Support for NetBackup 7.

x
in virtual environments
Introduction
This tech note (TECH127089) describes support for NetBackup in virtual
environments.
Symantec Corporation is committed to serving the virtualization and hypervisor
market by offering our customers the benefits of NetBackup Enterprise data
protection solutions. We welcome your feedback. Please contact your Symantec
account representative for assistance.
[Link]

General NetBackup support in virtual environments

Ideally, every NetBackup configuration supported in a traditional physical
environment would also be supported in any virtual environment without
qualification. While that is our mission, it is not always possible.
Therefore, the purpose of this section is to:
■ Clarify differences between NetBackup support in physical vs. virtual
environments.
■ Describe general guidelines for support in virtual environments.
■ Describe the impact of a virtual environment on specific NetBackup
components, such as clients, servers, and other options.
■ Provide notes on virtualization technologies and links to related tech notes.
2 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
General NetBackup support in virtual environments

Terminology
The following terms are used in this document.

Table 1 Terminology

Term Definition

Guest OS The operating system that is installed in a virtual machine.

Hypervisor The software platform running on a physical server that hosts one or
more virtual machines.

Virtual machine The emulation of a single physical machine within a hypervisor.

General guidelines for support

Symantec provides support for NetBackup within a virtual environment.
NetBackup is typically qualified within a physical machine, not within a virtual
machine. The published NetBackup software and hardware compatibility listings
reflect this standard. The listings are available here:
[Link]
Note the following limitations of NetBackup support within a virtual environment:
■ Support of hardware or software as published in the NetBackup compatibility
listings is subject to mutual support by the hardware/software vendor and the
hypervisor vendor.
Specifically:
■ The hardware/software vendors must support their products within the
hypervisor.
■ The hypervisor vendor must support use of the hardware/software product
within the hypervisor.
Such hardware/software products include operating systems, cluster servers,
peripherals, drivers, patches, databases, applications, and so forth.
■ When operating NetBackup within a virtual machine, the hypervisor may
introduce conditions (such as contention for shared resources or other
interruptions) that were not present during standard qualification. Additional
tuning may be required to address any resulting delay, retry, or timeout
conditions. Contact the hypervisor vendor first for tuning suggestions.
■ NetBackup may experience lesser performance within the hypervisor. It may
be necessary to increase system resources to address a performance issue.
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 3
General NetBackup support in virtual environments

■ Using a hypervisor vendor’s interface to suspend, resume, or otherwise disrupt

execution of NetBackup is not supported. The impact upon NetBackup
operations and data is unknown. Only NetBackup management interfaces are
supported for NetBackup control.
■ In the event of a support escalation, NetBackup technical support will make
every reasonable attempt to resolve the issue within the virtual environment.
In rare circumstances, Symantec reserves the right to qualify, limit, exclude,
or discontinue implicit support for a NetBackup configuration due to
unforeseen incompatibilities within the hypervisor environment.

Virtual master server

The NetBackup master server is supported within a virtual machine, under the
limitations described in the “General guidelines for support.”
Refer to the following NetBackup Operating System compatibility document for
a list of supported NetBackup 7.x master server platforms:
[Link]

Virtual media server

The NetBackup media server is supported within a virtual machine, under the
limitations described in the “General guidelines for support.” Support, however,
is limited to disk storage units.
The following disk storage units are supported within a virtual machine:
■ Basic Disk
■ AdvancedDisk
■ Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP)
For MSDP requirements, see the NetBackup Deduplication Guide and the
following deduplication tech note:
[Link]
■ PureDisk Deduplication Pool (PDDO) including the Symantec NetBackup 5000
Series Appliances.
■ OpenStorage, where the Data Interface is Ethernet.
For details on OpenStorage device compatibility, see the NetBackup 7.x
Hardware Compatibility List:
[Link]
For a list of supported NetBackup 7.x media server platforms, see the NetBackup
7 Operating System Compatibility List:
4 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
General NetBackup support in virtual environments

