8.3 New Features

IDERA Dashboard

• SQL Safe is now integrated with IDERA Dashboard 3.0.  

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

• When performing backup and restore operations, users are now able to specify Microsoft Azure Blob Storage as the location for their backup and restore files.  

New Installer

• The installer has been improved to allow the installation of all SQL Safe components and the Idera Dashboard in one single wizard.

Policies

• Copying policies is now available from the Policy tab. Users can now copy preexisting policies and modifying their settings before copying them.

Tivoli Storage Manager

• Users can now perform striped backups to tape devices using Tivoli Storage Manager.

8.3 Fixed Issues

• Users do not experience error messages anymore when performing the bulk "Backup Again" operation in the Operation History tab.
• Users can now sort the databases list of the backup wizard according to Database Name, Last Backup, or Space Used. 
• The Restore Wizard now updates the point-in-time date accurately after clicking the Apply option. 
• "Restore again" and "Restore with different options" are now available for Instant Restore operations in the Operation History tab. 
• Links from "Databases with failed backups" and "Databases with failed restores" in the "My Environment" section of the Home tab now direct to the correct information in the Operation History tab.
• Users can now access a tool tip that provides the complete name of SQL Server instances and databases displayed in the bar graphs of the Home tab.
• SQL Safe now supports TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) 7.1.1.1.
• Users can now use wildcards such as %, _, [ ], [^] to find their information more quickly through the filters.
• Users can now perform the "Restore again" operation as a bulk operation in the Operation History tab without experiencing error messages.
• When upgrading to a new version, users can now select previous SQL Safe display names or create a new one.

8.2 New Features

SQL Safe 8.2 includes the following features in its web console:

Policies

• Administrators and users can now create backup, restore, and log shipping policies with the same capabilities as in the desktop console. The options for launching the Policy Wizards are available from the Home, Policies, Instances, and Databases tabs.
• SQL Safe now allows you to access and edit any policy from the Policies tab.  

Cloud Storage

• SQL Safe now includes Amazon S3 Cloud as a storage option for backup and restore operations. 

Enhanced Options in the Alerts section

• Alerts related to connection failures allow administrators and users to:
  • Start/Restart SQL Safe Backup Agents.
  • Install/Upgrade the SQL Safe Backup Agents.
• Administrators and users are now able to create backup policies or add databases to existing policies in alerts notifying that databases have not been backed up.

Instances tab

• Administrators and users can now Start/Restart SQL Safe Backup Agents and/or Install/Upgrade the SQL Safe Backup Agents from the instances tab. 

SQL Safe Agents tab

• Administrators and normal users are now able to edit the properties of the servers hosting SQL Safe Backup Agents. 
• Administrators and users can now find the following options:
  • Install/Upgrade the SQL Safe Backup Agents
  • Enable/Disable SQL Safe Instant Restore

General Preferences 

The General Preferences section of the Administration tab now includes the following options:

• The Agent Deployment section allows Administrators to specify the service account to be used for deploying Backup Agents.
• The Policy Data section lets Administrators specify a different path for the policy data files location.
• The Cloud Settings section allows Administrators to set their preferred configuration options for Amazon S3 cloud storage.  

Saving Filtered Views

• Users can now save their preferred filters in the Policies, Operation History, Databases, Instances, and SQL Safe Agents tabs. 

8.2 Fixed Issues

• SQL Safe currently shows backup operations progress even when the compression option is not selected.   
• If a policy with a differential backup has a database with no previous full backup, SQL Safe takes first a full backup before executing the policy.  
• SQL Safe no longer restores logins when the option  Include database logins in backup file is selected for backup operations. 
• SQL Safe accurately sends warning notifications for the  Verify step of Backup + Verify Policies. 
• SQL Safe has now improved the logic for calculating policy schedules and sending email notifications. 
• SQL Safe currently considers the creation date of a new database before sending notifications for missed operations schedules.

8.0 New Features

Web Console Application

Besides the desktop application, a new Web Application Console has been included that allows users to monitor their registered SQL Server instances and their respective SQL Safe operations. The web console provides most of the same capabilities as the desktop application. Actions such as adding new SQL Server instances, backing up, restoring, or performing other operations depend on the role assigned to the respective user. 

