of documentation, including Cassandra, MySQL, and SAP HANA. Documentation revisions have also been made to clarify new upgrade paths for all connectors.
Enhanced Windows Active Directory log experience
The Delphix SQL Server install base is growing fast, and with that growth, our biggest users are experiencing excessive login entries to their Domain Controllers from Windows target hosts, and also from environment monitoring to targets and sources. Improvements have been made in Delphix code to optimize the AD logon calls to the Domain Controller.API activity log shipping
Today, users are unable to ship an audit trail of API activity off-engine. This means they cannot reliably detect vulnerability exploit attempts by analyzing Delphix logs. To respond to this important security requirement, Nginx access logs are now shipped to the Delphix Fluentd service.Cassandra
This version is primarily a bug-fix release. Refer to the Cassandra Release Notes for more details.MySQL
Certified AWS RDS and RDS Aurora using the Staging Push ingestion mechanism. In addition, we streamlined the Staging Push configuration for all sources.Oracle EBS
This version is primarily a bug-fix release. Refer to the Oracle EBS Fixed issues for more details.PostgreSQL
In v4.2.0, an issue was resolved where some expected tables were missing after a single database refresh or restore. This had the unintended effect of failing a previously working ingestion. This change has been removed and will be re-implemented in a future version. Refer to the PostgreSQL Fixed issues for more details.YugabyteDB
The YugabyteDB database is now supported. Added AWS S3 support.Documentation updates
Broad improvements continue across multiple areas of documentation, including Oracle EBS.
Broad improvements continue across multiple areas of documentation, including CockroachDB and MySQL.Oracle
RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) v9.0 through v9.3 are now supported for Oracle 19c.IBM Db2
The connector now supports IBM AIX 7.2 and RHEL 9.2.MySQL
Improvements have been made to the UI for linking a MySQL dSource in the wizard, where only properties applicable to the selected linking method are shown.
Customizable local listeners for Oracle VDBs and Virtual CDBs
Database administrators need to configure database listener parameters for multiple reasons, notably for security, performance optimization and resource management. Previous improvements brought support to customize local listeners for Oracle VDBs in single-instance environments. This functionality has now been expanded to encompass the customization of local listeners for VDBs in cluster environments, in addition to Virtual Container Databases in both cluster and single-instance environments.Customizable local listeners for Oracle MT RAC VDBs: Delphix now supports customizing local listeners when provisioning a VDB in an Oracle RAC environment. In addition, this allows you to provision a vPDB into a new vCDB in a non-RAC or RAC environment, update local listeners for a VDB in a RAC environment, and update local listeners for a vCDB in a non-RAC or RAC environment.
Support Delphix operations for Oracle RAC VDBs/vPDBs during downtime: Oracle RAC is used for production databases to ensure their availability 24/7. To comply with business continuity guidelines, Delphix now supports the following VDB/vPDB operations when one or more hosts of the Oracle RAC clusters are down: Provisioning, enable/disable, refresh, start/stop, and rollback. This enhancement includes VDBs/vPDBs in vCDBs and Linked CDBs.
Staging Push online DB mode for SQL Server: Delphix now supports database online mode for Staging Push dSources for SQL Server, keeping the source database open for transactions, as needed. Before this enhancement, Staging Push source databases were required to be in restoring mode only. This enhancement is supported for SQL Server deployed on-premises and in the cloud (for both self-managed databases and SQL PaaS environments).
IBM Db2: RHEL v9.2 is now supported for IBM Db2 v11.5, including IBM Db2 v11.5.9.
MySQL: Added Staging Push support for AWS RDS and AWS RDS Aurora MySQL. Certified Amazon Linux 2 as staging and target host environments.
Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS): Oracle EBS’s DB Tech Stack on IBM AIX v7.2 is now supported. The EBS App Tier is not supported on IBM AIX v7.2.
SAP HANA: HANA SPS 06 and SPS 07 are now supported on the SUSE Operating Systems.
Documentation updates: Broad improvements continue across multiple areas of our documentation, including Couchbase, IBM Db2, MongoDB, and MySQL.
Broad improvements have been made across multiple areas of documentation, including the Delphix Overview, Product information, Glossary, Getting started in Datasets section, and the PostgreSQL dataset section.UI for object storage connectivity modifications
Key rotation, endpoint URL, regions, and authentication types may now be modified for existing connected object storage through the UI, in addition to the previously available API and CLI options.Improved migration time to Elastic Data
Leveraging Elastic Data with Continuous Data provides significant cost savings by leveraging object storage in addition to block storage. We have decreased the time to execute migrating an engine from a standard Continuous Data Engine to an Elastic Data Engine. A reboot is required to enable this feature enhancement.TDE support for Hardware Security Module (HSM) solutions
Integration with HSM solutions such as Oracle Key Vault (OKV) and CipherTrust help enhance security by offering robust TDE capabilities that ensure encryption keys are securely managed and stored. Delphix can now connect to OKV and CipherTrust to perform all operations within TDE environments managed by any of these solutions.SAP HANA support
HANA SPS 06 and SPS 07 are now supported on SUSE Operating Systems.Oracle EBS support
EBS on IBM AIX v7.2 is now supported.MongoDB support
MongoDB is now supported on RHEL 9.0.
Decreased VDB downtime
There are two types of upgrades for Continuous Data, full upgrades where VDB downtime is incurred during a system reboot, and deferred updates where there is no system reboot and therefore no downtime. Note that some features will require a full upgrade. The full upgrade process has been enhanced to minimize VDB downtime, limiting it to the duration of the system restart. VDBs now remain operational throughout the upgrade, experiencing downtime solely during the system reboot phase. This enhancement will be in effect for upgrades from 18.104.22.168 or greater.Object storage modification
Key rotation, endpoint URL, regions, and authentication types may now be modified for existing connected object storage through the API and CLI.NFS encryption
Adds support for Repave and Oracle RAC configurations with NFS encryption.IBM Db2 HealthChecker
The HealthChecker can now validate staging and target environment configuration to simplify implementation. This joins existing support for Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS).PostgreSQL
Provided WAL Logs will no longer automatically roll forward a dSource. This action will now occur only when a dSource snapshot is taken to eliminate unknown changes.SAP HANA certification
Certified SAP HANA SPS 06 and 07.ESXi 8.0 U2 certification
Certified VMware ESXi 8.0 U2.
