August 24, 2009
These release notes apply to the PlateSpin Forge® version 2.5 appliance.
Some of the new features in PlateSpin Forge 2.5 include:
Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista support
Live file-based replication support (VSS-aware)
Live block-based replication support (VSS-aware)
Improved Block-Based Transfers
Faster, more robust block-based transfer protocol. Up to 50% faster than previous versions.
Now available for 64-bit workloads.
Server Sync Block-Based Transfers
Server Sync now has option of file-based or block-based transfers.
Physical Machine Server Sync
Adds support for Server Sync to physical server targets for faster failback scenarios.
24 hour+ replications
Supports block-based replications lasting longer than 24 hours, for customers with extremely large workloads or slow WAN connections.
User Interface Enhancements
Integrated failback process: failover from down production server to PlateSpin Forge, then failback to repaired or replaced production server entirely within PlateSpin Forge interface.
Integrated License Release: Change protected workloads entirely within PlateSpin Forge interface.
Role-Based Access and Multi-Tenancy
Delegated control through user (workload) groups enables hosting of multiple customers on a single PlateSpin Forge appliance.
Appliance Portability
Allows network changes to existing protection contracts.
Enables appliance to be moved within or between networks (e.g., from test to production site).
A large number of bugs were fixed for the 2.5 release. The following list gives details of the major issues that were resolved through these fixes.
525004 Unable to discover machine with underscore in domain name: In previous releases, an underscore in a domain name was causing an error. In the current release, this still causes a warning, but the operation can complete successfully.
484072 Cannot complete a full replication in 24 hours: In previous releases, if a replication duration was longer than 24 hours it would not complete successfully. In this release, for block-based transfers, replications of more than 24 hours are supported.
515744 Snapshot removal causes an unrecoverable error if the ESX host IP address has been changed: In previous releases, Forge was not made aware if an ESX host IP address had been changed since protection was setup. In the current release, Forge is aware of this type of change and snapshots are removed properly.
509991 Aborted incremental replication of a protected source causes option to run that same incremental replication to not be available in the Forge UI: In previous releases, if an incremental BBT replication was aborted a full replication had to be run to make incremental replications of the source available in the Forge UI. In the current release, an aborted incremental replication can be re-run from the Forge UI.
A reprotected physical machine needs to use up a new license:
In some cases, when a failed over physical machine is failed back to the original source machine via X2P, with reprotect selected, the license is not being transferred back to the source machine. You may need to use up a new license during the reprotect and then reclaim the original license that was associated with the original protection manually. See License Designations Tab
in the PlateSpin Forge User Guide for information on manually releasing a license.
Free disk space is not refreshed after a VM is removed: To conserve system resources, disk space is not automatically refreshed after a VM is removed from Forge. You can manually refresh Forge by clicking > and then clicking .
Forge SSL certificate error after a hostname or IP change: If you are receiving an SSL certificate error after changing the hostname or IP address of a previously configured Forge appliance, the SSL certificate may not have been regenerated properly. For details, see Knowledge Base Article Q21178.
Setting up Forge for an SSL server: To enable the switch to SSL on webservices, some manual configurations are required. For details, see Knowledge Base Article Q21179.
Unhandled exception when trying to configure protection for a Forge appliance with non-default virtual networks: For details, see Knowledge Base Article Q21180.
Maximum four volumes validation issue during failback: In some instances, failback validation can limit the number of volumes it creates to four, regardless of the actual number of volumes there are. For details, see Knowledge Base Article Q21181.
On Windows Vista/Server 2008, file transfer can be blocked by firewall settings:
In some cases, a replication can be blocked by the Windows firewall, but it can be mistakenly interpreted as a slow connection. To solve this issue, open up the firewall as described in Network Communication Prerequisites for Discovery
in the PlateSpin Forge 2.5 User Guide. Once the ports are open, the replication will proceed normally.
Windows Server 2008 X2P file transfer to IBM x3455 fails: Appropriate drivers for this transfer are not currently available.
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