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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5



5.6 Release Notes
=================


New features and major updates
------------------------------


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Abstract

Red Hat Enterprise Linux minor releases are an aggregation of individual
enhancement, security and bug fix errata. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.6 Release Notes documents the major changes made to the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 operating system and its accompanying applications for
this minor release.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Installer

2. Virtualization

3. Networking

4. Web Servers and Services

5. Filesystems and Storage

      5.1. Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

6. Authentication and Interoperability

7. Desktop

8. Kernel

9. Device Drivers

      9.1. Network Device Drivers

      9.2. Storage Device Drivers

      9.3. Desktop Drivers Updates

      9.4. Printer Drivers

10. Developer Tools

A. Revision History


1. Installer
-------------

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installer (also known as anaconda) assists
in the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Kickstart retry repository download feature

Kickstart is the automated installation method that system administrators
use to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Using kickstart, a single file
is created, containing the answers to all the questions that would
normally be asked during a typical installation. Under some circumstances
during a kickstart installation, the installer might attempt to download
a package from a repository that is temporarily unavailable (e.g. an
overloaded Red Hat Network Satellite). Consequently, in previous releases
of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, user input was then required to either
attempt the download again, or abort. The installer in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.6 Beta automatically makes several more attempts to connect to
the repository and downloads the required package when it is available.

Enhanced Driver Support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta features improved driver support for
devices required during the installation process. Support for the
following drivers and devices is added to the installer in this release:

  *  The Brocade BNA Ethernet Controller driver for Brocade 10G PCIe
    Ethernet Controllers.

  *  The cxgb4 driver for Chelsio Terminator4 10G Unified Wire Network
    Controllers.

  *  The 3w-sas driver for LSI 3ware 97xx SAS/SATA RAID Controllers.

Other driver updates in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 are discussed in
Section 9, Device Drivers


Note Further Reading
------------------------

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Installation Guide provides detailed
documentation of the installer and the installation process.


2. Virtualization
------------------

Para-virtualized drivers

Para-virtualized drivers (the virtio drivers) increase the performance
for a virtual machine's block and network devices. The virtio balloon
driver allows guests to express to the hypervisor how much memory they
require. The balloon driver allows the host to efficiently allocate
memory to the guest and allow free memory to be allocated to other guests
and processes. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6, the virtio balloon driver
can collect and report memory statistics.

libvirt

Libvirt is a hypervisor-independent virtualization API that is able to
interact with the virtualization capabilities of a range of operating
systems. libvirt provides a common, generic and stable layer to securely
manage virtualized guests on a host. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6,
libvirt has been updated to version 0.8.2, enabling sVirt. sVirt is a
technology included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 that integrates SELinux
and virtualization. sVirt improves security and hardens the system
against bugs in the hypervisor that might be used as an attack vector for
the host or to another virtualized guest.

Global synchronization point for pvclock

pvclock enables a guest to read the clock time of the host. In Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.6, a global synchronization point is added to pvclock,
providing a more stable time source for guests.

virtio-serial

The virtio-serial driver has been added, enabling vmchannel capabilities
on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 guests operating on a Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 6 hosts. VMchannel is a transport mechanism used for communication
between the host userspace and guest userspace.


3. Networking
--------------

Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND)

On most modern networks, including the Internet, users locate other
computers by name. This frees users from the daunting task of remembering
the numerical network address of network resources. The most effective
way to configure a network to allow such name-based connections is to set
up a Domain Name Service (DNS) or a nameserver, which resolves hostnames
on the network to numerical addresses and vice versa. The Berkeley
Internet Name Domain (BIND) is an implementation of the DNS protocols.
BIND includes a DNS server, a resolver library, and tools for verifying
that the DNS server is operating correctly. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6
Beta includes version 9.7 of the BIND implementation. These updated
packages add support for version 3 of the Next Secure (NSEC3) resource
record in the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). Additionally, this update
features support for the RSA/SHA-2 algorithms in DNSSEC, and the
HMAC-SHA2 algorithms for Transaction Signatures (TSIG).

