vtServer New Features
This page provides a summary of the significant new features and enhancements in each release of the vtServer Bare Metal platform, including vtAlpha and vtVAX for Bare Metal. For more information, please see the Release Notes (click on the version number heading).
V4.4.0 (05-Jan-2024)
Version 4.4.0 includes these updates:
- New versions of TAPEMRG, ECOAPP and vtDSK
- A new version of Samba (V4.17.5)
- Support for Secure Boot
- Support for IP addresses on webserver certificates
- Support for generic SCSI devices (vtVAX)
Security Updates
- A new kernel (V6.1.46) from kernel.org has been implemented.
- A new version of libssh (V0.10.5) is supported
V4.3.0 (15-Nov-2022)
Version 4.3.0 includes these important enhancements:
- It is now possible to import VM configurations from older versions of vtServer.
- A window to view logfiles has been added (click the eye icon next to the logfile name).
- Support for an LK401 keyboard has been added.
Security Updates
- A new kernel (V5.15.56) from kernel.org has been implemented.
- An http security header was added to Apache.
- Default webserver mode is now https only.
V4.2.1 (15-Dec-2021)
Version 4.2.1 includes these important enhancements:
- Significant improvement in I/O performance for physical and virtual disks and tapes.
- Certificate Signing Request functionality.
- Support for exporting Certificates.
Security Updates
- A new kernel (V5.10.56) from kernel.org has been implemented.
- HTTPD security headers have been implemented.
- SMB/Samba passwords longer than 80 characters are now supported.
V4.1.0 (18-Jan-2021)
Version 4.1.0 includes these important enhancements:
- An update to ECOapp v2.1 to enhance its power-saving capability
- Added NFS Server support to vtServer and vtLicense
- Improved tape handling in vtVAX
Security Updates
- A new vtServer kernel, implementing the latest Software Security Standards
- Password protection certificate installation has been added to vtMonitor
- A new vtVAX version with SSH console support for high security installations
V4.0.0 (26-Feb-2019)
Version 4.0.0 is a significant release with several important enhancements:
- A new interface (vtMonitor) facilitates multi-host management from a single console.
- Management of hybrid hosts including on-premise servers, diverse VMs and different Clouds.
- Cloud-ready capabilities enable easy installation of multiple Cloud providers.
Security Updates
- Significant restructuring of the internal architecture of vtServer (new kernel).
- Additional security features include user-customizable roles and privileges.
- Tight password and account controls and searchable logging for auditors.
V3.2.0 (10-Sep-2018)
Version 3.2.0 includes these important enhancements:
- It is easier to enable and disable Cloud configurations.
- DNS server and routing addresses are cleared when disabling Cloud.
- Certificates are reset to their default setting when disabling Cloud.
Security Updates
- A new kernel (V4.14-48) from kernel.org has been implemented.
- HTTPS access is available at all levels of the user interface including the console terminal.
- The embedded webserver now refuses all DES ciphers.
V3.1.0 (19-Jan-2018)
Version 3.1.0 is a significant release with several important enhancements:
- vtCloud is a new implementation option to allow OpenVMS and Tru64 users to move securely to the Cloud.
- VMWare Tools are now supported.
- Support for SNMP has been added.
Security Updates
- A new kernel (V4.4-88) from kernel.org has been implemented.
- Updated versions of openssl (1.0.2k), apache (2.2.34) and openssh (7.5p1) were added.
V3.0.1 (30-May-2017)
Version 3.0.1 is a minor release with bug fixes and minor enhancements including:
- Bare Metal vtVAX 3.0.1 now supports TapeMgr Utility which was previously available only for vtAlpha.
Security Updates
- Security is enhanced for both vtAlpha and vtVAX with a new version of Samba (4.6.2) for SMB access.
V3.0.0 (16-Feb-2017)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- Emulation of AlphaServer GS-series processors (ES80, GS80, GS160, and GS320) with up to 32 CPUs and 256 GB of memory.
