Backup to tape setup - best practice

[dejanm]

Hello,

I am going to set up Backup Exec to work with IBM TS3200 Tape Library(single drive) and need some advices and best 

practices.

We have already setup backup to disk using Backup Exec and it works well. Now we want to make additional jobs and

backup to tape. 

Besides daily differential backups to disk, we are doing now full backup virtual machines on Saturday and full backup 

data from several servers on Sunday.Total size of all backup is about 500GB.  

We plan to backup all full backups from disk to tape every Sunday night.I am going to use total 10 LTO4 tapes,4 would be in

Weekly media set(OPP is 4 weeks) and  six in Montly media set(OPP is 6 month). Idea is to always have tape backup for last

six months available on six tapes and backup for last 4 weeks on 4 tapes. We are going to use one tape per each week, 

and overwrite it every month. 

Since I dont have much expirience with tapes nad BE, these are questions for which I wuld like to get answers:

-What media set rules are best for this retension periods? Should Weekly(OPP-4weeks,APP-0) and Monthly(OPP-6 months,APP-0)

be appropriate for this setup? 

-What labelling method is best? Tape library uses barcode to read media. May I also rename tapes in Devices tab to make them more understandable when move it from slot to slot? 

-Is it enough to just put tapes in media set regardless where and in which slot they are located? Will BE decide itself what

tape to use based on media set rules? I want to place only two backup files(one fullVM and one FullData for that weekend) 

to one tape, and overwrite them with new files in 4 weeks.I dont want to place another two backup files from next weekend 

backup to this same tape.How can i protect tape from this situation?    

-Is duplicate backup set job best for copying these backups from disk to tape?

-i want to shedule exporting tape to I/O station when backup job to the same tape finish. I suppose that I must create

policy with export template to get it to work.

I would really appreciate if any can help me with this setup and give me any suggestions.

BR,

Dejan

[alextovey]

-What media set rules are best for this retension periods? Should Weekly(OPP-4weeks,APP-0) and Monthly(OPP-6 months,APP-0) Use what you have stated here. OPP 4 weekly and APP 0 for both

-What labelling method is best? Tape library uses barcode to read media. May I also rename tapes in Devices tab to make them more understandable when move it from slot to slot? I Rename the tapes and use our own barcoding here. so that when i need to get them from Iron mountin i can do.

-Is it enough to just put tapes in media set regardless where and in which slot they are located? Will BE decide itself what tape to use based on media set rules? Place the tapes in any device as long as the backup rountine is point to that certian drive you will be fine

I want to place only two backup files(one fullVM and one FullData for that weekend) 

to one tape, and overwrite them with new files in 4 weeks.I dont want to place another two backup files from next weekend backup to this same tape.How can i protect tape from this situation?    USE different tapes for different tasks... we have 5 x lt4 for one week backup and then the same for the other 3 weeks then for full backups we have sepereate tapes and then for bi weekly and monthly more tapes.

(can never have too many backups)

-Is duplicate backup set job best for copying these backups from disk to tape? Yes it is

-i want to shedule exporting tape to I/O station when backup job to the same tape finish. I suppose that I must create policy with export template to get it to work. You are 100% correct for that fella.

[CraigV]

Hi Dejan,

Firstly, don't just back up the flat files created when running a B2D job as a primary...when backing up that information to tape, you need to duplicate it. So create a duplicate job that duplicates that information to your tape drive.

1. The retention times look fine, just make sure you have enough tapes to cater for this. This is also a requirement dictated by your company so find out what their requirements are for, and then adjust the OPP details accordingly on the media set. Obviously create a media set for the tape job.

2. Stick with barcodes. Once you rename a tape within BE, you lose the data on it. Let BE read the barcodes, and you can always reference your media set to see what tapes are where, and when they become overwritable. Alternatively keep a spreadsheet with tape barcode referencing the date it was written too.

3. Put the tapes in the drive, and let BE manage what media set they belong too. this works well as long as they are initially scratch. If they have data on them and you want to now use them for tape backups, you can always erase them and allow BE to assign automatically.

4. Read my opening comments about duplicating the B2D backups to tape using the Duplicate backup schedule.

5. You need to define an export slot, and then create the job for this...

Thanks!

[dejanm]

Hi,

Thanks on quick replies.

Ok,I will use retension times that i mentioned above.

Regarding labelling,since all tapes are new and empty now I will consider renaming of them since i want to have better control on tapes.

I understand that drive will by default first use scrath media before any tapes that contain data.

I want to automate this proccess, not to erase tapes every time before backup data to them. Assuming that all tapes contain data,for 

example all 4 tapes of monthly backup set, what tape will be first overwritten in next scheduled backup ? I suppose only one

that have OPP expired. 

Craig, I could not find your comment on duplicate backup set. I need one clarification.

