Support for NetBackup 7.7.x, 8.x, 9.

x,
and 10.x in virtual environments
Legal Notice
Copyright © 2023 Veritas Technologies LLC. All rights reserved.
Veritas, the Veritas Logo, and NetBackup are trademarks or registered trademarks of Veritas Technologies LLC
in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Introduction
This tech note describes the general support guidelines for NetBackup 7.7.x, 8.x, 9.x, and 10.x in virtual
environments. It also provides notes on NetBackup 7.7.x, 8.x, 9.x, and 10.x support for VMware and Hyper-V.
For detailed information on supported VMware and Hyper-V environments, refer to the "Virtual Systems
Compatibility" section of the NetBackup Software Compatibility List (SCL), available from this location:
NetBackup Compatibility List for all Versions
Veritas 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 Veritas
account representative for assistance.
[Link]

Recent changes to this tech note

Table 1-1 Recent changes to this tech note

Description of changes Publication date for this change

Added support for Ubuntu 24.04 to the lists of July 1, 2024
VMware guest operating systems.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
Added support for Alma Linux 8, Alma Linux 9, January 15, 2024
Amazon Linux 2, Amazon Linux 2023, Rocky
Linux 8, Rocky Linux 9 to the lists of VMware
guest operating systems.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
NetBackup 10.2 and later, support the Oracle November, 30, 2023
Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM).
See "Support for Oracle Linux Virtualization
Manager (OLVM)"
Added support of Red Hat 8 and Red Hat 9 to the March 31, 2023
list of MSDP Instant Access supported files
system types and LVM.
See "MSDP Instant Access supported files
system types and LVM"
Added support of Windows Server 2022 (64-bit), January 3, 2023
RHEL 8 (32-bit/64-bit), SUSE 15 (32-bit/64-bit),
and OEL 9 (32-bit/64-bit) to the list of Hyper-V
guest operating systems supported for file-level
recovery.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
Hyper-V"
Added support of Windows 2022 and Red Hat October 7, 2022
Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 to the list of VMware
guest operating systems for file-level recovery.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
Added support of Windows 2022, SuSE Linux 15, October 4, 2022
and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 to the list
of VMware guest operating systems for agentless
file restores.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
Updated support for BMR Direct VM conversion July 5, 2022
into VMware virtual environments.
See "Support for BMR Direct VM conversion into
VMware virtual environments"
Added the requirement section for NetBackup March 8, 2022
version 10.x.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
Updated Btrfs file system notes. August 19, 2021
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
Added support for Nutanix AHV compatibility. June 7, 2021
See "NetBackup for Nutanix AHV Compatibility"
Added support for MSDP Instant Access files April 28, 2021
system types and LVM.
See "MSDP Instant Access supported files
system types and LVM"
Added support for VMware Cloud on Azure March 10, 2021
VMware Solutions (AVS).
See "NetBackup support for Azure VMware
Solutions"
Added Windows 2019 and Red Hat Enterprise February 3, 2021
Linux 8 to platforms supported as guest operating
systems for agentless file restores.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
Changed title of document to include NetBackup February 3, 2021
9.x.
Added ACL limitation of 25 or less for XFS V4 file October 2, 2020
systems on RHEL Linux.
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
Added BMR client support for Solaris Sparc July 29, 2020
LDOM guest operating systems.
See "BMR client support for Solaris Sparc
LDOM"
Added BMR client support for IBM AIX LPAR July 29, 2020
guest operating systems.
See "BMR client support for IBM AIX LPAR"
Added platforms supported as guest operating July 29, 2020
systems for agentless file restores.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
NetBackup 8.2 adds support for Red Hat July 2, 2019
Enterprise Virtualization.
See "Support for Red Hat Virtualization (RHV)"
NetBackup 8.2 adds BMR client support for July 2, 2019
Windows Server 2019 (64-bit).
Revised the notes on support for Windows Server
2016 (64-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, 7,
7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5,7.6 (64-bit), SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 12 GA and SP1, SP2, SP3,
Solaris 10 Update 10, 11 (64-bit) , and Solaris 11
Update 1, 2, 3 (x86-64).
See "BMR client support for VMware"
Revised the note on support for Red Hat July 2, 2019
Enterprise Linux 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5,7.6
(64-bit), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 GA
and SP1, SP2, SP3, and Windows Server 2012
R2 (64-bit), Windows Server 2016 (64-bit).
See "BMR client support for Hyper-V"
Added VMware ESX/vCenter 6.5 and VMware July 2, 2019
ESX/vCenter 6.t to the list of Hypervisor types
supported for BMR Direct VM conversion into
VMware.
See "BMR Direct VM Conversion support"
Added Windows Server 2019 (64-bit), RHEL 8 July 2, 2019
(64-bit), SUSE 15 (64-bit), CentOS 7 (64-bit), and
CentOS 6 (64-bit) to the list of VMware guest
operating systems supported for file-level
recovery.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
VMware"
Added information about VMware transport July 2, 2019
modes: SAN transport, Hotadd transport, and
NBD and NBDSSL transport.
See "NetBackup support for VMware transport
modes"
Removed NTFS (Windows NT) from the list of July 2, 2019
supported file systems for the VMware policy
type.
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
Added NetBackup 8.1.2 and 8.2 to the list of July 2, 2019
NetBackup versions that support vSphere 6.7.
See "NetBackup support for vSphere 6.7"
Added vSphere 6.7 ot the list of vSphere versions July 2, 2019
supported by NetBackup 8.1.
See "NetBackup support for vSphere 6.5"
Added Windows Server 2019 to the list of failover July 2, 2019
cluster components supported for Hyper-V (VSS).
See "Supported Hyper-V components and
versions (VSS backup method)"
Added Windows Server 2019 (64-bit), RHEL 7 July 2, 2019
(32-bit*/64-bit), and SUSE 12 (64-bit) to the list of
Hyper-V guest operating systems supported for
file-level recovery.
See "Supported guest operating systems for
Hyper-V"
Added Windows 2019 and Hyper-V server 2019 July 2, 2019
to the Hyper-V integration services required in the
VM for online backups (VSS method).
See "Hyper-V online backups with VSS require
the proper version of Hyper-V integration services
in the VM"
Updated BMR support information for Windows October 23, 2018
Server 2016, Red Hat 7.x, SUSE 12, and Solaris
11.
See "BMR client support for VMware"
See "BMR client support for Hyper-V"
See "Support for BMR Direct VM conversion into
VMware virtual environments"
Starting at NetBackup 8.1.2, AIX and HP-UX are September 27, 2018
no longer supported for NetBackup master or
media servers.
See "Virtual media server"
NetBackup 8.1.2 adds support for individual file September 27, 2018
recovery from the Linux XFS file system in
VMware and Hyper-V VMs.
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
See "Supported guest operating systems for
Hyper-V"
NetBackup 8.1.2 adds a plug-in for vSphere September 27, 2018
Client (HTML5).
See "Requirements for the NetBackup plug-in for
vSphere Client (HTML5) for NetBackup version
10.x"
NetBackup 8.1.2 adds support for VMware Cloud September 27, 2018
on AWS.
See "NetBackup support for VMware Cloud on
AWS"
Added a note on a Red Hat guest OS issue: September 27, 2018
See "Red Hat guest OS file system becomes
read only"
Revised the note on support for granular recovery February 17, 2018
(GRT) of Exchange data, to add support for
mount-point volumes.
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
For NetBackup 8.1.1, NetBackup Bare Metal February 17, 2018
Restore functionality is supported on Windows,
Linux, and Solaris platforms for restoring the
clients that have NetBackup 8.1.1 installed.
See "Bare Metal Restore (BMR) for virtual
environments"
For VMware backups, added a note on support December 4, 2017
for granular recovery (GRT) of Exchange data
that resides on a GPT disk.
Added a note that file-level recovery is not
supported for LVM thin provisioned volumes.
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
Added a support statement on fault tolerant VMs November 10, 2017
in vSphere 6.0 and later.
See "Support for fault tolerant VMs in vSphere
6.0 and later"
Copied the contents of tech note "Veritas October 9, 2017
NetBackup support for vSphere 6.5" (000116592)
into this document and added an update for
NetBackup 8.1.
See "NetBackup support for vSphere 6.5"
Removed all references to NetBackup versions September 21, 2017
7.0 through 7.6.x. Support for those versions has
been discontinued.
Updates for NetBackup 8.1: September 21, 2017
• Updated the tables on supported
VMware and Hyper-V guest operating
 systems and file systems. See
"Supported guest operating systems for
VMware" See "Supported file systems for
VMware" See "Supported guest
operating systems for Hyper-V"
• Updated the requirements for the
NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Web
Client. See "Requirements for the
NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Web
Client"

Note: Starting with NetBackup 8.1, the

NetBackup plug-in for vCenter is no
longer supported. It is superseded by
the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere
Web Client.

• Added a note stating that NetBackup

Bare Metal Restore functionality is not
supported for restoring clients that have
NetBackup version 8.1 installed. See
"Bare Metal Restore (BMR) for virtual
environments"
Corrected a note on NetBackup 8.0 file-level March 28, 2017
recovery for the ext4 64-bit file system:
See "Supported file systems for VMware"
Added notes on NetBackup 8.0 support for
Windows Server 2016 shielded VMs:
See "Notes on the new Hyper-V features in
NetBackup 8.0"

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.

Terminology
The following terms are used in this document.
Table 1-2 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 (VM) The emulation of a single physical machine within
a hypervisor.

