Page Comparison

4.0

Base OS

Abiquo is based on Centos 7 instead of CentOS 6 now. CentOS 6 packages will be provided for some time, but we strongly recommend migrating to CentOS 7 as soon as possible.

The update process will create and configure new tomcat and websockify users for the corresponding services. Change the ownership of relevant files manually as part of the upgrade.

Redis delta scripts location has changed from /usr/share/doc/abiquo-server/redis and /usr/share/doc/abiquo-remote-services/redis to /usr/share/doc/abiquo-redis/redis

Accounting

Added Consolidation-time-sensitivity-secs parameter in accounting to ignore events only active for a short period of time

Branding

There are changes to branding in Abiquo 4.0. See Abiquo Branding Guide for details of how to upgrade branding.

KVM

KVM cloud nodes must run CentOS 7

Abiquo AIM agent fully supports Openstack Neutron integration

Backup

Backup integrations are now part of the Abiquo core product and backup plugins are provided for each backup system. Backup data is no longer stored in VM metadata. A backup archteype will be released to enable customers to create backup plugins 

4.0.1

Azure ARM

You must run an additional upgrade process near the end of the upgrade. Before you begin your upgrade, get in touch with Abiquo Support for more information

Vcloud

Initial Vcloud support

ESXi

abiquo.dvs.vcenter.password and abiquo.dvs.vcenter.user properties are deprecated. Remove these properties from all Remote Services appliances.

ESXi hypervisors are now configured as vCenter managed hypervisors. After the upgrade, edit each hypervisor to enter its vCenter credentials.

Backup

Support for Veeam 9.5

4.0.2

ESXi

VMWare clusters are detected and reported in the UI

Cluster load rules are available in the Infrastructure Allocation Rules section

RabbitMQ

RabbitMQ clustering support has been introduced. RabbitMQ configuration must be recreated and the clients must be reconfigured accordingly.

Properties

Abiquo M is now clusterizable. All M instances require the configuration of an unique value for the abiquo.m.instanceid property.

4.0.4

DB changes

VMs VNC passwords are encrypted in the DB. You must run a tool to encrypt this entries after the DB upgrade process.

4.2

Monitoring

emmett and delorean services require two additional configuration files for using RabbitMQ with SSL support. 
Created SOSreport plugin for Monitoring profile.

Remote access

noVNC has been replaced by Apache Guacamole. The guacd runs on the Remote Services server. There is a new remote service for remote access, which can be reused in more than one location. Go to Remote services, add the new remote service, and then add it to existing datacenters and public cloud regions. HAProxy and Websockify are no longer used

Authentication

Cookie based authentication has been replaced by the X-Abiquo-Token header with an authentication token. Some API Request examples are not yet updated

Branding

Stylesheet for branding the Guacamole client was added

Guest password SMS notification

You can now add an SMS gateway address and the platform will send users a message with their guest passwords. 

Billing

Billing version 4.0.1 for Abiquo 4.x. Property to set "bill_day_of_month" to define the periods of billing aggregation on a monthly level. See Abiquo See Abiquo billing integration user guide#Configure General Billing Settings

4.2.1

NSX-NAT

Introduction of new blueprint for NSX to support NAT in virtual datacenters.

4.2.2

Improvements to NSX-NAT

Improvements to new blueprint for NSX to support NAT in virtual datacenters. See Configure See Configure the NSX integration, Manage  Manage NAT, and Manage and Manage NAT for virtual datacenters.

4.2.3

vCloud Director

Changes to mapping between objects in Abiquo and vCloud Director. See VMware See VMware vCloud Director integration for integration for details of the structure. For configuration see vCloud see vCloud Director. 

Hyper-V

Support for SMB2 has been added. Users can now disable SMB1. 
Discovery of unmapped Samba shares to be used as datastores. See Hyper-V for configuration details.
Remove the configuration of abiquo.virtualfactory.openSession property to use system default value because the platform now supports multiple connections 

Billing widgets on hybrid dashboard tab

Obtain provider billing data and display it on the Hybrid tab of the Home view dashboard, with associated privileges.  

4.4

Hyper-V

Support for SMB2 has been added. Users can now disable SMB1. 
Discovery of unmapped Samba shares to be used as datastores. See Hyper-V for configuration details.
Remove the configuration of abiquo.virtualfactory.openSession property to use system default value because the platform now supports multiple connections 

VMware

To enable the platform to deploy directly to VMware clusters, you can now add VMware clusters as physical machines instead of adding ESXi hosts directly. Migration is required.

Virtual datacenter names in public cloud

The platform can now identify virtual datacenters in public cloud using the VDC name in the VPC name in AWS, subnet name in Azure, vApp name in VCD, Edge field in NSX, and so on.

Dnsmasq

Added support for Dnsmasq, which can replace the current DHCP servers that use the OMAPI protocol. Migration via tool is required.

4.5

Base OS

Abiquo is now based on Centos 7. CentOS 6 packages are not provided. 

Concurrency control

New openSession properties per provider, and to optionally apply the openSession limits per virtual datacenter. Additional properties to concurrently allow fast state changes. 

Watchtower database migration of action plans

Run a migration tool to upgrade action plans created prior to Abiquo 4.4.0.

