What's New

Just "Engine"

1. Starting v21, the official product name is Engine. Neverfail Engine. 
   

Engine Upgrade Safety Measures

1. Upgrade process will stage upgrade tools and CLI utility to all nodes as a fail-safe for interrupted upgrades.
   
2. Enabled by default.
   

In-Product Notification Optimization

1. Silent trigger mechanism enhancement allowing granular managed Engine deployment targets. 
2. License authorization updates pushed automatically for online licensing.

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 improvements: 
   
1. Downloadable SBOMs (CycloneDX) are available in EMS for current GA version of Engine components.  
2. Added missing component supplier information (required by NTIA).
   
3. Added verification pack containing the digital signatures and public key required to verify the integrity and authenticity of the Engine SBOMs.

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. 
   
7. v21 extends In-product Notification for managed servers receiving license authorization updates.

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.

EMS Alerts Bar

1. First version of a lightweight, always-visible Windows notification bar running on machines where EMS web console is installed to provide real-time monitoring of Neverfail clusters health by displaying the latest events, role assignments, and replication status.
   
2. It will receive more updates in future releases.

Application Management Framework - Kernel Driver Service Management  

1. AMFx changes: added ability to ignore some of the kernel drivers services. 

Advanced Management Client UI

1. License Management: hot-add/remove license keys without stopping Engine service.
2. Quad configuration support where compatible* (customized 4-node, dual-site HA). 
   
1. requires compatibility check and implementation via Neverfail Professional Services.

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

1. EMS UI alerts whenever a newer version is generally available, along with download link and release highlights.

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

Honeywell Pro-Watch Plugin v201.5.2

1. Support for Honeywell Pro-Watch 6.6 server.
   
2. Data protection optimization.
   
3. More details in Honeywell Pro-Watch Plugin v201.5.2 - 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

Fixed Issues

1. [EN-6799]: [AMCx64]: Group/Connection behaves funky: works when defined first. But after restarting AMC group definition is missing and defined connection is misbehaving.
2. [EN-6816]: [EMS UI]:Logout after timeout expires is not user friendly - it shows a lot of RED toast messages. 
3. [EN-6828]: [CLI Installer]: Fix version reporting. 
   
4. [EN-6848]: [EMS UI]: Replace login suggested "administrator" with something more appropriate indicating a local\domain account.
   
5. [EN-6904]: [Windows Server 2025 Support] -  Fix for Preinstall validation check: "Cannot determine number of Free System Table pages."
   
6. [EN-6839]: Neverfail Engine's listener thread for the AMC GUI (port 52267) crashes silently sometimes.
   
7. [EN-7005]: [EMS UI]: Dashboard> Supported versions is not loading the pie chart if no Unknown servers are counted, when version support cannot be evaluated (i.e. ELS cannot be contacted)
8. [EN-7006]: [EMS UI]: Settings> vCenter Server connection> Delete should be allowed (button enabled) when Status is Not connected.
   
9. [EN-6716]: [FileServer plugin vs Windows Update]: Windows Updates changes the MsQuic service into not-a-service. This impacts plugin's service protection.  
   
10. [EN-6868]: [CLI]: Leftover NFBase path using PFx86 path is causing issues with CLI upgrade.
    
11. [EN-6899]: Engine licensed features validator enhancements. 

Applies To

Neverfail Engine v21