6.0 Release Notes
Release Notes for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Abstract
1. Introduction Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- i386
- AMD64/Intel64
- System z
- IBM Power (64-bit)
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2. Installer Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
anaconda) assists in the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. This section of the release notes provides an overview of the new features implemented in the installer for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
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2.1. Installation Methods Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
2.1.1. Graphical Installer Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 1. Specialized Storage Devices Configuration
Figure 2. Partitioning layout choices
Figure 3. Specifying Storage Devices
2.1.2. Kickstart Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
2.1.3. Text-based Installer Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 4. text-based installer
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2.2. Creating Backup Passphrases During Installation Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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2.3. DVD Media Boot Catalog Entries Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Important
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2.4. Installation Crash Reporting Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 5. installation error reporting
Figure 6. Sending to Bugzilla
2.5. Installation Logs Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
3. File Systems Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Note
3.1. Fourth Extended Filesystem (ext4) Support Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
3.2. XFS Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
3.3. Block Discard — enhanced support for thinly provisioned LUNs and SSD devices Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
3.4. Network File System (NFS) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
4. Storage Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
4.1. Storage Input/Output Alignment and Size Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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4.2. Dynamic Load Balancing with DM-Multipath Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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4.3. Logical Volume Manager (LVM) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Important
system-config-lvm is a graphical user interface provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux to manage logical volumes. The functionality provided by system-config-lvm is in the process of transitioning to a more maintainable tool named gnome-disk-utility (also referred to as palimpsest). As a result, Red Hat will be very selective in updating system-config-lvm. As gnome-disk-utility reaches feature parity with system-config-lvm, Red Hat reserves the right to remove system-config-lvm during the life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Note
4.3.1. LVM Mirror Improvements Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
4.3.1.1. Snapshots of Mirrors Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
4.3.1.2. Merging Snapshots Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
lvconvert manpage.
4.3.1.3. Four-Volume Mirrors Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
4.3.1.4. Mirroring mirror logs Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
4.3.2. LVM Application Library Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
5. Power Management Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Note
5.1. powertop Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
5.2. tuned Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
6. Package Management Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
6.1. Strong package checksums Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
6.2. The PackageKit Package Manager Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
6.3. Yum Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
7. Clustering Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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7.1. Corosync Cluster Engine Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
7.2. Unified Logging Configuration Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
7.3. High Availability Administration Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
7.4. General High Availability Improvements Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Enhanced support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)
- SCSI persistent reservation fencing support is improved.
- Virtualized KVM guests can now be run as managed services.
8. Security Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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8.1. System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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8.2. Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
8.2.1. Confined Users Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
8.2.2. Sandbox Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
8.2.3. X Access Control Extension (XACE) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
8.3. Backup Passphrases for Encrypted Storage Devices Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 7. Decrypting Data
8.4. sVirt Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
8.5. Enterprise Security Client Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9. Networking Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.1. Multiqueue Networking Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.2. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.2.1. Optimistic Duplicate Address Detection Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.2.2. Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.3. Netlabel Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.4. Generic Receive Offload Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
9.5. Wireless Support Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10. Desktop Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.1. Graphical Startup Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 8. Graphical Boot Screen
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10.2. Suspend and Resume Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.3. Multiple Display Support Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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10.3.1. Display Preferences Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 9. Display Preferences dialog
10.4. nouveau Driver for NVIDIA Graphics Devices Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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10.5. Internationalization Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.5.1. IBus Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.5.2. Choosing and Configuring Input Methods Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
im-chooser, a graphical user interface to enable and configure input methods. im-chooser (located under System > Preferences > Input Method in the main menu) allows the user to easily enable and configure the input methods available on the system.
10.5.3. Indic Onscreen Keyboard Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.5.4. Indic Collation Support Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.5.5. Fonts Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.6. Applications Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.6.1. Firefox Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.6.2. Thunderbird 3 Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
10.6.3. OpenOffice.org 3.1 Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 10. OpenOffice.org 3.1
10.7. NetworkManager Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 11. NetworkManager
10.8. KDE 4.3 Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- The new Plasma Desktop Workspace, including Plasma Widgets for a more customizable desktop.
- Oxygen, with enhanced icon and sound themes.
- Enhancements to the KDE Window Manager (kwin)
dolphin file browser has replaced konqueror as the KDE default.
11. Documentation Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Release Documentation
- Installation and Deployment
- Security
- Tools and Performance
- Clustering
- Virtualization
11.1. Release Documentation Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
The Release Notes document the major new features in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Technical Notes contains detailed information specific to this release, including: Technology Previews, package change details and known issues.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Migration Guide documents migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
11.2. Installation and Deployment Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
The Installation Guide documents relevant information regarding the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
The Deployment Guide documents relevant information regarding the deployment, configuration and administration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The Storage Administration Guide provides instructions on how to effectively manage storage devices and file systems on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. It is intended for use by system administrators with intermediate experience in either Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora distributions of Linux.
The Global File System 2 book provides information about configuring and maintaining Red Hat GFS2 (Red Hat Global File System 2) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The Logical Volume Manager Administration book describes the LVM logical volume manager, including information on running LVM in a clustered environment.
