BackupExec 2012 with Prod/DR Equallogic

[backupfury]

Greetings, 

I'm currently testing Backup Exec 2012 with an Equallogic infrastructure. I have a production EQL shelf and an offsite DR EQL shelf that all volumes are replicating to. The Backup Exec server and it's tape library are located in the DR location along with the DR EQL shelf. 

Currently I've only been able to find solutions that involve backing up volumes from the production EQL shelf. I would like to leverage the EQL replicas and backup all volume replicas each night to tape on the DR side. Is this possible to do straight from DR EQL to the DR BackupExec server? Is there a way I can automate bringing the replicas online and backing them up to tape? Since the data on these EQL volumes is all VMFS datastores, how would I get the replicas to a state where BackupExec can read the data and archive them to tape? 

Also, are there any other helpful features that Backup Exec offers that could improve the performance of these backups, or improve the restore capabilities of these backups? 

I have a WAN link between the sites, but I would prefer to NOT have to backup all data from the production side, as these backups would probably saturate the WAN link. 

Any assistance or ideas would be appreciated. 

Thanks,

Mark

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Doing this on an array-based replication level isn't advised. While BE might be able to see those files on the DR side, it won't be able to restore from them as there is going to be a catalog issue.

Of you're doing a backup to disk first, then you might want to consider using optimized dedupe push the backed up data across your WAN to the DR Equallogic array, and then on to tape (it would be rehydrated), or do a simple B2D and then duplicate that to the remote array before pushing to tape.

Both options would need the Enterprise Server Option with CAS enabled to handle the D2D2T flow.

Thanks!

[backupfury]

Thanks for the additional info!

I think at this point leaving the tape library and BackupExec server in the DR location is going to be a waste of bandwidth, I'll probably move them to the production location. The EQL replicas should be sufficient as an emergency failover on the DR side. Then I can just run backups straight to tape in the production site and bypass the backup to disk. Doing a B2D to the local EQL for the entire environment and then replicating to the DR EQL may consume more space than I want in the production site.  

Would this solution require the Enterprise Server Option? 

Thanks again!

Mark

[pkh]

If you are just backing up to tape, then you don't need ESO.

[CraigV]

pkh answered that question, but you would need it the minute you try any of my suggestions.

If you ever start with a normal B2D and want to stream off to tape, then you'd duplicate to tape. Never backup the *.bkf files directly.

If you went the dedupe option and you stream off to tape on your PRD or DR site, then the data rehydrates to the original size, so factor in a longer duplicate-to-tape.

Thanks!