B2D, offsite replication, then redirected restore

[Ahmad54]

Hi,

I'm new to Backup Exec, and my boss wants me to implement a backup plan using Symantec Backup Exec. We have 3 ESX servers in our HQ main office with 16 VMs that we would like to protect. One of the VMs is Exchange 2010. We should be able to do GRT-enabled restore from that Exchange VM. We are going to use disk storage as a backup destination. We also want to have offsite backup, to our DR site. There will be another 3 servers there that will sit as standby ESX servers, so in case the servers in the HQ site fail, we just power on the VMs on the standby ESX servers in the DR site. We have a disk storage there too. The two sites are connected using a limited WAN connection.

I tried to read about how to do that, but I need some help just to make sure that I get it right and nothing goes wrong when I do it. Please correct me if I'm wrong:

For the licenses that we should buy for the main office:

1- Buy a license for BE2012 media server. We will install the media server on a new VM.
2- To be able to do GRT-restores, we'll have to buy Agent for Applications and Databases and install it on the Exchange 2010 VM (the Exchange vm itself?! - admin guide page 788). We will have to install Agent for Windows on the Exchange 2010 VM (admin guide pages 780/788/853).
3- Buy 3 license for Agent for Hyper-V and VMware since we have ESX servers.
4- Buy a license for Deduplication option, to save space on the storage.
5- Buy a license for Enterprise option, to enable CASO to communicate with another BE2012 media server on the DR site (to use optimized dedupe).

For the DR site, we need to purchase the following:

1- Buy a license for BE2012 media server and install BE2012 on a new VM.
2- Buy 3 license for Agent for Hyper-V and VMware and install one on each standby ESX server.

Then here comes the configuration steps:

In our main office, we will do a full backup every Saturday 11:00PM, incremental every other day at 11:00 PM.
Using the CASO option to benefit from offsite optimized deduplication, duplicate these bacup sets to the DR site's BE media server, which is attached to the disk storage there.

In our DR site, schedule a redirected restore job (is it possible?) to restore the backup data that was received from the main office to the standby ESX servers in the DR site (I guess we need to buy another deduplication option license for the DR media server, right?).

Thank you in advance

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Hi,

No way to install an agent on a VMware ESX server, and these are instead installed on your media server/s. This unlocks the ability to backup from/restore to VMware.

Your licenses also looks correct.

However, there is no way to do a scheduled restore of data...it would be a manual process.

Thanks!

[Ahmad54]

Thank you CraigV for your fast reply.

You're right about the VMware agent, that was a typo, I meant we'll need 3 agents one for each ESX server.
 

Now what about the Exchange Agent? I read in the admin guide page 788 that I have to install it on the Exchange server itself? I find this strange because other places say that it is just installed on the media server, and the Windows agent is the one to be installed in the Exchange server VM.

Also do I need to buy another deduplication license for the DR site in order to do a restore job?

[CraigV]

The Exchange license (the Database license) gets installed on your media and this gives you the ability to see, backup, and restore Exchange. The RAWS agent gets installed on your remote server, and because the agent is installed on the media server, it "sees" Exchange.

You'd need a dedupe license on the DR side if you want to duplicate your dedupe data to a dedupe folder there, Otherwise the BE media server on the DR site won't be able to add the dedupe folder.

Thanks!

[Ahmad54]

Hi,

Thanks again for your fast reply!

Just to make sure I'm clear on that dedupe thing, for optimized dedupe to work (transfer deduplicated data offsite without rehydration) I need to have two BE media servers, one in each location, and also need one CASO option, besides two Deduplication options, once for each server.

Using Backup Exec 2012, is it possible to implement this backup plan in a different way other than the one mentioned in my first post?

[CraigV]

No, I don't think so. Unless you consider the option to convert to VM during/after a backup, but this might defeat the purpose of your backup strategy.

Thanks!

[Ahmad54]

CraigV,

I have been following backup exec forum for months, and I always found your answers to be very helpful. Thanks so much for your time and effort.

[CraigV]

Cool, no worries!