Archive of 2020 What’s new
Contents
December 2020
Share templates with users in other Skytap accounts
Skytap account administrators can share templates with users in other Skytap accounts by generating sharing links for a template. For more information, see Sharing templates with users in other Skytap accounts.
API token expiration policy account setting
Administrators can enable an expiration policy for API tokens and set the expiration period for the account. For more information, see Setting access policies, API access.
VM sequencing for sharing portals
Sharing portal users can now see the startup progress of an environment that uses VM sequencing.
October 2020
Import VMs from Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
Skytap has added the ability to import VMs from your Microsoft Azure Blob Storage account. For more information, see Importing VMs using the VM Imports page.
Enable and disable IBM i
Administrators of accounts that include Power A CPU architecture that supports IBM i, AIX, and Linux (on Power) in Skytap. VMs have the ability to enable or disable the IBM i operating system to help control licensing costs. For details, see Account settings.
Reserved capacity in Skytap on Azure
Skytap has added reserved capacity usage to Skytap on Azure, letting you run your always-on workloads at a reduced rate.
For example, if you have an AIX VM that runs constantly and consumes 128 GB Metered RAM A unit of measurement used to calculate VM usage, based on the amount of RAM (in GB) for a VM. To learn more, see How usage is calculated. with 500 GB of storage, you would request 128 GB RAM of Power compute and 500 GB of Storage reserved capacity to run this VM at the reduced rate.
For more details, see Requesting reserved capacity
New Skytap region
Skytap added the following new region:
AU-Sydney-I-1 (Sydney, Australia)
For more details, see Understanding regions.
August 2020
Updated Usage and Limits
Skytap has improved the user interface for Usage and Limits to make setting account and regional limits easier.
We’ve also updated the controls for setting limits to provide more relevant information.
For more information, see Usage & Limits overview
Updated IBM Power Entitled Capacity calculation
Skytap has enabled more precise control of Entitled Capacity for IBM Power CPU sharing by adding the ability to override the calculated value.
For more information, see Editing VM CPUs and RAM
July 2020
Environment locking
Skytap includes the ability to lock environments, which disables the following actions:
- Deleting or copying environments.
- Saving environments as templates.
- Changing power state (run, suspend, shut down).
- Adding, deleting, or changing VMs.
- Adding, deleting, changing, connecting to, or disconnecting from networks.
- Connecting, disconnecting, enabling, disabling, deleting, attaching to or detaching from WANs.
- Releasing or detaching Public IP addresses.
-
Deleting label categories.
For more details, see Locking environments.
Expanded x86 storage
Skytap has expanded cumulative storage to 4 TB per VM for x86 for the following regions:
- US-Virginia-M-1
- US-East-2
- US-Central
- EMEA
- DE-Frankfurt-I-1
- CAN-Toronto
- AUS-Sydney
- APAC-2
Each x86 VM is limited to 15 disks and a total of 4 TB of combined storage. The VM can have 1 disk that is 4 TB or up to 15 disks that total 4 TB.
Additionally, for Power VMs we expanded maximum disk size to 4 TB in the following regions:
- US-Virginia-M-1
- US-Central
- EMEA
- CAN-Toronto
For Power storage limits by region, see Regional service limits.
Added CPU sharing mode
AIX and Linux on Power users can now control the CPU sharing mode to allow a Power VM to run either capped or uncapped. This gives AIX and Linux on Power users better control over resource usage and license costs. For more details, see Editing VM CPUs and RAM.
By default, CPU sharing mode is set to uncapped.
Updated IBM Power Entitled Capacity calculation
Skytap has updated the Entitled Capacity calculation for IBM Power CPU sharing.
For more information, see Editing VM CPUs and RAM
Enabled self-service Skytap for Microsoft Azure customers
Microsoft Azure customers can now add Skytap on Azure as a new service within Microsoft Azure, which will be billed through their Microsoft Azure account.
May 2020
New multi-select capabilities
Skytap has used your feedback to make our multi-select capabilities easier to find and easier to use.
