Key New Features and Changes

The goal of the IRIX 6.5 release family is to provide a high quality and stable operating system for all SGI systems. This release family supports all SGI hardware platforms supported by IRIX 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4, except for Crimson. Significant additional software has been packaged with IRIX 6.5, including some important system and network management and interoperability tools.
The page contains a partial list of the key new features and changes for IRIX 6.5.14. To see the list of key features and changes for the IRIX 6.5 and IRIX 6.5.1 through 6.5.13 releases, see the previous IRIX features page.
Look for information about the IRIX 6.5 release family on Supportfolio Online (http://support.sgi.com) and www.sgi.com.
For details on any of these new features and changes, refer to the release notes.
Note: Some features listed here apply only for certain software bundles or hardware configurations.
 

IRIX 6.5.14 Key New Features

The following changes have been incorporated into the core 6.5.14 overlay CDs and the Applications CD.

New Software Features - Feature Stream Only

Filesystems

  • The CXFS GUI has been enhanced in the IRIX 6.5.14 release as follows:
    • CXFS Manager and CXFS Cluster View windows are now combined into one window called CXFS Manager.
    • Tasks can now be launched by clicking the right mouse button over the tree-view area, or by selecting Tasks on the menu bar.
    • Command line interfaces (CLIs) that the GUI runs can be viewed from a new File > Show SALog menu item.
    • You can now partially mount filesystems on just a subset of nodes, using the Define Filesystem and Modify Filesystem tasks.
    • A new Find text field helps you find items within the displayed tree-view area.
    • Filesystem status and cluster status update faster.

    For more information, see the CXFS Software Installation and Administration Guide.

  • The structure of the CXFS filesystem configuration was changed with the release of IRIX 6.5.13f. Backward compatibility with earlier versions is no longer maintained as of IRIX 6.5.14f, since all nodes in the cluster must be running the same or adjacent releases.
    • If you are upgrading from 6.5.13f to 6.5.14f or later, there is no further impact.
    • If you intend to run a mixture of 6.5.13f and 6.5.14f nodes, you must turn off backward compatibility.
    • If you are upgrading from 6.5.12f or earlier without first installing and running 6.5.13f, you must perform a one-time manual conversion of your CXFS filesystem definitions.

    See the CXFS Software Installation and Administration Guide for more information.

  • For CXFS customers, if you install IRIX 6.5.14f including sysadm_base on a cluster node where the the 6.5.13f version of CXFS is installed, you will need to upgrade to the 6.5.14f verion CXFS (sysadm_cxfs) and install 6.5.14f sysadm_cluster.

New Software Enhancements - Maintenance and Feature Stream

Filesystems

  • In the IRIX 6.5.5 release, SGI introduced a new optional directory format for XFS filesystems, referred to as the "version 2" directory format in mkfs output.

    XFS filesystems with a version 2 directory format can provide improved reliability and performance over filesystems with a version 1 directory format in some applications, particularly for applications that use NFS exported XFS filesystems.

    The directory format for an XFS filesystem is specified with the -n parameter of the mkfs command. The default directory format is currently the original version 1 directory format.

    Beginning with the IRIX 6.5.14 release, version 2 directories of XFS will be the default for all new filesystems created with mkfs. Version 1 directory filesystem creation will still be supported, but this will require that you specify the -n version=1 parameter of the mkfs command.

    SGI recommends that all new XFS filesystems be created with version 2 directories. IRIX releases older than IRIX 6.5.5, however, will not be able to mount a filesystem created with a version 2 directory and will issue the following message when a mount is attempted:

    Wrong filesystem type: xfs

    Many SGI customers are currently running production servers with version 2 directories. If you want to format filesystems with the version 2 directory format prior to the 6.5.14 release, you can specify the following option of mkfs:

    mkfs -n version=2

    There is no means for converting a filesystem, in place, between version 1 and version 2 directories. A filesystem can be converted between version 1 and version 2 directories by means of an xfsdump/mkfs/xfsrestore sequence.

    For more information, see IRIX Admin: Disks and Filesystems.

System Availability

  • For FailSafe customers, if you install IRIX 6.5.14, including sysadm_base, on a cluster node where FailSafe 2.1.1 is installed, you will need to upgrade to FailSafe 2.1.2 (sysadm_failsafe2) and install 6.5.14 sysadm_cluster.

Scalability

  • Adds a -q cpuset_name -p option to the cpuset command that allows you to see the properties of particular cpuset, such as, the number of processes and CPUs associated with the specified cpuset.
  • Added cpusetGetProperties() and cpusetFreeProperties() functions to the Cpuset System library .The cpusetGetProperties() function allows you to retrieve various properties associated with a cpuset. The cpusetFreeProperties() functions allows you to release the memory used by a cpuset_Properties_t structure. Any programmer that uses the cpuset API from Irix 6.5.14, and later, can use these functions. For information, see chapter 4, "Cpuset System", in the IRIX Admin: Resource Administration manual and the cpusetGetProperties(3x) and cpusetFreeProperties(3x) man pages.

