Server Backup 5.2.1 Release Notes

Important Upgrade Considerations Component upgrade order For Server Backup 5.2.x, you must upgrade Server Backup Manager before upgrading the Agent. Failure to follow this procedure may result in failed backups.

Initial merge speed Initial merges after an upgrade may be slow. The issue is due to calculations and identification of what needs to be merged. Once the calculations are complete, the actual merge process is relatively quick. We are aware of this issue and we are working toward a resolution.

Upgrading Backup Agent on Linux Some manual steps may be required when upgrading the Backup Agent on Linux. See: Upgrade Backup Agent on CentOS, RHE and Fedora Upgrade Backup Agent on Debian and Ubuntu Read special instructions for upgrading from 5.0.0 or 5.0.1  When upgrading from Backup Agent version 5.0.0 or 5.0.1, we suggest you perform the following manual steps before the upgrade: 1. Type this command to terminate all cdp-2-6 agent processes: ps ax | egrep -i c[d]p | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kill -9 Verify that there are no running or defunct cdp-2-6 processes by running: ps ax | egrep –i c[d]p 2. Proceed with the upgrade: For Centos/RHEL/rpm-based: yum update Or: yum install serverbackup-enterprise-agent For Debian/Ubuntu/apt-based: apt-get update followed by apt-get upgrade Or: apt-get install serverbackup-enterprise-agent 3. Start the new Server Backup Agent: For Centos/RHEL/rpm-based: service cdp-agent start For Debian/Ubuntu/apt-based: /etc/init.d/cdp-agent start To verify the 5.0.2 Agent is running, run the following command: egrep "Agent Version|Starting" /usr/sbin/r1soft/log/cdp.log | tail -n2

NEW FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THIS RELEASE

Limited Support for Parallels Cloud Server 6.0

Server Backup now provides limited support the latest in Parallels virtualization technology. Idera provides limited support because the Linux kernel module that provides full support is available only in Beta form.

Special Note for Parallels Cloud Server 6 Customers Please, contact technical support for the updated Linux kernel module by logging into our customer support portal.

The New "Add Server" Wizard

The "Add Server" wizard makes adding a new server to be backed up super easy!  With just a few clicks, the "Add Server" wizard will create the new server's Disk Safe and Policy, and if necessary will even create a Volume as well. Read more in Add a server automatically.

Remote Backup Agent Deployment

A new "Remote Agent" feature remotely installs the Backup Agent on any server Windows Server 2008 or higher. As part of the "Add Server" wizard, this means you can deploy, configure, and back up a new server in a matter of minutes. Read more in Deploy Backup Agent on Windows from Backup Manager.

Disk Safe Verification

Disk Safe Verification ensures that your Disk Safes remain intact and ready for any data restore requests. Schedule the Disk Safe Verification (DSV) tasks according to your verification requirements and then sit back, relax, and know that your data is safe. Read more in Schedule Disk Safe verification, Run disk safe verification.

Improved Dashboard Layout

The improved Server Backup Dashboard provides a simple, useful view of your backup environment, at a glance. Read more in Use Server Backup Manager Dashboard.

Restore API

The new version allows you to restore using the API. Now you can initiate the restore of one or more files programmatically through the Server Backup API.

FIXED ISSUES

General

• This release fixes an issue causing the user to receive the message, “ERROR: Could not create CPD FC cache.” Some users received this message because specific mount point options disable the ability for O_DIRECT to properly open the necessary files.
• Users on kernel modules prior to 4.4.0-18332 experienced some servers to crash minutes after starting a backup. This issue no longer occurs in the current module version.
• The Backup Agent no longer fails on Linux systems when accessing dmidecode.
• Users creating a Disk Safe no longer receive an error when the first 10 characters of the Disk Safe are the same as other existing Disk Safes.
• An issue causing a failure when discovering an MSSQL instance for a backup no longer occurs. This issue did not occur after selecting to backup all databases but rather when the user attempted to discover the instance for backup and then run the policy.
• An issue causing some servers to hang when browsing a directory from a recovery point with a different location no longer occurs.
• This release includes an updated driver that fixes an issue causing the Backup Agent to create numerous hidden files when running a backup. These files caused multiple partitions to run out of space and unnecessarily increased load on the device.
• Archive and merge policy tasks no longer fail after attaching or detaching a disk safe. This issue also occurred when the user moved the disk safe to another location and attempted to re-attach to the disk safe.
  NOTE: Archive and merge tasks are valid only when attaching or detaching a disk safe on the same Server Backup Manager.

XEN Users

• Xen users no longer experience an issue causing replication to fail when it could not locate certain devices.

EMC Powerpath Users

• EMC Powerpath users no longer experience backup failures due to a duplicate UUID on the EMC Powerpath device.

API Users

• API users no longer experience an issue when updating an existing policy that contains an empty Description field. Users now can update a policy without providing detail in the Description field.
• API users now receive all the correct detail when using the API to control Microsoft Exchange and MSSQL policy settings.

KNOWN ISSUES

Notice For Server Backup 5.2.x, you must upgrade Server Backup Manager before upgrading the Agent. Failure to follow this procedure may result in failed backups.

• Users upgrading Server Backup Agent before upgrading Server Backup Manager may experience failed backups if:
  - the device path is greater than 255 characters in length, or
  - device is mounted more than once, causing the total device paths to be greater than 255 characters.
  If your backups fail after upgrading, and you believe this issue may be the cause, check your logs for the following error message:
  2013-05-01 15:13:58,500 ERROR  - A truncation error was encountered trying to shrink VARCHAR () FOR BIT DATA '(Binary data value not displayed)' to length 255.
  If you see the above message in your log, upgrade Backup Manager to version 5.2.1.
• Users who experience issues when attempting to browse recovery points after upgrading their Backup Agent to 5.2.1 can resolve this issue by upgrading Backup Manager to version 5.2.1.
• Users who have more than 1,500 mount points per device may experience performance issues during a file restore or when attempting to browse recovery and archive points.
• Server Backup 5.2.x does not support remote deployment to a Windows 2003 server because installing drivers requires user interaction.
• If you are running Cloud Server 6.0 but not running the beta kernel module, you may experience an issue where Server Backup does not back up Ploop devices that have major/minor version numbers larger than 255 characters.  An error is logged in the backup policy if this situation occurs.
• Parallels Cloud Server 6 users may notice that Virtuozzo virtual machines are not detected as devices in the Disk Safe wizard. You can back up the VM data by installing a Server Backup Agent and then attempting the backup.
• Some users may experience an unknown exception error when adding a server and attempting to display disk information. This issue results when CDP runs as a local system account which does not have rights to read the disk. You can resolve this issue by changing the process to run as an administrator.
• Disk safe verification verifies only those recovery points with an available status. DSV does not verify recovery points with a locked or incomplete status.