[Link]

Virtual clients and database agents

NetBackup operating system clients and database agents are supported within a
virtual machine, under the limitations described in the “General guidelines for
support.”
Refer to the following NetBackup 7 Database Agent compatibility document for
a list of supported NetBackup database agent platforms:
[Link]

Virtual PureDisk Remote Office Edition

The PureDisk operating system (PDOS) and PureDisk Remote Office Edition are
supported within a virtual machine, under the limitations described in the “General
guidelines for support.”
Note:
■ Refer to the following for a list of supported NetBackup PureDisk Remote
Office Edition platforms:
[Link]
■ For information on a VMware virtual machine that has PureDisk Remote Office
Edition pre-installed, refer to the Symantec NetBackup PureDisk Virtual
Appliance Guide.

Virtual Snapshot Client

This section describes the use of Snapshot Client when installed in a virtual
machine.
Note however that NetBackup has special backup agents for VMware and Hyper-V
that do not require installation of a client on virtual machines. See the NetBackup
for VMware and NetBackup for Hyper-V sections in this document.

Support for VMware

NetBackup Snapshot Client can be used within a VMware virtual machine in
conjunction with Raw Device Mapping (RDM) to provide off-host backup
capabilities. Because of RDM limitations, other backup methods are not supported
at this time. The following section contains more information:
Support for VMware raw device mapping (RDM)
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 5
General NetBackup support in virtual environments

Consult the following NetBackup 7.x Snapshot Client compatibility listing to

determine which off-host combinations are supported:
[Link]
See also the following section for support information on NetBackup for VMware:
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Support for Hyper-V

NetBackup Snapshot Client can be used within a Hyper-V virtual machine in
conjunction with Hyper-V pass-through disks to provide off-host backup of
snapshots. The following section contains more information:
Support for Hyper-V pass-through disks
Consult the following NetBackup 7.x Snapshot Client compatibility listing to
determine which off-host combinations are supported:
[Link]
See also the following section for support information on NetBackup for Hyper-V:
NetBackup for Hyper-V Compatibility

Support for Citrix XenServer

NetBackup supports backup and recovery of virtual machines in a Citrix XenServer
virtualized environment, by means of a Snapshot Client off-host backup method.
For a description of this backup approach, see the following document:
[Link]

Bare Metal Restore

Due to the inherent physical dependencies in the Bare Metal Restore (BMR) option,
BMR is not covered by the “General guidelines for support” section. Instead, BMR
is explicitly qualified and supported within specific virtual environments, as noted
below.
■ VMware: the BMR master server and boot server are supported on a guest OS
and on the VMware server. The BMR client is supported on a guest OS.
See “BMR client support details for VMware.”
■ Windows Hyper-V: the BMR master server and boot server are supported on
a Hyper-V guest OS. The BMR client is not currently supported.
6 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
General NetBackup support in virtual environments

■ Xen Hypervisor: the BMR master server and boot server are supported on a
guest OS and on the Xen Hypervisor server. The BMR client is not currently
supported.
■ Solaris Logical Domains (LDOMs): the BMR master server is supported in the
LDOM Control Domain and on guest domains. The BMR boot server and client
are not currently supported.

BMR client support details for VMware

The following table describes NetBackup 7.x support for the BMR client on VMware.

Table 2 VMware guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Guest OS Type of restore supported BMR client supported as

boot server running in
guest OS?

