Exchange server, in user-defined selections, selectables are greyed out.

[Julian_O_Donnel]

Hello.
We are trying to backup an Exchange server on a non-trusted domain connected to our network that has the same name as an Exchange server on the domain our backup server is installed on. We backup the local Exchange server with no problems.

Using User-Defined Selections I have specified the IP address of the target Exchange server but when I connect, using an administrator account for that server, I cannot see the Exchange selections, only local drives and shares.

If I create a Hosts entry, and then a user-defined selection for the servers name I am able to see the Exchange selections. However, Backup Exec won't recognize the Exchange server on our local domain. Fair enough.

Then I tried using a FQDN for the Exchange server in user-defined selection after changing the Hosts entry. I can connect and see the local drives and some Exchange selections but they are grayed out and can't be selected. I get the message "selection of this item is disabled. You are not authorized to access this item, a license key for Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows Servers is not installed on the machine, or the Remote Agent is old or incompatible."

I've searched online and through this forum and can only find examples of something similar happening in v9.0 and the patch that fixes it. We are using Backup Exec v9.1 with SP4a.

Our OS is W2K3. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Many thanks.

Julian

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

Please note that it is required to establish the trust relationship between the two domains to backup the servers across the domains.

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answered and would be moved to answered questions pool.

[Ken_Putnam]

When connecting to the User Defined Share, do you specify "Connect As" and give it an Exchange Admin account for that Exchange server in the format "OtherDomainName\AccountName"?

[Julian_O_Donnel]

Yes Ken, we are connecting with an admin account on the target servers domain. And we are able to expand the tree and see resources including some Exchange selectables but they are greyed out.

I've also tried specifying DNS suffixes on the NIC but still can't select anything when using FQDN.


To explain again:

We select a server EXCH1 on DOMAIN1 by browsing Windows Networks, drilling down to the server and then connecting as an admin account. The backup server is also on DOMAIN1. Everything backs-up fine.

We also have an EXCH1 server on DOMAIN2 that I need to backup. Knowing I couldn't have a duplicate name I added a user-defined entry with the IP address. When I connect to it using a valid admin account I can see C and D drives but not any Exchange resources (Information Store, etc.)
I added a host entry for this server and then recreated the user-defined entry using it's netbios name and I can see everything and backup Exchange resources. However, BENT doesn't recognise EXCH1 on DOMAIN1 as a different server. Duplicate names, netbios.

Then I altered the hosts entry so it's a FQDN. I connect to the FQDN in user-defined and with a valid Admin account and I can see some resources, C and Exchange, but they are not selectable.

Thanks for looking everyone.

[Julian_O_Donnel]

Just been told by Veritas engineers that it can't be one. BENT 9.1 or the newer versions can not backup servers with the same name, even if on different domains.

And apparently User-defined only works with netbios names or IP addresses, even in this world of FQDN operating systems.

We will be moving to some 21st Century Backup software.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

[Swati_Joshi]

Hi Julian!

Thanks for updating us on this issue.