Node Long Term Software (LTS) Releases

Objective

This document lists out release notes for the F5 Distributed Cloud Customer Edge Long Term Software (LTS) . The release notes include information on various issues fixed.

LTS Overview

The F5 Distributed Cloud Services Customer Edge (CE) Site Node Software is either based on a standard release crt-<version-date> or a LTS release lts-<version-date>. The standard releases (crt-xxxx) are regular software releases with a six-month support window offering bug fixes as well as new features better suited for customers who want to consume latest features and functionality. The LTS releases (lts-xxxx) are intended to offer a stable software that is supported for an extended duration for a total of 12 months with only critical bug fixes and security vulnerabilities delivered in maintenance releases.

Note: For changelogs on standard (crt-xxxx) releases, see Node CRT Software Changelogs.

The LTS releases are for supporting customers looking to run CE software version for extended duration compared to the standard 6-month window with regular releases.

The following details describe the typical characteristics of LTS CE Software:

LTS version will be in the lts-<version-date>-<build-number> format. An example is lts-20240528-0001 indicating that this is the first revision of LTS base image released on May 28, 2024.
New LTS versions are released every six months, and these contain new features along with relevant bug fixes.
A given LTS software version is supported for 12 months after it is released. Periodically maintenance versions of the LTS Software will be made available that include critical bug fixes and security vulnerabilities fixes. No new features are delivered as part of the LTS maintenance releases.

Note: LTS CE software is available for customers as an add-on SKU. Check with your F5 account team to learn more about running LTS software on your CEs.

After 12 months of LTS maintenance support, a 2-month period of extended support is provided to help customers plan upgrade. During extended support, no bug fixes are released, and technical support will be limited to upgrade assistance.

The following is a pictorial representation of how CRT and LTS releases are rolled out within a given timeline:

Figure: LTS and CRT Versions

Note: The release months shown in the above image are for representational purpose only and do not indicate the actual releases. For actuals, see the release notes.

Upgrade Policy

In case a user desires features/enhancements, the user can upgrade to the next LTS version released. User can also switch between LTS and CRT versions.

The following upgrades are supported:

Type	Details	Example
LTS to LTS	For an LTS version N, upgrades to version N+1 and N+2 (next 2 incremental releases) are supported.	The LTS release of May, 2024 can be upgraded to the LTS release of November, 2024 and LTS release of May, 2025
LTS to CRT	For an LTS version N, upgrades to CRT versions up to 6 months from the date of releases of LTS version N are supported.	The LTS release of May, 2024 can be upgraded to any CRT release till November, 2024.

Note: It is not recommended to downgrade to a previous LTS version or switch from an LTS version to an older CRT version.

lts-20240528

lts-20240528-0001

LTS software is introduced as part of May 28, 2024 SaaS release. The recommended OS version for the LTS version is RHEL OS 9.2024.11.

lts-20240528-0002

The following fixes delivered:

Description	Symptom	Condition	Fix
Fix issue where site is stuck in upgrading when new CA certificate is issued and software upgrade is triggered at the same time.	Site is stuck in Upgrading state after triggering software upgrade to latest software version between 28th to 29th May 2024 GMT.	Triggered software upgrade to latest software version between 28th to 29th May 2024 GMT	Resolve the CA certificate renewal and upgrade dependency between components during software upgrade. Only issue new CA certificate to site that upgrades to software version containing the fix.
Fix issue where debuginfo in a site cannot be downloaded 10days after the site creation.	Site deleted /tmp/debuginfo mount along with files by systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service unless you settle an extra-configuration for cleaning.	This issue is observed 10 days later after Site is created.	Add extra-configuration to keep /tmp/debuginfo directory.
Update execcli commands to improve user experience	automic and kubectl commands do not work properly and traceroute command should be tracepath on RHEL	when using RHEL operating system, automic and kubelet commands are not supported in execcli and traceroute command is renamed to tracepath	update execcli command tree in SiteCLI to reflect corresponding findings
Fix issue where configure-http-proxy in vpm cli does not work on RHEL CE.	When configure-http-proxy is called on RHEL CE, it immediately returns err rather than showing edit screen.	When configure-http-proxy cli is used on RHEL CE	fixed configure-http-proxy command to show edit screen correctly.
Fix issue where enabling xcuser misconfigures the sshd config	Creating xcuser leads to creation of user, but the user will not be able to SSH into the machine.	When get-auxilary-root-access-to-node command is used on RHEL CE	fixed get-auxilary-root-access-to-node command to edit the sshd config appropriately.
Improve the query success rate of name resolution for k8s service.	Name resolution for k8s service fails irregularly on CE.	The issue is observed irregularly on a CE where a pod attempts to resolve a k8s service.	Improve name resolution to retry queries upon failure.

This table organizes the issues, symptoms, conditions, and fixes described in the source document for clarity and easy reference.