Welcome to Continuity Engine 13 - What's New

Welcome to Continuity Engine 13 - What's New

Continuity Engine 13

This point release supersedes Continuity Engine v12.1.

What's New

Better User Experience

Subscription's Payment Status Exposed in EMS UI

  1. Starting Continuity Engine 13, EMS UI is showing the payment status of the software subscriptions used for licensing the managed Engine servers.   

UI Improvements

  1. [EN-6149]: Terminology change: Snapshots replaces Shadows in protected Server details page
  2. [EN-6225]: Clearer assisted cloning message
  3. Various help text changes

Available Plugins Visibility

  1. The set all of the bundled plugins which offer out-of-the-box automated protection for client applications (specific versions) is linked directly from Engine Management Service UI support section

Google Cloud Platform Support Enhancements - Solution Pack for streamlining hybrid deployments

  1. Streamlines on-premises (VMware vCenter Server) to Google Cloud  deployment process (prepare, migrate and configure DR standby node)
  2. Solution pack with documentation available here: Neverfail Continuity Engine Add-on for Hybrid Deployment to Google Cloud Platform

Patching Downtime Reduction with Passive Management Name

  1. Neverfail Continuity Engine's Passive Management Name feature enables the ability of patching of standby passive nodes in centralized update management environment.
  2. Following document lists all the Patch Management or Backup Software Solutions / Technologies proven to work or scheduled in the near future for interoping validation with Neverfail Continuity Engine's Passive Management Name feature: Patch Management Solutions / Technologies supported by Neverfail Continuity Engine's Passive Management Name

Automated Logic WebCTRL Plugin v201.5.1

  1. Automated Logic WebCTRL Plugin protects and proactively monitors Automated Logic WebCTRL environment’s configuration data, services, and application data files.
  2. Supports Automated Logic WebCTRL 8.0

Mitel MiContact Center Enterprise Plugin v201.5.1

  1. Mitel MiContact Center Enterprise Plugin protects and proactively monitors Mitel MiContact Center Enterprise environment’s configuration data, services, and application data files.
  2. Supports Mitel MiContact Center Enterprise 9.6

Validated support for Progress MOVEit 2023

Access to Continuity Engine Utilities Repo

  1. Access Continuity Engine collection of utility scripts and add-ons designed to extend core features
  2. Collaborate for enhancing and extending Continuity Engine functionality for specific scenarios 
  3. Utilities repo may be accessed directly from EMS UI> Support> Add-ons

Snapshot Management Improvements

Ransomware Recovery: With Snapshot Management organizations can take snapshots each 15 minutes and roll back the dataset to before the incident happened thus restoring the protected application server to full operating conditions.
  1. Harden Continuity Engine for Ransomware
  2. How to Setup Snapshot Management for Neverfail Continuity Engine

CLI Installer Improvements

  1. EMS bundles a command-line installer (CLI) which may be used for installing, upgrading or uninstalling Continuity Engine on a specific node
  2. Designed to be used in the scenarios where EMS-driven fully automated install/upgrade cannot be used. Contact Support for guidance.  

More Secure

Core Security Enhancements

OpenJDK and Apache Tomcat version updated to latest

New Supported Versions

New or Updated Plugins

VMware vCenter Server and VMware vCenter Converter Support

  1. Supported - Engine Management Service API Support for deployment using the latest versions of VMware vCenter Server 7.0 and VMware vCenter Converter 6.2.
  2. Supported - vSphere Integration Plugin Support for interoping with the latest versions of VMware vCenter Server 7.0
  3. Coming soon - Engine Management Service API Support for deployment using the latest versions of VMware vCenter Server 8.0 and VMware vCenter Converter 6.3.
  4. Coming soon - vSphere Integration Plugin Support for interoping with the latest versions of VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Licensing Updates 

Software Subscription Payment Awareness Improvements

    1. Improved in v13.0, the software subscription licensing mechanism is changed to be aware of software subscription's payment status. The changes are summarized in the below section extracted from Neverfail End-User Software Subscription License Agreement.
    Term Software Subscription is ready to be consumed immediately upon fulfilment. Depending on the payment status, the right to use may or may not be limited a follows: (a) if the payment is pending when software subscription is being activated (consumed), a limited forty-five (45) days license key counted from the term software subscription start date will be generated; as soon as the payment is confirmed, the full term software subscription period is unlocked; relicensing with a full term license key will be performed automatically for online licensing; (b) if the payment is confirmed when software subscription is being activated (consumed) a full term license key will be generated. Similar payment status usability rules apply also in the case of license term software subscription renewal.
    1. v13.0 licensing model is built on top of v9.0 model which transitioned Engine from a perpetual model to a software subscription term and rental model. Engine Licensing Service (ELS) enables call-home features that power our software subscription based licensing. The new cloud service is free but is required for Term and Rental deployments.  For more information on how the licensing works and upgrade notes please read Continuity Engine Licensing Model. 

    Backward Compatibility

    Continuity Engine 13 Management Service is compatible with older versions (i.e. EMS 12.0 manages correctly CE 9.x/10.x/11.x). 

    1. If I upgrade to Continuity Engine 13, will my perpetual license cease? Yes! You are accepting software subscription's  requirements outlined in the new EULA for Term and Rental. Neverfail will generate new software subscriptions expiring the same day as the support was paid through. This means you will need to pay for support to continue software operations yearly or monthly depending on the type of subscription.
    1. Can I upgrade using the Upgrade Wizard from older versions to Continuity Engine 13? Yes, the upgrade wizard is still supported. Keep in mind that Continuity Engine 6.7, 7.x and 8.x are currently End-of-Life (EOL). To ensure organization continued support, you must upgrade to the latest Continuity Engine version.

    2. When will Continuity Engine EOL? Check End of Life Policy for Neverfail Continuity Engine

    3. Can I stay on previous versions of Continuity Engine? Yes, however, previous versions will eventually EOL and you will not be able to take full advantage of the new features of Continuity Engine v12. And evenly important, your systems will be more exposed to cyberattacks. For example:

      1. CEv9.0
        1. misses all the security fixes between OpenJDK 8u332-b09 (April 2022) and 8u402-b06 (Jan 2024)
        2. misses all the security fixes between Tomcat 9.0.64 (May 2022) and 9.0.85 (Jan 2024)