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.

This page contains a partial list of the key new features and changes for IRIX 6.5.22. To see the list of key features and changes for the IRIX 6.5 and IRIX 6.5.1 through 6.5.21 releases, see the previous IRIX features page.

Look for information about the IRIX 6.5 release family on Supportfolio Online (http://support.sgi.com/irix/6.5) and http://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.

This page also contains a summary of some upcoming changes in future IRIX releases.

IRIX 6.5.22 Key New Features

The following changes have been incorporated into the core IRIX 6.5.22 overlay CDs and the Applications CD.

New Software Enhancements - Maintenance and Feature Stream

Maintenance Stream Support

  • Feature support added to maintenance stream
    For IRIX 6.5.22, support for the following features is now provided in both the feature stream (IRIX 6.5.22f) and the maintenance stream (IRIX 6.5.22m). In previous releases, these features were supported in the feature stream only:

    • The XVM logical volume manager

    • CXFS

    • The SJIS feature of IRIX Language Support, supporting Shift JIS, Traditional Chinese BIG5, and Simplified Chinese GBK locales.

Installation

  • Updated Inst program
    New installation features were used starting with IRIX 6.5.21 that necessitate an updated version of the Inst program. If you plan to install using the miniroot, then you may do so by the usual method. However, if you plan to upgrade by 'live' install and are running IRIX 6.5.19 or earlier, you must first install patch 5086. For further information, see Caveats to Before You Upgrade.

Filesystems

  • Changes to CXFS Packaging in IRIX 6.5.22

    Starting with IRIX 6.5.22, The IRIX CXFS software is no longer bundled in the IRIX overlay CDs but instead is on a separate CD that is labeled CXFS IRIX Server and Client 3.0 for IRIX 6.5.22. This changes the installation procedure. For information on CXFS installation, see SGI InfiniteStorage CXFS Administration Guide.

    Note: If you are upgrading from a previous IRIX release and have CXFS installed, you must upgrade both IRIX and CXFS. If you try to upgrade one without the other, conflicts will occur.

    CXFS customers should make sure that their CXFS support contract contains the CD media option. This option is required for future delivery of the latest features, enhancements, and bug fixes, available only on CD. The CD media option allows you to take advantage of secure and expedited delivery using the online ordering system, through Software Updates on Supportfolio, or through your local support center by telephone.

    For further information on this packaging change and CXFS support, go to the following page on Supportfolio: http://support.sgi.com/search_request/publications/index. Select the following parameters:

    • Publication type: news
    • Product type or keyword(s): CXFS Separate CD Media
  • Case-insensitive filename support for XFS filesystems
    In IRIX 6.5.22, the mkfs command supports a new version=ci suboption for the -n (naming) option. Specifying this option enables a version 2 filesystem directory with case-insensitive filenames. Filenames will be stored in directories as they were created, but all file or directory name searches will be case-insensitive. This feature is normally used only when the filesystem will be used by Windows CXFS clients.

    Note that you will be able to mount filesystems created with this option only when running IRIX releases 6.5.22 and later. Attempting to mount the filesystem when running an earlier release produces an error message of "Wrong filesystem type: xfs".

    For information on the mkfs command, see the mkfs_xfs(1M) man page.

  • Trusted IRIX and IRIX extended attribute support added to UDF filesystems
    Write-capable UDF filesystem format Universal Disk Format (UDF) is the filesystem used on DVDs. A read-only implementation of UDF was added to IRIX 6.5.18, and a write-capable version was added for IRIX 6.5.20. Trusted IRIX support and Extended Attribute support (using UDF streams) was added to the UDF filesystem for IRIX 6.5.22.

Worldview

  • Japanese GUI and Japanese resource files no longer shipped
    The graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for CXFS and XVM contained in IRIX 6.5.22 and later no longer support the localized Japanese GUI and the Japanese resource files do not ship with "WorldView Japanese 6.5 For IRIX 6.5.22 and above". If you are upgrading to CXFS or XVM on a system running IRIX 6.5.22 or later versions and have previously installed the Japanese resource files for these packages, you should remove them. To remove the Japanese resource files, run the following commands as root:

    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.euc_sysadm_cxfs
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.sjis_sysadm_cxfs
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.euc_sysadm_xvm
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.sjis_sysadm_xvm
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.euc_sysadm_cluster
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.sjis_sysadm_cluster
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.euc_sysadm_base
    # versions remove WorldView_japanese.sw.sjis_sysadm_base

Checkpoint and Restart

  • New features of REPLACE keyword of the cpr command
    In IRIX 6.5.22, the operation of the REPLACE action keyword of the cpr command has been enhanced.

    Under certain constraints, REPLACE actions may invoke SUBSTITUTE actions for files that have been modified or deleted, or a MERGE action for all other files.

    If a SUBSTITUTE action is performed, a notice specifying the location of the substituted file is displayed. It is the responsibility of the user to pick up any output file thus substituted. Applications that reopen a substituted file by its original name may not operate as expected.

    Checkpoint/Restart users are encouraged to review the information on this behavior change detailed in the IRIX Checkpoint and Restart Operation Guide.

Security

  • Support for Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM)
    IRIX 6.5.22 includes support for Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM). PAM provide a general purpose interface for customer-definable authentication. Implementation of PAM is off by default. For information on PAM, see IRIX Admin: Backup, Security, and Accounting.

Desktop

  • New musicplayer application
    The IRIX 6.5.22 release includes musicplayer, a skinnable desktop music player that plays sound files using sgi audio hardware. The musicplayer application handles multiple files in a single session. For information, see the musicplayer(1) man page and the online help provided in the Help menu of the application.

