VTL Release Notes
VTL Release Notes
20 SP2
Release Notes
Thank you for choosing FalconStor Optimized Backup & Deduplication version 8.20 SP2. You should
review the Information and Restrictions section for important information regarding known issues and
important recommendations that may not be included in the user guide.
Release note content may change between major product versions in order to reflect product updates
released via patches. The heading for changed content will be followed by “(updated Month Year)”.
Added or changed content will begin with “(Added/Changed Month Year)”.
The following links may also be helpful:
FalconStor Certification Matrix: http://www.falconstor.com/CertificationMatrix
Knowledge Base: http://www.falconstor.com/Knowledgebase
Technical Support: http://www.falconstor.com/TechnicalSupport
Contents
FalconStor Optimized Backup & Deduplication Overview .................................................... 3
Supported Platforms................................................................................................................ 3
Hardware Requirements ......................................................................................................................... 3
Software Requirements (updated December 2016) ............................................................................... 3
Console (updated June 2016) ................................................................................................................ 3
Target Connectivity Protocols (updated August 2016) ........................................................................... 4
NDMP Support........................................................................................................................................ 4
SNMP Support ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Supported File Sharing Protocols and Authentication Modes ................................................................ 4
Supported Backup Applications, Tape Libraries and Drives, and Storage Devices .............................. 4
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 2 - 12/14/2016
FalconStor Optimized Backup & Deduplication Overview
The FalconStor Optimized Backup & Deduplication solution combines industry-leading Virtual Tape
Library (VTL) technology and NAS functionality in a unified, simple-to-use product, providing disk-based
backup and deduplication at the fastest available speeds.
The solution offers high-speed backup/restore, global data deduplication, enterprise-wide replication, and
tape integration, without requiring changes to the existing environment. NAS functionality provides block-
level deduplication for data on network-based file shares using the standard NAS protocols Common
Internet File System (CIFS) and Network File System (NFS).
Supported Platforms
Hardware Requirements
The following are the minimum hardware requirements for all VTL server types:
Intel/AMD 64-bit processors, 2+GHz
80 GB disk space for the operating system
Additional disk space for the application partition
A 20 GB disk for the Configuration Repository and an additional 20 GB disk for its mirror
16 GB memory
Additional memory is needed for the deduplication repository*
Additional memory is needed for Hosted Backup, as recommended by the backup application vendor
FalconStor software images are fully integrated with Oracle Enterprise Linux. Use of Red Hat or CentOS
requires support from FalconStor Professional Services.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication for Version 8.20 Release Notes - 3 - 12/14/2016
Target Connectivity Protocols (updated August 2016)
VTL supports the following target connectivity protocols:
QLogic 267x 16 Gb FC including Multi-ID with Dual Mode
QLogic 256x 8 Gb FC including Multi-ID with Dual Mode
QLogic 24xx 4 Gb FC including Multi-ID with Dual Mode
iSCSI v2.x
NDMP Support
VTL supports NDMP version 4.
SNMP Support
VTL supports the following SNMP versions:
SNMP version 3
SNMP version 2
SNMP version 1
Supported Backup Applications, Tape Libraries and Drives, and Storage Devices
Check the certification matrix on the FalconStor website for an up-to-date list of certified tape libraries,
tape drives, storage devices, and backup software.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 4 - 12/14/2016
New Features and Enhancements in Version 8.20 SP2
FalconStor VTL version 8.20 SP2 offers the following enhancements:
Utilize CPU cores more efficiently to improve performance.
Address security vulnerabilities reported by Nessus vulnerability scanner.
Add a feature to the vtlcheck utility to report when there are tapes within a virtual library with the same
home slot.
Add support for HP iLO v4.
Enhance the CLI command 'assignvdev' to allow setting the Logical Unit Number (LUN) during device
assignment to a Fibre Channel client.
Virtual Appliance
The version 8.20 virtual appliance includes the following features:
Backup and restore of NAS data
Upstream Fibre Channel connectivity to VTL clients
SNMP
SNMP version 3 now supports AES 256 encryption.
SNMP version 3 is now configurable from the FalconStor Management Console.
Additional Enhancements
Oracle StorageTek T10000 D tape drives are now supported.
