Copyright (c) 1999-2022 Storix, Inc. All rights reserved **************************************************** * STORIX SYSTEM BACKUP ADMINISTRATOR FOR LINUX * * -------------------------------------------- * * CHANGE HISTORY * **************************************************** The following details the changes applied to the current version and release (8.2) since its initial availability (February 27, 2014). Refer to the RELEASE NOTES for details on changes and enhancements added to this release from prior releases. VERSION MM/DD/YY DESCRIPTION ------- -------- ------------------------------------------------- 8.2.0.0 02/27/14 VERSION 8.2 GENERAL AVAILABILITY NEW FEATURES 1. SHARED NFS SERVER New backup server type which all clients may use to store backups on NFS share. At the time of backup or restore, the NFS share is mounted on the client to minimize network traffic. NFS v2, v3, and v4 are supported. This feature is available with Network Edition license only. Workstation Edition license will continue to use NFS local system backup device (SBNFS). 2. MULTIPLE LOCAL SYSTEM BACKUP DISKS Added support for utilizing and managing multiple local system backup disk devices (SBDIR). Feature is designed for users that wish to utilize disks in a backup rotation scheme. 3. BACKUP JOB CALENDAR New backup job calendar that displays upcoming scheduled backups and previously run backups. The calendar has month, week, and day views. This feature is only available in the Web Interface. 4. AUTO-TERMINATE STALLED BACKUPS New application preference that allows for defining the number of minutes to wait before automatically killing a backup that is no longer writing data. The default is to not automatically kill, but to send a warning notification only. 5. SUPPORT FOR BTRFS Added support for Btrfs filesystem that allows for performing backup and system recovery of a system that utilizes this filesystem type. Also allows for migrating filesystems to Btrfs during system recovery. CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Support added for TSM API v7.1 for Linux x86_64 and IBM PowerLinux systems. 2. Deprecated NFS local system backup device (SBNFS) for Network Edition license. After upgrade to v8.2, clients that have SBNFS devices configured may continue to use the SBNFS device but are encouraged to migrate to a shared NFS server. 3. Local system backup disks are no longer defined in the /etc/fstab file. They will always be left in a state that is safe for physical removal after backup or restore. 4. No longer will add a backup job to a backup queue that is shutdown. Notification will be sent that the job was not added because the queue is down. This will prevent jobs from stacking up in a queue that is down. NOTES 1. Recommended upgrade path is from latest version of v8.1. 8.2.0.1 04/04/14 FIXES 1. Segmentation fault when querying LVM logical volumes. Found on Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.10 but likely to apply to all distributions. 2. Do not apply backup job ID length limitation of 20 characters to automated copy backup jobs. 3. Add dm-service-time module to be included on boot media. The module was found to be necessary for DM-Multipath devices on SLES 11.3. 4. Failed to prevent jobs from being added to a backup queue that is shutdown under all conditions. 5. No longer set default network adapter when creating boot media with No-Prompt or Set Defaults installation mode. (Web IF only) 6. JavaScript error editing shared NFS server configuration when NFSv4 is set. (Web IF only) 7. Error rebuilding backup label when backup is stored on shared NFS server. (GUI only) 8. No prompt installation did not fail properly when the network interface did not exist on target system. 8.2.0.2 04/11/14 IMPORTANT FIX 1. Updated OpenSSL to version 1.0.1g to address the OpenSSL Heartbleed vulnerability (CVE-2014-0160). This will only effect users of the SBAdmin Web Interface. FIX 1. Increased size of partition used to make local system backup disk (SBDIR) bootable on IBM PowerLinux systems. 8.2.0.3 06/10/14 IMPORTANT FIX 1. Updated OpenSSL to version 1.0.1h to address the OpenSSL vulnerability described in CVE-2014-224. This will only effect users of the SBAdmin Web Interface. FIX 1. Failure when copying backup from SBDIR device. (Workstation Edition only) 2. System recovery of IBM PowerLinux systems incorrectly created /boot/boot directory when /boot filesystem existed. 3. As part of system recovery process, if necessary modify filter in lvm.conf file for those devices used by LVM. 8.2.1.0 08/26/14 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0. Support is provided for both x86_64 and PowerLinux. Support added for the following features added in RHEL7.0: - systemd system and service manager - GRUB 2 boot loader - All network interface device names FIXES 1. Ensure copy backup to SBDIR devices write/update disk label. (Workstation Edition only) 2. When configuring a SBDIR device using a multipath disk, creation would fail mouting the /boot filesystem. 3. Unconfiguring an SBDIR device on a client that is not the administrator. (Network Edition GUI only) 4. Backup devices not listed when configuring a backup job using a shared server that is managed/owned by another administrator. 8.2.1.1 10/01/14 FIXES 1. Do not allow expiration/removal of backup label of job currently running. 