Release notes

The Flexible Engine community ensures a complete solution enriched with new features and updates

New data available in detailed consumption files (CSV format) : RAM, vCPU

August, 2023

Two additional columns, namely RAM and vCPU, have been incorporated into the detailed consumption files accessible within your Cloud Customer Space. This inclusion aims to enhance the granularity of your budget analysis and facilitate a more precise breakdown during the execution of your Financial Operations (FINOPS) activities.

Flexible Engine resellers can onboard and manage new customers, including ‘3-month free trial tenants’

August, 2023

Upon formalizing a Flexible Engine reselling partnership with Orange Business, your organization gains the ability to independently generate new Flexible Engine domains for your customers. This encompasses complimentary limited domains, as well as billable domains. This eliminates the necessity for Orange Business intervention in executing these operations.

Multi-tenants management : selfcare tenant termination

May, 2022

For organizations that need to manage several Flexible Engine domains, like large companies or Orange partners or resellers, the “partner login” of the Cloud Customer Space is a well-adapted feature allowing you to manage these domains. With a “partner login” you can for example create new Flexible Engine domains from the Cloud Customer Space. It is now possible to terminate these domains as well.

[PFS] Parallel File System available in Paris and Amsterdam

February, 2022

Parallel File System (PFS), a sub-product of Object Storage Service (OBS), is a high-performance file system, with access latency in milliseconds. PFS can support a bandwidth performance up to the TB/s level and supports millions of input/output operations per second (IOPS), which makes it ideal for processing high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.

[IEF] Intelligent Edge Fabric launched in Beta Mode

February, 2022

Cloud computing capabilities are centralized, which are far from devices such as cameras and sensors. It causes long network latency, network congestion, and service quality deterioration in scenarios where high real-time computing performance is required. Furthermore, the computing capabilities of devices are insufficient and far behind those in the cloud. This is where edge computing comes in. By deploying edge nodes near devices, the computing capabilities in the cloud are extended to the edge nodes.

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) route table : possibility to add, modify and delete system routes

January, 2022

For customers who want to host on Flexible Engine security appliances like Stormshield, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point to filter east-west traffic (Between VPC, Between VPC and on premises) and south-north traffic, it is now possible to add, modify and delete system routes (i.e. routes to Direct Connect gateway or routes to VPN gateway) through the FE technical console.

The possibility to manipulate Route Table through API will be available during 3rd Quarter 2022.

Flexible Engine is expanding its reach in Europe and changing its strategy in the United States

January, 2022

The Atlanta region will no longer be supported by Flexible Engine starting July 30^th, 2022. However, we are pursuing our expansion into Europe to continue to deliver the full richness of our Flexible Engine offer by proposing an alternative solution based on our multi-cloud expertise.

Most Flexible Engine users choose to deploy their resources in the Paris and Amsterdam region. In comparison, only a few multinationals customers are using the Atlanta region, mainly as a satellite for small workloads since most of their activities are based in Europe, which is closer to their headquarters. Overall, customer demand is lower in the United States than expected which does not justify further expansion.

Object Storage Service (OBS) supports cross-region replication

January, 2022

Cross-region replication provides a solution for disaster recovery across regions, allowing users to set up a remote backup solution.

Cross-region replication refers to the process of automatically and asynchronously replicating data from a bucket (source bucket) to another bucket (destination bucket) across regions by creating a cross-region replication rule. The source bucket and destination bucket must belong to the same account. Replication across accounts is not supported.

For a cross-region replication rule, users can configure it to match a pre-defined object prefix so that all objects with this prefix will be replicated. Alternatively, they can configure the rule to apply to the whole bucket so that all objects in the bucket will be replicated. Objects replicated to the destination bucket are precise copies of objects in the source bucket. They have the same object names, metadata, content, size, last modification time, creator, version ID, user-defined metadata, and ACLs. By default, the storage class of an object copy is the same as that of the source object. Users can also specify a different storage class for an object copy.

Object Storage Resiliency over 3 AZ is now available in Amsterdam region.

January, 2022

OBS 3.0 (DFV, Data functions virtualization) is a new generation of OBS. Compared to OBS 2.0, its hardware and software architectures have been optimized for large-scale distributed object storage. All functions and interfaces remain unchanged.

There is no impact on existing solutions and customers’ architectures:

Buckets created in OBS mono AZ stays unchanged
No possibility to have a bucket change technology between mono AZ and multi-AZ
Price between mono and multi AZ OBS is unchanged. It is hence highly recommended to customers to prefer multi AZ OBS (higher resiliency)

Cloud Backup and Recovery (CBR) now available in Amsterdam

January, 2022

Cloud Backup and Recovery (CBR) is the new all in one backup solution of Flexible Engine and is now available in Amsterdam.

