Todd, any news on a new release?

Just wondering if a new release is imminent.

 

Bumped.

 

Greetings TonyW,

I have had to shy away from answering this one for a while, but here it is.

We previously targeted a new release early 2nd quarter, but the current release has been very solid and "show-stopper" bug-free. We decided to hold off and concentrate on integrating more features into the technology. I think you’ll like what’s coming, but I do want to comment much more at this point. We are targeting the new version on, or before, June 1st.

I hope this helps.

 

thanks much for the info.

 

Oh, boy, Todd, thanks for the scoop !

That scraping sound you hear is me starting to pinch my pennies in anticipation of June 1st (or earlier).

(or perhaps it's me scratching my head trying to remember, first, whether I bought program maintenance from Raxco and, second, whether that means I'll get any possible upgrade for free)

 

Thanks for the comments, Todd, and I, along with others I'm sure, look forward to the new release slated for June.

 

Is there a roadmap with planned features published somewhere?
And also: is there a beta testing program?

 

Greetings All,

First I want to say thanks for all the wonderful comments and post that folks are saying about the product. Recently, we have been called "...the fastest recovery on the planet...". I was really tickled with that comment.

Now that we have gone to external beta testing, with our latest changes, I want to give you a preview of what has been locked into this build. Remember, you saw it here first at the Wilders Security Forums!

New Features!

Compressed Snapshots

• A snapshot can now be compressed. This means that all the files in the snapshot are compressed using NTFS file compression.
• Only a new snapshot can be compressed. An existing snapshot cannot be converted. Use "<New Compressed Snapshot>" in the Copy Wizard or the INITC command in the command line interface.
• Once a snapshot is compressed it stays compressed. All updates of the snapshot are compressed.
• A copy of a compressed snapshot is not compressed unless the target snapshot is explicitly created as compressed.
• An archive of a compressed snapshot is not compressed. That is, if you restore an archive of a compressed snapshot the resultant snapshot is not compressed unless the snapshot is explicitly created as compressed.

Exclude System Restore Data

• There is now a Tools | Options | Tasks option to exclude System Restore Data when copying a snapshot or creating an archive.
• The option is ON by default. If System Restore is turned off (recommended) or if Windows 2000, the option has no affect.
• If the option is ON and System Restore is turned on, the destination snapshot or archive has System Restore turned on but no restore points.

Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS)

• By default, VSS is now used to copy the active snapshot instead of RSS for Windows XP and later.
• You can select which service using ISRSetup. In a Command Prompt: cd \$ISR\$APP\Setup | ISRSetup -install -rss (or -vss). A reboot will be required after selecting RSS.

Additional Notes on Build x.168

• If the pre-boot timeout is enabled, there is now a count down when the time left if less than 10 seconds: "Boot in 9 second(s)", etc.
• If the Archive Location is on a network drive, the Copy Engine reports: "Finalizing - This may take a few minutes to complete". The long delay while Windows (yes, it is a Windows thing) flushed the buffers caused users to think the software had locked up.
• If the Archive or Freeze location is on a network drive and the user does not have permission to get the free disk space available, an error is noted in the log and the operation continues.
• If the password or user name for a schedule is wrong, a meaningful error message is returned instead of "access denied".
• When a user name/password is entered for network access, they are now checked immediately rather than have the copy fail later.
• There is a separate context sensitive popup menu for Archives instead of using the snapshot menu.
• There is a new icon for Archives in the Manager.
• Fixed problem where if there were only invalid files in the Archive folder, the Service would crash.
• Fixed problem where if the target file was Sparse and the source was not, the file is copied successfully but the target remains Sparse.
• Installer override switches:XSS=rss | REBOOT=Suppress

Ok, now the question you all want to know: When will it be released? If all goes well, I expect a release early June. Of course, if our beta testers find unintentional features, we may have to extend it.

 

What about copy/updating from a compressed snapshot to an uncompressed snapshot, like the Primary? What will happen then?

And presumably when booting into a compressed snapshot, all files become uncompressed?

 

Q: What about copy/updating from a compressed snapshot to an uncompressed snapshot, like the Primary? What will happen then?

• A copy of a compressed snapshot is not compressed unless the target snapshot is explicitly created as compressed.

Q: And presumably when booting into a compressed snapshot, all files become uncompressed?
A: Yes, by default nature of NTFS compression in order to be processed, but they do remain compressed on disk.

 

Excellent, Todd, thank you, but I must admit that you went over this non-geeks head with the VSS vs RSS stuff!

Acadia

 

Greetings Acadia,

RSS and VSS are open file technology drivers. The basis behind an open file technology driver is to provide a mechanism for creating consistent point-in-time copies of data. When a open file technology driver is called, two data images are created; an original volume and a "shadow" volume. The original volume maintains full read/write capabilities, whereas the shadow volume, the one to be used as the source of the copy requester, is read-only. This read-only status ensures that the shadow volume remains a perfect point-in-time copy until its requester does not require its services any more.

Before XP, 2003 and Vista, this functionality was not provide in the Windows platforms. It had to be provided by the application developer, or purchased by a third party. Our OFT built-in to the product is called RSS. We will still use it for Windows 2000 installations.

In the next release of our ISR technology, we are migrating to Microsoft's VSS (Volume Shadow copy Service) technology, that is built-in to (read as free) Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, and future versions of Windows to come (according to Microsoft).

The reason for this migration is VSS has the added capability beyond RSS to coordinate with various application to initiate a pre-shadow request. This pre-shadow request will allow the specific applications to to flush buffers, perform record clean-ups, etc. Some the of the applications that directly take advantage of this are SQL Server, Exchange, Oracle products, Citrix, etc.

You can read more about it here (great bedtime reading)
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...b7d8-42c3-b6c9-59c145b7765f1033.mspx?mfr=true

 

GREAT BEDTIME READING? I can't go to sleep with a headache!

Acadia

 

Will our old Snapshots created using RSS still be good with the new VSS version? (Sorry if this is a dumb question )

Acadia

 

Absolutely! I wouldn't do that to you.

The RSS/VSS is only used as a mechanism to produce a copy/archive. The end result is exactly the same. VSS just adds a bit more functionality to our clients requiring these features.

 

Acadia