SVN MultiSite Plus Release Notes

Issues Fixed

• When running the backup script, the entered admin username is now echoed. Previously this entry was being treated like a password so you couldn't read what you'd entered. (NV-2757)


• Also when running the backup script, a warning is now issued if there are no Replication Groups set up, at least one Replication Group is required for the Synchronized Stop. (N V-2817)


• We've made the svnadmin verify command optional as it can cause the talkback script to take an excessively long time to run. (NV-2347)


• Talkback now includes the version file that was recently added to the SVN MultiSite Plus installation. (NV-2257)


• Talkback script now supports a non-interactive mode if you provide the necessary environmental variables. You can read about the changes here: Talkback (NV-1918)


• We have identified and addressed an issue where a node removed using the Emergency Reconfiguration procedure could still be counted as a member of a replication group. (NV-2293)


• Addressed an issue where mod_dav_svn wasn't installed when running the installer in the non-interactive mode. (NV-2333).


• The monitor tool will no longer accept user-created monitors if they are set with a disk space which is larger than the available disk space. (NV-2229).


• The Talkback script can now follows symlinks to gather repository information. (NV-2258).


• Resolved an issue where ports reserved for SVN MultiSite Plus were not being bound exclusively to the IP specified during installation. (NV-2219)

Known Issue

• For Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 6) deployments that are moving from version 1.0 Build 5778 or earlier to the latest version (1.2): You should first complete the following procedure for an upgrade to version 1.0 Build 6383). Once you have verified the upgrade was successful, only then should you repeat the upgrade with the 1.2 files. If you have any questions or concerns contact WANdisco's support team. (NV-2871)


• Currently backups, upgrades or API calls that refer to a Node's name will fail if its name includes a forward slash "\". This issue will be fixed as a matter of urgency. For now work around the issue by referencing the Node name using URL encoding, e.g. a node called "node\name" would become "node%5Cname" (NV-2850)


• After upgrading from a previous version of the product your first attempt to login to the admin UI may appear to fail with an error "Unable to find matching navigation case with from-view-id...". This is a browser caching issue. Clear your browser cache or force a hard reload in order to login. (NV-2292)

Release: Build: 5778

This release addresses an issue that has come to light while making improvements to SVN MultiSite Plus's configurable parameters.

Issues Fixed

• We identified and fixed an issue relating to one of SVN MultiSite's configurable parameters. It's now possible to modify the content.plus.timeout value, allowing for greater tolerance to poor network conditions. See more about Node Content Distribution Timeouts - (CD-29)

Release: Build: 5658

This release addresses the following issue:

Issues Fixed

• We've addressed an issue that caused commits to take longer than usual to complete after a temporary disruption in network connectivity. We've introduced new default parameters which better ensure commit robustness. (NV-2319)

Release: Build: 5586

This release adds some additional improvements to the installation and admin UI console and fixes issues relating to the replication/coordination engine.

New Features

• The installer can now be run in a non-interactive mode that doesn't require a user to answer questions prior to the browser-based configuration: Non-interactive Installation (NV-989)


• For clarity we've adopted the use of binary-prefix measurements of data. All references to memory storage will be in mebibytes (MiB) and gibibytes (GiB) instead fo Megabytes (MB) and Gigabytes (GB). NV-2187


• We've added a mechanism for changing some node properites, such as its IP address or hostname: http://docs.wandisco.com/svn/ms-plus/admin.html#newip (NV-1273)

Issues Fixed

• "Fixed an issue that could have resulted in the unnecessary buildup of temporary files. (NV-2170)


• Fixed an issue that appeared when deploying a membership from a node that was not a proposer node, the application specific data is was not exchanged between the nodes.Deployments from proposing nodes were not affected. (PLAT-180)


• Fixed a problem with the coordinate state machine stop (Stop All Nodes) that required an clarification of the which types of nodes can initiate a coordinated stop - the submitting node has to be a proposer and all the nodes that are being coordinate stopped have to be learners. (PLAT-184)

Known Issue

• After upgrading to build:5586 your first attempt to login to the admin UI may appear to fail with an error "Unable to find matching navigation case with from-view-id...". This is a browser caching issue. Clear your browser cache or force a hard reload in order to login. (NV-2292)

Release: Build: 5435

This release adds the following fix and new feature:

New Features

• We're developing a product upgrade process that will greatly simplify moving to new versions of MultiSite Plus. In this release we've provided the first component for this process, embedded within the SVN MultiSite Plus installer file. For information about how it works, read the Upgrade Guide (NV-2124) (NV-2180)

