Release date: 2023-03-10
The release notes for Snow Commander® version 9.4.0 include enhancements, upgrade notes, deprecated features, and corrections. To access release notes for previous versions, go to the Release Notes Archive.
Enhancements
This release introduces the following enhancements to existing functionality:
Commander has made a number of security improvements to align with industry standards.
Product optimization now allows Commander to maintain high performance when managing multiple or more complex cloud accounts, improving cloud account inventory processing and billing record retrieval speeds.
To secure against possible brute force attacks on local user accounts, Commander has implemented a limit on the number of unsuccessful login attempts permitted before a user account is temporarily disabled. This preference is automatically enabled for new installations. To manually enable it after upgrading Commander, see Change sign in preferences for all users.
Datastore scanning has been optimized to improve system performance by scanning file details for out-of-inventory VMs only.
Upgrade notes
You can upgrade directly to Commander version 9.4.0 from versions 8.9.x - 9.3.0. For more information, see Upgrade Commander.
Before upgrading, it is recommended that you review all release notes between the version you are currently using and the version you are upgrading to. Release notes for previous Commander versions are available in the Release Notes Archive.
Important: Following this upgrade, you may not be able to sign in to the Commander Admin Portal until you have cleared your browser history and cache.
Corrections
- 26598 Commander correctly reports VM deployment state if deployment from Azure Public image encounter non-critical error.
- 27614 The Cloud Billing Report has been updated to allow for 15 advanced filters.
- 27751 The vRouter root password has been changed. New vRouters deployed with Commander version 9.4 or later will use the updated root password. For any existing vRouters, the root password will remain unchanged.
Deprecations and removals
These are the deprecations and removals for version 9.4.0.
Version | Removed |
|---|---|
9.4.0 | As of March 14, 2023, Microsoft has hardened changes in the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM). As a result, WMI connections are no longer supported as a fallback mechanism for Guest OS workflow steps. Guest Tools continue to be supported. |
9.4.0 | The Remove From Inventory functionality has been removed. Perform Remove Action workflow steps configured to remove VMs and services from inventory will be deleted from workflow definitions. Additionally, any existing Commander policies that remove VMs and services from inventory will be reconfigured to take no action. |
9.3.0 | The VM Billing Report no longer supports VM billing records for public cloud resources. |
9.2.0 | Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is no longer supported. Support had been deprecated in version 8.7.0. |
Version | Deprecated |
|---|---|
9.4.0 | REST v2 is deprecated. |
9.4.0 | The Cloud Migration Planner Report is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. |
9.2.0 | The VM Billing Report is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. In the interim prior to its removal, the VM Billing Report will no longer support public cloud; the Cloud Billing Report should be used for all public cloud billing. |
9.2.0 | The Join Domain Guest OS workflow step may no longer work as expected due to Microsoft hardening changes in Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), and this functionality will be removed in a future release. A functionally equivalent workflow module, Join Domain, has been created and can be downloaded from the Snow Software public Cloud Management GitHub repository. |
9.1.0 | Media library support is deprecated, and this functionality will be removed in a future release. |
9.0.1 | Splitting single service cost among multiple organizations. |
9.0.1 | Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Integration. Notification systems that use SNMP trap listeners must be updated. |
9.0.1 | Splunk integration. Rightsizing recommendations based on guest OS performance metrics are no longer supported. |
9.0.1 | Cost models for public cloud will no longer be targeted at anything below the account level. Cost models will still apply below accounts, but must be targeted at the account level. |
8.1.0 | VM Billing Report for public clouds: You can use the VM Billing Report for private cloud environments; however, for public or hybrid cloud environments it is recommended that you use the Cloud Billing Report. The ability to use the VM Billing Report for public clouds will be removed in a future release. |
8.10.0 | The /cloud-accounts/{id}/access-rights/{user} endpoints in the Commander API are now deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use /users/{name}/access-rights/cloud-accounts and /users/{name}/access-rights/datacenters instead. |
8.7.0 | Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is deprecated as of version 8.7.0 and will be removed in a future release. |
8.7.0 | vSphere datastore scanning is deprecated, and this functionality will be removed in a future release. |
8.7.0 | Service Portal access for non-organizational users is deprecated, and this functionality will be removed in a future release. |
8.7.0 | Quarterly and weekly timespans for displaying costs in the Admin Portal and the Service Portal are being deprecated. The options that will remain for showing costs are Daily, Monthly, and Annually. |
Known issues
To view any potential issues that have been raised by the Commander support team, go to the Known Issues section of the Snow Support Hub.
