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Stable Netbackup Version

nairdheeraj
Level 4

This is just a general query regarding the most stable Netbackup version currently available. I have already heard about the release of NB 7.0 but I feel like its a little too early before I decide to move that version. I am currently running version 6.5.3 on Solaris as the Master and I also have 4 Media servers (2 of them in solaris and 2 of them in AIX). Currently I had encountered an issue when I was trying to upgrade the NB client for HP-UNIX to 6.5.3 and later found that it was a know bug for version 6.5.3 and hence we are planning to upgrade to a later version so that we can have the HP clients upgraded as well. Certain articles already state that the issue with the HP clients have been resolved in 6.5.4 but since we already many more later releases I wanted opinion from experts as to which version would be more recommended if I plan an upgrade. I am also looking at features that would support w2k8 and Hyper V for BMR as well.
10 REPLIES 10

Andy_Welburn
Level 6
I believe many out there are at 6.5.5 - again with no issues - & 6.5.6 has just been released.

Obviously, the higher you go the more support you get for such things as 2008 64-bit core etc, but less real-world 'testing'.

Maybe worth looking through the documentation associated with the  Late Breaking News bulletins.

Nicolai
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP   

The adoption rate of  NBU 7.0 is higher than any previous Netbackup version (Source: Symantec Senior Product manager).

Netbackup 7.0 has a lot of the same code base as Netbackup 6.5.5. With this release of Netbackup the focus has to deliver a stable product, something you can't  say about NBU 6.5.0 to 6.5.3.

If you use plain vanilla backup/retore without advanced client, SLP, SSO, AdvancedDisk, Synthetic backup & Vault I would serious consider NBU 7.0.

If you use every bit of Netbackup feature you may stick with Netbackup 6.5.6 until Netbackup 7.01 is out.


Andy_Welburn
Level 6

Ed_Wilts
Level 6
For starters, EVERY release has known and outstanding bugs.  What you have to decide is which bugs are important to you.  For example, you may not care about a VMS bug and I don't care about AIX bugs.  You may use Storage Lifecycle Policies for which there were lots of issues in earlier releases.  If you don't use SLPs, you don't care.  Some people are still perfectly happy with a 5.1 installation (and there are still customers on 3.x and 4.x).

From everything I've heard and read - including NDA discussions - 7.0 is at least as stable as 6.5.4.    There aren't major internal changes like there were say in 6.0.

As for BMR for Windows 2008, that's not yet available even in 7.0 - it was on the public roadmap for the Denali release (i.e. 7.0.1, perhaps this summer). Hyper-V is not there yet for either a guest or the host. - this not even on the roadmap for Denali but for sometime in the future.

Personally, I'm planning on upgrading to 7.0 as soon as we can get around to scheduling it internally.  We're at 6.5.4 today.

nairdheeraj
Level 4
I really appreciate every one's feedback on my query.. from all the above comments it looks like moving to 7.0 would be good idea even though there might be certain hic cups depending on the environment that I have.

As mentioned by Ed its really depends on the environment that I am running.. But to be frank I can never know when an additional features might be required in my grounds.. As of today the only additional feature that we use would be SSO and little bit of BMR.

Currently I would say we are not using SLP but we are still evaluating the use of pure disk and other add ons that veritas is offerring.

Frankly speaking what concerns me more would be the compatability of the later releases with the OS version I am running. The reason being, I had recently upgraded my AIX box (Media Sever & Robotic host) from 5.2 to 5.3 keeping the NB @ 6.5.3 but later we had to revert as it was creating all sorts of issues like drives going down, backup speed dropping drastically (< 1 Mbps) and so on.

May be I need to do little more home work on this before I plan my upgrade.


Karthikeyan_Sun
Level 6

I am very much satisfied with Veritas 5.1 MP6, Even though NetBackup 6.0,NetBackup 6.5 and NetBackup 7.0 Lot and lot of features, we were very stable at Veritas 5.1 MP6

Now we are at NetBackup 6.5.5 and doing NetBackup 7.0 POC. I too agree NetBackup 7.0 have chanceless features :)

nairdheeraj
Level 4
Finally we have decided to go for 6.5.4 untill we have all our clients upgraded to 6.5.x before we jump to 7.0.

Just wanted to clarify if Master 7.0 will work with 5.1 clients?

Peter_E
Level 4
Employee

I agree that the decision to move depends as much on your environment as the features, especially when you running mixed media servers some of which may not be on the big 3 - Windows, LInux (RedHat/Suse), Solaris. 

One, a shameless plug for some customer testimonials on NBU 7 on a service we've been using called TechValidate.  Some nice quotes and case studies.
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/symantec-veritas-netbackup/facts


Second, you may find a tool called Veritas Operations Service to be helpful in forecasting  compatibility and platform needs.  I already made a post about that earlier.
https://vos.symantec.com/checklist/install


Third, if you need more detailed assistance, reach out to your Symantec representative or reseller.  Frank release and roadmap conversations can be arranged under NDA.

Hope this helps.

Peter

CRZ
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Rather than tell you if 5.1 clients can be backed up or not with a 7.0 master, I'll tell you that it's not a supported configuration.  So stick with your plan to have all of your clients upgraded to 6.x before upgrading your master with NetBackup 7.0.

Goldkuh-ju
Level 2

after upgrading from NBU 6.5.4 to NBU 7, we found a lot of bugs, which are already fixed in NBU 6.5.4. But NBU 7.01 is not better... currently 4 cases open at symantec....

For Suse Lnx SAP Agent i opened same case in 6.5.4. 7.0 and 7.01 ...now got an EEB that works...