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Backup Exec 2014 (or 2012) AWS Storage Gateway problems

Aaron_McQuistan
Level 3

I need assistance from someone who has successfully implemented the AWS Storage Gateway-VTL in either Backup Exec 2012 or in Backup Exec 2014.  On the AWS site, it shows that BE 2012 is a supported application for their Storage Gateway-VTL.  On the Key feature list for BE 2014 is shows that AWS Storage Gateway is supported.  I have not been able to get the VTL to work properly in either.

The problem I am having is that the robotic library (an STK L700) shows up, all 10 of the tape drives show up (ULT3580-TD5), but the drives are not listed under the library.  There are drives under the library, but they are all in red and have a "missing device" error.  I have tried for the last 3 days to work with Symantec support to resolve this.  They claim that the library is support and the drives are supported, but the drives are not support inside of the library.  They provided links to the HCL for both BE 2012 and BE 2014 to prove their point.  So, I asked them why their key new feature matrix for 2014 show support for AWS Storage Gateway and the setup documentation in AWS shows a screenshot of the drives under the library in BE 2012.  They didn't have an answer for this.

They are now telling me that instead of working with me to resolve my issue, they are instead working with the marketing group to remove support for AWS from the feature list.  WTF?!?  The support group is either unwilling or unable to connect me with the product team so that I can get some clarification on what components of the Storage Gateway is supported (besides the VTL, there is also a disk based gateway).

So, if anyone out there has successfully connected their BE installation to the AWS Storage Gateway I would greatly appreciate it if you shared the "secret sauce".

Thanks,

ALM

21 REPLIES 21

Laurie_Downey
Level 6
Employee

Aaron,

 

I am currently looking into this for you. If you would like to send me a PM with the case number, I could look into things a little deeper and possibly assist you better.

BackupMikko
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi Aaron,

apologies for the confusion. The Backup Exec Compatibility lists (HCL & SCL) are where we publish all qualified devices and platforms. Technical Support is correct that the AWS Storage Gateway VTL will not be supported until it appears on the Backup Exec 2014 Hardware Compatibility List.

I will update this thread once AWS Storage Gateway VTL has been added to the Backup Exec 2014 HCL.

In the mean time I would like to connect with you directly to better understand your needs regarding the AWS Storage Gateway VTL with Backup Exec 2014.

Mikko Nykyri

Product Manager, Backup ExecSymantec Corporation

 

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Please see this article

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH222428

Aaron_McQuistan
Level 3

MIkko, thanks for the call today and for getting me connected to the cLab team.  I now have a better understanding of the timing of when the VTL will be compatible and I also have a hotfix that I am going to apply later tonight.

Colin, thank you for the link.  I wish that this information would have been available prior to, or at least the day of, the release of BE 2014.  It would have saved me hours of frustration.

Thanks,

ALM

Rostyslav
Not applicable

Hello,
can you share this "hotfix" ? also can you share results after applying ? does it help ?

Aaron_McQuistan
Level 3

Rostyslav,

The hotfix didn't resolve my issues.  I have continued to work with Symantec though w/o success.  Although it is not supported, apparently the VMWare image that is distributed by Amazon works with BE 2014, the Hyper-V image does not.  This is not something I have not validated as we are a hyper-v shop, but the tech I have been in communication with said they were able to deploying using VMWare.  I also am trying to be patient and wait for full support of the AWS Storage Gateway which they are "working on".  I don't want to have backup issues and be told they will not assist me due to an unsupported configuration.

If you are running VMWare, I would be interested in finding out if your deployment is successful.

Thanks,

ALM

aam-itops
Level 2

Hi all,

 

I've been trialling BExec 2014 and 2012 and have had exactly the same issue - all tape drives report as MISSING DEVICE in red, and are duplicated twice (10 drives as standalone, 10 MISSING under the robotic library).

I've managed to narrow this down to the use of Deduplication local storage. Here's my experience:

  • Build 2014 server
  • Added local dedupe (obviously, as i want to go to disk first)
  • Setup AWS VTL
  • Added VTL through iSCSI
  • Added VTL through Storage in BExec
  • Noticed all devices are missing and assumed it's due to "non supported" statements by both Amazon and Symantec

So...