2. Change sthttpd systemd type to use forking. 3. Selecting to update SBDIR and one has not yet been created resulted in infinite wait screen. (Workstation Edition Web Interface only) 8.2.1.2 10/22/14 IMPORTANT FIX 1. Updated OpenSSL to version 1.0.1j and lighttpd to version 1.4.35 to address vulnerabilities described in CVE-2014-3513, CVE-2014-3566 (POODLE), CVE-2014-3567, and CVE-2014-3568. This will only effect users of the SBAdmin Web Interface. 8.2.1.3 11/21/14 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for TSM API v7.1.x. FIXES 1. When updating configured devices, only non-system backup devices were listed. (Network Edition w/Web IF only) 2. Scheduled backup jobs were not being listed in the calendar view if there were numeric jobids. (WebIF only) 3. Unable to configure cciss disks as local system backup device (SBDIR). 4. Loading SELINUX policy in initramfs image for those systems that do not load it in init scripts. 8.2.2.0 02/26/15 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 (x86 only). 2. Enhanced support for Btrfs filesystems: - Mounted subvolume treated as independent filesystem. - Migrate to and from Btrfs during system recovery. - Support for all data and metadata RAID types. FIXES 1. Filesystems built on software RAID devices may cause backup to fail when using non-system backup profiles. 2. Potential failure when installing GRUB2 boot loader if boot filesytem is on LVM. 3. EFI boot image on CDROM must be multiple of 16MB. 4. Allow boot filesystem to be on LVM for GRUB2. 8.2.3.0 04/13/15 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1. Support for PowerLinux on big endian only. 2. Added support for Grub-legacy and Grub2 EFI/UEFI bootloaders. 8.2.3.1 08/13/15 FIXES 1. System installation menus displayed wrong size of a physical volume when device was larger than 1TB. 2. Unable to remove shared NFS servers from the main panel view. (WebIF only) 3. Ensure /dev/pts is mounted with same permissions. 4. Error copying directory backups with more than three directories in the datalist. 5. Kernel modules may be loaded using stmodprobe with either dash (-) or underscore (_) in the module name. 8.2.4.0 09/24/15 CHANGES/ENHANCMENTS 1. Added support for PPC LE (little-endian) systems. FIXES 1. System commands such as 'df' and 'mount' would not show that the root (/) filesystem was mounted when booting a recovered system from an initramfs image created by the SBAdmin recovery process. This was due to the /etc/mtab file not being updated with the correct device for the root filesystem. This was only found to be an issue on SLES 11 SP4. 2. Fixed an issue where the server label index file could be incomplete when writng several backups simultaneously. 3. Allow shared NFS servers to be configured by hostname or IP address. 4. Fix issue with configuring system to boot using GRUB2 on UEFI with CentOS. 5. Restore SELinux context on /etc/cron.d/storix file when schedule for backup job has changed. 8.2.4.1 01/13/16 FIXES 1. Volume groups not necessary to mount the root filesystem were not activated in the initramfs image created by the SBAdmin recovery process. This caused system boot to fail when filesystems defined to be mounted by /etc/fstab were on logical volumes and not part of the root volume group. This is only known to be an issue with RHEL7. 2. Failed to configure GRUBEFI bootloader during system recovery when /boot/efi filesystem was found on a device-mapper multipath device. 3. Improve determination of bootloader currently in use and supported by operating system during backup. 4. Backup would fail if btrfs filesystem was mounted or defined using "subvolid=ID" mount option (as found in /etc/mtab, /proc/mounts, or /etc/fstab). 5. Failed to configure GRUB2 bootloader on PPC when boot disk was found on a device-mapper multipath device. 6. Missing gateway and subnet mask from network boot configuration when booting from UEFI (ELILO bootloader). 7. Add support for ethernet devices named using biosdevname (ie em1, em2). 8.2.4.2 04/21/16 CHANGES/ENHANCMENTS 1. Support added for TSM API v7.1.3.x and v7.1.4.x. FIXES 1. Network configuration missing on bootmedia for TSM Edition clients (WebIF only). 2. Minimize length of kernel command line options of PXE boot configuraton file if kernel is 2.4.21 or older. Only applies to network boot of Linux x86/x86_64 clients. 3. Failed to create tape or network boot media on Linux PPC LE (little-endian) systems. 4. System recovery menus now support any number of disks. 5. Support for UDEV not included on boot media for some systems utilizing systemd (ie Ubuntu 15.10). 6. System recovery process could fail when root filesystem is on a logical volume and dmsetup command was not found (RHEL3.x). 7. System recovery process could fail when root filesystem is not on a logical volume, systemd is in use, and LVM utilities package not installed. 8. Failed to list all backup images of a multi-client backup job written a TSM server when clients used the same TSM nodename. 8.2.5.0 07/13/16 CHANGES/ENHANCMENTS 1. Added INPUT_TIMEOUT variable to /.stdefaults to allow user to define timeout (in minutes) for communication client program (strexec) to wait for data on input. The default is 20 minutes, but user may want to increase this value should they receive the error message "Timed out waiting for input". 