Carbonite Server Backup
Windows Agent (32-bit)
Version 8.90.1038
Release Notes, March 2, 2021
1 Overview
1.1  Release History
1.2  Compatibility
1.3  Supported Platforms
1.3.1  Oracle Plug-in Supported Platforms
1.3.2  SQL Server Plug-in Supported Platforms
2 NEW FEATURES
3 INSTALLATION NOTES
3.1  Agent Installation Notes
3.1.1  Installation Requirements
3.1.2  Conditional Requirements
3.1.3  Licensing
3.1.4  Installation/Upgrade
3.2  Plug-in Installation Notes
3.2.1  SQL Server Plug-in Installation Notes
3.2.2  Cluster Support Plug-in Installation Notes
4 FIXES, KNOWN ISSUES AND LIMITATIONS
4.1  Fixes
4.2  Known Issues
4.2.1  Agent Configuration and Backup Issues
4.2.2  Agent Restore Issues
4.2.3  Plug-in Configuration and Backup Issues
4.2.4  Plug-in Restore Issues
4.2.5  Install/Uninstall/Upgrade Issues
4.3  Limitations
5 PRODUCT SUPPORT
5.1  Technical Support
5.2  Product Updates
5.3  Documentation

© Carbonite Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved.
The release notes are governed by the Terms of Service found at https://www.carbonite.com/terms-of-use/carbonite-general-enterprise-terms-of-service. Carbonite, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to modify or revoke these Release Notes at any time, without notice.
1 Overview
The Windows Agent is installed on each Microsoft Windows system that you want to protect. Using Portal, you can manage the agent, back up data to a vault, and restore data from the vault.
Important: This agent version checks the public key of the Portal certificate when it tries to connect to Portal. If users are hosting their own Portal, we recommend updating the Portal certificate before new agents are registered to Portal or existing agents are upgraded from version 8.70 or earlier. 
Note: Changing job configurations using Portal and Windows CentralControl alternately is not supported. Do not manage the same agent using both Portal and Windows CentralControl.
You can also install Agent Plug-ins that protect applications and provide additional functionality. The following Plug-ins are available with the 32-bit Windows Agent:
•	Oracle Plug-in
•	SQL Server Plug-in
•	Cluster Support Plug-in
1.1  Release History
Version 8.90.1038, March 2, 2021
1.2  Compatibility
Portal	To manage this Windows Agent version, we recommend using Portal version 8.88 or later. While the Agent is compatible with earlier Portal versions, the latest Portal versions include important security enhancements and new features.
Important:   This Agent version checks the public key of the Portal certificate when it tries to connect to Portal. If users are hosting their own Portal, we recommend updating the Portal certificate before new agents are registered to Portal or existing agents are upgraded from version 8.70 or earlier. 	
Windows CentralControl	To take advantage of new features and important security enhancements, we highly encourage using Portal to manage the Windows Agent.
If you must manage the Agent using Windows CentralControl, please contact Support. 
Note: Changing job configurations using Portal and Windows CentralControl alternately is not supported. Do not manage the same Agent using both Portal and Windows CentralControl. 	
Director	This Windows Agent version is supported with Director version 8.50 or later. This agent version is also supported with Director version 8.4, but we strongly recommend the latest Director version so you can take advantage of the latest bug fixes and performance improvements.	
Bare Metal Restore	The 32-bit Windows Agent supports Bare Metal Restore (BMR) backups on 32-bit BIOS-based systems. 
BMR backups created using this version of the Windows Agent can be restored using System Restore version 8.90 or later.
Note: The 32-bit Windows Agent does not support BMR backups on systems with UEFI firmware. 
Note: Encrypted volumes (BitLocker, TrueCrypt, etc.) are not supported in BMR jobs.	
Granular Restore for Microsoft Exchange and SQL	You can use Granular Restore for Microsoft Exchange and SQL version 8.72 or later to restore items from safesets created using the Windows Agent and SQL Server Plug-in version 8.90.	
