Team Connect, 

On March 6, 2012, we released Backup Exec 2012. This release featured major changes to the user experience that we tested in a three-month beta with 2,300 SYMC partners and end-users. Most of our customers liked the new release because it addressed changes they had been asking for around disk and virtual machine controls for VMware backup and Hyper-V backup in the main parts of the UI.

However, others were not such big fans of the new UI, which isn’t all that uncommon. Change in the early days of a new design can be difficult. For example, when Microsoft changed the ribbon, or whenever Facebook makes a change to their UI, there tends to be a level of frustration at the onset before we all adjust. But if it is a good change, we eventually...

With the upcoming release of Windows Server 2012 being one of the most anticipated events this year it seems only natural to look at Hyper-V 2012 and see what changes are coming and how they may affect Backup Exec. While researching the topics I wanted to cover it came to me that I should start by looking at when Backup Exec first offered support for virtual environments; this took me back to October of 2008 and the release of Backup Exec 12.5. That was the first release where support for virtual environments was offered via an application agent; in this case it was the Backup Exec Microsoft Virtual Agent which has since become the Backup Exec Agent for Hyper-V. That agent has matured in ways other vendors have copied and imitated: from our “agentless” VM backups to our Application Granular Recovery Technology (AppGRT) that was extended into protecting virtualized applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL, Active Directory and SharePoint that allows you to recover...

Did you know- In BE 2012 you can back up a server by using existing settings from another backup?

When you configure a backup, you can use all the default settings in the backup definition and get up and running quickly.  However, some people spend a lot of time tweaking and refining the backup options to suit their particular needs. After your backup is set to your liking, you can save time with your other backups by using these settings again. When you reuse the backup settings, you can still edit the settings, such as when you want to select a different device, use a different schedule, etc. I’ll walk you through the steps on how to create a new backup by using the settings from an existing backup.

First, select a server that you want to back up. Then, click the Backup button. For the initial backup, select any of the backup strategies, such as backup to disk, tape, disk then tape, etc.

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Did you know that Backup Exec 2012 has filtering capabilities that allow you to customize your views?

Sorting and filtering is not a new concept to Backup Exec, but in Backup Exec 2012 you can customize server and storage views and save them to use whenever you like.  Here’s how it works: in many of the tabs, your data is represented in a table with columns and rows. You have the ability to add, remove and change the order of the columns, and you can sort and filter your data to see what you want in the order that you want. You can save that view so that each time you switch tabs or reopen Backup Exec, your view remains the same. Backup Exec comes preconfigured with several views, and it’s easy to switch from the default view to a preconfigured view, or to one of your customized views.

I’ll walk you through how you can save your customized filter configuration and how to turn off the filters after they are applied. In this example, I’ll...