FC and iSCSI clients can now be renamed from the console and command line interface (CLI).
Optimized Backup & Deduplication for Version 8.20 Release Notes - 5 - 12/14/2016
New Features and Enhancements in Version 8.10
FalconStor VTL version 8.10 offers the following enhancements:
Encryption at Rest
Version 8.10 provides encryption for tape data stored within the system to ensure that the data is
confidential and secure.
Deduplication Repository Encryption protects deduplicated data stored in the deduplication repository.
Virtual Tape Encryption protects data backed up on virtual tapes.
The new encryption functionality complements existing security features that protect data being exported
from the system to physical tape and data being replicated to a remote site.
Encryption utilizes the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit key CBC algorithms (Secure Tape)
published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. government and
is FIPS-140-2-compliant.
Console
The FalconStor Management Console has been enhanced to provide additional language support. The
console now supports a Simplified Chinese display.
Common Console
Version 8.00 provides a single console to manage multiple servers – VTL, NAS, SIR, and VTL-S servers.
The console provides a consolidated view of jobs and functionality in a single location.
To simplify manageability, two operational modes are available, standard and configuration. Standard
mode provides functionality for daily operations, such as virtual tape library and NAS resource
configuration and management, as well as job and system status reporting. Configuration mode provides
additional functionality to mirror system disks, as well as configure and manage physical resources and
clients and is typically used during initial system setup.
To further simplify management tasks, all job queues and system status information have been organized
under two new objects, Activities and Status.
Replication
Data on tapes in a deduplication policy can now be replicated to multiple target servers in one of the
following ways:
• Cascaded replication – a source server replicates data to a target server T1, which in turn
replicates data to another target server, T2.
• Fan-out (parallel) replication – a source server replicates data to two target servers, T1 and T2.
Data can be replicated to both target servers concurrently or serially.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 6 - 12/14/2016
Enterprise Report Framework
Version 8.00 provides a common reporting framework for VTL and NAS servers, deduplication repository
servers, and VTL-S servers.
With the addition of NAS deduplication, the following reports (previously available in FalconStor FDS)
have been integrated into the FalconStor Management Console:
NAS Statistics Summary Report - Displays deduplication and/or replication session summary
information and settings for each active NAS deduplication/replication session.
NAS Resource Usage Report - Shows disk space usage, total disk space, and percentage used for
NAS resources.
NAS Share Usage Report - Shows disk space usage for a specific Windows share.
VLAN Tagging
Virtual LAN (VLAN) Tagging can now be configured through the FalconStor Management Console.
When VLANs span multiple switches, VLAN tagging helps to identify the VLAN to which data belongs and
helps determine which port(s) to use for communication.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 7 - 12/14/2016
Command Line Interface
With the addition of NAS deduplication, the command line interface (CLI) commands that were
previously available in FalconStor FDS have been integrated into VTL 8.00.
The term “File system” (virtualized disks for FDS shares) that was used in FalconStor FDS has been
changed to “NAS”. The related CLI commands have been renamed accordingly.
Additional Enhancements
Virtual tapes up to 8 TB are now supported.
LTO6 physical tape emulation is now supported.
The data integrity check feature has been improved for the deduplication repository. The process now
runs continuously in the background in an efficient way that does not impact deduplication
performance.
A new utility is available to automatically download server patches from the FalconStor support portal.
A new email alerts trigger has been added to notify users that server patches are ready for installation.
All SNMP MIB files have been merged into two files, falc-vtl-trap.mib (for trap information) and
falconstor-all.mib (for MIB information).
Tape stacking is now supported for standalone physical tape drives as well as physical tape libraries.
The Fast Copy feature improves the copying of files and directories between NAS resources within the
same server. If the file has been deduplicated, the stub file will be copied so that the file does not have
to be restored. File attributes, such as access permissions, user/group ownerships, and modification
time, are carried over.
If the system log is rotated prior to the Email Alerts checking interval, the previous log is checked as
well as the current log.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 8 - 12/14/2016
Information and Restrictions
Virtual Appliance
The following features are not supported on virtual appliances:
ACSLS
IBM 3494
FC/iSCSI-based disks for downstream storage
Hardware compression
Due to a VMware ESX limitation, each Fibre Channel HBA, including all of its ports, is dedicated to
one virtual machine and cannot be shared with other virtual machines installed on the same ESX
server.