- Operating system support for AlphaServer 2x00 and 4x00 systems has been extended back to OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 and Tru64 3.0C.
- Significant performance improvements have been made to the vtAlpha emulator.
Security Updates
- User and console password encryption has been upgraded from MD5 to SHA-512 with salt.
- A new webserver certificate that uses SHA-256 encryption is provided to improve the security of HTTPS sessions in vtMonitor.
V2.11.2 (12-Oct-2016)
The following bugs have been fixed in this release of vtServer:
- vtAlpha could crash when processing multicast network packets.
- vtAlpha network interfaces could not be connected directly to a VLAN.
- vtServer did not recognize the additional space after a disk unit had been extended.
- ZIP and UNZIP generated an error if the directory or file name contained a space.
- vtAlpha would not recognize remote license server configuration changes until the emulator was restarted.
- vtVAX would not save the configuration for PAC unit 5 (VAX 7000)
Security Updates
There are no security updates in this release.
Restrictions
HP storage controllers with software RAID features are not supported for use with RAID enabled. This is a permanent restriction due to a lack of drivers from HP.
V2.11.1 (13-Jul-2016)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- Enabled webserver compression to speed up data transfers to vtMonitor.
- Added drift file to NTP configuration to improve accuracy.
- A progress bar is now displayed during installation.
- Disks may now be mounted read-only.
- Added support in vtVAX for removable virtual devices that are not present when VMS is booted.
- Display unmounted EFI partition for Multipath devices in vtMonitor Storage tab.
Security Updates
- Generate webserver certificates with SHA256 instead of obsolete SHA1.
- Introduce a two-second delay after a login failure to thwart brute force attacks.
Restrictions
HP storage controllers with software RAID features are not supported for use with RAID enabled. This is a permanent restriction due to a lack of drivers from HP.
V2.11.0 (7-Mar-2016)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- Added N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) support for Fibre Channel. This allows virtual Alpha systems sharing a single host FC adapter to utilize isolated storage pools.
- vtServer software may be installed on a SAN disk volume, allowing for diskless host systems.
- Email notifications may now be sent when a virtual Alpha system experiences an OpenVMS bugcheck.
- There are a number of enhancements to the vtMonitor interface, including the capability to manage license server functions and network services. Previously, the vtServer management interface had to be used for these operations.
- Console interface access passwords are now supported for vtVAX.
- Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts are now available in the embedded X server interface.
Security Updates
- Applied fixes for vulnerabilities CVE-2016-0728 and CVE-2015-7547.
- Disabled null (unauthenticated) sessions in Samba.
- The login password provided during vtServer installation is now encrypted.
Restrictions
HP storage controllers with software RAID features are not supported for use with RAID enabled. This is a permanent restriction due to a lack of drivers from HP.
V2.10.1 (7-Sep-2015)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- vtMonitor supports the new Microsoft Edge browser.
- Logical tapes can now be compressed/decompressed as they are written/read.
- Container files can be (un)ZIPed in vtMonitor to reduce file transmission time.
- The size and label of unmounted disk partitions can be changed in vtMonitor.
- Logical disks can now be expanded.
- vtServer now creates automatic backups of configuration files when they are moified.
- Serial line access passwords are now stored encrypted.
- 'raw', 'nodelay', and baud rate configuration options are now provided for all serial lines.
Restrictions
None
V2.10.0 (15-Apr-2015)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- A new version of the host control kernel provides supprt for new processor platforms and devices.
- UEFI boot support has been added.
- Direct emulation of the VAX 4000-90 has been added..
Restrictions
None
V2.9.1 (4-Nov-2014)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- The vtVAX 7000 emulation has been extended to 64 bits and now supports emulation of up to 6 CPUs and 3.5 GB of memory.
- New vtServer installations assign network device names based on PCI bus ID rather than MAC address. This change will eliminate device name changes when network adapter cards are replaced. This change does not apply to updates of existing vtServer installations to avoid unintentional device name changes.
- Network gateway addresses are now assigned to each interface. A default gateway address may be defined.
