Is there a way we can backup (duplicate) DeDuplicated data to tapes

[Nelson_Thomas]

Netbackup 7.1, Media server DeDuplication.

Is there a way we can backup (duplicate) DeDuplicated data to tapes once in a month.

I SLP, but didnt find an option to schedule the duplication.

Am i wrong..? is there any other way to backup the DeDuplicated data?

[Jietse_Vercamme]

There's no way to have an actual schedule, you can suspend SLP duplication jobs however by invoking the following command: 

     nbstlutil inactive -lifecycle NAME

Re-activate with 

   nbstlutil inactive -lifecycle NAME

I would recommend reading the SLP best practices guide. 
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH153154

[MilesVScott]

The duplication will have to rehydrate the data before it goes to tape. I know you can do this with Enterprise Vault.

I do not believe there is an option to schedule monthly Tape Outs in SLP's. You can deffinately schedule immediate duplications to tape after a backup to a DeDup'ed pool but keep in mind the backups to tape will not retain the DeDup properties.

If you want to use Enterprise Vault to accomplish this let me know and I can give you a quick rundown on how to set your policy.

[MilesVScott]

Ah, Jietse makes a good point.

You could schedule the Activating and deactivating scripts for the SLP you want to duplicate the images to tape. Thats kinda a work around if you do not have Enterprise Vault.

[Nelson_Thomas]

Thanks for the replies,

Its getting complicated. Currently we are running four full backups in a month, all to MSDP. Now we need one full backup on tapes every month without conflicts. What would be the simplest solution?

[MilesVScott]

Do you have Enterprise Vault licensed?

[S_Williamson]

I havent done this myself but you should be able to do this with two policys. I have several systems that use the First Policy that require local backups only but never need exporting to tape.

First Policy

Backup the server(s) to the Dedupe Pool so all it will do is backup and save the deduped data to the disk pool. You could specify the Disk Pool Directly or create a SLP that only does a Backup. Make sure you set the Data Classification to Bronze or something Custom if you like.

ie SLP_Dedupe_Backup

Second Policy

Create a SLP that just Duplicates the data from the Dedupe Pool to your tape drives and schedule that policy to run whenever you want it to run. Set the Data Classification to the same as you set in the First Policy.

ie SLP_Dedupe_Export

This example will export ALL images at the Bronze Level (or whatever custom level you set) on the one day of the month that has not allready been duplicated to tape previously. If you hoping to export just the last backup I dont think that will work in that fashion.

[Jietse_Vercamme]

Yes, NetBackup Vault would be perfect for this, I was kind of stuck on the idea of using SLPs. You need to license it though.

[Nelson_Thomas]

@miles, Jietse - I found license for 'Vault' and 'Enterprise vault agent' from NBU console. Is this what we need?

@Williamson - thanks but we need to minimize the tape usage.

[Jietse_Vercamme]

The Vault feature needs to be activated. Enterprise Vault is a different application, with a confusingly similar name.

[Nelson_Thomas]

Vault is already activated. Donno wat to do next!

[Jietse_Vercamme · Accepted solution]

1. Add a vault robot
2. Assign a vault to the vault robot
3. Add a Profile to the vault
4. Create a vault type policy to schedule the duplication process. 

The details on how to do that are explained in the following document:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5192

[Nelson_Thomas]

I configured Vault, seems good. One doubt; will a vault job lock the assigned tape library and block other backups to that library?

[Jietse_Vercamme]

It should not block other backup policies to that library as long as you have enough tapes available. Backups will queue if the tape drives are in use ofcourse, so you might want to do the vault job outside of the backup window, and set an appropriate priority.