Graphics workstations

  • Parts of the IRIX Interactive Desktop have been refreshed in IRIX 6.5.14. While functionality has not changed, the navigation, imagery, and graphics design have been enhanced in the following areas:
    • The main IRIX login window (clogin) has a new design using new SGI colors, font, and logo. The product is called sysadmdesktop and appears automatically at boot when root has "chkconfig noiconlogin on".
  • EZsetup has a new layout and login icon using new SGI colors, font, and logo. The product is called sysadmdesktop and is launched by logging into EZsetup account from main IRIX login window.
  • The System Manager main window uses new SGI colors, font, and logo. The product is sysadmdesktop and is launched from the System toolchest.
  • The Welcome to SGI web pages have new navigation and new SGI colors, font, and logo. The product is Welcome. Launch from Find toolchest, select WhatsNew, double-click the Welcome_to_SGI icon.
  • The Background Setting panel includes seven new desktop patterns using the new SGI logo and font: Camouflage, Citrus Citrus, Iron, Midnight, Reef, Sand, and Sprinkle. Note: You may notice slow performance when previewing all but the Sprinkle background, but not when switching desks (see the background(1) man page). Old backgrounds are still available. The product is desktop_eoe and is launched from the Desktop toolchest, select Customize, then Backgrounds.

SGI Origin 300 server

  • Support for the SGI Origin 300 server series is included in 6.5.14. This includes support for the Origin 300 Base Module in 2, 4, and 8 processor sizes, the addition of a NUMAlink Module for scaling up to 32 processors, and the TP900 Storage Module.

SGI Origin 3000 server (Onyx 3000 server)

  • Partitioned FLEXlm licensing change
    Starting with the IRIX 6.5.15 release, each partition of a partitioned Origin 3000 system will have a new unique FLEXlm host ID (lmhostid). Any FLEXlm license based on the old non-partitioned lmhostid value will no longer work and a new license key must be generated. See the following web page for additional details, http://www.sgi.com/support/licensing/partitionlic.html.
    • Contact the applicable software product vendor and provide the lmhostid number of the partition to generate a new license key. For nodelock licenses, provide the lmhostid for all partitions of the software installed and operating.
    • For software licensed by SGI, see the following web page for more details:
      http://www.sgi.com/support/licensing/partitionlic.html.
    • For email and telephone contact information, see the IRIX 6.5.14 Welcome page and follow the "Bundled software and licenses" link.

SGI software product life cycle management

  • In accordance with the SGI software product life cycle management strategy announced in November 2000, SGI will announce support mode changes for various software products on a quarterly basis. To view customer letters containing support mode changes announced since November 2000, as well as the latest IRIX Support Policy documents, visit the IRIX Support Policy Web page located at:

    http://support.sgi.com/news/support/index.html

Licensing software

  • Added command to dump all possible lmhostid values for partitioned Origin 3000 systems.

Applications CD

The following products were updated with bug fixes only:

  • Bug fix update for SGImeeting 2.0.1
  • Final bug fix update for Color Management
  • Bug fix update for Internet Gateway 3.2
  • Security and other bug fixes for NEdit 5.1.1b
  • Minor fixes for Appletalk 10.01
  • Netscape Communicator 4.78
    By default, version 4.78 will install the new N32 version of the browser. Any existing third-party plugins for the browser that are O32 will no longer function. Support for the Macromedia Flash plugin is also included. For more information, see http://browsers.netscape.com/browsers/main.tmpl.

The following products contain enhancements or new features:

  • None for this release.

Other IRIX Software Changes

IRIX OS Bundled Software:

  • SCSL 1.4
    SCSL is a collection of high-performance mathematical and numerical libraries that are widely used in scientific and technical compute intensive applications. An iterative solver for sparse systems of linear equations, as well a direct solver for sparse complex symmetric systems of linear equations, have been added to the SCSL 1.4 release. Additional features added to SCSL for this release are as follows:
    • A thread-safe parallel random number generator
    • Fortran90 interfaces to the BLAS
    • A parallel implementation of the solve phase for the out-of-core sparse solver
    • Removal of all entry points to the CHALLENGEcomplib FFT routines
    • Performance enhancements and rollup bug fixes from SCSL 1.3.

    SCSL can also be downloaded free of charge from the Download Cool Software page at http://www.sgi.com/products/evaluation/.

    For more information on SCSL, see http://www.sgi.com/software/scsl.html

    For customers who do not have web access and are enrolled under a valid support contract, CD media can be requested free of charge from their local support center. Non-contract customers can order SCSL from their local sales representative.

For more information about the bundled software that is included with this release, see CD Contents and the Bundled Software and Licenses web page that you can access from the Welcome web page.

System Platform Bundles

No changes have been made to the demonstration software CDs developed for the specific system platforms.

Freeware CDs

For information about the freeware that is included with this release, including a complete list of the freeware packages, see http://freeware.sgi.com/ .

Documentation

The following manuals have been revised for the significant new features incorporated into this release. See the front of each manual for a description of the new features and major documentation changes covered in these revised manuals.

  • IRIX operating system
    • 007-2825-009, IRIX Admin: Disks and Filesystems
    • 007-2859-017, IRIX Admin: System Configuration and Operation
    • 07-3700-009, IRIX Admin: Resource Administration
  • Filesystems and Volume Managers
    • 007-4016-011, CXFS Software Installation and Administration Guide

The following manuals were revised in conjunction with the IRIX 6.5.14 release. See the front of each manual for a description of the new features and major documentation changes covered in these revised manuals.

  • Desktop manuals
    • 007-1366-160, Personal System Administration Guide
    • 007-2006-130, IRIX Interactive Desktop Integration Guide
    • 007-2167-006, Interface Guidelines