BE12.5 - Backup NAS box?

[NZSolly]

Hi all, I have a D-Link 323 NAS box which i use to snapshot VM's onto.
I would then like to be able to backup the files on the NAS box to tape to take off site.
I also use this NAS box for B2D folders and it works really well
The funny thing is, BE will not allow me to select any files on the NAS box to backup, yet I can write to it...
Is there no way of backing up a device without the remote agents as I doubt I can install agents on the NAS box?

[sksujeet]

You are right you can't install the raws on the NAS box. There is only 2 ways of backing up the NAS box.

1> Backup the CIFS shares on the NAS from the BE. You can add the ip address of the NAS in the user defined selection list and backup the CIFS shares. Make sure NDMP is disabled on NAS when you are doing the CIFS share backup.

2> Backup as device - you have to purchase the NDMP license and needs to be installed on BE server and have to enable the NDMP on the NAS. After putting the NDMP you will be able to see the volumes from BE and can do the backup of NAS.

[NZSolly]

Hi sazz, thanks for your reply....
This is the unit...
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509
I dont think it has NDMP, will option 2 still work with a licence?

[sksujeet]

If you don't have the NDMP option then option 2 is of no use as it will only work when you have the NDMP enabled on the NAS box

[NZSolly]

Im quite sure BE used to be able to broswe to other PC's and backup, RAWS was optional for performance, has this changed now?

[pkh]

If a BE remote agent is installed on a machine, then BE can browse and backup the entire machine.  Otherwise, it will only see shared directories on the machine and back those up.  In either case, you require a RAWS licence.

[teiva-boy]

There is no NDMP on those low cost NAS devices, and BE only supports a few brands from enterprise storage companies..  

User Defined list is the only way to go, and it can be slow...

[Colin_Weaver]

Big Warning - we strongly recommend you run duplicate jobs to backup B2D locations - whillst flat file backups of b2d locations can backup the data - when it comes to a restore - you have to restore the complete B2D location along with a time matched copy of the Backup Exec database (BEDB) or use an empty BEDB - otherwise you can get inconsistency errors that will make catalog and restore operations difficult and time consuming.

Obviously to put back a B2D from days ago and then rerplace the database would mean you first have to protect your current B2D and BEDB etc so lots of work - hence we strongly recommned duplicate jobs.

BTW as an explanation think of your Catalog files, B2D files and the Backup Exec Database as one database with some parts in SQL, some in the catalogs and some in the B2D. If one part gets out of synch with the other two then you get consistency problems. Catalogs can be easily re-synched. However the media records in the database cannot easily by resynched with what is in the Backup to Disk folder, unless you start with an empty database or delete all your media from your cuirrent database anyway (neither is a good idea for overwrite protection control)

In this case the way B2D files are re-used would mean if you restore a B2D location from say 2 weeks ago and some of the files you restore were overwritten in the two weeks by newer jobs - then the records in the database will be for the new version of the B2D files, but you will have restored the old ones - which causes a mismatch.

[Ken_Putnam]

yes, in v6, v7 and v8

As of v9, ServerOS required a RAWS to even connect

And as of v11 (I think) you get the warning about no RAWS even on Workstation OSs

[NZSolly]

Thanks Colin, the B2D jobs are for static files really, software directory, Archived files etc.....Any restore would be from the latest backup!...And its only until we get a bigger newer LTO drive...

[NZSolly]

Thanks for the info Ken, I think the removal of this function is a backwards step really....otherwise symantec are saying you need a licence for a onetime backup of any device....thank god we dont rely on any other Symantec product!