Backing up a virtualized WinNT4 Server

[RockyHabeeb]

Dear Forum,

I have virtualized a mission critical Windows NT Server 4.0 member server (SP6a) system.

But my BEX 2014 SP2 will NOT back it up within vCenter (ESXi 5.0)

It hangs and locks and forces a hard takedown.

BUT the system runs fine in vCenter and on the network.

I was wondering if anyone would know if it is because BEX 2014 simply does not work on NT systems.

Any info you could offer would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Rocky.

[CraigV]

Hi rocky,

Windows NT Server was dropped years ago. BE 2014 will not support it via AVVI agent or RAWS agent.

Thanks!

[CraigV]

...my suggestion would be to do an NTbackup to a shared folder on a VM with a supported OS and back it up like that via BE.

Thanks!

[Larry_Fine]

The oldest OS that I see on the SCL for a Remote Agent is Windows 2003.  The BE 2014 SCL says that you can use the BE 12.5 Agent temporarily, but based upon the 12.5 SCL, that only goes back as far as Windows 2000.

I think that NT 4 is simply too old to work and certainly isn't supported by BE.  Microsoft support ended in 2004.  Maybe Backup Exec 9 or 10 would work for you?

[CraigV]

...which means another server to handle the supported OS for BE 9/10. And assuming the download will be given by a Symantec employee; no support for it, no maintenance etc.

Not a good suggestion. And I say this because yesterday an OP was asking Symantec for a BE 2010 R3 license in order to backup his version of SharePoint and the answer was no. Symantec wouldn't do this because BE 2010 R3 was no longer supported.

Thanks!

[Marianne]

The problem is that VMware does not support this OS.

See https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vddk/VDDK-500-ReleaseNotes.html 

Extract:

VDDK 5.0 Release Notes

Release date: 24 AUG 2011 | Builds: ESXi 469512, VDDK 427917.
Last document update: 16 APR 2014.
Check frequently for additions and updates to these release notes.

Contents

• About the 5.0 Virtual Disk Development Kit
• Compatibility Notices for Partners
• Recently Resolved Issues
• Known Issues and Workarounds

---

About the 5.0 Virtual Disk Development Kit

The Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) 5.0 is an update to support vSphere 5 and to resolve issues discovered in previous releases.

VDDK 5.0 adds support for ESXi 5.0 and vCenter Server 5.0, and now works with the following VMware platform products:

• ESX/ESXi versions: 5.0, 4.1, 4.0, and 3.5
• vCenter Server versions: 5.0, 4.1, and 4.0 managing ESX/ESXi 3.5 and later
• VirtualCenter version: 2.5 managing ESX/ESXi 3.5

VDDK 5.0 was tested with (and supports) the following operating systems to perform proxy backup:

• Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2003 SP2
• Windows XP SP3
• CentOS 5.5
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 and 11
• Ubuntu 10.04