Backup Exec 20.6 Readme

• About this readme

• What's new in Backup Exec 20.6

• Features or requirements no longer supported by Backup Exec

• Where to find more information

• Backup Exec installation notes

• Software Compatibility List (SCL) and Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and driver notes

• Cluster-aware Backup Exec notes

• Agent for Windows notes

• Deduplication Feature notes

• Agent for VMware notes

• Agent for Hyper-V notes

• SharePoint Agent notes

• Exchange Agent notes

• Agent for Oracle notes

• System Disaster Recovery notes

• Central Admin Server Feature notes

About this readme

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Last updated October 22, 2019

Copyright © 2019 Veritas Technologies LLC.

All rights reserved.

Veritas and the Veritas Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Veritas Technologies LLC or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The Licensed Software and Documentation are deemed to be commercial computer software as defined in FAR 12.212 and subject to restricted rights as defined in FAR Section 52.227-19 "Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights" and DFARS 227.7202, "Rights in Commercial Computer Software or Commercial Computer Software Documentation", as applicable, and any successor regulations.  Any use, modification, reproduction release, performance, display or disclosure of the Licensed Software and Documentation by the U.S. Government shall be solely in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

This document contains release notes for Backup Exec and contains information that may not be in the Administrator's Guide. The information in this document is more current than the information in the Administrator's Guide. If the information in this file conflicts with the Administrator's Guide, the information in this file is correct.

For the most current information on Veritas Technologies products and services, please visit our website:

http://www.veritas.com/

Some hyperlinks in Veritas products and documentation lead to English-language websites that can be configured to display other languages upon the first visit.

What's new in Backup Exec 20.6

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Table: What's new in Backup Exec 20.6

You can find a list of the new features in earlier releases of Backup Exec in the What's new in Backup Exec document.

Features or requirements no longer supported by Backup Exec

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Jobs that contain data from the platforms that are no longer supported are not migrated during a product upgrade. Data from unsupported platforms cannot be backed up or restored from existing backup sets. Additionally, some jobs cannot be migrated automatically because the way in which they are set up in Backup Exec has changed. You can recreate those jobs manually.

For more information about the features and the platforms that are no longer supported in this release or will be retired in a future release, see the Backup Exec Software Compatibility List.

Backup Exec no longer supports the following features or software requirements:

• Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007

• Backup Exec 16 Feature Pack 2 and later does not support ESXi version 5.1 for vSphere.

• You cannot install Backup Exec on a server that runs Windows 2003 64-bit and Windows 2003 R2 64-bit servers.

• You cannot use an existing SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 instance as the location of the Backup Exec Database Instance.

Where to find more information

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The Backup Exec technical support knowledge base contains the information that pertains to this release of Backup Exec.

The Backup Exec knowledge base provides technical notes, how-to topics, best practices, troubleshooting articles, and other valuable information to help you use Backup Exec.

For more information, go to the following URL:

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/dpp.BackupExec.html

You can view Backup Exec resources at the following URL:

https://www.veritas.com/product/backup-and-recovery/backup-exec/resources

Backup Exec installation notes

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The following notes provide information about installing Backup Exec:

• Before you install or upgrade Backup Exec, review the Backup Exec Software Compatibility List (SCL) and Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) to ensure that your systems are compatible with the new version of Backup Exec.

• Backup Exec supports the Backup Exec server installation on supported 64-bit operating systems only. Installation of Backup Exec on 32-bit operating systems is no longer supported. However, you can install the Agent for Windows on 32-bit operating systems.

• The Backup Exec installation program now uses the Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.6. Not all versions of Windows support .NET Framework 4.6. If the Backup Exec installation program encounters an operating system that requires a different version of the .NET Framework, Backup Exec blocks the installation and displays an error message that instructs you to install the required version of .NET Framework.

• If installation fails due to a SQL Express installation error, refer to the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 SP2 Express Edition readme:

  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53168

• An error (error code 2) may occur when you install SQL Express in an environment with the following conditions:

  • Active Directory is installed on a computer that runs Windows Server 2008.

  • The computer belongs to a root domain that uses a short domain name such as "first.com".

    To avoid this error, install SQL Express to a child domain such as "second.first.com", or use an instance of SQL Server instead of SQL Express.

• If the SQL Server instance is on the same server that you install Backup Exec on, the service account for the instance must have full permissions to the destination folder where Backup Exec is installed.