Windows 2000 (32 bit) virtual-to-virtual self restore Yes

and 2003 (32 and 64
virtual-to-virtual DSR restore
bit).
virtual-to-physical DSR restore

physical-to-virtual DSR restore

Red Hat Enterprise virtual-to-virtual self restore Yes

Linux 4 (64 bit) and 5
Support for physical-to-virtual DSR
(64 bit).
and virtual-to-physical DSR are
subject to the conditions specified in
the BMR UNIX DSR tech note:

[Link]

Support for logical partitions

For virtual environments, NetBackup supports backup and recovery of AIX LPAR,
Hitachi Virtage LPAR, and HP-UX vPar hard partitions as if they were physical
servers.
NetBackup also supports AIX LPAR, Hitachi Virtage LPAR, and HP-UX vPar hard
partitions as media servers. Note that the tape drives must be configured in a
dedicated mode so that the virtual machine has exclusive control of the I/O path.
Hard partitioning physically segments a server, by taking a single large server
and separating it into distinct systems. Each separated system acts as a physically
independent, self-contained server, with its own CPUs, operating system, separate
boot area, memory, input/output subsystem, and network resources.
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 7
General NetBackup support in virtual environments

Other NetBackup options

The following NetBackup options or features are supported in a virtual machine.
■ NetBackup OpsCenter (formerly NOM and VBR)

Symantec professional services

Symantec professional services can be hired for qualification of a specific
configuration of NetBackup within a hypervisor. Contact your Symantec account
representative for assistance, or go to the following:
[Link]

Links to related information

See the following Symantec documents for support and configuration information.

Table 3 Symantec documents related to virtualization

Document Description and link

Main listing of NetBackup Contains the entire listing for all NetBackup Server,
compatibility lists NetBackup Enterprise Server, and NetBackup PureDisk
Remote Office Edition compatibility lists available for 6.x
and 7.x. Includes compatibility for hardware, operating
systems, and agents and options, such as NDMP, databases,
snapshots, and desktop/laptop.

[Link]

NetBackup 7.1 for VMware Describes how to configure and use NetBackup 7.1 for
Administrator's Guide VMware to protect VMware virtual machines.

[Link]

The NetBackup 7.1 for VMware Administrator's Guide will

be available at the above link when NetBackup 7.1 is in GA
(general availability).

NetBackup 7.1 for Hyper-V Describes how to configure and use NetBackup 7.1 for
Administrator's Guide Hyper-V to protect Hyper-V virtual machines.

[Link]

The NetBackup 7.1 for Hyper-V Administrator's Guide will

be available at the above link when NetBackup 7.1 is in GA
(general availability).
8 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Table 3 Symantec documents related to virtualization (continued)

Document Description and link

NetBackup Support for SUN Describes NetBackup support for Solaris zones and Solaris
Virtualization Logical Domains (LDOMs):

[Link]

Citrix XenServer: Virtual Describes a method of Windows virtual machine backup

Machine Backup using NetBackup and the Citrix XenServer VSS Provider,
which is supported by both Symantec and Citrix:

[Link]

NetBackup support for Describes NetBackup support for Hitachi Virtual LPARs:
Hitachi Virtualization
[Link]
Manager (HVM) Server
Virtualization Technology

NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

This following topics describe NetBackup for VMware support. NetBackup for
VMware protects VMware virtual machines by integrating with VMware vStorage
APIs for Data Protection.
In NetBackup 7.1 and earlier, VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) is supported
but not required in most cases. Support for VCB will be discontinued in a future
NetBackup release.
See “Future support plans” on page 18.

Support for ESX and ESXi

NetBackup for VMware supports both ESX and ESXi servers. In this document,
any reference to ESX also refers to ESXi.
Because NetBackup for VMware leverages vStorage APIs for Data Protection,
there are no support restrictions for ESX or ESXi servers.

New features in NetBackup 7.1 for VMware

The following features are new in NetBackup 7.1 for VMware. These features are
described in the NetBackup 7.1 for VMware Administrator's Guide.
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 9
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Table 4 New features in NetBackup 7.1 for VMware

New feature in Description

NetBackup 7.1

Virtual Machine Intelligent NetBackup can automatically select virtual machines for backup by means of filters
Policy (rules) in the policy. The policy Clients tab includes a Query Builder for creating the
rules.

See “NetBackup support for automatic virtual machine selection” on page 10.

Not supported in VCB environments.

