Symantec Backup Exec = Amazing

[Longy]

This software has really saved my arse today! Just lost a server completly which had a lot of company files and SQL instances and databases.

Luckly I had the Symantec SQL agents running, I just totally rebuilt another server up and did a restore of all company files and SQL instances and everything is running a long nicely like nothing happened.

Can be a pain in the arse to setup and it isn't cheap but when you need it to perform in this type of environment it just works!

Heart in mouth day I can tell you.

 

[H182]

We use it, and yes it has some good backup options, but its been a pita with backing up our exchange stores.. always falls over and takes the stores offline with it.

 

[Magic Johnson]

We're running out the new version (10 iirc) now, not put it on the DC or Exchange yet but it's on FP and the Sharepoint servers ok. Great bit of software indeed.

 

[DMS]

It is pretty good. The only thing I hated about it was doing authorititive restores of AD because it defers from Microsoft's standard way of doing it.
Thankfully I don't have to deal with that shite anymore.

 

[undergroove]

We use a combo of 12.5 plus relevant server agents, BESR (previously LiveState) and the relevant NetApp solutions on Exchange and SQL platforms.

BESR is an absolute gem and well worth going for.

 

[dk]

lol, BE is a pain in the arse!

HP Data protector is better, it actually works, whereas BE only does when it feels like it.

SOme of the new features in BE2010 look like they could be quite interesting though.

I just love the irony with BE that we all use it for DR, but its one of the most unreliable things out there.

 

[Mike_182]

You must have bad luck with BE, as it works fine for me except when some plank deletes the catalog files!

However NetBackup FTW!

 

[dk]

i'm a BE technical consultant, so i get to see a lot of it, its mainly going in to fix it as its always not working for people, you must be lucky

 

[Mike_182]

As I'm sure you know, it depends how you put it in and it also relies on you having correctly selected it for the scale of the environment. YES it's fussy and has it's moments (GRT anyone?!) BUT it's also flawless should you do it right from the ground up in the right sized environment...

 

[DMS]

I never had any issues with Granular Recovery.
The AOFO used to be a pain in the arse back in my tech support days though. You'd tell it to use the Symantec Open file agent, the backup would fail for some reason. You'd choose the Microsoft VSS writer, the backup would fail. You'd let it choose the open file technology on its own... you get the idea.
I also remember it having a hissy fit with certain tape drives. Travan's especially.

 

[Mike_182]

I never had any issues with Granular Recovery.

Mainly the issues revolve around expecting it to work straight off/to a tape. Which it doesn't.

 

[Darren S]

We're still running v10.d - does alright for us in a lot of ways, but I think the whole thing needs readdressing at some point.

D.

 

[dk]

the best fuckup they did was to release an enterprise vault agent, and then release EV 8 at the same time and the new agent not be compatible with the new version of EV, and a year later its still not compatible, both are their products, absolute joke!

 

[Mike_182]

Yeah, Symantec are s**t like that.

 

[Mike_182]

Well, just been forced into BE2010 as our backup server spat it's dummy out. And for the first time in 2 years we've had our first, 100% successful, no exceptions, no failure Exchange 2007 backup.

Even if the rest of it hasn't really progressed, this is a massive achievement. As I was about to set fire to the server.

 

[Cookie]

I remember trying to restore older versions of Exchange.. like putting your c**k into a grater over and over again

 

[McBunny]

ive just upgraded our arcserve t0 12.5 from 11.5 and the new version is much much better but we shall see if its any better when i do a DR test

 

[JackoR26]

I use 12.5 and its a nightmare to do a mailbox / message restore, It has to load the entire message store onto the local hard drive before doing the restore which can take a very long time!

 

[McBunny]

ive never needed to do a message/ mailbox as we dont do brick level as there isnt enough time + our users dont delete anything lol

 

[Magic Johnson]

Archive Vault ftmfw.

 

[JackoR26]

I dont do a brick level backup with 12.5, i just backup the whole store using the GRT which you can restore the messages from. I have to force them to delete some stuff as some of their mailboxes are reaching 3gb now filling the drive

 

[McBunny]

lol 3gig our largest is 11gig and growning !!

 

[H182]

We had some at 25, then people complained that their outlook was slow. Archive some old emails off and store them somewhere safe.

 

[JackoR26]

11gb!! I thought i moaned about ours haha :rasp:

God knows why people need to keep emails over 5 years old

 

[McBunny]

these are under that all project stuff for one user currently our db's are 265GB

 

[JackoR26]

Im dying to run mailbox manager and delete all the crap hehe

 

[Mike_182]

FPMSL at 3GB/11GB/25GB/256GB. 1.5TB FTW!

 

[Robb]

I dont do a brick level backup with 12.5, i just backup the whole store using the GRT which you can restore the messages from. I have to force them to delete some stuff as some of their mailboxes are reaching 3gb now filling the drive

We have this but not a lot. Need to put a policy in place and stick with it. Sometimes it doesnt go this way with the people who pay my wage :rasp:

We're using 12.5 at all our sites, some of our clients are still using Veritas and it still does the job right.

 

[JackoR26]

FPMSL at 3GB/11GB/25GB/256GB. 1.5TB FTW!

haha and to think that MS recommend a 50mb limit on the Exchange 2003 course!

We have this but not a lot. Need to put a policy in place and stick with it. Sometimes it doesnt go this way with the people who pay my wage :rasp:

We're using 12.5 at all our sites, some of our clients are still using Veritas and it still does the job right.

We only had to upgrade because we upgraded our Solaris server, never had any problems with previous products but 12.5 is by far the quickest.

 

[Cookie]

At a previous job we limited users to 50mb a mailbox (but we did have 30,000 users )

 

[H182]

1.5tb in a single mailbox, wtf do you store in there, p**n?

 

[liamw]

I had a problem like this at work, when the sharepoint intranet server messed up badly when the rest of the team were on holiday, managed to restore it perfectly though using 12.5.

 

[ChrisR]

Never had a problem with it, always worked when I've used it.

BESR has also saved my arse a couple of times.

As for mailbox sizes, we've got them set to the defaults (so that's 250meg?) and use EAS for archiving.

 

[KDF]

Use BE12.5 and it is nothing short of s**t !

Never get a good backup from it.. various different failures each time.. bain of my life.

 

[Dafthead]

Archive Vault ftmfw.

knows, virtual tape library

 

[Magic Johnson]

Use BE12.5 and it is nothing short of s**t !

Never get a good backup from it.. various different failures each time.. bain of my life.

Aye, mostly .PST files.

 

[Mike_182]

Use BE12.5 and it is nothing short of s**t !

Never get a good backup from it.. various different failures each time.. bain of my life.

You can indeed spend an awful long time f*cking about trying to fix it's various whinges, but just sometimes it works without problems. Then it's nice!

Aye, mostly .PST files.

Should be banned. Allow big mailboxes, ban PSTs.