1.3  Supported Platforms
The Agent is supported on the 32-bit Microsoft platforms shown in the following table:
Supported Operating System	Editions	Service Pack/Build	
Windows 10 1	Home, Pro, Enterprise	Build 20H2	
Windows 8.1	Enterprise	 	
Windows 8	Enterprise	 	
Windows 7 2	Enterprise, Premium, Professional, Ultimate	SP1	
Windows Server 2008 2	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	SP2	
Windows Storage Server 2008 2	Basic	SP2	
 1 BMR backups are supported on 32-bit BIOS-based systems. The 32-bit Windows Agent does not support BMR backups on systems with UEFI firmware. 
 2 To enable automatic agent upgrades, the server must be fully patched with the latest Windows updates.	
1.3.1  Oracle Plug-in Supported Platforms
The Oracle Plug-in is supported on the 32-bit Microsoft platform shown in the following table:
Oracle 11g R2 is supported on:	
Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise	SP2	
1.3.2  SQL Server Plug-in Supported Platforms
The SQL Server Plug-in is supported on the 32-bit Microsoft platforms shown in the following table. SQL Server clusters are supported with the SQL Server and Cluster Support Plug-ins.
Note: For SQL Server versions supported for granular restore, see the Granular Restore for Microsoft Exchange and SQL release notes.
SQL Server and SQL Server Express 2014 (SP3 CU4) are supported on:	
Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	SP2	
SQL Server and SQL Server Express 2012 (SP4) are supported on:	
Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	SP2	
SQL Server 2008 R2 (SP3) is supported on:	
Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	SP2	
SQL Server 2008 (SP4) is supported on:	
Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	SP2	
SQL Server 2005 (SP4) is supported on:	
Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter	SP2	
2 NEW FEATURES
Support for upcoming features
This Agent version includes support for new features that will be provided in upcoming Portal and Director releases. Information about these features will be added to the documentation when the required Portal and Director versions are available.
Security enhancements
Security enhancements have been added in this Windows Agent version.
3 INSTALLATION NOTES 
3.1  Agent Installation Notes
3.1.1  Installation Requirements 
•	CPU and RAM to meet the basic requirements of your operating system, as prescribed by Microsoft 
•	16-bit (or greater) video properties for optimal GUI display
•	Windows Internet Explorer version 6 or later
•	A TCP/IP stack 
•	At least 200 MB of free disk space for a new installation. An upgrade may require more. Additional free space is required for Agent files created for backup jobs.
3.1.2  Conditional Requirements
If you use an antivirus program, disable real-time scanning on reads (called "outgoing" in some antivirus products). 
Note:   As a best practice, do not back up antivirus product installation directories.
3.1.3  Licensing
Agent and Plug-in licenses are distributed automatically when the Agent connects to a vault (based on your license quota). To back up and restore data to or from a vault, you need a valid account, username and password. Contact your service provider to obtain the required information.
3.1.4  Installation/Upgrade
The file name of the Windows Agent installation kit is: Agent-Windows-8-90-1038.exe
The 32-bit Agent kit installs:
buagent.exe – Version 8.90.1038
VV.exe – Version 8.90.1038
VVAgent.exe – Version 8.90.1038
XLogTranslator.exe – Version 8.90.1038
LogViewer.exe – Version 8.90.1038
BMRCaptureEnvInfo.dll – Version 8.90.1038
evVss.dll – Version 8.90.1038
OraPlugin.dll – Version 8.90.1038
SQL2012Plugin.dll – Version 8.90.1038
SystemStatePlugin.dll – Version 8.90.1038
SystemVolumePlugin.dll – Version 8.90.1038
VVClMsg.dll – Version 8.90.1038
Note:   The Agent installation will place the VVClMsg.dll file in the Agent installation path. This file contains the error codes and resource strings that the event viewer uses to display Agent messages.
