Trial Agent for Applications and Databases BE14

[ScoutIT]

Hello all,

We upgraded from BE10 to BE14 and I am still getting used to the software since I have never used it before.  I noticed on the Home page that under Licensing and Maintenance Contracts that I have 9 trial licenses expiring in 45 days.  I found that the licenses are for the Agent for Applications and Databases.

We do have backups running on some servers that have SQL DBs but I do not see this agent running on those servers.  How can I determine the 9 servers that this trial is running on?

Thanks!

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Hi,

That just unlocks the ability to "see" an application like SQL. By default, BE ships with trial licenses for 60 days, andyou've obviously activated them, hence the 45 days left.

You need to check which servers have databases selected in your backups and you will then know which servers are effectively using the agent, which is relevant when it comes to licensing the application.

All you will see running on the remote servers is the BE remote agent, which communicates back to the media server. The media server also uses the agent to access the application, unlocked via the Agent for Applications and Databases.

Thanks!

[ScoutIT]

Thanks Craig,

So I guess my question is then...do I need this agent to backup an SQL DB?  Without the agent would BE backup the DB but just not be able to access the contents of the DB?

[CraigV]

Hi,

Without the agent BE won't even see the database. So you would need the agent to do online backups and restores, as well as GRT-based backups and recovery.

Trying to backup the flat files would see the job skip the files like *.mdf due to Active File Exclusion. You'd need to turn this off, possibly shut down SQL to get to them, and then do the same when trying to restore.

Agents make things a lot easier. Read my article on this...

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/stating-case-using-agents-backup-exec

Thanks!

[pkh]

The Agent for Applications and Databases licence are also used for backing up other things, like AD, Exchange, etc., so you cannot just count the machines with SQL Server.  If you are also backing up the other applications, then these needs to be counted as well and the Agent for Applications and Databases licence is licenced on a per application/database per machine basis.  Suppose you are backing up both Exchange and SQL databases on the same machine, you would need 2 Agent for Applications and Databases licences.

You said that you have upgraded from a previous version of BE, did you upgrade the previous SQL agent licences to Agent for Applications and Databases licences and install them.

If you are unsure of what is going on, contact your reseller or the Symantec Licencing department.  If you are really relying on the licences, then you got to sort out these licences in the remaining 45 days.  After that, without proper licences, your SQL backups will fail.