Network Debugging using dropwatch

The kernel features the Netlink Drop Monitor (DROP_MONITOR) service that
provides detailed network packet loss monitoring. Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.6 features the new dropwatch utility to interface with the drop
monitor service, and return the results to userspace.

Ethernet bridge tables

Ethernet bridge tables (ebtables) is a firewalling tool to transparently
filter network traffic passing a bridge. The filtering possibilities are
limited to link layer filtering and basic filtering on higher network
layers. ebtables is a new package for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6
release.


4. Web Servers and Services
----------------------------

Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) 5.3

Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is an HTML-embedded scripting language
commonly used with the Apache HTTP Web server. Version 5.3.2 of PHP is
now available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta as the separate php53
package.


Note
----

The php package supplies version 5.1.6 of PHP, and is still available in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6. Ensure that the php package and the
dependencies it requires are removed before installing the php53.

mod_nss

mod_nss provides strong cryptography for the Apache Web server via the
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols,
using the Network Security Services (NSS) security library. In this
release, mod_nss has been updated to version 1.0.8, adding support for
the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)


5. Filesystems and Storage
---------------------------

Fourth Extended Filesystem (ext4) Support

The fourth extended filesystem (ext4) is now a fully supported feature in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6. ext4 is based on the third extended
filesystem (ext3) and features a number of improvements, including:
support for larger file size and offset, faster and more efficient
allocation of disk space, no limit on the number of subdirectories within
a directory, faster file system checking, and more robust journaling. To
complement the addition of ext4 as a fully supported filesystem in Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta, the e4fsprogs package has been updated to
the latest upstream version. e4fsprogs contains utilities to create,
modify, verify, and correct the ext4 filesystem.


Note
----

In previous Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 releases, the ext4 filesystem was
a Technology Preview feature and might have been known by the release
name, ext4dev.


5.1. Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

Volume management creates a layer of abstraction over physical storage by
creating logical storage volumes. This provides greater flexibility over
just using physical storage directly. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6
manages logical volumes using the Logical Volume Manager (LVM).


Further Reading
---------------

The Logical Volume Manager Administration document describes the LVM
logical volume manager, including information on running LVM in a
clustered environment.

Mirroring Mirror Logs

LVM maintains a small log (on a separate device) which it uses to keep
track of which regions are in sync with the mirror or mirrors. Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.6 introduces the ability to mirror this log device.

Splitting a Redundant Image of a Mirror

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 introduces the use of the --splitmirrors
argument of the lvconvert command to split off a redundant image of a
mirrored logical volume to form a new logical volume.

Configuration

LVM in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 also provides additionally
configuration options for default data alignment and volume group
metadata.


6. Authentication and Interoperability
---------------------------------------

System Security Services Daemon (SSSD)

The System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) is a new feature in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.6 that implements a set of services for central
management of identity and authentication. Centralizing identity and
authentication services enables local caching of identities, allowing
users to still identify in cases where the connection to the server is
interrupted. SSSD supports many types of identity and authentication
services, including: Red Hat Directory Server, Active Directory,
OpenLDAP, 389, Kerberos and LDAP.

Samba

Samba is a suite of programs which use NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) to
enable the sharing of files, printers and other information. This package
provides a Server Message Block or SMB server (also known as a Common
Internet File System or CIFS server) which can provide network services
to SMB/CIFS clients. Two mutually exclusive versions of Samba (supplied
by the packages samba or samba3x) are available. In Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.6 samba3x is updated to version 3.5.4, providing additional
support for LDAP-based stores and Winbind over IPv6.


7. Desktop
-----------

Japanese IPA Font Support

IPA Font is a JIS X 0213:2004 compliant Japanese OpenType font provided
by Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan. Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.6 introduces the new ipa-gothic-fonts package, containing the
Gothic (sans-serif) style font and the new ipa-mincho-fonts package,
containing the Mincho-style font.