Restore of individual files Currently supports guest operating systems running RHEL 4 and 5, SUSE 10 and 11.
from Linux virtual
Currently supports the ext2 and ext3 file systems, and the LVM2 volume manager.
machine backups

Quiesce of Linux file NetBackup can use the SYMCquiesce utility to quiesce the Linux file system before
systems taking a snapshot.

Currently supports RHEL 5.4 and later, and SUSE 11 Update 1 and later.

Currently supports the ext3 file system and the LVM2 volume manager.
Note: The SYMCquiesce utility must be manually installed. See the SYMCquiesce install
topic in the NetBackup 7.1 for VMware Administrator's Guide.

Limit NetBackup use of You can limit the number of simultaneous backups that NetBackup performs on VMware
virtual resources resources, such as vCenter servers or datastores. Applies only to policies that use
automatic selection of virtual machines (Virtual Machine Intelligent Policy).

Backup of virtual machines In addition to host name, VMware display name, or UUID, NetBackup can now back up
by DNS host name. virtual machines by their DNS host name. This option uses the VMware "DNS Name"
of the virtual machine. In vSphere Client, this name appears on the virtual machine's
Summary tab.

Manual selection of virtual When selecting virtual machines, you can browse VMware clusters and vApps.
machines within VMware
clusters and vApps.
10 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

NetBackup support for automatic virtual machine selection

NetBackup 7.1 can automatically select virtual machines for backup by means of
rules configured in the policy (Virtual Machine Intelligent Policy). The NetBackup
policy Clients tab includes a Query Builder for creating the rules.
Note the following requirements:
■ NetBackup 7.1 is required for the master server, media server, and the VMware
backup host.
■ Automatic virtual machine selection is not supported in VCB environments.

NetBackup support for VMware vCloud Director

NetBackup 7.x can protect virtual machines that are provisioned by vCloud
Director. At present, NetBackup is not directly integrated with vCloud Director,
but NetBackup can back up and recover vCloud virtual machines within vSphere.
Follow these guidelines to protect virtual machines within the vCloud provider's
vSphere infrastructure:

Table 5 Guidelines for using NetBackup with vCloud Director

NetBackup NetBackup guidelines

operation

Backup ■ In the NetBackup policy, set the Client name selection option to VM UUID.
■ For virtual machine naming conventions, follow the “A strong suggestion” guideline in the
VMware blog link below.
■ vCloud organizations map to vSphere resource pools. This mapping may influence your
backup selections in the NetBackup policy.

Restore ■ When performing a virtual machine recovery in the NetBackup Backup, Archive, and Restore
interface, initiate the Alternate location recovery.
■ To make vCloud Director aware of the recovered virtual machine, follow the "Restore"
instructions documented in the following VMware Community blog:
"Backing up, and restoring, VMware vCloud Director provisioned virtual machines"

Note: A future release of NetBackup will integrate directly with vCloud Director
(plans are subject to change).
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 11
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Supported VMware guest operating systems

NetBackup for VMware supports virtual machine backup and recovery on all guest
operating systems supported by VMware. To check VMware support for a particular
operating system, consult the VMware Compatibility Guide:
[Link]
Note also that NetBackup for VMware supports file-level recovery from a virtual
machine backup on the following guest operating systems.

Table 6 VMware guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery

VMware guest OS Notes

Windows 7 (32bit/64bit)

Windows Vista (32bit/64bit)

Windows XP (32bit/64bit) Windows XP 64 bit requires VMware Tools

3.0.1 (not supported with 3.0.2).

Windows 2008 R2 (64bit) Supported for vStorage but not for VCB.

Windows 2008 (32bit/64bit)

Windows 2003 (32bit/64bit)

Windows 2000 (32bit)

RHEL 4 (32bit*/64bit)

RHEL 5 (32bit*/64bit)

SUSE 10 (32bit*/64bit)

SUSE 11 (32bit*/64bit)

* 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.
12 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Supported file systems for VMware

The following tables list supported file systems for the FlashBackup-Windows
and MS-Windows policy types.

