What's new

Learn about new features and updates for server components in IBM Storage Protect 8.1.

Tip: To view videos about new features and updates, see the Video library.

Important: To check about supported operating systems and architectures, download information, fix pack schedules, APAR fixes and security vulnerabilities, and blueprints details, see the IBM Storage Protect support information page.

To read about new features and updates, follow the links in the table.

Release	New features and updates
8.1.27	Server Enhance cyber resiliency for IBM Storage Protect using consistent Safeguarded copies (SGC) Updated to the following software versions to resolve known security vulnerabilities: DB2 : 11.5.9 special build # 57034 WebSphere Liberty Fix Pack 25.0.0.4 IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition 21.0.6.0 IBM Java Virtual Machine v8.0.8.40 GO JWT Lib to 4.5.2 A number of APARs are included in this version of the product.
8.1.26	Server Support SLES 15 for zLinux platform. Validated IBM® Storage FlashSystem C200 as backup target. Updated the following dependent software versions to address the security-related issues and vulnerabilities: Db2® 11.5.9 SB#52441 WebSphere® Liberty Fix Pack 24.0.0.12 IBM Semeru Runtime® Certified Edition 21.0.5.0 GO Lib - 1.23.2 GO Crypto Lib - 0.31.0 GO Networking Lib - 0.33.0 GO Sys Lib - 0.28.0 Jackson Core – 2.15.3 Jetty 9.4.56 A number of APARs are included in this version of the product.
8.1.25	Server Support for RHEL 9 on IBM Power® Systems and zLinux platform. Support for presigned URL for the S3 object agent. This feature allows applications to grant temporary access for its users to access the backups stored on IBM Storage Protect by using the object agent S3 interface, without the need to share the S3 bucket credentials with the users. Added support for automated certificate distribution by using `Korn Shell (KSH)` script, for admin clients that are running on AIX® systems. To address the security-related issues and vulnerabilities, the following versions of dependent software are updated: Db2 11.5.9 SB#46591 WebSphere Liberty Fix Pack 24.0.0.9 A number of APARs are included in this version of the product.
8.1.24	Server IBM Storage Protect server now supports RHEL 9 on x86_64 platform. IBM Storage Protect server that is deployed on Z System Platform is now be able to create a cloud-container storage pool by using IBM Storage Protect server CLI and Operations Center GUI. IBM Storage Ceph® is now certified as a backend Cloud Object Storage device with object lock feature. This feature has been validated with IBM Storage Protect 8.1.18 and is compatible with all newer levels of IBM Storage Protect server. Operations Center can now be operated by a non-root or non-admin user without over-privileged user account. For more information about starting and stopping the Operations Center service without a root or administrative user account, see Starting the Operations Center with non privileged account. Updated IBM Storage Protect server to use the following versions of the dependent software, which address the security-related issues & vulnerabilities: Db2 11.5.9 SB#42449 WebSphere Liberty Fix Pack 24.0.0.6 IBM Java Virtual Machine v8.0.8.30 Upgraded various Go library components. A number of APARs are included in this version of the product.
8.1.23	Server Updated IBM Storage Protect server to use the following versions of the dependent software to address the security-related issues and vulnerabilities: Db2 11.5.9 SB#40226 WebSphere Liberty Fix Pack 24.0.0.4 Logback jars v1.3.14 IBM Java™ Virtual Machine v8.0.8.21 Poco: 1.12.5p2-release threetenbp lib 1.6.9 GO Crypto Lib 0.22.0 GO OpenSSL Lib 2.0.1 Installation Manager 1.9.2.8 A number of APARs are included in this version of the product.
8.1.22	Server Enhanced and tuned the front-end capacity measurement feature to avoid double counting of the data moved from the following IBM Storage products, to IBM Cloud Object Storage / S3 buckets using IBM Storage Protect: IBM Storage Fusion IBM Storage Defender IBM Storage Protect Plus IBM Storage Protect for Cloud Updated IBM Storage Protect server to use the following dependent software versions to address the related security issues & vulnerabilities: Db2 11.5.8 SB#38086 WebSphere Liberty Fix Pack 24.0.0.2 Logback jars 1.2.13 IBM Java Virtual Machine v8.0.8.15 In this release, a number of APARs were fixed and implemented.
8.1.21	Server Automate distribution of IBM Storage Protect server certificate to clients In this release, a number of APARs were fixed and implemented. Security What you should know about security before you install or upgrade the server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.20	Server In this release, a number of APARs were fixed and implemented. Security What you should know about security before you install or upgrade the server Secure communications by creating a new TLS certificate Secure your administrator ID and password by using a credentials file Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.19	Server IBM Spectrum Protect is now IBM Storage Protect Integrate IBM Storage Protect with IBM Storage Defender Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.18	Server Open Snap Store Manager can now be installed on AIX Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.17	Server Replicate data from IBM Storage Protect Plus with IBM Storage Protect Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.16	Server Password reuse limit for local administrators Back up data directly from IBM Storage Protect Plus to IBM Storage Protect Migrate data from one cloud repository to another cloud repository Case-sensitive passwords for nodes and administrator accounts Updates in values for the password length Provide immutable storage support for IBM Cloud Object Storage and IBM Cloud Object Storage System Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.15	Server Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) Object Lock for cloud storage pools Enable complex administrator passwords for authentication Amazon S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval storage class Updates in the number of invalid logon attempts allowed for authentication Strict security settings by default to communicate with the server Back up data directly from IBM Storage Protect Plus to IBM Storage Protect Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.14	Server Support for Google Coldline and Google Archive cloud object storage