Move Backup Exec SBS Premium Edition to Windows server 2012 Std

[Zed_One]

Hi,

We have Symantec Backup Exec SBS 12.5 installed on a Windows server SBS 2011, we also have a Symantec Backup agent for Windows.

We would like to move the Symantec media server console from the Windows SBS server to a windows server 2012 standard and then install the agent on the SBS server to backup the SBS server.

We'd like to backup Exchange, Active Directory, Shares, all residing on the SBS server.

Would this be possible or do we have to upgrade the license to a different edition/agent.

Thank you,

[AmolB]

BE12.5 is a very old version and it does not support Win 2012 server.

Support for Win 2012 as a media server has been added in BE2014 and above.

[pkh]

If you are on a current maintenance contract, then you can upgrade to BE 15 which is the latest version and will support Server 2012 as a media server. You would probably have to do a fresh install of BE 15. Upgrading BE 12.5 needs multiple steps and a 64-bit OS for your media server.

[Colin_Weaver]

Also don't expect to find a Backup Exec SB Edition license in the newer versions of Backup Exec, Capacity Edition Lite is the usual suggested replacement when upgrading from SB Edition although some customers might need the full Capacity Edition.

[Zed_One]

Hi, thank you for your comments.

We are not on the maintanance contract, that expired long ago, so I guess we would have to purchase the new version.

If we were to keep the current version of BE SBS edition, could we uninstall the software from the SBS server and install it on a Windows server 2008 std instead, then install the agent for Windows on the SBS server?

Just looking at options, before we purchase the new version.

I understand getting the new version is def. recommended, but just thought if there is a way without this.

[pkh]

No. The BE SBE version needs to be installed on a SBE OS. It cannot be installed on a standard OS

[Colin_Weaver]

Just in case the OP reads any SBE documents for newer versions of Backup Exec and gets puzzled by this statement.

The Small Business Editions of Backup Exec used to only work if Small Business Server is detected on the system that Backup Exec is installed on.

This then changed to allow the license to activate on either a Small Business Server or a Hyper-V host where a Small Business Server is running on the same host.

Then with the more recent versions we changed it to you can install on any server but can only backup that server and an additional 2 servers

The current model is that Capacity Edition Lite is the recommended license for small businesses (irrespective if the presence of Small Business Server) and we no longer sell a Small Business Edition.