BackupEDGE is tested against and supports a large number of Linux distributions. This chart represents compatibility testing from the minimum stated release ONLY. Older releases may not be compatible with current operating systems. Commercially supported distributions are tested first, then free (community supported) distributions. While every attempt is made to support commercial distributions, other distributions get a bit less of a priority. Experimental / bleeding edge distributions such as Fedora are not supported. Older Linux 2.6.x and 2.4.x kernel distributions that worked under prior releases of BackupEDGE will still be compatible with those releases.

IMPORTANT - Please see the note about Auto Updaters below.

Note

Microlite Corporation strongly recommends that all BackupEDGE 2.x users update to latest 3.x release. The releases listed above in the right column are the minimum usable by the listed operating system. Keeping current assures that as Linux vendors update their products and back-port features from their later releases, BackupEDGE continues to function properly.

Auto Updaters - In many cases, if you run the operating system auto updater, such as "yum update" or "apt-get update; apt-get upgrade" or "apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade", you'll end up with the equivalent of an entirely new release, which may not be supported by your current BackupEDGE release. For instance, run "yum update" on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and it will essentially be upgraded to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7, which requires BackupEDGE 02.03.01 build 6 or later, or 03.00.00 build 3 or later, do to LVM and other changes. Make sure that:

• you match and update BackupEDGE releases to those compatible with your Linux release
• you re-create your RecoverEDGE media or ISO images.

In some instances attempting to re-create RecoverEDGE images may fail after an operating system upgrade. Before calling technical support, download and install the latest BackupEDGE release, or re-install the current BackupEDGE release, in order to create the proper environment for re-creating the media.

Beginning with 02.02.00 build 3, kernels with Xen virtualization support are supported with RecoverEDGE disaster recovery when using ISO images, i.e. CD/DEV/REV. PXE booting for disaster recovery is not currently supported with Xen kernels.

RecoverEDGE bare metal disaster recovery currently supports the LVM2 volume manager under 2.6 kernels for backup and disaster recovery, but does not support legacy LVM or md software raid. Disaster recovery of systems using EVMS, LVM or md will not function.

Bare metal disaster recovery, i.e. RecoverEDGE, requires an intimate knowledge of the base Linux operating system involved, the vendor supporting the operating system, and the updates and changes the vendor makes. Only authorized updates from the vendor relating to kernel and storage issues can be supported. For example, if you were to install Ubuntu Linux, then download the latest and greatest kernel from www.kernel.org and install it, two things would occur. One, you are no longer really running Ubuntu Linux, and two, it is unlikely RecoverEDGE would still function. Please limit your updates to those provided by the vendor.