Preinstallation Checklist for the Virtual Server Agent on Windows

Use this preinstallation checklist to prepare the computer where you will install the Virtual Server Agent, and to gather all the information you will need during the installation.

Note

When you install or upgrade to V11 Service Pack 4 or later on a machine where the Virtual Server Agent is installed, .NET framework 4.5 (for Windows machines) and the latest VDDK driver (for VMware) are installed if they are not already present. After these components are installed, you must reboot the machines where they were installed.

Verify System Requirements

Based on your virtual environment, verify that the computer where you will install the agent satisfies the minimum requirements specified on the system requirements page for your operating system:

Verify License Requirements

Based on the licensing mechanism used in your CommCell environment, verify that the CommCell environment has the required licenses to use the Virtual Server Agent.

For more information, see the Commvault Licensing Program Guide.

Determine the Installation Location

Based on your environment, install the Virtual Server Agent on an appropriate computer. Each computer where the Virtual Server Agent is installed serves as a VSA proxy to manage backup and restore operations.

Environment	Where to install the software
Non-Clustered	For Amazon, install on one or more machines or Amazon instances. For backups, the VSA must be installed on an Amazon instance in each region to be protected. Each VSA proxy can protect instances in the same region. For VM conversion and restores, the VSA can be installed on an Amazon instance or on an external machine. For Citrix Xen, install on a dedicated virtual machine on a standalone XenServer. For FusionCompute, install on a Linux, UNIX, or Windows machine. For Microsoft Azure, install on a physical server or a VM in the Azure cloud that has a public IP address configured. For Microsoft Azure Stack, install on a physical machine or a virtual machine in the Azure Stack cloud. For Microsoft Hyper-V, install on a standalone Hyper-V server. For Nutanix AHV, install on one or more virtual machines running in the Nutanix cluster. For OpenStack, install on one or more instances running in the OpenStack data center. For Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, install on a virtual machine hosted on an Oracle VM Server that is part of the Oracle VM deployment. For Red Hat Virtualization, install on one or more virtual machines in the same data center as the virtual machines to be backed up. For vCloud, install on a physical machine or a vCloud virtual machine. For VMware, install on one or more physical computers or virtual machines.
Clustered	For Amazon, install on one or more machines or Amazon instances. For backups, the VSA must be installed on an Amazon instance in each region to be protected. Each VSA proxy can protect instances in the same region. For VM conversion and restores, the VSA can be installed on an Amazon instance or on an external machine. For Citrix Xen, install on one or more dedicated virtual machines on each XenServer in a Xen pool. For FusionCompute, install on a Linux, UNIX, or Windows machine. For Microsoft Azure, install on a physical server or a VM in the Azure cloud that has a public IP address configured. For Microsoft Azure Stack, install on a physical machine or a virtual machine in the Azure Stack cloud. For Microsoft Hyper-V, install on all Hyper-V servers (physical nodes) in the cluster. For Nutanix AHV, install on one or more virtual machines running in the Nutanix cluster. For OpenStack, install on one or more instances running in the OpenStack data center. For Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, install on a virtual machine hosted on an Oracle VM Server that is part of the Oracle VM deployment. For Red Hat Virtualization, install on one or more virtual machines in the same data center as the virtual machines to be backed up. For vCloud, install on a physical machine or a vCloud virtual machine. Virtual Server Agent for VMware does not support clustered environments.

Environment

Where to install the software

Non-Clustered

For Amazon, install on one or more machines or Amazon instances.
- For backups, the VSA must be installed on an Amazon instance in each region to be protected. Each VSA proxy can protect instances in the same region.
- For VM conversion and restores, the VSA can be installed on an Amazon instance or on an external machine.
For Citrix Xen, install on a dedicated virtual machine on a standalone XenServer.
For FusionCompute, install on a Linux, UNIX, or Windows machine.
For Microsoft Azure, install on a physical server or a VM in the Azure cloud that has a public IP address configured.
For Microsoft Azure Stack, install on a physical machine or a virtual machine in the Azure Stack cloud.
For Microsoft Hyper-V, install on a standalone Hyper-V server.
For Nutanix AHV, install on one or more virtual machines running in the Nutanix cluster.
For OpenStack, install on one or more instances running in the OpenStack data center.
For Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, install on a virtual machine hosted on an Oracle VM Server that is part of the Oracle VM deployment.
For Red Hat Virtualization, install on one or more virtual machines in the same data center as the virtual machines to be backed up.
For vCloud, install on a physical machine or a vCloud virtual machine.
For VMware, install on one or more physical computers or virtual machines.

