Installing Backup Exec 2010 on Windows 7 32/64 Bit Why not supported?

[James24]

Hi,

We like to have our customers use a separate box for the running of Backup Exec.  Now that Win 7 is the standard we tried to install on that and as you know fails.  Why is this not supported?

In a previous thread a technical support agent replied when asking about this in 12.5 and said "Windows 7 Support is scheduled to be part of BE 2010 (which is due for release soon) There are currently no plans to provide support for BEWS 12.5."

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/backup-exec-125-windows-7-support

Now when 2010 came out it is not supported per the white paper.  It does work in Server 2008 though, which is not too different than Win 7 right?

Will this be supported in 2012 version?

The reason that I ask, and many will need to know, is you MUST have a 64bit OS to backup a newer Exchange server if it is running 64bit.  And now with not being able to get Windows XP 64bit we need an affordable solution for them.

We cannot have them buy another license for server or a license for a virtual machine that they cannot afford. 

If Symantec will not support running this on Windows 7 we will have to have our customers, 32, that currently use Backup Exec migrate to another program that will support running on this platform.

I know that we are not the only customer that wants and needs this.

I would appreciate an honest answer on this and a guarantee if this is going to be supported in 2012 or with an update to 2010.

Thank You.

[teiva-boy]

Windows 7 is not a server product, thus not supported as it stands.  You will not get an official answer on roadmap items if it's going to be a future item or not unless you are a registered partner and have access to an SE to bounce those ideas off of.

That said, If you putting in Exchange 2010, install BE on that, problem solved.  If you are putting in such a messaging platform, you are doing your customers a disservice, installing BE on a workstation OS/hardware.

[pkh]

I think you have misunderstood Colin Weaver's answer in the discussion that you have quoted.  Normally, unless it is specifically mentioned, support for an OS means the ability to back it up and restore, and not using it for the media server.  If you would notice, Vista is not supported as an OS for media servers and WinXP is "retiring" soon as an OS for media servers. See the SCL below.

BE 2010|2010 R2|2010 R3 Software (SCL)

You can propose using Win 7 as a media server OS in the Ideas section.  If enough users agree with you, it might get implemented in some future versino of BE.

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Hi,

What's very interesting is that you mention you need an x64-bit OS to back up Exchange 2010...quite right, but if you have Exchange 2010 in your environment (be it physical or VM), then I reckon it won't cost too much to buy a properly licensed Backup Exec 2010 R3.

The other thing is this: with Windows 7 as a standard as a desktop solution, are you still using servers running Windows Server x? If so, why not simply install BE on that. I agree, to a point, of having a separate server to run your backups, but if you can't do that, have the correct solution in place and run BE on a server that is a file/Exchange/SQL/Lotus Notes/etc server. Your backups would end up running at a time when there is minimal user interaction so this wouldn't affect server performance too much.

Like teiva said, Windows 7 isn't an enterprise/server product, and backup software companies obviously develop their products for a server market for a reason. Could be security; could be the additional connectivity offered (I know an EVA for instance won't connect to Windows 7!); could be the amount of resources that can possibly be made available to a server.

That said, if you consider moving to something like CA ARCserve (which I cannot wait to see the back of in our data centre!), they also don't support Windows 7...Win7, much like BE's Remote COnsole, is only supported for the ARCserve Manager Console...check their SCL below.

https://support.ca.com/irj/portal/anonymous/phpsupcontent?contentID={2D99316B-9C04-44A2-8604-01AAF11...}

I firmly believe, unless all your 32 customers are totally cash-strapped, that if you try to find a hatchet solution to run on Windows 7, you're moving in the wrong direction. You could be losing out on a lot of tech currently available (deduplication; Exchange 2010/Sharepoint support), or something coming down the pipeline...

Thanks!

[Pynnster]

I have to agree with both viewpoints here. I am aware that Windows 7 is NOT a server product, however it would be nice to have Symantec support installing BE on Windows 7. Our small company can not afford to purchase another licence for MS Server and we are getting away from MS on the back-end anyway. If I could install BE on Windows 7, this would certainly be my prefered application. I hope Symantec plans on supporting this option in the future. And it seems I am not alone in this view-point.

Thanks

[CraigV]

...I think the idea was probably to move solely onto enterprise platforms, leaving add-ons like th eBE Remote Console for Windows 7 and other desktop versions of WIndows...