Issues Fixed

• Found and fixed an issue that could result in an http 500 (Internal Server Error) when triggering a synchronized stop via the API. NV-1957

Release: Build: 5041

This latest update for WANdisco's SVN MultiSite Plus adds a new version of the installer, a notification system plus a number of bug fixes:

New Features

• Introduced a notification system that allows system administrators to set up automated alert emails. The system is broadly user-configurable so that administrators can created their own triggers and message content. Set up the notifications by logging into the SVN MultiSite Plus admin UI and go to the Settings tab. (NV-1404)


• The installer is now provided without Apache included in the bundle, for customers who use a specific version or install to a non-standard location. It also adds support for SSL encryption, although currently these settings can't be modified after installation. (NV-1954)

Issues Fixed

• We've consolidated our API code so that the old end point for inducting a new node has been removed. The old "ApplicationResource" end point should no longer be used. Instead use the new "NodeResource" end point. NV-1957


• Improved the performance and stability of the emergency reconfiguration tool. In particular, the process of reconfiguration better handles the loss of a node in 2-node replication group so that that the remaining node will continue to operate in a single-node replication group. (NV-1445)


• We've now restricted the use of certain special characters within the admin UI. It is now not possible to use the following characters in entity names:
  Forward slash /
  Question mark ?
  Equals sign =
  Ampersand &
  Semicolon ;
  Hash #
  (NV-1817)

Known issues (reported in Build 4563) that are now fixed:

• Fixed: We have fixed an issue affecting 2-node replication groups; previously the commit would fail if one node would be offline or unreachable. Now the commit will succeed if the remaining node is a tie-breaker.


• Fixed: a minor error in the talkback script that caused two process checks to fail. (NV-1824)



• Fixed: an issue where edits made (but not applied) on a repository settings screen persist if the changes are not cancelled, i.e. if you close the window or navigate away. (NV-1833)


• Fixed: The menu for selecting node type is not yet fully context driven so that it is currently possible to select a node type that is not actually available as it is not compatible with the existing setup. (NV-1853)


• Fixed: We've fixed a problem where by running an emergency reconfiguration could result in dashboard tasks all showing as "Unknown Task Type". (PLAT-47)


• Fixed: Induction of a new node following an emergency reconfiguration of the inductor node will cause the routes to be set incorrectly, so while the new node will know about the other member nodes, they won't know about it. (PLAT-14)


• Fixed: Disconnecting a node from a replication group will cause the node to lose all replication group information. We'll be improving the UI messaging around this in the next release. (NV-1815)
• 
  
• Fixed: The "Task" endpoint which would allow the retrieval of MultiSite's internal tasks is currently not available through the public API. This should be available again in the next release. (NV-1761)

Known Issues

• The apparent inconsistency in the size of repositories is the result of using different measuring methods. SVN MultiSite's UI measures repositories by the total byte count. This will not match the apparent sizes shown using different measuring methods, such as reading the size of allocated blocks. (NV-696)


• Inducting a new node using an incorrect locaion ID caused the connection to fail in a manner that is not graceful - the node is listed as "connection pending" and is stuck. If the problem occurs it will block the new node from being inducted to a different node. (NV-1827)


• We continue to investigate various browser compatibility issues with Internet Explorer 8. Although SVN MultiSite Plus's Admin UI is broadly functional in IE8, we're aware that some secondary features don't work. We'll continue to investigate this issue. (NV-1702)

Release: Build: 4563

This latest update for WANdisco's SVN MultiSite Plus adds a number of important new functions, along with various fixes and improvements:

New Features

• Wider operating system support
  SVN MultiSite Plus can now be installed across a wider range of Linux distributions. (NV-1580)


• Added Disk Monitoring
  We've added a system for monitoring the server's available disk space. Now administrators can receive automated emails should disk space get low, and if disk space becomes critical the system will safely shut the server down to prevent potential data corruption. You can read more in the online Admin Guide: Resource Monitor (NV-1299)


• We've improved the way that SVN MultiSite Plus handles co-ordinated actions. It's now possible to perform synchronised stops across all nodes or on a per node basis . There remains a limitation in that any repositories that are flagged as Local Read-only (LRO) then it won't be possible to complete the stop in a synchronized manner.(NV-1579)
• Removing nodes from replication groups There is now a facility for removing nodes from a replication group. It was previously necessary to recreate the entire replication group if you needed a change to its membership. You can read more in the online Admin Guide: Removing a Node from a Replication Group [NV-1121]


• Recovery Process
  We've added a mechanism for transactional recording of a 'map of the world' for each node which includes node settings, membership, DSMs and replication group details. [NV-1578]


