vRanger 7.8 - Installation/Upgrade Guide

Supported SQL Server versions

The default is to install vRanger with the SQL Server® Express 2014 SP3 database, but you may use your own SQL Server instance if you prefer.

If you chose to use your own SQL Server instance, and want to use the vRanger Cataloging function, you must install the SQL Server instance on the vRanger server as the Catalog database must be local to vRanger. The following versions of Microsoft SQL Server are supported by vRanger.

 

Table 5. Supported versions of SQL Server

Version	Service pack level
SQL Server 2012 (all editions)	All service packs
SQL Server 2014 Express (embedded option)	SP 3
SQL Server 2014 (all editions)	All service packs
SQL Server 2016 (all editions)	All service packs
SQL Server 2017 (all editions)	All service packs

Supported platforms

The following topics list the platforms and operating systems supported for backup, restore, and replication operations.

Supported vSphere versions

vRanger supports backup, restore, and replication operations against the following versions of VMware® Infrastructure:

 

Table 6. vSphere versions

Component	Supported versions
VMware® ESXi™	• 6.0 • 6.5 • 6.7 NOTE: ESXi replication requires the use of the vRanger virtual appliance (VA).
VMware® vCenter™	• 6.0 • 6.5 • 6.7
VMware® vSphere® license	vRanger supports all vSphere editions except for the free versions of ESXi. The free versions do not provide the necessary APIs for vRanger to function.

Equivalent version support policy

In addition to what is listed in this document, vRanger supports VMware® versions where the following criteria have been met:

 

NOTE: The naming convention used in this policy topic follows the standard product release version scheme of Major.Minor.Update.Patch.

•	VMware updates or patches to a supported major or minor release are also supported, unless otherwise stated.

•	Major or minor versions that are newer than what is listed in this documentation are not supported and require a separate qualification effort, unless otherwise stated.

vRanger and VM snapshots

The vRanger backup and replication functionality requires the ability to create a snapshot. In certain circumstances, the creation of VM snapshots is not supported by VMware®. In these cases, backup and replication of these VMs or disks is not possible. Some common examples are:

•	RDM Disks in physical compatibility mode

•	Disks in independent mode

•	Fault-tolerant VMs

 

NOTE: This list is not exhaustive. Any configuration in which snapshots are not supported by VMware, or not possible, is not supported by vRanger.

Supported Hyper-V versions

vRanger supports backup and restore operations against the following versions of Hyper-V® Server:

 

Table 7. Hyper-V versions

Component	Supported versions
Hyper-V Servers	Windows Server 2012 Full Server and Server Core Windows Server 2012 R2 Full Server and Server Core Windows Server 2016 Full Server and Server Core Windows Server 2019 Full Server
System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)	Windows Server 2012 Full Server and Server Core Windows Server 2012 R2 Full Server and Server Core Windows Server 2016 Full Server and Server Core
Support for Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct (S2D)1	Windows Server 2019 Full Server

---

1

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) is supported in virtual environments only.