Release overview
x360Recover 10.12.0 is a feature release.
This release is delivers user experience enhancements and bug fixes to reduce partner pain points.
Summary of new features
- Backup policy scheduling supports an offset from the top of the hour for backup start time
- Storage pool defaults to 4K block size to better support native 4K advanced format disks
- The terminal console of a running VM is available directly from the appliance when logged in via Recover Manager
- The user’s view selection (the number of items to display) is remembered once it has been set (per user)
- LockDown mode (when enabled) additionally disables ssh access from the LAN
- The Protected Systems page on vaults now has a client filter option (similar to the Jobs page)
- Global Management Portal is enhanced to better support D2C endpoints
- Global Management Portal reporting supports scheduling reports for D2C-only clients
- Cloud AutoVerify is enabled by default for existing and new D2C endpoints on Axcient vaults
- Cloud AutoVerify is enhanced to display results of mount checks performed on each backup
Summary of bug fixes
- MD5 checksum process is no longer performed for USB disk exports (This is to save time.)
- Fixed bug where Network Recovery jobs were sometimes not showing a stopped state after being cancelled
- Fixed issue with Distributed Tunnel System (DTS) not retrying lost or broken connections
- Fixed issue with AutoVerify results being hidden on self-hosted vaults if local cache is enabled
Features of v 10.12.0
Offset backup policies from the top of the hour
Traditionally, all backup jobs begin at the top of the hour (or, when the backup frequency is less than one hour, at the top of the backup window.) Having all backup jobs begin at the top of the hour can cause high load and network contention, especially when many protected systems are configured on a single appliance.
In addition to causing pain on the local network, replication traffic to the offsite datacenter is also highly skewed towards the top of the hour. This happens because backups generally complete for all systems globally during the same time window.
In order to level loads for the network and storage servers, cloud replications should ideally be more evenly offset throughout the hour.
- Release 10.12.0 adds the option of offsetting the backup start time by 0-59 minutes from the top of the hour, allowing more staggered backup policy schedules.
Backup policies (for both newly-created backups as well as for existing Advanced mode backups) will be reconfigured with a random offset during the upgrade to this release.
Important: Partners should take note that the actual start time and completion of backups across all devices will be randomly staggered through the hour, but this will not affect the number of backups taken per day. Recover Manager health monitoring has been updated to account for the staggered start times of schedules. This will properly maintain SLA-based alerting of stale backups and recoveries.
Enhancements to Cloud AutoVerify
Cloud AutoVerify support released in 10.11.0 is being slowly enabled across partner vaults via Feature Flag controls. Release 10.12.0 adds further enhancements to the functionality.
- Direct-to-Cloud endpoints will automatically be enabled for bootVM checks once this feature is enabled on your vault.
- Cloud AutoVerify tiered testing now reports the status of volume mount checks that are performed with every backup.
The three testing tiers available now are:
| Volume mount check |
Performed with every backup |
| Boot check |
Performed nightly |
| Full volume integrity check |
Performed once per week |
Additional improvements to the user experience
Terminal access from the VM console - The Terminal button is now present, when connected remotely to an appliance or vault via Recover Manager. This allows virtual machines to access the VM console. (Previously, it was necessary to return to Recover Manager in order to access the VM console.)
Customize and save user view preferences - This improvement resolves a long-standing feature request: every partner prefers a different number of default items to be shown on tables throughout the UI. Your last view selection will now be remembered, across all tables, throughout the UI, on a per-user basis.
SSH lockdown – Due to compliance concerns, numerous partners have requested the lockdown of access to local devices via SSH over the LAN (in addition to the UI) when lockdown mode is enabled. With Release 10.12.0, SSH access from the LAN will be blocked whenever lockdown mode is enabled. (A future release will give you global control from Recover Manager, with an option to opt-out of blocking SSH.)
Client filter on the Protected Systems page – Previously, we delivered a Client filter for vaults (to enhance browsing Jobs table entries.) Release 10.12.0 extends the Client filter to the Protected Systems page, as well.
Direct-to-Cloud support in the Global Management Portal– While reporting has been enhanced to show some details of Direct-to-Cloud endpoints, the Global Management Portal has limited overall support for this feature. With 10.12.0 the GMP has been enhanced with the following:
- Direct-to-Cloud endpoints now report last backup times to the native management tables (and replication shows this same data.) This allows third-party integrations (like Backup Radar) to collect and report on backups taken for Direct-to-Cloud endpoints
- The reporting engine has been enhanced to support scheduling client reports for clients who are strictly Direct-to-Cloud only. (These clients have no appliances.) Previously, such clients were not available in the client selection list when scheduling a report
Auto Update Best Practices
We recommend that Enable Auto Update is enabled on the Settings -> Update Manager page on each of your x360Recover devices.
We also recommend that you enable Auto-Enable Remote Assist When Upgrading so that remote access will be available to our development team should something go wrong with your upgrade.
- This will ensure that your x360Recover devices are updated with the latest software enhancements in a timely fashion, and that the Support team will have a short window of time to access and repair any troublesome devices without requiring user intervention.
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