Encryption at Rest
For new installations, in order to use encryption, you must run the unlockdataencryptionoption
CLI command before it can be configured and managed in the FalconStor Management Console. For
deduplication repository encryption, this must be done before creating a deduplication cluster.
From the moment you enable virtual tape encryption, new tape data will be encrypted; previously
stored data will not be encrypted.
Deduplication repository encryption can only be enabled on new deduplication clusters. If you
upgrade, you will not be able to use this feature.
There is no encryption for NAS data. If you enable encryption for the deduplication repository, you
cannot enable NAS.
If you want to enable encryption for virtual tapes and you want to use NAS but you do not need your
deduplication repository encrypted, enable NAS before enabling the VTL interface and encryption.
If you enable virtual tape encryption, you can only replicate to a server with virtual tape encryption
enabled.
Chinese Console
The Chinese version of the FalconStor Management Console supports only English character input.
The Windows installation package is only available in English.
Some hardcoded text, such as the Event Log and Email Alerts, remains in English.
Failover
Once failover is configured, you should not change the hostname or IP addresses of the cluster
nodes.
If you disable VTL failover but plan to reconfigure it again, do not create any duplicate NAS resources
on the secondary server. If you do, when you try to reconfigure failover, you will get a message saying
that VTL must restart the secondary server before you can continue. However, restarting the
secondary server will not resolve the problem. Instead, you must remove the duplicate NAS resource
from the secondary server in order to continue.
The following failover configurations are supported:
Configuration Supported Failover Modes
Active-Active
VTL
Active-Passive
NAS with external repository Active-Passive
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 9 - 12/14/2016
Active-Active for VTL resources
VTL + NAS interface Active-Passive for VTL resources
No high availability for NAS resources
VTL-S
No high availability
NAS with internal repository
SIR N+1
Replication
In order to see data replication statistics for a deduplication policy, use the Deduplication Replication
Status Report on the target replication server rather than the Tape History and Run History tabs for the
policy.
Remote Copy and Auto Replication cannot be used between VTL/VTL-S 8.x and VTL/VTL-S 7.50.
A source server with virtual tape encryption enabled can only replicate to a target server with virtual
tape encryption enabled.
Since NAS inline deduplication was introduced in VTL 8.00, you cannot replicate NAS resources to a
VTL/VTL-S 7.50 server.
If you are replicating from version 8.x to 7.x and want to promote a replica, you must use the 7.x
console in order to log in to the 7.x server. However, because the 7.x console cannot connect to the
8.x server, you must manually remove the replication configuration on the source tape.
The Replication option cannot be configured or removed for tapes that are loaded in tape drives.
Cascaded replication and parallel replication are only supported for VTL tapes; they are not supported
for OST images or NAS resources.
The Deduplication Replication Status report will not report replication that occurred while the server
was failed over to the partner server.
The replication icon ('R') remains green for a replicated tape after the tape is overwritten.
Replication between versions 7.50 to 8.x is supported. If you are using SHA512 on one server,
patches may be required on the other sever. Refer to the following table for details on replication
between versions. Note that version 8.20 includes all Service Packs.
From To SHA512 Required Patches
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 10 - 12/14/2016
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 8.10 VTL/VTL-S 8.20 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 8.10 SP1 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 8.10 -
VTL/VTL-S 8.00 -
VTL/VTL-S 7.50 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 8.00 VTL/VTL-S 8.20 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 8.10 SP1 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 8.10 -
VTL/VTL-S 8.00 -
VTL/VTL-S 7.50 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1
VTL console: UpgradeVTLto8.10SP1_console
VTL/VTL-S 7.50* VTL/VTL-S 8.20 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: update-is737581vtl
VTL console: VTL-Console-7.50-7375-24
SIR server: update-is737541SIR
SIR Console: SIR-Console-7.50-7375-17
VTL/VTL-S 8.10 SP1 The source server requires the following patches:
VTL server: update-is737581vtl
VTL console: VTL-Console-7.50-7375-24
SIR server: update-is737541SIR
SIR Console: SIR-Console-7.50-7375-17
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 11 - 12/14/2016
requires the following patches:
VTL server: update-is737581vtl
VTL console: VTL-Console-7.50-7375-24
SIR server: update-is737541SIR
SIR Console: SIR-Console-7.50-7375-17
* Replication from VTL/VTL-S 7.50 to VTL/VTL-S 8.xx does not support encryption.
