IBM Spectrum Protect Version 8.1.4.000 fix pack readme files

The following readme files are available for the components in this release:

• Readme file - IBM Spectrum Protect server Fix Pack 8.1.4.000
• Readme file - IBM Spectrum Protect device support Fix Pack 8.1.4.000
• Readme file - IBM Spectrum Protect Operations Center Fix Pack 8.1.4.000

   

The IBM Spectrum Protect server provides backup, archive, and space management services to clients. You can set up multiple servers in your enterprise network to balance storage, processor, and network resources.

Fix history
To view APARs that were resolved in this fix pack, see technote 291555.

Compatibility with earlier versions
For compatibility with earlier versions, see technote 660949.

System requirements
For server system requirements, see technote 84861.

Obtaining the server installation package
Download this fix pack from Fix Central or Passport Advantage.

The server package on Fix Central does not contain the license. If you are upgrading the server from V8.1.0, V8.1.1, V8.1.2, or V8.1.3, the installed license is compatible with this fix pack.

If you are installing the IBM Spectrum Protect server for the first time or are upgrading from V6 or V7, download the IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1.4 server package from Passport Advantage.

For more information about how to download the server package, see the download document for Windows or the download document for AIX and Linux®.

Installing and upgrading

For installation and upgrade instructions, see the procedure for your operating system:

• IBM AIX
• Linux
• Microsoft® Windows

If the IBM Spectrum Protect server and client are installed on the same computer, and you plan to upgrade the server, first upgrade the server to V8.1.4. Then, ensure that clients are at V8.1.4 or later.

Restrictions on upgrading the server from V7 to V8

The following upgrade paths are not possible:

• From V7.1.7.200 and all later V7 levels to V8.1.0
• From V7.1.8 and all later V7 levels to V8.1.0, V8.1.1, or V8.1.2

To upgrade an IBM Spectrum Protect server from V7.1.7.200 or later to V8, upgrade the server directly to V8.1.1 or later.

To upgrade an IBM Spectrum Protect server from V7.1.8 or later to V8, upgrade the server directly to V8.1.3 or later.

Updates, limitations, and known problems

Updates, limitations, and known problems are documented in the form of technotes in the Support knowledge base at the Support Portal. As problems are discovered and resolved, IBM Software Support updates the knowledge base. By searching the knowledge base, you can find workarounds or solutions to problems.

Updates

For a list of new product features and updates, see What's new in IBM Knowledge Center.

IBM Software Support might provide additional update information as technotes at the Support Portal.

Limitations and known issues

The following table lists limitations and known issues for this fix pack:

Issue	Description
Restrictions apply when you specify the DEFRAG parameter on the MOVE CONTAINER command.	To avoid possible issues, do not run the MOVE CONTAINER command with the DEFRAG=YES option during data ingestion, backup, or delete operations.
To use the IBM Spectrum Protect configuration wizard to configure a clustered environment, you must temporarily enable the Microsoft Windows Server Message Block (SMBv1) protocol.	After you are finished using the configuration wizard, disable the SMBv1 protocol.
Restrictions apply when you use IBM Cloud Object Storage.	To use IBM Cloud Object Storage on premises with the Simple Storage Service (S3) protocol, IBM Cloud Object Storage V3.8.3 or later is required.
Caching policy for storage systems might cause data corruption.	For storage systems that have aggressive caching policies in which data is confirmed as written before it is committed to permanent storage, data corruption can occur if a power outage or other event prevents the write cache from being committed. The write cache typically has a battery to prevent loss of data from the cache during short power outages. If a power outage occurs and no battery is available, or the battery cache is full, or the length of the power outage exceeds battery capacity, or another event occurs that prevents the write cache from being committed, any data that IBM Spectrum Protect is managing can become corrupted. This data includes the location of data, the size of the volumes to which data was written, and data deduplication information that links data to multiple objects. For more information about requirements for committing cached data to permanent storage, see technote 330991.
Network connection to a NetApp file server becomes unresponsive during a logical interface (LIF) failover.	When IBM Spectrum Protect is configured for network data management protocol (NDMP) operations in a NetApp clustered environment, the network connection to the NetApp file server might become unresponsive during backup operations. You might experience this issue when a LIF failover occurs in the NetApp cluster. IBM Spectrum Protect does not support LIF failovers for NDMP operations.
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager is not available in IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 product releases.	The Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager component is not delivered in IBM Spectrum Protect V8 product releases. Instead, you can monitor your storage environment by using the Operations Center, a web-based user interface. For instructions, see Installing and upgrading the Operations Center. Tip: In limited lab testing, Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager V7 was used to monitor an IBM Spectrum Protect V8 server and to generate reports. For instructions about installing and configuring Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager, see technote 233995.

IBM Software Support might provide additional information about limitations and known issues for this fix pack as technotes at the Support Portal.

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The following information is for devices that are supported by IBM Spectrum Protect server Fix Pack 8.1.4.000.

Fix history

To view APARs that were resolved in Fix Pack 8.1.4.000, see technote 285607.

