At what point do I need to license backup exec agent?

[DanielSutton]

Hi Guys, I wish to bulid all our servers to a standard bulid which would include the backup exec remote client. My question is do I need to license the server as soon as remote client is installed or only once the first backup is done? Cheers, Daniel

[pkh]

When you install a software on a machine, it can be deemed to be used so you would need a licence.

[VJware]

Technically you can either install the license before the agent is installed or after the agent is installed...or even after backups...the reason being, when the license is not installed, then the agent defaults over to evaluation mode...once the evaluation period is over, license is to be installed for the backups to continue.

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

You don't gain much by putting the remote agent into a default image as by the time you use the image you will almost certainly have to push out the agent again anyway because of hotfixes and required updates.

Also VJware's answer is not fully valid, as from a technical standpoint (not a legal one) if you have one agent licence on your media server because you have licensed one of the remote servers then we will not block you backing up another remote server so the trial period is not applicable once you have one license.

From a legal point of view you would need to confirm your plan with our customer care/licensing teams as your scenario is somewhat unique - however as we allow you to keep a cold DR site configured (media server already installed but not running active backups) without needing separate licenses for that cold DR location, then I suspect we would make similar allowances for your scenario.