To use a Red Hat server as a NetBackup Bare Metal Server you can simply activate that service, it is installed by default when you install the NetBackup server or client software. I installed the server software for this purpose, but, with hindsight, installing the client is probably a better option and you need the client later on anyway to create the boot media.

That is, by the way, the purpose of this setup. We're not going to use the boot server, we already have a few network boot services, and using the media boot is just as easy (and less work).

Before we can install the NetBackup server software we first need to make sure the

compat-libstdc++

package is installed:

[root@bmrredhatbox ~]# rpm -aq | grep compat-libstdc
compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61

Then unzip and start the installation script:

[root@bmrredhatbox tmp]# gunzip NetBackup_7.1_LinuxR_x86_64.tar.gz
[root@bmrredhatbox tmp]# tar -xf NetBackup_7.1_LinuxR_x86_64.tar
[root@bmrredhatbox tmp]# cd NetBackup_7.1_LinuxR_x86_64
[root@bmrredhatbox NetBackup_7.1_LinuxR_x86_64]# ls
Doc  install  LICENSE  linuxR_x86
[root@bmrredhatbox NetBackup_7.1_LinuxR_x86_64]# ./install


Symantec Installation Script
Copyright 1993 - 2011 Symantec Corporation, All Rights Reserved.


        Installing NetBackup Server Software

Do you wish to continue? [y,n] (y) y

The NetBackup and Media Manager software is built for use on LINUX_RH_X86 hardware.
Do you want to install NetBackup and Media Manager files? [y,n] (y)

NetBackup and Media Manager are normally installed in /usr/openv.
Is it OK to install in /usr/openv? [y,n] (y)

Reading NetBackup files from /tmp/NetBackup_7.1_LinuxR_x86_64/linuxR_x86/anb

usr/openv/db/
...<cut filelisting>...
usr/openv/volmgr/bin/make_scsi_dev

Done executing NB.inst.

If you ran NB.inst instead of <cdrom_path>/install, you must
run /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/install_bp to initiate NetBackup.
Running /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/install_bp

Copying RedHat2.6 Client Binaries

Installing PBX...
Please wait while installation is in progress...
Installation completed Successfully
Installation log located here: /var/tmp/installpbx-5180-041112140309.log


Unpacking SYMCnbclt package.
Checking for pre-existing SYMCnbclt package.
Installing SYMCnbclt package.
Installation of SYMCnbclt was successful.
More details regarding SYMCnbclt can be found in file
/tmp/install_cltpkg_trace.5161 on bmrredhatbox.

Terminating NetBackup and/or Media Manager processes.

Installing NB-Java.

Unpacking SYMCnbjava package.
Checking for pre-existing SYMCnbjava package.
Installing SYMCnbjava package.
Installation of SYMCnbjava was successful.
More details regarding SYMCnbjava can be found in file
/tmp/install_javapkg_trace.5985 on bmrredhatbox.

Unpacking SYMCnbjre package.
Checking for pre-existing SYMCnbjre package.
Installing SYMCnbjre package.
Installation of SYMCnbjre was successful.
More details regarding SYMCnbjre can be found in file
/tmp/install_jrepkg_trace.5985 on bmrredhatbox.
+ /bin/cp ./nbj.conf /usr/openv/java

Directory /usr/openv/logs does not exist.
No log files to migrate.

+ Extracting PDDE server package (/usr/openv/pddeserver.tar.gz)...
+ Extracting PDDE agent package (/usr/openv/netbackup/client/Linux/RedHat2.6/pddeagent.tar.gz)...
Unpacking SYMCpddea package.
Checking for pre-existing SYMCpddea package.
Installing SYMCpddea package.
Creating /etc/pdregistry.cfg.
Copying pdregistry.cfg file to /usr/openv/pdde/pdconfigure/cfg/userconfigs/pdregistry.cfg.
Starting setup for PDDE script
Done setup for PDDE script
Checking to see if the PDDE configuration needs upgrading
pdregistry.cfg exists.
No existing PDDE configuration detected.

