Welcome to Engine 20 - What's New

Welcome to Engine 20 - What's New

Engine 20.0

This release supersedes Engine v19.

What's New

Windows Server 2025 Support

  1. OS version detection improvements.
  2. Supported deployment of Engine components: EMS Web Console, Engine, Scope, CLI, Utilities. 
  3. Support for System Plugin, IIS Server Plugin, File Server Plugin with Windows Server 2025 bundled roles and features.
  4. Support for vSphere Integration Plugin operations on WS2025 running inside a VMware VM.

In-Product Notification Optimization

  1. Improvements to notifications delivery mechanism. 
  2. Silent triggers mechanism used in EMS relicensing offers more granularity, allowing deeper Engine deployment-level targets. 

Independent Identity Deployment Support

  1. Engine may be deployed in a Independent Identity  (IID) cluster architecture via CLI Installer.
  2. ProServices 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. 

Engine Compliance - SBOM

  1. SBOM is now available for this release to provide transparency into the bundled components and their dependencies. 
    1. Availability: Downloadable SBOMs are available for current GA version of Engine components.
    2. Format: The SBOM is provided in CycloneDX.
    3. Download links: Exposed in EMS UI> Compliance> SBOM section.

Alerting based on Managed Server Telemetry

  1. 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.
  2. The first chapter in unlocking advanced monitoring and alerting was to enable our new telemetry service v16, which will seamlessly extract relevant information about events happening on the Engine nodes.
  3. v17 adds more to this feature by improving the telemetry data upload-via-EMS feature for a deployment not managed via Engine Management Service. 
  4. v18 enables In-Product Notification feature which may be used for announcing and alerting customers with relevant Engine information.
  5. v19 extends and prepares notification vehicle to be used in relicensing and alerts delivery.
  6. v20 brings granular, deeper access to Engine online deployment targets for Engine silent relicense mechanism. 

Better User Experience

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

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

Configure Server Wizard - Service Stop Timeout Configuration 

  1. Windows OS service stop timeout during reboots configuration is available via Engine Configure Server Wizard.
    1. Recommendation: Set this value to at least 20s to ensure a graceful stop of Engine service during system reboot.  

Application Management Framework - Periodic Tasks Running on Passive Node   

  1. AMFx changed to be more flexible.
  2. User defined Periodic Tasks may now be configured to run-on only-Active, only-Passive or on both Active and Passive Engine nodes. This feature allows a more granular management of application related tasks which need to take different actions if active or passive role.  

    Advanced Management Client UI

    1. Server Monitoring configuration terminology is updated to align with EMS Split-brain Avoidance feature configuration.
    2. Network Monitoring configuration terminology is updated to align with EMS Client/Public Network Monitoring feature configuration.

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

      Automated Logic WebCTRL Plugin 201.5.3

      1. Enhanced the login that scans for WebCTRL instances and tries to detect if the service is installed on the machine.
      2. Monitoring rule for WebCTRL SQL database.
      3. Support for Automated Logic WebCTRL 9.0.x system.
      4. More details in  Automated Logic WebCTRL Plugin v201.5.3 - Release Notes.

      Honeywell Maxpro VMS Plugin v201.5.1

      1. Support for Honeywell MAXPRO VMS R795 server.
      2. More details in Honeywell Maxpro VMS Plugin v201.5.1 - Release Notes.

      Siemens Desigo CC Plugin v201.5.1

      1. Support for Siemens Desigo CC 7.0 server.
      2. More details in Siemens Desigo CC Plugin v201.5.1 - Release Notes.

      System Plugin v401.0.11

      1. Split-Brain Avoidance (SBA) auto-configuration optimization for ping routes having targets Engine Public IP addresses.
      2. Improvements and fixes related to Microsoft Windows Server 2025 support.
        1. [EN-6904]: Fix for "Memory Free PTEs" rule (correct free PTE entries detection).
        2. [EN-6907]: Fix for "Version check for Windows OS" rule (correct OS version detection).
      3. More details in System Plugin v401.0.11 Release Notes.

      Access to Engine Utilities Repo

      1. Access Engine collection of utility scripts and add-ons designed to extend core features
      2. Collaborate for enhancing and extending 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 Engine For Ransomware Mitigation
      2. How to Setup Snapshot Management for Neverfail Engine

      CLI Installer and Service Manager Improvements

      1. Upgrade: improvements to preferences preservation mechanism.  
      Engine command-line installer (CLI) may be used for installing, upgrading or uninstalling 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 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.
      5. Coming Soon - Engine Management Service API Support for deployment using the latest versions of VMware vCenter Server 9.0 and VMware vCenter Converter 6.6.
      6. Coming Soon - vSphere Integration Plugin Support for interoping with the latest versions of VMware vCenter Server 9.0.

      Licensing Updates 

      License Management - Plugin Subscription

      1. Each Engine deployment requires the appropriate Plugins to be installed and corresponding Plugin subscriptions to be purchased.
      2. A separate Plugin subscription is required for each installed and protected application that has its own dedicated Plugin. 

      Licensing Service Access only for Supported Versions

      1. End-User License-Subscription Agreement 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 Engine Licensing Model. 

      Backward Compatibility

      Engine 20 Management Service is compatible with older supported versions of Engine (i.e. EMS 20.0 manages correctly, including licensing services, for all the supported CE versions 16/17/18/19). 

      1. If I upgrade to Engine 20, 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 Engine 20? 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, 14, 15 are currently End-of-Life (EOL), thus Unsupported. 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 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. And evenly important, your systems will be more exposed to cyberattacks. For example:

        1. CEv15.0
          1. misses all the Java OpenJDK security fixes released between July 2024 (8u422-b05)) and October 2025 (8u472-b08).
          2. misses all the Apache Tomcat security fixes released between July 2024 (Tomcat 9.0.91) and November 2025 (9.0.112).

      Applies To

      Neverfail Engine v20


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