Using encryption over NFS between Continuous Data Engines and the target and staging hosts is now supported. Please consult with your account team as to whether this is an appropriate fit for your needs.MySQL on Linux:
”Manual Ingestion” has been renamed “Staging Push” to standardize on the established Delphix ingestion architectures. Strengthened the refresh and snapshot workflow to minimize occasional failures. Please review the upgrade path for installation guidance.Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS)
Updated the virtual database provisioning hooks to support the Solaris operating system. This release is recommended to all users as it contains various bugs and security fixes.Couchbase support
Support has been added to define multiple buckets, configure RAM sizes, and ingest multiple full backups. Additionally, the connector will now report data source sizing.Microsoft SQL server backup
Improved how easily you can bring in data from Microsoft SQL Server on Azure by automatically updating the Access Control Lists (ACLs), allowing users of various staging and target environments to better manage their files and folders.
SFTP now the default for file transfers
For increased security and compatibility, Delphix Continuous Data now prioritizes SFTP over SCP for toolkit transfers. If SFTP is unavailable, SCP serves as a fallback. This enhancement resolves issues in environments with SCP restrictions. Make sure your engine is updated to avoid compatibility concerns.Bug fixes and performance improvements
This release focuses on a number of bug fixes and performance improvements. More details can be found on the Fixed issues page.
Improved SQL Server Access Control List (ACL) update time for file stream files (for VDB operations)
Mitigates delays caused by the longer Access Control List (ACL) update time compared to the transaction log interval, which is achieved by bypassing ACL checks during virtual database operations.Fluentd logs download
Adds a capability that allows you to download Fluentd logs for debugging, as well as import the logs into analysis tools.In-place conversion of an engine to Elastic Data (object storage)
System administrators can now convert an existing all-block-storage Continuous Data Engine to Elastic Data (with object storage), in-place, without the need to replicate to a new engine. Note that a reboot update is required to use this feature.Certification of Oracle 19c and 21c on SUSE 15 SP5
Oracle 19c and 21c on SUSE 15 SP5 are now certified.Datapatch
Adds support for invoking Datapatch against Oracle VDBs when they are provisioned, refreshed, rewound, started, or enabled via Delphix UI and CLI.Export an Oracle non multitenant or PDB snapshot to a physical Oracle ASM or Exadata database
This feature enables you to export data from an Oracle non multitenant, PDB snapshot, or timeflow point to a physical Oracle database that uses Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM). This feature is especially useful for Oracle target environments running on Exadata or ExaCC systems.IBM Db2
SSL/TLS support for HADR ingestion
The Db2 plugin introduces SSL/TLS support for HADR ingestion, enhancing data security during replication by encrypting data in transit between primary and standby databases.Dynamic UI for Db2 virtualization
With the introduction of various dynamic UI features, you can now experience a streamlined and user-friendly interface that adapts based on your selected choices, simplifying the linking process.
Redeploy support (Repave)
Continuous Data Engines may now be disconnected from their storage and redeployed, maintaining the previous configuration and data. Redeployment support only works with the same Delphix Engine version. Currently, engine redeployment is not supported on Elastic Data Engines, which is expected to be available in a subsequent release.
Previously referred to as “Cloud Engines”, Continuous Data with Elastic Data allows you to leverage lower-cost object storage in addition to traditional block storage. This has the effect of dramatically decreasing the operational overhead of Continuous Data while enabling new use cases like long-term archival and retention.Private data center Elastic Data
Previously, Elastic Data was only available for Continuous Data Engines deployed in AWS (using S3) or Azure (using BLOB storage). We now support deploying Elastic Data with on-premises, S3-compatible object storage arrays.Elastic Data on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Elastic Data may now be used in OCI, providing decreased operational overhead and enabling new use cases, as mentioned above.
In the case of a failure on a primary Continuous Data Engine, failover may be used to swap operations to a secondary Engine. Previously, this was a one-time, terminal action. With failback, you can restore operations back to the primary engine if the failure has been resolved, or if you simply want to test the failover process.PurgeLogs operation
The PurgeLogs operation now includes support for Oracle Multitenant dSources.Oracle Staging Push
The Staging Push method of ingestion now supports point-in-time provisioning of data.Couchbase
Couchbase 7.1.3 is now supported and several bugs have been resolved, such as increasing buffer size in the bucket-list command, backup restore failures, and replication status checks.MySQL/Linux
There is now guidance for upgrading Source, Staging, and Target environments from MySQL 5.7 to v8.0. In addition, new guardrails have been introduced to prevent incompatible refresh and rollback operations.PostgreSQL
All RHEL v8.x operating systems are now supported. In addition, new protections have been introduced to prevent accidental modification of parameters via VDB Config Template configuration.SAP HANA
VDB provisioning has been improved in scenarios when SAP HANA servicesscriptserver
and others are missing volume information.Support for upgrading OpenJDK Java
Enables the ability to provide your own Adoptium OpenJDK upgrades without upgrading the product. Extends “Bring Your Own Java” to include Adoptium, not just Oracle.ESXi 8.0 U1
Continuous Data may now be run on VMware ESXi 8.0 U1.
