It seems that Symantec have had a Backup Exec plugin available for Kaseya for a few months, although I've only run into it for the first time today.
It'll be a little while until I can get it in to trial, and as the forums are strangely quiet on the subject I though I'd ask and see if anyone has any experience with it, and if so, what do they think of it?
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH172294
I installed it recently and have not been able to get it to work. I opened a Kaseya ticket on it but they referred me out to Symantec support. Haven't had the time to do this yet.
I took a look at it and noticed that it requires SSRS. Mine's busted, at the moment, so it'll have to wait 'til I get that fixed. Thanks for pointing it out, though. I hadn't known it was available...
I saw this post the other day and decided to try it out. I installed it last night and so far it works well. You have to install the symantec agent on each server that has symantec backup exec installed. It only supports the newer versions of symantec 12.5 or higher. Out of the 54 machines it found with symantec I can only monitor 15 due to the version.
It doesn't push the backup information, you have to run some included scripts to get the backup info.
where can you find that symantec agent?
Sander
It is part of the download in the link above. You have to put the agent in the vsashare files and run the script to install the agent on each server.
ah didn't read i had to run a script. Thanx.
btw installed the 1.0 agent but in kaseya i dont see a server in the symantec module.
I installed it. It works okay. But they dont have any email alert functionality and no scheduled reporting, which are the only two things I really needed. Basically it drops all errors and reports into a series of dashboards and that is all you get.
hmm thought something like that diggisaur. not suitable for us.
You can however use the module to let Kaseya gather all the info to your SQL server.. and have SQL Reporting report over that data..
the only nasty thing is the missing part to create alerts based on this..
yup thats true.
It is a first release and they made the module entirely on their own. Be sure to give them good feedback so they continue to improve it :)
Agree with Ben on this one. It is the first release and the next version is currently in beta testing. Wish I had the time to install and test.
I have been a Beta tester of this product from the beggining. It is now working great in our environments. Yes it is limited to the newer versions of BUEXEC, but the reporting is great. At any given time I can go and look at the backup matrix, successful\failed jobs, etc. The reports are very professional and the Symantec team called me about 4 times when I reported a bug and remoted in for a session to get it fixed. The newest installed version has major improvements and functionability. For our clients that dotn want BUDR or another option, we now dont have to worry about pulling event logs or getting emails from the server to tell us what the issue is. We can go right to the XML report and look at it.
Kudos to Symantec for being "Kaseya Aware"
Adam
I couldnt attach screen shots, but anyone that wants some more information, contact me.
awall@tomorrowsoffice.com
I have installed it and most of our BUEXEC clients are new enough to support it, however I did not find it compelling enough to warrant replacing what I am already doing.
Excellent point have been raised about scheduled reporting and alert raising but I will say this: Symantec have come out in these forums and said "We want this to work for MSPs so you tell us how you want this product to look" so huge kudos to Symantec for this approach, let's get behind them and make it worth their while.
I have installed the module and I sure like the direct access to the job summary.
The reports are not working, i get this message: For security reasons DTD is prohibited in this XML document. To enable DTD processing set the ProhibitDtd property on XmlReaderSettings to false and pass the settings into XmlReader.Create method.
Anybody an idea?
(We use 2003 Reporting Services)
I've installed it but can't figure out how to actually use it. I see and have run the relevant agent procedures per the instructions but can't figure out where I view the collected data. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.
Oh, shoot! I see it. Do I feel really dumb, now... Nevermind.....
1. Kudos to Symantec for taking on this project on their own and engaing with us K users.
2. Call me stupid, but where do I find the agent to install on the servers? I dont see a refence to it anywhere.
Lloyd
okay, fumbling around I fould the Agent Procedure to install the agent.
I executed it, and it says it completed successfully. But in the VSA when I browse to Symantec Backup Exec->Discovery->Discovered Machines, the Agent for Backup Exec PlugIn column is still blank, and the Actions Reguried tab still shows "Install supported version of Agent for Backup Exec Plug-in. "
When I connect to the server and browse to the BEKaseyaAgentSetup.log file, it shows the following:
===================================
12 08:31 :Installation Started
04:08:2012 08:31 :WARNING: Failed to remove C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Backup Exec Management Plug-in for Kaseya\Logs\errors.xml due to error 2
04:08:2012 08:31 :Verifying if the user has administrator rights on the computer.
