Key Features in 21.1 - GA Release: September 7, 2020

Support for SQL Server Always On – Backup Exec now supports protecting SQL databases using SQL Server Always On availability groups, simplifying the overall backup and restore experience for SQL Server 2012 and later.

Cloud-based file share protection – Backup Exec now supports protecting cloud-based file shares:  Amazon FSx for Windows and Azure files. Keep a copy of your data safe from ransomware and unify your data protection experience across workloads. 

New platform support:

Operating systems:  

• Latest Windows Server (version 2004)  
• Latest Windows 10 (version 2004)  
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 and 8.1 

Workloads:  

• vSphere 7.0
• SharePoint 2019 (with GRT)
• Oracle 18C 

Cloud regions:  

• Google – Salt Lake City and Las Vegas 
• Amazon – Cape Town and Milan 

Enhanced security – Backup Exec now uses an enhanced key generation algorithm: Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2). 

For more details on these and other enhancements, read the release notes.

Key Features in 21 - GA Release: April 6, 2020

• Ransomware Resiliency V2 – Even more protection to Backup Exec processes
• Enhanced deduplication – New, more secure hashing algorithm
• New simplified licensing model – Choose Bronze, Silver and Gold instance-based licensing or capacity metering
• 2-factor authentication – More secure access to the Backup Exec console
• Automated entitlement upgrades – New licence entitlement keys are now automatically generated
• New platform support – Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.7/8/8.1, Windows Server 2019 H2, Windows 10 H2, Oracle Linux 8/8.1, CentOS 6.10/7.7 (x64), SLES 12 SP4 & 15 SP1, Debian 10.0 (x64), Veritas Enterprise Vault 12.5

Key Features in 20.6 – GA Release: December 2, 2019

• Backup Exec Accelerator allows you to perform forever incremental backups of VMware and Hyper-V workloads, drastically reducing backup windows
• Introducing support for UNIX platform (AIX and Solaris)

Key features in 20.5 – GA release: September, 2019

• SaaS Backup reporting integration
• Amazon Glacier and Glacier Deep Archive support
• Hyper-V on Nutanix certification
• Amazon S3 IA One Zone and Intelligent Storage Tiering
• Migration Assistant v2

Key features in 20.4 – GA release: 6 May, 2019

• Ransomware Resilience adds an extra layer of protection to your data, protecting it from external attacks when unauthorised processes attempt to modify it.
• Improved incremental and differential backup performance for virtual machines with Hyper-V Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) with SMB and Scale-out server support, reducing storage overhead associated with volume snapshots.
• Partial VM backup on Hyper-V lets you select individual disks or exclude specific disks for backup.
• Job-specific debug logging.
• GRT support for SharePoint 2016.
• Capacity usage and entitlement tracking with Smart Meter integration.

Key features in 20.3 – GA release: 23 October, 2018

• GDPR Guard - Backup Exec users can now block access to certain backed up items for privacy and compliance requirements of an organisation. With GDPR Guard, users can specify the list of blocked items that should no longer be viewed or restored using Backup Exec.
• Support for Windows Server 2019 - Refer to the Software Compatibility List.
• Retry Backup for Only Failed Resources - Backup Exec users can now retry a failed backup job for only those resources that failed during the last run.
• Backup Virtual Machine Disks Selectively (VMware) - You can now choose which virtual disks to include or exclude when backing up VMware virtual machines. Only applicable with VMware vSphere.
• Support for Alibaba - Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service (OSS) is now supported by Backup Exec Cloud Connector.

