Array based Snapshot method for backups using EMC Timefinder

[JD_Nbu]

Hi anyone using the EMC Symmetrix to Timefinder method to back up the clients, We are currently running the agent based file backups on the host, this causes performance impact on the due to high I/O on client SAN disks. From looking at the Snapshot client Admin guide, seems like vaiable solution in this case will be to use the array based snapshot backups. Did anyone had any success on using this method with any storage array, needs some feedback before i can put in resources and infrastructure to test it.

Thanks.

[Marianne]

I have assisted a customer to config Snapshot Client backups with HP EVA arrays.
We simply followed the steps in Snapshot Client manual to get it working.
Filesystem backups are easy to config this way.
We also configured Oracle agent backups, but here additional steps are listed in the Oracle agent manual.

We also attempted Timefinder backups at another customer, had everything configured and tested manually, just to be embarrased when it did not work and bpfis log told us that volume type was no recognized.... 
Only then did we check SNC compatibility list, just to find that only VxVM volumes were supported on HP-UX....

So, moral of the story - check NetBackup 7 Snapshot Client (CL)  first!

If it is supported on your OS and volume/disk manager, then, yes! it works well! 

If I am not mistaken, Windows use VSS as snapshot method and will probably be included in the array tools that need to be installed on the source client and the offhost client/server.

My only Windows experience was with Storage Foundation FlashSnap method, backing up SQL databases as well as a File Server.

[Nicolai]

Array snapshot are usually complicated - I do not think its a variable option to do massive deployment.

[JD_Nbu]

Thanks Marianne for pointing this out the client compatibility list, seems like EMC Timefinder Mirror is not supported on NTFS volume but only on VxVM. It's still not clear to me if the Windows VSS uses the array snapshot or just using the Windows shadow service to backup using the flashbackup policy.

[Marianne]

VSS support for Windows is covered in the intro pages of the CL:

VSS Providers
Symantec has an open support policy for VSS snapshots. If an array vendor supports a VSS provider for a Windows platform, Symantec will support Local Snapshot, Alternate Client, FlashBackup Local Snapshot, and FlashBackup Alternate Client methods on all supported NetBackup Snapshot Clients. This support includes Windows virtual machines using VMware RDM disks or Hyper-V Pass-Thru disks. This support also includes NetBackup for Hyper-V backups of VM snapshots. Your array does not need to be listed to be supported with the open support policy. If your array is not listed in the tables below, check with the array vendor to verify VSS provider support. If the vendor supports a VSS provider, the array is supported with this open support policy.
Instant recovery is supported only when qualified by either Symantec or the array vendor and listed in the tables.