General guidelines for support

Veritas provides support for NetBackup within a virtual environment. For the purpose of this document, a
“virtual environment” is defined as: any on-site, off-site, or public cloud IaaS virtualization solution where
NetBackup can be installed into a supported guest operating system.
NetBackup has an open support policy for virtualization platforms, as follows:
• NetBackup is qualified on physical configurations.
• If the same configuration can be virtualized, it is supported without explicit qualification on the
virtualization platform (unless otherwise noted in this document).
The published NetBackup software and hardware compatibility listings reflect this support policy. 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. Such hardware/software
products include operating systems, cluster servers, peripherals, drivers, patches, databases,
applications, and so forth.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Using NetBackup within VM high availability, replication, or transfer solutions is supported but not
qualified by Veritas. Examples of such solutions are vSphere HA, host-based replication, vMotion, and
Storage vMotion (but not limited to VMware). As a virtualized application, NetBackup is unaware of
being deployed within a VM, and support for such operations is provided by the hypervisor vendor.
• 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, Veritas reserves the right to
qualify, limit, exclude, or discontinue implicit support for a NetBackup configuration due to unforeseen
 incompatibilities within the hypervisor environment. In the rare case of a NetBackup failure due to a
hypervisor operation, it may be necessary to recover from a backup.

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 NetBackup Software Compatibility lists for supported NetBackup 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.”
The following storage units are supported within a virtual machine:
• Basic Disk
• AdvancedDisk
• Media Manager (tape storage units) For details on the supported virtualization technologies, see
Virtualization technologies supported for Media Manager storage units.
• Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP) For MSDP requirements, see the NetBackup Deduplication
Guide.
• OpenStorage, where the Data Interface is Ethernet. For details on OpenStorage device compatibility,
see the NetBackup Hardware Compatibility List (HCL): [Link]
For a list of supported NetBackup media server platforms, see the NetBackup Software Compatibility List
(SCL):
[Link]

Table 1-3 Virtualization technologies supported for Media Manager storage units

Virtualization Tape support Notes

technology
IBM virtual Shared with driver, The following document contains details on NetBackup
machines or dedicated support for IBM virtual machines:
hardware path.
[Link]

Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.1.2, AIX is no longer

supported for master or media servers.

HP-UX Integrity Shared with driver, The following document contains details on NetBackup
virtual machines and or dedicated support for HP-UX Integrity virtual machines and vPars:
vPars hardware path.
[Link]

Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.1.2, HP-UX is no

longer supported for master or media servers.

Hitachi Virtage Dedicated or The following document contains details on NetBackup

LPARs shared hardware support for Hitachi virtual LPARs:
path.
[Link]
Oracle Solaris See links under The following documents contain details on NetBackup
Logical Domains Notes. support for LDOMs and zones:
(LDOMs) and zones
[Link]

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.

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 NetBackup Application/Database Agent Compatibility List for a list of supported NetBackup
database agent platforms:
[Link]

Support for Red Hat Virtualization (RHV)

NetBackup can be used to protect virtual machines within Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) deployments and the
RHV Manager. For more information, see the NetBackup Web UI RHV Administrator's Guide.

Support for Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM)

NetBackup can be used to protect virtual machines within Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM)
deployments and the OLVM. Configuration for OLVM is the same as RHV unless explicitly called out.
For more information on configuration, NetBackup Web UI RHV Administrator's 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:
See "Support for VMware raw device mapping (RDM)"
Consult the NetBackup Snapshot Client Compatibility List to determine which off-host combinations are
supported:
[Link]
See also the following section for support information on NetBackup for VMware:
See "NetBackup for VMware Compatibility"

Support for Hyper-V

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

Bare Metal Restore (BMR) for virtual environments

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 listed in this topic.

Note: NetBackup Bare Metal restore functionality is not supported for restoring the clients that
have NetBackup version 8.1 installed.

Note: NetBackup does not support BMR restore operations in AIX and HP-UX environments for
clients with NetBackup version 8.1.1.

Note: For Bare Metal Restore of clients that have NetBackup version 8.0 and earlier installed,
Veritas recommends that you use a Shared Resource Tree (SRT) that has 8.0 and
earlier client versions.

Note: For general BMR support details such as the minimum NetBackup level required for the
BMR client OS, see the NetBackup Software Compatibility List (SCL), available here:

[Link]

• VMware: The BMR master server, BMR boot server, and BMR client are supported on VMware guest
operating systems. See "BMR client support for VMware" See "BMR Direct VM Conversion support"
• Windows Hyper-V: The BMR master server, BMR boot server, and BMR client are supported on
Hyper-V guest operating systems. See "BMR client support for Hyper-V"
• Xen Hypervisor: For NetBackup 7.7.x, the BMR master server, BMR boot server, and BMR client are
supported on Xen guest operating systems. See "BMR client support for Xen (NetBackup 7.7.x)"

Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.0, BMR for Xen is no longer supported.

 • IBM PowerVM: For NetBackup 7.7.x, the BMR master server, BMR boot server, and BMR client are
supported on guest operating systems. See "BMR client support for IBM PowerVM (NetBackup
7.7.x)"

Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.0, BMR for IBM PowerVM is no longer supported.

BMR client support for VMware

NetBackup supports BMR protection for guest operating systems running on VMware ESX 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.5,
and 6.0 servers. The following tables describe support for the BMR client on VMware in NetBackup 8.x and
7.7.x, respectively.

NetBackup 8.x: VMware guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Table 1-4 NetBackup 8.x: VMware guest operating systems supported for BMR
client

Guest OS Type of restore BMR client supported Minimum NetBackup

supported as boot server level and other notes
running in guest OS?
Windows Server virtual-to-virtual self Yes
2008 SP1, SP2 (32- restore
bit and 64-bit)
virtual-to-virtual DSR
restore
virtual-to-physical DSR
restore
physical-to-virtual DSR
restore
Windows Server Same as Windows Yes
2008 R2 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows Server Same as Windows Yes
2012 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows Server Same as Windows Yes
2012 R2 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows Server Same as Windows Yes Support starts at 8.1.1.
2016 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
By default, Windows
Server 2016 formats
ReFS volumes with ReFS
version 3.1. During
NetBackup 8.1.1 BMR
restore of Windows
Server 2016, the restored
ReFS volumes are
downgraded to ReFS
version 1.2.
For more information, see
the Veritas tech note
100041695.
Windows Server Same as Windows Yes Support starts at
2019 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1 NetBackup 8.2.
By default, Windows
Server 2019 formats
ReFS volumes with ReFS
version 3.4. During
NetBackup 8.2 BMR
restore of Windows
Server 2019, the restored
ReFS volumes are
downgraded to ReFS
version 1.2.
For more information, see
the Veritas tech note
100041695.
Windows 7 (64-bit) Same as Windows No
Server 2008 SP1
Windows 8 (64-bit) Same as Windows No
Server 2008 SP1
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Same as Windows No
Server 2008 SP1
Windows 10 (64-bit) Same as Windows No
Server 2008 SP1
Red Hat Enterprise virtual-to-virtual self Yes 8.0 for BMR client for
Linux 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 7.2, restore RHEL 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, and
7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.3 guest operating
virtual-to-virtual DDR
7.8, 8.0, 8.1 (64-bit) systems on virtual
restore
machines that have EFI
Support for physical- firmware.
to-virtual DSR and
8.1.2 for RHEL 7.4 and
virtual-to-physical DSR
7.5.
is subject to the
conditions specified in 8.2 for RHEL 7.6.
the BMR Dissimilar
8.3 for 7.7, 7.8, 8.0, 8.1
System Restore for
UNIX tech note:
DSR for UNIX
Oracle Enterprise Same as Red Hat Yes 8.3 for 7.7, 8.0, 8.1
Linux 5, 6, 7, 7.7, 8.0,
8.1 (64-bit)
CentOS Linux 7.0 to Same as Red Hat Yes 8.3 for 7.0 to 7.7, 8.0, 8.1
7.7, 8.0, 8.1 (64-bit)
SUSE Linux Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server 11
SP3
SUSE Linux Same as Red Hat Yes 8.3 for SP4
Enterprise Server 12
GA and SP1, SP2,
SP3, SP4
Solaris 10 Update 10, Same as Red Hat Yes
11 (64-bit)
Solaris 11 Update 1, Same as Red Hat Yes
2, 3 (x86-64)

NetBackup 7.7.x: VMware guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Table 1-5 NetBackup 7.7.x: VMware guest operating systems supported for BMR
client

Guest OS Type of restore BMR client supported Minimum NetBackup

supported as boot server level
running in guest OS?
Windows Server 2008 virtual-to-virtual self Yes
SP1, SP2 (32-bit and restore
64-bit)
virtual-to-virtual DSR
restore
virtual-to-physical DSR
restore
physical-to-virtual DSR
restore
Windows Server Same as Windows Yes
2008 R2 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows Server 2012 Same as Windows Yes
(64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows Server 2012 Same as Windows Yes
R2 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows 7 (32-bit Same as Windows No
and 64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows 8 (32-bit Same as Windows No
and 64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows 8.1 (32-bit Same as Windows No
and 64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows 10 (32-bit Same as Windows No 7.7.2
and 64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Red Hat Enterprise virtual-to-virtual self Yes
Linux 4, 5, 6, 7 (64- restore
bit)
virtual-to-virtual DDR
restore
Support for physical-
to-virtual DSR and
virtual-to-physical DSR
is subject to the
conditions specified in
the BMR Dissimilar
System Restore for
UNIX tech note:
DSR for UNIX
Oracle Enterprise Same as Red Hat Yes 7.7.3 for Oracle Linux 7,
Linux 4, 5, 6, 7 (64- Update 1 and Update 2
bit)
SUSE Linux Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server 10
SP3, SP4
SUSE Linux Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server 11
GA and SP1, SP2,
SP3
SUSE Linux Same as Red Hat Yes 7.7.2
Enterprise Server 12
Solaris 10 Update 8, Same as Red Hat Yes
9, 10, 11 (64-bit)

The following section contains information on BMR Direct VM conversion for VMware:
See "BMR Direct VM Conversion support"

BMR client support for Hyper-V

NetBackup supports BMR protection for guest operating systems running on Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012,
and 2012 R2 Hyper-V servers.
The following tables describe support for the BMR client on Hyper-V in NetBackup 8.x and 7.7.x, respectively.

