Hi Shaun,

This is exactly why I moved away from using NDMP, and why I would like to find a backup solution that doesn't require it. Just a few days ago, when I mentioned this, NetApp went on and on about how they understood they had a problem and worked really hard to fix it and how wonderful the new NDMP code written in JAVA was. And then we see these problems.

I still stand by what I said, which was:

I believe this effort has paid off and that we have fixed our issues in 5.2.*. For 5.3 we ported the NDMP server to run in the Java Virtual Machine & support V3. Results so far have shown some bugs, reported on toasters, but these have been fixed and we have a very stable product.

I have little faith in NetApp's ability to properly impliment this protocol. Backups are the single most important function I manage as an administrator, and NetApp seems hell bent on making that process a nightmare for me, rather than providing me with a rock solid solution.

Obviously, the challenge for NetApp is to restore your faith in our delivery of backup solutions, NDMP compliant or not. Seems that I have a few customers to convince of our dedication to effectively supporting NDMP.

Since 5.3 shipped in April we have found 6 *NDMP* bugs, including one today :( [13914, 13442, 14897, 15997, 16061, 16949]. Our record should be better, but not all bugs affect everybody or all compliant applications.

2 other bugs which cause issues while running NDMP, i.e. the NDMP experience is flawed by other services it utilizes such as the jvm or dump & restore [13252, 16084] have also been reported.

These are all either fixed in 5.3.2 or fixes will be available in a subsequent (08/23) 5.3.2D1 release from customer support, except 15997 which will be fixed in a future maintenance release (slated for end of October).

FYI, Data ONTAP 5.2.3 & 5.3.2 are now available for download from NOW:

http://now.netapp.com/cgi-bin/software/#ONTAP5

Does the engineer or project manager responsible for NDMP monitor

this mailing list?

Benjy, I'm the development manager responsible for NDMP at Network Appliance and I certainly do monitor this mailing list. Thank you all for your feedback. Hopefully, my responses are helping you understand our current NDMP position.

Cheers, Grant

=========== grant@netapp.com ========== Grant Melvin === === Mgr, FS Recovery Group === === Network Appliance === |\ | __ ___ /\ __ __ === 495 East Java Drive === | \ | |__ | /__\ |__| |__| === Sunnyvale === | | |__ | / \ | | (R) === California === === 94089 === === Tel:(408)822-6761 =========== Network Appliance ========== Fax:(408)822-4457/4525/4559