BE 2014 running on Windows Server 2008 R2 and trying to backup up 2012 R2 AD

[digone52]

When trying to do a GRT backup of VMWare virtualised Windows Server 2012 R2 AD I get the following...

V-79-57344-38730 - Backup Exec was unable to authenticate with virtual machine <virtual machine address> and was unable to collect the necessary metadata to restore individual application items. You cannot perform GRT-enabled restores of application data from this backup. You must edit the credentials for the host computer's backup job and then select the proper credentials for the virtual machine.

My BE 2014 server is running Windows Server 2008 R2.

In the advertising of Backup Exec 2014 it claims...

"Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 Support

Backup Exec 2014 fully supports Windows Server 2012 and Windows server 2012 R2. You can back up and recover Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2, at any level, whenever and however you need to."

However, in a forum message I have read that the backup server needs to be Windows Server 2012 based to be able to back up a 2012 R2 AD. I can't see this mentioned anywhere else at the moment.

Can someone please clarify whether I need to upgrade my backup server to Windows Server 2012 R2 to acheive what I want, or whether there is another problem I am facing.

I'm pretty sure that the credentials are correct.

Thanks.

[pkh]

You need to upgrade your media sever to Server 2012 R2. See page 27 the SCL below http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH217478 and the document below http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH201411

[digone52]

Hi pkh.

Sorry for the delay in replying.

The error as documented did happen on when trying to back up a Windows Server 2012 R2 AD with GRT from a Windows Server 2008 R2 Backup Exec Media Server, so I now know that this should not work. Thank you for the information.

However, I also got the same message when trying to back up a Windows Server 2008 R2 AD with GRT from the same media server. This has always worked in the past. The media server and the AD are in different Windows AD domains, without a trust between them. It appears to me that the credentials are set correctly - nothing has been altered through the upgrade to BE 2014.

What DID work is the backup of the Windows Server 2008 R2 AD with GRT for the DC which is in the same domain as the media server.

Any suggestions appreciated as to why I cannot backup a DC with GRT outside of the domain of the media server.

Note that there can be delays in my replying as I am now on summer vacation, but will be responding in the mornings and evenings. We did have other issues with the BE 2014 upgrade, but these are out-of-scape with this article, so will deal with these separately.

Many thanks.