Release Notes 5.0.0 Jaglion

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What's new in SEP sesam 5.0.0 Jaglion

Previous versions
Icon archived docs.png Need to check previous Release notes? See SEP sesam Release Versions.

New SEP sesam release 5.0.0 Jaglion introduces a more powerful and intuitive Web UI, handy new GUI functions, and more consistent and stable internal APIs.

Features at glance

Enhanced Web UI

The more advanced and intuitive Web UI offers the following in addition to monitoring SEP sesam operations: Start backups immediately, restart failed jobs, lock backups, review alerts, set UI mode, and view job and data store details.

Backup & Restore
  • Now also supported: Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) backup and restore. Nutanix AHV module is supported on SEP sesam Linux Server and on SEP sesam Windows Server, using a Linux Client as a data mover.
  • To simplify backing up multiple VMs, you can automate the process by automatically generating tasks for VMs that are connected to the same host; in addition, you can also automatically create clients for VMs to which the generated tasks and ACLs can be assigned.
  • The new Oracle-VM task type is available to perform agentless snapshot-based backups of all OLVM virtual machines.
  • Since Jaglion, the locked state is automatically applied to all backups in the chain of the selected backup.
  • When backing up Citrix Hypervisor VMs, it is possible to exclude individual virtual disk (VHD) from the backup.
  • Web Exchange restore: It is possible to perform a single Exchange mailbox database restore with SEP sesam Exchange Recovery Pro via the web interface Restore Assistant (with appropriate rights).
  • Now also web single file restore for virtual machines is supported in the web Restore Assistant.
Authentication & Authorization

SEP sesam v. 5.0.0 authentication concept has changed. Now only a user with Superuser privileges can configure authentication and attach permissions (ACLs) to created users. The internal users can be authenticated via a signed certificate instead of a user password.

Media Management

Expiring a tape provides a new option to delete all metadata, which erases all tape media metadata and initializes the tape (if the tape is loaded in a drive), removing access to all existing data on the tape.

New supported systems

SEP sesam Server 5.0.0 Jaglion now also supports the following:

  • xx

For a complete list of supported OS and databases, see SEP sesam Support Matrix.

Discontinued systems

Information sign.png Note
In SEP sesam Jaglion, SEP announced that it would no longer support:
  • Ubuntu 16.04
  • SLES11

For details on discontinued systems, see Unsupported OS. For a complete list of supported SEP sesam Clients, see SEP sesam Support Matrix.

SEP sesam Server requirements

Java xx
No changes since the last (Beefalo V2) release. For details see Java Compatibility Matrix, same requirements as for Beefalo.

Installation and upgrades

SEP sesam 5.0.0 Jaglion was initially released on xxth of xx, 2021. Direct upgrade for versions 4.4.3.X to version 5.0.0 Jaglion is supported.

Latest released versions are:

  • SEP sesam 5.0.0 Linux Tux.gif – released: x of <month>, <year>.
  • SEP sesam 5.0.0 Windows Win7.gif – released: x of <month>, <year>.
Tux.gif Linux specific
  • xx
Win7.gif Windows specific
  • xx


Previous release

Known issues and limitations

Information sign.png 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.
5.0.0 Jaglion known issues:

Severity: CRITICAL

Warning sign.pngSEP sesam v. 4.4.3.48 – (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

Severity: SECURITY

SEP sesam v. 5.0.0 – (Windows) STPD automatically disables the HTTPS port on Windows
  • (Applies only to Windows) The Sesam Transfer Protocol Server (STPD) automatically disables the HTTPS port if CPU instructions are missing due to unsupported AVX. Consequently, the SSL key and certificate cannot be created.
Workaround : Make sure that you use CPUs with supported AVX versions (AVX, AVX2 or AVX-512). They are listed in the article Advanced Vector Extensions.

Severity: MINOR

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. 4.4.3.72-74 – 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.
Fixed with SEP sesam Server 5.0.0 Jaglion:
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 (in sm.ini and/or stpd.ini) is changed from the default port.
Resolution: You can now set the STPD service TCP port on the client (client properties -> Options tab -> Listen port) to the new TCP port.


Enhancements and changes

Nutanix AHV

With Jaglion, SEP sesam provides efficient data protection for Nutanix AHV virtual machines (VMs). The Nutanix AHV module is supported only on SEP sesam Linux Server. You can easily back up and restore Nutanix AHV VMs, as described in Nutanix AHV Backup and Nutanix AHV Restore.

Authentication and authorization

The authentication and authorization concept is enhanced with two new user types - superuser, which replaces the previous admin role, and backup user. Now only a user with Superuser privileges can configure authentication and attach permissions (ACLs) to created users. For details, see About Authentication and Authorization and Using Access Control lists.

Certificate-based authentication

Now it is possible to authenticate users via a signed certificate instead of a user password if a database-based authentication is enabled. Note that the users from external authentication sources (LDAP/AD) cannot be authenticated using a certificate (only by using a password). For details, see Configuring Certificate-Based Authentication.

Automating backup process

To simplify backing up multiple VMs, you can automate the process by automatically generating tasks for VMs that are connected to the same host; you can also automatically create clients for VMs that can be assigned the generated tasks and ACLs. It is recommended to use these features when a new hypervisor is added and many new VMs need to be backed up. For details, see Automating Backup Process.

