PlateSpin Protect 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 Protect, 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 Protect 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 Protect 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 Section 5.4, Data Transfer.
NOTE:Protection is not supported for desktop (workstation) workloads.
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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The supported clustering technologies are: Node and Disk Majority Quorum and No Majority: Disk Only Quorum models. Block-based transfer only. |
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The supported clustering technologies are: Node and Disk Majority Quorum and No Majority: Disk Only Quorum models. Block-based transfer only. |
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The supported clustering technology is: Single-Quorum Device Cluster model. Block-based transfer only. |
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Hyper-V Hosts |
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Protect a Windows server that is functioning as a Hyper-V host and its volumes. Protect the individual VMs separately. |
PlateSpin Protect supports only the NTFS file system on any supported Windows system.
For detailed information about how to protect workloads in a supported cluster, see Protecting Windows Clusters. If you have local storage on cluster nodes, see also Synchronizing Serial Numbers on Cluster Node Local Storage.
PlateSpin Protect supports French, German, Japanese, Chinese Traditional, and Chinese Simplified versions of Microsoft Windows. See Configuring Language Settings for International Versions of PlateSpin Protect.
HINT:Other international versions have limited support; updating system files could be affected in languages other than those listed above.
PlateSpin Protect 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, Protect 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 Protect behavior when protecting and failing back between UEFI and BIOS-based systems:
When you transfer a UEFI-based workload to a VMware vSphere 4.x container (which does not support UEFI), Protect transitions the workload’s UEFI firmware at failover time to BIOS firmware. Then, when failback is selected on a UEFI-based physical machine, Protect reverses the firmware transition from BIOS to UEFI.
If you attempt to failback a protected Windows 2003 workload to a UEFI-based physical machine, Protect analyzes the choice and notifies you that it is not valid. That is, the firmware transition from BIOS to UEFI is not supported because Windows 2003 does not support the UEFI boot mode.
When you protect a UEFI-based source on a BIOS-based target, Protect 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.
In addition to the MBR partitioning scheme, PlateSpin Protect supports the GPT partitioning of disks for Windows workloads. Full replication is supported for 57 or fewer partitions or volumes on a single disk.
Ensure that you update Windows (Windows Update) on your source system before you run the first full replication. If the Windows machine is a Domain Controller, ensure that you also disable anti-virus software on the system during the replication.
PlateSpin Protect 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 Protect for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for RHEL distributions. |
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See Linux Distributions Supported by Protect 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 Protect supports workloads for an OES 2 or OES 11 version if it is based on a supported SLES distribution, except as noted. See Linux Distributions Supported by Protect 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 Protect supports workloads for an OEL version if it is based on a supported RHEL distribution, except as noted. See Linux Distributions Supported by Protect 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 Protect supports workloads for a CentOS version if it is based on a supported RHEL distribution. See Linux Distributions Supported by Protect for a list of supported Linux kernel versions and architectures for RHEL distributions. |
PlateSpin Protect 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 Protect provides support for the UEFI and BIOS firmware interfaces.
In addition to the MBR partitioning scheme, PlateSpin Protect supports 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 workload in requires a blkwatch driver that is compiled for the particular Linux distribution being protected. PlateSpin Protect 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 Protect.
A container is a protection infrastructure that acts as the host of a protected workload’s regularly updated and bootable virtual replica. That infrastructure can be either a VMware ESXi Server or a VMware DRS Cluster.
Table 1-3 Platforms Supported as VM Containers
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Container |
Notes |
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VMware ESXi 6.0 |
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VMware ESXi 5.5 (GA2, Update 2) |
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VMware ESXi 5.1 (GA2, Update 2) |
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VMware ESXi 4.1 (GA2, Update 3) |
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NOTE:ESXi versions must have a paid license; protection is unsupported with these systems if they are operating with a free license.
In addition, PlateSpin Protect supports multi-tenancy in VMware. Multiple Protect servers can share the same VMware cluster backend. See Setting Up Protect Multitenancy on VMware.
PlateSpin Protect supports the UEFI and BIOS firmware interfaces.
On Windows systems, PlateSpin Protect 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 Protect supports only 57 or fewer GPT partitions per disk.
PlateSpin Protect supports several types of storage, including basic disks, Windows dynamic disks, LVM (version 2 only), RAID, and SAN.
For Linux workloads, PlateSpin Protect 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 11 workloads) Novell Linux Volume Management (NLVM) layout of source workloads are preserved and re-created in the VM container. NSS pools are copied from the source to the recovery VM.
(OES 2 workloads) EVMS layouts of source workloads are preserved and re-created in the VM container. 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 Protect 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 Protect Web Interface and integrated help in one of the supported languages, see Configuring Language Settings for International Versions of PlateSpin Protect.