> From: "Goslin, Paul" <pgoslin AT CINCOM DOT COM>
> Reply-To: EMC NetWorker discussion <NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU>, 
> "Goslin,
> Paul" <pgoslin AT CINCOM DOT COM>
> Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:19:09 -0500
> To: <NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU>
> Subject: Re: [Networker] Other back-up products besides NetWorker
> 
> EMC does not per-say 'make' Networker - They purchased it.... And now
> own it....
> 
> Being the data storage company that they are... They wanted to have the
> backup product that had the lions share of the backup market, so they
> bought the biggest player in the field: Networker.

Being a long-time NetWorker user (since version 5.2), I can say that dealing
with EMC's people and working with the NetWorker product is a bittersweet
experience. NetWorker has definitely improved since EMC bought it. EMC's
support of NetWorker has also improved over the years. I also really
appreciate EMC's willingness to support the user group community.

NetWorker scales incredibly well and its very well suited for the largest of
enterprises and not-so-large organizations. To say that NetWorker isn't an
Enterprise-worthy backup package is preposterous. For us, NetWorker gets the
job done ... about 95% of the time. Its that 5% that's incredibly annoying!

For example, we've are seeing more Windows file servers hosting files
created by Apple Mac users. I have three Windows 2003 servers with failed
backups the past few days because some Mac users are storing files on these
servers with names that end in a period. Why Windows allows that to happen
is a mystery to me when such file names are not supposed to be supported by
Windows. I am a long time Mac user and I can't imagine why I would ever need
to create a file with a name that ends in a period, but I can if I want to,
and apparently, some of my fellow Mac users want to. So, I opened up a case
with EMC this morning to ask how I can handle such situations with the
NetWorker Windows client. Their response was that such files should be
renamed or backed up with the NetWorker for Mac OS X client. Sigh! So I just
submitted a RFE to fix that issue.

Secondly, I have been fighting for two weeks with Windows 2008, Exchange
2007, and the NetWorker Module for Microsoft Applications to do Exchange
2007 backups in a clustered environment for a proof of concept project. I
have engaged EMC at several levels and they are actively working with me to
get this to work, but it sure is a big time suck. I suspect this POC will
work out fine for us, but it sure is a PITA to demonstrate it.

As an aside, if I had a dime for every grammatical error and typo I have
found in material that EMC publishes, I would have very heavy pockets! I
just found a grammatical error in the legal blurb that's displayed when one
submits an RFE via PowerLink. I am surprised that EMC doesn't have a few
technical writers to proof read stuff. Yes, I know this complaint is a nit
picky thing.

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