NetBackup 8.x: Hyper-V servers and guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Table 1-6 NetBackup 8.x: Hyper-V servers and guest operating systems supported
for BMR client
Guest OS Hyper-V Type of restore BMR client Minimum
server supported supported as NetBackup level
boot server and other notes
running in guest
OS?
Windows Server Windows 2008 virtual-to-virtual Yes
2008 SP1, SP2 self restore
Windows 2008
(32-bit and 64-
R2 virtual-to-virtual
bit)
DSR restore
Windows 2012
virtual-to-physical
Windows 2012
DSR restore
R2
physical-to-virtual
DSR restore
Windows Server Same as Same as Windows Yes
2008 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows Server Same as Same as Windows Yes
2012 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows Server Windows 2012 Same as Windows Yes
2012 R2 (64-bit) Server 2008 SP1
Windows 2012
R2
Windows Server Windows 2012 Same as Windows Yes By default, Windows
2016 (64-bit) R2 Server 2008 SP1 Server 2016 formats
ReFS volumes with
ReFS version 3.1.
During NetBackup
8.1.1 BMR restore of
Windows Server
2016, the restored
ReFS volumes are
downgraded to
ReFS version 1.2.
For more
information, see the
Veritas tech note
100041695.
Windows 7 (64- Same as Same as Windows No
bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows 8 (64- Same as Same as Windows No
bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows 8.1 (64- Same as Same as Windows No
bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows 10 (64- Same as Same as Windows No
bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Red Hat Same as virtual-to-virtual Yes 8.0 for BMR client
Enterprise Linux Windows self restore for RHEL 7.0, 7.1,
5, 6, 7, 7.1, 7.2, Server 2008 7.2, and 7.3 guest
virtual-to-virtual
7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, SP1 operating systems
DDR restore
7.7, 7.8, 8.0, 8.1 on virtual machines
(64-bit) Support for that have EFI
physical-to-virtual firmware.
DSR and virtual-
8.1.2 for RHEL 7.4
to-physical DSR is
and 7.5.
subject to the
conditions 8.2 for RHEL 7.6.
specified in the
8.3 for 7.7, 7.8, 8.0,
BMR Dissimilar
8.1
System Restore
for UNIX tech
note:
DSR for UNIX
Oracle Enterprise Same as Same as Red Hat Yes 8.3 for 7.7, 8.0, 8.1
Linux 5, 6, 7, 7.7, Windows
8.0, 8.1, (64-bit) Server 2008
SP1
CentOS Linux Same as Same as Red Hat Yes 8.3 for 7.0 to 7.7,
7.0 to 7.7, 8.0, Windows 8.0, 8.1
8.1 (64-bit) Server 2008
 SP1
SUSE Linux Same as Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server Windows
11 SP3 Server 2008
SP1
SUSE Linux Same as Same as Red Hat Yes 8.1.2 for SUSE 12
Enterprise Server Windows SP2 and SP3.
12 GA and SP1, Server 2008
8.3 for SP4
SP2, SP3, SP4 SP1
Solaris 10 Windows 2008 virtual-to-virtual Yes
Update 8 (64-bit) self restore
Windows 2008
R2 virtual-to-virtual
DDR restore
Solaris 11 Windows 2008 Same as Red Hat Yes 8.1.2 for Solaris 11
Update 1, 2, 3 Update 2 and 3.
Windows 2008
(x86-64)
R2

NetBackup 7.7.x: Hyper-V servers and guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Table 1-7 NetBackup 7.7.x: Hyper-V servers and guest operating systems
supported for BMR client

Guest OS Hyper-V Type of restore BMR client Minimum

server supported supported as NetBackup level
boot server
running in guest
OS?
Windows Server Windows 2008 virtual-to-virtual Yes
2008 SP1, SP2 self restore
Windows 2008
(32-bit and 64-bit)
R2 virtual-to-virtual
DSR restore
Windows 2012
virtual-to-physical
Windows 2012
DSR restore
R2
physical-to-virtual
DSR restore
Windows Server Same as Same as Windows Yes
2008 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows Server Same as Same as Windows Yes
2012 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows Server Same as Same as Windows Yes
2012 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows 7 (32- Same as Same as Windows No
bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
 SP1
Windows 8 (32- Same as Same as Windows No
bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows 8.1 (32- Same as Same as Windows No
bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Windows 10 (32- Same as Same as Windows No 7.7.2
bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 SP1
Server 2008
SP1
Red Hat Same as virtual-to-virtual Yes
Enterprise Linux Windows self restore
4, 5, 6, 7 (64-bit) Server 2008
virtual-to-virtual
SP1
DDR restore
Support for
physical-to-virtual
DSR and virtual-
to-physical DSR is
subject to the
conditions
specified in the
BMR Dissimilar
System Restore
for UNIX tech
note:
DSR for UNIX
Oracle Enterprise Same as Same as Red Hat Yes 7.7.3 for Oracle
Linux 4, 5, 6, 7 Windows Linux 7, Update 1
(64-bit) Server 2008 and Update 2
SP1
SUSE Linux Same as Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server Windows
10 SP3, SP4 Server 2008
SP1
SUSE Linux Same as Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server Windows
11 GA, SP1, Server 2008
SP2, SP3 SP1
SUSE Linux Same as Same as Red Hat Yes 7.7.2
Enterprise Server Windows
12 Server 2008
SP1
Solaris 10 Windows 2008 virtual-to-virtual Yes
Update 8 (64-bit) self restore
Windows 2008
R2 virtual-to-virtual
DDR restore

For the guest operating systems that Hyper-V supports, consult the following:
Hyper-V on Windows Servers

BMR client support for Solaris Sparc LDOM

The following table describes support for the BMR client on Solaris Sparc LDOM in NetBackup 8.x.

NetBackup 8.x: Solaris Sparc LDOM guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Table 1-8 NetBackup 8.x: Solaris Sparc LDOM guest operating systems supported
for BMR client

Guest OS Type of restore BMR client Minimum NetBackup

supported supported as boot level and other notes
server running in
guest OS?
Solaris Sparc 10.11 virtual-to-virtual self Yes 8.x
restore
Solaris Sparc 11.0, virtual-to-virtual self Yes 8.3
11.1,11.2,11.3 restore

BMR client support for IBM AIX LPAR

The following table describes support for the BMR client on IBM AIX LAPR servers in NetBackup 8.x.

NetBackup 8.x: IBM AIX LPAR guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Table 1-9 NetBackup 8.x: IBM AIX LPAR guest operating systems supported for
BMR client

Guest OS Type of restore BMR client supported Minimum NetBackup

supported as boot server running level and other notes
in guest OS?
AIX 6.1 virtual-to-virtual self Yes 8.x
restore
AIX 7.1 virtual-to-virtual self Yes 8.x
restore
AIX 7.2 virtual-to-virtual self Yes 8.x
restore

BMR client support for Xen (NetBackup 7.7.x)

The following table describes NetBackup 7.7.x support for the BMR client on Xen.

Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.0, BMR for Xen is no longer supported.

Table 1-10 NetBackup 7.7.x: Xen guest operating systems supported for BMR client

Guest OS Type of restore BMR client supported Minimum NetBackup

supported as boot server level
running in guest OS?
Windows 2008 SP1, virtual-to-virtual self Yes
SP2 (32-bit and 64- restore
bit)
virtual-to-virtual DSR
restore
virtual-to-physical DSR
restore
physical-to-virtual DSR
restore
Windows 2008 R2 Same as Windows Yes
(64-bit) 2008 SP1
Red Hat Enterprise virtual-to-virtual self Yes
Linux 4, 5, 6, 7 (64- restore
bit)
virtual-to-virtual DDR
restore
Support for physical-
to-virtual DSR and
virtual-to-physical DSR
is subject to the
conditions specified in
the following BMR
Dissimilar System
Restore for UNIX tech
note:
DSR for UNIX
NetBackup supports
the xvda disk format.
Oracle Enterprise Same as Red Hat Yes 7.7.2 for Oracle
Linux 4, 5, 6 (64-bit) Enterprise Linux 6
SUSE Linux Same as Red Hat Yes
Enterprise Server 11
GA, SP1
Solaris 10 Update 8 virtual-to-virtual self Yes
(64-bit) restore
virtual-to-virtual DDR
restore

BMR client support for IBM PowerVM (NetBackup 7.7.x)

The following table describes NetBackup 7.7.x support for the BMR client on IBM PowerVM (on IBM AIX
guest operating systems).

Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.0, BMR for IBM PowerVM is no longer supported.
Table 1-11 NetBackup 7.7.x: IBM AIX guest operating systems supported for BMR
client

Guest OS Type of restore BMR client supported Minimum NetBackup

supported as boot server level
running in guest OS?
AIX 6.1 TL6 virtual-to-virtual self Yes
restore
virtual-to-virtual DSR
restore
virtual-to-physical
DSR restore
physical-to-virtual
DSR restore is subject
to the conditions
specified in the
following BMR
Dissimilar System
Restore for UNIX tech
note:
DSR for UNIX
AIX 6.1 TL9 Same as AIX 6.1 TL6 Yes 7.7.1
AIX 7.1 TL0 Same as AIX 6.1 TL6 Yes
AIX 7.1 TL3 Same as AIX 6.1 TL6 Yes 7.7.1

BMR Direct VM Conversion support

BMR Direct VM Conversion support has been explicitly qualified within specific virtualization environments as
listed in this section.

Note: For general BMR support details such as the minimum NetBackup level required for the
BMR client OS, see the NetBackup Software Compatibility List (SCL) available here:

[Link]

Support for BMR Direct VM conversion into VMware

virtual environments
The following table describes NetBackup 7.7.x, 8.x, 9.x, and 10.x support for BMR Direct VM conversion into
VMware.