Recovery from failed vPDB in a Linked CDB
A variety of factors may cause an Oracle virtual pluggable database to fail in a linked container database. It is now possible to recover from a failed Pluggable Virtual Database with a forced refresh or rewind operation.IBM Db2
Support for RHEL 8.8 has now been certified for Delphix. This release was originally published in June.MongoDB
Additional parameters are now supported in themongodump
commands. Backups and restores can be customized more flexibly to improve data extraction and ingestion speeds, such as parallel collections processing.PostgreSQL
Support has been added for PostgreSQL 15.0 on RHEL 9.0 and Azure Flexible Server for PostgreSQL 14.0. The source sizing calculation has also been updated to more accurately represent the correct database size.SQL Server
The following are now supported:SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server Core 2016
SQL Server 2019 on Windows Server Core 2019
SQL Server 2022 on Windows Server Core 2022
SQL Server Developer Edition for all supported SQL Server versions
User audit for Delphix support
In a case where engine access is granted to Delphix Support to debug or fix issues, or any actions take any actions, this is now tracked in its own audit log.SMTP TLS
You can now add a certification for SMTP TLS authentication via the API or command line.Refresh/Rewind of Oracle VDBs and vPDBs that have been exported to Oracle ASM Databases
Users may now refresh or rewind Oracle VDBs or vPDBs that have been exported to physical ASM databases. The performance of the export to ASM can also be improved with the ability to specify specific RMAN file section sizes.IBM Db2
The v4.6.0 release supports Staging Push with the Database Partitioning feature (DPF) and custom mount points.MongoDB
The v1.3.0 release supports passing additional parameters to mongodump and mongorestore. This adds parallel processing and flexibility to improve data extraction and ingestion speeds.
Staging push read-only Oracle databases
Supports staging-push ingestion from read-only databases.Partial ingestion via Oracle staging push
Partial ingestion enables the ability to ingest only selected Oracle tablespaces with Staging Push. This feature allows you to subset the Oracle database by choosing only specific tablespaces.MongoDB
Supports MongoDB Enterprise 6.0 and Mongo Atlas, including cluster-to-cluster sync to enable ingestion of large, sharded databases.MySQL/Linux
Supports MySQL v8 across all certified editions.PostgreSQL
Supports point-in-time (PIT) provisioning using external logs and ingestion using the “pg_dumpall” utility.
Azure key vault integration
This release adds Azure Key Vault support for storing and accessing secrets, keys, and certificates necessary for Continuous Data operations.NFSv4 only mode
This release adds support for turning off NFSv3 on the engine.
READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT parameter can now be set during VDB provisioning
This feature allows the SQL Server READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT database parameter to be defined during VDB Provision operations, either by specifying it as a VDB Configuration Parameter or associating the VDB with a VDB Configuration Template. If defined, the parameter will be automatically set during Provision, Refresh, and Rewind operations for the VDB.Export an Oracle virtual DB or virtual PDB to a physical Oracle ASM or Exadata database
This feature enables you to export data from an Oracle Virtual database (VDB) or a Multitenant (MT) vPDB to a physical Oracle database that uses Automatic Storage Management (ASM). This feature is especially useful for Oracle target environments running on Exadata or ExaCC systems.
Oracle: Multiple virtual PDBs in a virtual CDB
This feature enables you to provision and manage multiple Oracle virtual PDBs to a virtual CDB (vCDB).A vCDB is a Delphix-managed, fully compatible Oracle Container Database created and maintained by Delphix as part of the VDB provisioning workflow. This workflow allows organizations to automate their Oracle data lifecycle end-to-end, which results in developer productivity enhancements. Additionally, because container databases allow it, Oracle users benefit from the Oracle licensing agreement (which allows hosting up to three PDBs inside a vCDB).
This feature is only supported for Oracle versions 22.214.171.124 (with a patch for Oracle bug 18967466) and later.
Source sizing for HANA
This feature enables you to calculate the source dataset size based on the total allocated space on the mount point provided by the Delphix Engine for the dataset.Support for multiple backup paths in DB2
This feature supports multiple backup paths instead of one for dSource ingestion. This allows you to provide a single backup path for the dSource ingestion and add more backup paths with a dynamic UI to accommodate for the extra backup directories where the backup was split into.
Oracle: Multitenant TDE for VCDBs
Use transparent data encryption (TDE) with virtual container databases to secure data-at-rest. Existing TDE keys can be used or data can be rekeyed upon deployment. Automated KeyStore sanitization ensures production TDE keys are not shared to non-production environments.Oracle: staging push
Pushes new data to the Delphix DevOps Data Platform instead of requesting data on a polling interval. Isolate ingests to Delphix from production instances. Gives the ability to leverage third-party backup applications. Full-tested integration with Oracle Data Guard and Active Data Guard allows for staging DB to be the standby DB, enabling tight point-in-time snapshots.Cassandra: new Continuous Data connector
Continuously sync to Cassandra databases and deploy data to non-production environments. Deploy data from multiple Cassandra nodes as a single virtual database. Track source changes along a continuous time flow and redeploys data from any time. Quickly deploy data to new ephemeral instances. Branch production data, apply data masking, and deploy to new developer sandbox environments.
Multiple Device Removal for Delphix Engines version 126.96.36.199 to 6.0.17.X contains a breaking kernel module change that requires a reboot in order for the new module to load. With that, a deferred reboot engine upgrade operation will be unable to remove devices until a reboot is performed.
Source sizing for Postgres and IBM Db2
This feature brings improved visibility for data source ingest management and metrics with data source size information logs. The source volume sizes can now be viewed through engine APIs and easily integrate with automation scripts.Environment variables in hooks
This feature allows users to customize data deployments with hook scripts using environment variables, defined by plugin connectors in DLPX_DATA_DIRECTORY. Automated hook scripts can be executed during pre and post-deployment.
