Backup Exec FAQ

Depending upon various factors, you might find that your catalogs folder grows very large. It's not unusual for it to grow to several gigabytes.

Before reading on, you may wish to read What are catalogs?

If you're looking at this section, you might be faced with a problem that you don't feel can be solved by Backup Exec. In that case, you might like to look at some of the alternatives:

A common problem with Backup Exec is that unexpected media get used for a backup job. This generally stems from the complexity of a few settings, combined with misunderstandings about how media sets work.

If you have a suggestion for an enhancement to BE, you can submit it to Symantec at the Symantec enhancement site.

According to one of the technical support people for another Symantec product, they also submit enhancement requests, based on the problems they see during their work. 

There are at least three ways to backup Microsoft SQL Server - offline backups, online backups using the Backup Exec SQL agent, and online backups of SQL's own backups.

If you have a tape (or a .bkf file for that matter) and you want to know what's on the tape, you need the catalog of the tape. A catalog is a catalog (or index) of the media contents. When Backup Exec creates a backup it stores a copy of the catalog in the catalogs folder, and a copy on the media. The local copy is referred to when you prompt Backup Exec for a restore selection list, or use the Search Catalogs feature.

A common problem topic with Backup Exec 10 is Microsoft SQL 2005 compatability. There are two areas where databases come into contact with Backup Exec.

This has only been tested on ISA 2004 Standard Edition, with Backup Exec 10d.

In order to backup the ISA server we have to allow the Backup Exec media server to access it. The Backup Exec Remote Agent must also be installed manually on your ISA server.

If you're unlucky enough to be in a country affected by the changes to DST changes (still with me?), you need to apply a Hotfix to Backup Exec 11 to prevent possibly missing a job.

To perform a disaster recovery (restore from scratch) of a Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 computer, the relevant section of the Administrator's Guide is page 615 onwards for Backup Exec 10 and page 663 for Backup Exec 11.

This process is relevant for domain controllers, when you are doing an authoritative restore. This does not cover restoring the Backup Exec media server.

If you are restoring Active Directory data, you will generally be restoring it for one of two reasons:

• You are restoring an entire domain controller, and you need some Active Directory data for it to start up correctly
• You need to restore all or part of your Active Directory data to a prior state, such as if you've accidentally deleted an organisational unit

In the second case you need to perform an authoritative restore, in the first a non-authoritative restore is adequate.