Today I received an email from one of our channel partners and his question was: "I'm not 100% clear on what is included in V-Ray and how it's licensed. Let's say I have 3 VMware hosts running a total of 1 million virtual machines.  Each host has 2 Quad-Core CPUs.  I simply purchase a 6-socket license V-Ray, correct? Another one - are there any special application agents that V-Ray does not include?  And if that's true, do I simply purchase "Agent X" just like I would for Backup Exec?  The same goes for options - if I need an NDMP agent, I would purchase that add-on in the exact same way for standard Backup Exec?"

If you have also been wondering how the V-Ray Edition differs to standard Backup Exec or maybe you have been trying to find the answers to the same questions listed above, then this blog is for you. I am going to briefly describe the V-Ray Edition and how it’s licensed while covering the basics of standard Backup Exec in respect to the differences between the two offerings. My goal is to answer the questions outlined above and in doing so provide further insight into the Backup Exec V-Ray Edition.

Backup Exec V-Ray Edition

The Backup Exec V-Ray Edition is designed exclusively for virtual environments. Ultimately, with the Backup Exec V-Ray Edition you get all the software you need to completely protect your virtual environment at a very attractive price. Plus, the capabilities of the V-Ray Edition can easily be expanded to protect physical servers too!

The Backup Exec V-Ray Edition is licensed per socket and includes the following software components:

• Backup Exec Media Server (x1 license)
• Backup Exec Agent for VMware and Hyper-V (unlimited licenses)
• Agent for Applications and Databases (unlimited licenses)
  • Exchange
  • SQL
  • SharePoint
  • Active Directory
  • Oracle
  • Lotus Domino
  • Enterprise Vault
• Backup Exec Deduplication Option (x1 license)

The Agent for VMware and Hyper-V “switches on” the integration with VMware APIs for Data Protection (VADP) and Microsoft VSS, which enables fast, high performance snapshots of the virtual disks attached to VMs. The Agent for Applications and Databases enables granular recovery of Microsoft applications. You do not need to buy additional agents or options for application protection in a virtual environment since they are already included with the V-Ray Edition.

All other Backup Exec agents and options in the Backup Exec portfolio e.g. Enterprise Server Option can be added to your Backup Exec V-Ray purchase by purchasing them in the exact same way as standard Backup Exec.

To extend protection of the V-Ray Edition to physical servers, you simply purchase one Backup Exec Agent for Applications and Databases for each physical Application or Database server you wish to protect. In addition, the Backup Exec Media Server and Deduplication Option included in the V-Ray Edition can be used to protect your physical servers. You don’t have to re-license these for your physical environment. The only additional software you need to purchase to protect physical servers is the Agent for Applications and Databases as mentioned above. However, you may decide to extend the functionality of Backup Exec by adding on additional Backup Exec Agents and Options. For example -  Virtual Tape Library Unlimited Drive Option, Enterprise Server Option, Exchange Email Archiving Option etc.

If we quickly take a look back at the question: “I have 3 VMware hosts running a total of 1 million virtual machines.  Each host has 2 Quad-Core CPUs.  I simply purchase a 6-socket license V-Ray, correct?”. The answer is yes. There are 2 sockets per host and a total of 3 hosts. That means you would purchase 6 licenses of the Backup Exec V-Ray Edition. Since Backup Exec protects an unlimited number of guest machines per host, it doesn't make a difference if you have 1 or 100 virtual machines per host machine. Backup Exec will protect them all. There is also no limit on the number of hosts you can protect. You simply count the number of sockets in the environment you wish to protect and purchase the corresponding number of V-Ray licenses. So with the V-Ray edition, you really can protect everything in your environment with a per socket licensing method.

If you wanted to buy standard Backup Exec to protect your virtual environment and what I mean by standard is purchasing Backup Exec via the a la carte licensing model, you would simply purchase:

• One Backup Exec Media Server license for each media server
• One VMware and Hyper-V agent per host machine
• Plus, one agent for applications and databases for every application in the virtual host for granular recovery capabilities

All other Backup Exec Agents and Options such as the Deduplication Option can be purchased in the usual way.

The recovery options available with the V-Ray or standard edition include:

• Protection for All Physical Servers
  • Full system recovery
  • Application and database recovery
  • File and folder recovery
• Protection for All Virtual Machines
  • Full VM recovery
  • VMDK recovery
  • Application and database recovery
  • File and folder recovery
• Application Data Granular Recovery in both virtual and physical environments
  • Exchange
  • SQL
  • Active directory
  • SharePoint

If you have any additional questions, you can reply to this blog, or find me on Twitter at @KateJLewis or @BackupExec

Thanks for reading.

Kate