Elastic Data engines on Microsoft Azure
You can now use Azure Blob object storage in place of block storage to reduce operational costs. Cache only necessary data to engines in order to maintain consistent VDB performance. Allows for elastic expansion of your storage footprint as-you-go in the cloud. Quickly deploy data to engines across regions, combining these tools to achieve potential cost savings of 25%-80% depending on use and workloads.Elastic Data engines cache resize
This feature allows your Elastic Data engine cache to meet changing cost-performance demands on-the-fly by fine-tuning cache ratios for data ingestion and distribution use cases. Adapt to different workloads, saving costs during idle situations and delivering high performance during heavy workloads.Continuous Vault: additional security controls
New security controls are introduced for Ransomware Protection when using Delphix Continuous Vault. Alert Profiles, dSources, and LogSync profiles can now be locked on Continuous Data Source Engines. Delphix Continuous Ransomware Protection Solution provides Continuous Data Protection, Recovery, Detection, and Compliance.Non-admin user password reset
Non-admin users will be able to request a password reset if an email is associated with the account. The password reset will continue to be controlled through LDAP/SSO for users on IdP platforms. Self-service password reset is available both within the UI and CLI.Zero trust update for SAP HANA connector
A “least-privileged” OS user can now be used to run virtualization operations on a Delphix target host. Aligning with Zero Trust initiatives, Delphix no longer requires a high-level OS user for virtualization.Increased mount security
This change brings improved security controls that limit connections to Delphix Engines only from a defined host list. NFS mount checks will now run on ephemeral mount points matched to specific host UIDs. Mount checks are used to verify that the Continuous Data Engine is mountable before running virtualization operations.iSCSI parameter warnings
New warning to ensure iSCSI parameters on Windows Targets are optimized for Delphix Engines. The check runs for Target environments during Add, Refresh, and Enable operations.Database port customization for EBS plugin
This feature supports the provisioning of VDBs in EBS dbTechStack & AppsTier plugins to run on a customized port. You can now provision database binaries(ORACLE_HOME) cloning and listener process to run on a custom DB port and Application tier to connect to that port.
Oracle MT TDE for system tablespaces
The next release enables system tablespaces on Oracle Virtual Databases to be encrypted using transparent data encryption (TDE). Oracle system tables store database table information, index, sequences, and other objects. Encrypting system tables in non-prod environments enforce security controls and prevents database index and metadata tampering.Staging push for Postgres
Staging push enables organizations to push data into Delphix without having to directly query production instances. With staging push, teams can use 3rd party solutions to recover data to staging instances that automatically sync to Continuous Data. This also enables logical replication workflows (common for PaaS sources) and the use of tools like pgbackrest.Staging Push for IBM Db2 HADR
Staging push will be added in the next release for IBM Db2 in a High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR) configuration. This gives teams an alternative way to sync data into the Continous Data.Cache analysis for Elastic Data engines
We plan to add a UI for teams to better understand the effectiveness of allotted Delphix Elastic Data engine cache size. This enables users to optimize DCE cache sizes to meet required cost-performance levels for VDBs.Storage device removal UI
The team will be able to remove disks on engines backed by block storage through the UI in addition to the CLI in 6.0.15.Zero trust for Postgres
6.0.15 supports custom “least privilege” OS user roles to be assigned to the “Delphix_OS” user to perform virtualization operations from Postgres sources.TDE source database support for EBS plugin
6.0.15 supports TDE source databases for the EBS plugin.
Oracle 19c on RHEL 8.6 (188.8.131.52+)
Oracle 21c on RHEL 8.6 (184.108.40.206+)
AppData on RHEL 8.6 (220.127.116.11+)
The Delphix DevOps data platform will feature some product name changes to better align with our offered solutions:
Continuous Data (Virtualization)
Continuous Compliance (Masking)
Continuous Vault (Data vault)
Single engine Continuous Vault
The Single Engine Continuous Vault provides effective protection against ransomware attacks in a standalone Delphix Engine. This option may be preferable for deployments where maintaining two separate engines is not architecturally necessary. See Delphix Continuous Vault for more information.AWS Elastic Data engines
This offering will support the use of AWS S3 object storage in place of traditional block storage, making it easier and more efficient to store more data for longer with Delphix. For this release, only engines deployed on AWS are supported, with support for other infrastructures to come.Microsoft SQL Server Virtual-to-Physical (V2P) improvements
With these new improvements, users can specify a separate drive for SQL Server transaction log files, since these often need to split across multiple locations due to size. This ensures that DB files rehydrate in the manner that is most efficient during initial V2P, which helps avoid unnecessary downtime; this works in tandem with our ransomware solution. An additional enhancement to improve transfer performance involves replacing XCopy with Robocopy multithreading capabilities.Oracle MT TDE support for encrypted system tablespaces
Every Oracle database has a system tablespace that is always used to store system data, including information about database tables, indexes, sequences, and other objects. Oracle TDE can encrypt, in addition to the data itself, the system tablespace for maximum security. This feature allows Delphix to provision VDBs with TDE-enabled encrypted system tablespaces to maintain the overall database security in non-production environments.Staging push for SAP HANA via CommVault
CommVault is the most popular backup application for SAP HANA. We have certified that the backup application can be used as expected by our customers with our new Staging Push capability.Salesforce data protect and version performance improvements
The March release will allow the user to configure up to 30 parallel upload threads (a 10x increase), improving our restore performance to ensure a fast recovery. We've also added several improvements towards faster and leaner retries for any records that fail during restore, plus increased the efficiency and reuse of API calls while downloading data (leading to faster backups and better resource utilization).Ingest and restore for PostgreSQL
This feature allows you to ingest logical backups (pg_dump/pg_restore) from PostgreSQL, which enables workflows for direct ingestion from PaaS data sources (AWS Aurora & RDS), deployment to IaaS-hosted targets, and selective ingestion of individual databases from multiple database instances of PostgreSQL.
