2009-01-29

Support for Amazon EC2 Europe

RightScale now supports Amazon EC2 Europe.  EC2 Europe's implementation within the RightScale Cloud Management Platform looks a lot like another cloud.  EC2 is now divided into two distinct regions: EC2-US and EC2-EU.  Each region contains its own availability zones, security groups, SSH keys, elastic IPs, EBS volumes/snapshots, instances and images.  A brief list of the more predominant locations you will notice from within the UI  is as follows:

• Navigation bar:  Clouds -> AWS Global, AWS EU, and AWS US
• Action buttons:  Because AWS EU functions much like a separate cloud, there are several action buttons that reflect the region.  Examples include: "New EC2 US, "New EC2 EU", "Replicateto EU", and "Replicate to US".
• Public and Private DNS syntax.  Examples:
  • Public EU:  ec2-79-125-56-190.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com
  • Private EU:  ip-10-226-67-159.eu-west-1.compute.internal
  • Public US:  ec2-75-101-164-141.compute-1.amazonaws.com
  • Private US:  domU-12-31-39-02-65-84.compute-1.internal
    • Note:  There is no change to the public and private DNS for the US
• Cloud column:  Several screens now contain a "Cloud" column to indicate which region (EC2 US or EC2 EU)

• Currently, RightScale's EC2-EU RightImages^TM cannot be bundled due to a backwards incompatibility issue of previous versions of the amitools with the EC2-EU region.   In order to properly bundle an image in EC2-EU, you must use a version of amitools v1.3.31780 or newer.  RightScale will create updated versions of our CentOS RightImages that use a version of the amitools that support bundling in EC2-EU and release them shortly.

  The following RightImages do not support bundling in EC2-EU:

  • RightImage CentOS5_0V3_0_0
  • RightImage CentOS5_0V4_0_1
  • RightImage CentOS5_0_X86_64_V3_0_0
  • RightImage CentOS5_0_X86_64_V4_0_1
  • RightImage CentOS5_2V4_1_10
  • RightImage CentOS5_2_X86_64_V4_1_10

To learn more, please see EC2 Regions: EC2-US & EC2-EU.  (3027)

From a functional point of view, there are two primary topics, each with their own tutorial for more information:

• Replicate an Image to different AWS regions
• Replicate a ServerTemplate to EC2-EU

Note: The following are known limitations with this initial release supporting EC2 Europe:

• The RightScale API is not supported in Europe.  (The API remains unchanged for the US with this release.)
• There are no EU mirrors.  All European ServerTemplates will use mirrors in the US.  Expect a slight increase in latency, and reduced fault tolerances until mirrors are launched in Europe.

Support for New Relic

RightScale now supports New Relic RPM (www.newrelic.com).  RPM helps evaluate the performance of Rails applications.  A New Relic account can be automatically created for you from our RightScale Management Platform upon request.  To learn more, see New Relic RPM.  (2399) 

Additional Functionality for Macros

The Dashboard UI now supports creating macros for more objects than just Deployments.  When selecting the "New" macro action button (Design -> Macros -> New) you are presented with a radio button and drop down menu that includes the following objects you can create a macro of:

• Deployment (already existed)
• Array
• Server
• Existing Macro
• New (blank) macro

To learn more, see Macros.    (2816)  

Search through RightScripts

You can now search through Private, Shared, RightScale and Partner RightScripts for a specific text pattern.  For example, you can search for all occurrences of the pattern "DBREPLICATION_PASSWORD" in all RightScripts.  To learn more, see Search RightScripts. (2631)

Archiving of Deployments

You can now archive deployments that are no longer needed on a regular basis.  (Home -> Dashboard -> Deployments Tab -> "Deployment Name" -> Archive action button.)  This helps avoid clutter within the UI, yet does not force you to delete the deployment in order to do so.  When you archive a deployment, it will be displayed at the bottom of the Deployments page as as a comma separated list titled "Archived Deployments".  Archived deployments can be brought back by "unarchiving" them.   To learn more, see Archive (or Unarchive) a Deployment.  (2664)

Trial Account Alert and Notifications

Free Trial accounts will be reminded in two primary ways within the RightScale Cloud Management Platform that they have limited credit.  Information on how to upgrade the account will also be furnished.  (Trial accounts come with 10 hours of free credit.  After that, an upgrade is required to continue usage.)