• Talkback troubleshooting tool
  Now included as a Talkback script that can be automatically or manually run in order to capture information that can assist administrators and WANdisco's support team in identifying and fixing problems. You can read more about talkback in the online Admin Guide: Running Talkback [NV-397]


• Version Check
  Nodes will now routinely check that the other nodes that it connects to are running the same version of SVN MultiSite. (NV-1068)

Known Issues

• We have fixed an issue affecting 2-node replication groups; previously the commit would fail if one node would be offline or unreachable. Now the commit will succeed if the remaining node is a tie-breaker. (NV-1824)


• Fixed a minor error in the talkback script that caused two prcess checks to fail. (NV-1824)


• The apparent inconsistency in the size of repositories is the result of using different measuring methods. SVN MultiSite's UI measures repositories measures the total byte count of repositories. This will not match the apparent sizes shown using different measuring methods, such as reading the size of allocated blocks. NV-696


• We've fixed an issue where edits made (but not applied) on a repository settings screen perist if the changes are not cancelled, i.e. if you close the window or navigate away. (NV-1833)


• The menu for selecting node type is not yet fully context driven so that it is currently possible to select a node type that is not actually available as it is not compatible with the existing setup. (NV-1853)


• When inducting a new node with an incorrect location ID, the new node's connection failure is not currently handled gracefully - by listing the new node under connection pending, allowing for the induction to be cancelled. If the problem occurs it will block the new (inductee) node from being inducted through a different inductor node. (NV-1827)


• Running an emergency reconfiguration can block further nodes from being added to the replication group. (NV-1804)


• We've fixed a problem where by running an emergency reconfiguration could result in dashboard tasks all showing as "Unknown Task Type". (PLAT-47)


• Induction of a new node following an emergency reconfiguration of the inductor node will cause the routes to be set incorrectly, so while the new node will know about the other member nodes, they won't know about it. (PLAT-14)


• Disconnecting a node from a replication group will cause the node to lose all replication group information. We'll be improving the UI messaging around this in the next release. (NV-1815)
• 
  
• The "Task" endpoint which would allow the retrieval of MultiSite's internal tasks is currently not available through the public API. This should be available again in the next release. (NV-1761)


• We continue to investigate various browser compatibility issues with Internet Explorer 8. Although SVN MultiSite's Admin UI is broadly functional in IE8, we're aware that some secondary features don't work. We'll continue to investigate this issue. (NV-1702)

Release: Build: 4098

This release focused on: improving the stability of the installer, making available some new node types and expanding supported distributions to include RHEL5 and SuSE11 - support was previously limited to RHEL6).

A list of the most important changes is provided below:

New Features

• Synchronized Stop
  The Synchronized Stop is used to stop replication between repository replicas, it can be performed on a per-repository basis or on a replication group basis (where replication will be stopped for all associated repositories). Stops are synchronized between nodes using a 'stop' proposal to which all nodes need to agree. So that while not all nodes will come to a stop at the same time they do all stop at the same point. See the Admin Guide: 19. Performing a Synchronized Stop


• New Node Types
  We've introduced the following types of nodes, providing administrators with additional flexibility while designing replication groups:
  
  
  • Passive only: A node on which repositories recieve updates from other sites, but don't permit any changes to it's replicas from SVN clients - effectively making its repositories read-only. Passive nodes are ideal for deployments that are looking for hot-backup
  
  
  • Passive voter: A passive node that also takes part in the vote for transaction ordering agreement.
  
  
  • Voter only: A Voter-only node doesn't store repository data, it's only purpose is to accept transactions and cast of vote on transaction ordering. Voter-only nodes add resilience to a replication group as they increase the likelyhood that enough nodes are available to make agreement on transaction ordering. Voter only nodes don't cache transaction history or repository changes - they can play no part in a recovery scenario.
  
  Read more about node types in the admin guide - Node Types (NV-771)
  
  
• Improved Installer
  We've improved the installer's stability and now better checking of the server for existing SVN installations. (NV-1582)

Issues Fixed

• Further fixes and refinements to the public REST API.
  Read more about SVN MultiSite Plus's API (NA-5890)


• Fixed an issue that in some situations would cause a NullPointerException on clicking the Node Reconfigure button on the Nodes table screen. (NV-1612)

Known Issues

• Although SVN MultiSite Plus's browser-based Admin UI is compatible with Internet Explorer 8 there are a number of Java script and rendering problems that make some non-essential features such as dashboard widgets unusable. We're investigating these issues and will apply our best efforts in order to overcome them. (NV-1702)