An early Beta is being released for the Viz Roll for x86_64 platforms.
This Beta is intended to allow users to verify their 64bit machines are
compatible with Rocks 4.3 and Viz. Currently, only DMX and Chromium are
included. The final release will include SAGE v2 (from EVL) and refreshed
nVidia drivers.

To build a Viz cluster you will need the following Rolls:

• Kernel / Boot Roll
• Core Roll
• All 5 OS CD Rolls (not just the first two)
• Viz Beta Roll (ftp), (http)

Initial documentation for this Beta is here.

Rocks v4.3 is released for i386 and x86_64 CPU architectures.

New Features

1. Rocks Command Line

Initial release of the Rocks command line which facilitates non-SQL administrative access to the database. All Rocks commands have a regular structure of “rocks <verb> <component>”. For example, to list all hosts that have been discovered by the frontend, execute: rocks list host.

All rocks commands can be listed by executing: rocks. Also, help is included with each command. For example, for help on the command rocks add host, execute: rocks add host help.

For an overview of the Rocks commmand line, see Introduction to the Rocks Command Line. The reference for all Rocks commands can be found here.

2. PXE First

Hosts can now be configured in BIOS with a boot order of CD, PXE, Hard Disk (previous releases of Rocks required: CD, Hard Disk, PXE). In combination with the Rocks command line, node-specific installation parameters are easily supported. For details on PXE First, see Boot Order and PXE First.

Note: The boot order of (CD, HD, PXE) continues to be supported in Rocks 4.3. That is, existing Rocks clusters can be upgraded without requiring the cluster owner to change any BIOS settings.

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