Early Access channel updates

The following features, preview features, improvements, and bug fixes are available in the Early Access update channel. Some of the latest listed entries might not be available in the Normal channel yet.

Note:

This article doesn’t list all changes in the Early Access channel, just a subset. For the full and up-to-date set of changes available, see the information in the XenCenter Updates view.

Jul 16, 2024

Checksum: 3e03abdfd0f69ea951af221ac9c3d1e400081a09dfc96465d03ebe44501a8e43

These updates include security fixes. For more information, see the security bulletin.

Jul 11, 2024

Checksum: 3573504d45e1bb87e827ebd1761724cdfe9606bb6e9e2811ddad0d68a59959ea

These updates contain fixes for the following issues:

• In rare conditions, the QEMU Storage I/O processor used by the GFS2 and XFS Storage Repository types can crash as the associated virtual machine transitions from emulated to paravirtual storage. This crash causes the virtual machine to lose access to its virtual disks and fail to boot.
• When creating an iSCSI SR by using xsconsole, xsconsole displays a “timed out” error message even when the SR is created successfully.
• The HTTPS is used unnecessarily in localhost VM migration.
• Distributed tracing: An issue in instrument which would cause errors like “load() missing 1 required positional argument: ‘sr_uuid’”.
• A performance issue in intel-i40e.
• When requesting bug-report archives, tapdisk logs are not included in the full bug-report archive.
• When requesting bug-report archives, collected kernel module infos are not complete in rare cases.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Remove deprecated iovirt plugin from the toolstack.
• Improvements to distributed tracing.
• Add new SR status “Unreachable” and “Unavailable”. They were mapped to “Recovering” before.

Jun 27, 2024

Checksum: 894d747672c6ab2ae734882365fa853420c3c5bb40d4c335cc860ca60aeba803

These updates include the following improvements:

• Improvements to logging around XFS and GFS2 SRs.
• The OCaml compiler has been updated to 4.14.2. This improves stability in the management daemons.

This update contains fixes for the following issues:

• Several rare issues in the coalesce of deleted snapshots.

This update contains upstream code changes for the following issues:

• Additional case of CVE-2023-45229 when handling DHCPv6 options.
• CVE-2023-45236 - Use of predictable TCP Initial Sequence Numbers.
• CVE-2023-45237 - Use of a Weak PseudoRandom Number Generator.

Jun 13, 2024

Checksum: 537cc1784dd4b1b06a13a71782664a2458b31919a9ce20df66c9c2fd7d5ed1d3

These updates include the following improvements:

• Reduce the amount of old log files created by ensuring that empty log files are not rotated.
• Update python-hwinfo to 0.1.11.
• Remove gnu-free-sans-fonts package.

This update contains fixes for the following issues:

• A fix for a regression introduced in the previous update. The regression would cause a Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 pool with clustering configured to fail to RPU to XenServer 8.
• When using DHCP with network adaptors used for software-boot-from-iSCSI, the connectivity to storage becomes non-functional after the connection is dropped, rendering the hosts unusable.
• VGPU VM start fails with “No free virtual function found”. As part of a start, resources like VGPU are allocated for a VM in “scheduled_to..” fields. These are not cleared when the VM start fails.
• When connecting to the same XenServer pool with multiple instances of XenCenter, some instances might not show available updates.
• Fixes for storage management.

This update also includes the following improvements:

• Ports of AD controllers are now taken into account on setup. Previously port 88 was used for all of them.
• Add more trace points and attributes in distributed tracing.
• Reduce log spam of gpumon and rrdd.

Jun 11, 2024

Checksum: e780184d335733087c1cb249061023d7db61d071b4c7d629398959d51f1426dc

These updates include security fixes. For more information, see the security bulletin.

Jun 03, 2024

Checksum: 12af14e8b2f9ad0d9ac53b8044e4cd9349bbaf7bcf9378b19f08040b07572aa4

These updates include improvements that will be included in the next release of the installer.