The new multi-select feature is available for the following:
Microsoft License Mobility through Software Assurance
Skytap has added the ability for Microsoft Software Assurance customers to use Microsoft License Mobility through Software Assurance for licensing Microsoft software products for use on Skytap VMs.
For more information, see the Skytap attached licenses FAQ.
Updates to the Account Settings page
Skytap has enhanced the Account Settings page. Now you can more easily configure account-wide settings.
In addition, we’ve added the ability to designate the following contacts for your account:
- Primary administrator – The Primary administrator has the authority to make account-level changes—including anything that may affect billing.
- Billing contact – (Optional) The person Skytap should contact with billing or invoicing questions.
- Security contact – (Optional) The person Skytap should contact about security issues.
Usage and account limits are on the Usage & Limits page. To view and change current usage, reserved capacity, and account limits by region, see Setting usage limits and viewing usage.
For more details, see Managing account-wide settings
New Skytap Frankfurt, Germany region
We added the following new Skytap region:
DE-Frankfurt-I-1 (Frankfurt, Germany)
For more details, see Understanding regions.
Environment locking
Skytap includes the ability to lock environments, which disables the following actions:
- Changing power state (run, suspend, shut down).
- Adding, deleting, or changing VMs.
- Adding, deleting, changing, connecting to, or disconnecting from networks.
- Connecting, disconnecting, enabling, disabling, deleting, attaching to or detaching from WANs.
- Releasing or detaching Public IP addresses.
-
Deleting label categories.
For more details, see Locking environments.
Added CPU sharing mode
AIX and Linux on Power users can now control the CPU sharing mode to allow a Power VM to run either capped or uncapped. This gives AIX and Linux on Power users better control over resource usage and license costs. For more details, see Editing VM CPUs and RAM.
Expanded x86 storage
Skytap has expanded cumulative storage to 4 TB per VM for x86 for the following regions:
- US-Virginia-M-1
- US-East-2
- US-Central
- EMEA
- DE-Frankfurt-I-1
- CAN-Toronto
- AUS-Sydney
- APAC-2
Each x86 VM is limited to 15 disks and a total of 4 TB of combined storage. The VM can have 1 disk that is 4 TB or up to 15 disks that total 4 TB.
Additionally, for Power VMs we expanded maximum disk size to 4 TB in the following regions:
- US-Virginia-M-1
- US-Central
- EMEA
- CAN-Toronto
For Power storage limits by region, see Regional service limits.
Deprecation notice for the Skytap Command Line Interface (CLI) public template
The Skytap Command Line Interface (CLI) public template is deprecated.
We recommend that customers use the terraform provider or our API for automation.
April 2020
Import VMs from IBM Cloud Object Storage
Skytap can now import x86 VMs and Power LPARs from IBM Cloud Object Storage (ICOS).
For details about importing from ICOS, see Importing Power and x86 VMs using IBM Cloud Object Storage.
Expanded capability in CAN-Toronto
Skytap has added the Power A CPU architecture that supports IBM i, AIX, and Linux (on Power) in Skytap. compute type to the CAN-Toronto region. For details about Power capabilities in CAN-Toronto, see Skytap service limits.
Terraform upgrades
Building on the addition of ICNR tunnels, tags, and labels, we’ve added custom timeout values to the Skytap Terraform provider.
For details, see Skytap Terraform provider reference guide.
February 2020
CPU entitlements for Power VMs
Skytap now enables the ability to adjust CPU entitlements for Power VMs, including approximate CPW for IBM i. For Power VMs, you can now set Entitled capacity (and approximate CPW for IBM i) by changing the amount of RAM and the number of CPUs.
For details, see Editing VM CPUs and RAM.
Terraform upgrades
We’ve extended the Skytap Terraform provider to include ICNR tunnels, tags, and labels.
We also updated the provider to support Terraform v0.12.
For details, see Skytap Terraform provider reference guide.
For release notes dating back to 2011, contact support@skytap.com.