Can I create duplicate backup job which duplicate two previously created backup sets, created by FullVM backup job on 

saturday and FullData backup on Sunday and place it on the same tape. This job should be scheduled and should do this job every week.

If I create duplicate backup job that follow existing backup job(for example FullVM backup on saturday), 

it will create backup file on first tape(which has OPP 4 weeks).On Sunday night,when FullData backup finish,new duplicate job

will start but will this job create backup file on another tape? 

I want these two backup files from Saturday and Sunday to be placed on same tape. 

Thanks

[pkh]

I understand that drive will by default first use scrath media before any tapes that contain data.

This is dependent on this setting under Tools ---> Options

If you have set it to overwrite recycleable media in the targeted media set first, then it will use a scratch tape when it cannot find a recycleable media in the targeted media sert.  Before you go and set it to overwrite scratch first, be aware that if you do that BE will create a new .bkf for your B2D jobs before overwriting any overwriteable .bkf files.

When you use barcode labels, you cannot use the rename function to rename your tapes.  They will always use the label on the barcode label.  The only way to rename them is to change the barcode label to a new one.

You should always duplicate your disk backups to tape.  NEVER just copy/move them to tape.

[dejanm]

Hi,

I would like to avoid using scrath media set because I want to protect my tapes to be overwritten accidently. That is reason beacuse I would like from the beggining to use Monthly media set(OPP 4 weeks) for 4 tapes that are going to be overwritten with new backup every month, and second media set that will protect my tapes six months from overwritting.

As I wrote above,they are in production, among else,  full backup of data(sunday night) and Full backup of virual machines(saturday night). These backups are placed in two separate B2D folders.

Now I want to,using duplicate backup job, copy these backup files from B2D folders to Tape, and I want to duplicate all these full backup files(two files from Data B2D and 9 files from VM B2D, approximately 500GB) to first tape. Will these 11 backup files be duplicated on first tape? This is important for me to know. If I setup duplicate backup set following job, will BE lock first tape after first duplicate backup job is finished on Saturday night? 

If that is not doable, can you suggest some other way to duplicate these files to single tape?

One more question. Why BE creates IMG folders inside my VM B2D folder even though GRT is not enabled on any backup of virtual machines?

After every backup job, in both B2D folders, I  get a new name of finished backup job, for example bk00066, and because of that I am not able to create/schedule duplicate backup job of existing backup sets.       

[CraigV]

Any new tape is scratch media, whether or not you allocate it to a media set manually, or let BE do so. Unless you have the cash to just keep on buying tapes so you don't overwrite them, I'd suggest you set an appropriate Append/Overwrite protection period on your media set. Once those tapes reach the settings you have stated above, they WILL become scratch media and WILL be overwritten.

Also, it's very difficult for any of us to tell you whether or not those 11 backup files will fit onto a tape. Compression periods vary greatly, and you'd have to check this out yourself. Depending on your media, you should be looking at around 1.2 --> 1.5:1 compression ratio, and on an LTO3 tape for example, you're looking at between 480GB to 600GB per tape. 2:1 is not going to happen.

You can only duplicate to tape using a duplicate job...doing it any other way might end up messing your catalogs for those files up from what I have read.

I'd also sugegst trying to get hold of the Admin Guide and read up a bit more of what you want to do...it is very informative.

[dejanm]

Thanks Craig for reply

I understand that tape becomes overwritable whenever OPP expire.

In this case,size of tape is not problem because we use LTO4 tapes. We plan to overwrite them on monthly basis. What is important for me to know now is whether is possible or not to duplicate these 11 bkf files from two B2D folders to one tape, and sequentally every week. It is not matter of tape size, It is related to OPP aplied to tape placed in Monthly backup media set initally that can lock my tape for 4 weeks after first backup on saturday is finished.

BR  

Dejan

[pkh]

whether is possible or not to duplicate these 11 bkf files from two B2D folders to one tape,

The size of the tape does matter.  As Craig said, you would normally get a compression ration of about 1.2 - 1.3.  For a LTO4 tape, this means that you can roughly get about 1TB of data onto a tape.  If the size of your 11 .bkf files is more than 1TB, then you would need more than 1 tape.

=============

BTW, it would be better to ask one question per discussion, rather than a lot of questions.  It is very difficult for us to digest and come up with a single answer that addresses all your questions.  Also, we may have answers to some of your questions and to to other and thus give you incomplete questions and follow-ups are very difficult.

[dejanm]

The size of tape in this case really is not problem because all 11 backup files together are not bigger then 500 GB, so one LTO4 tape is enough for all these backups.

My main problem is to find a way to duplicate these 11 backup files(two from FullData B2D folder and 9 from FullVM B2D folder) to one tape, and keep tapes protected if possible by membership in Monthly media set(OPP 4 Weeks). If I schedule duplicate backup job following first fullbackup on Saturday, it will duplicate backup to tape probably but also will lock this tape for 4 weeks. This will prevent this tape to place other backups from saturday and sunday.