The main features of this Web Console Application are:

• Home tab - with a general status of the environment through alerts, summary information of SQL Safe operations, managed instances, and other important data. 
• Policies tab - with information about all SQL Safe policies existing in the users environment. 
• Operations History tab - with of all SQL Safe operations performed in the users environment and their current status.  
• Instances tab - with a general view of all SQL Server instances registered in the users environment. 
• Databases tab - with general information of the databases that belong to the SQL Server instances registered in the users environment. 
• SQL Safe Agents tab - provides information of all computers that host registered SQL Server instances and the details of related Safe Agents. 

Integration with the IDERA Dashboard.

Version 2.0 allows you to register as many instances of your SQL Safe with your chosen IDERA Dashboard. The IDERA Dashboard provides a platform of services that allow an integrated user experience across multiple IDERA products.

User level permissions

• SQL Safe Web Application now allows to assign three different roles to users: Administrator, User, and Guest. Each role has its own specific capabilities and/or restrictions. 
• Support for EMC Data.
• SQL Safe now backs up and restores to/from EMC Data Domain.

8.0 Fixed issues

• The collection service is no longer set to run as Local System by default and users no longer need to ensure this account has sysadmin rights in the SQL Server instance hosting the repository. They can specify the service account during installation. 

7.4 New features

Support for SQL Server 2014

• IDERA SQL Safe 7.4 now supports SQL Server 2014.

Support for SQL Server Express

• IDERA SQL Safe now supports SQL Server Express in all its editions and versions. 

Availability to use the SQL Safe Backup Agent to schedule policies

• Users can now choose between using the SQL Safe Backup Agent for scheduling backup, restore, and log shipping policies or the SQL Server Agent as another option for scheduling these policies. Previous versions only allowed to use the SQL Server Agent to schedule policy jobs but now the user can choose the SQL Safe Backup Agent as a scheduler for these jobs too.

Centralized license management in the Management Service

• License Management has now been centralized in the SQL Safe the Management Service which is in charge of keeping track of those SQL Server instances that are licensed for backup operations. The user specifies which instances they want to license through the License Management view in the Management Console and the Management Service will contact the respective Backup Agents for licensing. 
• The new License Management view allows users to add multi-instance license keys with no expiration date. On this view users can see which instances are licensed and which ones are only registered but not licensed yet. Users can manage licenses on this view and select those instances that they need to be licensed.

New Upgrade Installer

• Users can now access upgrade production installers from our Customer Support Portal. These installers are different from the trial installer, which now generates a trial license for unlimited instances with a 14-day expiration key on a fresh install.

Support on Always On Availability Groups

• SQL Safe now supports SQL Server Availability Groups and allows you to perform backup and recovery strategies on your primary and secondary replicas.

7.4 Fixed issues

• You no longer need to restart the InstantRestore service when adding a new drive to a server.

7.2.1 New features

Improved backup performance

• SQL Safe now offers faster backup times when backing up SQL Server instances in the following types of environments:
  • When the instance is hosted on server computer that is experiencing heavy resource loads.
  • When the instance is running on a virtual machine (VM).

7.2.1 Fixed issues

• SQL Safe now ensures backup jobs do not fail when the SQL Safe Backup Agent cannot read the registry on the target SQL Server instance.
• SQL Safe now provides more stability and better performance when using the Management Console.
• SQL Safe now displays the correct file locations for mirrored and striped backup sets in the following windows:
  • View Policy Settings
  • Summary tab of Backup Policy wizard
• SQL Safe now handles NULL values that may be returned from the operating system when an InstantRestore is in progress, allowing the operation to continue.

7.2 New features

New ability to specify mirror backup locations for Log Shipping policies

• You can now store mirrored copies of transaction log backup files in multiple locations, and then select which location should be used as the backup source when the log is shipped. This setting can be configured for each secondary server in the Log Shipping policy.

