Archive:Hints for beta testing

Note

IMPORTANT – READ CAREFULLY

SEP sesam provides SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2 beta version as a test program. This means that 4.4.3 Beefalo V2 beta is provided on an "as is" basis and without warranty! Beta version may contain errors and bugs and may cause problems that could lead to system failures and data loss. THEREFORE, SEP sesam BETA IS NOT INTENDED OR SUITED FOR PRODUCTIVE USE! By downloading, installing and using SEP sesam beta software, you acknowledge that you are aware of the beta release version status and agree that the use of the beta version is entirely at your risk. SEP AG excludes all liability for any claims, losses and damages arising out of use of beta version. Also excluded is the liability for used third-party products and for any data loss due to SEP sesam beta software-related system or hardware failures. If you do not agree to this terms, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THIS BETA VERSION.

Testing SEP sesam 4.4.3 Beefalo V2 beta

If you are interested in testing the beta version, please register as a beta tester by email to beta@sep.de. To learn about new features, check the Release Notes 4.4.3 Beefalo V2. Then read the following notes and hints that can help you to get started with your BETA test.

Known issues and limitations

	Note
	Antivirus programs may disrupt network communication and cause SEP sesam processes, such as backup and replication, to fail. One program that is known to cause SEP sesam processes to terminate is Sophos Firewall with IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) enabled. Make sure that there are no antivirus, firewall, IDS or IPS programs preventing interaction with SEP sesam.

4.4.3 Beefalo V2 known issues:

Severity: CRITICAL

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.84 – (Linux) Backup to VTL library* completed successfully even though there were media write errors reported and backup could not be completed

(Applies only to Linux) When backing up to VTL, the VTL library cannot continue writing to the underlying block device due to insufficient space and tracks error. SMS ignores the error and continues writing the data to VTL without sufficient space. Backup log shows backup completed successfully although it actually failed and no data was written to backup media.
(*This behavior is seen with the QUADStor VTL only.)

Workaround: Download the hotfix from SEP Download Center to your Linux server or RDS and install it by executing the following commands as root in a terminal session. Attention: This operation will stop all running backups.

#>sm_main stop node
#>cd /opt/sesam
#>tar xvzf <hotfix file> 
#>sm_main start node

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.42-79 – (Windows) A data block is not written to tape when EOM is reached together with the segment size, thus making a restore of data referencing this block impossible

(Applies only to Windows) When backing up to tape, a data block is not written to tape when the segment size is reached at EOM, therefore a restore of data referencing this block is not possible. While a Path Archive can still be restored until EOM is reached, a complete restore or migration will fail.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.84. Additionally, you should check whether your tapes have been affected by checking your savesets; for more details on solving this issue, see Restore fails due to a missing block ...:How to detect affected savesets.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.79 – On tape devices, saveset names longer than 32 characters may lead to corrupted blocks

Saveset names longer than 32 characters that are stored on tape devices may lead to corrupted blocks (e.g., saveset names created by Oracle). This happens because the SEP sesam multiplex stream format (SMS) has only supported 32 bytes.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.84 (includes the modified SMS format and supports longer saveset names on tape).

Severity: MINOR

SEP sesam v. ≥ 4.4.3.82 – (Windows) SEP sesam GUI cannot be opened when the group policy option Prevent access to registry editing tools is applied

(Applies only to Windows) Running the GUI fails after updating SEP sesam to version ≥ 4.4.3.82. This issue seems to be related to the group policy (GPO) setting: if Prevent access to registry editing tools is applied for a specific user or group, opening the GUI does not work for the users which are prevented from accessing the Registry. In most cases, users with admin privileges will still be able to run the GUI as they are typically exempt for a GPO (and are able to access the Registry). If this policy is disabled (or not configured), the users may access the GUI regardless of their privileges.

Workaround: To enable access to the GUI for the affected users (typically non-admin users), disable the group policy option Prevent access to registry editing tools. Note that only experts should edit the registry; modifying Windows Registry incorrectly might crash your Windows operating system causing data loss.

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run window.
Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
In the Group Policy Editor -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System, double-click on Prevent access to registry editing tools setting in the right panel and select Disable. Then click Apply.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.79 – Loader assignment of sayFUSE drive gets lost after drive configuration

After updating a SEP sesam Server where sayFUSE drives are configured, these drives lose the assignment to their virtual loader during drive configuration.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.84.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.79 – SEP sesam update of a SLES 11 client may fail

When updating a client with SLES 11 by using the command rpm -U <package name>, the update may fail due to the new signature of the RPM packages.

Workaround: Update your SLES 11 client with the command rpm -U --nosignature <sesam package> if you have packages with the problematic signature.

Resolution: The packages of version 4.4.3.79 for SLES 11 have been reuploaded without the new signature and newer packages for SLES 11 will not contain this signature. The RPM repository itself remains signed.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.79 – SEP sesam installation and update on Windows Server 2012 R2 / Windows Server 2016/2019 may fail

On some Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 / 2019 (running on Intel Xeon platform), the SEP sesam software cannot be started due to problems while reading output from child processes.

