NetBackup 7.1 FA announced!

[CRZ]

Hey, look what we snuck onto the product page on Monday (and I didn't notice until Wednesday):

NetBackup 7.1 First Availability
 http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH147815

From the info in this letter, it looks like a date of "the week of 2/14/11" :) has been set for the beginning of the FA program.  We also have a pretty nice list of new features that 7.1 brings.

I heartily encourage you to register at SymBETA and sign up for the program if you would like to be one of the first to get your hands on the NetBackup 7.1 release!

Also: apologies if you'd already read this in the posts Andy and Stuart made over in this thread.  ;)

[RonCaplinger]

Any idea what the "Smart Policies for VMWare" feature is?

[Symontec]

Tanks for share it!

[linuxed]

I cannot find any information on Smart Policies for VMware. I have a large VMWare base that I need to test netbackup on. I'm concerned about my physical servers being swamped if all the VMWare servers in a policy kick off at once.

[linuxed]

It seems to have a lot if things I need in my environment, I just wish release notes where on FA or beta to!

[rnosal]

Smart Policies look to be a way to query for machines you want in a policy based off of numerious attributes..

Lets say you want a policy to backup all VM's on datastore1...Instead of selecting all those Vm's manually you would select them automatically through the query.

[Stumpr2]

What is the FA program and how does it fit in between Beta and GA?

[Will_Restore]

IS THIS AN ALPHA OR BETA PROGRAM?

No. First Availability software is production ready GA software that has passed stringent Symantec release and quality criteria.   This is not an Alpha or Beta program and we encourage and fully support FA code in production environments. The First Availability program provides GA quality software to you as soon as it becomes available.

What is the DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST AVAILABILTY AND GENERAL AVAILABILITY?

The First Availability program allows customer access to software at the same time that it is ready to begin the GA hosting process. The software will be available via FileConnect/DVD Media, this will be the same version you receive through the First Availability program and no further upgrade or action is necessary.

WHEN DOES THE FIRST AVAILABILITY PROGRAM END?

NetBackup FA code is fully supported through support. Once the GA posting is complete on the Symantec web-site, the software and the e-mail address will be removed from the download site.

[JHeaton]

Any idea when the GA will be available?

[Will_Restore]

According to another thread GA is usually available within a couple months of FA

[Sebastian_Baszc]

Hey Mate,

You can find the Release Notes with the FA. Register to get FA and you will have also access to RN.

Sebastian

[Yogesh9881]

Netbackup 7.1 GA will available on 14 March 2011

[Boomchi]

Below is an answer for What is VM Snart Policies ....

Smart Policies for VMware:

 
Benefits

• Simple, easy method to ensure all virtual applications are identified and protected

• Define simple and flexible rules to automatically select VMs based upon numerous attributes, like: display name, host name, folder, cluster, data store, etc.  Is compatible with vMotion, Storage vMotion, and DRS.

• Integration with VMware vCenterand the ability to recover a virtual machine to any point in time using continuous data protection

Enjoy

[Marianne]

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH154178

[AudienceofOne]

Any one have any responses to the FA?  I have it downloaded, but can't get test equipment to run it :(

[CRZ]

Back on Monday, I installed 7.1 on my SPARCblade (was running 7.0.1) and had no trouble at all.  It took about 39 minutes (much of which was spent shutting down NetBackup) and might have been even faster if I had been paying proper attention to its requests for me to answer yes or no to various questions.

Of course, I'm an employee, so your mileage may vary.  ;)
 

[Will_Restore]

Dowloaded the server tar.gz but have not had a chance to build a test box and try it out.