Supported devices

For information about the devices and hardware that you can use with IBM Spectrum Protect, see the support website for your operating system:

• AIX and Microsoft Windows
• Linux

New device support

Fix Pack 8.1.4.000 supports Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium Generation 8 tape drives and associated tape media. Two types of LTO-8 media exist: LTO-8 and LTO-M8. Both media types share formats: ULTRIUM8 and ULTRIUM8C. LTO-8 and LTO-M8 media can be used in a library with LTO-8 tape drives or a library with mixed LTO-8 and LTO-7 tape drives.

For more information about LTO-8 media support, see technote 300753.

Documentation updates pertaining to LTO media

Restrictions:

• If you plan to upgrade all drives to Generation 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8, you must delete all existing LTO Ultrium drive definitions and the paths that are associated with them. Then, you can define the new Generation 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 drives and paths.
• LTO-8 drives are unable to read LTO-6 media. If you are mixing LTO-6 with LTO-8 drives and media in a single library, you must partition the library into two libraries. One library must have only LTO-8 drives and media and the other must have LTO-6 drives and media.
   

Updates to the DEFINE DEVCLASS (Define an LTO device class) command

The restriction pertaining to logical block protection is updated:

Restrictions apply to logical block protection (LBP):

• At the LTO-5 level, LBP is supported only on IBM LTO-5.
• Starting with LTO-6, LBP is supported by all LTO drive vendors.

The table that lists read/write capabilities for different generations of LTO drives is updated:

Drives	Generation 3 media	Generation 4 media	Generation 5 media	Generation 6 media	Generation 7 media	Generation M8 media	Generation 8 media
Generation 3	Read and write	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Generation 4	Read and write	Read and write	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Generation 5	Read only 1	Read and write	Read and write	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Generation 6	n/a	Read only1	Read and write	Read and write	n/a	n/a	n/a
Generation 7			Read only1	Read and write	Read and write	n/a	n/a
Generation 82	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Read and write	Read and write	Read and write
1 If a storage pool volume can only be read by a tape drive, ensure that the attributes of the storage pool volume are set to read only. 2 LTO-8 drives have two media types: LTO-M8 media and LTO-8 media. Both media types are used only in LTO-8 tape drives.

The capacity table for LTO-8 tape cartridges is updated:

Format	Estimated capacity	Description
ULTRIUM8	12 TB for LTO-8 media 9 TB for LTO-M8 media	Uncompressed (standard) format, using Ultrium M8 or Ultrium 8 cartridges
ULTRIUM8C	Varied	Compressed format, using Ultrium M8 or Ultrium 8 cartridges

Configuring devices

For information about configuring and managing devices, see Configuring storage or the IBM Spectrum Protect Tape Solution Guide.

The following table provides actions that you can take to more efficiently manage your devices and to avoid device configuration issues:

Action	Description
Ensure that HBAs meet requirements.	For best results, connect tape drives and tape libraries to the system on their own host bus adapter (HBA). Do not share the HBA with other device types, such as DISK.
Do not exceed the maximum number of devices that are supported by IBM Spectrum Protect.	For information about the maximum number of devices that you can use with IBM Spectrum Protect device drivers on each operating system, see technote 383063.
Review the support information for SAS device support.	Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) devices can be used with some operating system versions and architectures. For information about operating systems versions and architectures for SAS devices, see technote 394713.
Review requirements for running the IBM Spectrum Protect passthru driver with a non-root user ID on Linux operating systems.	For information about how a non-root user ID can use devices with the IBM Spectrum Protect passthru driver on Linux, see technote 360121. To ensure that non-root user IDs can use devices that are configured with the IBM Spectrum Protect passthru driver, specify option -g or -a in the device autoconf utility. To add read and write permissions for groups to the SCSI generic driver (sg) device files, specify option -g. To add read and write permissions for all users to the sg device files, specify option -a.
Ensure that libraries meet requirements.	IBM Spectrum Protect Extended Edition is required for a library with more than four drives or more than 48 storage slots. For a library with multiple drives, a drive element address is required for the DEFINE DRIVE and UPDATE DRIVE commands. However, if the library reports drive serial numbers, you can specify ELEMENT=AUTODETECT, and the element address is not required. Alternatively, you can automatically associate a library with its drives by issuing the PERFORM LIBACTION command, and specifying ACTION=DEFINE.

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The Operations Center is a web-based interface that you can use to manage your IBM Spectrum Protect environment.

Fix history

To view APARs that were resolved in this fix pack, see technote 291549.

Compatibility with the IBM Spectrum Protect server

For information about Operations Center compatibility with the IBM Spectrum Protect server, see technote 496593.

System requirements

For Operations Center system requirements, see technote 499473.

Obtaining the Operations Center installation package

Download this fix pack from Fix Central.

Installing and upgrading

For installation and upgrade instructions, see Installing and upgrading the Operations Center.

Updates

IBM Software Support might provide update information as technotes at the Support Portal.

Limitations and known issues

For a list of known issues, see technote 300719.

 

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