How to install Backup Exec linux agent on VMware ESX 3.0

Note: a lot has changes since I made this guide alone time ago and a number of users has reported feedback in my web forum so please read the forum threads also, there is much good information in the thread and there is reportes about other versions of the BE software there is also working.
I will not change this guide to be with the information, but maybe some day i will make another how-to guide.

29/6-09 Thomas

How to install Backup Exec Linux agent on VMware ESX 3.0

I toke me a long time on getting this to work right because of a number of things like the firewall in ESX 3 and what BE Linux agent to use.. so that is why I have made this webpage so you can save time on this when you setup a new ESX 3 server and don't have the time to fight with this.

Remote Agent for Linux and UNIX Servers (RALUS) 10.x
First the RALUS 10.x does not work on ESX because it can not see the VMFS file system and Veritas will not fix this before next version because it do not understand "links" in the file system.. so don't use time on.
you can see this Veritas KB278671 about it and her is what they write

Symantec Corporation has acknowledged that the issue is present in the current version(s) of the product(s), There are no plans to address this issue by way of a patch or hotfix in the current or previous versions of the software at the present time. However, the issue is currently scheduled to be addressed in the next major revision of the product.

Backup Exec UNIX Agent 5.0 revision 5.046
This is the Linux agent to use as it works and it can be download on this Veritas KB262592 or if you have Backup Exec 9.1 installed on your Windows server then is found in a subfolder of the app.

Backup Exec on remote Windows server
This howto and the "Backup Exec UNIX Agent 5.0 revision 5.046" is working with Backup Exec 9.1, 10.x and 10D for Windows

Here is how to install it on the VMware ESX 3.0 and setup Backup Exec for Windows

1. Download the linux agent software to a folder on the ESX 3.0 server

2. Login as Root on the ESX server

3. Change to folder and verify the TAR file is there

[root@ESX3 /]# cd root/backupexec/
[root@ESX3 backupexec]# ls
be_agent_91_for_linux.tar

4. Untar the linux agent software

[root@ESX3 backupexec]# tar -xvf be_agent_91_for_linux.tar
BE_IDENT
INSTALL
common/
common/init.d.agent
common/sp.plist
common/VERSION
common/agent.aix
common/aix.excl
common/agent.hpux
common/hpux.excl
common/agent.linux
common/linux.excl
common/agent.linux24
common/linux24.excl
common/agent.sol_x86
common/sol_x86.excl
common/agent.solaris
common/solaris.excl
common/agent.uware7
common/uware7.excl
english/
english/SETUP
english/CONFIG
english/agent.cfg

5. Starting the Installation

[root@ESX3 tbj]# ./INSTALL

Backup Exec Unix Agent Language Selection v4.3

Backup Exec UNIX Agent Install v3.7
Copyright 2001 VERITAS Software Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

6. Select OS as Linux 2.4 (number 5)

Operating systems supported:

1. Solaris Sparc 2.6, 2.7, 8, 9
2. Solaris Intel x86 2.6, 7, 8
3. HP UX 10.20, 11.x
4. IBM AIX 4.3.x, 5.x
5. Linux 2.4 (RedHat7.1+, SuSE7.1+, Caldera3.1+, Turbo7.0+, Mandrake8.0+)
6. Linux 2.2, 2.0 (RedHat7.0-, SuSE7.1-, Caldera2.4-, Turbo6.5-, Mandrake7.2-)
7. SCO UnixWare 7.x

Operating system detected:

Linux 2.4 (RedHat7.1+, SuSE7.1+, Caldera3.1+, Turbo7.0+, Mandrake8.0+)

Is this correct? (y/n) y

Operating system selected:

Linux 2.4 (RedHat7.1+, SuSE7.1+, Caldera3.1+, Turbo7.0+, Mandrake8.0+)

Installing the Backup Exec UNIX Agent for system type: linux24

7. Type Y to install in the default folder

Please enter the full directory path where the Backup Exec Agent should

be installed: [/etc/bkupexec]

/etc/bkupexec does not exist. Should this directory be created? (y/n)y

8. Hit Enter to continue

Your system's initialization procedure has been modified to

automatically start the Agent the next time your system is started.

Adding the following line to /etc/services:
grfs 6101/tcp # Backup Exec Agent

All necessary Backup Exec Agent files have been copied to: /etc/bkupexec

The configuration for the Backup Exec Agent is stored in /etc/bkupexec/agent.cfg.
You may edit this file at any time to change the configuration for the Agent.

You will now be prompted to enter the initial values for the Agent configuration.