PDDE install finished successfully.


The following automatic startup and shutdown scripts (respectively)
have been installed.  They will cause the NetBackup daemons to be
automatically shut down and restarted each time the system boots.

/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S77netbackup
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S77netbackup
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S77netbackup
/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K01netbackup
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K01netbackup
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K01netbackup


Installation of Java LiveUpdate agent succeeded.  Refer to file
/tmp/JLU-Log/JavaLiveUpdate-Install.log on bmrredhatbox
for installation details.


Checking LiveUpdate registration for the following products: NB
This may take a few minutes.

Product NB is installed and will be registered.

Updating LiveUpdate registration now...this may take some time.

A NetBackup Server or Enterprise Server license key is needed
for installation to continue.

Enter license key: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX:
        NetBackup Server Base product with the following features enabled:
            Enterprise Vault Agent
            Open File Backup
            Remote Client Support
            Robotic Library Sharing Support
            Microsoft RSM Robotic Libraries
            Inline Tape Copy
            DataStore
        has been registered.


All additional keys should be added at this time.
Do you want to add additional license keys now? [y,n] (y)


        License Key Utility
        -------------------

        A) Add a License Key
        D) Delete a License Key
        F) List Active License Keys
        L) List Registered License Keys
        H) Help
        q) Quit License Key Utility


Enter a letter: A

Enter license key: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NetBackup Server is the active NetBackup.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX:
        NetBackup features enabled:
            Enterprise Vault Agent
            Bare Metal Restore
            Encryption
            Open File Backup
            Encryption (Legacy DES 56-bit)
            Encryption (Legacy DES 40-bit)
            Additional clients
        has been registered.



        License Key Utility
        -------------------

        A) Add a License Key
        D) Delete a License Key
        F) List Active License Keys
        L) List Registered License Keys
        H) Help
        q) Quit License Key Utility


Enter a letter: q


Installing NetBackup Server version: 7.1



If this machine will be using a different network interface than the
default (bmrredhatbox), the name of the preferred interface should be used
as the configured server name.  If this machine will be part of a
cluster, the virtual name should be used as the configured server name.

Would you like to use "bmrredhatbox" as the configured
NetBackup server name of this machine? [y,n] (y)

Checking network connections.
bp.conf: IP_ADDRESS_FAMILY = AF_INET: default value, no update needed

Sending SIGHUP to xinetd process.

Reloading configuration:                                   [  OK  ]

Converting STREAMS files.  This may take a few minutes.

STREAMS files conversion is complete.


Successfully updated the session cache parameters.
Starting the NetBackup network daemon.
Starting the NetBackup client daemon.
Starting the NetBackup SAN Client Fibre Transport daemon.
Creating /usr/openv/tmp/sqlany

Installed SQL Anywhere Version 11.0.1.2475
Installation completed successfully

set_value: Key "AZDBPasswordFilePath" successfully updated
AZ database setup complete.

Database server is NB_bmrredhatbox
Creating the NetBackup database.
Creating NetBackup staging directory in: /usr/openv/db/staging
Creating /usr/openv/db/staging
Starting the NetBackup database.
Authenticating the NetBackup database.
VXDBMS_NB_DATA entry in bp.conf updated successfully.
Setting of database authentication for NBDB successful.
Change of dba password for NBDB successful.
Creating the NetBackup database files.
Creating the NetBackup EMM schema.
Verifying the running version of NBDB ...
NBDB version 7.1.0.0 verified.
Nothing to upgrade. Version unchanged.
Database [NBDB] validation successful.
Database [NBDB] is alive and well on server [NB_bmrredhatbox].
Creating the NetBackup Authorization database.

Starting the NetBackup Event Manager.


Starting the NetBackup Audit Manager.

