Hyperledger Fabric is an enterprise-grade permissioned distributed ledger framework for developing solutions and applications. Its modular and versatile design satisfies a broad range of industry use cases. It offers a unique approach to consensus that enables performance at scale while preserving privacy.
peer - Fix private data collection update during state database rebuild
The peer may panic if processing a private data collection membership update while rebuilding state database. This may happen when upgrading from v1.x to v2.x since the state database is rebuilt during the upgrade process. It may also happen upon restart if the peer has stopped while committing a block to the state database. The fix ensures that the private data collection update can be processed during state database rebuild. #4248
Fabric v2.2.12 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Alpine 3.16.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments, however for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications, in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through the normal config update flow.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
peer - Fix private data collection update during state database rebuild
The peer may panic if processing a private data collection membership update while rebuilding state database. This may happen when upgrading from v1.x to v2.x since the state database is rebuilt during the upgrade process. It may also happen upon restart if the peer has stopped while committing a block to the state database. The fix ensures that the private data collection update can be processed during state database rebuild. #4246
Fabric v2.5.2 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Ubuntu 20.04.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments; however, for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in the peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications; in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through channel configuration updates.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node, and not gossip blocks, by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Add go binary to fabric-tools docker image
Since the docker images are based on ubuntu rather than golang alpine image starting in v2.5, the go binary did not exist on the fabric-tools image as it did in prior releases. This change re-adds the go binary to the fabric-tools image, which is required if using the fabric-tools image to build and package go chaincodes. #4177
Fabric v2.5.1 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Ubuntu 20.04.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments; however, for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in the peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications; in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through channel configuration updates.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node, and not gossip blocks, by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
peer - Log peer configuration upon startup
Log effective peer configuration upon startup at info level. Also log peer environment variables at debug level to help troubleshoot the source of peer config. #4122
peer and orderer - Restore support for PKCS11 MSPs that contain RSA certificate authorities
While Fabric has never supported RSA for transaction signatures or validation, certificate authorities included in MSP definitions could be associated with RSA keys. This ability was inadvertently removed during the development of release 2.0 and prevented migration of some networks to a 2.x version. v2.2.2 added toleration for RSA public keys in CA certificates for the SW MSP implementation. This change adds toleration for RSA public keys in CA certificates for the PKCS11 MSP implementation. #4128
Fabric v2.2.11 updates third party Go dependencies.
Fabric v2.2.11 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Alpine 3.16.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments, however for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications, in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through the normal config update flow.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Purge history of private data
While it has always been possible to delete private data from current state, this new feature enables purging the history of private data from a peer while preserving a hash of the private data as immutable evidence on the blockchain.
PurgePrivateData().V2_5 in channel configurationFor more details, see the Private data documentation.
Multi-architecture binaries and docker images are now available
The release binaries and docker images have been updated as follows:
Orderer configuration SendBufferSize now defaults to 100
Orderer configuration SendBufferSize default has changed from 10 to 100 to improve performance of large workloads.
Peer gateway service now supports seamless resumption of chaincode event listening
Client applications can now resume chaincode event listening after a disconnect and reconnect without receiving any duplicate or missing events. The client must specify an AfterTransactionId property in addition to a start block number when requesting chaincode events in order to ensure no duplicate or missing events are returned.
All fixes as of v2.4.9 are also included in v2.5.0.
Fabric v2.5.0 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Ubuntu 20.04.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments; however, for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in the peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications; in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through channel configuration updates.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node, and not gossip blocks, by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Purge history of private data
While it has always been possible to delete private data from current state, this new feature enables purging the history of private data from a peer while preserving a hash of the private data as immutable evidence on the blockchain.
PurgePrivateData().V2_5 in channel configurationFor more details, see the Private data documentation.
Multi-architecture binaries and docker images are now available
The release binaries and docker images have been updated as follows:
Orderer configuration SendBufferSize now defaults to 100
Orderer configuration SendBufferSize default has changed from 10 to 100 to improve performance of large workloads.
Peer gateway service now supports seamless resumption of chaincode event listening
Client applications can now resume chaincode event listening after a disconnect and reconnect without receiving any duplicate or missing events. The client must specify an AfterTransactionId property in addition to a start block number when requesting chaincode events in order to ensure no duplicate or missing events are returned.
All fixes as of v2.4.9 are also included in v2.5.0-beta2.
Fabric v2.5.0-beta2 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Ubuntu 20.04.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments; however, for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in the peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications; in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through channel configuration updates.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node, and not gossip blocks, by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Peer gateway service now uses peer local height instead of service discovery height
Peer gateway service uses ledger height to determine an endorser peer. Service discovery ledger heights can be slightly behind the actual peer ledger height. Ensure the most up-to-date information is used for the local peer by querying the ledger height directly. This avoids the possibility of a remote peer with a lower ledger height being selected as an endorser.
Peer gateway service now uses async connection to other peers and ordering service nodes
Peer gateway service now uses async connection to other peers and ordering service nodes. Prior to this change, connection issues can cause gateway service to prematurely hit its concurrency limit.
Fix for ordering service node certificate renewal when not using a system channel
It is possible to renew an ordering service node certificate without a channel configuration update by using the existing key in the certificate renewal request. However, in the scenario where there is no system channel, the ordering service node would never transition from a follower to a consenter after certificate renewal. This fix ensures that an ordering service node uses a key match rather than certificate match so that it can transition from a follower to a consenter after certificate renewal with existing key.
Fabric v2.4.9 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Alpine 3.16.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments, however for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications, in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through the normal config update flow.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node and not gossip blocks by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Fabric v2.2.10 updates third party dependencies.