2. Updated sample self-signed cerification used for the web interface from sha1 to sha256. FIXES 1. During system recovery, remove HWADDR line from network configuration file if MAC address of interface does not match what is found in the configuration file. 2. Failed to create boot media (tape, network, CDROM) as part of backup job when job was initiated by a user with "Backup User" priveleges. 3. Auto-verify of backup did not occur when creation of boot image failed. This only applies to backup jobs configured to create boot media and verify backup when complete. 4. Snapshot backup option would not be applied to all clients in a backup job if one of the clients was not configured for snapshot backups. 5. Ensure /dev, /dev/pts, and /run are mounted properly following system recovery. 8.2.5.1 11/10/16 CHANGES/ENHANCMENTS 1. Support added for non-volitle memory controllers (NVMe). 2. Added new xfs and ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem features and mount options to system recovery menus. 3. CDROM and disk boot media created on PowerLinux will include options for booting using console device hvc0 (for LPARs) and tty0 (for physical systems using graphical console). Also, the default console type for PowerLinux systems was changed from tty0 to hvc0. 4. Added force (-f) option to stbuildlabel command which allows users to rebuild an incomplete or existing backup labels. FIXES 1. During system recovery, creation of a GPT partition table on a multipath device failed if unable to apply name to a specific partition. 2. No longer enforcing a minimum size of PReP boot partition on PowerLinux system recoveries. 3. Fixed system recovery issue when software RAID devices were used by the root (/) filesystem. 4. Preventing UDEV from detecting and assembling software RAID devices automatically during system recovery. 5. The multipathd daemon could have been disabled following system recovery. 6. Filesystems built on logical volumes that use multipath devices as physical volumes may not mount properly following system recovery. 8.2.5.2 01/26/17 CHANGES/ENHANCMENTS 1. When determining whether to automatically expire backups based on the number of backups to retain, the current number of backups will be based on what is currently found on the backup server. Previously, the current number was determined by counting the number of backup labels for the job, which could be inaccurate if the job failed before anything was written to the server. 2. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3. 3. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2. FIXES 1. Fail system backup if support for a filesystem type included in the backup is not found. 2. MSDOS partitions will be renamed and created in order of starting sector during system recovery. 3. System recovery menus now support volume group names up to 25 characters. 4. Run grub2-install with "--no-nvram" flag should default grub2-install command fail. This will prevent grub2-install from failing should it be unable to update the boot device in the system firmware. This only applies to PowerLinux and UEFI systems. 5. Fixed cases where boot media created from some Debian systems would display the wrong virtual terminal. 6. Maximum physical volumes setting for volume groups can now be retained or set to 0 which mean unlimited. 7. When removing first partition on a disk in system installation menus, apply the starting sector to the partition that becomes first partition. 8.2.5.3 03/30/17 CHANGES/ENHANCMENTS 1. Improved Job Status Log message output (Webif only) 2. Added support for HP Dynamic Smart Array B140i Drivers 3. Added profile for IBM TS3100 Tape Libraries2 FIXES 1. During system recovery, sorting of MSDOS partitions by starting sector failed for partitions on multipath devices. 2. Fixed cases where IBM Power systems using grub2 were sometimes unable to boot after recovery when using dm-multipath disks and btrfs for root. 3. Failed to mount /usr filesystem in initramfs image if /usr was a BTRFS filesystem. Only applies to systems that use systemd. 4. Filesystem backups of BTRFS filesystems incorrectly included data for all mounted subvolumes. 5. Incremental backup of a filesystem with more than one slash (i.e. /usr/local) failed. 6. Incorrect devices listed when creating bootable tapes (Webif only) 8.2.5.4 05/05/17 FIXES 1. During system recovery of PowerLinux system, update the /etc/lilo.conf file when using Yaboot bootloader with new boot and root devices. This is necessary for kernel updates. Only known to be issue on SLES10 and SLES11 PPC systems. 2. Added ibmvscsi and ipr drivers to tape boot initrd 8.2.6.0 09/14/17 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Use dracut to create initramfs image during system recovery when dracut is available and system uses systemd (i.e. RHEL7.x, SLES12.x). 2. Backups will include extended file attributes of files when the "tar" command on the host creating the backup supports creating archives that include the attributes. These attributes are (tar flag): SELinux contexts (--selinux) Extended attributes (--xattrs, --xattrs-include="*") 3. Add support for Debian 9. 4. Added support for TSM API 8.1.2.0. 5. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4. FIXES 1. During system recovery, only create logical volumes with persistent major/minor numbers if used by a software RAID device or as a filesystem journal. 