On March 20, 2023, ZStack Cloud officially released its latest version, ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, covering a number of important features described in detail below.
Highlights
Modify Network Configuration of Running VMs: Allows you to configure static IPs for VMs and deploy network configuration through GuestTools.
Cryptography Security Compliance Begins to Support FLKSEC: Provides certificate login and data protection features for the Cloud.
Automatically Delete Temporary Images When Recovering Data: The temporary images generated while cloning VMs or recovering backup data are automatically deleted by default to save storage space.
Overview
VM Instance
Modifies network configuration of running VMs.
Integrates QGA into GuestTools.
Configures static IPs for VMs based on QGA.
Supports domestic Linux OS.
Supports creating volumes with custom offerings.
Cloud Network
Allows to specify IPv4/IPv6 addresses when attaching VPC/public networks to VPC vRouters.
Cryptography Security Compliance
Begins to support FLKSEC.
Backup Service
Automatically deletes temporary images when recovering backup data.
Continuous Data Protection (CDP)
Optimizes the auto-start mechanism for stopped CDP tasks.
V2V Migration
Supports displaying names of source VMs when creating V2V jobs (from a KVM platform to the Cloud).
Global Notification
Updates browser version requirements for the Cloud.
VM Instance
Modifies Network Configuration of Running VMs
Starting from ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, you can configure static IPs for VM instances and deploy network configurations through GuestTools, which meets the network configuration needs in scenarios without DHCP services.
Integrates QGA into GuestTools
In earlier versions, ZStack Cloud provides GuestTools to integrate multiple tools and drivers that help improve the VM performance, such as internal agent and VirtIO driver (Windows VM instances only).
Starting from ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, the GuestTools further integrates Qemu Guest Agent (QGA) to deploy VM instance configurations. You can conduct O&M operations on VM instances with GuestTools installed, such as modifying VM password, syncing with host system time, and syncing NIC configurations.Figure 1. GuestTools Integrates with QGA
Configures Static IPs for VMs Based on QGA
In earlier versions, ZStack Cloud assigns and deploys network configurations based on the DHCP service. The NIC acquires an IP address in a dynamic mode (DHCP).
Starting from ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, you can configure static IP addresses for VM instances. There is no need to enable DHCP service, and you can deploy network configurations to the NIC through the QGA in the GuestTools.
For example, if you create a VM instance using the network that is not enabled with DHCP service, you need to install the GuestTools after VM creation and manually sync the network configurations to the NIC. This way, the specified parameters on the Cloud will be deployed to the NIC and take effect.
In addition, if you attach a NIC to or change the NIC IP address for a VM instance installed with GuestTools, the configurations can be automatically deployed to the NIC by QGA. You do not need to run commands in VM console to restart its DHCP service to make configurations take effect.
Figure 2. Install GuestTools Figure 3. Sync NIC Configurations Figure 4. New NIC Configurations Take Effect Immediately
Supports Domestic Linux OS
To date, the optimizations described above support some domestic Linux operating systems, including Kylin V10 SP1 (0518) and UOS V20 1050e. The above optimizations will work to be compatible with more operating systems in the future.
Note: In ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, the QGA contained in the GuestTools is used mainly to sync VM NIC configurations. Note that in this version, the VM internal monitoring still relies on the internal monitoring (responsible for catching the monitoring data) and the DHCP service (responsible for pushing the caught data to the host). If you install GuestTools out of the target of viewing the VM internal monitoring, make sure that you have enabled the DHCP service for the VM default L3 network in advance.
Supports Creating Volumes with Custom Offerings
In earlier versions, you need to create a disk offering or add a volume image before creating a data volume.
Starting from ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, you can create a data volume with a custom offering, which allows you to directly specify the volume size. The volume creation is no longer bound by preconditions of existing disk offering, which better covers the fast creation scenario.Figure 1. Create Data Volume Based on Custom Offering
Note: In ZStack Cloud 4.6.11, the QGA contained in the GuestTools is used mainly to sync VM NIC configurations. Note that in this version, the VM internal monitoring still relies on the internal monitoring (responsible for catching the monitoring data) and the DHCP service (responsible for pushing the caught data to the host). If you install GuestTools out of the target of viewing the VM internal monitoring, make sure that you have enabled the DHCP service for the VM default L3 network in advance.