Oracle 19c on RHEL 8.5 (18.104.22.168+)
Oracle 21c on RHEL 8.5 (22.214.171.124+)
AppData on RHEL 8.5 (126.96.36.199+)
New in this release
Support for AWS object storage
This release adds support for the use of AWS S3 object storage in place of traditional block storage. This release currently supports only those engines that are deployed on AWS.Staging push for SQL Server
This release supports staging push for SQL Server. Staging push allows you to push data to Delphix if you have tools, configurations, or security concerns that do not work with the existing pull model. Staging push enables, for example, compatibility with data stored in backup systems and gives you control over the staging database. For more information, see Staging Push Implementation for SQL Server.Support for TLS 1.3
This release provides support for TLS 1.3 for connections from the virtualization engine to the host and engine-to-engine communication.Auto vPDB restart for single instance linked CDBs
This release supports the auto-restart feature for single-instance vPDBs in a linked CDB. The auto-restart feature allows the virtualization engine to detect and restart VDBs if the remote host has been restarted.Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) for Oracle Multitenant RAC (Oracle 12.2 and 21c)
The Oracle TDE feature encrypts the sensitive data (database tables and tablespaces) stored on the disk. This prevents misuse of the data if the disks or storage mediums are lost or stolen. The data is transparently decrypted for authorized users when they access the data. Our large enterprise customers leverage Oracle RAC configurations for their business-critical applications. This release adds support for Oracle 12.2 and 21c. For more information, see Provisioning a TDE-enabled vPDB to a Cluster Target.FluentD monitoring
FluentD is a popular open-source data logging layer for DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams to stream telemetry to their chosen monitoring solution to improve systems observability. Delphix already provides the ability to forward data events and performance metrics to Splunk. Delphix 6.0.13 enables additional Fluentd configurations to be developed and added to the engine. extending telemetry output to new tools like ELK, New Relic, and DataDog.Db2 plugin version 4.1.3
This plugin release resolves some issues that are listed in the Db2 Release Notes.EBS plugin version 3.0.3
This plugin release resolves some issues that are listed in the EBS Release Notes.
Microsoft Windows Server 2022
Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) 12.2.11 in OCI
ESXi 7.0 U3c
New in this release
HANA staging push
The HANA 2.0 plugin introduces the Staging Push feature. This feature provides a new data ingestion mechanism that helps users to push data into the Delphix-provided mount point on their own. For more information, see Delphix Architecture for HANA.Multiple device removal
You can now remove multiple storage devices at a time when engines are over-provisioned or when moving to new storage. This is done only after ensuring sufficient resources to support the removal.Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) for Oracle Multitenant RAC (Oracle 18c and 19c)
The Oracle TDE feature encrypts the sensitive data (database tables and tablespaces) stored on the disk. This prevents misuse of the data if the disks or storage mediums are lost or stolen. The data is transparently decrypted for authorized users when they access the data. Our large enterprise customers leverage Oracle RAC configurations for their business-critical applications. We have added support for provisioning a TDE-encrypted vPDB to a linked (Physical CDB) target RAC environment on Oracle 18c and 19c in this release. For more information, see Provisioning a TDE-enabled vPDB to a Cluster Target.
Oracle 21c on SLES 15 SP3 (188.8.131.52+)
Oracle 19c on SLES 15 SP3 (184.108.40.206+)
Oracle 21c on SLES 15 SP2 (220.127.116.11+)
Oracle 19c on SLES 15 SP2 (18.104.22.168+)
AppData on RHEL 8.4 (22.214.171.124+)
New in this release
OAuth2 API support
The Virtualization and Masking engine APIs are now accessible via OAuth2 tokens that improve Delphix's security offerings. For more information, see Configuring OAuth2 Authentication for API Access.Oracle support for Exadata, Exadata Cloud, or Exadata Cloud-at-Customer (ExaCC) cluster
This release adds support for Exadata, Exadata Cloud, or Exadata Cloud-at-Customer (ExaCC) Cluster for Oracle databases. For more information, see Oracle Support Matrix.Apply Hotfixes using the self-service UI
You can now apply hotfixes using the self-service upgrade UIs.TDE for Oracle Multitenant - support for rekey
Oracle Advanced Security Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) provides the ability to create virtual pluggable databases with a new key (independent from the source database). This is to facilitate another layer of security - ensuring that different keys are used in the production and non-production systems. For more information, see Provisioning a TDE-enabled vPDB.Modify DBID for non-multitenant Oracle VDBs after provisioning
You can now generate a new DBID after a VDB is provisioned and refreshed. For more information, see Generate a New DBID for Oracle VDBs. Support for multitenant databases is currently not available.New wizard for creating replication profile
A new multi-step wizard is now available that replaces the previous in-place editing option to manage Replication Profiles. For more information, see Replication User Interface.
Oracle 21c on RHEL 8.4, RHEL 8.3, SLES 15 SP1 (126.96.36.199+)
Oracle 19c on RHEL 8.4 (188.8.131.52+)
Exadata Cloud-at-Customer(ExaCC)/Exadata support for Oracle 12.2 on OEL 7.8 and OEL 7.9
SQL Server-support for Azure storage backups
SQL native backups can now be read directly from Azure Cloud storage. For more information, see Restoring SQL Backups Stored in Azure Cloud Storage.Support dSource upgrades from Non-MT to MT in Oracle
Once a dSource is converted to a multitenant PDB, you will be able to share its storage blocks with its non-multitenant predecessor. Delphix will only store the incremental changes to the database. For more information, see Prepare and Upgrade a Non-MT Oracle dSource to MT.Oracle-provision to the latest Point-In-Time on RAC
Provision to the latest point-in-time is now supported.Flexible ORACLE_HOME permissions configuration
Removed the need to set permissions of the "$ORACLE_HOME/dbs" subdirectory using STARTUP SPFILE syntax to simplify Oracle operations. For more information, see Requirements for Oracle Hosts and Databases.Support for manually starting an Oracle VDB
An Oracle VDB can now be manually started. For more information, see Manually Starting a VDB.Attach and detach Oracle CDB containers
Detaching, attaching, and linking of the Oracle CDB containers is now supported via CLI. For more information, see CLI Cookbook: Attaching, Detaching, or Linking a CDB.Password vaults and remote hooks for UI
In the 184.108.40.206 release, we introduced the ability to use password vaults with hooks. This allows our customers to ensure a high level of security with all operations with external systems. This can now be configured via the user interface. For more information, see the Secure credential management section in the linked page.NFSv4
NFSv4 is now enabled by default. For more information, see NFSv4 Configuration.12-month support for upgrades and Forward Compatible Replication (FCR)
To better align with the Delphix support program, Engine upgrades, and FCR operations must be within versions no more than 12 months apart. For example, upgrading to version 220.127.116.11 will require the previous version to be at least 18.104.22.168. For more information, see Upgrade Matrix and Replication Overview.HANA plugin port control
You can now keep the port numbers consistent throughout the HANA VDB life cycle so that the connections made to the VDBs are not disrupted during their life cycle. For more information, see Provisioning HANA VDBs: An Overview.User-specified mount path For Db2 dSource
You can now specify a mount path of your choice to host the dSource dataset on the target host. For more information, see the Db2 connector operations section.Staging push automation for Db2 dSource
You can now use a set of scripts that can be used to automate the restore and roll forward operations on the dSource.
