Upgrading backup chain in 12.1

[jcofin13]

Is this still an optional step at this time?
WE have upgraded and last i heard this was not required but might be in the future.

Is there any reason for our against waiting or doing this asap? I've got immutable storage but i dont suppose that matters much with this change.

I have upgraded in other environments backup chains that had copy jobs and that seemed to go fine, however those were not on immutable storage.

I guess im looking for reasons just to get this done so i can cross it off my to do list or reasons i shouldnt do it yet and wait until it is required (perhaps in the next version).

IM almost certain it doesnt inflate or make your backups any larger so space is not a concern. Its just breaking out the metadata from a single file into multiple files for true per machine backups. (correct me if im wrong).

[david.domask]

Hi jcofin13,

While it's "optional" to some degree, there is a lot of functionality unlocked by upgrading the chains namely in how it allows you to manage each machine's backup chain more granularly with options like Backup Move, Active Fulls for individual workloads instead of all machines in the backup, retention is applied per machine instead of for an entire job, and so on.

Basically, functionally you can sit tight with waiting for now if it's not convenient to upgrade, but management of the backups becomes a lot easier once you upgrade the chains; since it's the default format now, personally I would find it relieving to also have a consistent environment where I don't need to wonder if some workloads can't participate in the newer features that upgraded chains unlock.

There's no change to the backup files sizes themselves (for certain Legacy Backup Copies a new backup set is required), so IMO no reason not to do it. (You can even script it for Backup Copies to save some clicking ))

[jcofin13]

Thanks. The main thing is that it doesnt change the backup chain at all or make the backups larger by a significant amount. We just dont have much to spare right now and are, like always....trying to keep costs in check.

I appreciate the reply.