Every year, IBM releases hundreds of new software versions – providing new capabilities and enhancements to improve the performance, productivity, and security of the Software. In fact, this continuous development is one the core reasons why DataSkill recommends IBM. IBM Software Subscription and Support (S&S) entitles you to access the latest versions and releases of your software. For IBM Cloud Pak for Data, the recently released v4.5 offers new features to improve your ability to access data and insights in order to make intelligent decisions.
Disruption-free backup and disaster recovery
With version 4.5 comes the ability to create backups without the need for downtime. By relying on Container Storage Interface (CSI) snapshots, backups can be completed without taking Cloud Pak from Data offline.
Installation and upgrade automation
The installation and upgrade process has been simplified through the new cpd-cli manage commands. The cpd-cli manage commands can:
- Optionally install or upgrade all of the required components and services at the same time.
- Create the required catalog source and operator subscriptions with a single command
- Validate that you have access to the required images in the IBM Entitled Registry.
- Validate that the images were mirrored to your private container registry.
- Adjust the CRI-O and kernel parameter settings on your cluster.
- Update the global image pull secret.
- Update the route to the platform
- Create the recommended storage classes for Portworx and NFS
Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5 can be deployed on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.6.29 (or later fixes), version 4.8.0 (or later fixes) or version 4.10.0 (or later fixes).
Storage support for IBM Spectrum Scale, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Block Store (EBS), and AWS Elastic File System (EFS)
All of the services that are available in Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0 support IBM Spectrum Fusion and IBM Spectrum Scale Container Native storage.
In addition, many of the services that are available in Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.0 support Amazon Elastic File System storage. And some services support a combination of Amazon Elastic File System and Amazon Elastic Block Store.
Attribute-based access control
Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5 can help simplify the process of managing user groups, with dynamic, attribute-based user groups. If you integrate Cloud Pak for Data with the Identity and Access Management Service (IAM Service), then you are able to define dynamic user groups according to Location, Nationality, Organization, or User Type. Users can then be added/removed automatically based on their assigned attributes.
Capability to manually shut down Cloud Pack for Data services and server instances when they are not needed
Shutting down services when they are not in use can prevent the services from using cluster resources. Manual shut down also allows services to be shut down to perform maintenance.
Microsoft Edge browser support
You can now use the Cloud Pak for Data web client on Microsoft Edge Version 95 and higher.
Resource quotas that provide the ability to assign capping on resource consumption (such as CPU and memory usage) on workloads at various levels
You were previously able to set quotas on the platform and on services, but now that ability has been extended to individual projects. Quotas can be used to help you track actual use against the target use. Cloud Pak for Data v4.5 allows you to set quotas on:
- How much vCPU and memory you want the project to use.
- The alert threshold for vCPU and memory use. (When you reach the alert threshold, the platform sends you an alert so that you aren’t surprised by unexpected spikes in resource use.)
What version of IBM Cloud Pak for Data are you using? Want to take advantage of these new features, start planning your upgrade to version 4.5 today.