A few questions about backup exec 11d

[Reg06]

First of all, I'm just kind of sure this post belongs in this thread. I'm prepared to accept it getting moved by a mod if it is in the wrong section.

I've been tasked to see if my department should switch to a more recent version of backup exec (we're at 8 currently), and so far I'm not making much headway. So I have a few questions about backup exec;
1) I've already learned that 9 isn't worth switching to, how about 10?
2) What are the major differences between 8 and 10? 8 and 11? Is it even worth switching?
3) What are the highlights and draws backs of 11d?

4) And, 11d is indeed the full version, correct? Not a demo/trial/beta?

Thanks,
Reg06

[Ken_Putnam]

My previous response seems to have disappeared, so here goes again

1)  v9.1 is End-of-Life as of january of this year, so forget about upgrading to that.   v10d will go EOL on May 6, 2009 , so if you upgrade to that, you'll only get 1 1/2 years of Symantec Support, and v10 is no longer sold by Symantec, so you would need to get it from a third party or off one of the Auction Sites

2)  v8.0   only supports through W2K and SQL2K and Ex2K

     v10d  supports W2K3, and SQL and Exchange 2K5

     v11d  supports Ex 2K7   and SharePoint 3.0 

3)  See http://www.symantec.com/business/products/overview.jsp?pcid=2244&pvid=296_1

4)  Correct.  Don't know why there was no v11.0, but v11d is the current release

[MitchR]

In a related topic, I just found a nice list of differences between v11d build 6235 and the latest v11d build 7170.

http://www.backupexecfaq.com/articles/using/why-upgrade-to-build-7170.html

Support for Windows Vista as a Remote Agent platform

Support for Microsoft Exchange server 2007

Support for Microsoft Sharepoint 2007 (with Hotfix 6)

Support for Oracle 8i

Support for Intel based Apple Macs

Granular restore of Active Directory items on a 64-bit domain controller

Support for 64-bit SQL server for a 32-bit Sharepoint 2003 farm

Support for SAP on x64

Support for VMware VCB off-host backup

For my $0.02, it doesn't make sense to upgrade to anything but the latest version, if you've going to the trouble of upgrading.  I'd say that applies to all technology in general.  (First you have to figure out if upgrading is the right answer for you, but that's another post...)