Chapter 9. Technology Previews
This part provides a list of all Technology Previews available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
For information on Red Hat scope of support for Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.
9.1. Installer and image creation
NVMe over Fibre Channel devices are now available in RHEL installer as a Technology Preview
You can now add NVMe over Fibre Channel devices to your RHEL installation as a Technology Preview. In RHEL Installer, you can select these devices under the NVMe Fabrics Devices section while adding disks on the Installation Destination screen.
9.2. Shells and command-line tools
GIMP available as a Technology Preview in RHEL 9
GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) 2.99.8 is now available in RHEL 9 as a Technology Preview. The gimp package version 2.99.8 is a pre-release version with a set of improvements, but a limited set of features and no guarantee for stability. As soon as the official GIMP 3 is released, it will be introduced into RHEL 9 as an update of this pre-release version.
In RHEL 9, you can install gimp easily as an RPM package.
Bugzilla:2047161
9.3. Infrastructure services
Socket API for TuneD available as a Technology Preview
The socket API for controlling TuneD through Unix domain socket is now available as a Technology Preview. The socket API maps one-to-one with the D-Bus API and provides an alternative communication method for cases where D-Bus is not available. By using the socket API, you can control the TuneD daemon to optimize the performance, and change the values of various tuning parameters. The socket API is disabled by default, you can enable it in the tuned-main.conf file.
9.4. Security
gnutls now uses KTLS as a Technology Preview
The updated gnutls packages can use Kernel TLS (KTLS) for accelerating data transfer on encrypted channels as a Technology Preview. To enable KTLS, add the tls.ko kernel module using the modprobe command, and create a new configuration file /etc/crypto-policies/local.d/gnutls-ktls.txt for the system-wide cryptographic policies with the following content:
[global] ktls = true
Note that the current version does not support updating traffic keys through TLS KeyUpdate messages, which impacts the security of AES-GCM ciphersuites. See the RFC 7841 - TLS 1.3 document for more information.
Bugzilla:2042009
9.5. Networking
WireGuard VPN is available as a Technology Preview
WireGuard, which Red Hat provides as an unsupported Technology Preview, is a high-performance VPN solution that runs in the Linux kernel. It uses modern cryptography and is easier to configure than other VPN solutions. Additionally, the small code-basis of WireGuard reduces the surface for attacks and, therefore, improves the security.
For further details, see Setting up a WireGuard VPN.
Bugzilla:1613522
KTLS available as a Technology Preview
RHEL provides Kernel Transport Layer Security (KTLS) as a Technology Preview. KTLS handles TLS records using the symmetric encryption or decryption algorithms in the kernel for the AES-GCM cipher. KTLS also includes the interface for offloading TLS record encryption to Network Interface Controllers (NICs) that provides this functionality.
Bugzilla:1570255
The systemd-resolved service is available as a Technology Preview
The systemd-resolved service provides name resolution to local applications. The service implements a caching and validating DNS stub resolver, a Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR), and Multicast DNS resolver and responder.
Note that systemd-resolved is an unsupported Technology Preview.
9.6. Kernel
SGX available as a Technology Preview
Software Guard Extensions (SGX) is an Intel® technology for protecting software code and data from disclosure and modification. The RHEL kernel partially provides the SGX v1 and v1.5 functionality. The version 1 enables platforms using the Flexible Launch Control mechanism to use the SGX technology.
Bugzilla:1874182
The Intel data streaming accelerator driver for kernel is available as a Technology Preview
The Intel data streaming accelerator driver (IDXD) for the kernel is currently available as a Technology Preview. It is an Intel CPU integrated accelerator and includes the shared work queue with process address space ID (pasid) submission and shared virtual memory (SVM).
The Soft-iWARP driver is available as a Technology Preview
Soft-iWARP (siw) is a software, Internet Wide-area RDMA Protocol (iWARP), kernel driver for Linux. Soft-iWARP implements the iWARP protocol suite over the TCP/IP network stack. This protocol suite is fully implemented in software and does not require a specific Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) hardware. Soft-iWARP enables a system with a standard Ethernet adapter to connect to an iWARP adapter or to another system with already installed Soft-iWARP.
