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Can Backup Exec 2014 Remote Agents be downgraded back to 2010 agents?

buck614
Level 4

I am going to test the new Backup Exec 2014 product. Like many others, I never upgraded to 2012 because of the numerous problems it had. As a result, I am reluctant to simply upgrade to 2014 without testing it fully.

I currently run Backup Exec 2010 on a pc running Windows Server 08. I have an additional 3 Windows Server 2008 boxes that run about 20 or so Hyperv virtuals on them.

For my testing I have built a Windows Server 08 laptop and I have installed Backup Exec 2014 on it.

I assume I will need to upgrade the remote agents on my 3 Server 2008 host machines as well as the 20 or so Hyperv virtuals I run on them.

 

I have a couple of questions about that:

1. Will I need to uninstall the 2010 agents prior to installing the 2014 agents?

2. If so, is there a document or something I can refer to to do that properly?

3. If I upgrade my agents to 2014 will Backup Exec 2010 be able to continue functioning using the 2014 agents?

4. If my testing is unsuccsessful and I have to stay on Backup Exec 2010, is it a straightforward process to remove the 2014 agents and re-install the 2010 agents? Am I going to have to be digging through folders and the registry or anything like that?

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified
BE 2014 will work with BE 2010 agents, so you should just do your testing with the BE 2010 agents and not push out the BE 2014 agent. You would not get the BE 2014 bug fixes and additional BE 2014 agent functionality, like support for newer versions of software. Your testing should focus on the functionality of the new BE console and your setup is sufficient for this. When you are ready then install a proper BE 2014 console and push out the BE 2014 agents

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3 REPLIES 3

lmosla
Level 6

Hi,

1. "Will I need to uninstall the 2010 agents prior to installing the 2014 agents?"      You should upgrade the Backup Exec 2010 to it's most recent version of  Backup Exec 2010 R3 sp4 and then update the remote agents. You won't need to uninstall the remote agent from the remote servers you can push out the agent from Backup Exec 2014. 

2." If so, is there a document or something I can refer to to do that properly?"    see the post install section of this document  http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH218012

3. "If I upgrade my agents to 2014 will Backup Exec 2010 be able to continue functioning using the 2014 agents?" No, Backup Exec is not forward compatible with a newer version agent. 

4. "If my testing is unsuccsessful and I have to stay on Backup Exec 2010, is it a straightforward process to remove the 2014 agents and re-install the 2010 agents? Am I going to have to be digging through folders and the registry or anything like that?"     If this is needed prepare for it being likely  necessary to do a complete uninstall of Backup Exec 2014 and then reinstall Backup Exec 2010. Make sure and keep track of the BE 2010 License key.

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified
BE 2014 will work with BE 2010 agents, so you should just do your testing with the BE 2010 agents and not push out the BE 2014 agent. You would not get the BE 2014 bug fixes and additional BE 2014 agent functionality, like support for newer versions of software. Your testing should focus on the functionality of the new BE console and your setup is sufficient for this. When you are ready then install a proper BE 2014 console and push out the BE 2014 agents

buck614
Level 4

Thanks. I will try that.