Welcome to Continuity Engine 18 - What's New

Welcome to Continuity Engine 18 - What's New

Continuity Engine 18

This release supersedes Continuity Engine v17.

What's New

In-Product Notification

  1. Streamlined communication between customer's Engine Management Service and Neverfail's Notification Services.
  2. Easy-to-absorb messages fed directly to customers' EMS UI.
  3. Keep customers informed with product updates and company announcements.

Licensing Service Access only for Supported Versions - UX Improvements for Hardened Environments

EMS UI UX for Engine managed servers was improved in v18 in hardened scenarios, where EMS Web Console has no access to Licensing Services (i.e. internet):
  1. each managed server will show Product Version on grey background with tooltip message "Cannot validate support".
  2. offline licensing (only) is enabled for all the connected managed servers because version cannot be validated as supported.

Online Licensing Requirements (introduced with v17)

  1. Important: Engine Management Services (EMS) upgrade to v17 (or newer) is required for maintaining access to Licensing Services.
  2. Starting v17, license key issuance for a new or a renewed Software Subscription is viable only on currently supported versions of the software.
  3. EMS UI improved user-experience in displaying Engine version status: Supported, EoL soon or Unsupported.

Independent Identity Deployment Support

  1. Continuity Engine may be deployed in a Independent Identity  (IID) cluster architecture via CLI Installer.
  2. ProServ driven deployments: additional requirements and post-deployment configuration may be needed, depending on the deployment scenario and protected application.
  3. Plugins will be changed to support IID application deployment (where applicable). In this release, System plugin was added to IID-supporting family. 

EMS Alerting based on Managed Server Telemetry

  1. The first chapter in unlocking advanced monitoring and alerting is to enable our new telemetry service, which will seamlessly extract relevant information about events happening on the Engine nodes.
  2. v17 adds more to this feature by improving the telemetry data upload-via-EMS feature (unlocked in v16) for a deployment not managed via Engine Management Service. 
  3. By enabling telemetry, you empower the EMS to deliver better monitoring and alerting for critical events that matter most to your business. This will translate into quicker response times, more accurate alerts, and ultimately, greater peace of mind knowing that your systems are running optimally.
  4. v18 enables In-Product Notification feature which may be used for announcing and alerting customers with relevant Engine information.

Better User Experience

Application Management - Automating Discovery and Protection via Dedicated Plugins  (on-going)

  1. New plugins will be developed and added to Continuity Engine family, release by release. These plugins will replace the manual implementation of User Defined application protection. 
  2. Application protection made simple. Homogeneous. Reliable.

Offline Licensing Management via EMS

  1. UX Improvements for hardened environments: managed server will show Product Version on grey background with tooltip message "Cannot validate support". Access to offline licensing is permitted.
  2. Self-service offline licensing based on telemetry data: customers may claim license keys directly from Engine Management Service for deployments which are not managed via EMS.
  3. Install Engine Management Service on any supported Windows machine with access to internet (i.e. Engine Licensing Server) then claim your license keys corresponding to your purchased software subscription from the Support section. Details in Self-Service Offline Licensing: How to Claim a License Key for a Deployment Not Managed via Engine Management Service.

New Version Availability and Download Published via EMS

    Patching Downtime Reduction with Passive Management Name

    1. 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 Continuity Engine's Passive Management Name feature: Patch Management Solutions / Technologies supported by Continuity Engine's Passive Management Name

    SQL Server Plugin 201.5.18

    1. Data loss prevention mechanism: SQL Server plugin's configured user account is periodically checked for minimal required permission to assure the automated discovery and replication of all protectable data.
    2. UX: SQL Server plugin's Performance Rules re-grouping in 5 intuitive categories: General, Default Instance, Named Instance, First Instance, Second Instance.

