Advisory: Windows EnableVSSBackup Setting Disabled on Upgrade

InterSystems has corrected a defect that could lead to invalid backups on Windows platforms. The defect causes upgrades to disable the EnableVSSBackup setting. By default, EnableVSSBackup is enabled (value set to 1) and the upgrade sets its value to 0. Windows VSS backups taken with this setting disabled may contain invalid CACHE.DAT files.

This problem is limited to Windows platforms on the following versions:

• Caché and Ensemble 2018.1.0, 2018.1.1, and 2018.1.2
• HealthShare Health Connect (HSAP) 15.032 on Core versions 2018.1.0, 2018.1.1, and 2018.1.2
• HealthShare 2019.1 (Unified Care Record, Patient Index, Health Insight, Personal Community, and Provider Directory) on Core version 2018.1.2
• HealthShare 2018.1 (Information Exchange, Patient Index, Health Insight, and Personal Community) on Core versions 2018.1.1 or 2018.1.0

The defect only occurs if you are upgrading to a version listed above. Once you have upgraded to an affected version, you must manually enable the setting; otherwise, it will be disabled on future upgrades, even when upgrading to versions containing the correction.

For customers using Windows VSS backups, InterSystems recommends enabling this setting on any 2018.1 instances of Caché or Ensemble. Once you have enabled the setting, future upgrades (including to affected versions) will preserve its value.

You can enable the EnableVSSBackup setting either in the Management Portal or using the cache.cpf file:

In the Management Portal

• On the Startup Settings page (System Administration >Configuration > Additional Settings > Startup), click the Edit link for EnableVSSBackup. This displays the Edit: EnableVSSBackup page.
• On this page, select the EnableVSSBackup checkbox and the click the Save button.

This enables the feature immediately.

Using the cache.cpf File

• In the cache.cpf file in the installation directory, in the [Startup] section, modify the EnableVSSBackup line:EnableVSSBackup=1
• In the Terminal, in the %SYS namespace, activate the CPF changes with the following call:%SYS>set status = ##class(Config.CPF).Activate()

For more information on the Activate class method of the Config.CPF class, see the class reference for your instance of Caché or Ensemble.

For More Information

The correction for this defect is identified as STC3008, which will be included in all future releases. If you have any questions regarding this advisory, please contact the Worldwide Response Center.