VERITAS NetBackup, White Paper

Page 1: ...V E R I T A S W H I T E P A P E R VERITAS NetBackup Release 3 4 Technical Overview ...

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Page 3: ...up 11 NDMP Backups of Network Attached Storage NAS 13 Supported NDMP Configurations 14 NDMP to NDMP NDMP client Backups 14 EMC Symmetrix Split Mirror Backups 15 Andrew File System AFS Backups 15 VERITAS NetBackup Backup Concepts 16 Storage Units 16 VERITAS NetBackup Classes 16 Scheduling 18 Database Backup Methods 19 The Basic Backup Process 20 Multiplexing Backups 21 Automatic Multi Streaming Cli...

Page 4: ...e and Number of Mounts 37 Media Overwrite Protection 37 Verifying Media 38 Duplicating NetBackup Media 38 Duplicating NDMP images 38 Importing Media 38 Administration and Use 39 Administrator Interfaces 39 User Interfaces 41 Installation 42 Configuration 43 Activity Monitoring 44 Reports and Logs 44 Operational Reports 44 Progress Logs 45 Detailed Activity Logs 45 Advanced Reporting 45 Error Repor...

Page 5: ...dia management disaster recovery support and intuitive Java and Windows NT Windows 2000 administrative interfaces In addition to protecting data in a mixed UNIX Windows NT Windows 2000 and Novell NetWare environment VERITAS NetBackup provides advanced application aware solutions for all leading applications including Oracle Informix Sybase DB2 SAP R 3 NCR Teradata Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft Ex...

Page 6: ...more information NetBackup Launch Screen The NetBackup launch screen provides an easy intuitive entry point into the administrative categories of NetBackup The seven buttons in the launch screen correspond to backup policy management storage unit management volume media administration job activity monitoring device monitor reports and user backups and restores The launch screen is available on bot...

Page 7: ...rver and the master server controls all backup scheduling for each media server Each of the media servers perform the actual backup operations under direction from the master and backup data stays local to the media servers and their directly attached devices A master server and its associated media servers are referred to collectively as a NetBackup storage domain and large networks may have more...

Page 8: ...orage domain If a media server crashes another media server can take over the backup operations If scratch media in the primary storage unit is unavailable NetBackup can route the backup to another local storage unit or a storage unit connected to another NetBackup server in the storage domain VERITAS also recommends VERITAS Cluster Server a high availability software product to protect the NetBac...

Page 9: ... been implemented by many of the global leaders in their respective industries In a thorough departure from conventional backup and recovery solutions it makes centralized management and monitoring of all NetBackup and Backup Exec storage domains in the enterprise possible Easy to install and use Global Data Manager can be installed quickly without any special training Since it has the same interf...

Page 10: ...ine database and application specific backups across multiple vendors in addition to providing sophisticated support for older versions of databases please see the Database Backup Methods section below NetBackup offers completely online highly reliable backup solutions for all major databases including Oracle RMAN RMAN Proxy Copy and EBU Sybase Informix DB2 SAP R 3 Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft E...

Page 11: ... backed up and more importantly restored This allows more frequent backups and continuous data availability while providing dramatically improved backup performance and significantly reducing CPU and network overhead during backups The functionality brings compelling benefits to large database environments because backups both in data volume and time now are only proportional to the amount of chan...

Page 12: ...ineSAPR 3Backups With large scale SAP R 3 environments requiring 24x7 operations data protection becomes an essential component of any successful SAP R 3 deployment plan The integration of VERITAS NetBackup and online SAP data backup utilities provides a comprehensive approach to SAP R 3 data protection Certified by SAP on HP Solaris IBM AIX Compaq Tru64 and Windows NT 2000 the VERITAS NetBackup f...

Page 13: ... database as well as each users private database area Incremental backup Incremental backups of each database private or full that has changed since the last full backup User backup Backs up a specified user s database as well as the common database NetBackup for Lotus Notes provides reliable consistent online backups of Notes 5 databases Online File System Backups FlashBackup While your critical ...

Page 14: ...es CPU utilization during the backup process A disk snapshot capability provides a consistent view of the live disk during backup2 This provides a point in time backup of the disk even though users may continue to change the contents of the disk during the backup operation FlashBackup can dramatically enhance backup performance especially in environments with large numbers of small files Backup pe...

Page 15: ...re of online data which makes network based backups infeasible or even impossible In a typical NetBackup NDMP configuration a NetBackup server sends backup recovery and robotic control commands via the NDMP protocol to the NAS file server which contains locally attached disks tape drives and optionally robotics units The NetBackup catalog maintains a complete listing of the backup image The NAS ND...

