Backup-archive client updates

For more information, see Meet IBM Spectrum Protect.

This product update does not affect existing client nodes, but can affect the process of registering new client nodes, including but not limited to nodes for IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive clients. In some cases, you might have to create an administrative user ID when you register a node. You can create the administrative user ID by issuing the REGISTER NODE command and specifying the USERID parameter. For information about the types of clients that are affected, see technote 7048963.

If you plan to use the web client, you must manually create an administrative user ID when you register a new node. For more information, see Register your workstation with a server.

For more information about starting the web client, see Starting a web client session.

New data protection tags are available for tagging support

New data protection tags are added to help you manage virtual machine backup operations with the IBM Spectrum Protect extension in the VMware vSphere Web Client. In addition to using tags to exclude virtual machines from scheduled backup operations and assign retention or management classes, introduced in V7.1.6, you can assign the new tags to vSphere inventory objects to do the following tasks:

• Include virtual machines in scheduled backup operations
• Assign a data mover to a virtual machine
• Specify a list of virtual disks to back up
• Assign a backup schedule to virtual machines in a container
• Specify the data consistency to achieve for snapshot attempts during virtual machine backup operations
• Provide application protection to virtual machines that run Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Exchange Server software

For more information, see Supported data protection tags.

Set a default data mover for tagging

You can set a default data mover for protecting virtual machines in vSphere inventory objects that are tagged with data protection tags. New virtual machines that are added to the tagged container and are protected by a schedule but do not have a data mover tag are backed up by the default data mover.

For more information, see Vmtagdefaultdatamover.

Data protection tags can be inherited from higher-level vSphere inventory objects

You can use tag inheritance to manage data protection for virtual machines in your vSphere inventory.

For more information, see Inheritance of data protection settings.

Virtual machines can be added to a backup schedule by using the IBM Spectrum Protect extension

You can select a backup schedule for virtual machines from the IBM Spectrum Protect extension in the VMware vSphere Web Client. The backup schedule specifies how often and when to automatically back up the virtual machines in a vSphere inventory object.

For more information, see Selecting a schedule for backing up virtual machines.

You can also view and manage backup schedules from the IBM Spectrum Protect extension. For more information, see Managing backup schedules in the vCenter.

Virtual machine operations on the backup-archive client

Virtual machine operations are available only if you are using the client as a data mover for the IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments products (Data Protection for VMware or Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V).

You can no longer run virtual machine operations without installing IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments.

VMware vStorage API is no longer part of the client installation

The VMware vStorage API runtime files component that is used for VMware operations is no longer part of the backup-archive client installation. It is installed as part of the Data Protection for VMware installation package.

Virtual machine operations that are discontinued for the data mover

File-level virtual machine backups

You can no longer run file-level VMware virtual machine backups on the data mover. Instead, use incremental-forever full or incremental-forever incremental backup operations.

Periodic full backups and incremental backups

You can no longer run periodic full backups and incremental backups of virtual machines on the data mover. Instead, use incremental-forever full or incremental-forever incremental backup operations.

VMware vCloud Director support

You can no longer back up or restore vCloud vApps with the data mover. To back up or restore vApps, you must use Data Protection for VMware V7.1.

Online system state restores

You can no longer restore the system state on a system that is online. Instead, use the Automated System Recovery (ASR) based recovery method to restore the system state in offline Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE) mode.

For more information, see:

• Restoring the Windows operating system with Automated System Recovery
• Restore Systemstate

Adaptive subfile backup

Adaptive subfile backup operations are discontinued, but you can still restore existing subfile backup data.

Data Encryption Standard (DES) 56-bit data encryption

For increased security, use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit or AES 256-bit data encryption for backup and archive operations.

For more information, see Encryptiontype.

GPFS™ support for the Windows client

The Windows backup-archive client can no longer back up or restore files in a Windows only GPFS cluster. However, you can still use the AIX or Linux backup-archive client to protect data in GPFS clusters that contain mixed nodes, which can include AIX, Linux, and Windows.

Data Protection for IBM Domino® plug-in

The Data Protection for IBM Domino plug-in is stabilized at V7.1.0 and is no longer supported by the backup-archive client. If the Data Protection for IBM Domino plug-in is installed and configured on the same server as the IBM Domino Server and the V8.1 backup-archive client, you can no longer back up and restore IBM Domino databases and transaction log files with the web client.

The guitreeviewafterbackup option

The guitreeviewafterbackup option is no longer supported in this release and is removed from the Preferences Editor. If this option is present in the client options file when you run the client, the option is ignored and no client error messages are displayed.

The following operating systems are no longer supported by the backup-archive client:

• Windows 32-bit operating systems (client and API).
• Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and Windows 8 operating systems.
• HP-UX operating systems. You can still use the IBM Spectrum Protect API on an HP-UX operating system.
• Linux on Power Systems™ (big endian). You can still use the IBM Spectrum Protect API on Linux on Power Systems (big endian).
• Solaris SPARC operating systems. You can still use the IBM Spectrum Protect API on Solaris SPARC operating systems.