Important notice: ZA AccountServer merge on 2022-09-07

As part of a consolidation of services to improve the ongoing reliability of our data management platform, while also providing easier access to our global storage regions, Redstor will be migrating the Africa Storage Platform (‘ZASP’) into the Redstor Global Storage Platform on Wednesday, 7 September, between 10:00 and 13:00 SAST. 

While most services will continue to operate as normal following this change, if you are using any of the features listed below, there is some action needed from you: 

• Group Certificates
• GroupPath-based API integrations
• MSI installers deployed from the Storage Platform Console
• network filtering

Group Certificates 

• All Group Certificates will be invalidated, and new Group Certificates should be requested following the completion of this migration. Existing encryption keys for machines (SE/DL/ESE agents) should be exported from the Storage Platform Console before 7 September 2022 to ensure that access to these keys for data recovery purposes can be maintained. 

GroupPath-based API Integrations 

• This migration will include changes to the GroupPath hierarchy. Any API integration that uses a GroupPath will therefore need the specified GroupPath to be updated. 
• More specifically, this change will see “Redstor MEA\” prepended to all GroupPaths. As an example, RCP\ABCD Solutions will change to Redstor MEA\RCP\ABCD Solutions. 

MSI installers deployed from the Storage Platform Console 

• This migration will include changes to GroupPath hierarchy, and therefore pre-configured MSI installers from the Storage Platform Console will no longer be valid. These installers will need to be recreated following the migration on 7 September 2022. 
• New installers created in version 22.8 or later of the Storage Platform Console will no longer use GroupPaths, instead using a unique GroupGUID to reference the destination. These installers will not be affected by GroupPath changes. 

Network filtering 

• If your network configuration restricts outbound HTTPS traffic to specific address ranges, there are additional network ranges required.  These are detailed in the article Redstor Network Requirements under Redstor Global > ZA Account Server.
• The migration will only affect the AccountServer addresses used by the backup agents and by Storage Platform Console users. The addresses of the StorageServers to which the backup agents send data will remain unchanged. 

Additional information 

Backup agents during the change window 

Unfortunately, there will be some interruption to backup/restore operations during the change window. We will endeavour to minimise this wherever possible. All backup/restore operations will resume following the change window. 

• ESE agents will be able to backup and restore during the change window. 
• SE/DL agents will not be able to backup or restore during the change window.  

Backup account and access user metadata 

As part of the migration, the data store for AccessUser (user profiles of Console and RedApp users) and backup account metadata (e.g., ‘AccountName’, ‘LastBackupDate’, ‘DataProtected’) will be migrated to the Global AccountServer in the UK, achieving a higher degree of resiliency. 

URL changes

Lastly, we will also be introducing the following URL changes. The current addresses will, however, continue to work as normal following the change so there is no requirement to make changes related to the below: 

• DNS changes: 
  • Console connection:  Change to sp.pro.redstor.com after the merge 
  • RedApp:  Use app.redstor.com after the merge 
  • API DNS:  Change to api.pro.redstor.com after the merge 

• StorageServers: 
  • BackupAccount data will continue to reside on the StorageServers as it does now. 
  • StorageServer DNSs will remain unchanged and storage services will not be affected. 
  • This change will be completed by the Redstor Platform Engineering and Technical Operations teams. 

If you require assistance or further information, please reach out to us, and a member of the Technical Support Team will be happy to assist you.