Recovery 6.2 Overview: New Features & Enhancements

This knowledge article will briefly outline the new features and enhancements in Rapid Recovery release 6.2.  It will also include features not previously described in other technical product documentation.  For more detailed information about these features and enhancements, please read the release notes and review the linked KB articles below.  The release notes can be downloaded from our Rapid Recovery - Technical Documentation page.

New Features

• Core Integration with the Quest Data Protection Portal
  • Integration to the QDPP is built into the product settings and can be disabled or enabled.  There is no longer a need for the plug-in.  More information can be read in our KB article, The Quest Data Protection Portal and Rapid Recovery
• General Data Protection Regulation Compliance (GDRP)
  • The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is legislation crafted to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU, which makes it relevant to software manufacture in the US and other countries.  When installing the Rapid Recovery Core or running the Info Gathering Tool, you are provided a description of the information Rapid Recovery collects and our purposes for collecting the information.  More information on this topic can be found in our user guide and the latest version of the Release Notes.
• Oracle Database 12c Application Support
  • Agent-based protection and application support of Oracle 12c database servers is now possible.  This means you can now:
    • View metadata on the protected databases
    • Check database integrity
    • Truncate archive logs
    • Restore databases
    • Perform virtual exports
  • More information can be read in our KB article, Oracle Database 12c Application Support
• Graceful Shutdown and Restart of the Core Service
  • Graceful shutdown processes have been improved and can be initiated straight from the Core UI in the Settings section.  Keeping performance in mind, the shutdown process will be significantly faster.  Improper Core shutdowns due to system crash, reboots, or sudden power loss are now substantially less disruptive to Core functionality.
• Support for Shared Hyper-V Virtual Disks
  • Support for shared VHDXs on protected Hyper-V hosts running Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 is now possible.
• Support for Microsoft Scale-Out File Server
  • Rapid Recovery now supports Microsoft SOFS when it is enabled on a cluster with cluster shared volumes (CSVs).  The support of this Windows feature lets Rapid Recovery expand its protection of Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs) to include shared VHDXs.  Support begins with Windows Server 2012 R2.
• Application Support for Agentless Protected VMs
  • Application support is supported for both Hyper-V and VMWare protected VMs.  Application support means that agentlessly protected VMs will allow for:
    • Backing up metadata
    • Perform Exchange mountability and checksum checks
    • Perform Core-side SQL attachability checks
    • Enable log truncation support for SQL and Exchange
    • Drive letter identification
  • For steps to enable application support on the protected agentless VMs, please read KB article, Agentless Protection with Application Support.
• Encrypting Data in Transport over a Network
  • You can now encrypt all data in transport over a network.  Quest recommends enabling this encryption setting when data between your Core and protected machines (or between two Cores such as for replication) must flow over the public or untrusted networks such as the Internet.
• Network Resiliency Improvements
  • Resiliency improvements includes a re-try logic that adds resiliency to network operations.  Backups, VM exports, and other jobs that cannot execute due to small temporary network outages are now retried for a five-minute period.  If the network is available in that period, the operation commences, creating only a slight delay instead of a job failure and skipped operation, otherwise the job will fail.
• Restoring Exchange Mail Items from the Rapid Recovery Core Console
  • The new Mail Restore feature is in addition to the mail restore capabilities of Mailbox Restore for Exchange.  You are now able to recover Microsoft Exchange mail items, such as emails, calendar appointments, and contacts, directly from the Rapid Recovery Core Console.  Please review our KB for steps to complete a mail restore from the UI, Mailbox Restore for Exchange Restores.

New Enhancements

• Enhanced Reporting
  • The Core Nostalgia Report is now available from the built-in reporting.  It features the classic summary of information using pie and trend charts.  For more information on built-in reporting, please read KB, Built-in Reporting Capabilities in Rapid Recovery.
• Full Support for vSphere/ESXi 6.5
  • Prior to 6.2, Rapid Recovery had limited support of vSphere/ESXi 6.5.  Details on the enhancement can be found in the release notes.
• SQL Server Support Changes
  • Support for SQL Server 2017 is added.
• Expanding Archive to Amazon S3 and Google Cloud
  • Cloud archiving has been expanded to Amazon S3 storage classes, Amazon Glacier, and Google Cloud.
• Simplified Licensing
  • License pools are now consolidated into one pool.  More information can be read in the 6.2 or newer User Guide in the Managing Licenses section.
  • Non-phone home liceses have changed in 6.2. 
• User Interface Enhancements
  • Color themes have been added for the Core Console UI.  You can now choose between Dark, Hybrid, or Light.
  • Recovery points can be filtered by date range.
  • The Protect Cluster wizard is more consistent with the Protect Machine wizard
• Replication Target Available in Azure Government Marketplace
  • Beginning with release 6.1.2, Rapid Recovery Replication Target is available to users of the Azure Government cloud computing platform. Azure Government users who have an on-premises installation of Rapid Recovery Core can now select the "Rapid Recovery Replication Target" from the Azure Government marketplace.  For information about replicating to Azure, see the Rapid Recovery Replication Target for Microsoft Azure Setup Guide.
• Support for Archiving to AWS GovCloud US other S3-compatible Cloud Accounts
  • Beginning with release 6.1.2, Rapid Recovery fully supports archive of recovery points to Simple Storage Service (S3) cloud accounts on AWS GovCloud. Quest also provides limited support for other S3-compatible cloud storage accounts for archiving.
• DocRetriever for SharePoint Enhancements
  • The following enhancements have been added to DocRetriever release 6.2
    • Restore Job History
    • Restore improvements for system items, such as web part templates, site themes, master pages, views, forms, list items, and files not associated with a list
    • Additional Metadata
    • Updated Settings
    • Code Optimization
• Additional Linux Operating Systems Support
  • The following Linux operating system distributions are now supported:
    • Version 6.9 for CentOS Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Oracle Linux.
    • Version 9 for Debian Linux.
    • Version 17.04 LTS for Ubuntu Linux.
    • Version 12 SP1 and 12 SP2 of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).
  • There was a performance issue identified that will be addressed before releasing the Quest Rapid Recovery Linux Agent for 6.2.  This delay is to ensure that we give the best possible experience when using our product.  To protect these systems to a 6.2 Core, please read the following KB, Quest Rapid Recovery 6.2 Linux Agent Delayed.