Device Drivers

  • PCI Bus Interrogation
    In IRIX 6.5.22, a driver can obtain information about the PCI bus in which its device is installed. (The only information available about PCI buses on the other side of a PCI-to-PCI bridge is whether multi-master capability is supported.) PCI bus information is returned by the pciio_businfo_get() function as a pointer to a bus information structure pciio_businfo_s. For information about interrogating a PCI bus, see the IRIX Device Driver Programmer's Guide.

NFS

  • Improvements to NFS operation
    The IRIX 6.5.22 release includes the following improvements to NFS

    • Changes have been made to the operation of the buffer cache during NFS operation. These updates keep I/O performance from collapsing under heavy load and improve the efficiency of I/O in general.

    • A new mode has been added to IRIX's kernel NFS service where the number of NFS server daemons grows and shrinks in response to NFS load. Previously on IRIX this was a fixed number that the system administrator had to choose, and both the default number and the recommended tuning procedure ensured inadequate NFS performance for many workloads. IRIX now requires less tuning and will perform better out of the box.

      For information on this mode, see the section on DYNAMIC NFS DAEMONS in the nfsd(1M) man page.

    • A new -d option has been added to the nfsstat command that will display statistics about individual NFS daemons. For information on this option, see the nfsstat(1M) man page.

    • NFS now provides an optional "async" mode to improve write performance. This mode is set with the async option of the exportfs command. By allowing an administrator to switch from synchronous write/commit cycles to performing the same operations asynchronously, NFS writes can finish up-to 10 times faster on the client and server can perform writes in the way which can optimize backend filesystem IO pattern. This option is recommended only for heavy synchronous write loads. For further information, see the exportfs(1M) man page.

    • A an "offline" option to the exportfs command has been added for use with Failsafe operations. Historically Failsafe relied on brute-force approach to stop NFS-related activity by killing NFS daemons. With the "offline" option a selected subset of filesystem can be moved offline while NFS server can continue to serve requests to other filesystems. For information on this option, see the exportfs(1M) man page.

Networking

  • Network time protocol (NTP) support
    Network time protocol (NTP) is a newly supported component as of the IRIX 6.5.22 release. For more information see "Setting up Time Synchronization Service" in IRIX Admin: Networking and Mail.
  • Bind Version 9.2.2
    The IRIX 6.5.22 release supports BIND version 9.2.2. BIND version 9 is a major rewrite of nearly all aspects of the underlying BIND architecture. Some of the important features of BIND 9 are as follows:

    • DNS security enhancements
    • IP version 6
    • DNS protocol enhancements
    • Multiple Views of the DNS namespace
    • Multiprocessor support
    • Improved portability architecture

    For more information on BIND version 9, see IRIX Admin: Networking and Mail. Detailed information is available at: http://www.isc.org. Follow the link to BIND documentation.

SGI Software Product Life Cycle Management

In accordance with the SGI software product life cycle management strategy announced in December 2002, SGI will announce support mode changes for various software products on a semi-annual basis. To view customer letters containing support mode changes announced since December 2002, as well as the latest IRIX Support Policy documents, visit the IRIX Support Policy Web page on Supportfolio Online.

IRIX OS Bundled Software

For information about the bundled software that is included on the Applications CD with this release, see CD Contents and the Bundled software and licenses web page.

System Platform Bundles

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

Freeware

For information about the freeware that is supported for this release, see http://freeware.sgi.com/.

Documentation

The following manuals have been revised for the new features incorporated into this release:

  • IRIX Admin: Backup, Security, and Accounting, 007-2862-006, includes information about Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM).

  • IRIX Admin: Networking and Mail, 007-2860-009, includes information about BIND version 9 and network time protocol (NTP).

  • IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing, 007-1364-140, includes small technical corrections.

  • IRIX Checkpoint and Restart Operation Guide, 007-3236-009, includes updated information about the REPLACE keyword.

  • IRIX Device Driver Programmer's Guide, 007-0911-210, includes information about interrogating a PCI bus.

  • Personal System Administration Guide, 007-1366-190, includes small technical corrections.

  • SGI InfiniteStorage CXFS Administration Guide, 007-4016-018, (formerly titled CXFS Version 2 Software Installation and Administration Guide) includes new information about the installation process as well as new information about CXFS configuration and operation.

  • Trusted IRIX/CMW Security Administration Guide, 007-3299-009, includes updated information on the xfsdump and xfsrestore utilities.

  • Trusted IRIX/CMW Security Features User's Guide, 007-3300-005, includes small technical updates and corrections.

  • XVM Volume Manager Administrator's Guide, 007-4003-016, can now be used as an independent reference for the XVM Graphical User Interface.

Upcoming Changes to Support Mode Status

The following workstations, graphics and scalable server systems will transition to retired support mode after the IRIX 6.5.22 release in November 2003:

  • Challenge S
  • Challenge M
  • Challenge DM
  • Challenge L
  • Challenge XL
  • Indigo
  • Indigo2
  • Indigo2 Extreme
  • Indigo2 Impact
  • Indy
  • Power Challenge
  • Power Indigo2
  • Power Onyx
  • Onyx1

For information on support for these systems in IRIX 6.5.22 and IRIX 6.5.23, go to the following page on Supportfolio: http://support.sgi.com/search_request/publications/index. Select the following parameters:

  • Publication type: news
  • Product type or keyword(s): IRIX 6.5.22 System Platform Retirement

The following product will transition to retired support mode after the IRIX 6.5.22 release in November 2003:

  • Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) / Distributed File System (DFS)

Contact your local sales representative to discuss options for replacement or upgrade products.