A change that EMC made with 7.3 is that all clients also have to be
backwards compatible with the 7.x servers.  It was nice to upgrade the
clients first then the server and be supported. :)

On Thu, 2008-05-22 at 11:19 -0500, Browning, David wrote:
> Look on powerlink for this document:
> 
> Technical Guidance for Upgrades to EMC NetWorker 7.4
> Service Pack 2
> 
> Your answers will be in there, along with others. 
> 
> Specificially:
> Note: The features described in this section only apply for NetWorker
> versions 7.3.x and above. You would still be able to backup and recover
> data from older client versions (7.2.x and older) using a NetWorker 7.4
> SP 2 server, but without the benefits provided by the new features (such
> as new authentication). Please refer to:
> http://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg83215 for more
> information.
> 
> Technically, 7.4 client on 7.2 server isn't supported, but does work (at
> least most of the time). 
> 
> David M. Browning Jr.
> IT Project Coordinator Enterprise Backups and Help Desk
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: EMC NetWorker discussion [mailto:NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU] 
> On
> Behalf Of Valdis Kletnieks
> Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:01 AM
> To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
> Subject: [Networker] NW 7.2->7.4 upgrade - clients...
> 
> So I inherited a fairly large (300 clients backing up to an SL8500) 7.2
> server, and we have some LTO-4 tape drives on order, which apparently
> need 7.3.3 or later to support, so I may as well upgrade to "latest and
> greatest".  I've got the media, the documentation, the licenses, and all
> that.
> 
> I found a nice blurb about the auto-ambush client upgrade on page 45 of
> the Install guide, and quickly dismissed that as a non-starter in our
> environment.
> 
> What I *can't* find is any clear statement about client versus server
> release levels - in particular:
> 
> 1) If the server is at 7.2, will a 7.4 client work if they upgrade
> first?
> 2) Once the client goes to 7.4, what's the oldest client that will still
> be supported? I think I've got a few 7.1 clients still out there...
> 
> Any "you idiot, read page NN of the Foo Guide" replies would be greatly
> appreciated... :)
> 
> To sign off this list, send email to listserv AT listserv.temple DOT edu and
> type "signoff networker" in the body of the email. Please write to
> networker-request AT listserv.temple DOT edu if you have any problems with 
> this
> list. You can access the archives at
> http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html or
> via RSS at http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?RSS&L=NETWORKER
> 
> To sign off this list, send email to listserv AT listserv.temple DOT edu and 
> type "signoff networker" in the body of the email. Please write to 
> networker-request AT listserv.temple DOT edu if you have any problems with 
> this list. You can access the archives at 
> http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html or
> via RSS at http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?RSS&L=NETWORKER
-- 

David Dulek
Storage Administration Lead
Fastenal Company
E-mail: ddulek AT fastenal DOT com
Phone: (507) 313-7033
Fax:   (507) 453-8333

To sign off this list, send email to listserv AT listserv.temple DOT edu and 
type "signoff networker" in the body of the email. Please write to 
networker-request AT listserv.temple DOT edu if you have any problems with this 
list. You can access the archives at 
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html or
via RSS at http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?RSS&L=NETWORKER