AvailabilityGuard™ overview

AvailabilityGuard™ provides IT organizations with comprehensive command and control capabilities to enhance service availability readiness across their entire IT infrastructure. Serving as a common platform for all relevant IT teams, AvailabilityGuard enables organizations to detect downtime and data-loss risks and correct critical vulnerabilities before they impact business operations.

 

The AvailabilityGuard Risk Discovery Engine™ automatically scans the entire IT infrastructure in a non-intrusive, read-only mode, collecting up-to-date configuration information from servers and clusters, storage devices, virtual infrastructure, database servers, and the networks that connect them across physical, virtual, and hybrid environments.

 

It then analyzes the information gathered against the continuously updated Risk Signature Knowledgebase™ and pinpoints misconfigurations that can lead to potential downtime and data-loss.

 

The AvailabilityGuard dashboard provides IT teams with immediate visibility into availability and data-loss risks throughout the entire IT infrastructure and their potential impact on critical business services. Automated notifications and alerts are sent to the appropriate resources when availability or data-loss risks are uncovered, allowing IT teams to proactively address issues rather than firefight outages and costly business disruptions.

 

To ensure issues are tracked to resolution, AvailabilityGuard automatically creates an actionable trouble ticket, including a detailed description of the problem, its potential business impact, and suggestions for remediation. Tickets can also be generated in your existing IT management system (e.g. ServiceNow, HP ServiceDesk, CA UniCenter, Tivoli, Splunk, etc.).

 

New in Version 9.2.5.0

New features and highlights

This AvailabilityGuard release introduces new features and major enhancements in the following areas:

Recoverability Inventory

Users that have access for the Replication Inventory under the Recoverability module are now able to Expand the table with Dynamic fields. Using dynamic fields, you can get more information easily about the replications (or snapshots) state and configuration.

Here is a few example for possible fields:

Expanding the Support Matrix

Added support for Pure Storage (FlashBlade and FlashArray).

 

Improved support for Kubernetes Clusters (extended support for RedHat OpenShift scanning).

 

Added support for Commvault Backup.

 

All the information about the newly supported system is viewable in the Assets (Devices/Topology) and available for consumption by custom reports using Database Views.

 

New Reports

This release includes new reports in the catalog:

NetApp Replication Summary – The report was reorganized, data was verified and extended with more Replication Info about Volumes and QTrees:

1. Creation Time (SplitTime)
2. Data Age (lag)

SLA Policy Summary – New report that assists users to get a high-level view of the configured SLA Policies for Replications/Mirroring/Snapshot Retention based on the assigned CI’s. The report supports 2 views:

1. Show Findings by CI
2. Show Findings by SLA Policy

Additional Changes and Enhancements

The following section highlights additional notable changes or enhancements:

Id	Description
24512	Improve the Usability of the "Troubleshooting packages" page.
23442	Recoverability Inventory - Allow users to enrich visible information related to Storage replications with more collected data.
24268	Observability - ongoing monitor the memory usage of the application and log the information to the "Server report" log.
23602	Add ability to export a "Collection Package".
23720	Added ability to create a CI Group from the Hosts page (based on hosts selection).
23584	Assets - the “Overview" page should allow quick navigation to the "Devices" page.
21460	Risks - Risk Details layout should be more flexible for view (Expand/Collapse/Hide/Show).
20658	Risks - New column for "Incident ID" once ITSM Provider is configured and active.
21464	Improve the application usability using Keyboard keys across the entire application.
21668	AWS EC2 - The data collected was not accurate enough, causing issues with Site associations and missing information.
20334	Custom Collection (vSphere)- Allow admin to extend the custom collection script with pre-execution and post-execution scripts.
23931	Add support for Pure Storage.
19605	Add support for Commvault (Backup platform).
16475	Improve support for k8s (Extended for RH OpenShift scanning).
24074 23925	NetApp SVM Replication Summary Report refinements - Added information (Lag/Split time), information is better organized.
23107	SLA Policy Summary Report - A new report that organizes all the Storage/RPO related findings with High-level and Detailed analysis.
17711	Expose accurate NetApp information for custom reports.

 

Fixed issues

The following issues are resolved:

Scanning issues

23984	During the collector upgrade, the internal folder was not updated.
23938	In certain cases, Gawk failed to work and that caused the scan to fail.
24683 23681	Scan Status are not accurate on scanned entities - (mainly - Successful / Connection Error / Proxy Connection Error).

