Categories: Business & Tech News

SOLVED: Fix Backup Exec Agent Won’t Work On Server 2008 R2, SBS 2011, Server 2012

So if you are asking yourself, does Backup Exec support Server 2008 R2, the answer is no… but you can make it work!

If you have Windows Server 2008 R2 (or Server 2012 R2 in the near future) servers and are using Backup Exec software, you may have broken your backups by updating the Remote Agents:

Backup Exec no longer supports the following features or software requirements:

  • You cannot install Backup Exec Server and Remote Agent (21.3 and later) on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Small Business Edition 2011 operating systems.
  • You cannot install Backup Exec Remote Agent (21.3 and later) on Windows 7 operating system.
  • Backup Exec 21.3 and later does not support Exchange 2010.
  • Backup Exec 21.3 and later does not support Hyper-V 2008 R2.
  • Microsoft Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) 8 and 8.1 are not supported for Backup Exec 21.3 and later.
  • Backup Exec 21 and later no longer support Microsoft Cluster for Backup Exec media servers.
  • You cannot install Backup Exec Server on Windows Server 2008 and earlier operating systems.
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/doc/59226813-149109026-0/v60363429-149109026

The fix is to install an older agent on your older servers. A current Backup Exec server, will function with old Backup Exec agents. As you can see in the above note from Backup Exec release notes, you will want the Backup Exec agent that came just before 21.3, which is 21.2 U2.

Note that you will have to uninstall the existing (newer, unsupported Backup Exec agent) before you install the old, supported one. A reboot between uninstall and reinstall of the agent is NOT required.

Now the question is, where can you get the old agents from? Well, you could download the last supported Server 2008 R2 Backup Exec agent from us right HERE, or you can:

  1. log into your Veritas Backup Exec site HERE,
  2. download the old 21.2 U2 zip file
  3. extract the Backup Exec ISO
  4. run SETUP.EXE from Backup_Exec_21.2_1200.1930_MultiPlatforms_Multilingual\BE-DVD-1200.1930\BE\WinNT\Install\RAWSx64

Published by
Ian Matthews

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