Orka v1.7.0

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Orka Release Notes

v1.7.0
December 14, 2021
New features | Improvements | Bug fixes

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How to upgrade

Download CLI | API Docs

We’re continually working to provide you with new features, tools, and plugins and improve your overall Orka experience. For the latest and greatest, be sure to update your CLI to 1.7.0 after your environment has been updated to 1.7.0. Here’s an overview of what changes with version 1.7.0.

New features

Orka 1.7.0 introduces the following new features.

GPU passthrough

You can now access the onboard GPU for Mac Mini hosts in Orka.

The GPU can now be attached to a VM to run simulation or rendering steps in your CI/CD workflow. This includes the capability to access the Metal API.

Learn more about GPU Passthrough.

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IMPORTANT

To activate this feature in your environment, indicate that you would like to request access to GPU Passthrough in your upgrade ticket. You will need to delete all VMs prior to upgrading to 1.7.0 with GPU Passthrough.

Image Download

It is now possible to download a base image and save it to a file in your local file system. The feature can be used to back up images or transfer them between environments.

Kubernetes is upgraded to 1.21

Orka 1.7 now runs on Kubernetes 1.21.

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IMPORTANT

Any custom resources you might have deployed in the SANDBOX namespace might stop working due to the Kubernetes upgrade. Make sure to review the official Kubernetes guides on how to upgrade between versions.

Improvements

Orka 1.7.0 introduces the following improvements.

• GPU Passthrough feature is now official
• Nodes are now ordered by node number

Bug fixes

Orka 1.7.0 introduces the following bug fixes.

General bug fixes

• Show proper error message when trying to save the state of a VM with GPU passthrough enabled
• It is now possible to save the state of a VM deployed with a custom system serial number
• Trying to start, stop, resume or suspend a VM by using a VM config name now performs the operation on all the VMs deployed from this config. Previously only the first deployed VM was affected
• It is now possible to restart a VM deployed from a VM config with a saved state
• VM migration from one node to another is fixed
• The Orka API now throws an error when attempting to save state for a VM with an ISO installer attached. Previously a VM deployed with saved state and an ISO installer would fail to boot

Orka UI bug fixes

• The user now is properly redirected to the login page if the saved token is invalid
• VM status is now correctly displayed as Pending while the VM is being deployed. Previously, it was displayed as Error

Known issues

• If your git-related operations are hanging and nothing happens on an Orka VM, most probably, your Xcode is stuck in the "Verifying Xcode dialog" state. To ensure this is the case, you can connect to your VM via VNC, start the Xcode application and check if you will get a small window saying "Verifying Xcode".
  To resolve the issue, either VNC to the VM and wait for the verification process to complete or execute the following command from the Terminal to disable Xcode verification:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine '/Applications/Xcode.app'

How to upgrade

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Scheduled maintenance window required

Orka 1.7.0 is a new Orka release. For more information, see Orka Upgrades.

This release requires a maintenance window of 2+ hours depending on the size of the cluster.

1. Submit a ticket through the MacStadium portal.
2. Suggest a time for the maintenance window that works for you.
   The suggested time(s) must be Monday through Thursday, 5am to 6pm PST (8am to 9pm EST).