About the Central Admin Server feature

Last published : Apr 02, 2026

The Backup Exec Central Admin Server feature (CAS) enables a central administration server to delegate jobs to managed Backup Exec servers across the network. Job delegation is the automatic load balancing of jobs across available managed Backup Exec servers in the CAS environment. If your organization includes more than one Backup Exec server, you can benefit from using CAS. Refer to the Price and Licensing Guide for more information about which Backup Exec editions allow using the CAS feature.

All backup information in the CAS environment can be centralized on the central administration server. The managed Backup Exec servers perform the actual processing of backup and restore jobs. You create jobs on the central administration server and then delegate the jobs to run on a managed Backup Exec server. The jobs are delegated, or load-balanced, across the available storage devices on the managed Backup Exec server. Multiple Backup Exec servers can share a storage device when the sharing option is enabled. Centralized restore jobs can also be delegated to managed Backup Exec servers. Additionally, the central administration server can function as a managed Backup Exec server and process delegated jobs. A managed Backup Exec server can also run the jobs that are created locally at its local administration console.

The following graphic shows a local area network (LAN) environment with a central administration server and several managed Backup Exec servers.

Figure: CAS-configured Backup Exec environment - LAN