Hubler, Daniel wrote:

>Could somebody provide some definition(s) as to what makes up a "feature
>pack"
>and what makes up a "maintenance pack?"
>
>Are there dependencies between them?
>
>Can they be installed in any combination?
>  
>

I view it this way (See the archives of this mailing list for lots of 
discussion and the Veritas web site for the the real story) ...

* Veritas reserves major changes to new versions.  v3.4, v4.5 and v5.0 
are recent new versions.

   - You may expect internal and external changes as you upgrade to a 
new version.
   - Veritas would like you to believe new versions are very well 
tested, but ...
   - With change, you may expect many problems fixed and as well as new 
problems to surface.

* Veritas corrects problems with Maintenance Packs (MPn).  Design is 
rarely changed, but some new support may be added, such as for a new 
client operating system level.

   - You may expect small external change with MPs, if any, and for each 
succeeding MP to be more stable.
   - Applying an MP is generally done via a simple update procedure, but 
just to keep you up tight, ...
   - Every so often an MP might be issued (only) as a new install.  This 
was true of v4.5MP6 (supposedly to get rid of OTM).
     Like a version upgrade, you "uninstall with the intention of 
upgrading" your previous level, and then install the MP(6). 

   So, if you have the GA (initial CD) 4.5 version installed, and you 
wanted to update to MP7, you would (0) shutdown NetBackup, (1) uninstall 
v4.5GA with the intention of upgrade, (2) install v4.5MP6, then (3) 
update to v4.5MP7.  Unfortunately, Veritas doesn't care to make it easy 
for you, so various parts of NetBackup may refer to themselves as 
v4.5GA, even if they are updated to v4.5MP7 (or whatever). :-(

(thanks for your patience ... I'm getting to feature Packs) ...

* Veritas realized that it need to get new features out to some 
customers in a more timely manner than at version boundries, but didn't 
want to make NetBackup more unstable by bigger changes to MPs.  So the 
"Feature Pack" was born. 

   - Feature Packs are an alternative to maintenance packs. 
   - Once you have installed a Feature Pack, you are said to be on the 
Feature Pack track.
   - Once you have installed a Feature Pack, you may never return to a 
Maintenance Pack.
   - V4.5 Feature Packs loosen the requirements on having all of your 
master and media servers at the exact same level.
   - If you use an FP client, its servers must be FP.
   - (As I recall) If you have an FP server, all servers must be FP.
   - The first v4.5 Feature Pack was named FP3.  It was a complete 
install. FP4 and FP5 were updates.
   - You might expect similar fixes in MP5 and FP5, but it's irrelevant 
because they are separate tracks.
   - I used the MP track with v4.5 and found each MP better, with maybe 
a bump at MP6.
   - It appears others having gone with the FP track have had similar 
experience, with a more major bump at FP6.

* I'll let someone else explain v5, beyond saying ...

   - V5 has GA (aka, v5.0), MP1, MP2 and soon (but not soon enough) MP3. 
   - V5 also has v5.1, which is separate from 5.0.  Maybe v5.1 will be a 
Feature Pack track?

Hope this helps, wayne