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ZETTRE's avatar
ZETTRE
Level 2
9 years ago

Cloud Backup - best practice

Hi,

I am running BE2015 to tapes and would like to move towards cloud storage (Amazon S3).

Currently I am backing up about 2TB storage including a SQL DB of 150GB on 2 physical servers to tape.

Is backing up to Amazon a viable solution with this amount of data and does BE also manage source deduplication?

Are there any other compession techniques to minimize bandwith? Like an option for indefinite "syntetic full" backups?

 

Thanks,

Teek

 

Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    9 years ago

    To add to this as I have now tested it to see the operation myself.

    The drop down menu from the Backup Button only shows Duplicate to Cloud options it as such it appears that only duplicate backup operations to cloud are possible. However it is possible to run D2C (Direct to Cloud) backup jobs by creating a Backup to Disk (B2D) job and  then editing the storage properties within the job so that the target device is the Cloud Device. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

    Note: We will be looking to provide more formal documentation regarding this ( within a reasonable timeframe ) and are also looking into the possibility of providing some best practices guidelines.

     

    Some points to consider (for operating practice choices as well as potential best practices) however are

    - any performance differences between B2D2C (Backup to disk or deduplication and then duplicate to cloud) vs D2C (Direct to cloud) as there may be an affect on backup windows against your production environment.

    - amount of data you need to store in the cloud (so identification of critical data instead of everything)

    - GRT capabilities - The S3 cloud device is seen as an OST device so GRT restores will stage in a similar way to tapes

    - SDR limitations - We need to check this point however it is likely remote SDR recovery where Backup Exec Server still exists will still work, possibly slowly,  however direct SDR recovery of a Backup Exec Server almost certainly won't as the ability to configure the cloud device is not available in the bootable WinPE SDR environment. This is similar to the Deduplication limitation where you cannnot SDR recover a Backup Exec Server from a Deduplicatipon Storage Folder.

     

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  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    Hi Teek,

     

    Backup Exec 15 supports Amazon S3 as VTL or disk target...check the BE 15 HCL below:

    https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000024527

    You might also want to check the TN below which outlines how to set up the BE 15 FP1 Cloud COnnector for Amazon S3 and this will help you a little bit more:

    https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000081253

    I don't think there is any compression as in Riverbed, but BE 15 does support the SteelStore Appliance along with the Whitewater appliance...but they don't integrate into Amazon S3 from what I can see.

    Thanks!

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    1) Dedup does not apply to tape backups.

    2) You cannot do synthetic backups with tapes unless you have 2 tape drives.

    Note that you cannot store your backups directly to Amazon, you have to store it on a local disk and then duplicate it to Amazon.

  • ZETTRE's avatar
    ZETTRE
    Level 2
    9 years ago

    Thanks for your reply. 

    When I Backup to disk and then duplicate to cloud, does syantec always do a full copy of the backup set to the cloud?

    Does that mean I still have to upload a 'full' weekly or monthly depending on my schedule?

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    9 years ago
    When you duplicate a backup set, an identical copy would be placed at the targeted media. It is you who determines which backup set gets duplicated. There is no requirement from anything else
  • Larry_Fine's avatar
    Larry_Fine
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    Note that you cannot store your backups directly to Amazon, you have to store it on a local disk and then duplicate it to Amazon.

    This is not true if you are using the S3 Cloud connector.  When using the S3 Cloud Connector, you can backup directly to the cloud.  It is true if using the Gateway-Cached Volume or the Amazon VTL.

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    See this comment

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/backing-cloud-do-you-have-b2d-first#comment-11472651

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    Just for info both myself and VJware are in the process of checking the details of Direct to Cloud configs with Amazon S3, currently it appears that some key information regarding this was inadvertently not clearly defined and has resulted in some misleading information being provided.

    Once the details have been clarified we will be looking to get an update into both this thread and the one referecned by pkh and I hope to be able to conform the details (including testing it for myself) in the next couple of days.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    To add to this as I have now tested it to see the operation myself.

    The drop down menu from the Backup Button only shows Duplicate to Cloud options it as such it appears that only duplicate backup operations to cloud are possible. However it is possible to run D2C (Direct to Cloud) backup jobs by creating a Backup to Disk (B2D) job and  then editing the storage properties within the job so that the target device is the Cloud Device. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

    Note: We will be looking to provide more formal documentation regarding this ( within a reasonable timeframe ) and are also looking into the possibility of providing some best practices guidelines.

     

    Some points to consider (for operating practice choices as well as potential best practices) however are

    - any performance differences between B2D2C (Backup to disk or deduplication and then duplicate to cloud) vs D2C (Direct to cloud) as there may be an affect on backup windows against your production environment.

    - amount of data you need to store in the cloud (so identification of critical data instead of everything)

    - GRT capabilities - The S3 cloud device is seen as an OST device so GRT restores will stage in a similar way to tapes

    - SDR limitations - We need to check this point however it is likely remote SDR recovery where Backup Exec Server still exists will still work, possibly slowly,  however direct SDR recovery of a Backup Exec Server almost certainly won't as the ability to configure the cloud device is not available in the bootable WinPE SDR environment. This is similar to the Deduplication limitation where you cannnot SDR recover a Backup Exec Server from a Deduplicatipon Storage Folder.

     

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    As Amazon apparently charge for withdrawal of data from S3 and any read operation by Backup Exec is seen as a withdrawal, backup or duplicate jobs to S3 should be run with Verify disabled. (see this discussion https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/backup-exec-142-fp2-cloud-connector-s3-issuesinfo )

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    The setup document has been adjusted to mention

    • Internet Access (port requirements)
    • The fact that Direct to Cloud is possible (and basic description for how to do it)
    • A comment about disabling verify as charges might be incurred from Amazon

    http://www.veritas.com/docs/000081253?

    At the momemt we are still discussing any more in depth best practices but needed to get out at leats those 3 basic points in addition to the initial setup documentation originally provided.