• If you perform a remote install or push-install, and you specify a domain administrator account for the Backup Exec Services, you must enter an existing domain administrator account. New accounts are not granted proper rights for domains. If you perform a local installation, you can specify a new local administrator account and the account is granted proper rights when it is created.

• When you install Backup Exec, or when you install tape device drivers from Backup Exec, a Microsoft message may appear that indicates one of the following:

  • The software that you are about to install does not contain a Microsoft digital signature.

  • Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software.

  • The software has not passed Windows Logo testing.

    It is recommended that you allow the driver software to continue being installed.

    To prevent this message from appearing, you can change the policy setting. However, if you change the policy setting to "silently succeed", other driver software can be installed without any warning.

• The user-created folders that are in the Backup Exec installation folder or subfolders are deleted when you uninstall Backup Exec. If you want to keep the folders, copy them to another location before you uninstall Backup Exec.

The following notes provide information for Backup Exec upgrades:

• You cannot upgrade a Backup Exec server that runs on a 32-bit operating system to Backup Exec. Migrate Backup Exec to a 64-bit operating system, and then upgrade to the latest version of Backup Exec.

• The Back up files and directories by following junction points and mount points option is not selected by default. However, the jobs that are migrated keep the option that was selected in the previous version.

• When you upgrade the central administration server, any managed Backup Exec servers that are not also upgraded may show that there is no available space. If there is available space on the managed Backup Exec server, the backup operation runs. After you upgrade the managed Backup Exec server, the correct amount of available space appears.

• The Resource Selection column in the server details view on the Backup and Restore tab may display "unknown" if the selections are not available from the previous version of Backup Exec. The first time you run the backup job, the selections display in the Resource Selection column.

• When you upgrade to Backup Exec, the default cataloging option might change to Enable Instant GRT depending on your Backup Exec server environment and the version from which you are upgrading. After upgrade if this option is not set as the default, you can set the Enable Instant GRT option as the default option to take advantage of faster backups.

  To know more about the various scenarios and the possible changes to your existing jobs, see:

  http://www.veritas.com/docs/000115907.

Software Compatibility List (SCL) and Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and driver notes

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The following notes detail information about the software and hardware that you use with Backup Exec:

• The Software Compatibility List (SCL) and the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) contain the latest information about supported and unsupported software and hardware and are updated regularly. Before you install or upgrade Backup Exec, review the current compatibility lists to confirm the compatibility of your hardware and software.

• You do not need to install tape device drivers if Backup Exec runs on Windows Server 2012 and later. Kernel-mode drivers and tapeinst.exe are no longer installed if Backup Exec is installed on Windows Server 2012 and later. If you use older or unsupported tape devices, test the devices before you use Windows Server 2012 and later to determine the functionality in case kernel-mode drivers are required.

Cluster-aware Backup Exec notes

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The following notes detail information about using cluster-aware Backup Exec:

• If a failover occurs during a backup that uses the Incremental - Changed Files - Reset Archive Bit backup method, Backup Exec skips the data that was backed up before the failover when the job is restarted on the failover node. In addition, catalog files are not generated for the data that was backed up before the failover.

Agent for Windows notes

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The following notes detail information about using the Agent for Windows with Backup Exec:

• When you uninstall the Agent for Windows, you may encounter a message that presents a list of applications that you should close before you continue the uninstall process. If the list contains only the following, you can ignore the message and continue the uninstall process.

  Backup Exec Setup Launcher

  Backup Exec Log Server

  Backup Exec Agent for Windows

  If additional applications appear, close all applications except the ones that are listed above before you continue with the uninstall process.

Deduplication Feature notes

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The following notes detail information about using the Deduplication Feature with Backup Exec:

• If you cannot configure your OST device with this release of Backup Exec, you may need to install a later version of your OST plug-in. Please contact your vendor to obtain the most recent plug-in for your device.

• Deduplication requirements have changed for Backup Exec 2012 and later. You should review the topic Requirements for the Deduplication Feature in the Backup Exec Administrator's Guide.

• You cannot create a deduplication storage folder in a storage path that contains double-byte characters. The following error appears:

  A deduplication storage folder could not be created in the given directory.

