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Backup on FC using SAN Switch

djangir00
Level 3

Hi,

We have Two Brocade 24 port SAN Switch and 12 Clients and One tape Library ,One Master Server with Media Server.

In Current Schenarion,Tape library is connected to master Server(Media Server) and all clinets are communicating over LAN.

Now I want to introduce SAN Switch to increase Throughput and to established communication over fc.

how Can I achieve the same? 

Thanks...

11 REPLIES 11

Mouse
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Yes, you can - you will need a Linux media server with a compatible Qlogic HBA from the list https://origin-download.veritas.com/resources/content/live/OSVC/100032000/100032807/en_US/nbu_80_hcl... and liceses to enable the SAN Client functionality which is part of the Enterprise Client license.

Hi,

I have below license...

SYMC NETBACKUP PLATFORM BASE COMPLETE EDITION 7.6 XPLAT 1 FRONT END TB STD LIC

and HBA also installed in SAN Switch and All Clients.

Mouse
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Ok, you should have licenses for SAN Client.

Now you need to figure out if you have a compatible Linux media server with compatible HBAs in it.

Marianne
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@djangir00

Your PLATFORM BASE COMPLETE EDITION 7.6 will allow you to deploy any agent/option, BUT I do not recommend that you attempt to configure FT Media Server / SAN Client on an old NBU version that is no longer supported.

It is expretemely important that you check NBU HCL for supported OS and supported HBA's for FT Media Server.
Even with all compatibilities confirmed, I have seen users running into issues. 
If you experience problems, you will have no support, as NBU 7.6.x ran out of support quite some time ago. 

@Marianne

Current version of NBU is 7.7.2 and Clients are Window based having two port HBA with Make of Emulex.

Mouse
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Clients are irrelevant. The media server OS and HBA model is what is important.

@Mouse

How its irrelevant as Netbackup Master & Media Server is working on Window Server 2008 R2 and connected with Tape Library via Brocade Switch on Emulex HBA only

Mouse
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Sorry you have mentioned you have clients installed with some Emulex HBAs but never metioned OS of your Master and Media.

Now when you have specified you have Windows-based media server, I can confirm you will not be to use SAN Client feature in this configuration, you will need a Linux-based media server with supported OS and HBA as per the link I posted above.

Marianne
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@djangir00

Please go to this section of the HCL:

https://origin-download.veritas.com/resources/content/live/OSVC/100032000/100032807/en_US/nbu_80_hcl...

Important to distiguish between the clients (SAN Clients) and the media server (Fibre Transport Media Server).

All Clients with all HBAs are supported. 
For FT Media Server, only certain Linux and Solaris Media servers are supported, and only with certain QLogic hba's. 

Your other option is to configure some of your larger clients as SAN Media servers.
Herewith an explanation of difference between SAN Client and SAN Media server:
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000007947

For SAN Media server, you need to add the clients as SERVERs on NBU master, uninstall NBU Client software, install NBU media server software (use same Capacity license as on master), zone tape drives to these servers, then re-configure the drives as shared (SSO). 

It is not advisable to convert ALL clients to SAN media servers, as only one server at a time can write to a tape drive.
If you have more (SAN) media servers than tape drives, backup jobs will queue and you may run out of backup window.

With multiplexing, multiple (standard) clients can be backed up across the network to the same tape drive simultaneously. 

@Marianne

@Mouse

As per my understanding, I have to setup additional FT Media server (In-built Qlogic HBA with Linux OS) for SAN clients to establish the communication over fiber-channel.

Without this I can not use fabric channel for clients.

 

Mouse
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Yep, you got it right, you can't use SAN Client without a specific Media Server on Linux and a compatible HBA.

The SAN Media Server will create more problems than it solves because it will not multiplex multiple clients to the same tape.