New REST API documentation

See https://wiki.abiquo.com/api/latest

vCloud Director

• Hot reconfigure of VMs

• Default VMXNET3 ethernet driver

• Instance template automatically assigned to imported VM

• Import templates with private/public checkbox

• Load balancers and classic firewalls at Edge level

• Better network and IP management

vCenter

Create DRS rules to group VMs by OS type for license affinity

UI features

• Cookie message and privacy policy

• Maintenance window notices

4.6

Changes to UI language files

 From Abiquo 4.6 onwards, you must have an "__EOF" label at the end of each language file, otherwise the UI will not load correctly and the login form will not display

Consolidated discovery manager remote service

There is a new version of the Discovery Manager remote service that now performs all resource discovery tasks in private and public cloud. It replaces the previous version of the Discovery Manager and the Cloud Provider Proxy, which the platform will no longer use. The name of the Discovery Manager web application has changed from "nodecollector" to "nars", and the type has also changed to "NARS". The platform's api-java-client now supports asynchronous tasks. The platform logs this remote service in the nars logs, which replaces the nodecollector and cpp logs. As part of the upgrade process, administrators can remove the old remote service webapps: nodecollector and cpp.

Monitoring and metrics

• Upgraded to KairosDB 1.2.2

• Changes to KairosDB and Cassandra properties

Azure

• The Azure Access key ID will now be encrypted. Admin must remove Azure credentials and add them again as part of the upgrade process

Accounting

• New index added to database table

User interface

• Remove auto-create of virtual appliance when creating virtual datacenter. Now a user must create a virtual appliance in order to create a VM

• New infrastructure privileges to display private and public cloud separately

• Creating Amazon VDC no longer retrieves its default firewall. User must manually synchronize firewalls

OpenID

• Change to tokens in OpenID authentication

vCloud

• For private networks that were incorrectly synchronized due to an issue, the user must import these networks again to fix the issue

4.6.1

NSX-ECMP plugin

• Support for more than one VDC per tenant using context properties

Azure

• Increased default polling intervals to reduce API rate limit concerns. Configure in abiquo.properties

• Use new CSP credentials with token (affects price list and billing dashboard)

vCenter hosts and clusters

• Detect host IPs as specified, in networks, and designated for management traffic. Configure in abiquo.properties

• For clusters, assign management traffic IPs for remote access

• Added support for more guest operating systems

 vCloud

• Support for cores per socket

• Improved support for multiple disks

Virtual networks

• Reserve private IPs for assignment outside of the platform

• Default firewall policy for a VDC

Dashboard

• Changes to dashboard styling, see Changes see Changes to branding

• Also some changes to dashboard content

4.6.3

Veeam

• New plugin to support Veeam 9.5 update 4. Requires new licenses. Delete the old backup manager and create a new one, selecting the new plugin.

• Dropped support for Veeam 8.0

4.6.4

Billing dashboard

• Changes to enterprise property names. To display billing dashboard data, you must use the new property names.

4.7.0

Changes to the outbound API for event streaming

• Abiquo 4.7.0 introduces changes to the data structure of the events streamed by the outbound API (M module)

• You must change any integrations that use the streaming API. See Trace entity for the new format

• The new version of the M module does not require a user in the database or Abiquo Configuration Properties to configure a user

Public cloud storage and private cloud external storage

• The Storage Manager (SSM) remote service has been removed and the NARS remote service will now manage storage for the platform

• The platform logs this remote service in the nars log. As part of the upgrade process, administrators can remove the old remote service web app: ssm.

• Administrators can update existing public cloud templates to enable hot reconfigure of disks

Remote access to vCenter

• Optional remote access to vCenter VMs using web console (WebMKS) that is activated (and can be forced) with abiquo.properties, and using the same branding as vCloud WMKS

• Storage hot-reconfigure can now be enabled during the capture of VMs that are powered ON

Events

• The Abiquo database upgrade may take longer than usual because it will upgrade the events table to the new format

Capture

• You can now set a cost code for a VM during capture

vCloud hard disks

• Administrators can update existing templates to enable disk hot reconfigure

Application level gateway in NSX distributed firewalls

• Configure with Abiquo Configuration Properties and UI client config properties

Reporting

• You must upgrade Abiquo Reporting to use the new events format. For more information, please contact Customer Service

Backup

• The Avamar backup plugin is deprecated in Abiquo 4.7.0

4.7.1

Upgrade requires credentials

• Abiquo YUM repositories are no longer open. Please contact Abiquo Support to obtain your credentials

Changes to the outbound API for event streaming

• Remove the M user from the database and the m user properties (DO NOT REMOVE abiquo.m.instanceid) from Abiquo Configuration Properties. Remove the OUTBOUND_API role

Changes to vCloud Director plugin

• The default platform configuration is now to create fenced vApps in vCloud Director. To change this configuration, set the abiquo.vcd.fenceVapp property to false

• Added support to manage NAT networks and org VDC networks as external networks

• Added support for vCloud Director 9.7, vCloud Director 10, and API up to version 33 of the API 

SAML integration

• Added integration with SAML 2.0

• Associated changes to UI configuration that also affect OpenID integration

• New optional cookies to save login methods for OpenID and SAML

Reporting

• You must upgrade Abiquo Reporting to use the new events format. For the file and procedure, please contact Abiquo Support

API Java client

• Java client now supports the streaming API, see Abiquo Java Stream Client

4.7.2

Changes to vCenter and ESXi

• Provide a way to bypass the restriction on multiple VMs using the same disk. When capturing a VM, ignore the shared disk in the second VM and import the VM. Requires an Abiquo Configuration property on the Abiquo API Server

New version of Abiquo reports

• Includes price of backup per GB

SSO integrations

• External scopes

Allowed connections

• Allowed CIDRs for roles and scopes

Recommended datastore tiers

• Administrators can now recommend datastore tiers for templates

4.7.3

No significant changes to the platform