Backup Exec 2012 support for VMWare ESXi 4.1

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi,

I got an HP DL370 G6 with VMWare ESXi 4.1 with the following VMs

VM1 = Windows 2008 with FileServices Role

VM2 = Windows 2008 with MySQL

VM3 = Windows 2008 with MySQL

Question:

1. Does Agent for VMWare and Hyper-V  support VMWare ESXi 4.1 free version ? Do I need VCenter.

2. Do I need to purchase Agent for Windows for Each VM?

3. How to protect MySQL database, I don't see any agents for it ?

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4. Instead of using Agent for VMware and Hyper-V can I just use Agent for Windows to backup each vm instead of the entire ESXi host,

will this work on the free version of ESXi 4.1 / 5.0 / 5.1?

Thanks,

Paul

[Jaydeep_S · Accepted solution]

Backup Exec uses VADP or VStorage API to Backup the ESX VMs. This is a licenced feature from VMWare. Unless you have this, you wouldn't be able to backup / restore the VMs from ESX using the VMWare Agent of Backup Exec.

Yes, you can install RAWS / RALUS (Remote Agent for Windows and Linux) on the VMs and back them up as they were a physical machines.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH150567

Or

VMware KB article 1021175

[CraigV]

Hi,

1. Straight from the SCL:

Note: All free versions of ESXi (4i and 5) require a minimum license from VMware in order to be protected by Backup Exec. This is due to the lack of vStorage API for

Data Protection support in the free unlicensed versions of ESXi and is a current limitation of VMware.

ESXi 4.1 is supported.

2. If you want to do GRT backups/restores, then yes.

3. You can create flat-files of the MySQL DB and then back that up via the AVVI agent, or the RAWS agent.

Thanks!

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi,

1. Do I need VCenter in order for Agent for VMWare and Hyper-V to work ?

2. As I understand Agent for Windows would be an alternative if Im using the free version of VMWare ESXi 4.1, this would be similar to backuping and restoring a phyical machine.

3. How to backup the MySQL Database ?

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How to check if I have a license version of ESXi 4.1 using VClient...

----> the License page says I have 256 GB of RAM entitlment ? As I remember the free version comes only with 32 GB RAM.

Thanks,

Paul

[Jaydeep_S]

1. Here is the link to the Software compatibilty list. Different versions of VMWare or Hyper-V are supported. You dont need VCenter to backup ESX. Not sure if it has anything to even do with Hyper-V

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH205797

2. Yes it is similar to backup / restore of a physical machine

3. Backup MySQL database to a flat file and then backup this file using Backup Exec as BE cannot directly backup data form MYSQL.

Edit: i.e take the MySQL database offline copy the database files to a folder and then use Backup Exec to backup that folder.

[pmevalenzuela]

Thanks.

Last question... Sorry for my endless inqueries...

1. If I had the license version of ESXi 4.1, and purchase agent for VMWare and Hyper-V...

Would I still need to license each VM with an agent for Windows ?

Thanks,

Paul

[Jaydeep_S]

Check the documentation for VRAY edition.

http://www.symantec.com/backup-exec-vray-edition

As for the Agent licences, No. VMware licence covers all the Remote Agent licences that have been installed on the VMs on the host that is licenced.

See if this technote helps you to find if you have VStorage API's licenced.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH166646