Product End-of-Life Procedures
Support policies vary between agent and server products, with agents generally being supported for a much longer period.
See these pages for definitions of "Full Support" and "Sustaining Support".
Arkeia Software end-of-life procedures vary by product type. Agents are typically supported for at least ten years. Today, Arkeia still supports clients delivered in 1999. We have customers who have deployed over a thousand agents and understand that the cost of agent upgrades can be substantial.
Specialized agents, including those for applications and databases, may not be forward compatible due to changes in the application (MS Exchange), database (e.g. MySQL), or virtual machine hypervisor (e.g. VMware).
Servers, including backup servers, replication servers, and central management servers are supported typically for a period of four years, though this period can vary by specific versions and products.
Support status and target end-of-life dates for Servers are described below. Servers include Backup Servers, Media Servers, Replication Servers, Central Management Servers, and the Web User Interface Server. Optional features include Remote Storage Option, Shared Storage Option, Deduplication, Disaster Recovery, and NDMP support.
| Version | Technical Support Status |
| |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v10.0 | Full Support | 31-Jan-2015 | 31-Jan-2017 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v9.1 | Full Support | 31-Jan-2014 | 31-Jan-2016 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v9.0 | Full Support | 30-Jun-2013 | 30-Jun-2015 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v8.2 | Sustaining Support | 30-Jun-2012 | 30-Jun-2014 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v8.1 | Sustaining Support | 30-Sep-2011 | 30-Sep-2013 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v8.0 | Unsupported | 31-Mar-2011 | 31-Mar-2013 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v7.0 | Unsupported |
31-Dec-2009 | 31-Dec-2011 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v6.0 | Unsupported |
30-Sep-2008 | 30-Sep-2010 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v5.3 | Unsupported | 31-Mar-2006 | 31-Mar-2008 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v5.2 | Unsupported | 31-Mar-2005 | 31-Mar-2007 | ||||||
| v5.1 | Unsupported | 31-Jan-2005 | 31-Jan-2007 | ||||||
| v5.0 | Unsupported | 31-Jul-2004 | 31-Jul-2006 | ||||||
| v4.2 | Unsupported | 31-Aug-2001 | 31-Aug-2003 |
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Support status and target end-of-life dates for generic File Agents are described below. Specialized agents are supported only for a specific version of the target database or application.
| Version | Technical Support Status |
| |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v10.0 | Full Support | 31-Jan-2015 | 31-Jan-2023 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v9.1 | Full Support | 31-Jan-2014 | 31-Jan-2022 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v9.0 | Full Support | 30-Jun-2013 | 30-Jun-2021 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v8.2 | Sustaining Support | 30-Jun-2012 | 30-Jun-2020 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v8.1 | Sustaining Support | 30-Sep-2011 | 30-Sep-2019 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v8.0 | Sustaining Support | 31-Mar-2011 | 31-Mar-2019 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v7.0 | Sustaining Support | 31-Dec-2009 | 31-Dec-2017 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v6.0 | Sustaining Support | 30-Sep-2008 | 30-Sep-2016 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v5.3 | Sustaining Support | 30-Nov-2006 | 30-Nov-2014 | Documentation | Change log | ||||
| v5.2 | Sustaining Support | 31-Jul-2005 | 31-Jul-2013 | ||||||
| v5.1 | Unsupported | 28-Feb-2005 | 28-Feb-2013 | ||||||
| v5.0 | Unsupported | 31-Jul-2004 | 31-Jul-2012 | ||||||
| v4.2 | Unsupported | 31-Aug-2000 | 31-Aug-2008 | ||||||
Support status and target end-of-life dates for Agent Plugins (i.e. Hot Backup Agents) are described below. Agent plugins not listed in the table below are not scheduled for transition to sustaining support and remain at full support.
| Agent Plugin in Transition to End-of-Life | Technical Support Status |
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open-Xchange Agent | Sustaining Support | 30-Apr-2012 | 30-Apr-2014 | Documentation | ||||
| VMware ESX 3.0/3.5 Agent (console-deployed) | Unsupported | 30-Jun-2010 | 30-Jun-2012 | Documentation | ||||
The features of Arkeia's support offerings are listed in the Services section of this web site. Both Full and Sustaining Support largely offer the same services, delivered in the response times and escalation protocols stipulated by the Service Level Agreement (Gold, Silver, or Bronze). These include:
- Telephone Support
- Email Support
- Availabililty of all software updates, including product enhancements
- Workarounds, where possible
- Bug fixes, where necessary
The difference between Full and Sustaining support is that only critical, "blocker" bugs are back-ported to releases under Sustaining Support.
In the unlikely case that a product is covered by a maintenance agreement at the moment that End-of-Life is declared, Sustaining Support will be provided through the end of the maintenance contract. Maintenance agreements will not be offered or renewed for End-of-Life products.
Enhancement requests are always welcome. We strive to deliver software that meets the evolving needs of our customers. Customer requests for enhancements are important to guiding our product development efforts.