CASO and Optimized Dedup target on same server

[K_Miller]

I have seen in the documentation that this is not a recommended practice but we are short on resources.

Can a CASO server also function as an MMS and Optimized DeDuplication target for remote office replication?

In this configuration, I can share remote MMS dedup disk with the CASO but since the target for the replication is already on the CASO, I don't have the option to share with the CASO.

When configuring backup jobs, and the replication job stages, I am unable to select the taget dedup disk as it is not available. Am I doing something wrong or is this why it is not a recomemended practice?

-Kevin

[William_Donigan]

Hey Kevin,

How many Backup Exec servers do you have and how many DeDuplication folders do you have?

The CASO (Central Administration Server Option) was designed to manage other media servers which are known as MMS (Managed Media Server) Servers however the CASO server has the functionality to perform all Media Server tasks.

With Optimized DeDuplication you create a deduplication disk storage device on both the CASO and MMS. Once that is complete you then share the deduplication disk storage devices. Do not run jobs that use a deduplication disk storage device on a central administration server. Instead, assign backup jobs to managed Backup Exec servers and select a Backup Exec server pool as a setting for the destination device. For example, the main office site that has a managed Backup Exec server deployment shares the deduplication disk storage device with the central administration server at a remote site for disaster recovery purposes. Make sure to not use Backup Exec server pools as device targets in standalone backups. This prevents duplicate data from being hosted on multiple managed Backup Exec servers.

You can find more information on optimized duplication and CASO/MMS here-http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO74447.

[K_Miller]

Hi William,

Here is a snapshot of my configuration:

I have a CASO server at the DR site that is also the MMS hosting the DR DeDup storage.

I have 16 remote offices, all with there own MMS and Dedup storage. All of the 16 remote office are sharing the dedup storage with the CASO server. All MMS server will be configured for Optimized Deduplication to the dedpu storage on the CASO.

I'm creating all of the backup jobs/schedules on the CASO server and assigning them out to each of the MMS. Following each scheduled backup, the Opt Dedup processes kick off and duplicates from the MMS back to the CASO.

With this configuration and Opt Dedup jobs, I can't target the dedup storage on the CASO server unless I share it with each of the MMS. Per the documentation this doesn't look right. If the storage on the CASO server is not shared, it is not availalbe to be selected in the job configurations.

-k

[William_Donigan]

Hey Kevin, For Optimized DeDuplication you will need to share the deduplication storage on the Central Administration Server to all of your Managed Media Servers. For cataloging purposes we do need to share the deduplication storage bidirectionally between the CASO and MMS. You can find this information in the Backup Exec Administration Guide -"http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5211"on page 776. I will be working with my internal resources to update HOWTO74447 accordingly.