SMCP 5.14 Release Notes

2025-12-22

Component	Version
Airctl	v-5.14.1-4276358
Workload Clusters
Kubernetes 1.31	1.31.9-pmk.149
Kubernetes 1.32	1.32.3-pmk.72
Kubernetes 1.33	1.33.3-pmk.50
Management cluster
Kubernetes 1.33	1.33.3-pmk.50

Features/Enhancements

Added Continuous backup is now supported via cronjobs:

• airctl backup cronjob: Uses airctl backup command to take backup of components like consul, mysql, state.yaml, and kplane_values inside backup_ *.tar.gz and stores it under /var/pf9/backups/airctl/ dir.

• etcd backup cronjob: Uses the new command introduced for etcd backup, i.e. airctl mgmt-etcd-backup to take an etcd snapshot and store it under /var/pf9/backups/etcd/dir.

Upgrading to SMCP 5.14 will automatically deploy the cronjobs required to back up airctl and etcd.

Added Introduced airctl commands to provide etcd backup and restore features:

• airctl mgmt-etcd-backup: Triggers etcdctl snapshot save in backend to backup etcd.db under the directory provided in the command using the flag --outdir. By default backup is stored under /tmp dir.

• airctl mgmt-etcd-restore: Triggers etcdutl snapshot restore in backend to restore etcd db from provided etcd.db file in the command using the flag --etcd-backup-file-path (required field).

NOTE

The etcd restore feature is added on the assumption that volumes attached at the time of taking backups are in place and intact, or preserved by customers using external support.

Added Enhanced airctl backup to store backup files containing the current date and time. Also added an optional flag , ``airctl backup `--outfile``` which will add the given argument as a prefix to the output backup file.

Added Workload cluster support for Kubernetes 1.32 and 1.33.

Added Updated the management cluster to Kubernetes 1.33.

Added Introducing support for Cilium as a Container Network Interface (CNI), providing a high-performance networking, observability, and security layer powered by eBPF. By leveraging eBPF's ability to run logic directly within the Linux kernel, Cilium enables efficient L3/L4 and L7 load balancing, identity-based network policy enforcement, and transparent encryption without the overhead of traditional iptables. This integration enables users to gain deep visibility into service-to-service communication and to achieve greater scalability in large Kubernetes clusters.

Added Replaced MinIO with SeaweedFS in the management plane due to licensing changes.

Bug Fixes

Fixed In airctl delete-mgmt where containerd failed to remove a container properly.

Fixed Installing the kube-prometheus helm chart due to wrong container images.

Known Issues

Known Issue etcd restore command i.e airctl mgmt-etcd-restore added in this release is not working as expected in multi-master setups. new

Known Issue On Ubuntu 22 : SMCP 5.10 to SMCP 5.11 upgrade procedure requires following commands to be run to update host side components:

• airctl configure-hosts --reset-pf9-managed-docker-conf --skip-docker-install --skip-docker-img-import --verbose

• airctl upgrade-hosts --verbose

Impact: For ubuntu22, above procedure breaks the host connection from the management cluster, terminates the pf9-comms leading to management cluster upgrade failure.

Workaround: For ubuntu22, reversing the order of the two commands works; run the upgrade-host then the configure-hosts

Known Issue During the DU upgrade process (airctl upgrade --config airctl-config.yaml --verbose), the sunpike-kube-apiserver pod enters a CrashLoopBackOff state following the successful execution of the airctl upgrade step. While the pod eventually reconciles itself, it may take an extended duration (30+ minutes or more).

Impact: This delay can disrupt cluster operations, leading to prolonged upgrade timelines and potential downtime for services dependent on the sunpike-kube-apiserver.

Workaround:

Manually restarting the sunpike-kube-apiserver pod resolves the issue and significantly reduces reconciliation time.

Known Issue On Ubuntu 22: When rebooting a management cluster node running Ubuntu 22, the node does not automatically recover. This can lead to an unavailable management plane and disruption of cluster operations.

Impact: Post-reboot, the management cluster node remains in a non-functional state until manual intervention is performed.

Workaround: To recover the node, run the following commands on the affected node:

• sudo systemctl stop pf9-nodeletd.

• sudo /opt/pf9/nodelet/nodeletd phases restart.

Known Issue airctl advance-dduscale-mgmt command fails for scale-down nodes .

SMCP 5.14 Kubernetes Components List

Component	Kubernetes 1.33	Kubernetes 1.32	Kubernetes 1.31
KUBERNETES BUILD VERSION	1.33.3-pmk.50	1.32.3-pmk.72	1.31.9-pmk.149
CORE-DNS	1.11.1	1.11.1	1.11.1
CONTAINERD	1.7.13	1.7.13	1.7.13
RUNC	1.1.12	1.1.12	1.1.12
METRICS SERVER	0.6.4	0.6.4	0.6.4
METAL LB	0.13.11	0.13.11	0.13.11
KUBERNETES DASHBOARD	2.7.0	2.7.0	2.7.0
CLUSTER AUTO-SCALER AWS	1.28.0	1.28.0	1.28.0
CLUSTER AUTO-SCALER AZURE	1.13.8	1.13.8	1.13.8
CLUSTER AUTO-SCALER CAPI	1.24.0	1.24.0	1.24.0
FLANNEL	0.24.2	0.24.2	0.22.2
CALICOupdate	3.27.5	3.27.5	3.27.5
CILIUM new	1.17.2	1.17.2	1.17.2
CILIUM-CLI new	0.18.3	0.18.3	0.18.3
ETCD	3.5.12	3.5.12	3.5.12
CNI PLUGINS	1.4.0	1.4.0	1.3.0
KUBEVIRT	1.0.0	1.0.0	1.0.0
KUBEVIRT CDI	1.57.0	1.57.0	1.57.0
ADVANCED NETWORKING OPERATOR (LUIGI)	0.5.4	0.5.4	0.5.4
MONITORING - PROMETHEUS OPERATOR	0.68.1	0.68.1	0.68.1