Starting the NetBackup Deduplication Manager.
Starting the NetBackup Deduplication Engine.

Starting the NetBackup database manager process (bpdbm).

Creating Directive Set for LotusNotes
Creating Directive Set for MS_Exchange_Mailbox
Creating Directive Set for MS_Exchange_Database
Creating Directive Set for MS_Exchange_Public_Folders
Creating Directive Set for MS_Exchange_Database_Availability_Groups
Creating Directive Set for MS_SharePoint_Portal_Server
Creating Template Set for Oracle_RMAN
Creating Template Set for Oracle_XML_Export
Creating Template Set for DB2
Creating Directive Set for Windows2003
Creating Directive Set for Windows2008
Creating Directive Set for Enterprise_Vault_7.5
Creating Directive Set for Enterprise_Vault_8.0
Creating Directive Set for Enterprise_Vault_9.0
Creating Directive Set for Enterprise_Vault_10.0

Converting snapshot policies:

Policy conversion summary:
        Number of original policies:                    0
        Number of non-snapshot policies skipped:        0
        Number of policies not needing conversion:      0
        Number of policies converted to
          'auto' snapshot method:                       0
        Number of policies converted:                   0

Updating client hardware definitions:

Hardware update conversion summary:
        Number of policies processed:                         0
        Number of policies with affected clients:             0
        Number of clients processed:                          0
        Number of clients converted:                          0
        Number of Disaster Recovery flags cleared:            0

Starting the NetBackup compatibility daemon.
Starting the NetBackup Enterprise Media Manager.
Starting the NetBackup Resource Broker.

Populating the database tables.  This will take some time.

Starting the Media Manager device daemon processes.

Starting the NetBackup request daemon process (bprd).
Starting the NetBackup Job Manager.
Starting the NetBackup Policy Execution Manager.
Starting the NetBackup Storage Lifecycle Manager.
Starting the NetBackup Remote Monitoring Management System.
Starting the NetBackup Key Management daemon.
Starting the NetBackup Service Layer.
Starting the NetBackup Agent Request Server.
Starting the NetBackup Bare Metal Restore daemon.
Starting the NetBackup Vault daemon.
Starting the NetBackup Service Monitor.
Starting the NetBackup Bare Metal Restore Boot Server daemon.


OpsCenter is the next-generation monitoring, reporting and
administrative solution designed to centrally manage one or
more NetBackup installations from a web browser.  Existing
NetBackup Operations Manager or Veritas Backup Reporter
installations can be upgraded to OpsCenter.

If an OpsCenter server already exists in your environment
or you plan to install one, enter the real hostname of that
OpsCenter server here.  Do not use a virtual name.  If you
do not want this local machine to be an OpsCenter server,
enter NONE.

Enter the OpsCenter server (default: NONE):


NetBackup server installation complete.


File /usr/openv/tmp/install_trace.4617 contains a trace of this install.
That file can be deleted after you are sure the install was successful.

Now the installation is ready.

The bp.conf file holds the configuration which is required for the communication with the rest of the netbackup environment which is really dependent on DNS.

[root@bmrredhatbox /usr/openv/netbackup]# vi bp.conf

[root@bmrredhatbox netbackup]# cat bp.conf
CLIENT_NAME = bmrredhatbox.warmetal.local
SERVER = bckmaster.warmetal.local
SERVER = bcksrv01
SERVER = bckmedia01
SERVER = bcksrv02
SERVER = bckmedia02

Now, for easy problem solving and cleaning up, reboot the server. After the reboot test connectivity by trying to add the server as a client on the NetBackup Master server.

