Compilation of articles and documents related to Backup Exec and VMWare vSphere

It’s not straigthforward to find documentation in the Symantec web site about their products. Regarding to Backup Exec and VMWare vSphere there several documents spread in the site, even outside of it. Here it is a compilation of useful articles and documents.

Best practices for Backup Exec 2010 Agent for VMware Virtual Infrastructure
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO21769&key=56792

Symantec Backup Exec 2010 Agent for VMware Virtual Infrastructure FAQ
http://webobjects.cdw.com/webobjects/media/pdf/symantec/Backup-Exec-2010-VMware-FAQ.pdf

VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) FAQ
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH150567

How to backup ESX 4.0-5.0 using SAN Transport Mode with Backup Exec 2010
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH155831

Known problems with SAN based backups and BE 2012 R3 SP1:
Slow throughput for SAN based AVVI backups of virtual machines post Backup Exec 2010 R3 Service Pack 1
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH175944&key=56792

Deduplication methods for Backup Exec agents
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO23358&key=58348

VMWare documents:
Best practices when using SAN transport for backup and restore
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1035096

Administrator’s guides
Symantec Backup Exec 2012 Administrator’s Guide
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5211&key=15047

Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R2/R3 Administrator’s Guide
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC2211

Landing page of Backup Exec Agent for VMWare Virtual Infrastructure
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=landing&key=56792

Video from Symantec Connect:
Protecting Virtual Environments with Backup Exec 2012
http://www.symantec.com/connect/videos/protecting-virtual-environments-backup-exec-2012

How to run vSphere Host Update Utility on Windows 7 x64

Follow these instructions to fix vSphere client on Windows 7: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/211440

xcopy “C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe.config”    “C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\VIUpdate 4.0\VIUApp.exe.config”

Create bat file for VIUApp.exe:

 

SET DEVPATH=c:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib

“c:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\VIUpdate 4.0\VIUApp.exe”  

SET DEVPATH=c:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib

“c:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\VIUpdate 4.0\VIUApp.exe”

Without these changes, VIUApp.exe fails adding hosts with error “The type initializer for ‘VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy’ threw an  exception.”

VMWare ESX Timeline

08/03/2011: Updated with ESX/i 5.0 release dates!

VMWare ESX	General Availability Date
Version 5.0	08/??/2011
Version 4.1	07/12/2010
Version 4.0	05/21/2009
Version 3.5	12/10/2007
Version 3.0	06/15/2006
Version 2.5	11/19/2004
VMWare ESXi
Version 4.0	05/21/2009
Version 3.5	01/10/2008

For more info about Support Life Cycle Policy go to the source: http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/eos_vi.html (ESX 3.0)

http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle/enterprise-infrastructure/eos.html (ESX 4.0)