Press Enter to continue

9. Type in the host and domain name of this ESX server

0+1 records in
0+1 records out

Please enter the name for this workstation [ESX3.company.tld]: ESX3.company.tld

10. Select N (can be changed later if you like)

Do you require a password for this workstation? (y/n) n

11. No matter how many netcards you have select Y two times and enter the IP number of the ESX COS IP

Does this workstation have 2 or more network interfaces? (y/n) y

Do you want to specify which one to use? (y/n) y

Enter the IP address of the interface: 172.16.17.3

12. Select the / to be export and then wait with other paths as we type them into the config file later!

Please enter a directory path you want to export as a published path: /

Please enter a unique resource name for this published path: [root] root

Do you want to allow files to be restored to this published path? (y/n) y

Do you require a password for this published path? (y/n) n

Do you want to publish another directory path? (y/n) n

13. Enter the IP number of the remote Backup Exec 9.1, 10.x or 10D server that you like to backup this server.

You must enter the names of the Backup Exec media servers which will
access this workstation. The media server's internet addresses must be
defined in the /etc/hosts file or accessible via a naming service.

Please enter a media server name: 172.16.0.200

Locating 172.16.0.200....located and added to media server list.

Do you want to add another media server? (y/n) n

14. Enter 30 as the advertisement time, note that if you select another value there is maybe a regkey on the windows server you need to change also but Veritas write about it in the documentation.

The Backup Exec Agent must periodically send advertisement messages
to the media servers to inform them that this workstation is
accessible. Please enter the frequency (in seconds) that these

advertisements should be sent: [30] 30

15. Just select 1 and go on

Symbolic links to directories may be backed up in one of two ways.

Method 1: The symbolically linked directory is handled as a special file
and only the information required to recreate the symbolic
link is backed up.

Method 2: The symbolically linked directory is backed up as a normal
directory. All files and subdirectories within the
symbolically linked directory are also backed up.

Method 1 is preferred because it minimizes the amount of data which must
be backed up.

Which method do you want to use? (1 or 2) [1] 1

16. Now the software is installed and pre config

Backup Exec Agent configuration complete.

Note: You may edit the file /etc/bkupexec/agent.cfg to change your Backup
Exec Agent configuration at any time. Configuration changes for the
Backup Exec Agent will take effect after the host is restarted.

[root@ESX3 tbj]#

17. Goto the remote Backup Exec server and into the options, then change the settings to be like this.

18. Now on the ESX server again, Config the ESX firewall to allow Backup exec Linux agent to talk with the remote backup exec server

[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 6101,tcp,out,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 6102,tcp,out,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#

19. Config the ESX firewall to allow the remote Backup exec server to talk with the agent on the ESX server.

[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8192,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8193,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8194,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8195,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8196,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8197,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall -o 8198,tcp,in,Backupexec
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#

20. Reload the firewall config

[root@ESX3 backupexec]#esxcfg-firewall --load
[root@ESX3 backupexec]#

21. open and edit the agent config file

[root@ESX3 root]# nano /etc/bkupexec/agent.cfg
[root@ESX3 root]#

22. Change the config file to match your setup and write the file to disk

# Set the name to be the host and domain name of this ESX server
name ESX3.company.tld

# Set this to be the IP number of ESX COS
force_address 172.16.17.3

# To backup content from the VMFS volumes, then it is best to have this set
follow_symdirs

# This export the ESX OS so it can be backup up
export / as ESX_OS

# This export the the VMFS file system, you can export down to VMFS storage name lavel
# but i will not awise that because if you change the name some day it will crash the backup
# agent and you have to reconfig the agent every time..
# I found this to work best and on all server without isues
export /vmfs/volumes/ as VMFS_volumes include_remote

# This is to tell the remote backup servers about the agent, just change the ip numbers to be
# the ip number of the remote backup exec server.
# for safty you can tell more then one server about the agent and i allways do this as if one
# backup server brack down, you can just use the other server to backup the ESX
# server until you have fix it
tell 172.16.0.200
tell 172.16.0.201

# This interval is default 30 and if you change this to some else, then be sure to read the
# Backup exec manual as there in some case also need to change a regkey on the
# remote backup server
tell_interval 30

# This is folder not to export to the remote backup server..
# I found this list to work well on the ESX 3.0 server
exclude_dir /dev
exclude_dir /proc
exclude_dir /tmp
exclude_dir /var/run/vmware

21. Restart the Backup Exec agent so it read the new config

[root@ESX3 backupexec]# /etc/init.d/agent.init stop
[root@ESX3 backupexec]# /etc/init.d/agent.init start

Backup Exec -- Unix Agent, Version 5.01 Revision 5.046
Copyright 2001 VERITAS Software Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

[root@ESX3 backupexec]#

22. Now go to the remote backup server and make a test backup job where you select some folders to backup with a lot of data so you can see that it is stabile

23. Monitor it is backup the file and the speed is what you expect it to be, I have a LTO3 autoloader and the network is 1gbit and I can see the network traffic is around 250mbit between the server so that is just fine

24. Now monitor the verify, note the high speed is because it just verifying checksums and there for fast, the network is also note showing any trafic at all.

Now Backup exec Linux agent is installed on the ESX 3.0 server and works well

For talk about this topic just post in this thread.
http://www.tooms.dk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=129

Hope you can use it ;-)
Tooms