Backup multiple servers to disk then to tape

[Paul_Specht_2]

I will be purchasing BE 10d in Oct. I have a plan in my head to backup multiple servers in my domain to disk over night. Then backup the virtual servers to tape for offsite storage.

I have read that you can backup multiple servers to disk at the same time. Is this correct? I would like to keep the backup window as short as possible.

We are consolidating many tape drives down to one. A 160/320 GB TBU which will be enough for all our servers. We are purchasing a SAN device for the "to disk" backups.

I have read that you cannot backup to tape each virtual server on one tape unless you put them all in one folder? Is this true? How could I set up my backup jobs to run so I know what file to restore from tape if the virtual server is not in its own named folder? I hope I wasnt too confusing.

since I have time articles would be appreciated.

I have also read this post http://forums.veritas.com/discussions/thread.jspa?messageID=4365609鴩

I dont really understand since I dont have the software yet.

Thanks.

[Peter_Ludwig]

Paul Specht wrote:

> I have read that you cannot backup to tape each virtual server on one tape unless you put them all in one folder?

No, this is fortunately not the case. I have a similar schenario like yours and made a B2D folder for every location I back up and every job has its connected copy job to tape.
I'm also happe with a single tape drive (per library).
Just be shure that the copy to tape has a low priority, so no 'real' backup is delayed by a job waitingfor the tape drive.
(Just in case you limit the active jobs per B2D folder for another reason)

greetings
Peter

[Shilpa_pawar_2]

Hi,

Please note that simultaneous backup jobs are only possible when they are targeted to different backup devices.
If you need to run simultaneous backup jobs on a B2D folder located on one
hard disk drive then we recommend you to create different B2D folders on
the Hard disk drive for different scheduled backup jobs and then fire the
backups.
Additionally refer: http://support.veritas.com/docs/279401

Best Regards,
Shilpa

[Paul_Specht_2]

thank you for the replies.


Just so I am on the same page:

You can have multiple jobs, 1 for each server to backup each server to its own folder. And you can run each one of these jobs simultaniously?

I have 5 servers to backup so I could create (on a NAS server), a folder called backups and under that 5 folders for each server to be backed up. Then have 5 jobs running at the same time to backup a server to its respective folder.

Then have a job to back the top level folder (backups) to tape? that will kick off after the last backup job is finished.

Is this what you are saying I can do?

[Ken_Putnam]

rather than a standard backup job to copy the BKF files to tape (which will require that you restore the BKF files before you can restore user data), you can use policies to DUPLICATE the disk files to tape when the B2D job completes. By doing it this way, you can restore directly from tape

And my comments in the earlier thread were incorrect, you can stack multiple DUPLICATE jobs on a single tape.

[Rucha_Abhyankar]

Hi Paul,

Please keep us update if the suggestions provided have helped you in resolving the issue.



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[Paul_Specht_2]

I have purchased and installed the software.

I am currently backing up 4 servers directly to tape which is taking over 9 hours.

I have set up B2D folders for each of the servers I am backing up. And have created seperate jobs for each server to backup to their respective folder.

How do I then copy all 4 jobs to tape without having to restore the bkf file first?

I have downloaded and have both articles 255866 and 256096.

Ken you said "rather than a standard backup job to copy the BKF files to tape (which will require that you restore the BKF files before you can restore user data), you can use policies to DUPLICATE the disk files to tape when the B2D job completes. By doing it this way, you can restore directly from tape"

Do I duplicate the jobs or backup sets?Message was edited by:
Paul Specht

[Ken_Putnam]

ou set up a DUPLICATE job rather thatn a standard COPY job

Best way would probably be to setup policies so that as each B2D job finished, it kicks off the associated Duplicate job to tape.

[Paul_Specht_2]

I am confused about the policies needed to copy the jobs to tape.

I have the four jobs to backup to individual B2D. But I am unable to create any policies what will duplicate these jobs to a different media.

Do I create a policy with four templates, one for each server?

Then a policy that duplicates the first policy?

I cant create a duplicate template until I create a basic template first.

The more I play with this the more I am confused.

[Mike_Clark]

Hi,

We are looking at a similar solutions and have just upgraded to 10d do you need any extra agents to perform the server to disk backups with the policies?

We have SAN shared option.

Thanks Mike

[Hywel_Mallett]

I would create a policy, and within that policy have as many templates as you need to perform the backups. Then for each backup template, have a template which duplicates the backup template's backup.
There is more info on page 381 of the Administrator's guide.

[Paul_Specht_2]

Hywel,

Thank you for the response.

Your response in addition to the admin page reference cleared things up a little bit.

I understand the concept of the policy and templates.

this is what I have done:

I have created a selection list of what I want to backup.

I then created a policy with 4 templates to back up each server to a seperate server folder.
Server 1 backs up to folder Server 1, ect.

I then created a nightly job using that policy.

If I add a template (To Tape) and choose duplicate backup sets job, it asks for "Perferred source device" What do I choose here? And what rules do I use?
If I add a template (To Tape) for each template (To Disk) how do I set them up so the jobs do not conflict and not overwrite each other, since they will start to tape at differnet times due to server size. It seems that it wants to kick off to tape as soon as the first to disk template job runs.

I assume that I need to set up a template that will backup to one folder, then another template to duplicate it to tape.

[Paul_Specht_2]

Peter,

If I am reading this correctly, you have a seperate backup to disk job for each server, which backs up a server to its own folder... server1 to folder called server 1, server2 to folder server 2, ect...


then you have a copy job for each backup job. but set the priority to low so they will wait until the backup to disk jobs are done.

Do you append to the media? can you restore directly from tape?