  • Rebuilt a clean 2008R2 server with BExec 2012
  • Added VTL - works perfectly
  • Added local storage (non-dedupe), restarted - all fine with VTL
  • Added local dedupe, upon service restart, immediately I get 20 drives, 10 in the robotic library are all MISSING

Hence something the dedupe runs completely shafts this. Is it due to the credentials I'm using for dedupe? Some hook in from the dedupe engine in to BExec?

 

This seems an easy fix, and I'm surprised no one else has this (I've googled, perhaps poorly, and found nowt).

 

Any feedback would be appreciated as currently this makes BExec dead for our business as a PoC and I'll have to look at other vendors.

 

Cheers

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Did you install the Hotfix via Liveupdate after installing BE 2014?

aam-itops
Level 2

Yup sorry forgot to say - all Liveupdates applied before i started doing anything.

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

In response specifically to the post by aam-itops

I mentioned apply the latest hotfixs as there is a known serialization issue relating to libraries that these latest updates fix.

However over the weekend there has been some discussion, involving our cLab (certification) team, over your exact scenarion and we have had it confirmed that the Amazon VTL has a separate device inquiry string serialisation issue which is not not resolved by our current hotfix and will cause problems whenever the Amazon VTL is used with another library or a Deduplication Storage Folder (which acts like a library behind the scenes)

The technote previously quoted ( http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH222428) confirms that we are working with Amazon to resolve this issue so that Backup Exec will function with this kind of setup, however it also confirms that we cannot support the Amazon VTL at this current time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

As an update, Symantec have worked with Amazon and the problems are now understood and should be resolved with an upcoming joint release of updates against both the AWS VTL and BE 2014.

More information will be publicised when appropriate.

aam-itops
Level 2

Nice one thanks Colin. I'm actually speaking with Mark and Bradley from your side next Mon on this.

Also, I used to work with you - I've hit you up on linkedin.

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Small world (note I am not that active on Linkedin)

 

Aaron_McQuistan
Level 3

Heads up that Amazon released a new version of the VTL image that supports a unique identifier string (this is what was causing the tape devices to not appear in the library).  Amazon has submitted the new build to Symantec for testing.

Personally, I have wasted enough time fighting this that I plan to wait for an offical announcement from Symantec before I even attempt to deploy the new VTL.  If anyone one does have time to test it, I would appreciated it if you would post your success/failure on this thread.

Thanks,

ALM

aam-itops
Level 2
Sorry to say I tried this, and still shagged. I actually removed all traces of iscsi everything and binned it all out of backup exec. Restarted the storage gateway, confirmed no updates outstanding. It actually looked like it might work the first time I added dedupe storage, but alas on restarting the services - same old shiz. I hear backup exec will go native AWS API next version, as VTL is a horrendous bodge let's be honest. Here's hoping the devs there can actually pull their fingers out.

Aaron_McQuistan
Level 3

aam-itops, thanks for the update and for taking the time to test.  Seriously disappointing.  Not sure why AWS would put out a VTL and not make sure that it works with more than 1 backup application (NetBackup).  Great idea, poor execution or else I am completely missing something.

Hopefully Symantec will shim BE2014 to make it work.  I really want to be done with physical tapes for long term archives.

ALM

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Just as an update - whilst we did expect the latest updates againt AWS (from Amazon) to allow us to announce formal support, internal testing identified new issues that would have been impossible to discover until the Amazon update was available and we have therefore had to delay confirming formal support whilst we investigate the new identified issues.

BackupMikko
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

AWS Storage Gateway VTL is now qualified and has been added to the Backup Exec 2014 and NetBackup 7.x Hardware Compatibility Lists.

Please see the annoncement blog for additional details.

 

Best,

Mikko

@BackupMikko

 

 

j_gutierrez247
Level 2

I am getting a  backup exec service error.bmp for server2012 how can fix this.