Delphix data vault - additions
In continuation to the Delphix data vault for ransomware protection released in 22.214.171.124, this release enables you to manage this feature from the Delphix Engine user interface and also lets you monitor the regular valid replication received. For more information, see Delphix Data Vault.TLS 1.3
The TLS 1.3 support is added as an available secure connection option at the Engine Admin Console to be used between engines.Phonehome data collection frequency
The default collection period for the Phonehome users is now changed to daily. For more information, see System Configurations - Enable Phone Home.Password vaults for remote hooks
With this release, the hooks running on environments can now obtain credentials from the engine and its configured password vaults. These credentials can be used to perform custom authentication tasks in a secure manner. Currently, this feature is supported via the command line interface only. For more information, see Passing Credentials Securely to Hook Operations.Delphix integrations (dxi) docker image
A new dockerized version of the dxi library is now available. For more information, see Docker Image.
EBS 12.2 on Oracle 19c
Db2 126.96.36.199 Fix pack
ESXi 7.0 U2
Delphix data vault
The Delphix Data Vault for ransomware protection (accessible via CLI) enables organizations to recover access to their application data much faster than traditional backup solutions after malicious attacks. It relies on the new data vault Replication feature, which replicates critical business DB data stored on Delphix engines to a new target engine called Data Vault. Once securely stored on the Data Vault, the replicated DB data can be used to recover business applications upon a ransomware attack with very low RTO and RPO.Dxi executable and support for encrypted credentials
We will be distributing the dxi CLI, a Delphix solution built to facilitate simpler and seamless integration of Delphix Platform Operations into existing workflows, such as Windows, macOS, and RHEL binaries. This will simplify adoption and remove the requirement on Python. Delphix has also added encryption for the login credentials.Expansion of retention period on replicated objects
At present, when snapshots on the replication source engine are deleted (either due to retention policies or user action), the next replication job will delete those snapshots on the replication target engine. This improvement will allow you to extend the retention period of replicated objects on target engines while keeping the original retention at the source. Once the object in the target engine reaches its retention period, it will be flagged and deleted by the policy agent based on a daily schedule.Db2 staging push
Delphix now supports Staging Push for non-DPF Db2 databases. The Staging Push architecture will allow organizations to bring their data to Delphix, with their own tools and standard processes. This facilitates the use of any backup tool, a major ongoing source of requests. This should dramatically increase the volume of data that can be easily managed by Delphix.HANA plugin staged architecture
Delphix introduces a staging architecture for HANA virtualization. This will make it consistent with other virtualized data sources. This new architecture will build a foundation for future staging push capabilities, as Delphix has begun to introduce other platforms. These changes, together, will allow us to support more prospective organizations with various SAP-certified, 3rd-party backup applications for HANA. Delphix will continue to support the pull ingestion method with HANA native backups and logs.ASE native encryption support
SAP ASE version 16.0 introduces the ability to fully encrypt databases and provides protection for all the data, indexes, and transaction logs in a database. This offers full database protection while allowing the user to query and manage the data as usual, as the encryption is transparent to existing functions. In response to customer demand, we have added a security enhancement to support encrypted ASE databases. This allows customers to maintain the ASE encryption that is active on their sources and propagate that through to their VDBs.System tunable interface
A new web service API is introduced which allows you to set or receive the values of a system tunable via Delphix CLI. A Support engineer can now provide context via a Support case to modify these values.Oracle customized full backups
There is a rarely-seen bug in Oracle that results in some blocks not being written to the datafiles during an Oracle SnapSync operation. When this happens, the datafiles can become incomplete and provisioning/refreshing from that snapshot might fail. We are providing a SnapSync option via CLI that you can customize to accept all datafiles during an Oracle SnapSync operation to prevent this error.
Simplified connection management for Oracle databases
This feature streamlines the way that Delphix communicates and interacts with Oracle databases by simplifying the connection management infrastructure. Prior to this release, connections were established to Oracle databases using two different methods (remote connections from the Delphix Engine and local connections from the Delphix toolkit) and communication was performed with Oracle databases using two different users (a Delphix OS user and a Delphix DB user). Starting with this release, all communication with Oracle databases will be performed locally on the Oracle host and all connections to Oracle databases will be established using OS authentication. Existing Oracle dSources and VDBs will continue to function with no user intervention required. This feature results in several key benefits for Oracle DB customers such as the elimination of the requirement for a Delphix DB user when linking, automated PDB discovery, elimination of Delphix interaction with any network listener, and many more.Virtualization SDK support for password vaults
Building off of the existing CyberArk and Hashicorp support for Oracle, SQL Server, and SAP ASE database user credentials, Continuous Data will extend password vault coverage to the virtualization SDK (vSDK). This will enable data sources that are connected via a vSDK plugin to incorporate this more secure method of authentication.SAP ASE device mapping improvements
The Continuous Data experience with SAP ASE heavily relies on and mirrors a database’s device allocation from the initial load (creating the dSource) to provision (creating VDBs). As these source device allocations shift over time, Delphix maps these changes and propagates them to their associated Delphix objects. However, dramatic device layout changes can negatively impact performance. This enhancement provides a quality-of-life (QoL) improvement to the overall SAP ASE experience by providing better error handling and escape valves should a dSource get into a bad state due to a major device layout shift.Improved storage utilization for large pools
Up through the 6.0.6 release, Continuous Data has enforced a storage usage limit of 85%. Once met, this limit will cause certain API operations to be disabled to ensure engine data integrity. In the 6.0.7 release, this threshold is relaxed significantly. The new thresholds are as follows:“Warning”: when 85% of the total storage quota is reached or 1536GB of free storage is remaining (whichever is less), which can be resolved/ignored, with no impact on system behavior.