2. When migrating network configuration during system recovery and systemd is naming the interface using a link file, then ensure kernel name of interface (ie eth0) is used on boot following recovery. This is accomplished by creating a new link file that will take precedence. 3. Purge backup history utility inadvertantly removes the history of all backup jobs when selecting to only purge the history of backup jobs no longer configured. This issue only applies to Workstation Edition. 8.2.6.1 11/03/17 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for the following filesystem features: ext2 ext3 ext4: large_file none ext4: 64bit bigalloc extra_isize uninit_bg FIXES 1. During system recovery, ensure that only the selected filesystem features are applied. 2. During system recovery, failed to create initramfs image using dracut if /var was a separate filesystem. 3. Updated grub2 configuration process to limit interference with future kernel updates. 8.2.6.2 03/15/18 SECURITY UPDATES 1. Updated cipher list used for SBAdmin web interface to address CVE-2016-2183 - SWEET32. CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. The default when verifying a backup is to use the client that created the backup to read/verify the backup data. Previously, the default was to use the backup server when possible. This behavior may be modified by changing the SERVER_VERIFY value in /.stdefaults on the administrator. FIXES 1. To prevent web browser display issues during restores, restored files will only be listed if specific files or directories were selected. 2. In some cases, the grub2 install script failed using the non-mapper name for mpath devices. 3. Unable to copy directory backup created by AIX client. 8.2.6.3 03/30/18 FIXES 1. Disk files did not get removed when expiring a disk backup. Applies to files on system backup disk (SBDIR) and shared NFS device. (Network Edition only) 2. Auto-verify of backup failed when backup device was client local system backup disk. (Network Edition only) 3. Failed to remove disk backup files when performing purge operation and backup stored on system backup disk (SBDIR) or NFS device. 4. Added options for custom pre & post-snapshot scripts to the web interface. 8.2.7.0 06/22/18 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for disks with 4K sector size. 2. During system recovery, the default is to not round partitions to cylinder boundaries. This requirement has been deprecated since the use of logical block addressing (LBA). 3. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5. 4. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.3. FIXES 1. Clients configured for network boot are now unconfigured prior to removing the boot server. 2. Some user commands failed to execute when using long (--) arguments. 3. Replace dropdown with entry field for adapter name used for Linux boot images. (Web IF only) 4. Update to better support Non-volitile Memory Storage. 5. Allow CDROM boot media created as part of a backup job to be stored on client. (Network Edition only) 6. Support recovery of btrfs systems with the rootfs located on a snapshot subvolume using UEFI firmware. 7. Fixed efibootmgr error during system recovery on Debian. 8.2.7.1 09/19/18 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.0. FIXES 1. In some cases, the boot kernel location was inaccuratly recorded when using UEFI and there are other vfat filesystem mounted that contained the same kernel file. 2. During system recovery, if operating system filesystems (e.g. /, /boot, /usr, /opt) are mounted btrfs subvolumes then wait until all data has been restored before making the system bootable. 3. Fix automatic exclusion of btrfs filesystem data. 8.2.7.2 01/25/19 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6. 2. Added support for Red Hat and SuSE systems with FIPS-enabled (fips=1 kernel option). FIXES 1. Fixed intermittent license errors in the Web Interface for TSM Edition. 2. Job status information sometimes displayed incorrectly when listing backup labels by client. (Web IF only) 3. Updated the interfaces to allow more destination options when configuring automated copy of backups. 4. Removed floppy module support from the boot media. Was reported to cause kernel panics in rare cases. 8.2.7.3 03/15/19 SECURITY UPDATE 1. Updated expiration date for the self-signed certificate used for the web interface. FIXES 1. Fixed error in stbuildlabel command regarding host resolution. 2. Fixed automatically excluding /var/log/lastlog when /var/log is a separate filesystem. 3. Software update would fail to create /.stdefaults if multiple lines included same definition (even if commented out). Only lines that begin with definition will be used and retained for update. during software update. 4. During system recovery, configuring and installing the bootloader would appear to hang when making the bootloader configuration file. This behavior has only been found on RHEL 7.6, when root filesystem is on LVM, and using the GRUB2 bootloader. 8.2.8.0 08/09/19 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0. 2. Added SSL support for TSM API. 3. During system recovery, if data restore fails user will now be presented with the option to retry the data restore. SECURITY UPDATE 1. Added HTTP Security Header information to address Qualys QID 11827 security alerts. FIXES 1. During system recovery, delay in listing backups on NFS share could occur because portmap was not started. 