BlueXP Backup & Recovery: Monthly Updates

jacoba · ‎2022-02-07

BlueXP Backup & Recovery: Monthly Updates
BlueXP Backup & Recovery: Feature Blogs & Documentation
BlueXP Backup & Recovery: Videos

BlueXP Backup & Recovery: Monthly Updates

May '25 Updates v4.0.3 (Click here to view BLOG ) NEW!!
- Support for SnapMirror to Cloud Resync :
  The SnapMirror to Cloud Resync (SM-C Resync) feature is designed to streamline data protection and continuity during volume migrations in NetApp environments. When a volume is migrated—using SnapMirror Logical Replication (LRSE)—from one on-premises NetApp deployment to another, or to a cloud-based solution such as Cloud Volumes ONTAP (CVO) or Cloud Volumes Service (CVS), SM-C Resync ensures that existing cloud backups remain intact and operational.
  
  This functionality eliminates the need for a time-consuming and resource-intensive re-baseline operation, allowing backup operations to continue seamlessly post-migration. SM-C Resync is particularly valuable in workload migration scenarios, supporting both FlexVols and FlexGroups, and is available starting with ONTAP version 9.16.1.
- Support for Third Party MinIO Object store (PREVIEW):
- In the previous release, BlueXP Backup and Recovery introduced preview support for third-party object stores, starting with Wasabi. In the current release, this support has been expanded to include MinIO, also in preview mode.
April '25 Updates v4.0.2 (Click here to view BLOG ) NEW!!
- Enhanced Volume Dashboard Experience (PREVIEW): The latest update to BlueXP Backup and Recovery, version 4.0.2, introduces several exciting enhancements designed to enhance user experience and performance. The Volume Dashboard now loads in under 10 seconds, providing a much faster and more efficient interface. To begin using this preview feature, users must enable a specific flag on the connector (Click here for more details on how to enable the preview feature). Excitingly, the next release will include the General Availability (GA) version of these features, making them accessible to all users.
- Support for Third Party WASABI Object store (PREVIEW):
- BlueXP Backup and Recovery now extends its support to third-party object stores, with a primary focus on WASABI. This new feature, currently in preview, allows users to leverage WASABI S3-compatible object store for their backup and recovery needs.
March '25 Updates v4.0.1 (Released on 10th March 2025 )
- Fixed SMB Snapshot Browsing Issue: Resolved an issue that prevented customers from browsing local snapshots in the SMB environment.
- AWS GovCloud UI Loading Fix: Implemented fixes for an issue that caused the BlueXP Backup and Recovery UI to fail to load in an AWS GovCloud environment due to TLS certificate errors. The issue has been resolved by making the connection with the connector hostname instead of the IP address.
- Backup Policy Retention Limits Update: The BlueXP Backup and Recovery policy UI previously limited the maximum number of backup copies to 999, while the CLI allowed higher limits. A fix has been implemented to update the backup policy retention limits to 4000 for volumes attached to a backup policy and 1018 for volumes not attached to a backup policy. Additional UI validations have been added to prevent users from exceeding these limits.
- SnapMirror Cloud Resync Fix: Included fixes to ensure that SnapMirror Cloud resync is not allowed to be triggered via CBS for unsupported ONTAP versions after a relationship delete, preventing unsupported use-cases.
February '25 Updates v3.0.9 (Released on 21st February 2025 )
- Introducing Our New Highly Performant Index Cataloging System Based on DuckDB
  We are excited to unveil our latest innovation in index cataloging, leveraging the powerful DuckDB engine. This new indexing architecture is designed to significantly enhance performance and efficiency. Here are some of the standout features:
  - Dedicated Containers for Search and Indexing: The new v2 indexing utilizes dedicated containers for both search and indexing tasks. The catalog index service container acts as a coordinator, spawning multiple index cataloging worker nodes. This setup expedites the indexing process by forking multiple snapdiff calls, allowing us to scale across customer infrastructures seamlessly.
  - Rapid Indexing and Cataloging: Our new system can index around 5000 relationships, encompassing 7 billion files, in about 4 days. This is a remarkable improvement in speed and efficiency.
  - Real-Time Search Progress: Users can now monitor the progress of their searches in real-time, providing greater transparency and control.
  - Global Search Efficiency: Global searches are now completed in under 5 minutes, with most searches finishing in less than 2 minutes.
  - Seamless Integration with Existing Technology: By using the DuckDB engine without scale-out, our system integrates smoothly with your existing technology stack.
  - Supported Scale
  Global Search Efficiency
  