It will replace VBS (Volume Backup Service) and CSBS (Cloud Server Backup Service).

Therefore, it is highly advised to use CBR from now on to setup your backup policies.

Cloud Backup and Recovery allows users to back up cloud disks, elastic cloud servers (referred to as servers). If there is a virus intrusion, accidental deletion, or software or hardware fault, data can be restored to any point in the past when the data was backed up.

CBR protects your services by ensuring the security and accuracy of your data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

January, 2022

Web Application Firewall (WAF) keeps web services stable and secure. It examines all HTTP and HTTPS requests to detect and block the following attacks: Structured Query Language (SQL) injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), web shells, command and code injections, file inclusion, sensitive file access, third-party vulnerability exploits, Challenge Collapsar (CC) attacks, malicious crawlers, and cross-site request forgery (CSRF).

You can add either domain names or IP addresses to WAF.

WAF makes it easier for you to handle web security risks.

Multi-tenants management: extra features

January, 2022

On request, OBS provides you a “partner login” to allow your teams manage your multiple tenants.

A number of features already exist to help you manage several tenants :

Transversal access in the Cloud Customer Space : read-only access in the Cloud Customer Space, to all your Flexible Engine tenants – no access to the technical console of your domains.

Online tenant creation : an option of the “partner login” allows you to create new tenants

Access to the Administration portal : list of your tenants, users, “partner logins”, orders.

Changes for Windows Servers licenses (BMS, DeH, ECS, RDS)

December, 2021

Microsoft has announced new pricing plans for its Business and Enterprise products and licenses. In view of this increase, Flexible Engine will be adjusting its prices for the services Bare Metal Server (BMS), Elastic Cloud Server (ECS), Dedicated Host (DeH), Relational Database Service (RDS). These new prices will take effect on the 1^st of January 2022.

Key takeaways:

The increase of costs on Windows Servers licenses will lead to an increase of 3% on average on RDS mSQL Standard and 1,5% on msSQL Entreprise
On average the instances using Windows server licenses will increase prices by 17%

Elastic Cloud Server introduces a price capping at 650 hours for Windows licences used during a full month

September, 2021

Elastic Cloud Server (ECS) is Flexible Engine’s virtual machine service based on Openstack which offers a wide choice of flavors designed to run your workloads on highly performant instances at the best price.

ECS has receive the following updates:

We are introducing this month a price reduction to the windows licenses on ECS instances. If an instance using a Windows Server Operating System (OS) is powered on more than 650 hours during a month, the cost of the windows license will be capped to 650 hours. For ECS, Windows license is billed at the granularity of the hour. The maximum number of hours billed during the month will thus be decreased from 730 hours to 650 hours.

Multi-tenants management : selfcare tenant creation

September, 2021

Because you manage large or complex infrastructures your organization might need several Flexible Engine tenants, in order to have your own process simplified (costs management, user management, support management, responsibilities over production resources etc). A number of features already exist to help you manage several tenants, the last one is the ability for all our customers to create their new tenants online.

Data Replication Service for MySQL Server & PostgreSQL Server

March 12, 2021

Data Replication Service (DRS) helps you migrate databases online and synchronize data in real time. It is stable, efficient, cost-effective, and easy to use.
It simplifies data migration processes and reduces migration costs.

You can use DRS to quickly transmit data between databases in various scenarios, the main functionality is the online migration of MySQL and Oracle Databases to or from our Cloud solution.

RDS Update: Support for PostgreSQL enhancement

January 8, 2021

Relational Database Service (RDS) is Flexible Engine’s database management service. You can find more information regarding RDS here, and DDS technical documentation here.

Feature Description

PostgreSQL Enhanced Edition is a PostgreSQL-based database service that provides user experience close to the Oracle Database 12c and retains all PostgreSQL functionalities.
This new PostgreSQL version includes system views, PL/SQL, data types, SQL syntax, and null value processing….

CCE Update: Kubernetes 1.17

December 15, 2020

Support for Kubernetes 1.17.9 has been added.

CCE supports hybrid cluster creation by using Kubernetes 1.17.9 version.
EulerOS 2.5 and CentOs 7.7 are also supported as node Operating System.

