Quest® LiteSpeed™ for SQL Server

Version 4.8.4

Release Notes

December 6, 2007

Contents

Welcome to LiteSpeed for SQL Server 4.8.4

LiteSpeed for SQL Server is a revolutionary, patented development in database backup technology, encompassing the latest encryption and compression algorithms to deliver a complete solution for your archiving needs. LiteSpeed maximizes disk space and process efficiency while greatly reducing the overhead costs associated with maintaining a state-of-the-art database facility.

LiteSpeed is the new way of backing up SQL Server® databases quickly and securely. Unlike existing technologies, LiteSpeed encrypts and compresses all data as it backs it up, which means that cumbersome compression routines and poor encryption algorithms are things of the past.

The size of the backup file is typically only a fraction of the size of the original backup size, maximizing storage efficiency and ensuring significant savings in disk space. The encryption algorithm ensures that data cannot fall into the wrong hands as it is transported to an off-site backup facility.

Down time and database failures are a reality. Components fail, databases become corrupted, and administrators make mistakes. But by using LiteSpeed, restore time can be reduced and downtime minimized. Mission critical databases can be brought back online quickly and reliably using LiteSpeed’s revolutionary new technology.

Key Benefits:

• Reduced Storage Requirements (up to 95% compression)

• Reduced Backup Times (up to 75% faster than native SQL Server)

• Reduced Restore Times

• Increased Transaction Throughput

• Secure Backup Device Files (256-bit encrypted)

• Reduced Network Load

• Fully Integrated into SQL Server

• Highly Tunable

• User-definable Compression Level

• Choice of Encryption Method: RC2 (40-bit, 56-bit, 112-bit, 128-bit), RC4 (128-bit), 3DES (168-bit), AES (128-bit, 192-bit, 256-bit)

Note: Access to Object Level Recovery requires a Professional license.

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New in This Release

Several new features have been added or modified to increase productivity and functionality of LiteSpeed for SQL Server 4.8.4.

Release 4.8.4

• Users with existing SSMS plug-in created jobs can now upgrade their old version jobs to the current version using the conversion wizard.

• The default logging path is now C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Quest\Litespeed, instead of x:\Program Files\Imceda\LiteSpeed\SQL Server\Engine\Logs.

• LiteSpeed 4.8.4 offers partial support for SQL Server CTP 4 and Windows 2008 R0.

• Supported features include: xp_backup_database, xp_restore_database, xp_backup_log, xp_restore_log, xp_sqllitespeed_version, xp_restore_filelistonly, xp_restore_headeronly, xp_restore_verifyonly and scheduling backups and restores via the Enterprise Console.

• Unsupported features include (in particular) the MMC console, SQL Server clusters, Object Level Recovery, the SSMS Plug-in, Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM), and log shipping.

• The OLR process does not work with SQL Server 2008 CTP 5. If initiated, the OLR process must be killed through the Task Manager.

Release 4.8.3

• Localized for English.

• SQL Server 7 supported.

• The Red Server Icon has been redesigned with no change in function.

• The Orange Server Icon (for Reporting) appears in the Enterprise Console Tree if LiteSpeed cannot tell whether SQL Server is running.

Release 4.8.2

• Localized for Japan.

Release 4.8.1

• Fixes a 4.8 issue on x64 and Itanium versions of LiteSpeed that caused restores to fail on backup files that were larger than 4GB.

Release 4.8

• The Red Server Icon (for reporting) appears in the Enterprise Console Tree if a server or database has previously been backed up using LiteSpeed, but there are no recent backups for that server or database (that is, no records of backups exist in the central repository). This icon appears if there are no backups within three days of the last backup and may indicate a problem with the server or the LiteSpeed Activity Service.

• Creating Partial Backups

To create a partial backup, use the BACKUP statement and specify the READ_WRITE_FILEGROUPS option. You can also specify any read-only file or filegroup to include it in a partial backup.

The required syntax for creating a partial backup is:

BACKUP DATABASE database_name

READ_WRITE_FILEGROUPS [ , <file_filegroup_list> ] TO <backup_device>

According to SQL Server 2005's documentation, to cause a partial backup enter:

@read_write_filegroups=1

Note: For additional information refer to Microsoft's SQL Server documentation:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191539.aspx

• Object Level Recovery Execute SELECT:

Prior to LiteSpeed 4.8, if the destination table already existed you received the error message: 'Failed to create table'. This required the creation of a new table for every query. Thus to create a UNION of SELECT results, it was necessary to CREATE and DROP a temporary table and then move the rows to the more persistent table.

Beginning in LiteSpeed 4.8, if the destination table already exists and is equivalent in structure to the query results, then the rows are inserted into the existing table. For equivalence, the column names of the table and of the query results are not required to be equal, rather the number of columns and the details of the data types of each column are required to be the same. If the table and query results are not equivalent, then the error message 'Existing table <table name> is not equivalent to query results.' is returned. If OLR is unable to accomplish the comparison, the message is 'Unable to describe existing table <table name>.'

• Object Level Recovery on Differential Backups:

Object level recovery commands can now be used on differential backups in addition to full backups.

• Encryption is now available with both Standard and Professional licenses.

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Resolved Issues and Enhancements

The following is a list of issues addressed and enhancements implemented in the  LiteSpeed for SQL Server 4.8.4, 4.8.3, 4.8.2, 4.8.1, and 4.8 releases.