Version 10.2 provides new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.
For Release Notes documents that accompanied previous 10.x releases, visit the PlateSpin Protect 10 Documentation Web Site and go to Previous Releases at the bottom of the main TOC page.
English-language documentation and the integrated WebHelp system accompanying this release have been localized for the following languages: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Tranditional, Japanese, German, and French. Note that the English-language documentation at the PlateSpin Protect 10 Documentation Web site should be considered the most-up-to-date version.
Support for VMware vSphere 5.0: This release supports vSphere 5.0 and vSphere 5.0 Update 1; you can now select a vSphere 5.0 DRS Cluster or an ESXi 5.0 Server as your protection container.
See the full Supported Configurations section in your User Guide.
Additional ISO Image Leveraging WinPE 3.0: This release includes an additional ISO image (WindowsFailback-WinPE3.iso) for booting physical machines during failback. The new image leverages Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) version 3.0; use it when your target hardware is not supported by the existing boot ISO image (WindowsFailback.iso).
See the updated Boot ISO Images for Target Physical Machines in your User Guide.
Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2: This release supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 as a database engine required by PlateSpin Protect (support continues for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition continues to ship with the product).
Uniform .NET Framework Requirement for Windows Workloads: Windows workloads that you intend to protect must have Microsoft .NET Framework version 2 or 3.5 SP1 installed before being inventoried by PlateSpin Protect.
Simple URL for pointing failback physical machine to PlateSpin Server: When using an ISO image to boot a physical machine as a failback target, it is now sufficient to specify only the hostname or IP address of the PlateSpin Server host (instead of typing http://<hostname_OR_ IP_address>/platespinprotect).
Discontinued Containers: Support has been discontinued for VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5 and 4.0. You will need to upgrade your VM containers to VMware ESX/ESXi 4.1 or ESXi 5 before upgrading to Protect 10.2.
See the full Supported Configurations section in your User Guide.
Imaging: Workload image protection (using a designated PlateSpin Image Server) has been discontinued in PlateSpin Protect 10.2. If you require this functionality, you should not upgrade to this release. Continue to use PlateSpin Protect 10.1.
See Upgrading PlateSpin Protect in your Installation and Upgrade Guide.
Upgrading from Portability Suite: Upgrading is no longer supported from 8.x (Portability Suite) versions of PlateSpin Protect. If you need to upgrade from an 8.x installation, first upgrade to either 10.0 or 10.1, then immediately upgrade to 10.2.
Version 10.2 addresses the following bugs:
722096 Failover VM info removed from inventory upon refreshing container: Occasionally, when the PlateSpin Server was unable to properly retrieve information from a container, a Refresh Container operation might result in the removal of information about the failover VM, negatively impacting the protection contract and failover functionality.
697049 Protection contract broken after vNIC's MAC address change: After setting up a protection contract, changing the MAC address of the failover VM’s virtual network adapter (either manually or automatically by the hypervisor) impaired the contract.
672815 Unable to start initial full replication due to missing vNIC-to-vNetwork mapping: In some situations during the Prepare Replication operation, a container refresh might interfere with the collection of inventory information about a newly created failover VM, impacting its network mapping and impairing the replication.
736280 Erroneous localhost.localdomain hostname in Linux failback: On failback, if the target hostname was set to No Change, the workload was assigned a localhost.localdomain hostname.
736280 Host drive letter mismatch causing installation failure: When installing the product in an environment, where the Microsoft SQL Server is on a remote host, a mismatch between the drive letters on that host and the drive letters on the PlateSpin Server host resulted in installation failure.
756454 (vSphere 5) Recovery points are stored in the same datastore as the target virtual machines’ VMDK files: When protecting a workload to a vSphere 5 DRS Cluster or ESXi Server container, indicating a location only determines the storage location of the failover VMs’ .VMX file, but not the storage location of Recovery Point snapshots. This might result in inaccurate free space calculation, impacting validation.
For further information, see KB Article 7005494.
737715 Unable relocate failover VM using Storage vMotion: In some circumstances, where your protection container is a VMware DRS Cluster in vSphere 5 and the initial replica of the workload is created incrementally, Storage vMotion might be unable to relocate the failover VM’s disk files across shared storage locations.
Workarounds: To work around the issue, use one of the following:
Use the VMware vSphere Client to unregister and re-register the failover VM, then attempt to relocate the VM using Storage vMotion.
- OR -
Apply the VMware ESXi 5.0 Patch ESXi500-201109401-BG, which addresses an underlying issue. Reboot the host (required), then attempt to relocate the VM using Storage vMotion.
For further technical information about the issue, see VMware Knowledge Base article 2005740.