Table 7 Supported file systems for FlashBackup-Windows policy type

File system Supported backup types Notes

NTFS (Windows NT) Full VM backup

NTFS (Windows 2000 Full backup with file level incremental All features of
and later) NetBackup for VMware
Full VM backup
are supported.
Mapped full VM backup

FAT (all Windows Full VM backup Mapped full VM backup

versions) is supported on
Mapped full VM backup
Windows 2000 and later.

ext2 Full VM backup LVM2 volume manager

is also supported.
Mapped full VM backup

ext3 Full VM backup LVM2 volume manager

is also supported.
Mapped full VM backup

Other (Any VMware Full VM backup

guest OS)

Note: For FlashBackup-Windows, the policy backup selections must specify

ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES. However, if a NetBackup client is installed in the virtual
machine, you have the option of backing up individual drives.

Table 8 Supported file systems for MS-Windows policy type

File system Supported backup types Notes

NTFS (Windows NT) File level snapshot using VCB

NTFS (Windows 2000 File level snapshot using VCB

and later)

FAT (all Windows File level snapshot using VCB

versions)

Other (any VMware Not supported

guest OS)
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 13
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Description of NetBackup for VMware backup types:

■ File level snapshot using VCB: For backup of individual files (not the entire
virtual machine). This option cannot back up Windows system files (such as
the System State or the \system or \system32 directories) or VMware virtual
disk files.
This option will be discontinued in a future NetBackup release.
■ Full VM backup: For backup of the entire virtual machine only.
■ Mapped full VM backup: For backup of the entire virtual machine. Allows
restore of the entire virtual machine or of individual files.
■ Full backup with file level incremental: This option is intended for pre-7.0
versions of NetBackup for VMware. It is a combination of Mapped full VM
backup and File level snapshot using VCB.
This option will be discontinued in a future NetBackup release.
For more information on when to use this backup type, refer to "Virtual
machine backup" in the "Configure NetBackup for VMware" chapter of the
NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide.

Supported platforms for the VMware backup host

NetBackup for VMware requires a NetBackup Windows client installed on the
backup host.
The following Windows platforms are supported for the backup host:
■ Windows Server 2003 (32 and 64 bit)
■ Windows Server 2003 R2 (32 and 64 bit)
■ Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64 bit)
■ Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit)

Note: NetBackup supports installation of the backup host in a virtual machine

(VMware "hotadd"). The guest operating systems that NetBackup supports for
hotadd are the same as the above.

Note: A NetBackup Windows media server is not required. The minimum

requirement is a NetBackup Windows client. Any NetBackup media servers are
supported.
14 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Support for VMware raw device mapping (RDM)

Raw device mapping allows a non-VMDK disk to be accessed by the guest OS. To
back up a raw mapped device (RDM), you must install NetBackup client software
in the virtual machine. Any device that NetBackup supports in a physical (non
hypervisor) environment is supported for RDM, provided that the device vendor
supports the device in a virtual environment.
For environments that require VCB: with versions of VCB that are earlier than
1.5, a NetBackup backup of a virtual machine fails if the virtual machine uses raw
device mapping. At VCB 1.5, NetBackup can back up the virtual machine
successfully, but the raw mapped device is not included in the backup.
For more information on using NetBackup to back up a disk in RDM mode, refer
to the “Backup of VMware raw devices (RDM)” appendix of the NetBackup for
VMware Administrator’s Guide.

Support for vStorage

NetBackup 7.x for VMware includes vStorage, and automatically uses vStorage
APIs when operating with the following:
■ ESX Server 3.5 or later, or
■ VirtualCenter Server 2.5 or later
NetBackup can use vStorage with earlier ESX servers (such as 3.0.2) if they are
managed by a VirtualCenter at version 2.5 or later.

Support for VCB and vConverter

Note: Support for VCB will be discontinued in the next major release of NetBackup.
vStorage replaces VCB.