Page 16: ...tBackup supports backups between NDMP hosts Sometimes it is not cost effective to directly attach a tape drive or library to each NDMP host especially in environments where there are many smaller NAS servers In these situations an NDMP host Netapp etc backs up directly to another NDMP host with a locally attached tape device see Figure 10 Figure 10 NDMP to NDMP backups w w w v e r i t a s c o m P ...

Page 17: ...p is complete Initially only Oracle database backups on raw partitions are supported Other application support on EMC arrays is planned for future releases To customize backup support for other applications in the interim please contact VERITAS Enterprise Consulting Services Figure 11 NetBackup split mirror backup for EMC Symmetrix arrays See the Split Mirror Backup section in the VERITAS NetBacku...

Page 18: ... makes it easier to configure backups because the administrator can simply assign the storage unit with the type of storage needed for a client backup rather than worry about specific devices It also provides a virtual approach to backup storage because if more storage of that type is needed it will be automatically and transparently utilized after being added to the Media Manager and VERITAS NetB...

Page 19: ...ry to support true image recovery of directories saved by clients in this class Class Type specifies the type of class you are configuring You will use the Standard class type for most UNIX clients The other class types cover special cases For example you would specify Exchange backup type to backup Microsoft Exchange clients or Oracle OEBU backup type to back up ORACLE databases on clients that h...

Page 20: ... the master server User directed backups and archives are started by the user on the client system or can be script driven Start Time and Duration specifies the backup window which is the time period during which backups can occur for this schedule The start time defines the times and days of the week when the window opens The duration defines how long the window stays open For example the adminis...

Page 21: ...he administrator to keep images from different schedules on separate sets of volumes The above attributes give the administrator great latitude Schedules can range from very basic to schemes that are sophisticated enough to meet the most demanding backup requirements Figure 13 Backup schedule administration GUI Database Backup Methods VERITAS NetBackup supports three methods of backing up relation...

Page 22: ...ct interfaces to Oracle RMAN and takes advantage of VERITAS NetBackup and Media Manager features Administrators can use VERITAS NetBackup interfaces to schedule and execute Oracle database backups in much the same manner as they can standard disk files The Media Manager manages the storage devices and media Figure 14 NetBackup online database backup Because VERITAS NetBackup spans backup images ac...

Page 23: ... drive allocation and mounting as explained later under Media Manager VERITAS NetBackup records the volume information in its file database for use during a subsequent restore When backing up to magnetic disk VERITAS NetBackup writes images to the file path specified during configuration of that storage unit and records the path of the image in its file database The disk manager handles the actual...

Page 24: ...tiated based on client system mount points or individual entries explicit or via wildcards in the NetBackup class file list The automatic multi streaming client feature can be administrator defined to dynamically auto discover newly created folders and partitions on a client Figure 17 NetBackup automatic multi streaming client feature w w w v e r i t a s c o m P a g e 22 V E R I TA S N e t B a c k...

Page 25: ...ser initiated backups Compressing Backup Data VERITAS NetBackup is capable of compressing data as part of the backup operation The compression and decompression takes place on the client and its effectiveness depends on the type of data being compressed In the right circumstances compression can significantly reduce both storage requirements and network traffic In general most customers find the h...

Page 26: ...ive allocation and mounting When the media is mounted the VERITAS NetBackup server reads the backed up data from the media and sends the requested portions of the image to the client When restoring files backed up to magnetic disk VERITAS NetBackup finds the image path stored in its file database during the backup operation and sends the requested portions of the image to the client The disk manag...

Page 27: ...stores or give a user on one client permission to browse and restore files that were backed up from another client This feature is convenient for example when a workstation is down and the user wants to restore backed up files to another workstation and continue working The administrator on the master server can also direct files from the master server to any client Server Independent Restores Net...

Page 28: ...ted one of the servers is temporarily inaccessible The operator can mount the tape in a drive connected to any available server and restore the file Server IndependentRestoresinDisasterRecoveryScenarios In situations where there is a remote disaster recovery site the server independent restore feature can dramatically reduce the time required to resume normal business operations in the event of a ...

Page 29: ... event that disaster recovery is required This capability can be configured on a class by class basis so that NetBackup will track file deletion activity and optionally prevent the restore of deleted files if a directory or file system restore is requested Without true image recovery files that were included in previous backups but subsequently deleted may also be restored True image recovery prov...