1. A Trial Alert appears in the Dashboard Alerts (displayed below the navigation bar, above the Recent Events)
2. A Trial Notice appears at the top of the Dashboard -> Overview page (also reached from the RightScale logo, Overview tab) (3141)

Session timeout and login redirect

If your session times out and you log back in, you will be returned to the page you were currently viewing.  Previously, you would be redirected to the Dashboard home page. (1861)

Cloning of Alert Escalations

Previously, when a deployment was cloned, any associated alert escalations were not cloned.  As a result, a cloned deployment would not scale as expected.  Now when you clone a deployment, any associated alert escalations are also cloned (and will be created with the same name).   Therefore, you can have multiple escalations with the same name, but each escalation will be associated with their respective deployment.   (2311)

Server Nickname, Server Template and Deployment Name

Several customers have requested the ability to access Server Nickname, Server Template and Deployment Name information from any RightScript.  This has been added to this release, and is implemented as environment variables.  The following environment variables have been added:

• RS_DEPLOYMENT_NAME - Name of the Deployment with the Server that will run the RightScript
• RS_SERVER_NAME - Name of the server that will run the RightScript
• RS_SERVER_TEMPLATE_NAME - Name of the ServerTemplate of the Server that will run the RightScript

These environment variables have been added to the drop down list when editing RightScript Inputs, and specifying "Env" as the script input type. 

Note thatenvironment variables are directly available in the instance with the exception of RS_SERVER_NAME, RS_DEPLOYMENT_NAME and RS_SERVER_TEMPLATE_NAME.  They can only be evaluated as part of a RightScript.  For example, you can use a variable such as RSDEPLOYNAME in a script, then assign it the RS_DEPLOYMENT_NAME in the env dropdown list for Inputs. (2633)

"Xref Servers" tab did not include Servers in its display

The "Xref Servers" tab (Design -> Alerts -> Alert Escalations -> "Select an Escalation" > XREF Servers Tab) has been corrected to include Servers in its display.  Previously, the Servers were not listed, only Deployment, Alert Spec, Condition, etc.  That is, a cross reference of Servers was displayed, without including the Server name itself in the output.  (2297)

Incorrect Usage Estimates

In certain rare instances, the calculated amount on the Usage Estimate Report (Report -> Usage Estimate) could be incorrect, and quite large.  The incorrect calculation was tied to an overly large Usage figure for Elastic IPs.  This problem has been corrected.  Reminder: This report shows estimates only, and will not reflect exact figures that you are billed from the cloud vendor.  (2361w)

Splunk Servers

An obscure bug that could cause Splunk Servers to strand in boot if launched within a particular time-frame has been resolved. (3085)

Estimate Usage Report

Estimates for EC2 instance hour usage do not account for the increased price of EC2 Europe instances or Windows instances.   That is, they don't account for the difference in pricing.  (Reports -> Usage Estimate)

Please report issues to:  support@rightscale.com

New Relic RMP Support: "APP New Relic"

The Add New Relic RPM Functionality tutorial requires the use of the "APP New Relic" RightScript.  (Design -> MultiCloud Marketplace -> RightScripts)

Support for Ubuntu (alpha)

RightScale will offer support for Ubuntu images and Server Template soon.  Ubuntu functions much like the general release of CentOS, but uses Ubuntu images.  Please check back with these Release Notes for an update and a listing of the new RightScripts and Server Templates.  Note that Ubuntu support is considered alpha.  (3101)