PlateSpin Forge supports server workloads for protection of most major versions of the Microsoft Windows, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems. It also supports selected versions of Novell Open Enterprise Server, Oracle Enterprise Linux, and CentOS operating systems.
This section describes all of the platform configurations supported by PlateSpin Forge, as well as the software, hardware, and virtualization environments that are required for workload protection and recovery. Some configurations, as noted, require special handling for workload setup and recovery. Ensure that you review the referenced information elsewhere in the online documentation or Knowledgebase Articles before you attempt to set up the workload.
NOTE:Although configurations not mentioned here are not supported, many of the improvements we make to PlateSpin Forge will be in direct response to suggestions from our customers. You can help us ensure our product meets all your needs. If you are interested in a platform configuration not listed, please contact Technical Support. We value your input and look forward to hearing from you.
PlateSpin Forge supports workloads for most Microsoft Windows versions. For a list of supported Windows versions, see Table 1-1.
Both file-level and block-level replications are supported, with certain restrictions. See Data Transfer.
Table 1-1 Supported Windows Workloads
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Operating System |
Notes |
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Servers |
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Includes domain controllers (DC) and Small Business Server (SBS) editions. For information about conversion of Active Directory domain controllers, see Knowledgebase Article 7920501. |
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Includes domain controllers (DC) and Small Business Server (SBS) editions. For information about conversion of Active Directory domain controllers, see Knowledgebase Article 7920501. |
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Windows 2003 requires SP1 or higher for Block-based replication. |
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Clusters |
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Block-based transfer only. |
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Block-based transfer only. |
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Hyper-V Hosts |
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Protects the host server as the workload. Protect the individual VMs separately. |
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Desktops |
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WARNING:You must select the High Performance power plan on the Windows 8 source so that the workload failover and failback function correctly. To configure this power plan from the Windows Control Panel:
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Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions only. |
PlateSpin Forge supports only the NTFS file system on any supported Windows system.
For detailed information about how to protect workloads in a cluster, see Protecting Windows Clusters.
PlateSpin Forge supports French, German, Japanese, Chinese Traditional, and Chinese Simplified versions of Microsoft Windows. See Language Setup for International Versions of PlateSpin Forge.
HINT:Other international versions have limited support: updating system files could be affected in languages other than those listed above.
PlateSpin Forge mirrors the Microsoft support of UEFI or BIOS-based Windows workloads. It transfers workloads (both Block and File transfers are supported) from source to target while enforcing the supported firmware for the respective source and target operating systems. It does the same for the failback to a physical machine. When any transition (failover and failback) between UEFI and BIOS systems are initiated, Forge analyzes the transition and alerts you about its validity.
NOTE:If you are protecting a UEFI-based workload and you want to continue using the same firmware boot mode throughout the protected workload lifecycle, you need to target a vSphere 5.0 container or newer.
The following are examples of Forge behavior when protecting and failing back between UEFI and BIOS-based systems:
When transferring a UEFI-based workload to a VMware vSphere 4.x container (which does not support UEFI), Forge transitions the workload’s UEFI firmware at failover time to BIOS firmware. Then, when failback is selected on a UEFI-based physical machine, Forge reverses the firmware transition from BIOS to UEFI.
If you attempt to failback a protected Windows 2003 workload to a UEFI-based physical machine, Forge analyzes the choice and notifies you that it is not valid (that is, the firmware transition from BIOS to UEFI is not supported – Windows 2003 does not support the UEFI boot mode).
When protecting a UEFI-based source on a BIOS-based target, Forge migrates the UEFI system’s boot disks, which were GPT, to MBR disks. Failing back this BIOS workload to a UEFI-based physical machine converts the boot disks back to GPT.
PlateSpin Forge provides support for the GPT partitioning of disks for Windows workloads. Full replication is supported for 57 or fewer partitions or volumes on a single disk.
PlateSpin Forge supports a number of Linux distributions. For a list of supported Linux operating systems, see Table 1-2.
Replication of protected Linux workloads occurs only at the block level. See Requirement for a blkwatch Driver.
