What's New

This document supports the Cumulus Linux 5.18 release, and lists new features and enhancements.

• For a list of open and fixed issues in Cumulus Linux 5.18, see the Cumulus Linux 5.18 Release Notes.
• To upgrade to Cumulus Linux 5.18, first check the Release Considerations below, then follow the steps in Upgrading Cumulus Linux.

What’s New in Cumulus Linux 5.18

Cumulus Linux 5.18 supports new platforms, contains new features and improvements, and provides bug fixes.

Platforms

• NVIDIA SN6600_LD (800G Spectrum-6) Beta
• NVIDIA SN5800-LD (800G Spectrum-6 Multi-ASIC) Beta
• NVIDIA SN5810-LD (800G Spectrum-6 Single ASIC) Beta

New Features and Enhancements

• Lossless headroom size based on small packet probability is generally available
• Dynamic ECN is generally available
• BGP-LLDP Unreachability in Disjoined Planes and EVPN Unreachability in Disjoined Planes are generally available
• BGP unreachable prefix TLV is generally available
• Profile-based switch configuration
• APSU and link precoding control
• Changes to the /etc/frr/daemons file no longer require an FRR service restart; you can use FRR reload
• EVPN Multihoming and MLAG without a unique SVI IP address
• VRF scale limits for 802.1x and dynamic VRF provisioning
• FW based BFD acceleration with Cumulus
• Systemd Target-Based Service Management for multi-asic
• Spectrum-X" Profile Support
• X-plane graceful fabric maintenance - node level
• Xplane extensions for XGS
• Supporting BMC Flows On Salamandra
• Advertise BOTH SAFI 254 AND SAFI 81 in capability negotiation
• NVUE
  • Configure the default VLAN Identifier
  • Uplink tracking
  • WJH commands to filter packets, set latency and congestion thresholds, control aggregation interval and cache size, and export to a PCAP file
  • NVUE commands for binary image installation (onie-install)
  • View parts of the switch configuration
  • nv show interface - no view for Link phy-detail
  • nv show interface - no view for transceiver
  • Zebra phase 2: Remaining Operational
  • New NVUE command list
• Security
  • Password policy setting for minimum password character difference between the current and new password
  • Configure the default VLAN identifier
  • Dynamic ARP inspection
  • Automatic Configuration Snapshots
  • Support for IP source guard on user-facing access port
• Telemetry
  • New OTEL metrics:
  • New gNMI metrics:
  • OTEL granular metric selection is generally available
  • What Just Happened gNMI metrics
  • Support 802.1x RADIUS GNMI metrics
  • Streaming Telemetry support for ASIC resources

Release Considerations

Review the following considerations before you upgrade to Cumulus Linux 5.18.

Upgrade Requirements

You can use optimized image upgrade and package upgrade to upgrade the switch to Cumulus Linux 5.18 from Cumulus Linux 5.16 and later. Package upgrade supports ISSU (warm boot) for these upgrade paths.

To upgrade to Cumulus Linux 5.18 from a release that does not support package upgrade or optimized image upgrade, you can install an image with ONIE.

Maximum Number of NVUE Revisions

Cumulus Linux includes an option to set the maximum number of revisions after which NVUE deletes older revisions automatically. The default setting is 100. If you upgrade to Cumulus Linux 5.18 from 5.12 or earlier, the first time you run nv set or nv unset commands, NVUE deletes older revisions if the number of revisions on the switch is greater than 100.

Linux Configuration Files Overwritten

If you use Linux commands to configure the switch, read the following information before you upgrade to Cumulus Linux 5.18.

NVUE includes a default startup.yaml file. In addition, NVUE enables configuration auto save by default. As a result, NVUE overwrites any manual changes to Linux configuration files on the switch when the switch reboots after upgrade, or you change the cumulus user account password with the Linux passwd command.

To prevent Cumulus Linux from overwriting manual changes to the Linux configuration files when the switch reboots or when changing the cumulus user account password with the passwd command, follow the steps below before you upgrade to 5.18 or after a new binary image installation:

1. Disable NVUE auto save:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set system config auto-save state disabled
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config save

2. Delete the /etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml file:

   cumulus@switch:~$ sudo rm -rf /etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml
   

3. Add the PASSWORD_NVUE_SYNC=no line to the /etc/default/nvued file:

   cumulus@switch:~$ sudo nano /etc/default/nvued
   PASSWORD_NVUE_SYNC=no
   

DHCP Lease with the host-name Option

When a Cumulus Linux switch with NVUE enabled receives a DHCP lease containing the host-name option, it ignores the received hostname and does not apply it. For details, see this knowledge base article.

NVUE Commands After Upgrade

After you upgrade to Cumulus Linux, running NVUE configuration commands might override configuration for features that are now configurable with NVUE and removes configuration you added manually to files or with automation tools like Ansible, Chef, or Puppet. To keep your configuration, you can do one of the following:

• Update your automation tools to use NVUE.
• Configure NVUE to ignore certain underlying Linux files when applying configuration changes.
• Use Linux and FRR (vtysh) commands instead of NVUE for all switch configuration.

Cumulus VX

NVIDIA no longer releases Cumulus VX as a standalone image. To simulate a Cumulus Linux switch, use NVIDIA DSX Air.