Table 1-12 NetBackup 7.7.x, 8.x, 9.x, and 10.x support for BMR Direct VM
conversion into VMware

Hypervisor type and version BMR client OS version Minimum NetBackup level
VMware ESX/vCenter 4.1 Windows 2008, 2008 R2, and
Windows 7
VMware ESX/vCenter 5.0 Windows 2008, 2008 R2, and
Windows 7
VMware ESX/vCenter 5.1 Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012,
2012 R2, and Windows 7 and 8
VMware ESX/vCenter 5.5 Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012,
2012 R2, and Windows 7 and 8
VMware ESX/vCenter 6.0 Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 7.7.2 for Windows 10.
2012 R2, and Windows 7, 8,
8.1.1 for Windows 2016.
8.1, and 10
VMware ESX/vCenter 6.5 Windows 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 7.7.2 for Windows 10.
2019 and Windows 8.1, 10
8.1.1 for Windows 2016.
8.2 for Windows 2019
VMware ESX/vCenter 6.7 Windows 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 7.7.2 for Windows 10.
2019, 2022 and Windows 8.1,
8.1.1 for Windows 2016.
10
8.2 for Windows 2019
10.0 for Windows 2022
VMware ESX/vCenter 7.0 Windows 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 7.7.2 for Windows 10.
2019, 2022 and Windows 8.1,
8.1.1 for Windows 2016.
10
8.2 for Windows 2019
10.0 for Windows 2022

Note: NetBackup Windows x86-32 clients cannot be used as Virtual Instance Converters
(VICs) for BMR physical to virtual (P2V) conversions. VMware VDDK 5.5 and later
libraries do not support the Windows x86-32 bit platform.

Note: BMR Direct VM Conversion does not support conversion for a Windows client that has a
GPT disk or Storage Spaces configured.

MSDP Instant Access supported files system types and

LVM

Note: Veritas continues to test other file systems and operating systems with MSDP Instant
Access. This table will be updated when additional support information is known.

File systems that are listed in MSDP Instant Access supported files system types and
LVM as Untested may work with MSDP Instant Access, but Veritas has not yet verified
their supportability.
Table 1-13 MSDP Instant Access supported files system types and LVM

File system OS and FS created FS created FS created FS created on

(FS) version on disk on LVM/LDM on LVM/LDM BtrFS RAID
partition general RAID volume volume
volume
ext2/3/4 CentOS 7.4 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID1, ext4)
Red Hat 6.8 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID1+ext2)
(RAID5+ext4)
Red Hat 7.4 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID1, ext2)
Red Hat 8 Supported Supported Untested
Red Hat 9 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID1)
SUSE 12 SP1 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID1, ext4)
Ubuntu 17.10 Supported Supported Untested Untested
XFS CentOS 7.4 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID5)
Red Hat 7.4 Supported Supported Untested Untested
Red Hat 8 Supported Supported Untested
Red Hat 9 Supported Supported Untested
SUSE 12 SP1 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID5)
Ubuntu 17.10 Supported Supported Untested Untested
BtrFS CentOS 7.4 Supported Supported Untested Untested
Red Hat 7.4 Supported Supported Supported Untested
(RAID5)
SUSE 12 SP1 Supported Supported Untested Untested
(removed (removed
snapshot) snapshot)
Ubuntu 17.10 Supported Supported Untested Untested
NTFS Supported Supported Supported Not applicable
with IAv2 with IAv2
released released
ReFS Not supported Untested Untested Not applicable
exFAT Not supported Untested Untested Not applicable

Other NetBackup options

The following NetBackup options or features are supported in a virtual machine.
• NetBackup OpsCenter
Veritas professional services
Veritas professional services can be hired for qualification of a specific configuration of NetBackup within a
hypervisor. Contact your Veritas account representative for assistance, or go to the following:
[Link]

Links to related information

See the following Veritas documents for support and configuration information.

Table 1-14 Veritas documents related to virtualization

Document Description and link

Main listing of NetBackup compatibility lists Includes links to a range of NetBackup hardware
and software compatibility documents.
[Link]
NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide Describes how to configure and use NetBackup for
VMware to protect VMware virtual machines.
Available from the following location:
[Link]
NetBackup Web UI VMware Administrator's Describes how to use the NetaBackup web UI to
Guide configure and use NetBackup for VMware to protect
VMware virtual machines. Available from the
following location:
[Link]
NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vSphere Client Describes how to use the NetBackup plug-in in the
(HTML5) Guide vSphere Client (HTML5) interface to monitor virtual
machine backups and recover virtual machines.
Available from the following location:
[Link]
NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Describes how to use the NetBackup plug-in in the
Client Guide vSphere Web Client interface to monitor virtual
machine backups and recover virtual machines.
Available from the following location:
[Link]
NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vCenter Guide
Note: Starting at NetBackup 8.1, support for the
NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vCenter is
discontinued.

Describes how to use the NetBackup plug-in in

vSphere Client to monitor virtual machine backups
and recover virtual machines. Available from the
following location:
[Link]
NetBackup for Hyper-V Administrator's Guide Describes how to configure and use NetBackup for
Hyper-V to protect Hyper-V virtual machines.
Available from the following location:
[Link]
NetBackup Add-in for Microsoft SCVMM Describes how to configure and use the NetBackup
Console Guide Add-in in the Microsoft System Center Virtual
Machine Manager (SCVMM) console. Available from
the following location:
[Link]

NetBackup for VMware Compatibility

The following topics describe NetBackup for VMware support. NetBackup for VMware protects VMware
virtual machines by integrating with VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection.

Supported VMware versions and backup host operating

systems
The information on supported VMware versions has moved to the "Virtual Systems Compatibility" section of
the NetBackup Software Compatibility List, available from this location:
[Link]

Supported guest operating systems for VMware

NetBackup for VMware supports backup and recovery of the entire virtual machine for all guest operating
systems that are supported by VMware. To determine VMware support for a particular operating system,
consult the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Platforms supported as guest operating systems for agentless file restores

Note: For Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, Ubunutu, and Amazon Linux Agentless File restores, use
the RedHat VXupdate Package.

Table 1-15 Platforms supported as guest operating systems for agentless file

Platform Versions
Alma Linux 8, 9
Amazon Linux 2, 2023
CentOS 7.4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, ,7, 8, 9
Rocky Linux 8, 9
SuSE Linux 11, 12, 15
Oracle Linux 8,9
Ubuntu 24.04
Windows 7, 8, Vista, 2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2012R2, 2016,
2019, 2022
VMware guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery

Note: NetBackup does not support file-level recovery from a virtual disk on Storage Spaces.
When you use the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface to browse for the files, the files
do not appear. To restore the files, restore the entire virtual machine.

NetBackup for VMware supports file-level recovery from a virtual machine backup on the following guest
operating systems. For the guest operating systems not listed in this table, you can recover the entire virtual
machine but not individual files.

Note: NetBackup 8.1 and later does not support 32-bit clients for the operating systems listed
in VMware guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery. Consequently, file-
level restore directly to a 32-bit virtual machine is not possible with NetBackup 8.1. As an
alternative, you can perform a file-level restore to network shared storage. Note:
Recovery of the entire virtual machine is supported for both 32-bit and 64-bit virtual
machines.

Table 1-16 VMware guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery

VMware guest OS Notes

Windows 10 (64-bit)
See the note on Storage Spaces above this table.
Windows 8 (64-bit) See the note on Storage Spaces above this table.
Windows 7 (32-bit/64-bit) Support for Windows 7 32-bit is discontinued
starting at NetBackup 8.1.
Windows Vista (32-bit/64-bit) Support for Vista 32-bit is discontinued starting at
NetBackup 8.1.
Windows Server 2022 (64-bit) Requires NetBackup 8.1 or later.
Same restrictions as for Windows Server 2012.
Windows Server 2019 (64-bit) Requires NetBackup 8.1 or later.
Same restrictions as for Windows Server 2012.
Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) Requires NetBackup 8.0 or later.
Same restrictions as for Windows Server 2012.
Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit) Same restrictions as for Windows Server 2012.
Windows Server 2012 (64-bit) Note the following:
• Does not support the ReFS file system.
You can back up and restore the entire
VM, but files cannot be individually
restored to a ReFS file system.

Note: File-level recovery is supported for

NTFS and FAT files, but NTFS and
FAT files cannot be restored to ReFS.

• Does not support files that use Microsoft

 data deduplication.
• See the note on Storage Spaces above
this table.
Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 (32-bit/64-bit) Support for Windows Server 2008 32-bit is
discontinued starting at NetBackup 8.1.
RHEL 9 (64-bit)
RHEL 8 (64-bit) Reflinking is no longer experimental and is on by
default for XFS filesystem. If a shared extent is
created, restores might fail if two files that
reference the same extent are restored.
RHEL 7 (64-bit)

Note: File-level recovery is supported for

virtual machines that use the 32-bit
version of the ext4 file system. Support
for file-level recovery of the ext4 64-bit
file system starts at NetBackup 8.0.

RHEL 6 (64-bit)
RHEL 5 (64-bit)
CentOS 7 (64-bit)
Note: File-level recovery is supported for
virtual machines that use the 32-bit
version of the ext4 file system. Support
for file-level recovery of the ext4 64-bit
file system starts at NetBackup 8.0.

SUSE 15 (64-bit)
SUSE 12 (64-bit)

Note: File-level recovery is supported for

virtual machines that use the 32-bit
version of the ext4 file system. Support
for file-level recovery of the ext4 64-bit
file system starts at NetBackup 8.0.

SUSE 11 (64-bit)
SUSE 10 (64-bit) Support for SUSE 10 was discontinued starting at
NetBackup 8.0.
Alma Linux 8, 9
Amazon Linux 2, 2023
Rocky Linux 8, 9
Oracle Linux 8,9
Ubuntu 24.04
Supported file systems for VMware
Table 1-17 Supported file systems for the VMware policy type

File system "Enable file recovery Notes

from VM backup"
option supported
ReFS (Windows 2012 No
and later)
NTFS (Windows 2012 Yes
with Data Deduplication
disabled)
NTFS (Windows 2012 No
with Data Deduplication
enabled)
NTFS (Windows 2000 Yes Supports these partition tables:
and later)
• Master Boot Record (MBR)
• Extended Boot Record (EBR)
• GUID Partition Table (GPT)

Note: Starting at NetBackup 7.7.3,

granular recovery (GRT) of
Exchange data that resides on a
GPT disk or on a mount-point
volume is supported from a backup
image created for a VMware
backup.

