6.5.2 and 6.5.3 Notes

Joe and I have been away from blogging recently due to a lot of travel and a few conferences. I wanted to take a moment to talk about our latest releases and also to clear up some confusion I have seen recently about the 6.5.2 NetBackup release. I’ve worded this in the form of "Questions & Answers" for clarity.

Q. What is 6.5.2a and what is in it?

A. 6.5.2a is available for download now. It is a very small update to 6.5.2. In 6.5.2 we updated our scheduler component, the NetBackup Policy Execution Manager (PEM). In doing that we created a better way to record the last successful backup for components of a particular client in the STREAMS file. Unfortunately, the side effect of deploying this change was that multi-streamed backup jobs could run a full backup even if the running schedule should have only been an incremental backup. This was referenced in the release notes, but in a way that wasn’t nearly transparent enough. Unfortunately, we misgauged the effect of that item. As many of you have explained to us, the effects of the “side effect” could be quite painful. As a result we created a small script (which runs at patch installation time) and a library change which combine to address this problem. These two changes were the only new items included in 6.5.2a which were not previously in 6.5.2. For more details consult the 6.5.2 technote or the technote specifically addressing 6.5.2a. If you have already lived through the effect of applying the 6.5.2 patch and running your full backups sooner than expected, installing 6.5.2a won’t have any additional impact.

Q. What is in 6.5.3?

A. 6.5.3 was originally planned to only include one feature. The feature was granular restore for Microsoft Exchange. Based on recently reported issues with 6.5.2, we are also including additional critical scheduler fixes. If you want more general detail on the contents of 6.5.2 and 6.5.3 check out Marty Ward’s white board presentation on YouTube.

Q. Can I have a list of the defects that we plan to fix in 6.5.3?

A. Although the list is tentatively finalized we have a clear commitment to evaluate any additional reported items. If we find an issue that merits inclusion, we’ll include it. Since the list is subject to change, I hesitate to publish the exact list in this forum. That said here are some items that you can expect to be included.

• * Critical process errors or assertions errors from nbpem
• * Certain policy attributes not honored
• * Changes in log messages
• * Backup job failures where a job is queued but fails before running.
• * Policy based backups failing with a 230 error due to an issue with translating the encoding of the policy

When 6.5.3 is available please consult the release notes for the canonical list of issues resolved.

Q. I am having a strange problem with 6.5.2 should I just wait for 6.5.3?

A. I always encourage people to call support and get a case documented. There are often work-a-rounds, configuration changes or engineering binaries available which may alleviate an issue. Support is the best source for all of those.

Q. Don’t you test these releases?

A.Yes we do. In fact we completed significantly more tests for 6.5.2 than any other previous patch. We have made significant investment in more testers and better tools in the last year. We are working to improve and I believe you will see these improvements continue throughout the next year. We take these issues personally because we want you to be successful with NetBackup. Many engineers have been working weekends and late through the night to resolve the 6.5.2 issues that have been raised.

Q. When is 6.5.3 going to be available?

A. I am expecting 6.5.3 to be generally available in the October/November timeframe. If you wish to have access to the "First Availablility" program send an email to

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NBU653FA [AT] symantec.com .

[NOTE: This program is currently closed due to the overwhelming number of participants]

Q. I am having a problem now, what should I do?

A. Support is the best place to go. If you are experiencing an issue related to PEM there may already be an engineering binary available from support to resolve your symptoms.

If you find this type of communication helpful leave a comment – we are always looking to improve our processes.