Deduplication
Deduplication clusters can globally contain a maximum of 240 data disks.
Deduplication clusters can contain 1, 2, or 4 active nodes.
VTL supports a maximum of 64 deduplication policies.
While the maximum number of inline deduplication streams is dependent upon the CPU processing
power and the amount of memory in physical appliances, for virtual appliances there is a limit of eight
tape inline deduplication streams. Additional streams will use the post-processing method.
NAS files smaller than 8 KB are excluded from deduplication. However, these files will be included for
replication even if the files are not deduplicated.
VTL includes parsers for inline deduplication for the following backup applications:
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
Symantec NetBackup
NDMP
CommVault Simpana
EMC NetWorker - For EMC NetWorker 8.x, the “Common Device Interface” needs to be set to “Not
Used” in order for VTL to be able to deduplicate tapes.
Symantec Backup Exec and Microsoft Tape Format
Quest NetVault Backup
CA ARCserve - Inline deduplication is only supported for CA ARCserve backup jobs without
multiplexing. When multiplexing is used, the deduplication method is switched to post-deduplication
because ARCserve does not provide metadata containing the details needed about multiplexing
until the end of the backup job.
HP Data Protector
IBM System i
The “Generic 3” parser will be used for any tape format that has not been certified with VTL.
The Event Log tab for an individual deduplication policy will only show information for inline
deduplication policies.
Tape Duplication
Tape Duplication does not support non-tape caching tapes with barcode prefixes.
Tape Duplication does not support standalone tape drives.
NAS
NAS ACL execute permissions are not supported.
If you are using Windows 7 and are copying a folder that has the hidden or system extended attribute
set and is set for read-only, only the read-only attribute will be copied to the NAS share. You will have
to re-apply the hidden or system attribute to the folder after it has been copied.
There are no SNMP MIBs for NAS information.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 12 - 12/14/2016
Miscellaneous
The maximum number of concurrent tape shredding jobs is 32.
The import of stacked tapes is limited to 1,000 tapes.
You cannot mix NICs with different speeds (i.e., 10 Gb NICs with 1 Gb NICs) in a bond group.
The Physical Tape Usage Report will not show the total size for stacked tapes.
Before creating a mirror for the Tape Database, all tape activity should be reduced to limit the chance
that expansion might occur on the virtualized device created for the mirror.
The IBM Tivoli Storage Manager CHECKTAPEPOS server option is not supported.
NetBackup is not supported with ADIC Scalar 10K libraries that use AIT2/AIT tape drives.
If the hostname of your VTL server is changed, the server will be rebooted.
The Microsoft "Removable Storage Service" from Windows Services must be stopped and disabled
when using an IBM tape device driver with Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM).
Although the Configuration Wizard in the FalconStor Management Console allows creation of an alias
IP address for eth0, this will interfere with failover/N+1 configurations and management of replica
resources and is not recommended.
Network Lock Manager (NLM) RFC1813 is not supported.
Special characters such as \, /, *, ?, ”, <, >, |, %, $, or spaces are not supported for naming resources
and clients.
User/group quotas are not supported for NAS file systems.
Renaming of a NAS file system is not supported.
The maximum supported size of a NAS file or file system is 16 TB.
The maximum supported number of directory levels for NAS file systems is 27.