Resolution: Fixed for Windows Server 2012 R2 with version 4.4.3.84;

Workaround: For SEP sesam Server running on Windows Server 2016 / 2019 add a global variable by using this command: sm_glbv w gv_old_read 1

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.70-79 – Backing up Citrix Hypervisor 8.1 might result in error "Unable to create a snapshot [['MESSAGE_REMOVED']]"

As creating quiesced snapshots is no longer supported in Citrix Hypervisor ≥ 8.1 and in the version ≥ 9.0.x.x drivers, running hot backups in combination with the COPY backup level results in the above error.

Workaround 1: The SEP sesam version 4.4.3.64 Grolar is not affected by this problem. It is still possible to use a SEP sesam Client as data mover if the SEP sesam software hasn't been upgraded to the Beefalo release yet.

Workaround 2: If you can afford the downtime of your affected virtual machines, you can change the settings from hot backup to cold backup as no snapshot creation is needed in this case.

Workaround 3: If your license allows the use of the CBT feature in Citrix Hypervisor, back up your virtual machines with the FULL/DIFF/INCR backup level instead of COPY.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.74 – Cancelling a Citrix XEN backup task does not abort the backup execution

Aborting a Citrix Xen backup task does not prevent the backup job from running as SEP sesam does not pass a cancel request to the running sbc_proxy and sbc process. Therefore the backup process will be running without interruption. Be aware that killing the sbc_proxy or sbc process manually will keep the snapshots; in this case, snapshots must be released manually.

Workaround: Only if you have aborted Citrix XEN backups manually by killing the sbc_proxy or sbc process, don't forget to release these snapshots as they are not managed by SEP sesam automatically. SEP is working on this issue and will provide a fix as soon as possible.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.74 – The new Install/Update feature might not work as expected

The newly introduced SEP sesam software update feature might not work as expected, e.g., it may not perform the automatic updates during SEP sesam NEWDAY as selected in the update mode.

Workaround: Control your updates manually.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.79.

SEP sesam v. ≤ 4.4.3.74 – VMware VM backups might fail due to a new vCenter Server version: 6.7 Update 3b

Due to a change in the VMware latest vCenter 6.7 Update 3b (6.7.0.42000), no VM backups can be performed by SEP sesam. This applies to all SEP sesam versions.

Workaround: Add the the exclude keyword ALL to the exclude list of the affected VMware VM task. If one or more VMDKs are already excluded, add the value separated by a comma (without spaces) at the end, for example: [vmstore] myVM/myVM_1.vmdk,ALL. For details, see VMware Backup - Creating a backup task.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.79.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.74 – Windows Client major update may lead to problems

Installing SEP sesam BSR Pro for Windows together with SEP sesam during a major update requires a chained installation, which may lead to problems. A chained installation is not supported during a major update. Thus it is not possible to perform a major update when SEP sesam BSR Pro for Windows is being installed/updated at the same time.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.79; major update is now supported without limitations. Make sure to install the Beefalo V2 update since it is a prerequisite for future major updates. See also About Installation and Update.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.74 – Hyper-V backup on cluster resource may fail

When performing a Hyper-V backup on cluster resource, the hosting Hyper-V server may not be retrieved and backup fails with Failed to get Virtual Machine ID.

Workaround: Perform Hyper-V virtual machine backup on the serving Hyper-V server node.

Resolution: Fixed with version 4.4.3.79.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.72-74 – BSR restore on Windows from a bootable image does not work when the boot image is created on the GUI installation on D:

Restoring BSR on Windows from a bootable image does not work, when the BSR ISO boot image is created on the GUI installation installed on the D: volume.

Workaround: Install BSR Pro to the system volume C: or use the SEP sesam Server installation package for GUI installation, see SEP sesam Quick Install Guide. SEP is working on this issue and will provide a solution as soon as possible.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.84 – Dell EMC Unity NDMP client configuration issue

(Applies only to Dell EMC Unity NDMP backup client) When configuring a Dell EMC Unity NDMP client in the SEP sesam GUI, it is not possible to select DELL EMC Unity as the operating system.

Workaround: When configuring a new Dell EMC Unity NDMP client, select EMC VNX as the operating system; for more details, see Adding NDMP host as a SEP sesam client. SEP is working on this issue and will provide a solution as soon as possible.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.84 – In the backup task for Dell EMC Unity NDMP client, the wrong source is shown

(Applies only to Dell EMC Unity NDMP backup) When creating a Dell EMC Unity NDMP backup task in the GUI and browsing for a source, NetApp is incorrectly shown in the Client File View and must be ignored.

Workaround: Make sure to select the appropriate NDMP source for Dell EMC Unity NDMP backup. SEP is working on this issue and will provide a solution as soon as possible.

SEP sesam v. ≥ 4.4.3 – Si3S does not work in case of changed STPD port on the Client

SEP Si3 source-side deduplication (Si3S) backup of a client to a SEP Si3 deduplication store not work, if the STPD service TCP port on the client side (client properties -> Options tab -> STPD options) is changed from the default port.

Workaround: Make sure that you use the default STPD TCP port on the client side. For details, see List of Ports Used by SEP sesam.

Feedback

As you come across things that you miss or are not working properly during testing, spot various bugs and issues or have another comment, please send your feedback to beta@sep.de. We will be happy to hear about your overall experience and are looking forward to your suggestions for improvement.

Thank you for your partnership and for devoting your time to SEP sesam beta testing.