Backup question ...

[BruGuy]

Say we have EV 8.0 on a clustered SQL server for the metainfo with the archived items residing on two Centeras (real-time replication, not in govt mode) and used only for Exchange mailbox archiving. Only a few TB of archives so far.

That design is OK for BCP/disaster recovery.

But how do we make multiple daily backups of the Centeras for when I press the wrong button/set the wrong option/ issue the wrong SQL command and accidentially delete everyone's archives?!

[MichelZ]

Of course you need a Backup of your SQL Databases... :)

[BruGuy]

... what I'm asking is how to backup the actual archived mail items which are only on the Centeras.

[MichelZ]

Ah, sorry, I missunderstood that one.
That's probably more of a question for EMC on how you back-up your centeras.

You could leverage something like this: http://www.emc-centera.com/storfirst-altus-for-centera.htm

Or you could leverage something like "Delayed Delete for EMC Centera":

https://gallery.emc.com/docs/DOC-1515

Cheers
Michel

[AndrewB]

have you considered NetBackup?

[BruGuy]

... anyone doing this in real-life? Or are we the only people using Centeras?? Or really does no-one backup Centeras???

[MichelZ]

Usually what I see is that they use centeras, but do not allow to delete, or even use Compliant Centeras.
You could also use the EV "Dumpster" feature, where Items are not immediately deleted, but kept for X days. (However I don't know if this is available using Centera)

/Michel

[Rob_Wilcox1]

BruGuy we have a lot of people using Centeras, but perhaps not many of them follow us on the forums :(  I'd suggest asking EMC the best way to back up the pair though.

[BruGuy]

Well to be honest, I'd expect Symantec to have a document describing possible scenarios to backup - and restore - the Centera data simply because the installation program has the "I'm using a Centera" checkbox option. If it's that integrated, then document it end-to-end. After all, there's full documentation about how to backup data stored on ordinary DAS...

[SHI-CRO]

I've worked in 15-20 environments that use Centeras, and none of them did any periodic backups, just replication.  One of the compelling reasons for using Centeras is to take away the need to backup several TBs of data.

Backing up up Centeras to recover individual items isn't going to be useful in most environments, because individual item restores need to happen in a lab environment, and I haven't seen anyone with a pair of Centeras in their lab.  If someone comes to you for an item they want back that was deleted 3 months ago, even if you had the data from the Centera that you could restore, you couldn't restore the SQL databases needed to access that item in your production system because you'd wipe out 3 months of archiving.

If you're worried about accidental deletes, you might consider setting the checkbox on the retention category properties page to 'Prevent deletion of archived item in this category' and changing it only when you do want to delete something.

If you're worried about a SQL operation going bad, you can backup the database prior to the change and restore it if goes wrong.

[BruGuy]

Maybe I just don't get it. All that's on our Centeras are the actual archived mail items. Our SQL databases are stored elsewhere and we have multiple snapshots of them per day. So far so good.

We have retention set so restoring individual user's items isn't a hassle. But I'm worried that there's no backup of the Centeras, ie, everyone's archived mail. We archive after a couple of months so not much is left in Exchange.

Isn't it easily possible for me to make some mistake, either in SQL, or in EV (by setting a policy in EV to remove all archived items after 10 months instead of 10 years) which removes almost everything from the Centeras? A lot of the technet solutions involve SQL changes...

Or would the  'Prevent deletion of archived item in this category'  option prevent this?

I think I'm an old school guy looking for tape backups!

[MichelZ]

If you change something in SQL, it's highly unlikely that you delete data on your Centeras with it.
If you set "Prevent deletion of archive item in this category", it's nearly impossible to delete stuff, either trough SQL or trough other means not directly involving Centera SDK functionality.

[SHI-CRO]

The problem is that there is no easy way to restore data from backups into a production EV system.  If you have to restore individual items from tape backups, the restores need to happen in a parallel system and exported then imported into the production system.

Say you accidentally delete something on Tuesday and realize on Thursday that you need to do a restore from backups.  If you restore the indexes, vault store partition files and databases back to Tuesday, you've just lost all data from Tuesday after backups, Wednesday and Thurdsay.  So you have to restore the databases, indexes and vault store partitions to a lab environment and export what you want out of there and import it back to the production system.

It's not like a file system or email mailbox where you can just put the missing items back.

When you're archiving to Centeras with real-time replication, there's really no reason to keep more than the current backup of the databases and indexes.

[BruGuy]

... it's safe - and even routine - to apply service packs and entire version upgrades without having a backup of the archived items if you use a Centera? 

[SHI-CRO · Accepted solution]

Yes, it is safe and routine.

Service packs and entire version upgrades do nothing to the archived data on a Centera or any storage.  SQL databases and program file install locations are all that are modified (until you do OWA extensions, EVOM, SQL reports, etc).

Before you do an upgrade, backup the SQL databases.  If the upgrade goes bad, uninstall the new version of EV, install the previous version, restore the databases to the pre-upgrade state, and run the configuration wizard to recover the server.