Page 30: ...nd backed up during incremental backup operations by comparing the new file and directory names relative to those contained in the previous full or incremental backup A catalog of the previous full or incremental backup is saved on the NetBackup client Some client disk space is required to store partial backup catalogs This is an optional feature since additional system resources are required w w ...

Page 31: ...ive costs Large robotics devices can be shared between Windows and UNIX servers Your NetBackup investment can grow as your Windows environment grows by simply adding another remote NetBackup server and local robot and managing it from the centralized management interface Remote Administration NetBackup administrators can remotely administer UNIX or Windows NT 2000 NetBackup servers without having ...

Page 32: ...le option with BusinesServer OTM presents a stable coherent point in time snapshot view of one or more volumes or physical drives for NetBackup to access during a backup This is an optionally installed and configured feature Intelligent Disaster Recovery IDR For Windows NT 2000 environments the Intelligent Disaster Recovery IDR option provides a means to perform a bare metal restore of a crashed s...

Page 33: ...ure portable and exportable Authorization VERITAS NetBackup protects data from unauthorized access through the use of secure client hosts to restrict client server communications and administrator imposed restrictions on restore operations Users do not have direct access to the volumes containing their backed up files and cannot choose their own media volumes The VERITAS NetBackup server not the u...

Page 34: ...at On restores the data is read from media and transferred across the network to the client before decrypting The encryption algorithm is fully exportable available in both 56 bit DES for the United States and for export to most countries and a restricted 40 bit DES version for countries with import restrictions such as France Figure 24 NetBackup data encryption w w w v e r i t a s c o m P a g e 3...

Page 35: ...ge equipment investments Basic Volume Management Process The three main elements of Media Manager are shown in Figure 24 Robot Management supports robotic secondary storage devices Device Management lets you share secondary storage devices among different users and applications Media Management tracks the location of all removable media and secondary storage devices in your system and gathers medi...

Page 36: ... files and can choose to either keep all images with the same retention period on the same volume or to keep a mix of different retention periods on a volume In addition to assigning volumes the media manager tracks the location of both online and offline volumes and keeps this information in the volume database Shared Storage Option Drive Sharing The NetBackup Shared Storage Option allows individ...

Page 37: ... and other NetBackup servers request tape mount and dismount services from the robotics controller In this configuration each NetBackup server maintains dedicated data paths to maximize performance without sacrificing the cost effectiveness and economies of scale of large tape libraries Figure 27 Sharing large robotics libraries between NetBackup servers w w w v e r i t a s c o m P a g e 35 V E R ...

Page 38: ...he volume database for a new robot In a new configuration the administrator can load a robot with new media and then have Media Manager automatically add the volumes to its volume database If barcodes are being used Media Manager automatically registers the new media according to the barcodes By defining rules based on barcodes the administrator can have the Media Manager initialize volume databas...

Page 39: ...hen backing up large images such as are commonly encountered with databases If for some reason spanning volumes is not desired the administrator can disable it Tracking Media Age and Number of Mounts Because the possibility of media failure increases with age and use Media Manager keeps statistics on how old the media is and how often it has been mounted The administrator can choose to expire the ...

Page 40: ...mary images In addition both the primary and secondary copies of a backup image can have its own unique expiration period DuplicatingNDMPimages The NetBackup bpduplicate command can also duplicate backup images created on Network Appliance servers via NDMP To perform the duplication operation the NetBackup server must share a library with the Network Appliance NDMP host or the Network Appliance ND...

Page 41: ...uals who do not have terminals with GUI capabilities These interfaces are also designed for ease of use and allow an administrator to easily perform tasks such as checking or altering the configuration from home via a dial up modem In addition to what can be done from the GUI and menu interfaces many operations can be started from the command line thus facilitating the use of scripts Administrator...

Page 42: ... to use format The menu version provides equivalent functionality Figure 30 GUI Screen for viewing modifying or adding schedules The Media Manager also has graphical user interfaces for managing its devices and media Figure 31 shows the screen for managing devices The administrator uses this screen to check and alter the status of devices The menu version shows similar information Figure 31 GUI sc...

Page 43: ...uce the likelihood of error User Interfaces Users can initiate backups restores and archives from their client workstation without logging into the server and without administrator intervention Figure 32 Figure 32 NetBackup user interface Figure 33 shows a typical user interface screen for VERITAS NetBackup users This example shows the restore screen where users can scroll through the list of back...

Page 44: ...NIX clients software is initially read into the server and subsequently pushed to the clients across the network as shown in Figure 34 This greatly speeds the installation process because there is no need to install client software from CD on individual clients The administrator installs software upgrades in the same manner quickly and easily across the network Windows NT 2000 clients are installe...

