Der Tradition folgend ein Rückblick auf 2017 – das schlimmste Jahr in der Historie von data-protector.org.

Es gab 5 neue Artikel in den ersten 2 Monaten bevor Daniel uns verlassen hat. Die mehr als 275 Artikel wurden von rund 61.000 Besuchern 150.000 mal besucht (Page Views). Der Tag mit den meisten Besuchern war der 17. Februar als die Nachricht von Daniel’s Tod veröffentlicht wurde, mehr als 1400 Personen haben an diesem Tag die Seite besucht. Die beliebtesten Artikel waren Beiträge zu Patch Bundles, Support Matrizen, wie man Data Protector Lizenzen installiert und natürlich Beiträge aus den vorangegangenen Jahren. Die beliebtesten Seiten bleiben BRICK und Downloads.

Die Zugriffe erfolgten aus 175 Ländern, vor allem aus Deutschland, USA, Indien und Brasilien gefolgt von England und Frankreich. Über 450 Besucher lassen sich automatisch über neue Artikel informieren. Die meisten Besucher finden über Google und Bing hierher, in der Regel findet man data-protector.org unter mindestens den ersten 10 Ergebnissen.

Dieses Jahr erreichte data-protector.org über 1.000.000 Page Views, alle notwendigen Updates und Anpassungen sind durchgeführt und in der nächsten Zeit werden alle fehlenden Informationen aus dem Jahr 2017 zu Patches, Data Protector 10 usw. eingepflegt werden sowie neue Artikel veröffentlicht.

Vielen Dank an alle für die Unterstützung und das Interesse.

Historie:

Das nachfolgende Bild zeigt die Historie von Data Protector 10 in Bezug auf Release Datum, Patch-Bundles und GR-Patches und wird regelmäßig aktualisiert.

Details finden sich in den jeweiligen einzelnen Artikeln, zu finden im Menü unter “Patches” – “DP A.10.00”.

Sorry, this article is not available in your language due to the fact that the following Webinar is only in German language available.

On 15/01/2018, Micro Focus has adjusted the support timeline for Data Protector 9.0x. All dates have been extended by 6 months, so the support for Data Protector 9.0x ends instead of the 06/30/2018 now on 12/31/2018.

For a quick overview all dates are visualized in the following figure.

Last update: Jan. 15, 2018

All details can be found in the Knowledge Base document KM02819523. End of Support or Discontinued information can be found on the Obsolescence & Migrations page of Micro Focus Software Support.

The Patch Bundle A.09.09 (Build 114) for Data Protector 9 has been released on March 30, 2017.

The cumulative patch can be installed on top of A.09.00 or any later Patch Bundle or General Release patch.

It is recommended to install it on all Installation Servers (IS) and the Cell Managers (CM). Then push the new packages from the IS to all Data Protector client systems to get the latest fixes into effect.

This patch can also be installed locally on Windows Data Protector client systems. In this case only components that were locally installed on the client will be updated. Linux and UNIX clients still require an Installation Server while updated packages can be extracted from the Linux or UNIX Installation server manually.

You can download the Patch Bundle from https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com after logging in using a Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account to be able to access the provided link of the release notes below.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the patch.

Major Enhancements:

• Firewall-friendly operation (reduce TCP port usage, not longer using dynamic ports between updated agents)
• Support for telemetry functionality added (Phone Home)
• Perl distribution updated to 5.24.0
• OpenSSL packages updated to 1.0.2j
• Windows Mount Proxy for Cached GRE/Power ON/Live Migrate from StoreOnce Catalyst
• Support excluding VEPA backup objects
• Support vCenter Server 6 Appliance (vCSA 6) with the default firewall configuration
• SQL Server Native Client 11.0 and TLS 1.2 support was added to the MS-SQL Integration
• EMC Data Domain Boost over FC on Solaris clients is now supported
• NDMP on EMC VNX File 8.1.2-51 is now supported
• NDMP on NetApp ONTAP 9.x is now supported
• General security enhancements:
  • libcurl and Perl updated
  • hpdpcert.pem is no longer installed
  • ECC does not create .p12 files, unused entries are removed from configuration files
  • When ECC is disabled or client exported, the certificates are removed from client and Cell Manager
  • On UNIX systems, utilns/detach functionality for pre/post-exec is provided directly by agents and the binary is removed from distribution

 Data Protector Links

The General Release Patches A.09.09 (Build 115) for Data Protector 9 has been released on May 31, 2017.

The 115 GR Patches must be installed on top of the A.09.09 Patch Bundle.