04:08:2012 08:31 :New version of Agent for Backup Exec Agent Plugin: 1.0.143.0.
04:08:2012 08:31 :Starting BEKaseyaAgent MSI - Regular Install Mode
04:08:2012 08:31 :msiexec /i "BEKaseyaAgent.msi" /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*v+ "C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Backup Exec Management Plug-in for Kaseya\Logs\BEKaseyaAgentInstallMsi.log"
04:08:2012 08:31 :Msiexec Return Code : 0
04:08:2012 08:31 :Regular Install Mode - Installation completed successfully.
So it looks liek it installed ok.
Is a reboot required? Or do I need to do anything else (other than running the agent procedure" to get the agent to install and be recognized?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Lloyd,
Reboot is not required..it should work.
Can you try running the "gather" procedures on that server now?
It should retrieve the stuff you need...
@Patrick: The reporting services (SSRS) related error that reads as "For security reasons DTD is prohibited in this XML document..." might be occurring due to some issues with SSRS configuration. Please find the possible resolution(s) in the attached document BEMPK_IssueWithSSRS_ReportRendering.doc. Let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Regards,Ramesh BupathySymantec Corporation
@lwolf: Regarding your question about the data shown in Discovered Machines UI and possibly on how to configure so that you can view BE jobs/alerts etc in the web console:
Go to Kaseya's "Agent Procedures" module/tab, run the "Install Agent Plug-in 1.0 for Backup Exec" agent procedure (I do not recall the exact name of this agent procedure, but you can easily find out what I mean here!) against the Backup Exec Media servers that have v12.5 or 2010/R2/R3 installed. This agent procedure will deploy an agent on BE media servers. After successful completion of this agent procedure, please run an audit task on those media servers from Kaseya's "Audit" module/tab. After audit is completed, you should find the "Agent for Backup Exec Plug-in" column properly filled-in in the "Discovered Machines" UI.
Once you see the "Monitoring Status" column showing as "Monitored", please go to Kaseya's "Agent Procedures" module/tab once again and schedule the "Gather Backup Exec Summary Data" and "Gather Backup Exec Inventory Data" agent procedures to run periodically. I assume normally one would like to schedule "Gather Backup Exec Summary Data" agent procedure to run more often (say every 15/30 minutes or so) and "Gather Backup Exec Inventory Data" to run once in a day or so.
FYI - I noticed that you had posted in another thread as well and I was about to post in there. Anyways, no issues. I will add a reference to this thread later.
@symantec_corp,
Thansk very much. That was helpful, I am now running the aduit and we'll see if that fixes the problem.
And let me say, kudoes to Symantec for developing this integration with Kaseya.
A followup question.... I read the readme file with the installation package, which seemed to cover the topic of actually installing the software on our k server. But I feel like I am missig some general overview/instruction steps that explain the details of how to use the module, procedures to schedule, best practices, etc. Is there such a document somewhere?
@Symantec_corp:
Wil there be any integration to create alarms within Kaseya?
We are using the module already on daily base, but we are needing some way to have automated alarms to the kaseya dashboard from where we can create tickets.
The dashboard is being watched and checked during the day. When a backup fails we would very much like to have it visible there...
Regards,
Michael
Symantec Engineering is investigating whether we can create alarms from the Backup Exec alert data that we are collecting. It is possible we could add this in a futrure realease, but not guaranteed at this point. In the meantime, the workaround is to create an event set for the events you are interested and assign the monitor to the Backup Exec servers via the standard procedures for this in the K2 console. You could create an event set containing the event for a failed Backup Exec job, for example. We have uploaded a full set of Backup Exec events from which you can copy any events of interest in creating your own event set for Backup Exec. You can find our event sets in this post:
community.kaseya.com/.../71969.aspx
Tom Zarrella
Symantec Corporation
The chapter titled as "Getting started with Symantec Backup Exec Management Plug-in for Kaseya" in the online help document might be helpful to understand the step-by-step instructions to start monitoring a Backup Exec (BE) media server. To access the BE Plug-in's online help, first select the "Symantec Backup Exec" module/tab and then click on Help button (button with "?" icon) in the Kaseya's toolbar (top left-hand side, just above the module name "Symantec Backup Exec"). A new IE browser window will appear with BE plug-in's help document loaded in it. Expand the topics in the left-hand side of the online help document and select "Setting up the monitoring environment" topic to view the step-by-step instructions.
