Fixing IT

After beating my head against the wall for a while trying to figure out the settings for connecting Symantec Backup Exec 2012 to an OST container on a Dell DR4000 I finally figured it out.

The instructions seemed simple enough but they left off a few key details. I’m going to assume some familiarity with both products so if I gloss over anything here assume it is in the manual somewhere.

The process is:

1. Upgrade your DR4000 firmware to a version that supports OST.
2. Stop Backup Exec services and install the Dell OST Plug-in
3. Restart Backup Exec (or even better reboot the server). You might want to install the latest LiveUpdates as well but keep in mind this may mean updating Remote Agents.
4. Create an OST container in the DR4000
   1. Login to the DR4000 management portal
   2. Under Storage->Containers  click the Create link.
   3. Give the container a Name and change the Connection Type to OST.
   4. You will then have the ability to set a capacity. Click the Create a New Container.
5. Add the OST Storage in Backup Exec
   1. Open the BE 2012 management console and navigate to the Storage tab.
   2. Click Configure Storage.
   3. Choose Network Storage and click Next.
   4. Choose OpenStorage and click Next.
   5. Give the OST device a name and description. The name does not need to match the OST Container name.
   6. Select the DELL provider and click Next.
   7. Provide connection information:
      1. Server name should be the resolvable DNS name or IP address of the DR4000 appliance.
      2. Logon account (this is the thing both BE and Dell’s documentation missed) click Add/Edit
         1. Create a new Logon Credential with the username ‘backup_user’ and the password of ‘St0r@ge!’ without quotes.
         2. Save this logon information.
      3. Select the new logon  and click Next.
   8. You should see the name of the OST Container you created on the DR4000.  Select it and click Next.
   9. Set the number of concurrent operations.  Absent any recommendations from Dell or Symantec, I’m going to try 8 and will update if that doesn’t work. Click Next.
   10. You will be prompted to restart BE services.  This will kill any running jobs.  For me I was prompted repeatedly, so I just restarted the whole server.