7.2 Fixed issues

• The SQL Safe Management Console now displays the correct database name when you attempt to cancel an operation and the operation status grid has been sorted by a column other than Start Date.
• When a server is reinitialized for a Log Shipping Policy, the Management Console now correctly refreshes and no longer returns the error “System.InvalidOperationException: Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute."
• SQL Safe now retries failed restore operations associated with Log Shipping policies.
• The SQL Safe Backup Agent now incurs minimal performance impacts when running backup operations on servers that have heavy loads.

7.1 New features

Enhanced Log Shipping Policy features

• Log shipping policy enhancements provide a way to specify an alternate network path from where you want the secondary database to pull the file to restore. For additional information about the new log shipping policy features, see Configure Secondary Options window of the Log Shipping Policy wizard.

Enhanced Restore wizard features

• Restore wizard enhancements provide an easier way to restore from a mirrored database when the primary database location is unavailable. For more information about the Restore wizard enhancements, see Backup Sets tab of the Restore Wizard.

Enhanced Cluster support

• SQL safe now supports failovers for Instant Restore during hydration. For additional information about the using SQL Safe in a clustered environment, see Using SQL Safe on a Microsoft Windows cluster environment.

SQL Server 2012 experimental support

• SQL Safe 7.1 is SQL Server 2012 RC0 compatible. This version of SQL Safe is not certified against newer builds of SQL Server and should not be used with these builds in a production environment. IDERA provides experimental support while you use your installation in a testing environment to ensure the features you rely on most are working as or better than expected.

7.1 Fixed issues 

• Users who have a case-sensitive SQL Server user name no longer finds SQL Safe failing to create a job. This issue was the result of SQL Safe adding the characters in an all lowercase format.
• SQL Safe now prompts for a user name and password if a user runs the SQL SafeCmd DELETE command when they do not have access to the remote file system.
• This release fixes an issue that caused some users attempting to upgrade to SQL Safe 7.0 to receive a message stating that a previous version already exists.
• An issue preventing the backup service from starting after some users upgraded to SQL Safe 7.0 is resolved.
• Restore policies no longer become out of sync with the database for users who have multiple data files.
• An issue occurring during an upgrade that prevented backups from starting is resolved. In the job history, this issue logged an error stating, "The process could not be created for step 1 of job X (reason: The system cannot find the file specified). The step failed."
• A data format issue that caused some users to see a number of their policies as "Not Loaded" is fixed. All policies should successfully appear after any SQL Safe version upgrade.
• SQL Safe now prompts the user to sync policies after changing SQL authentication details for a SQL Server.

7.0.2 Fixed issues

• SQL Safe applications and services no longer experience a long delay when starting if Windows cannot verify the Authenticode signature on the associated applications and services.
• SQL Safe Agent deployment no longer fails due to an issue that occurs when accessing the registry on the remote machine during installation.
• The SQL Safe Management Console now properly handles creating and re-initializing log shipping databases that include several data files.
• The SQL Safe Management Console now properly handles creating restore policies for databases that include several data files.

7.0.1 Fixed issues

• The SQL Safe Today page now accurately displays the status for each item on the policy list and includes the status for operations that occasionally did not appear because the UTC offset was set to hours instead of minutes.

7.0 New features 

Access your database quickly during a restore

• SQL Safe gives you the option to bring your database back online quickly when performing a restore. The InstantRestore feature lets you work on restoring a database while allowing users to perform read and write operations to the database during this process. InstantRestore is available only for restoring full databases and does not support a restore of individual files or file groups.

Automatically run a Full backup prior to a Diff/Log backup

• SQL Safe simplifies the initial setup process by automatically detecting and performing a Full backup prior to a Differential or Transaction Log backup.