Key Features in 20.2 – GA Release: 13 August 2018

• Instant Cloud Recovery – Backup Exec users get Disaster Recovery powered by Azure Site Recovery. You can monitor the replication health and enable replication of on-premise virtual machines, whose hosts are configured with Azure Site Recovery.  Learn more about Azure Site Recovery
• Support for vSphere 6.7 – Backup Exec now protects vSphere 6.7 environments including VM Hardware version 14.
• Support for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016 – Backup Exec now supports protection of SharePoint Server 2016. Granular restore is limited to farm-level components.
• Established trust for vCenter/ESX(i) Servers – Backup Exec users can now review and validate the security SSL certificates installed on vCenter/ESX(i) hosts.
• Windows Server/10 version 1803 – Backup Exec now protects Windows Server version 1803 and Windows 10 version 1803.
• All Azure Geo Regions – Backup Exec now supports all regions for Azure, Azure China, Azure Germany and Azure Government.

Backup Exec (20.2) Readme – Learn more about the details for all features included in this release.

Key Features in 20.1 – GA Release: 2 April 2018

• Subscription and Perpetual-based Licensing - The Subscription and Perpetual licensing models in Backup Exec are available in Bronze, Silver and Gold packaging. The Subscription and Perpetual licensing models facilitate simpler transactions for businesses with fewer sets of licenses to manage for users.
• Expanded cloud coverage - New support for Azure Archival Storage, Amazon Glacier, Chunghwa Telecom hicloud S3, IBM Cloud Object Storage, Infoniqa SWISS3CLOUD, & Amazon S3 in US West1 (Gov FIPS 140-2).
• Enhanced S3-Compatible Cloud service provider coverage – Provides coverage through support for buckets with location constraint settings.
• Superior Deduplication performance - Backup Exec users can get improved speed, scale and stability while backing up to the Backup Exec deduplication folder.
• Backup Exec integrates with Veritas Information Map - Helps organisations gain insight into their data by providing an immersive visual experience of the global information environment for an organisation.
• Enhanced protection for Linux virtual machines - Backup Exec users can now instantly recover any Linux virtual machine. Enhanced backup wizard when you select a Linux virtual machine from the list of servers. 
• Veritas Update replaces LiveUpdate - LiveUpdate has been replaced with Veritas Update to provide seamless updates for Backup Exec.
• Enhanced inbound firewall rules for Backup Exec - Backup Exec has enhanced the existing inbound firewall rules to provide access for only the required ports and restrict access to all other ports. This helps to minimise probability of a security lapse or violation.
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) support - Backup Exec can be installed for data protection in an environment configured to use TLS 1.2 to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 3.1/3.2 requirements.
• Improved IPv6 support - Backup Exec client-side deduplication, NDMP Option and RMAL features can also be used with the IPv6 (Pure and Dual Stack) protocol.
• Support for SQL Server 2017 - Backup Exec now protects SQL Server 2017. You can also host the Backup Exec database on SQL Server 2017.
• New Platform support
  • Exchange 2016 CU8
  • SQL 2014 SP2 CU9
  • SQL 2016 CU7
  • SQL 2017 CU2
  • SLES 12 SP3
  • Debian 9 64-bit

Key Features in 20.0 – GA Release: 7 November 2017

• Subscription-based Licensing - Now available in three editions: Backup Exec Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each edition includes a specific set of features and is priced on a per-terabyte basis.
• Support for SQL Server 2017 - Backup Exec now protects SQL Server 2017. You can also host the Backup Exec database on SQL Server 2017.
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) support - Backup Exec can be installed for data protection in an environment configured to use TLS 1.2 to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 3.1/3.2 requirements.
• Veritas Update replaces LiveUpdate - LiveUpdate has been replaced with Veritas Update to provide seamless updates for Backup Exec.
• Backup Exec on AWS Marketplace - Incredibly easy to deploy, maintain and operate Backup Exec servers to protect AWS workloads.

Backup Exec (20.0) Readme – Learn more about the details for all features included in this release.

