Product Life Cycle

Overview of the Storware Backup & Recovery product life cycle, including release stages, support periods, and end-of-life policy.

Description	Full Support phase	Maintenance Support phase
Access to updates	Yes	Yes
Technical Support access	Yes	Yes
Problems and Bugs Fixes	Yes	No
Security Issues Fixes	Yes	Yes (if possible)

• Technical Support depends on the service level included in your Storware Backup and Recovery license agreement.

• Storware may choose, as an intermediate measure, to address serious issues that have an impact to customer business with a hotfix, while a Storware Bug Fix Advisory is created and verified.

Storware Backup and Recovery Life Cycle

The Storware Backup and Recovery Product Support Life Cycle dates

	General Availability	Full support ends	End of life
Storware Backup and Recovery 8.0	01.10.2026	01.10.2027	01.102028
Storware Backup and Recovery 7.5	31.03.2026	31.03.2027	31.03.2028
Storware Backup and Recovery 7.4	24.09.2025	24.09.2026	24.09.2027
Storware Backup and Recovery 7.3	27.05.2025	27.05.2026	27.05.2027
Storware Backup and Recovery 7.2	18.03.2025	18.03.2026	18.03.2027
Storware Backup and Recovery 7.1	01.01.2025	01.01.2026	01.01.2027
Storware Backup and Recovery 7.0	25.09.2024	25.09.2025	25.09.2026
Storware Backup and Recovery 6.2	14.03.2024	14.03.2025	14.03.2026
Storware Backup and Recovery 6.1	25.10.2023	25.10.2024	25.10.2025
Storware Backup and Recovery 6.0	04.07.2023	04.07.2024	04.07.2025
Storware Backup and Recovery 5.2	12.12.2022	12.12.2023	12.12.2024
Storware Backup and Recovery 5.1	08.07.2022	08.07.2023	08.07.2024
Storware Backup and Recovery 5.0	31.01.2022	30.01.2023	30.01.2024
vProtect 4.3	28.07.2021	27.07.2022	27.07.2023
Kodo for Cloud 4.3	31.08.2021	30.08.2022	30.08.2023
Kodo for Cloud 4.2	16.02.2021	15.01.2022	15.01.2023
Kodo for Endpoint 4.1	24.06.2021	23.06.2022	23.06.2023
Kodo for Endpoint 4.0	15.04.2020	14.04.2021	14.04.2022

Supported Platforms Life Cycle

Platform	End of support	End of life
RHV	01.10.2026	01.10.2027
KVM/Xen (libvirt)	24.09.2025	24.09.2026
Oracle VM	24.09.2025	24.09.2026
Microsoft 365	24.09.2026	31.12.2026
Huawei FusionSphere	01.01.2026	01.01.2027
OpenNebula	24.09.2026	24.09.2027
AWS EC2	24.09.2026	24.09.2027
Google Cloud Platform	24.09.2026	24.09.2027
Azure Cloud	24.09.2026	24.09.2027

Supported Backup Destination Life Cycle

Destination	End of support	End of life
Impossible Cloud	24.09.2026	24.09.2027
OpenStack Swift	24.09.2026	24.09.2027
OpenText Data Protector	24.09.2026	24.09.2027

Support phases

Full Support Phase

During the Full Support phase, Storware provides regular product maintenance, including qualified bug fixes and security fixes.

Fixes are delivered in the latest available product version, so an upgrade may be required to receive a specific correction.

Maintenance Support Phase

The Maintenance Support phase begins in the second year after release.

During this phase, only Critical and Important security fixes may be provided. Other software fixes are not delivered.

Product updates and upgrades remain available throughout this period.

Software upgrades

Upgrade Policy for Major Releases

Storware provides a supported upgrade path between consecutive major releases.

Upgrades are supported from the latest minor release of the previous major version to the current release of the next major version. Customers running older minor releases must first upgrade to the latest minor release before performing the major version upgrade.

Upgrade Policy for Minor Releases

Customers are expected to update new minor releases as and when they become available. Accelerated fixes will not be provided for issues that have been previously fixed in a subsequent release; customers are expected and encouraged to keep their systems current and upgraded to the latest version of the product to keep up to date on all patches and fixes.

In circumstances where the reported issue is not fixed in the current shipping release, the customer is still expected to upgrade their systems to the latest release (n) or, in some exceptional cases, the immediate previous release (n-1). This is to ensure that any fixes are developed and verified against the latest or the immediate previous release.

Security Updates

Throughout the support lifecycle, Storware may provide updated packages to address qualified Critical and Important security issues and selected mission-critical defects.

Fix Advisories

Storware may publish Fix Advisories for high-priority software defects and security vulnerabilities. Each advisory identifies the affected versions and recommends upgrading to a release that includes the required fix.

Fixes delivered through Fix Advisories are tested and qualified against supported Storware Backup & Recovery releases and are included in subsequent package updates.

Released Fix Advisories remain available to customers with an active subscription throughout the supported product life cycle.

Development and corrective fixes are focused on the latest supported minor release within a major version. Customers running older minor releases may therefore be required to upgrade before a fix can be applied.

Fix Advisories or hotfixes for older releases may be provided at Storware’s discretion for critical security issues or defects with significant business impact.

Storware makes commercially reasonable efforts to maintain compatibility across minor releases and Fix Advisories within the same major version. Exceptions may be required to address critical security issues or other significant product changes.