VCB and vConverter (standalone version) are available for download from VMware.
Both must be installed on the backup host.
NetBackup 7.x attempts to use VCB and vConverter only when operating with the
following:
■ ESX Server versions earlier than 3.5, or
■ VirtualCenter Server versions earlier than 2.5
When using VCB and vConverter, NetBackup 7.x supports the following VMware
versions.
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 15
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Table 9 Supported VMware components and versions for VCB

VMware component Version

ESX Server (including VMware Tools) 3.x and later.

VirtualCenter Server

VMware Converter 3.0.2 Update 1 and later.

VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) 1.5 Update 1 and later.

Important notes on VCB

■ Consult the VMware VCB release notes for compatible versions of VMware
ESX Server and VirtualCenter Server:
[Link]
Note, for example, that VCB 1.5 is not compatible with ESX 3.0.1 and earlier.
■ Before VCB 1.5 Update 1, VMware classifies VCB on Windows 2008 as
“experimental.”
■ Since NetBackup for VMware can use the VCB framework for creating
snapshots, all VCB-specific limitations in creating snapshots apply to
NetBackup for VMware as well.
For a list of these limitations, refer to the Virtual Machine Backup Guide from
VMware:
[Link]

Important notes on vConverter

Note the following VMware compatibility issues:
■ VMware Converter 3.0.3 should not be used for automated restore: version
3.0.3 returns successful status even if the restore failed.
■ VMware Converter 4.0 is not compatible with VCB backups and should not be
used.
■ For automated restore: A backup of a virtual machine that was on an ESX 3.5
server cannot be restored with VMware Converter 4.0.1. You must use VMware
Convertor 3.0.2 Update 1. This restriction applies to the automated restore
option on the NetBackup Restore Marked Files dialog: Restore all virtual
machine files to a virtual machine server automatically using VMware
Converter.
■ A backup of an ESX 3.5 or 4.0 virtual machine can be restored directly to the
same ESX server (bypassing the VMware VirtualCenter). You can specify either
16 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

the ESX server or the VirtualCenter as the Virtual machine server on the
NetBackup Restore Marked Files dialog. To restore directly to the ESX server,
you must use VMware Converter 3.0.2 Update 1.

Support for configuring thin provisioned virtual disks on restored

virtual machines
NetBackup includes a restore option called Create thin provisioned disks. This
option configures the restored virtual machine with thin provisioned disks, even
if the original virtual machine used thick provisioning at the time of the backup.
The ability to create thin provisioned disks depends on the release level of the
VMware server on which the virtual machine is restored, as described in the
following table.

Table 10 NetBackup support for creation of thin provisioned virtual disks in

restored virtual machine

Release level of destination server Can configure restored virtual machine to

for restore have thin provisioned virtual disks

vCenter server 4.0 or later with any Yes

version of ESX

VirtualCenter server 2.5 with ESX 3.5 Yes

VirtualCenter server 2.5 with ESX 3.0.2 Yes

ESX 4.0 or later (*standalone) Yes

ESX 3.5 (*standalone) Yes

ESX server earlier than 3.5 No. Thin provisioning requires vStorage, which
(*standalone) does not work with standalone ESX servers older
than 3.5.

*standalone means the ESX server is not managed by a vCenter or VirtualCenter

server.

Backup of the ESX host by means of the ESX console is not supported
NetBackup 6.x supported the backup of the ESX host by means of a NetBackup
Linux client installed on the ESX host. Since VMware is discontinuing this
capability, NetBackup 7.x does not support backup of the ESX host in this manner.
To back up VMware virtual machines, you can use either of the following:
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 17
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

■ NetBackup for VMware, as described in the NetBackup for VMware

Administrator’s Guide.
■ As an alternative, you can install NetBackup clients in the virtual machines.