Kubernetes 1.17 support SFS Turbo Attachment

SFS Turbo offers by demand, fast supply, flexible expansion, convenience and flexibility，it’s suitable for：DevOps，Container microservices，corporate office…

New Feature: Scalable File Service Turbo

July 15, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Scalable File Service (SFS) is a network attached storage (NAS) service that provides scalable high-performance file storage. SFS Turbo is an exclusive cloud file service provided by Flexible Engine. This service type is catered for enterprise NAS service scenarios, providing file services with QoS isolation. It features high availability and durability to support massive small files and applications requiring low latency and high IOPS…

New Feature: VPC Flow Log, now available in all regions

July 15, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Virtual Private Cloud Flow Logs are now available for all Flexible Engine regions. A VPC flow log records information about the traffic going to and from a VPC. VPC flow logs help you monitor network traffic, analyze network attacks, and determine whether security group and network ACL rules require modification. This feature is accessed through the Virtual Private Cloud interface on the Flexible Engine Console…

Relational Database Service update: Now available on Paris 3rd AZ

June 16, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Relational Database Service is now available on the Paris region’s 3rd availability zone Eu-west-0c. This update allows you to make use of further optimised distributed database architectures. In order to create a new database instance within the new AZ (eu-west-0c), simply access your Flexible Engine technical console, and choose Relational Database Service…

Document Database Service update: MongoDB 4.0 support

June 15, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Document Database Service (DDS) is a cloud computing-based NoSQL database. The latest stable version of the database engine, MongoDB 4.0 is now supported. With this upgrade, MongoDB 3.4 version is no longer supported. In order to create a new DDS instance with MongoDB 4.0 version, simply access your Flexible Engine technical console, and choose Document Database Service…

Relational Database Service update: MySQL 8 support

June 15, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note MySQL is an object-relational database management system. The latest stable version of datebase engine, MySQL 8, is now live for Relational Database Service. MySQL 8 is available in the Relational Database Service. Sign in to the Flexible Engine Management Console, select MySQL, then the 8 version for DB engine version in Relational Database Service…

New Feature: API Gateway

June 5, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note API Gateway is a high-performance, high-availability, and high-security API hosting service that helps enterprises build, manage, and deploy Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) at any scale. This microservice catalog facility provided to the customer. Create, publish and monitor APIs working as front doors to Applications while minimizing costs and risks…

Scalable File Service update: SFS Turbo

May 28, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Scalable File Service Turbo is an exclusive cloud file service provided by Flexible Engine. This service type is catered for enterprise NAS service scenarios, providing file services with QoS isolation, low latency, and high IOPS. More information on SFS Turbo is available here. SFS Turbo features: Flexible interconnection: supports interconnection based on ECS and EVS, deploy as requirement…

New feature: Direct Connect Premium

May 25, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Direct Connect is a Flexible Engine service that allows you to connect your internal private network to a Flexible Engine Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). To do that, you have 2 possibilities: Dedicated connections: You can deploy your own network routers on Flexible Engine Direct Connect locations and connect your routers to Flexible Engine direct connect routers…

RDS Update: TDE encryption for MsSQL

May 20, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), on MsSQL Server is an encryption tool suited for Mircrosoft database. The feature will help you to encrypt data files and backup files using certificates to implement real-time I/O encryption and decryption on the database user. TDE for MsSQL is available in the Relational Database Service…

Distributed cache service update: redis 4.0, 5.0 and more

May 11, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Flexible Engine’s Distributed Cache Service (DCS) in Paris has recieved a major update. DCS is a reliable and scalable Redis cache service fully hosted on Flexible Engine. With distributed technology, DCS supports large-scale, highly-concurrent accesses. Users are now able to upgrade to use this service with the most up-to-date versions of Redis: Redis 4.0 and 5.0. DCS includes a management console…

3rd Availability Zone now available in Paris

April 27, 2020

Flexible Engine / Release note Flexible Engine’s Paris region now supports a third availability zone or AZ. This major update will enhance the resiliency of the platform and any architecture that takes advantage of this new capability. This third availability zone will allow you to: Create and deploy cloud resources within this third availability zone. Distribute your services across multiple availability zones…

VPC Update: VPC flow log for c3 ,cc3 and p2 computing flavors

April 15, 2020

VPC Flow Logs Flexible Engine / Fonctionnalités / Update The Virtual Private Cloud service on Flexible Engine has been updated to support VPC Flow Logs, that capture traffic information which is then viewable through the Log Tank Service. New Feature VPC Flow Log Feature description Flow Log is a feature that allows you to capture information about the IP traffic going to and from network interfaces…

CTS Update: Key event notification

April 15, 2020

Cloud Trace Service Flexible Engine / Fonctionnalités / Update Flexible Engine’s Cloud Trace Service has been updated to support Key Event Notifications through the Simple Message Notification service. New Feature Cloud Trace Service Feature description Domain administrator scan configure the key event notification function on Cloud Trace Service (CTS). When a specified operation is performed, a notification is sent to specified users through the Simple Message Notification (SMN) service…

Workspace update: s3 flavor based workspace instances

April 15, 2020

Workspace Flexible Engine / Fonctionnalités / Update Up until today, Workspace in Paris used XEN hypervisor flavors (s1 and c2) to create general desktops. As of this update, Workspace will make use of the KVM hypervisor flavor s3 to create desktops. In order to preserve consistency, the naming of the flavors shown in the Workspace console will not change…