Note:   Do not install the Agent in a Windows-encrypted directory.
You can upgrade the following Windows Agent versions to version 8.90:
•	Version 8.7x
•	Version 8.60
•	Version 8.3x
•	Version 8.10
•	Version 8.0x
•	Version 7.x
•	Version 6.85
Support has ended for legacy Exchange MAPI, SQL Server VDI, and SharePoint Plug-in jobs. You must delete any jobs with these legacy types before you can upgrade an agent. If you upgrade an agent where a legacy plug-in is installed, the plug-in will be removed.
3.2  Plug-in Installation Notes 
3.2.1  SQL Server Plug-in Installation Notes
This version of the Plug-in supports Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) in SQL Server 2014 (SP2), SQL Server 2012 (SP4) and SQL Server 2008 R2 (SP3).
3.2.2  Cluster Support Plug-in Installation Notes
To install the SQL Server and Cluster Support Plug-ins:
1.	Use the Agent installation kit to install the Agent, SQL Server Plug-in, and Cluster Plug-in on the physical nodes.
2.	Register the virtual node to Portal, or connect to the virtual IP using Windows CentralControl to manage the virtual node.
3.	Register the physical nodes to the vault before using the virtual agent.
4.	Use the new registered virtual agent as a normal agent to register to the same vault and create backup jobs.
4 FIXES, KNOWN ISSUES AND LIMITATIONS
4.1  Fixes
•	When a Windows Agent backup job includes many files (e.g., more than 45 million), delta backups now succeed. The backups do not fail with an invalid file format path\filename.DTX error. (EV-44905, EV-34707)
•	The Agent now runs backups using the default System VSS provider. (EV-44839)
4.2  Known Issues
4.2.1  Agent Configuration and Backup Issues
•	If a job is seeded to a vault using Agent version 7.34 or earlier and reseeded using Agent version 7.50 or later, the vault storage size for the job data cannot be reduced. (EV-25740)
•	Running multiple UNC jobs simultaneously (to the same UNC path) from Windows CentralControl may fail.
WORKAROUND: Run concurrent UNC jobs from the command prompt. (24226)
•	Backups may fail over UNC path to or from a Windows operating system running an older Windows operating system. Microsoft does not support all Windows operating system combinations for UNC paths. Only those combinations supported by Microsoft are supported. (25579/23712)
4.2.2  Agent Restore Issues
•	Granular Restore mount points may not be removed properly after a restore.
WORKAROUND: Reboot the server. (EV-8213)
•	Backup to a Satellite vault resets the status and location of safesets that exist only on Base vault. If a safeset is available on the Base vault (but not on the satellite), the Agent may not restore unless you synchronize first. You must run a synchronize operation before you restore. Synchronizing provides updated status and location information about safesets on vaults. (20573/21168/21896)
4.2.3  Plug-in Configuration and Backup Issues
•	A backup job created on a physical node of a SQL Server 2012 cluster may fail (on the physical node) with a stream backup error. Note that this is not a supported backup scenario. There is no support for protecting databases on the virtual node with jobs created on the physical node.
•	Support for backing up SQL 2012 on a virtual node in a cluster is available with the Agent with the Cluster Support Plug-in. (23622)
•	If you reregister a different computer than was used for the original backup (reregister computer Y to the vault as computer X) and attempt to do another backup of the existing SQL VSS job, the backup may fail. A restore may still be performed successfully.
WORKAROUND: Create a new job and run the backup from the reregistered computer. (23270)
•	A database with a Simple Recovery Model may not run transaction log backups, but the error message in the log when the backup fails may not indicate this is the reason for the failure:  BKUP-E-04706 job will be forced to fail  BKUP-F-04110 job failed to complete  CAT -E-08056 backup aborted. (24811)
•	When the VSS backup warning: "Some hard links <> were not selected and have not been backed up.", a file within a selection has hardlinks and some of the hardlinks were not included. These hardlinks may be ignored, but the file and the hardlinks included in the selection may be backed up.