Fabric v2.2.10 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Alpine 3.16.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments, however for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications, in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through the normal config update flow.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Purge history of private data
While it has always been possible to delete private data from current state, this new feature enables purging the history of private data from a peer while preserving a hash of the private data as immutable evidence on the blockchain.
PurgePrivateData().V2_5 in channel configurationFor more details, see the Private data documentation.
Multi-architecture binaries and docker images are now available
The release binaries and docker images have been updated as follows:
Orderer configuration SendBufferSize now defaults to 100
Orderer configuration SendBufferSize default has changed from 10 to 100 to improve performance of large workloads.
Peer gateway service now supports seamless resumption of chaincode event listening
Client applications can now resume chaincode event listening after a disconnect and reconnect without receiving any duplicate or missing events. The client must specify an AfterTransactionId property in addition to a start block number when requesting chaincode events in order to ensure no duplicate or missing events are returned.
All fixes as of v2.4.8 are also included in v2.5.0-beta.
Fabric v2.5.0-beta has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Ubuntu 20.04.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments; however, for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in the peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications; in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through channel configuration updates.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node, and not gossip blocks, by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.
Peer gateway service now retries failed submissions to ordering service nodes
The peer gateway service is designed to reduce the burden of client application development including delegation of error handling and retries to the peer gateway service so that client applications can focus on business functionality. When peer gateway service receives a 500 error from an ordering service node upon transaction submission, it will now retry the submission on the other ordering service nodes.
Peer gateway service broadcastTimeout for submissions to ordering service nodes
If an ordering service node didn't respond to a peer gateway service transaction submission, then the submit call would timeout without allowing other ordering nodes to be tried.
A new peer local configuration peer.gateway.broadcastTimeout has been added to specify the timeout when submitting to individual ordering service nodes before the overall submit timeout expires.
A similar configuration peer.gateway.endorsementTimeout already exists for calls to endorser peers.
Peer gateway service now applies orderer endpoint overrides
The peer local configuration in peer.deliverclient.addressOverrides allows endpoint addresses and TLS root certs for ordering nodes to be overridden.
Orderer endpoint overrides are useful when orderer nodes have been updated but a peer has not yet processed the relevant configuration transaction.
The peer gateway service now applies these overrides when connecting to orderer nodes for transaction submit.
Fabric v2.4.8 has been tested with the following dependencies:
Fabric docker images on dockerhub utilize Alpine 3.16.
Ordering service system channel is deprecated
v2.3 introduced the ability to manage an ordering service without a system channel. Managing an ordering service without a system channel has privacy, scalability, and operational benefits. The use of a system channel is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For information about removal of the system channel, see the Create a channel without system channel documentation.
FAB-15754: The 'Solo' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Solo' consensus type has always been marked non-production and should be in use only in test environments, however for compatibility it is still available, but may be removed entirely in a future release.
FAB-16408: The 'Kafka' consensus type is deprecated.
The 'Raft' consensus type was introduced in v1.4.1 and has become the preferred production consensus type. There is a documented and tested migration path from Kafka to Raft, and existing users should migrate to the newer Raft consensus type. For compatibility with existing deployments, Kafka is still supported, but may be removed entirely in a future release. Additionally, the fabric-kafka and fabric-zookeeper docker images are no longer updated, maintained, or published.
Fabric CouchDB image is deprecated
v2.2.0 added support for CouchDB 3.1.0 as the recommended and tested version of CouchDB. If prior versions are utilized, a Warning will appear in peer log. Note that CouchDB 3.1.0 requires that an admin username and password be set, while this was optional in CouchDB v2.x. See the Fabric CouchDB documentation for configuration details. Also note that CouchDB 3.1.0 default max_document_size is reduced to 8MB. Set a higher value if needed in your environment. Finally, the fabric-couchdb docker image will not be updated to v3.1.0 and will no longer be updated, maintained, or published. Users can utilize the official CouchDB docker image maintained by the Apache CouchDB project instead.
FAB-7559: Support for specifying orderer endpoints at the global level in channel configuration is deprecated.
Utilize the new 'OrdererEndpoints' stanza within the channel configuration of an organization instead. Configuring orderer endpoints at the organization level accommodates scenarios where orderers are run by different organizations. Using this configuration ensures that only the TLS CA certificates of that organization are used for orderer communications, in contrast to the global channel level endpoints which would cause an aggregation of all orderer TLS CA certificates across all orderer organizations to be used for orderer communications.
FAB-17428: Support for configtxgen flag --outputAnchorPeersUpdate is deprecated.
The --outputAnchorPeersUpdate mechanism for updating anchor peers has always had
limitations (for instance, it only works the first time anchor peers are updated).
Instead, anchor peer updates should be performed through the normal config update flow.
FAB-15406: The fabric-tools docker image is deprecated
The fabric-tools docker image will not be published in future Fabric releases. Instead of using the fabric-tools docker image, users should utilize the published Fabric binaries. The Fabric binaries can be used to make client calls to Fabric runtime components, regardless of where the Fabric components are running.
FAB-15317: Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated
Block dissemination via gossip is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Fabric peers can be configured to receive blocks directly from an ordering service node and not gossip blocks by using the following configuration:
peer.gossip.orgLeader: true
peer.gossip.useLeaderElection: false
peer.gossip.state.enabled: false
peer.deliveryclient.blockGossipEnabled: false
FAB-15061: Legacy chaincode lifecycle is deprecated
The legacy chaincode lifecycle from v1.x is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. To prepare for the eventual removal, utilize the v2.x chaincode lifecycle instead, by enabling V2_0 application capability on all channels, and redeploying all chaincodes using the v2.x lifecycle. The new chaincode lifecycle provides a more flexible and robust governance model for chaincodes. For more details see the documentation for enabling the new lifecycle.