Chapter 2. New Features

This section describes new features introduced in Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation 4.9.

User interface, product component, and documentation rebranding

OpenShift Container Storage, based on the open source Ceph technology, has expanded its scope and foundational role in a containerized, hybrid cloud environment since its introduction. To better reflect these foundational and infrastructure distinctives, OpenShift Container Storage is now OpenShift Data Foundation.

OpenShift Data Foundation 4.9 now includes:

  • Improved dashboards for viewing all storage system status and metrics
  • Easy to use wizard for creating storage system
  • Rebranded user interface and documentation

To view documentation for OpenShift Container Storage version 4.8 and earlier, see Product Documentation for Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage.

To update from OpenShift Container Storage 4.8 to OpenShift Data Foundation 4.9, you must freshly install the OpenShift Data Foundation operator from the OpenShift Container Platform Operator Hub. This fresh operator installation upgrades OpenShift Container Storage version 4.8 and all its components to OpenShift Data Foundation version 4.9.

For more information, see Upgrading to OpenShift Data Foundation.

Multicloud Object Gateway bucket replication

Data replication from one Multicloud Object Gateway (MCG) bucket to another MCG bucket provides higher resiliency and better collaboration options. These buckets can be either data buckets or namespace buckets backed by any supported storage solutions.

For more information, see Multicloud Object Gateway bucket replication.

Ability to view pool compression metrics

In this release, you can view the pool compression metrics, which provide information about the amount of storage space saved, the effectiveness of pool compression when it is enabled, and its impact on capacity consumption. The per-pool metrics available with this release provide information that enables you to reduce cost and consume data more efficiently. Also, you can disable compression if it is not effective.

For more information, see Pool metrics.

Automated scaling of Multicloud Object Gateway endpoint pods

You can use the automated scaling of Multicloud Object Gateway endpoint pods feature to automate the resource adjustments based on increases or decreases to the load. This provides better performance and serviceability to manage your production resources for your S3 load.

For more information, see Automatic scaling of Multicloud Object Gateway endpoints.

Deployment and monitoring layer for pluggable external storage (IBM FlashSystem®)

In this release, you can connect to and monitor IBM FlashSystem® storage using OpenShift Data Foundation. OpenShift Data Foundation extends IBM FlashSystem to file and object storage while providing a single view for both the underlying storage and OpenShift Data Foundation data layer.

For more information, see Deploy OpenShift Data Foundation using IBM FlashSystem.