Note: Granular recovery (GRT) of

SharePoint data that resides on a
GPT disk is not supported from a
backup image created for a
VMware backup.

• Logical Disk Manager - dynamic

(LDM)

Note: Availability of the partition table

type depends on the particular
Windows OS. Check your Microsoft
documentation.

FAT (all Windows Yes

versions)
ext2, ext3, ext4 Yes (but see Note) Support for ext4 starts at RHEL 5.4 and SUSE
11.
LVM2 volume manager is supported.
Support for file-level recovery for ext4 64-bit
starts at NetBackup 8.0, for any supported
 version of RHEL or SUSE that supports ext4
64-bit.

Note: File-level recovery is not supported

for LVM thin provisioned volumes.
However, the files in an LVM thin
provisioned volume are restored
when you restore the full VM.

XFS Yes Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2, for

any supported version of RHEL or SUSE that
supports XFS.

Note: With RHEL Linux, an XFS Version

4 (V4) file can be restored, but its
Access Control Lists (ACLs) will not
be restored if there are more than
25 ACLs. This limitation does not
apply to XFS Version 5 (V5) or
later.

XFS experimental features are not supported,

such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
Btrfs Supported via Instant Access
Other (any VMware No
guest OS)

Note: NetBackup for VMware no longer supports the FlashBackup-Windows policy type.

Requirements for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere

Web Client
Software versions supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Web Client describes the software versions
that are supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Web Client.

Table 1-18 Software versions supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Web
Client

Requirement Details
Common requirements for monitoring VM vSphere Web Client 5.5 and later.
backups or recovering VMs
Note: The NetBackup 8.1 plug-in for
 vSphere Web Client requires
Transport Layer Security (TLS) version
1.2 or later to be configured on the
vCenter server. For that reason, the
plug-in supports the following vCenter
versions only: 5.5 Update 3b and later
patches, 6.0 Update 1b and later
patches, and 6.5 or later. These
vCenter versions have TLS 1.2
configured by default.

Note: The plug-in supports any web browser

that the vSphere Web Client supports.

Note: The NetBackup primary server's

operating system must be set to the
UTC time zone.

Requirements for the Virtual Disk Exclusion NetBackup primary server 8.1 and later.
Wizard
Note: The Virtual Disk Exclusion Wizard is a
new feature of the NetBackup 8.1
plug-in for vSphere Web Client.

NetBackup primary server platforms that are For the NetBackup Recovery Wizard, these
supported for recovering VMs NetBackup primary server platforms are
supported:
• Windows
• Red Hat
• SUSE
• Solaris SPARC
• Solaris x86
For the OS levels and versions that are
supported for primary server, refer to the
NetBackup Software Compatibility List available
from the following location:
NetBackup Master Compatibility List
Requirements for instant recovery of virtual vCenter Server 5.5 and later.
machines
ESX server 6.0 and later.

Requirements for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere

Client (HTML5) prior to NetBackup version 10.x
The NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Client (HTML5) is introduced at NetBackup 8.1.2.
For background information on vSphere Client (HTML5), see the following VMware article:
vSphere Client (HTML5) and vSphere Web Client 6.5 FAQ (2147929)
Software versions supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Client (HTML5) for NetBackup version
10.x describes the software versions that are supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Client (HTML5)
for NetBackup version 10.x.

Table 1-19 Software versions supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere
Client (HTML5) for NetBackup version 10.x

Requirement Details
Common requirements for monitoring VM vSphere Client (HTML5) 6.5 update 1 and later.
backups or recovering VMs
Requirements for the Virtual Disk Exclusion NetBackup primary server 8.1.2 and later.
Wizard
NetBackup primary server platforms that are For the NetBackup Recovery Wizard, these
supported for recovering VMs NetBackup primary server platforms are
supported:
• Windows
• Red Hat
• SUSE
• Solaris SPARC
• Solaris x86
For the OS levels and versions that are
supported for the primary server, refer to the
NetBackup Software Compatibility List available
from the following location:
NetBackup primary Compatibility List

Requirements for instant recovery of virtual vCenter Server 6.5 update 1 and later.
machines
ESXi server 6.5 update 1 and later.

Requirements for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere

Client (HTML5) for NetBackup version 10.x
The NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Client (HTML5) is introduced at NetBackup 8.1.2.
For background information on vSphere Client (HTML5), see the following VMware article:
vSphere Client (HTML5) and vSphere Web Client 6.5 FAQ (2147929)
Software versions supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Client (HTML5) for NetBackup version
10.x describes the software versions that are supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere Client (HTML5)
for NetBackup version 10.x.

Table 1-20 Software versions supported for the NetBackup plug-in for vSphere
Client (HTML5) for NetBackup version 10.x
Requirement Details
Common requirements for monitoring VM vSphere Client (HTML5) 6.7 update 1 and later.
backups or recovering VMs
Requirements for the Virtual Disk Exclusion NetBackup primary server 10.0 and later.
Wizard
NetBackup primary server platforms that are For the NetBackup Recovery Wizard, these
supported for recovering VMs NetBackup primary server platforms are
supported:
• Windows
• Red Hat
• SUSE
• Solaris SPARC
• Solaris x86
For the OS levels and versions that are
supported for the primary server, refer to the
NetBackup Software Compatibility List available
from the following location:
NetBackup Master Compatibility List
Requirements for instant recovery of virtual vCenter Server 6.7 update 1 and later.
machines
ESXi server 6.7 update 1 and later.

Requirements for the NetBackup plug-in for vCenter

Note: Starting with NetBackup 8.1, the NetBackup plug-in for vCenter is no longer supported.

The NetBackup plug-in for vCenter is provided as a virtual appliance. The requirements depend on which
component of the plug-in you want to use.
The following tables describe the requirements:
Common requirements for the NetBackup vCenter plug-in virtual appliance describes the requirements that are
common to both monitoring virtual machine backups and to recovering virtual machines.
Requirements for recovering virtual machines with the NetBackup Recovery Wizard describes the requirements
that apply only to recovering virtual machines with the NetBackup Recovery Wizard. This wizard is not
required for monitoring virtual machine backups.

Table 1-21 Common requirements for the NetBackup vCenter plug-in virtual
appliance

Requirement Details
VM hardware For the vCenter plug-in virtual appliance:
2 vCPU
Minimum 4 GB vRAM
Minimum 24 GB of disk space on the datastore
Network access The vSphere Client host must have access to the
vCenter server where the virtual appliance is
installed.
VMware versions vCenter Server version 4.0 and later
 vSphere Client version 4.0 and later
ESXi version 4.0 U4 and later. (Note that ESXi
version 4.1 U3 is not supported.)
For a list of ESX versions that VMware supports
for CentOS 6.4, refer to VMware documentation.
(CentOS 6.4 is the guest OS of the vCenter plug-
in virtual appliance.)
For a list of VMware versions that NetBackup
supports, see the NetBackup Software
Compatibility List available from the following
location:
NetBackup Master Compatibility List
Web browser in vSphere Client Microsoft Edge

Table 1-22 Requirements for recovering virtual machines with the NetBackup
Recovery Wizard

Requirement Details
NetBackup master server platforms • Windows
• Red Hat
• SUSE
• Solaris SPARC
• Solaris x86
For the OS levels and versions that are
supported for master server, refer to the
NetBackup Software Compatibility List available
from the following location:
NetBackup Master Compatibility List

NetBackup support for VMware Cloud on AWS

NetBackup 8.1.2 adds support for VMware Cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS). For a description of this
feature with a list of notes and limitations, see the following article in the VMware Knowledge Base:
Veritas NetBackup for VMware Cloud on AWS (57737)

NetBackup support for Azure VMware Solutions

NetBackup 8.2 adds support for VMware Cloud on Azure VMware Solutions (AVS). For a description of this
feature with a list of notes and limitations, see the following article:
Veritas NetBackup for Azure VMware Solutions
NetBackup support for VMware transport modes
SAN transport
This mode only works with VMFS datastores. The backup host must be able to access the datastore LUN
through system device paths to be able to match the datastore label. Backups do not require write access,
restores do. The device path can either be fibre or iSCSI.

Note: EMC/VMware have decided that SAN transport is not supported with ScaleIO even
though that does expose a device path.

Hot-Add transport
This mode works with all datastore types. The backup host must be a VM that is running on an ESXi server that
has access to the datastores where the target VM resides. The backup host must have open slots available
to attach the vmdks from the target VM. Backup host VM can't have a clone relationship with a target VM to
disk signature collisions.

NBD and NBDSSL transport

These modes work with all datastore types. The backup host must have network access to vCenter if used and
the ESXi servers that might be used to access the vmdks. In most cases this will be the ESXi server where the
VM is running on but can be a different one in some rare instances that is determined by vCenter.

NetBackup support for vSphere 6.7

The following topic describes NetBackup support for vSphere 6.7.
Information about supported vSphere and VDDK versions is available in the NetBackup Software Compatibility
list:
[Link]

NetBackup 8.1, 8.1.1, 8.1.2, and 8.2

NetBackup 8.1, 8.1.1, 8.1.2, and 8.2 support vSphere 6.7, subject to the following notes and limitations:
• NetBackup 8.1 and 8.1.1 do not support VM hardware version 14.
• NetBackup 8.1.2 does not support VM hardware version 15.

Note: VM hardware version 14 is supported in NetBackup 8.1.2.

VM hardware version 15 is supported in NetBackup 8.2.

NetBackup support for vSphere 6.5

The following topics describe NetBackup support for vSphere 6.5.
Information about supported vSphere and VDDK versions is available in the NetBackup Software Compatibility
list:
[Link]
NetBackup 8.1
NetBackup 8.1 supports vSphere 6.5 and 6.7, subject to the following notes and limitations:
• NetBackup 8.1 adds support for VMs that contain disks that are attached to NVMe controllers.
• For UEFI secure boot, NetBackup backs up and restores the virtual machine. However, you must save
the VMware .nvram file at the time of the backup. After a restore, copy the file to its original location
before you attempt to start the VM.

