Cannot add NFS mount to Disk Pool

On the Windows server, I have the F: drive mounted as ......

Network mount point cannot be specified as a drive letter.

A drive letter is only valid for the user who mounted it.

NBU needs to be able to access network path without any user logged on.
UNC path should be specified, not a drive letter.

 ... there are no user id groups or passwords associated with it.....

Even NFS share has user credentials associated with it.

On the source server, the mount point has ownership and read/write permissions for the user (owner), group and 'other'.
When shared, permissions are specified. 
Neither Unix nor Windows will permit access without any OS-level security.

Which user priviledge you are running NetBackup services on? I suppose default user priviledge - Local System - has no right against resources outside. I'm not sure use of NFS on Wondows is possible, but at least     services need appropriate rights to NFS so you need to tun services with some user account that have rights to access NFS.

BTW, why don't you use CIFS? Primary network filesystem protocol on Windows is CIFS. It is not cleary documented, but NetBackup may not have ability of using NFS as Disk Pool on Windows.

NetBackup Server was installed under the administrator login on the Windows 2K8 R2 server. 

On the Windows server, I have the F: drive mounted as the 10.x.x.x:/exports/netbackup as it is being presented via /etc/exports directly for the NetBackup server. That part works fine. Its just as if NetBackup doesn't see it for some reason.

As for the CIFS - The Oracle Linux server (where the NFS server resides) is running NFS v3. Samba / CIFS isn't permitted in our environment at the moment (not my decision by any means), so I am trying to use what is currently available without adding more complexity to the equation.

Change NetBackup Client service and NetBackup Remote Manager and Monitor Service  to an account with access to the share.  

See http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO34525

This is not CIFS storage. This is NFS storage that is available on a remote server and there are no user id groups or passwords associated with it.

If NFS is not going to be an option for the disk pool, can NetBackup connect to a Samba / CIFS mount that allows for null passwords / guest accounts? The remote storage server (running Oracle Linux v5) is not on the Windows AD domain environment -- strictly standalone.

Please have a look at 'AdvancedDisk Considerations'  in NBU 7.x HCL:  http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76495

If the NBU logon account (default is LocalSystem) for above 2 services can access the storage on Windows as UNC path, all will be fine.

See if you can test read/write access using UNC path.
 

Okay, I got the Samba / CIFS mount to work (i.e. \\10.x.x.x\netbackup) fine and as a test did the Disk Pool wizard to see if it could Validate it.  It was able to, so I stopped the wizard as I didn't want to screw anything up.

Now my next part of the question...

How do I add the Samba / CIFS mount to an existing disk pool via the GUI?

Create an new disk pool, then merge with existing disk pool. 

See 'Merging AdvancedDisk disk pools' in  NetBackup AdvancedDisk Storage Solutions Guide 

Well, I got the Samba / CIFS share to merge into the disk pool. However, when I am running a scheduled backup, the backup will run for a few minutes then a new message will appear on the Linux server side and then the NetBackup backup process fails.

[2014/06/11 15:00:49, 1] smbd/service.c:make_connection_snum(1085)
  jxnetbackp001 (10.10.40.166) connect to service netbackup initially as user nobody (uid=99, gid=99) (pid 13524)
[2014/06/11 15:05:01, 1] smbd/service.c:close_cnum(1282)
  jxnetbackp001 (10.10.40.166) closed connection to service netbackup

Note that the Samba share is allowing for guests and null passwords, so that not only can NetBackup access the directory but anyone else in the network. The Linux server nor the Samba is configured for domain access.

Samba configuration:

[global]
        workgroup = BACKUP
        server string = Samba Server Version %v

        netbios name = jxnasp001

        log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
        max log size = 50

        security = user
        ;encrypt passwd = yes
        passdb backend = tdbsam
        map to guest = bad user
        obey pam restrictions = No

        ;client ntlmv2 auth = yes
        ;disable netbios = no
        ;server signing = AUTO
        ;client use spnego = yes
        ;ntlm auth = no
        ;lanman auth = no

        local master = no

        load printers = no
        printing = bsd
        printcap name = /dev/null
        show add printer wizard = no
        disable spoolss = yes

[netbackup]
comment = NetBackup Storage
path = /export/netbackup
null passwords = yes
public = yes
guest ok = yes
writable = yes
printable = no

Any ideas on where the problem is?