Backup Exec 11 Ver 7101 - Is everyone satisfied with this product?

[ESabo]

I really don’t like complaining but it seems like every day, I get at least 5 or more backup jobs failed out of 40 servers.   I spend at least 1 hour of my working day restarting the backupexec services or doing a vssadmin list writers to try and determine why or how the job failed.    When I contact Symantec support they usually point the finger to Microsoft, then when you open a call with Microsoft they point the blame right back to Symantec.  

Is it me but all I want BackupExec is to backup my systems.    We have been a BackupExec customer since version 8 but I am really thinking about trying to find another backup solution.

If I switch to a different software will I get the same types of problems.  

I understand with IT, it is always changing but it puts the customer in a tough position when two vendors don’t seems to work out problems with their software.   

[Edit: fixed font]

Message Edited by LakeRat on 11-13-2007 11:39 AM

[bboerst]

I don't want to influence you one way or the other but we were also having loads of issues with 11d 7170.  Just like you, we had lots of 'buggy' issues.  I actually rolled us back to version 10d and have been very happy with it so far (it's been about 2.5 months).  I'm only having one buggy issue with duplicating to tape via policy but that's it... nothing like the issues that I was having with 11d.  I figure that I'll eventually take us back to 11d once the bugs get worked out.

[bboerst]

Oh, I forgot to add that all of my 11d licenses worked in 10d too!

[Wes_Stewart]

Considering that 11d has now been out about a year and it still feels like we are working with a beta, not I am not satisfied.  I would love a week with no failures, but I guess that is too much to ask.

My favorite is the backup exec agent crashing continuously on my Exchange 2003 server.  I actually had it working perfectly with a private hot fix sent from support.  But along came the normal slew of hot fixes that broke my solution.

[ESabo]

I had that happened to me to support gave me an hotfix and it broke my configuration, it was hotfix 22.   The workaround for that problem was to use a lower version of BEExch2007Component.dll, they still never fix the problem under hotfix 22.     

I am glad to hear that I am not the only person out there that has had problems with this software.   

I am glad to have a forum like this because most of the solution are in this forum.   Their support is a total waste of time, some techs know less about their product that I do.

I just wish Symantec would listen to their customer base.

[R_H_2]

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@ESabo wrote:

I just wish Symantec would listen to their customer base.

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There is a Feedback link in the quick links part of my forums page.
http://engweb.symantec.com/enhancement/members/product_select.asp

Have you tried there yet?

[Scott_Straub]

11d is most definitely not a high quality product in my opinion.

We are already in the planning stages of replacing it, and we have only been using it for about 7 months.  I even had my boss look into getting a full refund from our vendor.

Scott


Message Edited by Scott Straub on 11-12-2007 12:36 PM

[David_Bond]

Not really that happy with it either. Took me a while to get everything backing up without failure (just some exceptions) and then the bugs come out to play and screw it up and cause all my backups to fail. Slow backups on some servers, the Backup Exec DB corrupting, requiring a recreation of all jobs to get them working again (as you cant delete the original jobs), duplications screw up, creating massive log files, causing the backups to fail as they have no space to write the logs or the entries into the database. The SharePoint agent is pointless for WSS3 as it doesn't allow item level restores (and doesnt tell you this, just fails if you pick it), might as well so a SQL backup, with the agent, or just use a script, like i was before the agent started working with 3. Dreading the day I end up having to install and backup exchange based on the problems people have with the agent and the restores.

Annoying, not worth the money they ask for it.

[Dave_Randolph]

I'm right there with you.  It seems that the quality of the product goes down with every new feature that is added which indicates to me that they are more interested in packing in half-baked features than with quality.

We spend a lot of time troubleshooting backup failures and we have had more that one support case lead to no resolution.  I still can't encrypt my backups without the job engine crashing, policy-based jobs are a nightmare, and the performance of the RALUS (linux/unix) has been on a steady downhill slide with no end in sight.

If the Acronis guys would support tape libraries I would switch in a heartbeat.  Wake up, Symantec...

[bspolarich]

11d has been an utter disaster in my opinion.  I've wasted many hours troubleshooting and messing with BackupExec since the upgrade, working with support staff, etc. 

In a previous company I walked away from BackupExec because of the constant problems I had then with 10d, but when I arrived here that was our backup solution and we already had considerable investment in it, so I figured I'd make it work.  I had things pretty stable with 10d.

With 11d, I've had problems with:

• catalog corruption
• Exchange backups failing in strange ways
• AIT-4 compression problems
• very slow tape drive performance
• CPS simply doesn't work
  
• other random job failures that each require troubleshooting and configuration steps to resolve.

The support staff are helpful in resolving things, but it takes a *lot* of my time to manage what should be a relatively simple process.

I'm considering a downgrade to 10d, or a migration to another product (probably can't find budget for that).


Message Edited by bspolarich on 11-13-2007 07:59 AM

[AASchneider]

I am glad others are in the same boat.  I have definitely felt that the quality of the software has been on the decline.  I have used versions 9,10, and 11. We will definitely review our options once our current licensing expires.  I called today and opened 3 new cases on issues that I consider to be bugs in the software. 

