Cloud EBS/EC2 Backup and Runtime Scheduler (Scnapper) 4.0

SCNAPPER 4.0.0 - RELEASE NOTES

Scnapper 4.0.0 is a rebuild of the Scnapper appliance on a current, supported platform. It takes scheduled backups of your EC2 instances and EBS volumes, keeps them under your retention policies, and starts and stops EC2 instances on a runtime schedule, as before. Everything in this release ships in one image; there is no partial adoption.

NEW IN 4.0.0

1. New platform. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS replaces Ubuntu 14.04. The appliance runs MySQL 8.0, PHP 8.3, Apache 2.4 and OpenJDK 21, all as Ubuntu packages that unattended-upgrades keeps patched.

2. Launch from a CloudFormation template. The template published with the AMI creates the security group, the IAM role the instance runs with, an encrypted root volume that is deleted with the instance, and an encrypted data volume (/dev/sdb, mounted at /files) that holds your database, configuration, logs and TLS material and survives the stack. You no longer create a role or a policy by hand.

3. Username and password login. You log in with a username and password chosen at first-time setup. The setup form asks for a setup token, which is the instance ID; Scnapper reads its own instance ID and accepts the setup only when they match. AWS access keys are no longer entered or stored; the instance acts through its IAM role.

4. Edit a schedule in place. Click Edit on a schedule's row in Manage Schedules, or Edit Schedule on its detail page. The form opens pre-filled with the schedule, its start and end dates, the retention policy and the reboot flags, in your configured time zone. Previously a schedule had to be deleted and created again.

5. Upgrades that keep your data. From 4.0.0 onwards an upgrade launches the new version's template with ExistingDataVolumeId set to your data volume. First boot applies any database changes and comes up with your users, groups and schedules. No export or import is needed.

6. Export and import. The Profile page has an Export / Import function that moves every group, schedule, retention policy and backup history between instances as one file. It is how a Scnapper 3.x installation moves to 4.0.0 (see UPGRADING FROM SCNAPPER 3.x).

7. Notifications. The SNS topic name is configurable in Properties Configuration (default Scnapper-28Right). Scnapper creates the topic itself the first time it publishes in a region; you only add subscriptions. Every scheduled event publishes a message saying whether it succeeded or failed.

8. Clearer status. Manage Groups and Manage Schedules show when a change is still pending with the scheduler and when a schedule could not be applied.

9. GovCloud. Scnapper 4.0.0 is available in AWS GovCloud (US-West and US-East) as well as in the commercial regions.

SECURITY

4.0.0 closes the security findings of the 3.x code base:

• Every password, encryption key and TLS key pair is generated on your own instance at first boot. The image carries no secret, no default password and no key shared with any other customer.
• The login and session handling are rewritten: no authentication bypass, no empty credentials accepted, and CSRF protection on every form.
• All input is validated and all output escaped; the SQL injection and cross-site scripting findings are fixed.
• The instance role grants only the actions Scnapper uses. The instance requires IMDSv2. The scheduler runs sandboxed under systemd with no capabilities.
• Port 80 only redirects to HTTPS. The self-signed certificate is generated on the instance and can be replaced with your own.
• No GPL-only JavaScript ships in the web interface; every third-party component is MIT licensed.

BUG FIXES

• Notifications never arrived: SNS messages were published to a topic that could not exist. Notifications now reach the configured topic in every region, including GovCloud.
• Scheduler resilience: a database error no longer stops the scheduler, a failed schedule no longer deletes your rows, and a restart no longer fires every schedule at once. A schedule that cannot be applied is shown as an error instead of being retried silently.
• AMI backups: the wait for an AMI to become available is bounded, and deregistering an AMI under a retention policy now deletes its snapshots as well.
• Schedule times: start and end dates are converted to UTC with the offset in force on that date, so a date on the other side of a daylight-saving change is no longer an hour off.

UPGRADING FROM SCNAPPER 3.x

A 3.x data volume cannot be attached to a 4.0.0 instance: 4.0.0 runs MySQL 8, which cannot open the 3.x database. If one is attached anyway, nothing is destroyed; the old database is set aside on the volume and a banner asks you to import. The supported path is a one-time export and import:

1. Take a snapshot of the 3.x data volume.
2. Install the Scnapper export patch on the 3.x instance (download and checksum are in the listing) and export from Profile.
3. Launch 4.0.0 from the CloudFormation template with a new data volume and complete first-time setup.
4. Import the file on the Profile page under Export / Import, verify your groups and schedules, then retire the 3.x instance.

OTHER CHANGES

• The Middle East (Bahrain) region is not offered in 4.0.0; it returns in a later template update.
• Only current-generation instance types are offered: t3.small, t3.medium, t3.large, t3a.small, t3a.medium, t3a.large, m6i.large, m6a.large and c6i.large. t3.medium is the recommended size.
• The instance is reachable over SSH as snapusr with the key pair chosen at launch.

KNOWN ISSUES

• If some backups miss their schedule or snapshots and AMIs are not retained as configured, you may be hitting the AWS API request limit. The scheduler log (/files/logs/scnapper-backend.log) shows "RequestLimitExceeded" when this happens. Workaround: lower the Number of threads in Properties Configuration, or spread schedules over different minutes.

DOCUMENTATION

• User guide: https://scnapper-getting-started.s3.amazonaws.com/Scnapper%20User%20Guide-4.0.0.pdf 
• Getting Started: https://scnapper-getting-started.s3.amazonaws.com/Scnapper%20Getting%20Started-4.0.0.pdf 
• Release notes: https://scnapper-getting-started.s3.amazonaws.com/ReleaseNotes-Scnapper-4.0.0.pdf 

SUPPORT

Please contact 28Right support at http://www.28-right.com/support  if you face any issues.