What's New in Reload 5

Upgrading Reload | Reload 5 Change Notices |  Adding a License File to Reload

What is new in Reload 5

1. Reload now has a Collector/Server model available to use

• The traditional "Server Only" model that Reload has always had is still fully supported and functioning
• If a customer choses to use the Collector/Server model the Reload Collector runs on Linux
• When the Collector runs on a GroupWise server, DBCOPY must also be installed. If the version of GroupWise is 2014, then DBCOPY is already installed. If the version of GroupWise is 8 or 2012 then the administrator must make sure that DBCOPY is installed.
• The Reload Collector helps make backup times even faster
  • The Reload Collector uses Rsync to push GroupWise databases to the Reload server
    • First the databases are copied to a local staging location on the server where the Collector is running
    • Next the databases are pushed to a persistant staging area on the Reload server
    • Because of this staging method, the databases are static in transit, and only the deltas to the database files needs to be sent across the wire
      • So for example: 10 GB of data may only require 1GB of actual data transfer
• The Reload Collector is much more ideal for scenarios in which GroupWise post offices and domains are across WAN links
  • Customers can use the Collector model of backups to push post office and domain backups either directly from the GroupWise server or from one Reload server to another Reload server
  • Customers can partner with GWAVA or a GWAVA partner to provide Reload entirely off-site in the partner's data center
    • The Reload Collector requires a very small amount of disk space on the GroupWise server.
      • The way to calculate the space required is: Size of OFUSER, OFMSG and GWDMS directories X 2.
      • Generally customers create the Collector Profile location on the same volume where the GroupWise post office is located. But it can be on a different volume also.
• The Reload Collector can replicate the backed up data to up to 3 Reload Servers
• A Reload Collector can also be installed on the Reload Server so that customers on the Windows or NetWare platform have most of the advantages associated with the Collector/Server Model

2. Linked Profiles

• A linked profile was designed with this purpose in mind:
  • On the Reload server called RELOAD1 a post office profile is defined that is called PO1
  • The data from the PO1 profile needs to replicated to another Reload server called RELOAD2
  • A new Collector Profile called PUSHPO1 is created, and place that the Collector Profile pulls it's backup is from the <PO1 Profile Directory>/connect/current directory.
  • The PUSHPO1 Collector will then push the it's backup to a profile on RELOAD2
• In the PO1 profile's configuration, there is a setting under the Configure tab, and the Backup Job Settings panel under the Advanced Settings. Under there the link to the PUSHPO1 profile is made.
• Once this is done, when the PO1 profile completes a backup, it will queue up a job for the PUSHPO1 profile. The PUSHPO1 Collector pulls it's backups from the most current backup of the PO1 profile. So essentially, the PO1 profile's latest backup is being replicated to the RELOAD2 server via connection and the linking of the PO1 and the PUSHPO1 profiles.
• All of this was explained from the perpective of a post office profile. All the same elements work in the same manner for domain profiles also.

3. Less Disk Space Required

• Prior versions of Reload used a backup called a "Portable Backup"
• Because the Portable Backup routine has gone away disk space requirements with Reload 5 are less

With prior versions of Reload to be to keep about 14 days worth of backups would cost on disk 5 times the size of the post office

• With Reload 5, 14 days of backups costs about 2.5 times the size of the post office.
  • NOTE: The disk space savings will be realized after Reload 5 has run on the server for about two weeks.

4. Less Processing Power Needing

• Because the Portable Backup routine has gone away, the disk and CPU utilization of the Reload server is less

5. Support for GroupWise 2014 SR2 & SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12

• Tested at Novell, because, Novell backs up their GroupWise system with Reload!

6. Tape Backup Enhancements

• Reload Tape Archive (TAR) backups now support "TAR Splitting"
  • TAR Splitting was designed to alleviate the following issue
    • The post office is large, and one TAR file of the post office backups is several hundred Gigabytes, or perhaps even over a Terabyte. A TAR file of this size might be too large to deal with in certain environments.
    • TAR splitting allows the Reload administrator to indicate a maximum file size. The TAR file is then split amongst files that do not exceed the maximum file size.
    • When a TAR is split, the contents of the split files is easy to join when needed. Reload creates a script to join the contents of the split files, and then extract them right away.
      • With this method, a .TAR file is never created, even in the join process. The TAR file contents are simply extracted.
      • This method also allows the ability to extract just one day, along with the OFFILES directory and you have a backup for one day extracted, without having to extract the other days.

7. On-Demand Post Office Backup Deletion

In Reload 5, you can choose a specific post office backup to delete, and Reload will set out to delete it immediately. This feature is particularly helpful when a Reload server is just barely over it's disk space error threshold, and backups have stopped because of disk space overage. Choosing the oldest backup, or perhaps an intra-day backup is a good measure to resolve the issue immediately.

The ability to delete backup on demand is powerful. This feature can be disabled in Reload Console Administration under System |  Web | Delete - Allow Backup Deletion in Web UI.

8. Freeze Backups

If you need a backup to stay on the Reload server (and you don't know exactly how long), you can just choose the backup, and choose the "Freeze Backup" button, and the backup will not expire. When you are done you can simply Un-Freeze the backup.

9. Lot's of User Interface Improvements in Reload Web Administration

The majority of the settings in Reload have been brought into Reload Web Administration. Many settings exist in Reload Web Administration that do not exist in Reload Console Administration.

• Reload Console Administration should only be used for the following actions:
  • Creating Reload profiles
  • Configuring Retain Integration
  • Starting and Stopping Jobs (if somehow Reload Web Administration is not sufficient)
  • Starting and Stopping the Reload Daemon
  • Configuring other advanced settings such as custom script configuration

10. Newest GroupWise Software Ships with Reload 5

Reload uses the GroupWise Agent and GroupWise DBCOPY modules to perform backups. The newest version of GroupWise 2014, GroupWise 2012 and GroupWise 8 software now ships with Reload 5.

11. Updated Inline Documentation

Reload has been designed for ease-of-use. One of the major ease-of-user features in Reload Web Administration is a feature called "Inline Documentation". Simply hover your mouse pointer over a setting, and a documentation ballon will pop up to explain that feature. Since there are some major new features, in-line documentation makes it a lot easier to understand how to use Reload without having to always open the documentation PDF file.

This article was originally published in the GWAVA knowledgebase as article ID 2623.