- 10 Gbit Ethernet adapters are now supported.
- The vtServer product update process now searches for .tar files in addition to .tgz files. Some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer rename .tgz files to .tar on upload.
- Configuration names that begin with a period are now supported.
- Emulators configured to auto-start are not started until all network adapters have initialized and are ready for use.
The following security-related enhancements are present in vtServer V2.9.1:
- bash updated to version 4.1 patch 17.
vtServer has never been vulnerable to the bash "Shell Shock" exploit because there is no ability to execute arbitrary shell scripts.
Restrictions
- Container files for logical disk and tape devices may no longer be created in the partition the vtServer software is running from. This change was made to prevent large container files from using all the free disk space, which will cause vtServer to crash.
- The vtServer software must be installed on a disk that is directly connected to the host system. Installation on SAN disks is not supported. SAN storage may be used for physical or logical devices presented to the emulated Alpha and VAX systems.
V2.9 (7-Jul-2014)
The following new features and enhancements have been added in this release of vtServer:
- iSCSI disks supported as host storage
- Auto-sensing of Fibre Channel device configuration changes
- vtServer installation scripting capability
- Site-defined pre-login message option
- Additional alerts/email notifications
- Virtual network switch option to disable spanning tree protocol
- vtAlpha Floating Point instruction performance improved
- DE600 network interface emulation
- Extended PBXDA serial line interface logging capability
- vtVAX support for the virtual network switch
- vtVAX support for binary mode serial-over-IP connections
The following security-related enhancements are present in vtServer V2.9:
- OpenSSL updated to V1.0m.
- Apache HTTP (web) server updated to V2.2.27.
- User passwords are masked in data copied to Support Info files.
- Coredump files are encrypted to secure contents in transit to our support team.
The OpenSSL library used by vtServer was not vulnerable to the Heartbleed vulnerability (CVE-2014-0160). Both OpenSSL and the Apache HTTP server contain all available security patches as of the vtServer release date.
V2.8.3 (1-Mar-2014)
- Support for DEC LK-series keyboards in X-windows server to allow use of extended function and keypad keys.
- Support for additional ATI and NVIDIA display adapters. Drivers needed for special cases (3D graphics, extended OpenGL functionality, and more than two adapters) are provided with the distribution kit and may be installed as needed.
- Support for solid state disks.
- WWID, controller ID, and LUN have been added to the vtMonitor storage information display for Fibre Channel devices.
- Boot option to force a re-scan of configured network devices. This option is used so that vtServer can recognize network interfaces that were added after the software was installed.
- The vtMonitor Configuration Backup now saves the bindings between device names and physical devices. This prevents device names from changing after a re-install or clean upgrade of vtServer.
- The Alpha emulation status indicator in the vtMonitor configuration management list now displays an "H" to indicate the instance is active and halted at the console prompt. This feature will be added for VAX emulations in a future release.
The following problems have been corrected in this release of vtServer:
- Console window problems that occurred when using Google Chrome v32 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 to access vtMonitor.
- Reserved Instruction error reported in the emulator log file when shutting down OpenVMS V8.4.
- A trailing "/" was not allowed in NFS mount point specifications.
V2.8.2 (10-Jan-2014)
- Added Remote Support feature (see Release Notes).
- Added support for SFTP and SCP protocols.
- Added support for non-consecutive LUN numbering.
- Added support for SCSI security commands required for tape encryption.
- Added support for more than 32 network interfaces.
- Added support for new Moxa serial line adapter.
- Added VLAN configuration support.
- Improved web server responsiveness.
- Display license key number when an empty hardware license key is detected.
- Renamed vtVAX CPU Idling feature to EcoMode.
- Bug fixes:
- vtVAX bug fixes included in Windows 2.2.0.24 release.
- Fixed vtAlpha performance degradation issue that occurred when the virtual memory size was not a power of 2.
- Fixed isolated OpenVMS mount verification issue (Alpha).
- Improve the vtVAX license update process.
- Disabled screen power saver during initialization.