Page 45: ... specific site The main tasks involved in completing the configuration are Identify the storage devices that are available to Media Manager serialized hardware is automatically discovered Register media for use as volumes by Media Manager Define the type and density of devices that will be in the storage units Define VERITAS NetBackup classes including Clients in each class Files to back up on the...

Page 46: ...pletion of backup operations In addition users and administrators can set up additional logs if a site requires them VERITAS NetBackup can also be configured to notify users and administrators via electronic mail of an operation s success or failure OperationalReports The administrator has online access to many operational reports through the administrator interfaces A Backup Status Report provide...

Page 47: ...erformance optimization and service level assessment Advanced Reporter is available as a chargeable option to NetBackup Error Reporting Error information is presented in message dialogs through the interfaces and also in various VERITAS NetBackup reports and logs Over 200 distinct error codes help speed any problem resolution that may be necessary In most cases informational messages in the VERITA...

Page 48: ...n databases a device database a robotic database and a volume database The device database has information about the tape and optical disk storage devices included in the VERITAS NetBackup configuration The robotic database has information about the robotic controls for those devices The volume database has the location of each volume containing backed up or archived files It operates in conjuncti...

Page 49: ...nistration and use An activity monitor and comprehensive logging and reporting reduce efforts required to track and troubleshoot problems if they occur Master and media server storage domains along with Media Manager ensure that secondary storage devices are used to best advantage Backup storage is shared and managed automatically across the network The broad range of device and media support also...

Page 50: ...RITAS NetBackup support VERITAS NetBackup uses TCP IP for transporting data Does VERITAS NetBackup allow users to exclude files from being backed up Yes Each user may establish his or her own exclude list of client files to skip Does VERITAS NetBackup allow for backups spanning tapes and tape devices With VERITAS NetBackup an individual tape or optical disk may contain multiple backups and an indi...

Page 51: ...s many peripherals as can be configured disregarding performance considerations and system limitations For example VERITAS test environment has a single Sun IPC using the following peripherals simultaneously Exabyte 10i 1 drive Exabyte 60 2 drives HP Optical Library 2 drives Metrum RS 48 2 drives In this configuration VERITAS NetBackup can perform seven backups in parallel What dynamic load balanc...

Page 52: ...tore files to alternate clients with VERITAS NetBackup An administrative action is necessary to allow this to happen and the client user doing the restoration must identify the client from which the data was originally backed up Can VERITAS NetBackup be integrated with a file migration product VERITAS Storage Migrator is a separate VERITAS product that you can integrate with VERITAS NetBackup This...

Page 53: ...ation database the VERITAS NetBackup database containing server client and storage unit definitions client class definitions and schedules daemon a UNIX process apart from the kernel that performs a particular task decompression the act of reconstructing compressed data during a restore operation see compression device database the Media Manager database containing information about the tape and o...

Page 54: ...rage devices included in the device database see device database volume database secondary storage supplemental storage connected to a storage server where data from primary storage is backed up or archived see primary storage removable media secure client a client that does not require a rhosts file entry for the server see trusting clients single volume device physical storage device requiring m...

Page 55: ...er to the example reports below File System Backup Coverage Report UNIX only Key Class is not active UNCOVERED Mount Point not covered by an active class MULTIPLE Mount Point covered by multiple active classes CLIENT honeypot Mount Point Device Backed Up By Class Notes dev dsk c1t0d0s0 pooh acsls dev dsk c1t2d0s0 UNCOVERED export home dev dsk c1t1d0s0 pooh openv dev dsk c1t1d0s1 tigger opt dev dsk...

Page 56: ...c YES 123 456 789 1 bcd your company com bcd YES 123 456 789 2 cde your company com cde YES 123 456 789 3 def your company com def YES 123 456 789 4 efg your company com efg YES 123 456 789 5 fgh your company com fgh NO 123 456 789 6 ghi your company com ghi NO 123 456 789 7 hij your company com hij w w w v e r i t a s c o m P a g e 54 V E R I TA S N e t B a c k u p R e l e a s e 3 4 Te c h n i c ...

Page 57: ...rksorregisteredtrademarksof VERITASSoftwareCorporationintheU S and orothercountries Otherproductnamesmentionedhereinmaybetrademarksorregisteredtrademarksoftheirrespective companies Specificationsandproductofferingssubjecttochangewithoutnotice PrintedinUSA October2000 VER09 DCWPR 0000 90 00388 399 VERITAS Software Corporation Corporate Headquarters 1600 Plymouth Street Mountain View CA 94043 650 33...