any advice on upgrading vmware server and backup software for small business

[iepaul]

I am currently looking at options to upgrade my server and backup software and hardware. Currently I have two physical servers. One is a backup server running Symantec Backup Exec and some small applications. The second server is a VMware host that has four virtual servers, a file and print share server, and three web application servers. The backups are currently approx. 2TB in size. It is a small business so cost is an issue.

Ideally I would like to keep the old server to act as a backup server in the case of a hardware failure or as a test environment for restores. I would also like the ability to send a backup to a remote disk in our parent company for DR purposes. I also need to perform backups to tape and be able to restore a file or a whole server if needed. This would be a normal nightly, weekly, monthly routine.

I was thinking of VMware Essentials for the new and old server, with Backup Exec 2014. Would anybody have a similar setup or opinions on this?

[VJware]

From a BE perspective, you'll need the Agent for VMware & Hyper-V to backup the VMs and provide the ability to either restore the complete VM or individual files and folders as well.

If these VMs run an application such as AD, SQL, Exchange, Sharepoint, then you would need the Agent for Applications & Database licenses as well, else not.

Lastly, do ensure that the setup (tape unit, version of VMware, OS of VMs etc) is compatible with BE 2014 in terms of hardware/software. These lists should help -

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH217478

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH214803