It is recommended to install all the GR Patches as a group regardless if the updated components are used or not. It should be applied on all Installation Servers (IS) and Cell Managers (CM) in the correct order. Then push the new packages from the IS to all relevant Data Protector client systems that have relevant components installed to get the latest fixes into effect.

This patches can also be installed locally on Windows Data Protector client systems if the Patch Bundle has been installed locally. In this case only components that were locally installed on the client will be updated. Linux and UNIX clients still require an Installation Server while updated packages can be extracted from the Linux or UNIX Installation server manually.

You can download the GR Patches from https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com after logging in using a Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account to be able to access the provided link of the release notes below.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes of each patch carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the patch.

Major Enhancements:

• Support PowerOn/Live Migrate on ESXi 6.0.2 and later
• Restore Redirection for PostgreSQL in GUI
• Reduced CPU usage in StoreOnce Catalyst backup with target side dedup

 Data Protector Links

The General Release Patches A.09.09 (Build 116) for Data Protector 9 has been released on August 8, 2017.

The 116 GR Patches must be installed on top of the 115 GR Patches (which requires Patch Bundle 9.09).

It is recommended to install all the GR Patches as a group regardless if the updated components are used or not. It should be applied on all Installation Servers (IS) and Cell Managers (CM) in the correct order. Then push the new packages from the IS to all relevant Data Protector client systems that have relevant components installed to get the latest fixes into effect.

This patches can also be installed locally on Windows Data Protector client systems if the Patch Bundle has been installed locally. In this case only components that were locally installed on the client will be updated. Linux and UNIX clients still require an Installation Server while updated packages can be extracted from the Linux or UNIX Installation server manually.

You can download the GR Patches from https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com after logging in using a Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account to be able to access the provided link of the release notes below.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes of each patch carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the patch.

Major Enhancements:

• Support VMware vSphere 6.5
• Support Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) 6.0.3

 Data Protector Links

After three years of waiting HPE released Data Protector 10 as a successor version 9. While it shares most of its features if offers a renovated security framework, revised support matrix and parts of the new Web-based UI which features the Consolidated Scheduler and Dashboard. While the existing GUI is still in the product, the new Web-based UI will evolve quickly into the future with the goal to replace it.

If you’re planning to upgrade, please keep in mind to upgrade your existing license keys to the new version first. This requires an active support contract (SAID). As usual the new software offers a 60 day grace period for new and existing customers.

Important Changes:

• Web-based Scheduler:
  • The new Consolidated Scheduler saves all data in the IDB, so it is not longer possible to change a schedule by editing text-files
  • All existing schedules from the Legacy Scheduler and Advanced Scheduler are migrated to the Consolidated Scheduler during the upgrade process
• New default Data Protector INET port 5565/TCP
  • Newly installed Data Protector 10 clients and Cell Managers will use the communication port 5556/TCP by default (was 5555/TCP previously)
  • This does not apply to upgrades and can be changed to match your environment
  • Nearly the whole communication between Data Protector clients is now using the INET port. Previously the INET port plus a range of dynamic ports have been used (or OB2PORTRANGE)

Major Enhancements:

• Security Enhancements
  • Secure communications (TLS 1.2, enabled by default)
  • Centralized Command Execution
• Completely revised support matrix
  • General clean-up
  • Dropped support of legacy items
• ‘Phase 1’ of a new web-based User Interface featuring
  • New Dashboard
  • New Telemetry configuration
  • New ‘consolidated Scheduler’
• New OVKEY4 license keys required from license portal
• Telemetry client supported on Linux and HP-UX clients
• IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) registered port 5556
• REST API (‘Help’ => ‘API Document’ for details)

Data Protector Links

The Patch Bundle A.10.01 (Build 307) for Data Protector 10 has been released on September 28, 2017.

This first cumulative patch can be installed on top of A.10.00.

It is recommended to install it on all Installation Servers (IS) and the Cell Managers (CM). Then push the new packages from the IS to all Data Protector client systems to get the latest fixes into effect.

This patch can also be installed locally on Windows Data Protector client systems. In this case only components that were locally installed on the client will be updated. Linux and UNIX clients still require an Installation Server while updated packages can be extracted from the Linux or UNIX Installation server manually.

You can download the Patch Bundle from https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com after logging in using a Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account to be able to access the provided link of the release notes below.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the patch.