“Critical”: when 90% of the total storage quota is reached or 1024GB of free storage is remaining(whichever is less), which cannot be resolved/ignored, with some impact on system behavior.
“Minimum”: when 95% of the total storage quota is reached or 512GB of free storage is remaining (whichever is less). In this case, a critical fault is raised and cannot be resolved/ignored, with a substantial impact on system behavior (stop policies, VDB operations, etc).
In addition to LSI Logic, with the 6.0.7 release, Delphix has added support for the VMware Paravirtual vSCSI controller (aka PVSCSI). While VMware designed PVSCSI to support very high throughput with minimal processing cost, the performance improvements on Delphix engines can vary from case to case. In 6.0.7, we also support manual changes from LSI Logic to PVSCSI for currently deployed engines.
Solaris x86 to Linux x86 Oracle DB provisioning
This feature allows the provisioning of Oracle Virtual Databases from Solaris x86 dSources to Linux x86 target environments.TDE for Oracle Multitenant
Oracle Advanced Security Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) provides the ability to encrypt sensitive application data on storage. Delphix will now support TDE for Oracle 12cR2, 18c, and 19c multitenant. This release introduces support for single-instance linked container databases (CDBs) using software keystores. Virtual Container Database (vCDBs), RAC, and rekeying of the TDE encryption keys are not supported in this release.Note:
Please note the following important restrictions for TDE for the Oracle Multitenant feature:TDE-enabled vPDBs must be provisioned to a linked CDB, not a vCDB.
RAC dSources and target CDBs are not supported.
The Oracle version must be 12.2 or higher (12.1 is not supported).
System tables or tablespaces either in the PDB or CDB must not be encrypted.
Oracle Key Vault is not supported.
Hardware keystores are not supported.
Keystores must not be on ASM storage.
The dSource from which the initial provision is done must be encrypted when it is linked. Existing dSources cannot be encrypted without unlinking and creating a new dSource.
Encrypting an already-provisioned unencrypted vPDB (with clear data) which is managed by Delphix is not supported
Single to Multitenant VDBs
Oracle announced the end of support for non-multitenant databases in their 20c release, and as such, Oracle DB customers are planning their upgrade and migration programs. Delphix will now support provisioning a virtual pluggable database from a non-multitenant virtual database.Added support for HashiCorp namespaces.
ASE 15.7/16 on RHEL 7.9
Oracle 12.1 on RHEL 7.9 and SLES 12 SP5
Oracle 12.2 on RHEL 7.9 and SLES 12 SP5
Oracle 19c on RHEL 7.9 and SLES 12 SP5
ESXi 7.0 U1
Support has been added for Oracle and ASE on AIX.Expanded Replication: Replication of non-data objects
Our customers are increasingly using replication to facilitate moves of data across network boundaries, to the cloud, and for DR purposes. We've had long-standing requests to replicate more than just the data, and in this release, we will support the replication of users, roles, permissions, policies, and configuration templates.Upgraded Windows Connector:
The Windows Connector will now support newer versions of Microsoft’s .NET framework (4.x), which encompasses myriad higher security standards, new functionality, etc. Previously, the connector relied on .NET 3.5 due to two dependencies: SQL Server and Powershell, both have since been removed with SQL Server 2016+ and Powershell update in 188.8.131.52.Db2 Extensible Ingestion:
We will now support an extensible model for ingesting Db2 data. In this new, additive, model, we will support customers manually performing a restore & roll forward of their staging database to Delphix from native backups or arbitrary third-party backup tools which integrate directly with Db2. This will allow customers to bring data from whatever system or backup they have and restore it to an exact point in time, as needed.
ASE 16.0 on RHEL8.1 and RHEL8.2 on 6.0.4+
ASE 16.0 on SLES12.4 on 6.0.4+
Oracle 19.7 on RH7.8 and RH8.0 on 5.3.9+ and 6.0.3+
NFS v4 support on AIX
IBM Cloud Catalog. Delphix is now available in the IBM Cloud Catalog, a private marketplace for trusted IBM Technology partners that is offered to large IBM enterprise customers. In 6.0.5 we will start with a few certified instances for virtualization and masking and will grow our presence as more the business justifies the cost and efforts. Specifically, we support the following instances:
Oracle Cloud: The following are newly supported instance types:
HashiCorp and expanded CyberArk support:
Delphix has extended both CyberArk and HashiCorp Vault support to Oracle Database Users in addition to previously supported ASE and MSSQL domain users. GUI support for HashiCorp Vault has been added during setup to authenticate host users and database users.Note:
The HashiCorp namespace Enterprise feature is supported starting 184.108.40.206.NFSv4 support:
Support has been added for SuSE and Db2 on AIX.
NFSv4 support for Db2 on AIX and SuSE
SQL Server Instances with a Managed Service Account
CyberArk and Hashicorp vault support for virtualization:
Delphix is introducing password vault support to authenticate environment and database linking and will support both CyberArk with Oracle and Hashicorp with CLI only.Capacity management:
Understanding where and how storage is used on Virtualization Engines can be a challenge, in particular, understanding how and where space is held and how to recover it. In this release, Delphix provides better details of held space, particularly around locked objects, and provides clear instructions about what steps are required to free up space.Diagnosability:
Additional performance health-check analytics in phone-home have been added to better troubleshoot and understand customer problems.Powershell upgrade:
Delphix is reducing our requirements for Windows hosts running PowerShell by allowing you to use any PowerShell version from 2.0 to 5.1. Delphix will now use the default available PowerShell version on each host. When specifying hooks (such as “configureClone”), users may specify whether to use 2.0 or whatever PowerShell version is installed on the host.Support for Oracle read-only homes:
Delphix is introducing support for Oracle read-only homes, which is a new Oracle feature starting with Oracle 18c. In a read-only Oracle home, all the configuration data and log files reside outside of the read-only Oracle home. This feature allows you to use the read-only Oracle home as a software image that can be distributed across multiple servers.Replication performance:
Delphix will continue to improve replication performance for replication specifications that include multiple objects and single-object replication throughput.SAP ASE support for VDB upgrade:
SAP ASE Customers will now be able to validate DBMS Upgrades with this feature that enables provisioning VDBs to a higher version than the source DB (e.g. ASE 15.7 > ASE 16).Shared NFS for toolkits
With this release, Delphix introduces shared NFS for clustered environments. Customers wish to use a common NFS mount point, in which the Delphix toolkit for each cluster node can be deployed. The product today only creates a directory with appliance UUID and OS user in the folder name and uses this for detection to determine if a host is already managed by that Engine. As such, this prevents the customer from utilizing common NFS storage due to name conflict.