classes Require multifactor authentication for administrators Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.13	Server Replicate data to multiple servers Streamline and improve replication by using replication storage rules Copy retention sets to cloud object storage Copy retention sets for replication target nodes to tape or cloud object storage Simplify the configuration and deployment of cloud object storage Monitor the cloud read cache to help improve performance Swift-based cloud types are discontinued Take advantage of new flexibility for tiering data to file storage Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.12	Server Help to optimize cloud restore operations by enabling a read cache Include Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server data in retention sets Help to optimize performance by increasing extent sizes Swift-based cloud types are being deprecated Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.11	Server Copy data from container storage pools to tape for disaster recovery Send data to IBM Storage Protect by using S3 client applications Back up client data and the server database to Google Cloud Storage Include backup-archive client file spaces in retention sets Delete client nodes, node groups, and file spaces from retention sets Track the movement of volumes that are returned onsite by DRM for data restore operations View information about storage rule jobs and their statuses Default value of the TCPWINDOWSIZE option is changed to help improve performance Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Secure communications by using the TLS 1.3 protocol Optimize security with enhanced password encryption Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.10	Server Copy retention sets to tape for air-gapped data protection Track the movement of retention volumes offsite and onsite Back up and restore the server database by using cloud object storage Recommission client nodes or virtual machines Update a directory container to make files that are marked as damaged available for use Remove deleted files from a target replication server without replicating new data Specify whether to receive notifications about potential malware incidents Default setting of ALLOWDESAUTH server option updated Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.9	Server Enable the command approval feature to require authorization for restricted commands Preserve data indefinitely by placing it on hold Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.8	Server Optimize your storage environment by automatically tiering data to tape Offload data from IBM Storage Protect Plus to tape storage Send data to an Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering storage class Provide Write Once Read Many (WORM) protection for archived data Start processing a storage tiering rule immediately Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.7	Server Streamline the process of long-term data retention Offload data from IBM Storage Protect Plus Monitor the product with the servermon component Learn how to improve system performance by reading the Optimizing Performance guide Remove storage pool protection Run the configuration wizard without enabling SMB1 Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Update the session security value of an administrator ID on managed servers Configure the LDAPURL server option to use LDAPS Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.6	Server Take advantage of new options for tiering data to the cloud Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.5	Server Reduce the cost of cloud-container storage pools by reclaiming space Manage your storage environment to help you support General Data Protection Regulation compliance strategies Generate data deduplication statistics for specified nodes and file spaces Schedule audit operations to identify corrupted files in a storage pool Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Receive security notifications about potential ransomware attacks Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.4	Server Reduce data fragmentation when you move the contents of storage pool containers Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server To enhance security, the default minimum length of passwords is increased Take advantage of automatic certificate exchange between storage agents, library clients, and library manager servers Optimize security by using certificates with SHA256 signatures Specify whether to enforce FIPS 140-2 requirements for encryption Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.3	Server Use cloud tiering for long-term data retention Install IBM Storage Protect on Linux® Ubuntu Server LTS Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Enhance the security of your storage environment Take measures to help protect your system against ransomware Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.2	Server Back up data to Microsoft Azure, a cloud-based object storage system Encrypt client data in a directory-container storage pool Back up a NAS file server to a directory-container storage pool Install IBM Storage Protect on the Linux on Power Systems (little endian) operating system Configure a storage environment by using the Tape Solution Guide Schedule automatic updates for backup-archive clients Deprecated and discontinued server options, commands, and parameters Security What you need to know about security before you install or upgrade a server Protect your storage environment with an improved security protocol Optimize security with the automatically generated master encryption key Operations Center Operations Center updates
8.1.1	Server Install IBM Storage Protect on the Linux on Power Systems (little endian) operating system Install IBM Storage Protect on the Microsoft Windows Server 2016 operating system Use the Quantum Scalar i6 library Review resolved issues Operations Center Review resolved issues
8.1	Server Meet IBM Storage Protect Convert a tape storage pool to a container storage pool Software upgrade for the server database manager REGISTER NODE command no longer creates an administrative user ID by default Optimize user authentication to an Active Directory database Increased flexibility for protecting and reclaiming tape volumes in container-copy storage pools Supported operating systems Monitor the system without using SNMP Security Secure communications by using the TLS 1.2 protocol Operations Center Operations Center updates