7.0 Fixed issues

• The Retry reading backup files after network errors check box on the Backup Sets tab of the SQL Safe Database Restore wizard is renamed Enable network resiliency. The functionality remains the same while the name of the field was changed to improve usability.
• The Verify (checks integrity, no data restored) option moved from the Recovery State tab to the Target tab in the SQL Safe Database Restore wizard.
• SQL Safe now properly displays the selection in the Select backup sets manually box when the user switches from one database to another using the Restore wizard. This issue affected users attempting to restore multiple databases.
• New rolling logs improve troubleshooting by avoiding issues that result when a single log file continues to store information and grows without a limit. This file can cause performance issues and be hard to search for clues to find the issue you are trying to resolve. This feature is recommended for use only when instructed by IDERA support.
• SQL Safe Reporting no longer displays an error message when a user attempts to run the Last Backup report.
• Dependent SQL Safe operations in a series are now associated so that when one of the operations fails, all of the following operations are canceled.
• The Restore wizard now properly handles the LSN chain when there is an intermediate Full backup.
• Performance updates improve the speed of the SQL Safe installation.
• Enhancements to SQL Safe memory usage decrease the chance of memory leaks or fragmentation.
• Users can now backup a database using only one thread as specified in the Thread Count field on the SQL Safe Backup Policy wizard Options tab.
• SQL Safe alerting now properly handles log shipping restore schedule start times when set to a non-default value.
• SQL Safe network retry updates fixed an issue that resulted when the SQLAgent job hung during a backup and the network retry function is disabled.
• SQL Safe no longer causes an extreme load on the tempdb while backing up a database.
• SQL Safe now properly handles FQDN names when connecting to the Backup Service.
• SQL Safe no longer truncates text within the Result Text field.
• Users can now sort the list of databases in the SQL Safe Backup wizard by clicking the appropriate column name.
• SafeToSQL users who submit an encryption password that fails verification now receive the correct error message.
• The Backup Policy wizard no longer re-runs the file access check after a user edits the policy unless the change was made to the Location tab.
• SQL Safe now allows encryption passwords of more than 24 characters. This update allows users to implement pass phrases as a more effective method of security.
• Users no longer experience an issue causing the default SQL Server instance file path to change when re-running a failed or skipped backup.
• SQL Safe now features Cancel buttons in a number of areas available when the user runs a task. You can cancel a task when performing log shipping re-initialization, deleting a policy, enabling or disabling a policy, running a job, re-synching a policy, or updating a license.
• SQL Safe now prompts the user immediately after a user account credential check fails.
• Improved Command-line Interface (CLI) documentation regarding SQL Safe and TSM server is located in the SQL Safe Help topic, Back up to the TSM Server.
• Accessing sample Command-line Interface (CLI) and Extended Stored Procedure (XSP) script sample access is now documented in the Product components and architecture
• Users who submit a script that contains unnecessary backslash characters in the file path no longer receive an error message stating, "Value cannot be null." SQL Safe now omits the unnecessary backslash characters and continues the operation.
• Users can now create and run log shipping or restore policies on a database that contains multiple files on different drives.
• The SQL Safe Management Console now contains the proper certificate so the user no longer receives a request for credentials each time they launch the Console. This issue affected Windows 2008 users replying on user account control functionality.
• The default Connection Settings detail on the SQL Safe Backup wizard Locations tab no longer retains any changes made during previous use.
• Users can now quickly find an instance in the SQL Safe Database Restore wizard Databases tab by typing the name directly into the instance field and selecting the appropriate instance when it appears.
• Users can now successfully change the IP address on the server hosting the SQL Safe Management Service without causing IP address resolution issues with the Backup Agent.
• Users attempting to restore an older, inactive backup file stored on a TSM server no longer receive an error message.
• SQL Safe XSP now correctly handles wide-character Unicode file names.
• Updated file access permissions fixed a performance issue caused when SQL Safe ran the Backup Policy File Access Check on every database within a SQL Server instance.
• SQL Safe performance is improved when a user attempts to create or run a policy or load the policy status pages.
• Users with large SQL Safe repositories no longer encounter a timeout when accessing the Backup Sets page in the Management Console during a restore.
• If a backup policy specifies both a FULL as well as DIFF or LOG backups to be performed, the FULL backup is automatically run for new databases that have no previously-performed FULL backup existing at the time the FULL, DILL, or LOG backup is scheduled, whichever occurs first.
• The SQL Safe Management Console no longer prevents users from deleting some policies. These policies failed when loading from the Repository before the user attempted to delete the policy.
• PDF files of the SQL Safe Help and SQL Safe Release Notes now include hot links to access related information within the document.