Latest Release

A brief introduction to MMCloud followed by what's new in the latest release.

Overview

Memory Machine Cloud (MMCloud) is a software platform that streamlines the deployment of containerized applications in the cloud or in a hybrid cloud arrangement. Based on customizable policy, MMCloud selects and instantiates cloud resources on behalf of the user. A built-in job scheduler deploys Docker containers (and other containers that comply with the Open Container Initiative image-spec) across a group of virtual machines.

MMCloud includes AppCapsule, MemVerge's checkpoint/restore (C/R) capability. The AppCapsule is a moment-in-time snapshot of the application instance, including in-memory state and relevant files. AppCapsule is used to support workload mobility. Workload mobility means that a job can move from one virtual machine to another, for example, to a more powerful virtual machine that is a better fit for the next stage of execution. Workload mobility also provides workload continuity — if the underlying spot instance is reclaimed, the workload automatically moves to a new virtual machine and resumes running.

Users interact with MMCloud using the float CLI or the MMCloud web interface. The web interface also provides a real-time graphical display of resource utilization (CPU, memory, network, and so on) as a job executes.

New in the Jericho 3.1 Release

The Jericho 3.1 release accumulates the enhancements from the 3.0.x patch releases, adds new features, and improves the overall reliability and scalability of the platform.

High Performance Computing mode (HPC mode) allows an MMCloud subscriber to use the OpCenter to create (and manage) a cluster of compute nodes that execute jobs scheduled from an input queue.

HPC mode must be turned on or off. If it is turned on, the OpCenter can only be used in HPC mode. If HPC mode is turned off, the OpCenter operates in "generic" mode, which is the mode familiar to users of an OpCenter running software release 3.0 or earlier.

In HPC mode, the OpCenter instantiates a fully-featured SLURM cluster including dynamic scaling of compute resources (auto-scaling). Key features from "generic" mode are also available, such as SpotSurfer, WaveRider, and Out-of-Memory (OOM) protection.
System Status Dashboard, available in the web interface, allows an admin user to see, in a single screen, the current status of jobs, resources, instances, and utilization. Aggregated totals over past periods (this week, this month, and so on) are also available.
Multiple LDAP and NIS server registration allows the OpCenter to provide redundant distributed directory services to ensure consistent system configuration data (such as user and host names).
Container image caching using volume snapshots decreases the time to instantiate a worker node compared with loading the container image directly from S3 or an NFS server.
Instance cost as a trigger for job migration avoids situations where jobs migrate to high cost instances and remain there until the jobs complete.
Per availability zone quarantining of instance types improves global spot instance availability by limiting quarantining of spot instance types to the availability zones where those spot instances are reclaimed.
Improved Cost Summary page, available to admin users of the web interface, clarifies how cloud costs are generated and savings calculated.
Refactoring of OpCenter software improves performance and reduces memory usage in the OpCenter.
OpCenter manages up to twenty million jobs as a result of software refactoring. Note that the total number of jobs includes running jobs, completed jobs, stopped jobs, initializing jobs, failed jobs, and so on.

Detailed descriptions of all the new features and improvements in the Jericho Release are available here.

Upgrade Procedure

You have two options for upgrading to the 3.1 release.

Start a new OpCenter from the AWS Marketplace which starts an OpCenter running the 3.1 release and then start all new jobs on this OpCenter.
Upgrade from the 3.0 release (or earlier) to the 3.1 release by completing the steps in the following section.

Upgrade to the 3.1 release from an earlier release

Schedule the upgrade to take place in a previously announced maintenance window.
Log in to the OpCenter as a user with admin privileges.
Cancel all running jobs or wait for all running jobs to complete.
Do not submit any new jobs until the upgrade completes.

Check that the 3.1 release is available by entering the following.

$ float release ls
+----------+----------------------------------+----------------------+-----------+
| VERSION  |             RELEASE              |     RELEASE TIME     |   SIZE    |
+----------+----------------------------------+----------------------+-----------+
| * v3.1.0 | FLOAT_v3.1.0-0293166-Jericho.bin | 2025-03-31T07:26:19Z | 341.29 MB |
+----------+----------------------------------+----------------------+-----------+

Log in to your AWS Management Console and go to the EC2 Dashboard.
Click the Instance ID of the OpCenter to upgrade.
Confirm that this instance has access to the public Internet.
At the top of the instance summary page, click Connect and select the SSH Client tab.
Follow the instructions to ssh to the OpCenter. Use the name mmc instead of root.

Execute the following command.

$ /opt/memverge/sbin/opcenter_upgrade.sh

Wait for this script to complete. It takes approximately three minutes.
Log out of the OpCenter.
Return to the AWS Management Console and go to the IAM Dashboard.
Under Access Management on the left-hand side, click Roles.
In the search bar at the top of the Roles page, enter the name of your OpCenter, for example, Ap2-2025-try2. Two results are returned that look like the following.
```
Ap2-2025-try2-mvOpCenterRole-0wsFsQP5lh6M
Ap2-2025-try2-mvWorkerNodeRole-NCIyWxp9U0Kn
```
Click the entry that contains the string mvOpCenterRole.
Select the Permissions tab and then expand the Policy name entitled root.
On the right-hand side, click Edit.

Scroll down until you see a block that looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:RunInstances",
                "ec2:StartInstances",
                "ec2:StopInstances",
                "ec2:Create*",
                "ec2:Modify*",
                "ec2:AttachVolume",
                "ec2:DetachVolume"
            ]

Edit this block by adding "ec2:DetachNetworkInterface" and "ec2:AttachNetworkInterface" so that it looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:RunInstances",
                "ec2:StartInstances",
                "ec2:StopInstances",
                "ec2:Create*",
                "ec2:Modify*",
                "ec2:DetachNetworkInterface",
                "ec2:AttachNetworkInterface",
                "ec2:AttachVolume",
                "ec2:DetachVolume"
            ]

Scroll down further until you see a block that looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:DeleteVolume",
                "ec2:TerminateInstances"
            ]

Edit this block by adding "ec2:DeleteNetworkInterface" and "ec2:DeleteSecurityGroup"so that it looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:DeleteVolume",
                "ec2:DeleteNetworkInterface",
                "ec2:DeleteSecurityGroup",
                "ec2:TerminateInstances"
            ]

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Next.
On the Review and save page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.
Return to the Roles page and click the entry that contains the string mvWorkerNodeRole.
Select the Permissions tab and then expand the Policy name entitled root.
On the right-hand side, click Edit.

Scroll down until you see a block that looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:StopInstances",
                "ec2:Create*",
                "ec2:Modify*",
                "ec2:AttachVolume",
                "ec2:DetachVolume"
            ]

Edit this block by adding "ec2:AttachNetworkInterface"so that it looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:StopInstances",
                "ec2:Create*",
                "ec2:Modify*",
                "ec2:AttachNetworkInterface",
                "ec2:AttachVolume",
                "ec2:DetachVolume"
            ]

Scroll down further until you see a block that looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:DeleteVolume",
                "ec2:TerminateInstances"
            ]

Edit this block by adding ec2:DeleteNetworkInterface"so that it looks like this.

"Action": [
                "ec2:DeleteVolume",
                "ec2:DeleteNetworkInterface",
                "ec2:TerminateInstances"
            ]

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Next.
On the Review and save page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.
Log back in to the OpCenter as a user with admin privileges and upgrade the software by entering the following.
```
$ float release upgrade
```
Check that the OpCenter is running the 3.1 release by entering the following.
```
$ float version
```
Sync float to the 3.1 release by entering the following.
```
$ sudo float release sync
```