Annual Support/Maintenance

[markfellows]

I've just been informed by a re-seller that without an annual support/maintenance contract we will be unable to download and install product patches/bug fixes and minor updates.

Is this true?

This is our first year with this product and the time has come to consider the renewal of the support.

[Gostev]

Yes, this is true. You will not be able to obtain patches/bug fixes and get any help from support whatsoever - until you renew your maintenance agreement (support will refer you to the renewal team). When reinstating your maintenance contract, you would have to cover the period since the maintenance expired, plus there is an extra fee for renewing maintenance if you do it after it expires.

While customers without maintenance agreement in force are not actually eligible for any product updates, technically you can still download the most current product build and install it, thus getting access to minor updates. This is possible today, but may be restricted in future. Or may be not.

I've deleted previous (incorrect) response to this topic.

Thanks.

[markfellows]

Thanks for the correction Anton.

No support or major upgrades I can understand, but no bug fixes seems a little harsh, especially with a critical bug like the recent restore point retention issue (in B&R). I’m also experiencing a relatively fundamental bug in the latest version of Veeam Monitor which after some investigation support have informed me will be fixed in the next release.

The only reason we're deliberating on whether to renew is because the annual renewal cost is almost 50% of what we originally paid for Veeam. The support renewal cost is higher because we took advantage of the free upgrade to v5 Enterprise.

I suppose while it’s still possible we could download any critical fixes if we decided not to renew the maintenance.

[Gostev]

Yes, I do not think we will lock this ability any time soon. Keep in mind though, that this is not a long term solution by any means, more like few months solution. When v6 comes out later this year, you will not be able to install it with your v5 license. However, as soon as v6 is out, we will stop issuing fixes/patches/updates for v5 code. Users having any issues (or, for example, requiring vSphere 5 support) will be required to upgrade to the latest version 6. Thanks.

[markfellows]

Although it seems expensive (especially as we're only a small company) the features that are usually added in every major version may be worth the renewal costs alone.

Thanks.

[Gostev]

That's right, but as I've said, when reinstating maintenance agreement you would have to "cover" periods that you were not on maintenance. So while you will not be able to use all the good stuff requiring active maintenance agreement right now (technical support and private patches), you would still have to pay maintenance retroactively for all these month, effectively paying for something you have not used, plus extra fee. So why not pay for maintenance right now, and use all of its benefits for the next few months until v6? Because alternative approach essentially means loosing money. This is something you need to weight carefully. Thanks.

[markfellows]

Sorry Anton, that's what I meant. Think we will renew before our agreement expires in June.

Anything you can tell me about v6 that I can use as a cost justification.

Thanks,

Mark.

[Gostev]

Mark, at this time it is all top secret, we will only start sharing closer to the actual release... we are like Apple, do not want competition to know what we are doing but lots of great enhancements in architecture, for backup, restores and especially for replication. Including a few really cool industry-first innovations. You will not want to stay on v5 for sure Thanks.

[markfellows]

Ok, I'm sold! Thanks again for your time Anton.

[evmpr]

We have Veeam Backup and Fast SCP v 4.1.2. The person managing it left the company sometime ago and veeam has been running on its own for a while. Now I have been put in charge of veeam backups and was wondering how to patch this version. I don't see any automatic way to do this as with most other software. I'm sure there have been some patches released in the past year but I don't know how to get or apply them. Can someone point me in the right direction please?

[Gostev]

Hi, you can download the latest version from our web-site and follow the upgrade procedure listed in the accompanying documentation. Link to license management portal is located directly on the download page. You may have to reinstate you maintenance agreement first though. Thanks.

[Mirija]

Hi, I'm testing veeam.

How is the product patch or update process? I didnt see "check if update available" feature.
Or It must done manually?

Thx,

Mirija.

[Alexey D.]

Hello Aina,

You can always check for the newest version of B&R at the product page: http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-backup.html or by looking at the corresponding sticky topic on this forum, here is the current one > [LATEST RELEASE] 5.0.2 : another vPower-up (April 11, 2011).

To perform upgrade, just run the setup of a newer version and it will firmly update your installation keeping your jobs, backups and configuration untouched.

[Gostev]

Just wanted to add that all customers with active maintenance agreement in force are notified about product updates and new releases automatically via email address that you have used to register with Veeam. Thanks.

[joey-taps]

Has anything changed on obtaining patches without renewing support? We are a small school and the cost of renewing 12 sockets is too much for us.
Thanks

[Gostev]

No changes that I am aware of. Basically, customer support "does not talk" to anyone showing up as not having active support agreement in force in our database, and they would redirect you to the licensing department.

We do provide special education sector licensing though.