Tablet Support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 introduces support for the Wacom Cintiq
21UX2 graphics tablet.

ghostscript

The Ghostscript suite provides a PostScript(TM) interpreter, a set of C
procedures (the Ghostscript library, which implements the graphics
capabilities in the PostScript language), and an interpreter for PDF
files. Ghostscript translates PostScript code into many common, bitmapped
formats, like those understood by most printers and displays. This
enables users to display PostScript files and print them on
non-PostScript printers. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6, ghostscript is
updated to version 8.70, adding support for OPVP 1.0.


8. Kernel
----------

The kernel shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 includes several
hundred bug fixes for and enhancements to the Linux kernel. For details
concerning every bug fixed in and every enhancement added to the kernel
for this release, refer to the kernel chapter in the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.6 Technical Notes. The most notable updates and additions to the
kernel in this release include:

  *  The tpm_tis driver for Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
    microcontrollers now automatically loads at boot time.

  *  added support for the Actual Performance Clock Counter (APERF) and
    Maximum Qualified Performance Clock Counter (MPERF) Model-Specific
    Registers (MSRs) on AMD processors.

  *  support for ITE-887x chips

  *  VIO power management support for Power PC platforms

  *  added support for the OSX and OSM OSA CHPID types in the qeth driver

  *  Updated Advanced Linux Sound Architecture - High Definition Audio
    (ALSA-HDA) drivers.

  *  version 1.3 of SystemTap, providing an integrated compile-server
    client, automatic structure pretty-printing, faster and improved
    stack backtraces, and new sample scripts.

  *  an updated Kernel Probes (kprobes) implementation

  *  updated Per-task statistics interface (taskstats)

  *  new support for TCP cubic congested control

  *  new support for the one packet scheduler in the networking stack

  *  two networking tuning parameters, ip_local_reserved_ports and
    ip_local_port_range parameter, to allow users to reserve ports for
    third-party applications, and blacklist known offending ports.

  *  the /proc/sys/vm/vm_devzero_optimized parameter to skip ZERO_PAGE
    mmap of /dev/zero device

  *  enhancements for iSNS, in the iSCSI Initiator, and the iSNS server

  *  kABI updates


9. Device Drivers
------------------


9.1. Network Device Drivers

  *  I/O AT (I/O Acceleration Technology) and DCA drivers have been
    updated. I/O AT is a collection of techniques by Intel to improve
    network throughput by offloading copy operations. Direct Cache Access
    (DCA) is an I/O AT feature which can deliver data directly into
    processor caches.

  *  The zd1211 driver for the ZyDAS ZD1211(b) 802.11a/b/g USB WLAN
    device is now supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta.

  *  The qlcnic driver has been updated to the latest upstream version

  *  The be2net driver for ServerEngines BladeEngine2 10Gbps network
    devices has been updated to version 2.102.512r

  *  The bnx2 driver for the Broadcom NetXtreme II network cards has been
    updated to version 2.0.8

  *  The bnx2x driver for Broadcom Everest network devices has been
    updated to version 1.52.53-4

  *  The forcedeth ethernet driver for NVIDIA nForce devices has been
    updated to the latest upstream version

  *  The e1000e driver for Intel PRO/1000 ethernet devices has been
    updated to the upstream version 1.2.7-k2

  *  The enic driver for Cisco 10G Ethernet devices has been updated to
    version 1.4.1.2

  *  The igb driver for Intel Gigabit Ethernet Adapters has been updated,
    adding support for PCI-AER

  *  the ixgbe driver for Intel 10 Gigabit PCI Express network devices
    has been updated to version 2.0.84-k2

  *  The netxen driver for NetXen Multi port (1/10) Gigabit Network
    devices has been updated to version 4.0.73

  *  The qlge driver for QLogic 10 Gigabit PCI-E ethernet devices has
    been updated to version 1.00.00.25

  *  The Solarflare driver (sfc) has been updated to version 2.6.36-4c1

  *  The tg3 driver for Broadcom Tigon3 ethernet devices has been updated
    to version 3.108+

  *  The vxge driver for Neterion's X3100 Series 10GbE PCIe devices has
    been updated to version 2.0.8.20182-k


9.2. Storage Device Drivers

  *  The cciss driver for HP Smart Array controllers has been updated to
    version 3.6.22.RH1

  *  The qla4xxxqla4xxx driver has been updated to version
    5.02.03.00.05.06-d1

  *  The bnx2i driver for Broadcom NetXtreme II iSCSI has been updated to
    version 2.1.3

  *  the be2iscsi driver for ServerEngines BladeEngine 2 Open iSCSI
    devices has been updated.

