SnapDrive 6.2.1 for Windows Released

[watan]

http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/snapdrive_win/6.2.1/

SnapDrive® 6.2.1 for Windows® - Description

Features of This Release

SnapDrive 6.2.1 for Windows is an update to SnapDrive 6.2 and includes fixes for the following bugs: Bug ID 393518: SnapDrive 6.2 fails to create RDM LUNs with ESX iSCSI when FCP license is not set on the filer. For more information, go to Bug Tools on the NOW site at http://now.netapp.com and search for bug ID 393518. Bug ID 395057: SMHV does not work on Japanese Windows OS Bug ID 397424: SDW: LUN restore fails IOCTL_DISK_SET_DRIVE_LAYOUT_EX on reversed SnapMirror destination Bug ID 397462: Windows 2008R2 120s Volume Arrival Timeout when connecting to LUN Clone on the same host Bug ID 397866: Snapshot mounts are very slow. Bug ID 408511: ESX iSCSI RDM igroup has initiators  from other hosts. SnapDrive does not support this configuration. Bug 424071: SDW Workaround: SME remote verify  fails on SM dst with SDW ZAPI snap-list-info response volume offline Bug 426196: SnapDrive for Windows creates multiple FlexClone volumes for LUNs on same Snapshot copy Bug 440822: The SnapDrive service in an ESX VM takes too long to start up in large ESX environments SnapDrive 6.2.1 for Windows          continues to support the following major new and enhanced features introduced in SnapDrive 6.2 for Windows: Support for dynamic addition and removal of Hyper-V®; pass-through            disks using Windows Server 2008 R2 Support for Microsoft® cluster shared volumes using Windows Server            2008 R2 Support for restoring data at the file level Support for RBAC with Operations Manager Support for RDM LUNs using iSCSI hardware initiators and VMware®            ESX iSCSI initiators Support for creating FC RDM LUNs  across two virtual  Microsoft cluster machines using Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server  2008 systems Support for IPv6 with ESX 4.0 Bug fixes

Limitations

SnapDrive 6.2.1 currently has the following limitations: iSCSI RDM LUNs are not supported across two physical Microsoft cluster machines. Customers using SnapDrive 5.0 and earlier on Windows Server 2003            IA64 systems must upgrade to Windows Server 2008 on IA64 systems before            they can use SnapDrive 6.2.1. A LUN managed by SnapDrive cannot be configured as a "dynamic" disk            (a storage device that is divided into volumes rather than partitions);            it can serve only as a "basic" disk (a storage device for host-side            application data). A LUN cannot be configured as an extended partition; SnapDrive supports            only a single, primary partition on a LUN. A LUN created with FilerView® or at the storage system command            line can be managed only if certain steps (documented in the SnapDrive for Windows Installation            and Administration Guide) are taken to prepare these disks for SnapDrive. Conversion of a LUN with an MBR partition to a GPT partition is not            supported. Permanent clones are not supported. Snapshot™ copies that are created from the storage system console            are not supported; because this can lead to inconsistencies within the            NTFS file system, only SnapDrive should be used to create Snapshot copies            of LUNs. Volume-level SnapVault® configurations are not supported (however,            qtree SnapVault configurations are supported). Considerations when using Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator include          the following: In an MSCS configuration that uses volume mountpoints, install Microsoft            hotfix 925677 on all cluster nodes if you encounter the issue described            in Knowledge Base article KB925677. In a noncluster configuration, the Exchange® service and the SQL service must be configured with a dependency on            the iSCSI Software Initiator service.

[daniel_kaiser]

Hi Watan,

I have a few questions regarding Snapdrive.

1.  I don't see SnapDrive 6.3 for Windows listed under the software change logs.  Is this because it's not ready for release to the masses?

2.  If we're running SnapDrive 6.2 for Windows, should we upgrade to SnapDrive 6.2.1 or SnapDrive 6.3 w/P1?

3.  What are the major differences between 6.2 and 6.3?

Thanks.

[watan]

Hi Daniel,

SDW 6.3 was just release and is still in "First Customer Shipped" status as opposed to 6.2.1 which is official "GA" .

There would be no reason to upgrade to 6.3 p1 unless you were looking for a specific burt fix or functionality.

Major difference between 6.3 would be the integration with VSC (aka SMVI) , SMSQL, and NFS datastores.

SnapDrive 6.3 for Windows          includes the following major new and enhanced features:

• Support for performing Snapshot copy operations on virtual  machine disks (VMDKs) in an NFS or VMFS datastore, which requires  Virtual Storage Console 2.0.1 or later. Please check the availability   of Virtual Storage Console 2.0.1 and install it before using this  feature.
• Support for space reclamation when using VMDKs in an NFS datastore
• Support for DataFabric Manager caching with RBAC
• Automatic download of the storage system access control  (storacl.exe)  tool as part of your SnapDrive 6.3 for Windows  installation
• Bug fixes
  For more information, see the SnapDrive 6.3 for Windows Release Notes.

If you need any of this then you would need to upgrade, otherwise I would stick with 6.2.1 for the burt fixes available.