Netbackup Licence question

[AlGon]

Hello.

We have a netbackup 6.5.3 Enterprise server environment. We have several media servers backing up a number of clients. Our backup device is a VTL. We duplicate our full backups from the VTL to physical tape over the weekend.

A lot of our setup was implemented by a 3rd party so I’m not overly familiar with the Licencing requirements so please bear with me.

I would like to add another media server to help deal with the increasing amount of servers we are moving over to netbackup from backup exec.

Will I need to buy a Netbackup Enterprise Server licence for this media server?

If I want to use Flashbackup to backup specific clients from this media server will I need an Enterprise Client Licence as well as the Enterprise server licence?

If this server was to only backup itself would I only need a Netbackup Enterprise client licence (So this server would then be a SAN media server)?

Cheers

[quebek]

Let my try to help You basing on my expirience:
I would like to add another media server to help deal with the increasing amount of servers we are moving over to netbackup from backup exec.
Will I need to buy a Netbackup Enterprise Server licence for this media server?

Yes You need to buy NBU ENT Server license - keep in mind that this license has to be in appropriate tier.

If I want to use Flashbackup to backup specific clients from this media server will I need an Enterprise Client Licence as well as the Enterprise server licence?

Yes You are correct again. Flashbackup is available only with Enterprise client license (license it tiered - again) and Enterprise client license is only available with Etnerprise Server 3-tier NBU architecture.

If this server was to only backup itself would I only need a Netbackup Enterprise client licence (So this server would then be a SAN media server)?

For backing up itself You can make this server SAN media server but please check all support matrices to see if Your env is supported.

[AlGon]

Thanks for your response quebek.

Ok so I’m on the right track.
Can you elaborate on the Tier's relevant to ENT server licence?

Thanks again

[quebek]

There are four tiers.
for wintel server this is quite simply - tier it is basing on CPU sockets in machine.
for unix its more complicated - each machine is sitting a tier - Symantec does this matching - thay are having some tables with this info.
Before buying any licenses please work with Symantec reseller to match Your machines with licenses in appropriate tier.

[John_Stockard]

The NetBackup Enterprise Server and NetBackup Enterprise Client licenses for Windows and Linux machines are tiered based on the number of CPU sockets (not cores) in the server:

1 CPU socket = Tier 1
2 or 3 CPU sockets = Tier 2
4-7 CPU sockets = Tier 3
8 or more CPU sockets = Tier 4

The NetBackup Enterprise Server and NetBackup Enterprise Client licenses for Unix machines (machines not running Windows, Linux, or NetWare) are tiered based on the make and model of the server, not the number of CPU sockets.  Typically, machines that fall into this category are machines that use RISC CPUs -- machines running Solaris (both SPARC and x64), HP-UX (both PA-RISC and Itanium), AIX, SGI IRIX, and Tru64.  Note that machines running Solaris 10 x64 also fall into this category.

Additionally, the license tier for certain Unix machines may vary depending on the type and number of CPUs installed in it.  For example, a Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 server is a Tier 1 machine if it has the 4-core or 6-core UltraSPARC-T2 CPUs in it, but it's a more-expensive Tier 2 machine if it has the 8-core UltraSPARC-T2 CPUs in it.  Along the same lines, an HP Integrity rx4640 server with four single-core Itanium2 CPUs is a Tier 1 machine, but the same server with eight Itanium2 CPUs (either single-core or dual-core) is a more-expensive Tier 2 machine.

Your best bet would be to work closely with your Symantec sales rep or Symantec reseller to map out an appropriate architecture for your environment and determine exactly which licenses you need.  You may be able to save some money this way, too -- some of the NetBackup licenses are available as reduced-cost SKUs if you are upgrading to NetBackup from Backup Exec.

[AlGon]

Brilliant, Thanks for your explanation John, very clear.

Just to elaborate on one of my above questions if I may.   If one of my Media servers has the Enterprise client licence installed as well as the Enterprise server licence, does that mean I can backup a number of network clients using the flashbackup method even though the clients in question only have the standard licence installed?

Thanks.

[John_Stockard]

The answer is "maybe".

A computer that is acting as a NetBackup media server and is handling backups of other clients over the LAN needs the NetBackup Enterprise Server license.

A computer that is acting as a NetBackup media server so that it can only back itself up directly to tape or disk needs the NetBackup Enterprise Client license.  This license does not allow this machine to backup other computers.

The NetBackup Enterprise Client license also activates a number of other features that used to be sold separately:

• FlashBackup, which allows you to do quick(er) whole-volume snapshot-based backups
• Off-host backups, i.e., by mounting an array snapshot of server1's LUN onto server2 so that server2 can do the backup
• SAN Media Server, which allows the client to back itself up directly to tape or disk (as mentioned above)
• SAN Client, which allows the client to back itself up over the SAN to your NetBackup media server (since SAN connections are usually faster than LAN connections)

If you want to use FlashBackup on a particular client machine, that machine needs a NetBackup Enterprise Client license.

However, if you have inherited your NetBackup environment from previous employees it may be hard to tell which machines are licensed for which functions.  No NetBackup licenses are directly installed on clients, and media servers only need either the NetBackup Enterprise Server license key or the NetBackup Enterprise Client license key installed on them (this is required by the NetBackup installation script).  All of the other license keys are installed on your NetBackup master server, even the NetBackup Enterprise Client license keys for those machines that are not acting as their own media servers.

[AlGon]

Cheers John thanks for the explanation.

Yet more questions, sorry :(

A computer that is acting as a NetBackup media server and is handling backups of other clients over the LAN needs the NetBackup Enterprise Server license.

If I was to also licence this media server as an Enterprise Media server would I then be able to backup network clients handled by this server using Flashbackup.  Or would each client require an Enterprise client licence as well?

[John_Stockard · Accepted solution]

Each client machine where you want to use the FlashBackup backup method would need it's own NetBackup Enterprise Client license.  Confusingly, this license key gets installed on the NetBackup master server, not the NetBackup client machine.

The NetBackup Enterprise Server license on the media server does not enable the FlashBackup functionality on any client, it only allows you to use the media server to backup other computers.

[AlGon]

OK.

So say I had 5 network clients that I wanted to back up using Flashbackup.  I would therefore need to input 5 Enterprise client licenses on my Master server in order to back these up from one of my media servers using this method.

Thanks for all your replies.