When you create a replication policy for NAS resources that includes non-deduplicated files, the
console will display these files as “excluded”, even though they are actually “pending” replication.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 13 - 12/14/2016
Resolved Issues in Version 8.20 SP2
Security
The following security vulnerabilities have been addressed in the operating system image:
SSLv3 Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption Vulnerability (POODLE): CVE-2014-3566
SSL Version 2 and 3 Protocol Detection: Nessus Plugin ID 20007
kernel security update: CVE-2014-9419, CVE-2014-9420, CVE-2014-9585, CVE-2015-1805, CVE-
2015-3331, CVE-2014-3215, CVE-2014-3690, CVE-2014-7825, CVE-2014-7826, CVE-2014-8171,
CVE-2014-8884, CVE-2014-9529, CVE-2014-9584, CVE-2015-1421, CVE-2011-5321, CVE-2015-
1593, CVE-2015-2830, CVE-2015-2922, CVE-2015-3636,
krb5 security update: CVE-2014-5352, CVE-2014-5353, CVE-2014-5355, CVE-2014-9421, CVE-
2014-9422
glibc security update: CVE-2013-7423, CVE-2015-1781
openssl security update: CVE-2015-4000, CVE-2014-8176, CVE-2015-1789, CVE-2015-1790, CVE-
2015-1791, CVE-2015-1792, CVE-2015-3216
nss security update: CVE-2015-2721, CVE-2015-2730, CVE-2015-4000
bind security update: CVE-2015-4620, CVE-2015-5477, CVE-2015-5722
openldap security update: CVE-2015-6908
ntp security update: CVE-2014-9297, CVE-2014-9298, CVE-2015-1798, CVE-2015-1799, CVE-2015-
3405
libxml2 security update: CVE-2015-1819
sudo security update: CVE-2014-9680
net-snmp security update: CVE-2014-3565, CVE-2015-5621
pam security update: CVE-2015-3238
nss-softokn security update: CVE-2015-2730
python security update: CVE-2013-1752, CVE-2014-1912, CVE-2014-4650, CVE-2014-7185
curl security update: CVE-2014-3613, CVE-2014-3707, CVE-2014-8150, CVE-2015-3143, CVE-2015-
3148
libuser security update: CVE-2015-3245, CVE-2015-3246
Apache Tomcat 7.x vulnerabilities: Nessus Plugin IDs 83526, 81650, 77475 and CVE-2011-3190,
CVE-2012-4431, CVE-2013-2067, CVE-2014-7810, CVE-2011-3375, CVE-2011-3376, CVE-2011-
4858, CVE-2012-0022, CVE-2012-2733, CVE-2012-4534, CVE-2012-3544, CVE-2012-3546, CVE-
2012-5885, CVE-2012-5886, CVE-2012-5887, CVE-2014-0075, CVE-2014-0096, CVE-2014-0099,
CVE-2009-0783, CVE-2011-2204, CVE-2011-2481, CVE-2011-2526, CVE-2011-2729, CVE-2013-
4322, CVE-2013-4590, CVE-2014-0050
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 14 - 12/14/2016
CLI
Symptom: A CLI command with the 'localhost' parameter still requires a login user and password.
Cause: The logic to verify localhost with the local IP address was missing.
Resolution: Validate localhost with the local IP address.
Severity: Low
Reference: TS90001 BZ33449
Symptom: The CLI command 'geteventlog -f' with the force option does not overwrite the event log file.
Cause: The file access mode was incorrect.
Resolution: Overwrite the output file when the force option is present.
Severity: Low
Reference: TS90000 BZ33173
Tape
Symptom: Exporting stacked tapes to a physical tape does not complete.
Cause: When there were many stacked tapes to be exported to one physical tape, the physical drive
reference was not set correctly for export sub-jobs.
Resolution: Set the physical drive reference for all sub-jobs.
Severity: Low
Reference: TS90222 BZ33334
Failover
Symptom: Email Alerts report an invalid broadcast IP address error.
Cause: The broadcast IP address was not set correctly for some specific netmasks.
Resolution: Set the broadcast IP according to the netmask value.
Severity: Low
Reference: TS90332 BZ33423
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 15 - 12/14/2016
Upgrade Information
VTL 8.20 SP2 is available for new installations and upgrades from VTL 8.x and VTL/VTLVA 7.50. Refer to
the Upgrade Guide for upgrade information and procedures.
There is no upgrade available from FalconStor FDS 7.00. You will need to upgrade FDS 7.00 to VTL 8.00
before upgrading to VTL 8.20 SP2.
There is no upgrade available from FalconStor FDSVA 7.00. Data can be copied from FDSVA 7.00 to
VTLVA 8.20 SP2 with NAS enabled.
Optimized Backup & Deduplication Version 8.20 SP2 Release Notes- 16 - 12/14/2016