Another thing that is unknown for me is existing IMG folders in B2D folders. Why BE create these aditional folders. Thare are no any GRT related backup jobs scheduled and destined to this B2D folder. 

[Ken_Putnam]

This is where APP and Append jobs come in

Append Protection Period (APP) is calculated from the time the first job on the tape starts writing to the tape, and unlike OPP, does not change no matter how many jobs append

So to place all your weekly FULLs on the same tape make the DUPLICATE jobs, APPEND, Else OVERWRITE with an APP of 1 day and an OPP of 33 days (this will require five tapes rather than four, but will ensure that you have a full calendar month of data on tape rather than just four weeks worth)

[dejanm]

Thanks Ken on answer.

Just one more clarification, if I set append period to APP 2 days for example, and my duplicate jobs starts on Saturday night and continue during Sunday, will BE create only one large file on tape that contain all full weekend backups or 11 separated. I would like to just duplicate/copy all these 11 backup files from B2D folders to single tape exactly as they are on B2D folders. This would allow me, in case failure of disk system or data loss, possibility to restore appropriate backup file from tape.

I assume that duplicate job following backup job need to be configured and not duplicate backup job existing backup sets option.  

BR 

Dejan

[Sublaner]

I backup VMs to disk, then duplicate to NAS for DR (iSCSI attached). I noticed that the regular AVVI backups created IMG folders, probably for the virtual disks regardless of GRT, and also that my Duplicate backup jobs did NOT include IMG folders - just alot of 'traditional' BKF files that are the max size we configured for the media. I saw no difference in our ability to select data for restore from either backup. So the Duplicate job is not just a straight copy of the Full job and there is some translation for moving it, but you probably don't need to worry about it.

My reading indicated that Duplicate backup jobs can only be created through a policy, and this was easiest anyhow so I didn't spend any time trying to do it manually. I use one policy per VM (I don't do more than one VM per job), and created Duplicate jobs linked to the Full job in each policy. This ensures that I know exactly what I'm duplicating. I use Device Pools so my duplicates go to whatever NAS is online at the time; can't tell you about tapes. OPP is 3 weeks, APP is 3 days to let the various backup sets duplicate as the Full jobs finish.

It sounds like you might be backing up/duplicating those 11 VMs in a single job? Though APP would not be an issue in that case... There is lots of advice on this site about avoiding that 'single point of failure'. Like I said I don't know about tapes and might not understand the question, but if you b/u your VMs separately with jobs that start and finish, you should be guaranteed of 'separate files' for each backup.

You can schedule Duplicate jobs to kick off like regular backups, OR you can set them to run by a simple rule: run when the full backup completes. I use the rule because it gets the job done quickest, and because with our setup there is no impact on the rest of the network when duplicate jobs run: Duplicates go from a master repository straight to the NAS through a non-blocking switch. Whichever way you schedule it you get the same backup.

[dejanm]

I am not going to duplicate all these full backups as one job. I plan to configure to /schedule 11 separate duplicate backup jobs following configured full backup jobs. I will setup OPP 33 days and APP 2 days. I hope that this setup will allow me to duplicate all 11 separate full backup files to single tape as separate files.

I am not going to use policies for duplicate backup jobs. I will just make new duplicate backup jobs. I am going to configure policy to export media to I/O slot after weekly duplicated job is finished.

[dejanm]

1. I setup Weekly backup to tape. Used duplicate backup sets folowing job to duplicate all full backups.

Now i have problem to setup backup to monthly tape that I want to keep offsite.As i mentioned above, I want to copy content of last weekly tape to monthly tape. Idea is to keep 6 tapes for last six months. 4 weekly tapes should be rotated every month.

Content of monthly tape should be same as on last week tape. Since I have already setup duplicated backups jobs to duplicate backup sets to weekly tapes, there is no possibility to duplicate the same backup jobs to another tape at same time since there is only single drive in tape library.

Since all backup jobs are scheduled, it is not possible to choose option duplicate existing backup sets.

So, backup from tape to tape is not possible. Duplicate backup job from disks to weekly tapes is configured. 

I need to create additional duplicate job to monthly tape and take it offsite. 

I would like to avoid creating all new jobs that would point to monthly tape.

2. How BE decide what tape to use for job from same media set? For example, If all media are new and in scrath media set, what order will be used? Does number of slot where tape is located matters in this case?

3. Is there any possibility to schedule export job tied to duplicated backup job? During creating of policy, I must choose backup job first, no chance to setup two templates, duplicated job and export job. I want to have library export tape to I/O slot after duplicated job is finished.

If anyone have any suggestions how to overcome these problems, please help.

Thanks

BR

Dejan   

[madlalan]

i need the step by step setup of backup-to-tape, i can do backup-to-disk and troubleshoot errorr with ease but not with tapes.