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Install Blog (DVD Install Media Validation)

Nick_Elmer
Level 6
Employee

It has been awhile since my last post, and I apologize for that absence! Our team (myself included) has been diligently working on the next big release of Backup Exec (2012)! There are many changes in the new user interface that we think you will love. However, I don’t want to focus on those items, as there are many other blog contributors who are already talking about those. Instead, I want to discuss what has and has not changed, with respect to our install. Today’s post focuses on our new DVD Install Media Validation feature.

With Backup Exec 2012, when you run the install, you will now see files and paths updating in the splash screen. During this process, the installer is validating the required files needed to install. If all the files successfully verify, the install will launch and run as it always has. If there are missing or corrupt files in our required directories, the installer will log the affected files, and ask if you want to view the install log. There, you can determine what files are missing or corrupt, and take the appropriate action. We are confident that this feature will eliminate install failures due to poor downloads, incomplete media, and other related causes. One example of where this may come into play is a RAWS install. Customer copies the RAWS32 directory from the DVD to a remote machine for a local install. In this case, they will see a failure. Why, because our install expects to find the RAWS32, MSXML and DOTNETFX directories on the media. If we need these components for the install, they will be missing. So, we will log the missing files and return an error. In previous products, we would log the missing directory only if it was required to complete the install, though we never validated the directory contents in any way. In this release, we are validating the file(s) in the directory, as well as the directories presence.

I designed this feature after spending time in our support group assisting with cases. Too often I saw corrupt or invalid media causing unnecessary install failures. This feature was also requested for similar reasons by “PKH”, (a trusted advisor who regularly posts in our technical forms). This feature will enhance confidence in our install processes, both for you (our customer) and our internal support organization. I welcome your comments and/or feedback on this feature.

Nick Elmer

Here is  a screen shot of what you will see during the installer startup with Backup Exec 2012.