Continued Support for BE 2010

[Scott_Baker]

Some users have asked about continued support for BE 2010 including feature enhancements and product updates.  Backup Exec 2010 is still available through distribution and will be available for purchase until 03.13.  The last date for patch releases is scheduled to be 09.05.14.  Telephone technical support will be available until 02.01.17

For Release Detail information on current and prior versions, go to
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=releasedetails&key=15047

[jerrys79]

So glad to hear this.  Most of us aren't ready for 2012 until all the bugs are fixed.  This will make the decision to renew a lot easier.

[Bulbous]

Does this mean that we will see support for newer OSes, for example Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 support for the 2010 RALUS, or Windows 8/Server 2012 support for RAWS?

Sure, Windows isnn't out yet, but Red Hat 6 has been out for a while.

[Bulbous]

Well, it looks like the original thread has been locked. That's too bad, a lot of Symantec Employees were watching it.

On the subject of BackupExec 2010, Scott says that BackupExec will be available for purchase until 2013. However, I just spoke with reseller support looking for a part number for the 2010 Agent for Sharepoint, and I am told that it is not available, and that the customer will have to upgrade.

Who is correct?

[EliasA]

Bulbous, not to worry, the Symantec Employees are still watching and involved in the spawned off forum posts.

I'll see what information I can find out about the Backup Exec 2010 as well and post a reply.

[CraigV]

...they split that up into a couple of thread to take better control of it.

That said, if you already own BE 2010 R3, then you'd simply contact Symantec's licensing department and ask them to downgrade a BE 2012 license to BE 2010. This advice is rife on the forums.

Thanks!

[Bulbous]

I've had to buy a few new 2010 Agents since 2012 was released. The tricky part is convincing Reseller Support that this is actually do-able.

In this particular case, though, there isn't a specific agent for Sharepoint anymore... it's rolled in to the Agent for Applications and Databases. I wonder how successful I will be with licensing trying to "downgrade" this.

[CraigV]

Give it a bash...all it should be is a case of: Buy new agent; Symantec "downgrades" it by giving you a BE 2010 R3 license instead of the BE 2012 *.slf file. Then when it's time to upgrade, you just ask for the appropriate licenses.

[Scott_Baker]

There are two ways to get a BE 2010 license. One is the "downgrade" process that CraigV outlined. You purchase BE 2012 license, in this case the Agent for Applications and Databases, and then contact customer care and request it be "downgraded" to the BE 2010 Agent for Sharepoint. The other method is to actually purchase the BE 2010 Agent for Sharepoint. This may seem more difficult due to the way most resellers and the distributors handle SKU's for versions of BE that are no the current shipping product; they typically will remove them from their price lists. In reality customers have always been able to purchase older versions for a minimum of 6 months post release of a newer version. In this case we have extended it to a year. Your reseller may need to contact your Symantec sales person to obtain the BE 2010 SKU in order to make the purchase.

So when you compare the two options 1) downgrade or 2) request the reseller to contact Symantec to obtain the prior version SKU - many people opt for the first method because it can take less time.

[Bulbous]

I was successfully able to obtain a downgrade key after answering a few questions as to why I wanted one. In the email that was sent to me by the licensing department, I was provided a link to Symantec's EOL policy.

This policy states, as Scott indicates, that you are able to order previous version products by the Symantec SKU for the first six months of the EOL timeline (which would take us to roughly September for BE 2010).

The confusing part is that since roughly the GA date for BE 2012, Symantec Reseller Support has been advising us that Backup Exec 2010 SKUs are no longer available. (I would invite anyone to call Reseller Support to confirm).

Why is Backup Exec going against the company policy for business products? Was this part of the rush to push BE 2012?

[Scott_Baker]

With the release of BE 2012 we extended the opportunity to purchase BE 2010 licenses beyond the 6 month grace period for a period up to 12 months.

To get a reseller to sell BE 2010 licenses will likely be a difficult task; even the distributors have a habit of removing the SKU's for versions of software that are not the current shipping version.

I'm not following your question below. Can you explain further?

Why is Backup Exec going against the company policy for business products? Was this part of the rush to push BE 2012?

[Bulbous]

Hi Scott,

I'm sorry, I guess I haven't been able to articulate the issue clearly:

I *am* a reseller. I have contacted SYMANTEC reseller support to obtain SKUs for BackupExec 2010. Symantec will not provide SKUs for any BackupExec 2010 product, and they have not since roughly the launch of BE 2012.

This is not me contacting a reseller, this is me contacting Symantec directly for SKUs so I can order what I need.

According to the EOL policy, I should be able to order BackupExec 2010 products by the 2010 SKU numbers for 6 months, and you have said this will be extended to a year.

However, in practice, we are currently being forced to order 2012 and ask for a downgrade.

I would invite you to contact Symantec reseller support and request a SKU for any 2010 agent. You will be told these are not available.

J

[Scott_Baker]

Ah...now I understand.

You're right that should not be the case. I'll see what I can do to help remedy that situation. You should be able to request those SKU's for purchase.

[PackMatt73]

Bulbous, depending on which distributor you use, you can still access 2010 SKUs via their website.  When placing an order in distribution, just use the 2010 SKUs and be clear that those are the products you want, not the 2012 analogs.

I was a partner from 2002-2010 and that is how we ordered for our customers who were standardized on the prior version after a new version was released.

[Bulbous]

Thanks for the suggestion. Now, what would you suggest that I do if I don't have a complete list of SKUs and I can't find the one I need?

Edit: Maybe I confused everyone by using the "SKU" instead of "Symantec Part Number" ... does that clarify my issue? My problem is that Symantec will not provide Symantec Part Numbers for Backup Exec 2010. Hope that makes more sense!

[GFK]

which looks something like this for Sharepoint:

SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2010 AGENT FOR SHAREPOINT WIN PER SERVER BNDL STD LIC EXPRESS BAND S ESSENTIAL 12 MONTHS

might help ...

[Bulbous]

"Give the SKU description"... presumably you mean for me to give that to Reseller Support? Unfortunately, they say that they don't have any access to 2010 part numbers.

I'd invite anyone reading this to try for themselves. Call 1 888 780 7962 and ask for a part number for Backup Exec 2010.

[VVito]

Hello Bulbous

here there are the BE2010 SKUs 

Type	Product	Express Band S
New Lic + 1yr 8x5	BEWS 2010 Agent for Microsoft SharePoint	20057811
New Lic + 1yr 24x7	BEWS 2010 Agent for Microsoft SharePoint	20057823

If you need something else, just let us know.

Kind Regards

[Bulbous]

Thanks to everyone who provided SKUs for my example request, or lists of SKUs for Backup Exec 2010 as a whole.

Unfortunately, this misses the point - the system is broken. Reseller support should provide this information, not helpful employees reading the forum. I'm not asking just for me, but for all resellers just like me, most of whom have not seen this forum.

If people can't order 2010 products, and they don't want 2012 right now, they may just decide to look elsewhere, and that hurts Symantec globally.

[jerrys79]

Does Symantec plan on updating BE 2010 to be able to backup Windows Server 2012? My first box will be built in 2 weeks and yet I'll have no way to back it up. It will run the new Hyper-V, and more importantly than backing up the host, will need to be able to back up the VHDs.