Table 1-2 Supported Linux Workloads
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Operating System |
Notes |
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Servers |
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See Linux Distributions Supported by Forge for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for RHEL distributions. |
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See Linux Distributions Supported by Forge for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for SLES distributions. NOTE:Kernel version 3.0.13 of SLES 11 SP3 is not supported. Upgrade to kernel version 3.0.27 or later before you inventory the workload. |
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PlateSpin Forge supports workloads for an OES 11 SPx version if it is based on a supported SLES distribution, except as noted. See Linux Distributions Supported by Forge for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for SLES distributions. NOTE:The default kernel version 3.0.13 of OES 11 SP2 is not supported. Upgrade to kernel version 3.0.27 or later before you inventory the workload. |
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Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) |
PlateSpin Forge supports workloads for an OEL version if it is based on a supported RHEL distribution, except as noted. See Linux Distributions Supported by Forge for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for RHEL distributions. NOTE:Workloads using the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel are not supported. |
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PlateSpin Forge supports workloads for a CentOS version if it is based on a supported RHEL distribution. See Linux Distributions Supported by Forge for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for RHEL distributions. |
PlateSpin Forge supports EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, REISERFS, XFS, and NSS (Open Enterprise Server only) file systems, with block-based transfer only.
NOTE:Encrypted volumes of workloads on the source are decrypted in the failover VM.
PlateSpin Forge provides support for the UEFI and BIOS firmware interfaces.
PlateSpin Forge provides support for the GPT partitioning of disks for Linux workloads. Full replication is supported for 57 or fewer partitions or volumes on a single disk.
The block-based transfer of data for a Linux workloadPlateSpin Forge requires a blkwatch driver that is compiled for the particular Linux distribution being protected. PlateSpin Forge software includes pre-compiled versions of the blkwatch driver for many non-debug Linux distributions (32-bit and 64-bit). You can also create a custom driver. For more information, see Linux Distributions Supported by Forge.
PlateSpin Forge ships with VMware ESXi 5.5 GA2 Update 2 as the protection VM container.
PlateSpin Forge provides support for the UEFI and BIOS firmware interfaces.
On Windows systems, PlateSpin Forge mirrors the Microsoft support of UEFI. For more information see Workload Firmware (UEFI and BIOS) Support in Supported Windows Workloads.
Workloads and storage for protection must be configured on disks partitioned with the MBR (Master Boot Record) or the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning scheme. Although GPT allows up to 128 partitions per single disk, PlateSpin Forge supports only 57 or fewer GPT partitions per disk.
PlateSpin Forge supports several types of storage, including basic disks, Windows dynamic disks, LVM (version 2 only), RAID, and SAN.
For Linux workloads, PlateSpin Forge provides the following additional features:
Non-volume storage, such as a swap partition that is associated with the source workload, is recreated in the failover workload.
The layout of volume groups and logical volumes is preserved so that you can re-create it during failback.
(OES 2 workloads) EVMS layouts of source workloads are preserved and re-created in the appliance host. NSS pools are copied from the source to the recovery VM.
Most of your interaction with the product takes place through the browser-based PlateSpin Forge Web Interface.
The supported browsers are:
Google Chrome, version 34.0 and later
Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 11.0 and later
Mozilla Firefox, version 29.0 and later
NOTE:JavaScript (Active Scripting) must be enabled in your browser.
To enable JavaScript:
Chrome:
From the Chrome menu, select Settings, then scroll to and click Show advanced settings.
Under Privacy, click Content Settings.
Scroll to JavaScript, then select Allow all sites to run JavaScript.
Click Done.
Firefox:
In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.
Click I’ll be careful, I promise!
In the Search bar, type javascript.enabled, then press Enter.
In the search results, view the value for the javascript.enabled parameter. If its value is false, right-click javascript.enabled and select Toggle to set its value to true.
Internet Explorer:
From the Tools menu, select Internet Options.
Select Security, then click Custom level.
Scroll to Scripting > Active scripting, then select Enable.
Click Yes at the warning dialog box, then click OK.
Click Apply > OK.
To use the PlateSpin Forge Web Interface and integrated help in one of the supported languages, see Language Setup for International Versions of PlateSpin Forge.