• The ability to store a deduplication storage folder and its related database on separate volumes is no longer available. Backup Exec creates the database on the same volume as the deduplication storage folder. This applies to new deduplication storage folders that are created in Backup Exec 2014 and later. If you stored the database in a separate volume in a previous release of Backup Exec, that configuration is preserved when you upgrade to Backup Exec.

• If you want to back up a deduplication storage folder that is located in Shadow Copy Components, you should use a storage device other than the deduplication storage folder, such as tape, network storage, or OpenStorage deduplication devices.

• When you upgrade to Backup Exec, there may be a large amount of expired media that the deduplication storage folder or OST device must reclaim. This first backup job may take a long time to process.

• If you create a deduplication storage folder on a managed Backup Exec server, you receive the following error message on the storage folder's Properties page on the managed Backup Exec server:

  The System Logon Account cannot be used for a deduplication disk storage device.

  This error message should not appear on the central administration server. This error message cannot be removed, but it does not affect functionality. The properties on the managed Backup Exec server incorrectly display the logon account from its own database, but Backup Exec uses the logon account from the central administration server's database.

Agent for VMware notes

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The following notes detail information about using the Agent for VMware:

• Backup Exec installed on Windows Server 2019, does not allow GRT for VMware virtual machines running on Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019. For more information, refer to the following technote:

  https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100044076

• Do not install Backup Exec on the same computer where the VMware vCenter is installed. This configuration is unsupported at this time and causes backup jobs to fail. You must install vCenter and Backup Exec on different computers.

• A quiesced snapshot of a virtual machine that uses the VMware VSS provider may fail, which causes the backup job to fail with the following error:

  Final error: 0xe00095a7 - The operation failed because the vCenter or ESX server reported that the virtual machine's configuration is invalid.

  A quiesced snapshot could not be created for the virtual machine <machine name>.

  If you have VMware's VSS provider installed, try the following options to resolve the issue:

  • Follow the instructions in the following VMware tech note.

    http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034002

    If the issue is not resolved, then try the following options.

  • If a CD or DVD is attached to the virtual machine, remove it, and then run the job again with the VMware VSS provider.

  • If a CD or DVD is not attached to the virtual machine, install the Backup Exec VSS provider, and then run the job again.

The following notes detail information about known issues in the VMware VDDK 6 that affect Backup Exec. See the VMware VDDK 6 Release Notes for details.

• SAN backups of cloned virtual machines on the same data center may fail or may fall back to NBD (if NBD is selected). Also, SAN redirected restore jobs may fail or fall back to NBD if the original virtual machine still exists on the same datastore.

• Hotadd transport may fail or fall back to NBD for any disks that are larger than 2 TB on vVol datastores. This issue applies to both backup and restore jobs.

• Hotadd transport may fail or fall back to NBD during a restore of a virtual machine to a vVol datastore if the Backup Exec server is on a different datastore.

The following note details information about instant recovery of a VMware virtual machine:

To run an instant recovery job for a backup set that is on one of the following devices, create a duplicate backup job and then target the backup job to a disk storage device. You can use the duplicate backup to create an instantly recovered virtual machine.

• Tape storage

• Deduplication disk storage

• Cloud storage

• Disk cartridge devices such as RDX

Agent for Hyper-V notes

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The following notes detail information about using the Agent for Hyper-V:

• Restore of Hyper-V Host Component on a Windows 2016 Hyper-V server fails. As a workaround, stop the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service, and then proceed with the restore.

Review the following notes for the instant recovery feature:

• To run an instant recovery job for a backup set that is on one of the following devices, create a duplicate backup job and then target the backup job to a disk storage device. You can use the duplicate backup to create an instantly recovered virtual machine.

  • Tape storage

  • Deduplication disk storage

  • Cloud storage

  • Disk cartridge devices such as RDX

Review the following notes before you upgrade the Backup Exec server:

In Backup Exec 15 Feature Pack 4 and later, the default option for processing Hyper-V backups has changed to Use the standard processing method.

• When you upgrade from Backup Exec 15 Feature Pack 3, the existing Hyper-V backup setting does not change. Existing and new backup jobs use the setting that was configured in Feature Pack 3, unless you change it.

• When you upgrade from Backup Exec 15 Feature Pack 2 or earlier, the default Hyper-V backup setting for existing jobs is Use the standard processing method. Existing and new backup jobs use this setting unless you change it.

SharePoint Agent notes

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The following note detail information about using the SharePoint Agent with Backup Exec:

• Backup Exec does not support Project Server Service Application from SharePoint 2013 and 2016.

