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anon1m0us1's avatar
anon1m0us1
Level 6
13 years ago

EV 10.0 with NetApp

We have a EV Cluster pointing to a SQL Cluster where all the DB's reside. I read alot about Symantec supporting Netapp in EV10.0. My question is, I do a SQL backup to the SAN. What other steps are ...
Backing Up
Best Practice
Enterprise Vault
Information Governance
  • JesusWept3's avatar
    JesusWept3
    13 years ago

    OK we need to take a step back about this
    Are you talking about your Vault Store Partition data (DVS* files) or are you talking about the SQL Database files (LDF/MDF files)?

    Because the two are so completely different.
    The Vault Store Partitions store the CAB, DVS, DVSSP, DVSCC and ARCH files that make up the actual vault data, its the form that Emails and files get stored as after being archived by Enterprise Vault with different file extensions based on Single Instance Storage and items that need to be used for the index.

    The SQL Databases though are for the most part MDF (the actual database file) and the LDF (the transaction log files).

    With Enterprise Vault Store Partitions, files are archived and typically have the archive bit removed by the backup software to indicate the item has been succesfully backed up, after the storage service comes out of backup mode, EV will go through a list of items it has archived and check to see whether the Archive Bit has been removed, if it has then it will show that the item has been backed up (Secured) and change a Pending Item in a users mailbox to a fully archived item.

    If it is a CIFS share that does not support the archive bit, then you need the backup software to use a file named IgnoreArchiveBitTrigger.txt, when the storage service restarts it will go through and *assume* that all items that have been archived before the create date of this text file has been backed up.

    Once it has gone through the contents of the WatchFile table in the vault store database, it will then rename the .txt file to .old, as an indicator that it has finished processing that partition.

    However the IgnoreArchiveBitTrigger.txt can only be used for Enterprise Vault Store Partition data, it cannot be used for SQL databases, transaction logs or Enterprise Vault Index files.

    For SQL you will have to work with your backup software to have it configured to back the database up, and truncate the transaction logs etc, which can also be done via maintance plans.

    Your best bet is to talk to your SQL Database Admins and your backup admins to come up with a proper route forward to determine how best to backup your sql databases.

Chris_Warren's avatar
Chris_Warren
Level 5
13 years ago

Are you using NetApp as a backup destination only or are you using it for Vault Store data (DVS data)?

Are you using CIFS shares? 

Are you using Snaplock?

Assuming you are using CIFS for vault store data, and it isn't a Snaplock, you can backup the Netapp filer like any network share it one major difference...  Netapp filers don't use the archive bit.  So many times I see people backup CIFS shares as a snapshot, since you can't really do Differentials or Incrementals.

Since it doesn't use the archive bit, you'll need to use the IgnoreArchiveBitTrigger in order to inform EV that the data has been backed up.

I hope this helps.