Bugzilla:2023416
SGX available as a Technology Preview
Software Guard Extensions (SGX) is an Intel® technology for protecting software code and data from disclosure and modification. The RHEL kernel partially provides the SGX v1 and v1.5 functionality. Version 1 enables platforms using the Flexible Launch Control mechanism to use the SGX technology. Version 2 adds Enclave Dynamic Memory Management (EDMM). Notable features include:
- Modifying EPCM permissions of regular enclave pages that belong to an initialized enclave.
- Dynamic addition of regular enclave pages to an initialized enclave.
- Expanding an initialized enclave to accommodate more threads.
- Removing regular and TCS pages from an initialized enclave.
Bugzilla:1660337
rvu_af, rvu_nicpf, and rvu_nicvf available as Technology Preview
The following kernel modules are available as Technology Preview for Marvell OCTEON TX2 Infrastructure Processor family:
-
rvu_nicpf- Marvell OcteonTX2 NIC Physical Function driver -
rvu_nicvf- Marvell OcteonTX2 NIC Virtual Function driver -
rvu_nicvf- Marvell OcteonTX2 RVU Admin Function driver
Bugzilla:2040643
9.7. File systems and storage
DAX is now available for ext4 and XFS as a Technology Preview
In RHEL 9, the DAX file system is available as a Technology Preview. DAX provides means for an application to directly map persistent memory into its address space. To use DAX, a system must have some form of persistent memory available, usually in the form of one or more Non-Volatile Dual In-line Memory Modules (NVDIMMs), and a DAX compatible file system must be created on the NVDIMM(s). Also, the file system must be mounted with the dax mount option. Then, an mmap of a file on the dax-mounted file system results in a direct mapping of storage into the application’s address space.
Bugzilla:1995338
Stratis is available as a Technology Preview
Stratis is a local storage manager. It provides managed file systems on top of pools of storage with additional features to the user:
- Manage snapshots and thin provisioning
- Automatically grow file system sizes as needed
- Maintain file systems
To administer Stratis storage, use the stratis utility, which communicates with the stratisd background service.
Stratis is provided as a Technology Preview.
For more information, see the Stratis documentation: Setting up Stratis file systems.
NVMe-oF Discovery Service features available as a Technology Preview
The NVMe-oF Discovery Service features, defined in the NVMexpress.org Technical Proposals (TP) 8013 and 8014, are available as a Technology Preview. To preview these features, use the nvme-cli 2.0 package and attach the host to an NVMe-oF target device that implements TP-8013 or TP-8014. For more information about TP-8013 and TP-8014, see the NVM Express 2.0 Ratified TPs from the https://nvmexpress.org/specifications/ website.
Bugzilla:2021672
nvme-stas package available as a Technology Preview
The nvme-stas package, which is a Central Discovery Controller (CDC) client for Linux, is now available as a Technology Preview. It handles Asynchronous Event Notifications (AEN), Automated NVMe subsystem connection controls, Error handling and reporting, and Automatic (zeroconf) and Manual configuration.
This package consists of two daemons, Storage Appliance Finder (stafd) and Storage Appliance Connector (stacd).
Bugzilla:1893841
NVMe TP 8006 in-band authentication available as a Technology Preview
Implementing Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) TP 8006, which is an in-band authentication for NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) is now available as an unsupported Technology Preview. The NVMe Technical Proposal 8006 defines the DH-HMAC-CHAP in-band authentication protocol for NVMe-oF, which is provided with this enhancement.
For more information, see the dhchap-secret and dhchap-ctrl-secret option descriptions in the nvme-connect(1) man page.