    Mitel CX Plugin v201.5.7

    1. Mitel CX Plugin provides protection and proactively monitors Mitel CX  environment’s configuration data, services, and application data files.
    2. New: Support for Mitel CX 1.0 for MiVB  / SIP
    3. Backwards compatibility for: MiContact Center Business R10.0/SIP, MiContact Center Business 9.5, MiContact Center Business 9.4, MiContact Center Business 9.3, MiContact Center Server v9.0 (both Main/Enterprise and Remote installation versions)

    Honeywell Pro-Watch Plugin v201.5.1

    1. Honeywell Pro-Watch Plugin provides protection and proactively monitors Honeywell Pro-Watch environment’s configuration data, services, and application data files.
    2. New: Support for Honeywell Pro-Watch 6.5.1 server.

    Clever Devices CleverCAD Plugin v201.5.4

    1. Clever Devices CleverCAD Plugin provides protection and proactively monitors CleverCAD environment’s configuration data, services, and application data files.:
    2. support for CleverCAD 10.19.
    3. support for CleverCAD Rail component: discovery, control, monitoring and failure recovery.

    File Server Plugin v201.5.8

    1. Protected services management optimization: target states for the protected service Server (lanmanserver)  are changed as follows: Running on the Active Server and Running on the Passive(s) Server(s).
      1. Server service will be restarted only in case of Engine switchover or failover; it won't be restarted anymore in case of FS application stop/start while active server remains the active one.
    2. Dependent services improvement: MsQuic service will me monitored only if found as installed service. This will fix the "Service MSQUIC failed its check" issue cause by Windows OS changes.
    3. Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Standard / Datacenter (revalidated May 2025).
    4. More details in File Server Plugin v201.5.8 Release Notes.

    System Plugin v401.0.9

    1. Support for Continuity Engine Independent Identity Configuration
      1. Installation note: IID support must be configured before Engine replication is started between the non-cloned nodes. IID enablement is performed in plugin's configuration section.
    2. More details in System Plugin v401.0.9 Release Notes.

    IIS Plugin v201.5.10

    1. Retired support for Continuity Engine Independent Identity Configuration.
    2. Support for Windows Server 2022 Standard/Datacenter (May 2025).
    3. Read IIS Plugin v201.5.10 Release Notes for more details

    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. How to Use Continuity Engine For Ransomware Mitigation
    2. How to Setup Snapshot Management for Neverfail Continuity Engine

    CLI Installer and Service Manager Improvements

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

    Desktop Widget Tool

    1. This standalone tool may be registered to Engine SysTray tool and provides high-level, in-desktop System and Engine status and notifications.
    2. Usage described in Continuity Engine Desktop Widget Tool Guide

    More Secure

    Latest Security Updates and Fixes for OpenJDK and Apache Tomcat

    New Supported Versions

    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 

    Licensing Service Access only for Supported Versions

    1. End-User License-Subscription Agrement changes are summarized in the below section extracted from Neverfail End-User Software Subscription License Agreement.
    2. License Key Issuance vs. Software lifecycle: License Key issuance for a new or a renewed Software Subscription is viable only on currently supported versions of the Software..
    3. Engine follows a software subscription term and rental licensing  model. Engine Licensing Service (ELS) enables call-home features that power our software subscription based licensing. The new license 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 18 Management Service is compatible with older supported versions of Engine (i.e. EMS 18.0 manages correctly, including licensing services, for all the supported CE versions 14/15/16/17). 

    1. If I upgrade to Continuity Engine 18, 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/unsupported versions to Continuity Engine 18? Yes, the upgrade wizard is still supported. Keep in mind that Continuity Engine versions 6.7, 7.x, 8.x, 9.x, 10, 11, 12, 13 are currently End-of-Life (EOL). To ensure organization continued support and access to licensing services, 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 v17. And evenly important, your systems will be more exposed to cyberattacks. For example:

      1. CEv13.0
        1. misses all the Java OpenJDK security fixes released between January 2024 (8u402-b06) and April 2025 (8u452-b09).
        2. misses all the Apache Tomcat security fixes released between January 2024 (Tomcat 9.0.85) and April 2025 (9.0.105).

    Applies To

    Continuity Engine v18