NBU 8.0 / 8.1 Windows 32-bit client support Question

[HunkerDownOneMo]

It appears that NBU 8.0 support for older Windows 2008 32-bit is still very much supported - are there plans to remove 32 bit client support in 8.1 or later? Can anyone tell me if NBU 8.0 still works on Server 2003 32 bit and 64-bit editions (I know its not in the compat. chart - just want to see if this has been tested).

Thanks all! 

[Thiago_Ribeiro]

Hi,

As far I know, the last version supported was 7.6.1....I dont think so that NBU 8.0 supports Windows 32-bit client..I checked SCL and there isnt anything about this. If you try to run the setup.exe of NBU 8.0 (client), an error happpen...I have some Windows Servers 2003 32 bit and 64-bit editions in my environment and here we using NBU 8.0, for this clients I needded to install NBU 7.6 version only to make a backup, but leaving the custommer aware that it not a supported version by Veritas.

Regards,

Thiago

[HunkerDownOneMo]

Im not talking about server, Im talking about as a client... it appears to be in the compat. guide..

So its saying that NBU 8.0 will support 32 bit and 8.1 wont... hmmm... I know its legacy as can be, but I really hope Vertias re-thiknks that position - 32 bit may be older than the dinosaur but to get rid of support for older servers makes little sense... still many out there in the wild.

Say we run 8.1 server when it comes out - if we keep the clients at 8.0 or 773, will it still work, or will all 32 bit support stop to function is the server is 8.1? 

[Marianne]

Please have a look at https://sort.veritas.com/nbufutureplans

It shows the last version to support 32-bit is 8.0.

Take note of this statement in above URL:

If an item listed below will cause significant business impacts, contact your Veritas Sales Account Team. Please note that the official NetBackup Support Lifecycle for your existing NetBackup product version won't be affected or altered in any way.

Personally I believe that Symantec and Veritas have been beyond kind towards Microsoft.
32-bit support for Linux was dropped as far back as NBU 7.0.

[Genericus]

Please note - since clients ARE supported in older versions, the solution is as simple as retaining the last version that supports your EOL OS - I know I had to do this for my old 32 bit HP systems, I had 7.X on my master and media servers, but an older install set for clients if I had to reload these old 32 bit systems.

One complaint I DO have, if Veritas removes their old versions pretty quickly, so if you are trying to create an environment with 32 bit systems, you have to find the install media somewhere else. BTW - I already deleted my 32 bit clients, sorry.

[HunkerDownOneMo]

So lets say I upgrade our master and media servers to 8.1 but I have clients that are still 32 bit and I still have to prodive backup services for them (as much as they may be stuck in the dark ages)... will the 773 or 8.0 client continue to work with 8.1 or will any and all 32 bit clients just stop working all together once the master and media servers are at 8.1? 

[Mike_Gavrilov]

Veritas will just remove 32-bit version client from the installation media but older clinets will be able to work with newer master\media server as it used to be. 

[Marianne]

NetBackup has always supported clients that are one major level lower. Documented in Release Notes.

We have seen in practice that even older clients still work, although no longer officially supported.
I bet there are still users out there backing up their 32-bit Linux hosts with NBU 6.5.

[Mike_Gavrilov]

Yes, I know users like that :) Last year I did an upgrade for the customer who was on 6.5.6.