IBM Storage Defender release 2.0.14 delivers a more robust and intelligent approach to data resiliency with many exciting new features along with enhancements to the existing features.

Data Resiliency Service (DRS) updates:

Introducing new Data Insights Dashboards

The dashboards help you quickly analyze your environment using built-in best practices. It automatically organizes storage and backup resources into tiers, showing how they align with governance policies. You also get clear insights and recommended actions to strengthen data protection.

The Storage Systems and Backup Systems dashboards provide a high-level overview of actions, demographics, and governance-resilience alignment across storage and backup systems. It helps to visualize cyber-resilience and evaluate protection, which provides:

• Built-in governance policies to access flash storage volumes, snapshots, and backups related to key factors like copy frequency and retention.

• New cyber-resiliency insights to your data by evaluating the number of copies, immutability, encryption at rest, and other critical attributes.

• Proactive guidance by action items to notify you about the problems such as missing snapshots or backups, insufficient retention frequency, and copies that are not immutable.

• Patterns in your data and how it is protected by using snapshots and backups that might not be obvious or apparent through typical management tools.

For example, in cases of over-provisioning, you can see the snapshots of storage volumes are being taken more frequently, whereas in cases of under-provisioning.

Register Pure Storage FlashArray with IBM Storage Defender

This new integration enables organization to govern, protect, and manage snapshots on Pure Storage FlashArray volumes with consistency and enhanced cyber-resilience. You can register Pure Storage FlashArray as a source with IBM Storage Defender. This enables policy-driven governance of Pure Storage FlashArray snapshots for resources created on Pure Storage FlashArray volumes.

The Data Resiliency Service enables the following capabilities:

• Uses governance policies to manage snapshots consistently across Pure Storage FlashArray volumes. 

• Enhance cyber-resiliency capabilities to manage your data and workloads on Pure Storage FlashArray volumes.

Support is available for FlashArray X and C models, helping your organization to align storage protection with business goals and compliance needs.

Automatic recovery group generation

Data Resiliency Service can now automatically generate recovery groups for:

• Pure Storage FlashArray

• Dell PowerMax systems

This new feature helps in streamlining disaster recovery planning and execution.

Enhanced integration with IBM Storage Protect

Data Resiliency Service now supports inventory and governance for Oracle and SAP HANA workloads. Integration of Oracle and SAP HANA workloads with IBM Storage Protect provides enhanced visibility and control across protected environments.

IBM Storage Defender sensors support for Windows 2019 and 2025

 IBM Storage Defender sensors now support scanning for: 

• Windows server 2019

• Windows server 2025

 This enhancement extends the platform coverage and readiness.

Data Management Service (DMS) updates:

Support for Red Hat® OpenShift® Virtualization

IBM Storage Defender Data Protect now supports Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, allowing you to protect workloads across virtual machines using the IBM Storage Defender Data Protect’s integrated features.

Integration of IBM Storage Defender Data Protect with IBM Storage Deep Archive on Diamondback

IBM Storage Defender Data Protect now works with IBM Storage Deep Archive on Diamondback to store data on tape. This integration enables policy-based, cost-efficient, and highly reliable tape archiving for long term data-retention addressing compliance, recovery and cost management needs at scale.

Host Operating System upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux® (RHEL) 9.4

The host operating system has been upgraded from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.9 to RHEL 9.4. This upgrade enhances platform security and compatibility.

Support for Local Active Directory (AD)

The latest update to the Data Management Service (DMS) user interface makes it easier to set up Single Sign-On (SSO). You can now integrate your own identity provider (IdP) using your local Active Directory (AD). This means you can register and manage a local identity provider (IdP) along with IBMid, giving users a more personalized and secure login experience.

Access management

User roles management has moved from IBM Storage Defender to the Data Management Service. You can now view, update, and manage roles directly from the DMS user interface, simplifying access control and administration.