First impressions of Backup Exec 2010

[CraigV]

Hi,

So I have gone and installed a plain vanilla version of BEWS2010.
First impressions? Looks good, and there have been a number of changes in both the interface:

1. Interface is completely redesigned...looks pretty good now.
2. Some new additions to the main screen...there are new additions to the drop-down menus, and Options sections, which are going to make life a lot easier.
3. Usability looks even better than with Backup Exec 12.5

Installation time wasn't too long, and for those of you wanting to know how long it's going to take when installing the application, there is a counter which is a nice touch.
We're all interested in the deduplication features, and the archiving of emails from Exchange...looks like Symantec is really taking notice of cutting the usage of storage (both buying server/storage hardware, and consumables like tapes etc.).

All bodes well...and on to more testing!

Laters!

[Aidan_Finley]

Thanks for the feedback, Craig.  We definitely want to reduce our use of storage as much as is feasible. 

Keep me in the loop about how your testing is going....

Thanks,

Aidan Finley
Sr. Product Manager, Backup Exec

[Symanticus]

Wow this is sounds promising.

I've installed BE 2010 150 days trial, Does the De-dupe option is additional license that we have to purchase separately ?

[CraigV]

Hi Albert,

Those licenses should all be usable. No sense in releasing a trial that cannot be fully used =)

[Symanticus]

Great, thank s for the help Craig

[Lively]

The Dedup option will be an option that will have to be purchased for standard use. 

During the webcast there was no mention of cost, only to follow up with your sales people. 

[Aidan_Finley]

Some additional information - The Deduplication Option will be licensed per media server.   So, yes, it will need to be purchased separately (it's a new Option and so not covered by Upgrade Assurance or upgrade entitlements from Maintenance contracts).  However, any remote server backing up to that Media Server will be able to use deduplication.  

Thanks,

Aidan Finley
Sr. Product Manager, Backup Exec 

[Mickey_Kempf]

Are we supposed to transfere our 12.5 license to this Backup Exec. 2010 beta version?  

I have not as we are trying it on a new Windows 2008R2 machine and it still resides on our 2003R2 machine.  I presumed that when the product unfolded itself as a full production unti that then I was to transfere our license to the new version.  

Last item I have is that I did have a failure on the machine when I tried to do a system state backup.  I did get the blue screen of death.  It was not a big deal as we are not production yet and I just restarted it and it is great again.  As I am still learning it's in's and outs I have still to get more familiar with it's goings on's yet. 

[nkrowe]

The way I understand it is the Beta has all of the licenses built into it for the Beta period so you wouldn't have to transfer anything now......

[Aidan_Finley]

 Nkrowe has it right.  The Beta builds are "evaluation" builds, and anything and everything can be used and tested.  When BE 2010 ships, Symantec's customer care will send you the appropriate licenses you are entitled to receive.  So don't worry about licensing right now - just use what you want to as it pertains to your environment (and hopefully that includes the new deduplication features) and see what you can see.

Mickey - I assume the BSOD was on the system being backed up and not on the media server?  Was there anything special about the job (i.e. deduplication was being used, or the machine was a Virtual Guest machine, etc.)?

Thanks,

Aidan Finley
Sr. Product Manager, Backup Exec

[Mickey_Kempf]

Not that I am aware of.  I did check the error codes, as it said in document 305246.  We are not running sgmon so I went to WMI.  It was off so I have started it and am now rerunning our D2D with system state.  I will know in about 15 minutes.  Gotta love SAS drives and LTO3, they are nasty super quick.  And we are not running a media server, just a stand alone, single server, raid 5 with an extra single SAS drive for D2D and an LTO3.  Redundancy is our game.  Back up to D2D at 1900, and then an hour later, 2000,  do an LTO3 for safety.  

Ahha failure again.  I will have to open an incident with support.  Thanks 

[James_McKey]

1. You are getting a blue screen in 12.5 or BE 2010?
2. Did you get the hotfix update to support Win 2008 R2?
3. Did you note what the BSOD said in all CAPS at the top?
  3a.Did it list one of our filter drivers?

If you are pushing some high speeds you could be hitting a race condition fault in the SCSI driver or firmware somewhere along the line or having a cabling/interface fault. Nothing pushes the h/w and drivers faster/harder than backups. Check drivers and firmware for the SAS card and firmware for the tape drive. Does the BSOD happen for both tape & D2D? If so, then don't bother checking the tape drive for firmware/drivers in use.

[Mickey_Kempf]

I am confused as I thought this was supposed to be feedback for beta 2010 and that is what I am reporting on. 

Our system is Intel dual quads, 5 SAS drives in raid 5, two hot swaps.  The 6th drive, is doing a D2D on Windows 2008R2, including bare metal recovery and system state.  Windows backup is not my choice as it is limited on it's functionality and ability to communicate with designated follow up personell.  We really want to be back on Backup Exec 100%.  I know when these minor glitches are solved we shall be.  The sooner the better for sure.
 
At someones request I did in fact open a case with tech support and they said they had no solutions at this point but that they put me on the mailing list so as soon as they have a solution we would have it.
Lastly it does in fact work fine on Windows but gets the blue screen on backup exec. 2010.  All drivers are current as windows also checked for current drivers and I up[dated them as it went along. 

Any other thoughts are geatly appreciated people.