Note: The san transport mode for VMFS 6 in vSphere 6.5 and 6.7 environments is now
supported with VDDK 6.5.1.

• For VMware Change Block Tracking support, you must ensure that no snapshots exist on a virtual
machine when NetBackup enables Change Block Tracking on that VM. NetBackup enables CBT on a
VM if Enable block-level incremental backup is selected in the backup policy and CBT is not
enabled already on the VM. For more information about this issue, see the VMware Virtual Disk
Development Kit Release Notes for vSphere 6.5. The following link to the vSphere 6.5 release notes
was valid and accurate as of this writing, but Veritas cannot guarantee that it will remain valid: Virtual
Disk Development Kit Release Notes

Note: If a snapshot exists on the VM when NetBackup enables CBT, the backup job fails and
reports error 4292, "snapshot creation failed."

•
• To back up encrypted virtual machines using hotadd, the backup proxy must have been
encrypted as well. The backup user requires [Link] permission, and
hotadd backup mode requires [Link] also. Data on the backup media
is in the clear (not encrypted).
• Restored virtual machines are not encrypted. If you want the restored VMs to be encrypted,
you must enable encryption on them manually.

NetBackup 8.0
NetBackup 8.0 supports vSphere 6.5, subject to the following notes and limitations:
• NetBackup 8.0 adds full support for VMware hardware versions 12 and 13.
• For UEFI secure boot, NetBackup backs up and restores the virtual machine. However, you must save
the VMware .nvram file at the time of the backup. After a restore, copy the file to its original location
before you attempt to start the VM.
• VMs that reside on VMFS 6.0 cannot be backed up by using the san transport mode. As a workaround,
use nbd, nbdssl, or hotadd transport mode to back up such VMs. The san transport mode for VMs on
VMFS 6.0 is supported by NetBackup 8.1.

Note: NetBackup support for VMFS 5 in vSphere 6.5 environments is unchanged.

• For VMware Change Block Tracking support, you must ensure that no snapshots exist on a virtual
machine when NetBackup enables Change Block Tracking on that VM. NetBackup enables CBT on a
VM if Enable block-level incremental backup is selected in the backup policy and CBT is not
enabled already on the VM. For more information about this issue, see the VMware
Virtual Disk Development Kit Release Notes for vSphere 6.5. The following link to the vSphere 6.5
release notes was valid and accurate as of this writing, but Veritas cannot guarantee that it will remain
valid: Virtual Disk Development Kit Release Notes
 • Backup of encrypted disks is supported with nbdssl and hotadd transport modes but not supported with
san or nbd transport. To back up encrypted virtual machines using hotadd, the backup proxy must have
been encrypted as well. The backup user requires [Link] permission, and hotadd
backup mode requires [Link] also. Data on the backup media will be in the
clear (not encrypted). Restored virtual machines are not encrypted. If you want the restored VMs to be
encrypted, you must enable encryption on them manually.
• VMs that contain disks that are attached to NVMe controllers cannot be backed up. You can exclude
VMs that contain NVMe controllers from backups by using the VMHasNVME keyword in a VMware
Intelligent Policy. Note that NetBackup 8.1 adds support for VMs that contain disks that are attached to
NVMe controllers.

NetBackup 7.7.3
NetBackup 7.7.3 supports vSphere 6.5, subject to the following limitations:
• Backup and restore of encrypted VMs are not supported.
• VMs that reside on VMFS 6.0 cannot be backed up by using the san transport mode. As a workaround,
use nbd, nbdssl, or hotadd transport mode to back up such VMs. Note that the san transport mode for
VMs on VMFS 6.0 is supported by NetBackup 8.1.

Note: NetBackup support for VMFS 5 in vSphere 6.5 environments is unchanged.

• For VMware Change Block Tracking support, you must ensure that no snapshots exist on a virtual
machine when NetBackup enables Change Block Tracking on that VM. NetBackup enables CBT on a
VM if Enable block-level incremental backup is selected in the backup policy and CBT is not
enabled already on the VM. For more information about this issue, see the VMware
Virtual Disk Development Kit Release Notes for vSphere 6.5. The following link to the vSphere 6.5
release notes was valid and accurate as of this writing, but Veritas cannot guarantee that it will remain
valid: Virtual Disk Development Kit Release Notes
•
• New VMware features in hardware versions 12 and 13 are not supported.
• Hardware versions 12 and 13 can be backed up, but they are not supported for restores.
Restores are downgraded to the default hardware version.
• The NetBackup VMware Intelligent Policy (VIP) VMVersion keyword does not accept
hardware versions 12 and 13 for selecting VMs to backup. To select those hardware versions
using VIP, use the Greater operator.
• For UEFI secure boot, NetBackup backs up and restores the virtual machine. However, you
must save the VMware .nvram file at the time of the backup. After a restore, copy the file to
its original location before you start the VM.

NetBackup support for vSphere 6.0

NetBackup 7.7 uses VDDK 6.0 to support additional vSphere 6.0 functionality.
Note the following about NetBackup and vSphere 6.0.

For ESXi 6.0, backups that use VMware Change Block Tracking (CBT) may fail
By default, a NetBackup VMware policy selects the Enable block-level incremental backup option on the
policy's VMware tab. That option uses VMware's Change Block Tracking (CBT). Because of a VMware issue, a
backup of an ESXi 6.0 VM may fail if the backup uses Change Block Tracking (CBT).
See the following VMware article for more information:
When Changed Block Tracking is enabled, backing up the virtual machine fails
Note: This CBT problem is fixed in VMware ESX 6.0 patch release ESXi600-201505001 (Build
2715440). See the following VMware article for more information:

VMware ESXi 6.0, Patch Release ESXi600-201505001 (2116125)

When using Storage vMotion to migrate a VM to a different vCenter, backup of the VM is not
supported
NetBackup does not support backup of a VM that is migrating to a different vCenter through Storage vMotion.
The backup or restore job starts but then waits for the migration to complete. When the migration is complete,
NetBackup tries to take a snapshot of the virtual machine but cannot find it at its original location in vSphere.
The following error messages appear in the job's detailed status tab. The backup eventually fails with status 156.
04/01/2015 12:32:02 - snapshot backup of client flvm1 using method
VMware_v2
04/01/2015 12:41:25 - Info bpbrm (pid=7872) INF - vmwareLogger:
RetrieveObjPropertiesEx: for mor = vm-24 failed, SYM_VMC_ERROR:
SOAP_ERROR
04/01/2015 12:41:25 - Info bpbrm (pid=7872) INF - vmwareLogger:
SOAP 1.1 fault: "":ServerFaultCode [no subcode]
04/01/2015 12:41:25 - Info bpbrm (pid=7872) INF - vmwareLogger:
getObjectProperty: Could not get property summary for, mor=<vm-24>
<VirtualMachine>
04/01/2015 12:41:25 - Info bpbrm (pid=7872) INF - vmwareLogger:
getObjectProperty: SYM_VMC_ERROR: FAILED_TO_GET_OBJECT_PROPERTY
04/01/2015 12:41:25 - Info bpbrm (pid=7872) INF - vmwareLogger:
CreateSnapshotExAPI: SYM_VMC_ERROR: FAILED_TO_GET_OBJECT_PROPERTY
04/01/2015 12:41:35 - Info bpbrm (pid=7872) INF - vmwareLogger:
RetrieveObjPropertiesEx: for mor = vm-24 failed, SYM_VMC_ERROR:
SOAP_ERROR

As a workaround, do the following:

1. Make sure that NetBackup has credentials for the original vCenter and for the vCenter where the VM
now resides. In the NetBackup Administration Console, click Media and Device Management >
Credentials > Virtual Machine Servers. If the VM was selected manually in the policy, the next run
of the policy should locate the VM and back it up. If the policy cannot locate the VM, edit the policy
by browsing for the VM in its new location.
2. If the policy is correctly revised, the next backup of the VM should succeed. For more details on
VMware Intelligent Policy, see the NetBackup for VMware Administrator's Guide.
If the policy uses automatic selection of VMs (VMware Intelligent Policy), revise the policy as follows:
• On the NetBackup policy’s Clients tab, refresh the discovery cache by means of the Reuse
VM selection query results for option. You can set the option to 0, or run the backup after
the timeout has occurred for the discovery cache.
• Make sure that the Query Builder rules can find the VM in its new location. Click Test Query
to test for discovery of the VM. Revise the rules as needed.

Support for fault tolerant VMs in vSphere 6.0 and later

NetBackup support for backing up fault tolerant VMs in vSphere 6.0 and later starts with NetBackup 8.0. Note
however that when the VM is restored from the backup, the VM’s fault tolerance is not restored.
With earlier versions of NetBackup, an attempt to back up a fault tolerant VM fails with status code 156.
NetBackup feature support for vSphere and vCloud
Director
The following table describes NetBackup support for vSphere and vCloud Director on a feature-by-feature
basis.