Key Features in 16 FP2 – GA Release: 31 July 2017

• Backup Exec™ CloudConnect Optimizer - Backup Exec users benefit from the Backup Exec™ CloudConnect Optimizer as it tunes the Write Connections setting to ensure successful backups and improved data rates based on the network bandwidth.
• S3-compatible cloud storage - Backup Exec continues to expand its cloud capabilities, allowing customers flexible cloud options. You can now configure any S3 compatible cloud storage devices with Backup Exec.
• Support for new cloud storage regions - Backup Exec users benefit from cloud storage choices through support for the following cloud storage regions, enabling greater flexibility and economy:
  • Microsoft Azure Government Cloud
  • Microsoft Azure Germany
  • Amazon Government Cloud
• Support of Regional storage class for Google - To improve accessibility of cloud storage data, Backup Exec supports the Regional storage class for Google cloud storage.
• Dedupe to Cloud with OpenDedupe OST Connector - Reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) with comprehensive dedupe to cloud that can save on storage and infrastructure costs.
• Easy upgrades with Backup Exec™ Migration Assistant - The new Backup Exec Migration Assistant lets you easily migrate your data from one Backup Exec server (source) to another Backup Exec server (destination)
• New Platform support - NetApp FAS with Data ONTAP v9.1, Exchange 2016 CU6, Exchange 2013 SP3 CU17 (KB4012114).

Key Features in 16 FP2 – GA Release: 4 April 2017

• Recovery Ready feature - Validate VM for Recovery operation to validate the recoverability of virtual machines. This helps you to test your ability to respond to and recover from ransomware attacks on a regular basis using automated recoverability verification.
• Instant Recovery 2.0 - Enhanced resiliency increases the data and application availability of VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines that have been Instantly Restored.
• Support for new private cloud-based storage providers - Backup Exec broadens cloud storage choices through support for the following private providers, enabling greater flexibility and economy:
  •  Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS)
  •  RedHat Ceph Storage

• Direct-To-Cloud - Backup Exec users benefit from enhanced Direct-To-Cloud features that increase flexibility for their cloud implementations.
• Support of Infrequent Access Storage tier for Amazon S3 - To improve the economy of cloud data storage, Backup Exec now supports the following tiers for Amazon S3 Cloud Storage:
  • Standard
  • Standard_IA (Infrequent Access)
• Backup Exec on Azure Marketplace - Incredibly easy to deploy, maintain and operate Backup Exec servers to protect Azure workloads.
• New Platform support
  • vSphere 6.0 U3
  • SLES 12 SP2
  • CentOS 7.1
  • Ubuntu 16.04
  • Exchange 2013 CU15 and CU16

Key Features in 16 – GA Release: 7 November 2016

• Support for Microsoft Azure storage cloud - Backup Exec supports Microsoft Azure Storage cloud as a backup target. Backup Exec supports writing backup data to and restoring data from Microsoft Azure Blob storage.
• Support added for Windows 2016 Server - Backup Exec 16 supports Windows 2016 Server. All operating system features supported by Backup Exec on a Windows 2012 R2 server are also supported on a Windows 2016 server.
• Support for VMware vSphere 2016 - Backup Exec supports VMware vSphere 2016.
• User interface - Backup Exec has updated rebranding for Veritas Backup Exec 16.
• Backup Exec 16 Release Notes – Learn more about the details for all features included in this release.

Key Features in 15 FP5 – GA Release: 1 August 2016

• Instant Recovery (IR) for Virtual Machines (VMWare and Hyper-V) - Backup Exec lets you recover a virtual machine instantly without waiting to transfer the virtual machine’s data from a backup set.
• Customisable S3 Cloud Connector - Backup Exec supports backups to private cloud-based storage devices.
• New Platform support
  • SQL 2016
  • SQL 2014 SP2
  • Exchange 2016 CU2
  • Exchange 2013 CU13
  • SharePoint CUs 2013, 2010
  • SharePoint 2013 with SQL 2016 instance 

