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Artegic's avatar
Artegic
Level 6
11 years ago
Solved

Backup media server with dedup option

I read this discussion with great interest but am still unsure what exactly to select on the self backup job of my BE2012SP4 media server.

The server has two disk volumes C: and G:, with C: containing the Windows and Backup Exec installation including BE's SQL Server instance, and G: containing the deduplication storage folder. Right now I have selected

C:
Microsoft SQL Server Instances
Shadow Copy Components
System State

ie. everything except volume G:. I notice however that the volume it backs up exceeds by far the capacity of the C: drive, and if I watch it in the Job Activity window I see the lion's share accumulating while it processes

Source: \\SERVER\Shadow?Copy?Components
Current Directory: User?Data\Backup Exec Deduplication Storage

So it seems that somehow the deselected deduplication folder sneaks back in through the "Shadow Copy Components" item.

HOWTO73353 doesn't even mention "Shadow Copy Components". What does that include? Should I deselect it? What do I need in order to have disaster recovery capability for the BE server?

2012
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    11 years ago

    Just to add to this you cannot recover a Deduplication Storage folders with SDR/SSP anyway as the WINPE environment does not present the Deduplciation Service in order to allow the restore.

    You may be better off duplicating backup sets held within dedup to tape instead of backing up the dedup SCC components and then relying on direct restores from tape in the event of a disaster and re-populating deduplication by running new backups (or duplicating the tapes back into dedup to seed it.)

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    The proper way to backup the dedup folder is to select the Shadow Copy Component.  See the document below

    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH187911

  • ArulPrasad's avatar
    ArulPrasad
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Yes that is true...dedupe device contains dedupe writer to safely backup the storage!!

    Now to answer your question for should you unselect the SCC, it depends, if you full self backup of the server is to tape, continue performing the current selection, if you are doing this backup to Dedupe , then Deselect shadow copy component!!, But I am not sure if that would turn off the SSP. I may need to double check that.

     

    If SSP is still on after unselecting SCC, then yes it is possible to perform Simplified disaster recovery without G:

    if it is to tape with SCC , then yes disaster reco very is possible (SSP).

    If SSP is off, then Manual disaster recovery should be possibleI, I would recommend running a test recovery should do!!

     

     

  • Artegic's avatar
    Artegic
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Thanks for your replies.

    @Arul: Could you explain what you mean by SSP?

    @all: My current backup plan does backups to deduplication storage with linked copies to tape. So I reckon a separate backup of the deduplication storage would be redundant. I need disaster recovery just for the media server itself, to get it up and running after a disaster in order to access the other machines' backups. Instead of disaster recovering the deduplication storage and then the production machines from there, I can disaster recover the machines themselves directly from tape. This may even be more efficient.

    Do you see any flaws in that plan?

    Thanks,
    Tilman

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    Just to add to this you cannot recover a Deduplication Storage folders with SDR/SSP anyway as the WINPE environment does not present the Deduplciation Service in order to allow the restore.

    You may be better off duplicating backup sets held within dedup to tape instead of backing up the dedup SCC components and then relying on direct restores from tape in the event of a disaster and re-populating deduplication by running new backups (or duplicating the tapes back into dedup to seed it.)

  • Halwa_Wala's avatar
    Halwa_Wala
    Level 4
    11 years ago

    Backup of C drive and system state will help you recover the media server alongwith Backup Exec. Backing up the deduplication folder from SCC will help you to retain the backup sets fopr other servers in case of DR situation. It is important to note that backing up the deduplication folder at drive level is not a good practice. It should always be backed up from SCC(Shadow Copy Components).