Bugzilla:2027304
9.8. Compilers and development tools
jmc-core and owasp-java-encoder available as a Technology Preview
RHEL 9 is distributed with the jmc-core and owasp-java-encoder packages as Technology Preview features for the AMD and Intel 64-bit architectures.
jmc-core is a library providing core APIs for Java Development Kit (JDK) Mission Control, including libraries for parsing and writing JDK Flight Recording files, as well as libraries for Java Virtual Machine (JVM) discovery through Java Discovery Protocol (JDP).
The owasp-java-encoder package provides a collection of high-performance low-overhead contextual encoders for Java.
Note that since RHEL 9.2, jmc-core and owasp-java-encoder are available in the CodeReady Linux Builder (CRB) repository, which you must explicitly enable. See How to enable and make use of content within CodeReady Linux Builder for more information.
9.9. Identity Management
DNSSEC available as Technology Preview in IdM
Identity Management (IdM) servers with integrated DNS now implement DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a set of extensions to DNS that enhance security of the DNS protocol. DNS zones hosted on IdM servers can be automatically signed using DNSSEC. The cryptographic keys are automatically generated and rotated.
Users who decide to secure their DNS zones with DNSSEC are advised to read and follow these documents:
Note that IdM servers with integrated DNS use DNSSEC to validate DNS answers obtained from other DNS servers. This might affect the availability of DNS zones that are not configured in accordance with recommended naming practices.
Identity Management JSON-RPC API available as Technology Preview
An API is available for Identity Management (IdM). To view the API, IdM also provides an API browser as a Technology Preview.
Previously, the IdM API was enhanced to enable multiple versions of API commands. These enhancements could change the behavior of a command in an incompatible way. Users are now able to continue using existing tools and scripts even if the IdM API changes. This enables:
- Administrators to use previous or later versions of IdM on the server than on the managing client.
- Developers can use a specific version of an IdM call, even if the IdM version changes on the server.
In all cases, the communication with the server is possible, regardless if one side uses, for example, a newer version that introduces new options for a feature.
For details on using the API, see Using the Identity Management API to Communicate with the IdM Server (TECHNOLOGY PREVIEW).
sssd-idp sub-package available as a Technology Preview
The sssd-idp sub-package for SSSD contains the oidc_child and krb5 idp plugins, which are client-side components that perform OAuth2 authentication against Identity Management (IdM) servers. This feature is available only with IdM servers on RHEL 9.1 and later.
SSSD internal krb5 idp plugin available as a Technology Preview
The SSSD krb5 idp plugin allows you to authenticate against an external identity provider (IdP) using the OAuth2 protocol. This feature is available only with IdM servers on RHEL 9.1 and later.
RHEL IdM allows delegating user authentication to external identity providers as a Technology Preview
In RHEL IdM, you can now associate users with external identity providers (IdP) that support the OAuth 2 device authorization flow. When these users authenticate with the SSSD version available in RHEL 9.1 or later, they receive RHEL IdM single sign-on capabilities with Kerberos tickets after performing authentication and authorization at the external IdP.
Notable features include:
-
Adding, modifying, and deleting references to external IdPs with
ipa idp-*commands -
Enabling IdP authentication for users with the
ipa user-mod --user-auth-type=idpcommand
For additional information, see Using external identity providers to authenticate to IdM.
ACME supports automatically removing expired certificates as a Technology Preview
The Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) service in Identity Management (IdM) adds an automatic mechanism to purge expired certificates from the certificate authority (CA) as a Technology Preview. As a result, ACME can now automatically remove expired certificates at specified intervals. Removing expired certificates is disabled by default. To enable it, enter:
With this enhancement, ACME can now automatically remove expired certificates at specified intervals.
Removing expired certificates is disabled by default. To enable it, enter:
# ipa-acme-manage pruning --enable --cron "0 0 1 * *"
This removes expired certificates on the first day of every month at midnight.
Expired certificates are removed after their retention period. By default, this is 30 days after expiry.
For more details, see the ipa-acme-manage(1) man page.
9.10. Desktop
GNOME for the 64-bit ARM architecture available as a Technology Preview
The GNOME desktop environment is available for the 64-bit ARM architecture as a Technology Preview.