Table 1-23 NetBackup support for vSphere and vCloud Director

NetBackup feature vSphere vCloud Director

NetBackup for VMware, Yes Yes
including VMware Intelligent
Policy and all forms of recovery
(VM, file, database, granular).
Accelerator for VMware Yes Yes
Replication Director for VMware Yes Yes
NetBackup Plug-in for vCenter Yes No
NetBackup Plug-in for vSphere Yes No
Web Client
Instant Recovery for VMware Yes No
VM recovery command Yes Yes
(nbrestorevm)

Guidelines for using NetBackup with vCloud Director

NetBackup can protect virtual machines that are provisioned by vCloud Director (vCD).
For a list of the vCloud Director versions that NetBackup supports, see the "Virtual Systems Compatibility"
section of the NetBackup Software Compatibility List, available from this location:
[Link]
NetBackup for VMware supports the use of load balancers to manage multiple cells (nodes) in a vCloud
environment. To configure NetBackup credentials for a vCloud environment that uses a load-balancer, see
“Adding NetBackup credentials for VMware” in the NetBackup for VMware Administrator’s Guide:
[Link]
Follow these guidelines to protect virtual machines within the vCloud provider's vSphere infrastructure:

Table 1-24 Guidelines for using NetBackup with vCloud Director

NetBackup operation Description and notes

Backup • When you create a virtual machine in a
vApp, enter complete, descriptive names
for the virtual machine. Do not rely on the
GUID-based template names. A detailed
name makes it easier to identify a
particular virtual machine.
• vCloud organizations map to vSphere
resource pools. This mapping may
influence your backup selections in the
NetBackup policy.
Restore • Use the NetBackup Backup, Archive,
and Restore interface to recover the
virtual machine to an alternate location.
For NetBackup recovery procedures, see
the vCloud Director topics in the
NetBackup for VMware Administrator’s
Guide.
• When you restore virtual machines
previously associated with a linked clone,
the restored image does not take
advantage of linked clones or shadow
copies. As a result, the restored image
may require more storage than the
original image.

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 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.

Notes on Replication Director for virtual machines

NetBackup supports Replication Director for protecting virtual machines in a snapshot and replication
environment.
Note the following about Replication Director:
• Supports vCenter version 4.0 and later. Earlier vCenter versions are not supported.
• Supports NFS datastores only. Does not support replication solutions that are deployed with RDM or
VMFS datastores.
• Use the NetBackup policy type VMware but without Replication Director.
• Use Replication Director and install a NetBackup client in each virtual machine. With a
client in the virtual machine, you can use Replication Director to protect each virtual machine
as though it is a physical computer, with a policy type other than VMware.

Minimum permissions for the NetBackup account that

performs VMware backup and restore
The account that NetBackup uses to access the VMware vCenter requires privileged roles with particular rights
for backup and restore operations. That account is specified in the NetBackup Administration Console under
Media and Device Management > Credentials > Virtual Machine Servers.
The following tech note lists the permissions that the NetBackup account needs to perform backup and restore:
[Link]
Hotadd backup issues caused by Windows disk
signature collisions
For the hotadd transport mode with a backup host on Windows 2008 server or earlier, a Windows disk signature
collision may cause the following problems:
• In any of these cases, file-level recovery from the VM's file systems may not succeed. In addition: If
the guest OS of the backed up VM is Windows Server 2008, the recovered virtual machine may fail to
start. In that case, the disk signature issue on the recovered VM must be fixed. See the following
Veritas article: [Link]
• One or more of the VMs in the backup is a clone of another VM that is backed up
simultaneously by the same backup host.
• VMs that are backed up simultaneously are linked clones that share disks with the same
parent.
• A VM in the backup is a clone of the backup host.
• If the backup was made with the Accelerator feature, a VM disk signature collision may cause a hotadd
backup to fail with status 84, “media write error.”
Workaround: Use a different transport mode (not hotadd), or avoid simultaneous backup of the VMs. If a VM in
the backup is a clone of the backup host, use a different backup host that is not a clone of the VM.
For further information on this issue, see “Windows proxy HotAdd can cause differing disk signatures” in the
following VMware article:
[Link]

Note: These issues do not apply if the backup host is Windows Server 2008 R2 or later.

Red Hat guest OS file system becomes read only

VMware and Red Hat have identified an issue that causes the root file system in a Red Hat Enterprise guest OS
to become read-only. This problem can interrupt the normal functioning of a Red Hat VM, including a VM that
was created by means of the Instant access feature of the NetBackup web UI.
For potential solutions to this issue, see the following VMware and Red Hat articles:
[Link]
[Link]

NetBackup for Nutanix AHV Compatibility

The following topics describe NetBackup for Nutanix AHV support. NetBackup for AHV protects AHV virtual
machines by integrating with AHV APIs for Data Protection.

Supported Nutanix AHV AOS versions and backup host

operating systems
The information on supported Nutanix AHV versions has moved to the Virtual Systems
Compatibility section of the NetBackup 9.1 Software Compatibility List
Supported file systems for Nutanix AHV
To enable the file level restore operation from the entire VM backup, the following supported file systems must
be configured on the AHV guest VM:

Table 1-25 Supported file systems for Nutanix AHV

File system File level recovery Notes

supported
ReFS (Windows 2012 No
and later)
NTFS (Windows 2012 Yes
with Data Deduplication
disabled)
NTFS (Windows 2012 No
with Data Deduplication
enabled)
NTFS (Windows 2000 Yes Supports these partition tables:
and later)
• Master Boot Record (MBR)
• Extended Boot Record (EBR)
• GUID partition table (GPT)

Note: Starting at NetBackup 7.7.3,

granular recovery (GRT) of
Exchange data that resides on a
GPT disk or on a mount-point
volume is supported from a backup
image that is created for an AHV
backup.

Note: Granular recovery (GRT) of

SharePoint data that resides on a
GPT disk is not supported from a
backup image that is created for an
AHV backup.

• Logical Disk Manager - dynamic

(LDM)

Note: Availability of the partition table

type depends on the particular
Windows OS. Check your Microsoft
documentation.

FAT (all Windows Yes

versions)
ext2, ext3, ext4 Yes (but see Note) Support for ext4 starts at RHEL 5.4 and SUSE
11.
LVM2 volume manager is supported.
Support for file-level recovery for ext4 64-bit
 starts at NetBackup 8.0, for any supported
version of RHEL or SUSE that supports ext4
64-bit.

Note: File-level recovery is not supported

for LVM thin provisioned volumes.
However, the files in an LVM thin
provisioned volume are restored
when you restore the full VM.

XFS Yes Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2, for

any supported version of RHEL or SUSE that
supports XFS.

Note: With RHEL Linux, an XFS Version

4 (V4) file can be restored, but its
Access Control Lists (ACLs) are not
restored if there are more than 25
ACLs. This limitation does not apply
to XFS Version 5 (V5) or later.

XFS experimental features are not supported,

such as the following:
• RealTime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
Btrfs No
Other (any AHV guest No
file systems)

Recovery platform support

Platforms support for entire VM backup and recovery
NetBackup for Nutanix AHV supports backup and recovery of the entire virtual machine for all guest operating
systems that are supported by AHV.

Platforms supported for target host operating system for agentless file restore
The following platforms are supported for target host operating system for agentless file restore:
• Windows
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Ubuntu
For target host operating system version supportability, see NetBackup client section in NetBackup
Software Compatibility List - 9.1 and later.
Platforms supported for target host operating system for file restore using a NetBackup client
NetBackup for Nutanix AHV supports file-level recovery from a virtual machine backup on the mentioned
supported guest operating systems. For the unsupported guest operating systems, you can recover the entire
virtual machine but not individual files.
The following platforms are supported for target host operating system for file level recovery using NetBackup
client:
• Windows
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux
• CentOS
• Ubuntu
Only NetBackup 8.1 and later for Windows and NetBackup 8.2 and later for Linux are supported client
platforms for file-level recovery. Refer the 8.x and 9.x Software Compatibility List for compatible OS versions
deployed on AHV guest OS.

Notes:
• NetBackup 8.1 and later does not support 32-bit clients for the operating systems listed in the software
compatibility list. Consequently, file-level restore directly to a 32-bit virtual machine is not possible.
As an alternative, you can perform a file-level restore to network shared storage. However, recovery of
the entire virtual machine is supported for both 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines.
• For Windows server guest operating system:
• ReFS file system is not supported. You can back up and restore the entire VM, but files cannot
be individually restored to a ReFS file system.
• File-level recovery is supported for NTFS and FAT files, but NTFS and FAT files cannot be
restored to ReFS.
• Files that use Microsoft data deduplication are not supported
• NetBackup does not support file-level recovery from a guest VM with Storage Spaces. When
you browse for the files, the files do not appear. To restore the files, restore the entire virtual
machine.
• For RHEL 8 (64-bit), Reflinking is no longer experimental and is on by default for XFS file system. If
a shared extent is created, restores may fail if two files that reference the same extent are restored.

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 Hyper-V Server.

Note: Before configuring NetBackup for Hyper-V, make sure that you have Windows 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.
Supported Hyper-V components and versions (VSS
backup method)
NetBackup for Hyper-V supports the following components.

Note: This information applies only to the VSS backup method, not to WMI.

Table 1-26 Components supported for Hyper-V (VSS)

Components What is supported

Failover Cluster Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2,
2016, 2019.
VSS providers NetBackup for Hyper-V has an open support
policy for VSS providers, as described in the
NetBackup Snapshot Client Compatibility List,
available from this location:
[Link]
NetBackup for Hyper-V is supported on the
Windows versions that are listed in the "Virtual
Systems Compatibility" section of the NetBackup
Software Compatibility List (SCL). Any vendors
that support VSS snapshot providers on those
versions are supported for NetBackup for Hyper-V.
CSV-based virtual machine backups NetBackup for Hyper-V has an open support policy
for CSV-based virtual machine backups. Any
vendors that support CSV-based virtual machine
backup on the Windows versions listed in the
"Virtual Systems Compatibility" section of the
NetBackup Software Compatibility List (SCL) are
supported for NetBackup for Hyper-V.

Notes on the new Hyper-V features in NetBackup 8.0

NetBackup 8.0 adds features for faster backup and recovery of Hyper-V virtual machines on Windows Server
2016.
• For a description of those features, see the NetBackup for Hyper-V Administrator's Guide for 8.0 or
later, available here: [Link]
• For detailed information on supported Hyper-V environments, see the "Virtual Systems Compatibility"
section of the NetBackup Software Compatibility List (SCL) for 8.x, available here: NetBackup Master
Compatibility List
Note the following additional points.

Table 1-27 Requirements for the new Hyper-V features in NetBackup 8.0

Requirement Supported versions

NetBackup servers and clients The following must be at NetBackup 8.0 or later:
The NetBackup master server, and the
NetBackup client (the NetBackup client must be
 installed on all Hyper-V servers and SCVMM
servers).