I am hoping this will be helpful to know how to get started. Let us know if you expected any additional/specific information.
Ramesh,
Thanks very much for pointing me to the online help file. That was indeed what I was looking for. Sorry for acting stupid and not checking there first.
We recently installed the plug-in installed and it worked first time.
Certified Idiot kaseya administrator
We are making progress with using this plugin.
For those of you who have it working successfully, I was wondering if you could comment on the best practices for the frequency of hwo often to schedule the two agent procedures. The online help file says the following:
- Gather Backup Exec Inventory Summary (Gathers the Backup Exec inventory summary from the managed Backup Exec servers that have the Agent for Symantec Backup Exec Management Plug-in for Kaseya installed. The summary information is mainly useful for monitoring inventory items, such as the Backup Exec license usage. You must run this agent procedure whenever a new Backup Exec Option is installed on the managed Backup Exec servers. Note: You can also schedule this procedure to run on a recurring basis depending on how often you want to inventory the managed Backup Exec servers.)
- Gather Backup Exec Summary (Gathers the Backup Exec summary from the managed Backup Exec servers that have the Agent for Symantec Backup Exec Management Plug-in for Kaseya installed. The summary information provides a concise overview on the status of your active alerts, backup jobs, and storage devices)
Most of our backup jobs run overnight. Some creep into the work day. I am thinkign that it migth make sense to run the Gather Backup Exec Summary prcoedure every hour or so. Seems that it would be needed in order to have rather up-to-date info displaye din the VSA for info regard backup jobs. Woudl you agree with my thinking?
I am unsure about the Gather Backup Exec Inventory Summary procedure. The only example provided in the online help file is for licensing, which would not change. So does this only need run once? or maybe once a week? Or does it need to be run daily? More more like hourly liek th eother procedure?
Thanks in advance for the guidance.
It seems that you have already figured out on what could be the suitable frequency for running the two pre-canned data gathering agent procedures.
Considering your comments in the last post and what type of data that our pre-canned agent procedures collect from BE machines, I think the following configuration may be suggested. However, please consider this as one of the ways to determine a suitable frequency:
"Gather Backup Exec Inventory Summary" - This agent procedure collects only license usage information as of today. Once in a day might be reasonable frequency for collecting this data. Even though license information may not change very often, the reasoning behind my suggestion (i.e. once per day) is that there will be less confusion when a user feels the data shown in UI/reports is not correct. If frequency is set to one week, at times, there may be unnecessary confusion about incorrect data shown in UI/reports. Overall, it is relatively better to have reports as of 1 day older, rather than 1 week older. FYI: This agent procedure would always collect the complete list of license usage details whenever it runs.
"Gather Backup Exec Summary" - This agent procedure collects data (such as backup job status - success/failure, Backup Exec Alerts, Storage related warnings/failures) that are of much interested to anyone who is monitoring and working to resolve issues based on SLA. Even if you had backup jobs run only overnight, it is not predictable that when a critical alert or storage related issue would occur. Hence it may be better to schedule this agent procedure based on how soon would you like to know a failure (job status/alerts/storage issues) after that occurred? As you had already mentioned, you may probably start with 1 hour frequency and if you would like you can always change the frequency. FYI: This agent procedure would collect the last 1 month of data (about the job history/alerts/storage data) only when run the very first time. In its subsequent runs, only the new data (delta/baseline data; i.e. post the last successful data collection) will be collected and sent to Kaseya server. Hence even if you schedule it to run for every 1 hour, the size of data being transferred to Kaseya server would typically be very minimal.
Thansk very much for the explaination. I appreciate it.
It's working fine on some servers but on the others in failing in step 6.
10:04:57 am 7-May-12 Gather Backup Exec Summary Failed THEN in step 6 gconnors
10:04:57 am 7-May-12 Gather Backup Exec Summary FAILED in processing THEN step 6, Execute File, with error File or Directory Not Found, "C:\Program Files\Kaseya\Agent\BackupExecPlugin\BEMSE_Agent.exe" -d:alerts -d:jobs -d:joblogs -d:devices -p:Data\BESummary
What is it?