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SAN Mode Transport

Naveen051
Level 3

Hi All,

We have a request to perform disk of Home Server sizing in terms of > 5 TB. So, we choose a SAN Transport mode to perfomr backup of it.

But I have a concern when we setup a vmware policy in NBU under backup selection we couldn't not make a selection. So how could we exclude the files.

Is it by using the exclude list option under client host properties?? 

Also, will there be any performance degradtion on deduplication of the above backup data?? as we performing it by vmware snapshot method at storage end(Storage is Netbackup appliance).

Thanks,

Naveen

   

5 REPLIES 5

eduncan
Level 5
Employee

It appears you are trying to perform a VMware Backup using a VMware Policy type.  If so, your options are to backup the VMDK and File Level information, or to just backup the VMDKs.

The file level information can be excluded in the Policy configuration on the VMware Tab.  Uncheck "File Level Recovery".

To exclude VMDK via NetBackup you must be using NetBackup 8.x release.

To exclude VMDK outside of NetBackup change the VMDK to Indepedent Persistent on the VMware side.  That way we can't snapshot the VMDK and thus can't back it up.

 

Hi Eduncan,

Thanks for the time.

Below is my requirement, I have a VM connected with disks(c= 500 GB ; d=6.25 TB; e= 2.5 TB).

For an instance I need to perform the backup of "d" drive alone and specifically some "abc" folder located in "d" drive.

Also, we have "xyz" folder to be backed up from "d" drive alone.

Since the backup schedule and type of backup is different for "abc" and "xyz" folder, so I have to perform backup using two different policies. 

So now, I could I achieve the required backup selection for each policy?? I believe it could not be acheived by backup exludes in client properties.

Thanks,

Naveen 

I'm sorry it is very difficult to follow what you are trying to say because you are not providing enough information.

What policy type are you using?

At first I assumed you are using VMware policy type, if so what you are asking is not possible.

If you are using Standard/Ms Window policy type, then it just seems you need to set your backup selection to the paths that you want.  And/Or setup excludes for files you don't want to backup.  This can't be done via a VMware Policy type.  VMware policy type is an all or none backup.  You cannot exclude or backup specific files/folders using VMware policy type.

Hi Eduncan,

Thanks for the time.

Yeah, currently we are using the MS-Windows policy to perform the backup and as you said it is possible for the backup selection, but the porblem is backup jobs are taking larger window to perform in LAN mode.

So, as a solution we thought of going by SAN transport mode which requires to make use of vmware policy to choose the FC path.  Using vmware policy we cannot perform backup selections so we stuck.

So is there any way to perform backup by using the backup selction on SAN mode without using the vmware policy. 

Our intention use to cut down the backup window.

 

Thanks,

Naveen 

 

 

t_jadliwala
Level 4
Partner Accredited

You can use the san client option. However your vm should be having vhba assigned to it. 

Below are the basic requirements for the same. 

A SAN client is a special NetBackup client that can back up large amounts of data rapidly over a SAN rather than a LAN. So when we can use it? The reasons can be as follows:

  • LAN backup and restore no longer meets SLAs.
  • High performance data transfer for the client and offloads the LAN (especially environments without 10GBit network) with the backup traffic.
  • Replacement of SAN Media Server - NetBackup SAN Client is included in NetBackup Client binaries so it is not necessary to install Media Server binaries only to backup client by SAN.

 

NetBackup SAN Client terminology

  • Fibre Transport (FT) - this is a method of data transfer. It uses Fibre Channel and a subset of the SCSI command protocol for data movement over a SAN rather than TCP/IP over a LAN. FT connections between NetBackup clients and NetBackup servers are referred to as FT pipes.
  • FT Media Server - this is a NetBackup media server on which the Fibre Transport services are activated. FT media server acts as Target of FT pipes.
  • FT Service Manager (FSM) -  runs in the same process as EMM. FSM interacts with the FT services that run on SAN clients and on FT media servers. FSM discovers, configures, and monitors FT resources and events.
  • Target Mode Driver - replaces the default, initiator mode driver. Target mode applies only to QLogic HBAs.

 

NetBackup SAN Client requirements

  • NetBackup master server and all NetBackup media servers that use the
    feature must be at NetBackup 6.5 or later.
  • HBAs and their drivers must support 256K size buffers for data transfer.
  • For the connections to the SAN clients, use a QLogic HBA that NetBackup supports for Fibre Transport. For these HBAs, you must configure them to use the NetBackup target mode driver.
  • Only 64bit Solaris SPARC and Linux x86_64 platforms are supported as Fibre Transport servers.
  • PBX service must run on the SAN clients.
  • Enter an Enterprise Client license key on Master server to activate SAN
    Client.