NetBackup 7.0.1 for VMware supports vSphere 4.1 but not the NBDSSL
transfer type
NetBackup 7.0.1 adds support for VMware vSphere 4.1 but does not support the
NBDSSL transfer type. The NBDSSL transfer type requires the VMware VDDK 1.2
API, which was not available for the NetBackup 7.0.1 release. (The VMware VDDK
1.2.1 API is included in NetBackup 7.1.)
You can select NBDSSL as the transfer type in the NetBackup 7.0.1 graphical
interfaces. However, support for NBDSSL varies, as follows:
■ Backup of a virtual machine that is earlier than VMware 4.1 is supported with
the NBDSSL transfer type.
■ Backup of a 4.1 or later virtual machine is not supported with the NBDSSL
transfer type (the backup fails).
■ Restore of a virtual machine (any VMware level) with the NBDSSL transfer
type is not supported (the restore fails).

Note: For full support of vSphere 4.1 (including the NBDSSL transfer type), you
should upgrade to NetBackup 7.1.

NetBackup 7.0 and 7.0.1: Hotadd backup or restore fails if the backup
or recovery host (virtual machine) is hosted on ESX/ESXi 4.1
A backup or restore using the hotadd transfer type fails if the ESX/ESXi server is
4.1. (Hotadd transfer is used when the VMware backup host or restore host is
installed in a virtual machine.) This problem relates to VMware's VDDK version
1.1.1. VMware has reported this problem in SR# 1557258751.
The hotadd backup or restore fails with NetBackup status code 23. The detailed
status log includes a message similar to the following:

ERR -Error opening the snapshot disks using given

transport mode: Status 23

As a workaround, use a backup or restore host that resides on an ESX/ESXi server

at 4.0 or earlier.
18 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

Since NetBackup 7.1 uses a later VMware VDDK (1.2.1), hotadd backups and
restores with ESX/ESXi 4.1 work correctly.

NetBackup VCB-based file-level backups may fail

Due to an error identified by VMware, NetBackup VCB file-level backups may fail
in the following case:
■ The guest OS is not installed on the virtual machine's first virtual hard disk.
■ The NetBackup Virtual machine backup option is File level snapshot using
VCB or Full backup with file level incremental.
The backup job fails with status 156 (snapshot creation failed), and the following
error may appear in the NetBackup bpfis log:

'vcbMounter' 636 error] Error: Cannot query guest OS information.

The mount directory path is invalid.

Note: The NetBackup Release Notes for 7.0.1 incorrectly state that this issue is
limited to the Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 7 guest operating systems. The issue
can occur with any operating system.

For more details on this issue from the VMware perspective, refer to the following
VMware VCB documentation:
[Link]
[Link]

Future support plans

The following table lists the support changes in upcoming versions of NetBackup
for VMware.

Table 11 Near-term support roadmap for NetBackup for VMware

Upcoming support Notes

changes

Support for vSphere 5 In a future 7.x release, NetBackup will provide full support for
VMware vSphere 5. Since vSphere 5 was not available in time for
the NetBackup 7.1 release, NetBackup 7.1 does not support it.
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 19
NetBackup for Hyper-V Compatibility

Table 11 Near-term support roadmap for NetBackup for VMware (continued)

Upcoming support Notes

changes

VCB support to be VMware vSphere 5 will not support VCB. The next major release
discontinued of NetBackup for VMware (following 7.1.x) will therefore
discontinue support for the following:

■ Backups using VCB

The following backup options will be discontinued: File level
snapshot using VCB and Full backup with file level
incremental.
■ The MS-Windows policy type (backup of individual Windows
files)
As in current versions of NetBackup, you will be able to
schedule full and incremental backups of the entire virtual
machine with the NetBackup Mapped full VM backup option.
From a mapped virtual machine backup, you can restore the
virtual machine or individual files.

NetBackup for Hyper-V Compatibility

This section provides support information on NetBackup for Hyper-V. NetBackup
for Hyper-V provides snapshot-based backup of virtual machines that run on
Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V servers.

Note: Before configuring NetBackup for Hyper-V, make sure that you have
Windows Server 2008 and the Hyper-V role installed correctly. Refer to your
Windows and Hyper-V documentation and Hyper-V release notes for requirements
and installation instructions.