Major Enhancements:

• Improved Network multihoming support
• VMware 6.5 Update 1 and VMFS 6 support
  • VEPA backup host support on RHEL 7.x
• SQL Availability Groups support in SharePoint 2013 Granular Recovery Extension (GRE)
• SQL Server 2014 in SharePoint 2013 Granular Recovery Extension (GRE)
• SAP archive backup sessions successful
  • New global option SessSuccessfulWhenNoSapArchiveLogsBackedUp to control SAP Archive log backup behavior if no archive logs have been backed up
• Oracle 12c SYSBACKUP privilege support for backup/recovery operations
  • Older Oracle versions will continue with the SYSDBA permissions
• Oracle ZDB support with SLEHA Cluster on P9500 XP and 3PAR
• Automatic removal of failed object versions in successfully completed resumed sessions
  • omnidbutil -delete_obsolete_resumed_versions command added
• ZDB support on NetApp in Cluster Mode
• Source-side gateway support for MSSQL integration
• DDBoost 3.4 library version to support EMC DDOS 6.1
• Automatic VMware Granular Recovery Extension (GRE) plug-in reinstallation during upgrade
• Consolidated scheduler enhancements
  • Monthly view in addition to daily view
  • Free text search in Daily view
  • Filtering options
  • Performance improvements
• Direct I/O support on Linux and AIX operating systems (OB2VXDIRECT)
  • New omnirc options OB2ODIRECT_BACKUP, OB2ODIRECT_RESTORE and OB2ODIRECT_RESTORE_MINIMUM_SIZE are available

 Data Protector Links

The Patch Bundle A.10.02 (Build 308) for Data Protector 10 has been released on December 7, 2017.

The cumulative patch can be installed on top of A.10.00 or any later Patch Bundle or General Release patch.

It is recommended to install it on all Installation Servers (IS) and the Cell Managers (CM). Then push the new packages from the IS to all Data Protector client systems to get the latest fixes into effect.

This patch can also be installed locally on Windows Data Protector client systems. In this case only components that were locally installed on the client will be updated. Linux and UNIX clients still require an Installation Server while updated packages can be extracted from the Linux or UNIX Installation server manually.

You can download the Patch Bundle from https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com after logging in using a Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account to be able to access the provided link of the release notes below.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the patch.

Major Enhancements:

• Consolidated scheduler enhancements
  • Schedule jobs to recursively in minutes or hours frequency pattern
  • New debug option is added that enables creation of debug logs for a particular schedule
• PostgreSQL Server 9.6
• Recovery Manager Central (RMC) 4.0 and 4.1
• Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2016 Granular Recovery Extension (GRE) on Windows Server 2016

 Data Protector Links

Sorry, this article is not available in your language due to the fact that the following Webinar is only in German language available.

Sorry, this article is not available in your language due to the fact that the following Webinar is only in German language available.

There has been an interesting addition to the Micro Focus Software Community on March 12th 2018. The new Idea Exchange portal offers an easy way to share your ideas on how to improve Data Protector and influence the product future. This special part of the Software Community is moderated by product management and you can directly submit your own feature requests or vote on existing requests to speed up their implementation.

The Idea Exchange will replace the existing Enhancement Request process via the SSO portal to make the whole process more transparent for the end user. So if you have urgent requests I strongly encourage you to submit them via the Idea Exchange, vote or simply join the discussion. It is open for all existing customers with an active SAID linked to their Software Passwort account.

Data Protector A.10.03 (Build 181) has been released on March 30, 2018.

While you might expect a Patch Bundle, Micro Focus decided to simplify the upgrade and installation by delivering a full build. Data Protector 10.03 does not require any previous version to install the latest version of Data Protector in a new environment, you can as well upgrade directly from Data Protector 8.1x. 9.0x, 10.0x to version 10.03 – there is no need to install Data Protector 10.0x as upgrade step.

Data Protector 10.03 is a fully featured Media Kit and therefore currently not available in the Software Support Online (SSO) Portal for download.

You can download it from the Software Licenses and Downloads Portal after logging in using a Micro Focus Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the new version.

Major Enhancements:

• Rebranding
  • Full re-branding, Data Protector has been updated to the Micro Focus name and theme
• Scheduler Enhancements
  • An one-time maintenance job can now be created, edited, and deleted using the Scheduler
  • Schedules can now disabled or enabled through the Scheduler
  • Holidays are now visible in the month and day view
  • ‘omnidbutil‘ has now an option to create, modify, list, export, import, and delete schedules using the CLI
• User management
  • Web Access (for the new UI) will be provided to all User. Within an upgrade the existing users will be migrated to have web access
  • Users can use their web username and password with REST APIs
  • Users and groups operations like add, modify, delete, and list can be performed through GUI and CLI commands
  • Resetting or clearing password can be done through GUI and CLI commands  (this can be done only by a user with DP Admin privileges)’omnisetup.sh’ improvements
• ‘omnisetup.sh’ improvements
  • You can install/upgrade the latest release or patch bundle on Cell Manager, Installation Server, or locally on UNIX clients
  • Extract and install specific component packets from release and patch bundles
• INET port
  • Specify the INET port during the installation (UNIX only) or update locally using the command ‘omnicc -update_local_port ‘
• Amazon S3
  • Amazon S3 (API compatible) is supported as a new Backup to Disk (B2D) device
• NDMP Backup
  • 3-way backup and restore for NetApp systems to/from StoreOnce Catalyst and File Library devices
• Documentation
  • New Customer Information Portal at https://docs.microfocus.com/?DP is available (no login required), it contains the latest documentation at any given time and allows to generate PDF files for offline usage
  • The local PDF documentation has been removed from the installation media

Data Protector Links

The General Release Patches A.09.09 (Build 117) for Data Protector 9 has been released on April 4, 2018.

The 117 GR Patches must be installed on top of the 115 and 116 GR Patches (which requires Patch Bundle 9.09).

It is recommended to install all the GR Patches as a group regardless if the updated components are used or not. It should be applied on all Installation Servers (IS) and Cell Managers (CM) in the correct order. Then push the new packages from the IS to all relevant Data Protector client systems that have relevant components installed to get the latest fixes into effect.

This patches can also be installed locally on Windows Data Protector client systems if the Patch Bundle has been installed locally. In this case only components that were locally installed on the client will be updated. Linux and UNIX clients still require an Installation Server while updated packages can be extracted from the Linux or UNIX Installation server manually.

You can download the GR Patches from https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com after logging in using a Software Passport account. Please remember that a valid Support Contract (SAID) must be associated with your account to be able to access the provided link of the release notes below.

To avoid any installation issues make sure to read the release notes of each patch carefully and make sure to take notes of any hot fixes installation not being part of the patch.

Major Enhancements:

• EADR fixes for RHEL7
• AutoDR recovery image creation fixes for Windows Clusters

 Data Protector Links

Sorry, this article is not available in your language due to the fact that the following Webinar is only in German language available.

Data Protector is highly customizable product with a wide range of configuration options. While the any global options applies to the whole Cell, the omnirc configuration file allows the user to tweak a specific client or just a module on that client system. It you have to manage a large amount of individual clients this can become a management challenge to make sure the right omnirc options are present on the right the client system.

Over the years several ways to deal with this has been found, e.g. the script omnircsync.pl (available in the download section) using the util_cmd -setomnirc push functionality. This functionality is adopted with the release of Data Protector A.10.03 into the product. We want to share some pretty handy use cases and examples of the new omnicc -update_omnirc command.

It allows to push one omnirc option (key/value pair) at a time and you can select a specific operating system type, client systems with a specific agent installed or a set of hosts in a comma separated list or from a input file.

omnicc -update_omnirc omnircName -value omnircValue
        [{ {-module moduleName1 [,moduleName2,..]} |
        {-client_os osName1 [,osName2,..]} |
        {inputFile | {-hosts hostName[,hostName2,..]}} }]

Options:
moduleName = da, ma, cc, mssql70, oracle8, vepa, (as found in cell_info file)
osName = gpl, microsoft, sun, ... (as found in cell_info file)

Disable additional tree walk on all Windows clients

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2NOTREEWALK -value 1 -client_os microsoft
win01.syncer.de Success
win02.syncer.de Success
[...]
win91.syncer.de Success
win92.syncer.de Success

Suppress the cross-mount point backup warnings on Linux clients

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2NOREMOTEWARNINGS -value 1 -client_os gpl
lnx01.syncer.de Success
lnx02.syncer.de Success
[...]
lnx19.syncer.de Success
lnx20.syncer.de Success

Change the DNS timeout on all clients in the Cell

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2_DNSTIMEOUT -value 2
esx01.syncer.del Skip - no core components
esx02.syncer.de Skip - no core components
[...]
win91.syncer.de Success
win92.syncer.de Success

Optimize all clients with the Microsoft SQL Server agent for performance

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2SQLBLOCKSIZE -value 65536 -module mssql70
win13.syncer.de Success

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2SQLMAXTRANSFERSIZE -value 4194304 -module mssql70
win13.syncer.de Success

Define settings to an individual client system

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2FORCESCSI -value WFM -hosts lnx10.syncer.de
lnx10.syncer.de Success

C:\>omnicc -update_omnirc OB2IMMEDFM -value 1 -hosts lnx10.syncer.de
lnx10.syncer.de Success

As update to the post https://www.data-protector.org/wordpress/2016/04/dp-tips/ please note that the short-URL dp.tips will be deactivated in near future.

