Requirements for installing Backup Exec on a Microsoft Cluster Server

Backup Exec clusters can be installed on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 majority node configurations. However, there must be a shared disk in the configuration in order for Backup Exec to share its database files between nodes. In this type of configuration, if the majority of the cluster nodes fail, then the entire cluster will fail. This configuration normally uses more than two nodes in the cluster configuration.

The controlling node and designated failover nodes must be online during installation of Backup Exec into the cluster.

A unique IP address and a unique network name for the Backup Exec virtual server is required during installation.

During installation of a Backup Exec cluster, the node that runs the installation should own the shared disk. If you use a physical disk resource that belongs to another application, the Backup Exec Cluster Wizard will move all the resources that belong to the other application into the Backup Exec group. It is recommended that Backup Exec not be installed on the cluster quorum.

An individually licensed copy of Backup Exec, as well as any applicable agents and options, is required for each active node in the cluster as defined in the End User License Agreement. When installing a trial version of Backup Exec, a cluster environment is automatically detected and licenses are not required.

When you install Backup Exec clusters in a Central Admin Server feature (CAS) configuration, all Backup Exec installations must have the same server configuration. Either all nodes should be database servers or all nodes should be managed Backup Exec servers that connect to the central administration server.

All Backup Exec installations into a cluster must either be part of a single cluster group, or be locally installed on each node. If cluster-aware Backup Exec is installed in a cluster as well as a locally installed version of Backup Exec (not cluster-aware), then you cannot log on to the locally installed Backup Exec server. You can only log on using the Backup Exec virtual server name. To be able to log on to the locally installed Backup Exec server, you must first use the Cluster Configuration Wizard to uninstall cluster-aware Backup Exec from all the nodes in the cluster.

Use the same account for Backup Exec services on all nodes in the cluster. If nodes in a cluster use Backup Exec and have different accounts, change the services to use the same account.