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SJB's avatar
SJB
18 years ago

Backup Exec / CPS & Clusters

Hi there,
 
I have a couple of questions regarding a Backup Exec / CPS solution recommended by our reseller.
 
First let me describe the environment:
 
1) A 2 node active-passive MS SQL 2007 cluster with 800Gb of fibre attached SAN storage
 
2) A 2 node active-passive Exchange 2003 cluster with 2Tb of fibre attached SAN storage
 
3) A single backup server with 2.6Tb of fibre attached SAN storage and a fibre attached 2 drive tape robot
 
All these devices (2 x SQL, 2 x Exchange & 1 x backup servers) plus 3 seperate SAN enclosures are all connected to the same pair of redundant fibre switches.  
 
The objective is to allow frequent disk-disk backup jobs (from the SQL and Exchange SAN disks) to the backup SAN disks, during the day, and then dump the data on the backup SAN to tape, overnight.
 
Following our resellers advice we bought:
 
Backup Exec 11D (with CPS)
Library Expansion Option (for the 2nd tape drive in the robot)
SQL Backup Agent (x 2 - one per cluster node)
Exchange Backup Agent (x 2 - one per cluster node)
 
Now, my questions:
 
a) Can Backup Exec and CPS be configured to use the fibre connections to access the SAN disks, or will it just use the LAN connection? (the SQL and Exchange disks can be "selectively presented" to the backup server if necessary).
 
b) I have installed CPS and pushed the agents to the two SQL nodes, but when I try to create a backup job, CPS tells me that "2 servers must be available to create backup jobs" Do I really need another CPS server?
 
c)  Has the reseller (who shall remane nameless) wrongly advised us on what we need to buy, and if so, what products do we need in order to make the solution work as intended?
 
Thanks in advance,
 
 
SJB.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11.x and Earlier
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec

1 Reply

  • Hywel_Mallett's avatar
    Hywel_Mallett
    Level 6
    18 years ago

    a) Can Backup Exec and CPS be configured to use the fibre connections to access the SAN disks, or will it just use the LAN connection? (the SQL and Exchange disks can be "selectively presented" to the backup server if necessary).
     
    b) I have installed CPS and pushed the agents to the two SQL nodes, but when I try to create a backup job, CPS tells me that "2 servers must be available to create backup jobs" Do I really need another CPS server?
     
    c)  Has the reseller (who shall remane nameless) wrongly advised us on what we need to buy, and if so, what products do we need in order to make the solution work as intended?
    Before we even start addressing the questions, are you (or the reseller) aware that CPS isn't "properly" supported for clusters. From the compatability list,
     
    "Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server is not currently cluster aware using either MSCS from Microsoft or SFWHA (VCS) from Symantec. Continuous Protection Server and the Continuous Protection Agent will only view the server as a normal un-clustered standalone server   If the Continuous Protection Server or Continuous Protection Agent is installed on a clustered system it will not correctly failover as normal clustered application. Any currently running jobs will not automatically re-start on the failover node during a failover."

    To address the questions:

    a) No. You can use the Off-Host backup feature of the Advanced Disk-Based Backup option to import snapshots on your media server, but this only really makes sense for filesystems. For SQL, Exchange, and other agent-based backups you need to backup through the LAN using the agent, otherwise you'll just get a backup of the files.
     
    b) This might be a consequence of SQL being clustered - I believe SQL changes the machine name, which can cause problems. (It can with Veritas Cluster Server).
     
    c) I would simply use what you have, but without the CPS features. I don't know how much data changes, but you could do an hourly (or so) log backup to disk of SQL and Exchange. Log backups run nice and fast! Supplement that with daily or weekly fulls.