  *  the lpfc driver for Emulex Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters has been
    updated to version 8.2.0.87

  *  The ipr driver has been updated to version 2.2.0.4

  *  The 3w-sas driver has been updated to version 3.26.00.028-2.6.18RH

  *  The 3w-xxxx driver for 3ware SATA RAID Controllers has been updated
    to version 2.26.08.007-2.6.18RH

  *  The cxgb3i driver for Chelsio host bus adapters (HBAs) have been
    updated.

  *  The megaraid_sas driver for LSI MegaRAID SAS controllers has been
    updated to version 4.31

  *  The mpt2sas driver that supports the SAS-2 family of adapters from
    LSI has been updated to version 05.101.00.02

  *  the qla2xxx driver for QLogic Fibre Channel HBAs has been updated to
    version 8.03.01.05.05.06-k


9.3. Desktop Drivers Updates

  *  The i810 drivers for Intel integrated display devices have been
    updated with added support for IronLake graphics.

  *  The sis driver has been updated with added support for Volari Z9s
    devices.

  *  The mga driver for Matrox video devices has been updated, with added
    support for the G200eH device.


9.4. Printer Drivers

  *  The HPLIP (Hewlett-Packard Linux Imaging and Printing Project)
    package provides drivers for HP printers and multi-function
    peripherals. Version 3.9.8 of HPLIP is now available as a separate
    hplip3 package. Note that the hplip3 package provides a newer version
    of HPLIP that can be installed alongside the version provided in Red
    Hat Enterprise Linux 5. The relevant command line utilities are
    prefixed with hp3- instead of hp-, for example: hp3-setup.


10. Developer Tools
--------------------

GNU gettext

The GNU gettext package provides a set of tools and documentation for
producing multi-lingual messages in programs. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.6, gettext has been updated to version 0.17. Note that java and
libintl.jar support is discontinued in this updated gettext package.

Subversion

Subversion (SVN) is a concurrent version control system which enables one
or more users to collaborate in developing and maintaining a hierarchy of
files and directories while keeping a history of all changes. Subversion
in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 has been updated to version 1.6.11,
introducing the new merge tracking and interactive conflict resolution
features.

Python Scripting in GDB

This update provides a new version of the GNU Project Debugger (GDB),
featuring the new Python API. This API allows GDB to be automated using
scripts written in the Python Programming Language. One notable feature
of the Python API is the ability to format GDB output (normally referred
to as pretty-printing) using Python scripts. Previously, pretty-printing
in GDB was configured using a standard set of print settings. The ability
to create custom pretty-printer scripts gives the user control of the way
GDB displays information for specific applications. Red Hat Enterprise
Linux features a complete suite of pretty-printer scripts for the GNU
Standard C++ Library (libstdc++).

GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) includes, among others, C, C++, and
Java GNU compilers and related support libraries. Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.6 features version 4.4 of GCC, providing interoperability with
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

GNU C Library (glibc)

The GNU C Library (glibc) packages contain the standard C libraries used
by multiple programs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. These packages contain
the standard C and the standard math libraries. Without these two
libraries, the Linux system cannot function properly. glibc is updated in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6, providing added support for POWER7 and ISA
2.06 CPUs.

OpenJDK

OpenJDK in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 is updated to IcedTea version
1.7.5. This update provides the following notable additions:

  *  HotSpot stability and performance improvements

  *  Xrender pipeline support

  *  Fixes for visual anomalies, synchronous timezone support using
    tzdata

  *  Improved graphics file support and overall JAR performance

  *  NUMA allocator support


A. Revision History
--------------------

Revision History

Revision 0-23

Tue Dec 07 2010

Ryan Lerch

Initial Release Notes
