Backup Exec 2012 on a Domain Controller

[MJGAIL]

Hi,

I've got Backup Exec 2012 V-Ray Edition installed on a Server 2008 R2 physical server.  It is being used to backup a small Hyper-V environment, with a total of 12 VM's.  As for Domain Controllers, I have 2 virtual DC's in Hyper-V, and one physical (a PC built with 2008 R2 to establish a domain for the Hyper-V build).  The PC can't stay as a DC, so I need to look at another physical option - and the only other physical option is the BE server.

I've looked through the documentation for BE 2012, and I did not find one comment that said "don't put BE on a Domain Controller" or "don't promote a BE server to be a DC". The closest I found was to say that SQL Express could not be installed on a DC, but that won't be an issue for me, as the SQL server is on a VM.

So, is BE on a DC a completely unsupported option, or not recommended, or no issues at all?  I have heard from one person that promote the BE server to being a DC will break BE - so has anyone had any experience like this?  I've only just established the backups for this environment, so I have no issues in re-installing BE if required.

I would appreciate any advice people might be able to share.

Thanks

MG

[AmolB]

 The closest I found was to say that SQL Express could not be installed on a DC, but that won't be an issue for me, as the SQL server is on a VM.

Backup Exec creates its database on SQL Express. When you install BE, SQL express 

gets installed along with the core product unless you explicit select another SQL instanace.

[pkh]

There is no problem making media server a DC.  My media server is a DC.  There is also no problems installing default SQL Express instance for the BEDB on a DC.  You should use the default SQL Express instance for the BEDB on the media server.  This configuration is more stable than using a SQL instance on a remote server.  If you do want to use a remote instance, make sure that it is a separate instance.  Do not put your BEDB on a production instance because the BEDB may need to be restarted from time to time.

The only things to consider are

1) The media server should not be the only DC in the domain.  If this is do, then it would be difficult to recover your AD.  Recovering your media server is bad enough, without having to recover your AD at the same time.

2) If you happen to be doing a lot of backups/restores during your working hours, then the AD login authentication may be affected because of the load by BE.  If you do all your backups at night, this should not be a problem.

[Steve_Broomell]

The only restriction regarding installing Backup Exec on a DC is if the DC is a RODC (read-only domain controller).  SQL Express will fail to install on a RODC (SQL limitation). 

So if you try to install Backup Exec on a RODC, the option to install SQL Express as part of the Backup Exec will be grayed out.  You will have to select a SQL instance on another machine.