Since installing the latest hotfixes we have not been able to create duplicates of backup sets, we cannot recover single exchange items at random times and we cannot push clients to servers in other domains.

I have not even tried to figure out why agents are not publishing themselves to the server anymore since pushing new agents or why Backup Exec services have been crashing randomly.

[ESabo]

Thanks guys for all the feedback.    So I guess it is not an environment thing with us, looks like others are having the same problem.

As for the feedback to Symantec I talked to numerous sales and PR but have gotten no where with anyone on this.   

Since posting this post, I had five backup jobs failed.    Spend a couple of hours restarting services and running the jobs again.   Still sometimes they work and sometimes they just fail again.

What can we do as customers?

[Scott_Straub]

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@ESabo wrote:

What can we do as customers?

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Vote with your wallet.  That rule applies to businesses just as much as individual people.

[ESabo]

Scott - Yes, you are correct that we can as customers take our business somewhere else but most of us have already paid for a product that is suppose to back up data in our environment.      We are stuck for the most part.   Yes, once my licenses expire next year, I will move on to a different product, it is a real shame because BackupExec at one point was the industry's best backup software.

Here is my situation I currently have on my hands, which I called Sales, they assisted me and assured me that this solution would work.    I wanted one media server that could backup seven Dell blade servers over a Cisco network (6513 gigabit ethernet backbone).   These are disk-to-disk solution.

So I have 7 seperate jobs that backup each OS for each of the blades server plus one Exchange 2007 Storage group nightly.     Out of my 8 jobs that run nightly, I am get at least three failures each and every night.     Most of the time it seems to be the volume shadow copy service that is the problem.   I went to Microsoft to get the latest and greatest version of the Shadow Copy Service which is KB940349 this was recommended by Symantec.    Tried that it did not make any difference.    Went back to support - they suggested I contact the hardware vendor which was Dell and make sure the NIC drivers where the latest and configured right - Did this any still nothing.      Then they recommended we go to Cisco to look at the network ports - Cisco looked at the network configuration and everything came back fine.   Still problems with jobs still failing.    Then support said to make sure to install the latest hotfixes on the media server and then update the remote agents on the Dell Blade servers - tried this and Hotfix 22 broke my Exchange 2007 Stores backup.    Actually had to revert one dll back to a non-hotfix level - still haven't saw a hotfix to repair a hotfix.     This has been going on for two months now and there isn't no end in site. 

At least there are some great admins in this forum that share their experiences and workarounds.

[ITRunner]

I've experienced the misfortune of upgrading 2 of our 3 backup servers to 11d.  On both counts the upgrade process completely destroyed my backup policies, and as if that wasn't enough I've been troubleshooting problems with the backups ever since.

Forget 11d, forget 10d - I'd consider bringing back version 9, this software has been a mess since Symantec took Veritas over.  I'd always loved Symantec products, until this...

[ESabo]

Day # 1

Had a backup job failed with the following error: A failure occurred querying the Writer status.    In all fairness the server did not have the latest and greatest hotfixes for ver 7101.     Updating the server and rebooting, we will see what happens in the future

[ESabo]

Day # 1 continue

Symantec released Hotfix 26 (http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/293989.htm ) to fix hotfix # 22.    Will have to depoly to all Exchange 2007.

[ESabo]

Day # 2

I must say Hotfix 26 did work last night, so this morning, I apply the remote agent to the two other cluster nodes.

I had 4 backup jobs failures last night with one media server backing up 7 remote servers.    This morning re-tried all them and they were successful.

[Corey_Wilson]

Being an early adopter of 11d since we were refreshing and standardizing our environment across the company we invested tens of thousands of dollars in licensing to remain compliant. We have had nothing but problems across our 80 servers and 8 media servers. Our media servers that we held off on upgrading which currently run version 10 run 100 times better then 11d. I have been sorely disapointed with this product and all versions of backup exec since symantec took over from veritas yes even version 10d but it works substantially better then 11d!! And its unfortunate as we have been a longtime veritas customer.

We are leaving this product in the dust and not looking back...all but the dramatic investment in licensing we are pissing away.

I have been testing with Microsoft's DPM 2007 since beta and truth be told, even its backup to tape performance exceeds symantecs backup exec 11d and all but a few minor issues that are being worked on by microsoft the performance and reliability of backup to disk exceeds CPS by a long shot with a much smaller, improved and intergrated agent.

[Russell_Cobley]

I must, unfortunately, join the list of not so happy customers. I have spent many day's worth of time troubleshooting and fixing failed backup jobs, only to find that the issue in most cases was the result of a hotfix causing further problems. It is crazy that Symantec release a hotfix which then breaks a prior hotfix, meaning a futher hotfix is needed! I am hopeful that the latest hotfixes 24 and 26 will resolve my long list of problems. I have installed the hotfixes today and rolled out the remote agents yet again! Fingers crossed for tomorrow when I check the backup jobs.

Come on Symantec, sort it out! Many companies have invested heavily in Backup Exec over the years but if you cannot sort out the repeat problems with 11D 7170, many will go elsewhere. I know my confidence in the product is at rock bottom.