May 23, 2024

Checksum: 3df138281313d9049a5524743fe32a327092900392624322a7a06448aaba54fe

These updates contain the following new feature:

• Add I/O statistics reporting for GFS2 and XFS SRs, to display in the XenCenter VM performance graphs.

These updates fix the following issues:

• General performance and bug fixes for post delete snapshot cleanup operations.
• Host backups are interrupted by an error.
• When reloading its configuration, perfmon crashes.
• You cannot export VDIs to VHD files when the former has a base VDI.
• When shutting down a host, a VM can encounter errors when writing to the TPM.
• Fix for some issues with upgrading.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update the Microsemi smartpqi driver to 2.1.28-025.
• Update pci.ids to version 2024.04.11.
• Make coalesce of deleted snapshots more efficient on GFS2 and XFS SRs.
• Improvements the TPM services for VMs.
• Metadata export for snapshot has been enabled. Device types can be excluded from the export.

May 14, 2024

Checksum: cc315022075aa4186d06e6f05a5bafbb16007079ba374548b12e4b1d1b9135b4

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update Intel microcode to the IPU 2024.2 drop.
• Update AMD microcode to the 2024-05-03 drop.

May 13, 2024

Checksum: 551daac02721517dccba9cb87093fc96734a49f9ffeb1f0d03fbfea4342c70d5

These updates fix the following issues:

• Fix a bug in RTC emulation for HVM guests that occasionally causes OVMF to fail an assertion.
• Fix a bug in livepatch application when CET-IBT is active, leading to a full host crash.
• Fix a heterogeneous CPU levelling bug between Ice Lake and Cascade Lake.

These updates include the following improvement:

• Update to Xen 4.17.4.

Apr 29, 2024

Checksum: aad9014d7a618f7cba0332b9bc4c95f9faee096c6495efb5d31d222a017e7c5b

These updates contain the following feature:

• These guest templates now support UEFI and Secure Boot:

  • Rocky Linux 8
  • Rocky Linux 9 (preview)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 15
  • Debian Bookworm 12 (preview)
  • Oracle Linux 8

These updates fix the following issues:

• Under some conditions DLM control daemon will fail to join a lockspace, preventing cluster operations from functioning.
• Some devices that are not intended for use for LVM volumes were not excluded from being scanned, which can cause operations to fail.
• Post-install warning on pvsproxy.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Add xsconsole “Configure Network Time” option for NTP control.

Apr 26, 2024

Checksum: c11e016b345e5119adb4f9edaffe3537cbf64ed252e3e7caebd30b380ec2a8b4

These updates fix the following issue:

• Enabling PVS-Accelerator in-memory cache mode fails with a script error.

Apr 11, 2024

Checksum: dc7acd63c2c5a920e77328070d7396dcb1df03ba670424fae3f4a29f47ff1a64

These updates include security fixes. For more information, see the security bulletin.

Apr 02, 2024

Checksum: bbe72f61afa19b78c5f47fa59c2b3a527b018029bf34aa92ba3e9e4e35a14a46

These updates fix the following issues:

• Sometimes, when XAPI attempts to write logs, it is prevented from doing so for a limited amount of time. This behavior is caused by an issue in log rotation.
• If you create a new installation of XenServer on a host with a local XFS SR on an NVMe device, your local storage does not attach on boot. The action fails with the error: “Raised Server_error(SR_BACKEND_FAILURE, [ FileNotFoundError; [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘/sys/block/nvme0n/queue/scheduler’ ])”. After applying this fix, you can attach the local storage manually.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Improve the configuration for USB network cards.
• Improvements to plug/unplug behaviour on GFS2 and XFS SRs.
• Improvements to USB device handling.
• Addition of distributed tracing information to the storage manager.

Mar 25, 2024

Checksum: 574edaa4f5fe4960882e3a7ccd3de3084df6b89624dfa63fb7253e73120f1a41

These updates include the following improvements:

• Reduce QEMU’s idle CPU usage.
• Update the Cisco enic driver to 4.5.0.7.
• Update the Cisco fnic driver to 2.0.0.90.

