I'm looking more from a backup operator's point of view, so I'm also assuming that the backup vendors are working on implementing this new version of NDMP in their software.

Yes, the implication here is exactly right--v4 certainly buys you nothing if the backup vendor doesn't yet support v4. However, I believe most vendors are planning to release support for this fairly soon. (I'll avoid putting my foot further into my mouth with anything more specific.)

Furthermore, besides the requirement of fixing some loopholes which caused troubles and cleaning up error reporting somewhat, alot of the new functionality is provided by extensions to the base protocol. And implementing any given extension is optional with v4.

So I guess the short answer is: for now, there's probably no benefit to turning on ndmp v4. In the future, there will be some snazzy new things (for example snapshot management from the backup application).

Cheers, dave

-----Original Message----- From: Geoff Hardin To: toasters@mathworks.com; quickrestore@dalsemi.com Sent: 12/11/01 6:51 AM Subject: NDMP v4

I just got the product availabilty release from NetApp this morning for DOT 6.1.2 and it mentioned support for NDMP v4. Anyone know what this buys the average end-user? I'm looking more from a backup operator's point of view, so I'm also assuming that the backup vendors are working on implementing this new version of NDMP in their software. I tried reading the draft proposal for v4, but it's rather dry reading to the layman. I included the link in case anyone else is interested (or an insomniac).

http://www.ndmp.org/download/sdk_v4/draft-skardal-ndmpv4-03.txt

Thanks,

Geoff Hardin geoff.hardin@dalsemi.com