Clustered

For Amazon, install on one or more machines or Amazon instances.
- For backups, the VSA must be installed on an Amazon instance in each region to be protected. Each VSA proxy can protect instances in the same region.
- For VM conversion and restores, the VSA can be installed on an Amazon instance or on an external machine.
For Citrix Xen, install on one or more dedicated virtual machines on each XenServer in a Xen pool.
For FusionCompute, install on a Linux, UNIX, or Windows machine.
For Microsoft Azure, install on a physical server or a VM in the Azure cloud that has a public IP address configured.
For Microsoft Azure Stack, install on a physical machine or a virtual machine in the Azure Stack cloud.
For Microsoft Hyper-V, install on all Hyper-V servers (physical nodes) in the cluster.
For Nutanix AHV, install on one or more virtual machines running in the Nutanix cluster.
For OpenStack, install on one or more instances running in the OpenStack data center.
For Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, install on a virtual machine hosted on an Oracle VM Server that is part of the Oracle VM deployment.
For Red Hat Virtualization, install on one or more virtual machines in the same data center as the virtual machines to be backed up.
For vCloud, install on a physical machine or a vCloud virtual machine.
Virtual Server Agent for VMware does not support clustered environments.

User Accounts

When configuring a virtualization client, you must provide user credentials as follows:

For Amazon, define policies for user permissions. For more information, see Amazon Web Services User Permissions for Backups and Restores.
For Citrix Xen, collect credentials for the root user or a user account having the Pool Administrator (Pool Admin) role.
For FusionCompute, obtain administrator user credentials for the Virtual Resource Manager (VRM).
For Microsoft Azure credentials, see Setting Up an Application and Tenant for Azure Resource Manager.
For Microsoft Azure Stack, see Setting Up an Application and Tenant for Azure Stack.
For Microsoft Hyper-V, the user account credentials that are used to access the Hyper-V server or cluster for your virtualization instance must be part of the following administrator groups on the Hyper-V host:
- Hyper-V Administrators group
- For Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, Local Administrators group
For a Hyper-V cluster, the user account must have full Cluster Permissions (Read and Full Control).
For Nutanix AHV, collect credentials for a user that has Prism administrator privileges for the Nutanix cluster.
For OpenStack, collect credentials for a user account with administrative privileges for the keystone node.
For Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, add required permissions for the OCID tenant and user.
For Oracle VM, collect administrator user credentials for Oracle VM Manager.
For Red Hat Virtualization, collect credentials for a user account with administrative privileges on the RHEV Manager.
For vCloud, collect user credentials for a vCloud Director user with administrator privileges.
For each VMware vCenter, collect user credentials with appropriate permissions. For more information, see Configuration of User Accounts for VMware.

Deployment Planning

Before installing the Virtual Server Agent, review the following deployment options for your virtualization platform to understand how to optimize operations for your environment.

Gather Installation Data

Refer to the items in this section to gather the information that you will need during the installation. Record the information before you begin installing the software, so that you can refer to it during the installation.

You can install the Virtual Server Agent by using either the CommCell Console or the installation package created by the Download Manager. Any item that applies to only one of these installation methods is noted.

Commvault Package to Install

Install the Virtual Server package, which is under the Virtualization category.

Note

If the File System Agent is not installed on the computer, the File System Core and File System packages are automatically installed with the package that you selected. The File System Agent will not consume any licenses.

To gather the required information for the File System Agent, refer to the Gather Installation Data section in the Preinstallation Checklist for the Windows File System Agent.

The VSS Provider package is installed as part of the Virtual Server Agent installation. (This package is not required for Citrix Xen.)

Client Computer Installations

If the File System Agent or another package is already installed on the computer, you are not required to gather all the computer details again. The level of detail depends on how the package you selected is installed, as follows:

For installations using the CommCell Console, the installation program requests only the name of the client computer.
For installations using the installation package, the installation program reads the details from the previous installation.