You can now connect to the desktop session on a 64-bit ARM server using VNC. As a result, you can manage the server using graphical applications.
A limited set of graphical applications is available on 64-bit ARM. For example:
- The Firefox web browser
-
Red Hat Subscription Manager (
subscription-manager-cockpit) -
Firewall Configuration (
firewall-config) -
Disk Usage Analyzer (
baobab)
Using Firefox, you can connect to the Cockpit service on the server.
Certain applications, such as LibreOffice, only provide a command-line interface, and their graphical interface is disabled.
Jira:RHELPLAN-27394
GNOME for the IBM Z architecture available as a Technology Preview
The GNOME desktop environment is available for the IBM Z architecture as a Technology Preview.
You can now connect to the desktop session on an IBM Z server using VNC. As a result, you can manage the server using graphical applications.
A limited set of graphical applications is available on IBM Z. For example:
- The Firefox web browser
-
Red Hat Subscription Manager (
subscription-manager-cockpit) -
Firewall Configuration (
firewall-config) -
Disk Usage Analyzer (
baobab)
Using Firefox, you can connect to the Cockpit service on the server.
Certain applications, such as LibreOffice, only provide a command-line interface, and their graphical interface is disabled.
Jira:RHELPLAN-27737
9.11. Graphics infrastructures
Intel Arc A-Series graphics available as a Technology Preview
Intel Arc A-Series graphics, also known as Alchemist or DG2, are now available as a Technology Preview.
To enable hardware acceleration with Intel Arc A-Series graphics, add the following option on the kernel command line:
i915.force_probe=pci-id
In this option, replace pci-id with either of the following:
- The PCI ID of your Intel GPU.
-
The
*character to enable the i915 driver with all alpha-quality hardware.
Bugzilla:2041690
9.12. The web console
Stratis available as a Technology Preview in the RHEL web console
With this update, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux web console provides the ability to manage Stratis storage as a Technology Preview.
To learn more about Stratis, see What is Stratis.
Jira:RHELPLAN-122345
9.13. Virtualization
Creating nested virtual machines
Nested KVM virtualization is provided as a Technology Preview for KVM virtual machines (VMs) running on Intel, AMD64, and IBM Z hosts with RHEL 9. With this feature, a RHEL 7, RHEL 8, or RHEL 9 VM that runs on a physical RHEL 9 host can act as a hypervisor, and host its own VMs.
Jira:RHELDOCS-17040
Intel SGX available for VMs as a Technology Preview
As a Technology Preview, the Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) can now be configured for virtual machines (VMs) hosted on RHEL 9. SGX helps protect data integrity and confidentiality for specific processes on Intel hardware. After you set up SGX on your host, the feature is passed on to its VMs, so that the guest operating systems (OSs) can use it.
Note that for a guest OS to use SGX, you must first install SGX drivers for that specific OS. In addition, SGX on your host cannot memory-encrypt VMs.
Jira:RHELPLAN-69761
AMD SEV and SEV-ES for KVM virtual machines
As a Technology Preview, RHEL 9 provides the Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) feature for AMD EPYC host machines that use the KVM hypervisor. If enabled on a virtual machine (VM), SEV encrypts the VM’s memory to protect the VM from access by the host. This increases the security of the VM.
In addition, the enhanced Encrypted State version of SEV (SEV-ES) is also provided as Technology Preview. SEV-ES encrypts all CPU register contents when a VM stops running. This prevents the host from modifying the VM’s CPU registers or reading any information from them.
Note that SEV and SEV-ES work only on the 2nd generation of AMD EPYC CPUs (codenamed Rome) or later. Also note that RHEL 9 includes SEV and SEV-ES encryption, but not the SEV and SEV-ES security attestation.
Jira:RHELPLAN-65217
Virtualization is now available on ARM 64
As a Technology Preview, it is now possible to create KVM virtual machines on systems using ARM 64 CPUs.