2. Fix to allow LILO bootloader on PPC if the root (/) filesystem is on btrfs. 3. Do not allow clients and servers to be added if they are already configured under a different hostname or by IP address. 4. Changed incremental restore methods to prevent unexpected data from being removed. 5. Updated restore process wth better checks to prevent restoring data that could harm the operating system. 8.2.9.0 11/07/19 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7. 2. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1. 3. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.4. 4. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.1. 5. Added support for Debian 10. 6. Added support for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (ppcle only). 7. Added support for Netplan network configuration. FIXES 1. No longer use /tmp as a temporary directory during software updates. 2. Limit the length of a backup group to 20 characters. 3. Allow stremovelabel to remove backup labels if server is unavailable by using the --force flag. 4. Failed to create multipath devices during system recovery because SCSI_IDENT_* properties were not set. 8.2.9.1 01/07/20 FIXES 1. Include perl CGI modules for use with the web interface. 2. During system recovery, create btrfs snapshot subvolumes for those mountpoints that were using snapshots at the time of the backup. 8.2.10.0 05/19/20 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.8. 2. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2. 3. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.5. 4. Added support for Debian 9.12. 5. Added support for Debian 10.2. 6. Added support for Debian 10.3. 7. Added modules necessary for manual configuration of VLAN tagging during system recovery. FIXES 1. Manual verify of volume group backups on linux would fail with inaccurate error message. 2. Fix recording of multipath swap device in backup, which prevented creation of swap device duing system recovery. 3. Failed to allow redefine of SBNFS device configuration. 4. Failed to apply retention policy correctly on tape devices, causing automatic expiration to fail. 5. Prevent communication service (strexecd) from failing under heavy load. The typical symptom is the message "Invalid response from host HOST ()". 6. Fix auto-copying backup on "same or next day at", and the time is the top of the hour (minutes is 0). 8.2.10.1 10/23/20 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.9. 2. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.2. 4. Added support for Debian 10.6. FIXES 1. Fixed error when copying backups from remote tape. 2. Linux systems booting from elilo (system recovery and boot media) failed to boot with kernels larger than 8mb. 3. Note about snapshots sometimes appeared in the status output of the wrong client backup. 8.2.11.0 04/29/21 FIXES 1. Fix query of maximum logical volumes setting for a volume group, and allow for a value of 0 (unlimited). 2. Fix network configuration failure during system recovery related to error message "Error: an inet prefix is expected rather than ...". This issue is found in RHEL/OEL 5.x only. 3. In some cases, NFS mounts were still mounted after the backup completed when writing to an NFS server. 8.2.11.1 08/17/21 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4. 2. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.3. FIXES 1. When creating CDROM/ISO boot media, make multiple attempts to unmount temporary loop device. Previously, boot media creation would fail if the unmount failed on the first attempt. 2. Fixed error getting the WWID from mpath devices in cases where there are more than 26 multipath disks. 8.2.12.0 02/15/22 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5. 2. Added support for Debian 11 thru 11.2. FIXES 1. Updated expiration date for the self-signed certificate used for the web interface. 2. Added workaround for Red Hat bug advisory RHBA-2021:4494. 3. The option to append reports to "File" was missing from the web interface. 8.2.13.0 08/09/22 CHANGES/ENHANCEMENTS 1. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0. 2. Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6. 3. Added support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.4. 4. Added support for Debian 11.4. FIXES 1. Warnings querying GPT partition table information caused a failure identifying multipath disks. 2. Improved software installer (stinstall) to better check for Perl modules necessary for web interface. 3. Fixed format of NetworkManager connections file created during system recovery. 4. Include HWADDR line in ifcfg-* files created by the system recovery process. Red Hat is known to use this line when determining how to name the network adapter. 8.2.13.1 12/16/22 FIXES 1. Fixed issue creating the partition table for System Backup disks on legacy systems. 2. Added wider search for unused loop devices when creating boot media. 3. Do not include uuid= line in NetworkManager connections file created during system recovery if unable to create the uuid. 4. When performing recovery of a system using systemd, create file /etc/systemd/network/00-storix.link to ensure the network interface name used for recovery will be retained on the restored system. file if not able to generate the uuid.