19 March 2011

Backup Exec SBS (Small Business Server) Licensing is not accepted on a physical host machine running Windows Standard Edition and backups to tape hard

Problem

Backup Exec SBS (Small Business Server) Licensing is not accepted on a physical host machine running Windows Standard Edition and backups to tape hardware are not possible if the SBS Licensing is entered on a Hyper-V Guest running Windows SBS

Cause

Backup Exec Small Business Server Edition (BE SBS) is designed, licensed, and priced for the Microsoft Small Business Server operating system. The Backup Exec SBS Edition includes all of the necessary components to protect both the Standard and Premium versions of the Microsoft Small Business Server platform, including Microsoft SBS 2008 R2. As a result, Backup Exec SBS Edition will only install on a Microsoft SBS operating system and will perform verification during installation to ensure the product is installed only on a Microsoft SBS operating system.

Microsoft SBS 2008 R2 introduces a number of enhancements and now includes Hyper-V components necessary to virtual the SBS operating system as a Guest virtual machine. Backup Exec SBS Edition is supported when virtualized and installed into the SBS Guest virtual machine. However, BE SBS Edition cannot be installed on the physical Hyper-V host server or the second “Line of Business” Windows 2008 Server operating system (included in the Premium versions of Microsoft SBS) because they are not running the Microsoft SBS operating system required by the Backup Exec SBS Edition.

As a result of the requirement that Backup Exec SBS Edition be installed in the Guest virtual machine running the SBS operating system when virtualized, there are will be limitations on what backup devices can be supported. The Hyper-V 2008 and 2008 R2 platform do not currently support the virtualization of tape devices connected to the physical Hyper-V host through to the SBS Guest virtual machine. As a result, tape devices cannot be currently used when Backup Exec SBS Edition has been virtualized on the Hyper-V platform since tape communication cannot be passed through to the Guest SBS virtual machine. This is a limitation of the Hyper-V platform and not Backup Exec SBS Edition.

Solution

I. For backing up to tape from the host machine
The issue with the SBS Licensing not being accepted by the host machine is resolved with Backup Exec 2010-R2. The install now looks at the active guest machines for an SBS 2008 or greater server during the installation to the host. For tape backup in this environment, install Backup Exec 2010-R2 with the SBS License to the host machine. Per Microsoft KB (957006) Microsoft does not suport SBS 2003 server running as a virtual machine on a Hyper-V host.
II. For backing up to non-tape media from the guest machine
Continue using the Backup Exec SBS Edition Licensing and install it in the Guest virtual machine running the Microsoft SBS operating system for use with backup-to-disk devices or Deduplication storage folders only.
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