What's new

Each release offers new functions and improvements to help you take more innovation to the cloud, whether you are new to the product or if you are upgrading from a prior release. Review this information for a high-level summary of the new features and changes in each release.

New features and changes in Version 2.3.1.x

Password policy for workload virtual machines

In the earlier releases, the password policy for workload virtual machines enforced a non-configurable password policy. From this release onwards, you can configure the password policy for workload virtual machines. For more information, see Password policy.

Web security enhancements

IBM Cloud Pak System is updated with multiple security patches and upgrades to be on par with the latest known vulnerabilities or bugs. For example, updated open source jars that are used in IBM Cloud Pak System. These enhancements secure our web applications with stricter HTTP standards by enforcing secure http protocols and by adding protection against XSS, CSRF, and similar web attacks. For more information, see Web security enhancements.

VMware ESXi 6.5.0 U3 upgrade

The VMware ESXi version on compute nodes are upgraded to V6.5.0 U3-14320405 from V6.5.0 U2-13004031 to address vulnerabilities for Intel Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS).

vCenter Server 6.5.0 U3 upgrade

The vCenter server is upgraded to V6.5.0 U3 Build 14020092 from V6.5.0.20000 U2 Build 9451637 to address vulnerabilities for Intel Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS).

Windows Server 2012 R2 on vCenter virtual machine
The virtual machine running on Platform System Manager that hosts vCenter is upgraded to Windows Server 2012 R2 from Windows 2008 R2. This upgrade is to address the end of support that is announced for Windows 2008 R2.
Note: Since the base operating system hosting vCenter is upgraded, the FQDN that you configured in the previous release is lost. You must reconfigure FQDN after successfully completing the IBM Cloud Pak System V2.3.1.x fix pack upgrade. Contact IBM Support team to assist you with this activity.
Support for new ‘Cascade Lake’ processor based compute nodes

Generation 3 systems, Intel Haswell and Broadwell based compute nodes in IBM Cloud Pak System Generation 3 models (W3550 and W3500), are reaching end of market soon. So, a new feature is added to support the new Intel 'Cascade Lake' processor based compute nodes for any compute up-sizing requirements in the field.

Security fixes

IBM Cloud Pak System has identified and fixed user interface pages and fields that are prone to security issues because of non-permissible characters. For more information, see Security fixes.

Hardware changes in the new systems shipped with IBM Cloud Pak System Version 2.3.1.x
IBM Cloud Pak System W3500 or W3550
The new systems are shipped with Intel 'Cascade Lake' processor based compute nodes.
IBM Cloud Pak System W3500
The new systems have Lenovo NE0152T switch instead of G8052 as management switch to address certain RoHS compliance requirements.
IBM Cloud Pak System W3550
The default FlashStorage FS900 storage (MTM 9840-AE2) that was supported in previous releases is reaching end of market, because of which new systems are shipped with FS900 of MTM 9840-AE3 as the default storage.
RAM upgrade
Platform System Manager in IBM Cloud Pak System models W3500 and W3550 has 768 GB of RAM instead of 256 GB.