Totally confused on Backup Exec installation

[BillyM]

I received Backup Exec and several different licenses for, initially, two servers. However, I am at a loss as to what needs to be installed where... and the 1600 page admin guide only made it worse.

I have two servers plus a domain controller. My thinking is to use the domain controller as the media server and use it to control backups on my two application servers... so do I install Backup Exec on this PLUS the other licenses (continuous protection, agents, etc.) and push ONLY the agent to the remote server?

IOW, are all licenses determined at the media server? That is, will the agent be sufficient on the managed servers for all options being licensed or do I need to add anything else to the servers being managed, such as licenses, additional installs (SQL Server backup, etc.).

I did push agents to the two servers and, unfortuantely, think I also pushed one to the local DC Media Server running Backup Exec 11d, which is probably not correct. However, I can't seem to find an uninstall option for it.

Message Edited by BillyM on 12-26-2007 01:11 PM

[Ben_L_]

Which server has the tape drive or library attached to it? - This server should be your media server.

Any other servers you want to backup, just push a remote agent to.  There are no seperate agents for exchange, sql, etc.  They are all rolled into the remote agent.  All of the licenses get installed on the media server.  The media server will also have a remote agent running on it, this is by design.

[Ken_Putnam]

To expand on Ben's answer a little

For MSSQL, Exchange, Notes etc, you must install the appropriate serial on the media server to unlock the capability there, but there is no associated code on the database server itself.  Only the remote agent gets "installed" there 

[BillyM]

It sounds like I did configure it correctly for the most part.

We are a startup and keeping costs down for the first few months. The development environment consists of:

1. A DC controller. I installed Backup Exec 11d and all licenses on this machine. It is using a Bufallo TeraStation Pro II NAS from Dell as the backup device.

2. A secondary DC for redundancy and test application server (build server, etc.) with installed agents.

3. An application development server with Microsoft TFS installed (SQL Server 2005, Sharepoint WSS 3.0). I installed the remote agent on this.

I have not purchased, as yet, licenses for AD, SQL Server, or SharePoint. However, I am beginning to think that perhaps I should do this. (My intent was to manually create backup sets for SQL Server daily). I am wondering what the ramifications are for the DC, though. Is my risk the last backup or, worse, a corrupted AD restore?

[Ken_Putnam]

I have not purchased, as yet, licenses for AD, SQL Server, or SharePoint. However, I am beginning to think that perhaps I should do this.

Definitely.  At least for SQL  & Sharepoint, it's the only way to backup a running database.  For SQL you could use SQL Enterprise Admin and dump to disk and grab that,  but that can be messy

The AD agent just lets you do Granular Restores of AD, as opposed to the whole thing, which is available with the BackupExec base code