IBM Support

Release of Guardium Data Protection Windows S-TAP 12.1.0.112

Release Notes


Abstract

This technical note provides guidance for installing IBM Guardium Data Protection Windows Agents 12.1.0.112, including any new features or enhancements, resolved or known issues, or notices associated with the patch.

Content

Patch information
Product: IBM Guardium
Release version: Guardium 12.1 Windows S-TAP
Completion date: 19 September 2024
Fix IDs
Guardium_12.1.0.112_S-TAP_Windows
Finding the patch
This document provides a reference to the contents of this patch. If applicable, the detailed description of each fix and instructions for applying this patch are contained within the download package. The actual package is available for downloading from the IBM Fix Central website at http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

Make the following selections on Fix Central:
Product selector:           IBM Guardium
Installed Version:          12.0
Platform:                          Windows

Click "Continue", then select "Browse for fixes" and click "Continue" again.
When to reboot after installing or upgrading to Guardium 12.1 Windows S-TAP
  • A fresh install of Guardium 12.1 does not require a reboot.
  • When you upgrade between versions, you must reboot the database server to update the NmpProxy driver. If there are no issues with your current NmpProxy functionality, you can delay the reboot until the next maintenance cycle. No fixes will be applied to the NmpProxy driver until a server reboot is completed.
Deprecated support and functionality
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 reached end of support by Microsoft on 10 October 2023 and no longer receive security updates. For this reason, as of 31 March 2024, Guardium no longer maintains support for these operating systems. For more information, see IBM Guardium support discontinuance notification for Microsoft Windows Server version 2012 and 2012 R2.
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 
Guardium no longer supports Microsoft SQL Server 2012 as of 12 July 2022. For more information, see IBM Guardium support discontinuance notification for Microsoft SQL Server version 2008 and 2012.
New support and functionality
New database support
  • Apache CouchDB 3.3.2
  • Elasticsearch 8.10.4
  • MariaDB v.11.2.0
  • MongoDB 7.0.1
  • MySQL 8.3.0
  • Neo4j 5.15
  • PostgreSQL 16
New features and enhancements
Internal load balancer between S-TAP and Sniffer
The internal load balancer (ILB) assesses data load and helps prevent data loss by proactively forecasting the load on the collector, and by redirecting traffic to another collector to balance the load in near real time.
IE size and number
Inspection engines are now limited by number as well as file size.

Maximum number of IE=50
Maximum file size = 59 KB
Any inspection engine that exceeds these limits is truncated and a message is sent to S-TAP events.
Dynamic S-TAP buffer
The S-TAP buffer and driver memory buffers have improved flexibility to be automatically expanded or reduced based on traffic load, which allows S-TAP to only use the resources needed for the moment. The maximum size of the buffer is configurable to the following system requirements.
Windows S-TAP 7 Windows S-TAP 8
BUFFER_FILE_MAX_SIZE
Sets the maximum buffer size
Default value:250 MB
Value range: 50 MB -1 GB
BUFFER_FILE_MAX_SIZE
Sets the maximum S-TAP buffer size
Default value:512 MB
Value range: 50 MB-32 GB
TCP_LOG_SIZE
Sets the maximum WFP buffer size
Default value: 512 MB
Value range: 512 MB – 128 GB
TCP_LOG_SIZE
Sets the maximum WFP buffer size
Default value: 512 MB
Value range: 512 MB– 128 GB
NPTRC_LOG_SIZE
Sets the maximum NMP buffer size
Default value: 512 MB
Value range: 512 MB – 128 GB
NPTRC_LOG_SIZE
Sets the maximum NMP buffer size
Default value: 512 MB
Value range: 512 MB – 128 GB
 
Known limitations and workarounds
Issue key Summary
GRD-87745
When Global Session Key is enabled on Windows S-TAP v7, query rewrite and firewall stop working. No workaround is available.
GRD-85979
Redaction does not work with Postgres 16 databases. Some patterns are too wide and result in redaction of packet metadata, which corrupts the stream and causes the session to drop. Currently no known workaround.
GRD-87880
Changes to local IPv4 or IPv6 interfaces while Windows S-TAP is running may cause its instability.
Resolved issues
Issue key Summary Known issue (APAR)
GRD-68423
Addresses various causes of missing Microsoft SQL Server DB_USERs in reports.
DT249847
GRD-71840 A new regex option for regular expressions allows you to specify the length of the database column to redact. This feature helps insure that the correct data is scrubbed. For more information, see REDACT - Working with regex on Windows DB servers. DT249854
GRD-72932
Addresses various causes of garbage DB_USERs in reports.
DT249848
GRD-73574
Windows S-TAP library for Db2 might cause IBM Db2 instance crash
DT244227
GRD-76256 Fixed inconsistent raw pointer and shared pointer when failover happens using protocol 7 and PARTICIPATE_IN_LOAD_BALANCING=1. DT249830
GRD-76337 Expanded the scope of the redact functionality to incorporate non-printable Unicode. DT255187
GRD-76964 Fixed excessive display of Event ID 5156 "The Windows Filtering Platform has permitted a connection" in event viewer when enabling success auditing for Windows Filtering Platform connections. DT256988
GRD-77080
The database monitor service starts automatically even after setting WSTAP_ENABLED=0
DT259533
GRD-77451 Fixed a potential server instability caused by Correlator.sys DT259462
GRD-78380 Fixed an issue where S-TAP service would not start when configured with V8 and IBM Common Inventory Technology (CIT) tool is installed on the server. DT259582
GRD-80188 Restored functionality to GIM parameter WINSTAP_ENABLEGAM such that the GAM service is fully disabled when WINSTAP_ENABLEGAM=0. DT365798
GRD-80264 Removed the deprecated parameter TCP_ALIVE_MESSAGE from guard_tap.ini DT395103
GRD-80324 Improved the installer such that failure on a non-essential step does not abort the installation. DT378640
GRD-82128 Added quotation marks around the uninstall path string when the path has spaces included. DT395053
GRD-83046 Fixed a server instability caused by the NmpProxy driver.
DT396544
GRD-84608 Addressed an S-TAP instability by removing case sensitivity in the DB_TYPE value
DT395969
Installers with MD5Sums
MD5Sum File Name
c2c9e115d44a407ce03771968ebc6295
Windows-STAP-V12.1.0.112.zip
24606c20c8537218ba551cfba0311b2a
conf.reload.WINSTAP
35bc6ff94ba825efc3d0232c432f1a1e
guard-WINSTAP-12.1_r120100112_1-x86_x64.gim
c6d4fa4dc0d3069781ba0a42b99d1fdd
guard-WINSTAP-guardium_12.1_r120100112_1-Windows-Server-Windows-x86_x64.exe.signed
Related Guardium updates
  • Guardium Data Protection 12.1 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows GIM 12.1.0.112 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows CAS 12.1.0.112 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows FAM for NAS 12.1.0.112 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows FAM for SP 12.1.0.113 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows FAM Monitor 12.1.0.112 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows FDEC for NAS 12.1.0.112 (see release notes)
  • Guardium Data Protection Windows FDEC for SP 12.1.0.112 (see release notes)

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Document Information

Modified date:
30 September 2024

UID

ibm17166710

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