 

Risk Detection & Reporting

Id	Description
21506	Improve Linux collection for Linux Cluster discovery and better Risk Detection for Cluster aware checks
24248	Custom Reports page should be replaced under the "Reports" module

 

Application (Core & User Interface)

Id	Description
24682	Not able to execute Hosts scan in the UI using pagination.
24100	Some information was not received from CMDB during the import process.
20923	Settings\Authentication - Admin is not aware of uploaded key file that was uploaded to stored credentials.
24331	Cloud- Hosts located on Cloud Infrastructure should be automatically assigned to Sites.
24091	Export to Excel of hosts/databases does not consider the "In Active Scan Groups" filter mode.
24826	Risks - Fix terminology for "Resource type" instead of “domain".

 

New / Modified system properties

Category	Property Name	Comment / Default
Branding	branding.csadmin.navigation.color	Default: #6C0000
Collection - Admin	mediator.parser.awk.external	New Default: FALSE
Collection - Admin	mediator.util.rest.commvault.paging.interval	Default: 100
Collection Timeouts	mediator.collection.timeout.full.pureflasharray.request	Default: 180
Collection Timeouts	mediator.collection.timeout.full.pureflashblade.request	Default: 180
Distributed Collection	mediator.remote.collector.mediator.temp.days.retain.history	Default: 90
Maintenance	log.package.size	Default: 5120
Maintenance	tomcat.log.package.size	Default: 2024
Maintenance	configuration.package.size	Default: 1024
Maintenance	mediator.temp.package.size	Default: 5120
Maintenance	responses.package.size	Default: 5120
Recoverability	web.api.recoverability.min.rows.for.tag	Default: 10
Risks	tickets.filter.default.severity	Default: Low
Time format	local.date.time.format.long.timezone	Default: MMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss a z
Users	user.password.expiration.timeout.days	Default: 90
Users	new.user.password.expiration.timeout.hours	Default: 24
Automatic Import	configuration.auto.import.conn.db.type	Added optional value: PostgreSQL

 

Important Notes

Deprecated features

None.

 

Oracle database Locale requirement

The Oracle instance used as the backend database for the Continuity Software Platform must be configured with the English Locale. This requirement is complementary to other requirements identified in the Deployment guide and/or other documents.

Web Browser Support

AvailabilityGuard supports Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Microsoft IE is not supported.

Recommended display size and resolution

AvailabilityGuard’s web user interface is best displayed and operated with these specs:

• Full HD resolution (1080p)
• Screens 21” or larger
• Aspect ratio of 16:9.

Using smaller screens, coarser resolution, or both might cause an incomplete display of some information. Use the browser’s zoom-out function to display all content.

 

Using the Backup Host Role

To avoid false tickets regarding storage access or SAN I/O configuration inconsistency that involves backup servers, configure the backup servers inside a business entity and assign them with the ‘Backup’ role.

  

Scan of Storage and Replication Management servers

It is recommended to scan all production / DR storage management servers as hosts. This is required even for management servers are already configured for scanning as storage proxies. A storage proxy scan operates at the API/CLI level whereas scanning the storage management servers as a host enables collection of additional configuration files and settings.

 

Scan of Windows hosts through WMI

Scanning of Windows hosts updated with KB3139940 might fail with an “Access Is Denied” message. To overcome this failure, please make sure that the user configured to authenticate to this server is a member of the Local Administrator group on the AvailabilityGuard server. As of version 7.2.1, AvailabilityGuard also provides an alternative method of scanning Windows servers using WMI which requires PowerShell version 5.1 or higher.

 

User account for technical support only

The csadmin user provides access to support tools that can cause damage if not used properly; This user is intended to be used by Continuity Software support engineers only. Enable and login with the csadmin user only when directed to do so by support personnel. This user is disabled by default.

 

Database Views

The Database Views feature is currently only available when using Oracle DBMS. Support Database Views when using Postgres will be added in the future.

 

 

Limitations

Assigning a profile to an Active Directory group

• When assigning a profile to an AD Universal Group, the AvailabilityGuard master server must have access to the Global Catalog of the AD Forest.
• When assigning a profile to an AD Local Domain Group, AvailabilityGuard will not be able to assign the Profile to AD Users from a different Domain – even though such configuration is valid within AD. In other words – an AD user can log in to AvailabilityGuard (with all the correct profiles assigned) only if each AD Local Domain Group it belongs to is part of the same AD Domain the AD user belongs to.

