I hate Backup Exec

[TEX4S]

For the last couple of months I have been dealing with Backup Exec 2010.

I dont know very much about it, but have been given the task of recover all of our old media (tapes) which were created with earlier versions of BK EX.

Some of these tapes date back to 2001 - they are all written on 35GB DLT.

My question is: When I insert a tape, I run the inventory - all is OK. I then run Catalog - all is OK.

Then I run a restore job - redirect the dump to a large 2TB HDD - soon thereafter the job will fail.

The error I get is " the requested media was mounted, but it does not contain the requested backup set. The media may have been overwritten by another media server."

I read a little about the error - and in layman's terms - "... if a backup was created with another version of BK EX, then was moved to another server with a different version of BK EX - and NOW you're running a different version ---- you're screwed !"

Is there a way to simply take the data from our old tapes and simply dump them into a folder which can be easily read, and saved, etc. ?

Everything I have read about Backup Exec is that it can only be spawned from hell because no other way it can suck so bad and cause so much frustration - and just when you think you have it ficgured out - it stops working

Thanks

[ahhell]

sw1tch - let me send you my intern and he can waste even more of your time !! He is going to be a Junior @ Texas A&M in Comp Sci and has to tell me at least 10x a day about how Microsoft is evil and he will change our billion dollar company over to all linux - I just say "shut up and go get my dry cleaning you idiot !" :D well - I do tell him to shut up

Oh god I hate those know-it-all douches.

You should tell him to leave and can only come back when he has a clue.

Oh, and all back up software is complete ****. It's amazing considering how important back ups are. Why the **** can't anyone make decent backup software?!?!?!

[vanx]

Oh, and all back up software is complete ****. It's amazing considering how important back ups are. Why the **** can't anyone make decent backup software?!?!?!

A cynical person would call all backup software a bunch of glorified copiers. Backups by themselves are not important. Restores, on the other hand, are crucial. From a pesky spreadsheet that some twit in finance/human resources has deleted to a sensitive document that legal are requesting because someone is suing and a huge fine will be imposed if information is not disclosed.

There is decent backup software out there, such as Backup Exec, Simpana, NetBackup etc. From my experience, at least with those 3, it's not the software's fault most of the time.

[sc302 Veteran]

A cynical person would call all backup software a bunch of glorified copiers. Backups by themselves are not important. Restores, on the other hand, are crucial. From a pesky spreadsheet that some twit in finance/human resources has deleted to a sensitive document that legal are requesting because someone is suing and a huge fine will be imposed if information is not disclosed.

There is decent backup software out there, such as Backup Exec, Simpana, NetBackup etc. From my experience, at least with those 3, it's not the software's fault most of the time.

If it werent for the necessity of quality log files (and the ability to copy db objects), copies would do just fine.

[TEX4S]

Thanks for all your comments - sc302 - I sure hope you change your mind about computer associates and the nukes - I think their (old ?) HQ is about 20 miles from me - that whole ground zero thing would kinda suck -- now a tactical nuke ? oh god that would be great - a huge norton office is across the street - as well as McAfee I think - there is an area in Plano and a ton of corporate HQ are next to one another (EDS, Perot Systems (now Dell), JC Penney - we'll just wipe the slate clean and start over. :D

I setup BEX2010 to do my 1st complete backup to the LTO tape robot thingy (ArcVault12). It was scheduled to start @ 12:00 noon this past Saturday - I was too busy to go up to the office this weekend - so I have my fingers crossed all went as planned. The server it hopefullly backed up is one of, if not the main server... :huh:

[sc302 Veteran]

sorry but a town that accepts computer associates as a resident needs to also be cleansed of their stupidity. :p

[TEX4S]

sorry but a town that accepts computer associates as a resident needs to also be cleansed of their stupidity. :p

:blink: uh oh - just give me 24 hr heads up - thats all I need LOL

I wanted to update this thread to say thank you to all who have helped. I did my 1st live backup w/ LTO on one of our big servers, and when I got in on Monday - my boss was smiling from ear to ear - because everything I setup ran flawlessly. (he has been told by 2 of my predecessors that Backup Exec WILL NOT WORK - and to use (get this) Acronis True Image.... uhhhh.... it might be great for your desktop @ home - but its hardly an Enterprise software.

Regardless, Thank You gentlemen - your tips and thoughts have helped.

sc302 - The ArcVault12 we have (tape robot) is pretty slick - I doubt it has anything to do with Arcserve - as a matter of fact - it is by Overland Storage I think...

go ahead with the nukes - :cool:

[sc302 Veteran]

True Image is a enterprise solution but their licensing business model blows ass....blows it out more than backup exec. 800 to 1200 per server. At least backup exec gives you an agent license for 600. Either way imo it is a ridiculous cost for copying.

[vanx]

I'm glad it worked out for you TEX4S. Let me know if you need any help.

[remixedcat]

for VMWare backups I recommend Veeam.

[majortom1981]

First off do not nule computer associates headquaters as its on long island and thats where i live. lol

Also backup exec 2010 is not as bad as people say. It backups clusters being used as hyper-v storage that a lot of backup programs cannot backup. We have been using ultrabac here and I asked to convert to backup exec as thats what I am used to and I am glad I did.

PS I was able to get 2010 r3 for $100 and all its agents and options and unlimited machines since we are a library. Not many companies will do that.

[sc302 Veteran]

First off do not nule computer associates headquaters as its on long island and thats where i live. lol

Get them to move out and you won't have an issue :p. Start petitioning, there are less than 5 people/companies that are on my nuke off the face of the earth and their surrounding areas list.

The douche that just cut me off doesn't make that list, he can be taken out with a sniper (just so you see that you have to royally screw me to get on my nuke list, fker was 5 cm from impact.).

[TEX4S]

Get them to move out and you won't have an issue :p. Start petitioning, there are less than 5 people/companies that are on my nuke off the face of the earth and their surrounding areas list.

The douche that just cut me off doesn't make that list, he can be taken out with a sniper (just so you see that you have to royally screw me to get on my nuke list, fker was 5 cm from impact.).

LOL

OK Ive got a deal for you - you hire me to do the sniper kills (I do competition precision shooting on the weekends sometime) and in exchange for the contract killing - you'll give me 24 hours to get the hell out of Dallas before it glows in the dark.

FYI: Cowboys Stadium in the rancid cesspool known as Arlington, TX - should be "ground zero"

[vanx]

for VMWare backups I recommend Veeam.

I can't recommend it at all. It only supports VMware with no love for Hyper-V. It doesn't protect physical machines. It doesn't support tape and cloud for storage. Veeam claim that Backup Exec does not support agent-less backups of guest VMs, which is rubbish. I could go on, but I feel that I made my prima facie case...