BE2012 - Backup group containing physical and virtual - no VM Backup option

[Lesta_G]

OK , is this by design or a bug?

I make a group up of a physical server and a vCenter

I then choose to run a backup of that group

There is no way in the backup options I can select transport mode, GRT etc

The virtual machines subsection is missing

If I make a group of 1 containing the vCenter and create a backup the virtual machines subsection is available

and the answer is?

[SuperBrain]

Using this option will help you create individual (seperate) backup jobs (with same settings) for multiple servers at the same time.

Did you create jobs using Groups? 

If yes, thn right click on that Group - Select Edit Backups - Select the vCenter server and continue. Do you see the virtual server options now?

Also, once the jobs are created, you can then modify each job individually to customize the selections/settings/schedules/target devices/etc.

[AshwinApte]

Groups are generally meant for backing up servers which have the same applications on them for eg; all your Exchange servers or SQL servers etc.

It is not really meant for grouping and backing up different resources like physical servers and vCenter.

[SuperBrain]

What Ashwin mentioned above is one way of using Groups in BE 2012.

Server groups are a way to organize and view server information in the list of servers. Server groups can be created based on any criteria, like:

• Server group with specific type of servers like File Servers / Mail Servers / Database Servers / etc.
• Server group with servers that reside in a specific department / location / domain / etc.

Server groups can be used to:

• Create individual (separate) backup jobs with same settings for multiple servers in a group. 
  This can save a lot of time and effort required to create backup jobs as compared to creating jobs for each server one-by-one.
• View list of servers added to that group.
• Monitor status of all the servers in the group at a glance.

For more informaiton on using Groups -https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/using-groups-backup-exec-2012

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

Firstly did you add the vCenter server as a Vmware type machine - or because it can be running Windows did you push install the agent software to it - if you push installed the agent software then I suspect it won't show you VMware options (and this would be by design.)

If you did add the vCenter as a VMware server then, I suspect you have found a groupng limitation - you probably can still create the jobs via the group, but after creating the jobs you will have to click on the vCenter itself and then edit the jobs to change the properties and selection lists to be appropriate to VMware backup.

EDIT: have reproduced what you describe, as I am not not 100% sure which bit is by design. i.e. did we intend this to be an allowed grouping and therefore have a problem in the available options, or did we intend that there should be a limitation and allowing the mixed selection list in the group is wrong. As such I have asked an internal question. Note I have also confirmed that you can create the jobs by group and after creation edit the individual  jobs to edit the properties and that the VMware option do then show if you need to customize a specific job.

[Lesta_G]

Thanks all, and esp to Colin for taking the time for duplicating my scenario

Yes, I did add it as a vmware type machine rather than a physical ( it has no BE agent on it at present)

For me its just getting my head around how BE2012 works now ( I am perservering before going back to BE2010)

I suppose I was thinking groups was a way of "getting around" this server based backup regime compared to BE2010 job based regime

(obviously taking time to read the documentation would help :) )

Currently under BE2010 I have one policy that backs up Physical server, specific shares and VMs via vCenter. It backs up to disk and duplicates to tape, also there are Daily and Monthly options in the policy.

I am trying to blend this into BE2012

I suppose if your were looking to chain server jobs together, then logically to me you would use groups to provide that (but what do I know  )

[Colin_Weaver]

Just for info I have arranged for the creation of a public document for this (as part of the response I received internally.)

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH189958

Note: I suspect but have not had confirmation that we may decide to change this behaviour in a future core release instead of by Hotfix.

[Colin_Weaver]

I have now had confirmation that the change would be too complex for the current BE version, however we will look to fix it in the next major release. Within a couple of days the TECH article for the issue should refelect this new status.

[Lesta_G]

Thanks for that update Colin. BTW that link http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH189958 does not appear to work for me

ETA.. well that was weird doc viewable now...