  < 3 minutes
  
  Scale support
  
  Upto 5 Billion Files,
  
  5000 Volumes,
  
  100K Snapshots
  
  Maximum time for Baseline Indexing
  
  7 days
  - Caveats:
  - Global search will only be supported after re-indexing is complete. Indexing will not be performed on snapshots labeled as hourly.
  - Currently v2 version of the Cataloging Index will work only for Snapshots on FlexVols and not for FlexGroups
  - Existing customers utilizing the Index Cataloging feature should not use the new v2 version. This update is available exclusively to new customers. If existing customers wish to upgrade to v2, they must perform a full re-indexing of the snapshots.
  This new system represents a significant leap forward in our indexing capabilities, providing faster, more efficient, and highly scalable solutions for our customers. Stay tuned for more updates and enhancements!
November '24 Updates (Released on 22nd November 2024 )
- Snaplock Compliance and SnapLock Enterprise protection modes
  - BlueXP backup and recovery now can back up both FlexVol and FlexGroup on-premises volumes that are configured using either SnapLock Compliance or SnapLock Enterprise protection modes. Your clusters must be running ONTAP 9.14 or greater for this support. Backing up FlexVol volumes using SnapLock Enterprise mode has been supported since ONTAP version 9.11.1. Earlier ONTAP releases provide no support for backing up SnapLock protection volumes.
    
    Customer:
    
    Impact: This update provides our customers with greater flexibility and security in managing their data, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, and enhancing overall data integrity.
- Index Cataloging Dashboard
  - After enabling "Indexing" on each source working environment to initiate the cataloging process for restoring volume data, there was previously no way to monitor the progress of indexing for different volumes. To address this issue, the Volumes page now displays the indexing status, providing detailed information on the cataloging progress. Following are the statuses that are shown on the dashboard.
    Indexed: Volumes have been indexed.
    - In-progress: Indexing is currently in progress.
    - Not Indexed: Volumes have not been indexed.
    - Paused: Indexing has been paused.
    - Error: An error occurred during indexing.
    - Not Enabled: Indexing has not been enabled.

September '24 Updates (Released on 16th September 2024 )
- Podman support on RHEL 8 or 9 with Browse and Restore
  - BlueXP backup and recovery now supports file and folder restores on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) versions 8 and 9 using the Podman engine. This applies to the BlueXP backup and recovery Browse and Restore method.
    
    BlueXP Connector version 3.9.40 supports certain versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8 and 9 for any manual installation of the Connector software on a RHEL 8 or 9 host, regardless of the location in addition to the operating systems mentioned in the host requirements. These newer RHEL versions require the Podman engine instead of the Docker engine. Previously, BlueXP backup and recovery had two limitations when using the Podman engine. These limitations have been removed.
    Learn more about restoring ONTAP data from backup files.
- Faster catalog indexing improves Search and Restore
  - This release includes an improved catalog index that completes the baseline indexing much faster. Faster indexing enables you to use the Search and Restore feature more quickly.
    