- Added missing DECwindows font aliases to X-server.
- Prevent DNS server address from being changed when host name is modified.
- Fixed screen display problems that occurred with Google Chrome.
- Fixed NFS mount/dismount problem.
- Disallow SCSI identifiers greater than 32767.
- Disallow configuring a system disk, system partition, or mounted partition as a physical disk.
V2.8.1 (26-Sep-2013)
- Performance improvement of up to 10% for multi-CPU emulations.
- Bug fixes:
- Fix Tru64 floating point exception.
- CTRL/ALT/DEL no longers shuts down vtServer.
- Improve the vtVAX license update process.
- The vtTools disk can now be copied using vtMonitor.
- Reduce the number of active webserver processes to reduce memory consumption.
- Add a swap file to prevent abrupt termination when the physical memory available to the emulator is exhausted.
V2.8 (9-Jul-2013)
- Beginning with version 2.8, the vtServer Bare Metal platform supports both vtAlpha and vtVAX. vtVAX remains available on the Windows platform as well.
- vtVAX support for VAX 4000/200 and 7000/610-640 added.
- vtVAX adds option to slow down CPU to support slow peripherals.
- vtAlpha adds support for logical tape drives.
- vtAlpha adds additional CPU configuration parameters.
- An option to backup the server configuration has been added.
- Multipath is disabled by default.
V2.7 (3-Apr-2013)
- Legacy disk device support (OpenVMS only) - virtual device adapters (VTDSK) can be defined for MSCP (DU), DSSI (DI), IDE( DQ) and RAID (DR) device types.
- NFS support allows connection to remote file shares.
- Risk read caching may now be enabled with write caching disabled.
- vtMonitor enhancements
- The vtMonitor banner shows the host name and login ID of the system being managed.
- The Toolbox tab has been reorganized.
- Configurations tab renamed to Backup.
- A description field is now available in the storage device configuration.
- Logical storage devices may now be moved from one directory to another in a single operation.
- Email alerts can be generated for license changes.
- The vtAlpha console now has options to PING and Traceroute the remote license server to verify network connectivity.
- PBXDA serial line adapter improvements
- fix serial line output timeout
- fix output character loss
- support line speeds > 38400 bps
V2.6 (30-Jan-2013)
- Full TruCluster support
- Email alerts for urgent problems affecting vtAlpha instances
- Special privileged management interface added
- SRM CLI enhancements
- vtMonitor enhancements:
- HW model name can be defined for third-party software compatibility
- Support for TruCluster disk sharing
- WWID option is logical disk definition
- Disk geometry can be specified
- Bug fixes:
- German keyboard alt/gr does not work in graphical interface
- Concurrent telnet sessions not supported on the console
- No mode setting for graphical console in workstation mode
- Unable to mount NFS disks with special characters in label
- SSL V2 and usedir are now disallowed in Apache web server
- File name error when uploading files using IE8 or IE9 in high security mode
V2.5.3
Bug fixes. (No release notes)
V2.5.2
- vtMonitor supports automatic password expiration for user accounts.
- vtMonitor supports subdirectories for host file management.
- The terminal emulator used for console/serial port access from the GUI has been replaced.
- The vtAlpha update feature now has an option to upload the update file.
V2.5
- Virtual Network Switch added.
- Eco App available for Tru64 (V5 and later).
- vtAlpha-LE renamed to vtAlpha-AS.
- vtAlpha updates may now be installed from vtMonitor.
V2.4
- Full support for Fibre Channel via virtual KGPSA.
- 30% performance improvement.
- vtMonitor enhancements.
V2.3
- Limited Fibre Channel storage support (attached as SCSI disks).
V2.2
- 40% performance improvement.
- FTP performance improvement.
- Added console command to set prompt.
- vtMonitor enhancements.
V2.1
- Multiple CPU support for Tru64 added.
- Virtual workstation feature added.
V2.0
- Multiple CPU support for OpenVMS.
- Up to 32GB of Alpha memory supported.
- Update option improved.