WORKAROUND: Manually include any folders that contain the missing hardlinks. (20281)
4.2.4  Plug-in Restore Issues
•	A database restore may fail in a mirroring environment when restoring with the "overwrite" option or "overwrite with no recovery" option. As per MSDN: While a database mirroring session is active, the following restrictions apply: 
•	Backup and restore of the mirror database is not allowed. 
•	Backup of the principal database is allowed, but BACKUP LOG WITH NORECOVERY is not allowed. 
•	Restore of the principal database is not allowed. 
(23359)
•	After reregistering an Agent or running Restore From Another Computer, when performing a VSS Restore job of a SQL 2005 backup (original database names with overwrite selected) to a Windows 2008 R2 machine, the restore may fail. The Restore log and process dialog, however, may report success. (23304)
•	With Windows CentralControl, using Restore From Another Computer from a SQL standalone machine to a virtual SQL cluster, Restore to file on disk may fail and the wizard may disappear after you select the vault, computer and job. No Dump or Log file may be created.
WORKAROUND: Use Portal to run this type of Restore From Another Computer, or restore using the physical node. (23261)
•	Safeset bytes processed on the vault for a SQL job with a random read restore of SharePoint may be more than double the actual size of the safeset data. (25016)
•	A SQL restore may fail when restoring to an alternate database, under the same instance, with the overwrite existing database option selected.
Note: This restore scenario is not supported as we do not rename the database files upon restore. 
Restoring this database may be accomplished if you remove or rename the original database file names before trying to restore. (23099)
•	When restoring a database to a SQL database other than the original database, the logical and file names may not be renamed to match the database where it is being restored. This feature is not supported by VSS. (22981)
•	A SQL Server Plug-in restore may fail if the database directory is missing.
WORKAROUND: Manually create the database directory prior to restore. (19466)
4.2.5  Install/Uninstall/Upgrade Issues
•	If a 6.85 Agent that is not registered to Portal is upgraded, the Cluster Plug-in may create a duplicate evault_shared folder on another shared drive (two EVault_Shared folders may exist on one virtual server). (24471)
•	You may be unable to uninstall the Spanish Agent 7.23 via Windows Control Panel when it has been installed on the Spanish version of the Windows operating system.
WORKAROUND: Launch the Agent installation kit and select Remove. (25365)
•	When you upgrade a non-English Agent from version 7.24 and attempt to register the Agent to Portal at the same time, the Agent may fail to register to Portal.
WORKAROUND: Instead of upgrading the non-English Agent, uninstall the Agent's program files only, and install the new Agent version to the same folder. (28032)
4.3  Limitations
•	The Agent expands deduplicated data before backing it up, which results in larger-than-expected backup sizes.
•	You can only specify an IPV4 address when registering the Agent to Portal or a vault. IPV6 addresses are not supported. 
•	The Agent cannot back up a volume that has the M-Files file system. BMR and system state backups do not succeed when a volume or mounted volume on the system has the M-Files file system, even if the volume is excluded from the backup.
•	The SQL Server Plug-in cannot back up a database in the following cases:
•	the database name includes one of the following special characters:    \ ’ ” , / : * ? < > | ^
•	the database has files in Microsoft Azure, and the SQL Server Plug-in is not installed on the Azure VM
In these cases, the SQL Server Plug-in skips the database that it cannot back up, but backs up other databases in the job.
5 PRODUCT SUPPORT
5.1  Technical Support
Contact information for your provider is available through the Need Help button in Portal.
5.2  Product Updates
Product updates are available through your provider.
5.3  Documentation
The following documentation is available for Agent for Microsoft Windows (32-bit):
•	Server Backup online help (https://onlinehelp.evault.com) and knowledge base (http://support.carbonite.com/evault)
•	Release notes (this document)
•	User Guide