Backup Exec 2010 R3 - VMWare Agent / GRT Errors

Can anyone offer any guidance here.

We have Backup Exec 2010 R3. I have created a policy that backs up all VM’s via VCenter and the VMWare agent. Additionally it backs up several physical servers using the windows agent.

We have GRT enabled for files and folders and also need this enabled to cover SQL/Exchange and AD.

Ideally I would like to have one policy to keep everything organised. At the moment I have daily, weekly, monthly backups within one policy. It backs up to a dedupe folder, and once each backup completes it then duplicates the backup to tape.

The issue I have is:

1.      I constantly receive warnings that GRT cannot be used on servers where SQL/Exchange etc aren’t in use.

V-79-57344-38726 - Backup Exec failed to connect to virtual machine '\(DC)Site(DC)\vm\TaskPC02' and was unable to collect the necessary metadata to restore individual application items. You cannot perform GRT-enabled restores of application data from this backup.

This is fair enough but is there a way I can apply a specific selection list just for the GRT backups? The only way I can see to do this is with an additional policy thus the backups start to get split.

For examples sake, say I had 2 policies and selection lists (one for GRT, one for standard servers). I want my “backup to tape” to run when the deduplication backup (to disk) finishes. I assume the only way this can be linked together is by having everything under one policy. i.e. a rule that says when “GRT Weekly backup” finishes start “Standard weekly backup”, when “standard weekly backup” finishes “duplicate to tape”.

So, I guess I need to know whether I can use mixed selection lists within one policy ? If not then can I create a separate “backup to tape” policy that only runs when the other 2 policies complete ? From what I can tell you can’t link policy together, you can only link jobs within each policy

2.      When backing up via the VMWare agent. Each VM only presents the VMDK files therefore I cannot add any exclusions. Pretty much every backup is returning an error saying it cannot find a download folder:

Backup- VMVCB::\\VCENTERSERVER\VCGuestVm\(DCSite(DC)\vm\dhcpSvr01Directory C\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\2c3fad1de0f04535916f6a41f51321da\ was not found, or could not be accessed.

None of the files or subdirectories contained within will be backed up.

V-79-57344-5893 - The object was not found, or could not be accessed (VMware backup).

 Can this error be suppressed anywhere? Or is the only way around it to use the windows agent rather than VMWare agent in order to set exclusions. Which then defeats the point of managing via VMWare and VCenter

I have seen forum posts from last year by Symantec to say they are looking at implementing a way of suppressing error messages so the customer can choose what causes backup failure / warning etc but has this happened yet?


Any advise is appreciated

Thanks

Jon