Forum Discussion

Mastana420's avatar
Mastana420
Level 5
9 years ago

NDMP Accelerator for NetApp backups

Hi

My current environment:

Master on: RHEL 6

NBU 7.7.2

Mediaserver: RHEL6

NBU: 7.7.2

Netapp: 8.2.4 P2 7-Mode

 

From NBU 7.7.1 Veritas has released the accelerator feature for NDMP backups. However, in the process of utilizing it, i am getting confused as to how i should get the full potential of this feature. Currently we are taking backup of Netapp vfilers through a NDMP type policy, without utilizing SLP`s. See attached the attributes section of the policy. My question is, considering the method we are utilizing currently, i should just check the Use Accelerator checkbox on the policy attribute to start utilizing the Accelerator feature. But is it the best way to perform an NDMP backup, and utilizing the Accelerator feature? Should i rather use an approach where SLP`s are involved? If yes, how and why will this be a better approach?

We are also in the process of purchasing new storage solution, DD or Netbackup appliances.

 

7.7
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Features
Linux
NDMP Option
NetBackup
  • Mastana420's avatar
    Mastana420
    9 years ago

    Oki, i have figured it out myself. Reading my thread again, i figured i was not crystal clear with what i wanted, and i guess its because of poorly wordings i used.

     

    What i simply wanted to know was what of the following two setups would give me better backup performance:

     

    1. NDMP type policy: and backing up the client(vfiler) by adding the client(vfiler) as a NDMP host, and utilizing the Acceleartor feature of the policy.
    2. NDMP type policy: and using Replication director\ snapshot appraoach, and utilizing the Accelerator feature of the policy.

    I did a test on both of them, and i figured i got better througput with option nr 1. from above. So i will stick to this appraoch.

     

  • Mastana420's avatar
    Mastana420
    Level 5
    9 years ago

    Oki, i have figured it out myself. Reading my thread again, i figured i was not crystal clear with what i wanted, and i guess its because of poorly wordings i used.

     

    What i simply wanted to know was what of the following two setups would give me better backup performance:

     

    1. NDMP type policy: and backing up the client(vfiler) by adding the client(vfiler) as a NDMP host, and utilizing the Acceleartor feature of the policy.
    2. NDMP type policy: and using Replication director\ snapshot appraoach, and utilizing the Accelerator feature of the policy.

    I did a test on both of them, and i figured i got better througput with option nr 1. from above. So i will stick to this appraoch.

     

  • Mastana420's avatar
    Mastana420
    Level 5
    9 years ago

    Hi

     

    Yes i do have the licenses in place. What do you mean by another Netapp filer, you mean a vfiler? Or do you mean the entire box? I do have 2 Netapps, 1 in each site.

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    Do you have NetApp snapmirror and snapvault licenses? 

    And another NetApp filer to replicate to?

  • Mastana420's avatar
    Mastana420
    Level 5
    9 years ago

    Actually this query is about utilizing the best practice for NMDP backup. Which approach is better:

     

    • Setting up Replication Director feature along with Accelerator?
    • Utilizing only the Accelerator, without the use of Replication Director

    Remember that i already have everything in place when it comes to configuring the Storage server etc for Replication Director. Only thing i might need to do, is to update the NBUplugin for Netapp. If im not wrong, the current version of NBUplugin for Netapp is 2.0?

     

     

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    9 years ago
    Replication Director is a different concept/feature. It plugs into NetApp snapmirror and snapvault (licensed) features to automate and catalog the NetApp snapshot and replication with NBU. Your query was about NBU Accelerator for NDMP, right?
  • Mastana420's avatar
    Mastana420
    Level 5
    9 years ago

    Hi Sdo

     

    Yes, i do have a supported storage, that has never been an issue. I have a MSDP pool, where backups are sent to. I might move the entire NDMP backup to a 5330 Netbackup appliance.

    When i was mentioning snapshot, i was not talking about type backup, i know for NDMP i need to use NDMP type backup policy, but i know that there is a Replication Director feature and snapshots you can combine with a NDMP type backup policy. So my question was, wheter utilizing the Replication Director\snapshot with accelerator would give me better performance then for example without utilizing the Replication Director\snapshot. With other words, i am asking for the best practice, or best way to perform an NDMP backup, if you are up and running with 7.7.2 NBU version, on both Master and Media server. Hope you understand what i mean.

  • sdo's avatar
    sdo
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    I think you may possibly be getting confused.

    An NDMP backup of a NetApp filer requires an "NDMP" type backup policy, not a "Snapshot" type backup policy.

    To paraphrase Marianne's post...

    You can only save NDMP Accelerator type backups to a supported storage unit type, irrespective of whether SLP is used or not.  So, the key here is... is your target storage unit, to which you intend to save the NDMP Accelerator type backups, a supported storage unit type?

    Or I could ask more directly... do you have MSDP based storage unit(s) or DD OST based storage unit(s) already configured within your NetBackup estate?

  • Mastana420's avatar
    Mastana420
    Level 5
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback, I have already had a peek at the NDMP administrator guide, but i felt i kind of got lost in there, and could not find the answer to my question.

    Reason why i am mentioning SLP is because it was mentioned in the following video i watched:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVzjYaDMvGg

    Here it is explained how the Accelerator works, and based on that i thought SLP is neccessary to get full potential of the Accelerator.

    If SLP does not have any impact on the NDMP accelerator, will snapshot do?

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    You firstly need supported dedupe storage in order to use this function.

    Both NBU and DD appliances are supported. See NBU HCL: http://www.veritas.com/docs/000025228

    SLP is nothing more than a backup and duplication/replication.
    So, you can either select the appliance STU in the policy or the SLP that you have created to backup to appliance and then duplicate or replicate to another destination.

     

    Best to read up about this feature in the NetBackup for NDMP Administrator's Guide