Exchange Agent notes

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The following notes detail information about using the Exchange Agent with Backup Exec:

• If the Microsoft Exchange writer is not available when you perform a backup of Exchange 2016, you may receive the following error:

  V-79-57344-34070 - Snapshot Technology: Initialization failure on: "Microsoft Information Store". Snapshot technology used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). Snapshot technology error (0xE0008516): The database specified for the snapshot was not backed up because the database was not mounted.

  To confirm that the error occurs because the Microsoft Exchange Writer is not in the output, run the following command on the Exchange server:

  VSSADMIN.EXE LIST WRITERS

  Refer to the following URL for more information:

  http://www.veritas.com/docs/000041961

  Note:

  Ensure that you include the Exchange 2016 Windows Service "Microsoft Exchange Replication" in any troubleshooting procedures because it hosts the Microsoft Exchange Writer.

Agent for Oracle notes

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The following notes provide information about using the Backup Exec Agent for Oracle on Windows or Linux Servers with an Oracle 12c database:

• Before running a pluggable database (PDB) point-in-time (PIT) restore, either server-initiated or dba-initiated, you must manually add a non-admin Oracle user to the administrators group, and then restart the Oracle service. This condition is applicable only if the Oracle 12c database is running on a Windows server with a non-admin Oracle user.

• If the Oracle instance you want to protect is part of an Oracle 12c RAC on Linux, switch to the Oracle user, and then run the Backup Exec Agent Utility for configuring the Oracle instance on each RAC node.

• For configuring the Oracle 12c instance in the Backup Exec Agent Utility, use a user that has SYSBACKUP privileges.

• Oracle does not recommend restoring only the ROOT database because it might cause metadata inconsistencies. Instead, you should recover the whole container database (CDB).

  http://www.veritas.com/docs/000023807

• The point-in-time (PIT) restore job of the root fails with an error message: "Specifying CDB$ROOT database is not supported".

  This feature is not supported by Oracle.

  http://www.veritas.com/docs/000023807

• The Oracle Agent Utility cannot validate a path specified on the ASM disk and accepts the path as specified. Therefore, you must ensure that the path you entered is correct and accessible.

• During a pluggable database (PDB) point-in-time (PIT) restore, the restore job is in a queued state for 10 minutes by default. After 10 minutes, the restore job resumes. See the following technote for more information.

  http://www.veritas.com/docs/000023808

System Disaster Recovery notes

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The following notes detail information about using Simplified Disaster Recovery with Backup Exec:

• To create a Simplified Disaster Recovery (SDR) disk image on Windows Server 2019 operating system, Backup Exec supports Microsoft Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) 1809 as the default ADK for SDR creation. You have to manually download and install Windows ADK 1809 using the following link.

  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install?ocid=tia-235208000

  You should review the topic for Simplified Disaster Recovery in the Backup Exec Administrator's Guide.

• To create a Simplified Disaster Recovery (SDR) disk image on Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2016 operating systems, Backup Exec supports only Windows ADK 10.

  You should review the topic for Simplified Disaster Recovery in the Backup Exec Administrator's Guide.

• Volumes created on storage pools and spaces in Windows ADK 1809 environment are not recognized by the restored Windows Server 2019 operating system. This is a Microsoft issue.

Central Admin Server Feature notes

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The following notes detail information about using the Central Admin Server Feature (CAS) with Backup Exec:

• If scheduled jobs begin to stall, then complete with a status of "Recovered", and then have a status of "On Hold", do the following to fix the issue:

  • On the central administration server or the managed Backup Exec server, click the Backup Exec button, click Configuration and Settings, and then select Backup Exec Settings.

  • In the left pane, click Job Status and Recovery.

  • In the Stalled field, enter 15 minutes.

  • In the Recovered field, enter 45 minutes.

• In a CAS environment, storage devices may be acquired at a slower rate than in a non-CAS environment. To increase the rate of acquisition, change the DelayBeforeMountTime value to zero in the following registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Backup Exec For Windows\Backup Exec\Engine\Misc

• If you perform a rolling upgrade and have updated the central administration server to Backup Exec 16 Feature Pack 2, do not create disk storage on any managed Backup Exec servers that have not been updated yet. You can create disk storage on the managed Backup Exec servers after you upgrade the servers to Backup Exec.