Rant of the day...backup exec

YeOldeStonecat

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I've been lucky for the past few years...haven't had clients using Backup Exec (I made things that way!) Recent new server for a client where their software vendors insisted on BE on the server....ugh, here I spent my day troubleshooting why the drive won't eject the media, looking online...finding Symantec hotpatch after hotpatch after hotpatch to fix the drivers for this apparently widespread issue (based on the amount of the same compliants in forums).

I swear, most of the time with BE I spent more time troubleshooting it instead of all other issues on the network combined.
 
So I'm running live update to download a hotpatch they have for BE 12.5..and their update mechanism gives me an error after suffering through 48 megs of their slow download...
"Error: "LU1812: An update failed to install. A program that was part of this update failed . . . " when running LiveUpdate"

:mad:
 
Lol, i spent about a month installing updates and fixes for BE 10 all because i installed an AV package that installed SQL and the version of BE the client has apparently didn't like SQL.

That software is a pur PITA
 
what other software are you guys using for backups then besides BE?
 
We use a custom solution that manages onsite and offsite snapshots that can be booted into virtual servers or have a bare metal restore done to dissimilar hardware.
 
Yosemite. Even comes with a free 60 day trial.

I haven't used it personally. Just heard others rave about it.
 
I've never had any issues with BackupExec :confused:
I've used 10, 11, 12, 12.5, and 2010.

I did have a couple small issues with 12.5, as I had to install an updated "drive pack" or something.

but short of that, the upgrade from 12.5 to 2010 was smooth and easy as pie!
 
BE sucks, tell them to use Microsoft DPM its awesome :D
 
I'm not a real big fan of the normal Backup Exec either....

However, I think Backup Exec System Recovery (BESR) which is imaged based backups is actually pretty nice. Quite a few of my clients use this software and we do image backups to disks in an eSata enclosure.
 
Backup Exec can die in a fire, burn in hell, go to hell, and eat my excrement after consuming large amounts of mexican food with tons of topatio and salsa.
 
I guess I've been lucky with it.

I worked with 11, 12, 12.5 and 2010 and while I had some trouble at once my experience has been positive.

I must say that I've had some serious issues with Networker thought that never has been solved by EMC. I couldn't manage to have the Sun SL24 library detected by the software. After several days without any insightful help I tested the solution with Backup Exec and worked in less than 15 minutes.

Guess what happened to this client that had pricey support renewal coming ?
 
what other software are you guys using for backups then besides BE?

Back in the NT 4 days...used to use Backup Exec....what was that, around version 5 or 6? Loved it up until version 9.something..and then when it went to SQL Express based...around that time Symantec picked them up, just seemed to go downhill since then.

Lately I've been using Paragon Server Backup for quite a few clients...it's similar to ghost or true image...make image backups.
 
ya.. the consulting group i work for uses/recommends BE.... i'm tired of it... been using it from BE9 through 2010.... they are willing to try new software if its benificial to the customs for cost/performance/quality wise...

lol the pre syamtec days when veritas was nice and easy to deal with :)

how are the image backups? have you tried doing any restores?

the one thing i've been comtemplating is implenting acronis and something along the lines as an iomega terrastation equivilent and have the images backed up to that. but i haven't had the chance to test it out.. we can get the 4TB units for around 700$ cdn and see if that would work out best for the clients.
 
ya.. the consulting group i work for uses/recommends BE.... i'm tired of it... been using it from BE9 through 2010.... they are willing to try new software if its benificial to the customs for cost/performance/quality wise...

lol the pre syamtec days when veritas was nice and easy to deal with :)

how are the image backups? have you tried doing any restores?

the one thing i've been comtemplating is implenting acronis and something along the lines as an iomega terrastation equivilent and have the images backed up to that. but i haven't had the chance to test it out.. we can get the 4TB units for around 700$ cdn and see if that would work out best for the clients.

Backup Exec System Restore image based backups are pretty nice.

You can restore the whole image or you can mount the image and restore individual software. It also supports restoring to different hardware and has a built in tool to convert the image to a virtual machine.

If you download the software you get like 60 days free to try it out. I've actually been fairly impressed by it.
 
y

how are the image backups? have you tried doing any restores?

I've restored data from them..quite simple. They backup to a 4 TB NAS device on I have on their network, a Dell PowerVault NF600.
I have not explored the restore to metal feature..although another member here, Marley1, has done that.

I'm about to put in a 50/10 internet pipe and I'm hoping to have a method to "synch" that NAS box with an office box, using DFS or RSynch or something. Yup..50/10...Comcast Docsis 3 package. :D
 
The truth is, all backup software blows goats. Arcserve, Netbackup, TSM, Backup Exec, Novanet, SBackup, NTBackup, etc all suck. They all have problems. Backup Exec isn't any worse than the others when you get right down to it. I deal with a lot of Backup Exec based backup servers and client machines. Backup Exec is OK provided it was configured correctly to start with and you keep up with updates and version changes. Beyond that your tape / library hardware must be supported and be decent as well. If it isn't you are in for a world of aggravation.
 
The truth is, all backup software blows goats. Arcserve, Netbackup, TSM, Backup Exec, Novanet, SBackup, NTBackup, etc all suck. .

ArcServe I'll agree with, but there are quite a few I love now.
The backup tool in SBS rocks (leverages NTBackup with a lot of customizations)
BackupAssist rocks...also leverages NTBackup
I've been diggin Paragon...have use True Image Server edition also.
 
Leveraging NT Backup isn't a good thing.

Honestly it's proven itself time after time after time for me. Over many years I've restored tons of data via it. Many actually do use the native VSS (volume shadow copy service) these days..it's important. But hey...whatever works.
 
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Hell I still have to use Backup Exec 9.1 and 10.0 for the most part. I've got one 10.0d based server and that's it.
 
Hell I still have to use Backup Exec 9.1 and 10.0 for the most part. I've got one 10.0d based server and that's it.

sucker!

just kidding. we have the BE 12 upgrades. we just haven't installed that shit yet
 
i actually just logged into my backup server and am changing the weekly tape sets in BE
 
sucker!

just kidding. we have the BE 12 upgrades. we just haven't installed that shit yet

We have a few Backup Exec 12.5 servers around but none of them are my responsibility.
 
i use sbs backup, backup assist, or paragon.

sbs backup is the shit especially in sbs 08
 
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