11.3. Security Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
The Security Guide is designed to assist users and administrators in learning the processes and practices of securing workstations and servers against local and remote intrusion, exploitation and malicious activity.
The SELinux User Guide covers the management and use of Security-Enhanced Linux for those with minimal or no experience with the framework. It serves as an introduction to SELinux and explains the terms and concepts in use.
The Managing Confined Services guide is designed to assist advanced users and administrators when using and configuring Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux). It is focused on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and describes the components of SELinux as they pertain to services an advanced user or administrator might need to configure. Also included are real-world examples of configuring these services and demonstrations of how SELinux complements their operation.
11.4. Tools & Performance Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
The Resource Management Guide documents tools and techniques for managing system resources on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The Power Management Guide explains how to manage power consumption on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 systems effectively. This document discusses different techniques that lower power consumption (for both server and laptop), and how each technique affects the overall performance of a system.
The Developer Guide describes the different features and utilities that make Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 an ideal enterprise platform for application development.
The SystemTap Beginners Guide provides basic instructions on how to use SystemTap to monitor different subsystems of Red Hat Enterprise Linux in finer detail.
The SystemTap Tapset Reference guide describes the most common tapset definitions users can apply to SystemTap scripts.
11.5. High Availability Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
The Cluster Suite Overview document provides an overview of High Availability for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The High Availability Administration document describes the configuration and management of Red Hat High Availability systems for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The Virtual Server Administration book discusses the configuration of high-performance systems and services with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and the Linux Virtual Server (LVS) system.
The DM Multipath book provides information on using the Device-Mapper Multipath feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
11.6. Virtualization Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
The Virtualization Guide details the process to install, configure and manage the virtualization technologies in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
12. Kernel Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.1. Resource Control Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.1.1. Control Groups Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
libcgroup, enabling system administrators to create new control groups, start new processes in a specific control group and set control group parameters.
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12.2. Scalability Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.2.1. Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
O(1) scheduler with the new Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS). The CFS implements the fair queuing scheduling algorithm.
12.2.2. Virtual Memory Pageout Scalability Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.3. Error Reporting Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.3.1. Advanced Error Reporting (AER) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.3.2. Kdump Auto Enablement Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- systems with more than 4GB of memory on architectures with a 4KB page size (i.e. x86 or x86_64), or
- systems with more than 8GB of memory on architectures with larger than a 4KB page size (i.e PPC64).
12.4. Power Management Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.4.1. Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.4.2. Tickless Kernel Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.5. Analyzing Kernel Performance Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.5.1. Performance Counter for Linux (PCL) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.5.2. Ftrace and perf Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.6. General Kernel Updates Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.6.1. Physical Address Extension (PAE) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
12.6.2. Loadable Firmware Files Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
13. Compiler and Tools Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
13.1. SystemTap Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Improved support for user-space probing.
- Support for probing C++ programs with native C++ syntax.
- A more secure script-compile server.
- The new unprivileged mode, allowing non-root users to use SystemTap.
Important
13.2. OProfile Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
13.3. GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Conformance to version 3.0 of the Open Multi-Processing (OpenMP) application programming interface (API).
- Additional C++ libraries to utilize OpenMP threads
- Futher implementations of the next ISO C++ standard draft (C++0x)
- Introduction of variable tracking assignments to improve debugging using the GNU Project Debugger (GDB) and SystemTap.
13.4. GNU C Library (glibc) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- An enhanced dynamic memory allocation (malloc) behaviour enabling higher scalability across many sockets and cores. This is achieved by assigning threads their own memory pools and by avoiding locking in some situations. The amount of additional memory used for the memory pools (if any) can be controlled using the environment variables MALLOC_ARENA_TEST and MALLOC_ARENA_MAX. MALLOC_ARENA_TEST specifies that a test for the number of cores is performed once the number of memory pools reaches this value. MALLOC_ARENA_MAX sets the maximum number of memory pools used, regardless of the number of cores.
- Improved efficiency when using condition variables (condvars) with priority inheritance (PI) mutual exclusion (mutex) operations by utilizing support in the kernel for PI fast userspace mutexes.
- Optimized string operations on the x86_64 architecture.
- The
getaddrinfo()function now has support for the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) and the UDP-Lite protocol. Additionally,getaddrinfo()now has the ability to look up IPv4 and IPv6 addresses simultaneously.
13.5. GNU Project debugger (GDB) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
This updated version of GDB introduces the new Python API, allowing GDB to be automated using scripts written in the Python Programming Language.
Support for the C++ programming language in GDB has been improved. Notable improvements include:
- Many improvements to expression parsing.
- Better handling of type names.
- The need for extraneous quoting has nearly been eliminated
- "next" and other stepping commands work properly even when the inferior throws an exception.
- GDB has a new "catch syscall" command. This can be used to stop the inferior whenever it makes a system call.
Thread execution now permits debugging threads individually and independently of each other; enabled by new settings "set target-async" and "set non-stop".
14. Interoperability Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
14.1. Samba Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Internet Protocol version 6 support (IPv6)
- Support for Windows 2008 (R2) trust relationships.