Mar 18, 2024

Checksum: e7dd9deb95cad01b70bac2d02aec7fa0d649c16b55cdd91d32affa6377631bae

Important:

Update to this level, or later, to be in a supported state.

These updates fix the following issue:

• After upgrading from Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1, the background maintenance services for GFS2 SRs do not start correctly.

Mar 14, 2024

CHecksum: e8fe79a0d028b40a090a2d77d24d05caaa0fd5116080c7e3aaaed14458e60ede

These updates fix the following issues:

• If the pool coordinator is not running or the toolstack is being restarted, vTPM operations performed by the user or by Windows in the background might fail.
• Fix the names of some SR types in xsconsole.
• Upstream code changes that may reduce false-positive reports for CVE-2023-38545.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Upstream code changes that may reduce false-positive reports for CVE-2023-28486.

Mar 12, 2024

Checksum: b43aeaa6613a4b89d3d907cdb3704e0aca00c4d1122a01f1c4abac116602c2e4

These updates include the following changes to XenServer:

• If you use XenServer 8 preview with a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops license, this license is deprecated and is no longer supported with XenServer 8.

  To run a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops workload on a XenServer 8 pool, you must get a XenServer Premium Edition license for all hosts in the pool. For more information, visit the XenServer website.

  XenServer is now an entitlement of the Citrix for Private Cloud, Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi Cloud, and Citrix Platform License subscriptions for running your Citrix workloads. Read more.

These updates fix the following issue:

• XSA-452 CVE-2023-28746

  For more information, see the security bulletin.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update Intel microcode to the IPU 2024.1 drop.

Mar 06, 2024

Checksum: 541fac9e361504d8c568fb6c5bbdef2442d5674ea5e17a2f1cf999c51e5b0608

Note:

Before applying these updates, update your XenCenter to version 2024.1.0 or later. The latest version of XenCenter is available at https://xenserver.com/downloads.

These updates contain the following feature:

• The “preview” label has been removed from the Windows 11 template. This guest operating system is ready to be fully supported when XenServer 8 moves from preview to fully supported in production.

These updates fix the following issues:

• When collecting host and guest performance statistics, the collected RRD files are often not up-to-date.
• In XenServer 8 clusters with GFS2 SRs, when collecting the XenServer databases, the cluster daemon database is not collected.
• When collecting a server status report, if you request a full bug-report archive and the file size limit of a database for xcp-rrdd-plugins is exceeded, the logfiles of xcp-rrdd-plugin are not collected.
• When collecting a server status report, if you use SSH login:
  • The interactive mode where you confirm individual files for collection does not work without specific user input.
  • When downloading uncompressed RRD data with a deprecated method, the VM RRDs are not collected.
• CVE-2023-45230 - Buffer overflow in the DHCPv6 client via a long Server ID option.
• CVE-2023-45231 - Out of Bounds read when handling a ND Redirect message with truncated options.
• CVE-2023-45232 - Infinite loop when parsing unknown options in the Destination Options header.
• CVE-2023-45233 - Infinite loop when parsing a PadN option in the Destination Options header.
• CVE-2023-45234 - Buffer overflow when processing DNS Servers option in a DHCPv6 Advertise message.
• CVE-2023-45235 - Buffer overflow when handling Server ID option from a DHCPv6 proxy Advertise message.
• An issue with the use of vTPM while the toolstack is being restarted.
• The status of NIC bonds is not reflected correctly.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Improvements to the way you apply software updates to your XenServer hosts and pools. For more information, see Apply updates.
• Update the multipath configuration used for PURE FlashArray SAN to match the vendors recommendations.
• Improve error messages when file SR types are read-only.
• Improvements to distributed tracing.

Feb 28, 2024

Checksum: 57b11c890cc12413b41310e4aef70b10589b50663ba1f5371e3a70c46bd7fa4d

These updates fix the following issues:

• XSA-451 CVE-2023-46841.
• A migration issue with VMs that previously saw CMP_LEGACY.

