What's new for Custom Applications

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Learn about new features and enhancements in IBM® Storage Protect Snapshot.

New in IBM Storage Protect Snapshot 8.2.1

Support for IBM FlashSystem Safeguarded snapshots
Beginning with version 8.2.1, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports backup, restore, delete, and offload operations using Safeguarded snapshot feature of the IBM FlashSystem.
Following parameters are added under the SVCDTA device class section to support IBM FlashSystem Safeguarded snapshots:
  • SVC_SAFEGUARDED_SNAPSHOT specifies whether to take IBM FlashSystem Safeguarded snapshots. Set this parameter to YES or TRUE to enable safeguarded snapshots. Any other value indicates that Safeguarded snapshots are not taken.
  • SVC_SNAPSHOT_RETENTION_DAYS specifies, in days, how long a safeguarded snapshot is retained. The default value is 365 days.
Note: If you want to enable Safeguarded snapshots feature for IBM FlashSystem high availability snapshots, then specify parameters required for enabling high availability snapshots as well. For more information about the parameters, see What's new in 8.2.0 release.

New in IBM Storage Protect Snapshot 8.2.0

Support for IBM FlashSystem coordinated HA snapshots
Beginning with version 8.2.0, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports backup, restore, delete, and offload operations using Coordinated HA snapshot feature of Policy-Based High Availability (HA) topologies for the IBM FlashSystem.
Added the following new parameters under the SVCDTA device class section to support IBM FlashSystem coordinated high availability snapshots
  • SVC_HA_SITE_SERVERNAME specifies the second site of IBM FlashSystem in Policy-Based High Availability (HA) topology. Supported values for this parameter is the name of the second site as configured in the IBM FlashSystem. You can also specify the FQDN, but the first part should match the name of the second site as configured in IBM FlashSystem.
  • SVC_HA_SITE_USERNAME specifies the username for SVC_HA_SITE_SERVERNAME.
  • SVC_HA_SITE_SSHKEY_FULLPATH specifies the ssh full key path that can be used to perform operations on SVC_HA_SITE_SERVERNAME.

Note: For enabling coordinated high availability feature, you must configure COPYSERVICES_SERVERNAME, COPYSERVICES_USERNAME, SVC_SSHKEY_FULLPATH for one of the FlashSystem and above newly added parameters for another FlashSystem in a Policy Based High Availability setup.
Note:
  • IBM FlashSystem 2 Site HA configuration is supported.
  • IBM FlashSystem 3 Site HA DR configuration is not supported.

New in IBM Storage Protect Snapshot 8.1.24

Support for IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots
Beginning with version 8.1.24, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports backup, in-place restore, delete, and offload operations from single site and Policy-Based High Availability (HA) topologies for the IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots.
Added a new parameter under the SVCDTA device class section to enable IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots
  • The SVCDTA device class section now contains an additional parameter named SVC_ENABLE_VOLUMEGROUP_SNAPSHOT that enables IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots.
  • Supported values for this parameter are IGNORE_FLASHCOPY_MAPPINGS and ENFORCE_NO_FLASHCOPY_MAPPINGS.
For more information, see Configuring Storwize family and SAN Volume Controller dynamic target allocation (SVCDTA).

New in IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot version 8.1.11

Avail of a new level of data availability with IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot support for IBM HyperSwap technology, which enables mission-critical operations to continue without interruption during a complete site failure. HyperSwap systems support a dual-site, active-active solution that provides continuous availability of data during planned and unplanned outages.

For information on planning a HyperSwap system supported by IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot, see the planning topic about HyperSwap integration.

New in IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot 8.1.4

Specify different backup version retention values
For all storage devices, you can specify different backup retention periods for each device class that is configured. During the configuration process, you can define different values for each device class with the MAX_VERSIONS parameter in the profile. For more information about this feature, see Backup version retention.
IBM SAN Volume Controller Dynamic Target Allocation (SVC DTA) incremental backups
Run incremental backups for SVC DTA with the FLASHCOPY_TYPE option INCR. After the initial FlashCopy backup, incremental FlashCopy backups are run to the same target volume. The ability to run incremental backups to the SVC, results in improvements in how long the backup takes and eases the load on the SVC. For more information about incremental flash copies, see Incremental backups and MAX_VERSIONS.

New and modified parameters or functions

The following parameters are modified for IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot 8.1.4:

MAX_VERSIONS for all device classes
Use this parameter in the CLIENT section of the profile for each DEVICE_CLASS to create incremental FlashCopies. When FLASHCOPY_TYPE is set to INCR, the incremental FlashCopy is refreshed depending on the MAX_VERSIONS value set. Specify the maximum number of snapshot backup versions to be kept before the oldest backup is deleted by using MAX_VERSIONS to specify the maximum. For SVCDTA, when the version-delete deletes the oldest snapshot backup with an incremental FlashCopy relation, it reuses the target volumes of the expired backup and refreshes the FlashCopy relationship instead of deleting it. For more information about MAX_VERSIONS, see CLIENT.