Veeam B&R 11a when?

[AlexLeadingEdge]

Hi guys,

Just getting harassed by clients into upgrading their Veeam B&R from version 10 to version 11, but I want to wait until version 11a comes out as we tried the upgrade once already to 11.0.0.837 P20210525 and it didn't go well, and we now get an error message every day saying that:

14/09/2021 12:00:41 AM :: Failed to pre-process the job Error: Rotated drive was changed, restarting backup copy job

Though not a critical error it is still throwing an error that results in an email saying that things have failed, which is something I don't want the clients seeing every day.

I was told that this issue was a known issue and that it would be resolved in 11a, but I have no timeframe for this. Can someone advise a rough ETA?

[Gostev]

Hi Alex, hopefully before the end of this month. Thanks!

[AlexLeadingEdge]

Thanks Gostev!

[dontknow006]

Do you know if 11a will ever merge with 11 in the future? Will we get back to the regular upgrade series?

[Gostev]

I'm not sure I understand what are you asking here. But we're not doing anything new here really. If it helps to draw parallels, last year we had 10a release as well.

[dontknow006]

I apologize, see if I can explain better. We are on 10a right now and waiting on 11a. There is not an upgrade from 10a to 11, only 10a to 11a. So is there a time where we will will move again to a non "a" series patch? Or will 11a be the first to go back to the non-A series patches?

[Gostev]

is there a time where we will will move again to a non "a" series patch? Or will 11a be the first to go back to the non-A series patches?

Sorry but I was unable to decipher that either I guess it may be easier to just explain how it works.

Patches are always issued for the current generally available version only, for example:

V10a was released in July 2020.
From that point on, all the following cumulative patches were for V10a.

V11 was released in February 2021
From that point on, all the following cumulative patches were for V11.

V11a is released in September 2021
All the following cumulative patches will be for V11a only.

V12 is released in 2022.
All the following cumulative patches will be for V12 only.

There is not an upgrade from 10a to 11, only 10a to 11a

Actually you can upgrade freely from 10a to 11, and this is what the vast majority of current V11 users did.

There's only one exception which is an odd case: you installed the recent courtesy V10a patch created for clients who wish to remain with V10a. But this patch specifically said "Only install me if you need to stay with V10a, otherwise install V11". So this is a unique case for people who wanted to avoid V11 altogether, a blind branch of evolution if you will. Normally this state should not be considered when talking about upgrading to V11, as presumably everyone who installed this patch were specifically NOT interested in V11, which is why they went this route in the first place.

However, once you upgrade to a later version to which the upgrade from that "odd patch level" will be supported, your deployment will become "normal" again and a part of the diagram above. Is this what you're really asking?

[dontknow006]

That is perfect Gostev, thank you so much. I've personally started with Version 9 however, recently inherited this backup server with the 10a patch.

"However, once you upgrade to a later version to which the upgrade from that "odd patch level" will be supported, your deployment will become "normal" again and a part of the diagram above."
Yes this is the exact answer i was looking for.
10 -> 10a -> 11a -> ? would it be a 12a or back to 12 in the future was a puzzle for me.

[Gostev]

It's back to 12 if you want, although of course this is optional in case you want to skip 12. I know of a couple of large customers who always wait for this minor release (such as 12a in this example) before adopting the new major release this way they don't get to deal with teething issues, and also only get to upgrade once a year (which is a major project for their environment size).

In other words, you always have full flexibility to adopt or skip certain versions as long as you don't get yourself onto some special build. Only in that case you may be limited in terms of the upgrade path.

[Paulo Balau]

Hello, for V11a, what is the best estimate date for release?

[Gostev]

It's already shipped, see the sticky topic. Thanks!