Additional notes about the new Hyper-V features in NetBackup 8.0:

•
• Shielded VMs can run only on trusted hosts that are guarded with the Host Guardian Service.
When restoring virtual machines to an alternate location, the alternate location must be
guarded with the same Host Guardian Service as the source location. Otherwise, you will not
be able to power on the restored VMs.
• If BitLocker was used to encrypt the VM disks, NetBackup will not be able to access the
contents and restore individual guest OS files or applications from the encrypted disks.
• The following is due to a Microsoft limitation: The WMI backup method does not support user-created
checkpoints. The VM is backed up but any user-created checkpoints of the VM are omitted from the
backup. As a result, the user-created checkpoints cannot be restored from the backup.
• For VMs in a cluster, SAN Client is not supported with the WMI backup method. Clustered VMs are
supported with the VSS backup method by means of a Hyper-V Intelligent Policy.
•
• The latest version of Hyper-V integration services must be installed and running inside the
VM.
• The Hyper-V integration services must be enabled in the VM settings.

Support for Hyper-V on Windows 2012

Note the following about NetBackup support for Hyper-V on Windows 2012 and 2012 R2:
• Backup of virtual machines within Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) is supported. In Hyper-V Server
2008 R2, CSV has a limitation that requires serialized backups. In Hyper-V Server 2012, CSV supports
concurrent backups without that limitation. Consequently, the CSV timeout setting in the NetBackup
Hyper-V policy is only used in Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 deployments.

Supported guest operating systems for Hyper-V

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 Microsoft topics
available here:
Hyper-V on Windows Servers
For more information about NetBackup-supported Hyper-V environments, see "Hyper-V Servers Compatibility"
in the "Virtual Systems Compatibility" section of the NetBackup Software Compatibility List (SCL) for 8.x,
available here:
NetBackup Compatibility List for all Versions

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

NetBackup for Hyper-V supports file-level recovery from a virtual machine backup on the following operating
systems.

Note: NetBackup 8.1 and later does not support 32-bit clients for the operating systems listed
in Hyper-V guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery. Consequently, file-
 level restore directly to a 32-bit virtual machine is not possible with NetBackup 8.1. As an
alternative, you can perform a file-level restore to network shared storage. Note:
Recovery of the entire virtual machine is supported for both 32-bit and 64-bit virtual
machines.

Table 1-28 Hyper-V guest operating systems supported for file-level recovery

Hyper-V guest OS Notes

Windows 10 Requires NetBackup 8.0 or later.
Windows 8 Support has the same limitations as for Windows
2012.
See "Support for Hyper-V on Windows 2012"
Windows 7
Windows Vista (32-bit/64-bit) Support for Vista 32-bit is discontinued starting at
NetBackup 8.1.
Windows Server 2022 (64-bit) Requires NetBackup 8.0 or later.
Note the following:
•

Note: File-level recovery is also supported

for NTFS and FAT files with the WMI
or VSS backup method, but NTFS and
FAT files cannot be restored to ReFS.

• Does not support files that use Microsoft

data deduplication.
Windows Server 2019 (64-bit) Requires NetBackup 8.0 or later.
Note the following:
•

Note: File-level recovery is also supported

for NTFS and FAT files with the WMI
or VSS backup method, but NTFS and
FAT files cannot be restored to ReFS.

• Does not support files that use Microsoft

data deduplication.
Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) Requires NetBackup 8.0 or later.
Note the following:
•

Note: File-level recovery is also supported

for NTFS and FAT files with the WMI
or VSS backup method, but NTFS and
FAT files cannot be restored to ReFS.
 • Does not support files that use Microsoft
data deduplication.
Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit) Same restrictions as for Windows Server 2012.
See "Support for Hyper-V on Windows 2012"
Windows Server 2012 (64-bit) See "Support for Hyper-V on Windows 2012"
Note the following:
• Does not support the ReFS file system.
You can back up and restore the entire
VM, but files cannot be individually
restored to a ReFS file system.

Note: File-level recovery is supported for

NTFS and FAT files, but NTFS and
FAT files cannot be restored to ReFS.

• Does not support files that use Microsoft

data deduplication.
Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 (32-bit/64-bit) Support for Windows Server 2008 32-bit is
discontinued starting at NetBackup 8.1.
RHEL 8 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
RHEL 7 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
RHEL 6 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
 • Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
RHEL 5 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 starts at RHEL 5.4. Support for
ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2. See
under RHEL 6 in this table for limitations on XFS
experimental features.
SUSE 15 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 starts at SUSE 11. Support for
ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
SUSE 12 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 starts at SUSE 11. Support for
ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
SUSE 11 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 starts at SUSE 11. Support for
ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication
OEL 9 (32-bit*/64-bit) ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file systems, LVM2 volume
manager.
Support for ext4 starts at SUSE 11. Support for
ext4 64-bit starts at NetBackup 8.0.
 Support for XFS starts at NetBackup 8.1.2.
XFS experimental features are not supported,
such as the following:
• Realtime volumes
• Reflinking
• Deduplication

* NetBackup no longer includes Linux 32-bit clients. Consequently, file-level restore directly to a 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.

Support for Hyper-V Intelligent Policy

NetBackup can automatically select virtual machines for backup by means of the search filters that are specified
in the policy. The policy Clients tab includes a Query Builder for creating the filters. This feature is called
Hyper-V Intelligent Policy.
Note the following requirements.

Table 1-29 Support for Hyper-V Intelligent Policy

Components Notes
Hyper-V Windows Server 2012 R2 or later.
Hyper-V server configuration NetBackup requires the following roles and
features as part of Hyper-V server configuration:
• Windows PowerShell 3.0 or later.
• Hyper-V cmdlets in the Windows
PowerShell.
• Failover cluster cmdlets in the Windows
PowerShell for Hyper-V clusters.
• .NET Framework 4.5 or later.

Note: These roles and features are available

with both Windows Server Core and
Windows Server with GUI installation.
The administrator enables these roles
and features when setting up Hyper-V
and failover clustering on the Windows
server.
Hyper-V online backups with VSS require the proper
version of Hyper-V integration services in the VM
To allow online backups of Hyper-V virtual machines using the VSS backup method, the proper version of the
Hyper-V integration services must be installed in the virtual machines. Without the proper version, online
backup may not succeed (NetBackup status 4201). The following may appear in the job's detailed status log:
2/17/2014 1:39:17 PM - Critical bpbrm(pid=7492) from client RHEL_60_GPT:
FTL - snapshot processing failed, status 4201
2/17/2014 1:39:17 PM - Critical bpbrm(pid=7492) from client RHEL_60_GPT:
FTL - snapshot creation failed, status 4201

Note: The WMI backup method (for Hyper-V Server 2016 and later) does not employ online vs.
offline backups. For more information on the WMI method, see the NetBackup for Hyper-
V Administrator’s Guide for 8.0 or later, available here:

[Link]

Hyper-V integration services required in the VM for online backups (VSS method) describes the required
versions of the integration services.

Table 1-30 Hyper-V integration services required in the VM for online backups
(VSS method)

Guest OS Notes and requirements on the integration services in the

VM
Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, Required minimum versions of integration services:
2012 R2, 2016, 2019
• Hyper-V server 2016 and 2019: Integration services are
automatically updated.
• Hyper-V server 2012 R2: Integration services
6.3.9600.16384.
• Hyper-V server 2012: The integration services are built
in to the Windows 2012 guest OS. For other guest
operating systems, see "Software requirements (for
supported guest operating systems)" in the following
Microsoft TechNet article:
[Link]
• Hyper-V server 2008 R2: Integration services
6.1.7600.16385
• Hyper-V server 2008: Integration services
6.0.6001.18016.
To upgrade the integration services, see the TechNet article
"Install Hyper-V and create a virtual machine:"
[Link]
RHEL, SUSE Required minimum version of Linux integration services:
• Hyper-V server 2016 and above: Linux Integration
Services 4.1.
• Hyper-V server 2012 R2: Linux Integration Services 3.5.
• Hyper-V server 2012: Microsoft does not support online
backup of Linux VMs on Windows 2012 Hyper-V hosts.
 • Hyper-V server 2008 / 2008 R2: 2008 and 2008 R2 do
not support Linux Integration Services in the VM.

Note: Linux Integration Services is not built in to the RHEL

VM. You may have to download and install the
services in the VM.

For assistance downloading and installing Linux Integration

Services, see the TechNet "Linux Integration Services 3.5
Announcement:"
[Link]
[Link]

To determine the current integration services version in a Windows VM

1. In the VM, right-click on the following file and click Properties > Details:
drive_letter\Windows\System32\[Link] This file is the integration services
running in the virtual machine. It should be the same version as the following file on the Hyper-V
server: drive_letter\Windows\System32\[Link]

To determine the current integration services version in a Linux VM

1. In the VM, enter the following: /sbin/modinfo hv_vmbus Example output:
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64/extra/microsoft-
hyper-v/hv_vmbus.ko
version: 3.5
license: GPL
srcversion: ACE0AA64B58744D00E54C12
alias: acpi*:VMBus:*
alias: acpi*:VMBUS:*
depends:
vermagic: 2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64 SMP mod_unload modversions
 For assistance with downloading and installing the service, see the following Microsoft article: Linux
Integration Services 3.5 Announcement

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.
• Make sure to install the VSS provider on the Hyper-V servers and on any off-host servers (alternate
client hosts).

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 VM may need OS updates

The RHEL 6.4 guest OS may be missing a Hyper-V package. As a result, you cannot add a RHEL 6.4 VM as a
client to a Hyper-V policy by its host name. To solve this issue, install all the necessary RHEL OS updates that
are listed in the following Red Hat article:
redhat-release enhancement update for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4
The following Red Hat article contains the bug details:
Bug 883306 -[Hyper-V]Hypervkvpd is not in the RHEL6.4 install group
You can work around this issue by adding the VM to the policy using either the VM display name or UUID,
under the Primary VM identifier option.