Can this old dog learn new tricks or does he return to his vomit?

[Paul_VanDyke]

I am a 18+ year Backup Exec user.  I had a total meltdown of my backup environment days before I was hit with a ransomware virus.  I had 3 tech support calls open and was getting no where slowly.  In my frustration, I installed Veeam and started kicking the tires.  I setup an independant backup environment using older hardware and storage and made a full backup of my virtualized datacenter with Veeam.  That backup saved my career.

My Backup Exec environment had become useless to me.  I have a "large" environment (16+TB of production data) and was using many of the great B/E features (B2D, Deduplication, Tape Library Support).  I was very reluctant to even look at another product, fearing that it could not meet my needs.

My tech support frustrations were based on the fact that I could not get someone who was knowledgable about the product at level 2.  The internal divisons in support do not lend themselves well to customers using different features of the product.  However, the biggest frustration was the complete inability of support to understand the timezones in the United States.  I often recieved calls at 7PM asking if they could work on the issue.  Some calls I took, some I asked to reschedule for 8AM the next day.  I recieved varying results on call backs.  I don't think I ever got a call before 10AM, many came at noon when I was trying to go to lunch.  This delay in getting support was VERY costly with my time.  

Backups should be a set and forget application.  They SHOULD NOT take hours/days/weeks of your time to troubleshoot and repair.  When your backup application is broken, you are not backing up data.  Operational data is NOT getting backed up and changes are not captured.  The other issue is how long have the backups not worked.  I ALWAYS run verify operations at the end of each backup.  When you start seeing strange things, you can start troubleshooting, but how long have they bee occuring.

I had become so frustrated with Backup Exec and tech support that out of complete fear, I installed Veeam and ran a backup of my environment.  With that Veeam backup I was able to completely restore my production environment.  As part of the restoration process, I purchased Veeam and have been very happy with it.  I've converted my installation from test/dev environment into production and have configured my tape library.  It's working great, but it is different and I am getting used to a different user interface/jargon/configuration options on THE MOST CRITICAL application in my environment.

I have rebuilt a server with Backup Exec (I'm still licensed for it thru November) and am trying to archive my old backup sets for history's sake.  Maybe I'm still a little nostalgic about a product that I've used for so long.  However, the nostalga is quickly wearing away because of all the issues that I'm having with Backup Exec.  I am re-living the same problems that I had before the ransomware incident.  I cannot verify some backup sets (Some work great, others give me an error and still others won't let me create the verify job).  I cannot duplicate backups sets between disk storage targets (The job sits at "Loading Media") and yes these verified successfully).  The user interface is buggy still (The screen flashes when looking at the job history on one of my disk storage targets and I get 'ghost' selections when choosing backups sets occationally).

I have had a tech support case open for over a week and have made it from level 1 to 2, where I've been passed around a few times and am currently working with a technician for two hours a day.  We have gone full circle and not solved anything.  I'd really like to get someone to take ownership of the problems.

I have learned a new trick (Veeam), but I'm still returning to my vomit (Backup Exec).

Paul VanDyke