Running NetBackup 7.x Master/Media servers on VMware

[js88699]

Someone around the office is asking if we can run NBU on VMware platforms.  I know VMware clients are supported, have not seen anything definitive on if this is supported or not?  I've never researched it before, and not sure if it's a good idea or not.  What do you guys think?  I'm open to any pro or con for doing this.  Any sucess or failure stories?

[Marianne]

Virtual NBU master is supported as well as media server with DISK storage unit(s). Tape is not supported with virtual master or media server.

See these 2 links on Master Compatibily TN:

Virtualization
Statement of Support for NetBackup 7.x in a Virtual Environment ( Virtualization Technologies :(    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH127089

Statement of Support for NetBackup 6.x in a Virtual Environment ( Virtualization Technologies :(     http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH64542

[Anonymous]

You could setup a whole lab environment on a single computer using something like VMware Workstation or in an actual Virtual Infrastructure to get a feel and experience with installing and configuring NetBackup.

You could use Linux (Guest OS VM's) as the Netbackup servers - master and media - which are easier on resources than Windows.

I used a environment like this to perform a test upgrade of 6.5.6 to 7.1 using this method. 

Interestingly, you would be using disk all the time but if you wanted to mimic tape library physical hardware you could seek out the VTL driver (for Linux only)  that a Symantec employee has written and install that which gives you a 'virtual-virtual' tape library and tapes.