    Learn more about restoring ONTAP data from backup files.
July '24 Updates (Released on 27th July 2024 )
- AWS IAM Roles Anywhere Integration
- FlexGroup folder or directory restore is now available
- Restore volumes less than 1 GB
- Understanding DataLock and Ransomware Scan Costs
  - The DataLock and Ransomware Scan feature offers robust protection for your backup files, safeguarding them from unauthorized modifications or deletions for a set duration, and alerts customers in the event of a ransomware attack on their cloud backups. This added layer of security is instrumental in defending your files against ransomware threats. However, activating this feature may lead to extra charges for the customer. To ensure that the customer is informed about the potential charges, the following steps have been implemented.
  - Updated TCO Calculator:- The TCO calculator has been updated to show the cost incurred by DataLock and Ransomware Scan feature when enabled. TCO Calculator
  - Understanding TCO Calculation: A comprehensive blog post has been released that elucidates the method of calculating costs when activating the BlueXP Backup and Recovery service. Click on the link for more details: Understanding BlueXP Backup and Recovery DataLock and Ransomware Feature TCO
  - Tips on how to mitigate DataLock costs:- For details about DataLock and tips on how to mitigate the associated costs, refer to the following link.
  - Option to Disable Ransomware Scan:- Previously, enabling the policy for DataLock and Ransomware Scan activated both features at once, preventing users from disabling Ransomware Scan without also turning off DataLock, potentially incurring extra cloud provider charges. Now, users can disable Ransomware Scan while maintaining DataLock, offering more control over security settings and cost management.
- Security Enhancements
  - BlueXP Backup and Recovery service now performs server-side certificate verification for all services it communicates within the cloud, such as object-store and serverless databases. Additionally, it offers an optional feature to verify certificates for ONTAP and Storage Grid. This enhances security by ensuring that CBS only connects with authenticated services.
  - Qualification of tamperproof snapshots with BlueXP Backup and Recovery workflows.
- Performance Improvements
  - Introduced volume filter in the Search and Restore workflow to improve the search performance.
  - Fixed several issues related to incremental SnapDiff catalog optimizations and catalog container memory usage, which drastically improved performance for parallel ingestion.
  - Fixed several bugs in the Catalog search and restore performance.
  - Implemented fixes to improve the dashboard loading performance, backup activation, backup listings etc
March '24 Updates (Released on 12th March 2024 )
- SnapMirror Cloud Instant (On-demand) Restore - On-premises support for ONTAP 9.14.1
- Catalog Index fixes for scaled deployments
- Support for Scheduled Jobs with PubSub Integration
- File Restore from local Snapshot Copies and Replication Copies
- 3-2-1 Backup details page enhancement to show the details of the backup for cascaded relationship.
- Volume Dashboard improvements
- Restore Dashboard improvements
December '23 Updates (Released on 15th December 2023)
- Availability of reports for local Snapshot and replication Snapshot copies
- Custom tagging available on volumes for sorting and filtering
- Catalog backups retained for 30 days
- In an On-prem deployment, enhancement done to check the first active WE and upload the catalog backup to the storage grid backup destination
- Ability to review and fix mismatched labels on local snapshots, replication and backup provided in Bulk edit page of Backup strategy workflow
- Support Case fixes.
October '23 Updates (Released on 23rd October)
- Support for ADC version 2.0
- Support for the "NO-PROXY" environment ENV variable in ADC 2.0
- BlueXP Backup and Recovery Support for SM-C On-Demand Restore feature for CVO.
- Ability to create Snapshot policy, Backup policy and Replication policy while activating backup.
- Job Monitoring support for local snapshot and remote replication
- Bug fixes.
September '23 Updates
- New 3-2-1 Policy Management screens for Snapshot Policy, Backup policy and Replication Policy.
- Ability to file-level browse on backups stored on ONTAP S3 object store.
- Ability to Backup FG WORM (SnapLock) volumes to cloud object storage or StorageGRID.
- Ability to Backup FV WORM (Snaplock compliance) volumes to cloud object storage or StorageGRID.
August '23 Updates
- ONTAP S3 UI support for 321 activation
- Support replicating existing snapshots from DP volume
- Deprecate Auto Backup feature
- Observability Updates
  - Job monitoring support for 3-2-1 panoramic full-spectrum backup
  - Job Details - Add support for local snapshot/remote replication backup and restore jobs
  - Job Alerts - Send alerts in case of local snapshot/remote replication backup or restore job failure
  - Job monitoring filtering and grid - add support 3-2-1 panoramic protection
July '23 Updates (Check out the Full 3-2-1 Backup Spectrum Blog)
- Full 3-2-1 Backup Spectrum - Panoramic Protection
June '23 Updates (Check out the June '23 Updates Blog for more details)
May '23 Updates (Check out the May '23 Updates Blog for more details)
April '23 Updates ( Check out the April '23 Updates Blog for more details! )
March '23 Updates ( Check out the March '23 Updates Blog for more details! )
February '23 Updates ( Check out the February '23 Updates Blog for more details! )

January '23 Updates ( Check out the January '23 Updates Blog for more details! )
December '22 Updates ( Check out the December '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
November '22 Updates ( Check out the November '22 Updates Blog for more details! )

September '22 Updates ( Check out the September '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
August '22 Updates ( Check out the August '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
July'22 Updates ( Check out the July '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
- Support has been added to back up SnapLock Enterprise volumes
- File restore is now possible in Dark-Site mode.
- Policy screen improvements
June'22 Updates ( Check out the June '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
- Cloud Restore instance is not needed for ONTAP Browse & Restore functionality.
- Cloud Backup APIs are now available for managing backup and restore operations.
  - Cloud backup APIs Documentation
  - How do I use Cloud Backup APIs?
- Cloud Backup Support for Cloud Manager On-Prem Deployments.
- Support has been added to back up on-premises ONTAP cluster data in sites without internet access (Dark-Site Mode)
- Enable Cloud Backup using “Drag and Drop” on Cloud Manager UI.
- Search and Restore Result Table Columns are now Resizable.
May'22 Updates ( Check out the May '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
- Search & Restore is now supported with backup files in Google Cloud Storage
- Cloud Backup now requires a license before being activated on a working environment
April '22 Updates
- Cloud Backup for Applications 1.1.0 (powered by SnapCenter) is now GA
- New Search & Restore feature to search for volumes or files across all ONTAP backup file.
March '22 Updates
- Support Azure TLS version 1.2
- Job Monitoring Enhancements
- Performance improvements, additional fields for SnapCenter and bug fixes
- Catalog Enhancements
- Performance improvements and bug fixes
- Removed the integration between Cloud Backup and Data Sense
February '22 Updates( Check out the February '22 Updates Blog for more details! )
- Support for backups on volumes created outside Cloud Manager using ONTAP CLI, REST & Trident
- Assign backup policy for individual volumes on the Working Environment
- Cloud Backup Service: Search & Restore(Indexed Catalog Feature Preview)
- Job Monitoring