Now that the server has netbackup it's a matter of running a single command to register the server as a BMR boot server:

[root@bmrredhatbox bin]# ./bmrsetupboot -register
[Warning] V-127-64 tftpd service is not active.
Please verify TFTPD server is installled and [X]INETD is properly configured.
This is required in order to do BMR network boot based client restore.
V-128-292 Cannot open "/etc/dhcpd.conf" for input: No such file or directory
V-128-577 Error loading "/etc/dhcpd.conf" file.
Please be sure the DHCPD server package is correctly installed and configured.
[Warning] V-127-65 Error loading the DHCP configuration file.
Please be sure the DHCPD server package is correctly installed and configured.
This is required in order to do BMR network boot based client restore.
[Info] V-127-76 Setting up BMR boot server completed successfully.
[root@bmrredhatbox bin]#

The error you get about dhcpd and tftpd is only important when you plan to actually use the network boot modules. We'll boot using the CD/DVD boot procedure so we can ignore the error.
You can check the registration in the NetBackup Master server:

Before you can create a bootable media for restores you'll have to create a Shared Resource Trees. To create a shared resource tree for Red Hat you'll need the NetBackup Client, Red Hat installation media and the Bare Metal Restore Third-Party Products CD (3PPCD) which can be downloaded from Symantec from this technote.

The downloaded client is really big since it holds the installation files for all unix/linux clients. Because of that it is chopped into two. After downloading you can combine and unpack the two files like this:

[root@bmrredhatbox ~]# cat NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS_tar-gz.1of2 NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS_tar-gz.2of2 > NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS.tar.gz
[root@bmrredhatbox ~]# gunzip NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS.tar.gz
[root@bmrredhatbox ~]# tar -xf NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS.tar

So you need this data:
3PP CD:

[root@bmrredhatbox ~]# mkdir -p /mnt/bmr3pp
[root@bmrredhatbox /]# mount -o loop bmr-3ppcd-1.0_275782.iso /mnt/bmr3pp/
[root@bmrredhatbox /]# mount
...cut>...
/bmr-3ppcd-1.0_275782.iso on /mnt/bmr3pp type iso9660 (rw,loop=/dev/loop0)

OS CD:

[root@bmrredhatbox /]# mount
...<cut>...
/dev/hdc on /media/RHEL_5.5 x86_64 DVD type iso9660 (ro,noexec,nosuid,nodev,uid=0)

NetBackup Client:

[root@bmrredhatbox bin]# ls /
bin   dev  home  lib64       media  mnt  NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS      opt   root  selinux  sys       tmp  var
boot  etc  lib   lost+found  misc   net  NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS.tar  proc  sbin  srv      tftpboot  usr

Then create the required directories and start the SRT administration program:

[root@bmrredhatbox bin]# mkdir -p /export/srt
[root@bmrredhatbox /]# cd /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/
[root@bmrredhatbox bin]# ./bmrsrtadm

Select one of the following options:

    1.  Create a new Shared Resource Tree.
    2.  Create a new CD image based Shared Resource Tree.
    3.  Copy an existing Shared Resource Tree to a new location.
    4.  Import a Shared Resource Tree.
    5.  Modify an existing Shared Resource Tree.
    6.  Delete an existing Shared Resource Tree.
    7.  List Shared Resource Trees available on this server.
    8.  Quit.

Enter your selection (1-8) [1] : 1
Enter the name of the SRT to create : srtredhat55x86_64
Enter the description of the new SRT : SRT for Red Hat 5.5 on 64bits
Enter the desired RedHat level (3/3.0 or 4/4.0 or 5/5.0) [5.0] :
Enter the desired architecture (i686 or x86_64) [x86_64] :
Enter the directory in which to place the new SRT [/export/srt] :
Creating repository to stow files from distribution media.

The following media is required:

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.0 (x86_64) - disc 1 of 5

Please load the media now.

Load media from (? for help) [/dev/cdrom] : /dev/hdc
Mounting media ... ok.
Extracting files ............................................................................. ok.
Unmounting media ... ok.

The following media is required:

    Symantec BMR Third-Party Products CD (3PPCD)

Please load the media now.

Load media from (? for help) [/dev/cdrom] : /mnt/bmr3pp
Working ... ok.