 

 

Special characters are converted during object import to AvailabilityGuard
When importing names and properties of objects from CSV/CMDB/API, special characters such as “&”, ‘no-break- space’ and certain UTF8 chars are converted to alphanumeric chars.

In specific cases scan error messages are not sufficiently informative

The Scan Troubleshooting screen occasionally presents scan error messages that include the error code but no additional details.

Workaround: Run the erroneous command or script manually to see the full scan error message.  If further assistance is required, contact Technical Support.

 

Incorrect tickets may open when file read permission is not granted

When AvailabilityGuard cannot read or list a file or a directory, incorrect tickets may open.

Workaround: Take particular care to grant the required privileges for the user configured for the scan, as described in the AvailabilityGuard deployment guide [A-619].

 

Installation Notes for this Release

Read the Installation Procedure Chapter of the User Guide for guidance about installing AvailabilityGuard v9.2.5.0. In addition, review the Deployment and Scanning Guides for guidance about the AvailabilityGuard infrastructure requirements and the preparations needed for scanning your datacenters.

 

Upgrade for this Release

An upgrade path to version 9.2.5.0 is available from the 9.2.4 release. If your system is currently installed with an earlier release, an upgrade to version 9.2.4 is mandatory before upgrading to version 9.2.5.0.

 

Important notes:

• The upgrade will require a complete stop of AvailabilityGuard operations, including data collection and data analysis. While it is fully automatic, the length of the upgrade process may require several hours to complete in large environments. During this time, it is important not to restart the AvailabilityGuard server or terminate the upgrade task. In addition, it is essential that the Oracle database used by AvailabilityGuard be available throughout the upgrade process.
• Prior to upgrading, take care to read the release notes in full, and make any necessary changes to the AvailabilityGuard infrastructure and/or to user account permissions as required, and ensure sufficient free disk space is available on the master server. It is important to review newly required read-only privileged commands and make necessary changes to sudo0F[1] to allow AvailabilityGuard to run the commands.
• Prior to upgrading, verify you have an up-to-date backup of the AvailabilityGuard server disk drives using your standard backup tools, and an up-to-date AvailabilityGuard database export. A database export can be generated using the EXPDP or EXP Oracle commands.
• Once the upgrade on the master AvailabilityGuard server is completed and the Tomcat service starts, AvailabilityGuard will automatically check and upgrade the AvailabilityGuard collectors. There is no manual collector upgrade process. For gradual collector upgrade, disable the collectors before initiating the upgrade on the master server, and gradually enable the collectors you wish to upgrade following the completion of the software upgrade on the master server. 
• The upgrade will require a complete stop of AvailabilityGuard operations, including data collection and data analysis. While it is fully automatic, the length of the upgrade process may require several hours to complete in large environments. During this time, it is important not to restart the AvailabilityGuard server or terminate the upgrade task. In addition, it is essential that the Oracle database used by AvailabilityGuard be available throughout the upgrade process.

 

 

To upgrade from version 9.2.4 to version 9.2.5.0:

1. Login as a local administrator to the master AvailabilityGuard Server.
2. Run ContinuityPlatform_9.2.5.exe as an administrator.
3. Click Next on the Welcome screen.
4. Select “Yes, upgrade Continuity Platform from 9.2.4 to 9.2.5.0”.
5. Accept the License Agreement and click Next.
6. Accept the GNU License Agreement and click Next.
7. Select whether to perform a database export prior to upgrading and whether to start Tomcat after the upgrade completes and click Next. It is recommended to keep the default settings.
8. Click Install to begin the Software Upgrade process. This process may require up to several hours to complete, depending on the size of the scanned environment.
9. Click Finish.

 

 

Getting help

If you have a current maintenance agreement, you may access Technical Support information here:

http://www.continuitysoftware.com/support

Customer service information is available here:

https://www.continuitysoftware.com/contact/

 

If you forget or lose the AvailabilityGuard administrator password, contact Technical Support.

 

 

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[1] sudo or any other privilege management solution used to grant the required permissions, such as PowerBroker, UPM, sesudo, etc.