Oracle-VM task type

The new Oracle-VM task type is available to perform agentless snapshot-based backups of all OLVM virtual machines, regardless of their workload or operating system. See [[5_0_0:OLVM_Backup|OLVM Backup].

Web single file restore for VMs

In the web interface Restore assistant, you can now restore single files of VMware, Hyper-V, RHV/OLVM, Citrix Hypervisor, KVM/QEMU, and OpenNebula virtual machines (VMs) online, if you have been granted the appropriate permissions. Single file restore for Proxmox VE and Nutanix AHV VM is currently not supported. For details, see Web Single File Restore for Virtual Machines.

Web Exchange restore

Now it is possible to restore a single Exchange mailbox database using SEP sesam Exchange Recovery Pro via the web interface Restore Assistant if you have been granted the appropriate permissions. Exchange Recovery Pro is only supported on Windows systems and must be installed on the system serving as SEP sesam Server or SEP sesam RDS. See Web Exchange Restore.

Citrix VHD exclude

When backing up Citrix Hypervisor VMs, you can exclude individual virtual disk (VHD) from Full/Diff/Incr backup in the SEP sesam GUI to avoid storage occupancy. For details, see Citrix XenServer Backup.

Web UI enhancements

SEP sesam Web UI now provides a more detailed overview of jobs and tasks, improved monitoring of the SEP sesam environment, and the possibility of performing different operations, e.g., running or locking the backups, restarting failed jobs, etc. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI

GUI enhancements

  • Under the Configuration -> Defaults -> General tab, two additional options are available. Now you can use Sort case insensitive option to ensure that upper- and lowercase letters are treated the same when sorting results. Additionaly, new filter option allows you to set a delay for reloading data when changing the filter(s). For details, see Configuration: Defaults.
  • When creating a backup task on Linux, you can now set that deleted or modified files are not reported as errors. For details, see Creating a Backup Task.
  • Now you can start the replication immediately under the Activities -> Immediate Start -> Replication, see Activities.

Technical improvements

  • In previous SEP sesam versions, the backup locked state (savesets of the backup cannot be deleted) is applied to the selected backup only, so you have to lock all backups of a backup chain manually. As of Jaglion, the locked state is automatically applied to all backups in the backup chain. See Backups by State.

End of maintenance and support

Upcoming end of support

SEP sesam 4.4.3 Grolar -> October 2021

Discontinued SEP sesam Server OS

The following table lists the last available version of SEP sesam Server or RDS components for specified operating systems. You can continue using the last available version of SEP sesam on these operating systems, but SEP AG no longer provides updates or fixes for the specified versions.

For SEP sesam Client versions, backward compatibility is maintained and the last available versions for a platform are continuously supported. On older platforms you can use older versions of SEP sesam Client component, but it is recommended to combine such clients with the latest versions of SEP sesam Server and RDS components.

SEP sesam Release Versions

Operating system Last available version Release Notes
Windows Server 2012 5.1.0.7 Apollon 5.1.0 Apollon
RHEL 7 5.1.0.7 Apollon 5.1.0 Apollon
Debian 9 »Stretch« 5.0.0.15 Jaglion V2 5.0.0 Jaglion V2
SLES 11 SP2, SP3, SP4 4.4.3.x Beefalo V2, see notes 4.4.3 Beefalo V2 SEP announced that it would no longer support SLES 11 SP2, SP3, SP4 with SEP sesam Beefalo, but has re-established support for Beefalo V2, where all SEP sesam Beefalo V2 packages (Server, Client, etc.) can be used. However, Beefalo V2 is the last available SEP sesam release for SLES 11 SP2, SP3, SP4 .
Windows Server 2008 R2 4.4.3.x Beefalo V2, see notes 4.4.3 Beefalo V2 SEP announced that it would no longer support SEP sesam Server on Windows Server 2008 R2 with SEP sesam Beefalo, but has re-established this support already in Beefalo. This actually means that the last available SEP sesam Server release for Windows Server 2008 R2 is Beefalo V2.
Ubuntu 16.04 4.4.3.84 Beefalo V2 4.4.3 Beefalo V2
RHEL 6 4.4.3.64 Grolar 4.4.3 Grolar
Debian 8 »Jessie« 4.4.3.64 Grolar 4.4.3 Grolar
Debian 7 »Wheezy« 4.4.3.64 Grolar 4.4.3 Grolar Version 4.4.3.64 only available for sesam-cli on amd64
Windows Server 2008 4.4.3.64 Grolar 4.4.3 Grolar
Windows 7 4.4.3.64 Grolar 4.4.3 Grolar
Ubuntu 14.04 4.4.3.48 Tigon V2 4.4.3 Tigon V2
All 32-bit operating systems 4.2.2.40 4.2.2 For some operating systems SEP sesam client is still available in 32-bit.
SLES 10 4.2.2.40 4.2.2
RHEL 5 4.2.2.40 4.2.2
Debian 6 »Squeeze« 4.2.2.40 4.2.2 sesam-cli also available in version 4.4.1.22
Windows Server 2003 4.2.2.40 4.2.2
Debian 5 »Lenny« 4.2.1.34 4.2.1
SLES 11 ≤ SP1 4.2.1.34 4.2.1 Initial SLES 11 Release and Servicepack 1


Major fixes and changes

See also

SEP sesam Release Versions

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