Hardware requirement for BackupExec 2010

[geekgadget]

Dear All,

I am new to backup field ,I want to know what is the good hardware configuration of a server to install BackupExec 2010 server in terms of :

1.CPU

2.RAM

3.Physical disk

4.NIC cards and other resources also that are important. 

And please let me know either physical or virtual machine which one is best for Backup 2010 installation.

regards

geekgadget

[ZeRoC00L]

Check this technote:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH136003

To run Backup Exec virtual, see this technote:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH130609

[CraigV]

...to give you some sort of perspective here, I run a couple of my media servers on a ProLiant DL165 G5 with 2GB RAM and Windows Server 2008 R2. The more RAM you can run, the betterm, especially if you run other roles on the server, or even the deduplication option.

If you can run your media server as a physical, it's recommended. You'd need an Adaptec card to run a tape library to a BE 2010 R3 media server as a VM, and anything else isn't supported. We've already headed down this road with LSI SCSI cards that were purchased for a client, very much against my recommendations!

[geekgadget]

Thank you ZeRoCOOL & CraigV for your response and information it give me good idea to tell client for hardware specification for BE_2010 server.

regards

geekgadget

[teiva-boy]

Just keep in mind that certain features will dictate more resources than another...  

Using GRT would dictate temp disk space equal to your largest database that you are performing a GRT restore.

Using the dedupe option, you would need as much RAM as the OS needs, then at least 8GB more for the dedupe function, and add in 1.5GB of RAM per TB of deduped data stored by BackupExec.

If using VMware backups and have a SAN, an HBA will be a must.

You'll want to make sure the PCI bus and the various NIC's, HBA's, and other disk controllers are all on their own bus for max performance.

With the advent off LTO3/4/5, very fast disk, SSD, 10GbE, 4/8Gb Fiber, there is much more to designing a server than 5+ yrs ago.

[geekgadget]

Dear All,

I need to install Backup Exec 2010 on a client side who has the following requirements of licenses in their  environment.

1.Backup Exec 2010

2. Agents licenses for

 a. Exchange Server

 b. Sharepoint Server

 c. SQL Server

 d. for Windows systems

 e. for Linux/Unix Servers

3.Deduplication suite

4.Library Expansion per device

5.System Recovery

They have around 1.5 TB of data and previously they are using ca ARCSERVE backup application in their environment  and for storage they have IBM LTO3 Tape storage and IBM DS 8100 SAN .

I want to request you to know what is the good hardware requirements in terms of CPU , RAM , Storage , Network  that should I ask for installing BE 2010 in their environment as they also want Deduplication option in their environment  and what should be the strategy   to phase out  ca ARCSERVE slowly from their environment and continue with BE 2010 and for how much time period they have to continue with ca ARC SERVE simultaneously with BE 2010 because if they have any issue then they recover data from their ARCSERVE backup and what may be the issues for  having both ca ARCSERVE and BE 2010 in an environment simultaneously

Should I go with the fresh tape cartridges in IBM LTO3 Tape storage and  they don’t request for SAN SSO license it means that their backup traffic is in their LAN environment  I have create the scenario that their environment should look like this for BE 2010 according to me ,see the attachment for this and please give your valuable suggestions and comments  on this scenario.

Regards

Geek gadget

[RRE]

Hi There,

Hardware Requirements

RAM and disk space requirements may vary depending on the operations
performed, the agents and options installed, and the specific system configuration.
Backup Exec database and catalogs require additional space on the disk.
Backup Exec requires at least one storage media drive or single-drive robotic
library and the appropriate controller card. You can also use removable storage
devices and non-removable hard drives.
Support for a single robotic library drive is available when you purchase Backup
Exec 2010. To enable support for additional robotic library drives, you must
purchase the Backup Exec Library Expansion Option. In addition, support is
included for every single-drive virtual tape library. To support additional drives in
each virtual tape library, you can purchase the Virtual Tape Library Unlimited
Drive Option.

Check the Hardware compatibility list

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

Deduplication Option: Requirements

System Requirements
The system requirements for installing the Deduplication Option are:
• 64-bit Backup Exec Media server
• One quad-core processor or two dual-core processors
Requirements for using the deduplication storage folder
To use the deduplication storage folder, the following requirements must be met:
• The storage location of the deduplication storage folder should be a dedicated
volume
• For every 1 TB of storage, 1 GB of RAM should be available. Symantec
recommends at least 8 GB of RAM.

Miscellaneous Requirements

Before you install Backup Exec, perform the following checks:
• Check the name of the computer on which you want to install Backup Exec.
The name should use only standard ANSI characters. You may encounter
errors if you install Backup Exec on a computer with a name that uses nonstandard
characters.
• Check the Windows security settings to make sure that they work properly
with the Backup Exec Service Account.
• Ensure that third-party software, using Backup Exec ports, is configured
correctly.
• Install the Storage Device Hardware such as controllers, drives, and robotic
libraries on the Media server. Use the appropriate Windows hardware setup
functions to configure your controller and storage devices.
• If the drive on which you want to install Backup Exec is encrypted or
compressed, and you would like to use a default SQL Express database, verify
that an unencrypted and uncompressed drive is available for the SQL Express
installation.

Step By Step guide to download and install Backup Exec 2010

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH124432

Scenario that you have created is the ideal one. As far as implementation goes

- Install BE on the media server

- Install the required licenses. Install remote agent on those servers that you are planning to backup

- As you are using Arcserve in the environment , make sure you will not backup one application ( sql, exch etc) with both the software. You can start with domain controller backup & looking at the success rate , move on to backing up Exch , SQL , sharepoint. I dont find any reason to hold back BE from implementing completely. But you can proceed with one server at a time

 

Regards

RRE

[pkh]

@RRE - Your answer is extracted from various documents like the Admin Guide and this document

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO23357

If you are quoting extensively from a document it would be better to direct the user to the document/page.  Otherwise, people will think that you are plagarising the documents.