Key Features in 15 FP4 – GA Release: 18 April 2016

• Instant GRT - Reduce virtual server backup time with an enhanced cataloging feature.
• New Platform support 
  • SharePoint 2010/2013 cumulative updates
  • App Agent - SharePoint 2013 - December 2015 CU
  • March 2016 CUs for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013
  • Windows 10 client cumulative updates
  • Windows 10 November 2015 CU
  • Windows 10 December 2015 CU
  • Windows 10 January 2016 CU
  • Exchange cumulative updates
  • Exchange 2016 CU1
  • Exchange Server 2013 CU12
  • Exchange Server 2010 SP3 RU13
  • Exchange Server 2007 SP3 RU19
  • SQL 2012 SP3
  • Enterprise Vault 12 (without SQL AG)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) (BTRFS) 12 SP1 without AOFO
  • Red Hat Linux (RHEL) 7.2 without AOFO and Agent for Linux
  • Red Hat Linux (RHEL) 6.7 and 7.2 (XFS) without AOFO
  • vSphere 6.0 U2  

Key Features in 15 FP3 – GA Release: 9 December 2015

• New Configuration Validation feature - This new feature provides information about configuration issues. It detects configuration errors and deviations from recommended settings, and provides recommendations for best practices.
• Improved backup and restore times for Hyper-V and VMware - New Improved Hyper-V Incremental Backup Processing Option for Windows 2012/2012R2. Backup Exec will skip data in Pagefile.sys during virtual backups.  This optimisation is applicable for both VMware and Hyper-V. Skipping the data in pagefile.sys will optimise backup size, data transfer over network and backup window.
• Support for new versions of VMware- Backup Exec now supports VMware versions 6.0 U1 and 5.5 U3.
• New options for Hyper-V incremental backups - You can now choose the processing method to use for Hyper-V incremental backups.
• New Exchange High Availability Server option - You can now select the Back up from the preferred server configuration only option.
• Auto-detection of existing database files before installation failure - New installation will check for the presence of Backup Exec database files in the installation directory. If Backup Exec database files are found, the Backup Exec installation allows the user to   choose whether to use the new Backup Exec database files or use the existing files.
• New Platform support
  • CentOS 6.7 (32/64-bit) and 7.0 (64-bit)
  • Exchange 2013 CU10 

Key Features in 15 FP2 – GA Release: 19 October 2015

• Tag as business-critical options - Prioritises the backup of the resources that are the most critical to your business so that the items that are tagged as business-critical resources are backed up in priority order.
• Enhanced support for Microsoft Exchange - Backup Exec now supports backups and restores of Exchange 2016 databases. In addition, support is now available for Exchange 2013 SP1/2016 Database Availability Groups (DAG) without a cluster administrative access point.
• Support for Microsoft Exchange 2016 on Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines - Backup Exec now supports backups and restores of Exchange 2016 on virtual machines.
• Support for cloud storage devices - Backup Exec supports backups to cloud-based storage devices.
• New Platform support
  • Windows 10 Client without SDR
  • Exchange 2013 CU9
  • vSphere 5.5 Update 3
  • vSphere 6.0 Update 1

Key Features in 15 FP1 – GA Release: 8 July 2015

• New Virtual Machine Backup widget - Shows you the number of virtual machines that are backed up using agent-based backups and using virtual-based backups. From the widget, you can view a list of the virtual machines that use agent-based backups.
• Enhancements for Hyper-V and VMware virtual environments - A new wizard helps you create a backup job when you select a virtual machine from the list of servers on the upper portion of the Backup and Restore tab.
• New Platform support
  • Exchange 2013 CU8
  • Exchange 2013 CU9
  • RHEL 7.1 (without AOFO)
  • AOFO for RHEL 5.11 and 6.6
  • SQL 2014 SP1 (Agent and BEDB Repository)
  • SQL 2014 support for SPS 2013​
  • Windows 10 (no SDR support at this time)

Key Features in 15 – GA Release: 6 April 2015

• Support for VMware vSphere 6.0
• Ability to back up and restore Virtual Volume (vVol) datastores
• Ability to back up and restore virtual machines on vSAN datastores
• Hotadd of SATA disks inside guest virtual machines
• Backup Exec Capacity Edition Lite - New Backup Exec edition that is a more affordable way to manage your Backup Exec deployment.
• Backup Exec Database encryption - The Backup Exec Database is now encrypted for additional security. When you install or upgrade Backup Exec, it automatically creates a database encryption key.
• Backup Exec 15 Release Notes – Learn more about the details for all features included in this release.

