"Discover data to back up" feature

[Daniel_]

Hi.

I got a question regarding the 'discover data to back up' feature that reports servers currently not backed up.

I'm getting false positives from windows XP clients, how do i blacklist certain hostnames while still keeping the feature turned on ?

The same applies for servers, i've removed the agent, i've removed it from BE but it still adds itself to BE backup & restore tab.

Its roughly 2 months until i can completely turn those 2 servers off and its bit annoying having it reappear and being notified :(

Thanks!

Regards/Daniel.

[CraigV]

Any way you can put in an exclusion for the 2 servers in question?

[Daniel_]

Thats exactly what im trying to figure out if its possible and if so, how ? :)

Need to exclude some xp clients aswell or find out why they're getting reported as servers.

Thanks.

[Kiran_Bandi]

I do not see any option to exclude some machines in network being checked by BE. Enable the feature or Disable. Nothing to customize.

[CraigV]

...seems like if you have MAPI installed it will automatically detect the servers even without a RAWS agent installed...do you have MAPI installed on these 2 servers?

Otherwise I will also hit the support flag...if nobody from Symantec gets back to you here, you might have to log a call with them to get it sorted out. Then post back here with that solution and close this off!

Thanks!

[Daniel_]

I'll check the servers and get back :)

How about the xp clients being reported as servers ?

No way to exclude on hostname, mac address(i could even do a dhcp reserve for IP), anything ?

I'm working offsite so me researching those clients are limited at best :(

[azs · Accepted solution]

Hello,

we have the same problem, but until now we have only workarounds and no solutions. All of these are not tested.

1. You could add those 2 Servers and XP Clients to your BE Servers List. For the Workstations you could create a group and move them to this group or use a filter on your view.
Downside: You have to install the BE Agent for Windows on all Clients.

From the BE Admin Guide (page 537/538):

"The data discovery operation only discovers the servers that meet the following
criteria:
■ Belongs to the same domain as the Backup Exec server
■ Has the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service enabled and
running
■ Allows WMIaccess for the same user that the Backup Exec Management Service
runs under
Members of the server's "Administrators" group have this level of access.
■ Has firewalls that are configured to allow WMI network traffic"

2. Disable WMI on your Clients

3. If you need WMI. Block WMI ports/traffic on your Firewall Hardware Appliance, but only for the scenario "BE Server -> DHCP Range of Clients"

[Daniel_]

Hi.

The customer finally agreed with me and we've decided to just disable that feature completely.

@azs. I appreicate the time for writing workarounds but that just isnt an option for us.

For example, we use WMI to filter GPO's.

Personally i think BE should have better checks, pretty odd having XP clients being reported as servers, even if they would have server like services. It should still be treated like a client imo.