Make patch downloads easy and obvious

[joachimeberhard]

Dear Veeam-Team,

Since I am a recent user this is my first time updating with a critical patch.

But personally I find the experience difficult, because the only way to download the patch only is via a KB article.

I have spent quite some time on the download page of the main site and in my license center, not finding a "in-your-face" link to patch downloads.
But honestly this is where I would expect a dedicated section to something as important.

Maybe you should consider to fix that.

Best regards,
Joachim

[Eric_Cartman]

Hi Joachim,

we use VEEAM for about a Year now and yes some critical patches could be provided in a more obvious way but none the less I would recommend you sign up for the KB Newsletter:
https://www.veeam.com/knowledge-base.html
This helped us a lot!

[veremin]

You can enable automatic update notification and stay aware of the new product versions. You will be notified about new patch, once it is published on Veeam update server.

It usually takes a bit of time for update to be placed there - this period is required to confirm that there are no major issues found by users who downloaded the update from the website.

Thanks!

[Gostev]

@veremin this won't work for patches until V12.

[veremin]

My bad, thanks for the clarification, Anton.

Joachim, at least now you can be rest assured that this won't be an issue, starting from v12

[joachimeberhard]

Well the update itself went nice and easy, only requiring a few rescans after starting Veeam.

Well my suggestion still stands, (I think) it would not be too difficult to implement.
A dedicated patch download page on main site downlaod page and in the license center.
Because why not use more ways to encourage people to update?

On a side note, is there some sort of offtopic forum where we can just casually talk about Veeam?
Sometimes it would be nice to babble in a less focused and serious way about Veeam.

Thanks,
Joachim

[Regnor]

In my opinion updates and such are easy to find on the Veeam website, compared to other vendors.
Besides going directly to each KB article, you can use this URL which always contains the most current ISO or a link to the CU: https://www.veeam.com/download-version.html

Regarding chatting about Veeam or not R&D related topic, I would suggest to go the Veeam Community: https://community.veeam.com/

[joachimeberhard]

Oohh thanks for the tip

Edit: One could still add links to latest KB Article directly to Downloads and License Center maybe?

I still believe it would be helpful.

[Brockmire]

Surely, the easiest thing to do would be to explicitly have the patch mentioned where the big green Download button is for the iso file. Putting it behind a link of extra date characters in the version string is non-sensical and boggles my mind how someone internally hasn't spoken up about how that's a very poor way to do this. As I recently provided some feedback, the need for the patch is not mentioned in the release notes and no where is "patch" implied to get to the download except for a NUMBERS hyperlink that are next to a version string. In fact, at one of the download locations (https://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-b ... =downloads), there is no mention of the patch, the extra dated version string doesn't have the patch url or any way for the user to even know about this requirement to prevent breaking B & R.

Wasted my time from what should have been a quick and painless update and leaves a poor taste from what else to expect from strange documentation process. Up until that point, I thought Veeam was above average in terms of decent documentation. We'll see if I ever get a response or a change to the KB to make it easier (ie, if the page I mentioned above ever gets the patch mentioned or if you guys hate your support guys and make them deal with this issue over and over).

[AndyNorden]

I would also be happy to see the updates on the download page. I myself once searched for a very long time for an update patch and did not find it, only through a support request I got a KB link.

[Gostev]

Then you should be happy already, because the patches ARE mentioned on the download page... at least I can see them.

Surely, the easiest thing to do would be to explicitly have the patch mentioned where the big green Download button is for the iso file.

I do see the patch mentioned right next to "the big green Download button" for Veeam Backup & Replication downloads.
Paid > https://www.veeam.com/backup-replicatio ... nload.html
Free > https://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-b ... nload.html

Could be your browser or cache if you're not seeing it? Nevertheless, please remember Veeam R&D is not responsible for the website, so any website suggestions are best directed to the web team. Best is to use the "other departments" feedback form mentioned in the forum rules. The web team is better equipped to troubleshoot why you're not seeing what I'm seeing. And also take and implement any feedback you might have about displaying the patch on any other pages where you feel it might be necessary.

From the R&D forums perspective, the latest patch can also be easily found in the corresponding sticky topic.

[tgx]

Personally I would like to see a 'Check for Updates' menu item.
Better still, a scheduler that would check and pop an alert in the admin console
when launched. 'Critical Update available'. All the cool kids are doing it.

[Egor Yakovlev]

Check for Updates' menu item

Definitely a space to improve for us here.
Noted your +1.

/Thanks!

[bretesq]

What is the official way to programmatically get the patch number of a Veeam B&R installation? Our detection scripts are currently using the version number from the registry, which didn't change with the latest patch.

[Gostev]

Better still, a scheduler that would check and pop an alert in the admin console

Actually, this has been in the product for many years now, but only for maintenance/minor/major releases. V12 will also be able to recognize cumulative patches though. These are simply relatively new thing we introduced most recently in an attempt to significantly reduce time to release for important public hotfixes (and we did achieve the desired result).