Backup Exec, proprietary backup software developed since 2005 by Symantec, has a
long history of successive owner-companies. Its earliest roots
stretch back to the early 1980s when Maynard Electronics wrote a bundle of
software drivers to help sell their tape-drive products. As of 2014 Backup
Exec provides market leading Backup and Recovery software for all sizes of
organizations that are predominantly Microsoft or VMware centric
data-protection solution. Backup Exec protects both virtual and physical
environments with a single user interface.
History = Provenance =
1982 - Maynard Electronics started. Maynard's software is known as
"MaynStream." 1989 - Maynard is acquired by Archive
Corp. MaynStream is available for DOS, Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, and NetWare.
1991 - Quest Development Corporation is independently formed to develop backup
software under contract for Symantec. 1993 - Conner Peripherals acquires
Archive Corp. and renames the software "Backup Exec".
1993 - Quest acquired rights to FastBack for Macintosh, and hired its principal
author, Tom Chappell, from Fifth Generation Systems.
1994 - Conner creates a subsidiary, Arcada Software, by acquiring Quest and
merging it with their existing software division.
1995 - Arcada acquires the SyTron division from Rexon, including their
OS/2 backup software. 1996 - Conner is acquired by Seagate
Technology and Arcada is merged into its subsidiary Seagate Software.
1999 - VERITAS Software acquires Seagate Software's Network and Storage
Management Group, which included Backup Exec.
2005 - Symantec acquires VERITAS, including both Backup Exec and
NetBackup. = Major releases =
Seagate Backup Exec 7.2, October 1998 VERITAS Backup Exec 7.3, March 1999
VERITAS Backup Exec 8.0, January 2000 VERITAS Backup Exec 8.6, November 2001
VERITAS Backup Exec 9.0, June 2003 VERITAS Backup Exec 9.1, December 2003
VERITAS Backup Exec 10.0, January 2005 Symantec Backup Exec 10d, September 2005
Symantec Backup Exec 11d, November 2006 Symantec Backup Exec 12, February 2008
Symantec Backup Exec 12.5, October 2008 Symantec Backup Exec 2010, February 2010
Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R2, August 2010
Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3, May 2011 Symantec Backup Exec 2012, March 5, 2012
Symantec Backup Exec 2014,, June 2, 2014 Symantec Backup Exec 15,, 2015-04-06
Architecture Backup Exec installations can have one
or more media servers, which are responsible for moving data from one or
more locations to a storage medium, including virtually any disk or tape
device. The data may be from the local system or from a remote system. The core
Backup Exec product can have additional functionality unlocked through the
addition of agent and option licenses. Not all agents are agents in the
traditional sense. For example the Agent for VMware and Hyper-V is not carrying
out the backup process. The agent is simply collecting meta data so that
Backup Exec can perform granular recoveries directly from storage at a
point in the future - no mounting required. Multiple media servers can be
managed using the Central Admin Server Option. Current versions of the software
support Microsoft, VMware, Linux and Macintosh amongst a longer list of
supported software. Backup Exec shares the same Microsoft
Tape Format with Windows' built-in NTBackup.
See also List of backup software
References External links
Backup Exec Product Page on Symantec.com Backup Exec Knowledge Base Search page
Backup Exec 12 Best Practices Guide Backup Exec 11d Best Practices Guide
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