The media repository is now complete.
Working .................................................................... ok.
Working ............................... ok.
Preparing boot files - please stand by...

The following media is required:

    NetBackup Client

Please load the media now.

Load media from (? for help) [/dev/cdrom] : /NetBackup_7.1_CLIENTS
Mounting media ... ok.
The NetBackup Client installation script will run now.


Symantec Installation Script
Copyright 1993 - 2011 Symantec Corporation, All Rights Reserved.


        Installing NetBackup Client Software

Do you wish to continue? [y,n] (y) y
Do you want to install the NetBackup client software for this client? [y,n] (y)

This package will install Linux/RedHat2.6 client.

This package will install NetBackup client 7.1.

Enter the name of the NetBackup server : tempname

Would you like to use "bmrredhatbox" as the configured
name of the NetBackup client? [y,n] (y)
./cp_to_client: line 490: locale: command not found
./cp_to_client: line 492: locale: command not found
./cp_to_client: line 494: locale: command not found

Installing PBX...
Please wait while installation is in progress...
Installation completed Successfully
Installation log located here: /var/tmp/installpbx-2165-041312030805.log


Unpacking SYMCnbclt package.
Checking for pre-existing SYMCnbclt package.
Installing SYMCnbclt package.
Installation of SYMCnbclt was successful.
More details regarding SYMCnbclt can be found in file
/tmp/install_cltpkg_trace.2076 on bmrredhatbox.
Checking network connections.
DNS Lookup failed for host bmrredhatbox error:-3!
bp.conf: IP_ADDRESS_FAMILY = AF_INET: default value, no update needed

No [x]inetd process found.


File /usr/openv/tmp/install_trace.1972 contains a trace of this install.
That file can be deleted after you are sure the install was successful.

The NetBackup Client installation script has completed.
Unmounting media ... ok.
[Info] V-125-668 SRT "srtredhat55x86_64" has been initialized successfully.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SRT name:      srtredhat55x86_64
Location:      /export/srt/srtredhat55x86_64
Description:   SRT for Red Hat 5.5 on 64bits
Exclusive use: (none)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may make modifications to this SRT.
Select one of the following options:

    1.  Install Symantec NetBackup Maintenance Pack.
    2.  Install Veritas Volume Manager and Veritas File System.
    3.  Update Veritas Volume Manager and Veritas File System.
    4.  Install Veritas Security Services.
    5.  Install additional patches/drivers.
    6.  Change SRT description.
    7.  Change client exclusive use of this SRT.
    8.  Quit.

Enter your selection (1-8) [8] :
[Info] V-125-669 SRT "srtredhat55x86_64" has been created successfully.
[root@bmrredhatbox bin]#

Just run the SRT administration program again:

[root@bmrredhatbox bin]# ./bmrsrtadm

Select one of the following options:

    1.  Create a new Shared Resource Tree.
    2.  Create a new CD image based Shared Resource Tree.
    3.  Copy an existing Shared Resource Tree to a new location.
    4.  Import a Shared Resource Tree.
    5.  Modify an existing Shared Resource Tree.
    6.  Delete an existing Shared Resource Tree.
    7.  List Shared Resource Trees available on this server.
    8.  Quit.

Enter your selection (1-8) [1] : 2
Enter the name of an existing SRT : srtredhat55x86_64
Enter the name of the new SRT to create : rh55nb71
Enter the description of the new SRT [SRT for Red Hat 5.5 on 64bits] : Boot media for Red Hat 5.5 with Netbackup 7.1
Enter the directory in which to place the new SRT CD image [/export/srt] :
Warning: Creating ISO-9660:1999 (version 2) filesystem.
Warning: ISO-9660 filenames longer than 31 may cause buffer overflows in the OS.
[Info] V-125-718 Media image has been successfully created.

You are now ready to restore a server using the bare metal restore option.