Detailed configuration instructions for NetBackup for Hyper-V are available in

the NetBackup 7.1 for Hyper-V Administrator's Guide.

New feature in NetBackup 7.1 for Hyper-V

The following feature is new in NetBackup 7.1 for Hyper-V.
20 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for Hyper-V Compatibility

Table 12 New features in NetBackup 7.1 for Hyper-V

New feature in Description

NetBackup 7.1

Restore of individual files The Hyper-V server must be on Windows Server 2008 R2.
from Linux virtual
Currently supports guest operating systems running RHEL 5, and SUSE 10 and 11.
machine backups
Currently supports the ext2 and ext3 file systems, and the LVM2 volume manager.

Use of a volume GUID path requires NetBackup 7.0.1 or later

NetBackup 7.0.1 adds support for volume GUID paths. The following is an example
of a volume GUID path:
\\?\Volume{26a21bda-a627-11d7-9931-806e6f6e6963}\

To back up volume GUID paths that exist in your Hyper-V environment, you must
install NetBackup 7.0.1 or a later release.

Support for Hyper-V pass-through disks

To back up Hyper-V pass through disks, you must install NetBackup client software
in the virtual machine. You can perform the backup with or without the features
of Snapshot Client.
Any device that NetBackup supports in a physical (non hypervisor) environment
is supported for pass through disks, provided that the device vendor supports the
device in a virtual environment. For a hardware snapshot of an array configured
as a pass-through device, only off-host alternate client backup is supported
(requires Snapshot Client).

Note: NetBackup does not support point in time rollback for arrays that are
configured as pass-through devices.

For more information on using NetBackup to back up Hyper-V pass through disks,
refer to the “Hyper-V pass-through disks” appendix of the NetBackup for Hyper-V
Administrator’s Guide.

Note on VSS and disk arrays

To use a hardware array snapshot, make sure that the hardware array's VSS
provider supports snapshots that involve the Hyper-V writer. Check the release
notes of the array vendor or VSS provider.
 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments 21
NetBackup for Hyper-V Compatibility

Supported components and versions

NetBackup for Hyper-V supports the following environments.

Table 13 Components supported for Hyper-V

Components What is supported

Hyper-V Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008

R2

Failover Cluster Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008

R2

VSS hardware provider certified for local ■ HP EVA VSS provider

host backup ■ IBM Total Storage (6000) VSS provider
■ NetApp VSS provider
■ Hitachi VSS Hardware provider

VSS hardware provider certified for off-host ■ EMC CLARiiON

backup ■ Hitachi VSS Hardware provider

CSV-based virtual machine backups Certified with “System Provider”

Supported Hyper-V guest operating systems

NetBackup for Hyper-V supports virtual machine backup and recovery on all guest
operating systems supported by Hyper-V. For a list of operating systems that
Hyper-V supports, consult the following:
[Link]
Note also that NetBackup for Hyper-V supports file-level recovery from a virtual
machine backup on the following operating systems.

Table 14 Hyper-V guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery

Hyper-V guest OS Notes

Windows 7 Support for Windows 7 begins at NetBackup

7.0.1.

Windows Vista (32bit/64bit)

Windows XP (32bit/64bit)

Windows 2008 R2 (64bit)

Windows 2008 (32bit/64bit)

22 Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments
NetBackup for Hyper-V Compatibility

Table 14 Hyper-V guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery

(continued)

Hyper-V guest OS Notes

Windows 2003 R2 (32bit/64bit)

Windows 2003 (32bit/64bit)

Windows 2000 (32bit)

RHEL 4 (32bit*/64bit) ext2, ext3 file systems

LVM2 volume manager

RHEL 5 (32bit*/64bit) ext2, ext3 file systems

LVM2 volume manager

SUSE 10 (32bit*/64bit) ext2, ext3 file systems

LVM2 volume manager

SUSE 11 (32bit*/64bit) ext2, ext3 file systems

LVM2 volume manager

* 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.