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SAN Mode Transport

samleung83
Level 2

Hi All, I am planning to setup SAN transport mode to backup the VM servers and shared folders on my SAN Storage directly to tape thru fiber channel.

Here is my current environment:

The ESXi Host is connected to the SAN Switch and the LAN Switch.
The SAN Storage is connected to the SAN switch.

Here is my plan:

The Backup Exec Server (physical) will be connected to the SAN switch and LAN switch. 
The FC tape Library will be connected to the SAN switch.

1. Can someone confirm if my setup is correct?

2. If I need to backup other physical Windows server, how the data pass thru? Physcial server > LAN Switch> Backup Exec Server>SAN Switch> tape library ?

Please see the attached diagram.

Thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Sorry Craig but SSO has nothing to do with SAN transport (which is a function of the Virtual Agent linked to the Vmware Backup API).  Also an SSO (ESO) setup is only needed to share a SAN connected library - if the library is ONLY connected to one Backup Exec server (so not being shared), then SSO is not a required setup for this.

In essence presenting the VMFS datastore to both ESXi Host and BE media server over SAN connections AND connecting the library over a SAN connection to the (physical) BE server is the correct setup for SAN transport.

You do need a Virtual Agent, V-Ray or Capacity license for Backup Exec AND also ESXi itself must be licensed for the backup APIs (so a license package from VMware is also needed).

 

WARNING When setting this up make sure that Windows does not assign a drive letter etc to the SAN volume that is the datastore.

 

 

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3 REPLIES 3

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

...since this platform doesn't allow you to delete comments (like Connect does!), I've removed my comments.

got that one wrong, sorry Colin and thanks for pointing it out!

Craig

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Sorry Craig but SSO has nothing to do with SAN transport (which is a function of the Virtual Agent linked to the Vmware Backup API).  Also an SSO (ESO) setup is only needed to share a SAN connected library - if the library is ONLY connected to one Backup Exec server (so not being shared), then SSO is not a required setup for this.

In essence presenting the VMFS datastore to both ESXi Host and BE media server over SAN connections AND connecting the library over a SAN connection to the (physical) BE server is the correct setup for SAN transport.

You do need a Virtual Agent, V-Ray or Capacity license for Backup Exec AND also ESXi itself must be licensed for the backup APIs (so a license package from VMware is also needed).

 

WARNING When setting this up make sure that Windows does not assign a drive letter etc to the SAN volume that is the datastore.

 

 

Hi Colin,

Thanks for confirming my setup. I'm confident to purchase the hardwares now.

In case someone has the same question in the future, below are the articles I read:

How to backup Virtual Machines on ESX(i) using SAN Transport Mode with Backup Exec
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000012638
 
VMware Transport Modes: Best practices and troubleshooting
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000094725
 
Best practices for Backup Exec 16 Agent for VMware
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000068224