The only usable URL will be https://data-protector.org – please update your favorites accordingly.

We already reported about the updated release of Data Protector 10.03, now Microfocus presents a webinar with a live demo of all new features as well as the new documentation portal. To attend the webinar a free registration at BrightTALK is required.

Wednesday, 03.05.2018 um 5:00 pm (UTC+2/MESZ)

All details as well as the option to register can be found in the following BrightTALK announcement.

Transitioning to the new Consolidated Scheduler, introduced with Data Protector A.10.00, can be a challenge. Especially when customized schedules have been used in the Legacy Scheduler to overcome former product limitations. A common example are manually modified schedule files to execute jobs at the last weekend of the month.

Data Protector A.10.03 improves the overall upgrade experience from previous versions such as 8.1x and 9.x. During the upgrade existing Legacy- and Advanced Scheduler schedules are migrated into the new Consolidated Scheduler. Once the upgrade is complete a summary is displayed by the installer. Details on schedule migration are logged into the file migration.log on the Cell Manager.

Successfully migrated schedule files (Legacy Scheduler) are kept in the corresponding directories on the Cell Manager but are renamed to SpecName.migrate. Empty schedule files are skipped. This allows manual modifications to any non-successfully migrated schedule files and re-run the schedule migration at a later point in time using omnidbutil -migrate_schedules.

While most of the schedules should be migrated without user intervention, manually created or modified schedules might cause issues during the migration. Here is an example of the migration.log where one backup and two copies fail to migrate. Usually those schedules need to be re-created in the Consolidated Scheduler.

pausing quartz scheduler...ok

Migrating old schedules

migrating pre 10.0 advanced scheduler schedules...ok

migrating backup schedules...
[…]
    migrating schedule OB2 BACKUP_FS...failed. error: Schedule(s) couldn’t be migrated. Please refer to Data Protector documentation and recreate the schedule(s). 
migrating object copy schedules...
[…]
    migrating schedule COPY_FS_MONTHLY...failed. error: error parsing schedule buffer
    migrating schedule COPY_FS_WEEKLY...failed. error: error parsing schedule buffer

Similar to the Advanced Scheduler the Consolidated Scheduler is integrated into the Internal Database (IDB). Direct modifications to schedule files are not possible.

Custom schedule with a single specification

The schedule file for BACKUP_FS contains a manually modified schedule that executes an Incr1 backup every Sunday at 02:00 with an exception of the last Sunday of the month where it is executed as Full.

Download

BACKUP_FS schedule file 0 13 downloads

...

The following steps are necessary to re-create this custom schedule with a single backup spec in Consolidated Scheduler.

1. Create a new schedule BACKUP_FS-full. Configure a Full for last Sunday every month at 02:00 AM.
2. On the summary page select Clone Schedule to quickly duplicate this schedule for the next step.
3. Create a new schedule BACKUP_FS-incr1. Configure a Incr1 for every Sunday at 02:00 AM.
4. Before saving you notice an active scheduling conflict. Select Fill free slots.
5. The result is that all non-conflict slots are filled with BACKUP_FS-incr1. Conflicts are avoided.

Custom schedule with a two specifications

The schedule files for COPY_FS_WEEKLY and COPY_FS_MONTHLY also contain manually modified schedules. COPY_FS_WEEKLY is executed every Sunday at 21:00 with exception of the last Sunday where COPY_FS_MONTHLY is executed instead. There are two specifications because different target devices or media pools should be used for weekly and monthly execution.

Download

COPY_FS_WEEKLY schedule file 0 10 downloads

...

Download

COPY_FS_MONTHLY schedule file 0 10 downloads

...

The following steps are necessary to re-create this custom schedule with two copy specs in Consolidated Scheduler.

1. Create a new schedule for COPY_FS_MONTHLY. Configure it for the last Sunday every month at 09:00 PM.
2. Create a new schedule for COPY_FS_WEEKLY. Name it COPY_FS_WEEKLY-exclude and disable the Schedule Enabled control. Configure it for the last Sunday every month at 09:00 PM.
3. On the summary page select Clone Schedule to quickly duplicate this schedule for the next step.
4. Name the cloned schedule COPY_FS_WEEKLY and then enable the Schedule Enabled control. Configure it for every Sunday at 09:00 PM.
5. Before saving you notice an active scheduling conflict. Select Fill free slots.
6. The result is that all non-conflict slots are filled with COPY_FS_WEEKLY. Conflicts are avoided, even with disabled schedules.