Feb 21, 2024

Checksum: 4ac84bc81dcd650b1525d7a1866363e6ff57988fd23b15f01f4db98a1da29984

These updates contain the following new feature:

• Monitor host and dom0 resources with SNMP. This feature can be used from the next version of XenCenter. For more information, see Monitoring host and dom0 resources with SNMP.

These updates fix the following issues:

• If you try to enable SR-IOV on an Intel E810 NIC in XenCenter, the VF assigned to a VM does not work after the VM boots.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update Xen from 4.13 to 4.17.
• Various improvements to GFS2 datapath operations.

Feb 12, 2024

Checksum: 4ca53a5e440cd52b4b179b2dfb208e159cf16e918f53130b227eae3fb7b3d596

These updates include the following new feature:

• Add a new check (check_multipath) to the NRPE service to enable monitoring of the multipath status.

These updates fix the following issues:

• When there are separate independent Target Portal Groups within the IQN, XenServer cannot log into all iSCSI portals.
• When creating an SMB ISO SR share, it is no longer necessary to supply credentials when connecting to an SMB server that permits guest access.
• Part of the toolstack may unexpectedly stop running.
• You are unable to import a suspended Windows 11 VM that has been exported as an XVA with power state preservation.
• When a VM with vTPM is started or quickly migrated back and forth between pools, a race condition can occur.
• pool-eject operations run in parallel can cause TLS verification errors.
• Fixes for several low-probability issues with GFS2 SRs.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update the Qlogic fastlinq driver to 8.74.0.2.
• Improvements to distributed tracing.

Jan 29, 2024

Checksum: bef04584f387457b7665a7f56b3f01be4c03edf67c383875ecbc8ebe92b73786

These updates include the following improvements:

• Support for UEFI boot and Secure Boot for Linux guest operating systems. For more information, see Guest UEFI boot and Secure Boot.
• Provide more detailed information about a XenServer host’s SHA256 and SHA1 TLS certificates in the host console view in XenCenter.

Jan 23, 2024

Checksum: a74ad78f7b0537f82cb5069c6b781696829f4053b7a06020ab1436332f684ff1

These updates include security fixes. For more information, see the security bulletin.

Jan 15, 2024

Checksum: 1633ab16bf0a6b458c4f863b07328e07ee85371fed34145050552c02e46657da

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update XenServer VM Tools for Linux to version 8.4.0-1, available to download from the XenServer downloads page. From this version, you can use the install.sh script to uninstall XenServer VM Tools for Linux. For more information, see Uninstall XenServer VM Tools for Linux.
• Ensure that the XenServer welcome message is always displayed when connecting to a XenServer host console and that the message is correctly line wrapped.

Jan 4, 2024

Checksum: 6240ec0cbc29f6f5204f7f6af7bbce28e96e9dfb9e001a4f0cfa4609214f9d8e

These updates fix the following issues:

• Sometimes, after migrating a VM from one pool to another, the VM’s alerts are not successfully copied to the destination pool or removed from the source pool.
• Sometimes the pool database is not restored from the redo-log (part of the high availability feature).

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update the Microsemi smartpqi driver to 2.1.26_030.
• Update the AMD microcode to the 2023-12-05 drop.
• Improvements to distributed tracing.

Dec 11, 2023

Checksum: 95f70cca5fd3b79081c30837352ed941a7d497899062d892fbc2aa51daacfd78

These updates fix the following issues:

• When using multipathing with Dell EqualLogic PS Series Firmware v7.x, you might see iSCSI protocol errors.

Nov 27, 2023

Checksum: 1633ab16bf0a6b458c4f863b07328e07ee85371fed34145050552c02e46657da

These updates fix the following issues:

• Sometimes the redo-log (part of the high availability feature) does not replay all database writes.
• When running the vdi-copy command to copy a VDI to an SR, XenServer fails to correctly report the progress of the operation.
• In XenCenter, customizing a template and then exporting and reimporting it can result in the template failing to import.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Add driver for Dell PERC12 (driver version: mpi3mr 8.1.4.0.0).
• General API improvements.
• The “preview” label has been removed from vTPM support. This means that vTPM is ready to be fully supported when XenServer 8 moves from preview to fully supported in production.

