Installing Backup Exec on a Microsoft Cluster Server

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
Veritas does not recommend installing Backup Exec on the same disk that the cluster quorum is installed on. If you have to specify a new drive letter for the quorum disk during a recovery process, Backup Exec will not recognize the new drive and will not run.
Note: By default, failover from the controlling node to a designated node occurs in alphabetical order according to the machine name of each node. To change the order in which failover will occur on the designated nodes, rename the machines.
The Backup Exec Agent for Windows is automatically installed on all the nodes in the cluster. If this installation of Backup Exec is to be used to back up remote servers outside the cluster, install the Agent for Windows on those remote servers as well.
To install Backup Exec on a Microsoft Cluster Server
  1. Install Backup Exec on all the nodes that you want in the cluster. Use the same installation path for each node.
  2. From the node that you want to be the active node, start Backup Exec.
  3. Click the Backup Exec button, select Configuration and Settings, and then selectCluster Configuration Wizard.
  4. Follow the instructions on the screen.
On the Virtual Server Information screen, Backup Exec automatically displays a default name called BKUPEXECVRS for the virtual server. Type a new default name if you do not want to use the default.
  1. When the Cluster Configuration Wizard completes, create a storage device pool that contains all the locally attached storage devices on each node to be used when failover occurs. This ensures that jobs can be run on the storage devices that are attached to the failover nodes.
See Creating storage device pools for Microsoft Cluster Servers.
  1. Repeat step 5 for all nodes.
See Configurations for Backup Exec and Microsoft Cluster Servers.
See Specifying a different failover node.