Release Notes 4.4

The 4.4 release notes were released on September 28th, 2023

Compatibility Matrix 

System Requirement	Details
Supported OS	CentOS - 7.x RHEL - 7.x / 8.x
supported Nvidia driver	CUDA version from 10.1 up to 11.4.3
Storage version	50
Driver compatibility	JDBC 5.0.0 ODBC 4.4.4 NodeJS .NET 3.0.2 Pysqream 5.0.0 Spark
SQream Acceleration Studio	Version 5.7.0

New Features and Enhancements 

► The newly supported Array data type enables you to simplify queries and optimize space utilization.

► Denodo Platform may now be used for real-time data visualization of various sources.

► New select_gpu_metrics utility function now available, providing insights into cluster GPU usage over defined periods, crucial for maintaining compliance with license limits.

Newly Released Connector Drivers 

► Pysqream 5.0.0

► JDBC 5.0.0

SQreamDB Studio Updates and Improvements 

SQream Studio version 5.7.0 has been released.

Known Issues 

Percentile is not supported for Window Functions.

Version 4.4 resolved Issues 

SQ No.	Description
SQ-12965	`ReadParquet` chunk producer issue
SQ-13461	`LEFT JOIN` in the `WHERE` clause with different date values results in missing filters
SQ-13772	Foreign table `JOIN` operation issue
SQ-13805	Different table structures provide different query times when using Parquet files
SQ-13947	Unicode character issue when using Tableau
SQ-13954	Runtime error when granting role multiple permissions using the web interface
SQ-13971	Parquet file data loading issue when columns contain over 100,000 digits
SQ-14136	Query deceleration due to metadata server issue
SQ-14268	`TEXT` column length calculation CUDA memory issue
SQ-14399	Figment snapshot recognition issue
SQ-14400	Healer configuration flag unavailability
SQ-14556	Object store path issue when using S3 API
SQ-14724	Aliases error when using `DELETE` statement
SQ-15074	Web interface login issue for non-`SUPERUSER` roles

Configuration Adjustments 

► You may now configure the object access style and your endpoint URL with Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) when using AWS S3.

Visit Amazon Web Services to learn more about how and when you should use these two new parameters:

AwsEndpointOverride
AwsObjectAccessStyle

► New Server Picker parameters enable you to direct services to specific Workers and examine Worker availability.

Deprecations 

► CentOS Linux 7.x

As of June 2024, CentOS Linux 7.x will reach its End of Life and will not be supported by SQreamDB. This announcement provides a one-year advance notice for our users to plan for this change. We recommend users to explore migration or upgrade options to maintain ongoing support and security beyond this date.
REHL 8.x is now officially supported.

► INT96

Due to Parquet’s lack of support of the INT96 data type, SQreamDB has decided to deprecate this data type.

► Square Brackets []

The [], which are frequently used to delimit identifiers such as column names, table names, and other database objects, are officially deprecated to facilitate the use of the ARRAY data type. To delimit database object identifiers, use double quotes "".

► VARCHAR

With the improvement of the core functionalities of the platform and to align with the constantly evolving ecosystem requirements, the VARCHAR data type is deprecated and may not be used. The TEXT data type is replacing the VARCHAR and NVARCHAR data types.

Upgrading to Version 4.4 

Generate a back-up of the metadata by running the following command:
```
$ select backup_metadata('out_path');
```
Tip

SQreamDB recommends storing the generated back-up locally in case needed.

SQreamDB runs the Garbage Collector and creates a clean backup tarball package.
Shut down all SQreamDB services.
Copy the recently created back-up file.
Replace your current metadata with the metadata you stored in the back-up file.
Navigate to the new SQreamDB package bin folder.
Run the following command:
```
$ ./upgrade_storage <levelDB path>
```
Version 4.4 introduces a service permission feature that enables superusers to grant and revoke role access to services. However, when upgrading from version 4.2 or earlier to version 4.4 or later, this feature initializes access to services, causing existing roles to lose their access to services.

There are two methods of granting back access to services:

Grant access to all services for all roles using the GRANT_USAGE_ON_SERVICE_TO_ALL_ROLES utility function

Selectively grant or revoke access to services by following the access permission guide

Note

Upgrading from a major version to another major version requires you to follow the Upgrade Storage step. This is described in Step 7 of the Upgrading SQreamDB Version procedure.