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Backup Exec 2010 Agents & Options

FilGov
Level 3

Scenario:

  • SERVER01 - DHCP server + file server + licensing server + print server;
  • SERVER02 - backup server (Symantec Backup Exec 2010) + e-mail server (Tobit David) + file server + 1 (in the future maybe up to 4) Hyper-V VM acting as DC with AD-integrated DNS server;
  • SERVER03 - application server (ECM/DMS, ERP, etc.) + DB server (MS SQL Server 2005+) + file server + 1 (in the future maybe up to 4) Hyper-V VM acting as DC with AD-integrated DNS server.

SERVER02 is connected to a Dell PowerVault MD1000 DAS with several TBs of storage.

SERVER03 has a Dell PowerVault RD1000 removable disk storage drive.

Questions:

  1. What and how many agents and/or options are necessary to back up everything?
  2. What and how many agents and/or options are recommended to back up everything?
  3. What and how many agents and/or options are necessary to back up the VMs?
  4. What is the difference between backing up the VMs with Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V and with a regular Backup Exec Agent for Windows Systems?
  5. Seeing as the VMs are simply DCs with AD-integrated DNS servers, can we not simply manually copy the VHD file on the host machine and bypass any agents and/or options?
  6. Is it possible to back up data from SERVER03 to the RD1000 while still centrally backing up everything from all servers to the DAS? Does that require any additional license?
  7. Can Backup Exec 2010 and its DB be installed on different machines?
  8. Could Backup Exec be installed on SERVER03 and back up to the DAS connected to SERVER02? Would that require any additional licenses?
  9. Is there an upgrade path from Backup Exec 12.5 for Windows Servers or the full version at full price must be acquired?
  10. Would any agents and/or options be recommended in particular?
5 REPLIES 5

AmolB
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Too many questions surprise

Below pointers will answer few questions and clear some doubts.

1) To backup any application you need an application specific Remote Agent, For eg: To backup

Exchange server you need Remote Agent for Exchange, for SQL server you need Remote Agent for

SQL and so on. 1 Agent license per server.

 

2) To backup C drive + system state + shadow copy components of a server you need a Remote

agent for Windows. (1 RAWS per server).

Note:  RAWS is included in the application specific agent.

 

3) You have 2 options when it comes to backing up VM's

a) Either buy AVVI or Agent for Hyper V per host and backup all the VM's. With this option you can 

install RAWS on all the VM's to perform GRT backup/restore. Here RAWS lincese is not required 

but application specific agent will be required if the VM is hosting any application.

b) Or buy remote agent for each VM.

 

4) Backup Exec's DB can be installed on a different server.

 

5) Tape drive has to be connected to the server which has the Backup Exec core product installed.

    Backup to Disk folders can be created on a local server or remote server or a SAN or NAS box.

 

6) BE12.5 to BE2010 R3 direct upgrade is possible without losing any data.

If you have a valid mainitenace then Symantec will provide you a free upgrade.

 

Refer to BE2010 R3 SCL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH137682                   

                              HCL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH137050 

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Hi,

 

You're looking at the following:

1. 1 x BE media server license; 1 x Exchange agent license; 2 x Remote Agent for Windows Servers licenses (for SERVER01 and SERVER03). I'd leave off the Hyper-V agent for now if you're not using it. In future, you'd use this if you want to back up the full VMs on the server, but you can also get away with RAWS/application agents on the VMs if all you want to do is restore the data.

2. Read above...same question.

3. - (answered above!)

4. Using the Hyper-V agent you can restore the full VM files; using RAWS allows file-level restores.

5. To copy those files you'll have to shut down the VM, copy the file and then back it up. If you can live with prolonged downtime and can script the copy and the start of the backup accordingly, it should work. However, take the hit and buy the agents...it will really make life a lot easier now and in the future.

6. You can certainly do so, but using SERVER02 you'd do the following:

  6.1 Create a separate selection list for SERVER03 and a separate job.

  6.2 Target the backup to the RD1000

  6.3 The other job/s can still back up to the DAS, and you can run both jobs in parallel.

7. I'd recommend installing the BEDB on the local server. There is very little overhead. If you point it elsewhere, the minute you take down SQL for any sort of maintenance, BE will stop. Performance-wise I'd recommend a local DB, and BE runs its own DB maintenance to prune information.

8. - (read answer 5 in the post above)

9. Read the TN below on how to upgrade.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH67768

10. I'd always recommend using agents. There is no sense in short-cutting your backup environment to save whatever currency you use. Reason for this is less headache configuring backups, restores are easier. Read my article below which indicates my feelings in more details:

 

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/stating-case-using-agents-backup-exec

 

 

Thanks! 

Rob_S1
Level 2

Q 10.  You can back up a SQL server with only the RAWS, not the SQL agent ...

... BUT ... this is very dependent on the level of SQL knowledge in your organisation.

With SQL Maintenance Plans, you can back up on the desired basis to local disks (will, of course, depend on the amount of disk space you have).

Then you can back up those 'flat files' with Backup Exec using only the RAWS.

[SQL Maintenance Plans are outside the scope of this forum]

Cheers

Lesta_G
Level 6

for the Tobit David mail server and other applications. You would need to check with the vendors  as to the best way to back them up to aviod open files and no useful backup

 

The AVVI for hyper-V will back up the servers as a snaphot or image of the machine running at the time the snapshot was taken, so there should be no open file issues, but restore time may be an issue for you if you want just 1 file from theserver as you have to restore teh image, start it up and copy the file off.

GRT will enable you, for a file sever say, to just restore 1 file, without restoring the whole image

 

if you don't havea maintenance contract with Symantec for BE12.5, then you will have to buy new licences, but you should be able to get 30% retail at least

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

...in this case I'd go with recommending the correct choice for the solution, not a cheap option.

Not using an agent means the following:

1. You either need to take SQL offline in order to back up the database files, and then script it to go online, or use SQL's backup utility to back up to *.bak files.

2. The major issue with this would be logs would not be committed to the DBs, restoring becomes a nightmare and your applications may be offline during the backup. They definitely WILL be offline during the restore.

3. BE has Active File Exclusion, so you'd have to consider hacking the AFE in order to back up the SQL database flat-files if you take SQL offline.