- Support for Windows 7 domain members.
- Support for Active Directory LDAP signing/sealing policy.
- Improvements for libsmbclient
- Better support for Windows management tools (mmc and User Manager)
- Automatic machine password changes as domain member
- New registry based configuration layer
- Encrypted SMB transport between Samba client and server
- Full support for Windows cross-forest, transitive trusts and one-way domain trusts
- New NetApi remote management and winbind client C libraries
- A new graphical user interface for joining Windows Domains
Note
15. Virtualization Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1. Kernel-based Virtual Machine Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1.1. Memory enhancements Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Transparent Hugepages increase the memory page size from 4 kilobytes to 2 megabytes. Transparent Hugepages provide significant performance advantages on systems with highly contended resources and large memory workloads. Additionally, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 provides support for utilizing Transparent Hugepages with KSM.
- Extended Page Table age bits enables a host to make smarter choices for swapping memory under memory pressure and allows swapping of Transparent Hugepages by breaking the extended pages into smaller pages.
15.1.2. Virtualized CPU features Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 supports up to 64 virtualized CPUs for a single virtualized guest.
- CPU extensions present on the host processor can now be utilized by virtualized guests. Support for these instruction sets allow virtualized guests to take advantage of modern processor instruction sets and hardware features.
- The new
x2apicvirtual Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) improves virtualizedx86_64guest performance by allowing direct guest APIC access and removing the overhead of emulated access. - New user space notifiers allow the caching of CPU registers, avoiding the computationally expensive actions of preserving register states of unused components during context switches.
- Read copy update (RCU) kernel locking is now uses enhanced symmetric multiprocessing support. RCU kernel locking provides greater performance for networking functions and multi-processing systems.
15.1.3. Storage Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- The QEMU emulated block driver features support for fully asynchronous I/O,
preadvandpwritevfunctions. These functions increase performance for storage devices using the QEMU emulated block driver. - The QEMU Monitor Protocol (QMP) allows applications to communicate with the QEMU Monitor correctly. QEMU provides a text-based format that can be easily parsed and support for asynchronous messages and capabilities negotiation.
- Indirect ring entries (spin locks) for the para-virtualized (virtio) driver improve block I/O performance and allows more concurrent I/O operations.
- Virtualized storage devices can now be added and removed (hot plugged) from guests during runtime.
- Support for block alignment storage topology awareness. Underlying storage hardware features and physical storage sector sizes (for example, 4KB sectors) are presented to guests. This feature requires compatible storage device information and commands. Guest topology awareness allows virtualized guests to optimize file system layouts and improved performance of applications using I/O optimizations.
- Performance enhancements for the qcow2 virtualized image format.
15.1.4. Networking Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- The vhost-net feature moves various network functions from the QEMU user space into the kernel. vhost-net uses fewer context switches and vmexit calls. These enhancements improve performance of SR-IOV devices, directly assigned network device and other network devices.
- MSI-X support which increases the number of interrupts available to network devices. MSI-X support increases the performance of compatible hardware.
- Virtualized network devices can now be hot plugged and hot removed from running guests. Network boot using gpxe fora more advanced PXE network booting.
15.1.5. Kernel SamePage Merging Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1.6. PCI passthrough Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1.7. SR-IOV Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1.8. virtio-serial Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1.9. sVirt Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
15.1.10. Migration Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
- Guest ABI stability provides enhanced migration support. Guests PCI device numbers are preserved during migration and identical PCI device positions are presented after migrating the guest.
- Migration now accounts for CPU models. CPU models allow guests to take advantage of new processor instruction sets. Guests can be migrated to hosts with a compatible CPU model.
- The vhost-net feature allows guests using SR-IOV to migrate to non-identical host configurations that also use SR-IOV devices.
- Enhancements to the migration protocol.
15.1.11. Guest device ABI stability Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Note
15.2. Xen Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Note
15.3. virt-v2v Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
virt-v2v tool, enabling system administrators to convert and import virtual machines created on other systems such as Xen and VMware ESX. virt-v2v provides a migration path for Xen guests running on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 hypervisor.
16. Supportability and Maintenance Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
16.1. firstaidkit System Recovery Tool Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
firstaidkit system recovery tool. By automating common recovery processes, firstaidkit provides an interactive environment to assists in the troubleshooting and recovery of a system that boots incorrectly. Additionally, system administrators are able to create custom automated recovery processes using the firstaidkit plugin infrastructure.
Important
firstaidkit is considered a Technology Preview in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
16.2. Bug Reporting Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
16.2.1. Installation Crash Reporting Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
16.3. Automated Bug Reporting Tool Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
Figure 12. Automated Bug Reporting Tool
17. Web Servers and Services Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
17.1. Apache HTTP Web Server Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
17.2. PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
17.3. memcached Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
18. Databases Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
18.1. PostgreSQL Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
18.2. MySQL Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
19. Architecture Specific Notes Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
A. Revision History Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
| Revision History | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Revision 1-1 | Wed Feb 25 2015 | ||
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| Revision 1-0 | Wed Aug 12 2010 | ||
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