737057, 736959 (vSphere 5 Storage DRS) Missing target datastore or inaccurate volume-to-datastore map: When viewing or editing a workload protection contract, the volume-to-datastore map might be inaccurate. The target datastore might be reported as missing in the PlateSpin Protect Web Interface, which might in turn report a validation error. In most cases this is the result of moving a VM to a different datastore in the vSphere 5 Storage DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) system of the vSphere 5 platform.
Workaround: In most cases, the issue has no functional impact on the protection contract. However, manually renaming a datastore before the first successful replication might render the protection contract unusable. Avoid manipulating the failover VM or its underlying DRS structure to preserve the integrity of your protection contract.
595490 Preserving boot partition on failback causes failback to stall: In some failback scenarios, the system improperly allows you to preserve an active (or boot) partition on the target, preventing the target from booting properly. This issue is under investigation.
Workaround: In Failback Details, do not opt to preserve any boot partitions on the target.
702152 Protection over a WAN takes a long time if VM container has a large number of datastores: Under some circumstances the process of locating the appropriate ISO image required for booting the target might take longer than expected. This might happen when your PlateSpin Protect Server is connected to the VM container over a WAN and your VM container has a large number of datastores. This issue is under investigation.
698611 Full cluster replication failure under certain circumstances: If a Windows 2008 R2 Cluster protection contract is set up through the sync to an existing VM method, and if the active cluster node flips prior to the full replication, the full replication job fails.
See KB Article 7008771.
686911 Problems with file downloads from or uploads to datastore: Under certain conditions, where the protection target is a VMware DRS Cluster, the system might fail to upload or download a file, such as a boot ISO image. This negatively impacts a protection contract.
See KB Article 7008306.
655828 Failure to mount NSS volumes: Upon failover or test failover, NSS volumes with snapshots enabled are not automatically mounted as expected.
See KB Article 7008773.
638392 ESX 4.1: Direct host discovery results in missing VM port groups if dvSwitch port groups share the same name.
Workaround: Ensure that port group names are unique.
680259 (VMware 4.1) Poor networking performance by traffic-forwarding VMs: In some scenarios, the replica of a workload that is forwarding network traffic (for example, if the workload’s purpose is to serve as a network bridge for NAT, VPN, or a firewall) might show significant network performance degradation. This is related to a problem with VMXNET 2 and VMXNET 3 adapters that have LRO (large receive offload) enabled.
Workaround: Disable LRO on the virtual network adapter. For details, see the VMware vSphere 4.1 Release Notes. Sscroll down to the bulleted item Poor TCP performance....
No software RAID support for Linux workloads: PlateSpin Protect does not support Linux workloads with volumes on software RAID.
590635 Inconsistent failover results after upgrading: Following an upgrade to PlateSpin Protect, a failover operation might fail to complete or might not apply the correct failover parameters, such as the proper hostname and workgroup settings.
Workaround: Before performing a failover, run a replication.
581860 Browser exception in the Chinese edition of the product: Attempting to connect to the PlateSpin Protect Server with a browser that does not have a specific version of Chinese added might result in Web server errors. For correct operation, use your browser’s configuration settings to add a specific Chinese language (for example, Chinese [zh-cn] or Chinese [zh-tw]). Do not use the culture-neutral Chinese [zh] language.
610918 Unresponsive Expand and Collapse icons in integrated help: On some systems with enhanced browser security settings (such as Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Server 2008), the Expand and Collapse icons (+ and -) in the Table of Contents might fail to work. To fix the issue, enable JavaScript in your browser:
Internet Explorer: Click tab > zone > , then select the option for the feature.
Firefox: Click tab, then select the option.
558937 Failure of block-level replications that use VSS (Windows): If you are using third-party VSS-based backup software, block-level replications might occasionally fail.
Workaround: Use blackout windows (see “Protection Tiers” in your User Guide).
Novell, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents or use of this documentation, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Novell, Inc. reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes to its content, at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes.
Further, Novell, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to any software, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Novell, Inc. reserves the right to make changes to any and all parts of Novell software, at any time, without any obligation to notify any person or entity of such changes.
Any products or technical information provided under this Agreement may be subject to U.S. export controls and the trade laws of other countries. You agree to comply with all export control regulations and to obtain any required licenses or classification to export, re-export, or import deliverables. You agree not to export or re-export to entities on the current U.S. export exclusion lists or to any embargoed or terrorist countries as specified in the U.S. export laws. You agree to not use deliverables for prohibited nuclear, missile, or chemical biological weaponry end uses. Please refer to the Novell International Trade Services Web page for more information on exporting Novell software. Novell assumes no responsibility for your failure to obtain any necessary export approvals.
Copyright © 2012 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted without the express written consent of the publisher.
For Novell trademarks, see the Novell Trademark and Service Mark list.
All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.