Installing RALUS agent on ESXI 5.1

[Remko_de_Koning]

Hi folks, I have been trying to get the RALUS agent installed on my newly upgraded ESXI box.
This box was upgraded from version 4.0 to version 5.1 (licenced)

Unfortunately I am running into a few problems and was wondering if you might have some thoughts.
I have managed to copy over the 237 MB of the RALUS_RMALS_RAMS-5204.4.tar.gz file to a folder on my ESXI box.

From there I unzipped the file with the following command

gunzip RALUS_RMALS_RAMS-5204.4.tar.gz

Also the contents were extrated from the .tar file

tar -xvf gunzip RALUS_RMALS_RAMS-5204.4.tar

I now have a folder full of files.
So far so good.
According to the Backup and Administer Symantec 2010 guide I should now be able to run the installation by using this command

./installralus

This does not seem to work. I get a "Not Supported" message doing so.

The ESXI is newly upgraded to version 5.1 with a license for the Storage API's

Can someone perhaps advise what I am doing wrong? Also, I noticed that there are several hotfixes for the RALUS agent.
I could not find much documentation on this. Does anyone no were I can find instructions for installing these hotfixes?

Your thoughts or ideas are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Remko

[CraigV]

Hi,

ESX 5.1 is not supported yet by BE 2010. Check the link below followed by the link for the Beta for BE 2010 which will support it:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/vsphere-51-support-update

https://symbeta.symantec.com/callout/?callid=52801D5ABA034CC18A15C8E8E5CB2F99

Also it isn't recommended that you install any BE RALUS agent on the VMware hypervisor...

In your case, until you install the patch to support vSphere 5.1, you would have to backup the VMs via RAWS/RALUS agent installed on each...

Thanks!

[King_Julien]

Indeed, as far as I know it's not necessary (and not even recommended) to install RALUS on your ESX.

[CraigV]

...information provided already.

Thanks!

[Remko_de_Koning]

Please help me to understand. I am a bit confused. There is a special agent develloped for VMWare by Symantec, like they devellop Agents for Exchange, Oracle, etc.

There is even a complete section in the Admin guide describing the Agent.

Why is it not recommended? Am I understanding correctly that you should just treat your VM's as any other ordinary machine and don't use the RALUS agent at all? Once installed, you should be able to see the ESX server in Backup Exec and drill down to all virtual machines.

What about licensing. If I understand correctly, buying a license for VMWare costs about 3 regular licenses. Once you have it you can backup an unlimited amount of hosts on the ESX server. How does all this tie in?

I am not questioning your advise, on the contrary but I am simply a bit lost. That's all 

Remko

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Haha...no worries, and I understand the confusion.

Even if you installed the RALUS agent on the ESX host, you wouldn't be able to backup any VMs. BE wouldn't be aware of them, or the disks; the agent essentially is an OS-based agent and would only see that server.

It's like installing RAWS on a Hyper-V server and expecting it to see the VMs...won't happen.

As such, you're looking at the AVVI agent which targets the virtual center, and THIS allows you to backup the VMs.

Read the section on AVVI in the admin guide, and check below:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH159925 (licensing)

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH168425 (BE V-Ray - something else to consider!)

http://webobjects.cdw.com/webobjects/media/pdf/symantec/Backup-Exec-2010-VMware-FAQ.pdf

Thanks!

[Remko_de_Koning]

Hey thanks! Got some reading to do I see

I remember from my Backup Exec 2010 course that we installed the agent on the ESXi box.
There are also instructions in the manual to do this.

With this installed (and an agent on the VM) you can drill down into the ESX infrastructure as shown in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se-5OtXMZUk

I will start doing some reading tommorow on the information you gave. It has been a while since I worked with this and to be honest, I am a bit rusty on the matter :)

Thank you so much for the quick responses and also for the link on the BETA program. (just subscribed)

Remko
 

[CraigV]

...your preferred way will always be AVVI due to the functionality it is going to give you!

Cheers!

[King_Julien]

Just like CraigV said. Thumbs up!

There was a PDF from DELL about backing up VMWARE with BE2010, it's a start. I can't remeber the exact name of that document it was something like "Protecting virtual enviroment with Backup Exec" or similar, in that document it was explained each method of backing up a VM. You can google for it, I don't have it anymore, otherwhise I'll provide that document to you. 

Regards.

[teiva-boy]

I used to teach these classes for 12/12.5/BE2010 in the US for resellers of Symantec BackupExec.  I think you are mistaken that you install anything on the ESX or ESXi host.  NEVER has Symantec taught that, or documented that.

Now with GSX that may have been the case.  In ESX it was based on a linux kernal, and you could do things there under the hood, but it was always VMware's strong recommendation, that you do not install anything in the hyper-visor.  In ESXi they locked this down significantly removing much of the CLI from users.

In the video, simply right-clicking in the vmware section, adding in the vCenter host FQDN or IP or ESXi IP, and with proper credentials, you can then drill into your VM envronment.  No software installed at this point.

You can backup VM's at this point too, NO software installed at this point.

If you wanted GRT of Exch/SQL/AD or of VM's, then you would install a RAWS agent.

In the end, this is one of the better interfaces for VMware integration.  MUCH better than NetBackup that is for sure.  Though, there are some competitor products out there are even better then this.  But this is not the place for that.

[Remko_de_Koning]

It took some time for me to read through all the documentation and comprehend what is going on but I believe all pieces fall in place now. (sorry slow learner )

Indeed, page 6-13 of the Symantec Backup Exec 2010 states :

"You do not need to install the Agent for VMware on the ESX host"

I was confused as there is a lab B-9 (Manage and Administer Backup Exec 2010) which performs the installation of the RALUS agent on the ESX host. I think this was just to demonstrate on how to backup a LINUX client. As ESX is linux based this was perhaps done for demonstration purpose. Perhaps a confusing choice to use the ESX machine. In my opinion it was better to use any other LINUX system for demonstration.

Anyway, it did not become clear, at the time of the course, that there was no need to install the agent on the ESX box. The lab made me believe this was needed in order to communicate with the ESX machine.

When we upgraded our ESX server to a "licensed" version the Storage-API's were "unlocked" and indeed I can now drill down into my ESX machine and see the VM's.

With the RAWS installed on the VM's I can even drill down further and see the individual files.

Looks like case closed.
My apologies for the confusion but lessons learned!

Remko