Jira:RHELPLAN-103993
virtio-mem is now available on AMD64, Intel 64, and ARM 64
As a Technology Preview, RHEL 9 introduces the virtio-mem feature on AMD64, Intel 64, and ARM 64 systems. Using virtio-mem makes it possible to dynamically add or remove host memory in virtual machines (VMs).
To use virtio-mem, define virtio-mem memory devices in the XML configuration of a VM and use the virsh update-memory-device command to request memory device size changes while the VM is running. To see the current memory size exposed by such memory devices to a running VM, view the XML configuration of the VM.
Bugzilla:2014487, Bugzilla:2044172, Bugzilla:2044162
Intel TDX in RHEL guests
As a Technology Preview, the Intel Trust Domain Extension (TDX) feature can now be used in RHEL 9.2 guest operating systems. If the host system supports TDX, you can deploy hardware-isolated RHEL 9 virtual machines (VMs), called trust domains (TDs). Note, however, that TDX currently does not work with kdump, and enabling TDX will cause kdump to fail on the VM.
Bugzilla:1955275
A unified kernel image of RHEL is now available as a Technology Preview
As a Technology Preview, you can now obtain the RHEL kernel as a unified kernel image (UKI) for virtual machines (VMs). A unified kernel image combines the kernel, initramfs, and kernel command line into a single signed binary file.
UKIs can be used in virtualized and cloud environments, especially in confidential VMs where strong SecureBoot capabilities are required. The UKI is available as a kernel-uki-virt package in RHEL 9 repositories.
Currently, the RHEL UKI can only be used in a UEFI boot configuration.
Bugzilla:2142102
Intel vGPU available as a Technology Preview
As a Technology Preview, it is possible to divide a physical Intel GPU device into multiple virtual devices referred to as mediated devices. These mediated devices can then be assigned to multiple virtual machines (VMs) as virtual GPUs. As a result, these VMs share the performance of a single physical Intel GPU.
Note that this feature is deprecated and will be removed entirely in a future RHEL release.
Jira:RHELDOCS-17050
9.14. RHEL in cloud environments
RHEL is now available on Azure confidential VMs as a Technology Preview
With the updated RHEL kernel, you can now create and run RHEL confidential virtual machines (VMs) on Microsoft Azure as a Technology Preview. The newly added unified kernel image (UKI) now enables booting encrypted confidential VM images on Azure. The UKI is available as a kernel-uki-virt package in RHEL 9 repositories.
Currently, the RHEL UKI can only be used in a UEFI boot configuration.
Jira:RHELPLAN-139800
9.15. Containers
Quadlet in Podman is now available as a Technology Preview
Beginning with Podman v4.4, you can use Quadlet to automatically generate a systemd service file from the container description as a Technology Preview. The container description is in the systemd unit file format. The description focuses on the relevant container details and hides the technical complexity of running containers under systemd. The Quadlets are easier to write and maintain than the systemd unit files.
For more details, see the upstream documentation and Make systemd better for Podman with Quadlet.
Jira:RHELPLAN-148394
Clients for sigstore signatures with Fulcio and Rekor are now available as a Technology Preview
With Fulcio and Rekor servers, you can now create signatures by using short-term certificates based on an OpenID Connect (OIDC) server authentication, instead of manually managing a private key. Clients for sigstore signatures with Fulcio and Rekor are now available as a Technology Preview. This added functionality is the client side support only, and does not include either the Fulcio or Rekor servers.
Add the fulcio section in the policy.json file. To sign container images, use the podman push --sign-by-sigstore=file.yml or skopeo copy --sign-by-sigstore=file.yml commands, where file.yml is the sigstore signing parameter file.
To verify signatures, add the fulcio section and the rekorPublicKeyPath or rekorPublicKeyData fields in the policy.json file. For more information, see containers-policy.json man page.
Jira:RHELPLAN-136611
The podman-machine command is unsupported
The podman-machine command for managing virtual machines, is available only as a Technology Preview. Instead, run Podman directly from the command line.
Jira:RHELDOCS-16861
