Netbackup Client Differences

[nairdheeraj]

I am trying to setup a net Netbackup environment on Windows and I am totally confused for which client I need to purchase, I have a media server that is connected to one ESX box that hosts several VM,s and few other Windows clients including Exchange. Do i need to go for a Enterprise Server for my media server or will a standard server be good enough. I need to backup the VM's with granular recovery option. I also need to know if i need to go for a enterprise client for the ESX box or will a standard client be enough. Please adivce

[Jason_Dowzell1]

If you want to use VCB for backups (which it sounds like you do as you mention "granular recovery") then you need to use the Enterprise Client - to use the Enterprise Client you have to be running NBU Enterprise Server, NBU Server does not allow the Enterprise Client functionality to be used.

The Enterprise Client is licensed per instance of a unique OS per physical ESX host (which is tiered by CPU count in Windows) - for example, if an ESX host has 5 x Windows VM's then you need to purchase one Enterprise Client of the relevant tier. If the ESC host has 5 x Windows VM's and 1 x Linux VM then you need to purchase one Enterprise Client of the relevant tier for Windows and 1 for Linux.

The other component which you need to license is the VM Proxy Server which will need a minimum of a standard client installed, however, a SAN Media Server license (part of the Enterprise Client) or even a full blown media server license would be much better for performance reasons.

[Ron_Cohn]

Does "granular recovery" mean file level restores *without* having to install a NetBackup client on the virtual machine (like you had too under NetBackup 6.5)?

[Jason_Dowzell1]

I took granular recovery to mean the ability to recover an individual file from a VMDK backup i.e. without having to do a VMDK and file level backup and just backing up the VMDK file as a single pass (which is a 6.5.1 feature for Windows VM's).  Doing this does not require the installation of any NBU software in the VM itself.

If the OP meant something else then please feel free to highlight what specifically you meant and will be happy to address as necessary.

[Ron_Cohn]

Jason,

In the Veritas NetBackup 6.5 for WMware 3.x Best Practices white paper, it states to do a individual file restore from a VCB backup, you must have loaded the client on the guest OS in order to do this.  If this is no longer true in 6.5.1, then this addresses one of my concerns of using VCB.

[nairdheeraj]

Thanks a lot for the help.. This is what I was looking for. By the way does the VM proxy server have to be a physical machine.

[nairdheeraj]

Jason.. So could I go ahead with Standard Server license for my media server and install standard client on each individual VM's. I know this would hit my performance but I just wanted to know if it would work.

[Jason_Dowzell1]

Ron,

I guess we are talking about the difference between what can be done for backups and restores really - in NBU 6.5.1 (for Windows only) we can do a single pass backup of the VMDK but still accomodate individual file restores from the VMDK file, however, as you have said if you want to do a restore directly back into the actual VM itself then you do need a client in the VM. That has not changed.

[Jason_Dowzell1]

nairdheeraj - the VM proxy needs to be a physical machine mainly due to the performance requirements. If you stayed with NBU Server (i.e. not NBU Enterprise) then you could just install clients in each of the VM's and back them up as though they were physical machines as long as you are aware of the potential performance hit this could cause.

[Ron_Cohn]

So the white paper I referenced to in the Topic "Job Never Stops" is correct in what it describes.

[Jason_Dowzell1]

Yes Ron - to do a single pass VMDK backup (using Flashbackup) which facilitates individual file restores you do not need any NBU software in the ESX service console or in the guest OS BUT to do the actual file restore directly to the guest OS you need an NBU client installed in that guest OS.

Your final comment in the other thread is a very good point and one I am going to look into now.

[nairdheeraj]

Thanks a lot everyone. All the above inputs helped me to finalize on my config that I needed.