NBU Client 7.5.0.6 on REHL 5 (32Bit)

[snawaz3]

Master/Media Server 7.5.0.6   OS win 2008 R2

We have just created 5 VMs with REHL5 (32 Bit) OS. (I am totally unfamiliar with REHL OS). I need to back them up. Do I need to install a NBU client for REHL5 on these servers or since they are VMs i can just create a VMWare policy to backup with the ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES directive? All research is coming up with installing Linex,RedHat 2.6 on the client servers.I was under the impression that VMs do not need the client installed for backup purposes. The client is needed only if user backup in implemented. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Will_Restore]

Jan 17, 2009 - With NetBackup 7.x, all Unix/Linux 32-bit support has been discontinued.

[SymTerry · Accepted solution]

Correct the NetBackup client doesn't need to be installed on a VM to back up the vm.

Also from the Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments Guide (TECH127089 page 11):

NetBackup for VMware supports virtual machine backup and recovery on all guest operating systems supported by VMware.

* NetBackup 7.x no longer includes Linux 32-bit clients. Consequently, file-level
restore directly to the Linux 32-bit virtual machine is not possible. As an
alternative, you can perform a file-level restore to network shared storage.
Recovery of the entire virtual machine is supported for both 32-bit and 64-bit
Linux virtual machines.
* For guest operating systems not listed in the table, you can recover the entire
virtual machine but not individual files.

[Stumpr2]

I have some physical 32 bit Linux clients that have NetBackup version 6.5.3.1 installed on them. Backups and restores work fine but netBackup 6.5.3.1 has long ago passed the end-of-life and is not a supported solution by Symantec. I know you are wanting VM image level backups but you could also back up the virtual servers as if they were physical. I know what it is like to be told "That is an unsupported solution" but I have also made a lot of friends in this forum that have helped me out many times. I wish you well.

[Marianne]

The doc mentioned by SymTerry above also contains a section called Supported VMware guest operating systems.
You will find RHEL 5 (32bit*/64bit) in this table.

Please read up about Linux Client backups with VMware policy type in NetBackup 7.5.0.x for VMware Administrator's Guide http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5605.