Key Features in 2014, SP1 & SP2

• Enhanced conversion to a virtual machine
• Updated job scheduling – Updated scheduling feature which offers improved flexibility and more control over your job scheduling.
• Backup source ordering - Adjusting the order can be helpful if you need a specific source to be backed up before others.
• Editing multiple backup selections - Edit the detailed backup selections for multiple jobs at the same time.
• Backing up multiple servers or applications - Back up multiple servers or applications at once using Backup Exec. You can back them up as part of one backup definition or you can back them up individually in separate backup definitions.
• Mixed backup methods - Create backup definitions that use both the incremental and differential backup methods in the same backup definition.
• Delayed catalog operations - Run the catalog operation as a separate job or you can schedule the catalog operation to avoid conflicts with your backup resources.
• Improved credentials management - Select a logon account and test it for use with a server or other backup source.
• Support for user-mode drivers - Veritas kernel-mode tape drivers and tapeinst.exe are no longer installed if Backup Exec 2014 is installed on Windows Server 2012 and later.
• Automatic deletion of expired backup sets and reclamation of disk space on disk-based storage, including disk cartridge media
• Support for Windows Server 2012 in Simplified Disaster Recovery
• Job Monitor tab - The Job Monitor provides a single location to monitor and manage all of your backup, restore, installation and storage operation jobs.
• Enhanced Deduplication- Improved data integrity and recoverability with support for 64-TB storage
• Supports Oracle 12c - For Oracle 12c and later, the Oracle agent supports backup and restore tasks only with a user that has SYSBACKUP privileges.
• Support for multitenant architecture - Backup Exec supports the new multitenant architecture that is introduced in Oracle 12c.
• New Platform support
  • Oracle 12c for Windows and Linux
  • Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 7.0
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.0
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.6
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12
  • Open Enterprise Server (OES) 11 SP2
  • Exchange 2013 CU6
  • SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3
  • SQL Server 2008 SP4
  • Windows 2012 R2 and 8.1 November update
  • NDMP Hitachi FOS 5.x
  • Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 (SDR) Simplified Disaster Recovery
  • Oracle 11.2.0.4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.10 (RHEL) now with AOFO support
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.11 (RHEL) without AOFO
  • Microsoft SQL 2014 (Repository)

Key Features in 2012, SP1 and SP2

• New user interface - New user interface that features a server-centric model that lets you easily back up and restore servers and multi-server distributed applications.
• Updated Home Tab and management- Manage alerts, view server status, monitor disk storage utilisation and more.
• New backup paradigm - Eliminates the need to create policies to combine multiple related operations in a backup job.
• Guided restore - The Restore Wizard guides you through a process that is designed specifically for the type of data that you want to restore.
• Interactive alerts - Alerts are now associated with their source. You can easily distinguish and respond to alerts that are associated with servers, jobs and storage devices.
• New storage handling
• Simplified Disaster Recovery - Backup Exec Simplified Disaster Recovery (SDR) replaces Intelligent Disaster Recovery (IDR).
• Conversion to a virtual machine - You can back up a physical computer and convert it to a virtual machine either simultaneously with the backup job or after the backup job.
• Improved method of updating the Backup Exec server and remote computers
• Reporting improvements
• Improved notification - Configure Backup Exec to notify people by email or text message when alerts occur.
• Discover data to back up - Configure Backup Exec to browse the network and discover application data and servers that have not been backed up.
• True image restore for synthetic backups - True image restore is now automatically enabled by default.
• Checkpoint restart enhancements - Checkpoint restart now supports restarting from points of failure on volume, file and folder backups of local and remote servers.
• New PowerShell interface - The Backup Exec Command Line Applet has been completely redesigned to support PowerShell commands.
• Backup Exec 2012 Release Notes – Learn more about the details for all features included in this release.