When a new environment is created, upgraded or if the toolkit path is changed, a new toolkit is created with naming convention Delphix_COMMON_ for common directory and Delphix_ for user directory.
With this change, the customer can use mounts on shared file systems (like NFS) as a toolkit path for clustered environments without any naming conflict.This change is not intended for windows environments.
EBS 12.2 with RHEL 7.6
PostgreSQL 12.1 & 12.2 with RHEL 7.8
Oracle 11g R2 and Oracle 19c with RHEL 7.8 on 220.127.116.11 and 6.0.2+
Support for Db2 Database Partition Feature (DPF):
Delphix has long supported distributed Db2 (running on Unix/Linux Systems). However, Db2 supports partitioned databases as a means of scaling to larger, more complex systems. With this release, Delphix will now support Db2 DPF allowing you to scale to an increasing number of your Db2 databases.Windows authentication for SQL Server:
You will now be able to use Windows Authentication to link SQL Server databases. Rather than providing both a database user and a Windows user to ingest data, you can leverage one set of credentials (a Windows OS user) to perform all source operations. This capability will simplify SQL Server deployments and reduce Delphix’s security requirements on source databases.Smart failover:
Smart Failover allows the Delphix Administrator to simplify failover processes by automating object conflict resolution. By selecting a new option “Automate Object Conflict Resolution” before the failover process starts, the failover process will rename all conflicting objects and show a report of all object changes at the end.NFSv4 support: In 6.0.2 Delphix will start providing NFSv4 for data sources running on RedHat 7.0 or later. NFSv4 can be enabled using the CLI. Support for additional host OS versions will be added in subsequent releases. Delphix will consider enabling NFSv4 by default for those supported configurations in a future release.
Support bundles not required for upgrade: When upgrading from 6.0.0 or greater to a release 6.0.2 or greater, we no longer require support bundles to be sent to Delphix. This allows you to execute more self-service upgrades.
ASE 16.0 on AIX 7.1
AWS r5n Instance Support: r5n.2xlarge, r5n.8xlarge, r5n.16xlarge
Azure E Series Instance Support: E8s_v3, E16s_v3, E32s_v3
Masking support of Oracle 19c.
Masking extended connectors: A very common request for masking has been to support additional data sources, outside of the currently supported list. Thus, the next step in the strategy is the release of Masking Extended Connectors, which will allow our customers to add JDBC drivers to the masking engine to facilitate the masking of additional data sources. This will allow masking to be used for other common databases that can be accessed via JDBC, like SAP HANA, Informix, etc.
SQL server CDC support: We have expanded our support for SQL Server databases using Change Data Capture (CDC), a SQL Server feature that captures all the change information that is applied to the databases and stores it in change tables. Now, users will have the ability to preserve CDC data and enable CDC for SQL Server VDBs.
ASE 16 and 15.7 with Solaris SPARC 11U3 and SPARC 11U4
ASE 16 and 15.7 with RHEL 7.7
SQL Server 2019 Support with Windows 2016 and Windows 2019
Oracle 19c with SUSE SLES 15 SP1
Oracle 19c with Solaris 11 U4 and U3 x86
Hypervisors: The following hypervisors have been certified in 6.0.1.
VMware ESX 6.5 U1, U2, U3
VMware ESX 6.7 U3
Google cloud support: Delphix now supports running in Google Cloud Platform for existing supported databases.
Enhanced Networking Adapter (ENA) support: Delphix supports networking on AWS instances with the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA). This offers our customers enhanced networking capabilities and more economical options. Notably, this includes the AWS R4 instance types.
Masking NFS/CIFS mount: Our customers increasingly are masking files alongside their databases. The masking engine has classically supported this via FTP/SFTP but now to make things easier Delphix has introduced the ability to directly mount and mask a file system - over NFS and CIFS. This should dramatically simplify the process of file masking.
Oracle quality: Continued focus on Oracle quality and have introduced several quality improvements with our 6.0 release.
Masking API updates: 6.0 introduces a significant number of new endpoints, including mainframe control, as well as updates for existing endpoints. This release also introduces versioning for the masking API, allowing our customers to upgrade without risk of breaking their integrations.
AdoptOpenJDK 8 for the Delphix toolkit: Delphix has changed the Java Development Kit (JDK) that is included with the toolkit, and is sent to all Delphix connected environments. Customers who require using Oracle Java may continue to do so with the feature to provide their own Java, which shipped in 5.3.5.
Removed instance check: When running in AWS or Azure, the product will no longer raise a fault when it detects that it is running on an unsupported instance. This enables Delphix to certify previously released software on new instances without having to modify the software.
The product will still detect what instance it is running on and include this information in the user interface and phone home bundles. We will also continue to publish a matrix of supported instances for Azure, AWS, and GCP in the product documentation. Delphix provides no guarantee of performance or support for unsupported instance types.Upgrade process: The upgrade to 6.0 will be an in-place upgrade like other Delphix releases, there are a few changes that will improve the process overall for 6.0:
We will require an upgrade to an interim release first (either 5.3.6). This can be done at the same time as the customer upgrades to 6.0 or in the months prior.
We will be introducing new upgrade checks to ensure that customers are not using features that have been removed. For a list of removed features see Deprecated and End-of-Life Features.
We will provide an upgrade image specific for each platform we support with Virtualization (VMWare, AWS, Azure, GCP). This will allow us to be more precise in customizing the images for each.