Nov 15, 2023

Checksum: 4abd37e1e88675bf3793b4704786a97ba43e2a455989546de07f934f20e28135

These updates include the following improvement:

• The “preview” label has been removed from the Ubuntu 22.04 template. This guest operating system is ready to be fully supported when XenServer 8 moves from preview to fully supported in production.

Nov 14, 2023

Checksum: 052f8594042ceeb93bbe7d4dd75fc7fcd8af7092c3cd08b2522b6bd2a6694c17

These updates include security fixes. For more information, see the security bulletin.

Nov 6, 2023

Checksum: 210d00c5764f4d8ee0337ef827863eb8cde43fe089d888dd3faa2ee5d05a24ad

These updates include the following improvements:

• General SDK improvements and improved API login times.
• Update Open vSwitch to v2.17.7.

Nov 3, 2023

Checksum: 4d516d4b6c72eb3be4f60e78371db5fde8b6292395ddaf411faf52507f22f516

These updates include general fixes and improvements.

Oct 25, 2023

Checksum: c6b1397dc454e7236634e07f7872ec95e3f6938bcb5dc62316dd112899926ec7

These updates fix the following issues:

• Deploying Windows using PXE boot and Configuration Manager can cause Windows to hang.
• If time synchronization is disabled, Windows VMs do not return the correct time.

These updates include the following improvement:

• UEFI boot mode Windows VMs now show the Windows logo during boot instead of the Tianocore logo.

Oct 18, 2023

Checksum: 85e8edbaf7469a29cc56fe6880e93c2618fb90002d2d4cdf0b372719413c4525

These updates include general fixes and improvements.

Oct 11, 2023

Checksum: 7623587c09c7198237bc9dd673fba33307fbaee18e0baec50c1e2ddbee165b91

Support for the following guest operating systems:

• Debian Bookworm 12
• Rocky Linux 9
• CentOS Stream 9

Note:

Customers who wish to use these guest operating systems must also install XenServer VM Tools for Linux v8.3.1-1 or later, available to download from the XenServer product downloads page.

These updates include the following improvement:

• Update the Mellanox mlnx_en driver to 5.9-0.5.5.0.

Oct 10, 2023

Checksum: 0ab01aa0c5623b52219b279b48f6b13f8db4a0a699a25b61a7aa35b39243ca89

These updates include security fixes. For more information, see the security bulletin.

Oct 2, 2023

These updates include the following improvement:

• Support for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 operating system. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 release notes for further technical information.

Note:

Customers who wish to use this guest OS must also install Citrix VM Tools for Linux v8.3.1-1 or later, available to download from the XenServer product downloads page.

Sep 18, 2023

These updates include general fixes and improvements.

Sep 11, 2023

These updates include the following improvements:

• Enable interrupt balancing for Fibre Channel (FC) PCI devices. This improves performance on fast FC HBA SRs, especially if multipathing is used.
• Fix for AMD errata #1474. Disable C6 after 1000 days of uptime on AMD Zen2 systems to avoid a crash at ~1044 days.

Aug 31, 2023

These updates fix the following issues:

• Performance metrics are not available for GFS2 SRs and disks on these SRs.
• You cannot snapshot or checkpoint a suspended VM if that VM has a vTPM attached.
• If a XenServer host crashes, or shuts down abruptly, starting more Windows 11 VMs or migrating more Windows 11 VMs onto that host eventually fails.
• If, when iSCSI SRs are attached, not all the possible paths are available (for example, an offline controller remote port is down), the SR does not have additional iSCSI sessions added when those remote ports are accessible again.

These updates include the following improvements:

• Update the Intel ice driver to v1.11.17.1.
• Performance improvements for GFS2.