Upgrade BE 2012 from SP1 to SP4, or not?

[sdo]

Currently on BE 2012 SP1 on Win 2008 R2 - D2D2T (no de-dupe).

I need to get to at least BE 2012 SP3.

Looking through the forum, I'm led to believe that it's best to steer clear of BE 2012 SP4.  Or have there been some subsequent hot-fixes that have resolved the issues that others originally had with BE 2012 SP4?

[SSR_7767]

You may run the LIVEUPDATE which will download and install the latest available update (SP4).

SP4 will be a cumulative update which will contain all the earlier updates (including SP3) in it.

If you need SP3 in specific, you will have to download and install it manually from http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH205351

There is also a hotfix available after SP4 which will be HOTFIX 217347 (available in LiveUpdate).

You may also refer to http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH66724 for the latest available updates for all versions of Backup Exec.

[sdo]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm just a bit nervous about SP4 for BE 2012, after reading some of the other forum posts related to SP4.  Seems that quite a few sites had issues.

I guess it's a case of... if I don't specifically need SP4, then don't install it, and stick with SP3 + hotfixes.

[SSR_7767]

Yes. But it is recommended to have all the updates installed.

Also, if you are planning to upgrade to Backup Exec 2014, SP4 installation on Backup Exec 2012 is a pre requisite.

[sdo]

Ok - thanks for the update re BE 2012 SP4 being a pre-req for BE 2014.

Do we know why so many sites had problems with BE 2012 SP4?  Was it all to do with local internal de-dupe (i.e. PDDO)? Or to do with OST de-dupe?

I guess I'm lokking for some kind of acknowledgement that there are many non-de-dupe sites running BE 2012 SP4 without major issues.  Are Symantec able to say what percentage of BE 2012 customers are actually running SP4?  Is closer to 5% or closer to 50%?

[sdo]

Are there any BE 2012 SP4 admins out there - without de-dupe (native or OST) - who can say that their BE 2012 SP4 environments are generally ok ?

Or, if you're not able to say that your environment(s) is/are 100% ok - then that you believe that BE 2012 SP4 is ok (and that BE 2012 SP4 is not the cause of whatever problems that you might be experiencing - e.g. not withstanding capacity issues that are outside the remit/control of BE 2012 SP4).